“Alce you’re… back…and you found a kid?” a young Human man asked as he dropped down from a tree he was resting on.

He looked to be around twenty, maybe a little younger. He had curly brown hair and swirling dark brown eyes and carried himself like a warrior. Judging by his equipment, he must have been a frontline fighter with his steel bastard sword and chainmail armor that he wore underneath his brown vest.

“Dem, this is Voker, Voker, this man is Dem. And Voker here is the one that burned down the Drone hive… by himself,” Alce said as she gestured towards me.

“You mean to tell me this kid is a fire mage capable of taking down an entire Drone hive by herself?” Dem asked incredulously while crossing his arms.

Alce smiled. “That’s what I said. But I watched him incinerate a Forest Spider in a blink of an eye. Not only that, he sensed me long before I stopped him.”

“Ok—okay, I get it… sorry kid. It’s hard to tell with the mask and all,” Dem apologized while waving his hands.

“It’s fine.”

Is it really that hard to tell that I’m a man… I mean, I didn’t talk, but still. Maybe I should just start talking first so people don’t get confused… at least my voice sounds like it belongs to a boy.

“Voker here might be a kid, but his skills are legit,” Alce continued.

And was Alce really praising me? That Forest Spider wasn’t even moving… I could have thrown a sword at the thing and killed it.

“Is that so… I guess you Elves really are just built differently… “ Dem said while observing me. Then he shrugged. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Voker. Name’s Dem, and I’m the leader of this little group of misfits.”

“Likewise,” I responded with a nod of my head.

Dem turned around and waved us on. “Well, come on then, everyone is waiting. Ilme is gonna be pissed she can’t smack some bugs around,” Dem chuckled.

The two of us followed Dem towards their camp. The camp was only a few minutes away, and a small fire had just been put out.

The first person to notice us was a young High Elf girl who immediately ran over to Alce with a bright smile.

“Alce, you’re back!” she said while throwing herself into the Wood Elf’s arms.

“Yup, I’m back, Anna,” Alce said while returning the hug.

It was always hard for me to tell, but Anna looked to be around her late teens, and she had light blue hair and cloudy gray eyes. I had heard High Elves could have different colored hair like blues and pinks, but it was pretty rare.

It was said that brightly colored hair was a sign of someone having a large mana pool, something common in Elves. Wood Elves like Alce tended to have blonde or brown hair, and so far, the only Dark Elves I’ve ever seen were my dad and me with our jet black hair.

Anna was also wearing white and gold robes that accented her shapely figure. Even though the robes were somewhat extravagant, they still looked like they were meant for travel. She looked like a member of the clergy that was traveling.

She had a particular golden amulet hanging from her neck. The amulet depicted two knights crossing… swords. I’ve seen that symbol before… It’s the same one the Chapter of Despair uses on their tabards.

Anna looked over at me and tilted her head to the side. “Who are you?”

“Voker Winterheart, nice to meet you,” I greeted her.

“I found him limping about in the forest alone. Voker here cleaned out the Drones before we even got the chance to find one,” Alce told Anna.

“Oh! As a priestess of Amon-Ra, I can heal your wounds. If you will let me, that is,” Anna said quickly.

About damn time.

“Yes, please. Say, Anna, you wouldn’t happen to be a Master-ranked light mage by chance?” I asked hopefully.

“No, unfortunately, I’m only an Intermediate level light mage. It’s pretty rare for normal people to surpass Expert level in light magic. Normally only the Exarchs, Paladins, or High Priestess reach Master. And, of course, some people can reach it naturally, but it’s uncommon,” Anna said somewhat dejectedly.

Damn… so close.

“Regardless, if you wouldn’t mind healing me, that would be great.”

“Of course! Sit down over here, please, and I’ll start right away!” Anna said while guiding me to an uprooted tree.

I plopped down onto the rotting tree, and Anna went straight to work as she laid her hands on my shoulders. The familiar warmth of light magic emanated from her hands and spread out from there. It seems Grandpa’s light magic really is on a different level since he always started from inside of my chest regardless of where he placed his hands.

While Anna was healing me, I gazed out at the other three people who were just watching me from afar. None of them made any attempts to greet me, and the tall Dragonkin did not look too pleased with my handiwork. I guess that must be Ilme. I learned that if Dragonkin had horns on their heads, that was an indicator that they were female.

Without that knowledge, it would be challenging to believe that the giant red six-foot lizard person wearing a set of gray full plate armor was a female. Her scales were mostly red but at the ends of a select few around her head were a yellowish-orange. The last Dragonkin I saw had green scales, so I guess they can come in all kinds of different colors as well.

One of the others who was sitting silently by was a Human man from the Mists. He wore a black outfit that I found to be common amongst people from The Mists. I knew the outfit had a name back in my old life, but sadly, I didn’t know it. I suppose he looks like a wandering swordsman from Asian culture, especially since I recognized his two swords as being Jians which were shortswords used by the Chinese.

But it was the third person who caught my attention. When Alce mentioned another masked High Elf, they must have been referring to this person. She sat fully clothed in a black robe on a tree stump. I couldn’t see her hair color, nor could I tell exactly how old she was.

Judging by her body size, she must still be somewhat young still, and the only reason I knew she was female was… because I just knew? She had one dark blue eye showing from underneath her mask as the other side was closed off. Her mask was made of dull bronze metal and covered her entire face. She also wore a hood with cut-outs for High Elf ears to poke out of.

“Your wounds… I can’t heal them all the way. What happened to you?” Anna asked me as sweat beaded down her forehead.

I shook my leg a bit and stood up. As I had imagined, my wounds healed to their previous state. However, my ears, chest, and calf still ached with a dull phantom pain that I had grown accustomed to.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve had an expert check me out and even they couldn’t fix me. Thanks for doing this much,” I said honestly.

I could tell the poor girl had tried her best to heal whatever was wrong with me but to no avail. I’m sure my injuries are outside of her scope of expertise but being able to limp normally again feels good.

“Oh… okay… well, if you come with us to the temple in Luminar, I’m sure somebody could help you there. Are you by chance heading that way?” she asked me.

“Yes, I’m also heading towards the kingdom,” I said with a yawn.

Healing magic really does make you tired if you don’t have your adrenaline running.

Anna smiled brightly at me. “Great, I’ll see to it that you get the proper help!” Anna then looked at me, blinked a few times, and turned a few shades redder. “And oh… my manners, I never properly introduced myself. I’m Anna Goldenguard, a priestess of Amon-Ra and an Amethyst-ranked adventurer. And your name was Voker… right?”

“Voker Winterheart, it’s nice to meet you, Anna. And Amethyst ranked adventure. What does that mean exactly?”

“Do you not know the guild ranking system?” Alce asked me while stretching against a tree.

I shook my head no, and she went on to explain the rankings. “Amethyst is a rank in the guild. All of us here are Amethyst, besides Dem, who just got promoted to Ruby last month. The order goes Amber which is the lowest rank, Opal, Topaz, Amethyst, Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and then finally Diamond. Most adventures end up somewhere between Amethyst and Sapphire if they live long enough.”

“I see… what about Emerald and Diamond? How strong does one have to be to get there?” I asked.

“It’s not all about how strong you are. Sure, strength is important, but lots of things go into your ranking like attitude and personality are also taken into consideration. As for Emerald, it’s essentially the dream for any career adventurer and the highest any normal person can ever hope to achieve. I know there are a few Emerald-ranked adventurers spread around the world, but only a handful exist. I think… If you had to compare an Emerald rank to more notable people, they would be like the War Gods or Shadow Dancers. I’m sure either one of those people would be considered an Emerald-ranked adventurer,” Alce explained.

“And what about Diamond?”

“Honestly, I’ve never seen a Diamond ranked adventurer. I’m not sure it’s even a rank someone can get, so I have no idea what someone has to do to get that. I’ve only heard of the legendary heroes from The Six that managed to reach Diamond.”

“I heard Diamond-level adventures live in secret! And they won’t show themselves until the world needs them!” Anna said excitedly, even though she seemed a little tired from healing me.

“Uh-huh…” Dem groaned.

Anna pouted at Dem, which just made the man chuckle. Anna’s pout didn’t last long as she gazed about the other three members of her party who had yet to speak.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Since nobody else wants to… let me introduce you to everyone, Voker! You already met Dem and Alce, So…. the Dragonkin over there smiling at you is our vanguard and barrier master. Her name is Ilme,” Anna chirped.

She… she is definitely not smiling at me. And did she just snort smoke out of her nostrils?

But Anna, not caring about my internal thoughts, continued. “The man in black sitting down over there doesn’t really have a name since none of us know it, but we call him Silent.” The man named Silent nodded at me in greeting.

Perhaps he is just a mute?

Anna continued talking, but she started speaking even faster. “He doesn’t talk all that much… or ever really, but he’s really nice, I promise. He’s a warrior, but he protects Alce and me in the back! You should see him swing those swords around! They go so fast and—” Anna was babbling, and I wondered if she had even stopped to breathe.

“Anna…” Alce scolded with a deep sigh.

Anna’s earlier fatigue from healing me was gone as the tips of her ears burned from the embarrassment, “Sorry… “ she said sheepishly.

It seems Anna, Alce, and Dem have enough energy to cover for the other three.

Alce chuckled at Anna. “Sorry, she can get a little excited.”

“It’s fine.”

“I guess one of us has to be the light in the group,” Alce said while nodding her head with a wide smile. “Anyways, the masked girl’s name is Sylvia. She hired us to take her to Luminar, so that’s where we are headed.”

Sylvia, huh? She was by far the most interesting person here.

What was a High Elf doing on this side of the mountains and why wouldn’t she be heading towards Tel’an’duth? If she is from Amoth, then she is even further away from home. Not only does she have the money to hire a team of adventurers to escort her, but she doesn’t have enough for them not to take on dangerous missions?

“I know what you are thinking, but it was Sylvia’s idea that we take on quests,” Dem chimed in.

“Really?” I blurted.

Can this guy read my mind?

Everyone turned to Sylvia as if they were expecting her to answer. Eventually, the girl sighed and spoke with a voice as sweet as chocolate. “I just wanted to know what it was like to be an adventurer, that’s all. But I guess we'll just have to take another quest.”

Her voice was… so pleasant to listen to.

However, It seems Sylvia is annoyed with my interference as well, as she was glaring daggers at me with her uncovered eye. It sucks to suck, I guess.

“Don’t worry, we still have another quest to do,” Alce said cheerfully.

“That’s right… I see why you recruited the boy now…” Ilme huffed while crossing her arms.

Huh?

“I see! I see! I get it now! You're a genius, Alce!” Dem said while smacking his hand onto his palm.

Silent just started nodding from his seat with a knowing grin on his face. “What are you guys talking about?” Anna asked. It seems she is just as confused as me.

“Oh, come on, Anna. Everyone knows that active Lurkers are attracted to the blood of powerful mages. At first, we had you, and now… “ Alce said while smiling at me.

However, this smile was not kind. Instead, it was the smile of a predator who was about to strike.

It seems I’ve made a very big mistake.

—

“Voker… they planned on using me from the start… my own friends were going to use me as monster bait, and they weren’t even going to tell me. Haha,” Anna’s laugh was empty as she stared out into nothingness with dead eyes.

Since I didn’t know what to say, I just remained silent. When I learned they planned on using me as bait, I had a fleeting thought of just burning everything down, but I realized it was a pretty decent plan all things considered. Of course, I didn’t want to be monster bait either… at least I’ve only known these people for a few hours, unlike Anna, who is actually a part of their group.

Alce informed me that a Lurker was prowling around these woods. Lurkers were… bizarre monsters. Some monsters were docile or even used for tasks just like normal animals would. Like that lizard monster that acted in place of horses for carriages to the port back home. These kinds of monsters teetered on the line between being a monster and an animal.

Lurkers, on the other hand, were just flat-out monsters.

They walked on two legs and came in a variety of colors. Even though they had a Humanoid figure, they had a distinctive look that nobody would confuse with being normal.

The monster had one giant eye placed in the center of its head and an oval mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth along with long claws dangling from its arms. Despite its off-putting appearance, Lurkers weren’t incredibly dangerous unless certain conditions were met. And it was those conditions that made this monster so weird.

Lurkers would attempt to sneak up on an unsuspecting person from behind and touch them. If they were noticed, they would run away or try again at a different time. Now during this state, Lurkers are considered to be inactive and completely harmless.

If somebody could catch a Lurker in its inactive state, they could beat it to death with their bare hands, and it wouldn’t fight back. But, if the Lurker succeeded, they would repeat the process once more. And if a Lurker managed to sneak up on the same person twice, the Lurker would become active.

An inactive Lurker was a threat level of ten, and the only reason it was that high was that people needed to be aware of the creature’s nature. But once a Lurker reached its active phase, it became a threat level of thirty-nine or higher.

With the conditions met, the active Lurker will begin to kill indiscriminately. The monster uses its stealth capabilities to sneak up on people and rip them apart. Once a Lurker has reached its active phase, It won’t return to its inactive state until it’s killed.

Most people would be able to shoo away a Lurker with little problem. But occasionally, a Lurker could find an unsuspecting person or even a child to meet its conditions. To the Lurker, it didn’t matter how it completed the requirements. Even if the person was taking a nap under a tree, they were fair game to the monster. And in this case, that’s apparently what happened.

Someone had taken a nap in the fields, and a Lurker was able to meet the conditions, becoming active. It slaughtered the unknowing victim and went on a rampage as it decimated an entire livestock pen. It was driven off into the forest where Dem and his team have been tasked with its extermination. And now Anna, along with myself, have been turned into Lurker bait.

Rumor has it they are attracted to the blood of mages… but that’s just a damn rumor…

“Voker… Do you—do you feel that?” Anna asked me nervously.

“Yeah, and I don’t like it.”

This feeling was enough to make even me uncomfortable. It wasn’t the same feeling I got when I noticed a person or even an animal watching me. And typically, once I noticed someone, I could find them. But this thing… was giving me the creeps. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find the monster.

I know it’s here, but I can’t sense it at all. It’s watching us… but from where?

The plan was simple. Anna and I would sit out in the middle of a small clearing, give ourselves a tiny cut, so we were bleeding, and wait for the Lurker to show itself. Everyone else was waiting in hiding for the monster to show itself while Ilme protected Sylvia, hiding somewhere she could watch. I was to protect Anna if the Lurker managed to get past everyone else. To be honest… I don’t even want to see what this thing looks like. Hopefully, Alce pumps it full of arrows, and that’s the end of things.

“Voker… It’s getting closer, isn’t it?” Anna whispered in my ear from behind me.

My ears tingled from her warm breath, but I didn’t complain. “Sure feels like it is. But I can’t find it.”

Whenever I thought I was getting a beat on the monster, it disappeared from my senses. But one thing was for sure. It was getting closer.

Anna must have noticed it before me as I watched her ears flatten as she turned her head. I turned my head to see what she was looking at, and my heart went into my throat. My eyes met a single white eye peeking from behind a forest tree.

“WEST!” Anna screamed.

When I called those Drones abominations, I was wrong. This thing… is what I imagine a monster should look like.

Upon hearing Anna’s shout, the Lurker ran out from its cover with incredible speed for a five-foot-tall monster. The monster was hideous beyond belief; its skin was a nasty blue and purple color while its circular mouth was wide open, screeching. It looked like a small demon child with razor-sharp claws dragging against the ground. Its single bloodshot eye that didn’t have an eyelid remained entirely focused on us. So it never saw Silent coming.

The man from the Mists came from the monster's side and intercepted it with a double slash from his shortswords aimed at the monster’s head. The Lurker contorted its neck at an impossible angle for an ordinary creature and dodged the twin slashes. The abomination attempted to retaliate with a wild swing of its claws but connected with open-air as Silent dodged backward.

From the left, the whooshing of arrows flew towards the monster. It let out a screech of pain as two arrows lodged themselves in the creature’s upper back, narrowly missing its neck.

The monster twirled around to try and find the archer, but the second it turned its back on Silent, two swords sliced the monster’s leg muscles. The monster let out an ear-piercing screech which made Anna flinch, and her ears pressed tightly against her head. But the beast went silent when an arrow flew into its mouth and out the back of its head. The Lurker fell back with a thud, never to stir again.

Well, that went way better than expected. Most of the time, things don’t go that well for me. I guess these guys are the real deal.

Anna let out a sigh from behind me, and the two of us walked over to the body together. Silent was wiping the blood off his swords while Dem jogged over from his position.

“Damn! Can’t believe it came from the west…” Dem complained.

Silent nudged Dem and gave a “gimmie” motion with his hand. Dem groaned. “We can do it after I cut this thing up…”

But Silent wasn’t about to let Dem go as he glared at the man while making the same hand motion. Dem sighed while mumbling under his breath as he fumbled about in his pockets and deposited a singular large silver coin into Silent’s open hand.

Silent nodded and flipped the coin in the air. Satisfied with his transaction, he nodded at Dem and slid the coin away into his jacket. Silent noticed me staring and smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

“Dem has… I mean to say that Dem likes uh—betting, a lot. So Silent likes to make small bets with him all the time,” Anna said awkwardly from behind me.

So he has a gambling addiction?

“Does he win?” I asked, partially curious, partially joking.

“No… Silent always wins,” Anna said dejectedly. I turned around and looked at the priestess as she sighed. “I lose to Silent all the time as well…”

“I see.” Note to self, don’t gamble against the man from The Mists. But bet against Anna and Dem frequently.

And surely gambling as a woman of the cloth is against some kind of code of conduct. But I’m not going to point that out…

“Here, Voker,” Dem said while tossing something wrapped in cloth towards me.

I caught the gift and unwrapped it to see what it was. Inside the cloth was a single bloodied dagger-like claw. I looked up to ask why but Dem was already speaking,

“You put yourself out there as bait. You might not have killed the monster, but you were a part of the team that did. The claw of an active Lurker will fetch you two large silver at the guild, don’t spend it all in one place,” Dem chuckled while continuing to chop the rest of the appendages off.

I slipped the claw into my pocket when Anna poked me in the back.“Where are all of your supplies, by the way? You don’t have a backpack or anything, do you?” she asked.

“Most of my stuff got destroyed when I attacked the Drones. So I need to resupply as soon as possible,” I lied.

“Oh, okay. If you get hungry, I have some extra food,” Anna offered with a bright smile.

“I’ll let you know if that happens. Thank you.”

I hadn’t expected to be caught by potentially friendly people in the woods. Also, since I was hurt, I didn’t want to carry unnecessary weight, so I shoved everything into my spatial storage ring.

I felt that going around and telling people I had one of these things was probably a terrible idea. After all, I just met these people, and I can’t go around trusting everyone who doesn’t want to kill me immediately.

At least these people don’t seem so bad.