There's a massive difference between having confidence in myself and in having the courage to face fears of punishment. Right now, I'm dealing with the latter. This isn't fully because of my request to Thomas, it's because he accepted the offer.

As we ate lunch, I came up with the plan to shove Colt into being a little more courageous about pushing for getting to hunt stronger things. As long as he just accepts that he can't and only whines about it, they won't let him. He needs to stand up for his want to do it and tell them he's going to. Or at least, push back against them telling him 'no'.

My idea for doing that now has me second-guessing my offer. I've been slowly pulling my stuff on as I try to think on if I should go with the plan or not. The plan was definitely a bad idea. It might work on someone from the slums without an issue, but Colt is a prince.

Saying what I was going to say would surely get me arrested.

"Is everything okay?" Colt asks as I pull my vest on.

"Huh?" I look up at him, having not fully registered what he was asking.

I was too into my worries to have realized that he was coming over to talk to me, not coming over to the boulder to rest or wish me luck on the hunt.

"Is everything okay?" Colt repeats himself as I finish registering what he was asking. "You've been moving really slowly as you get ready to go hunt."

"Oh," I say as I realize that this is a perfect opportunity to change my plans for what I'm going to say. "I think everything is okay. Is just that there's a tough monster I want to fight, but I'd really rather not fight it by myself. Sure, I could probably manage it, especially after I gain a couple of more Levels, but…"

I trail off there, it's a trick I've learned over the years, though I never really used it much. Hailey, however, used it all the time and still uses it. She said it's effective for getting people interested and more willing to help out or do what she wants.

"But?" Colt asks after a few moments.

"It's just that there's only so much I can do by myself," I tell him as I pull on my belt. "Part of the reason I use bomb spells so much while fighting, even if it's a single opponent, is because it helps stop the onslaught of attacks for a bit, long enough for me to launch another offensive. I don't really mind fighting by myself, and even prefer it, too. From what I read about this monster, though… I really ain't wantin' to fight it alone, I'd rather have someone watching my back, and-"

I cut off here not by intent, but because I realized something. Something I didn't know could ever happen.

"And?" Colt asks.

My cheeks heat up a little bit as I say what I realized.

"…and ya be the only one I'd want watchin' me back in the fight."

Now it's Colt's turn to blush a little. He gets really uncomfortable when people praise him or compliment him – not just when I do, he doesn't like me that way – and this probably counts as a compliment. Or a form of praise.

What I said is also entirely honest. I… I… I trust Colt to watch my back in a fight against a troublesome monster. This is even though I barely know him, too. Realizing this doesn't mean I trust him fully, just that I know I can count on him to watch my back against monsters.

I'm pretty sure that's the only thing I can trust him on, which is weird, because we've never actually fought something together before. Why I feel that I can trust him in that situation but not in anything else confuses me, but I do. I still can't help but wonder how much they're planning on using me, how much they're lying to me, and even the punishments they're planning on delivering to me for all my slip-ups.

Yet I can trust him to watch my back in a fight. This is confusing.

"I's goin' off," I grab my pack and pull it on. "Bye."

"Bring back one of the shadetoads around dinnertime," Thomas tells me as I step away to start [Flight Wind]. "And I'll cook it for everyone."

I nod to Thomas, then take off flying, wind wrapping around me as a shimmering, violet barrier of compressed air forms in front of me. Taking off so quickly is probably rude, but I'm uncomfortable.

Extremely uncomfortable.

Never did I think I could ever trust someone to watch my back again. Or trust them at all. To realize that I can trust someone else to watch my back in a fight against a strong monster has me all confused and uncomfortable. It also has me thinking.

Who else do I trust in some way?

My flight takes awhile because I have to make sure to avoid flying over the goblin kingdoms. That gives me more time to think about my most recent discovery. By the time I start nearing the area where the shadetoads live, I've determined that the only other person I trust is Hailey. This isn't just the stuff I know she will or won't do, either. This is actual trust.

I made her my Assistant Guild Master with all the rights that come from that. The trust isn't about her not betraying me. I know she won't because she sees our agreement as benefiting her more than me.

No, the trust comes from letting her bring in her kids and even being in charge of recruiting, if others do get recruited. I'm trusting her to make sure our guild doesn't get a bad reputation for anything that we do. At the same time, I'm trusting her to help manage the guild.

There's no 'superior benefit' for her and her kids through our arrangement. They could easily betray me if they wanted, and I was expecting fear of me to be what keeps them in line. I know the kids fear me because I'm the one who hurt their savior, Hailey, and the only one to get away with it. I know they fear me because they know how powerful I am – I easily killed the people who kidnapped them, after all.

Then I found out my reputation in the slums and knew that the kids definitely fear me.

But I still trust Hailey to make sure that they won't. What if she decides she doesn't care for my guild anymore and starts her own once she no longer feels she needs my help to protect her kids and keep them safe? She could do that if she wanted, yet I'm trusting her to stay.

Should I take precautions?

"Nah," I mutter to myself.

I'll see how things go. Though I don't want to trust her – or anyone – because of betrayals and stuff I've gone through in the past, I'm going to for now. If she screws this up, though, I'll make sure she and anyone else involved suffer for it.

"Maybe I's should make a couple of smaller 'uns, though?"

Whoops, started talking to myself again.

I shake my head, then look for the swampy-ish area of the forest the shadetoads live in. It only takes me a few minutes to locate, the trees skinnier with higher limbs, large areas of the ground covered in water, roots of the trees spread through it. Some of the roots are only in the water, some poke up above it, and they all disappear under the ground here and there. Tall grasses grow throughout most of the dry land in the swampy area, though still covered by the canopy of the swampy trees.

Looking down at the ground, I assess the area as I dismissing the [Air Barrier] conjured to protect me and make things easier for the flight itself.

There are a lot more shadetoads than I expected, hopping about in and out of the swamp's water. I do have to fly in low to spot them, though I try to keep to look through gaps in the swamp's canopy.

Shadetoads are dark grey with black patterns, though what I read said that some have dark green parts to their patterns. A normal-sized one has a rather decent Magic, usually somewhere around 100-125 Magic after they stop being tadpoles. They don't form in any wet areas nearer to civilization, I'm actually pretty close to the Great Northern Wilderness.

By that, I mean that the northern edge of the swamp is only twenty miles from it. I can see it from here, especially if I fly up another three dozen feet. The trees are a little bit bigger, and I can see a large beast flying around. I'm too far away to make it out, but I doubt it's a wyvern. If I can see it, it can make me out in clear detail.

A wyvern might actually be a fun fight. The values given to me back when I was being informed about the one that attacked Lady Elise were for young wyverns. A young wyvern has around 500 Strength, 500 Constitution, and 80 Magic. As an adult? Their values are typically about half as much more before factoring in their Levels.

A wyvern is considered on the upper end of their species's norm if they reach 1,000 in Strength, their highest Attribute (after gaining Levels). It's unlikely I'd face one that's strong enough to hurt me unless they get me with their claws or teeth.

Being no less than 40 Strength or Magic less than the opponent's Constitution to be able to hurt them isn't a hard rule. Sharp enough items can overcome that distance, which is why spells like the spear types can be invaluable. However, there are still limits to how much raw power alone can overcome Constitution.

A wyvern's claws and teeth could help make a weapon that can increase the gap needed.

Shaking my head, I focus down on the swamp below. I'm here for attempting to gain Levels, not looting beasts for stuff to sell. If a wyvern happens to attack me while I'm here, though, I won't back down unless I absolutely need to…

As I scan the swamp for larger shadetoads, a commotion draws my attention. I allow myself to drift close enough to see what's going on and spot a group of goblins in the swamp. They appear to be trying to put a harness on a large shadetoad, and it's not going so well.

The larger shadetoad is probably five feet in height, sitting in a shallower bit of water. It's refusing to allow the goblins to put the harness on it. This particular shadetoad has a series of four light green dots running down its spine, and that tells me that the goblins are doomed to fail.

This is Er'Nabris the Windshadow. He's one of my targets, and that means he's much too powerful for these goblins. A few of them do have magic items, but I can tell that none of them are a Goblin King. At most, these are just some powerful goblins.

Er'Nabris doesn't even move from his spot to stop the goblins.

If a goblin gets in front of him, he flicks out his tongue and strikes them. Some of the goblins are able to dodge the tongue, while others are struck by it. Those who are struck are either left unmoving or find themselves with several broken bones. Every few flicks, one of the goblins does manage to get up.

This beast isn't even putting effort into the defense. To me, it looks almost as if Er'Nabris is bored with the goblins and just messing with them.

Some goblins try going around from the back while Er'Nabris is 'distracted', but every time they try, they're stopped. Green-tinted [Air Bolt]s shoot out of the green spots on the beast's back and either kills the goblins, severely wounds them, or just wounds them. Some manage to escape the attacks.

Every now and then, Er'Nabris also sends out [Shadow Bolt]s, and judging by how goblins seem to become weaker upon being hit and some become weaker, I'd say they're laced with negative effects. A curse of weakening, and maybe a curse of poison? Er'Nabris is recorded as favoring those, as are most shadetoads who can use the curse side of shadow magics.

There really are a lot of goblins here, and they are very persistent in trying to capture a powerful shadetoad that's treating this like something to pass the time.

Something else is going on, so I look around. It only takes me a minute to spot four of the other shadetoad bounty beasts on my list, all lined up with saddles on. They're acting quite placid at the moment, tied to posts made from thick branches that were shoved into the ground. Only a few goblins are watching them compared to the dozens that are attempting to capture Er'Nabris.

I guess the persistence isn't just the goblins being stupid. There's no way they caught four large shadetoads without having lost a lot of goblins. Persisting in this must eventually get the big boys to cooperate.

This actually concerns me a little. I'm only thirteen, but even I know that goblins persisting in catching monsters as powerful as their kings can only mean one thing.

They're preparing for a battle, too. Are these toads meant to be mounts for the Goblin Kings?

Come to think of it, aren't boars and trolls individually stronger than goblins? That must be another reason why goblins are a threat – they capture stronger monsters and use them as soldiers. Just how dangerous would a Troll King be, if there are those?

"Focus, Max," I mutter, flying back to where the struggle to tame Er'Nabris is occurring.

Inquiries about such things later can be performed later. For now, I'm going to interfere in the fight. Eliminate the goblins first, then take out Er'Nabris.

I raise my left hand and conjure up a [Wind Bomb]. Violet-tinted wind swirls around in a compact sphere roughly three inches in diameter, and I drop the spell the moment it's formed. No need to throw it or anything, it's going to impact something just from falling.

The orb is five feet above Er'Nabris when a dome of green-tinted air forms around the beast, right before my bomb spell would pass through that spot. My bomb spell impacts it and blades of cutting wind shoot out in all directions. Though they break through the barrier, the barrier does its job well enough.

Er'Nabris is only lightly-scratched from the blades that pushed through the barrier, while the majority of the goblins were missed entirely. The spell triggered too high and the barrier took too much of the attacks that went downward. Some of the goblins were even within the barrier itself, though my spells were still strong enough after passing through the barrier to kill those ones.

Though Er'Nabris's barrier killed several of the goblins on its own. It sliced into the ones that were only five feet away, killing them.

"Jackass," I say as the goblins all look around in confusion.

Then I drop five more [Wind Bomb]s along with three [Air Bomb]s, scattering them throughout. Er'Nabris conjures up another [Air Barrier] to protect itself, the same size as last time. No, it conjured several layers of them!

"Urgh!"

Stop being intelligent and let me kill you! Though I guess this means I will gain some Experience from the fight. My bombs still killed all of the goblins not protected by the barriers, so all that's left now is Er'Nabris.

Even if the goblins watching the other shadetoads come charging in, they'd be too weak to do anything to me. I might have difficult killing all of the shadetoads together, though, so I need to kill this one now.

What if the goblins decide to mount up the ones they caught and attack with them?

The invisible [Air Barrier] I keep active against my skin shifts, becoming a violet [Shimmering Air Barrier]. There's no reason for me to put the extra effort into keeping this one a normal light since I don't need to illuminate my surroundings.

The transition is just in time, too, as Er'Nabris fires off several [Shadow Bolt]s. Or more likely, affliction bolts of some sort. Being intangible, they pass through the [Air Barrier]s the beast conjured and fly toward me. I can feel them passing through my barrier, and even some of their effects.

My left leg starts feeling weak, and I can feel something in my right arm, where another hit. A [Shadow Barrier] forms around Er'Nabris as it finally looks up, the beast having defended and attacked rather accurately despite not looking in my direction.

I'm floating directly above it.

Since my Constitution and Vitality are potent enough, I know the effects will fade soon as long as I'm not hit repeatedly with them. I strengthen the light aspect in my barrier before preparing my next attack.

[Shimmer Air Barrier] is now Level 3!

Four [Air Spear]s form around me, then I flick my wrist and send them downward. They manage to break through several of the beast's [Air Barrier]s before breaking, and I shoot some [Light Bolt]s to weaken the shadowy bolts that come at me. Before those are even stopped, I drop another [Air Bomb] down, followed by four more [Air Spear]s.

As the shadetoad deals with the damage to its barriers, five green-tinted [Air Bomb]s form outside of its barriers. I cast a series of [Air Spear]s, shooting those down before they can reach me. From what I've learned recently, bomb spells have their effects reduced if they're broken by slicing through them, so spear spells are better for dealing with them. When done right, one can even completely neutralize a bomb spell by slicing through it.

The reduced power of the [Air Bomb]s don't even affect me, and I'm already launching more attacks to put pressure on the shadetoad's barriers as I stop more of its attacks. This battle will be to determine whether I can break through all of its barriers before it gets enough attacks to connect with me quickly enough.

Though the beast's barriers makes it clear to me that Er'Nabris probably only has around 1,000 Magic, which is significantly lower than mine, this thing has at least two dozen of them. Having 200 Magic or so more than that isn't enough to break through them because they're affecting the speed of my spells as each barrier is impacted. That's why I'm using spear spells instead of bolts, even though bolts are cheaper.

Even my spear spells aren't making it all the way through, but it's forcing Er'Nabris to fight mostly defensively. It didn't earn a Title for nothing, and I want to make sure it can't use the "wind shadow" that it's known for.

After almost a minute, I realize why my spear spells seem even more ineffective than I'd thought they would. The beast has made his barriers thicker! Even if my spells are slicing through them, have to pierce through that much is using them up faster!

"Fine, ya bastard," I mutter. "Let's pull out somethin' big!"

Raising my left hand above my head, I begin casting the biggest [Air Spear] of my life as I continue my assault. The assault isn't as focused as before, but it's still enough to put pressure on Er'Nabris. A few more of its attacks make it through my defenses, though.

Casting such a large spell takes me a lot of time in order to ensure it comes out right, and it takes a lot of focus, too. At least Er'Nabris isn't powerful enough to affect me too much, but if too many more of its shadow affliction bolts connect, I might be in trouble.

Then my spell completes. This [Air Spear] is five times as big as my normal ones, giving it a larger blade and "sturdier" shaft. With that much force behind it, there's not a chance that Er'Nabris can stop it.

I think the beast realizes this, too, because additional layers of [Air Barrier]s start forming, attacks no longer coming my way.

This defense comes too late.

With a downward motion of my left hand, I send the gigantic [Air Spear] downward. With a high-pitched sound that hurts my ears, my giga [Air Spear] pierces through every last one of the beast's barriers, stabs into the monster, and continues into the ground, only ten feet of the thirty-foot-shaft poking out above the shadetoad, which is fully skewered by the spell.

+47% Experience! You have gained a Level!

That's not as much as I was hoping for, but it's still plenty. Others at my level of power would have probably fought this thing together, too. I would have gained so much less Experience from this if I fought it in a group, and am only now starting to appreciate just how much I benefit from fighting alone.

Though I wouldn't have minded splitting this with Colt. The fight would have been so much easier if I had help, and I wouldn't have had to take as many attacks as I did. In fact, I might not have had to take any if I had others helping me.

They could have kept Er'Nabris focused on them while I devoted all of my attention to the giga [Air Spear]. I really do trust only Colt to watch my back in a fight, though, so things are fine as they are. A party would be a group of people I don't trust to even watch my back in a fight.

Dismissing the notification, I wait for the lingering effects of the shadetoad's affliction spells to fade. It takes around half an hour, and I wait here the entire time. Once they're gone, I fly over to the goblins with the other shadetoads. They don't seem interested in mounting up, so I didn't have to worry and wait.

Phew.

Killing the goblins will free the shadetoads, which won't attack me once they're freed. Then, I can go back and do other stuff. Tomorrow, with the shadetoads separated back to their own sections of the swamp, I can come and pick them off one by one.

I shoot [Air Bolt]s down to kill the dozen goblins here and break the ropes on the shadetoads. The goblins give me no Experience due to how weak they are (though I still get an Experience notice anyway), and the shadetoads just stay there.

A moment later, all four of them look up at me.

"Uh…" I have a bad feeling about this.

Before I can fly away, the bad feeling is justified. All four of the bounty beast shadetoads attack.