"So it's the same as last time?" Dan asked Marcus.

  "Yes, after attacking them, those monsters would try to come after us but retreat as soon as they enter the protected area." Marcus nodded. "They seem easy to hunt too, they keep to the surface of the water so it won't be that hard to deal good damage to them."

  "We still have Natalie too," Dan pointed out.

  "Exactly," Marcus said, "We will be taking the support with us, they could help with their skills and also get experience for using their Class in the field, it's a win-win situation."

  "That's good to hear." Dan just nodded.

  They then talked a bit more about what they needed to do and keep an eye on the water. Just as they were about to leave, Dan saw someone running towards them. That would have made alarm bells ring in his head if he didn't notice the unmistakable excitement on the man's face.

  "Sam, what is it?" Marcus saw the person running towards them too. "Did your Swarmers find anything?"

  It was Sam, their tamer. They had been worried about how those angry creatures would fare inside the Sticky Reefs, after all, there had been no mention of whether Swarmers would get caught by those weird weeds or not. Fortunately, other than a false scare when one of them got stuck at first, things solved themselves on their own.

  The one who got stuck turned so mad that it activated whatever innate ability they had, and the red halo appeared on the whole swarm. With it on them, the sticky weeds didn't affect them and they were able to move around without worries, after tearing the weed that caught that one Swarmer into tiny pieces that is.

  Sam did say that they couldn't stay in that state for long though, so he had them keep at the borders and away from the eyes of any ships nearby.

  "I got it! I've made it!" Sam said before he even stopped running, "I've made it to tier 2, I just got there!"

  "Congratulations!" Dan was caught off guard at first but he calmed down fast as he patted the young man with a smile.

  After everyone gave their congratulations, Dan finally had the time to ask the young man,

  "So how was it, do you feel anything different?"

  "A bit, I think?" Sam seemed hesitant as he looked at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. "I think I've become stronger? I know that every level is supposed to strengthen us a bit physically, but I never felt it with the previous levels. This time though? There was a difference as soon as I hit level 11, I could feel that I'm stronger and faster, it's unmistakable!"

  "We expected you to be the first to break through to tier 2," Marcus said as he nodded at him, "Glad that you made it, and we now have someone who went through it. It's valuable information."

  "What about your skills?" Dan took the chance to ask, "Did you raise the tier of a skill you have or did you get a new one?"

  "I raised the tier of my taming skill." Sam shrugged. "Not that there was another one to raise, I only have that one skill after all."

  "How were the changes?" Dan pushed more. "Was the strengthening worth it? Do you think it was acceptable?"

  "I think it was," Sam didn't even need to consider it before answering, "The number of creatures I can tame have risen to 30. I also feel that my control over my will has grown stronger, which means that I can go after stronger monsters if I get the chance. And finally, my communication with the Swarmers under my control is smoother, I find it easier to pass them my orders and for them to understand them. For a one-tier upgrade, I'm happy with it."

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  Dan found himself nodding, the upgrade was considerable, it strengthened the skill in all aspects. He would have been happy with that if he were in his place, and Sam seemed to be happy with it too.

  They talked some more before Marcus asked,

  "You need to be close to them to bring them under your control, right?"

  After Sam's nod, he turned to Dan,

  "The hunting group needs to wait for a bit, it seems, we will take Sam to fill his new slots, it shouldn't take long. 20 more Swarmers would put a third of the whole swarm under his control, it would make controlling it much easier."

  Dan had to agree, he too felt that that was the best course of action. Sam's swarm was one of their strongest trump cards, the more of them he had under his control, the better the situation would be for them.

  Watching Sam, Marcus, George and Ricky leave on the tender, Dan thought back to the people who were going to join the first hunting trip.

  The list included those closest to reaching tier 2, it included him, Old Raily, George, Marcus, Hank and Ricky. Dan was the closest among that group to reach tier 2, which didn't mean that they would focus on him, the thing they decided on was for two tenders to leave the Voyager, each of them going on opposite sides. And for all the people on the tenders to try and level up as best as they could, not just focusing on one person to power level.

  At first, they wanted to do it the same way as when Dan ground for level 9, but considering how long that might take, and how the people in that first group were strong in their own right, they decided to split up and let each of them hunt for themselves.

  It might be different later on, when they start levelling the production Classes, those might need the protection of the people on board in case anything goes wrong. That was one of the reasons why they sent this group first, most of them would always be on the tenders as guards while the others hunted, so it was obvious to have them reach the highest levels they could.

  Fortunately, the wait wasn't long, less than half an hour or so, Dan saw the tender coming back.

  "I take it everything went well?" he asked from the port at the disembarkation point.

  "Yes." Marcus nodded. "Everything went perfectly."

  "It was even easier than the last time," Sam said. Dan could still see the excitement on his face. "We now have 30 swarmers under us, we can move the whole swarm pretty easily. At the next tier up, I'll most likely be able to control the majority of them."

  Dan smiled at the young tamer, he had just made it to tier 2 and was already thinking about tier 3. He couldn't blame him really, with the system making it easier for them to level up before level 45, and his Swarmers feeding him passive experience, it wasn't that far-fetched for him to reach tier 3 soon.

  With that group back, it was finally time for their grinding to start for real. So the people prepared themselves before splitting into two, alongside their supporters, and headed into the open water. Dan's group included Ricky, Old Raily, George, and Martin who was their support.

  The man was Ricky's brother, he was a math professor before they got here, and he was one of the few who kept his Class a secret. From what Dan saw about the man, it didn't feel that he was worried about his Class being known or whatever, he really couldn't put a finger on it, it felt just that he was taking his time with it.

  The thought about Classes made Dan go over the Classes of everyone in his group. There was Martin with his unknown support Class. Ricky, the Magic Enthusiast, whose Class focused on magic in all its kinds. George, the Otherworldly Soldier who was probably going to be a monster at later levels. Dan himself, who was most likely going to go for a support build, focused on his crew and his ship. And finally, Old Raily, the Mended Veteran.

  Dan could still remember how he felt once he read the name of the Class the old man had chosen. It felt too personal, he honestly would have understood if the old man had decided to keep it a secret. Just the name of the Class told a story in itself.

  From what he knew, the Class was offensive at its core. But how did it really work, he didn't have any idea.

  "We are in position." Ricky's voice dragged him from his thoughts.

  Their plan had them leave the Voyager's protective circle and attack those weird stingrays. They could have gone for shooting from inside the circle, but then, their targets would be limited and they would be spending a lot of time changing locations to get the monsters. Hunting outside the protected area was the best choice, they just needed to be extra careful, but they had the people on the bridge keeping an eye on them, so it was alright.

  "Okay," he said after taking a deep breath, "Everyone, take a corner and fire at will. Martin, you do your thing."

  The sickly looking math professor just nodded at him before he went to the centre of the tender and extended his hand in front of his face. Dan watched with interest as the same thing he saw last time started appearing, what seemed like a continuously branching upside-down family tree manifested on his hand.

  Dan didn't know what the skill did the last time they were fighting the Ghostly Lantern, too many support skills were being thrown around after all. This time though, there was only Martin with them, and he tried to pinpoint what it was that the weird skill did, but unfortunately, he couldn't find anything odd about himself.

  Shaking his head, he decided to leave that aside and focus on the matter at hand.

  Not long after, the first shot rang.