We all left together. My party of fifteen, and the 16 others whom were not chosen. First things first, we went and caught Vy some new pets. There were no dogs, so instead, we got her two wolves, an alpha wolf, and two twin tailed foxes. We wanted to get her some goblins originally, but it would seem her tame isn't strong enough to capture sentient beings even if they're classified as monsters. It's fine though, cause the foxes have a magical ranged attack. I wanted to keep Vy to one type of creature until she was more capable, but I don't think that'll help any of us, we need to push ourselves.

Of course, some of my constituents were bored, to say the least. However I fixed that quickly. We veered off the Main road. not too far that we couldn't find it again, but far enough that monster attacks became far more frequent. I finally had a chance to test my formations.

We started with the custom ones that I had came up with on my own. These were the same ones that we had been using since the beginning. A large group of goblins came out in response to our numbers, around 35 or so. Which would have been fine… but they were riding wolves.

“Alright, my originals know how it's done, watch them! Arrowhead formation! Break their charge! defensive types up front! Magic types in back, be prepared to move!” I said. This is kinda bad.I didn't think that this many would appear at once. I forgot the newbies aren't used to my methods, did I try to push them too hard, too quickly? We charged forward regardless.

Raknar led the formation, knocking back a good number of goblin riders with [Shield Bash]. the other melee fighters did their best to remain in formation and knock down goblins, effectively ending their charge. I quickly ordered everyone to switch to diamond formation, a four-sided defensive formation wherein the melee fighters form the outside layer, and range fighters for the inside.

I gotta say, it's the best one I've come up with by myself, because it can easily be switched to from the arrowhead formation. Unfortunately, a lot of them weren't used to my play style, and the formation formed slower than it should've. A few wolves got in. I was worried for a moment, after all, it only takes a few enemies inside to make the whole thing crumble. Or so i've been told from the history channel I've been watching with increased vigour.

Anyway, Dave and Moxxie engage the few that got in, and keep them busy while the formation solidified. I’d like to take a moment and appreciate how much they've grown, but alas, I don't have the time. The wolves are rallying around and attacking the two front sides. Ahh but here is my formation’s time to shine. The melee fighters have tightened up the formation, and now, it's time to counterstrike.

“All long range fighters! Commence bombardment!”

In history books, reenactments, and mainstream movies, I always wondered why when the hand to hand combat starts, all ranged combat stops. Well i realize the chance for friendly fire is there, but here, that chance is considerably lessened. The mages and long range fighters shoot the goblin riders down with impunity, and the enemy can't do anything about it, because the melee fighters are in the way. in a matter of a few minutes, the goblins are handled.

Level up!

Leadership +15

Not bad, actually, that was fairly quick for a level growth. Then again, I had been close to lvl. 18 when I died. While everyone was grinning and patting each other on the back, I was approached by a woman. she was taller than me, and rather muscular, with short dirty blonde hair, but she had an unmistakably girlish face. I [Analyze] her, and find out her name. Happyko. She’s fairly famous around these parts, certainly more so than me. Happyko ‘The Massacre’ was known for brutally chopping down men and beasts alike with her great axe, though she doesn't have the murderer’s mark.

“Well now, you did a right good job, there. Usually, most mind work these brats put into fightin is ‘fighters in front, mages in back’. Aint seen no type o’ strategy since i was with ” She said. Her southern accent was strong, but she made no attempt to soften it.

“You were with ” I ask. I figured I had time to talk, seeing as all the loot had been gathered, and we we're all beginning to move again.

“Indeed, Captain of the 22nd land division’s 3rd squad under Skullkin himself, I was. 100 men sayin ‘yes ma'am and no ma’am’, it was quite entertainin.”

“Then why aren't you with them now?”

“You quite the curious one ain’t ya? Well if you must know, it stopped being fun. is called an elite guild for a reason. Every elite guild has their own specialty, and is known for being the most militaristic. Their discipline is why they win, but first n foremost, this here’s a game. It's posed to be fun. They play so seriously, I'm thinkin they lost sight of that, but I never did, so I left.” she said.

“Wow that's uh… that's crazy.”

“Mmmm, it was. I just hope you don't end up the same way sweetheart, I can tell that's where you headin. Oh and, by the by, you may wish to stop fraternizin and fightin alongside us rejectees, otherwise we may end up thinkin we goin. Quit a few of us are itchin to get our resumes in to you for reconsideration, myself included. A d-rank quest aint exactly common sweetheart.” She said with a wink before strolling off.

After that, just as she said, I was approached by several more people. They tried several different methods to enter my party, not the least common of which were bribery and flirtation. Even from some of the guys….

Anywho, after that, I began keeping my party a bit more separate from the others, a few more paces ahead, usually. Not much, but enough to get some sort of separation. The day ended after several more fights. That night, I separated us into two camps. Unfortunately, while the others had an adventurer type player, they didn't have a thaumaturge.

The adventurers’ [Campsite] skill repelled monsters at night, the effect wasn’t 100%. but we had both Moxxie’s [Campsite] and Leai’s [Anti-Monster Field] so even if monsters aren't repelled by the fire, they still won’t be able to get passed the field at their level. The same couldn't be said for our associates. I heard them get attacked at least twice.

In the morning, we continued on our way. It was a fairly calm travelling, and we we're almost to the crossroads, where we would separate, when we encountered something.

The Roaming Boss: Sakon, the Three-Tailed Fox. It was level 25 and had several two tailed minions that seemed somewhat bigger than normal ones.

This is bad. Bad, and yet good at the same time. Worst comes to worst, we die, but the experience, combined with the possible rewards we're too great to ignore. This boss had never been encountered before, so we had no info on it and there was a significant level difference. But we had numbers and tactics on our side.

“Reverse Diamond formation!” I shout. It was a new formation I had come up with on our journey, for surrounding our opponents. I made it with the idea of trapping monsters for Vy, should we need to again. While the four-sided diamond shape remained the same, as the name implied, the positions were reversed. There was space occupied by the Boss and his minions in the middle, with the melee classes surrounding them, and ranged classes on the outside.

The “ rejectees” which we had been separating from joined us as we took on the beasts. We We focused on the minions first. We needed to minimize the damage that could be done to us, rather than focus on trying to end this quickly regardless of the losses. Efficiency over effectiveness, I suppose. The boss was incredibly powerful, every time it attacked, someone lost a pretty good portion of health. But the minions were less so.

Their magical attacks we're strong like the bosses, but their physical attacks were pitiful. I ordered the formation to tighten, while focusing on buffing and healing. I didn't realize how hard it would be, doing this all by myself. I really have to invest in a priest or cleric or something later. Incidentally, our Thaumaturge is shining in this battle. Because we keep the enemy enclosed in the formation, she can set up her corrosive field and not have to worry about the enemy escaping. The minions we're all dead, and the battle would soon be over.. Or so we thought.

When the Boss’s health dropped below 5%, it's behavior changed drastically. It’s attack became drastically increased, as well as its speed. It began lashing out violently. we had deaths almost occur several times. Luckily, I was bringing my A-game, and the wizard had prepared potions beforehand to sell to us at the crossroads. Sadly for him, he had to give them out for free now or we would all die.

The three-tailed fox found a chink in our formation just as his health was running out. We thought he was going to escape, but when he broke out of the formation, he doubled back and began barraging us with magical blasts from his tails. the effect was devastating. A nearby Axeman died from a direct hit. We began slowly trying to retreat, but it was so fast, it would just circle around us and fire some more before running through the camp and slashing at us . The other druid(not ours) was the next to die.

“Locke! block it off, try to trap it! it only needs a few more hits! Everyone else focus on offense!” I’m trying to take back control of the situation, but it isn't going well. Luckily, Locke does as I ask, and starts putting up walls of earth , blocking the fox. A few people start attacking as I said, but about half are still just trying to steer clear of the monster. The fox lunged out, seeking one last victim, one last person to take with it to the grave.

It’s eyes set on Thelia. She had been one of the ones trying to avoid it, which I could understand, as she can't really attack much anyway. But their eyes locked, and that was the only verification the fox needed. It rushed toward her, it's malicious intent obvious. Locke tried to block it, but the fox had seen that trick too many times. It jumped just as the wall was coming up, using it to launch itself at it's target. Raknar yelled out. he knew he wouldn't make it in time. but I was a lot closer. I could.

I had already started running towards Thelia the moment I saw the fox head for her. I didn't really invest in the agility stat, but I pushed myself to the limit. I wouldn't make it in time to push Thelia out of the way. but I could make it in time to intercept the fox, and that's what I did. I launched myself as hard as I could towards the space the Fox would soon occupy and activated my [impact]. I had stuck out my orb at the last second, and the combined physical and magical attack hit the monster directly in it's side, earning me a critical hit.

Level up! x2

For being the first to slay Sakon, the Three-tailed Fox: +200 fame

+50 Leadership

Impact has reached novice level 1!

Now deals two hits!

New Skill: Mana Burst!

Shoots a burst of mana over a short range.

Deals 75 pure magical damage

Mana cost:50

Incantation:Vikt Aarya

Health Channeling has reached novice level 1!

Now relieves pain! Every one point channeled becomes 2 for the target!

New Skill: Group Health Channeling!

Pools Multiple allies health together! Be warned, if all the health disappears, all individuals connected will die.

Limit: 5

Time limit: 5 minutes

I knew it! I knew this would be worth the risk! I finally have a decent magical skill! This also proves a theory I had. But I’ll discuss that later. I look down at the body of the fox. I couldn't see it before, cause he was kinda trying to kill us, but he was truly a beautiful creature. Pure white other than a streak of crimson running from his head to his tails.

I look at the items that dropped, and picked them up. Everyone probably thought I would try to keep it all, but I did something else instead. I gave the four items to the "rejectees". It was the skin of the Fox, some shoes, a robe, and some gem. They we're surprised, but took the items gratefully, and decided amongst themselves who would get what. My group was a bit upset about that, but I explained we would probably get better rewards anyway.

We walked for a few more hours, until we finally reached the crossroads, where we parted into three groups. Me and mine continued heading north, Happyko took a group east towards the Hobgoblin Boss, and the Wizard, Merlinius (how creative) took the others and headed for the copper mines. He probably is upset about the opportunity to sell his potions that he lost. We all exchanged contact info, and parted as friends. Me and my group picked up the pace and hurried down the road until night fall, when we camped out. We had made good time, and we're now fairly close, by noon, we would finally be near our goal: The Boulder Settlement.