They arrived in front of the building and waited until the other parties showed up. They waited for almost two hours before the others showed up. The party had started training with Ferguson and Griff lightly sparring. Ferguson was trying to improve his close combat techniques and Griff was a great teacher. Gaia was messing around with her mana and trying to expand the area she could cover. Malachite was running around the sparring pair and Liv was creating some webs which she shot at Malachite as he ran.

The new group saw a child and archer sparring while a large turtle ran around them while having webs shot at it and a small person with a weird green bubble around them. They were a sight that did not inspire confidence. Gaia heard the people approach and called out.

“Are you here for the request as well?” She asked in their general direction.

“Yes. Were Swords Edge. Who are you guys?” The leader asked in a gruff voice.

“Ah... We were... Asked to join… Yesterday. We don’t… Have a party name yet.” Ferguson panted.

“Ok so you’re the stone rankers that will dealing with the small fry while we deal with the higher-level stuff.” A woman said as she approached.

This was the other group from what she could guess. This must be the leader of Griffon’s Wings. It seemed both parties had arrived within a few minutes of each other. The final party they were waiting for was Titania’s group Flora. They waited another thirty minutes before they arrived. They arrived at a sprint.

“Sorry we’re late. We had a few things to deal with.” Titania stated.

“Sure. If waking up late is considered something to deal with.” John grumbled behind her. He was given a swift elbow to his gut before she continued.

“Looks like everyone’s here. Shall we introduce ourselves? I’m Titania and I’m a rogue.”

The entire group went around introducing themselves. It ended up being a decently well-rounded group in the end. The group had one rogue in Titania, four front liners consisting of the entirety of Sword’s Edge and John, four mid range with Griffons wings, and Gaias team were a rearguard. They could act as any of the positions, and they would protect the rear of the entire group while the rest focused on the bronze rank monster and its high-level underlings.

“What’s wrong with your eyes?” One of the guys from Sword’s Edge asked Gaia when she finished her introduction.

“Well, I’m blind.” She stated after a few moments.

“So, we’re bringing a newbie stone rank group with us on a request to hunt a bronze rank monster and one of them is a child and the other can’t even see?!” The man asked in exasperation.

“No. We’re bringing a group that is new but has shown their ability to hunt monsters stronger than themselves.” Francois interjected with annoyance.

“What about our blind little masco-” The man started in a mocking tone before he was yanked off his feet. Gaia had used the time to get Liv to wrap a web around his leg and trip him. She wanted to mess with him but didn’t want to poison him with her ability.

“I can poison monsters with webs and any that get around me. That doesn’t include my vines that can make things bleed. I might not be able to see or hurt them myself, but I can still hurt them. That doesn’t even include my bonds.” Gaia stated gesturing to Malachite and Liv.

She heard a small giggle and some chuckles coming from where she’d heard Titania’s party earlier. They apparently approved of her action and enjoyed watching it. The man swiftly got to his feet and glared at Gaia.

“If you’re glaring, I wouldn’t know anyway.” She stated mockingly.

Her party laughed. While she couldn’t see him glaring at her, she assumed and apparently had gotten it right. The group left soon afterwards towards their destination. They left through the southern gate and traveled along the road for most of the day before they decided to set up camp. Ferguson and Griff set up their party’s tent while Gaia and Malachite scouted the area. Gaia used her webs as feelers to check an area around thirty feet from her in each direction. As she used her web manipulation ability in this way, she was slowly able to make more and cover a significantly larger area than she used to.

She heard them call her back to camp and they set up their warding cube. It covered their tent and the area of the campfire. It wasn’t massive but made it easier for anyone that would be on watch. Liv usually stayed awake as she didn’t need sleep and watched the area around Gaia. They decided to have her be on watch the entire night with each shift.

Gaia took first watch and had her webs out with Liv making a web wire around the edge of their camp. The watch went by without incident, but she could hear the other teams mocking her and Griff which made her angry. She couldn’t do anything about it though, so she ignored them. They’d show their abilities at some point and make them eat those words. She went into the tent and woke up Ferguson which mainly consisted of her tripping over both of the men.

“Sorry.” She whispered.

“It’s alright. I’m guessing it’s my turn?” Ferguson asked.

She nodded and he got up to take his shift. Griff just rolled back over and was back to sleep in seconds. Gaia laid down and tried to fall asleep but couldn’t until Malachite shrunk and cuddled up to her face. He was a constant companion that she couldn’t fall asleep without anymore. She was asleep within a minute after he joined her.

She jerked awake when she heard shuffling but discovered it was just Ferguson and Griff switching shifts. She laid back down and was swiftly back asleep within minutes. It was a nice night, and they awoke to the smell of stew. Griff had spent some time making them breakfast and handed them each a bowl when they sat down. She heard Titania and her group join them and ask for some as well. Griff happily handed them some. Fergus and Gaia had told him how Titania had helped her out and that she was Fergus’ sister. He was happy to help them after knowing that.

They ate a nice breakfast and talked a little about how the night was. They had some more small talk before they cleaned up and set out again. They were still another day and a half away from the location of the request. They continued on and a few of the people complained about Gaia riding on Malachites back and asked if they could join. She explained about the poison webs, but some didn’t let that deter them and tried to get on. Malachite snapped at them as they got close as he didn’t like how they’d treated her before.

A few managed to touch the webs and soon realized she had been telling the truth about the poison. They got poisoned and swiftly got off. Thankfully the poison stopped within about a minute, and it didn’t cause too much damage. They met a few monsters along the way that were killed before her team could even help. It was mostly a leisurely hike for the group, and they talked to Titania’s group and amongst themselves as they went. The day ended the same as the first and they set up camp.

Gaia took first watch once again and heard some of the other groups talking. She recognized the voice of the man that had mocked her, and he was talking in a hushed voice about something she couldn’t quite hear. She didn’t trust it and asked Malachite to find the person on watch for Flora. He sped away and a few minutes later he came back with someone.

“What’s the matter?” John asked.

“Well, it may be nothing but the man that mocked me is talking in a hush and I don’t trust him. I can’t hear what he’s saying but I was wondering if you guys could keep an eye on him since they’re stronger than us. I hope it’s nothing and I’m just being paranoid.” She said.

“I’ll keep an eye out and let the others know.” He replied before going back to his camp.

The camps were set up with her group at the center and the other three around them, so they really only had one area to watch for monsters from. They used the monster ward item every time they set up camp. It seemed to work but it may also just be the size of the group or how strong the other groups were. When she was on watch she could hear almost everything and thankfully Flora and Sword’s Edge were on opposite sides of their group. It made it harder for Flora to watch them but made it less likely for Swords Edge to notice John coming over.

The rest of her watch went uneventfully. She woke up Fergus and didn’t stumble into them this time as they set it up so he slept by the tent opening and she could wake him up without having to enter. The night went by without incident until Griff’s shift. Gaia jerked awake at the sound of someone walking up to the tent. She quickly woke up Ferguson who appeared annoyed he was awoken until he saw her face. She was quite scared as she didn’t know what or who it was and assumed the worst. She heard Griff start to move towards the tent after hearing Ferguson being woken up.

“Griff get John!” She yelled at him as she heard the person quicken his pace to the tent.

She heard a rip which must have been the tent and felt someone’s hand grab her. Her armor swiftly changed and turned into the full bodysuit. She also poisoned it immediately. The hand didn’t let go however it just tightened its grip around her arm as they pulled her out of the tent. Another hand went to cover her mouth, but she heard the man grunt in pain as she felt something trickle from it onto her.

Ferguson had pulled a dagger and stabbed the man’s hand. By this point Liv was already trying to wrap the man's legs up in webs while Malachite grew to his usual size and snapped at him. Gaia was starting to cry as she didn’t know what was going to happen. Her tears started burning her face and the attacker's hand which loosened. She quickly used her vines to slash him as much as she could, and he started bleeding.

As this happened, she felt something trying to cut her but was being stopped by her defensive barrier. He kept trying to cut her, but the barrier held, and she could hear him yelping in pain whenever the weapon struck her barrier. She didn’t know why but welcomed any help in hurting the man. She was becoming increasingly more scared as she felt the man dragging her away. She used her new Mana Influence to try and increase the poison which worked. She could hear his breathing become more and more ragged as he dragged her.

“Drop. Her. Now!” Titania screamed which caused the man to waver and stop for a moment before continuing.

“No. This little wench made a fool out of me. She needs to learn how to respect her seniors.” He yelled back.

“I will not give you another chance.” Titania stated.

“Piss off.” The man yelled back.

“John, will you, do it?” She asked.

All Gaia heard was Titania ask and a roar. No one moved to stop the Tiger-man as he swiftly decapitated the man dragging Gaia. Then she heard something hit the ground and felt something warm ooze down her and she fell to the ground. She just curled up into a ball while crying. After a moment of shock Fergus and Griff ran to Gaia while Malachite and Liv guarded her all the more. They let her party members through but wouldn’t let anyone else close. She could feel their worry through their bond but couldn’t do more than cry about what had just occurred. Flora went over to Sword’s Edge and talked to them. She didn’t hear anything they said over Ferguson and Griff trying to comfort her and make sure she was alright. Around thirty minutes later she’d stopped crying, and they went back to their tent. Flora brought their camp over and stay with them for the rest of the night to ensure nothing would happen again. She didn’t fall back asleep again that night.

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The next morning was wrought with tension as everyone woke up and cleaned the campsite. Titania explained what they’d decided to do. Sword’s Edge would continue the request but would be under watch for the rest of it, which they agreed to. The man who had attacked her was dead for assaulting another hunter, let alone, a lower ranked hunter. She was still scared of the entire group that the man had been in but understood they needed to finish the request.

Ferguson and Griff were by her side for the entire day and John stayed with them to make her feel safer. That helped her calm down quite a bit. She was finally able to completely calm down when it came time for them to deal with the request's monsters. They had arrived in the area around midday and Titania was scouting around trying to find the monster and its underlings. She found it after about two hours and returned to relay the information.

The monster was about an hour walk to their south. It was bronze rank and had four stone rank underlings. The monster itself was large and lizard like. It was around the size of a small house. It was believed to have extremely strong scales and a spiked tail. It was unknown if it could use magic. Its underlings were the Chaac which were small lizard men around the size of a human child. They were known for their speed and use of poisons but could not use magic.

They decided that Flora would immediately attack the bronze rank monster while Swords Edge and Griffons wings distracted and fought the Chaac. Gaia’s party helped fight the Chaac and killed any monsters that came from the rear. With the plan in place the group set off towards the monsters location. They arrived and Flora immediately sprinted towards the bronze rank leader while the other two teams rushed towards its underlings. Gaia and her party moved forward but stayed out of direct conflict while Ferguson and Griff launched attacks at the stone rank monsters. Gaia brought up her Mana Influence which now covered around thirty feet encompassing the other two teams.

She heard the teams clash with the monsters. She could hear metal clashing as the two teams fought the Chaac. She also heard loud thuds along with clanging of metal against something extremely hard. The two teams were able to hold off the Chaac and her party was slinging ranged attacks at the monsters. Ferguson had brought out his bow and was firing arrow after arrow at the monsters hitting a few shots which caused them to be bound in vines. Griff was launching spells at the monsters, she didn’t know what kind but they didn’t seem to have an attribute which surprised her. She was sending out webs and poisoning the monsters more while they were within her Mana Influence.

She was using her vines to bleed them whenever they could get in between the fighters. While the fighting took place, she kept some of her webs to their rear as a warning for if any monsters decided to join the fray. A few started to enter the area and were quickly bound by her webs and her Spiritual Toxin constantly stacked so more and more damage was dealt. This also worked on all the Chaac so they were quickly losing their fight. The other parties were able to quickly deal with them and focus on assisting Flora in their fight. Gaia continued to hear metal scraping against the monsters hide but also started to hear the monster roar in pain.

The monster was getting hurt, and she had the idea to get closer and try to get it within range for her poison. Her party agreed and they crept closer to the battle. Eventually it was within the range, and they stayed far enough away that they’d not interfere. She constantly checked the monster to see if it was poisoned and it was after a while. It seemed she could poison it but had a lower chance of it working as it was a higher rank than her. While she focused on that Ferguson and Griff were watching the rear and killing any monsters that came at them. The monsters that joined weren’t very powerful and most were high level normal rank so they could deal with them almost immediately. There were a few stone ranks that joined sporadically that Gaia helped by using her vines and webs when they told her.

The fight continued with all the parties focusing on the bronze rank. The two stone rank parties focused on distraction while the bronze dealt most of the damage. Gaia was slowly poisoning it and whipping her vines at it to try and bleed it. It took almost the rest of the fight before it finally had her bleed condition. Ferguson and Griff were also attacking it but couldn’t deal much damage. Malachite and Liv, however, were able to deal some damage as they could ignore some of the rank difference. It didn’t last much longer after that. Flora dealt a final blow after the monster started to lag from its wounds, the poison and bleeding. The entire group stopped and rested for a while, before checking any loot that was dropped. A few of the members in the group had looting abilities, which made her party a bit jealous as none of them did.

A few of the people whooped and she assumed they got some good items. They continued resting before talking amongst themselves.

“So, those monsters felt a lot easier than usual right?” One woman asked.

“Yeah, also that weird green barrier seemed to keep me from being poisoned when one hit me.” Another man stated.

“Those vines also kept them stuck so we could just hit them without them dodging.” One man said.

“Yeah, must have just been some good luck.” The woman stated.

Gaia was starting to get annoyed at the fact that they just assumed that it was luck. They had been the ones to help the rest of the party and they weren’t even being acknowledged as helping. She was about to say something when she heard Griff speak.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s better to keep our abilities under wraps. Especially the unusual abilities you have.”

“But they want to claim all the credit like we didn’t do anything.” She grumbled.

“It’s fine. I doubt that they would acknowledge our help anyway. The only ones who know what we did are probably Titania’s party. They wouldn’t have missed what we did.” Ferguson added.

“Fine.” She said angrily.

As they rested Griff told his party and Flora about what he’d learned from his skill. The monster was new monster from the mana increase. This was worrisome as it meant that new higher ranked monsters were already starting to spawn, and the Torrent hadn’t even started. They thought about if for a bit before realizing there wasn’t really anything they could do aside from tell the Hunters League when they got back. After that decision they went back to resting.

They continued until Titania declared it was time to start heading back. They made their way out of the forest and camped just by the road. The camp now had Gaia’s party and Flora together in a single larger camp with the other two parties to either side. Gaia sat at the camp center and stirred a pot that Jess had started. She’d started making a stew for dinner and asked Gaia to stir it while she helped set up the camp. Gaia was happy to do so as it was one thing she could do to help out though it wasn’t much. She’d started to have an inferiority complex whenever it came to anything outside of battle as that was the only time she felt useful. She’d tried helping set up the tent but just ended up making it harder for everyone else. She started wondering what she could do when Jess had given her the task.

She enjoyed helping with it as she loved the scents of the food. She was tempted to try and cook herself but remembered she could only really harvest and prepare things she’d grown herself. This made it difficult to be able to do anything as when they hunted, she didn’t have time to tend to any crops since they’d usually be gone most the day. She wondered if there was an item she could buy that houses a small garden she could bring with them. She’d look into the idea at some point in the future.

She was brought from her musings by Jess. “Thanks. That helped me a lot.”

“No problem. I like helping. Also, it smells delicious.” Gaia responded.

“Well, I’ll ask for your help tomorrow then.” Jess replied.

They relaxed for a bit before Flora and Gaia's party came over. They handed out some bowls and enjoyed the nice meal. It was a stew with lots of vegetables she’d never had. They created an odd but pleasant taste. It tasted like a vegetable soup with some beef and pork mixed in. It tasted good but a bit bland, but she couldn’t tell why. The group chatted for a while after they finished and before long it was time for watches.

She took her watch first as usual, and Titania was the one to take the same for Flora. They had been setting up camp together ever since the incident. They spent their time chatting and she enjoyed the talk. She hadn’t really talked with Titania outside of when they first met and at the dinner with her family. Titania broke her from her thoughts when she asked a question.

“So, how are you? We’ve kinda just ignored what happened since we’ve been on the hunt.”

Gaia went silent for a while. “Honestly not great. I haven’t really been able to relax. I’m also kinda scared to go to sleep tonight.” She hadn’t had the time to think about what had happened since Ferguson, Griff, and John kept her talking for the day. Then there was the fight with the monsters and finally she’d been annoyed about her party’s contribution being pretty much completely ignored. Now that she had a moment, she felt her hands shaking.

Titania noticed and took her into a hug. She almost cried into her shoulder before remembering and tried to push her face away. Titania just held her while she silently cried for a while. Once she’d cried her eyes out she felt a bit better and was more just angry that someone was petty enough to try something like that.

“Feel a bit better?” Titania asked.

Gaia moved her head back and felt Titania’s shoulder, her shirt had holes from where her tears had gotten on it. She knew her tears could poison but were apparently also somewhat corrosive which worried her more.

“Yeah. Thanks. Are you okay? I’m sorry about the shirt and any poison I got on you.” She replied.

“Don’t worry about it. Didn’t really even hurt.” Titania stated.

They sat there for a while longer until it was time for the shift change.

“Just remember that you don’t need to carry everything alone. You have a couple really good friends.” Titania said as she got up and went to her tent. Gaia sat for a few more minutes before going to her tent and waking up Ferguson.

She laid down to sleep for the night while cuddling with her constant little protector and fell asleep. She didn’t sleep well though as she woke up multiple times throughout the night from nightmares. Malachite cuddling up to her helped her calm down and be able to go back to sleep.

She woke up early the next morning from one of the nightmares. She made her way out of the tent to hear Griff and Francois chatting.

“Oh. Morning Gaia.” They said.

“Good morning.” She replied as she made her way to the campfire. She didn’t know how she looked but didn’t feel great as she didn’t get much sleep. She just hoped she looked better than she felt.

“Can you help us with some breakfast?” Francois asked a bit hesitantly.

“I’d be happy to!” She replied cheerily.

Once again, she was happily stirring a pot of soup over the fire. They’d had the same stews and soups for most of their trip outside of lunches which were mainly some jerky and bread. It made it easy for her help with as she could find the ingredients by touch from helping a few times. This morning, she asked Francois if she could add some of the spices, she had to change the taste a bit since it had been the same food for a few days. He allowed it and liked what she’d done. The spices she had mainly consisted of things that tasted similar to peppers on earth. Francois asked what they were, and she told him happily.

He then explained that this area didn’t use spices regularly as they were viewed as unnecessary and a luxury. The only exceptions were inns and taverns as they mainly catered to travelers. To Gaia these spices were essential as back home she used many different spices when she’d cooked. Without them things still tasted good but a bit bland. She loved learning more about the world she was in, so she listened intently to Francois’ explanation.

He finished talking as Ferguson and Titania woke up and joined them. They got some of the soup and when they tasted it their eyes widened slightly, and they quickly devoured it. When Gaia told them what was different, they asked her to help with food until they got back to Boundary. She happily agreed and the entire request group packed up and continued on. The entire way back went without incident, and they arrived back at Boundary the next day. The group went to the Hunter’s League and made their report before receiving their payment.

It was around fifteen bronze cores for Flora and a bronze core for each team along with around forty stone cores. The parties happily accepted their payment and separated. Flora and Gaia's party stayed together after the other two left. Titania then told the receptionist about the incident with Gaia. The receptionist swiftly checked with her to make sure she was truly alright.

Gaia said she was and both parties were given an extra fifty stone cores for dealing with the situation. Gaia herself was given thirty stone cores for some reparations but was just happy the situation was officially over and done with. She was worried Titania’s party would have been charged for what occurred but apparently it was seen as normal for the offender to be killed in those situations. Mainly for the safety of the entire group. She understood why but still had to wrap her head around the fact that death was a very normal punishment for a lot of crimes in this world.

She’d have to talk to Griff and Ferguson about it. After they finished with the report the parties split up to do what they wanted. Gaia and her group decided to head back to the inn and rest for the rest of the day. They’d go shopping for items tomorrow and get back to requests the day after. The Mana Torrent should begin within a few days of them taking requests again. It was like a looming shadow that had been slowly approaching and would reach them soon.

They’d prepare new equipment and items for it tomorrow when they shopped. She was kinda looking forward to shopping. While she had trouble actually doing so it was fun to feel things and realize what they were. It was almost like opening a present as she didn’t know what it was until she analyzed it. It was always exciting to do and the shops she went to were all introduced to her by Ferguson, Griff, or Titania’s party so they all knew and understood why she did things. The store owners were all patient, kind and helpful. She was up for a while thinking of what she should buy until she eventually fell into slumber for the night.