Major Ironhammer was not a nice man, and Jasper did not want to have a meeting with him. In fact, he was currently lost, on purpose. Hoping that he would be too late to attend. This was not necessarily a good thing however, the wrath of a happy Major Ironhammer was slightly better than that of an irritated one.

Currently, he was about 30 seconds late and could “Find” his way to the office. Perhaps this would be for the better, or perhaps he could jump out the window. A broken leg would make for a good excuse. But then he would have to stare at the drab stone walls of the guard keep for the next few weeks.

Not that it was any different from the current walls he was staring at. Veneris Keep was a dull stone bricked building that had been extended so many times in the past few hundred years that some rooms were completely lost to the passage of time. The old soldiers told new recruits that more than one recruit had been lost forever in the passages, starving to death within the stone walls.

Jasper had believed those stories once, but as long as you kept to lit passages you would be fine. Even then the unlit ones were few and far between lost in bureaucracy or such nonsense. Empty storage rooms and forgotten passages.

It had now been nearly a minute with him being "lost", he made up his mind and began sprinting to his meeting. Being out of breath and saying he got lost may just save his life.

He burst up to the meeting door and knocked three booming knocks. He made sure he was taking huge gulping breaths, his heart rate naturally accelerating. The large iron-bound oak door seemed to grow before him. The lamps in the corridor fading and growing darker.

Thankfully before he could faint, he heard a “Get your fucking asssssss in here, you're nearly five minutes late, what the hell have you been doing. Expecting me to wait like some maid, what do you have to say for yourself, I bet you have some excuse; Well I don't want to hear it, I want you to get this mission done.” This was screamed at him through the open door. Spittle, Phlegm and abuse had been hurled at him the moment the door swung open and he had taken a step back from the doorway, a know doubt fearful expression on his face.

Seeing the commanders face reddening he quickly snapped into a salute. “Sir, Sergeant Jasper Reporting for duty…”

“I bloody well know who you are dimwit. Collect your men and cull the goddamn monster population near Riverwatch. The fucking peasants are complaining of elves, dragons and who else knows goddamn what.” The Captain had exploded again but seemed to calm after this tirade and didn't scream his next sentence.

Now that he wasn't cringing Jasper could once again appreciate how fat and angry the Major was. A huge pile of paperwork sitting on his desk with boxes and other official items sitting around his desk was probably the explanation. His big white beard and tight officer's uniform were accompanied by an oddly mismatched open front helmet. His beet-red face would suggest that he drank a lot but this could not be farther from the truth.

No, the Major did not drink. The only thing contributing to his red face was shouting and stress. At 30 he looked about ready to keel over and die. If he had not been Level 52 he very well might have

“Sergeant Jasper, we just need you to make a good impression with the locals, fly the banners around a little bit. You know the usual, find some ferocious monster and stick its head on a pole. Make the village feel safe.”

“You will be part of a larger team lead by Captain Vox, each of the sub-teams will be sent to a local village in Lord Roster's territories as part of his new prosperity plan, god help us”

“You leave tomorrow morning, prepare your men. Dismissed”

“Sir” Jasper said in a crisp tone and left the room shutting the door behind him. He then leaned against a wall and slid to the floor. ‘God that was stressful’ was the only thought he could muster.

A few minutes later, just to make sure he could stand. Jasper ambled off with sad thoughts about the long expedition he was about to undertake.

Rue woke up and instantly knew she had slept a lot longer than intended. Her cave was still black and charred, but the clearing outside was beginning to have smaller shrubs and clumps of grass grow back around the edges. Some more hardy plants sprouting in the centre of the clearing. Perhaps she had slept for a few days? Was this because of her injured state or just a long rest?

Rue got up and stretched her muscles, they felt fully recovered from the bruising the Brown Dragon had caused. Her scales looked a bit dull so she set about cleaning them with her flexible neck.

Once this was complete she felt the hunger set in, not eating anything for such a long time would be detrimental for most creatures, but it just made Rue irritable. Her desire to burn things was raised by several degrees. Not to ash mind you, they still need to be edible.

Rue walked outside and raised her wings giving them some experimental flaps. They felt stronger, perhaps…

She used her powerful leg muscles to jump over a meter into the air and gave a powerful flap downwards with her wings. It arrested her momentum from falling downwards but she could not keep herself in the air for long.

After just over two seconds she came back down to earth disappointed, but hopeful of the future.

She raised her nose and began to sniff, looking for today's meals. She smelled something big, but it had a strange smell. Large but weak was her impression of it. There was a lot of the smell.

She bounded off in the direction of the scent, her powerful legs eating up the distance as she used her wings and agility to vault over obstacles.

Merely 15 minutes later she crested on the edge of the forest looking down into a small valley with a lake. There were fields of green grass bordering the lake, a river emptied from a small 10-meter waterfall into the lake below.

Rue quickly zeroed in on the animals she had been looking for. She crouched behind a small rock outcrop on the edge of the forest. They were large fluffy creatures, with dirty brown and curly fur. They were grouped up into a herd nearly 50 strong with the young in the centre. They grazed in the long grass of the scenic valley, but members of the herd were always on the lookout.

[Sheep {Young} Lv1] Was the lowest, a young lamb and [Sheep {Elder Ram} Lv 14] Was the highest. Despite the large creature's bulk and its relatively high level, it was a prey animal. It only offensive weapons, what looked to have once been horns had been cut short. Close to its head there stumps just poked out from there thick fur.

Rue licked her teeth. This was practically a walking feast. Meat and levels, she had decided were her favourite things. That and winning challenges. Rue gave a satisfied smirk as she remembered bathing her enemies in fire.

Deciding to abandon caution to the wind she leapt from behind the rocks and sprinted towards the walking meet.

The sheep seeing a streak of red dashing down the slope started bleating desperately and formed a tight herd that began to move in the opposite direction of their impending doom.

Sheep were not very intelligent, and one thing Rue perhaps loved more than feasting...Large flammable targets.

As she neared the herd, now only 20 meters away she took in a deep breath and prepared her new Dragon Breath. Using a power inside of her, she used its latest upgrade. She released her building attack when she leapt into the air and flapped her wings gaining a few meters of height and sailed forward.

The fire shot forward with over twice as much fore and distance, as usual, the peak of the cone reaching a devastating 12 meters from her maw. This cone of fire bathed close to a quarter of the herd in a deep red white, glowing flame. She could feel the magical effect forcing the flames to burn hotter, longer. The once purely biological attacks now tinged a darker red yet burning white-hot at the edges. Like two powerful colours that seemed to overlap and fight for dominance. The flames stuck to the animals and crawled over them. High pitched bleating and cries of burning balls of sheep rang across the meadow as the herd scattered.

Despite the complete destruction of her prey's defensive formation, Rue was not having a good time. There was a cold and sharp pain in her chest and head. A small rivulet of blood flowed from her nose.

Groggily she staggered and toppled to the floor, slumped amidst the piles of burning bodies and scorched grass.

Rue struggles two put two thoughts together in her head as she heard loud grunting sounds that seemed awfully familiar. The resource that she had used to power the breath weapon was completely used up. Her natural fire liquid was only partially depleted.

Over the next few minutes, the grunting and screaming died down and the painful empty feeling subsided. Rue got to her feet, much steadier than before and gazed at the destruction she had caused. It was magnificent.

She reared up on her hind legs spreading her wings and roared. This caused no small amount of discomfort, but she weathered. The intimidating sound rippled across the valley and made any remaining animals flee for their lives.

One small group of creatures however merely took several steps back. They were only 10 meters away from the beast and must have felt the full force of Rue’s skills but held fast.

As she came back down to the ground huffing with the satisfaction she looked up and towards the creature as movement caught her eyes.

Both parties froze.

[Human {Herder} Lv 14]

She inspected the others, only moving her eyes.

[Human {Herder} Lv 9]

[Human {Herder} Lv 11]

[Human {Hunter} Lv 21]

[Human {Hunter} Lv 19]

[Human {Fisher} Lv 9]

Humans…...