Low to the rocks, two men kept out of sight, skirting the edge of a cave entrance in desperate search for escape.

  Their prey and reason for being in the cave was long dead. It had started innocently enough. They had spotted a couple of cocoa birds and entered to hunt the beasts.

  But fortune quickly turned to despair, as they spotted a terrible beast outside the cave’s only entrance.

  Suddenly, the man leading stopped dead in his tracks and steadily raised his shaky hand, then gestured to back up.

  He looked like a ghost, directing his companion back, deeper into the cave.

  “What is it?” His companion whispered.

  “The beast,” he swallowed. “It’s right near the entrance now. Keep your voice down. The bloody thing is huge, but who knows, it might be able to squeeze itself inside here.”

  “Dammit all to hell,” the other man huffed. “It was your idea to come in here, Marko! You owe us a way out! To hells if I’m going to starve to death in here because of your dumb ideas!”

  “Fine, go for it. I ain’t going to stop you,” the bigger man pressed his chest against his smaller companion, making the man stumble backward. “Go out there. I dare you. Test yourself against a level 96 beast and see how well you fare. And don’t you blame this on me. I didn’t force you to follow me in here. You wanted to score some easy hides as much as I did!”

  “I… I… fuck! Are we really stuck here, aren’t we?”

  “Just calm down, you fool. I’m sure it’ll get bored eventually and wander off. We just have to wait it out. Better than getting ourselves killed.”

  “Ahhh, okay,” the man growled and dropped himself onto a rock. “To think, I thought things would actually get better after the Tutorial! And now this! At least the high-level beasts stayed in their zones in the Tutorial. Those bastards are all over the place now! How the hell are we supposed to survive this bullshit?”

  “What did I say about calming down, Zach? We just need to find more people. We made ourselves useful in the Tutorial, hunting, skinning, and leatherworking. And we’ll do the same now. You remember that little brat, don’t you? I’m sure she’s not the only one who somehow managed to cheat the System and get strong. There’ll be others. And I’m sure they’ll be safe camps, just like there were in the Tutorial.”

  Zach opened his mouth to reply, but was cut short as a strange whistling sounded through the air.

  “What’s that?”

  “Shhh.”

  Both men looked up toward the whistling sound, captured in silence. It was getting louder, and louder, and louder.

  Without a word, Marko pressed a finger to his lips and carefully walked towards the entrance. Zach followed, and they made their way to a large boulder, which they’d used earlier to spy on the beast.

  There it was, in all its terrifying glory—the level 96 owlbear. An elephant-sized beast with fangs as long as fingers. But it was no longer strolling around the cave entrance, pecking with its massive beak at the ground. Like them, it too was looking up into the sky, trying to place the origin of the whistling sound.

  But unlike the owlbear, neither Marko nor Zach could see the sky, and so when the beast leaped backwards, toward the cave entrance, they jumped. The beast hadn’t spotted them, though. And barely a second later, something slammed straight into the ground with a resounding shockwave that blasted dust and debris into the air.

  “What the…” Marko grunted, waving the dust away from his face.

  And the moment the air settled a little, his eyes widened. A chill traced his spine as he spotted the growling owlbear. It was even more terrifying now. It had lowered into a pouncing pose, and seeing it prepare itself to attack, almost made Marko soil himself.

  But it wasn’t looking at them. No, it was fixated on the small crater created by whatever had landed several meters away.

  “Look, it’s a man,” Zach pointed and gasped as a figure rose from the crater, which was still shrouded in dust.

  Gradually, the dust cleared, revealing the true nature of the silhouette. It was a man in simple robes and armed with spiked gauntlets.

  Aaron Dober [ Level 46 ]

  Titles: [ Shadow Trials Trailblazer ] [ Stamina Control Prodigy ]

  Marko briefly wondered what the hell a stamina prodigy was supposed to be as he inspected the man, but it mattered little.

  Shadow Trials? Wait, were those—

  His thoughts got cut off by his companion.

  “Poor bastard,” Zach muttered. “Should we do something?”

  “Are you mad? Do you want to die? He’s only a level higher than you, and three less than me! Going out there is suicide, even with the three of us. Maybe we’d stand a chance with a party of five or six with a good healer. But that thing is close to D-grade.”

  “Yeah, you’re right… fuck. I can’t watch—”

  Zach’s words were cut short as the owlbear suddenly leaped forward with a blast of energy, and his whole body tensed up expectantly. But to the complete and utter shock of both men, the beast missed its attack.

  It almost looked too easy. The man had stepped to the side as if he knew exactly where and how the beast would attack, and then, without pause, he countered.

  The level 46 man just punched the damn thing like it was another day in the office. What’s more, the punch didn’t even look particularly special. It was very fast, and they had barely managed to see it, but otherwise, it had looked like a normal punch.

  But even they knew otherwise. The moment the punch had landed, they felt a fluctuation in the owlbear’s energy, and then, it actually staggered to the side.

  “What the fuck,” Marko’s jaw fell agape.

  But what came next really widened their eyes. The man followed up with another punch. They could feel the energy swirling around it, but it was still just a punch against a giant beast. But then, it hit. The punch slammed into the owlbear and was met with seemingly no resistance, and it blew a freaking chunk straight out of it.

  The terrifying beast growled, and both men tensed up again, and then it fell over.

  “Huh?”

  Marko's brow curled as his mind churned away, unable to comprehend what he had just seen.

  “Did that really just happen?” Zach asked.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  “I… maybe it’s a trick. A level disguise or something?”

  Marko searched for answers. There had to be some trick. What else could explain it? This stranger couldn’t have just killed a beast more than twice his level. That was absurd. Too ridiculous to even consider.

  But neither man wanted to step outside and ask. Not everyone had been peaceful during the Tutorial, and if this man was inclined to kill humans, they knew they didn’t stand a chance, not after what he did to the owlbear.

  “Hey, I can sense you two,” the man waved.

  Instantly, both men swallowed and froze, and began to tremble. This wasn’t good.

  “W-what are we going to do, Marko? Why is he looking at us like that? That smile…” Zach’s voice began to break and waver.

  “Just shut up and leave the talking to me,” Marko hissed, but the unnerving grin bending the man’s face out of shape like a terrifying cartoon villain sent a tremor down his spine.

  ***Aaron***

  Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

  [ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

  44 → 46

  Purchasable Skill Available!

  Title acquired: Behemoth Slayer

  Slay a denizen of the multiverse that is at least 50 levels higher than yourself.

  Reward: +10% All Stats

  Levels! Finally! Oh, and that’s how you get the Behemoth Slayer Title.

  He was a little curious how his experience was calculated. He doubted killing a single beast would normally level him up at his current level, let alone twice. But if the bonus experience multiplied by the level gap between him and his foe, then it made a lot more sense.

  I should be able to grind to D-grade pretty quickly at this rate.

  But that thought was cut short. He was still going to the level, of course. But his style wasn’t all about leveling and System-granted strength. If he went down that road, Yendal might just disown him, and he remembered the ring he had.

  If all the beasts around here are as weak as this guy, I might as well use this.

  Aaron slipped on the ring he had gained from the quest reward for fighting Yendal during their final duel and felt the pinch of its teeth digging into his fingers.

  It really is draining, isn’t it?

  He already felt a little sluggish and heavier than he normally did. But there was no gain without pain.

  His musings were cut short as he sensed others nearby and raised his [ Soul Vortex ] to get a better sense of them.

  His Skill did more than just sense energy, though, and he could feel the fear bubbling inside of his spectators.

  Oh, shit! That’s not my fault, is it? Okay, let’s think this through—time to be unthreatening. I want to make a good impression. Make them feel at ease.

  He tried his best, but a few too many deaths in the trials had left their mark, and what was supposed to be a pleasant and welcoming smile turned into the maniacal grin of a madman.

  “Hey, I can sense you two!”

  Wait, why the fuck did I say it like that? Am I trying to creep them out?

  “I mean, I know you’re there!”

  Fuck!

  “Come out, you’ll be safe with me!”

  Why does everything I say sound so fucking creepy? Be normal, dammit!

  Aaron took several deep breaths, repeating the mantra “be normal” in his head.

  “Sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve talked to normal people. I just got here. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  Alright, that’s better.

  An awkward moment followed, but eventually, two men poked their heads out of the cave. They were quite the sight—messy, disheveled hunters in light equipment. Their hair was greasy and tangled, and they looked like they’d been living in the forest for some time.

  I guess the Tutorial wasn’t equally good for everybody. These guys are a mess.

  “H-hello,” the bigger man waved with a trembling hand, and the smaller one cowed behind him.

  “Relax. I’m not going to hurt you. It’s just good to see another human face,” Aaron said.

  The two men nodded, but they didn’t look entirely convinced. However, they still cautiously approached, moving closer, brushing off their clothes, and sharing glances. Aaron wasn’t sure how best to look non-threatening, so he decided he would try to appear as if he didn’t care about them.

  Remembering Talia's gift, he whipped it out and flipped up the antique wooden lid as he pulled up the description.

  Wanderer’s Compass: No matter how far you wander, you'll always know the way back home. Each Wanderer's Compass is linked to a Hearthstone, and the compass will always point to the Hearthstone, no matter how much distance separates them.

  So I’m supposed to follow this thing, huh?

  Unfortunately, it didn’t say where she was or how far away she was. It was, however, pointing in a direction. He at least knew which way he had to go.

  Aaron glanced up at the two terrified men again, realizing he had gotten distracted.

  I had better take these two with me as well. I don’t want their deaths on my hands.

  Aaron saw no point in leaving the two men behind. He figured that as long as they were decent people, it was somewhat the duty of the strong to save the not-so-strong. After all, what kind of world would they be building if they left the weak to die?

  But suddenly, a loud whoomping sound filled the air, and within seconds, a burst of light appeared beside him, and Sooty materialized into a roll, bouncing across the ground.

  “Whhaaa,” the soot goblin gasped, falling onto the ground and then immediately jumping to his feet and throwing his arms up in joy. “I’m back! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Bossman! I love you!”

  “What the hell? What’s gotten into you?”

  Wells were filling up in the corners of Sooty’s eyes, and he fell to the ground, kissing the earth. “I thought… I thought I might have been trapped again. The lonely darkness of the void…I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

  “Oh, right. Well, glad to have you back.”

  Glancing across, he quickly realized that the men had been shaken even further with Sooty’s sudden arrival.

  “Dammit. Sorry. I should probably explain. We came from the Shadow Trials—”

  “Oh!” The big man said, as if something clicked in his head, and he suddenly understood.

  “You know what the Shadow Trials are?”

  “Yeah, of course we do. That’s where you go if you manage to beat the Tutorial. I wasn’t thinking when I inspected you…”

  “Right,” Aaron nodded. “Then I take it neither of you made it?”

  The two men shook their heads. “We, ahh, stayed out of the final zone. It was safer that way. There were still plenty of beasts to kill in the other zones, and even better, they didn’t go above level 50. They were also more passive. Heck, most of them didn’t even chase if you fled.”

  Seriously? Now I get it. These guys have been taking EasyMode. The world is going to be one hell of a shock for them.

  There had been crafters and other weaker members of his group during the trial as Elvanas. But he had pushed the fighting members to get out and level in every zone. These guys looked like hunters. They should have been out pushing themselves. Still, at their level, there was still plenty of time to catch up if they put in the work.

  “Okay, I think I get it. Here's the deal. I’m going to meet up with a friend of mine. I believe she should have some kind of camp setup by the time we reach her. If you want to tag along, you’re welcome. Otherwise, I dunno, good luck, I guess?”

  The two men looked at each other, and then the owlbear corpse, and then hurriedly started to nod.

  “Good. Okay, well, let’s move. Unless you need something first? I suppose I can wait a few minutes if necessary.”

  “We’re good. It’s a shame we can’t skin that thing, though. I’m sure it’d have a nice hide. But it’d be too damn big to carry around.”

  The big man slumped as he finished speaking, and Aaron spotted the skins over their shoulders.

  “You have some kind of skinning Profession, do you?”

  The man nodded. “Yeah, me, Marko. And my friend here, Zach, is a leatherworker. We make a decent team. I skin, and he crafts it into stuff.”

  “I see. Well, lucky I have a spatial storage, then.”

  The two men’s eyes lit up. They mightn’t have had a storage device themselves, but they seemed to understand what they were.

  “Alright. Looks like we have a plan. Get to work, because we’re moving as soon as you’re done.

  “Yes! Getting to work!” Macko stiffened as if called to attention and then made for the corpse, pulling a knife out.

  Aaron nodded and turned for a rock. He wanted to get a sense for where he was and was going to raise his [ Soul Vortex ] to a larger area, and to select his new Skill, but just as he was about to take a seat on the rock, a System notification appeared before his eyes.

  Final arrivals from the Shadow Trials accounted for.

  Planetary ranking system activating in 5…

  4…

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