Chapter 8 - Farming

Rynold picked up the pace as the girl's dorm started coming into view. Thankfully, the ghouls were nowhere in sight.

Although, it was weird that the shroud of ghouls was initially headed toward the girl's dorm but there was nothing at the entrance. 'They must've headed to the main campus or something,' Rynold thought as he gripped the Wooden Staff.

As Rynold got nearer and nearer the entrance, his heart was up to his chest out of fear for the ghouls that awaited him.

He let out a deep breath as he opened the door to the girl's dorm only to find a room just as he left it an hour or so ago. The school was huge and just crossing the courtyard took up several minutes of valuable time, especially when you're moving carefully.

Instead of ghouls, though, the room was actually filled with familiar faces — even though one of the faces wasn't quite welcoming.

"Hey, so uh... I broke your sword," Rynold said with a smile on his face.

"Shut up, dude," Oliver smiled back. "Good to know that you're safe, man."

"What about you, feeling better?"

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Good, 'cause you're up," Rynold replied while handing out two kitchen knives to Oliver from his inventory. It was good that he managed to put these in his inventory while he was looting the kitchen.

"What do you suppose I do with these?" Oliver questioned as he grabbed the knives in a reverse grip.

Since Rynold was injured during the previous battle, he wasn't able to bring out the best potential in terms of combat capability. "We're gonna start farming some mobs," Rynold replied with a greedy grin on his face.

Skye was surprised at the response while Oliver was deep in thought. Considering the options of running away or keep fighting, it would make a lot more sense if they left for a better place.

"Here's the thing," Rynold started with a stern expression. "Even if we did leave, there's no telling how much more dangerous out there is than it is in here. At least, in here, we're able to fight the mobs we currently can and it looks like something was distracting them in the meantime."

While both Skye and Oliver were still hesitating over the plan, out of nowhere Elle suddenly spoke. "Let's do it," she said in a nonchalant tone.

Rolling his eyes, Rynold was annoyed. It was easy for her to say that because she never even lifted a finger during the entire time they spent together. What's more, she was a lot more of a burden than actual help in the coming battle.

He chose to ignore what she just said and focused on convincing the two of them instead.

"Look, we won't be able to survive out there if we didn't try to get stronger. Besides, we have a heal spell and X to keep us safe while we take those mobs out."

After a few more moments of silence did the two of them agree. Looking out the door, the shroud of ghouls was still nowhere to be seen. But, judging by the direction they were headed to earlier, the shroud was still in the general area. Chances are they were in the main building.

With Skye casting Restore on Rynold, healing his broken bones and injuries, the party set out to the main building while keeping a low profile.

In the New World, EXP was granted to those who managed to contribute and deal damage to the target, with the last hit getting the most EXP from the kill. Furthermore, summons actually give the EXP directly to the caster. So, instead of needing to fight, Rynold could easily order X to do it for him.

With that, the plan was simple. Let X tank hits with Oliver and Rynold supporting it. Once the ghouls are pinned down or rendered immobile, the kills would be granted to either Skye or Elle. Since Rynold and Oliver are Level 6 and 4, respectively, this would be some crude form of farming for the girls who have yet to fight.

Approaching the main building while hiding behind shrubbery, the group managed to make its way without being seen. Without much delay, Rynold summoned his mighty Mech Knight that he has grown fond of over the few hours they've spent together.

"We need to test the strength of the shroud first," Rynold whispered. Looking at the shroud now there were at least double digits of ghouls at first sight. Up ahead, there were even some Enhanced Ghouls.

Rynold ordered X to aggro the ghouls at the edge of the shroud and made an emphasis on not killing them. After all, he wasn't the one who actually needed the EXP.

X's eyes shone with its familiar and determined light and moved to attack. Longsword in hand, X swung viciously at the ghouls' feet and managed to critically immobilize a few.

Looking above the heads of the ghouls in front of him, Rynold noticed that the levels of the ghouls were revealed to him without needing to use the Scan skill. He thought that maybe the combination of using the Scan skill on the ghouls before and his higher level made it so that he could see the ghouls' levels.

Rynold waited for a few seconds for X to critically injure some more of the ghouls and, well, killing at least one or two until the aggro was stabilized on X. Then, he motioned Oliver to move in for the kill with two sharp kitchen knives held in a reverse grip.

Oliver moved swiftly and recklessly, adrenaline making his lips form a subtle smirk. He flickered in and out of place like an assassin moving in the shadows.

"Oi! Leave some for us!" Rynold yelled to his best friend.

Chuckling, Rynold took out two more knives and handed them to Elle and Skye. He instructed them on how to kill the ghouls swiftly and not puke at the sight of their deaths. Since ghouls were once human, it was understandable that killing would make someone hurl.

Rynold moved, taking the front guard of the trio as he held his Wooden Staff and readied his stance. More and more ghouls were attacking his Mech Knight but it was strange that they didn't react all at once like there's some sort of beacon inside the main building.

Regardless, Rynold saw this as an opportunity. As X was making its way to the middle of the shroud while Oliver was going nuts following the Mech Knight, Rynold watched over the two ladies as they swung the knives in their hands onto the necks of the limping ghouls.

At some point, Rynold couldn't contain his laughter as one of the ghouls tried to nibble on Elle's ankles.

The Mech Knight managed to clear two-thirds of the ghouls as it made its way further into the group. Rynold kept looking around to see if something was triggering the ghouls to rush into the main building while also grabbing every loot that dropped.

A few moments later, the party managed to clear out all of the ghouls that were low level and both Skye and Elle managed to level up twice in the excursion. Meanwhile, Oliver was hacking and slashing at the three Enhanced Ghouls while X kept aggro. Rynold's face dropped when he saw his Mech Knight getting pushed back and the everlasting silver sheen was getting scratches again.

Having once dealt with an Enhanced Ghoul before, Rynold was annoyed at the above-average defense that the creature had. With the Wooden Staff in hand, Rynold charged at the right-most ghoul and getting ready to use Mana Infusion.

"X, keep on the defensive! Oliver, use 'that' on the left one!" Rynold shouted as he approached the Enhanced Ghoul.

The only good thing was that the Enhanced Ghouls have less speed, making it easier for both Oliver and Rynold to dodge their attacks.

The Enhanced Ghoul that Rynold was facing slammed down on the ground, giving him an opportunity to maneuver around it. Staff in hand, he stabbed the tip of it to the creature's jaw and activated his strongest attack.

Mana Infusion!

Draining his mana pool for a good and solid hit, the Enhanced Ghoul wrenched in pain as it swung violently, making Rynold hang on for dear life.

As the Wooden Staff shone from the infusion of mana, Rynold couldn't help but feel tired from the attack. Thankfully, after draining enough mana for the skill to last 10 seconds, the Enhanced Ghoul collapsed and erased to dust.

Rynold couldn't help but kneel on one knee, tired from pulling that much mana in such a short amount of time. Grabbing the loot that the Enhanced Ghoul dropped, Rynold looked to where Oliver was to see him sweating and fatigued as well. One thing was for sure, though.

Oliver had won.

Looking at the ghoul that X was occupied with, Rynold realized that something was wrong. Apart from the noticeable cuts that X's longsword had dealt, the aura of the Enhanced Ghoul wasn't getting any weaker.

It was getting stronger instead.