Author's Note: I'm back bitches!

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Azrael, Vera, and Percy finally went on their way once more. They talked of miscellaneous things, and discussed their lives. It was then they got on the topic of how the Berriken came into existence, when Azrael asked Percy.

"It wasn't an act of love, like you all assume. The goddess Freya has a love for beautiful and cute things. She conceived us , and then moved on to other things which caught here interest. To simply make a cute race, not thinking of our toils and struggles. We are small, quite weak, and without proper guidance we would simply die out. Berrefos, being the strongest, took lead and would hear nothing of abandoning Freya. He managed to turn most of the Berriken into fanatics, and lived in denial. He thought we weren't abandoned, and that Freya would return, but most of us knew the truth. Not all of us were fanatics. Some of us were realists. I hold no love for the selfish god known as Freya, and sometimes even curse her for my existence. That was, until I met you, mein Furry."

Vera had tears in her eyes, and a new anger was welling up in Azrael.

"How could a god be so selfish? Making a race with no objective, and then abandoning them, simply for her own pleasure. It would seem this world is more twisted than I thought." Pondered Azrael.

While Azrael was lost in thought, finally another village could be seen on the horizon.

"You guys wait here, I will go scout the town to make sure it is devoid of the devout."

Azrael told Percy to guard Vera, and assured them that he would return with haste. He then made his way to the village. It was much larger than the last, and seemed to house many useful amenities. Once more, no church in sight. Things finally seemed to be looking up for the group. It was a small city, to be exact. It had guilds, shops, and all manner of things a player would need to survive.

"Excuse me sir, what is the name of this city?" Said Azrael to a lone guard.

"This is the city of Thrane. It's not too popular, but some come to spectate our matches." Said the Guard.

"Matches? What matches?" Replied Azrael.

"Ahh yes, you are new. We hold gladitorial events, and monthly tournaments. It's a shame you could not have viewed yesterday, but there is a special event next month. You should stick around, as it should be a good time." Said the guard, as he handed Azrael a flyer.

The flyer read, "Level 50 and under team tournament, prizes for placing first and second. First place gets an exclusive quest."

Azrael was quite intrigued by the rewards, and sought to go question the arena staff now. Before doing so, he felt he should gather the rest of his party. He then headed back to the hiding location.

Upon returning to the location, Azrael found Vera and Percy eating some of the prepacked lunch, and sat down. While eating, he discussed the rules.

"Apparently, you must be under level 50 to participate, and it is limited to teams of two. Pets are not allowed to enter with their masters, sorry Percy. But, if you are interested Vera, we have a little over a month to prepare, and learn more details."

"It sounds really fun! Plus, it would be nice to take place in an event without being hunted." retorted Vera.

"My thoughts exactly. Also, we have no idea what the hell we are doing right now, and a quest would be a godsend for us."

"Yeah, it'll be nice to do something other than grinding and travelling. Plus, we can test our mettle!" Exclaimed Vera.

"Yes...something like that...Anyway, I have been told the local hunting spots, and I find that there's a cave about one day west which sounds quite fitting. It is called the Cavern of the Pack. It consists of wolves, dire wolves, and at the last level...baby hellhounds. I want to get my hands on some of the furs in there. Hellhound furs are rare, and boast high defense and fire resistance. They will be great for raising my tailoring. It shouldn't be too hard, baby hellhounds range in the level 55-70 range. With our stats, and after decimating the other fodder, we should be able to take them with ease." Explained Azrael.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Vera nodded, and they headed into the town to make preparations.

After selling random loot, and acquiring the necessary supplies, the party headed west to their destination.

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There was nothing special about the route. It was relatively all plains, and there was little vegetation. There was a small dirt path, and some type of large land dwelling bird seemed to frequent the area. Azrael held no interest in them, as their levels were low.

After about a day's travel, the party arrived at the cavern. It seemed as it wasn't traveled normally, and the entrance was actually quite a pain to find. This explained why hellhound furs were coveted and hard to acquire.

"Well, let's eat a quick meal before we go in."

As he said that, Azrael began to unpack a small picnic for the group. It was not much, a couple sandwiches and some soup. It was accompanied with a really refreshing mint tea. Most would see this as a boring meal, but Azrael learned to love anything that was not rock bread.

The group made small talk as they ate, and decided how to approach the coming battles. The focus would be raising the group's overall level, and perhaps acquiring a good deal of fur.

Upon finishing up and entering the cave, the group paused as the light levels were low. Vera casts a bit of novice magic nonchalantly, and a 15 meter radius around them was illuminated. It was then an ominous wind rolled by them, and many howls were heard. Vera shuddered as Azrael walked on with no fear.

When the group reached the first opening, there were normal wolves. They were a bit higher in level than noob fodder, but nothing the group had even a small amount of trouble with. Short work was made of them, and japtem was collected. Upon resting at the end of level one, the group made their way down to level two.

Dire wolves...Quite a bit higher in level, but still not much of a challenge. The group had a relatively sound hunting plan they were putting into effect. Azrael would tank two to three of the beasts, while Vera enchanted a couple with Berserk. Then Vera would proceed to pound them all with Dark Arrow in the confusion. Fallen enchanting proved quite useful in combat in some cases. Percy would sneak up on ones that were nearly dead, and just shank them...like...hundreds of times in an unrelenting manner, while yelling in some form of German-ish...Very creepy actually, but it worked.

The group continued like this for about a week before they decided to rest and head to floor three. They gained a bit of mastery, but as the monsters weren't very high leveled, not much. Percy had the most explosive growth level wise, he gained twelve levels, and quite a bit of mastery. Vera gained eight levels, and Azrael gained four. The two didn't really gain much in the way of masteries...Azrael did, however, gain a level in Beast Taming due to training Percy.

After resting a bit, and eating a small meal of fish stew and bread, the party descended down into the last level of the cavern...