XVIII

After finding a way to keep Violet from prying eyes and buying some supplies, Dylan went to the mission board to find some more work.

He planned on choosing the most difficult solo quest, maybe a mid-level group quest if the solo quest's didn't meet his standards.

He was only interested in gaining experience now.

A bottle neck was surely on the horizon, and he wanted to get ahead of it.

After reviewing the mission board, he decided to accept a hunting task. This would pit him against high-level beasts, usually sought for their materials. Making it a good way to garner experience and funds. The rewards vary based on the strength of the defeated beast. The difficulty was ranked F through S. 

F being the lowest, with weak beasts and little materials garnered from killing them.

Dylan had accepted a mission for hunting an A rank beast.

Assuming it would still offer a decent challenge, but not be life-threatening.

-

The gigantic boar had lived in this forest its whole life.

Originally, it was the son of the lord of the forest. It's father taught it to fight and cultivate, this leading to it becoming the most powerful beast for many kilometers. Resulting in a battle of dominance, leaving it the new lord.

Killing it's father had absolutely no effect on it, other than a growth in power after consuming the corpse.

Now it was twice as powerful as before, making it a terrifying opponent for most humans. The boar was fully aware of this, often attacking humans out of boredom. Leading to the surrounding settlements to refer to this beast as, the Oppressor.

Laying comfortably among piles of fallen leaves, branches and dozens of small beast bones, the Oppressor dozed off after a day of hunting and eating.

Feeling like it was the hegemon of this world and nothing could stop it.

It would soon realize how wrong it was.

A sharp pain was felt in its back left thigh, followed by a numbing sensation.

In a matter of seconds, Violets Toxic combined with Fang, created a bite that injected a deadly poison into the large boar.

It would first immobilize it, then slowly drain it's life.

The Oppressor wasn't just any beast however, activating a skill, it removed any de-buffs and started to rampage.

Violet retreated as it was called back by it's master.

Dylan realized immediately that Violet's venom, wouldn't be enough to take the beast down, so he opted to recall his SoulBond companion, just in case.

Passing Violet in a swift motion, he scooped her up and allowed her to coil around his neck.

The Oppressor started to fire massive spires made of earth mana. 

This combined with it's innate control of fire mana, created insanely hot ammunition, firing at incredible speeds.

Unfortunately for the large boar, Dylan activated Devour in response.

Devour absorbed the mana from the Oppressors attack, allowing Dylan to dodge it easily, along with boosting his intelligence stat.

"Berserk!"

Dylan was confident in killing this beast without using Braver. He was concerned that he had began to rely to much on his blessing. Because of this he opted to increase the level of his own skills.

He unleashed a Focus Burst after avoiding the spires. 

The Oppressor could have easily dodged the attack, if not for having to avoid the lighting bolt Dylan summoned from the sky simultaneously. Causing the beast to jump into the line of fire from the Focus Burst, as if this was it's opponents plan all along.

A white line of mana collided with the large beast, as a huge explosion resounded throughout the surrounding fifty kilometers.

'That should do it,' Dylan thought to himself.

-

The next few weeks went pretty much the same.

Dylan would set out on missions with Violet, trying to gain EXP for them both.

Violet had improved immensely, even growing in level and size!

-SYSTEM DATA-

Name: Violet

Age: 5 weeks 3 days

Race: Basilisk

Category: majestic-beast

Level: 5

Skills: Petrification(lv.1) Fang(lv.4) Toxic(lv.2) Cloak(lv.3)

Strength: 9

Agility: 15

Intelligence: 18

Dexterity: 12

Bond: 33/100

EXP: 500/2000

Violet had reached a length of two meters!

Meaning she could no longer stay just wrapped around her masters neck. Now, she chose to either wrap around his left arm, or slither silently behind, as its speed was rather impressive.

Dylan had also grown a bit, although not nearly as much as Violet.

-SYSTEM DATA-

Name: Dylan/Grain Wolf Silver

Age: 15 years 6 months (post-Gate)

Race: Human/???

Level: 13

Skills: Focus Burst(lv.5) Darkness(lv.4) Lightning(lv.4) Berserk (lv.3) Devour(lv2.) Intimidate(lv.2)

Strength: 40

Agility: 38

Intelligence: 43

Dexterity: 35

Faith: 10

EXP: 850/6500

After nearly a month of doing random missions, Dylan had been invited to the captains office once again.

Upon arriving he was let in by Sandra just like last time, who gave him a concerned look.

"Grain!" Michael resounded. "Have a seat, lets talk a moment."

"I'm going to be blunt with you."

"The other officers have started to complain, due to you accepting all the group missions as a solo. I personally understand, that you both prefer, and are capable of fighting alone."

"However, it still must be said other groups have missed out on valuable training and rewards, due to your actions."

"And?" Dylan asked in an annoyed tone. "Sounds like these groups need to get there act together. It's not my fault I preform better than them."

"I've done nothing but work hard for the guard since I got here. I don't much enjoy being told I'm a nuisance."

Dylan was usually level headed, but due to the weird stares and vibes he had received from other officers, he had already came to this conclusion. He thought that since he was performing so well, the rewards and higher-ups gratitude would be worth the ridicule.

More than once he had been told that certain items or missions he was after, were being held from him. This made his EXP grind way slower, and he was not a fan of that.

"I understand your frustration," Michael continued. "I have a fair solution, that should make both you and the other officers."

"I would like to assign a lieutenant level mission to you and two others. One of those two will be Emily, who you are already familiar with."

"The other is actually another officer, but this guy has gave us trouble since his recruitment."

"As you know, we aren't a daycare. Members of the Dawn Guard must sometimes, commit acts that are considered unrefined, if you catch my meaning."

"I chose Emily, because she is immensely loyal, and will act as a guide due to her experience."

"Your other party member on the other hand, I have a fear this mission may take his life. That's where you come in. I trust your judgment."

"If this particular officer is deemed worthy of returning, I'm sure he will."

"I think I understand captain," Dylan answered after a moment. "I expect the rewards for this mission to be fantastic."

"Yes?"

"Indeed they are Grain," Michael responded. "Indeed they are."

-

Emily had lead Dylan to one of the griffin stalls.

Since this was a lieutenant level mission, they would be given access to mounts. Cutting the travel time in half.

They had yet to meet their third party member.

He was set to meet them at the stalls, once they met up each of them would receive a griffin and head out.

"This guy is late right?" Emily said.

"Yeah i think so," Dylan responded. "I was told he's a bit of a handful."

"Fantastic," Emily continued. "I'm paired up with the lone wolf and a trouble maker."

"What's his name again?" Dylan asked

Dylan couldn't help but smirk at her remark

Noticing this, Emily decided to ignore his question.

"Kirk?" Dylan continued after a moment of silence. "I think at least, the captain told me but i honestly wasn't listening."

As if on que, a large burly man walked into the stalls.

"You Grain?" The large man said.

Dylan looked him up and down before answering.

"I am," he said. "You're Kirk right?"

The large man stomped and let out a growl.

"It's, Dirk!", he said. "And don't fucking  forget it."

Dirk had gotten close enough for Dylan to smell his breath, so in response, he swept the large mans legs out from under him. Followed by brandishing Harbinger and pointing it directly at his neck, mere centimeters away.

"First of," Dylan said. "I don't care."

"Secondly, I'm in charge here. You do what I say and you'll be fine, but try and disrespect or walk over me, and I won't hesitate to report you as a casualty."

Emily was taken aback by the development, but kept a stern face. She didn't want to upset Dylan any more.

Even if it meant not telling him everything.

'I knew Grain was gonna be in charge,' she thought. 'But I didn't expect to have it reach this point before we've even left. Maybe I should've not asked Michael to let him come.'

Dirk just nodded multiple times and remained on the ground, only getting up after Dylan sheathed his blade.

Dylan with the other two in tow, mounted their griffins and headed south.

Their target was another stronghold.

This was the king of Cranes first attempt to break the southern border, the same way Dylan had done before.

Only this time, the goal wasn't to save a prisoner or kill soldiers.

It was hard to tell what the kings true plans were. Only he knew where this kingdom was truly headed.

He and the Gods.