The first few hours of the morning had passed quickly and we were all gathered in front of the village gate. Agis, the guard captain, was here to see us off alongside Dain, the head scout, and a small crowd of people.
"Everyone is ready?" Darrel asked. We all nodded. "Excellent, get into formation, we will follow the scouts until we reach the edge of the barrier then we'll be on our own. The Guild is about six days away, monsters are expected to be near the middle of rank 5 for most of the trip."
I moved to the middle of the formation, flanked by Vel and Elyssa, Darrel and Hamak were at the front while Gwynn and Katherine covered the rear. I summoned Alan as well, he appeared on my arm and ruffled his feathers.
Alan finally back! He cawed. Mistress left Alan to sleep very long.
"Sorry little guy," I whispered, "I'll keep you around more in the future, I promise." I felt bad for having forgotten about him during our stay. My mind had a tendency to wander sometimes and important information fell to the wayside. It seemed that no amount of perks or skills helped with that.
Mistress rested well?
"I did." I smiled and scratched his head gently. He leaned into the gesture and cooed in approval.
Then all is good. Alan will scout ahead.
He spread his wings and flew away.
I cast Arcane Eyes and Scrying next. With the help of Spell Duplication, two dozen magical sensors appeared around me and I let one of my mental constructs take over their control and analysis. The drain on my mana was barely noticeable.
"Scout and sensors deployed," I said with a thumbs up. "Nothing will get past me."
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Our first day of travel was mostly uneventful. It took us until the middle of the day to leave the barrier's influence and by the evening, I only spotted monsters of rank five around us. We fought the occasional ambitious predator that attacked us or plant monster that barred our path.
Your group has defeated [Adult Barbcat (Level 130-140, Rank 5)] x 2
Your group has defeated [Young Barbcat (Level 110-125, Rank 5)] x 3
Your group has defeated [Mature Strangler Vines (Level 155, Rank 5)] x 2
Your group has defeated [Mature Sundew Devourer (Level 155, Rank 5)] x 3
Your group has defeated [Sweet-Bloom Flower (Level 135-140, Rank 5)] x 6
Your group has defeated [Stalker-Hound (Level 143, Rank 5)]
Experience gain reduced by 70% or fighting with a group
Essence Absorption collected 255 ES (5x3x17)
Reached Level 142 (Rank 5, +2 levels)
Gained: 8 ES
When the night started to fall, we stopped at the first opportunity and set up camp. I set up a network of webs around us to warn of any intruders. Katherine and Hamak set their own traps closer to the camp as well. Once we had eaten some of our travel rations, we settled in for the night. Hamal took the first watch with Elyssa and his wolf companion.
Alan settled into a tree that overlooked the camp.
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I was suddenly awake. Danger Sense had flared up and my web had been disturbed by something. I immediately cast Arcane Eyes and sent them to the part of the web I had sensed the movement from.
Alan? I sent to my familiar. Did you see anything?
No Mistress. I couldn't see anything within my sphere either.
Vel stirred below me. I gently carried her with me as I stood up.
"I felt something with my webs," I said.
"Any idea what?" Hamak asked.
"Not yet, I sent magical sensors."
The wolf at his feet perked up. He sniffed at the air and his ears flicked left and right. His head snapped in the same direction as my Arcane Eyes and he started to growl. Not a second later, I spotted three shapes as they near-silently crawled through the jungle towards us at an impressive speed. Even with their excellent night vision, my remote eyes were only able to make out their silhouettes.
Vel was awake by this point. She sled off from my arms and took position next to me.
"Three of them," I pointed, "with stealth skills. Must be either Night-Hunters or Stalker-Hounds."
Several more seconds later, the three monsters reached our small camp. As soon as they did, I fired a volley of thunder darts in their direction. The spells zipped forward at lighting speed. Mist and mana gathered around Elyssa as she prepared a much bigger spell.
The monsters dodged the majority of my darts, only one met its mark and stunned the right-most attacker. It tumbled awkwardly to the ground and was immediately trapped by Vel's vines. I created an explosion of wind magic between the two that remained. Another was sent flying to the side and Hamak's wolf pounced on it. The last one was headed for Elyssa but she was prepared. The misty sphere between her hands flattened and turned into a blade of solid ice which nearly cut the attacking monster in half.
All of our attackers were down but not dead. It was time to rectify that. I sent three obsidian spikes at the one tangled in vines. I used Mystic Enhancement and Magic Strike to deliver a Poison enhanced Destruction spell on contact.
Your group has defeated [Stalker-Hound (Level 151, Rank 5)]
Experience gain reduced by 30% or fighting with a group
Essence Absorption collected 15 ES (5x3)
Elyssa and Vel took care of the other one while Hamak assisted his companion. The battle was over in less than thirty seconds. The three wolf-like creatures lay at our feet, their stealth skills canceled by their end. They looked like short furred black wolves with an elongated snout.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Your group has defeated [Stalker-Hound (Level 153, Rank 5)]
Your group has defeated [Stalker-Hound (Level 149, Rank 5)]
Experience gain reduced by 30% or fighting with a group
Essence Absorption collected 30 ES (5x3x2)
Skill Magic Strike reached rank 2, level 6
Skill Magic Combat reached rank 2, level 6
"That's unusual," Hamak said. "Stalker-Hounds should not be that aggressive. They're opportunists more than anything."
"They might have been fleeing from something," Vel said.
"If that's the case," Elyssa said, "we need to wake the others."
Alan. Can you search this direction?
Yes Great Mistress!
"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves," I said, "I've asked Alan to scout the direction the Stalker-Hounds came from, if there's a predator there, he should be able to find them." Hamak nodded. "My webs are still functional, they should give us enough of a warning if anything approaches."
We waited for thirty minutes but nothing happened. Alan found nothing outside of the ordinary. In the end, Vel and I took the next watch shift as we were already awake. Nothing happened during the rest of the night.
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The next day passed by like the first. Our path led us through the territory of a large colony of turtles. We did our best to avoid fighting them but they were incredibly territorial and aggressive.
Your group has defeated [Poisoned Thorn Vines (Level 157, Rank 5)] x 2
Your group has defeated [Large Iris Carniflex (Level 154, Rank 5)] x 3
Your group has defeated [Sweet-Bloom Flower (Level 135-140, Rank 5)] x 8
Your group has defeated [Stalker-Hound (Level 145, Rank 5)] x 2
Your group has defeated [Blaze Pearl-Back Turtle (Level 144, Rank 5)] x 2
Your group has defeated [Storm Pearl-Back Turtle (Level 151, Rank 5)]
Your group has defeated [Vine Pearl-Back Turtle (Level 151, Rank 5)] x 3
Your group has defeated [Stone Pearl-Back Turtle (Level 151, Rank 5)]
Your group has defeated [Frost Pearl-Back Turtle (Level 151, Rank 5)] x 2
Experience gain reduced by 70% or fighting with a group
Essence Absorption collected 360 ES (5x3x24)
Reached Level 145 (Rank 5, +3 levels)
Gained: 24 ES (3x4 + 12)
Once again we stopped for the night.
"Two more Stalker-Hounds," I said. "This is starting to become a pattern."
"We will need to be particularly vigilant tonight," Hamak said.
"I agree."
While I set the webs around our camp, I also tasked a construct with spending all the essence I had accumulated over the last two days. My first priority was to raise all my class skills to at least rank three, there weren't many left but it was still important. I still had my specializations to choose for Mystic Knight but it wasn't as high of a priority. Instead, I would use the remainder to raise my attributes to two hundred and fifty.
Raised Skill Magic Combat to rank 4, level 2 for 44 ES (+176 levels)
Raised Skill Magic Strike to rank 4, level 2 for 44 ES (+176 levels)
Raised Skill Mystic Enhancement to rank 4, level 3 for 35 ES (+140 levels)
Raised Skill Mystic Perception to rank 4, level 20 for 21 ES (+84 levels)
Raised Skill Mystic Aura to rank 4, level 1 for 15 ES (+60 levels)
Raised Skill Mystic Body to rank 4, level 14 for 20 ES (+80 levels)
Raised Skill Multishot to rank 4, level 1 for 24 ES (+96 levels)
Raised Skill Spatial Movement to rank 4, level 8 for 20 ES (+80 levels)
Raised Skill Mystic Arrow to rank 4, level 1 for 24 ES (+96 levels)
Raised Skill Mystic Mind to rank 4, level 18 for 20 ES (+80 levels)
Raised Skill Metamagic to rank 4, level 15 for 15 ES (+60 levels)
Raised Skill Multicast to rank 4, level 28 for 15 ES (+60 levels)
Raised Skill Swiftcast to rank 4, level 28 for 15 ES (+60 levels)
Total Spent 311 ES
Increased Strength from 211 to 250 for 13 ES (+39 points)
Increased Agility from 213 to 252 for 13 ES (+39 points)
Increased Vitality from 221 to 254 for 11 ES (+33 points)
Increased Endurance from 218 to 251 for 11 ES (+33 points)
Increased Intelligence from 253 to 300* for 16 ES (+48 points)
Increased Wisdom from 245 to 300* for 19 ES (+57 points)
Increased Spirit from 233 to 300* for 23 ES (+69 points)
Increased Clarity from 236 to 300* for 22 ES (+66 points)
Total Spent 128 ES
Since I still had some essence left, I purchased more ranks of the spell slots perks. Even if I couldn't fill them all on the road
Purchased Divine Grimoire at Rank 5 for 120 ES
Upgraded Major Grimoire to Rank 5 for 96 ES
Upgraded Minor Grimoire to Rank 5 for 96 ES
With the defensive perimeter in place and nearly all of my essence spent. I returned to the camp where we ate. Darrel and Gwynn were on the first watch this time. Hopefully the pattern wouldn't repeat.
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I was suddenly awake. Danger Sense had flared up and my web had been disturbed in multiple places.
"Fuck!" I swore.