Chapter 21: Group Leveling

"The rest of you lets go, keep your eyes open I don't want any of you dying while we are out there. I want all of us to reach level ten in the next couple of days."

Ivana walked over to Rosario as he turned to head back the way he had come to head to the forest.

Catching up to him she asked. "My lord I don't suppose you would have another weapon on you would you?"

Glancing over at Ivana, Rosario held up his skinning knife. Seeing the constipated look, she gave him as she reached for it, Rosario smirked under his mask. Looking back at those following him Rosario asked.

"Havresh would you be able to identify any ores we come across as we are hiking?"

"Yes, milord." Came the hurried response.

"Good, your job is to keep an eye out for anything useful that we can utilize for blacksmithing or building."

Getting a nod in return Rosario continued forward. Looking at Tormund to his right and Ivana to his left he asked a couple questions he had.

"Does the person who gets the kill have to be the one to absorb the essence?"

"No"

"So, I am going to guess that is how a lot of non-combatants level up? They buy or are given essence crystals from others I assume."

Glancing at Ivana who looked to be trying to remember this information, Tormund answered.

"That is correct my Lord, anyone can absorb the essence crystal after is has been looted from the corpse."

Nodding, while observing Ivana's thoughtful expression Rosario spoke his mind.

"Tormund how come you can remember so much when even though Ivana remembers some things she seems to struggle remembering them?"

"I believe it has something to do with me being your first summon, as you would not know what is going on otherwise. Also having an amnesiac as the first person you meet is not contusive to your success as a Lord, hence I believe more of my memories are allowed through and just my emotions of those memories are repressed."

Hearing this Rosario got lost in thought as their party moved forward.

They had been walking for around two hours by the time they reached an area where they could make their way into the woods. The path they trod was a little steep as they were going off the way Rosario had originally made it to the Plateau, but they didn't have the time to take the whole way. They had left the Plateau around 10 in the morning, so it was approaching noon.

Rosario shared some dry rations and water with them all as they too a half hour break to carve makeshift spears from thick saplings or branches on the edge of the woods. Once they were all equipped with makeshift spears they made their way into the forest with Rosario in the lead.

(Tormund's POV)

Tormund walked directly behind Rosario, he and Ivana had been talking about what they could remember while they were on the mountain but now they had all become silent so as to not scare away potential prey.

He was about 6 feet behind Rosario when he saw Rosario's fist go up in the air. He wasn't sure what it meant but he got the feeling that he should stop where he was as Rosario's body looked tense.

Rosario looked over his shoulder at them and pointed to his left and right, no one knew what his hand signs really meant but they got the hint that he wanted them to try and circle whatever it was that he had seen.

Tormund moved to Rosario's right and realized that they were actually circling a clearing about 50 meters in diameter. In the clearing was a heard of ten what looked to be deer, Tormund wasn't sure what the signal was supposed to be, to attack, but he prepared himself to be ready while thinking. 'This idiot Lord forgot to tell us anything about communication in these instances.'  

After waiting in suspense for another 5 minutes he saw as a streak shot across the clearing and hit the closest Buck to where Rosario had been. The buck that was attached had a spear explode from its side along with an arm.

Time seemed to freeze as both the remaining deer and Rosarios companions stared at the scene before them.

(End POV)

Rosario was a little baffled to say the least. He definitely had killed the buck he was aiming for, but it was in a much different way than he expected. He had singled out the toughest opponent and remembering his own dumbass didn't tell anyone how to communicate he decided to attack first.

What he didn't expect was when he pushed off to run at the deer he moved way quicker than he had expected. It caused him to hurriedly lower his spear and now he stood in the clearing elbow deep in a deer shish kabab. Yanking his arm out Rosario saw Ivana and Bolog had come out of their stupor first and had attacked two deer closest to them while the others began running out.

At this point the deer scattered, they sprinted in every direction especially away from Rosario. Not wanting to let them get away Rosario gave chase while yelling.

"Don't leave the clearing."

Heading his own advice Rosario was only able to catch one other deer before there were none left. Looking around he saw they had successfully gotten 6 of the deer. Ivana, Tormund, Bolog, and Andromina had all killed one while he had killed two.

As he dragged his second kill back to the center of the clearing to meet everyone he could feel the stares on him. "What?"

They all looked at each other before Ivana spoke, she seemed to have become the official spokesperson of the group to him.

"My lord what level are you exactly? Have you completed your first evolution? Is that why none of us recognize your race?"

Furrowing his brows Rosario glanced at Tormund who just shrugged. 'So much for his help.'

"I am level 0; I need another 15 essence to level to 1. Also, I have not evolved yet."

"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

Rosario paused in his movements at Ivanas shout. Looking up at her he saw as she stepped back head bowed.

"I am sorry my lord, I beg you to forgive me for raising my voice. However, what you are saying is extremely hard to believe. For someone to move that quick and have that power they should be at the precipice of the first evolution or just past it."

Looking around at all the faces staring back at him Rosario asked. "Do you all agree with Ivana, is what she says true?"

Seeing them all nod except for Tormund who was dragging over another deer. Rosario was about to speak again when Silph spoke. "I might not remember much other than skills from my previous life, but I do know when I saw your power, immediately my mind associated it with a being that has evolved at least once."

Standing upright Rosario looked at them all. "I am not an evolved being, and I have not leveled up once as of now. That does not mean I have not come across other fortuitous encounters that have increased my strength."

Hearing a quiet snort from Tormund Rosario continued. "As for my race, that is for me to know and me alone. If I want to share it I will but for now it has no bearing on our situation. Now. Lets get these deer looted and get the essence crystals and items."

As Rosario had been addressing everyone Tormund had been dragging the other 4 deer and the first buck over to where Rosario had been standing.

Rosario walked by Tormund and gave him a friendly pat on the back that sent him stumbling forward. "Thank you for lining these up Tormund."

Tormund, smirk wiped away by the *pat* on his back, mumbled a halfhearted "Your welcome."

Crouching down Rosario placed his hand on the Buck like Tormund had told him to do and thought. 'Loot' He watched as the Deer before him slowly faded away into particles that went into his hand.

Thinking about seeing what was in his storage space he found the meat, hide, and essence crystal all things he expected to get. With them though was a blueprint, pulling it out of the storage it appeared in his hand as he read it.