[*ding [Hygiene] has reached level 6-18!]
Yeah, that definitely felt like it was worth a dozen levels.
[Hygiene] was a good Skill, Lucas knew, even if it didn't have much impact on his main business of fighting and healing. With everything going on, he hadn't had enough time to properly practice it beyond the briefest efforts at cleaning himself, and yet its was growing by leaps and bounds. It was a testament to how thoroughly filthy he'd been getting lately.
The Skill's effects weren't the most obvious, especially at such a low level. Lucas thought it might give some sort of physical benefit when it was regularly practiced, beyond simply making it easier to get and stay clean. But even if it didn't, he still held it in high regard after the messes he'd been getting himself in.
Which made it all the more difficult when he began to consider replacing it, along with one or two of his other less-impactful Skills, with something he would get more use out of. [Cooking], for one, definitely wasn't helping with his current situation. If he found himself offered something else, he'd have to seriously consider taking it.
Lucas set those considerations aside for the moment as he finished washing off the nilbog's remains in the river, and rejoined the others on the shore. One and all, they were now soaked in the freezing water, and the weather was not all that warm on top of that, but no one issued a complaint as they regathered to plan their next move.
"So, back to the trail?" Belinda asked everyone once Lucas joined them, but his mom immediately shut the suggestion down with a shake of her head.
"That's probably not a good idea," she said. "If they can track us once, they can do it again, so we shouldn't make it easy for them by continuing to follow the same path."
"Then we cut through the forest?" Lucas asked.
Once again, his mother shook her head. "I don't know. We don't even know where the goblins are encamped--we'd be more likely to find ourselves completely lost than locate our destination if we forego the path entirely."
The four of them fell into a silence, waiting for another suggestion to spring up. Lucas was about to suggest they just trek alongside the goblins' trail, even if that slowed them considerably, when Harry spoke up.
"I...might have some idea of where the monsters' camp is," the young [Hunter] told them, then he looked up into Lucas's eyes and said, "and so do you."
"I do?" Lucas started.
His confusion was mirrored on both his mom and Belinda's faces, but they patiently waited for Harry to expand on his words, rather than waste air on any questions. Harry responded to Lucas with a nod, before pausing and rocking his head from side to side.
"Well, sort of," he corrected himself. "You remember that Dungeon I told you about?"
"The one the guards have been talking about?" Belinda interrupted, and Harry gave her a nod of confirmation.
"The same," he said. "The entrance isn't too far from here--the only thing is, the trail hasn't been heading in the right direction. If the goblins have set up at the Dungeon, then the trail would have to really diverge sometime soon."
"Where exactly is the Dungeon? How far?" Mary asked.
Harry turned, and after a moment, pointed in a certain direction. "That way, to the east, about another half-day's travel," he turned back to them. "Relatively close, but still far enough away that, between the distance and the direction the trail has been going, I hadn't seriously considered that it might be our destination."
Lucas's mom stared off in the direction Harry had indicated, in clear contemplation, for a solid minute before she said anything more. "Ok then, here's the plan: we'll move to the other side of the trail and follow it long enough to see if it starts to shift. If that is the case, then we press on straight towards the Dungeon. Any objections?"
The other two shook their heads, as did Lucas, and Mary received it all with a nod.
"Then let's not waste any more time," she said. "Follow me--we'll take a different path back to the goblins' trail."
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Once they found their way back, Lucas, Mary, Belinda and Harry moved to the other side of the trail the goblins had cleaved through the forest. An hour of laborious hiking ensued, as they attempted to navigate the overgrown vegetation without alerting every living thing within earshot. They didn't manage to cover much ground, but luckily, they didn't have to.
"That seems like a pretty clear divergence to me," Lucas whispered just loud enough for the others to hear him without his voice carrying. As his [Stealth] continued to gradually level, he was getting better at these sorts of things--the little actions that fell under the Skill's purview, beyond simply hiding. It gave him an instinct for just the right pitch to speak at without giving himself away.
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Their small group were all hidden behind the tree-line, close enough to catch an occasional glance of the goblins' trail, and close enough to see when suddenly, without any warning, said trail changed in direction at a hard angle. To Lucas, it certainly look like the new direction would lead to Harry's Dungeon. Through the treetops, he could even see a thin pass through the mountains on the valley's western border.
"Harry, can you confirm the direction?" Lucas's mother asked.
Harry took a moment to get another look, but only a short one before he answered. "Yeah, that's it. The goblins have to be holed up in the Dungeon. It's located right in that pass."
"That's enough confirmation for me," Mary said with a sense of resolution. "We'll press on, away from the trail, then. Once we hit the foot of the mountains and gain some elevation, we'll continue toward the pass. That will maximize our chance to get close without being seen."
"We can use a [Hunter]'s trail to get close," Harry suggested. "I know Regan had at least one in the area since it was her hunting grounds--the only reason she found the Dungeon, really. We should be able to find one somewhere on the slope."
"Lead the way," Mary gestured, and Harry started prowling off, deeper into the woods, and toward the mountain on the right side of the pass.
The following hike ended up taking a considerably longer amount of time. The pass was still far off when the goblins' trail pointed towards it. Between the intervening time, and the ultimately simple activity of navigating the forest, much of Lucas's mind was left to wander.
This situation was not ideal. Well, that went without saying, really. No emergency was ever ideal, especially any involving monsters, but what he meant was specifically his own plight in it. Lucas was now sitting at level 50 in his Class, and that meant his next evolution was ready. However, not all of his Skills were maxed out just yet, so he couldn't proceed.
On the other hand, there was a very high chance that what awaited the four of them in the Dungeon's vicinity would be highly dangerous. He could really use that evolution.
So, as he walked, Lucas took a look through his status. Between his Class and General Skills, he had reached the max level in everything except [Arclight Renewal], [Shock], [Quick Step], [Identify], [Throwing], [Stealth], [Cooking], and [Hygiene]. All together, he still needed around a full hundred Skill levels before he'd ideally go through his evolution. But Lucas had already established that the situation he found himself was not ideal.
Amongst his Class Skills, he only needed a meager fifteen levels, so what if--while he still had time--he focussed entirely on getting just those? Not all of the General Skills he had left would contribute much to any evolution Lucas would consider taking, anyway. He could swallow his preferences and take the step forward now, rather than when he felt he was fully ready.
Lucas wasted no more time and started continuously channeling a small amount of mana into [Shock]. The Skill was not meant to be used in this way, but he figured that if he wanted to grind out these last few levels in the short amount of time he had, he would have to change things up. So he brute-forced the issue with the application so some basic mana manipulation--only to immediately send his three companions scrambling for cover the moment he activated his attack Skill.
Harry fell flat to the ground and Belinda put her back right up against a tree, while Lucas's mother stayed with him, spinning around to guard his flank. "What is it, Lu?" she asked. "What did you see?"
Lucas belatedly cut off the mana he was feeding into [Shock], then turned around to face everyone at once. "I am sooo sorry. We're all safe, and I didn't see anything--I was just going to try to work on my Skills before we get in another fight, but I should have warned you."
They hesitated, but after a moment, the three others slumped when the realization that they weren't in immediate danger hit them. Belinda was the last to relax, and when she finally did, she told him, "You can't just be activating an attack Skill out of nowhere! My heart will give out before we even have a chance to rescue my brother."
Lucas cringed, knowing how inconsiderate he had been. It was also clear that Belinda was under a lot of stress with everything going on. Everyone was, really, but she wasn't even a combatant and she was pretty much riding into battle. His mom was sort of the same, and [Hunter]s weren't traditionally fighters either, but Belinda was just a [Cook]--no matter her level. He needed to apologize.
"I'm really sorry," he told her. "I didn't mean to scare anyone, and it won't happen again."
Belinda took a deep breath and visibly calmed herself down, before answering him. "No, no, you have the right idea," she said, "I was just a little shocked. But you should keep it up and work on your Skills while you have the chance. Any levels you can pull out of the air are sure to help--just make sure you don't strain yourself and deplete your mana."
"Are you sure?" he asked one more time.
"Yeah, go ahead," Belinda told him.
"Thank you," Lucas smiled slightly, "and I'm sorry, again, that I scared you all."
Harry and Belinda picked themselves up and brushed off the dirt they'd gathered from quickly seeking cover, and Lucas's mother put one of her hands on his head before letting out a deep sigh. Then she tousled his hair and whispered, "Come on, Lu. Let's get back to moving."
With the misunderstanding done with, they continued moving toward their destination, and Lucas took up the rear. After a couple minutes, he whispered a warning up to the other three and began channeling a small trickle of mana into [Shock] once more. Everyone recognized the necessity to grind out a few levels before something bad inevitably happened, so Lucas wasn't going to let a little embarrassment at his blunder get in his way.
He didn't actually know what he was doing with [Shock]. The sum total of his plan was simply to push the Skill in ways he hadn't before. Fortunately, he was quickly rewarded for his efforts after only around ten minutes of constant activation.
[*ding [Shock] has reached level 43!]
Yes! One down, fourteen left to go. I just might be able to do this.
Deciding to double-down on his efforts, Lucas started activating [Quick Step] with each pace as well. Two was better than one, after all, and he'd never max out his Class Skills in time if he only worked on a single one at once. One down, and fourteen to go.