"Please impart unto me," Liam groans as he plops himself into a chair at the table. "Words of great wisdom, O Great Masters. How is it you two manage to just keep going for so long without the strength of your spells faltering?"

"What do you mean?" I ask as I get to work preparing lunch and Cam sits down to rest as well.

Liam groans, stretching his arms out across the table as he leans onto it, letting his head and shoulders rest on the table.

"Even when you two run low on sacred power," he says. "Your spells seem to be as strong as always. You two took care of a Tier Three right before you went on a rest because you were low, and your spells were doing just as much damage to it as they did to another Tier Three. Mine get weaker when I get low on sacred power, because I can't muster up enough to keep it at their normal strength."

"Ah!" Cam gives me a surprised look of realization. "We forgot!"

"Yeah," I snort. "We forgot."

"Forgot?" Liam asks. "What does forgetting have to do with your secret?"

"Cam and I," I tell him. "Don't allow ourselves to drop below around ten percent of our sacred power. Because of how much we have, we can keep up basic spells even below that, but we always keep ourselves at higher than percent when possible. The only time recently I've actually gone lower than that was when I fought the gaia wolf."

"Wa-wa-wa-wait," Liam looks up and stares a me. "You mean that when you two are resting to recover your sacred power, you're still able to keep going as you were?"

"For a little bit, yes," I answer, measuring out rice before rinsing it to prepare for cooking. "We do that to ensure we can still fight for a bit even if something stronger attacks. It also prevents us from over-taxing our mind. With our current levels of control for sacred power and how much we have, we could actually drop below five percent before our moderately-powerful spells start to drop in power."

"Sorry," Cam tells Liam. "It's been so long since we learned to do that, it's become second-nature to us. We thought your exhaustion and weakening was because you've only been a Hunter for a couple of weeks."

Liam groans, letting his head rest on the table, and I resume my cooking in silence as I try to think over anything else Cam and I might have forgotten to tell Liam. I can't think of anything by the time I put our food out on the table, but I know we might come up with something at some point.

"You hit Level 3 today," I say to Liam as I take my seat. "That's pretty fast, but also because of the Swarm increasing monster counts and your kills and fighting experience. Normally, you'd be able to very well feel your sacred power amount by now, having grown used to it over a few months. However, you also have a lot of meditation practice. Can you feel it?"

"Yes," Liam nods.

"Can you feel it during battle?" I ask. "When you aren't drawing on it for spells?"

"Sort of," he answers, scrunching up his face in thought. "It's, um, it feels vague, like when you know someone is watching you from somewhere, but you can't actually see them."

"Try to learn to gauge the distance they're viewing you from," I tell him. "Try to be aware of it at all times. Learn to feel the actual amount, not just its presence, at all times. This will help you learn to tell when your sacred power is low, even right after you gain a Level. That way, you aren't relying on how strong your spells are to know."

"Also," Cam adds. "Keep in mind that you'll still have weaker spells before you hit ten percent, since your amount of sacred power is low. Don't compensate for that by using more sacred power to bring it back up to normal."

"What if it's a big fight?" Liam asks.

"Especially not then," I tell him. "Not unless you are absolutely, one hundred percent certain you will end the fight with that blow or will be able to continue fighting after. Otherwise, you may find yourself low on sacred power and unable to continue fighting."

"But you didn't do that when you were fighting the gaia wolf," Liam says. "You kept attacking anyway."

"I believed I was going to die," I shake my head. "In a situation where everything seemed hopeless. I was fighting a monster many times stronger than me, surrounded by many more monsters of greater fighting power. I was about to be killed. In that case, I was attempting to weaken the gaia wolf, refusing to die without giving my all. That's a different situation than a standard fight."

"So," Liam frowns as he thinks about it. "In normal fights against stronger monsters, don't do that, but when death is certain, it's okay?"

"Yes," I nod. "Because if you're going to die for sure, then it's best to give your all."

"Okay."

"Now," I tell him. "Let's eat! You need to rest, and Cam and I need to head back out to continue reducing populations."

Liam nods, then the three of us begin eating our lunch. Liam gets to work cleaning the dishes as Cam and I leave, returning to the Gate.

"Welcome back," the Gate greets us.

"Thank you," I say as Cam and I pull our collars down to reveal our brands. "May we leave?"

"You may," the Gate responds.

I release a lightning discharge at the few hares and squirrels that have spawned outside the Gate, then Cam and I leave and make our way south, crossing the river. We take care of whatever monsters get in our path, but conserve most of our energy as we travel to a glade an hour into the forest.

At some point, he and I will need to leave Liam home one day so we can go further out and take care of a couple of worrisome spots. We're sure they have Tier Fives at them, and possibly a Tier Six at one. But before then, we want for me to hit Level 20 first, and that's two Levels away. The strength and sacred power boost of two more Levels will be largely beneficial to me there. We're hoping Cam hits Level 16 as well. He's close to hitting Level 15, we believe, so maybe another week and a half. Two weeks, at most.

However, we plan on going to those worrisome distanced locations at the end of this second week cycle for our hunts. We're on the ninth day of the Swarm now, so we're on the second day of the second week of our rotation. In six days, Cam and I are going to take care of those, regardless of our Levels. I'll at least be Level 19 for sure, since I know I'm close to it.

When Cam and I reach the glade, we find a pack of foxes in it. There are twenty-four of them total, with two larger ones at Tier Five and six others at Tier Four. The rest are Tier Two or Tier Three, and are pouncing on any monster that spawns, ripping out their hearts and eating them almost immediately.

At least, of what doesn't flee upon spawning and seeing that. Some of those are targeted by the larger, more powerful foxes, but for the most part, those eight simply watch the others.

"Damn," Cam mutters. "It only took a week for them to do this."

We already knew this was happening due to the mud fields, where we had to fight around thirty Tier Fours and one Tier Five yesterday. There were two that might have been close to Tier Five, but the sheer viciousness of the monsters and the dense population meant they weren't always able to get the enough of the fresh heart in order to gain the power ups.

Here, on the other hand, it looks like the pack worked as a team to protect itself and take control of the glade. Foxes are a little more intelligent than mudhounds, after all, and they're the more dangerous monster that lives in this glade and area. Because of that, it makes sense they would manage this in under a weak.

"It's a good thing we decided on this rotation," I activate my lightning body spell. "Otherwise, this might have been more troublesome by the time we came to take care of it. You ready for this?"

"As ready as can be."

I step forward, and the moment I enter the glade, all eight powerful fox monsters turn to look at me, something that's always bothered me as being unnatural.

The Tier Fours are at eye-level with me when a typical bear for this region might look directly at my chest when standing on all fours, and these ones also have four tails each. Their white-and-brown fur is streaked with green, their paws entirely brown. All six of them have a row of spikes down their back as well.

Both of the Tier Fives stand a full head taller than me just to their shoulders while on their all four legs, and have five tails each. The silver strikes in their fur are gone, though the green is more prominent, and their eyes are silver. Their tails are a mix of green and brown, with some silver, but no white. Their fur is shorter than the other foxes' fur, and their undersides are lacking fur entirely, having hardened skin to protect their chests and stomachs instead.

With a step, I begin my assault, bolting forward. The Tier Fours and Tier Fives will manage to keep up with me, but the Tier Twos and Tier Threes cannot, my speed too high with this spell active. One of the Tier Fives moves to intercept me as I circle around, releasing spells of wind, fire, and water at the weaker monsters.

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A bolt of lightning flashes from the trees, a clap of thunder fills the air, and the Tier Five is pushed to the side. Cam can barely hurt these things, but he can still push them with the force of his lightning. That alone is enough of a distraction to help me.

My initial wave of attacks impact the monsters, and I keep moving, releasing more spells. Cam continues distracting the Tier Fives as I kill the weaker foxes, the Tier Fours doing their best to come at me and him as we release our spells.

We manage to keep the Tier Fours away, and Cam's lightning keeps the Tier Fives away. These monsters don't seem to be using magic, but they're making up for it with strength and resiliency.

A Tier Four makes it past my defenses, biting down on my arm, then stiffening up from the lightning. I strike it twice in the head, then wrap my hand in bladed wind before punching into its skull, the spell allowing me to pierce clean through. Summoning a wind wall to block another Tier Four that took advantage of my distraction, I pry the first one off my arm, then raise a stone spike in front of me to impale the second Tier Four.

A useful trick, but I can only do it close by, unlike that gaia wolf. It also won't be effective against the Tier Fives, and by how little of it is in the Tier Four, it looks like their undersides are already becoming tough. Or at least, that one's was, it could be closer to reaching Tier Five than the others.

"Behind you!" Cam hollers, and I spin to find that one of the Tier Fours has moved behind me.

It must have used an attack by something else as cover to slip back into the forest. With my enhanced speed, I'm able to step to the side as it lunges at me, and I bring up a foot and kick it in the side. The monster yelps, tumbling back onto the ground, and I flick a hand forward, throwing a bolt of fire at its head.

My attack strikes, but I'm already sending blades of wind at its neck and legs as well.

"Swap!" I call, then move towards the Tier Fives Cam is managing to push back.

Cam stops his assault and runs towards the Tier Four I wounded, and I close my eyes and push my hands forward, releasing a pair of bolts of lightning at the wolves. Thunder booms, deafening me as the air shakes and the smell of ozone fills my ears. These bolts were a lot larger and more powerful than Cam. Immediately after releasing the spells, I open my eyes again, only faint bright spots in my vision from the flashes of lightning.

The foxes, on the other hand, are quite blinded by the spell, the force of which shoved them back several feet, stunned them, and left burns in their fur much bigger than Cam's spells were. With me having taken out two of the Tier Fours and badly wounding another, Cam should be able to handle the rest, so it's time for me to take on these two.

I'm too weak to actually fight two Tier Fives at once, but because of the gaia wolf, I have another weapon at my disposal. Drawing on my sacred power, I manifest my spear, infusing it with lightning to match my lightning body spell.

As the closer Tier Five returns to its feet, I begin stabbing and slashing with the spear. Its fur seems to lessen some of the impact, and its hide is rather tough, but I just increase the force I use, increase the strength of the lightning I'm channeling into the spear.

The second Tier Five fox attacks, and I raise a stone wall in its path, causing the monster to crash into it as it lunges. That's bought me a few second seconds, and I take advantage of them by stabbing the first Tier Five twice more, finally managing to render one of its forelegs useless.

A Tier One fox spawns a few feet away, and the Tier Five I stopped with the stone wall goes after it as I continue my assault on the first. The second one eats the new one, and I watch as one of the slight burns from Cam's spell fades a little.

Oh, crap. These ones know that if they eat others while wounded, they'll heal a little. It's not something many monsters figure out, and it means this fight might get a little tougher. I need to work faster, or I'll burn through most of my remaining sacred power using my sacred weapon.

As I stab the first Tier Five again, a static discharge fills the glade, killing several of the weaker monsters that have spawned since our fight began. It dances across me, my own lightning body countering it where it touches, protecting me and my clothes.

Thank you, Cam. Looks like he realized that as well.

With another stab, I manage to slice the Tier Five's throat, and the other Tier Five jumps into the air, likely to avoid being stopped by a stone wall again and trusting its underside to protect it from my spear.

I flip my grip on the spear and form bladed wind around the spearhead, before taking aim and throwing it at the Tier Five in the air. Lightning trails behind it, light thunder echoing out, and I don't waste time watching the spear before I charge at the first Tier Five, my steps taking me out of the landing zone.

Not giving the first Tier Five anymore time to recover from the cut in its neck, I push a hand forward, sending a spike of swirling, swift-moving wind at the injury. When I hear a thump behind me, I spin around and hold out my hand, summoning my spear back to me.

The weapon wrenches out of the Tier Five's stomach and flies back into my hand, a trick I learned from the Elder Hunter a few days ago. A free piece of advice she gave me, that we can always call our sacred weapons back to us so long as there is a clear path.

The bladed wind is gone, and the lightning charge is almost out, so I infuse it with more lightning magic, then stab the fox in the neck, driving my weapon further into it than I managed with the other fox.

Twisting, I pull my spear out and stab the Tier Four that came after my leg, missing my mark a little and feeling the fox's teeth where it pierces my pants just above my boots. As my blade travels through the fox's side, it stiffens up, paralyzed. I quickly pull my blade out and kick the fox in the head with my good food to knock it off of me and onto its side, before stabbing it through the neck, killing it.

"Sorry!" Cam calls as I feel his light magic work on fixing my leg, despite him still releasing fire and lightning as he fights the other two Tier Fours left.

Turning back to my fight, I move towards the first Tier Five, which is beginning to bleed out, but is returning to its paws, anyway. My leg healed, I lunge forward, driving my spear into the fox's chest with as much force as I can manage. As I pull my spear out, the fox dropping to the ground, I feel my strength and sacred power increase. Looks like I reached Level 19 now.

If everything goes like this the next five days, I might just hit Level 20, though not all of our targets are as intelligent and able to work as a team as foxes, so we might not have to deal with monsters this strong.

Without waiting a moment after killing the first Tier Five, I turn my attention back to the second. These things are able to take neck wounds pretty well, and it's attempting to reach the Tier Four I killed. Gesturing, I raise a stone wall to block its path.

Even if it's still moving, it can't move as fast as before.

I also need to end this quickly, because I'm running low on sacred power.

Lunging forward, I thrust my spear forward several times, jabbing the Tier Five repeatedly, driving it back to the ground. Then, I pull back, and with as much strength as possible, drive my spear into the fox's chest. This one's body wasn't as weakened as the other's, and my spear doesn't go all the way to its heart, the fox letting out a pained mewl as my attack pierces its lung.

At least the lightning has paralyzed it, so that it isn't feeling too much pain. Adjusting my grip, I drive the spear further in, then do that again, succeeding in piercing its heart. The fox goes limp, and I release my sacred weapon, the spear vanishing.

Ending my lightning body spell, I look at Cam, who is finishing off the last of the Tier Fours as well. Once he does, we make sure to the destroy the hearts of everything while killing the spawns with low-level spells, then we climb onto one of my stone walls to rest and recover our sacred power.

"Sorry about your leg," Cam says as he works on healing my arm from the fox that bit it back towards the start of the fight.

"It's fine," I say. "You can't keep track of everything, and you noticed immediately."

"Only because I was keeping check on you for injuries," he tells me. "How do you do it?"

"Do what?" I ask.

"Keep going with the pain," he answers. "I get hurt, it hurts pretty bad. You get hurt, you just keep going."

"Adrenaline, partly," I answer. "And I'm used to taking blows from monsters. You're used to striking from the edge of battle."

"Right," he nods.

"By the way," I say. "You might want to take care of your side. When the adrenaline wears off, it's going to hurt pretty bad."

"My side?" Cam looks at his side as he continues healing my arm. "Ow."

He stops healing my arm and moves his hands to the claw marks in his side. A fox probably swiped him while he wasn't looking, and the adrenaline is keeping him from feeling the pain. It wears off as he heals himself, and Cam hisses through his teeth at the pain.

"That really stings," he tells me as he continues his healing.

"I figured," I tell him. "You can fix up my arm once you've recovered more sacred power after that."

"Sorry," he says.

"Take care of yourself first," I tell him, then look out across the forest.

Something is watching us. Cam hasn't noticed it, so it's not too close yet, but it's there, watching. Judging by the fact that it's merely watching, and the feel of the gaze, I'd say it's probably Tier Five. There's also potential for it to be a Tier Six.

If it's the latter, we are out of here immediately. We're too exhausted to deal with it at the moment, even if I can use a sacred weapon. Even though I can't fight a Tier Six normally, a sacred weapon adds that much extra power to a fight that I should be able to handle a Tier Six if I'm fighting fresh.

Thankfully, we've not seen any signs that flying monsters are affected by the Swarm, so we should be able to fly away at least some. Even if the flying monsters can dodge our spells for the most part, we should still be able to put a fair bit of distance between us and this monster, if it's a Tier Six.

Once he's recovered most of his sacred power, Cam mends the rest of my injuries, then looks around.

"How long has it been there?" He asks.

It's drawn close enough for him to notice. That means we may have to fight it soon, if it decides to attack.

"About fifteen minutes."

"Tier Five," he says. "Maybe lower Tier Six? Former we fight, latter we leave to recover and come back fresh, now that you have a sacred weapon?"

"Yes," I say. "It's drawing close, and will probably be here in two or three minutes."

Cam nods, then we keep our attention on where it's coming from. After two minutes, it makes its presence known.

A bear with dark brown fur, walking on all fours. It's positively massive, though, and would likely be at least three times as tall as I am if it stood on its hind legs. It has two tails and four ears, with a third eye on its forehead, between its two normal eyes. A single, black horn protrudes from its head just behind the third eyes, slightly-glossy in appearance. Scales of stone cover its joints and its spine, much like the gaia wolf's protection. A gaia bear.

Based on its sized and several distinguishing features, it's a Tier Six. Unfortunately, there's one thing that tells Cam and me we are not going to be able to escape this thing by flying.

Namely, the pair of long wings covered in brown feathers tucked against its back, with barely a gap between them for us to see the stone protection of the bear's spike. While I can't judge the wingspan with the wings tucked in, I can tell it can fly.

Any monster that doesn't normally have wings that does knows wind magic, and will use it to fly.

"There goes that plan," Cam says. "Looks like we'll be dipping below ten percent here."

"Yup," I respond. "Let's see what it does first. Hopefully, it waits another minute or two."

Cam won't be able to do a thing to this, and only my sacred weapon will allow me to hurt it in any meaningful way. He'll need to remain on backup, healing me when necessary. His lightning won't even be able to push this beast, its weight alone will keep it anchored.

"It'll be a struggle," Cam says. "But you'll manage."

"Yup," I tell him. "Just make sure to heal every big injury I get."

"Make sure to keep it from attacking me, since it'll realize I'm going to keep the attacker fighting."

"Will do," I stretch a little, then we begin the wait for the bear to make the first move.