From atop the modified pod I’d set to float above the forest, I observed the various parties as they engaged their respective targets.

Far more residents had heeded the call to arms than I expected. The sight of my fellow Earthborn actively working to protect their homes warmed my heart and made me glad to have contributed, if only in a supporting role.

While maintaining general vigilance, I focused a little bit of extra attention on Gabby’s party.

My cousin was undoubtedly a Fire Mage through and through. She carried no melee backup weapons aside from the small knife tucked into a sheath on her hip. In fact, her entire fighting style revolved around Fire magic.

If she couldn’t kill it with Fire, well… that’s what the rest of her team was for.

Lucky for her, her party had a decent spread of affinities and fighting styles.

There was an Archer with an Air affinity, a frontline spear fighter with a Lightning affinity, a Nature Mage serving as Control and Healer (usually), and a fighter with an Earth affinity who used conjured stone weapons to fight both at range and up close.

The Archer shot an enchanted arrow into the cave that was serving as one of the local wolf dens. The arrow was one of Bell’s contributions to the fight and held the strongest blast she could manage while keeping the projectile under Tier Four.

Such an attack might be seen as a little unsportsmanlike, but they were culling rift beasts who’d like nothing more than to kill every person they could. A fair fight against beasts wasn’t something most people were concerned with.

I Restored an injured adventurer in another party as Gabby’s group approached the smoking cave. The Earth Mage took the lead with a floating Stone Shield, ready to deflect any ranged attacks that came their way.

To nobody’s surprise, an angry, still-smoking wolf launched itself out of the shelter and toward the closest threat.

It was met with a face full of sharpened stone, an obvious modification to the Shield spell that allowed for offensive effects.

A Lightning Bolt hit the pair of wolves behind it, disabling them long enough for the Archer to put an arrow in their eyes. The coordination between the party members made their experience working together as a team apparent.

Stepping around the fallen beasts, the group entered the cave. Most of the wolves had been severely injured by the slightly overpowered explosion, so they didn’t pose much of a challenge to the adventurers.

The only one that posed a real risk was the Alpha, and a combination of Wind-infused arrows, Lightning Bolts, and a Fire Lance weakened it enough for the melee fighters to finish it off.

Watching Gabby and her team reminded me of my time adventuring with Ros and the others. Our dynamics were obviously different since our party composition wasn’t the same, but the camaraderie was very similar.

It made me miss my old friends. But having verified they were all doing well, the slight longing was easy enough to deal with. I’d gotten the closure I needed to move on.

Seeing how much Gabby enjoyed throwing around Fire magic and killing rift beasts, I honestly couldn’t see her staying behind when the rest of her party left Earth.

Her parents wouldn’t like it, but as I’d mentioned before, she was a grown woman. There wasn’t anything they could really do to stop her if she wanted to leave. Whether into the dungeon or off to another planet, her options were wide open.

After teleporting Gabby’s group to the next location, I shifted my focus to Mom, Dad, and Justin’s group.

I’d been surprised when the trio decided to join in on the event, but since they had loved ones at risk, too… it made sense.

Bell would have probably joined them if she could. But since she was now an official resident of another planet and out-tiered Earth, doing so would have gotten her in a lot of trouble.

Mom was a little under-leveled for the event since she spent most of her time working in clinics and healing the same non-life-threatening injuries day in and day out. She’d actually gained more levels when she lived on Earth because of the sheer need for Healers. Now that she was living on Hadier, her low-tier services weren’t nearly as in-demand.

Still, she’d volunteered for the culling in a Control role, using her Nature affinity in much the same way as Gabby’s party member. Mom restrained the beasts while Justin and Dad fought up close.

An Ice Mage joined them as ranged support, though I wasn’t sure who the individual was. They’d met him earlier that morning when everyone had mustered to head out.

The guy had joined on a whim when he heard about the event online, thinking it would be a good way of earning a bit of experience. I was keeping an extra eye on the guy, just in case, but he seemed to be pretty solid from what I’d seen.

Unlike Gabby, Justin didn’t use his Fire affinity hardly at all since it was really weak. Instead, he relied mostly on manatech, with a spear serving as his go-to melee option.

With a background in both military and law enforcement, Dad also preferred to fight with guns and gun-like weaponry. He’d still trained with other types of weapons, but he preferred not to use them.

Since me and Bell were both Enchanters, Justin and Dad had access to custom-made weaponry that most people simply didn’t. Because of that, they’d both largely ignored mental stats beyond Perception.

Unsurprisingly, their stat distribution and fighting styles were pretty similar. Neither could cast more than a couple of spells, but since they relied mostly on manatech, more than that wasn’t really needed.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

At least, in their opinion.

My stats were almost a mirror image of theirs, proportionately, which I found pretty interesting since I was far more inclined to get up close with a mob than either of my male family members.

Regardless, their group’s fighting style was a lot different from Gabby’s.

Where Gabby’s group attacked from a distance before moving in close, Dad’s group kept their distance almost the whole time. They relied far more heavily on Mom’s control effects than Gabby’s group did with their Nature Mage, but the end result was ultimately the same.

If anything, Dad’s group finished their fights faster and cleaner than Gabby’s group, though the loss of mana cores to power the weapons of two manatech users likely ate far more into their prospective profits than they earned by killing faster.

“How is the hunt going?” Master Kairos asked as he settled next to me on top of the platform-shaped pod.

I wasn’t sure what kind of flying item he had, nor did it really matter. It was possible he could fly under his own power – there were general spells for such things, though they were prohibitively expensive since they used neutral mana.

At least, they were at low tiers.

Mana costs for general-purpose skills tended to drop dramatically as one progressed, given the added efficacy and power of higher-tier mana.

“Everything is going fine so far,” I answered while simultaneously Restoring and Teleporting out an entire party that had gotten overwhelmed.

I returned them to the rally point where we’d started. If they wanted to continue fighting, they knew where to go. Some parties called it quits after the first real brush with death. Most didn’t, but some teams were less used to direct danger than others.

Also, not everyone participating in the culling was PT3. In fact, there were quite a few who were on the upper end of Tier Two.

I tried to place people in areas where they’d be faced with similarly powered opponents, but the area around Knoxville was solidly in the Tier Three range. There weren’t many dens with weaker beasts in the immediate area.

“How is your island?” I asked, knowing my mentor had spent most of the last week or so on the small island that he’d somehow acquired just before the reintegration. He’d kept ownership of the island and had installed a few stewards to maintain everything in his absence.

I wasn’t sure why he kept the estate since I didn’t foresee the Tier Ten Time Mage wanting to spend much time on the low-tier world, but that was his business. The acquisition had obviously come in handy for him already.

“It’s still lovely.” He hesitated for barely a second before asking, “How is your island?”

It took a moment for me to figure out what he was referencing since, technically, I didn’t have an island. I could only assume he meant the small island where I’d stashed the stupid people who attacked me early on.

“I haven’t checked,” I said before adding, “I probably should, just to see how things are. I’d feel pretty guilty if there were kids stuck there.”

And I would. Any kids born would be completely innocent of their parents’ sins. It wouldn’t be right to force them to live in rustic seclusion like that.

Then again, unless a rift manifested or the seas overflowed, it was probably one of the safest places on Earth.

Underwater and beach zones were pretty weird, though, since seas and large lakes were almost always rated at the planetary cap. I’d never gotten a clear answer about why that was, it was simply accepted as the way things were.

“There’s no reason to worry about that,” Master Kairos said confidently. “In fact, I’ve already checked the island. There are no longer any people there. If you want to claim it officially, we can submit a request to the noble in charge of that territory. I doubt they’ll care.”

I frowned at the news that my earliest would-be assassins had escaped. I wasn’t particularly upset that they’d managed to get away, but it was annoying that I had another thing I’d have to keep an eye out for.

I really had been too kind-hearted back then.

“Well… good for them, I guess,” I said after a moment, though I was sure my expression didn’t match my comment.

“Ah, you misunderstood,” Master Kairos said with an amused smile. “Semi-aquatic sea beasts have taken up residence on the island. I doubt your former prisoners escaped. It would be a small matter to deal with the infestation if you’d like to claim the island, though. Restrictions on culling don’t apply in such instances.”

I pursed my lips. “What if I wanted to claim the area outside of Knoxville?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.

There was a huge difference between claiming and clearing a small, private island for personal use and claiming a stretch of wilds just outside an inhabited settlement.

Master Kairos didn’t even bother answering my query, opting to ignore the question outright.

My attention was drawn to several places down below, and I quickly cast Restore four times in quick succession. All four of the previously injured individuals were in different parties, spread around the region.

Based on the obviously avoidable nature of two of the injuries, it seemed that the fighters below were already getting bolder and putting themselves at greater risk. I hoped none of them were foolish enough to continue such behavior when I was no longer watching.

It was a sure path to death or disfigurement.

I’d have to be sure to remind everyone that I was no longer going to be there to save them once the hunt was over.

That fact should be obvious, but I’d found people often overlooked such obvious facts.

The habit wasn’t limited to humanity, either.

“The Sovereignty Sect has officially come under inquiry.”

“Did something happen?” I asked, eyes wide. From what I understood, an inquiry was only supposed to happen if members of the sect attacked me again.

Instead of directly answering, Master Kairos said, “I don’t know if you noticed the empty seat when we were summoned by the Council, but one of the former Councilors was the previous Matriarch of the Sovereignty Sect. Arona – that was her name – was raised to Tier Ten when she was selected for the Council centuries ago.”

Master Kairos paused and gave a little smirk. “Remember how Anya and I mentioned that some Tier Tens would break the Accords knowing they could just ascend and get away with it?”

I nodded.

“Well, the former Councilor did something similar, except she broke her oaths to the Council and quickly applied her saved experience to avoid the system’s punishment.”

My brows furrowed. “How would something like that even work? Doesn’t the system control ascension?”

Master Kairos made a ‘kinda’ motion with his hands.

“Yes and no. The system makes advancing easier, but it doesn’t directly control ascension.” He paused and shook his head. “No, that’s not actually correct. The system does control ascension since it’s basically impossible for us to gain experience without it. Apparently, there used to be a way to ascend without it several millennia ago, but the system’s arrival changed everything.”

“Still,” he continued, “it’s possible to ascend even when the system is actively against you. It has rules it has to follow, and that leaves room for abuse if one is determined enough.”

Master Kairos leaned back in his chair. “Arona broke her oaths, and the penalties would have been severe. But according to someone who witnessed it, she panicked and triggered her ascension when the system started punishing her.”

“Okay,” I said. “But I don’t understand why that would cause her former sect to fall under inquiry. Didn’t that happen before they talked to us?”

Master Kairos nodded. “It did. But knowing that Arona had done something to violate her oaths, something directly related to you,” he added pointedly, “made the Council watch the sect far more closely than would otherwise be warranted. Once they started acting, it was enough to launch the inquiry.”

“So… no sect war?” I asked hopefully.

“It doesn’t look like it.”

I grinned at the news. I knew I’d probably still have problems from members or former members of the sect, but not having a sect war looming in the future was a definite weight off my shoulders.

“Any word on the Assassin?”

Master Kairos’s face shifted to an expression far darker.

“No, and it’s impossible to know if Arona coordinated for an Assassin before she ascended. Heck, that might have been what triggered the oath violation.”