Mike approached the barrier that separated him from the much more dangerous wilderness that lay beyond it. He identified the first thing he saw, laughing at how absurdly powerful everything seemed to be beyond the protections put in place.
Forest Squirrel (level 12)
Even a little squirrel was a higher level than most of the camp, and Mike began getting excited for what he knew would be a good time. He stepped through the barrier, feeling a slight tingle as the mana of an overwhelmingly higher quality than his own brushed over his skin. He wasn’t going to be taking any chances, and held his hammer in one hand as he walked through the forest. It barely took him 10 minutes before the first threat showed itself.
Grizzly Goliath (level 28)
Mike was unsure if it was the same one he had seen the first time he crossed the barrier, but it was definitely stronger than the one he had seen. It was slightly taller than the one he’d seen, nearly standing at the same height as a brood mother. He infused mana into his hammer, ready for the fight, and remembering how tough the bears were. He wanted a head on fight, and clapped to get the bear's attention.
It growled as the massive beast turned its head towards Mike. It looked at him, wondering why the small human was trying to annoy him. He lazily swiped his paw, missing Mike by quite a large distance, despite him not even moving. The bear, realizing the man wouldn’t be scared away so easily, began lumbering towards him. Mike responded to this by climbing a tree, standing atop its highest branch.
Mike would swear to his last breath that the bear had given him a look of pure confusion, before it struck its paw at the tree, snapping its trunk with one powerful strike. Mike was now falling, but he had been planning for the fall the whole time, having infused a large sum of mana into his hammer, and plunging straight down onto the back of the bear. The bear let out a pained growl as its spine was reduced to a paste under the immense weight of the weapon. Mike quickly finished off the paralyzed bear by taking a few swipes at its head, ending its suffering.
*Goliath Grizzly (level 28) slain*
*Class level up x2! Mighty Infusionist Slayer (level 21)*
*Race level up! Human (level 23)*
Mike was happy for the levels, but it really hadn’t been a fight. The bear didn’t even realize there was any danger until it had been crippled with just a single strike. Mike had wanted a head on fight, but he wasn’t suicidal. He wanted to at least get a weakening blow in before taking on the strong beast. Turns out, he had once more underestimated the power of the epic rarity item.
He walked deeper into the forest, finding and fighting a few more enemies of a higher evolution, though none as strong as the bear. Perhaps it really had been the bear he saw last time. As he fought all the beasts, he earned yet another level, edging in bit by bit on his evolution. He threw his free points into agility, not really having any reason other than wanting to be faster.
The day dragged on before he was forced to return to camp by nightfall. He’d needed to defend the camp against whatever level 25 appeared this time. It was another broodmother, which he was asked to only step in and kill if the defenders were overwhelmed. Jonas had said that the fighters of the camp shouldn’t become overly reliant on Mike, and that they still needed to grow.
Mike was surprised when the group had nearly killed the spider, with him only needing to intervene when the spider's mana whip nearly tore the lead defender in half. He caught the attack, pulling the spider in. The broodmother struggled mightily against his pull, but it was clearly a magic focused creature, and not one with a lot of strength to fight back against Mike. The fighters soon finished off the spider as it was left helpless in Mike's grip. Mike began to see Jonas’ point when he realized just how bad it could have been if the spider got through to the back line of defenders. They had a good wall for defense, but the spider likely wouldn’t have much trouble climbing over it.
The next day, Mike set out once more, but this time he wasn’t alone. Lucas ran alongside him, following him to the dangerous area of the forest.
“So, how much help do you think I can be?” The rouge asked, his superior agility allowing him to speak casually at what Mike would consider to be his own full sprint. He identified the rogue.
Stolen novel; please report.
Human (level 18)
“Depends,” He responded, “is it your class or profession that got you to that level?”
“Both, my class was doing good, and my profession was doing even better. Unfortunately, I didn't get the boost to profession levels that most others got. Kind of bullshit if you ask me.”
“Well you didn’t help make the hammer either.” Mike said, teasing the man.
“Yeah, but I mean come on. The system really couldn’t have forked over an extra level or two to your teammate?”
“You should file a formal complaint, I’m sure you can get the decision changed.”
“If I could, believe me, I would.”
The conversation was cut short as they reached the barrier, Lucas looking at it in awe as he felt the sheer power of the mana for the first time.
“Damn, I didn't even realize mana could be that, that, I don’t even know what to call it. Complete, maybe? Pure? Whatever it is, it is way, way beyond us.”
“Not for long it won’t be.” Mike said with enthusiasm, despite knowing the man was completely right. They walked through the barrier, Lucas shivering at the feeling. They walked at a normal pace for a while, simply chatting as they caught up on what had happened since they had last spoken. The man had entirely disappeared, Mike only seeing him again at the party thrown for Martin.
“I was going through the spider cave, trying to level my class a bit. I can tell you for certain that crowd control is not my wheelhouse. Other than that, I mostly did some carving, sculpting, a little painting, and as of a few days ago, weaving.”
“How’d that go?” Mike asked, eliciting a grimace from the rogue.
“The baskets I made sucked, and the women that were trying to teach me could barely hold back their laughter at the fact that I somehow managed to make one of the grass blades explode.”
“How did you manage to do that?”
“I tried doing that infusing thing you do. As it turns out, not everything can handle large amounts of mana siphoning into it so quickly.” The rogue seemed a bit embarrassed about it, but Mike took a mental note of what had been said. “You don't even need to tell me what you have been up to, as pretty much the entire camp knows.”
“Everyone?”
“Everyone.”
Mike sighed at the unwanted attention. He wasn’t an antisocial person, but having the eyes of hundreds of people on him without him having ever spoken to most of them was a bit creepy to him. They spoke a bit longer, but they were interrupted when they finally found something Lucas could potentially take in a fight, and get some good levels from.
Honey Badger (level 24)
It was just one the cusp of evolving, but not quite there. Mike simply stood back as the rogue entered stealth, approaching the animal from behind. The badger was killed in a swift flurry of blows to the back of its head, courtesy of the daggers Lucas wielded. It had been quite quick, and the exact opposite of how Mike enjoyed fighting.
“Does it ever get boring just attacking once, and ending the fight?” Mike asked.
“Not even a little. A quick, clean fight is the most satisfying kind to me.”
“To each their own, even if your own is wrong.”
“What do you mean wrong?”
The playful back and forth lasted until They came across another beast for Lucas to fight. This pattern repeated several times, Mike taking on all of the evolved creatures, with Lucas handling anything below level 25. It took several days for Mike to reach level 24, with every free point once more being funneled into agility. Lucas had also gotten a few levels, and had reached level 21.
In that time, Mike still had yet to find anything as strong as the bear, and was beginning to get discouraged, thinking he wouldn’t have a good fight to mark his evolution, like he’d had against the first grizzly he’d ever fought, or the alpha night stalker that the camp had faced the first night he’d been with them.
This fear was alleviated when he and Lucas came across a foe that Mike was absolutely salivating to fight. It was a moving rock, which had several boulders attached by nothing, from what Mike could tell. It was shaped in a vaguely humanoid form, and Mike had gotten even more excited to fight it upon seeing its level.
Stone elemental (level 30)
His hammer practically quivered in excitement, completely independent of Mike. He lifted it to a ready position, stepping towards the being of rock. Lucas backed up, jumping atop a nearby tree to watch the show down. Mike’s walk turned to a jog, then to a run as he charged the elemental. The monster in turn charged at him, its speed being much quicker than expected.
One of its “arms” swung towards Mike, his hammer already swinging to meet it. With the singular exchanged blow, Mike could tell it was going to be a damn good fight. He looked at the spot where his hammer had made contact, which only had a small dent. Connected to that dent was a now pissed off elemental, who once more ran at him.