“Those are flying squirrels,” Toby said.

After breakfast, Toby, Lukas, and a proctor from the Adventurer Guild, a middle-aged man with pepper hair and big round glasses, came to one of the mangrove forests to the Southeast of Eldium – one of the safe harvesting zones for Driftwood.

The Water Element Tide was coming, thus, the animals and monsters in the forest became more active as they prepared for the tides to come. So did the people of Eldium. The lumberjacks who wanted to harvest Driftwood would have to issue commissions to the Adventurer Guild to clear away some of the monsters that damaged Driftwood, lowering the wood’s quality. Taking advantage of the repeating cycle of seasons year after year like this, the guild decided to make this commission one of the Silver Rank tests. Namely, killing at least ten Wave Walkers, or as Toby called them, squirrels.

“Squirrels?” Lukas and the guild’s proctor asked.

“Look, is that the monster over there?” Toby changed the subject.

At the spot Toby pointed, there were three squirrels the size of a basketball nibbling at a leafless tree that looked like it was rotting. The monsters looked like normal flying squirrels with their fluffy brown fur, big black eyes, tiny twitching ears, flat and long fluffy tails, and teeny tiny limbs that made them look adorable even if their size were huge.

“They’re adorable,” Lukas exclaimed.

“Don’t be fooled by their seemingly tamed appearance. You won’t think they are adorable when they attack you. And they will. They attack anyone who gets too close to the Driftwood they are eating.” The proctor said.

“Can’t we just leave them alone? They’re just eating.” Lukas asked.

“We tried that before, but it became a problem that bit us in the butt later. These Wave Walkers reproduce too quickly during each Water Element Tide. Not only did they devastate the mangrove forest they were in, but the other mangrove forests as well. We tried to spare them one year, and five villages almost got flooded.”

“That doesn’t sound like something natural. Having a single type of monster destroying forests, that is.” Toby pointed out.

“They aren’t a native species. During our battle with the diver vampires, we almost won. But they brought these Wave Walkers from who knows where and forced us to spit our forces. We have to hunt these things year after year. No matter how many we kill, they keep on coming back. I’m so sick of these bastards.” The proctor sighed.

“Ok, let’s hunt.” Toby walked away from the mine he stepped on gracefully.

The turtle swum toward the squirrels while the wolf boy waded next to him. The water was warmer than in the sea at the weed harvesting zone. When they were about thirty feet away from the squirrels, the not-so-little monsters turned their heads and looked at the turtle and wolf boy.

“Hello little fellows, I’m sorry about this, but we have to…”

Before Toby could finish his words, the squirrels’ fur stood on their end, they bared their human-like teeth and opened wide the skin flaps that acted as gliders. It wasn’t normal skin flaps, there were five rows of human teeth on each of the flaps. Once the flaps opened wide, the squirrels jumped at Toby and Lukas as they rode the waves that came from behind them using the flaps like surfboards.

“Shit.” Toby cursed as the teeth were right in front of them, then used [B*tch Slap] and smashed one of the squirrels down. Lukas drew his greatsword and swung down at the other two, successfully severing two of them in half.

[You killed a Rank 2 – Wave Walker for the first time]

[Reward: 10 Exp. Exp 35 -> 45]

[Reward: 30 Life Exp. Life Exp 80 -> 110]

[You have Level Up: 3 -> 4. Reward: 10 Distribution Points]

Looking at the bisected bodies and the one with a twisted head. Their blood and guts floating on the water couldn’t stop reminding Toby of what he did to that sword-wielding kidnapper.

The warm seawater around him suddenly felt ice cold, like the blood his flippers were soaked in. His gut twisted and clammed on itself, it made Toby want to throw up. His eyes shook left and right as his breathing became irregular as if he couldn’t breathe. Everything seemed to slow down, even Lukas's panicked voice sounded like it came from the other side of the universe.

Breathe, Toby, breathe. Remember what the doctor said. Toby shoved his head down the water.

Look with your eyes. What do I see? Muddy ground with branches stuck in it. Ok, ok, I see muddy ground and branches. What else? Breathe. Ok. I see a small rock that looked like an ugly smiling face. Ok.

His mind felt like it was submerged in a bog. It was slow and murky. He could still see, he could still hear. And yet, everything only entered his brain after passing through a thick and heavy layer of filter. His thoughts slowly disappeared as he tried to ground himself to the present. No more thoughts, only the present. He tried to focus on what he could see, what he could hear, what he could feel. Slowly but surely, he was pulling himself out of the bog.

Toby’s breath slowed down as it fell back into rhythm again after what felt like hours. I’m ok, I’m ok.

He pulled his head back out of the water and looked at the source of warmth on his shell.

“Big bro Toby, what’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Should we head back?” Lukas's voice quivered as he rubbed Toby’s shell in a circular movement.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“I’m fine, Lukas.” Toby took a deep breath. “Just some ugly memory.”

“If you can’t do it, we can stop the test.” The proctor shouted from behind them.

“No. Let us proceed.” Toby shouted back.

Toby patted the hands that were shivering even more than his and smiled, “Let’s go. Time to get that silver tag.”

Looking how anxious Lukas was, Toby joked. “Who knows, maybe we could sell it if we ran out of money and took another test to get another tag. Rinse and repeat to get endless silver coins.”

“I don’t think they would allow that.” The boy smiled a little.

“Yeah, that’s the spirit. Let’s go.” Toby led the way.

After the first three, the two encounter a bigger group with five squirrels this time. Why couldn’t the Adventurers take care of these things once and for all if these squirrels were this weak? The answer came right after.

Of the five in the next group, Toby and Lukas killed four. The last one took advantage of Toby when he was having another anxiety attack and rode the wave away. But it wasn’t just simply riding the wave, it moved against the wave direction with each flap, and somehow, the wave got stronger with each jump - strong to the point of being able to push Toby back a bit but not enough to shake Lukas.

That was just the first problem.

The second was that after killing another group of five, when they spotted the fourth group from eighty feet away, the monsters locked onto them even before Toby and Lukas could get close. Yet, instead of charging at them like berserkers, the squirrels ran away without a second of hesitation. They were agile enough to jump from wave to tree, then tree to wave, like some kind of professional parkour athlete. They moved with no problems at all in this environment.

Toby and Lukas tried to chase after them, but they were too fast. If Toby could use [Magic Hand], it might have been different, but there was a stranger here. He wasn’t willing to take chances. If he could sense Mana in the air, so could others. The fact that people he used [Magic Hand] against didn’t have keen Mana Sense was a blessing.

The hunt continued until noon, but the same thing happened again and again. They couldn’t get another kill after Toby’s fifth and Lukas’s seventh.

“Let’s take a break, Lukas. We can’t keep on chasing them like this.”

“But I can… still… go on… huff… huff.” Lukas said amidst his ragged breath. “Okay… I think… I need a break.”

The two sat down on one of the roots of a big mangrove to rest a bit along with the proctor.

This can’t go on. We need a different strategy. Toby thought. Wait, I Level Up and still have Life Exp. He pulled up his status board to check what he could improve.

Right. I haven’t upgraded [Insight] yet. With that thought, Toby upgraded the Skill right away.

[Upgrading Rank 1 Skill – Insight to Rank 2 Skill]

[Life Exp cost: 50. Life Exp: 110 -> 60]

Rank 2 – Insight (None)

You can read a being’s or an object’s basic information and deduce useful information from your observation – Gain suggestion.

Neat. Toby thought. Now, what else can I do?

He thought about it and suddenly remembered he promised to give Lukas a Skill. Toby opened The Shop, the Hero Path specifically, and searched for some kind of Skill Lukas could use immediately and in the wrong run. A Skill that could somewhat help him with his weakness.

Since his weakness is his lack of stamina, something that could boost that would be good. Or something that could stop the enemy from moving would be just as welcomed.

Toby kept scrolling down the list with his eyes as he searched.

After a few minutes, he found what he was looking for.

===

Rank 2 Skill – Heroic Roar.

A shout that boosts your and your allies’ [Mind] for five minutes while also attacking your opponents. Capable of stunning enemies with lower [Mind] for two seconds.

===

It was the perfect Skill for Lukas. But there were two problems.

First, Toby didn’t know how many points Lukas had in [Mind]. If the boy’s [Mind] stat was too low, then it might not be possible to use this Skill. Considering how Lukas used a greatsword and had outstanding physical strength, it was most likely that his stat should be prioritized into [Strength], [Dexterity], and [Resilience], while [Mind] is secondary.

“Hey Lukas, how many points in [Mind] stat do you have?” Toby whispered.

“Huff…I don’t have a Path yet… so I can’t open my Status Window, big bro Toby.” Lukas shook his head.

“I see. That complicated things.”

Not only did that turn learning this Skill into a gamble for both of them, but it also pointed at the risk of being stuck with a Skill that didn’t suit Lukas at all. Toby thought, if possible, he should discuss this with Grillion and Lily before he gave this Skill to Lukas.

“Excuse me,” Toby turned toward the proctor. “Can we postpone the test and take it another day?”

“If you postpone the test, then you’ll have to re-register with the guild to take it again another day. That, and it wouldn’t be the same test since it would undermine the meaning of the test.” The proctor answered.

“Is there any punishment for giving up on the test for the first time?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s a punishment, but the content of the test on your second try will be harder.”

“I see, thank you. May we have a moment to discuss this?”

“Sure. Be my guess. I’ll be eating my lunch over here.”

With that said, the proctor dropped his backpack then took a sandwich out. He started eating the sandwich like it was nobody’s business. Ignoring how Toby and Lukas were looking at him with eyes like lions that hadn’t eaten in a week.

“Come over here for a bit, Lukas,” Toby called the boy to the opposite side of the mangrove - somewhere the proctor couldn’t see them.

System, can you remove the light effect thing when I buy a Skill? Or at least make it so that the proctor here doesn’t realize the Skill Scroll appeared from thin air?

[Yes. Turtle System can do that]

Toby smirked. He turned around and waved Lukas, letting him into whispering range. “I’m going to give you a Skill now. But if anyone asks, tell them I always have the Skill, ok?”

“You’re going to…”

“Keep your voice down.”

Lukas whispered back. “You’re going to give me a Skill right now, big bro Toby? But I don’t even have a Path yet.”

“I'll be frank, this is a gamble. I don’t know if it will work or not.”

“…Won’t it cost you a lot of resources to make a Skill Scroll? I asked a nice lady from the Adventurer Guild and they say Skill Scroll cost a lot of resources to make.”

“It doesn’t. Not to me.” Toby lied. “Do you trust me?”

“I trust you with my life, big bro Toby.”

Toby nodded. System, buy [Heroic Roar]. Stealthy.

[Purchasing Rank 2 Skill – Heroic Roar]

[Life Exp cost: 50. Life Exp: 60 -> 10]

There was no light this time. The piece of paper literally appeared out of nowhere without any special effects and fell on his head. That looks so lame. Toby frowned.

“Here, take this. You saw how Lily did it, right? Just pour your Mana in the paper.”

“Okay.” Lukas picked up the paper, closed his eyes. When he poured his Mana inside, the paper lit up with a mixed color of green and white before turning into sparkles of light.

After Lukas opened his eyes, he stared at something in front of him that only he could see as his eyes slowly turned red but with a brighter shade than Toby's. The longer Lukas stared, the wider his eyes became, and the more his ears stood on end.

“So,” Toby asked. “Did it work? Are you looking at your Status Window?”

“Big bro Toby,” Lukas rigidly turned his head toward the turtle. "It's saying I have the Hero Path.”

Toby got curious, so he used [Insight] on the boy.

[Lukas Thunderclaw – Hero Path – Hero of Might – Rank. 1 – Lv. 3]

[Alliance: Ally – Suggestion: For growth, focus on Light and Air Element]