I take a step and hear a crunch beneath my boot as I wander through the maze of trees. I can see light breaking through the treetops shining down on me causing a warm feeling to run through me as my regeneration kicks in.

I feel the weight of my new backpack jostle around while its occupant shifts from side to side.

“Enjoying the view?”

A chat bubble appears in my view coming from the small wooden doll sitting in the makeshift pack of wood and vines.

[ I have seen it all before, but it really is different doing so with my own body. Though I am looking for our target, not sightseeing. Like you should be. ]

Alice has been mellowing out since we disconnected from the system, and is much less prickly in her quips. I take stock of all the tools I prepared for the hunt. Firstly my backpack is made up of many planks of wood and vines merged together in what is almost like something you would see kids wearing on earth. Even if packs from earth are made of much softer materials.

I made the pack a golem obviously, so it can respond to some basic commands. Commands like “lock Alice in place,” or “disconnect” which should be useful for different combat situations.

Secondly, I have my army of monkey golems. Lucadon was kind enough to provide me with a few cores before sending us out into the second ring.

Each monkey golem is made of stone and holding up a wooden spear. The golems are bigger than they used to be with all the practice I have had using golemancy. Now the golems are about 3ft tall. Taller than Alice, much to her chagrin.

And finally I have my own spear which I am treating more like a staff. I put as many channeling and amplification runes on it as I could. The reason for this is so I could practice a spell I had come up with when I realized how lacking my magic was.

Sure, my magic was creative and quite useful. However I was too stuck in the logic of light and not taking into account the fact that magic does not need to play by the rules.

Running along the side of my spear is a line of light so thin that it is nearly invisible. As I condense the mana further and further the whole thing becomes completely invisible.

Taking that as a sign that I have completed the spell I order one of the golems to swing their spear at my own.

The rock monkey lifts its arms and whips its pointy stick around to slam into me. About a foot away from the spear I the oncoming stick suddenly splits in two. I felt a little bit of resistance but not nearly as much as I had expected when trying to cut Class 1 spirit wood in half.

Looking at the broken spearhead that fell to the ground behind me I grin madly at the power of the weapon I have created.

The thread of light is anchored to my spear so any pushback it feels is transferred to the weapon as well. But that is a small worry compared to the mana cost and concentration that keeping the spell active requires.

The whole spell is leaking mana like crazy so I won’t be able to keep it activated for more than an hour at the current rate. Especially with all my other spells active. Thankfully though I don’t think this hunt will take that long.

I look out at the map in front of me, detailing the forest around us along with location markers for us and the monsters nearby.

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Lucadon wants us to hunt for the supplies to level up on our own, as combat experience is something it says we should not slack on.

We were sent out to find and kill the remaining monkeys that got away that day. Though they are not the main target.

Our main target is the monkeys’ leader. According to Lucadon, it would be around level 150 if assessed by The System.

A Class 2 creature.

I am rather nervous, as while I had fought a Class 3 creature in that protector thingy down in the ruins. The construct was not taking me seriously at all. I only managed to kill it because it had deemed that high level protections of its mana core were not necessary for such a low level enemy.

I never did end up getting any levels from killing it. Naturally, The System would not give any experience for killing something it does not want you to kill.

It has been about 20 minutes since we started searching and so far have come up with nothing. Just as I am about to turn around and ask Alice for ideas a text bubble appears in front of my face.

[ Above! ]

Looking up sharply and jumping back at the same time I just barely manage to dodge the fist swinging down from the tree tops at me.

Shit! I should have realized that looking around with my top down vision would make a rather massive blind spot above me. Quickly refocusing the spell I give myself a view of the canopy above me.

Monkeys.

About 30 of them all swarming the branches at varying levels.

And just in front of me is the monkey boss. 5ft tall and about a head above me in height with dirty green fur and a massive weight of bone or something attached to the end of its tail.

The primate with its glowing green eyes glares at me. Clearly having been informed by the remaining survivors of my massacre who I am.

It bellows an overpowering screech filled with mana. I feel like I am under a debilitating weight as the sound magic presses down on me, slowing my movements. Before I can fully react, the monkey boss swipes its tail weight at me and I get knocked far away from the magic.

Spitting up blood I feel a soothing warmth run over the place where I got hit.

Looking at my backpack from above I can see Alice holding her hands out as she heals me.

“Huh, you are like my own little healing fairy.”

[ Why do I get the feeling that that is not a compliment. ]

“You must be imagining things.”

Joking aside, I quickly stand up to face down the small platoon of monkeys and their boss.

As they circle around me from their perches in the trees I send out the order for my golems to target them with their spears. Just before they throw them though I send out a bright flash of light to blind them.

The monkeys freeze in place for a moment, unable to see they can’t avoid the spears aimed at them and every last monkey collapses to the ground.

Just one left.

The big boss somehow managed to avoid the spears that had been aimed at it and screeches out far louder before in a wave of anger.

This is no longer a way to slow me down but deals real damage to me. I feel a liquid running down my head as I bleed from my ears. Alice’s constant healing just barely keeping it from causing permanent damage.

I can barely move as the monkey charges for me with its fist swinging down to crush me. I am barely able to get my spear up to block in time.

Right as the fist is about to slam down on me the monkey's arm is sliced right off.

It suddenly leaps away from me, howling in pain. The severed arm slams into the ground beside me as I barely dodge out of the way.

While the monkey hesitates I have my golems throw more spears at it. But they are all knocked away by the boss's tail.

The monkey is wary of me now. Looking at me with both anger and a bit of fear. I blast out a burst of light again and send a projection of myself to attack the monkey from the side at the same time.

It dodges out of the way and swipes its tail. However it hesitates again when its tail passes through the projection, not impacting anything. Just at that moment more spears fly at it. It barely manages to knock them all down when it lands right above the golem cores I just tossed below it.

Hands of hardened dirt reach out and grip the monkey's legs, pinning it down for a second.

This was all I needed. One second in place. I turn my spear sideways and launch the thread of light I had attached to my spear.

It plows through the monkey, cutting the thing in half. No longer connected to my spear it quickly dissipates behind the now dead boss.

Finally the annoying sound magic the monkey was using vanishes and I rub my ears to clean off the blood.

“Ugh, I am really wishing I had a clean skill right now.”

[ Well, at least it's only the ears right now. Though I doubt that will be the end of it once we complete our list. ]

I sigh as I think on the large list of Class 2 creatures Lucadon has ordered us to hunt. The demon was kind enough to mark the general locations on my map, but the number of dots is depressing.

I think I need some armor.

I look over at my spear I had crafted using golemancy, and suddenly get an idea.

“That could work.”

Smiling to myself I send out my golems to collect some sticks.

I have yet to work with the wood from the second ring in any of my crafting so far. I really hope it is not too different from the Class 1 spirit wood...