Hector was good to his word. Over the next year, he became the best gatherers of herbs and other plants for the lodge. Everyday, he stop when he found a large concentration of earth essence and cultivate. It only took him two years to reach F8.

Once he did so, Paige opened his water affinity. She followed the method that her contact had described and it worked fantastically. Hector was now a plant cultivator.

As the lodge was right next to the forest, this gave Hector ample opportunity to cultivate. He had explored his affinity enough to discover other techniques. He had the healing, but also a root tangle, skin with the durability of bark, and the ability to form a lash out of a vine.

Korin could not help but be jealous of his friend. He had purposely avoided delving too deeply into his own affinity. The majority of the techniques that he could find involved summoning.

Seven years from that point, both men had broken into the D ranks. They had seen the benefits of this life as their bodies toughened. They were always brought along by Michael when there was a dangerous hunt. The last five hunts had no casualties, thanks to Hector.

Ten years had passed since Korin and his mother had moved into the Lion Kingdom. He was now a skilled alchemist. He made healing potions, anti-venoms, and a variety of poisons for the hunters. He was now at D3. Hector had caught and surpassed him to reach D5.

Life was going smoothly for the two men in the hunter’s lodge. Of course, that is when things change. Paige showed up mid morning to tell them that they needed to pack up and leave to explore a new dungeon.

She had convinced them so completely of the speed at which this would happen that both of the men ran out and purchased the tents, sleeping rolls, and trail supplies that they would need for the long trek to the Phantom Mountains. What surprised them was that she was wrong on this point.

They were ready to go the next morning, but the day came and went. They had explained to MIcheal what their plans were. He wished them well and had them work on creating a stockpile of potions in the time that he had remaining until they left with the expedition. It turned out there it took the guild a month and a half before it was ready to leave.

The journey was peaceful. Any creatures that could have been in the area were wise enough to stay out of the way of such a large group of people and their four supply wagons. Korin and Hector were able to hunt and forage around the group during the trip and had been able to supply the group with a deer or two on most nights to help supplement supplies. Giving the cook extra meat to work with had earned them a friend early. Two weeks after they left the city, they had arrived at the dungeon.

* * *

Korin stood and admired the entrance to the dungeon. There were spiral stairs leading down into a large cave. The cave was lined with intricate carvings along the walls. The amazing thing is that these were natural formations. Paige had explained that the concentrations of the various types of essences create dungeons and draw monsters and beasts into them.

The first group had gone into the dungeon about an hour ago. Everyone else needed to have their group ready and they could be sent into the dungeon every three hours. Once the creatures had been drawn into or mutated by the dungeon, they would always be there and would be recreated not long after they were cleared out.

He and Hector had arrived with the caravan from the Lion Kingdom two days ago. The guild leader had set things in motion and groups started going into the dungeon. Three groups had gone through while everyone else worked to set up the camp.

They had set up their tents and then moved to help set up the mess hall. They had made friends with the chef and it was a good to keep on those terms. Korin set down one of the benches and looked up to see a man with cloth wrapping on his arms and hands staring at him. With a shrug, Korin walked over to the caravan and pulled another bench down.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Walking over, he set the bench down on the other side of the table. As he stood back up he felt a prick of something sharp against his back between the chest piece and the greaves. Korin froze immediately. A male voice with a cultured accent spoke directly into his right ear.

“Thank you so much for setting up these tables and benches. That will make our conversation so much more comfortable. After you.” The tip of the blade disappeared. Korin tried to turn and look at his captor, but the man placed a finger against his chin kept his head from turning. “Eh eh, let’s not spoil the mystery.”

Korin looked forward and saw the cloth wrapped man sitting in front of him to his left. He was obviously using his essence to look into Korin’s center. “You have done very well with your chi spiral. Most infernal cultivators that I have encountered are not as concerned with essence purity. I am confused though as you do not seem to be equipped for your normal infernal cultivators.”

Korin scowled at the implication. “I’m not a summoner. You can not help what infinity you are born with. Trust me, life would have been much easier for me if I had just had a water affinity.”

All three of the men tensed as they heard another person walking towards the table. Korin felt the blade tip reappear in the inside of his leg right over a large artery. The message was very clear. Hector walked up and sat down in front of Korin, next to the man in the cloth wrappings. He slid over a mug of ale to Korin. “The chef gave us a drink on the house for helping set up. The name is Hector. You guys are in the group that went In this morning right? We’d love to get some pointers before we go in.” Hector offered his hand to the man with the dagger. The man sitting next to Korin stared at the offered hand until Hector awkwardly dropped it.

The man across from him squinted at Hector this time. “You are a plant cultivator and you travel with this man? Most plant cultivators revere life.”

Hector gave him an odd look. “First off, without him I be ten years dead in the ground. I owe him the very fact that I know what a cultivator is, let alone am one. He even helped me get the affinity that I have. Plant affinity is a form of nature. I assure you death is a very involved in nature.”

The man with the knife pressed against Korin’s leg under the table yawned. “Sure. Death is normal. It’s the undead and demon possessed part that’s not so natural and tends to annoy people.”

Hector shook his head. “I’ve worked with him for ten years and I’ve only seen him use one technique. That one only makes his weapon more deadly. If anything, he needs to explore his affinity more and give himself more tools to work with.”

The cloth wrapped man tapped his chin thoughtfully as he looked at Hector. Looking back at Korin, “What are you hoping to achieve here?” Being mindful of the dagger sitting on his leg, Korin shrugged. “I want the same thing that everyone wants here. I want a chance to cultivate pure essence. I don’t get a chance to cultivate quite as easily as everyone else. Unless, I wanted to give in and become a summoner. Specifically, I want to get open my Liver meridian. Once I have that open, I’ll need to get get up to D8.”

The man sitting next to Korin slapped the flat of the blade on Korin’s leg and laughed aloud. “Ah, I remember when I opened my Liver meridian. Well, to be honest, I remember the first day of that week. I woke up in the dwarven kingdom. I’m still not quite sure who she was or where I got cat o’nine tails.”

The cloth wrapped man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Are you planning on drinking yourself into a stupor or something more specific?” Hector pulled out a water skin with a red ribbon on it and handed it over to the man. “Korin is a renowned alchemist in the hunter’s lodge. Once he opens that meridian, he’ll be able to make much better alchemist.” The man took the water skin and examined it closely.

The man with the dagger looked over to Hector. “You said that he helped you become a plant cultivator. How exactly did he do that?” Hector started to answer when Korin interrupted him. “My mentor is a water cultivator. She was able to open Hector’s water affinity channel. She is the one who talked to the guild leader and got permission for us to come and train in this dungeon.”

“Did you now? That is awfully nice of the guild leader to extend such a courtesy to someone who is not even in the guild. I’ll tell you what. Craig and I will go chat with the guild leader. I’m sure that you are telling us the truth and we will not need to come find you again.” The dagger disappeared as the man stood up.

As he stood up, he clapped his hand on Korin’s shoulder. As he did he reached over with his middle finger and tapped spots that Korin’s armor didn’t cover. The finger tapped the artery on the side of his neck. Standing up he ruffled Korin’s hair. As he did so, he also tapped Korin’s temple. Korin understood the message clearly. The dagger weilding man winked at him, then walked away whistling. The other man walked off in the same direction.