I attempted to dodge a massive red bird that came down from the tree tops, swooping. I failed however, as one of its talons that were the size of my face managed to scrape my arm pretty badly. I grunted in pain as I turned my attention to another bird of similar size flying at me from the other direction. Ok, I underestimated this forest. I thought to myself as I dropped to the ground and rolled away while the dryad fired a barrage of seeds at the back of the first bird that flew at me. However, it just tanked it.

I seriously underestimated this place. Everything here drops my HP by ten with something small like this. Even the slimes are struggling against the boar over there- and they have my strongest monster, the spider, covering them. The amus are too busy holding off one of these birds. What the hell is this place? Am I really this weak? I thought to myself as I corrected my stance and stared at the two birds. Alright, I need to fix this situation fast. Separating the monsters barely helps, but with no way of actually fighting things in the air...

The moment one of the birds took off towards me, I threw two mana blades at it, forcing it to climb higher into the air. The moment it beat its wings to climb, I took my chance and threw two more mana blades at its left wing, then threw four at the boar. However, I didn’t have anytime to check to see if my plan worked. The second bird was already coming at me, so I drew two more mana blades out of my jacket and dashed left. The bird changed it’s trajectory slightly, to match where I was headed, so I stopped, and took a leap in the opposite direction and braced myself.

The bird wasn’t able to change its direction with only one meter between us, so I had the dryad fire a volley of seeds at the other bird, keeping it away for just a second, as I slashed wildly at the bird. Fuck perfecting my stance and skills. Right now, I just need to focus on surviving against one of these birds. Taking on two of these things at the same time is way too much.

I checked my status after I put a few holes in the bird's wing. Yup, fighting like this costs a hell of a lot more stamina. I need to be careful. But, this bird is grounded. I can kill it here in a few seconds. I jumped out of the way of the other bird coming at me, but it’s flying seemed forced. Oh, one of my blades actually hit it’s wing, perfect. After landing, I followed it up by throwing both of the mana blades I had at the bird and withdrawing two more that had just returned to me. The blades struck true, into the bird’s other wing, but snapped and dispersed into the wind. Yeah, should’ve seen that coming. I’ve already gone through six of these blades since I’ve been here. Eight left, huh?

I charged at the two birds that were now grounded. I dodged their talons as they tried to swipe at me, standing on one leg, then I stabbed their other legs, ducked under their beaks, slashed at their throats, and jumped back when they attempted a last ditch effort of body slamming me. I slashed, cut, stabbed, parried, evaded and jumped away. It took a whole two minutes of constantly wearing out the grounded birds before I could manage to actually kill them- and the dryad was so useless the entire time as well. It’s support did almost nothing against these things.

[Conditions have been met. Freelancer has leveled up to 7. Class corrections increased by 1. Skill points increased by 1. Skill selection increased by 1.]

Oh thank God! I was down to three HP, and one STM. But every time I level up, my HP, MP, and STM are restored. Aight, let’s get the boar. Oh, I guess my mana blades actually wounded it enough for them to take care of it. To the other bird then, I guess… I hate these birds...

I turned my attention to the last bird that my amus was holding off. The amus would wait until it decided to try to attack one of them, then they would run in circles around the thing and stop it from actually hitting one of them. The amus were clearly faster, but they couldn’t land a decisive hit on the bird. So I took the opportunity they created and threw both of my mana blades at the bird. And I’m down to six… I watched those two mana blades vanish into a black cloud of dust as the amus took advantage of my strike and began tearing the bird apart.

[Conditions have been met. Freelancer has leveled up to 8. Class corrections increased by 1. Skill points increased by 1. Skill selection increased by 1.]

Woah. Those birds give a lot of experience, huh? Not that I can actually see how much I gain, nor can I see how much I need to level up. But what I did find out was that I can only gain one level at a time. So, if I kill something that’s worth two levels, I will only gain one and have to kill something else to gain the level. I’m also not sure if I’m gaining levels because of the amus skill, or the fact that these birds are one of the strongest things here, but I think it’s time to call it quits.

I had only been here for about an hour, but this place was clearly hell. There was no way I could actually survive training here for a full day. And I wanted to build my house here. I laughed to myself. There’s no way I would ever survive living in this place...

I decided that we were keeping one of the birds and the boar, and everything else we killed today would be divided between the monsters. And said monsters were enjoying their feast right outside of the forest. I found a smile on myself as I watched them enjoy their food. If only things could be that easy for me, as well.

“Alright kids, I’m just gonna take a look at your status before we head back,” I said to them and pulled up the class menu.

Devil’s Slime

lv.6

HP: 15

MP: 5

STM: 8

Number:

7

HPR: 2

MPR: 2

AP: 1

STR: 7

END: 4

VIT: 13

Mitosis Ready

[x3]

INT: 4

WIS: 4

DEX: 7

ABILITIES:

Mimicry

Mitosis

Vibra Location

Demonic Dryad (Seedling)

lv.3

HP: 16 (+5)

MP: 16 (+5)

STM: 4

Number:

1

HPR: 1

MPR: 2

AP: 2

STR: 4

END: 1

VIT: 5

INT: 10

WIS: 16

DEX: 8

ABILITIES:

Resonant

Soul I

Lower Maglaneae

lv.8

HP: 40

MP: 10

STM: 20

Number:

1

HPR: 2

MPR: 2

AP: 1

STR: 19

END: 16

VIT: 26

Egg Laying:

55 Days

INT: 6

WIS: 8

DEX: 12

ABILITIES:

Egg Laying I

Combatant I

Trap User I

Web Spinner

Amu (Young)

lv.7

HP: 10

MP: 1

STM: 20

Number

6

HPR: 2

MPR: 2

AP: 1

STR: 9

END: 5

VIT: 8

Egg Laying:

89 Days

INT: 1

WIS: 1

DEX: 21

ABILITIES:

Birds of a Feather I

Egg Laying I

Dash I

Acrobatics I

DEXTERITY I

Oh, wow. There’s a lot to take in here. First off, the dryad actually leveled up AND got skill points on both levels? Also, what’s with these crazy levels? Did we really kill that much more than they had when I was in the village? Well, at least the spider and amus got another skill point- and the slimes too?!?! I also just noticed that the amus can lay eggs too. That’s amazing… Oh wait. Oh no. NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I want both the amus and spiders to lay eggs so I have awesome monsters. I mean, the slimes are nice and all, but their skills are subpar and they multiply way too fast. And to top it off, once they use [Mitosis] I won’t have any space left. I can’t mark anything with the Bran anymore. That’s rough. Guess I’ll have to figure something else out. Let’s check their skills first. I’ll start with my most disappointing creature yet. Dryad! [Land Manipulation I], [Photosynthesis I], [Vine I], and [Boulder I]. You really are useless Dryad. I mean, I guess the Photosynthesis is nice since it will let the Dryad gain experience as long as it's out in the sun, but it always hides under my jacket. Vine is just a regular attack. Boulder is magic and will probably deal more damage since its magic related stats are a lot higher, but the MP cost for this is pretty high, at 4. It's not like the dryad will be able to fire off magic spells constantly. And land manipulation? I don’t own any land, so this is kinda useless. Ugh, guess I’ll just ignore the dryad for now and look at some real skills.

Hm.. the only new skill the slime has is [Slime Armor] which makes it turn into armor for the wearer, increasing their stats. I mean, it's just a body suit right? I guess the skill isn’t useless but… Yeah, I’ll just wait to see other skills for now. You’re up amus. Oh, all of the skills require 2 points. Yeah, nevermind. Spider, please show me something good. Yeah, I guess that was too much to ask for. [Burrowing I], [Venom I], and [Stitching I]. Let’s see… Burrowing will allow it to make nests underground. Which it already did, I think? Venom is definitely useful for it to fight on the front lines, but stitching is more appealing since it will be able to stitch some wounds, as well as mend clothes. But, I guess I shouldn’t expect much from it until it’s a higher level, right? None of these are anything that we need right now. Alright, let’s just hold off and hope it levels up sooner rather than later Wait a second, is it just me or is this spider stronger than me? That’s so depressing. Guess I’ll just ignore all of them and take a look at my own skills.

What? What is this? Hell to the yes!!!! I’ll take that Bran NOW! Phew, that’s eighteen more slots. Oh, this bonus correction thing is pretty interesting. I’ll have to figure out how it exactly works later on. Luna is definitely guinea pig material. Wait, have I always thought like this? Something feels off with my thought patterns. It’s like Luna brought out some sort of hatred for people from me. Is this who I really am, or is she just nagging on a certain part of me? FOCUS GAREM! Hm… oh, Land corruption does… what? So if I use land corruption I could have the useless dryad manipulate it? Wait a second. If I corrupt creatures, they turn all demonic, right? What happens if I corrupt the land? This is truly terrifying, but I think I should take advantage of it. Aight, let’s get that and one more. Yeah, let’s go with the living weapon one. I’m sure there’s requirements to use it so the sooner I get it, the better. So, once again, the only one ignored is the job system. Oh well.

Job System

Unlocks the Job System.

Living Weapon

Creates the Weapon Proficiency and Living Weapon systems.

Allows all Living Weapons to access their own skill boards, however their classes cannot be changed. Only one Living Weapon can be made per Weapon used (CMP Weapons only).

Land Corruption I

Allows for the corruption of land in a 10m radius. Corrupted land can be customized indefinitely and when the land is moved, it’s area that it was previously will be replaced by God’s blessed land.

Costs 20 CMP

Bran II

Allows for all the effects of the previous Bran skills.

Allows for companions to receive Class corrections outside of their current class until lv.19

Increases the total number of brans that can be given out to 24.

I decided to take the [Land Manipulation I] and [Photosynthesis I] skills for the dryad. Worst case scenario, the dryad is still as useless as it has been this entire time. Once the monsters were done feasting, the slimes split...and I ended up with four more instead of three more. OI!!!! Stop taking up all of my Bran slots! I know I just got a ton more, but that doesn’t mean it’s your job to fill up all the slots. Aggravated at nothing in particular, I made my way back to our little cave without any incidents.

Gavin and everyone else was slowly starting to come to, but I ignored them and tossed a branch into the small fire that Eliquis kept going.

“So, how was it?” Eliquis asked.

“Not impossible to train there, but not worth the risk. Everything’s too strong in there.”

“I see,” Eliquis used a stick of her own to poke at the fire.

“Okay, I need some answers. What did you-”

“You should see something that says ‘Class System’. Play around with it and pick what skills you want. I’m not sure if I’m going to be honest with you, but it somehow made myself and Eliquis stronger,” I cut Rigurd off. I was too tired and exhausted to deal with them.

I listened to them talk and share what they could see about the class system as I stared off at the woods I was in earlier. I really want to live somewhere like that, where nobody would be willing to risk looking for us. What to do about this?

“So, what’s the plan?” Gavin asked, moving to sit next to me.

“Girls will sleep in the area that the spider set up earlier. Guys here. And we can figure out the rest tomorrow.”

“Excuse me?” Eliquis yelled.

“You’re excused.”

“What if I want to sleep here?”

“Then cuddle with the spider,” I flashed her a grin, silencing her.

“Brutal…” I heard Bellamort whisper, but I ignored it.

Sorry, but I’ve about had it with her latching onto me. What she’s feeling isn’t love or affection, its loneliness. And there’s plenty of people here who can fill in the gap, now.

“A moment of your time,” Liora said while making her way over to me. “We seem to be low in food supplies and water.”

“Yeah. All we have is meat, and I couldn’t get in the woods deep enough to locate a water source. So either we stock up on supplies through money, or we go back to the woods that me and Eliquis came from and make preparations over there. There was a good water source there, but we would still only have meat. It’s not like I can magically grow cro-” Wait a second!

“Did you figure something out?”

“Not exactly,” I answered Marie. “But tomorrow I can spend the day testing random things to see if they work. Well, I could but there’s no good location around here to do it. Even in the woods it would be tough. Plus if we go elsewhere, my experiments will be seen…”

“So you just need a good location?”

“I need more than that. I need Will and Gary to actually start building a house somewhere. But I’ll also need the rest of you to train yourselves in the meantime. Of course, both will have monsters with them for protection and labor. So as long as we can do those two things in a secluded area, and somehow obtain materials needed for construction. Oh, I guess We should invest in some water and food to have in the meantime. Why are there so many things to do?”

Rigurd laughed at me. “Then why don’t you divide up the current tasks. Well I say that, but I doubt a house can be built in a few days.”

“Actually, depending on the size, it could be built in three days,” Will corrected.

“That also depends on what these, uh, slimes? Yeah, that depends on what they can do. The spider here seems to be able to do a lot as well, so it should be enough,” Gary added. “But what we really need to know is, if they’re like other slimes. Do they need to sleep, and can they see in the dark?”

I grinned, answering Gary’s question. That’s right, we had a labor force of eleven slimes that could work around the clock, amus that were three times the normal size of an amu for lugging materials around, and a spider- it has eight arms and can use webs. Besides. In the worst case scenario, I can just grab another type of monster, if necessary.