Tier would be lying if he didn’t feel even the slightest desire to dive into fighting the boars. Thus, he felt a bit of disappointment when Bingo’s directions were not about going into the fight, but to reach the location of the class trainers while avoiding the whole commotion caused by the boars, NPCs, and Raz’chak. Though it was also rather irritating for Tier since the class trainers were jumping into the fray as well.

On a side note, Raz’chak was such a beast, both literally and figuratively. The gorilla pummelled the boars in haste before they could create further chaos.

While watching his companion beast with pride, Bingo explained to the two confused newbies, “Other than not dying more than five times along your levelling journey, one of the requirements to be eligible for Clashing Realms is to reach level 80 without being directly helped in levelling by high levelled players.”

“Only for levelling?” Tier asked.

Bingo nodded, then his visage turned serious. “There are griefers who attack lower level players, especially those who are aiming to go to Clashing Realms.”

“So you’re not just recruiting, but also patrolling?”

“I’ll be honest, Tier,” Bingo chuckled. “Going full braindead DPS would be such a waste for that sharp mind.”

“I don’t want it anyway.”

Bingo laughed at Tier’s response while Zack patted his shoulder reassuringly. “Going off meta and being creative is always fun, buddy,” said the warrior with brimming positivity.

Tier snorted, there was a slight twitch in his heart when this subject was being discussed. “The fun stops when other players accuse you of being useless and downright spitting at your builds.”

“They say, you can’t expect everyone to have the same opinion.” Bingo shrugged with a sly smile. “I’m not condoning any hostile acts, but asking for everyone to agree with something off meta would be in the same spirit of scoffing at anything off meta.”

Zack nodded in agreement. “That would be a paradox in a sense, see ya soon,” he said as he waved his hand and walked towards his trainer who had just finished dealing with the boars.

“Just play how you see fit, remember that you’re still going to have custom abilities aside from paths,” Bingo assured once more before he left Tier and fed a guava to Raz’chak.

Tier stood motionless for a moment. He sighed several times to let out the heaviness held in his chest due to the recent topic of discussion. He wondered if he could be more useful to his friends as a pure DPS or going the way he felt fitting.

Would they scorn him if he chose a path they didn’t think was the best?

Perhaps you could see it after you try.

Eggi’s words rang in Tier's ears, accompanying his steps approaching Bur’ru. As usual, the hunter trainer greeted him with his ever joyful and laid back attitude.

“My friend, this be the time you learn of your paths. Many might say there be some path that be the absolute best, but I be saying you be deciding what be the best for you.”

Bur’ru then took some dust from his pouch and continued, “Words will not be helping much for you to see… to feel the path. Ril’Dil be helpful giving me this.”

Without further warning, Bur’ru threw the dust at Tier, causing the latter to gradually lose his vision and senses of immediate surroundings.

“Beastmasters be the best among us in taming the beasts in this world. They knew how to unlock the power within those wild animals. Yet, they also be embracing the savagery inside. The beast outside and within affects each other, they care for each other...”

Bur’ru’s voice rang in Tier’s ear, accompanying a vision of an orcish hunter who fought with a powerful dire wolf on his side. Both struck with brutal efficiency and covered each other’s back.

“...ah, Hawkeye… the path of a true marksman. With focus and eyes as sharp as a hawk, they be unleashing precise strikes from afar. Their targets be lying dead before they be reaching the marksman...”

Tier was not interested in the currently shown images of rakhs shooting arrows from afar. For him, it was the typical pure ranged DPS style which is common for typical ranger, archer, or hunter classes. Shoot and kite a bit, that was all there is to it.

“... Mimicry, my friend, be one of the core abilities we had as hunters. We be copying those aspects the animals have and use it to our advantage. Those be walking this path be willingly let themselves dive into the maddened bloodlust of primal savagery. Far or near be not the problem of such fighter...”

The next vision was about another orc hunter who swiftly changed her mimic according to the situation. The ever changing silhouettes of animals empowered her and her wolf in many ways, not to mention it also inspired her team. Tier could clearly see how this type of hunter didn’t even falter when an opponent came close nor when bloodlust consumed her.

“... and remember, a hunter be not about killing but surviving no matter how dire the world is. You be thrilled by the hunt, yet be not tempted by the bloodlust within. You be calm yet quick, you be crafty and resourceful, you be in harmony with your surroundings, you be learning the best way the wild adapts. Such be the path of Predator’s Tactics...”

The last specialisation demonstration caught Tier’s attention. It was a similar vibe he felt from previous visions about rakhs and a hunter. There was a rakhs hunter who fought with a rhino on his side. The two simultaneously positioned themselves so well in the middle of a big fight. Traps were laid, poisonous arrows were dispatched, interruptions were done to save an ally, and opportunities were opened for others to exploit. The hunter and his beast was effectively brutal yet seemed so calm and serene.

“... now, don’t be rushing, my friend. Take your time to feel and set your mind on which path you be wanting.”

As Bu’ru ended his explanation, four windows appeared before Tier. From left to right, it showed the trial choice for the four paths available, which were Beast Mastery, Hawkeye, Mimicry, and Predator’s Tactics.

Even though the last choice was the most interesting for him, Tier picked the Beast Mastery first due the demonstration shown by Bingo. Having such a powerful beast on his side would be very beneficial as well as feel cool.

“Be wild, my friend….”

Bur’ru’s voice rang as the darkness subsided. Loud noises of battle gradually rang stronger as Tier found himself standing in the middle of a huge savannah. There, almost a dozen orcs and rakhs were fighting an army of humanoid dragons.

Next to him, a black dire wolf growled, it was then Tier also realised his equipment had changed into a more proper brigandine armour and better bow. A window appeared, showing Tier some directions, commands and abilities he could use in this situation.

One thing that really caught his attention was the various gestures that can be used to trigger a command to his companion beast. Instead of saying ‘command: on’, Tier could simply whistle or snap his finger before issuing a command.

Snapping his finger, Tier commanded, “Dire wolf, set stance: follow.”

Tier walked forward then pointed at one of the dragonkin and snapped his finger. The simple command caused the dire wolf to sprang forward and attack.

Though Tier was having quite a nice time on the trial, he was unable to bring his team to victory. At first he was doing fine, commanding the beast to cover areas he couldn’t, but things started to go haywire as he entered bloodlust status.

Having his awareness slowly taken away had a huge negative impact on him. Tier was unable to give the correct command to his companion beast. Trying to slow down on his aggression to regain control of his instincts caused problems as he was unable to fight one target properly without the help of his beast because he couldn’t distance himself properly from his target. Thus, he lost and kept losing even after trying two more times.

Thinking that bloodlust was the main problem for him, Tier selected Mimicry as the next path to try. This time, Tier was less reliant on his beast, a tiger, despite the fact that his companion might actually deal a lot of damage on its own. The constant switching of mimic and constant streams of abilities usage had quickly pushed Tier into bloodlust.

At first Tier didn’t care as much, he let himself driven mad by the brutal desire of carnage. He heed not the conditions of his allies and rampaged towards his targets together with his companion beast, nor did he care anymore if he was using his bow or axe or even his arrow as a pseudo-dagger.

Yet, the hunter steadily grew sick of this brutality. And finally, as his chest was hit square by one of the dragonkin’s heavy mallet, Tier snapped to his senses. The hunter tumbled on the bloody grasses and realised that all of his allies had died, leaving him alone against the few dragonkins that survived.

He knew that he might still be able to win, but the nauseating feeling that surged on him had hampered his will to fight back. He failed yet again.

“Not again,” he whimpered to himself as he returned to the choices window. “Does it have to be this one?” he sighed as his hands were drawn towards the Hawkeye path.

Off yourself, TRASH!

Tier’s hand shook as the voice from his distant memory rang again. Perhaps the hunter class was a wrong choice, maybe he could help his friends by using shaman or even paladin.

“Perhaps….”

As he mulled his choice, the image of hunters Bur’ru had shown to him flashed in his mind. Tier then glanced at the last choice available, Predator’s Tactics. He reached out to the option and steeled himself.

“... you can show me again what I felt earlier.”

“Survive, my friend.”

Bur’ru’s voice rang once more as Tier being transferred towards the same battlefield. This time, with a jaguar as his companion.

Tier was stunned when he saw the guide and abilities available to this path. There was barely any major damage dealing abilities. Most of the abilities presented were for utilities such as setting up traps, hampering the opponent, poisonous shots, distracting opponents, as well as relieving oneself from bloodlust.

Snapping his finger, Tier commanded, “Jaguar, set stance: opportunist.”

With a renewed vigour, Tier drew his bow and started participating in the trial battle. He threw away all the desires to take down his opponent and focused more on helping his allies. His companion beast leaped at targets in opportune moments to finish a kill or sometimes distract a dragonkin when Tier commanded.

It was a completely different sensation, a style that felt so at home in his heart. By keeping his distance, Tier had a better view on the whole battle, making it easier in choosing where and when he had to strike or lend a hand. There were casualties nonetheless, but at least Tier thought it was a better situation than before.

His opinion changed a bit when he was the last one remaining and had to fight a huge dragonkin single handedly. It was there that Tier felt the drawback of the path where he lacked the power to put down a stronger target alone. He lost once more, but at least this time he felt more at ease as this one path felt more like what he sought after. Therefore, Tier finally closed the trial mode.

“Remember, my friend,” Bur’ru greeted Tier back at the camp in Darukun Jungle. “You may had tasted da best and worst of each path, but….”

“... You don’t have to choose only one.”

Bur’ru extended his arms while moving slightly backwards, showing four windows before Tier. Each window represented each path and showed a talent tree with various abilities and bonuses which Tier could take by spending specialisation points. Only the first 2 out of 8 sections of each path had been opened. Tier saw currently he had 10 specialisation points which seems to be generated 2 points per level.

And just to make sure, he clicked the question mark symbol next to the specialisation points which then told him what he had already guessed.

“Though freedom be given to you, but you had to be careful for you can only reconsider and revert your choices four times, for each quarter you had grown in strength, my friend. Also be careful about it when carving your own kind of power, for some requires certain perks of a path.”

If Tier got it right, it seems that Bur’ru’s words meant that Tier had the chance to reset his path every 20 levels and make sure the newly chosen distribution of points didn’t conflict with the custom abilities mentioned by Bingo earlier.

However, Tier also realised a bigger matter on the freedom of mixing the paths. Somehow, it gave him hope that he could work something out to make a proper utility DPS as hunter.

“Go on, my friend, be strong, be wild, and be survivin’,” Bur’ru closed his lecture and waved at Tier who nodded and walked away towards the loretalker.

“I’ve steeled my resolve,” said Zackhs who walked towards Tier. He didn’t seem as positive as before.

“For?” Tier raised his eyebrows since he didn’t ask nor knew the meaning of his new acquaintance’s words.

Zackhs drew a deep breath and sighed, “I still have time, I will restart as an avenger.”

Automatically, Tier’s eyes glanced towards Bingo who was greeting new players at the pier - of course with Raz’chak performing a twist dance again. “Because of him?” Tier asked.

“No.” Zackhs shook his head. “Because of the trial, I didn’t feel like I suited this class. Hopefully avenger would be the choice that I was looking for.”

The warrior then looked at the ship that just arrived. “I need to go,” he said solemnly with a bit of renewed positivity. He turned to Tier and bid his farewell, “I hope we can fight side by side in Clashing Realms. It’s a promise that I will make it.”

Tier didn’t give an answer for the promise and just waved at Zackhs. He saw Bingo talk a bit with Zackhs before the warrior got onboard.

“Why do people keep pushing me with a promise that I don’t know I can fulfil?” Tier sighed.

He then looked at the loretalker and considered for a while if he was well enough to also consider profession now. However, a sudden acid-like pain on his stomach had caused him to cancel his plan and log out immediately.

Back in his room, Pras frantically opened the drawer on his desk and took some antacids. He then drank water before cursing on himself, “This gotta be from the stress of that voyage and Ril’dil’s madness.”

Pras went downstairs to refill his water bottle and noticed that the football match watched by his father and brother has yet to end despite it being at least half a day in Zurefgar.

“You haven’t slept?” his brother, Kristya, asked. Kristya was taller and had darker skin than Pras.

“Nah, suddenly woke up and found my bottle empty,” Pras answered as he walked to the kitchen and refilled his water bottle. “So, Liverpool is winning?”

“Not yet, still 1-1, Newcastle is pretty tough this season. A last minute goal by Liverpool would be great.”

“You already woke up, just join us, Pras,” said their father right after his brother’s reply.

Pras was stunned for a moment. Not because his father was allowing Danzo to sit on the couch, but because he just realised the reason why Raz’chak seemed familiar was his father’s gorilla-like features.

“Heh,” Pras laughed. He then quickly followed it up with a sinister joke, “Well, whenever Pras watches the team Pras root for, they usually lose.”

“Aw, come on.”

Pras cackled as he sat down on the couch, next to Galung, just as Liverpool conceded a goal which triggered unhappy groans from his father and brother. The goal also triggered more acid to flow into Pras’ stomach.

However, similar to the experience he just had in Zurefgar, it somehow felt satisfying. Thus, he had unknowingly started to smile with ease.