Chapter 34

Pow. Liam

Liam and the others left the camp. Their path was supposed to be simple, namely to follow the river for about 80 kilometers, where they would later start looking for the Troll. Liam, as a reincarnator, was not prejudiced against intelligent monsters, but he certainly did not find them pleasant either. In his past life, Liam was a stereotypical gamer. Of course, he led a decent life and tried to communicate with his friends in person more often, but his main hobby was games, especially MMO RPGs. This world was very similar to the game, you could assemble a character, find imbalanced clothes for him, and so on, which he found both interesting and terrible. Years of life almost eliminated this difference and now he practically did not notice it. It was moments like this that reminded him of a full immersion game. The "mission" to go find something and make friends with someone just begged to be implemented in some game. But from his bitter experience, he realized that everything is much more real than it might seem at first glance. This was real life and he should have gotten used to it a long time ago. Liam stopped thinking about all the silly things when Brandon started talking.

"We haven't interacted together much, but I'd rather hear your strengths and how you can best fit into the squad." Brendon asked the others as they walked through the trees. Liam answered first, looking around at his surroundings.

"I wouldn't say that I specialize in anything in particular, but my main focus, in addition to water magic and diamond dust, is on holy mana attacks. I can both hit with very strong spells and be very good at defense. My main problem is the problem of all mages, the further away the target, the less damage I do to it. During the entire time we've been here, I've been able to fill my staff to 10,000 MP and have another 3,500 MP in my core. Of course, as a mage, I'm not particularly strong physically, but I have very good stats." Liam replied.

"Wow, I expected nothing less from a person with a [Rare] race and two [Rare] classes. Okay, I'll answer next. I specialize in defensive combat and can use strong stone magic spells, I can also use transmutation magic on stone to make it stronger, or change its nature." Brandon answered and turned his gaze to the others, Ariana answered next.

"As my class name suggests, I am an archer. I am generally very agile, and can use endurance techniques that increase my stats by a percentage. My main attack is shooting an arrow that releases a burst of orange energy upon impact. It is a technique that uses mana and endurance for effect, which directly attacks life force and prevents opponents from manipulating mana and endurance. Thanks to Alistair, I carry a small amount of various poisons. At close range, I use a pair of short swords and have the [Dual Swordsmanship][Rare] skill. I did not choose a second class because I hope to develop this skill to a better option." Alistair was the next to answer.

"No matter how badly everyone treats [Poison Mages], you shouldn't be surprised that this is my fighting style. I'm very good at [Transmutation Magic], so I basically change the air around me by adding poison to it that I'm immune to. I'm also good at [Arcane Magic], and can use a lot of 3rd tier spells. Physically, I'm not strong at all, so I'll have to rely on you."

Liam and Ariana reacted normally, Liam as always with a rather blank face, and Ariana continued to scan the surroundings for danger. Brandon and Matt did not react so well, disgusted expressions appeared on their faces, which they quickly hid. Brandon wanted to say something, but remained silent as Matt spoke up. He did not mention the poison magic, and continued as if nothing had happened.

"Unlike all of you, I don't have any special skills. Spear and Shield are what I'm used to using well, of course I have several techniques and can use a skill that increases stats by a percentage, but I don't have any combat skills. In short, I would say that I'm a typical warrior with a shield and a spear."

Liam of course noticed that the guy was the weakest among them. But he didn't think that Mat would be a burden. From the priests' attack a long time ago, he understood what "normal people" could do to "normal classes". Although at that time the priests had much more stats than them, it didn't change the simple fact. A well-assembled group can defeat someone who is much stronger. Liam thought that their group was very balanced, if they had a rogue and a healer it would be a typical squad build of some game.

Although if Alistair had the necessary resources, he could pass for a healer, and Ariana could easily take on the role of a scout.

"That's great, I think everyone knows their roles, but I'll still say them. Mat, you'll be the one taking the brunt of the attack, if it's too strong, I'll raise a stone wall. Liam and Alistair, you'll only engage in combat if necessary, in the event that me, Ariana and Mat can't win using only stamina, you can use spells. Alistair, I'd like to ask you to use poison magic only if we have no other choice. Unlike you, we have no resistance, it could hurt us more than help." Brandon said.

They continued their journey in silence, Liam felt that the silence was rather awkward, but for him it was not a problem at all. On the contrary, he liked this peace. Half an hour later they saw an unfamiliar monster 300 meters away from them. It looked like a huge heron, about 4 meters high with gray feathers, its wingspan was huge. The monster was hunting something in the river with its sharp beak.

Race: Serminal Heron [Rare] Lvl 22

The monster was relatively low level despite its obvious danger. The group looked at each other and silently decided to keep going. As they approached, the heron only glanced neither once and then continued its hunt. Liam could see that it was hunting fish and frogs. He remembered Dylan's advice well, so when Ariana wanted to load an arrow, he froze its tip.

"We don't want to kill him just for the sake of experience. We should listen to the instructions of the prince and the others."

Ariana didn't like his actions but she nodded and they all continued walking, leaving the monster to continue hunting. After they walked further, the river became very winding. Liam began to like the forest, he felt some kind of peace in it now. The way the birds sang and the noise of the insects really calmed him down. Walking through the forest, he still did not relax and tried to notice various details. Several nearby trees were scratched by claws, he could not determine exactly what animal they belonged to, but he could guess who it was. Wolves should often be found in such forests, the fact that they had not found one yet was a great success. While he was thinking, Ariana spoke.

"We should turn around and go straight along the river bank, so the likelihood of us meeting wolves will be much lower."

"Okay, I guess fighting the wolves won't be very convenient for us." Brandon replied.

They continued to avoid other animals as they walked along the riverbank. By evening, Liam estimated that they had covered about 60 kilometers, which was not a long distance, as they often avoided different animals and did not move very quickly. Having set up camp at the base of a large tree, Brandon spoke.

"A good start to the journey. I propose that we split the night's watch between everyone except Alistair. I'll go last, who wants to go first?"

"I want to, I don't feel like sleeping yet." Ariana replied.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Mmm, I'll take the second turn." Liam said.

"Great, we still have a couple of hours to eat and replenish our resources. Even though today was an easy day, tomorrow is the hard part. So I'll go to bed early, which I advise you to do too." Brandon said.

They did not light a fire in the camp, but ate fruits that they found along the way. Liam had almost a full supply of mana, but he still decided to meditate to replenish his mana a little more. When he came out of meditation, it was very dark. The forest was illuminated only by the moonlight, but due to the huge branches of the tree, it was almost invisible. Due to his high perception, Liam easily saw how Arina was examining the surroundings and slightly glancing at him. Everyone else was already asleep in sleeping bags, unfolding his, he also quickly fell asleep.

Liam was woken up by Ariana when it was his turn. It was hard to tell what time it was without a watch, but looking at the moon and remembering its approximate path, he was convinced that it was indeed his turn. Ariana silently went and went to bed while he was thinking about his own, he tried to stay alert, but in the low light he relied more on his hearing than his sight. In the distance, he could hear the howling of wolves, which left him with no doubt that they were relatively close. The forest was mostly quiet, but small rustles could be heard somewhere in the distance. Hearing someone carefully walking on the grass, Liam slowly got up and began to look out for the intruder. It turned out to be Fox [Common], she found them by smell, but when she saw them, she quickly ran back. Relaxed, Liam tried to be calm, although the forest was frightening with its unknown, he should have quickly gotten used to it. The rest of the watch passed very calmly. Looking at the moon Liam made sure that about 2 hours had passed, he stood up and grabbed Matt by the shoulder and shook him slightly, in a quiet voice he spoke to him.

"Matt, wake up, it's your shift." Matt's eyes snapped open, it took him a second to process what was happening. He nodded, but when he realized there was no light at all, he began to whisper.

"Thank you, you can go to bed Liam."

"Okay, good luck." Liam lay down in his sleeping bag and quickly fell asleep.

Liam woke up later than the others, looking around the camp he assumed that nothing strange had happened. Alistair was lighting a fire while Ariana was butchering a couple of some birds for their breakfast. Brandon and Mat were somewhere else.

"Good morning everyone, where did Brendon and Matt go?" Liam asked.

"Good morning, Brandon went to get some water with Matt." Answered Alistair, Ariana also greeted him with "Good morning."

Liam stood up and sat closer to Alistair, he wanted to ask him about the different poisons that he could create with [Transmutation], while Brandon and Mat were not around. Although they were not against talking about poisons, Liam could see how unpleasant this topic was for them. Before he could ask about it, they had already come out from behind the trees. Seeing him, Brandon and Mat greeted him and sat down near the fire, after some time that passed in silence, Ariana finished cutting up the meat and impaled it on sticks, carefully laying it out near the coals. Liam began to get tired of the strange atmosphere that reigned in their group. No one was particularly sociable, the only one who spoke more often than anyone was Ariana, and she was not a verbose one. Liam could not understand why everything was like this, it was definitely not his fault, and the magic of poisons did not seem significant enough to him to cause this.

"Why are you all so quiet?" Liam asked. Brandon, Matt and Alistair looked at each other, each of them deciding whether to answer the question or not. Ariana reacted normally and answered easily herself.

"You're not particularly sociable yourself, and there's nothing to talk about. Or do you want to listen to how to properly cut up a bird?" She asked, not taking her eyes off the meat.

"What about the friendly atmosphere? Stories from childhood?"

"I was trained my entire childhood to later enter the academy, for this? I don't know about you, but I was disappointed by this. If you are interested in my life, of course I can tell you in brief." She said and looked at Liam.

Liam, of course, wanted to hear more about why these three were acting so strangely, but knowing that there would be no other chance to hear Ariana's story, he quickly agreed.

"Of course, with great pleasure."

"Mmm, I am the daughter of Viscount Edward Kilsten, our family was once a Marquis family, but due to some misfortune, our rank was lowered, it happened a long time ago and only my father knows the reason. So in hopes of raising our family's rank again, my father began to train me very harshly. So years passed until my 15th birthday, he was disappointed to learn that I did not receive the second [Rare] Class right away. The very next day, he began training even more harshly than before, it only lasted for a week, but I was completely exhausted, but my father did not care. Just when I thought that this would never end, a letter came from the Royal Academy saying that I was enrolled in the Elite Class along with the prince and the other little monsters." Everyone listened to her story with interest, and although Liam found it a little harsh, it was not special. Ariana's face did not express strong emotions as she briefly talked about her life, only a slight sadness.

"I was extremely happy about this, as I was expecting some freedom at the academy. The opportunity to make friends also attracted me. Of course, I expected that studying would not be easy. But when I came to the academy, I was sent into the forest with a bunch of idiots, my ideas about classmates were shattered by the fact that everyone basically does what they want and does petty dirty tricks for no reason. I got tired of the gossip of our classmates and the way other guys sometimes look at me. In general, my expectations were deceived and I was left to fight for the survival of a group that I do not like at all." Ariana finished.

"I can understand why you don't like it here, maybe you should try to communicate with someone more often and find common interests with someone?" Brandon said.

"Yes, I managed to become friends with a couple of our classmates, but the vast majority are bastards who pursue their own interests, or are just bastards."

"Who do you dislike so much from your classmates?" Liam asked.

"A lot of people, for example your friend Norn, she's a real bitch. How come you're not tired of her pathetic whining and why haven't you realized yet that she wants to drag you into bed? I got sick of it on the first day."

Liam, of course, managed to understand this, but he didn’t know how to tactfully avoid it, so he decided to ignore it for the time being.

"Well I can understand that, but is that enough for you not to like her?"

"Of course, you just don't have the same high perception as me. The funniest thing is that before the quarantine, she spent her nights with the guy Dylan hit."

Liam was a little upset so he decided he wasn't in the mood to continue the conversation. He picked up the cooked piece of meat and began to eat in silence. He thought the conversation would end there, but Alistair continued it.

"I wonder what you think of Cassandra and Lynella? They're the other most memorable girls in our class." Alistair said, his eyes shining, but Liam couldn't figure out why.

Is he secretly in love with someone?

Ariana took her meat and looked at it, she was in no hurry to answer the question, but thought it over well.

"Contrary to all expectations, Cassandra is very decent and kind. Although she gets angry very easily when someone is in danger. In general, I like her, but we have not had the opportunity to get closer. Linella, if you do not pay attention to all her vulgar flirting, is also a normal person. But it seems to me that she has several very strong skills. How she uses illusions is not yet entirely clear to me, her control is very good in magic, when I had to observe her. I suspect that she lured monsters to the others in the camp a couple of times, although I do not know for what purpose."

Wow, if I have the [Observation][Common] skill, then she probably has some skill that is much stronger than mine.

Alistair wanted to continue asking Ariana about the others at camp, but Brandon interrupted him.

"Okay, I think we should stop our conversation here and move on to find the Troll."

Alistair shrank, Liam noticed how inspired he was by this conversation. Alistair apparently did not want to contradict Brandon and quietly finished his food, like everyone else. In 2 minutes they were already near the river.