The experience gained from killing the dire bear was enough to allow everyone to level up. The level up allowed them to recover but Jason still felt some dizziness from using all his mana. It would take some time before Jason was able to communicate with everyone. While everyone waited for Jason to fully recover Sophie started to explain things from her point of view.

Sophie started to explain everything by beginning with Shane getting knocked down with Jason and ending with Jason passing out. Zane was surprised to hear about what was happening behind him. He was focused on forcing his spear deeper into the neck of the wounded dire bear. Sophie did her best to explain everything but there were some parts that were still unclear. Luckily Jason had recovered by the time Sophie finished her explanation.

“I know all of you can’t wait to hear about my amazing feat of magic. “Jason crossed his arms behind his back and proudly raised his read. “Well, sit back and relax as I explain all the details. It all started when I stood up after being hit by Shane. I was a bit angry about it and decided to teach that filthy bear a lesson.”

“Can you give us the short version please?” Zane didn’t want to listen to Jason’s embellishment.

“Fine, I’ll go with the boring version.” Jason grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I created a fire bolt early and decided to charge it instead of destroying it. I went to drink a mana potion because I was low on mana and Shawn wasn’t finished. The mana that the potion gave me surged toward the spell and drastically increased the intensity. After that I heroically threw it at the dire bear and killed it. There’s no need to thank me.”

“Sophie said it looked like you were struggling to control it.” Zane said.

“She saw wrong. A great mage like myself would never fail to control their spells”

“Right, but if you lost control what would have happened?”

“The chances of me losing control are-”

“The spell would have exploded and we all would have been burned instead.”

Zane silently stared at Jason after he finished speaking. Everyone else also starred at him when they realized he might have killed them. He saw that Jason had the decency to look embarrassed. Zane sighed at and decided to move on.

“Make sure your more careful in the future.”

“Beware of mad wizards and foolish mages,” Luna quietly spoke.

Everyone nodded in agreement with her. Jason became a living example of the destruction that magic users could cause the world. Jason wanted to defend himself but a look from Sophie kept him quiet.

“We completed the quest,” Sophie said with a smile. “The system even sent us a message to confirm it.”

“We did it!” Shane shouted. “We killed a tier one mana creature!”

Zane smiled as everyone began to cheer. Shane’s shout made them realize what they just accomplished. His wasn’t Zane’s first time fighting something at the tier one level, but it was his first time killing one. The experience was great but what was greater was the title they would receive.

“I can’t believe I was so nervous before,” Sophie said.

“The dire bear was strong but killing it was very easy,” Lana spoke in agreement.

“Don’t looked down on mana creatures in the first tier,” Zane said. “I gave the dire a bear a severe wound in its neck, but it was still full of energy. Even after Jason’s attack it still lived and continued releasing powerful roars.”

“Are you saying we would have lost if it wasn’t for Jason?” Shane asked.

“We would have been able to kill it, but it wouldn’t have been so easy. If Jason used several spells and a normal fire bolt the bear may not have immediately died but it would still be severely wounded. I don’t want anyone to think killing tier one mana creatures are easy, but I do think we should be proud of our victory.”

“I agree,” Shawn said. “It was very tiring to keep such a powerful creature in check and there were several times where I almost lost my hold on it. In the end we succeeded and the only thing left to do is destroy the den.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Shane said. “I’ll go smash it apart with my axe.”

“Hold on why do you get to destroy it?” Jason asked. “It was my spell that killed the bear.”

“Yeah, well I lost a lot of health when I blocked its charge. If we switched positions, you would have been dead.”

“If we-”

“Stop arguing,” Sophie said. “I’ll destroy it. As the leader I get to make the final decision on something that concerns everyone.”

Zane smiled as he saw Jason and Shane grumble in disappointment. It didn’t matter who destroyed the den. All of them would receive the bonus reward and absorb the mana the den released in its destruction.

The group walked toward the den’s core and passed by the dire bear along the way. It had run around after it was set on fire and stopped moving several meters away from them. The fire that covered the dire bear had gone out at some point. The grass around it was burnt and a few of the trees had scorch marks on them. The bear gave of the smell of freshly cooked meat but Zane new better than to eat it. The beast was placed in Sophie’s space bag and the group continued forward.

“Everyone’s ready?” Sophie asked.

Zane nodded and watched as she started to gather energy for a spell. Zane was told that den crystals were very weak. A few good punches or a single spell would destroy it. Zane was prepared to absorb the mana from the destroyed den and use it to improve his stats. The others would take advantage of the large amount of mana released to upgrade their race.

“Step away from the core!”

Zane was shocked and turned around to see a group of people entering the den. There were twelve people in the group and a closer looked revealed familiar faces. Zane looked at Sophie and saw the shock he felt on her face. Sophie stopped gathering her mana and stood up to wait for the group to approach.

Zane and the others stood up as well. Zane watched as John and Jade approached them with their group. They both had the green eyes and green hair of their father but, their temperaments were completely different. Jade was friendly and formal. John was arrogant and rude. Both of them lacked the relaxed and ruling aura of their father.

“It’s a good thing you decided to stop,” John said. “If you didn’t, I would have had you punished for disobeying my commands.”

Before Zane could frown, he saw Jade slap John in the back of the head. “I apologize for my brother’s rude words. We encountered an unfortunate incident and he is still upset about it.”

“What happened to you?” Sophie asked.

“If you’re willing to listen, we can discuss it after the den is destroyed. We don’t want to take advantage of your hard work, but we would appreciate if you let us stay and absorb some of the mana released when its destroyed.”

“Sure, we don’t mind sharing,” Jason said. “If you want, we could let you join our party and receive the village points for its destruction.”

Jade smiled at Jason and politely declined before walking away with her group. Zane chuckled when he saw the disappointed expression on Jason’s face. Sophie waited until she saw that Jade’s group was ready before attacking the crystal. Sophie used a simple mana bolt on the crystal and it shattered.

Blue mist surged out and filled the entire room. The mana was dense but it wasn’t oppressive like the mana during the mana surge. The energy from the crystal wanted to spread out and seep into everything. Zane breathed in the mana and enjoyed the cool feeling that spread throughout his body. Zane wanted to enter meditation but was worried about someone attacking his group. Zane knew that it wasn’t likely to happen but being cautious wouldn’t do him any harm.

After fifteen minutes passed the mana dispersed. Zane was surprised by how fast the mana dispersed but he decided to blame it on the increase of people and the den being weak. Zane only managed to improve his stats by one point each, but he also leveled up twice from the bonus reward. When he looked at the others he could tell by their smiles and auras that they upgraded their race. Zane and Sophie congratulated them while they cheered.

“Congratulations on your success,” Jade said. “Thank you for sharing this opportunity with us. I hope that we were not the cause for the brevity of time you had to absorb the mana.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t your fault,” Sophie replied. “I would like to ask how you found this place and why you decided to come in?”

“The quest doesn’t disappear from the Quest Hall after one person or group accepts it. Anyone is allowed to accept a quest as long as it hasn’t been completed yet. We found this out the hard way.” Jade spoke the last words in a helpless tone.

“What happened?” Jason asked.

“It was those elves,” John said. “The next time I seem I’ll make sure they learn their place.”

Zane and the others were surprised to hear that the elves gave them trouble. Zane thought about his own experience with the elven race and a frown appeared on his face. He agreed with John’s words and believed someone should deal with them.

“How many of them did you have to face?” Zane asked. “Did they kill anyone?”

“There ten of them there and they didn’t attack us, but they forced us to leave.” Jade replied.

“Really?” Zane was surprised. He expected them to face a bloody battle. “They were stronger than you but didn’t try to kill you?”

“That’s right. From your response I can tell that you’ve had a negative encounter with elves.”

Zane nodded and began to describe what they experienced earlier. He emphasized the irrational hatred the elf had and repeated what the Messenger said to them. After hearing what Zane said Jade nodded and told Zane that they had a similar experience before the mana surge.

“The reason we were forced to leave was because the elves had a tier one expert with them.” Jade’s expression became serious as she continued to explain what happened. “Not only did she reach tier one, but her source field was at the flawless level. Although she was the strongest person there, she was also the most tolerant. She didn’t blame the humans of this world for what happened on their world and explained that they came here to become stronger and obtain resources to heal their world.”

“In other words, they are a bunch of violent thieves that came here to rob us,” John added.

“The divine spirits and the system approved of them coming here. I don’t think they would bring another race to this world and allowed them to take the world’s resources. Also, the leader of the group said she would do her best to correct the behavior of other elves. Any elves that attack a human without sufficient reason would not be protected by her.”

“She can say one thing and the elves that follow her can do another,” Zane said.

Sophie nodded in agreement. “I think we’re going to keep our distance from the elves for now. I don’t want to bet our lives on her words.”

Jade voiced her agreement with what Sophie said. After talking a little while longer asked if they wanted to continue moving through the forest together. Jason said it was a great idea, but Zane disagreed. He knew that more people would be a greater target and everyone else agreed with him. The two groups decided to part ways and wished each other the best.