“How was your training?” Jack asked his brother.

“I got two levels.” Bob said with a smile. “But I don’t think I will be able to keep the pace.”

“You should learn some more magic.” Jack advised.

“I started learning fire magic, but it will be a while until I can use it.” Bob complained.

“You should learn the life kinetic spell. You will be able to kill 2nd tier trees. I think it is an open secret among the nobility. Actually, this may be the cause of lack of trees near the frontier…” Jack started thinking about the implications, but was quickly interrupted by Bob.

“How? You know I can’t read. I can’t go to the library.” Bob complained.

“Fine.” Jack said and started casting. He used his trap placing spell to create the kinetic spell on the ground. When completed, he used the earth kinetic spell to compress the soil into weak stone. The second part took two minutes. After the rune completed, Jack pulled the stone circle from the ground and gifted to Bob.

“Here.” This is the kinetic spell. It won’t work without spell vectors, but you should start with this spell. I will teach you the rest later.”

“Umm. Thanks.” Bob said, a bit surprised by Jack’s capabilities. “Are you sure you have time for this?”

“Yeah. I am in kind of bottleneck.” Jack said with a sigh.

“What’s wrong?” Bob asked with a serious face.

“It’s just that I cannot level fast my skills anymore. I have learned everything from the library about the spell casting and all spear technics from Stanley and instructors. Without better books, or instructors, I can only grind my skills now.”

His Words of Power skill stopped increasing at the level 14. It was only at the level 15 thanks to Jack’s experiments. There was some easy routes and predictable outcomes, based on what Jack already knew. It would be harder to gain more skill levels, Jack could only try experimenting more in his current situation.

His fighting skills, like Spear handling skill, were in the similar situation. Jack could still grind known tricks and moves, achieving greater mastery, but he would be struggling for skill levels. He was still able to raise his stats, which he concentrated on, but this wasn’t a whole day occupation. He needed breaks, or his muscles would be damaged too much from the training.

“Sorry, I can’t help you with that.”

“I know. Just train harder, and don’t try to fight anything strong and my life will be easier.”

“I don’t want to die. I wasn’t planning to fight anything strong.” Bob replied with annoyance.

Jack nodded. Bob left Jack’s house and went to his own. Jack was trying to power up his brother, giving him advices and teaching magic.

Meanwhile, Jack returned to his own considerations. His professions were boosting his stats considerably, especially his intelligence and mental endurance. It was his edge, allowing his to best monsters in his tier, or even stronger ones. He needed to raise his skills for better professions, though.

Jack unlocked a wide array of professions recently. His crafting reaching level 5 unlocked Farmer I profession, and Cook I profession. Due to his new skills, he unlocked Scout I, Sharpshooter I, Ranger II, and Hunter II professions. The boost was too small for him to replace one of his current professions, but it was a possibility. Jack most likely wouldn’t be able to reach Wizard IV profession in the near future, it may be more beneficial to replace the profession.

Jack was thinking of leveling Sword handling skill and Archery skill. He wasn’t planning on using such weapons, but he wanted boost from the professions. He also had plans on some heavy weapon like a mace, or a hammer. A profession involving heavy weapon should increase strength. For now, though, he was content with his high intelligence.

An intelligence high enough to cast some 3rd tier spells. Jack wanted to increase his offensive potential. The fight with the bear showed, that he can’t do much against defense of 3rd tier monsters. Obviously, when Jack would reach 3rd tier himself, he should have enough physical strength, but Jack also wanted some magic attack.

Jack found a drill spell in the library. The spell took some soil, compressed to half-stone consistency, gave high rotational speed, and fired at the enemy. The whole spell took a second, and was in the upper tier of 3rd tier spells. There were many spells in the library like that. Rather than attack manually, someone created complete spells including spell vectors. Such complex spell were ideal for warriors, as they could only learn and cast. There was no need to learn complicated theory, and even spell vectors usage for aiming was very simplified.

Jack wasn’t able to cast the drill spell with his current intelligence. He segmented the spell, doing each segment one after another. The casting time increased to 6 seconds, but he was able to successfully cast the spell.

The drill spell had a major weakness. Should earth mana in the spell be stopped, the half-stone hardness wasn’t enough to hold the drill complete.

There were spells capable of changing soil into a real rock or even iron, but they were higher tier, and everything Jack knew about them, was that they exist.

His second problem was with Rowan. ‘It’s more of a debt, rather than a problem, though.’

Rowan wanted his payment for reading lessons. Jack didn’t bring live monsters from the practical training, and Rowan came to him, demanding his payment. Jack entertained an idea to renegotiate the deal, or just to refuse, but he couldn’t. It would be so… shameless.

Jack wanted to be fair. He thought that Rowan wouldn’t be able to do much to him, but that wasn’t the main reason. He just couldn’t be so mean. Jack also wanted to maintain his reputation. He was afraid what his friends and acquaintances would tell. He decided to pay his debt, and catch some live rats for Rowan next time he would be in the exterior.

Hunters in second tier were rarely ordered to do something. They were mostly obligated to hunt and reach 3rd tier. From there, hunters would receive orders from the military, like scouting or hunting down some specific monster.

There were exceptions, of course, like right now.

“Jack, take your spears, we got orders!” Stanley shouted.

“What orders?” Jack asked, while picking weapons from the third room in their house. They were using the third room as a storage area.

“A small pack of wolves crossed the frontier a day ago. Apparently, most wolves are in the 2nd tier, while there is only one 3rd tier pack leader.”

“That’s too much for us.” Jack said calmly. They wouldn’t be given suicide mission, the military tried to preserve manpower.

“Don’t worry.” Stanley said simply. “There are no more than ten wolves total, and we are going with another team.”

After an hour, Jack together with his team was running through the snow. There was another team alongside his. Jack hoped a bit for his brother’s team, but that wasn’t the case. Jack didn’t know anyone from the second team.

At the end of the rabbit’s fight, there were few teams above the average, and this one wasn’t one of them. The question was whether the team was weak or mediocre. Jack thought his team should be enough on their own. They would need to plan some strategy, but that wasn’t a problem. Jack thought he may be able to kill that pack on his own, even. He would need to play it slow, bunker in an earth dome and kill the wolves one by one, but it was manageable, or so he thought. There were only ten wolves.

Jack looked over the second team. He even used his analyze skill on their faces, as he hadn’t had anything better to do. Excitement, and a bit of fear. Understandable. Technically, it’s going to be their first mission on their own. Jack was confident, but he also felt a bit of anxiety before the fight.

There was also a matter of protecting the humanity. Jack wanted to hunt down the wolves, as they were a threat to people. People like his family. They didn’t run in the direction of his family land, so Jack was calm about his family situation. It was already half a year. He missed them.

Jack was able to see the wolves. The both groups ran for two hours. Jack could only do so thanks to his high endurance. Running didn’t require much strength. He was still a bit tired, however.

The wolves didn’t attack immediately . Wolves strength was higher based only on levels, but not by much. Humans were too slow, they wouldn’t be able to chase the wolves. Jack and other had to use a trick.

They started running away, after the initial scouting of each other. They could try to engage from the distance, but they would need to chase the escaping wolves for hours, if not for days. The wolves took the bait and ran after hunters.

Everyone was running away, waiting until the wolves were close enough. They even sprinted to show their fear. It was a standard tactic taught at the lectures.

When the wolves were ten meters away from them, they turned around. The wolves were spread, half- encircling the human group. The alpha wolf ran at Jack, but he dismissed it. Aleena was in the lead now, and was not going to let go of that essence. He wanted to kill at least one wolf, possibly more. In the end, humans were the hunters right now.

He did not see the fire, but alpha’s maw. Jack reflexively raised his left hand to defend himself. The wolf bit in and jerked to the side. He could hear as his bones broke, and felt them moving in his hand. The wolf went for his throat. Jack tried to sidestep, or just escape, but the wolf was too fast. Jack pushed his spear in his right hand toward wolf’s jaw, trying to block, but the wolf raised his head a little in its jump. Jack blocked the wolf with his spear, but wolf’s mass pushed him down. He fell on his back.

The monster stepped on his spear, rending it unusable and once again went for Jack’s throat. Jack’s life flashed before his eyes. He searched for a way to survive. He couldn’t move, the wolf was pinning him to the ground with his heavy weight. He thought about magic, but there was no time. Earth? Light is no good. Maybe fire? He could kill the wolf with fire, but he would be heavily injured, even if he would manage to cast the spell.

No. Too little time. He started casting the reinforce spell on his body, hoping it would keep his throat intact. ‘I won’t make it.’

Something struck the wolf from the left side. The monster’s jaw moved in the flight to the right, missing Jack’s throat by centimeters. He quickly used his freed right hand and hit the wolf, using the momentum to roll to the left. Heat flew over his head. He looked over, and the wolf was dead. The rest of the monsters were dying. The leader of the second group used some spell to liquidate snow on the ground and pushed the resulting water into wolves’ noses. The water crystallized immediately after.

“Are you okay?” Aleena ran over to him. “Sorry, that was my fault. Let me see, I will heal you.” She offered, reaching out for Jack’s left hand.

“Wait. It’s broken.” The hand had to be straightened, so the bone could heal properly. Jack cast the life detection spell. He tried to use a small amount of life mana. ‘Broken bones, damaged artery…’ Life detection spell had too bad resolution to distinguish between bacteria and something bigger from the distance, but used in close proximity, it was enough to check on a caster’s body.

He cast few life kinetic spells, moving bones and flesh to their standard place. “Are you done?” Aleena asked. He nodded. She caught his hand in her hands and pushed life mana into his. His injuries were rapidly healing. After a minute, there were only a scar.

“I am sorry once again. It was my fault. I hope you can forgive me.” Aleena continued. “Sure.” He replied, still dazed. He came wanting to hunt down some wolves, not to rub off death. He just wanted some time to think everything over.

His and the second team were throwing spears and casting long range spells, wiping out remaining few wolves, which ran for their lives as soon as the fight titled to humans side. The wolves didn’t manage to run away. Mission was accomplished.

“Let’s talk.” Stanley said to Jack. They were slowly returning to the headquarters. Each one of the hunters was caring some part of wolves’ carcasses.

“Ok. What do you want to talk about?” Jack asked, but Stanley remained silent. Stanley grabbed Jack’s fur clothes and held him, while slowing down.

“What are you doing?” Jack asked. “Let’s slow a bit.” Stanley replied. Jack didn’t understand, but he decided to trust Stanley. Some hunters looked back. “Don’t worry. I have something private to talk to Jack.” Stanley said to the rest.

After a minute, they were about hundred meters behind the rest. ”What do you think happened with that wolf?” Stanley asked. Jack frowned. ‘Isn’t that obvious? I nearly died.’

“What do you mean? I think it’s obvious.” Jack replied.

“It’s obvious. To me. I’m afraid, you had not seen what really happened.”

Jack frowned once again. “So, what happened?”

Staley took a small break, and replied. “Aleena tried to kill you.”

“What? No, you must be mistaken.” Jack was sure it wasn’t that. Hunters fight monsters, not each other.

“I’m not. You can ask Lillie, or Patrick. I cannot be sure they were paying attention, but there are also guys from that second group. Someone must have noticed. Aleena tried to kill you.” Stanley explained. He was patient and calm in his explanation.

“She helped me after.” Jack was shaking his head. “She killed the wolf in the end. And that spear…”

“The spear was mine.” Stanley sighed. “She didn’t attack the wolf, because it was charging at you. She probably hoped it would be enough to kill you. She messed up, though. Her attempt was obvious. That was the reason she helped you after. She tried to obtain your forgiveness to come out clean of that.”

Stanley gave Jack ten seconds for thought, and continued.

“She killed the wolf since it was an additional level for her. Trust me. She could have killed that wolf at the beginning. For someone who looked at that, it was obvious she didn’t only so the wolf could attack you.”

Jack didn’t want to believe. “This isn’t what I signed for. Why would she do that?”

“She wants a better team. To achieve that, she needs to kill her current team first. Technically, we are all in danger.”

But Aleena? He was living with her for a half of the year. They weren’t friend, they weren’t getting along, but they weren’t enemies. He thought what he could have done to make her angry at him, but there wasn’t much.

“We need to do something if you are right. We should report her. I’m sure the higher ups would do something.” Jack couldn’t understand how such a situation could exist. He thought the hunters were united in the fight with monsters.

“No. They won’t do anything. Even if you bring up the matter, Aleena is going to claim it was an accident. You have already forgiven her. In public.”

“But this cannon continue!” Jack raised his voice. Lillie was also in danger. The same as Patrick and Stanley. Jack didn’t want to see his friends hurt.

“Calm down.” Stanley was still calm. “Don’t shout. They could hear us, but I agree, this cannot continue. We need to take care of Aleena.”

“What? You mean…” Jack made a gesture, with his hand he showed cutting his neck.

Stanley hit Jack’s hand down. “No gestures. I doubt Aleena is good enough with fire detection to read our lips, but she can for sure spot such gestures.”

“Right, sorry.” Jack was now a bit afraid Aleena found out what he was trying to say. She could misunderstand and take some more serious actions.

“Have you heard of the black guard?” Stanley asked.

“No.” Jack was surprised about the change of topic.

“It’s an organization for criminals. When someone commits a crime too grave to let him go, and he or she is too high leveled, so killing them is a waste, a criminal is sent to the black guard. They are cannon fodder. Always send to the worst of fighting.”

Jack felt as someone poured out a bucked of cold water on him in the middle of summer. Criminals? Murderers? He hadn’t anything to do with them, at least unlit now. He hadn’t even known the black guard existed, only some rumors of forced service. The black guard? The fact something as this existed was a huge scar on Jack’s image of humanity. He didn’t even want to think about it. Aleena’s attempt pushed him into an unknown world.

“You don’t want to be sent there,” Stanley continued. “Aleena won’t do anything directly. Nobody wants to be sent there.”

“What if someone won’t go?” Jack asked.

Stanley chuckled. “It’s literary a choice between the black guard and death. The imperial court also executes people, and the black guard is policing itself. There are murders and executions regularly there. Generally, the imperial court is sending people for a few years there, like five years or ten years. After fighting for that long, a criminal can return to the military, or just settle down somewhere in the interior. That makes criminals obedient, as they know they have a chance.”

“I see. So, what do you want to do with Aleena? If what you have said is true, then we are all in danger. She will want to kill everybody.” This was worse for Jack. He cared mostly about his team and family. Affairs of humanity were important, but that wasn’t his priority. There were smarter and stronger people to take care of that. He was just 2nd tier hunter.

“I have a plan. I will need your help and the rest of our team.“