“I sorry what?” asked Hina in shock, “Why do we of all people have to go to school! If you did any research on us, you know that school is the worst place we can go!” near the end, she was almost screaming at Eden.

Ian added in, “I rather not go back there...too many traumas for me.”

Maria raised her hand and said, “Me too...”

“You three have problems due to yourself...well not exactly. It can't be helped that one of you were bullied due to your cold actions towards your classmate, another was ignored almost completely due to a lack of presence no matter what you did and the last one was bullied by classmates due to being...'better' than them in every way. Well I have to say such things are quite sad but it has nothing to do with what is happening now” said Eden with almost a sigh having to explain it to them.

What was then has nothing to do with now.

Ian raised his voice at Eden said said, “Then you should-”

“Know of how you feel? Of course not” interrupted Eden cutting in, “However I know that this is a flesh start for you all. This private school....is a bit different than the usual things you can expect. You might feel at home there...well not really I know that there will be people out to get you buuut there is a good chance you all will fit in.”

“....”

The group stared at Eden who was not making sense again.

Finally Peter asked, “What kind of place is this school?” to Eden which looked liked he wanted someone to ask that question.

“Ah finally! I was waiting quite patiently for that question you know! Basically that school is made for the rich or and talented. Basically one of those extremely prestigious schools that parents want their children to get in.”

Eden took out some fliers from...somewhere, it was best not to ask about that, and handed them to the group which read it.

On the front cover was a large image of what seemed to be a modern school. However the technology that was seen here was at least a decade above what the other schools had and even to the public.

“This place is special you know and it's natural for you all to be placed here since I have connections to the ones that built it in the first place. A place where the talented or gifted in many ways whether it is in ability, ideas or even connections gather!”

“Yes, this 'school' was built by the most powerful cooperation in the world. Unicorn.”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

It was roughly early in the morning and was quite frosty.

The current state of things was as followed. They were located in the middle of a large forest that would take them another week to get out of. They were literally surrounded by enemies that lived in this forest. They had no food and little water left to survive on, the village before was a few days back and they can't get there in time.

And most importantly their lives were now completely in the hands of Viv.

It was not the time to be trying to defy him right now. Those were the thoughts that Shadow had who really had a bad feeling about Viv and wanted less to do with him as much as possible. After years of experience in observing people, Viv had a presence to him that was worst than even Eden and Alexandra; like there was....something off about him.

Like how you discover he was the killer at the end or the mastermind that manipulated everything from the shadows.

That was the kind of bad feeling Shadow had with Viv...but that was not the main problem here. The fact remained that they cannot defy him either way.

He would had to work hard enough...in order to make sure they all don't die.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“The first thing you need to learn as for survival skills is how to gather food. There are generally two types of food you can consume. The first is fruits or nuts and otherwise vegetables which is actually an unpopular choice for most players as you have to manually identify and pick it. The second is meat which you get from hunting animals like rabbits or deer.”

“The type for now I will be discussing is with that former type.”

Viv took out two identical books which were actually skill books.

“To speed things up, I'll give these books to Serena who is a druid and needs this knowledge and the second who will be Shadow is due to the need of a person with high mobility having this advantage. Learn these quickly.”

Viv handed those two books to Serena and Shadow in which he leant them immediately by activating the skill books. When they did, two messages appeared before Sain.

Party Member: Serena has learnt the skill 'Plant Botany'

Party Member: Shadow has learnt the skill 'Plant Botany'

Thanks to his party scan skill levelling up to beginner level 5, it gave him the ability to observe the skills in which the others gained right now...not that he needed it since he could ask either way. Also, Sain had already told them the details of this skill would make it easier to communicate what they could do since Sain also knew the details of what they could do.

Plant Botany Beginner Level 1

The ability to identify all plant types and what they can do based on the knowledge you know. This skill will increase in proficiency as you identify more plants. As this skill level up, details of plants observed will increase

This was the skill window for 'Plant Botany' which really didn't do much at all.

“This skill is highly useful since when you identify once, you know forever thanks to this skill. Another thing is that the skill is quite slow only at the start but the further down you go, the skill will reveal details of plants even if you only seen it once based on previous knowledge you have. It is one of the best skills to have when exploring unknown places. Of course getting them identified by an alchemist is the best way to not die eating something bad” explained Viv on the details of this skill.

“There are a couple other skills and things you need to know, it's take a while in order to learn those skills. The other skill you need to know is how to gather water since that is the most important thing you need to have to survive.”

Viv then said to the group, “Right, I'm going to teach you two” looking at Shadow and Serena, “while we continue walking else it might take another month to get out of this forest. I want to get out by the end of this month and this place is perfect for teaching you right now.”

With that, the group continued to walk as Viv was explaining the applications of the 'Plant Botany' skill he had just given them.

“I wonder when he will teach us something like combat skills...” muttered Miriel under her breath so that only Sain could hear. Sain had a feeling that she was impatient seeing that they were 'wasting' time not on training themselves and just...doing nothing.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“This plant is one of the vine type but also can release a certain scent that causes you to be tracked via smell to other animals.”

Knowledge on observed Vine Type plant increased and recorded

“This small plant down here grows some berries that are poison to certain animals. Mostly tree eaters so they live off what the nearby trees spare. It's a parasite type due to this.”

Knowledge on observed Parasite Type plant increased and recorded

“This tree here might seem to grow fruit to eat and actually is quite delicious to eat but soon after you will find out that it has a laxative effect...Eden ate this and almost caused this species to be extinct soon after...it's a tree type unless you're blind.”

Knowledge on observed Tree Type plant increased and recorded

“This-”

Just when Viv was going to describe another type of plant to the two, Serena spoke up and asked, “Do you....know the names of these plants? Are we just going to identify them based on shape and effect?”

“Well, we could but there are hundreds...no thousands and tens of thousands of different names to remember. It's just easier to remember based on shape and effect” Viv explained to Serena, “Also the skill helps you out by giving you a window when you want to observe something as well. Unless you combine using this skill with say, 'Plant Identifier' you won't know the name until someone tells you. This forest has a number of rare plants so getting a name off them is not likely.”

“Yes...but don't all plants have a name?” she asked again.

The teachings that came from Mel said that all things have a name whether you know it or not. It was quite a waste then in Serena's mind on not even bothering to learn that.

“I don't know what you mean...there are too many species really most things to name them all. Therefore there are general names for many different plants. Is that what you mean?” asked Viv trying to tell the intentions of Serena.

Serena shook her head making both Viv and Shadow confused.

“Master...said that all things have a name.”

At that point, Viv understood what Serena was getting about.

“Serena, that topic is too advance for you right now. If I remember, it was the research target that Mel was taking on but to thing...that she would push part of that to you. She must trust you a lot to know about that. Not many people bother about the power of names” said Viv.

“Powers...of names?” asked Shadow now a bit more curious.

“It's a theory that all things have a true name and by uttering that name, you hold complete control of that object by knowing that name. Humans, Dwarves and Orcs are unable to know these names by instinct but I heard that certain Elves know of this and are slowly researching from countless generations ago. It's a powerful thing but equally dangerous.”

“D-dangerous?!” Serena was now a bit more frightened of this. What if her master was hurt or even killed?!

“Don't worry, Mel is strong...however what she seeks is something that was considered dangerous by the Gods...I guess in the end, Eden influenced her to take up that research....anyway back to the growth of that skill. What level is it now?”

“Beginner Level 3” replied Shadow.

Viv smiled and nodded his head, “In that case, it'll take the rest of the day to reach beginner level 5  then which at that point will allow you to not die a awful death from picking something from the ground.”

He then looked around noticing that the other four were not here at all and asked, “Where are the others?”

Shadow again was the one to respond with, “They are hunting monsters since we are walking quite slowly here. They're a bit further ahead from us.”

“I see....if that's the case then I have to teach the next part the next day....”

“Umm...what is the....next part?” asked Serena.

“Collecting water.”

“Yes...but...how...?”

“Find a river or something is one way. Another is from towns and when you have neither, you have to get it yourself. Miriel is an ice mage right?” asked Viv confirming whether it was true or not.

“Amongst other things” replied Shadow. Before that, Miriel could only use Sound or Illusion based magic which was part of the support set of magic in this game. Now that she had ice magic as well, she could attack...and actually had one of the most powerful offence in the group.

“In that case, she can probably learn water and also to some extent, wind magic well enough as well” muttered Viv.

Later on, Viv continued to help the two train up their 'Plant Botany' skill to Beginner level 5 where it allowed them to see some details of unknown plants to them as well depending on how much they knew. According to Viv, to fully master this skill, they needed to perfectly analyse several tens of thousands of plants throughout the continent.

And as such, another day passed

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Around mid day, the group guided by Viv moved to an area where there was a small lake to refill with water. Raven and Lyndis were doing the job of filling everybody's canteens which in total numbered several dozens with water from there. Meanwhile, Viv was explaining the importance of knowing the locations of such places.

“There are three ways of getting water while travelling in this world. The first is to know the locations of water sources such as this. The second though available to a smaller amount of people is to conjure it up using water or ice magic. And the final method is via the various wells that are placed on the road.”

“Wells?” asked Sain. He had not heard of such things before.

“Yeah, the kingdom to make things slightly easier for travellers particularly on foot made it so that there are various wells so people don't die from thirst. However at the same time, since people go to those points, bandit attacks are high in the areas around the wells. Kinda ironic isn't it.”

“....”

Sain could literally feel that there was something wrong with this. Something that happened to be made to benefit normal people become a target for bandits...actually there was a lot of things right with this when he thought more about. Bandits break laws and would target people...and people gathered at those wells which made them great targets...but it still made him feel...off since good will somehow became something bad.

“Sain? Your face looks super scary right now” said Lyndis waving her hand in front of his face as he snapped out of it.

“Are you all right? I rather not have that other you come out of sheer randomness right now” said Miriel as well.

“Ah...yeah, I'm all right” muttered Sain back. The bad feeling in his chest started disappearing quickly.

“And with those words, it's better to stay away from him in case he snaps and change again. Going against a super commander will make our day hell” said Shadow smiling with a wry smile and backing away from Sain.

“Shadow...I think I liked you better when you didn't talk” said Sain almost sighing in regret that in the end, Shadow had this kind of personality which he managed to hide for so long.

“You mean like silent bob over there” Shadow pointed at Raven with his thumb in a gesture, “I'm simply tired....or was tired during that time of expressing myself that much. Now, I'm all rested up and back to normal.”

“I don't like it” said Miriel plainly to this.

Shadow sneered and said, “You mean you like it when you could use me all you want without a word? I rather not, I'm not a tool to be used all you want, when you want. Sain is much better since he takes our will into consideration but mostly lacks the initiatives to do things to the point. The most you could've been in a small time dictator before we all leave you.”

“....”

Miriel shot a sharp glare at Shadow. However Lyndis looked like she was about to laugh.

“Damn..! I like this new Shadow” she said, “So much humour in his words!”

A couple of people including Shadow wondered the words 'humour?' just then.

“Like I said, this is the old me not the new...needed a stronger personality to help stop people from forgetting me....” he muttered quietly though everyone could hear those words.

Raven patted his shoulder and nodded in agreement to which Shadow looked a bit displeased and then sad and then happy in that order.

“Back to the actual topic which is important, you all well really only two of you have the option to learn some water magic to produce water when you need else you can depend on finding water sources which are quite plentiful as long as it's not a barren wasteland” said Viv cutting this 'touching' interaction between the group to a stop.

“Umm...” Serena raised her hand up.

“Yes?”

“Doesn't the effects of most magic disappear after you use it with few exception?” she asked.

“Not at all. It gives the illusion of disappearing since the magic that sustains them is gone after the spell ends and it reverts to it's neutral state. Fire will disappear when there is no fuel left to burn right? In this way, water can remain from ice magic or water magic which is useful. However light or dark magic do not leave a clear trace while neutral element magic never leave a proper trace of the spell afterwards unless it's very apparent.”

“I see...”

“The reason I'm pointing out the use of water magic is that it can occur either using a water source was a catalysis to amplify it's effects or directly use mana as a source to create water to use. This way, even if there is no water you can still get water.”

“In that case, wouldn't it be fine for Miriel to learn it since she already has ice magic?” asked Shadow.

“I rather not pick up another element to learn” denied Miriel waving her hand, “It takes a really long time to even train one element in magic, having three is my limit on training them all. Sain should pick it up instead.”

The group looked at Sain from Miriel.

“I...wouldn't mind learning some new magic since I am lacking.”

“Oh I know you are lacking in magic” remarked Viv, “Don't worry, you won't need to learn all the tricks on water magic to use this spell. It's one of those basic one that won't get you the 'Water Magic Mastery' skill in the end. Take out your hand.”

Sain did that and extended his hand to Viv to which he placed his finger at the centre of his hand. Then there was a small amount of mana gathering at that point as Viv explained.

“This is one of the 'old' way of teaching magic by making you remember how the flow of the spell works. Highly inefficient in the end but it is faster than explaining it to you. Now, remember this flow of mana and the type of mana flowing through.”

Sain could feel that there was...some sort of mana that felt slightly different than the mana he normally used. It didn't 'feel' different but it 'felt' different from the mana he normally used.

“Type of mana?” asked Sain.

Viv nodded and then furthered explained, “Each element is slightly different even in how it's mana works. Those who are used to using fire element mana can use fire magic better and so on. It takes the form of the element's Magic Mastery.”

Eventually Viv stopped moving the mana in his hand and said, “Now, try to replicate it. If it works then a skill should appear.”

Sain nodded and started to replicate what Viv did to his hand. However he soon found out that his control over his mana was extremely rough compared to his but he continued. Eventually the mana flowed in the same way as Viv did and a bit of water appeared in his hand and spilled out.

You have gained the skill: Mana Control

You have gained the skill: Water Fill

'Huh? What is this mana control skill?'

Sain opened up both windows and inspected them.

Mana Control Beginner Level 1

The control of mana is one of the most basic skills a mage can have but one that is rarely trained. As such, mana is wasted and used incorrectly often until the mage can control it properly. This skill however allows you to properly control pure mana from an earlier point.

Effects:

- Allows you to control mana to an small extent

Water Fill Beginner Level 1

A basic magic that fills an object with water. The higher the skill level, the more water that can be produced at the same time.

Mana Cost: 100

“Did you get the skill?” asked Viv not sure what was going on with the expression on Sain's face.

“Well....I got a skill called 'Water Fill' which should be the one you gave me but I got another skill called 'Mana Control' for some reason as well.”

“Ah, that skill. If you have it then you can control small bits of mana at a time. It's really useless unless you train it properly.”

“What happens when you train it.”

“Well...eventually you can halve the cost of mana for spells and alterate spells to have higher or lower outputs as well. It's something that many players want trained at the end but don't bother to train early on. It's really different from 'Magic Control' where it only helps you control spells, it does things on a more basic level.”

“I see....so I should train it” Sain looked at the skill with high potential due to what Viv said what it could do later on. If he lowered his mana consumption then...it would only be good for him.

Viv nodded and said, “Yes when you have the time.”

[p=center]xXx[/p]

With that, another week passed by with the group on the second day on the second week.

“How much did you manage to gather today?” asked Sain to Shadow.

“Enough for a single meal...there isn't much to collect here without you becoming paralysed, poisoned or worse” he replied.

“Just...how much is there that we can't eat because....”

“Because it looks like there is a lot to eat? Don't be fooled? Those fruits that look like apples there, are actually super poisonousness and will make you vomit after a few minutes giving out a certain scent which tells a man eater plant to come and consume you.”

“....”

“Isn't that a bit extreme?” asked Sain.

Shadow shrugged and said, “According to Viv, this is only kinda dangerous compared to one of the restricted zones. Anyway the strange thing is that I...no we haven't even seem a rabbit here at all! They are literally everywhere else in the continent but in this forest....”

“Perhaps they don't come to this area of the forest.”

“Or something is eating them....”

“....”

“Perhaps there's a strong monster in this area then” said Sain thinking of the possibility.

“What is this talk of strong monster?” asked Lyndis appearing out of nowhere.

“Why is it that every time we talk about anything strong and to fight you always appear?” wondered Shadow. Throughout the week, he and Sain were talking about some things to get to know each other better since Shadow before really didn't say much...or do much by any means but now he did.

Because of this, Sain spent less time with Miriel who was spending more time with Viv on topics of magic which Viv seemed to enjoy quite a bit. Serena and Raven however remained the same communicating when they had to, the group while closer now due to the many months together, were still not close at all.

“Don't worry” said Viv appearing with Miriel, “There shouldn't be any monsters that can take you all down at once.”

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

“Right, now should be a good time to train up your skills in fighting. First of all, while you are slightly better than average, when you're in this guild, that will get you killed....a lot. Missions are always harder than what other players do and there are no room for mistakes. Because of this...I need you all to be able to good at fighting which you all are not” said Viv.

He quickly moved, at least twice the speed of what Shadow could do at his top speed and took...no stole Raven's spear which was in his hands a moment ago.

“Raven as a tank, why do you need to attack the enemy? Your allies have enough power without you. Learn how to fight with only a shield.”

“....”

Next he quickly chanted a spell onto Lyndis in the form of a vine which moved and tightly wounded itself onto her wrists.

“Wait what?!” Lyndis tried to get the vines that glowed with a faint glow before turning into a black mark on her wrist.

“Lyndis, you are lacking in sword skills. You learning fire skills only made you weaker in the end as you further depend on it. Learn how to fight with only a sword from the start again.”

Next, Viv did the same with Serena and left the words, “Serena, as a druid you don't need to use such...unpolished magic you made up on your own. I'm sealing your blood magic for now. Also, your 'root bind' spell is actually quite flexible. Learn how to fully control it.”

“I....understand” said Serena with resolve. With this, her only attack spell was sealed but she really didn't like using it in the first place.

“Next up is Miriel”, Viv did the same thing to Miriel and said, “There aren't many issues with you but I feel that you are trying to stay as a attacker and supporter. Because you have a personality that tends to attack, your sound and illusion magic is sealed until I let you.”

“Ah...” muttered Miriel in surprise, “Is that a good thing? This means we don't have any buffs with work with.”

“Buffs are fine but if you depend on it too much then without it, you'll end up dead” replied Viv. He looked at Sain and said, “Also, Sain seems to be better in such a role to begin with. I'll teach him some basic buffing spells after this. Speaking of which...”

Viv moved his hand closer to Sain but decided not to in the end and looked at Shadow as well, “You two more or less are good enough but lack the experience and skills to do more. Your growth is correct but it's a bit slow. Continue to train.”

With that, Viv left Sain and Shadow without lacking in any skills or abilities and moved ahead as the group followed him from behind.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

A bit later....

“Enemies!” shouted Shadow looking around at the trees. Sain noticed that he was looking up on the branches instead of the bushes, as such he looked up as well. What he saw was bad.

“Monkeys?!” he muttered aloud by mistake due to shock.

These monkeys had silver fur and three eyes. They were half the size of a person but they had sharp claws and tails that had spikes on them. It looked like they would really hurt if they attacked you.

Sain immediately looked at Raven who moved automatically to gave his spear but Viv had it. As such, he just held the shield that was made to parry not block attacks with two hands instead of one now.

Miriel was about to cast buffs on everyone but remembered that she couldn't do that as well. And finally Lyndis was about to use ranged fire attacks but nothing happened. All of them were more stiff than usual since their skills and abilities were sealed to a certain extent.

However in turn, Sain gained several new spells at the same time.

“Let the body become harder than all other! Iron Skin!”

“Let strength gather and become the wind! Swift Legs!”

“Let fury overcome you and strike down all foes! Berserk Fury!”

Sain placed the first spell on Raven, the second on Shadow and the third on Lyndis. They increased vitality, agility and strength in that order by 20 points each. They were the spells that Viv had taught Sain before this battle.

And these were their skill windows.

Iron Skin Beginner Level 1

Cause the target to have his skin harden and increase defence by 20 points. This amount will increase as the spell levels up.

Mana Cost: 150

Time Limit: 5 Minutes

Swift Legs Beginner Level 1

Cause wind to gather and allow the target to move faster than ever before by 20 points. This amount will increase as the spell levels up.

Mana Cost: 150

Time Limit: 5 Minutes

Berserk Fury Beginner Level 1

Cause the target to gather strength in their body and allow attacks to increase in power via strength by 20 points. This amount will increase as the spell levels up.

Mana Cost: 150

Time Limit: 5 Minutes

“Sain, this buff sucks!” complained Lyndis immediately seeing that there was no large difference in her attack as she deflected an attack and attacked back at the monkeys, “Look, even Raven is complaining in his own way!”

Sain looked over to Raven who was struggling to keep up with the agile monkeys even with increased defence. Meanwhile Shadow could not hit the critical points of the monkeys while leaping in the trees with them.

“Health Restoration!” chanted Serena using her new healing spell as well. While Viv was teaching Sain, Serena approached and wanted to learn a new spell as well. Namely it was the direct restoration type healing spell.

The spell hit Raven and increased his health by 10% immediately instead of steadily increasing this time.

Health Restoration Beginner Level 1

Heals 500 health in one go

Mana Cost: 300

Cool Down: 30 Seconds

Looking at this skill window, while it was powerful in it's own rights, the mana cost was off the charts compared to her regenerative healing spells. However it was still more powerful than Sain's own 'Minor Heal' at the very start so it was at least an intermediate rank spell.

Looking around, Miriel was rapidly firing ice bolts all over the place to keep them off the others; Shadow was still doing his own thing, Raven was struggling to block and not attack and Lyndis was charging in alone.

“....”

'How the hell did we revert back to this...?' wondered Sain in his thoughts. The moment they lost part of their fighting abilities, they come back to this beginner level party? Sain at this point had no choice but to scream orders even though he liked not speaking much in battle.

But at this rate, they were going to lose.

“Raven! Lyndis! Shadow! Get back here and stop spreading out!” Sain shouted loudly enough to make everyone stunned for a second including the enemies.

“Right!”

The three immediately did so and retreated while defending and attacking. Meanwhile Sain chanted and used, “Wolf Summoning!” to call on Luna into the battle as well.

[You called master?]

Luna looked at Sain but Sain only said, “Wait a bit” and looked at the others.

“Raven, attack using your shield to draw all of their hate on you! Serena, keep Raven's health up at all times and concentrate on restricting those who follow him! Shadow, attack as many monkeys to make them fall from the trees!”

Raven moved in a circle and used 'Shield Bash' several times moving onto the next enemy quickly and at the same time took the hate of all 20 enemy monkeys at once. At the same time Serena chanted, “Root Bind!” creating several tens small vines around the place.

Meanwhile Sain felt that Shadow disappeared somewhere but his works were very apparent.

“Haaa!”

Serena focused her mana in her spell and manipulated the spell, each individual set of vines to at least hold down a monkey a bit by the leg, arm or other places on their body to stop them for a split second which caused them to drop from the trees and onto the ground.

“Lyndis! Miriel! Clean up the enemies on the ground now!”

“Right, Ice Bolt!” Miriel shot several ice bolts at random at the monkeys quickly while Lyndis ran ahead into the crowd fearless enough and sliced them into pieces, taking three to four hits each to kill one.

“Magi Arrows!”

Sain also added his own firepower into the mix as well and ordered to Luna, “Help Raven take care of the monkeys that are attacking him.”

[Of course]

With that, Luna ran and leaped on one of the monkeys that was attacking Raven who was blocking using his shield and constantly retreating.

[Die meat!]

With that, one top of one of the monkeys, Luna ripped it's throat out and moved onto the next one that was stuck at Raven. He cooperated with Luna to lure in monkeys only to let Luna moved in quickly and take the kill over and over again.

Meanwhile the others took care of the other monkeys are quickly lowered in numbers and eventually after another 5 minutes, all of them were taken care of. After the battle ended, Viv appeared almost immediately saying:

“That wasn't too bad.”

Hearing these words and not understanding what Viv was trying to do, Sain asked, “What is the point of this?”

“The point?”

“Yes, the point of not being able to use all of our abilities. Normally, this wouldn't even take a minute to clean up but...with so many options sealed off, we can't even fight properly.”

“But you won in the end.”

“But not in the way I wanted.”

Both Sain and Viv looked at each other.

“There are times where you cannot win the way you want and have to make use of what you got. There are...many enemies in this world that can seal lower abilities like that. Those who can make it seem like it is impossible to win or even turn you against each other.”

Bang Bang..!

Just as Viv as saying that, the group heard loud noises coming from somewhere. It sounded like...footsteps and it was close.

“What the hell is that?!” screamed Lyndis moving back immediately not even trying to attack it.

“That is called a mud beast” said Viv looking at the thing that appeared.

The thing that appeared was 5 metres tall and was...really just a bob of mud mixed in with countless other things. It was almost like a living moving swamp. And from the feeling it gave off, something that they couldn't defeat.

“Tell me Sain, in this situation is there a way for you to win here?” Viv asked.

Sain sweated looking at this mud beast and replied with a solemn face, “Not at all.”

“And?”

“And what?! There is nothing we can do to defeat it...with our group's true strength gone....there is no chance of winning here” said Sain feeling that they should really run away. This thing had a presence that was worse than even that Behemoth from the Eternal Dungeon from before which meant it was stronger than it...

“It is your job to find a way to win no matter what” said Viv walking in front of the group and towards the mud beast.

(GOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRR)

The mud beast let out a scream that could not be described to be even...alive. The bob of mud extended it's 'body' and formed arms that shot at Viv at once. However Viv didn't even move and pointed his staff at the mud beast.

“Black Hole Point.”

Black sparks appeared in front of his staff and a small ball...no hole appeared. A second later, the mud beast disappeared in that hole that was as small as a spark.

“....”

The group could only stare at Viv who....went beyond their understanding.

“Answer me Sain, what was the most logical to do before when that creature appeared?” asked Viv once again.

“....”

Sain thought about it while the group stared at the two not knowing what to do. Miriel was about to speak but stopped at the end.

“To ask you for help” answered Sain. To this, Viv smiled which only happened a few times during this week so far which was less than 10 times.

“If it were your masters....in your shoes, they would've answered 'To run away' while if it was us...me, Eden and Al, we would've answered 'To kill it'. How interesting...that is one way to 'win' in the end as well.”

With that, Viv moved ahead as the group followed him once again.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

Later on...

“What the hell was that about?!” said Miriel in a hateful tone.

Lyndis agreed and said, “That act...it was like he was looking down on us.”

Shadow corrected her, “He was looking down on us though that was only because we're weaker than him.”

“Umm....” Serena tried defending Viv, “He's...not that bad.”

Shadow shot back and said quickly, “That's because he was giving you pointers to your class! We didn't learn much at all and some of us can't even train our skills now as well!”

“Calm down Shadow, there is a reason for this” said Sain speaking up no as well.

“And what is that?” asked Lyndis taking Shadow's side as well.

“To focus our training on a certain area.”

Though she really did not want to in this situation, Miriel nodded as well and said, “With a large number of skills to use, we try to train them all leaving all of them weak. Training a few certain skills at the same time can only lead them to be much stronger compared to before.”

“Yep, we have really gained a lot of skills and spells to use recently. I think Viv was cutting back on how much we can train” said Sain.

“No spear” said Raven to this.

“Yeah! Raven's spear is gone and now he can't attack well enough!” said Shadow pointing out that Raven had a large amount of trouble dealing with the enemies this time.

Serena then spoke up, “But...tanks aren't....suppose to attack....much?” as if asking a question.

Miriel answered her question with, “A tank's role is to take damage from the party to himself. It doesn't matter if he can attack or not, his role is all the same. Another thing is to draw hate to himself from everyone else...I hope that you get a skill that allows you to do that without individually smashing your shield in them this time.”

Raven sadly nodded to this as well. It looked like he was thinking of how he could do that. If he couldn't then...they had to ask Viv later on and would have one less skill book to get to sell as well....50 gold gone was probably what Miriel was thinking right now and everyone could tell.

Snapping out of those thoughts, Miriel then said, “Anyway...it is true that recently you've been using your fire skills more than your sword to defeat enemies.”

“That's because it's quicker to do that!” retorted Lyndis.

“Then become a fire mage instead you fool!” retorted Miriel at the same time, “What's the point of you having a sword if you're not going to use it! Is your sword simply a decoration?”

“N-not at all! It's just that there had been many enemies where attacking from range is quicker than running up and slicing them in pieces” replied Lyndis a bit flustered now.

“In that case, do that. Viv seems to want you to do that” commented Shadow.

“Buuut it's so slow! The super fast battles are gone!” complained Lyndis waving her arms about like a child.

“You mean the life and death battles that we had due to Eden are gone right now. Viv had always reminded us that it is unlikely for any of us to die on this trip...however that doesn't mean the battles are dull though” said Miriel.

“Yeah yeah, I know. I know we can still die while fighting but...it seems like we can power through everything now...” Lyndis looked down a bit.

To this Sain sighed and then stabbed her with words, “If I recall...a certain three people were struggling with mere monkeys. And amongst them was an idiot which charged in alone” in a cold voice that seemed to impale into Lyndis.

“S-Sain....you are really not holding back are you...?”

“Of course not. Not to say that you actually FORGOT to use skills and remained to slash at things like an idiot, you also managed to do a BASIC mistake of not being careful. It you not notice that you were surrounded completely in seconds and could not retreat?”

“Th-that was-”

“Because you got too cocky in the mist of it didn't you?” Sain was smiling but his eyes wasn't. It was one thing to make this mistake for the first time...but to train, amend that mistake and commit it again?

Such a thing was not forgiven.

“Sain you sound like Miriel now” said Shadow with a chuckle.

“Do I? That just means Miriel is honest” replied Sain with a slight surprise on his face as he looked at Miriel who was grinning at Lyndis right now.

“Miriel please don't get off by looking at Lyndis like that” said Sain taking the same tone to Miriel as well.

GRAB

CRACK!

“AHH-”

“Use that tone at me again and you will regret it Sain.”

There seemed to be a black aura around Miriel which made her look like a demon. Her black hair swayed around slightly due to it's short length and her eyes were completely dead serious on killing him.

Sain could only think of where the hell she was getting this strength. She was smiling but under that smile was a completely different face that made Sain feel that Miriel was more scary than Viv or even Eden at this point.

“Do I need to repeat myself?”

Seeing that he couldn't talk wit her hand covering his mouth, he tried to shake his head but instead shook his body. Miriel got the message though and let him got where he coughed a few times and shivered before Miriel.

“Sain” Miriel called.

“Y-yes?”

Sain looked up at Miriel with black lines coming down his head.

“Now what will you do to make me happy?”

'Happy?!'

“Wh-what do you mean?” asked Sain who had a really bad feeling.

“Yes unless...” Miriel took out her whip in which Sain knew very well on how good she was with it.

“Can we do this later since we really need to catch up with Viv here” begged Sain.

Miriel smiled though slightly better than the one before, it was still the smile of the devil and said to this, “In that case, you will come with me shopping at that city we'll get to for a whole day” as if that will certainly happen no matter what.”

“Waaaaaaaaaaait!!!” Lyndis moved in at lightning speed and grabbed onto Miriel.

“What is it?” asked Mirie,

“That day....you two were on a date while hiding from me weren't you?!” she shouted shaking Miriel back and forth.

“Actually we were working together of help moving the rubble from inside the city” replied Miriel while Lyndis looked over to see that Sain was nodding as well.

“Hmm....sounds like a lie though. Why did only you two get to do something so fun?!” said Lyndis furious that she missed something that great out.

“It wasn't fun for me though....” muttered Sain silently reflecting on the day Miriel dragged him throughout the city for no good reason.

[p=center]xXx[/p]

And so weeks passed marking it as a month since the trip began...

“We're finally ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!!!!” screamed Lyndis into the air. The others looked at Lyndis slightly embarrassed since she still had so much energy even though they mostly survived on the food that Shadow and Serena brought in.

Mid way in the trip, they started hunting down monsters for food rather than experience and often they would have monkey leg or monkey...other for a meal which was a nice change in palate as long as you don't think about what it was before....

Annoyed by the noise, Miriel said while having her hand on her ear to Lyndis, “Be quiet. You're more annoying then the monkeys we cooked and that's saying something.”

“Why-”

Sain could only look warmly at the two...their bickering never actually stopped with Shadow adding fuel to the flames and him having to stop them all later on. As always, Serena tried to stop the conflict but usually failed and Raven...rarely made comments but all of them were significant in the end.

However to Sain, this was fine.

“It's like...we are truly together....” muttered Sain to himself not intending on anyone to listen.

“Of course you guys are” answered Viv.

“V-Viv!” shuttered Sain in surprise. He did not know when or how Viv got behind him at all.

“Even if you wanted to not be like this, we as in me, Eden and Al won't let you to not be together” proclaimed Viv all  of a sudden.

“Anyway, we got out of that forest....and now since we're out of the forest, we need to head south to where a major road is to follow it to the east” he added, “Which should take us another 4 months to walk through if we get a ride.”

“And finally there won't be many attacks from monster....the bigger problem on roads is that other people will attack you such as bandits or player killers. Those are the things I want you to be able to deal with when we reach our destination” said Viv in one final go before heading south.

While Viv was walking further away...

“Viv seemed to be happy to get out of the forest as well” said Lyndis.

“Huh?” exclaimed Sain, he could not tell any difference in Viv.

However Serena nodded as well to Lyndis' statement. Miriel even added, “He must have not liked the place much....”

Sain could only ask to these three, “How did you tell?”

The three looked at him and answered at the same time.

“Woman's intuition.”

“....”

Sain could only stare blankly before following where Viv was going in haste with the others. Even though he was quite short and young looking like a child, he was quite fast...though for some reason, those thoughts made Sain feel afraid of Viv....like he was forgetting something.

Onwards?PreviousExitNext

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's Notes:

- Word Count: 7800~

- Second chapter of this volume...taking it very slow to try to grow these characters...slowly. By the end of the volume I want their 'basic' skill sets which I envisioned to be complete. The group in my eyes, is super incomplete compared to the trio from before where it seemed like they could survive anywhere. I'm going to use this volume to make it so they can at least take care of themselves.