This was an SS+ skill! If she did not die, she was destined to be a queen of the battlefield! Her ability, as its rating stated, was too overpowered. She could live out the rest of her life and become a powerhouse on just this one skill…as if it was that easy.
Higher quality skills take up a lot of energy and demand higher quality energy. This was a skill, not a cultivation manual. Its strength was proportional to its user. One of the reasons Letty was so excited is because she heard that there was a necromancer inheritance nearby, one with a mighty cultivation manual! She was a guide and had many connections. She had even talked to other users in other villages in the short time they had been here.
Duke helped her by sifting out real information from lies. Both of them had one eye closed, waving their hands about. They were the weakest fighters, but they were far from being useless.
Alice was on her own journey as she sat down and started meditating. She was clapping in a strange rhythm as she meditated. But that was nothing compared to the 100 cacoons seething with power. Will felt the level drop. It was very uncomfortable. But he was gonna get back to normal soon. If it was any other user on earth sacrificing that much experience they would have suffered from deviation and fainted. Will had thousands of minds working in concert, so he had an advantage.
Merlin went to check the perimeter. Her orders were to not kill ogres but to collect them for Duke to kill. Will, as party leader, had set that the party's energy would go to Alice Duke and Letty. He was a mid-level priority while Alice and Woodsy were low priority due to what they gained from the gates. Will wanted the team balanced and flexible. He also wanted Duke to gain battle experience as well. Something within told him that Letty and Duke had plenty to offer the team.
The duo of Merlin and Woodsy did not complain, because the opportunity they gained from going through the Gates of Knowledge and Power outweighed any levelling.
As the cacoons kept on growing, evolving the militia, Will pondered on his next steps. He had to know what the area looked like. The site with the mine, and thus the ogre stronghold, was nearby in an area called Koilada tis Moiras. Their location was called ta Dasi. Ta Dasi was an area filled with ogres that would be a problem for people around level 75, an excellent place to start.
Letty was level 55 after doing some light hunting while Duke was a measly 40. He at least had two titles that were pretty useful and was a long-range specialist, so he had a lot of potential. He was also no stranger to ogres. He knew their habits and weak points as he had grinded them day and night to get this title.
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Within an hour, Merlin had come back with a massive net of water filled with the creatures. She could have simply killed them and gifted Letty and Duke with an enormous amount of experience, but that wasn't going to work for Will. Ogres counted as demonic beast despite being humanoid. Thus Will ordered Merlin release one and told Duke to dispatch it, which was impossible.
Duke requested that Merlin bring out a shaman type ogre. These were ogres that focused on magic. Ogre shamans focused on illusion magic and area-wide buffs. Duke was utterly resistant to the illusions much to his happiness.
'Under level 100 still counts as low ranked.'
Due activated his other two titles and used an active skill, which allowed him to reinforce his arrows with mana. He was a mage archer, a rare type of archer as most of them were warriors. This gave him an advantage in long-distance scruffles as he mana was far better than qi at reinforcing non-living materials like metals.
Duke was a hunter, who took the life of his prey at a distance. Short distance battles with warriors were his kryptonite.
Fiery Gaze lowered the fighting power of 'weak' ogres by 5 per cent and granted a chance to have some faint. This, of course, depended on his proficiency with the skill, but Duke was confident. Ogres that were weaker than level 100 users were considered vulnerable here.
So he would be in a good place so long as he dispatched them. And lucky for him, both titles activated in glorious splendour. The shaman fainted while casting a spell, then it was death from a rain of arrows! Shamans had weak defence already, and 5 per cent was a lot the stronger you became!
This was a level D+ Shaman! That meant that it was a match for players in their high seventies. Each letter represented roughly 20 levels for a player. So those seeking to reach level 100 must be able to kill B- creatures at the very least. The very idea made Duke shiver in fear. He had seen a C- boss-level creature. The bear boss that Will had dispatched. Just how insanely strong would a B- boss be? And Ogres were humanoid, so they were smarter than most animals. They knew how to use weapons, mounts and advanced group tactics.
Duke levelled up straight to level 60 due to the superb dominance he had. He actually defeated it one on one which allowed him to gain a lot of experience. If he wasn't sharing with others, he would have gotten even more. Alice and Letty also shot up with Letty reaching 65 and Alice reaching 50. Letty was used to the rush of power, but for Alice, it was a first. She could feel her mind opening up in ways she never thought possible.
Alice was a mage whose class specialized in data and communication. She gained a plethora of new skills that were very helpful to their current situation. Alice started feeling that coming here was the right decision. Although they were constantly in danger more often here, she had Will by her side. The same Will who protected her in those nasty dreams. She wanted to know how he did it and wanted to thank him. But that was for another time.
Meanwhile, Modus was having some ice cream in Italy when he sneezed. Which was extremely rare for someone of his power.
"Huh, a goddess must be thinking about how handsome I am mwahaha."
…