It didn't take long for the cops to arrive, when Owen had mentioned there being a body. He was surprised to see a familiar face however. The cop he remembered introducing himself as Mark Adams, got out of the vehicle and seemed to pause at the sight of Briar. He then turned and saw Owen and he seemed even more surprised. "Mr. Cain? I hadn't truly had not expected to see you again so soon." Owen nodded and smiled. "It's good to see you're doing well with all of the havoc that's been happening across the city. People changing their appearance all the time and extensive looting, it's been a nightmare."

"I hadn't realized that things were that bad, though I have spent a majority of my time in gates since the system arrived." Owen replied. Officer Adams gave him a worried look, but only gave him a warning. "Listen, if you haven't reported in to the recruitment office, you should. Just from looking at your level I assume you haven't but they need people like you who are even willing to dive into these gates and shut them down."

Owen nodded that he heard, but then took a step back. "This is not going to be a pretty sight, so I hope you brought what you need to officially deal with this body." The officer just nodded and several other officers and medical examiners moved onto the scene as well. Owen as gently as he could had the body fall out of his bracelet and onto the ground. There were gasps of surprise, but Lucas didn't seem all that impressed, despite not having seen Owen pick up the body in the first place. They had talked about it while in the gate, but Owen hadn't explained how he had stored it.

It took another hour of giving information and describing the gate to the police before they were 'free to go'. Owen knew that more was going to happen as a result of this, but he still wanted the family of the guy to find peace, even if that for himself was becoming less and less important. Owen wasn't sure what was happening to him. On his first day in the system he had killed a monster and couldn't help but vomit and since then it had only become easier. He hadn't even given it a second thought when killing the mother boss monster in his first gate. Even though it had proved the ability to think and speak Owen hadn't given it a second thought as to whether or not kill the monster.

The thing that surprised him most about it though was that he didn't mind the change, he had even become less interested in things having to do with his life outside of the system. The petty squabbles he had had with Jared before the system and even during, just didn't mean anything to him even more. He had even come to accept that he had over reacted and just generally been living a pitiful existence. He knew something having to do with the system was affecting him, but he couldn't make himself care, he liked living in this new world and the feeling of always being alive.

Lucas had noticed that Owen was deep in thought and was surprised at the current Owen. Xerxes had described him as a sensitive person and to be gentle around him whenever they were talking about his past. They hadn't done so yet, but only because Owen seemed so disinterested. Xerxes had also told him though that frequent exposure to death in the system changes a person gradually making them less affected. Which to Lucas just sounded like the system had wanted to prevent anyone from experiencing PTSD. Either way he was impressed with his fellow student and was excited to see what else he could do.

Owen texted Myra they were on their way to the tier 2 gate and after a quick explanation of their speed, it was decided they would meet up at the gate in an hour. "You want to stop for any food, my treat?" Lucas offered as they passed some fast food restaurants. "You just made me realize that I haven't really eaten in the last couple days." Owen said. "I suppose I could eat, but I also not even that hungry." They ate some food and Owen got to know Lucas a little bit better as well, they hadn't talked a lot in the gate, but at the same time Owen had been focused on clearing it as fast as possible.

"So, what made you choose to become Master's heir? I understand the power that comes with it and everything, but doesn't it mean you have to be like a monkey guy at some point?" Lucas laughed and shook his head. "No, I am supposed to eventually take up the mantle of being one of the zodiac members." "Okay, what does that mean for you though?" Owen asked, hoping for an explanation, but Lucas just shrugged. "I'm not sure, it is something about upholding or about letting someone ascend, but I didn't pay it much attention." Owen just stared at him.

He didn't pay it much attention? Owen didn't understand, if anything he was looking for anything and everything related to the system to try and figure out what the hell was going on with the world, the system, and the sponsors. Shaking his head, Owen spent some more time getting to know him and see if he could figure out what his goals were. Owen felt somewhat like a hypocrite for this, since he didn't know his own goals. He did enjoy hanging out with friends and the system had managed to make grinding and doing other stuff a lot of fun.

Apparently Owen was not as unique as he thought when it came to his goals and the system. As Lucas had a very similar reason for doing everything. "Yeah, I suppose I just think it's cool. I'm not worried about being the best or strongest. It would be nice if I could keep my family safe, but as a member of this zodiac thing, I hardly think it would be a problem. I just want to try and exist in the system for while, maybe learn a bit more about it before I choose any specific goal." Lucas said as they pulled into the closest parking lot to the tier 2 gate. Owen just nodded. He needed to think about his own goals as well and try to find a way to start making money from clearing gates.

He still wanted to make a guild focused on the gates, but he wasn't sure how soon it would be worth starting as well as he didn't know if it would actually be sustainable, unless gates kept showing up forever. They waited in silence for Myra and Peggy to arrive, as both were lost deep in thought.

When they all gathered and started heading towards the gate, Owen could only groan as there was another crowd of people in front of this gate as well. This time, knowing that they were going to get pulled in for meeting the requirements, Owen prepped Lucas and then all five of them rushed towards the gate and were quickly pulled into another world.

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Owen wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he had kind of hoped it would look similar to the previous gate they had been in with a small city. What met him was instead a dense boreal forest, with types of spruce, pine and birch trees densely packed. The awaited for system screen then appeared.

*You have entered tier 2 gate Consecrated Ground of the Four Winds. Number of Monsters remaining - Unknown. 21:36:29.

He turned to his group to plan, when the screen seemed to shimmer slightly and the screen message had changed.

*You have entered tier 2 gate Consecrated Grounds of the Four Winds. Number of Monsters remaining - Unknown. Clear Condition - Kill each of the four winds, before the time runs out. 03:59:56

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Fucking dammit," Owen cursed. Everyone in his group scowled as well. "Alright, Peggy and I will cover the north and east directions. You three take the south and west directions. We've got about 2 hours to take down each one that way." Myra said. "I guess see you guys in a couple hours." Owen said, while giving both Peggy and Myra high fives. "Let's put our past record to shame." Then they all rushed off, Owen and team going south and Peggy and Myra going north.

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The forest had originally seemed to lack any enemies as they had been able to run for several minutes without interruption. Owen was getting ready to send Lucas west to see if he could find anything there, but they quickly came across a murder of crows. Seeing them in the sky, Owen's mind had originally pushed them aside as it was normal for birds to fly, but at a second glance he realized that there was something about it that was a little off. "Does that crow look like it might be the size of a golden retriever to you?"

Lucas looked up concerned and almost as soon as he had, one of the crows flew down at speeds causing the wind to howl. Owen used a quick keen eye, while also getting ready to intercept it for Lucas, but before he had even the chance to intervene the crow was already on him, but something seemed off about the bird when it hit into Lucas. Owen only realized when it fell loosely to the ground and saw an earthen spike about 30cm long.

Notus Crow - deceased.*

"This is, I guess where the starkest difference between our inheritances lie," Lucas said grinning. Owen was amazed and also shocked that the crow had been killed before in keen eye had been able to identify it. Choosing to think about something more useful in the moment Owen asked. "How many of those can you use before you run out of mana?" "Only a couple, but I can reuse them as long as they don't leave my hand." Lucas said and began to cause the pike to spin in his hand.

Owen looked around, but there didn't seem like a clear way to actually get the crows to come down and fight them. So he used his keen eye skill on every single individual crow he could see but not seeing whatever this south wind was he was disappointed. Owen did share the identification screen to Lucas who seemed shocked.

*Notus Crow Level 15. The crows will only hunt when with their murder. Often will attack in large gale's of wind by combining their air essence into their attacks.*

"The average level of those monsters is around level 16, so we should be fine, though you'll need to keep your guard up, since we can't have you missing with those earth spikes." Owen smiled while clapping Lucas on the back and beginning to push him to lead the way. Over the next hour they had no luck finding whatever this south wind enemy was, but they had killed almost all of the crows at this point. Owen had even found a way to participate, other than playing catch with Briar using the bird corpses.

Owen had realized that if he used relentless fury he could just barely not jump high enough to hit any of the birds, but while holding his spear, he could sometimes whack them towards the ground making it easier for Briar to keep eating. Though Briar was starting to look like they were going to start to need to slow down and the consumption and digest it. They hadn't gained a level in a while and it was getting to the point that Owen was worried, at least up until he used keen eye on them and could only smile.

*Briar Level 20 - currently in metamorphizes*

He could only let them be for now. It was getting close to the two hour limit they had set for each boss and Owen was getting antsy, no matter where they looked nothing even remotely close to the south wind type enemy appeared and he was getting ready to call it quits. Of course that's when the boss decided to show itself, though more accurately they had finally killed the last crow that had been following them and then the boss appeared.

*Notus the South Wind - Level 20: This monster type can shift between a wind and physical form, all the while attacking with air blasts.*

Owen cracked his neck and began limbering up, the boss looked surprisingly humanoid and even walked on the ground, but as it began to attack, immediately after attacking it would shift into what looked like a tornado in human form, before changing back. Owen had to dodge and weave through it's attacks as the attacks themselves would speed up as soon as the monster shifted form. Having not fought together the first bought Owen could only describe as a disaster. Owen got close and began to assault Notus with spear attacks that had started to become more fluid, but as Lucas tried to help the earthen spike he threw got sucked into the bosses form as it changed to wind and flung it back at several times the speed towards Owen.

Quickly activating Relentless Fury, he dashed out of the way and began to attack even more fiercely, without hesitation he powered up to the max 30% allowed before he would begin to go crazy and turned into his own mini natural disaster. He constantly tank the attacks as with him being as close as he was didn't allow for the attacks to build up momentum. Lucas eventually taking the opportunity created a earth spike several times larger than any of the others he had made before, launched it at the boss from behind. Not seeing the attack the boss got skewered through it's middle and Owen had to dodge out of the way as the spike kept going until it crashed into a tree toppling it.

*You has slain Notus the South Wind - Level 20 You have gained 600 experience, 300 experience has been consumed by your 2nd grade soul.*

Owen tossed the corpse into his bracelet, so that Briar could eat it later. He could see the greed on Briar's face when he had grabbed it. but despite it's best efforts was able to get itself to take even a bit. Smiling, Owen ran over gave Lucas a high five before pointing west from where they were at. "Alright, let's speedrun this last enemy and make it back to the center to meet up with Myra and Peggy." Lucas smiled, but held a hand to pause. "I'm going to need at least 10 minutes to sit and try to regenerate my mana." Sighing Owen sat down and decided he could regenerate some of his resources as well.

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Myra was tearing through the forest, making it hard for Peggy to keep up the pace. They had been hunting down these awful snow hares and when Myra had identified it, all it had said was 'Boreas Hare.' No level no anything. It had take Peggy very little time to realize that they probably needed to clear out all of the enemy type for the mini boss to show up. And thankfully after a short time had managed to clear out each hare, before the limit of the 2 hours had been up. Myra couldn't hide her excitement when the mini boss monster had appeared. It was a weird looking humanoid air monster that each of its features had been highlighted with smaller chunks of ice. It looked like a very weird drawing of a santa claus without his classic gear, but Myra pushed the thought away.

There was finally an enemy she could sink her teeth into that wasn't one of these stupid rabbits that ran away from her. She felt the recently familiar skill of Peggy casting Pursuit of strength on her and immediately added her own power up's on top of it. Into the Gauntlet and Empowered body went off at the same time, causing the aura around her to combine and make it a greenish hue. With each of her buffs she had charged the boss who cast some type of ice lance at her, but it took almost no effort to cleave it in two and start swinging her axes at the mini boss itself. It tried in vain to dodge her attacks by shifting into a frosty air, but eventually it had needed to burn through all of it's mana and Myra just smiled as she was still going strong.

With the boss having been cross cut and falling into several pieces, Peggy pulled out a plastic trash bag from her pack and began tossing the monster parts inside. Myra raised an eyebrow but Peggy gave a sly grin. "You really don't think that Briar would love this?" Myra agreed that the little beast probably would and helped her pack up the body before looking at her notification.

*You have slain Boreas the North Wind - Level 20.

600 experience gained

You have leveled up

You have 1 unallocated stat point(s)*

"Alright let's take five and hunt down this last wind guy." Myra said confidently. "And if possible let's do it in half the time or less, I want to be able to rub it in Owen's face when we make it back before he does." Peggy grinned back, but instead of taking a break was walking around and bagging up all of the hare corpses. "Do you really think Briar doesn't already have enough to eat?" Myra asked already sounding like she knew what the response would be. And she was right as Peggy just smiled and simply said yes.