“So, anyway. Yeah, that’s basically what she said. Calls herself Erdek Foulbreath. Not gonna lie, she seems pretty strong,” Aaron said, talking and walking as they neared the jungle edge.

  “Sounds about right,” Treg nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve never heard the name. She sounds like a high blood, but she mustn’t have been very important before the Integration. Or at least she isn’t from any of my people’s tribes. But she’s correct. Goblins tend to follow the strongest. Before the Integration, our world was split between four major tribal coalitions. But in reality, they were all held together by one power bowing to the Great Warlord, Nardak Flesheater.”

  “Wait, I didn’t even realize at first, but you don’t have a surname like them.”

  “Right. I was just a peasant. A nobody. I was never granted a family name by my chief. Some might call me Treg of the Skullcrusher Tribe. But officially, I am just Treg.”

  “I see. Well, Just Treg, maybe you can be more than just a peasant in this world.”

  “Maybe, we’ll see.”

  “C’mon, be a little more optimistic, mate! Oh look!” Aaron pointed his thoughts quickly shifting as he spotted the thinning trees at the edge of the jungle.

  Within a dozen meters, the last trees gave way to endless green fields, and within seconds, they had left the jungle behind them and stepped out onto the plains.

  A wolf bounded past Aaron, and Sooty waved down at him from atop it. “Ye should really get onto this,” He said. “So much better than walking. Gotta hand it to you, bossman. Becoming the pack leader was a great idea!”

  Aaron looked up at Sooty and then across to the others. Lower-level goblins were struggling, trudging along with their packs full of belongings, and they weren’t very fast.

  On the other hand, leaving the dense jungle behind, they were met with a seemingly endless steppe, and grassy plains and small, rolling hills flowed on for as far as the eye could see.

  “You’ve got a point,” Aaron said and turned to his wolf pal. “Oi, Zero, are we able to ride you and the other wolves?”

  Zero yipped and nodded.

  “Really? Okay, that’s handy. Right, so, how does this work, then?”

  The large silver wolf lowered, and Aaron jumped on top of it. He didn’t really need a mount, but he kind of wanted to try it out.

  However, his companions were another story. Not only were they not particularly fast, but they were lower level than the wolves, so if they could ride them, it might make their journey much quicker.

  “Find a wolf and mount up, everyone! No more walking!”

  Uneasy glares met his announcement. But Aaron wasn’t just going to let the opportunity pass them by, and he pleaded with them to at least give the wolves a go.

  After a little back and forth, Marko and Zach climbed atop wolves, but the goblins required more convincing. It took several long minutes, and the humans showing off that the wolves were indeed safe to ride, for the first goblins to give it a try. And several more minutes before the last of them had finally mounted up.

  There were fourteen goblins who had survived the jungle, and along with the three humans, that made seventeen wolf raiders, and there were five remaining wolves that ran alongside them, which were the smallest and lowest level wolves.

  The moment they started riding their mounts across the plains, it became immediately clear how much quicker their journey was going to be.

  The truth was, while Aaron himself was plenty fast, their group’s speed had slowed to a crawl thanks to his new companions. The problem was that they had to keep pace with the slowest and lowest-level goblins. So now that they were mounted up, their speed skyrocketed.

  If he had really wanted to, Aaron probably could have carried a few of the goblins to increase their speed. But he needed to have his senses about him in case they wandered into another D-grade, not to mention it would put him in an awkward position having to worry about the weak goblins if he got attacked.

  However, now that they had their wolf mounts, they could race across the grassy plains at impressive speed. It was still nothing compared to Aaron spamming [ Spectral Rush ], but it was a pretty good compromise, and much more resource-efficient, since Aaron didn’t have to stuff his face to maintain his energy.

  In minutes, they raced across the fields, spotting beasts in the distance. A part of Aaron wanted to make good time and reach Talia as soon as possible. But time couldn’t come at the cost of their progression, and so when they spotted some roaming beasts, it was time to do some hunting.

  First, they hunted ostrich-like birds that spat acid, and Aaron remained at the rear watching. Some hyena-like creatures followed, and his companions made short work of them as well.

  It was all too easy for his companions to let their mounts do most of the fighting, but he encouraged them not to. And surprisingly, they took his advice to heart.

  If the wolves killed everything, they would remain weak, and they knew it. Still, it was extremely helpful for them to have their wolf mounts. They made them faster and more agile, for the most part. And because of this, his wolf riders were able to dodge attacks without much thought and focus on the attack. This worked especially well for the spear-wielding goblins, but Zach was also becoming quite the formidable mounted archer, zooming around, loosing arrows.

  He was quite impressed by what they were turning into. And only got involved when a particularly powerful beast threatened the group.

  He didn’t need Zero’s movement Skill, but he couldn’t deny it was useful. The silvermane carried him up to his enemy in a second, who was flying above, and Aaron was able to finish off the hippogriff rather easily.

  If he got involved in all of the fights, Aaron could have, without doubt, leveled much quicker if he wanted to. But he was back to wearing the energy-sucking ring and using the battles to hone his skills. Not to mention, he wanted to gain a decent Skill when he hit 50, and didn’t want that tarnished with weak kills.

  The hippogriff came down with a series of precise attacks in the waning hours of the day, and it was just in time, for he gained his 50th level.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  You killed: Razorwing Hippogriff [ Level 92 ]

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

  [ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

  49 → 50

  Purchasable Skill Available!

  With a Skill point to spend, Aaron wanted to find a camp. And luckily for him, the others were just as keen to take a rest as night began to creep across the plains.

  They had been leveling quicker than he had expected, and were gaining more levels than Aaron himself, even though they were of similar level.

  Ultimately, grinding levels was quicker and easier when you killed anything and everything you found. But Aaron was focused on quality over quantity and cared little. In fact, he was quite glad of their progress. The stronger they got, the less he would have to worry about them, and perhaps they would even get strong enough to help in harder fights eventually.

  They marched a little longer after that before finding a small oasis in the middle of the open plains and set up camp around it.

  The wolves prowled around, sniffing and securing the perimeter as Aaron got out his portal kitchen and set it up.

  It was really quite handy, and all he had to do was press a button, and the Portable Cosmic Kitchen unfolded into a full-blown kitchen.

  He had enough food to feed himself stored away in his scabbard, but he wanted to make something everyone could eat.

  Doing his best to restrain himself from making something dastardly, he braised some toad meat and vegetables in a hot pot. It was nothing special, stat-wise, but it tasted deliciously boring and had no side effects. In other words, it was perfect. If his ogre tastebuds considered the flavor lacking, it would be perfect for normal people.

  He dished it up into bowls that came with the portable kitchen, and they sat around a fireplace, with a starlit sky above them.

  Dotted around the little camp, the wolves ate slightly grilled owlbear, growling and play-fighting as they tore the meat apart between themselves.

  “Not bad,” Treg said, nodding appreciatively as he gulped down the stew. “Kind of reminds me of home.”

  “I have to say, this is one of the better meals I’ve had since the integration,” Marko said.

  “Glad you all like it.”

  “I wouldn’t have guessed you were a chef. But this is good,” Zach added.

  “Great. Well, I think I’m going to go AWOL for a bit. I’ve been dying to check out my new Skill. If you don’t mind.”

  “Go for it,” Zach said.

  The archer was clearly enjoying relaxing with the others as wolves were doing sentry duty. He still took turns doing the job, but he wasn’t required to be on lookout all the time anymore.

  “Take as long as you like,” Zach added as he overfilled his mouth.

  “Sooty, get over here and help me pick a Skill,” Aaron said and opened the list.

  Elegant Footwork [ Uncommon ]. Combat is more than flashy moves, and nobody knows this better than you. Passively enhances Agility and Dexterity, whilst also reducing energy lost between attacks, as it guides your attacks into smooth, flowing motions that weave into one another.

  Flagrant Masochist [ Rare ] You, you’re not afraid of pain… no, in fact, you invite it with a smile. A rather eerie one that makes people feel uneasy. Passively boosts morale and sensitivity when taking damage. High morale, in turn, provides additional multipliers for morale-damaging attacks.

  Silvermane Palm Strike [ Elite ] You feel the power of the silvermane pack running through you. When activated, fire a blast of silver light energy from your palm, calling on the power of your pack for guidance.

  Zombie Stance [ Epic ] You’re not just a deadly combatant, you’re a dead one. When activated, this Skill allows the user to fuel their body with the use of aether even after death, allowing it to fight on, even after your soul is gone.

  Aura of the Alpha [ Epic ] You are your pack’s alpha, and when around you, your pack is inspired and stronger than they would usually be. Passively creates an aura around the user that provides a morale and power boost to those carrying the [ Pack Bond ] racial Skill, and also loyal to the alpha.

  Aaron was immediately surprised to see two options related to his new position as the pack alpha. He supposed it made some sense, but it seemed a bit much, and not at all what he had expected.

  “Eer,” Sooty mumbled. “That’s an odd Skill option you have there.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Sooty smiled with crooked teeth.

  “Oh, I know what you’re talking about, you little fiend. Dammit, yeah, ignore the second one,” Aaron groaned, feeling a little embarrassed that it was even offered.

  “Sure, whatever you say, bossman. The System doesn’t always get things right. Just because it offers a Skill, doesn’t mean that Skill is necessarily related to you. Or one of your proclivities."

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah! I got it. Let’s just move on, okay?”

  “Sure. But these Skills… they’re not great. Not compared to what you have. The aura would be good if you were a leader type Class, and no doubt scales with Charisma. But you’re not.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  Zombie Stance at glance sounded okay, Aaron thought. But when digging into it, it was kind of bad. He was better off just saving his aether for resurrecting himself. Being in zombie mode sounded like it would have a persistent drain on his aether, and he didn’t really have a lot of it. It also sounded like it probably wouldn’t be able to fight all that well. More of a dying throw kinda thing. Even so, he would have been interested in taking it, if not for the fact that it was definitely not better than any of his current Skills

  “Man, these kinds of suck, don’t they, Sooty? What am I going to do? I don’t think I want to give any of my current Skills up for these.”

  “Well, don’t then. Not like you have to, bossman.”

  “Wait, I don’t? So I just lost my selection? That kind of sucks, though.”

  “It’s not a complete waste. The System retains some of the recorded effort you put into your Skill gain when you choose not to select something, and it carries it onto your next selection. It’s not perfect, and it doesn’t keep it all, but it can help push a Skill or two of your next selection up a Rarity if you’re lucky.”

  “Okay, that’s not bad. Not bad at all.”

  “One thing, though.”

  “What is it?”

  “This is your level 50 Skill, right?”

  “Yeah,” Aaron nodded.

  “Well, from now on, you’re only getting a Skill purchase every ten levels. So think about that. That said, you will get some extra slots at D-grade. Which should make things a bit easier for you.”

  Aaron thought about it. He wanted to focus on Yendal’s path, and while the first option leaned into that, it wasn’t anywhere near good enough to give up one of his current Passives.

  “These aren’t good. Who cares if I have to wait ten more levels? I’m not throwing something useful away for anything on offer here.”

  “Good,” Sooty rocked back and forth on his heels. “I agree, bossman.”

  Aaron played with the ring on his finger a moment, wondering if it might have had an effect on his options, but he was resolute. Hopefully, he would at least get better options next time.

  With a thought, he dismissed the Skill selection and confirmed the prompts as the System asked him to confirm that he wanted to surrender his purchasable Skill.

  It was a minor downer. But then again, the Skill gain had come quickly. And at this rate, he was likely to reach level 60 pretty fast.

  Also, Sooty’s mention of extra slots made him more eager to hit D-grade than ever. It was getting difficult to make Skill choices, and he couldn’t wait to have the weight of the decisions eased back a little.

  “Hey, look at this!” Marko exclaimed, dragging Aaron from his thoughts. “I’ve gone up fifty thousand rankings just from what we’ve been killing!”

  “You’re right! This is fucking amazing! I’ve gone up seventy thousand ranks!” Zach added.

  Aaron looked across at his companions. That was a lot of ranks for a day. But then again, they had started at a rather low ranking. And with the help of their new mounts, were able to kill much stronger foes than they had previously been able to.

  But it did pose an interesting question. How many positions had Aaron climbed up the rankings from the beasts he had killed?

  With that thought, he decided it was time to check his ranking.

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