My eyes lose their focus as I stare at the lifeless body in front of me. The image becomes a massive blur as it evaporates in a cloud of pixels. Behind me, the soldiers and some of the citizens are hunting and foraging near the vardo parked close by. I let out a frustrated sigh as another Red Spore, a cross between a red capped mushroom and a juiced up bodybuilder, emerges from a hole in a rocky wall.

Just west of the city, in an area the group passed through while I was in the desert, is a series of winding valleys and steep canyon walls. Dotting the walls are a series of cave entrances. The monsters that inhabit the flat valley floor, which looks like a series of winding football fields connecting end to end, are creatures between levels 7 and 9. The few that emerge from the caves, however, are between level 15 and 18. The angry looking fungus threatening me with a sharp, wooden spear is level 17.

>Scan[Cave dwelling monster that lives in small tribes. If you see one, expect it to not be the last. Territorial and highly aggressive to anything not a part of their tribe.]

[+Lethargic Miasma, Piercing Attack, Poison Bolt, +Absorb Poison]

It doesn't take me long to tear Mr. Mushroom into stems and pieces, just like his predecessor. And, just like his predecessor, he leaves me no Ability. Once again, I sigh as the meager XP is distributed evenly among the entire twenty person party. I let someone else pick up the loot bags as I rush over to where my radar showed another high level hostile for me to engage.

My mission today is simple. I get to play bodyguard. But, as simple as this mission is, there are a myriad of objectives. It's like getting a single question to answer for a test, but the one question gets broken up into several parts. One, make sure everyone is safe, of course. Two, help everyone gain as much XP as possible by killing as many monsters as possible. Three, gather as many resources as we can before the Traveler Vanishing. Four, and this one is my own personal objective, I have to obtain at least two Monster Abilities.

Dawn had a short conversation with Sonny in the vardo regarding my Adaptibility feat. The mana core used some of her EP to obtain detailed information and tried to summarize it in as few words as possible:

[Abilities can be categorized as loot drops like Pelts or Fangs. Pelts and Fangs are drops that have a high rate of appearing. But, someone would need a Feat or be extremely lucky to gain access to Monster Abilities due to their rate. Similarly, things like Bones and Organs need a Feat called Butcher to drop at a high enough rate for one to farm at a regular basis. So, really, anyone can learn monster Abilities or get some Bones off of a creature if they were having a lucky day like Ardacen did with the Chimera.]

[The normal rate for someone to access these "semi-secret" drops would be .1%. Simply put, if a creature were to have a 1 in 10 chance to teach an Ability then that would be .1% of 10% or .01% or 1 out of 10,000.]

With my Blue Mage Class Feat, my chances increased many times over, but still guaranteed nothing.

This, of course, is the simplest way one would be able to portray the odds. Every creature's Abilities have different odds, even the same Spell on different creatures will have different odds. One would have to spend several years on their own just to get a rough estimate of the rate for each Ability of each creature.

When Dawn pat me on the butt and said, "So just go out there and kill a bunch of monsters until you learn two Abilities," I envisioned several hours of grinding until I met my goal.

After killing my third Red Spore in ten minutes, I hear a commotion coming from one of the caves above the valley floor. Unfortunately I also notice that the soldiers pulled away from the regular citizens to fight off several Plains Stalkers, the pale yellow cousin of the Shadow and Forest Stalkers. They look like angry, butter sculptures and smear just as nicely. The body of a Red Spore flies out of the upper cave where I heard the noise and it lands awkwardly on its head with a splatter of purple blood before evaporating.

"Free loot," I say, tossing the bag over to a frightened citizen.

Sliding down the canyon face, Red Spore limbs sticking out the sides of its maw is a new kind of creature. Roughly the size and shape of a rhinocerus, the monster's main body is covered in grey scales and fins including a tail like a fish.The head and neck area are covered in solid pieces of what look like grey bone that leave enough space for its rows of sharp teeth, like a shark with bony plate mail. It gnashes at the dripping limbs in its mouth, rears back on its hind legs to swallow, and searches for the rest of its meal. I manage a quick Analyze to see how much damage I need to deal to kill it.

>Scan

Everyone is already backing away, but several more Plains Stalkers appear, effectively blocking their escape to the vardo. The soldiers are mopping up the swarm, but still can't afford a glance at us.

The Stalkers are taking tentative steps from my right toward the people left in my care, measuring them to see how to properly tear them to shreds. The rhino monster, a level 18 Gorshrix, doesn't appear to be in a hurry to investigate my people, but it still sniffs at the ground creeping ever closer from my left.

In as calm a tone as I can muster while I clutch my Sunshine Quartz in one hand, a signed and charged Arcane Bolt in the other, I call everyone towards me. "Easy, everyone, easy. No sudden movements…" I hold my hands up, completing the standard three point standoff formation found in many action movies, the citizens in the center of the deadly triangle.

Nervous glances at the opposing and approaching forces are too much for a hobbling, one legged Faunus and he trips. He and his crutch hit the ground with a jarring clatter of rocks.

It is enough to spur the insects into action, to sieze the weak prey, and to startle the Gorshix into charging at them. After someone heaves the fallen citizen up and forward a few steps, they're close enough that I can teleport behind the whole group, severely shortening my corner of the triangle. I fire two cones of Arcane energy into the five Stalkers and Command the Gorshix to "Charge" in their direction.

There is a deluge of notifications that I ignore for now, probably the vast amounts of damage I'm dealing at once and one for the successful enchantment. I stow the Quartz.

The living battering ram plows through the giant bugs as their attention shifts quickly to the other creature and they slash at the tough exterior in vain. With my mouth ready to open wide and both palms aiming for the cluster of monsters I shout, "Trinity Stream!"

I'm blasting jets of elemental pain, hosing the creatures into a soaked, charred, and shocked mess. The only creature to survive is the higher level Gorshix. My damage dealt to it is low compared to what I deal to the Stalkers and, unfortunately, the damage cancels my hold on the creature.

Confused and facing away from me, the creature is searching about for something to take its anger out on. Damn thing is still at 288/589HP and it finally realizes that all the edible bits are right behind it. I check my own stats (49/134MP) and (87/87SP) and glance over at the others to ensure their safety, maneuvering myself so that if the Gorshix charged at me it wouldn't go right through them as well.

After watching the beast shrug off Stalker slashes with little to no damage dealt, I add the Lightning Element to my claws to see if it would help even a little.

Well, it looks kinda like a fish so maybe it has a water affinity?

The Gorshix stomps at the ground, bobbing its head and rocking its body forward and back, all of this I take as signs of its desire to charge. It kicks up a cloud of dust and I wait the few seconds it takes to get in my space.

I cast Assassinate, landing on top of it and attacking with Echo Strike twice before I'm bucked off, landing poorly on my head and shoulder.

[You deal 89 lightning damage!]

[You deal 89 lightning damage!]

[The ground deals 47 bludgeoning damage!]

[Debuff! You are Dazed for 4 seconds!]

I'm not sure if I read that last notification right because my vision explodes with a blinding white light before I can check again. The only things I can see are my three bars and the Debuff notification. The only thing I can hear is a feint ringing sound. I feel something pull hard enough at my leg that I could swear that my hip dislocated and suddenly I'm weightless. Something hard slams into my back and my HP bar drops fast.

The white dissipates like pixilated fog in time for a fast approaching set of jaws to enter my view. I roll to the side, narrowly avoiding them, but plowing through a thorny bush.

Lesser of two evils, I'm afraid, and a few First Aid heals from my Survival Craft stabilize my HP at a worrying 24/156HP.

Neither of us look to be at our best, but the longer we stare each other down, the sooner I realise that this heavily armored beast my have a weak spot after all. Two actually.

I activate Reach as it repeats its tell-tale, pre charge motions. The moment it drops its head down, I lash out with both claws. I don't get any feedback when I use Reach, and usually when someone goes for the eyes, the boney structure surrounding them can act as sort of funnels for things like thumbs or pointy fingers. This time, however, I'm trying to strike two lemon sized targets from fifteen feet away with ten small arrow-like fingers.

I get lucky and one of my fingers gets a hole in one. It turns sharply, positioning its damaged eye away from me, but presenting its open flank to me. I leap in, attacking twice more with Echo Strike until the Gorshix lets out a weak grunt and falls over on its side, dead.

The sound it made before dying actually filled my heart with a somber heaviness. I almost couldn't tear my eyes away from the evaporating corpse and the subsequent loot bag. The ping of notifications, stampede of feet, and excited chatter are all reduced to a fog of muffled noise in my head.

Aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, what reason did I have to kill this creature? Hell, it didn't even hurt me the first time. That was my own fault for jumping on its back and falling off. It flung me in the air because I attacked it first. And now…

I hold up my hand to someone and let them know I'll take care of the loot this time.

[You received 27*Gorshix Scale, 44*Gorshix Meat, 2*Gorshix Fin]

[Adaptibility Activated! You learned the Feat: Fresh Water Breathing]

[+Fresh Water Breathing - (On/•Off) Able to magically convert fresh water into air before it enters the lungs. Will not work on sea/ocean water or any other liquid that isn't fresh water such as potions or juices.]

So, if my face falls into a bowl of soup, I'm gonna have to eventually pull it out or I'll drown. Still, it's definitely an advantage and that's one Ability down out of two.

I weigh the hand-sized, teardrop shaped scale in my palm and observe its qualities. It can't weigh more than a slice of bread. The wide part is dark, rough, and slightly porous like dry cement, but the rest of it is white, smooth, and flexible like dense cartilage. It's tough enough that I can't slice through it with a clawed finger, but I can push a small hole through it. When we come back from break, I'm going to craft the hell out of this stuff.

******************************

The flat end of a Thunderstruck is pressing the face of a plate armored man against a wall. He's on his hands and knees, a position he put himself in after patronizing a short, deep blue-skinned Tiefling. There is no anger on the Tiefling's face, only annoyance at someone wasting her time.

"We were invited here by Lady Anne," Dawn says while staring at the fair skinned, redhead sitting and working on some documents at a large wooden desk.

The three other guards haven't even moved yet, probably thinking their coworker deserves the ass kicking that's coming to him. Or maybe, and most likely the case, the fair skinned woman's raised hand to call this outburst to a close is keeping everyone in check, including the woman on the Tiefling's side.

"I heard you were in town, Lady Victoria. May I ask as to why?" Lady Anne runs her hands through her wavy hair, tying it off with a strip of white cloth into a low laying tail. Her words seem clipped and her tone professional. "If it's about that useless shit of a step-son, then I've already heard."

The next few moments will depend on what she's heard exactly. Dawn glances around the room and mentally assesses the situation, If she knows Ardacen had something to do with it, we might have to fight our way out of here. If it's about the papers, then she might think we're here to blackmail her. Then, we might have to fight our way out of here.

She tightens her grip on the Thunderstruck and the guard groans as she squeezes his head closer into the wall.

Victoria raises a single eyebrow at her, "Oh? And what have you heard?"

Her hand hasn't even moved toward her ring yet, her arms loosely crossed below her chest. She motions with her head for Dawn to leave the poor guard alone and she joins Victoria in the center of the room. The guard hesitates, looks over to Lady Anne, gets the nod, and rejoins the rest of the snickering guards.

"He's dead. We have our police force searching for a goblin in purple clothes that was seen around his disgusting playhouse," she says, in a nonchalant tone as she equips a pair of red iron bracers.

"It was a matter of time. I warned him not to piss off the people in the outer ring. Must've been the Dock Workers Guild. Probably slept with the guild leader's wife." Her rambling took a pause as she slipt on an iron scaled chest piece that matches the bracers.

Dawn is gripping her weapon with both hands, ready to deploy the new Armlet that Ardacen had given her into a shield and hurl the Thunderstruck into anyone and everyone. But, a gentle touch from Victoria leeches all of the anxiety and stress of the situation and she looks up at her in confusion.

Vic whispers to her with a smirk, "Relax. Its not what you think." She pulls the papers out of the ring storage and drops them unceremoniously on Lady Anne's desk. The red head glances at them before slipping a buckler shield on her back.

"What's this then?" Lady Anne asks, spreading the papers out and taking a growing interest in their contents.

"Rose of Three Thorns," Victoria answers, placing a hand on a hip, "All sorts of tasty information."

With those words, Lady Anne subconsciously licks the corner of her mouth.

"Looks like Aristeo is naughtier than you thought," Victoria barks a short laugh, "Remember when he would try to sneak peaks at the baths in Coronus?"

"Yes. Queen Herexa almost used the Regalas Shards on him, thinking he was a spy of some sort. In retrospect, maybe she should've. Could've saved a lot of headache down the road." Lady Anne picks up two papers in particular, eyebrows knitting as she goes over the contents like a puzzle. "Is this…?"

Victoria nudges Dawn with an elbow, "Current members living in Higo? Indeed. The other is the time and location of the next scheduled meeting, we believe. Set for three nights from now if the information of Aristeo's death hasn't leaked out by then."

Lady Anne's hands and jaw drop to the desk. She slips the papers carefully back together, steps around the large wooden furniture, and sits against the edge facing the two. She crosses her arms, mentally choosing the perfect words from her college educated, reform school tempered vocabulary for a simple question…

"What the fuck do you wonderful bitches want for this information?"