"Say," Lev began, incredibly bored. "Why are you spending so much time with me? I am grateful but aren't you like a famous crafter who probably gets a lot of orders?"

"What do you think?" Alec questioned back with a cheeky grin.

Lev huffed. That manner of teaching could get seriously annoying at times. Thinking about it, nothing stood out. His mentor was always with him, just observing him and everything around him except when he went out.

"I don't know?" He phrased it as a question, wondering if he was missing something obvious.

"You don't." His mentor confirmed. "Pay attention."

For a brief second, an illusion fell away in front of his teacher. Lev beheld a plain mythril ring and a fuck ton of mana around it before the illusion covered it again.

"You've been making stuff all this time?" Lev exclaimed in amazement.

"Yep. It's simple enough to hide the process from pretty much everyone below Master."

"That was a storage ring?"

"Correct. One of a much lower quality than your own."

"I knew it. Mine's far too spacious to be normal," Lev muttered, uncaring if Alec heard him. "The gold coins were excessive too, right?"

His mentor coughed, entirely theatrical. "They didn't feel excessive back then."

Lev just sighed. His teacher was both too rich and detached from the common folk, which made sense. Masters always kept their distance and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.

The lifespan of a Master was long enough that nobody knew the exact limit. They all inevitably died before old age or a select few ascended past that. They also stayed away from people below their rank, for they were both much weaker and likely to die, and also would age much faster if they decided to stop progressing.

Still, Alec had straight up gifted him a hundred gold… He still had over 90 in his ring, which he was careful to not use in front of anyone.

"Bah, forget that. How far are we from The Pit still?" Lev asked and lay down again.

He could feel the amusement in his mentor's voice. "Four more days at most."

Lev groaned.

****

The journey proceeded smoothly for another two days, and they were expected to reach The Pit in less that night. That was why, as the suns crossed their zenith, Lev was very suspicious of how peaceful everything was.

His hunch was proven true when Alec suddenly frowned. It was a minuscule thing, barely a tilt to the corner of his lips, but Lev noticed it all the same.

He was just that bored.

"Should I be back in my armor?" Lev questioned, not worried. The region was filled with lower-level monsters, nothing that should pose a problem for his mentor.

"No, I'll deal with this one alone."

Lev straightened up. Finally some fucking excitement.

"Let them get close please," Lev posed his request as he went inside the illusion armor. "I want to see you fight."

When Lev climbed above his cart, the silver team instantly took notice.

When Alec exited with his bulky barrier armor, they were alarmed but only momentarily.

His mentor taking action meant that they wouldn't need to worry yet some unease remained. Not knowing what caused the Mythril hunter to square up was a worrying prospect.

In contrast, Lev sat down with his legs folded, ready to enjoy the show. He knew better than others how strong Alec was just from his aura in comparison to the other Masters he had seen.

The wait lasted for several hours, hours before the threat was revealed on the horizon to Lev's relatively low perception.

Those are… trolls. Lev jogged his memory about different monsters.

Extremely tough and visible levels of regeneration. Can't regrow limbs before the first threshold but even then it's a slow affair. Vulnerable to fire.

He could now see why his mentor had decided to act. There were more than a hundred, maybe even two hundred of them. Not only were they hard to put down, but they were also one of the strongest monsters below the first threshold.

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Even the silver team would struggle with the sheer amount of trolls. The task was certainly doable for them if they kept running and attacking, only made especially difficult by the raw strength of the adversary. Trolls could easily reduce an Adept mage to a pulp.

Not only that, several monsters stood out. They were two heads taller than the other orcs, at over 8 feet tall. Likely a shaman or a commander or Monarch forbid, a general.

Some monsters were inherently stronger than the rest of their species, formed to lead and destroy. Considered lethal for a similarly-leveled party, they had far more personal strength and could enhance entire hordes. Commanders and Generals were two of the worst.

Commander monsters only made the horde more coherent, making it far more dangerous. The General, however, took the lead. Those monsters were doubly as strong and had stronger enhancement than the Commanders.

It made Lev grateful that his mentor was here if either of those showed up. When the monsters were five hundred meters away by his estimates, the weapons were revealed.

Above Alec were what Lev would describe as cannons with long slender barrels. They positively radiated vast amounts of mana to Lev's senses, letting him know in no uncertain terms that the horde was about to perish.

The first of them fired silently, the only indication being the extremely bright projectile landing amidst the trolls. The sheer power packed in it eclipsed most explosives Lev knew about on Earth, save for the largest scale weapons.

The resulting blinding dome of fire and energy was accompanied by a shockwave that Lev had to stabilize himself again lest he be flung off the cart. Thankfully, he could do easily that by mentally keeping his armor in place.

Despite the sheer destructive power, only a few trolls stayed down for good. The dust settled to reveal the horde still giving chase, the wounds healing rapidly. Lev couldn't see the regeneration from so far away yet the improving gait of stragglers was enough proof.

It was clearly a testing shot, and Alec began in earnest after that. Five more shots were fired simultaneously, all hitting the edges of the horde.

The resulting explosion was magnitudes stronger, encapsulating the trolls from all sides. Lev had already descended back into the cart, which proved to be a good decision when the shockwave hit. The cart shook furiously for a moment, nearly tilting to the side before it passed.

Lev peeked out at a sight that reminded him of nukes except on a much smaller scale. There was a miniature mushroom cloud where the monsters used to be. The Trolls were all dead.

The caravan never stopped moving as Alec sat down next to Lev again. He probably expected Lev to have many questions but the young barrier mage only had one.

"How much of your mana was that?"

Alec looked surprised at that. "Not what I expected you to ask. Only around a twentieth."

"Huh, that's more than I expected."

Alec stared at him flatly before he burst out laughing. "Preparing yourself mentally for that Wisdom Boost already, eh? That was more mana than most would be comfortable using on low-level trolls."

He wasn't wrong. Lev was already entertaining a lot of explosive ideas. His main priority whenever he could manage permanent enchanting was… beams. Laser beams, fire beams, lightning beams, and any other destructive beam.

As someone so eloquently put it on the internet, the "fuck everything in that direction" spells. Lev thought with a snicker. The internet was truly the middle ground between a curse and a blessing.

"I kind of need to, no? Can't think by normal standards if I do get it," Lev mused.

"Fair, fair. So, what did you gather about my fighting style?"

Lev chuckled. "Big boom?" They both shared a laugh at the simple yet correct answer.

****

The Pit, unsurprisingly, had walls even larger than WhiteFall's third outpost where Lev was born. These behemoths were over 60 meters high to his estimates.

The small city they were entering was called Pit Stop, yet everyone just called it The Pit. It was inside a partition wall to defend from both The Pit and The Plains. The settlement was especially secure because of the number of Hunters inside.

The guards at the gate inspected each cart with less scrutiny than Lev expected, but they also didn't have much reason to be thorough. The merchants were seemingly well-known, bringing goods to and from the outpost.

They're staring too. Lev noticed with an inward chuckle. The guards seemed to be very impressed by his mask.

"Lodgings first?" Lev inquired as they were let in.

"Hunters Guild."

Right. The quest.

The Pit was pretty much like he had expected. The entrance to the settlement and the gate to the dangerous region behind the inner wall were connected by a huge road. Curiously enough, most of the stores and other buildings on the road were connected to monster combat in some way. Weapons, armor, potions, and some scattered training institutes too.

Those weren't a thing back in the outpost.

Lev wondered what was the extent of their teachings. From the arena he'd glimpsed, it was surely focused on melee fighting.

I need to work on my Brawling General Skill, which is a scary prospect. Getting close and personal with pit monsters.

He would've shuddered if he hadn't been preparing himself for it mentally for a while. Pit monsters often possessed an aura that caused fear or confusion, and could be lethal for the unprepared or weak-willed.

Lev would theoretically not have much trouble, courtesy of his title, but the reality remained uncertain still.

He expelled those thoughts out of his head when they entered the Guild headquarters. It was much larger than the one in the outpost, which made sense given the sheer number of hunters exploring The Pit.

White and Gold were still the most prevalent colors, with five different counters. Two for Classers, two for Adepts, and the last for Masters per the labels.

Alec strode to the fifth while Lev stayed behind. The quest completion took all of a few seconds before he was handed a gold coin. The man behind the counter glanced at Lev, or his mask Lev didn't know, before he walked out with his mentor.

Letting Alec take the lead, Lev noticed details he hadn't before. The buildings were larger overall, with thicker walls built with defense in mind, making comfortable use of all the space encapsulated by the huge partition wall.

There were more inns too, probably because of how many people came and went. Those who wanted to settle down would most likely do so in a Great City. That left inns seeing much more traffic.

Lev started to get a little worried his mentor skipped all the cozy-looking ones and entered one that looked too high-class for him. Inside, it was just as professional as he had feared.

They were immediately greeted by an attendant in white and black attire, not dissimilar to a butler.

"Welcome to the Golden Basilisk, esteemed sirs." The man stopped beside them with a smile, bowing his head slightly. Lev was somewhat uncomfortable with the treatment but, as usual, Alec seemed to be at home. "Your suite is ready to be used at any time."

He nodded with a "thank you" before they were off again. Lev followed quietly to the second floor. He didn't fail to notice how Alec was instantly recognized and not bothered at all beyond the notice of his suite being ready.

The stairs gave way to a clean and richly decorated hallway. Lev took in the few paintings with muted awe. They depicted sceneries from Monarch knows where, yet they were all of a quality he had never expected to see.

The largest one showed three floating islands above a huge mountain chain but what stood out was how realistic the depiction was. Lev brought all his Perception to bear to check if it was an illusion. It wasn't.

The painting was so good that the islands seemed to be swaying, the sunlight radiating warmth, and the river down below flowing gently. Yet it was just a painting without any movement.

"An Adept Painter at the very least," Alec nodded in recognition and praise. "Quite the piece."

"It's not moving, right?" Lev confirmed, just to be sure.

"No. It's just very well made,"

That little detour done, their suite was the second to last. Alec summoned a card that he pressed against the door. The card and door both flashed green before the door slid open, like an elevator.

The interior was not nearly as flashy as Lev expected, which matched Alec's style. There were two large beds, a separate hall with a fancy white table and chairs, and a restroom.

Lev got out of his armor. "Which one's mine?"

"Left."

That was all he wanted to hear before he jumped on the bed. The previous thoughts all vanished as he landed on what felt like a cloud. The mattress was so extremely soft and inviting that sleep was suddenly all he could think about.

This is most definitely enchanted. Lev thought with conviction despite not being able to feel the enchantments.

Shifting to get more comfortable, he didn't even realize when he drifted off.