(Gavin)

Apparently, Zack's solution to make up for our severe lack of manpower for the fight is Mana Potions. Not for Braden, Max, and me, but for Luca. He… gave Luca a ton of them. To the point that Luca had to literally tell Zack to stop because he didn't have enough room in his Inventory.

According to Zack, he went on a rampage last night and earned a lot of money from that, and so just spent all of his earnings on Mana Potions. I wish I could have done something like that. I also wish he would have allowed us to go buy our own Mana Potions before this. And Health Potions.

There is no way in the Boundary we can do this by ourselves. I really, really doubt it. I also doubt any of us actually has the needed stats to hurt this thing, too. Or maybe we barely do?

The Candy Beast looks like some sort of bear-wolf-rabbit hybrid, and is made out of… candy. It's in pastel pinks, blues, greens, and yellows, and just looks strange. Strange, and terrifying, and Max is babbling about how he's going to eat the Candy Beast's corpse for lunch and dinner, which I think is supposed to be some sort of intimidation attempt.

All it's doing is disturbing me.

"Oh," Zack says, and we turn our attention back to him. "By the way, you are more than welcome to grind out against the Candy Slimes and Candy Bunnies out here if you want to try to gain another Level or two. Take your time. But not too much time, because the bosses will disappear sometime after dark and I still want to kill one. So try to do it at least by dinner."

I sigh. He's just being a brat again. Another Level or two might help, though. I need two more for the next every-five bonus, and Max needs only one more. Braden needs four more, but he's also a higher Level than either of us.

Looking at Luca, I can't help but wonder how hard things must be on him. He's only Level 18 right now, while the rest of us are around Level 39, Level 43, and Level 51. He's not even able to take on a second Class yet, and he's weak compared to the rest of us. Not only that, but he gains Experience far more slowly than us.

Yes, he can speed that up by rapidly healing and buffing several people, and doing that repeatedly over a short period of time, but that still has its limits. I'm sure he'd be able to reach Level 25 if all he did for a few hours was heal and buff, and-

If all he did for a few hours was heal and buff. I look at Zack, who's currently adjusting Luca's cloak and the clasp on it. He overloaded Luca with Mana Potions to the point that Luca couldn't even fit them all in his Inventory and he had to stop pulling them out. He has a ton more Mana Potions to give to Luca.

It seems like overkill.

Unless that was Zack's intent. If Max, Braden, and I are taking constant damage while out here training so that we can fight the Candy Beast, and Luca ignores the 'wait until they're critical' rule Zack usually has, then he might be able to acquire a few Levels, just like us.

In fact, he might gain more Levels than the rest of us. My gaze turns to Gold and Aurum, who came out here as well. Supposedly to train on their own, but…

What if it was to provide additional sources of healing and buffing for Luca? Luca can apparently heal and buff over greater ranges than most healers. Normally, their targets have to be within two or three yards, but Luca's done it from a dozen away before.

"Oh," Zack places a hand on Luca's shoulder as he finishes adjusting the healer's clasp. "And you can ignore the rule about waiting until they're critical in Health. Just make sure you're not wasting any healing power."

Which means that as long as Luca's Heal will affect us fully and not bring us back to full Health, Luca has the okay to heal us. Luca nods in response to Zack, who then pulls out some sort of golden token.

"Use this as well," he tells Luca. "It will help you Level a bit."

"What's that?" I ask.

"Part of the reward for killing King Monsters," Zack answers. "It doubles earned Experience for twenty-four hours. Luca needs it more than any of us."

I start to get annoyed by that, but then realize that Zack was giving up the boost he could have used for himself so that Luca could gain some more Levels. Zack is going to fight a literal Dragon, the most powerful type of monster in the entire Boundary, and he's sacrificing Leveling so that Luca – who isn't 'necessary' to the battle – can Level a bit more.

But if he's doing that, does that mean he's confident in himself for being able to Level enough for the battle?

"Alright!" Zack interrupts my thoughts as Luca accepts the token and does something that involves tapping the air. "Have fun, you guys! I'll be around if you need me, but make sure to avoid the area I marked out with pink paint-"

So that is why there is a massive pink ring on the ground.

"-because if you enter it, the Candy Beast will attack," he continues. "Make sure to gather back up at these rocks when you're ready to fight it."

"Question," Braden says softly.

"What?" Zack looks at him.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Are Gold and Aurum not helping us with the Candy Beast?" He asks.

"Nah," Zack shakes his head. "They're here purely for training."

"But then won't they miss out?" Braden asks. "Couldn't they help us a bit?"

He wants Gold to help, mostly. I think. Gold has a higher Level than us, I think. I'm not sure.

"Gold's going to help with one later," Zack shakes his head. "Kylie and Samantha's other apprentices are all going after one this evening, after dinner, and Gold's possibly helping fight it."

Zack wants to watch that. That's the real reason we're being told to go after this one before dinner. But why does he think he can't date her now? We're trained up a bit and can handle ourselves, and he doesn't need to watch us all the time.

It seems like he's putting himself into his training pretty hard, too. He should make time for social things, so that I don't feel bad for crushing on her when he's obviously interested. I want to ask her out, but am somewhat nervous of Zack because of his feelings for her.

"Go on!" Zack gestures to us. "Go train if you want! Or fight the thing. It's up to you."

"Where are the Dark Knights you said were watching to make sure others don't try to steal part of our reward or the reward entirely?" I ask.

"They're around," Zack answers.

I look around, but still don't see any. I guess all of the present ones have the Conceal Skill or something.

"Go on, guys!" Zack says.

I nod, then start to walk away, and Braden hurries over to me.

"Be on the lookout," he mutters.

"Why?" I ask. "Think something stronger is going to be here?"

"Why are we in the pass instead of the valley?" He asks. "And if you noticed, Zack isn't wearing his tunic under his armor."

I glance back, only now noticing that while Zack has on his breastplate, that's all he's wearing on his torso. How did I not notice this? I mean, it's not like he's pasty or something, he actually has a decent tan – strangely, considering it's still cool out and not all of the snow and ice has melted yet – but his skin contrasts with the dark of his armor. It should have been obvious he wasn't wearing a tunic, since he only wears black and dark red.

"He's also wearing Zack's Blood," Braden says as I look back to the ranger. "Not the Primordial Dark Armor we're used to."

"But he's not trying to hide-"

"No," Braden shakes his head. "Why would Zack go without his tunic if he wasn't expecting a pair of wings to be used?"

I frown, then look at Zack again, as he watches Max chase one of the Candy Bunnies. He can probably hear us, but is he listening?

"You think something might happen?" I ask. "Even with the Dark Knights here?"

Braden turns his attention down the pass, away from Maelnor.

"The Teleport Plaza is constantly being watched," he says. "Because we receive supplies and messages at all hours now and they want to increase efficiency. Not all Adventurers serve the Crystals, though, and if you wanted to sneak into Maelnor…"

"You'd have to travel through the pass," I look down the pass, then at the mountains rising up to either side. "Especially since they can't pass through the mountains."

"Exactly," Braden says, and I look at him. "Zack may have brought us out here specifically because of his sight."

"You think a servant of the Shadow of Life might be coming here?" I ask.

"It's possible," he holds up his bow and draws, an arrow of green magic forming as he does. "Magic Arrow, Power Shot, Lightning Shot, Multishot."

He releases the arrow, and ten more split off from it as lightning wraps around them. They fly swiftly, several of them arcing around, all ten striking into a Candy Bunny, its Health dropping decently. Braden uses the combination twice more, killing the beast, then he nods.

"Want to kill together, or train separately?" He asks. "According to Zack's records, the Level 1 ones have around 50 Endurance and 50 Willpower, and the Level 5 ones have about four times that."

I look at the nearest Candy Bunny that's not a corpse made of red candy.

Blue Candy Bunny Level 1 Health: 974 Mana: 182

"I can probably handle them," I say. "Zack has them recorded?"

"Yeah," Braden shrugs. "And if you notice, there aren't very many of the Level 5's around. I think he came out into the pass last night."

"Probably," I look around as I notice that. No one really trains out here, so there should be a lot more Level 4's and Level 5's than there are. "He's probably been coming out here for a couple of weeks."

Even while we were in Talorn.

"Actually," Zack's voice enters my head. "Gold's been coming out here with a couple of Dark Knights. They were actually killing so many that none were really reaching Level 5, but I asked them to slow down on that for the last week so that some could build up for you guys."

"Thanks," Braden and I look in Zack's direction, and he dips his head to us before looking at Gold and Aurum, who are attacking a Green Candy Bunny.

"I'd probably only need a buff to hurt the Level 4 and Level 5's," I tell Braden. "Maybe just the Level 5's."

"Alright," he says. "Be careful, they have an attack where they shoot candy pieces at you pretty fast. Same with the Candy Slimes, though… those might not be a good idea for you to fight. If you do fight them, though, use Flame Blade."

"Got it," I draw my sword. "I'll train separately for now, but might team up in a bit."

"Okay," he nods. "Good luck."

He takes off, and I turn my attention to the Blue Candy Bunny. Mystic Squire is a lower Level, so it will be easier to increase than General, and bringing it up to Tier 2 takes the same number of Levels as I need for the next bonus.

However, General will give me a bigger bonus for one Level over the two. Ah, but the Leveling bonus for reaching Level 45 will make Mystic Knight more beneficial. So using Blade Skills is a must, then.

Does Zack really believe we could Level up once or twice here, before dinner?

Focusing myself, I inhale, then exhale.

"Flame Blade," I say.

It's probably fire instead of wind because it's candy rather than stone, I guess. But the Chocolate Slimes were air? I don't know how this whole thing works, it's confusing.

I charge the Blue Candy Bunny, which looks at me, then opens its mouth, shooting out several pieces of candy pretty fast, losing 1 Mana with every piece it shoots. I do my best to dodge them as I move forward, but a couple of them hit my legs. It hurts, but I push through it, crossing the few yards to the creature.

Swinging my sword, I make contact with it, the Blue Candy Bunny flying to the side from the force of my attack.

Target -109 Health!

Time to work hard and Level up some. Hopefully, Luca manages to gain a few Levels, too. For some strange reason, I also find myself hoping the four of us are able to handle the Candy Beast by ourselves.