The group stand outside of the dungeon and take in their surroundings, it was a beautiful scenery, they were in a grassy mountainous terrain, with a small forest that you could only find in anime or manga, it was truly beautiful, the sun was shining, there were barely any clouds, it was a truly peaceful day, in the distance, fantastical creatures and monsters could be see roaming freely... there was just one problem.

“So, where exactly are we?”, Ray asks, still amazed by the scenery. Lilly takes off the storage bag that Ray had let her keep storing more arrows and pulled out a map, it had clearly belonged to the humans that they had disposed of a while back. They all gather around the map. The map depicted the borders between the nations, the snowy Elvern plains in the north-east, the Dwarven wastelands in the south-east, the northern beast tribe in the north-west and the southern beats tribe in the south-west, however by far the biggest was the human plains, which was the centre continent with land that stretch all the way north, south, east and west like a plus sign, separating all the Demi human nations. Lilly points near to the bottom of the human plains, at the mass of land that separates the southern beast tribe and the dwarven wastelands.

“I believe we are around here... which means we need to head southwest.”

“Yeah, but what way is southwest...”.

“Well, the sun rises in the south and sets in the north, so we can just wait until the sun sets, until then maybe we should find some food?”.

“Let the hunt begin.”, Ray said joyfully, up here, there were new monsters and new battles to have, he couldn’t wait.

The group had split up into 3 groups, each group led by Ray, Ken or Lilly. In group Lilly, were the 2 girls, sky and sara, who was a bit sad she couldn't be with Leo but was surprisingly very interested in archery. In group Ken, were the twins Tom and Molly, they were extremely energetic and seemed to see Ken as a master, often in the caves during times they were free, they would get Ken to fight with them, he was obviously holding back, but praised them saying that one day they would make great warriors. Finally, in group Ray was Leo, Leo had taken a liking to Ray, referring to him as “Big bro.”. according to Leo, he wanted to get stronger, so he could protect those he loved from going through any hardships or trauma again, Ray admired such determination in the young wolf-boy and had decided to take him under his wing. He was a fast learner, in the dungeon Ray had given him a little dagger that the archer had on him, and he given him a daily routine to try and help his body learn Quick slash, Piercing strike, Stab and Dagger throw.

“So, what are we going for first Big bro.”, Ray said wiggling his tail.

“Maybe a small animal or monster, like a slime or vorpal bunny, the ones in the dungeon may have been a bit tough, but the ones up here should be ok.”.

As they walked through the trees, they came across what looked like a small crow with razor sharp talons, a twee, a small weak monster, however, has potential to evolve into a real monster.

“Think you could take that bird?”.

“You insult me Big bro, that bird stands no chance against me.”, he said as he walked towards it.

“Be careful, it’s talons and beak are sharp.”, Ray warned. But Leo was in the zone, using animal like instincts, he sneaks up on the bird. Ray was amazed, his stealth was off the charts, he made nearly no noise as he moved, he was like a true hunter stalking its prey... no, more like an assassin preparing for the kill, Ray couldn’t help but smile, he had quite the apprentice on his hands. The bird, finally sensing his presence tried to fly away, but it was too late, Leo, holding the blade upside-down had struck piercing it. Leo looked at Ray, sparkles in his eyes.

“I levelled up, I’m level 1 now.”. Leo said excitedly, Ray pats him on the head.

“And you’ll only get stronger, now, let's gather some more food and head back.”.

At the end of the Hunt, Ray didn’t get a chance to come across any strong monster that were worth fighting, however something to note was that he caught a glimpse of what seemed to be a piggling in the distance, he’d have to remember that, there could be some strong orcs in the area, or worse. So, he focused on Leo and improving his skills, he had come a long way in the short hour they had been hunting for, he had grown to Level 7 through continuous hunting of twee’s, vorpal bunnies, slimes and spiders. He had also learnt the skills Stab, a powerful downward knife strike, quick slash and piercing strike. Ray tallied up their loot, Leo had hunted a total of 14 twee’s and 18 vorpal bunnies, they were weak, at the beginning the vorpal bunnies caused Leo a bit of trouble, resulting a scar on his cheek, but after learning quick slash, they became no problem, he had some serious potential in becoming an assassin. As the sun began to set, they gathered up their bounty of food and departed for the meeting area.

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When the group reunite, the kids immediately run over to each other excited to tell each other of their exploits.

“So, how were they?”, Lilly asked.

“Leo’s a real natural, his stealth is incredible and he’s a fast learner, he learnt 3 basic dagger techniques and levelled up to level 7, he also caught enough food to last a bit.”.

“The twins are energetic, and their teamwork skills and raw physical power is impressive, I'd say their own flaw is how they like to one up each other. But aside from that, they have great potential.”.

“As for the girls, Sara seems to quite skilled with a bow and her senses are great, I'm thinking of taking her under my wing and teaching her the things I know. As for Sky, she has a wind magic attribute, she can already use rushing winds, which was a great support for Sara, her only problem is her timidness and not wanting to accidently get in the way.”.

“These kids have so much potential, they’ll make a great team when they’re older, I can just tell.”.

As the sun sets, the group know in what direction to go in when they set off tomorrow. They sit around a fire that Ray had conjured and eat some of the food that they had gathered when they hear nearby rustling in the bushes around them, Ray, Lilly and Ken prepare for a battle when a battered and bruised hobgoblin female stumbles out of them, she had shoulder length white hair a toned body and pale green skin, different to the usual male grey, was this a hobgoblin female thing? She sees the group and falls backwards in fear and then spots Ken, she crawls over to him.

“Please... save... us.” she pants, collapsing in his lap.

Ken looks at Ray.

“I’m not the type to help goblins for the sake of it... but if you need my help, I'll gladly help you, after all, this could be your only chance to meet a hobgoblin female.”, Ray says smiling.

To Rays Surprise, Ken blushes, in all fairness, the girl wasn’t bad looking at all, it was hard to believe when a full-blooded hobgoblin was... well unless all the female hobs look like that. Ray may need to rethink his opinions on them, he mentally slaps himself, what was wrong with him? Was he in heat or something... was this a side effect of being a beast-man?

After Ken used basic healing magic to heal some of the hobgoblin female's wounds, whose name is Hob-Lee, and giving her some food, Ken asked the burning question.

“So, what happened?”.

“A few months back, I was the leader of my goblin village, we had a few goblins, however most of us had ascended to hobgoblin, there were about 30 of us in total, a small tribe, far from humans, that way there wouldn’t be any unnecessary conflicts...”.

Ray was temporarily shocked that they decided to move away from humans as to avoid trouble but then remembered that hobgoblins are smarter and more complex than regular goblins.

“And so, we moved to these lands, on the out skirts of civilization, however that too was a mistake, we didn’t know that this area was already home to a powerful monster, the orc, led by an orc lord raided our village, slaughtered the majority of us and has enslaved the rest of us, using us however they see fit... they're bigger and stronger than us, we can’t escape them and we can’t fight back. All the other warriors are dead, the only reason I'm still alive... is because I'm female.”, she said, tears welling up in her big brown eyes, Ken looks at Ray and he nods.

“Well I guess it can’t be helped.”, Ray says in gobda, to Hob-Lee's surprise, “I don't really care for goblins but it's a request from my friend here and besides, an orc lord, that means there's an orc with a level of 100 to 149, this will be a fun challenge.”. Ray says and although he showed confidence, he was slightly nervous, an enemy potentially double his strength and unlike the Phoenix who was only testing him, this will be a battle to the death, all this for goblins, “Well I’m doing this for Ken, could get his first very own girlfriend.”, Ray thinks to himself amused.

“Alright, let's do this before sunrise.” Ray says as he and Ken fist bump, Ray turns to Lilly.

“Yeah, I'll stay here and watch over the kids and... Hob-Lee? Be careful.”, she says and although addressing both, she stares into Rays eyes.

“Naturally!”, he proclaims, his face turning slightly Red

Ken tells, Hob-Lee to wait here and although protesting, saying she wants to help, she eventually listens and sits back down, they get the directions to the settlement and with that, Ray and Ken make their way to the orc settlement. It's weird, they had just left but now, they were going back in, this time to exterminate pigs and as they walked, Ray remembered the story of the big bad wolf and the 3 little pigs.

“Get ready little piggies, the big bad wolf is coming to blow your house DOWN.”.