It was still raining when we left Yellow Springs. It wasn't coming down as hard as before, but as if to make up for it, the wind had picked up and was blowing the rain nearly horizontal. The thunder could still be heard in the distance, but there wasn't any lightning. I wasn't certain how safe it was to go trekking into the trees with lightning. While the odds were against getting hit, you could always be smashed by a falling tree.

I understood that I needed to learn to deal with monsters in all weather situations, but I'd still rather be back at the inn enjoying a nice cup of cocoa and a sandwich. Illia seemed fine with the weather, so did Crue. It was probably only me wanting to hide in his room waiting for a warm dry day. I'd probably fall asleep, rain always made me sleepy.

I stifled a yawn as I checked the map. There were three Red Wolves within five miles of the town. Even though I knew where they were, Crue was doing his best to teach me how to spot signs of monsters. Broken branches with fur, prints in the mud, poo, dead apes, basic tracking. Oddly enough, even with him pointing out the things I was looking for I still didn't get the skill.

Illia was taking in everything, her reasoning was that if she could spot signs of stronger monsters she could take steps to avoid them if she were out on her own. That seemed logical to me. My dumbass had gone out hunting Red Wolves when I was level 8 by myself and nearly got my leg chewed off in the process.

Oh, what was this? I spotted some purple colored fur sticking to some bark on a tree.

*Skill Gain- Tracking.~

Well, there it was. So maybe I had to find something on my own in order for it to trigger.

I activated it, then pointed out the purple fur to Crue.

“I was wondering if you'd spot it. Do you know what it's from?”

“No idea,” I answered. I hadn't been here long, but up until now, I hadn't run across any monsters with purple fur in my reading. I could check my Gamer Glass to see if there were any monsters with purple fur in the books I hadn't read, but I figured that's not what Crue wanted.

“It's probably from a cave bear,” Illia answered.

“Right, now what is it doing here?” Crue moved the bushes to stand by the tree with the fur.

“Well, I guess it's possible a Cave Bear came down from the mountains. Though, I thought they preferred to stay in their caves,” Illia answered again.

“True, Cave Bears like to stay in their caves. It's really rare for one to venture out this far from the mountains, but it does happen.”

“So there is a Cave Bear running around?” That didn't sound good. A Cave Bear sounded a lot more dangerous than a Red Wolf.

“I don't think so, what other reason could there be for Cave Bear fur to be here?”

Both Illia and I were stumped by this one. If it didn't come from a Cave Bear then how did the fur end up on the tree?

“Oh,” Illia exclaimed. “I bet someone was wearing something with Cave Bear fur and rubbed up against this tree.” She seemed excited about her theory.

“That's what I think,” Crue told her. “See the bark on this tree it's really rough and would easily snag clothes that were brushed against it.”

So not only did we have to watch out for monsters, we had to look for people dressed in monster furs so that our tracking didn't get thrown off. Or this would be the sort of thing to look for if you were tracking people. I guess if you wanted to throw off a tracker then you could place false tracks using this method. It was very complex and I wasn't sure if I would be very good at hunting people. Monsters were easy in comparison.

There was a wolf howl close by. Illia jumped at the sound and fingered her staff. Crue glanced at me and I checked the map. The wolf that had been a mile off was headed this way.

“It's coming this way,” I confirmed.

“Ok, Eri string your bow. You and Illia are going to attack from a distance. I'll be in the front with the sword. Don't hit me when we engage. I won't kill it right away, but I'll leave you openings for attack. Wait for that opening.”

We moved to a spot that was a little more open than where we had been. Illia and I had our backs to a thicket of thorn bushes. It was to prevent the monster from coming up behind us. However, it also impeded our escape if something went wrong.

My heartbeat felt thunderous in my ears. Sweat broke out on my forehead. Hopefully, in the rain, Illia didn't notice. This would be the first Red Wolf since I nearly was killed. I was stronger now, I was prepared, and I had backup. This should be simple, but I cautioned myself against being cocky. Cockiness nearly got me killed last time.

I knocked the arrow and tested the draw a few times. I could do this. I'd shot a bow before and I was ok at it. Even if I missed Illia would be there as a backup. I wondered what long-range magic she was planning on using. I glanced at her making sure she was ready.

It was then, while I wasn't looking, that the wolf burst through the bushes to our left. It made a beeline for Illia but Crue was right there to get in its way. He ran up to the wolf and attacked by slashing him with his sword. It only grazed the wolf but it did act to distract it from us.

I let loose the arrow and is skimmed along the side of the wolf hardly grazing it. Pretty decent for a moving target, at least for me.

*Skill Gain- Archery~

I activated it.

*Skill Change- Tracking has become Scouting due to the presence of Archery.~

What? Wait, that was distracting. Go away pop-ups. I readied another arrow, but just as I was ready to shoot, Illia let loose some sort of sparkle magic.

*Skill Gain- Lightning Magic~

I quickly activated it so that I could watch what happened without the pop-ups.

This sparkly stuff that looked like a Fourth of July sparkler hit the wolf. Given the magic I'd just acquired I had to assume it was Illia's Static Shock attack. It didn't kill the wolf, but the wolf certainly stopped while the shock hit him. I took that chance and fired another arrow.

This time it hit, right where the shoulder meets the neck. I had been aiming for the chest, but I wasn't going to be picky. It was at that point the Crue popped in and finished the job. He made it look easy. Two slashes, swish, swish, on either side of the neck and the wolf was down. Alive, but left to bleed out. It didn't take long.

The iron smell of blood hit me as I approached. I hadn't ever seen an animal bleed out before, and the smell was overwhelming. I didn't know if it was like this with all animals or if it was just particular to monsters. I would think the smell of pooling blood would be universal.

I didn't want to add the wolf to my inventory still bleeding that much. All my other kills had either been bloodless or puncture wounds that didn't bleed a lot after the creature had died. This wolf had still been alive as it bled out so there was a lot of blood. Crue showed me how to take a rope and tie up its legs to hang the wolf upside down over a tree branch. This allowed the blood to flow out.

I got bloody myself in the process, but the rain gear acted as a splatter guard. The blood was washing off in the rain, but I used the water in my inventory to speed cleanup along. Crue came out of the ordeal surprisingly clean. How he managed to not get blood all over him I don't know, but he did use my handy water faucet to rinse off his hands. They were a bit muddy.

The rain had let up a lot by that point. So Crue suggested we eat while we waited. Illia was game for this, even though I was a bit queasy due to the smell, I was outvoted. I brought out the bag that Tuck had packed us for lunch and began to hand things out.

An apple for each of us, ham and cheese sandwiches, carrot sticks, and lastly some fried potato patties that were similar to fast food chain hash browns. I was surprised that the bread used in the sandwiches was harder and didn't turn soggy in the light drizzle. So there had been no real reason for me to buy the skewers. I should have trusted Tuck a bit more. After all, he'd probably been packing lunches for a while. Still, I gave the others options for the skewers. Illia took hers squash ones picked the ham off her sandwich and gave it to Crue. She then added the squash to the bread and ate it that way. Crue with his double-decker sandwich declined my offer of pork and chicken skewers. I had one of each after finishing the sandwich since I gave Illia my carrot sticks.

Lunch completed, I added the wolf into my inventory. We still had some time and the goal was to get to all three Red wolves in the area before we went back. We had an advantage in knowing how many were close by. We also had my inventory. Normally, Crue would have had to leave the days kill in the woods since he only would have been able to carry one back with him.

We had my map but Crue demonstrated some sort of tracking mojo and was able to show us how he could come to the conclusion that there was at least one other Red Wolf in the area besides the one we killed. I wasn't sure how he came to that conclusion, but under normal circumstances, he would have reported to the Guild that there was probably an estimated 1-3 more wolves in the area. So most of the Guild numbers were done by estimates.

No wonder Dunbar wanted me to take the job, I would be able to provide accurate numbers that they had never had before. I could get individual information on each monster for at least 10 miles radius of Yellow Springs. Though the accuracy of the information dropped a bit the further I zoomed out on the map, I could still pinpoint hotspot locations where the monsters were gathering in groups.

So Crue had explained that he basically sectioned off the area. The center was around the town and had a radius of 5 miles. 15 miles to the north, near the foot of the mountains, was another section. It included rocky forested area littered with caves. To the east was forest, and his range went 25 miles in that direction.

The south was mostly farmland and orchards, there were still some woods scattered about, it wasn't completely cultivated. He covered all the farmlands which extended south nearly 35 miles until he got to 'The River.' He seemed to forget that I wasn't as familiar with the area and didn't bother to tell me its name. I did look it up and found that 'The River' was called the Millrun because it fed a granary town about 90 miles downstream, also called Millrun. The width of the river was estimated to be nearly 700 feet wide to the south of us but became a smaller 300 feet wide in Millrun. So there wasn't any crossing, except in places where bridges had been built.

The 20 miles west was a combination of wooded areas, rocky areas, more caves in the northwest, and a small spring fed lake. There were people settled on the edge of the lake who fished it and sold their catch to the town. Crue had to make sure that this area was safe most often since the Cave Bears would come out and also fish in the lake, and Cave Bears were a huge threat to the average person who lived there. It was lucky that the Cave Bear population was small and they mostly stayed on the more northern side of the lake.

Crue tried to keep his ranges manageable, but that was for a full-time Surveyor. He could only do this part-time so he couldn't roam as far as he would like. The Guild supplied him with a horse when he had time to camp overnight in an area further afield. Now that he had some more free time, because of his break from the temple for mental health and because he needed to train me, he would be able to take me further out on camping exhibitions.

Illia was a part of the party now, so in a way, he was also training her. Whether she'd go with us on the camping trips was to be decided. Her only steady income was her job at the library. She really couldn't afford to take a lot of time off at the moment. We would be splitting any monster kills 3 ways. It wasn't a lot when you split it, but we could make up for that by hunting more because of my inventory. In this way, her wages killing monsters would be more than she'd make being a librarian. However, Illia really loved her job and didn't want to just give it up. She was planning on talking to Mary to get a part-timer to pick up a morning, or two, a week.

We were making our way down a game path when something popped up on my map.

“Two wolves just strayed into my range, they are headed this way,” I said. The two dots had been just outside my five-mile range, but perhaps the smell of blood lured them in. They weren't making a direct line to us but were heading more to where we had been. I made sure to report this to Crue.

“They will probably try and circle around behind us. It's possible they smell the blood. They aren't that far off, the rain has let up, and the wind is blowing in that direction. Let me know when they are about a mile off. We will find a spot for an ambush in the meantime.” Crue's plan was the same as before. Illia and I would have our backs to something hopefully impassable, while Crue played bait.

“That Blessing of yours is extremely handy, I would be careful who you tell about it though,” Illia commented readying her staff.

“How so?” Crue asked while he was scanning the woods for traces of the wolves. I was actually wondering the same thing.

“The Guild has a good reason to keep quiet about the skill because they are the ones who would benefit the most, but what do you think would happen if the Kingdom's army found out about it? They would conscript you. Being able to accurately know where the enemy is and how many troops there are would be beyond invaluable to them. You really need to be careful Eri, the Guild can protect you to some extent since we aren't currently at war.”

“But if war should break out the kingdom would do anything to get that skill on their side,” Crue finished. “I see what you are saying. I hadn't considered that part of the problem with the kingdom, just that if they found out about his other Blessings they would try and control him. This would give them even more reason for them to have him under their thumb.”

“You guys make it sound like the kingdom is going to come in and kidnap me,” I shook my head in disbelief.

“That's just about what they do,” Crue commented.

“That has to be illegal,” I protested. Surely, the government wouldn't kidnap me in the middle of the night. Maybe my Area 51 concerns were more valid than I thought, but instead of being dissected in a lab, I'd be made to use my Blessings against the kingdom's enemies.

“There are ways for the kingdom to get around the legality of conscripting someone, but that's not your only concern remember. You have to worry about overly ambitious temple members who want to manipulate you.

“You just need to be careful who you tell about your Blessings. It's too late for the temple, but you might still be able to avoid the kingdom. Once you attract the kingdom's attention you'll lose most of your autonomy. You might have to actually flee the kingdom if they become interested and you want to remain autonomous,” she explained.

“Well, the good news is that even if you do have to leave, you will always have your job at the Guild. You can literally go to any kingdom and find work at one of the Guild's branches,” he paused then continued. “Well, once I'm done training you that is. Good news is that once I'm done with the training you will actually have the skill set to be a Surveyor. You won't have to tell everyone that you have your map. I don't think Dunbar will spread the word if you ask him. Special skills usually are treated with a great deal of privacy in the Guild.”

“That is true, the word of your map probably won't make it to other Guild branches. It got you the job, and once you have the actual skills you'll be able to keep the job without telling anyone about it,” Illia agreed with Crue.

I was glad I confided at least partially to Illia. She was able to pick up on consequences that Crue had missed. I didn't know enough about this world to consider all the politics in play. There were probably even possibilities none of us had thought of yet. I had to put those thoughts on hold though because the Red Wolves were nearly on us.

I readied my arrow and waited. One wolf came bursting out and went straight for Crue. I still waited. Even when Illia unleashed her shock attack and Crue went in for the kill on the first one. The other one was hiding waiting for an opening, it was using its companion as a distraction before it attacked.

When Crue went it and engaged the first wolf, the second wolf came out from behind him. When I had a shot, I released the arrow. My aim was off by a bit, but I managed a neck piercing wound that put the second wolf down. Illia finished it off with another shock. Crue killed the first one at nearly the same time.

*Illia level up~

Oh! I didn't know I'd get notifications about them as well. I opened her status screen and sure enough, her level was now 9.

“Illia you just leveled up,” I told her.

“Really? So soon? I wasn't expecting it on our first trip out.” She looked at me and smiled.

“These are Red Wolves, considerably stronger than the apes you have been hunting. On top of that, you get Eri's shared Blessing bonus.” Crue congratulated her with a thumbs up.

“It looks like you've gained a bit of Exp too.”

“Really? How much?” She asked.

“The majority of your Exp is being allocated automatically to level up, but you have managed to gain 720 Exp. So far today.”

“What about me?” Crue asked. I opened his screen and checked.

“Yours is 867, you have a different level of Exp going into your level up than Illia. So you have a bit more.”

“Can you allocate some of that for me now?” Illia asked.

“I don't see why not,” I brought her screen back up.

“I'd like to see if I can get my Lightning Magic to level 2.”

I nodded and began allocating points until the magic changed to level 2.

“Alright it's done, you have 246 Exp left.”

“Thank you, I'll think about where I want the rest later.”

I should probably think about it too. My own Exp gain had gone up as well.

“We've got another hour before we should be heading back. Do we want to track the other wolves, kill some apes, or head back early?” Crue asked us when I had added the two new wolves to my inventory.

Illia and Crue began talking about it, but having looked at my status something had hit me. I still hadn't used any magic yet. Well, except for the passive magic like Paralysis Resistance and Mind Magic Resistance. Those just triggered automatically when needed. I had three other magics that were active. No one needed healing so I couldn't test it. I still had two attack magics though. Maybe I should try one?

Illia had the Lightning Magic skill so she could guide me a bit, but honestly, I wanted to try Metal Rain. I was worried about using it around other people though. It said that canopies could be used to protect the others, but since I hadn't used it I wasn't certain how it worked. My magic power was still really low so I didn't think I could erect more than one. Even if I added Exp to the skill to make it stronger I wasn't sure if I should use it fresh out of the box with a higher skill power.

I brought the subject up, laying out my concerns.

“Well, we can always stand right beside you,” Illia said.

“Or we can stand out of sight behind you. Most magics work in the direction the caster is facing,” Crue added. They both seemed eager to see a new type of magic, but I was still concerned about safety. I still thought that trying the lightning skill would be better. Still, they ended up convincing me to try Metal Rain.

So how to use magic, the books were sort of vague on the subject. They used terms like casting and activating, but they were never very clear on how to go about doing it. If it was anything like how things had been going then I just had to focus on something and will it to happen. With Illia and Crue standing just behind me, I focused on a tree ten yards off. Nothing happened.

“Um, it's not working,” I said embarrassed.

“Did you try focusing?” asked Crue.

“Yes.”

“Maybe it's more a visualization thing,” Illia coached. “You need to imagine what will happen in order to make it happen. I think that is something magic users do naturally since we would have seen whoever trained us use it.”

The problem was I had never seen it before, but the description I got was more detailed than most of the descriptions of other magics.

So first thing should probably be the canopy. I kept an image of a thick bulletproof dome floating right above us. I heard Illia gasp, but I was focusing on thin 8-inch long needles hitting the tree. That tree would become a pin cushion. There was a flash of purplish-white light, then a handful of smaller 4-inch needles hit the tree. I could barely see them that's how thin and short they were, but I knew they had hit. Go me!

That's when the wave of dizziness hit me. It felt like my entire body had been drained all at once. I couldn't recall ever being so tired. I fell to my knees. I would just rest a bit. The wet leaves looked really soft. I passed out with Crue and Illia calling my name.

Too bad guys, this piece of nice soft ground was just for me.

Name- Eri Veritas

HP 2500/2500

MP 4/64

Level- 11

Age- 18

Race/Species- (Human) Unknown

Gender- (Male) Unknown

Occupation- Surveyor of Adventurers Guild

Exp- 8360

Physical Power- 220

Stamina- 280

Defense- 348

Agility- 492

Intelligence- 101

Magic Power- 8

Metal Rain Lv 1

Lightning Magic Lv 1

Healing Hands Lv 1

Paralysis Resistance Lv 3

Mind Magic Resistance Lv 1

Skills

Staff Fighting Lv 2

Basic Sword Lv 2

Skull Bashing Lv 2

Martial Arts Lv 2

Stance Lv 1

Smooth Movement Lv 1

Archery Lv 1

Spear Lv 1

Stalking Lv 1

Scouting Lv 1

Jumping Lv 1

Running Lv 2

Pain Tolerance Lv 3

Deception Lv 2

Poker Face Lv 1

Etiquette Lv 3

Dismantling Lv 1

Appraisal Lv 1

Cooking Lv 1

Leather Work Lv 1

Metal Work Lv 1

Replication Lv 1 (Lv 10 for Succuba Star only)

Rock Throwing

Dancing

Singing

Harvesting

Empathy

Telekinesis

Small Talk

Discretion

Party Tricks

Restraint

Alcohol Tolerance

Monster Biology

Entomology

Zoology

Botany

Special Skills

Abyss Walker

Racial Ability-

Hidden Among the Masses- 20

Stealth- 95

Party- 10

Items Equip

Inventory Bracelet

Succuba Star

Gold- 0g 1s 28c (128c)

Blessing 1- All Map Exploration

Blessing 2- Exp Points Required by Level Up / Current Level

Blessing 3-Exp Increase X Current Level

Blessing 4- Item- Gamer Glasses

Titles- Emissary of Amoris

Devotee of Amoris

Oracle of Amoris

Prince of Dreams

Grateful Petitioner

Lover of Leaves

Enemy of Apes