“Elise?” called Jag. “I didn’t realize you were on this mission as well.”

“I didn’t either,” Elise replied.

The other monster still looked exactly like she remembered him, though he looked much less out of place here in the greenery than he had at the Ostra meeting. His black fur seemed to shimmer, and sometimes blend in to the dark brown wood behind him, and his extra front two paws actually saw use as he used them to balance while climbing over larger roots, or to push low-hanging branches aside.

Next to her, Elise sensed Penelope and Maia tense up, and she could see both of them fixing their eyes on Jag with caution, but neither moved. Jag slowly made his way forward until he was standing right in the clearing with them, then bared his teeth in what Elise recognized as a smile.

“We missed you the other night,” he said with a wink.

Elise recognized that he was trying to secretly refer to the Ostra meeting, and wanted to facepalm at how badly he had disguised his meaning.

“I was busy,” she said.

“Oh, not to worry,” he said. “There’s always the next one. I’m glad you ended up deciding to join us though.”

“Haha, yeah.”

That confirmed it. Freddy had lied to Ostra, saying that she had joined. Why he had done it, she couldn’t be sure, but she could at least tell one thing for certain: he wanted her to be a member. Did that mean that she didn’t actually need to sign the contract? If he had told others that she had joined, and everyone believed that she was a member, did it matter that she hadn’t actually signed? She could enjoy all the organization’s benefits without its downsides. Not that she wanted to get too close with them, but this was starting to seem like Freddy was more or less telling her she could join contract-free.

In that case, her plans for the future might have to change. Otto might have been competent, but she doubted his information network would be quite as advanced as Ostra’s. It was a multinational organization whose leadership included at least one 9th tier monster, and probably more, and it no doubt had more powerful people than whatever Otto’s network included. She might be able to get better information on where Sophie was if she went through them.

She would have to think about that later though, as Jag was introducing himself to the others.

“Hello, my name is Jag, and I am a Greater Firebreath Jagaur,” he said, nodding toward Penelope and Maia. “Although my appearance may be alarming, I assure you that I have no interest in eating humanoids. I vastly prefer birds and rodents. Non-sentient ones, of course.”

He smiled again while Penelope and Maia looked uncomfortable.

“I see you already know Elise,” said Hans. “The knight is Penelope, and the rogue is Maia.”

“A pleasure to meet the both of you,” said Jag, bowing. “I look forward to our partnership.”

“Nice to meet you as well,” said Maia, looking unsure of what to think.

“Nice to meet you,” grunted Penelope.

“Now, if we’re going to be working together, I assume you’d like to know my skills,” continued Jag. “I don’t have anything particularly flashy. I’m what you might call a physical all-rounder. I don’t have a particular specialty, but you won’t find many that can match my physical stats or melee combat skills. I have a bit of stealth, and a few ranged fire options, but my mana pool is frankly pitiful, so I only use them sparingly.”

He smiled again, and this time, Maia at least seemed to realize it was a smile, and not a threat or anything like that, so she returned the smile and explained her own skills. Penelope did hers next, then Elise, and then Hans started speaking again.

“While so far, they all appear to be competent, I’m afraid their skills aren’t quite up to the level we need. As they are now, they will slow us down.”

“Oh no,” said Jag. “We can move a bit slower, can’t we?”

“We can, but we also have a month before the mission, and until then, we will be training them rigorously.”

“Oh, that’s a good idea too,” said Jag. “How can I help?”

“I was hoping you’d be able to take Penelope and Maia deeper into the Jungle to hunt,” said Hans. “And perhaps spar with them occasionally to check their progress.”

“I can do that,” said Jag, nodding. “But what about Elise?”

“I’ll need to take her out on my own,” said Hans. “I haven’t been able to see the full extent of her skills, and I suspect that there are a few ways that I can help her grow beyond what she would get on her own.”

“Ah, that’s a shame,” said Jag. “I was hoping I’d get to see her in action. Have you met Walter yet?”

“I’ve heard about him,” said Hans.

“Well, apparently Elise here nearly killed him once.”

“Did she now?” asked Hans, raising an eyebrow and clearly not fully believing Jag's words.

“Yes, apparently they had a bit of a scuffle before we were aware of them, and Elise came out on top.”

Elise almost audibly scoffed. “A bit of a scuffle” was a mild way of putting it. She wanted to correct him with what actually happened, but thought better of it. If she revealed that Jag was friendly with Walter, and that Walter was the one who had killed the Grays, Penelope would probably want to leave the group. She might even outright attack him. Elise couldn’t risk that.

“Interesting,” said Hans, looking down at her. “How did you manage that?”

“I tricked him into jumping off a cliff,” she replied curtly.

“I see,” he said. “Using {Suggest}?”

“Yes.”

“Then there are definitely things I can teach you. How about we start now?”

“Fine with me,” said Jag. “Penelope? Maia?”

Penelope didn’t look convinced of his non-aggression, but Maia nodded in affirmation and stepped toward him. After a moment, Penelope followed, but Elise noticed she kept a hand on her sword hilt the entire time. Once they were out of sight, she turned to Hans, who was still staring at her.

“Are you ready?” he said after a few seconds.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go.”

He led her into the Jungle, though rather than going deeper like Jag had with the others, Hans took her to the side, staying on the same general plane as their camp. After they had been walking for a few minutes, Elise heard the distant squawking of the parrots, and started to slow her pace.

“What is it?” asked Hans, looking back at her.

“Parrots up ahead,” she said.

“Good. Let’s keep moving. I want you to show me how you fight.”

“O-okay. Will you help if it’s dangerous?”

“Can you not handle them on your own?”

“I’m not sure.”

From what she could hear, there were at least a dozen of the parrots, and while they weren’t that strong, before, she had Penelope to hide behind and Maia to take care of flankers. Now, she was alone, and though she was with Hans, who was stronger than either of the other two, she was supposed to be demonstrating her skill. If he had to help her, that would reflect poorly on her.

“I’ll step in if you’re in danger,” he said. “But you shouldn’t need me.”

“I’ll do my best.”

They both took to the air and continued forward. As they flew, Elise noticed that, while his wings were feathery instead of insect-like like hers, they still seemed to function the same way. That way being that he wasn’t flapping anywhere near as often as he should have needed to, and that he maintained a steady altitude despite the flaps. Once the parrots were close enough, Elise stopped again, and when Hans looked back at her, she tried to make a motion for him to stay. He seemed to understand, and moved to a tree branch where he crossed his arms and folded his wings before nodding to her to continue. She nodded in response, than started flying upward, thinking about how best to handle the parrots

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They were weak, and a single {Magic Missile} was enough to take out multiple. The problem was that they were also fast, and came in dozens. She would be able to take out four or five with her first volley, but the rest would charge her, and she doubted she could take a hit from even one without being fatally wounded. Their beaks were half as long as she was.

That meant that she would have to use cover, hiding behind trees, and using {Dart} to stay out of their way while preparing other spells. It seemed doable, but it also didn’t quite feel right. If she did that, she wouldn’t really be showing off her true capabilities. However, she didn’t really know how she could work {Suggest} into her plan. Maybe if there were only a couple of them, she could safely experiment, but with as many as there were, she didn’t want to risk her life. She debated internally for a moment longer before deciding to just fight normally. It would have to be enough, and if it wasn’t maybe he would teach her whatever he wanted to with {Suggest}.

The fight went more or less as she hoped it would. She tried to sneak up on them at first, hoping to get the jump, but unlike the cows, the birds had excellent eyesight, and she didn’t really have any stealth abilities. As soon as the first one saw her, it screeched and took off, twelve more following close behind it. Elise sighed and started casting.

The first volley of {Magic Missile} took out five of them, and Elise quickly ducked behind a tree trunk, which the remaining ones swerved to avoid. They stopped in midair more quickly than she had anticipated, so she only had time to aim half of the next volley before she had to {Dart} out of the way of their next attack. Two more birds fell, and the rest unified in a sparse cloud about thirty feet away. She started another cast of {Magic Missile}, but they quickly scattered, and as if they had made a plan, all dove her from different angles at slightly staggered times. She had to use {Dart} five times in a row to avoid them all, and they gave her no time at all to mount a counteroffensive before they were diving again.

Elise didn’t have enough charges in {Dart} to repeat that first maneuver, so she made it behind a tree, with two of her remaining three charges, and prepared another spell while the birds swerved around it. Three more fell to her next {Magic Missile}, and the final two hesitated for a moment before fleeing. Elise tried to chase after them, but they were too fast for her. They were not, however, too fast for Hans.

Elise blinked, and suddenly he was hovering in front of her, holding the two remaining parrots by the necks as they struggled to break free from his grip.

“Not bad,” he said, loudly to be heard over the angry birds. “But I don’t believe you used {Suggest} once there.”

“I didn’t,” Elise admitted. “I wasn’t sure how to.”

“You used it against the warg, no?”

“That was different,” she said. “It was- it was chasing me. I didn’t stand a chance in a fair fight.”

“So you can use it when disadvantaged, but not when you have an advantage?”

“Not exactly,” she said. “It was just- That was the only thing I could do at that time.”

“Hmmm,” he said. “How have you hunted up until now? Did you just do as you did now?”

“No. When I hunted before, I would sneak up and use {Suggest} to lure things into isolated places, then attack.”

“So you have never practiced {Suggest} for combat?”

“I-I’ve used it in combat once or twice,” she said. “But not really. I mostly use it for ambushes.”

“I see,” he said. “Then I will teach you. How well you learn will determine whether I let you join us on this mission or not.”

“I understand.”

“Good,” he said, releasing the birds, allowing them to fly away behind them. “I’ll follow the birds. You follow the sound of my voice.”

With that, he turned around and dashed away after the birds, leaving Elise alone. She moved to follow, but before long, both he and the birds were out of her sight, leaving her with only his voice and the flapping of their wings to follow them.

“{Suggest} is indeed a powerful tool for ambushing,” she heard him say. “But I would argue it is even more powerful in direct combat. When you are fighting a life-or-death battle, causing your opponent a split second of hesitation, or misleading them for even a moment can be the difference between victory and death. What I am going to teach you is the method that I used to become the Blood Syndicate’s strongest arena duelist.”

That sounded interesting, but Elise was curious how it would work. She hadn’t really been able to do much to Yuri when he was fighting Penelope. She had tried to use {Suggest} to distract him, just as Hans described, but it didn’t have any effect. Was that because Yuri was too strong, or had she just been doing it wrong?

“The birds are slowing,” said Hans. “I believe they are nearing another flock. I will stop and wait for you here.”

A few seconds later, Elise caught up with him, and as he mentioned, the birds were indeed nearing another flock. This one sounded bigger than the first. At least twice as big. And the arrival of the two fleeing birds seemed to get them riled up. A few seconds later, the first of them came into view, and as soon as they saw Hans and Elise, they changed targets to fly straight toward them.

“Hide behind that tree and watch,” said Hans, flying up to meet them.

Elise used {Dart} to get to safety as quickly as she could, then turned back. Hans was just hovering in midair, his arms crossed like before as the birds got closer and closer. Suddenly, one of the birds veered to the side, crashing into another which crashed into another, sending all three tumbling downward for a few seconds until they could right themselves. Another dove straight down, its beak stabbing straight through one of its unfortunate comrades below. The two birds fell, interrupting the flights of two more. At almost the same time, a third veered to the other side, taking out three more with it.

Within the span of a single second, enough birds made drastic changes to their flight paths that by the time they reached Hans, none were pointed at him. He simply hovered in the air, exactly where he had been, and all the parrots either flew around him or fell beneath him. Only the one unfortunate who had been speared by its comrade died, so they all flocked together once more and made another attempt at Hans. Just like before, they all swerved to the sides as if to avoid him, and he remained exactly where he had been, unscathed.

This happened once more before Hans evidently decided he had shown enough and it was his turn on the offense. Not three seconds later, every last bird was falling to the ground, all of them having been bisected by blades of mana that he wielded like daggers. While their bodies were still falling, he returned to Elise, standing in front of her with his arms crossed once again.

“Do you understand what I just did?” he asked.

“Maybe?” she said. “You used {Suggest} to make them suddenly change course, causing them all to miss and interfere with each other.”

“Correct,” he said. “Do you think you could do the same?”

Elise glanced down at the piles of blood and feathers below.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I just- I don’t have enough control.”

“Could you do it if it was just a single bird?”

“I- maybe? I’m not sure. I would have to experiment with it.”

“Wrong,” he said. “Your Charisma is high. Very high. You should have no trouble at all with just one. Not even six. I think I know where your lack of confidence stems from though. When you use {Suggest}, do you think in words?”

“I- I guess so?”

“That’s a good strategy for more subtle uses of the skill, but when you’re in combat, words will be the death of you. They are slow, and their meaning can be misconstrued. When you are using {Suggest} in combat, you do not use words conveying more complex ideas. You use simple, visceral, instinctual feelings. Do you understand?”

“I- maybe?”

“Allow me to demonstrate.”

Without giving her time to respond, he suddenly lunged forward, another mana blade in his hand. Elise used {Dart} to leap backward, and almost started flying away when suddenly she noticed that he hadn’t actually moved. He was still standing exactly where he had been before. It was possible that he had simply moved so fast that she didn’t see properly, but from his words before, she realized that was unlikely. Most likely, he had simply used {Suggest} to put that image in her mind.

“Do you understand now?”

“Maybe?” she said. “I have a better idea what you mean, at least.”

“Try it on me,” he said. “That instinctive feeling of fear you just felt. Send it back to me. Make me feel the same.”

Elise stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out how to make it work. She focused on what she had just experienced, but couldn’t figure out how to combine that feeling with {Suggest}. After a few more seconds of futile planning, she gave up, and decided to just try it.

I’m being attacked! She sent.

She winced as Hans shook his head, knowing she had done it wrong.

“You’re still using words,” he said. “You are translating all your feelings to words. Don’t do that. Don’t think. Just feel. Think back to what you just felt, and send the feeling alone, with none of your thoughts attached.”

Elise paused a moment, trying to think back to the feeling of fear, before trying again. Once more, it came out in words, but before Hans could admonish her, she tried again, slightly adjusting the “message”. That didn’t work either, so she tried again. And again. And again. And again.

“Stop,” said Hans, raising a hand. “You’re getting further and further away. I am going to do it to you again. I want you to use {Suggest} back on me the moment you can. While you still feel the influence of mine, I want you to turn it back on me. Don’t waste time thinking. Ready?”

Elise nodded, then a split second later, the mirage of Hans attacking her appeared. She was more prepared for it this time, but she still couldn’t stop herself from {Dart}ing backward. The moment she regained control of her mind, she used {Suggest} back at him. She didn’t really have anything particular in mind when she used it, but she was still full of the feeling of fear he had forced on her, and when the skill hit him, he smiled for the first time since he saw Maia.

“Good,” he said. “Now, again.”

They repeated the process four more times, and on the third time, it suddenly clicked for Elise. She let him do the fourth, just to make sure, but after that, she stopped him and tried it on her own without his help.

“Good!” he said. “Again! More!”

She repeated the process a dozen times. Two dozen. Three dozen. And each time, Hans asked for more. On the final one. Elise had fully grasped the concept. She thought back to the time that the warg had broken through into the cabin. The exact moment when the logs that made up the wall had broken, sending splinters flying inward. She channeled that feeling into the strongest {Suggest} she could muster, and that was even enough to make Hans flinch.

“Perfect!” he said. “Well done.” He held up his arm, showing off goosebumps. “Your Charisma must be high indeed. Even I couldn’t help but feel that one. I believe you’ve mastered fear at least. Now, let’s get into some more practical combat applications. I want you to try to hit me with {Magic Missile}. Use weaker ones to conserve your mana, and as you try to hit me, focus on what you feel when I dodge. When I move left, right, up down, diagonally, forward, backward, and whatever else I do. Once you get a good feel for that, you can start practicing those feelings with {Suggest} as well, and once you master those, you will truly be a formidable opponent. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” said Elise excitedly.

“Then let us begin.”