“Sure,” Peniel answered.
‘Then you know the monsters we will be encountering along the way too, don’t you?’
“What are you getting at?”
‘Well, I thought if we can guess which monster we can hit on the road. Why not do the hunting quests at the same time?’
Jack sensed Peniel gave this matter some thought in her hidden dimension, before he heard her voice again, “I cannot say for sure the exact path that duke’s expedition will take, but considering the large numbers of traveling units, I can make an educated guess. So yes, I can most likely know which monsters should appear on the way.”
‘Great! Let’s go take the hunting quests then,’ Jack said excitedly.
Inside the Hunters Association building, Peniel advised him to go to the Silver Hall directly. No need to take the Bronze Hall quest anymore. There are plenty of Silver Hall monsters that they could encounter on the road to the temple, so better take those high-grade ones for more amount of points.
Jack followed her instructions and applied for ten specific monsters. Peniel mentioned that though these monsters might not be the ones with the highest points they could meet on the road, they were the ones that they were most likely to meet.
These monsters were Flame Tiger, Tri-colored Cockatrice, Violent Ape, Vanishing lemur, Poisonous Giant Bee, Bewitching Spider, Giant Scorpion, Eight-legged Mare, Shadow Bat, Wind Elemental. All of them were grade B difficulty, except for Poisonous Giant Bee and Shadow Bat which were grade C difficulty.
There was still some time left until the rendezvous time at the tavern. He decided to go back to the noble district and headed to Commander Quintus’ mansion. When he arrived, neither commander Quintus nor Lindsey was at home. But the steward allowed him to use the Training Ground after he paid with Merit points. He paid 20 merit points for two sessions of training, which lasted for six hours.
During this recent week where he filled it with monster grindings, adventure quests, hunting quests, and facing the challenges of all those players, he had upgraded another two of his skills. Parry and Magic Shield had upgraded to their second star. The other skills’ proficiencies had also risen steadily. With the help of his Hard-working Achiever title, the time needed for his skills to improve had also shortened.
After finished using his time at the Training Ground, he had only managed to upgrade another one of his skills to its second star, Swing. But his other skills’ proficiencies had also increased greatly. Especially his Energy Bolts, it was not long before it would reach its second star as well. His Ice Ring was also about to arrive at its first star, because it carried over the proficiency from its past version spell, Mana Detonation.
Since it’s almost time, he hailed a carriage that brought him straight to Raven’s Den. When he arrived, Bowler and The Man were already there, or perhaps, they had been there all along. These two were known as this place’s frequent patrons, after all.
Jack greeted them. The Man was level 21 already, same as him. Bowler was level 20. There were several of The Man’s rough-looking crews as well there, ranging around level 19 and 20. He counted them, there were seven of them apart from The Man.
“These are all your men from Men of Solidarity who had passed their advanced class trial?” Jack asked The Man. He had asked all the ones he invited to bring along their friends who had become an advanced class as well. But of course, he also told them that the ones they brought should be ones that could be trusted as well.
“There are another two more, but they are tied up with some other matter at the moment,” The Man answered.
Jack nodded, then gestured to them to follow him.
“We are not talking here?” Bowler asked.
“Too open,” Jack explained to him. “We are going upstairs.”
“To one of those VIP rooms?” Bowler was excited. He had visited this place regularly but never went into those exclusive rooms upstairs, on account of it charged an additional fee for each hour of usage. Jack, on the other hand, had been in one of those rooms before when Silverwing invited him to meet with the Wicked Witches people, when they were discussing about raiding the Giant Ants’ Dungeon.
Jack called for a waitress and told her he would like to rent one of those private rooms on the second floor. He had even asked for the largest one available. Bowler and The Man could only gape when Jack made the request. The waitress required him to pay a non-refundable 2 gold coins first for such a room. That deposit would be for the first two hours. If he was still using the room after that two hours had passed, he would need to pay an additional 1 gold coin for each hour.
The waitress brought the group up to the second floor after Jack completed the deposit process. On the way, Jack messaged the others who had not shown up to go directly to the second floor once they arrived.
When Jack and the other entered this private room, Jack found it to be almost three times bigger than the one Silverwing had used in the past. There were ten of them including Jack, they did not take up even half of the room. The ones who were not here yet were only Fierce Flame, Saint John, and Jeanny. His friend list was a short one, after all. They should have no problem fitting into this room. Unless of course, if they brought along too many of their friends with them.
They chatted inside this private room as they waited. Jack ordered ale for everyone, the waitress came in and brought his order not long after. The first one to arrive after they were in this private room was Fierce Flame. She had also reached level 21. There was again the small cub trailing at her back. The cub looked a bit bigger than last time.
The room got considerately livelier once she showed up. Considering all those in the room were male before she entered, it was entirely normal. However, those who dared to try getting too close to her got a surprise bite from her protector cub.
Saint John arrived after, bringing two people who Jack and the others also knew of, Pointy Tip and Weird Trap. John was level 21, Weird Trap had become a level 20 Archer, Pointy Tip was a level 19 Mage. Jack thought they were a team with a rather weird composition. They were all ranged-offensive classes.
Weird Trap noticed the little cub cuddling beside Fierce Flame, he immediately went to her. He started asking for advice regarding the pet taming process. He was level 20 already so he had gained that skill as well. He just not yet had the success in taming one. Considering Weird Trap was not approaching her with unsavory intention, the little Savage Wind Wolf did not show hostility. Much to the jealousy of the others from Men of Solidarity.
Bowler who was talkative all this while became considerably mum once John showed up. Combined with Men of Solidarity’s silent and envious gazes at Weird Trap, the room turned incredibly hushed.
Jack was speechless by this turn of events, but he was even more speechless when John commented on it, “did I walk into a graveyard or what?”
His remark immediately received harsh backlashes from Bowler and the men from Men of Solidarity. However, despite those severe responses, he still shamelessly walked over and sit by Jack’s side as if he did not hear a word of their scoldings.
“So what is this gathering all about?” He asked once he sat down. “I see you have collected quite a motley crew of duds here.”
“Can you please not insult people every time you open your mouth,” Jack said. “We are still one person short, I will explain once she arrived.”
“She?”
“It’s Jeanny. You know her already, don’t you? He came with you last time at the Crestfall Plain.”
“Oh, that lass. I was simply picking up any stragglers who were willing to follow me at the time. When she heard your name came up, she became very eager to join. I totally had no idea who she was at all. What’s up between you and her anyway? You two seemed close.”
“We do? That time was actually the third time I met with her. She was a good person to talk to. Otherwise, we are only simple acquaintances.”
“Really? Hm… Well, if you say so.”
“Are you trying to imply something?” Jack said with raised eyebrows.
“Nope, nothing at all,” John replied. “You are paying for the drinks, right? Can I order anything? Or is there a limitation?”
