Preparing for the Hunt

Lovo wrote down the names of the creatures he needed to hunt.

1: Grand Mimic

2: Shifter Bear

3: Forest Spirit

- Collect any material from them and blood.

—— 3 months to hunt 3 monsters.

'This should be easy enough.'

"What's the reason for hunting these monsters and collecting both material and blood from them?"

Lord Karik started to chuckle.

"For an event that will happen 6 months from now. You'll need those materials."

"Can you tell me what the event is?"

"Nope."

Lovo just stared at him.

"Is there anything you can tell me?"

"Yes."

Lord Karik closed his jaw for a moment and then reopened it. A small marble sized gem shot out of his mouth and into Lovo's hand. It was a clear gem.

"That's a tracking stone I made. It will glow blue the closer you get to your creature. It'll point you in the right direction. You'll hunt a level 10 Forest Spirit first, a level 15 Shifter Bear and a level 25 Grand Mimic. I'd advice you study your skill and learn on your own. Come back to me once you kill those. Oh and one last thing."

Lord Karik closed his jaw and quickly opened it. A bolt of mana shot out of him and landed on Lovo. In an instant his mana was refilled.

"Thank you!"

Even though Lovo was gracious he felt like he just got spit on.

Lord Karik's jaw closed shut and he seemed to go back into his mental coma.

"This is going to get old fast. Maybe I should figure out a way to help him."

Lovo left the secret chambers and went back to his makeshift desk to work. He pulled up all the Alpha bones to see what he had he could make.

He didn't have enough for nearly anything.

"Great. I'll have to figure something out."

Rummaging around he used normal human bones to fill in the gaps.

Over the next 5 hours he fused bones together into the shapes he wanted before making the weapons for his skeletons.

[Hybrid Bone Progress: 2%]

[Hybrid Bone Progress: 5%]

[Hybrid Bone Progress: 8%]

[Hybrid Bone Progress: 12%]

[Hybrid Kite Bone Shield: Protection 20

Block- 8% chance to block 100% damage

Weapon Grade: D+] x2

[Hybrid Bone Flamberge: Damage 28

Has a 5% chance to serrate an enemy.

Serrated enemies take an additional 6 points of damage each time they are attacked.

Weapon Grade: D+]

[Hybrid Bone Maul: Damage 26

Has a 5% chance to Crush an enemy.

Crushed enemies have their movements crippled.

Weapon Grade: D+]

Trying his hand with a long bow again Lovo had a much better idea. With the knowledge of mana and bone manipulation he got to work.

Instead of making a nesting doll esk bone string he made small half inch wide, 2 inch long hollowed out bones. He made dozens of these.

Once the long bow itself was made he lined up all these smaller bones to make the sting. Instead of just channeling his mana into it he thought of how it would act. He started to imagine how a bow string works. How it acts in the physical space. Making his mana almost elastic and thin as stings. Moving his mana through the hollowed our bones to either end of the bow to connect them. Still with his eyes closed he picked the bow up and pulled the bone string back. Still only imagining how it should feel and behave.

After testing it for a few minutes he was satisfied with his work. He opened his eyes to examine it.

[Hybrid Bone Longbow: Damage 30

Has 4% chance preform Armor Piercing Shot.

Armor Piercing Shot: Targets hit by this attack will have a piece of their armor pierced.

Weapon Grade: D]

Lovo jumped with joy! It wasn't perfect but he definitely managed to make a bow. Now he can test other weapons, like a flail or maybe something completely new!

Asking Julki for the time he unfortunately only had 2 hours left of night!

"Seriously?! Have I been working this entire time? I technically don't need to sleep. Maybe for now on I should just meditate to replenish my mana and Craft during the day, and hunt during the night. Speaking of which. If I go hunting with my skeletons the goblins might be defenseless. I should recruit more people. Wonder if the Kobols or Orcs would want to live here. Although I need to invite mortal races as well. Hmm what to do?"

Lovo and his skeletons left main castle and went to chat with Toma. Thankfully he had already taken a napped and was cleaning the tavern.

"Ah! Lord Lovo! I assumed you would be asleep by now."

Lovo chuckled.

"No unfortunately not. I'm going to be up for the next couple of days. I have a couple questions."

Toma stopped what he was doing to focus on the questions.

"Toma, do you know anyone that would want to live here? I'm planning a trip the next three months and I don't want you all to be defenseless."

"Three months! Are you sure you'll be okay alone Lord Lovo?!"

"Haha. Yes. I'll have my skeletons with me.

Although I will leave Grimmal here till I get new people. Do you know where I should go first?"

Toma placed a hand on his chin to think.

"Well from our old village there are four places. Although I only recommend one. If you go South of our old village there are the Kobols. They, like us, follow their elder. They tend to try to enslave all they can, but they aren't as powerful as the Orcs to the North. They like to travel distances to pillage human towns. They don't keep human slaves or that would bring the wrath of a humans and they can be very powerful. To the East is a grove where some druids live. I've visited them once with the last Elder. They are nice humans that live in nature."

"What about the West? Anything live there?"

Toma started to get a little nervous.

"Yes, but we do not go there. Deeper into the forest is the dark woods. Our Elder told us stories of a huge creature that would roam there. A large bear like creature that was guarding something. A cave of treasure. Elder told us that generations ago when we had much larger numbers and a hunting party of fifty. They explored the lands. They found a weird cave that seemed to be man made, but wasn't. No mortals lived there. Eventually as they explored this monster appeared and slaughtered all our hunters. Since then our numbers have dwindled."

Looking down at the ground Toma started to reminiscence about times long gone.

"I'm sorry for brining up bad memories."

Slightly panicking Toma apologized.

"Oh no! I was never around during that time. I've only seen our tribe slowly dwindle. I'm thankful for you Lord Lovo! You saved us from death and gave a place to live and grow! Hopefully by the time you get back our numbers will grow!"

Lovo smiled and agreed that he'd like to see that. He said his farewell and told Toma he would be back in a couple days and possibly with more people. Hopefully. Toma informed him they would have plenty of food for everyone by the time he got back.

Leaving the tavern he thought about everything Toma said. He assumed to the west was a dungeon with rewards. When he held the stone it started to glow facing the west as well. Confirmed that the beast was the Shifter Bear. Since he knew where to go he figured he would get allies first.

Druids would be his first target. Not only were they humans, but seemed to have friendly relationships with monsters. Well goblins at least. Hopefully they don't mind a Vampire and a necromancer.

Before he left he gave a Toma a small list of gear he would need for his 3 month travel.

Once that was done Lovo and his skeletons headed to the old goblin village.

It was strange being back. It's only been a day and the village looked like it was run down for a while. He looked around and found both the mass grave and the unmarked grave. He planned to head back here to get those bones when he can just carry them on him. Looking around the village he tried to see if there was anything that was left behind that he can use. Nothing. He decided to move on. He asked Julki what direction was East was and headed to the druids.

_________

Deep in the forest a magical wood portal stands. It looks like two large trees growing towards each other to form a circle. This is the secret entrance to the druid grove.

Unfortunately for Lovo the information Toma gave him was old. After Toma and the former Elder visited the Druids they were attacked. Another group of humans from a nearby town that thought the Druids were doing evil magic and working with the Orcs. They hired some adventurers to attack them and the Orcs. Only a handful of the Druids survived. They fled and made a new home.

Through the portal shows what the forest behind it really looks like. A small hamlet with a population of 7; 5 humans and 2 Ogres. After they were attacked last they befriends 2 Orgres and made a deal with them. They would feed them and they would protect them. Simple deal. The hamlet had its own lake and enough land to grow crops and raise farm animals. 3 druids would be in the fields growing a handful of different crops while the other 2 were taking care of the animals. They not only had normal farm animals; cows, pigs, sheep and chicken. They also had 2 monstrous animals. A single pregnant Trancho, spider cow, and a Blink Beast. The Trancho was a large bloated looking spider creature with skin like a cow and utters. The Druid would milk the Trancho for its webs that they would use for making clothes. The Blink beast was in a coma like state as it tried to divid itself into two.

The Ogres on the other hand just sat against a very sturdy tree. They had an easy job. Scare off any that might harm the Druids and they get free food. Since their deal was made they never needed to scare anyone off and got to eat free food.

Unbeknownst to the Druids and Ogres, a small party of 3 adventurers waited in hiding ou it he portal. They were hired to eliminate the remaining "Dark" Druids before they could strike back in their town.

As the Mantis hunts the Cicada, unaware of the Oriole behind.

The party of adventurers drew the attention of an Orc raiding party. 14 strong. They also knew the Druids were here. Spotting the adventurers the Orc leader devised a plan. They will wait for the adventurers to attack the Druids and once both sides were weak they would strike!