“So, what should we do next?” Sophie asked “The elves forced Jade and her people to leave the wolf den. I checked and the system gave me a failure for the wolf den quest. That means the elves have successfully completed the quest.” Sophie frowned and continued speaking. “We can try and head to the spider den but we might experience the same thing as Jade. I think the elves are there or on their way there.”

“I think we should give up,” Jason said. “We should head back to the house we built in the trees and relax.”

“I also think I had enough fighting for one day,” Shane added.

Zane frowned as he listened to what Shane and Jason said. He was familiar with the way Jason thought and knew that he would prefer to spend his time studying magic rather than fighting in the forest. From the spar they had at the training ground Zane could tell that Shane was someone who enjoyed fighting. If Shane didn’t want to fight anymore than he was probably tired. After all, leveling up wasn’t the perfect way to recover from exhaustion.

“We would like to separate from the group,” Lana said.

Zane was surprised to hear this. Looking around he could see that everyone else was too. Before Lana spoke, he heard her whispering to her sister but he wasn’t paying close attention to what they were saying. Their desire to leave was something that caught him completely off guard.

“What’s wrong?” Sophie asked. “Is it because Jason and Shane want to head back?” Zane watched as Lana shared a look with her sister and give each other a nod.

“Both of us feel like you guys are too slow.” Lana said.

After looking at Lana in silence for a few second Sophie spoke. “You think we’re too slow?” Lana and Luna nodded in response. “I don’t understand. If you want to move faster you can do that without leaving the group. We can do a lot more when we work together. We were able to kill a tier one mana creature. I don’t think the two of you would be able to do that on your own.”

“It’s not that we don’t like being in the group,” Luna said in an apologetic tone. “The truth is we’re use to moving on our own and we think that is our best option for now.”

Hearing Luna’s words made Zane’s eyes light up. They group had completed a difficult quest and kill a tier one mana creature. That’s why he was surprised to hear Luna and Lana wanted to leave. At first, he couldn’t understand why they would be willing to leave the group but know he did. Seeing the frown on Sophie’s face he decided to explain things to her from his point of view.

“I think I understand why they want to leave and I agree.”

“You do?” Sophie asked.

Zane nodded. “I don’t know if I can perfectly explain their reasoning so I will start by explaining my own.”

“Your own?” Sophie’s eyes widened in surprise. “Don’t tell me you want to leave too?”

Zane only smiled at Sophie before he continued speaking. “The only fighting I did with the group was the fight with the panther and the fights we had in the bear den. When we traveled through the forest I stood at the side and wasn’t able to fight at all. Staying in the group means I get very few opportunities to fight. I’m still able to earn experience toward my next level and there will be other opportunities to improve my skill if I stay with the group. The main reason I want to leave is because I’m bored. The forest is to exciting and interesting for me to spend my time standing on the sidelines.”

Zane waived his hand toward Luna and Lana. “Luna and Lana are faster than all of us. They could explore a lot of the forest if the rest of us weren’t holding them back. We’re too slow and forcing them to stay with the group would be unfair. I will say that I don’t want to leave permanently and I don’t think they do either. If there is a group mission to complete or a tier one mana creature to kill then we can all get together. Otherwise, I think its important for each of us to follow our own path. Teacher said that it doesn’t matter how closely intertwined two people’s paths are or how similar they look, everybody has a unique path that they must walk.”

Zane watched everyone’s face as he spoke. They each had different expressions that changed multiple times but, in the end, they nodded with thoughtful expressions. Zane knew that all of them expected they would face all dangers together. The only time they separated was when they went to their specific training ground. They were told to look out for each other but that didn’t mean they had to be around each other all the time.

“What you said makes sense,” Shane said. “I want to improve my skills as a warrior but I also want to train to become a smith.”

“Right,” Sophie said. “Jason and I have magic to research while Shawn would be better of talking to trees than fighting. I guess it really it is time for us to separate.”

“So, do we split up right now?” Jason asked.

“No. First we’re all going to head back to the shelter before anyone leaves. Does anyone have any complaints about that?” Everyone nodded after seeing Sophie’s challenging gaze. “Good. Everyone should have some system messages to look at. Once everyone is ready, we can leave.”

Zane and the others nodded as they began to focus on themselves. Zane didn’t immediately start looking at his system messages and instead he decided to checkout his equipment. Specifically, Zane looked at his training clothing.

Item Name: Zane’s Training Headband

Item Type: Armor

Level: 10

Durability: Infinite

Grade: Growth

Description: An ordinary cloth headband given meaning through blood and powerful magic.

Abilities: Gives a slight enhancement to the mind and soul. Improves training efficiency. Self-repairing. Int+2 Wis+2 Per+2 Will+6

Defense: 30

Requirements: Soul Bound

Item Name: Zane’s Training Shirt

Item Type: Armor

Level: 10

Durability: Infinite

Grade: Growth

Description: An ordinary cloth shirt given meaning through blood and powerful magic.

Abilities: Gives a slight enhancement to defense and endurance. Improves training efficiency. Self-repairing. End+5 Str+1 Vit+4 Will+2

Defense: 70

Requirements: Soul bound

Item Name: Zane’s Training Gloves

Item Type: Armor

Level: 10

Durability: Infinite

Grade: Growth

Description: An ordinary pair of gloves given meaning through blood and powerful magic.

Abilities: Gives a slight boost to affinity with weapons. Improves training efficiency. Self-repairing. Str+7 End+3 Int+1 Dex+1

Defense: 25

Requirements: Soul bound

Item Name: Zane’s Training Belt

Item Type: Armor

Level: 10

Durability: Infinite

Grade: Growth

Description: An ordinary training belt given meaning through blood and powerful magic.

Abilities: Gives a slight boost to recovery. Increases training proficiency. Self-repairing. Vit+7 End+5

Defense: 20

Requirements: Soul bound

Item Name: Zane’s Training Pants

Item Type: Armor

Level: 10

Durability: Infinite

Grade: Growth

Description: An ordinary cloth pants given meaning through blood and powerful magic.

Abilities: Gives a slight enhancement to agility and endurance. Improves training efficiency. Self-repairing. Str+1 Dex+4 End+5 Will+2

Defense: 50

Requirements: Soul bound

Item Name: Zane’s Training Shoes

Item Type: Armor

Level: 10

Durability: Infinite

Grade: Growth

Description: An ordinary pair of training shoes given meaning through blood and powerful magic.

Abilities: Gives a slight enhancement to movement and balance. Increases training proficiency. Self-repairing. Dex+7 Str+2 End+3

Defense: 10

Requirements: Soul bound

Set Defense: 37

Set Effect (6 pieces): Able to instantly recover total health, stamina and mana once every 24 hours.

Zane felt his clothing’s level increase when the mana released from the crystal finished dissipating. Zane wanted to immediately check the improvements but decided to wait until they separated from Jade’s group. He had expected his clothing to level up during the mana surge but nothing happened. The wait was longer than expected but it was worth it. Zane was happy about the increase in stats but he was excited about the set effect and the change to the item type.

The set effect was equivalent to giving Zane an extra life and he would be able to use it as long as he wore every single training item. He also received an increase to his overall defense when his training gear changed from clothing to armor. Each item now had a defensive value that would provide protection to Zane and each item would receive an increase to their defense when he wore all of them together.

The more Zane looked at his training gear the better it looked to his eyes. Its outer appearance didn’t change but its quality had a great improvement. Eventually Zane pulled his eyes away from his training gear and started to focus on his system messages.

Congratulations! You have been awarded the title Tier One Killer I

Tier One Killer Ⅰ:

You have managed to kill a tier one being that was a higher level than you.

10% decrease in the cost of tier Ⅰ skills

The first system message Zane looked at was the one regarding his new title. This title was unique because the system offered three options. The ability to increase attack against tier one and lower beings by 10%, the ability to increased defense and the option Zane chose. After making his decision Zane started to assign the stat points, he received from his level up. Zane assigned three stat points to will power and two stat points to all other stats except endurance. Next Zane looked at his final message which was a pleasant surprise.

Hidden reward: You receive 10% of all items purchased at the Market for destroying a den during your first night at the starting village.

After he finished taking a final look Zane stood up. Glancing around he could see that everyone else was ready. They exchange a few words before they began walking to where they entered from.

After the group exited the former bear den, Sophie reminded them to use mental communication. The trip back to the shelter was similar to the trip to the bear den. The difference was they encountered one less monster than before and they traveled a lot faster. Once the group reached the tree Luna climbed up and dropped down a rope. When Luna climbed down, they all gathered around the rope in silence.

“Well, I guess you guys should start climbing up,” Zane said.

“We’re waiting for you guys to leave,” Sophie replied. “It feels like we’re abandoning the three of you by staying behind. The least we can do is see you off.”

“I was planning on making sure everyone climbed up safely before I left but we can do it your way too. Since you want me to leave first then I’ll leave.”

Zane said good bye while wishing Luna and Lana good luck. He waved his arm as he jogged away from the group. His eyes blazed with fighting spirit.