That is, everyone except me and Bones, we stay put for a little longer. With Bones slowing down the drider and keeping them from attacking me. Once I am fully surrounded I use the last of my divine power to cast Holy Light again.

Then I calmly walk back to the barrier through the drifting ash. Bones follows me as far as the barrier but when I pass through he doesn't follow. Instead he turns and starts fighting the driders when they get close enough.

Leaving him to fight I walk around to each of the others and touch them with the cleaning stone. Considering everyone is covered in blood and gore, not to mention a layer of ash, they are grateful. Once everyone is clean I sit down and wait until everyone has caught their breath.

"So, ready for your evaluations?"

Isabella says "Sure, but before that, is Bones okay over there by himself?"

"Yeah, he's fine. He is a battle maniac, he will sulk if I pull him away too soon."

Isabella says "Oh, okay."

"Let's start with you. From what I can see you have trouble controlling all your summons at once. For that you probably just need practice. The fact that you stepped up as leader was impressive and you did a good job at it."

Isabella says "Thank you!"

"Nived, your combat spells are impressive, but you seem to be lacking on other spells. You should learn some control spells to balance you out. A mage should focus on keeping enemies from reaching himself."

Nived says "What do you mean by control spells?"

"Spells to control your enemy's movement. Like walls of earth or fire to make them detour. Or spells to freeze them so they can't move as fast."

Nived says "Okay, I will ask Yui."

Myria says "What about me?"

"Your archery is good, you didn't miss once. Every arrow you fired was a kill. The only problems I saw were running out of arrows, and your lack of awareness."

Myria says "What do you mean?"

"You only focused on your target, you didn't pay attention to what was happening around you or to your teammates."

Myria says "Okay, I will work on that."

Nived says "Hey, weren't we supposed to get experience from this?"

"Yes, we should have. Wait, it must be the fact that Bones is still fighting."

That said, I walk over to the barrier, reach through, and grab Bones by the shoulder. Then I pull him backwards through the barrier, ending the fighting. He immediately turns to me and gives me a look of disappointment for ruining his fun.

382 Zombies defeated! 3820 Exp gained!

431 Skeletons defeated! 5388 Exp gained!

672 Driders defeated! 33600 Exp gained!

'Weird, that's only half what I would normally have gotten. It must be because the group is larger.'

Myria says "Awesome! I gained three levels!"

Nived says "Lucky! I only got one."

Isabella says "I got three as well, this has been a good day!"

"Alright, let's head up, maybe Core will be nice and feed us."

Kechara and Asuna immediately take off running up the stairs at the mention of food. The others aren't far behind them, even though the battle was short they all worked up an appetite. The only one who doesn't move is Bones, he is still looking towards the barrier.

Bones says "Master, please?"

"Fine, go fight."

He goes charging off through the barrier as I start walking up the stairs behind the others. As I look out over the city I wonder what it would be like without the driders. Maybe Core would allow the beastmen to take it over once the matriarch is dead.

Core says "It looks like things went well?"

"Decent at least. There is room for improvement, but everyone made it without serious injury."

Core says "That's good. Would you like some food or are you returning to the tower?"

"I would like to stay if it's not too much trouble."

Myria says "I will stay with Ash."

Nived says "I need to get back to the tower, I haven't finished today's lessons."

Isabella says "I will go back too, I want to read more about summons."

"The library has books about summoning?"

Isabella says "Oh, yes! There are six books just about the various summons the old mages knew about. I gained a new summon just by reading!"

"That's impressive. I need to find some time to browse the library."

Isabella says "You should, there are a lot of great books!"

Core says "It will only get worse as my race's knowledge is added to the library."

Myria says "Roddick and Belliza may have to be removed by force!"

"That is why I brought the beastmen, they will follow Yui's orders."

Core says "That is a wise move. Now, let's eat!"

Asuna stays with us and eats with Kechara, Nived and Isabella go back to the tower. We eat quietly, it is a comfortable quiet and makes the food taste better somehow. Watching Myria's face as she tries some of the elven delicacies is quite entertaining.

"Core, in my world elves were portrayed as the masters of the bow. Were your people like that?"

Core says "Somewhat, mostly among those living in the surface cities. The only master archers we had here were the scouts."

"Did they have nifty magical bows and quivers?"

Core says "Well, I am not sure what you mean by Nifty, but yes, they were magical."

"Any chance one of the scouts died in the city?"

Core says "It is possible."

"Could you search for the bow and quiver? Like you did with the backpack?"

Core says "Sure, give me a minute."

Myria says "What are you planning, Ash?"

"Hopefully, I am going to get you a new bow and quiver."

Myria says "Don't take any risks for my sake!"

"Taking risks is what I do!"

Core says "Found one!"

"Excellent, where is it?"

Core says "In one of the garrisons inside the city wall."

"Can you show me?"

Core says "It is here."

A map of the city appears and there is a red dot inside a part of the southern wall. It is about midway between the south and east gates, but I don't see an access point. Meaning I have to go in through one of the gate buildings which could be a problem.

"Core, aside from the gates are there any other ways inside the walls?"

Core says "No."

"If I enter a gate from this side will the guardians activate?"

Core says "No, not as long as you do not go through the gate. The guardians only monitor the area outside the gate."

"Okay, then this should be fairly easy. Be back in a little bit."