Yushin suddenly realized how Bosses could appear in Tales!

Since the beginning, the bear could be considered a superior existence in Faint Forest’s Monster Ecosystem. He had total dominance over his peers and demanded obedience. After killing other monsters and players alike, he grew in strength and kept growing over time!

A strong existence like that, how can it not be called a [Boss]?

Yushin has a bad feeling about this. The A.I. in this game is so weird the Monarch Bear will definitely hold a grudge for a long time!

While traveling with the Old Man to the Faint Forest, Rain Falls private messages Yushin to talk about her dungeon. Since they left, it changed to a three-player dungeon with a new quest type: Mob Clear, and no time limit!

It now also gives access to a much larger area around the White Stone Castle, being suddenly repopulated by an influx of enemies from other areas. Which meant that every time going in, they had to kill their way to the bridge again.

This didn’t mean the number of monsters was infinite. She noticed it takes time from others to move in from the rest of the dungeon itself and thinks clearing the dungeon again will give access to new quests until they find a way to the castle!

The final reward may be a permanent unlimited dungeon, like the ones currently in the major guilds. This, without a doubt, is huge! Of course, she invites Yushin to go with them, right now Rain is with a couple of Free Forest friends tackling it repeatedly.

That dungeon is an immense guild contribution. She jumped straight from the First Rank to the Fourth Member Rank - Full Fledged Member, currently being the highest ranked player character in the entire guild.

Member rankings are different in each guild. In Free Forest, they are: Rank One - Outer Disciple, Rank Two - Inner Disciple, Rank Three - Core Disciple, Rank Four - Full Fledged Member, Rank Five - Junior Executive, Rank Six - Senior Executive, Rank Seven - Section Chief, Rank Eight - Protector, Rank Nine - General and Rank Ten - Guild Leader!

Of course, for the Tenth Rank, only one slot is available at a time. Aside from these, they have [Guest], [Advisor] and [Guest Protector] titles that can be issued by the Guild Leader or Management Council. For Branch and Division Managers, they would usually at least be Section Chiefs, but that wasn’t a rule set in stone.

Under the contribution system, finding a permanent and rare dungeon was big merit. Rain could have earned even more points if she decided to hand it over to the guild. But how could she do that without knowing what it would become in the future?

Yushin didn’t want to take the opportunity away from the guild members, so he declined for now. He thought it was a good way for Rain to make friends and grow her position. He was also with the Old Man and would not abandon him so soon after meeting. Three spots are enough for Rain, the Half-Orc and the Kobold to party.

Rain also told him that people reported dying inside the dungeon, and when they went back, the monsters that killed them became stronger. In Free Forest, many players also confirmed the report. Yushin told her what he heard, including about the Monarch Bear and that it is almost certain monsters are also getting experience from kills. What is needed to know now is how fast they evolve and how much stronger they can get!

The old man is impatient and keeps urging Yushin to go faster. But when passing near a small village, there is a double braided, white-haired female character with a mage’s hat being shunned by a group. The reason Yushin could guess after seeing the woman again: she is a pure mage with low damage!

It’s the same woman that broke up from the Red Clay group before. She tried partying with many people but always found herself shunned for being useless. She stayed there sighing loud, her fairy figure surrounded by pitiful sadness. How hard is it to find a party?

Without thinking twice, Yushin walks over and smiles, bowing slightly.

“We’re a newbie duo going to explore Faint Forest. Do you want to come as well?”

The mage is startled, she knows they saw that depressing scene, is embarrassed. If Yushin showed signs of pity she would be too proud to accept. But that man looked kind, neither overbearing nor servile.

“Quickly, child, you join, we go exploring!” The old man is impatient, may be old, but is still young at heart.

The woman is surprised, an old man’s voice coming out a middle-aged man’s body, he even has long green hair, it doesn’t fit that image. She chuckles, all her worries are gone momentarily.

“I’m a pure mage, my damage is low, but I’m definitely going to work hard.” That nice voice sounds over, she is definitely nervous, waits to see if they will refuse after knowing her situation.

Yushin smiles, he doesn’t care one bit. The Old Man is a newbie, what is a pure mage and what isn’t, how can he know? He keeps urging them to kill stuff, fiddles with his bow over and over.

[Collapsing Snow joins the party.]

“Mister Yushin, Hello. Grandpa Young, hello.” Collapsing snow greets them, she is very thankful for finally finding a party. Yushin teases that the Old Man is not a grandfather, but an uncle.

The old man sighs, finally admits to being old, says it’s his first time playing and asks for them to be patient!

The group laughs, everyone is more comfortable right now. An Old Man and a Pure Mage, if other people knew, how can they not laugh?

Near Faint Forest, Yushin warns them monsters will be tough, explains about the [Monster Ecosystem] and [Monster Habits and behavior]. He tells them a bit about his experience and how to avoid getting killed. The Old man is a newbie and doesn’t care about the details.

Collapsing snow is a bit surprised and afraid, even if she is trying not to show. She has way too low damage to be effective. Yushin sees her worries but says nothing. No matter what he says, it will not have a positive effect, for now, will even make her more nervous.

As with the last time, Yushin guides the group to a suitable spot. His preferred targets are the Jaguars, but something feels strange. He feels like the whole forest is on high alert but maybe is overly paranoid.

The monsters really are a bit stronger. Not all of them, but every once in a while they find a faster and stronger Jaguar. Yushin is thinking that right now hunting in this party is definitely harder than going solo!

The Old Man can hit an arrow every three or four attempts. Jaguars are very fast and agile, he is not used to the bow yet. His beginning Archer skill is [Quick Release], only helps with drawing speed, will not help with aim. Those monsters are not very good targets for beginner archers, but if the Old Man can somehow adjust, his growth will be huge.

The lady reflexes are good, she reacts quickly and is used to games, doesn’t have that newbie feeling like the elder. But her damage is bad, takes a long time to cast beginning [Fire Magic] skill [Fireball], uses up too much mana. Her other [Ice Magic] skill is [Ice Strike], it has short range and even lower damage, albeit having a chance to freeze targets.

She is very proud, refuses to compromise, wants to prove above all things that her way is not the wrong one. Frankly, this duo, if they did not have Yushin and his skill, would not stand in that forest for long.

Yushin smiles, he is not mad at them, he does not think himself superior in any way. Instead, he likes the challenge!

Good players, they are everywhere. Some even godly. If you make a party of great players, it will definitely go smoother than this bunch. But if you take into account friendship and loyalty, even that feeling of accomplishment when someone becomes better, aren’t all those great to experience? Do we need to look only at skill?

“Old Young, you’re too impatient. I’ll go first, keep their attention. Take your time, aim slowly, become a sniper instead. You will get the feeling, the right timing, then start taking riskier shots. Try not to think of this like a game, but as real life. Missing a shot will get you killed,” Yushin explained, looking at the Old man. He nodded and grinned.

“Collapsing Snow, you have low damage,” as he said this, Snow braced herself to be shunned. The part she had been worried all along finally came!

“But damage isn’t everything. Think about it, what is a pure mage in this game? You can’t define yourself by other games standards. You need to think about what you can do right now and focus on improving it.”

“A True Pure Mage would not use his staff to hit, but that is because he has the means to be effective without it. Right now, you don’t. Instead, you should focus on grabbing the right timing and being our main diversion,” he kept going, trying not be too overbearing.

“Where you go from there, that is your path. Only you can choose. You have great reflexes and make smart moves. Try not to limit yourself too much with stereotypes,” Yushin smiled at the end and Snow did not question his words. She wasn’t ready to accept all of them in one go, but she knew he was right. Pure Mage or not, she had to do everything to help!

The group looked for more enemies, this time they are moving better together. The other two tried to match Yushin’s timing, this fellow was good, kept improving over and over, almost looked like a professional. Snow even thought he might be one after all!

She uses her staff a lot, complementing her skillset. She will save [Fireball] for dangerous moments and sometimes use [Ice Strike] in an eventual situation. Her overall mana management is much better! This is a highly needed skill for any player. Take Yushin for example, he always tries to find the perfect synergy between skills and normal attacks.

After defeating many mobs, they switch to the wolves. He has confidence the group can survive, even kill with efficiency. Yushin handles kiting the enemy, lures them to a good spot, works as the tank, rarely takes a hit and sets Old Man Young for the kill.

Snow coordinates well, uses the staff to keep the enemy at bay. Compared to the others, the mage’s attributes are not much different at the beginning, later on, may have a big disparity in agility and strength. Yushin knows she is a bit reluctant at first, but soon got used to doing that role. The group stops to rest for a bit every now and then, always on the trees.

“I’m sorry,” she suddenly blurted out, “I wanted to show I could be a pure mage so badly that I didn’t realize it made sense to do everything I could.” She giggled, that lovely scene was definitely not good for the heart. Her blue eyes glittered, overlooking their sadness for an instant.

“What is a pure mage, after all? A mage is a mage!” She laughed again, it is silly how she could be so stubborn with such a small detail. Deep inside the reason she got so upset was not only about that. Snow wanted her friends to accept her decision and trust her.

“Everything will come with time. Everyone needs to play smart and use strategy. Have you thought about it? This is possibly only one of the worlds in this game. In the other worlds, mana may not be thin.” He smiled, “At that time, who can say being a Pure Mage will be a bad choice?”

Collapsing Snow nodded. It made sense! She smiled, is very happy, Yushin lost himself on her smile for a moment.

“Being young is great,” Old Man Young said with a mischievous grin, he was envious looking at Yushin.

Yushin coughed and looked sideways, put on a poker face so fast he could win an award. Suddenly he remembers something, explains to them about the [Skill Creation system], how using normal attacks and skills in different ways can make the system recognize a new skill and allow them to diversify.

Yushin himself attacks at several different angles, aims at different techniques. He will use each opportunity to find a good move and even switch weapons around. Every attack sequence is different, every strike has a purpose. He has experience with the spear, hopes many of the techniques learned from his master can be created here!

This game, it is as if it was made for him, he enjoys it more and more.

There were some tough moments during the fights, but as time passes the trio can kill most of the enemies quickly and without problems. The three of them began to work very well together. Yushin is hard to describe, he does everything a little bit, is almost a monster. The Old Man is a great sniper, has many kills, is getting better and better. Snow starts to focus on diversion and timing, forgets a bit about damage, now plays a good role.

The group sits to rest in the trees, but this time, Yushin knit his brows. He was so busy leading the others that he almost missed the signs.

Even though the tracking skill was automatic that didn’t mean it was perfect. Very skilled opponents could avoid the skill with [Furtivity]. Magic could also hide someone’s tracks. If their skill was higher than his, then tracking wouldn’t show or would only appear in a split second.

Right now, scattered in the forest, many preying eyes were on the trio. If the group kept going the way they were soon an ambush would follow. Even though his skill didn’t activate, Yushin senses picked up the enemy, almost like a master’s hidden sense. Of course, this is only his intuition at work.

What he doesn’t know is, after the Monarch Bear becomes the strongest boss of Faint Forest’s Outer area, he starts his quest to rally and conquer every other species, organizing them into his own monster army!

This threw every other boss-type monster into a frenzy and made them compete for experience!

Experience, of course, came from defeating other monsters and adventurers.

Since there are many weak and newbie adventurers, they became everyone’s favorite snack.

“Get ready to run,” Yushin private messaged to the party, “We run straight to the exit. Don’t stop, don’t worry about killing, focus on staying alive.”

“What’s going on…?” Asked Snow anxiously.

“There’s probably a boss class monster hunting us.”

“Can’t we kill it, kid?”

“Old Young, right now, we are prey!” Yushin smiled.