Ben decided to go hunting to level up Ava and get some money to spend on himself. He decided to join a hunting party to see how they worked and to protect the rookies. Duke was still with Grayson’s group hunting and training the rookies.

Ben walked down the street, the vendors and stores were in full force and actually had customers in them.

‘Looks like they took my words seriously.’ Ben was glad to see this, it would increase the economy and the city took a cut from every transaction made. Ben greedily watched the city’s treasury grow.

At the gates of the city there was a large group of people gathered around a short bearded man with a large battle axe.

“Listen up! The new City Lord has passed a law that all citizens must be level 30 by the end of the month! Each hunting party is taking a group of people to level up! Anyone who wants to level up can come up and grab a weapon, we will be hunting goblins this morning. Follow us if you want to safely level up, the Bloody Axe hunting party!” the bearded man yelled at the surrounding people. A pile of common weapons were on the ground.

Ben walked up to the bearded man, “Mind if I join your group this morning?”

Bearded man looked up at Ben, his eyes widened in shock, “O-of course! It would be our honour City Lord.” he gave a small bow as he fumbled over his words.

“Call me Ben.” smiling towards the bearded man.

“I’m Jim.” he said.

Whispers surrounded them as they conversed.

“He's the City Lord!?”

“He's a kid!?”

“Look at his tattoo! It’s so lifelike!”

Ben decided to address them directly, “Hello everyone, I’m Ben, Ava and I will be joining you today for this hunt.” Lifting his left arm Ava appeared in all her glory.

“Woooah!”

“Look how beautiful that bird is!”

“Her name is Ava? Does she have intelligence?”

Ben spoke to Ava through their soul connection, ‘Do you want to say something to them?’

Ava nodded her head, “I’m Ava.” she simply said in her beautiful voice.

“S-she spoke?”

“W-whaaaat?!”

Ben jumped on Ava’s back and flew high above the group and flew over the wall and into the wilderness. Ben had asked Ava if he could ride on her back as she flew and she agreed.

He loved the feeling of flying, the wind in his face and the wide open land. It was truly a freeing feeling. The trees were thick and Ben was hardly able to see the land with the exception of a lake here or there.

‘There’s a group of trolls 1km north of us.’ Ava said.

“Well let's go.” Ben spoke a little excited.

Ava let out a loud cry before heading north.

…

Cloey walked around the mansion accompanied by Lily.

Cloey and Lily both felt restless after Ben’s speech yesterday and couldn't sit still.

“Do you want to go shopping?” Cloey asked Lily.

“Is it safe?” Lily asked a little fearful. She was abducted last time she was tried to shop.

Cloey grabbed her hand, “No one would dare touch you and if they did it will be the last thing they do. I promise.” Cloey knew that Lily would forever be scarred by what happened to her and the only thing they could do was slowly wait for her to heal.

“I will go with you my dear if that would help.”

Cathy approached them with a loving look on her face.

“It’s fine Mrs. Arnott, no need to impose on you.” Lily said respectfully.

“It’s fine dear. I have somewhere to go anyway. Let's go together.” Cathy said cheerfully.

The three of them left the mansion and headed towards the main street. The street was packed as usual but there was something different happened.

“Flame Warrior Colton is recruiting for warrior's! Apply here! Good pay and will provide equipment!”

“Ranger James is recruiting for scout like classes! Good pay!”

“The beautiful Mage, Shenelle is recruiting mages for her army division! Learn from the best mage in the city! Good pay and spells provided!”

“The miracle healer, Lilith is recruiting healers. Come join!”

“Holy Knight Lane is looking for valiant warrior's! Equipement is provided and the pay is high!”

People were shouting all over the streets recruiting. Each recruiter had a crowd signing up and asking questions.

“Looks like Ben’s army might actually happen.” Cathy smiled at the sight of the recruiters. She knew that this was part of Ben’s plan to strengthen the city and the sight of it starting to take form made her happy.

Cathy walked up to the healer recruit, “I’d like to apply for the healing division.”

“What is your class miss?” the female recruiter asked.

“Healer.” Cathy replied.

“Please fill out the sheet. The first batch of recruits will meet tomorrow at Lilith’s compound at 1PM.” the recruiter said.

“Thank you.” Cathy replied handing the filled out sheet back to her and joined Cloey and Lily again.

“Mrs. Arnott you plan on joining the army?” Cloey asked surprised.

“Yes. It’s the only way I can help my son.” she gave a small smile.

…

*Slash*

A troll’s head fell to the ground and the body sooned followed. Ben looked over at the remaining troll.

“AAAAAAHHHHH!”

It screamed as black flames covered its body, burning it alive. Ava hovered close by watching as the troll died. The ground was covered in headless trolls and burnt corpses.

Ben checked out Ava’s stats panel.

Ava Lvl 32

Dark Phoenix (Divine Beast)

Element: Black Hell Flame

Mana: 555/631

Vitality (VIT): 152

Strength (STR): 75

Dexterity (DEX): 75

Agility (AGI): 164

Intelligence (INT): 221

Wisdom (WIS): 220

Loyalty- 65%

Skills-

Shape Shifter

Rebirth

Fire Spells

‘10 levels in less than an hour? Now that's power leveling!’

Ava was leveling like crazy and becoming stronger and stronger. Her stats already eclipsed the most powerful mage in the city.

“Ben there is a pack of wolves ahead of us. Should we attack it?” Ava asked.

‘Her senses are incredible, way above mine.’ Ben thought, he couldn't sense these wolves or the trolls in the first place.

“Let’s go meet them first.” Ben said, walking in the direction of the wolves. Maybe it was because of his class but he didn't want to slaughter beast with intelligence. For the monsters he couldn't care but the beast he felt he had a connection to them.

The pack sensed his presence early and retreated back to a large cave. They seemed to sense Ben’s strength because none of them challenged him or attacked. At the mouth of the cave over 100 wolves stood growling at him. These wolves had red fur with black marking on theirs sides. They stood around 1.5m tall and 3m long.

The pack leader emerged from the cave, it stood around 2m tall and 4m long, around the same size as Duke. It’s fur was a deep shade of red and the markings on its side were complex.

‘What do you want human?’ a feminine voice entered Ben’s head.

“Oh so you can talk, good. That makes things easier.” Ben spoke loudly for her to hear.

‘I’m waiting human.’ her voice sounded annoyed.

“I want to enter an agreement with your pack.” Ben spoke bluntly.

‘What's the agreement?’ she asked mildly curious.

“Your pack will help my people scout the area. You can report your findings to a man named James. He will meet you at the human city’s gate that is straight south of here in 2 days. In return, my people won’t hunt or kill any of your pack members and if you find yourselves in trouble you can contact us and I will come assist you.” Ben knew that the most important thing he needed was information. He trusted Deke would set up a powerful intelligence inside the city but he needed information outside the city as well.

This is vital if he wanted to defend from threats and he believed this wolf pack could greatly assist James and his scouts.

‘What do you want us scouting?’ she asked.

“Anything and everything. I need to know what is around the city. The man James is training people to do this job but he will need your help.” Ben hoped that James was the right man for this job.

‘If we are to agree, first you must beat me in combat.’ her voice was filled with battle intent as she stared Ben down.

“Sucker for punishment, eh?” Ben chuckled as he readied his fist, his swords wouldn't be needed.

Eve- Red Forest Wolf Leader

Lvl 51

…