In front of him stood a small group of 5 children and Jennifer the fox girl being the poking culprit. Draven rubbed the annoyance out of his eyes. He perked up as soon as he saw Jennifer. Standing up he asked. "Is there something you guys need? You should be in groups with the other Orb Hunters." Jennifer met Draven's eyes with her own and did not avert her gaze. "We were hoping to learn hunting from you." She said in earnest. "look I just got done hunting thousands of creatures and was looking forward to…" Draven stopped mid-sentence as he saw the disappointed look on all of their faces. They were used to being let down and Draven was more mentally tired than he was physically so he decided to change his mind. "Alright why not, but don't expect me to give you guys handouts I'll show you how to defeat them using your skills and will only step in if your life is in danger after I feel like you guys can handle yourselves you're on your own. Are we clear? They all quickly nodded their heads.
Draven waved them to follow him and he walked back through the barrier into the Training grounds. Draven saw many of the women kicking and stabbing the orb hunters who were crawling on their hands and knees. It was a brutal scene. Some were acting out swift revenge while others took their time to give them a taste of the torment they suffered. "Lick my toes clean go ahead I did it for a piece of old bread surly you'll do it to save your life. If you do a good job I'll let you crawl past me go ahead!" He heard a woman yell out while thrusting her bare foot into his face while holding a sword to his neck. Draven was taken aback after hearing that. What the fuck was going on in this village? Worse things were happening on the field but Draven didn't want to interfere. However, letting this go on was going to do more harm than good so he made an announcement.
"Listen up" He yelled out. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over to Draven. "You guys are getting a bit out of hand I don't know what those people did to you but becoming them isn't the solution. I'm going to go into the Forest and gather the first round of creatures it won't take long but when I'm back I expect you all to have dealt with your issues either kill them or don't. After today there will be new rules which will apply to everyone so decide their fate now because you won't get another chance later. When the Monsters pass the barrier every one of you better be ready and stand in your group with your group leader. To all the Orb hunters under me ensure everyone is in a group and train them to the best of your knowledge we need more Orb hunters if we want to survive and every one of these people has the potential to become strong."
Without another word, Draven ran into the forest and started gathering creatures any way he could. he threw rocks at boars, slapped goblins, and yanked the tails of wolves as he ran by once he made enough noise more monsters joined the chase too. Draven was having a blast as nothing in these woods could catch him. It took him 20 minutes before gathering enough for so many people and when Draven entered the barrier to his surprise everyone was ready standing in their groups waiting for the monsters to come rushing in. As soon as Draven passed the barrier he formed a large wall in the shape of a v with the point facing the barrier to split the horde while having them also lose sight of him and allowing the groups to attack while they were confused on where to go. Draven then called out to Jennifer.
"Jennifer you're a magic user what spell are you familiar with?" Draven asked the
Fox girl. "I like fire the most she said. "Okay you're up first, attack that boar to our right with your fire. Jennifer created a ball of fire and threw it at the boar. The fireball hit its target but only seemed to leave a small burn mark on the fur of the boar. the boar, more annoyed than hurt. After seeing who attacked it came charging in. Jennifer raised her hands to protect herself shut her eyes in fear and simply waited to be hit like a deer caught in headlights. Draven stepped in and grabbed the boar by its legs and tossed it 10 feet away. Open your eyes, Jennifer! He shouted, "You are strong! You can easily kill that boar don't give up and let it kill you. It's a damn pig…" Draven exclaimed.
Tears came out of Jennifer eye's and rolled down her cheeks. "Great now I'm making a girl cry. This is High school all over again..." Draven muttered to himself. "Look your Fireball needs to be denser pump more mana into the ball while trying to keep it as small as possible. It will fly faster and will penetrate deeper. Shoot for something the size of a golf ball for now. Draven said Jennifer wiped her tears and nodded. The boar got back up and started charging Jennifer again. Jennifer formed her fireball "More mana but not bigger than a golf ball she muttered as she tried to put into practice what Draven said. "Keep your eyes on the enemy never look away from your target." Draven couched. Jennifer looked away from her fireball stared at the Charging boar and launched the golfball-sized fireball at the overgrown Pig. The ball hit the Boar in the head and removed the upper right portion of its skull leaving behind a half-moon-shaped hole. It collapsed to the ground dead. Draven patted her on the shoulder.
"Good job that was a bit overkill but remember that feeling and adjust the strength from there so you don't waste too much mana to kill something, a mage without mana is a dead mage. When you get better you can form an arrow or bullet of fire they fly much faster without costing a lot of mana to make them fly." Draven explained as he formed an arrow of flame in front of him and launched it at a goblin that was getting ready to attack one of the kids in his group. The Arrow flew and lodged itself into the goblin's chest as its whole body erupted in flames before collapsing to the ground dead.
Congratulations! The user has slain level 2 Goblin
"That cost me 10 mana to make and fire, bullets are even cheaper but require accuracy to be lethal" Draven explained.
Jennifer's eyes widened as she burned Dravens fire arrow into memory. "Who is up next Draven called out to the rest of the group. A young teenager named Greg raised his hand. Draven looked at his Stats.
Gregory Ahonen
Race: Otsu, Human
Level 3 Warrior
Health: 340
Mana:40
Looking at Greg, Draven was surprised by this guy's health for level 3 that was a lot. What the hell was even an Otsu? Looking at Greg's features he had a strong build with wide shoulders and very large hands for someone his age. White mixed with brown fur could be seen coming out from certain gaps in his clothes.
"Okay, Greg step forward you're a warrior, and looking at the sword you got there I assume that's your weapon of choice?" Greg nodded. "Okay I don't use weapons as my claws are better at least I haven't seen a weapon better than my claws yet but I can show you how to get into range and more importantly how to get out of your target range Draven said as he walked up to a goblin grabbing its attention. Goblins are very quick on their feet but they have a very weak posture. Let it come to you and focus on blocking its dagger. Once blocked you can shove, push, punch, or kick whatever feels more natural to throw it to the ground and then immediately go for a downward strike your sword will always have a longer reach than their dagger so unless they throw it at you it should be a kill.
Draven explained all of this in real-time as he performed the actions he was explaining. He had blocked the dagger kicked the goblin to the ground and then stabbed the goblin with his claws killing it on the spot. Draven ignored the kill message and kicked a rock toward another boar. With creatures that are a bit sturdier that you probably won't be able to kill in one strike, it is better to take a hit-and-run approach. Draven explained in real time again. "The boar will charge let it come to you and sidestep the charge and slash the back of its neck as it passes you then jump backward to create a bit of space again. You don't want to get impaled by those tusks when it turns around. Boars are stupid so they will charge me again and I will repeat what I did before." Draven said as he sidestepped the boar again and slashed at its neck taking its head off. Greg watched very closely and listened to every word Draven said nodding like a wild man.
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"Okay if you think you're ready give it a try," Draven said pointing to a boar a dozen feet away. Greg pushed out his chest with a sword in hand he picked up a rock and threw it at the boar. The boar started charging Greg but he stood his ground and waited for the boar to come. Greg dodged the attack but was way too late with his swing. He cursed at his luck while standing still. "Greg move your ass or that piggy is going to eat your guts later tonight! Draven yelled out. Greg's eyes widened he forgot to create distance after attacking. Greg jumped backwards just barely avoiding getting a tusk rammed into his chest. Greg moved further back to give the pig distance to allow it to charge him again. Greg tried again to sidestep and managed to strike its back leaving a deep cut on the boar's back.
"Rinse and repeat now" Draven instructed. After another 4 charges, the boar finally fell to the ground and Greg collapsed from exhaustion with it. Panting for breath Greg was on his knees. Draven rushed toward Greg not to help him but to kick him in the ass. "Greg cried out after receiving Draven's kick. "Never allow yourself to fall over after you win a fight. Always stay standing and keep a watchful eye on your surroundings or the next creature that has been hiding in the bush next to you this whole time is going to pounce on you while you're lying down. If you're so weak that you can't fight another battle then use all your strength you have left to at least hide somewhere and hope for the best but don't stay out in the open for anything to come get you." Draven said scolding him.
Greg looked around at the nearest bush in fear that something was about to come out of it. "that's the spirit remember the fear of what could be hiding around you that's how you stay alive." Draven said. After looking at everyone else paying close attention to what he was saying Draven didn't feel the need to repeat himself. After Greg, Draven taught a rogue named Celine, A Ranger named Rebecca, A Berserker named Ross, and finally a Priest named May. He didn't know what to teach May she was a utility class but Draven knew the importance of force-feeding the healers in a party. Draven gave her enough XP orbs to hit level 5 without fighting and told her to focus on casting healing spells and getting used to casting them quickly and to determine if she needed to use a large cast or a small one depending on the wound or time she had to cast a spell. Draven decided that familiarizing her with her healing spells was far more beneficial to her than teaching her how to fight. She can damage the boss after she learns how to handle her main job first. May had long green hair with bright green eyes. Her skin was a darker shade of green mixed with brown and she had thin vines that loosely wrapped her body.
May Lawrence
Race: Human, Dryad
Level 5 Healer
Health 120
Mana 200
Celine was fairly easy to teach as she could use stealth or some form of invisibility to sneak up on her targets and kill them in one strike. She needed to get used to the feeling of killing more than anything else as she wouldn't ever be expected to be a front fighter with her skill set. She was slim and had the darkest black hair Draven had ever seen. Her skin was very white almost like it was bleached which was a stark contrast to her hair. The nails on her hands were elongated and seemed very sharp. like most others, her fangs were sharp and slightly elongated as well.
Celine Farrel
Race: Human, Arachne
Level 3 Rogue
Health 180
Mana: 110
Ross was straightforward to teach as well similar to Greg he was a front-line fighter but with a 2 handed sword. Draven had him do the same training as he gave Greg. Ross was red. As his skin was deep red all over he was fairly muscular not as bulky as Greg but he made up for it with an intimidation factor. He had white hair and his two bottom fangs seemed more like small tusks protruding upwards and he had another two small tusks that kind of came out of his mouth from the sides. His nails were black and were as long as the average woman had before but they were thick and sharp.
Ross Smith
Race: Human, Oni
Level 3 Berserker
Health: 160
Mana: 45
Last was Rebecca she held a bow and a quiver of arrows. Draven taught her how to keep her distance from enemies and the importance of staying near the line of sight of the front liners. Not directly behind them of course but slightly to the side so that if she ever aggroed a creature it wouldn't start running in the opposite direction to get her leaving her isolated from the party. Rebecca looked the most normal of all of us. She had a slim figure and long ears. Her skin was a light brown and her eyes were noticeably larger than what was considered normal before. She had short brown hair that ended at her neck. But other than that she had no other abnormalities.
Rebecca Collins
Race: Human, Woodelf
Level 3 Ranger
Health: 140
Mana: 60
"Ok, my job is done now it's up to you to kill enough to level to 5 you're better off than the rest of the groups as you even got a personal healer. I need to start flooding the training grounds with more monsters. Draven said. His group nodded in understanding but a slight pout could be seen on their faces they wanted him to teach them more. Draven noticed this and thought if they were relaxed enough to pout then they aren't as scared of the monsters anymore so they should be fine. Draven ran back into the forest and threw rocks, and boulders and even fell a few trees to get as much attention as anything living in that area to come after him. Attracting attention wasn't that hard. It seemed many monsters were naturally attracted to this part of the forest for reasons unknown to Draven.
After instigating another 100 or so monsters as Draven had fun sprinting around them he jogged back towards the Training grounds to lead them all in. Once inside Draven repeated his wall strategy and the creatures found new targets quickly. Draven repeated this process a few times before checking everyone with his mystic eye to see how close people are getting. There were quite a few people at level 5 Draven went to each of them to let them know to let others in the group get the orbs as they had achieved the goal. Draven didn't want to spend all night here because some people were hogging all the orbs. And everyone else was at level 4 so it shouldn't take much longer. After another hour everyone that had come was now level 5.
James came jogging over to Draven "Looks like we're all done here, now they just have to rank up in the pod which may take a while with so many people I'm not sure how many pods are in the adventures guild." James said. "What pod?" Draven asked "But as his father said this Draven noticed that no one was on the ground screaming in agony as they hit level 5 what was up with that? Seeing the confused look on Draven's face James explained that after you hit level 5 you have to go into a pod to rank up and apparently excruciating pain was not involved in the process. Draven squatted down he had never been so depressed in his life. Why did he have to suffer through the changes and everyone else got to sleep it off in some pod?
"I changed my mind all of you can go die in some gutter I'm out," Draven said without batting an eye as he stood back up. James was half shocked and half confused not sure how to reply to that. "How does it work for you?" he asked seriously. Draven then went on to explain how learning new skills and ranking up was for him and James could feel sweat starting to run down his spine. "I guess with great power comes great suffering," James said with a nervous chuckle as he made a mental note to keep pod talk to a minimum around Draven. Draven took a moment to let all negative emotions and death wishes for the people around him go. There was nothing he could do about it maybe he could use the pod from now on as well? He thought while crossing all fingers, toes, legs, and arms while praying to all gods past present, and future.
Beep! The User is not compatible with the advancement pod as the Djinn System handles all evolutionary changes to ensure the best outcome. "You just couldn't let me dream could you?" Draven asked. as he fell back into depression.
After hearing each person would sleep in the pod for roughly 4 hours Draven hoped that there were a lot of pods or this was going to take weeks until everyone was finished. Thinking about that Draven even considered the idea that taking the pain to move on quickly might be better. Since James had already gone through the process he decided to walk with everyone to the guild get them ranked up and get an idea of how long this was all going to take. Draven also passed some orbs to his dad after the system made a rough estimate of how much he would need to level to 10 Draven happily passed them along to his father. He wanted them to always stay a step ahead of everyone else. He wasn't going to actively stop people from surpassing them through grinding, but he knew no one could beat him in power leveling so why not force-feed his dad to stay on top as well? After confirming his dad had reached level 10 James and half the Village made their way to the guild.