As a goblin escort pulled the barge away from their island village, the adventurers all leaned in to see the map Levi held in front of him.

"Okay, so there's seven of them. But I don't think we should take the most direct route killing them. The Shaman said these markings indicate relative age and threat level. These four are relatively younger females, like the one David shot, these two are older females and a slightly larger threat, and this one..." Levi pointed to another marking. "This one is the dominant male in the area. And I think he'll be the biggest threat."

"With respect, Spirit-bonded, that is inaccurate," one of their goblin escort interrupted.

Levi looked up to see Taju bowing respectfully. Levi had noticed he that he was the only one of his people to take such formalities to extremes. All the other Goblins seemed overly casual most of the time. Levi wondered about why that was but decided to wait until later to ask Taju about it.

"What do you mean?" Levi asked.

"The male will be resting. He is, as your people say, cold-blooded unless it is breeding season. The cold weather will make him sleep, like a snake. Now, he will rest in his den. He is old and large, but when he is awakened, he will be slow. He will barely be more of a threat than the young females.

The older females will be the biggest threats. They are always hot-blooded. They do not need the warmth or sun. They are always aggressive, but now they guard one or more eggs. Their blood burns hotter. They are very dangerous."

Levi was pretty sure Taju only understood bits and pieces about the science of warm versus cold-blooded creatures, but he also knew that Taju was giving them valuable information. "So, when you say their blood burns hotter, what exactly do you mean? Are they more aggressive, or does their blood literally burn hot?"

"Yes and yes. They will be extremely aggressive. And their blood will burn hot enough to scald your skin. Sometimes, though rarely, fights between Lians-thrak have caused grass fires with their bloodshed."

"Noted. Thanks for the information. Anything else?"

Taju bobbed his head. "Not really. Only that their eggs are also hot to the touch, but are very good for alchemists. At this time, the drake inside is not yet formed. The shells can also make magical jewelry or small magical items such as arrowheads. But we will handle the harvest of everything for you all and make sure to only take a fair amount for the effort. So you need not worry about collecting these things."

"Hell yeah," David had whispered when Taju had mentioned magical arrowheads.

"Alright, thanks for the information." Levi looked around at the group of fellow adventures. "That still only slightly changes my plans. So, I say we hit a medium threat Lians-thrak first, which now means the male. It will give us a chance to see what we can do with the safety of everyone's resources, especially mine, being topped up. It gives us some wiggle room for fuckups, but also gives us enough information to work out a better plan. After that, we try to take out the strongest while we still have mana and stamina to spare. And yea, that is more due to my own limitations, but I think it is the smart plan."

"Why don't we start with the four easiest ones and try to get you to the next level first?" Paige asked.

"Because we don't know how much experience per kill we're going to get, and how it will be distrubuted based on contribution. Being honest, I'm not going to be able to go all out or even close to it, and it's likely David will take the bulk of experience if it is based on contribution."

"Hey," David butted in. "I don't mind letting you guys get the kills for the experience."

"That's generous, David. But I don't want to risk putting people in danger to grab experience. That's also why I want to start with the medium threat drake. It will give us a closer idea of what to expect. If we're all getting good experience and I think I can make it to the next level before facing the older females, we might aim for the younger females first. But we really have to see how the first fight works out."

"Makes sense," Paige commented.

"Alright, man, but if I can let you guys grab some easy experience, I am happy to do it," David said.

"Okay... so what about the actual strategy for the fights?" Maddy asked.

----

As they approached the male drake's den, a goblin warrior grabbed Levi's arm. "This as close we go. Know, I am only warrior. These only kids, not ready. Here for learn. To train. Please, be safe. Can no help you."

Levi nodded. "We understand."

This been explained to the adventures. Their goblin escort were all still young and in training, like Taju. The goblin students were there to learn about scouting on hunts and how to field dress and harvest on rides. They would also take care of collecting everything for the group. Nosmiles had explained that they'd be safe within the area, because it was well within the area they kept scouted, but they could not help the adventurers more than that.

The goblin warrior held Levi's gaze for a moment before nodding and releasing his arm.

Finally, the group of adventurers began the last of their approach to the den. As they finally saw the entrance, dug into the ground at an angle, they slowed. Levi had expected it to be larger, somehow thinking it would be more like a dragon's den. Yet, it was barely larger than a Lians-thrak itself. A human would barely be able to stand at full height within the opening of the tunnel.

"Paige?" Levi probed.

"A second, please." Her eyes went white.

Paige watched through Grumpy's eyes as he flew toward the entrance of the den. She didn't even have to think her intentions into words with their newfound bond. He simply did as she desired. She knew it was his own choice, and he could choose not to do as she wanted, but he didn't.

Still, as Grumpy approached, she did feel the need to vocalize one thing. 'Hey, if he wakes up, get out of there. Don't put yourself in danger.'

'Aye miss, I wouldn't, not unless I had a bloody good reason. Don't you worry about me.'

Paige felt a little better at that. The crow was her friend, and she couldn't bring herself to feel like their life was expendable or any less valuable than her own.

'Aye miss. We always kind of knew that, but it's quite lovely to know it for sure.' The crow said.

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'I wasn't meaning to send that last part.' Paige responded.

'And it means all the more for it, miss.' The crow landed at the opening to the den, then. He tilted his head, but his eyes weren't suited to pierce the darkness. Then suddenly, his eyes changed, and he saw clearly down the hole to the sleeping and curled up drake below. 'Aye, he's sleeping, miss. I'll let you know if he stirs.'

'Wait, how did you change your eyes like that?' Paige asked.

'I'm using your eyes, miss.' The crow answered simply.

'The bobcat eyes?' Paige's surprise rippled through the mental bond between them.

'Well, I suppose so... but they're your real eyes, now, eh miss. I can use them as easy as anything else.'

Paige smiled. 'That's so fucking cool.'

"So... is it asleep?"

Levi's question pulled her thoughts from the crow.

"Yeah, it's asleep."

"Alright, let us know if it moves before we're ready. Let's get into position."

----

Paige crouched above the hole, silently waiting until their plan was in action. David stood twenty meters from the den's entrance, arrow nocked. Joe had crept as close as he could to the entrance on the right, and Levi had taken the left. Maddy stood just behind David.

Levi glanced between the members of their group, receiving affirmative nods. Then Levi looked to David and gave a nod of his own.

As David lifted and drew his bow, the crow took flight. Then David loosed his arrow, and an angry snarl came from the depths of the Lians-thrak den. Within seconds, the group heard its talons against the dirt, clawing their way to the mouth of the den. David already had a new arrow drawn.

The moment the beast cleared the opening of his home, a second arrow found purchase in its eye. It clearly hadn't gone deep enough to do any serious damage. Before the beast could recover and pounce on David, Joe bashed into the creature with his shield.

The Lians-thrak quickly swiveled on to Joe, but Taju's words proved true. The Lians-thrak was sluggish. Joe, perhaps the second slowest of the group to Maddy, was easily able to avoid the swipe of talons that reached out towards him and returned a stab at the beast. Joe's poke barely broke through the scales, but it bought David the time to sink another arrow into the creature's neck.

As the creature swiveled to David, Levi infused as much of his stamina into his boosting skills as he could risk, barely triggering Mental Boosting or his Mana Skin at all. He primarily relied on his Empowering Flow and the toughness of his bracers as he lept forward and backhanded his left bracer into the arrow sticking from the Lians-thrak's eye, driving it even deeper.

The drake began thrashing, clawing at its eye. It was clearly seriously injured, but not enough to take it out completely. Thrashing, its tail lashed out in every direction. Levi tried to dodge without his boosting skills, but the tail still caught him across his blocking forearms. He felt the bone in his forearms snap as he was sent tumbling back.

Joe was able to absorb the first lash with his skill, and absorb another on his shield, but the third whip caught him in the jaw and sent him to the ground.

Still, David never stopped firing arrows. He didn't use his level 15 ability, but Levi had told him not to unless things were dire. With a once per day cooldown, it was best to hold on to the ability for emergencies.

But the drake was recovering, and as it finished the enraged shakes of its head, the drakes eyes locked onto David.

That's when Paige plunged her daggers, one in each hand, into the neck of the creature. They didn't pierce deeply. The drake's scales were tough. But it did cause blood to start flowing, and it distracted the drake away from David again.

The drake's tail whipped at Paige, who still held onto its back. However, Paige was ready with her Catlike Reflexes, somehow managing to narrowly evade a series of strikes. She was forced to leap off the drake, trying to create distance.

Levi felt his arms heal as Maddy's spell landed on him, but he was still too far away to intercept the drake as it turned its full attention onto Paige.

David landed arrow after arrow, but none bit deep enough to do any serious damage.

Levi watched as the drake lept at Paige. He almost activated every skill he had to their max as the unexpected feeling of losing her hit him like a truck. But just as he was about to, Joe's shield slammed into the drake's head, right over the eye with the arrow sticking out. Taking a leaf from Levi's book, Joe had slammed the arrow even deeper.

This time, when the drake thrashed, they were death throws. The three close quarters fighters stepped away from the creature's thrashing until it stopped.

As the death throws played themselves out, Levi rushed to Paige. She was staring at the drake, panting, hands still clutched tightly on her daggers. Levi, worried, grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked, trying to push down the panic in his voice. It still came out whinier than he liked.

Paige's head slowly turned as she looked up at Levi. A grin spreading across her face. "Yeah. Of course I'm okay. That was fucking awesome."

Levi let out a small sigh of relief, even as he felt conflicted about the fact that she'd enjoyed it so much. He smiled back.

"Not so hard." Levi turned and scanned the others of their group. "Everyone else good?"

David was already putting his bow across is back, but stopped long enough to give a thumbs up.

"Yeah, I only had to drop heals on you and Joe. Not bad," Maddy answered.

Joe was cleaning his sword on the grass. He didn't speak as he stood and sheathed it, then hooked his shield onto his back. Finally, he did look up to Levi. "I need a skill or ability to shield others." He said grimly.

"What? Joe, you literally stopped the drake from attacking others multiple times. You have no reason to feel bad," Levi said. After a moment, he decided to add, "I mean, I was about to blow all my mana and stamina to jump in, to intercept the drake when it was going after Paige, but I didn't have to because you were already there."

Joe nodded back at Levi. "True. But it felt too close for me."

Their goblin escort was already moving in to field dress and quarter the Drake. They scurried around the adventurers, trying not to disturb them. Though, Taju did mutter, "That was awesome," as he made his way past Levi.

At a loss of what to say and knowing there wasn't anything he really could say, Levi changed the subject. "Well, let's see what kind of experience that gave us."

Levi opened his status page and was disappointed to see he'd only gained 95 experience. His stamina and mana were already lower than 80%. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "So?" Levi asked, without looking up.

"I only gained 50," David said first. Levi wondered if it gave him less because of his higher level.

"50," Maddy said.

"75," Joe answered.

"60," Paige said said.

"Fuck," Levi said. "Not sure I will be able to make it to the next level before we have to fight the larger females, if we try to take out the younger females first."

"What do you want to do?" Joe asked.

"Not sure. I have to contibute or I won't get experience. Surprised I got even that much experience. Probably got it because I have the lowest level. But still, chances are, especially if the younger female drakes are weaker than this one was... I won't make it to the next level by killing them all, and I will be drained by the time we fight the stronger females."

"Damn," David said.

"Just let us know. We'll follow your lead," Paige said. Part of her wanted to add that they'd make sure they took care of Levi, but she knew that would only make him feel guilty.

Levi paced for a minute. "I think we stick to the plan and take out the larger females first. I may be sacrificing an earlier level by doing that, but I think we should go ahead and take out the stronger females. At least one. I will use my skills as fully as I need to. But that way, after I am completely out of mana, we only have to worry about weaker enemies." Levi looked up and caught each of their eyes. "Look, the truth is, I know I'm not that useful right now. But I can't get you guys killed just because I want to get to the next level faster. I know you can handle the younger drakes easily. But, I need to make sure I can help with the older ones. They're dangerous."

"Are you sure?" Joe asked.

Levi looked up and caught his eye. "Yeah. I don't want to be the reason someone gets seriously hurt."

Joe nodded. "And see, that's why I respect you, Levi."

----

Levi panted, all mana and stamina gone, as he watched the life finally leave the first of the two stronger Drakes. His ears were still ringing.

Paige crawled to her knees as Maddy's heal took effect.

David had taken a knee and was panting, too.

Joe was still down, but Maddy was casting a heal on him.

Levi checked his experience gains. He'd only gained 90 experience. He still had 210 more to go. He downed a stamina potion. He at least had stamina left, though only through potions.

He still had the pink outline of a burn, from being hit by the nearly boiling blood of a drake, on his arm. Joe and Paige had been burning by it too.

After everyone was up, they gathered around Levi without him asking. He felt their stares and expectations. He took a deep breath before speaking.

"Well, that sucked." Was all he could manage.