Thornheart Farm

I continued to follow the Alorae soldiers through the forest. I was hoping that the spot they were going to farm at would be nearby. If it wasn't, I might be in a very precarious situation in the next 45 to 50 minutes. Fortunately, my prayers were answered. The hunting spot where they were heading was a mere 15 minutes away from the campsite.

It was exactly what I expected it to be—a bunch of Thornheart Stalkers all standing around, motionless. There were dozens of them, just standing in a half-mile clearing within the forest. In my past, I had encountered these creatures before. They were incredibly dangerous, but they would not attack you unless you posed a threat.

Thornheart Stalkers were massive, dark purple antlike creatures that had a very tough outer shell. Each of these monsters stood between 6 and 10 feet tall. If you crack them open, you will find that they have an internal skeleton as well as an outer shell. This is how they support their body at that size.

In the first season, these monsters could vary widely in level. Some Thornheart Stalkers could be as weak as level 4 or 5, while others could be as strong as level 18 or 19. The reason for this was simple. Some Thornheart Stalkers that lived deep within their hive would be grown to be defensive sentinels for the queen. They would protect the queen, the hatchery, and a special area within the hive where potential mates of the queen would live.

From the looks of it, all of these Thornheart Stalkers had that particular role within the colony. Everything was slowly being pieced together for me. The doctor controls the queen, and the queen controls her colony, so the doctor has indirect control over the entire hive.

There was no explanation as to why the doctor was helping our enemies level up. In my eyes, he will always be a sick and twisted man who did far more harm to humanity than good. However, I couldn't help but reflect on the last things he said to me as I died. He said that he killed so many of us so that we could survive. The doctor believed that the weak only held back the strong and prevented the best outcomes.

"Fuck that. I was weak, and now I'm strong. I'm going to kill that asshole in this life."

One of the soldiers towards the back turned around abruptly and looked up into the trees where I was. "What was that?"

Lost in thought, I had forgotten that I was trying to be stealthy as I followed the Alorae soldiers to their hunting ground. Fortunately, I did not need them anymore. I shot down from the canopy and landed on the forest floor in between the five soldiers. I watched as they began to look around at each other, puzzled as to what to do next.

"You're all way too relaxed," I said as I drew my sword and cut one of the soldiers in half.

The other four soldiers drew their weapons; two of them had spears, one had a longsword, and one had a hammer. They were sloppy and unorganized. I used telekinesis to pull both spearmen towards me and made a horizonal slash with my advanced sword energy. One of the spearmen managed to bring up their spear in time to block my strike, but the other was too slow. Both of them were blown back by the force of my blow, one being severely injured while the other managed to evade heavy damage by sacrificing the integrity of their spear.

I nodded in approval. "Not bad."

Immediately after I knocked the spearman back, the Alorae with a hammer made a diagonal strike towards my head. With my mind stat being so high, I sensed the attack coming and was unimpressed. This Alorae was stupid and put almost no effort into raising their agility stat, so their accuracy and attack speed were pitiful.

I turned and held out one hand, catching the hammer with telekinesis. I watched as the soldier struggled to push against the telekinetic hold I had over his weapon. "A bit disappointing."

I was expecting the swordsman to use this as an opening to attack me, but he actually made the best tactical decision. The swordsman was running for his life. "Now that is the correct answer!"

I pulled the hammer out of the soldier's hand with telekinesis and shot it out at the spearman. The hammer slammed into the back of his head, and he fell to the ground, motionless. The hammer user turned and attempted to run, but it was too late. I had already cut his head off with another horizontal slash infused with advanced sword energy.

Now, it was just me and the two spearmen. I didn't want to waste time, so I threw my sword at the one who had a broken spear. The soldier tried to parry the sword with his spear tip, but I used my telekinesis to push his broken weapon to the side.

I looked at the heavily injured spearman and determined that he was unconscious and bleeding out. He was not going to pose any kind of threat, and if anything, he would slow down any pursuing Alorae. In my experience, the more objectives and obstacles you put in an enemy's way, the longer it takes for them to act.

Just leaving one of their own in a dying state will cause them to hesitate. They'll have to decide whether to save him or not. Even those few moments meant a lot in the grand scheme of things. If they choose to save him, they'll have to allocate resources toward that. If they don't, then it would at least be a thought that weighs on them.

Doing this would normally weigh heavily on me, but I just need to constantly remind myself of one thing. "The Alorae are the enemy; they'll kill me if I don't kill them."

These soldiers were easy to kill because I got the jump on them and they were unprepared. Fortunately, there were no mages, scouts, or supporters with them; otherwise, it could have taken much longer than expected. It was important that I killed them quickly so that I would have enough time to level and select a proper class. 

I looked over to the Thornheart Stalker farm that the doctor had so graciously set up for the Alorae, and I couldn't help but smile. It was about time I got my class options.