Author’s Corner: Greetings and saluwelcomes everyone! Enjoy the chapter!

Now that we knew who we were bringing along for our little adventure, Sharon and I headed out of the hotel. Since we weren’t really going to be needing our money much after we left, we weren’t worried about the funds for teleporting to the closer city. Though, we did store all of our companions and such inside the groves so that we could afford the transfer.

For now, I didn’t bring out Yin or Yang, because they didn’t need to participate in these fights. Yin needed to train her affinities before leveling, and Yang wasn’t able to level up through fighting anyways. Though, I did leave her with one of the diamondback wolf skeletons and ask her to train her Nature Craftsmen skills to make armor or weapons out of it.

When we arrived at the next city, I summoned Yo and Celeste, while Sharon summoned her three wolf cultivators. Since she was unable to shapeshift, I was going to refrain from doing so as well. However, she climbed up onto the back of the largest of the three wolves, patting his side gently. “Alright, let’s go~.” She smiled, and the wolves took off towards the mountain, leaving us behind.

Celeste merely laughed, summoning her wings and flying low after Sharon, while Yo turned into his cliff tiger form and chased them as well. Shaking my head, I went ahead and invited Celeste and Sharon to a party before changing into a cliff tiger myself to chase after them. So, are we just hunting the tigers for now? If so, won’t it take a lot for us to get the levels we need?

Celeste smiled back to me as I caught up with her and explained the plan. “Once we get there, we can climb the mountain and start hunting the stronger creatures. If the three of us team up, we should be able to even hunt stone wyverns.”

I nodded my head at that. If it was just me alone, I might have problems with them. But still, with my plasma attacks it should be possible. Add in Celeste, Sharon, and their pets, and it becomes easier.

“Ah, no, I won’t be using my pets for this. I left my construction drones summoned in your grove so that they could start working on the ship. Right now, they’re working on setting up a proper work station that I’ll have you move to the void area of your grove when it’s done.” Celeste continued smiling, turning her head back to look forward as we all ran. “Don’t worry, I made sure I can contribute on my own as well.”

After speaking, she extended her right hand, and summoned something else from her upgrade inventory. It appeared to be a long spear, though the tip was missing any form of blade. “It’s a plasma spear. If I upgrade it a few more times, it will become a light spear, but for today I’m focusing on mana upgrades.”

I still wanted to study her aura to try and turn into a Deus Ex myself. If I couldn’t do it with my Nature Magic, I should be able to with Technomancy. Either way, it would be interesting to add it to my list of races.

After running for a while longer, we eventually arrived at the base of the mountain where I had fought the cliff tigers. When we got there, I turned back into my half-elf body, but activated my combat Aspects to get ready. Yo apparently decided to remain in his current form while Sharon hopped off of her wolf. “Okay~! How does this work? Do my wolves count as part of the party?”

Celeste shook her head as she landed, dismissing her wings. “No, but as long as they participate in the fight, they will get a share of the experience.”

The druidess nodded her head, and we proceeded to hike up the mountain. She seemed a bit different than the last time we had met. She no longer was so reserved when it came to killing animals, even though she obviously cared very deeply for her own. Or maybe she just cared that they were really fluffy and made for good hug pillows. Either way, it was clear that she had gotten over her previous mindset that all animals should be protected. Especially when it meant she could get a new type of wolf to play with.

Anyways, our climb went pretty smoothly for a while. That’s not to say that we did not encounter any resistance, but that we were able to overcome it easily. Sharon’s wolves would use fire and ice to blast the cliff tigers as they appeared, while Celeste would dance around with her plasma spear. As she did so, a long energy blade would form atop the end of the spear, allowing her to tear through the relatively defenseless tigers.

As for myself… well, I felt pretty useless just sitting there, so I would use my pistols to fire at whoever the other two missed. After sending our first prey to Yin so that she could have some meat, the rest of the bodies were devoured by Yo, and each time he did so, his cliff tiger form became more solid. It was as if he was studying the aura as he ate it in order to master it.

Every now and then, I would be needed to heal one of the wolves if it got ambushed by a tiger pouncing up from below, or Sharon if she was caught off guard. When Celeste received an injury, I wanted to heal it, but since she was a Deus Ex the spell did not work. At the time, she just smiled to me and said that she would heal later. For a Deus Ex to heal, they had to process metal within their body.

For only the second time since I joined NeoLife, I saw just how different it was to be in a team. And the first time, it was a team of two level one characters, who were barely able to do anything alone. Now, we were three level twenty five and above characters who had gained a bit of skill. Before, killing ten or so of these animals would level me up, but now, I had yet to do so even after we killed thirty of them while climbing up. I was close, but it wasn’t enough yet.

Every now and then, I would pause for a bit to recharge my pistols after repeated firing, but I had perhaps the easiest job in the group… Sit back and shoot stuff that gets away. Sharon was able to easily command her three wolves to do battle in an effective manner that showed how well they had trained. One wolf would act as bait, and when the cliff tiger dove into the ground, it would move back so that the other two could blast it as it came out. Then, if the tigers went after the two wolves, the third would ambush them.

“She probably has her companion tracking the battle so that she can send out the commands.” Celeste spoke up in my mind as I watched, only having to occasionally shoot one of my pistols at a fleeing tiger.

I nodded my head, thinking that it was likely the answer, and a pretty smart idea. If she were to summon all of the animals in her grove, this entire mountain might be overrun within a couple days. Though… there was honestly something about her that was even more scary than how she had grown so strong so quickly. Every time we fought a group of cliff tigers, she would always leave a single male and female alive, and try to convince them to be her animal companions.

Naturally… they weren’t very happy with that, and would often attack her. However, their attacks didn’t get far before the wolves descended on them. There was actually one cliff tiger that agreed to the deal, and was sent to her grove. From then on, she would only spare one tiger per group before trying to recruit it again.

So that’s how she has so many companions… where did the innocent girl from before go?! I wanted to scream out that this was just wrong. In the end, I could only cough awkwardly as Yo was digesting one of the corpses. “Isn’t that uh… kind of cruel? Recruiting them that way?”

She gave me that same innocent smile she always used. “It’s fine, right? If they want to come with us, they can, but otherwise we need to level up. So, I’ll give them the choice until I have a pair, and set them up a small area in my grove. It’s probably a much nicer treatment than they get here, right?”

I know it is logical.. it makes perfect sense, but it still sent a shiver down my spine. “Uh… sure…” I was inwardly glad that I never decided to become a Colony Druid, because that kind of logic was messed up.

After we went a bit further, we stopped encountering cliff tigers altogether, and instead started finding other monsters. The first was a large lizard, roughly ten meters in length and two tall, which Celeste called a boulder lizard. It was able to blend seamlessly into the rock wall of the mountain, and was only visible if we were using our Aura Sight… or had a Deus Ex that was constantly using the skill.

With Celeste around, we were able to easily spot the large boulder lizards. And apparently, their average level was over forty, but they typically only operated solo or with a single mate. The first time we spotted one, Celeste had us all stop climbing while silently pointing to a protrusion of rock nearby. Since none of us knew about it, she transmitted the information to me while charging her spear. Boulder lizards are slow, but strong. Their hides are incredibly durable, with their only weakness being their underbelly.

The first to strike was Celeste, who lept up at the lizard that was still thinking it had been hidden, and swept her spear across its back. Although her weapon uses plasma to strike, it didn’t penetrate deep enough to cause a real wound. However, it was fully exposed now. Sharon was clearly able to see what was happening, and had her three wolves move in for the hit. “Don’t kill it yet~!” She shouted cheerfully as the wolves surrounded the giant animal, causing me to experience another chill.

Since her lance didn’t work, Celeste landed on the rock in front of the lizard, clenching her fist and giving it an uppercut as it was preparing to fight. The strength she used shocked me, as it actually sent the lizard a few feet into the air while the wolves began scorching it with fire breaths. When it came back down, she punched the top of its head to send it into a daze while Sharon ran over. “Do you want to come with us?” She put her hand on the top of its head, likely trying to use her Nature Magic or Animal Affinity to communicate with it. As it woke up, it opened its giant mouth, revealing rows of jagged shark-like teeth.

Before it could take a bite out of Sharon, her three wolves were by her side and sending a torrent of flame into its stomach. “Aww… Oh well, maybe the next one!” She shook her head, while I had Yo begin absorbing the boulder lizard. While being able to swim in the ground is great and all, Yo still needs to absorb more forms to increase his intelligence.

Though, now we had a giant slimy lizard following us around. On the bright side, we all seemed to level up after that encounter. From then on, I started using my plasma rifle instead of the pistols, since the enemies after this would require more penetrating power to fight.

Each time we found one, Celeste and Sharon’s wolves would beat it to within an inch of its life, and Sharon would try to make it into her companion. For the ones that refused, either the wolves dealt the finishing blow, or I did with my rifle. After fighting six of them, one finally agreed. She seemed to be able to tell their genders at a glance, despite this being her first encounter with the creatures, because from then on she only asked a few of the lizards we encountered. The rest were directly finished off.

At this rate, it didn’t take long for me to reach level thirty, but the wolves were still a bit off from it. According to Celeste, they could evolve at any time, so we kept climbing higher and higher. After the second boulder lizard agreed to be her animal companion, we began killing them as soon as we saw them. Soon, we started coming across different creatures as well.

Up next were smaller creatures, but I wasn’t too clear on what happened. I heard a series of chittering noises around us, and seemed to blank out. When I realized what was going on, we were surrounded by several craters that seemed to be melted out with extreme heat. Sharon and Celeste were looking at me with their eyes wide and mouths hanging open, and her wolves were hiding behind her. Hmm? Why is my mana almost depleted? I’m sure if it was important I’d remember.

You gained a new title!Spider Slaughterer

+20% Damage against arachnids. Stacks with Vengeful Heart

You fear and hate spiders to such an absurd degree that you enter a berserk state when you encounter them, using any and all methods to ensure their swift demise.

Oh, great, now the system gave me a berserk mode? And it’s triggered by--hey, what’s that? Another brief blackout, and I awoke to find a rather deep crater in front of me. Looking back to the others, I did my best impression of Sharon’s innocent smile. “Did I ever mention I really hate spiders?”

The two nodded their heads quite energetically. Behind Sharon, even the wolves were nodding their heads.