Hunting for cores (2)

In Gregory's house, around 27 individual were gathering in the guest room.

The room wasn't very spacious to begin with, making it a bit cramped inside. But, none seemed to want to complain.

Also, the furniture was not enough to accommodate everyone, as such; most of them had to stand, with only about third managing to find a seat.

The place was noisy with chatter. It went on until a certain man cleared his throat audibly, to draw attention. And then he stood up from his seat and scanned everyone with a quick glance.

This man appeared to be in the mid twenties of age, had an average build and features. The only notable thing about him was his stern face that didn't seemed to be capable of expressing relaxed expression whatsoever. During the entire time he spent in the compound, no one ever saw him with a different expression at all.

This man was the strongest individual in the compound. He was precisely the survivor's leader.

His name was Brian, and he was a soldier. In the compound, only Gregory, Ramie's group, and few others dare call him by his name.

Facing everyone, He spoke: "Until now, and thanks to the tremendous efforts of every single individual in this compound, we have reached this far. However, and as every single one of you already knows, we still have long way to go. For these three weeks, we haven't lost a single soul. But, I think that all of you agree that this safe period did not come to be mainly due to our strength, but because no strong beast came by this area so far. So… what should we do? Do we just sit idly, and hope that nothing too strong ever comes here! Is it acceptable to put something so important as our lives' and our families' up to chance? If a weak tier-2 beast or small beasts attacks then it is no problem. But, what if strong tire-2 beast, a large horde of beasts or even beasts of higher tires attack? Do we just stand weakly and let them eat our families…! Do you see the problem here?"

The survivor's leader then paused, allowing his words to sink in.

As expected, a deathly silence shrouded the place. One could feel the intensity and the nervousness permeating the air.

His words were completely true, as the entire concept of safety in the compound was based on the fact that no strong beast ever comes anywhere near this place.

If a low tier-2 beast attacks the compound, then with every ones effort, it wouldn't be out of question to kill it. Actually, it would be completely doable. And if the attacking beast was mid tier-2 beast then although facing him would much harder, but defeating him and forcing him to retreat was completely possible, especially now that they had ramie's ghost glare spell and the lightning inscription.

However, if the attacking beast was high tier-2 beast or stronger… then, them keeping their lives would be in question.

Although everyone hoped that such time never comes to be. But… this was not up to them to decide. And the chance of that happening will always be there. As such, the survivor's leader words shook the hearts.

No one here was ignorant, and the logic in the survivor's leader words did not escape any ones comprehension.

Having seen that his words have taken effect, Brian was satisfied: "sufficient strength… that is our problem. We need more strength! We need cores from strong beasts! Otherwise, we could lose everything in moment… As such, and to address this issue, I and Brother Gregory have come to a certain decision…! Now as you know, Nora leaves the compound everyday to scan the areas around the compound, to map out the locations of the threats that can endanger our compound. Yesterday, she found an injured mid tier-2 beast few kilometers beyond the national borders. An injured beast!! Now, do you understand what I'm getting at?"

Saying so, he scanned everyone with a meaningful look.

'As expected, they had finally made the move…' Ramie's eyes shone under the balaclava that covered his face….

This was exactly his guess. It wasn't only him, many others here had already seen this coming, and didn't seem to be very surprised.

However, still, some faces immediately sank, as they understood the implications.

This wasn't weird, as both the original compound inhabitants and the survivors group had seen the terror of tire-2 beast. And although this particular beast was injured, and they understood the need to kill it for its core, but still, remembering the terrifying battle powers of tier-2 beasts instantly caused many hearts to shudder in fear, even though all of the attendants of this meeting were either warriors or magicians.

The survivor's leader continued his words: "today, we'll form a special team, and in few days, that team will head out, and go after this beast! We have to kill this one and get its core. Otherwise, if we miss this chance, there is no telling if we'll ever come across such a golden opportunity in the future. Of course, if this beast is too strong for us, and we can't kill it, then we can simply retreat back here, as with its injury, it's highly unlikely that this beast can chase us at all."

"Only with sufficient strength can we truly guarantee our compound's safety. Thus, we can't afford to miss out on this chance."

As he finished his words, some faces went pale; some fell in contemplation, while others nodded in approval.

The weak ones were afraid, as to increase their levels; all they had to do is to wait in line, until it is their turn to receive a core harvested from the daily hunted buffalo's.

As for the warriors with ignition percent above 75%, they were eager to get their hands on a core from second tier beast to break through to the second level. As right now, they are very strong against normal beasts, but against the second tier, they don't amount to much.

Although, they knew that this particular core won't necessarily go to them, assuming that they managed to kill this beast in the first place… but if the two leaders strength increase, then getting other cores with their help won't be problem in the future.

Extensive discussions took place after the survivor's leader announcement. This mission's team formation, their numbers, their skills, and other in depth details, was discussed thoroughly for an hour.

After that, the two leader's gaze and all of the others turned toward Ramie's group.

No one in their group was surprised in the least.

They knew that the two leaders were going to ask them to take part in this hunting mission.

Actually, then moment Nora was tasked to scan for the close tier-2 beast, and judging by her spells, many had foreseen this matter.

Nora's bloodline allowed her a very enviable ability – the ability to fly!

Being a rank-1 magician, and having advanced her artifact to Lv.4, she had four spells.

None of them were combat oriented. However, and considering the way her spells complemented each other, it had made her even more terrifying than a combat magician.

Her innate spell 'true eye,' had made her something of a detection magician.

Her first unlocked spell was 'extended flying!' It allowed her, as the name implied, to stay in the air for a very long period of time. The second spell was 'enhanced vision' which allowed her to zoom her vision, like a camera, thus allowing her to see clearly even at long distances.

The third spell was 'enhanced perception,' which allowed her to sense auras from a long distances, but only for a single target at a time, and not from all directions, like Reem's summon, or like Ramie's.

This made her able to sense the auras of beasts and determine their exact level of strength while she flies far above in the sky, safely.

The forth spell was called 'wind burst,' which allowed her to increase her flying speed by a huge margin for a short while.

Now, all of these spells were active, and not passive, which meant that they aren't active all the time, but she had to cast them, to get the effect. The down side to this was that she could cast them only limited number of times before her magic energy runs out.

The collection of these spells had turned her into a human drone with strong perception, which went along with her innate spell 'True eye.'

Anyway, unlike Ramie, it was obvious that the bloodline she acquired complemented her innate spell perfectly.

As if she had the bloodline of a terranean beast, then obviously, her perception abilities won't be as threatening as now, as she could perceive everything from the sky, beyond the range of attacks.

So, with these abilities, she was qualified the most to detect the location of the beast capable of threatening the safety of the compound. As such, the two leaders had assigned her to do just that.

In the past few weeks, she had located many tier-2 beasts. Among which, was this injured one.

Anyway, ramie and the rest were planning to hunt for cores the moment the azure gazelle king advances to the second tier, as his bloodline seemed to be of high order, making him naturally stronger than beasts on the same level as him.

However, now that the two leaders were taking the initiative to hunt for tier-2 cores, the group didn't have any objection. On the contrary, getting tier-2 cores now can hasten their schedule of leaving for the capital.

Ramie, Neil and Reem all nodded toward Lance, giving him the signal to accept.

…