Dozens of bees skittered over the root system, but unlike those at home, these were the size of big dogs, and they didn’t seem happy about our presence. Their elongated bodies were covered in black and orange fur except for their abdomens, which looked like shiny black armor plates. They had sharp, black eyes, strong legs, and knife-like stingers. On top of their bodies were two pairs of beautiful translucent wings that weren’t strong enough to fly but allowed them to jump short distances, much like chickens.

Juvenile Mana Stinger Swarm Lv.1. Magical Beast. [Identify] Juvenile Mana Stingers are peaceful monsters that frequent lush areas of the deep Farlands. If an intruder is in their territory, they will not stop until the threat is expelled or killed. Weakness: Wind, Fire, Shotgun.

[Awareness] counted thirty-two bees slowly crawling their way toward us. My first reaction was to summon my mana shards and mow down the cluster of bees, but [Awareness] stopped me. If I leveled up faster than the kids, I would end up disrupting their leveling. The greater the level difference was, the more experience I would leech away from them. I wondered if the best course of action was to retreat.

“It seems we found an experience piñata,” Firana grinned.

“They outnumber us six to one, though,” I replied.

Ilya pulled her bow and nocked an arrow. “We will be okay as long as they don’t stab us in the throat. Mana Stingers are an easy source of experience, and low-level combatants dream of finding a swarm during their first raids.”

“At least they aren’t Snare Jumpers,” Zaon said, grabbing his sword and shield.

I nodded, trusting Ilya’s assessment. The more we leveled up, the better our chances of survival would be in the long run. The stingers were barely bigger than a Swiss army knife, and our hardened leather jackets were probably enough to block lethal attacks in the off case we got overwhelmed.

“Same strategy! I’ll block the front. You deal with those who manage to pass by,” I yelled, channeling my mana and summoning a mana shield. The terrain favored us, as the root only allowed a certain amount of bees to walk on top.

Wolf grabbed his round shield and sword instead of his Wind Sling, and Firana lit her enchanted sword. The swarm crashed against the mana shield, pushing me back. Despite their size, the bees packed quite the punch. The crash sent several bees to the ground, but they climbed back up past the barrier with their hook feet. I drew my sword, but Firana and Zaon were already there to cover me.

A bee jumped on Zaon, but he smacked it with his shield.

Ilya used her enchanted boots to jump over my head and shoot at the swarm. The arrow penetrated a bee’s armored abdomen, but the creature continued pushing against my shield. As Zaon, Firana, and Wolf fended off the first wave of stray bees, the swarm figured out my barrier was an impenetrable obstacle. The bees retreated and walked around the root. I tried to extend the mana barrier on both sides, but the further from me it went, the harder it was to keep its integrity. Unlike the undead, the Mana Stingers were smart.

“Bees coming from the east!” I said as the monsters crawled and skittered past my barrier.

Firana used [Aerokinesis] and pushed back the cluster, but the Mana Stingers held onto the root with their hook-like feet. [Awareness] counted seven bees already past my mana barrier. Wolf alone was fighting against three of them. He cut the first one clean in half and kicked the second bee several meters away. Not even Firana, with her enchanted sword, could deal with the armored chitin so easily. The third bee clung to Wolf’s shield and jerked its abdomen, trying to stab him.

“Ilya! Help!” Wolf grunted as he tried to keep the shield away from him while fending off another bee.

Ilya drew her longsword and smacked the Mana Stinger off Wolf’s shield.

“Don't get caught, Zaon!” I yelled.

“Understood!”

I focused on keeping the bulk of the swarm away from the kids while they fought those who managed to climb up the sides of the root. Ilya’s assessment of the situation was correct; Mana Stingers were easy to deal with. Still, I focused on the kids in case any of them was about to be overwhelmed. The corpses piled up, and I didn’t notice the dying bee near my leg until the stinger penetrated my boot and my skin. Reflexively, I kicked, and the bee fell over the edge. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it would, so I focused back on the kids, but they had their individual fights under control. Despite the terrifying size of the stinger, the sting wasn’t anything to write home about.

Then my mana barrier wavered, and the next moment I suddenly lost control over my mana.

You have obtained (Mana Disruption) Lv.1. Temporary.

I didn’t get to inquire exactly what that was before more than twenty bees pounced on me. I jumped back just as Firana used [Aerokinesis] to blow the airborne Mana Stingers away. Then, I slashed the head of the nearest monster. It had been a while since the last time I had a fight without a barrier or even my mana blade, but I felt strangely light. [Light Footed] synergized perfectly with [Swordsmanship].

“No more barrier, team!” I yelled. “Zaon, with me. Ilya, Wolf, guard the rear. Firana, you are free to move, but don’t hog all the kills.”

The kids gave me a quick ‘Yes, sir,’ and I focused on the monsters before me. We were fortunate that Mana Stingers weren’t as strong as Black Wolves, nor fast as the Slime’s acid spit, and their fluffy bodies weren’t enough protection against a sharp-edged metal sword. I jumped back and forth, mowing down monsters as Firana adopted a more defensive stance, blowing away any Mana Stinger that attempted to jump us. The fight continued in a delicate balance of offensive, dodging, and retreat. As much as I loved the small and fluffy bees from Earth, these ones wanted me dead.

Despite not exchanging a single word, Zaon and Firana fought in perfect sync. Zaon’s awareness of his surroundings allowed Firana to blast her spells without fear of friendly fire, and she took advantage of the openings. The Aias Sword burned brightly in the gloomy forest, yet she held back from incinerating the whole swarm. I left the vanguard to them, and I fell back to help Ilya and Wolf. One by one, we killed the Mana Stingers until all that was left was a pile of corpses around us.

“That was intense,” Zaon said, cleaning the sweat from his forehead.

Juvenile Mana Stinger Swarm slain.

Level up!

A pleasant sensation overran my body, and I almost forgot I had been stabbed in the calf. Two levels in a single day was no small feat for a regular System user. I was now a level seven Runeweaver Scholar, and for some reason, My body felt lighter and stronger than usual. The Book of Classes had no information about Runeweavers, so I had no idea what the Class Growth could be. Maybe it was just the placebo effect, and I had the same terrible growth as a Scholar. Only time would tell.

“Status?” I asked.

“Got stung on the forearm,” Zaon said, examining a small cut on his leather bracer. “Well, it is more of a graze than anything.”

“All good around here,” Firana said.

“Mana Stingers can’t cut orcish skin,” Wolf pointed out. Even if [Awareness] detected just a hint of dishonesty in his voice, Wolf was the one least affected by Mana Disruption as he had no skills. Save from a few scratches, he was unscathed.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Ilya sat on the root. “They got me in the leg, damned bees,” she grunted.

I knelt before her and examined the wound. It was a small cut on her thigh, just below the hem of the hardened leather jacket. The riding breeches hadn’t been enough protection against the bladed stinger, but the wound was small, barely a couple of centimeters long.

Firana knelt by my side with a worried expression. “Take off your pants. We need to apply some Health Potion to that.”

Ilya gripped her belt as if her life depended on it. “I’m not taking my pants off!”

“Come on, Ilya. There’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m sure you have a nice pair of legs,” Firana pulled them down. “Receiving medical care is more important than your stupid Gnomish pride. You could bleed out!”

Firana’s concern was heartwarming, considering the rocky relationship between the girls.

“Ilya can drink the potion,” I interrupted their struggle.

I put a few drops on a piece of cloth and applied it to Zaon’s wound. The skin sizzled, and the cut healed almost completely. Then, I applied a salve and wrapped it with a bandage. Meanwhile, Ilya emptied the vial, and a moment later, the wound on her leg was gone. We were one potion down but in peak form for the next fight. I examined my [Mana Disruption], and I learned the status would be following me for another hour. Ilya’s spells were also down, and Zaon and Firana were running low on mana. I made the call to wrap up fighting for the day. Fighting was dangerous if we weren’t in peak condition, both physically and magically.

“Let’s get down. I don’t want another swarm attacking us before we get our spells back,” I said.

We climbed down the eastern side of the root and walked away from the combat zone in case more Mana Stingers appeared again. Thirty Juvenile Stingers were manageable, but we needed a couple more levels to deal with anything more developed. We traveled east, moving away from the root system and approaching the steep mountain range that separated us from Farcrest’s valley until we found a notch under a boulder trapped by the old roots of a pine.

The kids sat down against the natural wall, exhausted. Three fights in a single day had brought them close to their limit, but the experience had been excellent. Ilya was right about the Mana Stinger Swarm, as their Mana Disruption skill shouldn’t be a hindrance for a low-level warrior with limited mana and very few skills. If we managed to bait more swarms, the kids would reach level ten in a week instead of a year.

I used [Identify] on my Mana Disruption status. It had turned from Temporary to Receding, so I knew it would last a few more minutes.

“So, how do newbies normally level up around here?” I asked.

“Without magic items, for starters,” Zaon jokingly said.

The kids were more than used to my seemingly obvious questions.

“Here near the border? You get a group of eight to ten low-level combatants to explore the nearby valleys where monsters are weak,” Ilya explained. “Sometimes, tracking down monsters takes several days, and the experience is diluted between all the participants, so the yields are minuscule most of the time. It’s a slow process, and it is also expensive because of all the equipment you need. After the first ten levels, you are fairly safe on your own as long as you don’t go too deep.”

“Or you can go the Captain Kiln route and level up thirty times in a single week during a Monster Surge!” Firana added.

The mention of Izabeka stung my heart, but I just nodded in silence.

“Nobles and high–born ladies have it easier with their ridiculously powerful enchanted items,” Wolf said, elbowing Firana.

“Don’t hate the player; hate the game,” she replied. “Being an Aias has given me more problems than anything.”

The wind howled, and we remained silent, listening for any sign of monsters.

“It is over Firana. Kellaren is dead. Janus killed him,” I said. The whole situation was far from the outcome I wanted, but Firana’s link to the Odrac-Aias Mercenaries was severed for good.

After a while, Zaon opened his mouth.

“I used to look up to Sir Janus,” he said. “Can you imagine it? A poor boy from a backwaters town fights his way up the ranks of the guard and eventually turns into an Imperial Knight and works for Prince Ragna himself. It was like a fairytale.”

The other kids nodded in silence. Zaon overlooked something important in Janus’ story. The previous Marquis had become Janus’ sponsor after noticing his talents. Janus himself had told me during one of our first conversations, but I also understood the commoners' need for having their own heroes.

“In a decade, kids will be saying the same about you, Zaon,” I said, and the boy blushed. “Prince Adrien was of the opinion you have a good chance of getting into the Imperial Academy.”

Zaon stuttered. “He was probably being polite.”

“Nobles have a good eye for useful people,” I replied, remembering the pile of invitation letters that we got after each fight at the tournament.

Like piranhas smelling blood in the water.

“Let’s rest for today. We are not in shape for another fight,” I said, despite the fact there were a few hours of daylight left.

“He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight,” Ilya nodded approvingly.

We set camp in the snow-covered forest. The Mana Disruption disappeared shortly after, and I could use my skills again as the cold wind blew down from the mountains. The old pines and the rock formation provided some degree of protection against the weather, but the enchanted blankets and the Warming Stones were the MVPs of the day. A group of low-level combatants would’ve needed twice the amount of equipment to survive a trip in this weather.

I warmed my hands with an enchanted stone and examined my Character Sheet.

Name: Robert Clarke, Human.

Class: Runeweaver Scholar Lv.7

Titles: Out of your League, Hot for Teacher, Consultant Detective, Confidant, Classroom Fiend, Researcher of the Hidden, Favorite Teacher (98), Father Figure (2), Master Tutor, Headmaster, Silver Scholar, Delinquent Reformer (5), Stalwart Mentor (7), Making the Difference, Role Model, Expert Mathematician, Expert Physicist, Adept Historian, Adept Linguist, Journeyman Biologist, Novice Chemist, Novice Orator.

Passive: Lv.5 Swordsmanship, Mana Mastery, Awareness, Master of Languages.

Skills: Identify, Stun Gaze, Intimidate, Minor Illusion, Runeweaver Encyclopedia, Rune Debugger, Silence Dome, Invigoration.

Despite looking down on [Invigoration], the skill would allow me to halve my sleeping time without affecting my overall performance. I grinned. Four extra waking hours meant four extra study hours without abusing the few Stamina Potions I had left. We also had to be careful with the fights we picked going further. There was a single High-Grade Health Potion left after tending the kid’s wounds and my own after Janus’ attacks.

“From now on, we will only fight if we can ambush our enemies,” I said.

“What if they ambush us?” Firana asked.

“Then you try to kill them as fast as possible. Don’t think about spreading experience. Just prioritize our safety,” I said. We still had room to wiggle regarding our levels. I noticed Firana had been holding back the firepower of the Aias Sword, so if she leveled up slightly faster, there shouldn’t be a problem.

“I don’t want to sound reckless, but I think we should take advantage of the Stinger Swarms. They are a good source of experience despite being level-one monsters,” Zaon pointed out.

An evil grin appeared on Ilya’s face. The girl sat beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. Before she could even utter a word, I knew what her plan was.

“We know how to trigger the Mana Stingers attack, and we know they aren’t undead,” Ilya said. “If Mister Clarke disturbs the swarm and sits under his barrier, we can wait until the bees are exhausted, and then we clean them up!”

The kids rubbed their hands, probably imagining all the levels they’d get.

“I’m sure Mister Clarke would be a great bait,” Firana added.

“The finest of them all,” Wolf interjected.

I sighed, seeing how greedy they had become. It was understandable. “Maybe tomorrow. Now, go to sleep. I will wake you up four hours before dawn.”

The kids chitchatted for a minute with their blankets up to their noses before exhaustion won over them. When they were asleep, I summoned my [Rune Debugger] and my [Rune Encyclopedia] and started tinkering with the long list of runes I still hadn’t uncovered. Mental images of Captain Kiln haunted me. I could only imagine how it should’ve felt to be betrayed after a lifetime of hard work to protect the city she loved.

[Awareness] tried to block my feelings so I could focus on runeweaving but I didn’t let it. I wanted to feel it. Izabeka deserved at least one person crying for her death. Knowing Janus, he must’ve twisted the tale to make it seem like the monsters were responsible for her death. I let anger fuel my determination, and I got absorbed into the runeweaving process.