Chapter 52: Dreorins (1/2)
After leaving the island through Rakna's ice path, Gray spoke to everyone. ”Well, the Battle Trial is over for most of you. For the young ladies from the Wiccan Guild, it will be just a matter of time. As for us, our job is over. From now on, you can do whatever you want. So, before we leave, it's time to ask questions if you have any.”
”Yes,” Sena raised her hand. ”I heard back at the Pavilion that there was something called the Guild House. What is that?”
”Let me answer,” Vera said. ”There is indeed more than the Pavilion for guild purposes. All guilds have what we call a Guild House; it is an HQ of sorts. Though, it doesn't concern you for the moment. Guild Houses do not exist on all Plateaus like the Pavilion and the Houses of the Wiccan, Madness, and Glory Guilds can only be found above the 500th Plateau.”
Gray nodded. ”Anything else?”
”Is every Trial so easy?” Rakna asked without a care in the world about how he sounded.
The clown cackled. ”No. But I have to admit, the ones on the First Plateau are more meant to be an introduction. 99% of Hosts finish them in under a month. Is that all?”
Seeing that no one was going to say more, Quill spoke up, ”In that case, we wish you good luck for the rest of the Trials and your ascension in the System. You can go to the Guild's Pavilion if you need help, advice, or help for training,” he said and turned around. Before anyone could react, he disappeared much to everyone's amazement.
”Same here. Have fun, girls,” Vera waved her hand with a smile before teleporting away as a magic circle appeared below her feet.
”I'm going to leave as well,” Gray said. ”I recommend you hunt a little bit. Or 'farm experience' as they say it. Rakna, you come to the Pavilion this evening. I will personally train you a little bit. It's a regular thing in our Guild. Later,” he added and left in a similar fashion as the two others.
At the same time, Rakna received a System prompt.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
Gray Whisles has made you the Party Leader.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
”Hm, hey, do you guys want to go separately or together?” Rakna asked.
”Eh? Why separately?” Allan cocked his head in confusion. ”Wouldn't it be better to hunt in a party to maximize our efficiency and reduce the risks?”
”Not necessarily,” Nyx remarked. ”It's obvious that we are ahead of the average Host. It would be better to go our own ways to both train and develop our skills. Additionally, there's a risk that we could slow down each other.”
”If you put it like that…”
”I'm fine with it,” Flavia said. ”It's true that I'd prefer staying together but I want to practice both my magic and flying with telekinesis.”
”Well, I understand that,” Allan uttered. ”Though, do we really need to disband the party? Maybe we can still go separately with it?”
Rakna blinked in surprise. ”I didn't think about that… But it wouldn't make sense. How is it, Alexa?”
[You are correct. A party will be disbanded, or to be exact, a member will leave a party if they get too far from the Party Leader. In this case, it is you, Rakna.]
”Apparently, we need to be close enough. So, the party is indeed useless.”
”Uh… Well, I guess that's that. I don't mind going off on my own,” Allan ultimately shrugged and turned toward the other members of the Madness Guild. ”What do you guys say?”
They looked at each other with a scowl. ”For us… going in groups of two or three would most likely be the best,” one of them said with a monotonous tone and they all nodded.
”We will stay together on our side,” Sena said and began to head to the south with her group. ”Let's meet again at the Pavilion, Nyx, Flavia,” she added and soon after, the Madness Guild's recruits also left.
”It's decided then,” Rakna raised his voice. ”Alexa, you can disband the party, right?”
[Affirmative,] she replied and a prompt instantly informed him that the party had been disbanded.
”Let's meet up at the station at… let's say mid-afternoon; 1600.”
”All right,” Nyx nodded and a pair of shadow wings appeared on her back. She flapped them a few times and flew off.
”See you soon,” Flavia followed and slowly started floating before shooting off toward the sky in one quick acceleration.
”Welp, I guess it's just you and me on land… no fucking way,” Allan dropped his jaw as he saw Rakna reveal a pair of majestic silver-black feathered wings and mimic the girls as he disappeared in the distance without a word, a silver trail tracing his path.
”…you know what?” Allan muttered to himself as he began to walk in a random direction. ”I think a cursed Path isn't that bad if I want to ever get close to those damn cheating bastards,” he cursed under his breath as he gathered mana in his legs, just like what he had felt during the Trial.
A green aura surrounded him and he kicked the ground just as the System told him of the creation of two Reinforcement skills. 'At least, I still have teach's wind element,' he thought as he zoomed across the meadows.
⠀
* * *
⠀
Rakna squinted his eyes as he conveniently reinforced them so that the wind wouldn't force him to close them. At the same time, he activated his Fabled Sight, turning his irises golden.
He also was using his Stealth skill. It would make him a bit harder to spot even while flying. Getting seen randomly wasn't too dangerous in itself since there were very low chances anyone would see or even remember his face but one can never be too precautious.
Rakna darted his eyes from left to right, both magnifying and expanding his vision with Fabled Sight. He was in fact looking for something. He had backtracked the path their group had taken to go to the Battle Trial but he wasn't able to find his target. Instead, he spotted the traces of the fight and followed them as best as he could, leveling up Tracking in the process.
After a few minutes, he finally located his target, or rather targets, inside a forest below him and dived down right away and several level-up notifications sounded.
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
Fabled Sight has leveled up!
Flight has leveled up!
Reinforcement has leveled up!
Stealth leveled up!
⠀
❮ ◈ ❯
⠀
It seemed that his skills were still low enough for him to level them up by just using them a bit. It would probably become hard for him later on, even with Eyes of the Soul and Soul Core, if he came to have more Ascended Skills.
”Artzpul,” he whispered and skillfully landed between the inconceivably tall trees. He turned into a wolf the moment he touched the ground since it seemed that monsters attacked him less in that form, and quickly jumped on the branch of a tree.
He looked around with his golden eyes and carefully listened to the noise he was hearing. He easily pinpointed the source and dashed toward it with Stealth continuously active.
When he arrived at his destination, he heard a loud boom followed by several trees falling to the ground with their trunks practically shredded to nothingness. He leaped toward a branch covered by leaves and peered at what was happening.
In front of him, dozens of trees had been either smashed to pieces or flung away leaving a vacant area filled with holes and craters. The cause was a fight between two dinosaurs. The very same that he had seen earlier. They had been fighting for nearly an hour now.