[Leader has ranked up! Pick a direction.]

[Manager D

The user is an expert at planning, organizing, and delegating tasks to their team members. The user can break down complex projects into manageable tasks and assign them to the most appropriate team members.

+35 Mind]

[Motivator D

The user is skilled at inspiring and motivating their team members to give their best effort. The user can utilize enthusiasm that helps their team members feel energized and excited.

+35 Charisma]

[Noble D

The user is a natural leader who commands respect and admiration from their team members. Nobles typically have a strong sense of integrity and hold themselves and their team members to a high standard of conduct. Nobles are a powerful voice.

+25 Mind

+25 Charisma]

It looks like the skill will now give something more than a vague increase in skill. Noble has the highest stat increase, but Manager gives me more mind, something I value more than charisma.

Unfortunately, I should go with [Noble] regardless of stat distribution. It feels like it meshes with my previous skills more. Plus, the system keeps hinting that I'm nobility or something along those lines.

It might be doubling or tripling up, but if I take the [Manager] skill and get demoted from nobility because of it, I will die inside.

However, can I continue training the skill the same way? How do I act like a "noble" instead of a leader? I guess I'll have to follow the skill's description.

[Leader E Lv5 > Noble D]

No more levels. Shit.

Changing a D-rank skill to a C-rank skill is manageable. It'll be more tedious than incrementally leveling a skill, but still manageable.

Shit.

Good news. Prometheus is steadily growing stronger. He only needs a little more to evolve once again.

Name / Nickname

Prometheus / Endling

Species

Ancient Magma Ooze E (Unique)

Level

49 (34,009/800,000)

Evolution Requirements

Not Met

~

Health Points

395/395

Mana Points

240/240

Armor Points

0

Might

80 (14 > 67 + 20%)

Agility

48 (10 > 40 + 20%)

Vigor

79 (14 > 66 + 20%)

Mind

48 (10 > 40 + 20%)

Spirit

48 (10 > 40 + 20%)

[Advancement Requirements.

Have three tamed beasts be nobility, have dominion, or "rule" over something. (2/3)

Have adequate leadership skills. (D/C)

Unique Servitude to rank A (Not Completed)

Have at least six "Master" skills. (Completed)

Be nobility. (Completed)]

I need him to reach level 100 and evolve to level up my skill [Unique Servitude] to A, hopefully getting him a fiefdom or something along the way.

Wait.

When I first saw these requirements, I assumed another of my beasts needed something like Rob's [Undead Noble] or Duchess' [Divine Right], but can I just buy them land?

Will the requirements be met if I give Flash Gordon an apartment building? Turn him into a landLORD and let him rule over his tenants.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

Since I'm nobility, couldn't I just make them nobles too...? Hmm, actually, that's more similar to royalty, not simple nobility. I don't recall anything explicitly calling me "royalty."

"Ellis? Hello?"

"Yes? Do you need something, Anabel?"

"Yes! You've been staring at a tree since we returned to camp. Val told me to ignore you since you're quote un quote 'just like that' and that we should prepare for tomorrow."

I stand from my makeshift bench made from an overturned tree. Everyone is lounging around, resting and recuperating from today's fight.

I stretch my body before addressing everyone.

"we'll be screwed if what happened earlier today happens again tonight."

Creating walls would be foolish. I have no experience building a fort, and it's time-consuming. Unless the wood is infused with enough mana, any walls can be easily ripped apart or jumped over.

"So what are we going to do?" Arlug says, draped over a log.

"Maybe we can chop some of these trees and create a fort! Let me regenerate more mana to summon my skeletal manual labor force!" Exclaims our resident necromancer.

"Perhaps going up high would be better," Val says. "Most of us have ranged attacks or aerial maneuverability."

"Caves are safe." Arlug, who hasn't moved an inch, inputs.

I ponder for a moment before replying.

"Let me do something first."

My teammates watch me as I use my boots to walk up the tree. Over two hundred feet of bark get traversed before I reach the top.

The sun will set soon, cascading the jungle in reds and yellows. The air is fresher and cleaner up here. I can see for miles nothing but trees.

Nothing but trees.

A desert of trees.

This place has too many damn trees. It's making me nervous.

Speaking of trees, I can spot a huge tree off in the distance. Tiny black specks swarm around it. Its branches look bare, and the sprawls far.

Besides the specks, I can see birds of different kinds flying about. I calmly walk back down.

My teammates are still discussing the best way to counteract another best wave.

What do you think, Duchess?

[Thisss one prefers to ditch these "teammates" so we can lounge inside the mansion.]

That's not nice.

[Thisss one dislikes being around humans, baring yourself and your kin.]

Why humans specifically?

[Having to stifle thisss one's abilities is demeaning to someone of thisss one's caliber. Hiding thisss one's intelligence, thisss one's voice, to those dumber than thisss one is degrading, not that thisss one would make conversation out of enjoyment. Plus, they see thisss one merely as a beast.]

They might see you more as a fashion statement since you haven't left my shoulders since we entered this fracture.

[What a crying shame.]

~~~

I decided the best means is to clear the surrounding trees to create flat land for us, enough to spot anything coming. As long as someone is keeping watch, that is.

Nothing happened at night. No meteor shower, no beast attacks, nothing.

I didn't sleep. I didn't need to.

The entire next day went on without issue. Nothing attacked us. We found multiple creatures, but nothing dared to stay close to our group. The only things we killed were the ones that were too slow.

We practically covered the ten square miles tasked to us. With the above-average mobility of my teammates and the copious flying beasts at our disposal, it wasn't difficult.

I decided to throw caution into the wind and use this quiet period to our advantage instead of meandering about doing nothing.

"Splitting the party" is a self-explanatory term. The institute and multiple books stored away in my [Lexicon] all say the same thing; that you shouldn't do that.

Sending the stealthy or the quick-footed ahead to scout ahead is different, but many groups place their trust in the skills of their scout to make it out alive in the worst cases.

I don't see a difference with what I did with my "party."

Four groups. One group was to stay at the base to prepare traps and gather resources, and three were to scout.

I made our two "casters" stay behind with Khan and Jerry's second beast. His beast has been having a difficult time. His "Franky," the fish suspended in a floating orb of water, doesn't seem to have many attacking skills.

Much like my Prometheus, it spits at things to deal damage. Perhaps if there was a river or lake, it could do more.

My foster sister Val, Rai, and Rob are in the second group. They are the most agile and dexterous of us, so I created a team comp that wouldn't drag any of them down.

Unfortunately, none of them can fly.

I wonder if I can get some bone wings for Rob to utilize...

It'll be from a creature that can fly with bone wings, or they'll only be there to flap around.

I wonder if Rob can attach another pair of arms to himself or if we need to find a torso to accommodate such a change.

I sent Jerry alone with his two other tamed beasts, but I let Flash Gordon watch over him, just in case. Jerry didn't seem to be as ecstatic as I thought he would be.

That leaves Duchess and Prometheus with me.

I also split the party because I want to test something regarding leadership.

I want to see if giving broad but concise orders to a group would be a better or worse "experience" than micromanaging multiple bodies especially if the demands span a period of time.

Although Duchess didn't have wings while living in a jungle, she seems aptly attuned to flying through the biome.

Her serpentine body slithers between the trees with grace as her wings manage to dance with the light that managed to pierce the foliage above.

She wouldn't say it, but I bet she's enjoying this time. Spreading her wings in her natural habitat. Plus is the first time her lazy ass got off me since we entered this fracture.

[...]

We breach the treetops. Duchess hovers in place as we both see the massive tree I spotted yesterday. It's closer, but the black specks aren't any more identifiable.

"You said that you feel that this place is divided. Do you feel anything else after flying around?"

[No. Divided is aptly utilized as how thisss one would describe this place.]

"You never explained what you meant by that."

[Thisss one doesn't know. Don't shame thisss one. Thisss one see's no shame in knowing thisss one's capabilities.]

"I didn't say anything about shame."

Instead of pressing onward, we returned to camp since it was getting late. If I didn't have teammates to lead, I would have so much more freedom in this fracture.

Pity.

Duchess went back on my shoulders as I walked into camp. I see Arlug healing Jerry, who has sustained superficial wounds. Anabel seems to be resting while tending to a fire.

"Jerry, you alright?" A pointless question since he would be dead if he wasn't alright. Even if he was dead, I could probably do something anyways.

"Haha, yeah. A fat snake fell on me, knocking me off Speedy. I got hurt from the fall. I managed to kill the snake before it could constrict me. Oh! Flash Gordon was a big help.

Fat snake? Any relations, Duchess.

[Ha. Ha.]

I use [Scientific Insight+] on Jerry to see if anything is wrong with him. Might as well do it on my other teammates too. Ah, Val, Rai, and Rob haven't returned yet. I don't get anything besides his name and level. I've seen before that the more I examine something, the more concise information I get. Maybe I should see what happens when I use this skill on a person.

After a minute or two of staring, I get this.

[Jerry Dacre Lv.129

One of your only friends and a fellow tamer. He uses a sword and shield in combat in tandem with his tamed beasts. He is hiding a sprained ankle and some bruising on his torso. He hasn't noticed them yet. Has forty-two siblings.

Cursed.]

Uhhh. Hmm. I spend more time staring but I choose a new target this time.

[Anable Lv.138

You can't call her a friend since you don't even know her last name... or much else about her. She's a talented necromancer, but you have nothing to compare her to. She doesn't use animated corpses but the more inefficient "mana method." Knows bone and necrotic magic but doesn't use them much.

Cursed.]

Might as well go three for three.

[Arlug Lv.129

You wouldn't care to remember his last name even if you knew it. Half dwarf on his mother's side. He is a healer but is worse at it than you are. Insulted your family that one time.

Cursed.]

Shit.

"299... 300..." I now notice Jerry has been counting. I look at him inquisitively, and he answers my silent question.

"Dude, I started counting as soon as you started staring. You haven't blinked. Does Arlug need to do a checkup on you or something?"

"No, I'm good. By the way, we are all cursed. I can't stress that enough" I don't know if I'm actually cursed or if any of the beasts are, but I don't see a reason to single out each other.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Oh, that explains that."

My teammates each have a different reaction to my matter-of-fact statement. Jerry tilts his head like a confused dog while Arlug stands up in shock. He must know more about curses than Jerry. It makes sense since he's a "healer."

Anabel curiously seemed like she had a eureka moment. I look at her, and now it's her turn to answer my silent question.

"...I haven't been feeling too good, but I thought it was constipation... I'm quite sensitive to 'dark' magic but this time it was quite... inconspicuous."

Before I could collect my thoughts, my remaining teammates returned.

"Hey! Guys, we're back, and right on time... What's wrong?"