After a thirty-minute drive we arrived to the outskirts. From here we would have to walk two miles to arrive to the Tears of Calamity field.

"Do you know why this field is called "Tears of Calamity"." Adira asked me while walking ahead.

"No, I imagine because of some sort of disaster?" I replied.

"Well, kind of. There's a dungeon created by a monster that came from the fissure." She stated. "The monster is called one of the greatest calamities of mankind, it uses the water from the atmosphere to rain down spears of ice everywhere it goes." she continued. "For some reason after years of rampaging and destroying much of the human realm, it stopped. It then created a dungeon here, many guilds have tried to clear it, but none have succeeded. That's why we have to clear the fields. If we ever manage to clear the dungeon, all these monsters will disappear." she said.

"Wow, I've never been in a dungeon. What is it like?" I asked.

"They're all different, you can think of them as the base of whatever monster created it. Their purposes vary as well." she stated. "The Tears of Calamity dungeon is at the edge of the field, the entrance is inside that mountain." She pointed towards what looked like a rock formation in the far distance. "The entrance is behind a waterfall that pours into a lake. Many adventurers don't even make it to the entrance. By the time they get to the lake and think they can take a break before entering, the dungeon's guards kill them. They emerge from the lake when you least expect it." She said.

"I...see. Well, our goal isn't to go to the dungeon anyways, I just need to find suitable monsters to test my skills against." I replied.

"Perfect! There are plenty of monsters to find here, many of them hide in the swamp area to the North, there are also dens of them in the grasslands to the East." she stated.

"Okay, let's head to the grasslands first, I'd rather not have to fight in a swamp." I said.

"Alright!" she replied. We walked for about fifteen minutes before reaching the grasslands. "The monster's here typically hunt for food solo, the only monster that is in a pack is the field boss. The field boss is a razor-fang king cobra. It's semi-humanoid, very large, and very quick. It typically has a set of guards that protects it while it rests or eats, if you see anything like what I describe, it's best that you run." She told me.

"Got it, I'll make sure of it. I'm going to take a few minutes to prepare, then I'll start hunting." I said.

"Alright, I'll be hunting nearby, we should be able to see each other since there isn't much in the way!" she replied.

"Okay, see you in a bit!" I told her. The area that we were in was a large expanse of grasslands. Depending on where you're coming from it either leads to or away from the dungeon. There are very few obstacles in the way aside from some boulders and stumps. The grass was about knee length and very thick, and there were many hills where monsters are making their dens. "Hup!" I said to myself as I sat down and used my System skill. "Let's see. So, I now have 'Infinite Burn' and 'Light-Manipulation'. I want to test out 'Infinite Burn' first to see it's mana consumption. I also want to test out a theory I have with my manipulation skills." I thought to myself. I then checked the new feature that Gaia added. ' Experience to next level: 50/2500.' " it stated. "I see, it seems like Gaia is trying to help me better keep track of how strong I'm getting. I'm sure 'experience' means the essence I absorb from monsters I kill." I thought. "Alright! "I shouted as I lifted myself from the ground. "Time to start." I said to myself. "First things first..." I said as I willed mana to my index finger and thumb. While doing so, I imagined fire releasing from my hands towards a den of monsters in the distance. As I snapped my fingers I said "Infinite Burn". Doing so amplified my mana lighting the entire den ablaze. I could see many snake like monsters with humanoid upper bodies exiting the den. They were all writhing in pain burning from the skill. "It's taking a lot of mana to keep this up, and they aren't dying." I thought to myself. "Alright, now to test my theory." I said while gathering mana to my eyes. "Light-Manipulation" I said aloud. I then imagined gathering the light mana in the atmosphere and forming it into a ray of light. I then used my eyes to direct that light towards the burning monsters. By focusing all the light I could gather into one point I was able to amplify the damage of infinite burn. This caused all the monsters that were burning to be set completely ablaze. I then deactivated infinite burn, and to my surprise the monsters were still burning. The snake-like monsters began to fall one by one, charred to a crisp. I then made my rounds stabbing each of them to ensure the kill, I simultaneously opened my System skill. I was able to see the Gaia System quantify the essence that I absorbed into experience. "It'll take me a while to level up it seems." I thought to myself. "Ah!" I said aloud. "I just realized...I can't collect the snake skin because it's all burned..." I began to sulk. After a few minutes of beating myself up I caught a glimpse of something shining from one of the monster's bodies. "A monster core!" I was able to pull a monster core from one of the snake-monsters, a large one at that. I put the core away, got up and searched for another den.

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As I was searching for a den I saw a snake-monster hunting for prey on it's own. I decided to take it on, this time I wouldn't use Infinite Burn since it destroyed any materials I could gather. "Light-manipulation" I said as mana gathered into my eyes. I focused light into a small orb and aimed it at the monster's eyes. The monster covered it's eyes as I darted towards it. I ducked down and pulled out my sword slicing swiftly towards it's neck. The monster blocked my attack with it's tail. I dodged backwards as it slammed it's large snake like tail down towards me. "It's other senses must be strong, I'll have to think of another method." I thought to myself. "Mana-Manipulation" I said while mana gathered towards my finger-tips. From what I could gather, mana-manipulation uses unrefined, affinity-less mana. This type of mana is a lot harder to control, but has a high damage output. Luckily, by using it as a skill rather than trying to force it myself it became easier to control. I shot this mana from my finger tips, and it came out like a beam of electricity. The attack landed and struck the snake monster on the shoulder, leaving a small bullet-wound like hole. The monster grabbed it's shoulder, then began gathering mana to the tip of it's tail. The snake swung it's tail towards me, shooting a slash of green-colored mana at my direction at dangerous speeds. I coated my sword in mana and blocked it. The pressure forced me ten meters backwards. I then regained my composure and started running towards the monster. I aimed my right arm at it as if I was going to shoot another beam and began gathering mana. I shouted "Mana-Manipulation" as I got within a few meters of it, but it was a feint. The monster blocked the left side of it's body with it's tail as I spun towards it's right side. With my sword coated in mana I swung diagonally from it's shoulder down to it's waist. The monster slumped to the ground and the light left it's eyes.

"Whew!" I said aloud while wiping the sweat off of my forehead. "It's much harder to fight them head-on, but I have to do this if I want to make some money." I said to myself. The monster had no core, but most of it's body was salvageable. I spent the next few hours grinding away at these monsters using similar tactics. "Twenty-five vials of venom, and as much snake-skin as I can carry. I think I killed around forty of those snake-like monsters." I said to myself.

"Hey!" Adira yelled from the distance. "You ready to go or what, I've been sitting around for a couple of hours now watchin' ya'know." she said to me.

"Huh? Did you even hunt?" I replied.

"Yeah, but I got bored. I hunted sixty or so though!" she shouted while yawning.

"And they call me a monster..." I muttered under my breath. "Yeah, let's get going. I can't carry much more anyways." I told her. "Can we stop by the Lyon Guild on the way back? I want to sell some stuff to them." I asked.

"Ugh...I'll drop you off, but I'm not going in." she said.

"Ah, I forgot she had some sort of problem with her dad." I thought. "Sorry, I didn't think. I'll go on my own don't worry." I told her.

"Don't worry about, I can drop you off it's not a big deal." She said.

"Alright, thanks." I replied, not pushing the issue further.

That evening I sold all the materials I gathered for a decent chunk of change. "I can probably afford a new weapon now." I thought as I left the Guild.

"Oi! Vernon, I heard you were here." I heard someone shout from the distance.

"Hm? Oh! Jason, what's up?" I replied. "I was just selling some materials to the Guild from my hunt today." I told him.

"Oh, looks like it went well then. How was it? Did you get to see the dungeon?" he asked.

"No! Dear God, no." I replied. "I heard people die before even reaching the entrance. I stayed in the grasslands fighting some snake-like monsters for a few hours." I told him. "And before you ask I didn't see a field boss." I said.

"Ah...too bad." he replied. "Well, it's good to see you. Do you have time for a chat? There's someone who wants to meet you." he said.

"Hm? Yeah, I have some time. Who is it?" he said.

"Well, you've met him before, but this time you'll really get to meet him." he said. "Let's go see the Guild Leader, Alexander!" he said.

"Eh?" I replied as he dragged me along with him. "Wait, why does the Guild Master of Lyon want to speak with me?" I asked confused.

"Don't worry, you'll see!" he replied.

As we entered the Guild Master's office, a wave of anxiety filled me, as well as a throbbing headache. "Run!" a voice screamed in my head. I continued forward.

***