The elite is a quake unicorn that has a flaming mane and flaming tails. It's also fifty-percent bigger, and it's taking every ounce of Sera's power to keep it from obliterating the others. Roughly two dozen people are fighting the monsters, and there are significantly more of the beasts than what Terrence, Sera, and I fought. Hundreds more.

Terrence said that most of the adventurers in this town are Tier I, so I'm going to assume that all of their available Tier II-plus fighters are participating in addition to a bunch of Tier Is. As it is, if Terrence gained twenty-four Levels, how many have these people gained already?

I can see hundreds of bodies already littered around. Right now, I know five spells, too: [Fireball], [Air Bolt], [Air Spear], and [Air Bomb], as well as [Fire Bolt], which I learned on the way over here because recovering the 2 Mana for that was finished before we arrived.

While the spear is good for penetrating monsters and can probably pass through several monsters, it runs the risk of killing people in its path. The bolts are less destructive, but at my current Level, I'd probably kill people if I misjudge the aim and distance of the spells. If I cast a bomb spell, however, I'll probably end up killing a bunch of them. There's also the fact that even with my instinctively-good aim, the other fighters are moving around. That alone means I might hit one by accident because they moved into the path.

I'm not charging in their with martial arts, either. The only reason I did before was because I didn't have Mana to cast.

Terrence has no hesitation, performing a series of punches and kicks, [Air Bolt]s and [Fire Bolt]s shooting out from every strike. They impact various monsters with great precision. A few of them pass through monsters and impact others, and Terrence continues without pausing for even a moment.

He's going to burn through his Mana pretty quickly at this rate, even with his new capacity.

Most of them seem to have already done so and are doing the same as I was, mixing in what physical combat abilities they have between spells or resting outside of the fight.

Almost all of them are wolfkin, too, with a few catkin and what looks like a foxkin. I don't see any humans, though.

What I need is an angle shift. I leave Terrence to his fighting as I change my position a little, then aim and fire off an [Air Bolt]. This one slams into the neck of a quake unicorn and passes through, slamming into the head of another. As the Experience notification pops up, I fire off another.

My new angle allows me to shoot in areas where even passing through monsters won't hit the fighters. All I have to do is hope the other fighters won't move into my path after I shoot.

The other fighters are battling in groups of five, I realize. Four group of them, plus Sera and Terrence. Even with the members spread out, it becomes obvious to me that they're fighting in those groups. They're also cycling with one group resting at a time, spread out. As soon as they finish resting, they jump back into the battle, regrouping.

"Hey, you," a resting catkin man who looks to be in his forties calls out to me. "Haven't seen you around before. What's your skillset?"

"Just some bolts, spears, and bombs," I say, adding in a bit of a Southern accent to it. American Southern accent, that is. "But I'm a bit strong, as you've probably noticed, and I'm not that good at predicting battles yet so I have to aim away from people. I can't use the bomb spells with-"

"Bomb spells?" He stands to his feet and faces the battle. "Element?"

"[Fireball] and [Air Bomb] right now."

"CLEAR A ZONE!" The catkin man shouts. "[Air Bomb] incoming!"

As soon as he yells that, the group fighting nearest to us splits off and regroups in another section, closer to another group. Both groups condense down their spread to fight in a more contained area.

I don't need any further sign than that. I cast [Air Bomb] and throw it into the center of the cleared zone. It detonates, creating a blast over a hundred feet in diameter. Thankfully, the cleared zone is bigger than that. Way more monsters are killed this time than last time, and only the monsters that are near its edges manage to survive total obliteration.

+216% Experience! You have gained 3 Levels!

That's five Levels from this fight, now. Barely.

The catkin man lets out a whistle.

"I figured you were strong thanks to how easily your bolts were piercing through the shells of the shell hunters and the bodies of the quake unicorns," the catkin man tells me. "But that was completely unexpected. You're one heck of a powerful guy. With this many people fighting, it'll be difficult for you to get shots off and we can't exactly spread out too often. We do that, the elite will notice and start spreading his own forces out, including directing them to the city to distract us."

Which probably isn't the best of ideas.

"Well," I say. "I'm new to this combat thing. Thoughts?"

"What spears do you have?" He asks.

"[Air Spear] at the moment," I answer. "But I can learn others if needed."

"Piercing power is good," he says. "[Fire Spear] is decent for inflicting extra damage, but it's not necessary if your spears can go through several before stopping and kills them all. [Water Spear] isn't effective against these beasts, and [Ice Spear] and [Stone Spear] will have about the same effect as [Air Spear] does. So whatever else you can learn – you're a Tier II or Tier III?"

"Eh," I say. "So [Air Spear] works?"

"Yes," he nods. "The elite will take notice of you after another one or two big attacks."

"Not an issue."

He gives me a slightly-worried look, but then points in a direction and tells me to get ready for an [Air Spear]. I start casting it, and a few seconds after, there's a clear line for me to launch it. I shoot the spell forward, and it punches through a dozen monsters before finally stopping and coming undone in the side of a boar.

There are six Experience amounts in the notification this time, and they amount to less than 20% Experience in total. Kind of a shame, but I expected that.

The catkin man continues to direct me, calling out when he needs them to clear a blast zone or a line for me. It takes a few minutes for the flaming quake unicorn to notice the amount of destruction I'm doing, and a few minutes more for it to finally get away from Sera to come after me.

Rather directly, too. The beast charges straight for me, other monsters moving out of its way or getting plowed through as it goes. It's probably time to learn a new spell.

"Sorry," I apologize to the flaming quake unicorn. "But I'm more of ranged fighter."

[Air Barrier] learned!

An [Air Barrier] twenty feet across and tall forms ten feet in front of me, the flaming quake unicorn slamming into it, barely cracking it. I thrust my hands out to the sides, and a pair of [Air Bomb]s shoot out, one from each hand. It takes a little bit of effort, but I maintain control of them, sending them on a curved path towards the flaming quake unicorn as collects itself from the crash.

The beast is already covered in blood from Sera's attacks, and I detonate my [Air Bomb]s before they reach it. The catkin man who was helping me is behind the barrier and everyone else is out of range at the moment, so I'm not worried about accidentally killing anyone.

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Though the blasts crack my barrier to hell and back, it manages to remain and the barrier repairs immediately after, drawing on my Mana to do so.

As for the beast, the pair of blasts impact it almost simultaneously, and with nearly the full force. It cries out in pain as its body is smashed a bit, but the thing's resilient enough to hold on. Jeez, it took a ton of hits from Sera and a pair of [Air Bomb]s with over 400 Magic in them, and it's still holding on?

A spear slams down into the beast from above, cutting into its neck and pinning it to the ground.

+357% Experience! You have gained 3 Levels!

Sera lands on the butt of the spear a moment later.

"Clever," she says. "This should go a lot easier now that it's dead, the increased spawn rate that comes with an elite is gone."

There was an increased spawn rate? I was so focused on following the catkin's instructions I hadn't noticed more monsters were appearing.

"You really like landing on spears, don't you?"

"In more ways than one," she winks, then grabs the spear and flips, pulling the spear out as she goes.

"Her poor husband," I mutter, and the catkin laughs. "Just curious, but how many Levels have you gotten?"

"From this fighting?" He asks. "I went from Level 23 to Level 48. Pretty impressive, I was expecting Level 50 to take me another fifteen years or so, I'm just a Tier I, unlike Sera and Terrence, there. That's what happens when a Slip breaks out, though. Everyone's able to gain a ton of Levels."

Okay, so the increase in Levels being so high isn't just me or Terrence, but everyone. I mean, I know that Terrence said it's good for raising people's Levels, but this guy went up 25 Levels already, and from a higher starting point than Terrence. This really is useful for people who are weaker.

They have a lot more 'struggle' in their battles since they're weaker, so they gain much higher amounts of Experience.

"Sera's probably gaining almost nothing," he tells me. "Except from that blaze-quake unicorn. She'll probably only gain a few Levels, being a Tier III mage already at Level 50 or so."

"Okay," I say. "Sorry 'bout taking up your time killing monsters, I'm not gaining much anymore. If you want to jump back in."

"Don't sweat it, kid," he says. "A Slip's duration can be guessed based on how quickly stronger monsters show up. Considering it started last night and we already have monsters this strong here, it'll probably last around two weeks. That's plenty of time for me to get more kills. I'll be happy once I reach Level 49, though."

"You can jump back in if you want," I tell him. "The dwindling numbers is making it harder for me to get a good spot to aim at."

"It will go easier," he points in a direction. "If we have you doing area kills. How strong are you?'

"Over 400 Magic," I tell him, and he lets out a whistle. "I've gained quite a few Levels from this. What's at Level 49?"

"I reach 150 Spirit," he answers. "And my birth spirit should develop a new spell there. [Air Bomb] there once it clears. [Flame Burst]. CLEAR!"

A small orb of flames forms in front of the tip of his finger, then shoots out over the fighting. About two hundred feet away, it bursts, sending out a small shower of flames that fades before it reaches the monsters.

Immediately, everyone near that spot moves out of the way, and I summon an [Air Bomb] and throw it that way. One of the [Ice Bolt]-shooting birds fires a shot at it before it lands, triggering the spell early.

Even though it was still ten feet above the monsters, my spell had more than enough power to it. A wave of compressed air bursts in all directions, slamming into monsters. Dozens die from the attack, dozens more wounded and thrown about by it.

+17% Experience!

"I've noticed," I say. "I sometimes receive several Experience amounts in a single notice when I kill, and sometimes receive a single amount that's all of them added up. At least, as far as I can tell."

"Once you have nine or more kills that would be added to the same notice," he tells me. "It consolidates them all into a single amount. There's a good spot for an [Air Spear]."

I send one in the direction he's pointing, killing half a dozen beasts. For the next few minutes, we continue killing them like this, then there just aren't enough to make it worth it. The catkin man rejoins his group in the fighting, and I take a seat and start sending out [Air Bolt]s when I feel I won't risk killing any of the fighters.

It doesn't take much longer for the battle to finish, all of the monsters put down. Once it does, everyone groups up over by me for some reason.

"We tried to tell you about the Slip before you left," Sera tells Terrence. "But you left an hour earlier than you normally do and slipped out past us before we noticed."

"It started earlier?" Terrence asks.

"It started last night," Sera tells him. "A little before midnight. The elite showed up a little while ago and we all came out here to deal with it because we did not want to have one this close to the town during a Slip. It would probably have attacked. Otherwise, you would have had help sooner, Terrence."

"It's fine," Terrence says. "I'm Level 63 now."

"That's not very fair," I say. "I'm only Level 24 now."

"You hush," Terrence gives me a confused look, probably because of the accent.

Our comments earn me more than a few confused looks.

"Who are you?" The grey catkin man asks me. "I don't recognize you, but you're quite powerful for someone who only knows a handful of spells."

"Reid is-" Terrence starts.

"I'm from fairly far away," I say. "Another continent entirely. We were doing an experiment with dimensional crystals, trying to create a gate that goes between two of our cities. It was supposed to draw on the ambient Mana in the air, and we didn't realize the Slip had happened. Or if someone did, they didn't think it'd interfere with our gate attempt. Found myself on the field on the southwestern portion of town, landing right on Terrence. I was telling him about my situation when we got attacked. As for my spellset, it was all I ever really needed 'till now.

"And… you speak our language?"

"Turns out, y'all speak our language," I say. "Though there are probably some dialect differences. For example, we don't have any beastkin, and when someone's unable to get their words out, we ask 'cat got your tongue?'. I'm going to assume that doesn't happen here due to the beastkin."

"We ask 'frog stole your words?' to that," Terrence tells me.

"Frogs shoot out their tongues to grab things," I nod. "I can see that being the phrase."

"There aren't any beastkin where you live?" the catkin man asks.

"No," I answer. "All twenty-six million of us are humans."

"And you're a Tier IV, right?" A woman asks. "The level of power of those spells, either you've been hunting stuff for years, or your small spell set is because you've gotten powerful quickly."

"I'm not a Tier IV."

"He's an [Archon]," a woman says. "A fledgling one, if I'm not mistaken."

Everyone turns to face the speaker, a wolfkin with golden-blond hair, her body lithe and eyes the dark grey of storm clouds. I'd estimate her to be only around nineteen or twenty, and if I were straight, I'd be in love. She's dressed in black pants and dark brown leather boots, a grey tunic with a yellow leather belt, and a golden wolf amulet. Rubies and yellow topazes are set into the amulet, glinting lightly in the sunlight. Over her outfit, she wears a sky-blue robe with silver trim, golden runes stitched into the trim.

The wolfkin's hands are tucked into the pockets of her robe, and though that seems to give her a more serious stance, the slight smile on her face and energy in her eyes wipes that notion away.

"Silvia!" Terrence exclaims, tail wagging excitedly. "You're here two weeks earlier than I expected!"

So this is the Tier IV mage he came here to seek residency with. Everyone else looks to be in a mixture of awe and worship of the wolfkin lady, including Sera. Didn't Terrence say she's thirty? Silvia looks to be only around nineteen or twenty, just a few years older than we are.

"And you're here, which is quite unexpected," Silvia says as everyone else gives her a small or full bow. "After I dealt with the monsters that showed up around my place and ensured that my place was secure, I came to see if the town needed assistance."

The powerful wolfkin fixes that dark grey gaze of hers on me. It feels as if she's looking directly into me, too.

"Much to my surprise," she says. "I found an [Archon]. The fight seemed to be handled, so I didn't step in. You are a fledgling though, yes? If you were a fully-fledged [Archon], I'd imagine the fight would have gone much differently."

"I am," I nod. "I'm only Level 24 at the moment, and most of that is from these battles here. Casting spells myself wasn't much of a necessity back home."

Nor even a possibility, since I didn't have magic back home. There's no point trying to hide some things, since apparently everyone and their mother can tell I'm an [Archon]. I'm still going to hide other things.

"Silvia!" Terrence exclaims, tail wagging. "I was telling Reid here about you, and how you're an expert when it comes to stuff that can be done with dimensional crystals. He-"

"I heard what he said," she says. "I simply chose to interject before he tried coming up with an excuse to hide his nature. If he's to interact with our society, then it will come out that he's an [Archon]. Better for it to be known now than later."

"Even if it might cause me problems?" I ask. "A Slip – a Shift, as we call them back home – just started, and I can foresee people coming to me for assistance. Begging the [Archon] to help them out. I'd rather work on getting back home, to my people, who will need my help. One of the only reasons a dragon hasn't attacked us in recent years is because I was there."

"Dragons are a myth," the foxkin says.

"I've seen dragons," Silvia states. "Reid, why don't you, Terrence, and I talk somewhere a little more private. Seraphina, I trust you'll make sure their rewards are appraised appropriately and prepared for them for when we return."

"Yes, ma'am," Sera responds.

"Very well, then," Silvia steps closer to me, beckoning Terrence over. "Then we will be going to my cabin."

The silver runes on her robe begin to glow with a violet light, and Silvia, Terrence, and I are each enveloped in it. We lift up into the air, and a moment later, we're soaring towards the western forest.