(Braden)

"Good job," I tell Gavin as he reluctantly performs his looting of the corpses for money. "However, a word of advice? Try to adapt to the situation."

"What do you mean?" He asks. "I thought I did?"

"You should have used Flame Blade against the Frost Goblin," I tell him. "That would have been more effective. The more you adapt to the situation, the more you're willing to learn and understand the flow of battle, the easier you'll acquire your Levels and Level things up. Your Stun Blade ran out before its effect did, and all you did was use Stun Blade again, because you were focused on Leveling it. I know you're at a temporary cap, but once you bypass that… you'll need to do stuff like switch it up to adjust for circumstances, especially in the flow of battle."

"Okay," he says. "I suppose that should have been obvious, huh?"

"Just remember it," I tell him. "And be careful here, too. Plenty of strong monsters."

"Yeah," he stands. "I'm being careful. Are you?"

"Very," I nod. "I'm going back to training alone. See you."

"Same here," he says. "See you."

I begin moving through the woods as I contemplate which of the two Skills for my final archer Tier I'm going to learn. The choices this time are Nature's Blessing and Shadow Step. The former allows me to perform a blessing which restores Health and Mana over time on the target, while the latter allows me to move between shadows I can see within a certain range.

Nature's Blessing seems like it would be useful, but we already have Luca for healing. The downside to his healing is his lack of ability to restore Mana to use, though. From what I know, though, Zack can do that if we get into a pinch. Dark Knights are apparently able to sacrifice some of their own Mana to restore an ally's. That means Max will eventually learn it. Except that Max will also need a lot of Mana, since he's a full-on attacker with a limited pool. Plus, Nature's Blessing will take awhile to Level, and it doesn't actually restore all that much in the beginning.

Shadow Step is also useful. It's five yards per Level of the Skill, which means that I can easily warp to another area nearby for a better vantage point, if I see said vantage point and can see a shadow on it. Or even near it. That would cut down on repositioning time by a lot.

Coming to a decision, I focus on the shadows nearby as I move, on the shadows of the trees cast by the afternoon sun. On being in the one I'm looking at. It takes me a few minutes to succeed in acquiring the Skill.

New Skill! Shadow Step Active Move between two shadows to reach a new location. Range: 5 yards per Level of this Skill Cost: 500 Mana

With that obtained, I stand up and focus my power, drawing inwards once more. Why should I pick only one of the two? I can pick both!

It takes me a few minutes ago, but I acquire Nature's Blessing as well.

New Skill! Nature's Blessing Active Grant a temporary blessing upon your allies to help them recover from the fatigue of battle. Regenerations: +2/second per Level of this Skill Duration: 20 seconds per Level of this Skill/td> Cost: 1,000 Mana

There we go! It's rather weak right now, since it only restores 40 Health and 40 Mana total at the moment, but at maximum Level, it will restore a total of 4,000 Health and 4,000 Mana. That is a ton. I'm also a High Warden now, which is nice. Once my Mana restores, I'll fight with my elemental spell Skills so that I can advance Elementalist a bit. I still need to learn the Tier 4 Spell for it, but have a little wiggle room for that, since I'm only Level 2 of Tier 3.

That does make me wonder what I should do about Tier 5. I'll probably take on Lightning Prison, even if I want to do Lightning Elemental. While its purpose is purely to defend and trap opponents, it costs 2,000 Mana, which is a lot more feasible than the other Tier 5 lightning spell Skill I know, Lightning Elemental. That costs 5,000 Mana. By the time I've trianed enough to hit Tier 5, though, I should have enough Mana for Lightning Prison, I think.

Once my Mana is back to full, I head out, stalking through the woods back to the area I was in before, then I begin hunting. I want a wolf, so that I can try for its hide to turn into leather. There are some pretty rare wolves nearby, and I had been chasing one, but it got away somewhere near Gavin. He'll be fine if it shows back up, though.

"Braden," a voice startles me, and I look over to see Brandon there.

"Hello, sir," I greet him. "I'm being careful."

"I know," he tells me. "I was passing through and saw you attacking the wolf earlier. Looking for a tough hide?"

"Yeah," I answer.

"Zack already has one prepared for you," he informs me, and I frown. "It's already tanned and ready to be turned into equipment, just go to the armor maker I use and ask them to make it how you want it."

"Alright," I say. "But what do I owe?"

"You earned something from the Candy Beast, yes?" He asks, and I nod. "That should be sufficient."

"Alright," I say. "I take it Zack did the same for the others?"

"Gavin and Max have stuff at Jackson's," he says. "And Luca… I'm not sure what Zack has ready for him to commission. I should get going. Good hunting."

"Thank you," I tell him, then he leaves.

If I don't need to get the hide myself, then I can hunt some stuff that will be a lot easier to track down and kill. Goblin Shamans, Goblin Giants, and Goblin Chieftains are my main targets, now. As I hunt, I notice tracks of goblins. A warrior of some sort, but also not a warrior, based on the impressions in the soil.

Nodding, I begin following it, occasionally coming across a weaker goblin, which dies quickly to an Electric Spike. I need to bring that, Shock Bomb, and Lightning Strike up another Level for the next Tier, too, so I'll work on Electric Spike a bit.

After around twenty-seven minutes of hunting, I spot the creature. When I spot it, I assess it. It's holding a staff of a dark blue coloration that would make it difficult to spot at night. It's only slightly-pudgy, and wears a glittery black mask with red stones set around its edge, fixed onto its face directly, rather than with a ribbon or string or something. Its loin cloth is pitch-black, too. Even without reading its Status, I know what it is from Zack's book.

Elite Spook Goblin Level 10 Health: 5,417 Mana: 5,138

Can I take it, can I not? As a High Warden, definitely. I can stack Power Shot and Lightning Shot together for extra powerful damage. Electric Spike does a hundred and twenty percent of my Intellect as damage, while Shock Bomb and Lightning Bolt both do two hundred percent. The latter requires 100 Mana, while Shock Bomb takes 50 Mana, making Shock Bomb the best option for this fight.

As I move around, trying to take stock of the situation, I determine there are no other goblins nearby. If any come towards me, I should be able to handle the situation.

According to Zack's tome, the majority of Spook Goblins are purely melee fighters. However, they do have several spell Skills at their disposal. One allows them to temporarily turn invisible, another allows them to create Fireballs of orange flames, and another allows them to create a Pumpkin Minion, which is basically just a stronger version of a Pumpkin Slime with a couple of attacks of its own, including Flame Jet.

Hm.

How did this one manage to survive so long without being killed? Wasn't Spook Time around five months ago? It must be close to turning into a Bounty Beast, too. From what I know, Adventurers have been regularly coming into the woods to keep monster strength down. Either this one somehow managed to evade notice, or it was intentionally being left alive.

Regardless, I'm killing it.

I hold up my right hand.

"Shock Bomb."

A ball of electricity forms in front of my hand, then blasts towards the Spook Goblin as it turns to face me. The monster dodges, but I'm already throwing more Shock Bombs at it in every possible direction it could have run. Several of them strike, the resulting small explosions sending it skidding back a little.

The goblin twirls its club, the sign noted in Zack's book that it's going to summon Pumpkin Minions, so I throw more Shock Bombs at it, stopping it from summoning the Pumpkin minions. It snarls at me then slaps its chest and disappears.

I turn my gaze to the ground and follow the slight disturbances in the soil, throwing Shock Bombs at it as the monster attempts to attack me. A few of them connect, a few, my aim is off. The attacks do slow it down, though, which allowsme to move out of its path, forcing it to readjust its aim.

The Spook Goblin's invisibility lasts for a full minute, and only once it can be seen again does it attempt to throw Fireballs at me. Those are relatively easy to dodge with my Agility, though, so they aren't an issue. All I have to do is keep from being hit while striking it with Shock Bombs, and I can kill it.

Keeping distance is easy for me, because of my Agility. I'm clearly faster than it, so all I have to do is keep it in my range and stop its Pumpkin Minion summons, and I'll be good.

The fight drags on, and my Mana starts to dip low, but I eventually manage to kill it.

+1 Spook Ingot

Oh, nice. I earned a drop. They become more likely at Elite and Bounty Beast for some beasts, especially Special Monsters sand Holiday Monsters.

Killing that also net me three Levels to Elementalist, though it was really two Levels and just a little bit more. I also earned another Shock Bomb Level, so now I just need to Level up Electric Spike and Lightning Bolt, plus learn a Tier 4 lightning Spell Skill, and I'll be ready to advance to Tier 4 of Elementalist once I reach Level 10.

What should I do with the Spook Ingot, though? Actually, I could probably have it mixed with the Candy Ingot and added to some of the leather armor I'll have made, and have a new knife made. But then, wouldn't it be best just to have it made out of the Spook Ingot?

Yeah, it would. The Candy Ingot has the same strength, durability, and other properties of the Spook Ingot that are not 'special' properties.

I'm about to return to hunting when I remember my initial thought with the Spook Goblin. Immediately, I turn and run back to Maelnor, following my sense for its direction as I go. When I reach the gate, I head inside, then hastily make my way down to the Trading Post. I don't run, though. Even if it's urgent, it probably isn't that urgent.

When I enter the Trading Post, I pause for a moment when I see Jesse alone, but then remember what Brandon told me. It's all an act he puts on to disarm customers and make them think he's not as good as he really is. Not as dangerous and perceptive as he really is.

I approach the counter.

"Hi."

"Hi there, Braden!" He smiles. "What can I do for you today?"

"Zack says you're one of the people in charge of all the battle prep and management of what's going on in the area."

"That's right!" Jesse tells me. "Why? Did you have a question?"

"Are you guys intentionally allowing Elites and Bounty Beasts to form in the forest?"

His expression immediately turns serious.

"No," his voice is a lot deeper. Wow. I thought Zack was messing with us when he said that. "If you're asking this, Braden, it's not a normal monster, is it?"

"It was a Spook Goblin."

"Stay here," he goes into the back, coming out a moment later in black and dark blues, a black cloak around him. A woman came out as well. "Take me there."

The woman stays behind as I lead Jesse out of the Trading Post and to where I found the Spook Goblin, its corpse still there. I forgot to loot it.

"And this was an Elite?" He asks.

"Yes, sir."

He nods, then examines the corpse.

"It must have been around eighty percent of the way to the Bounty Beast stage," he tells me, and I frown. "After reaching Level 5, it has to wait fifteen weeks to hit Elite Status. From there, it's another twenty-five weeks. It's been around five months, or twenty weeks. However, you can see by its form that it had developed muscles under its fat, and that its fat was fading. A sign that it was soon to morph into a Bounty Beast. You did well to kill it on your own."

It was gaining Levels from more than just time.

"Thank you," I say.

"That also means it's been killing a fair few monsters in the area," he tells me.

He stands and examines the area, then follows our fight back to where its trail to here can be found. He kneels down and examines it.

"There are Adventurers regularly clearing out the forest," he says. "Looking for any monsters to ensure new Bounty Beasts don't form. For a Spook Goblin to live this long, it was intentional. Zack likely missed it when he was still training here, but our sweeps should have caught it."

"Someone probably also chased monsters to it, so it could gain more Levels," I say.

"Yes," he looks at me. "And we have the forest separated into regions. There are four home bases for this, to ensure the parties can easily reach their spot. Maelnor is one, the crater is another. The team that focuses on this section is located out of Maelnor."

"So you know who did it?" I ask.

"Yes," he answers. "I'm the one who arranged the teams."

"So… what's going to happen now?"

"Since we know a group intentionally left these," he says. "A team of Dark Knights is going to come out and sweep this entire section while the group doing this is interrogated by other Dark Knights. We'll rearrange the teams so that they're covering different sections, and we'll change the sections as well."

"To increase the chances of finding someone else who did this."

"Correct," he nods. "It's not perfect, but it's a huge effort to continuously shift forces around, especially when we need to focus on training and preparing for the battle. However, we need to ensure that there are as few powerful monsters in the forest when the battle comes as possible."

"Because that would mean that many fewer powerful monsters."

"Correct," he says. "When the battle comes, we can expect to face thousands – tens of thousands – of Bounty Beasts. And in Lost Territory, Level Caps are higher."

"Like in the mines," I say.

"Correct," he says. "We can face Bounty Beasts at Level 50, Level 75, Level 100, and higher, during the battle. In addition to the normal monsters at those Levels. And with the news Zack gave us this morning…"

He shakes his head. What did Zack see with his power?

That tone… there's more than the two expected King Monsters coming.

"Yes," Jesse gives me an amused look, and I realize I said that out loud. My cheeks heat up. "Zack saw in his vision a third King Monster, one which will likely be a lot more difficult to kill than the other two simply by nature of what it is. I won't share more than that, though, and I trust that you won't reveal it to anyone, not even the other members of your team."

"I promise."

"Thank you," he looks around, and I do the same thing.

"Doesn't Zack have people watching me?" I ask. "For our training today? How come one of them didn't already report back."

Jesse snorts.

"The Shadow of Life knows," he tells me. "That going after one of your four is a bad idea. He's likely ordered his Adventurer minions to avoid contacting you. None of you are being watched."

"What if we come across something which could hurt us?" I ask. "I've fought a Bounty Beast and an Elite Spook Goblin today."

"The Bounty Beast was within your team's capabilities," he says. "And the Elite Spook Goblin shouldn't exist. There shouldn't be anything here which can pose a true threat to you, not unless several teams of monsters develop. That said, there may be Bounty Beasts, if the Elite Spook Goblin is anything to go by."

I nod. I may have gotten hurt pretty bad against a Bounty Beast Spook Goblin.

"Why don't you return to town for today?" He suggests. "We can have the sweep finished by morning, and I'll deliver your rewards to you when I return."

"Gavin and Max are both training in the forest as well."

"Let's track them down," he says. "I'll have their sections swept as well."