"That's cold!" Liam giggles, wiggling a little as the Elder Hunter presses the Branding Seal against his chest.

"Hold still," she tells him.

"Sorry," he giggles again, but holds still so she can press it against him again. "Whoa. It's warm now."

"And now," she pulls the Branding Seal away. "You are a Hunter, Liam. You have no sacred power at the moment, but now that you have the Hunter's Brand, you'll be generating it. Rex and Cam can teach you how to use it, and you can pay me a fee for a lesson as well."

"Okay!" Liam tells her, bouncing on the cushion in his excitement at finally being allowed to leave the town and hunt monsters.

"Enjoy your hunts," she tells him. "And may the powers that be guide you to strength. And happy birthday, too."

"Thanks!" Liam says.

"Alright," I say. "Let's head out of the town for your first hunt: hares and squirrels from the fields."

Liam nods, then picks up the spear I gifted him for his birthday before following Cam and me out of the Elder Hunter's shop. He won't be able to perform the spear spells I use to create spears for awhile, so I had the town's blacksmith make one for him. My first spear has long-since been retired, too used to be gifted to Liam. And broken, too. Part of the head chipped off against the shell of an insect monster when I was eleven.

"Good morning, boys," the Gate greets us. "Are you wishing to head out?"

Liam looks at me when Cam and I don't say anything, and I nod to him. He looks back to the Gate. His excitement is still there, but I've taught him over the last year to separate his excitement from himself when it comes to serious things. It's okay to be excited, but it's best not to let it affect a fight, and Liam is in his serious mode now, now that we're leaving for his first training session against monsters.

"We are," Liam tells the Gate.

"May I see your brands?" The Gate asks.

The three of us pull down the collars of our shirts to show our brands to the Gate.

"Welcome to the ranks," the Gate tells Liam. "May the powers that be guide your hunts well."

The Gate splits down the center, opening, and we leave. This is the first time Liam has left since we rescued him, and I'm glad he's not suffering any trauma issues over it. That would be horrible, for his excitement to be crushed by painful memories.

The Gate closes behind us, and we walk a little further east before climbing over the crest of a hill. Liam looks at the hares hopping around and squirrels darting from tree to tree on the hills and fields.

"I won't be getting close," I tell Liam as I indicate my leg. "Since I can't fight in melee with my leg the way it is right now, but I'll provide backup, should you need it. Cam will heal you, but don't try to rely on his magic, okay? Try to avoid injury when possible, or you'll fall into bad habits that could cost you if you end up without a healer. Remember, wait on trying to use sacred power until you're full of it. You'll be able to tell when you can't generate more, as full of it as you can be. Then, return here, and I'll teach you your first spell."

"Yes, sir," Liam nods, then looks at the hares. "Are these all Tier One?"

"No," I answer. "The hares and squirrels with split tails are Tier Two. Don't attack them, and they won't attack you."

"Okay," he nods. "Good luck, Liam!"

After wishing himself luck, Liam descends the hill, cautious. Hares and squirrels are always good training targets because they're numerous and they generally only attack when attacked. They're among the less-dangerous monsters in the area, too.

That doesn't mean we can let their population boom, though. Especially right now, in spring, when it's prime mating season for them. They're both food for each other and for other, more dangerous monsters. By regularly culling their population, we decrease how quickly stronger monsters form in these hills and fields.

Once Liam nears a hare, he adjusts his grip on his spear, then thrusts it forward, attempting to strike the hare. The monster hops to the side, avoiding the spear, then hops towards Liam, who quickly adjusts his aim and strikes again.

He manages to knock the hare out of the air, grazing it on the side, then thrusts his spear at it again, striking it in the other side as it hops again. His first fight resembles mine, in that he has to take a couple of minutes to kill the hare, but when he succeeds, he gives a triumphant whoop.

Then, he immediately gets to work field dressing the rabbit. Cam and I move in close to make sure he's doing it right. Field dressing a hare is a little different from gutting a fish. Once Liam finishes, Cam shows him how to string it up to avoid it bleeding out and so that it can hang from his belt. Liam does that, hanging it from a length of twine on his belt, then returns to his hunt, Liam and I moving back to our previous position.

Liam hunts for twenty minutes, catching and killing four more hares, having three hanging on his right, two on his left, before he comes up to me and tells me he's full of sacred power.

"Okay," I tell him as he pulls the hares off his belt and places them in the basket Cam brought with us to carry his kills in. "Remember the meditation exercises I've had you do?"

"Yes," he nods. "You said that when you use sacred power, having meditated and being aware of what it feels like and how it flows through you is important, so it's good to start meditating early."

"Indeed," I nod. "Because you've spent a year meditating, you can already sense the flow of your sacred power more easily than had you not. I'm going to teach you a basic wind spell. These hares and rabbits don't have a bane at Tier One, so the wind spell is best, as it leaves less damage than, say, a fireball, which would burn a huge portion of its hide rather than simply slicing it."

"Okay," he says.

"It's a basic wind blade," I say. "To cast it, feel that flow of sacred power, draw upon it, push it out of you, shape it into a blade of wind with a curved shape to it, then release. That's the best explanation that we can give for it, but once you've done it once, you'll know how it feels. This is what it looks like."

Though this isn't the first time I've shown him the spell, I take my time in the casting, allowing him to see the spell by mixing in some light magic. Rather than the instantaneous casting I normally do, I spend several seconds shaping the spell into existence. Then, I aim it at a hare to the side of us on the hill, before releasing it.

The spell flies forward, soaring through the air. It cuts through the hare, but continues on, not yet spent. My spell travels down the hill in a straight line, cutting through two more hares before it cuts into the ground at the bottom of the hill.

"Show off," Cam mutters, and Liam giggles. "Remember, Liam, that you won't be able to cast one as strong as that for awhile. Rex and I have both trained for nine years and have reached higher Levels, so our magic is a lot stronger. Your attack will, at most, just cut the monster. It will be a long time before you manage to cut clean through even one."

"Yeah," Liam nods. "Because your magic is stronger, you can make the spell denser, even for the same thickness, which allows it to pierce more before it fades out. Also, how much I use sacred power and how large of a role it plays in my victories determines how much it grows with each Level, too, so if I focus only on it, I'll gain a lot of sacred power, but little strength, but if I use a lot of physical stuff, I'll gain a lot of strength, but little sacred power. And if I go like Rex does and mix the two pretty evenly, I'll end up weaker in both, but more rounded."

"Correct," I say. "So remember to start focusing early on what you want to be. If you'd prefer to use the spear as your main method of attack, then use spells for backup. If you want to use spells as your main method of attack, then use your spear if something draws too close. And if you want to mix the two, then, well, mix the two."

Liam nods, then looks between us, thoughtful.

"So," he says. "Who has more sacred power? Since Cam's pretty much pure healer and mage, it's him, right? Even though he's four Levels lower?"

"No," I answer. "Every Level, your increase potential is higher. Though we might only have a four-Level difference, Cam would need to be within one or two to have a similar sacred power as me as a pure mage against a mixed fighter."

His expression tells me he's confused.

"Let's say," I tell him. "That we put strength and sacred power into numerical terms. You start with one of each at Level 1. When you hit Level 2, you gain three strength and one sacred power because of your efforts and fighting style, and I had gained two strength and two sacred power, and Cam gained one strength and three sacred power. At Level 3, you gained six strength and two sacred power, I gained four strength and four sacred power, and Cam gained two strength and six sacred power. Then we begin to diverge. You stop Leveling, Cam Levels slower, and I continue Leveling at an even rate. I hit Level 4 and gain six of each, then level 5 and eight of each. Even though I'm only two Levels ahead of him, I have fourteen more sacred power than him, and he has eight, and you only have four."

"Oh," he says. "So there's a big gap between you two in sacred power."

"Yeah," I nod. "And keep in mind, those numbers aren't exact, that's just me coming up with them on the spot. I don't know what they'd be if we actually put them into numbers, or even how we'd go about that. After about ten Levels, though, there's a significant gap in terms of both strength and sacred power even between two people of a single Level's difference. Cam and I have a four-Level difference, making that gap even larger.

"However," I tell him. "Raw sacred power isn't everything. Remember that."

"Yeah," Liam nods. "Like how Cam can do better healing spells than you, because he focuses on training them."

"Correct," I say. "I can only heal minor injuries, which Cam can heal some more severe ones. He's not powerful enough to mend my leg, but once he's another ten Levels higher, he'll likely be able to."

A glance at Cam's expression tells me that he plans on training up some more so that he's better capable with healing injuries. This is the worst I've gotten ever, and we usually just pay the Elder Healer for the things he can't heal. She's always been able to, but she's never really worked on her healing magics much, either. Her being able to mend the broken bones in my upper leg and hip was simply from how long she's been around giving her that experience.

"Anyway," I ruffle Liam's hair. "Get back to hunting, yeah? You can build up practice experience, some more strength, and some sacred power by training, even if it takes you awhile to hit Level 1."

"Alright," Liam nods, then returns to hunting.

Cam and I watch him in silence for a few minutes, before Cam decides to break our quiet.

"I'm sorry I'm not much stronger," he softly tells me.

"It's okay, Cam," I say. "We weren't expecting such a fight. We weren't even expecting that many powerful monsters. That was four different packs of wolves being led by a Tier Six, and the true alpha could move silently enough we didn't notice its approach, even while on alert. Never before have we needed to heal an injury like this."

"I know," he says. "But I can still fight and train, too. You're right, I'll need probably ten more Levels before my sacred power is high enough I can cast such a spell. It will probably take me a few years to get there, even pushing myself, but-"

"Cam," I interrupt. "Relax. Remember that pushing yourself hard in training leads to mistakes. An injury like this is rare, and it's unlikely we'll deal with one again after the Tier Six is taken care of."

"I know," he says. "I should still gain a little more power. Something like this may happen again, even in a few years. Light magic shouldn't be the only thing I do. In some of the tougher fights, I'll provide some backup."

"Okay," I tell him. "Once I'm healed up, we'll go take care of Geoffrey, I'd rather take him out before taking Liam to the mud fields."

"Same," he says. "He seems docile right now, but at the end of the day, he's a monster. You never know when he might suddenly decide to attack."

"Yeah," I say. "And I'd rather not have to worry about protecting Liam from a Tier Five."

That said, there's always the chance the hawk will decide to attack, but we went a little outside of its hunting range. Hopefully, it sticks to its territory until Cam and I go kill it.

We return to watching Liam in silence, and the new Hunter manages to bring back eight hares twice before showing signs of fatigue that suggest he needs to rest.

"Alright, Liam," I tell him. "That's enough hunting for now."

"Yeah," Liam nods. "I'm starting to feel sore and tired."

"Let's rest for a few minutes," I say. "Then eat lunch."

The three of us sit on the hill, and Cam and I discuss Liam's hunting. He stuck mostly to the spear, using wind blades to help him from time to time. He says that he thinks he'll still be mostly a spear fighting, but use a little bit of sacred power in his fighting, as most melee fighters do. It is an essential part of fighting monsters, after all.

I make a note to teach him spells that work well with the spear, as well as a few defensive ones. While he could cast a wind wall, it wouldn't be too effective with his current level of sacred power. There are others we can teach him, though.

After discussing his hunt and giving him some tips and advice based on what he did, we open up the lunches we prepared before setting off this morning and eat. We're about halfway done when I notice the hawk soaring toward us from the southeast, where it normally lives and hunts.

"Liam, stay down," I say as I use wind magic to fly into a mostly-standing position. Cam immediately jumps up at my tone, turning his gaze to the direction of the hawk. "Hopefully, it leaves us alone, but if it attacks, you let the two of us fight it."

"Okay," Liam nods.

The hawk is a wind beast, so the best option for fighting it right now is lightning and fire magic. I do hope it decides to fly off, though.

Nope. The hawk soars towards us, opening its mouth and screeching. Liam clamps his hands over his ears to protect himself from the shrill sound as Cam and I use wind magic to block it out. Holding up a hand, I send several fireballs its way, and Cam throws lightning at it.

Flapping its wings at the attacks, the hawk manages to deflect most of them with wind magic, though the lightning bolt manages to graze ones of its wings. The hawk lets out another shriek, this one without magic, and I generate stronger fireballs, more compact this time.

Cam and I fall into a pattern, throwing fire and lightning at the hawk, managing to keep it from drawing too close. Its wind gusts manage to push away most of our attacks, sending them scattering to the sides or causing them to miss entirely. Some of its blasts are strong enough to batter at us, but we hold firm against them.

Liam keeps behind me to lighten the force of the attacks on him, even as Cam and I move to continue protecting ourselves from the attacks. The hawk tries to swoop in close to strike us with its talons or beaks, but we're able to chase it back with fire and lightning.

We're at a stalemate in this fight. Flying monsters are especially annoying because they have better maneuverability than land monsters, which makes it much harder to strike them. Cam and I are technically too weak to actually battle a Tier Four monster, since there are only two of us.

Why did we think it was a good idea to let a hawk go up in Tier? We wanted it to hit Tier Five, which makes it even worse!

I suppose we figured that by the time it reached it, we'd be able to handle it a little better. But striking it just isn't our thing right now, it seems. It's taken us thirty minutes to get to this point, and we've barely done any damage to its. We've singed a few of its feathers, but Cam himself is only able to push it back at most, his attacks too weak to actually damage it right now.

"Liam, get behind Cam," I tell him as I decide to try something new, now that the hawk seems like it's slowing down, growing exhausted from the fight, just like us. "Quickly, now."

Liam bolts behind Cam, and I summon out my sacred weapon. Aiming it at the hawk, I channel fire magics through it, as the Elder Hunter suggested I try to see if anything would happen. The white marks on the shaft and the silver marks on the head turn crimson as fire begins to swirl around the head of the spear.

Cam understands what I want to do, and unleashes a torrent of small lightning bolts, ensuring the hawk will be in a certain spot. The moment I determine where he's driving the hawk to, I take aim, then throw the spear.

With my strength as a Level 17 Hunter, I'm able to throw it with enough force the spear probably disappeared from Liam's sight for a moment, its speed was that great. However, the spear leaves behind a trail of fire as it soars, and it strikes true, slicing into one of the wings of the hawk. Okay, it was a little off, but I was aiming at a flying target, so not quite my fault.

The monster lets out another shriek as it begins to fall out of the sky, and I summon my spear back to myself. One thing about sacred weapons is that we don't need to dismiss them to call them back, they'll return to us if we call them as long as there's a path.

Catch my spear, I channel fire magics into it again, as my previous spell ran out after it cut through the hawk. As I throw the spear again, the hawk opens its mouth and lets out a sonic blast at the same time it flaps its good wing to summon up another gale. The gale is weaker this time than when it sued both wings, but the combined attack is enough to send my spear off to the side a little.

Cam throws lightning again, and I open my mouth and release a sonic call to counter the hawk's before summoning my spear back to me. Lightning strikes the hawk in the beak as the monster's attacks end, and I take the break in its defense to launch my spear again. This time, it embeds in the hawk's chest, killing it.

"Whoa," Liam says.

"Yeah," I say as I dismiss my spear. I'm almost out of sacred power, using it is draining. Were I closer to the normal Level for manifesting it, it wouldn't be an issue at all. I'd have plenty of sacred power to spare for using it. "That's a Tier Four monster."

"You two killed it?" He asks in shock. "A Tier Four? But you're too weak to handle it like this!"

"Sometimes," I say. "A good strategy is what's needed. The hawk became a lot easier to take out once we grounded it, but it took us thirty minutes to get it to the ground. While it was in the air, it was pretty impossible to hurt it."

"It didn't look like Cam's attacks were doing anything," Liam says quietly, almost as if afraid to say that out loud.

"They were pushing it back," Cam says. "But that's it. I'm not powerful enough to hurt a Tier Four monster with more than an impact right now. However, that can still be annoying to monsters, especially flying ones. Imagine constantly getting knocked around, unable to catch a break."

"Oh," Liam nods. "Yeah, that would be annoying."

"And it hurts, too," Cam says. "It would be more like me punching them repeatedly, just from a distance."

Liam nods again, then looks at me.

"How come you didn't summon that sooner?"

"It takes a lot of sacred power to summon and maintain a sacred weapon," I explain. "I didn't want to use it immediately in case I failed and then ran out of sacred power. But the hawk was getting exhausted, too, so I took a chance. I'm almost out of sacred power, actually."

I float back over to our stuff and sit down, releasing my flight spell.

"Come on," I tell them. "Let's finish lunch. Then we can take care of the hawk."