NOVEL NEXT Chapter 124: Realisation
A few hours later...
"Okay, everyone. We're done for the day. Gather around and get ready to leave" Muku, who had long gotten bored from looking on, called everyone back.
The women who had been fighting all day were actually not as tired as the previous day despite having fought more and resting less. Which emphasized the difference between an unranked person and a ranked one, even when it was just a Rank One. Of course, part of the reason they could hang on and do so well was because Muku was only letting them fight LR1s.
The most outstanding was, of course, Elsa, who had been getting guidance from the best even before she killed her first beast. While her water abilities weren't that strong yet, her water blade, shield and bullets were quite effective on LR1s.
Surprisingly the one who followed after her was Lisa. The lady might have a rather nasty personality, but she was quite good at fighting. Her Rare Class was called "Black Earth Knight". It boasted super-high defence, even at such a low level. Even the attack power which comprised of Earth Spikes, Shields, Bullets... She had cleverly copied anything from Elsa that she could.
Which was quickly noticed by Muku and the others, but none minded. They were impressed instead. Such people tend to live longer after all. Lisa became even more ferocious after noticing that Muku's group didn't care about what she was doing. Even then, she was not anywhere close to Elsa's strength level or kill count.
At first, she had been quite hesitant in her actions, but she bit the bullet after realising that she had no idea what to do. Of course, her fear for Muku still didn't decrease. She avoided him from start to finish.
As for Freya, the poor girl with a Unique Class that had terrifying potential was just average in her performance. While others had their abilities to rely on, she could only fight with her blade and pure energy attacks.
Attacking someone with mana was like hitting someone with a stack of money. Money could be said to be the "currency" people use to "buy" spells, which would be "guns and swords". While there were a few beasts that could attack with their "stacks of money" in a way that was as good as any "bought weapon"
Sadly that wasn't an ability any human had. Without spells or some kind of ability that wasn't attacking with direct mana... You'd basically be screwed.
So it was understandable that Freya was struggling. It was already good enough that she kept up with those who had uncommon classes who were the majority. It seemed that the women were a rather talented group, considering that during Tom's "rule", there weren't any people with uncommon classes. Most were common, like Tom and Dom, or random, like Adam.
As for the issue with classes. Muku had been researching it on the side. So far, he had found out that there was Random Class, which was the lowest. Followed by Common, then Uncommon, then Rare, and at least two in-between Rare and Pseudo-Legendary Class since the gap in strength was just too great. Then Legendary was the highest he had come across so far.
As for the Unique Class, it was a special Class equal to Pseudo-Legendary in strength. And from its name, it was easy to guess that there could only be one at a time. So it was debatable whether it should be on the class ranking list. Or it should just be a subclass of Pseudo-Legendary that's mostly unmentioned since most people will likely not come across even one Unique Class.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand. After hearing Muku's words the group gather e together. Other than Elsa, everyone else was okay with calling it a day. They had killed a decent number of beasts and were close to reaching MR1 after all. Lisa had managed to reach MR1.
The reason Elsa didn't want to leave yet was because she was already close to the peak. She felt that if she was allowed to fight an hour or two longer she would reach the peak.
There were enough beasts around, so it was a real possibility, actually. But she overlooked one thing. Her mana was almost depleted. And for some reason, the higher your class level, the slower your natural mana recovery was.
And she had already used up the only beast core she found, so nothing could be done. Emily was planning on lecturing her when they got back as her reckless behaviour could get her into trouble one day. And as an eventual part of the team, it will implicate the others as well which was something she didn't want to see.
Even Jade, despite her numerous personality defects, knew when to stop. The times she acted recklessly were just that, an act. When the situation required it, she was a super dependable teammate.
Elsa wasn't; she was just reckless. That made Emily wonder if they had babied her too much. She immediately started thinking of countermeasures on how to set her straight. Which she was planning to discuss with everyone later on.
With that, the group left with little fanfare. At least it appeared so on the surface. But behind the scenes, something's anger was increasing by the moment. It had never been so disrespected before. For someone to come and randomly take its children and leave like that. Even if the children weren't anything important, they were still part of its kingdom.
Only if it could move at will would it make the little "ants" suffer...
....
Back at the stadium...
"Okay, so change of plans. Helping all of you will take too long. So we'll just help the group we've helped so far reach the peak then they will help the rest. As you all know, the world is constantly evolving, so we can't stall out progress for too long," Muku addressed Freya's group after they arrived at the stadium.
While his group would be willing to go along with his decision he decided to stay for longer. They were his priority so he wouldn't make such a decision. Along the way, he had thought of it a bit more and realised that he had been too rushed before.
Just because they had gotten a large boost from killing Ares' lesser avatar didn't mean that they could relax. While they were likely the strongest humans at the time, it didn't matter since their real enemies were beasts. And he was certain that there were still a lot that were a lot stronger than them in the current world. Not to mention those that will come.
While making allies was important, he shouldn't let it blind him. Like Author-san always says, "One shouldn't lose the fact while stuck on the idea of it"
His current situation reflected the saying quite well. While trying to increase their protection by getting them allies. He was ignoring their strength. Fortunately, he realised before it was too late. So he slightly changed his plans with the stadium.
"No sir, don't worry, it's fine. We understand. You've already done so much for us after all" Freya didn't even wait for the input of the others before replying.
She knew for certain that they were of the same mind. After all, without Muku's group, they wouldn't have their freedom, let alone Rank One strength. And he was even going to make sure that they reached the peak, so how could they complain?
"Great that you all understand. See you all tomorrow morning then. Rest well, we have to make sure that you all reach the peak before the day ends. Then the evening after, Audrey will give you all a lecture on potential realisation." Muku gave the women the rundown for how the following day was going to go then leafy with his team.
.....
Back at the mansion...
"You're finally back! I see it was quite productive" Jade was the first to shout out from the couch the moment Muku and the others entered the inside. Her later comment came after she'd noticed that Elsa had reached the peak.
"Yeah, if she's lucky, tomorrow she might realise some of her potential. Emily replied proudly, after all, Elsa was her little sister. So whatever impressive feat she accomplishes would make her proud.
"No fair! I wish we had strong seniors and an unlimited supply of beasts in one place when we levelled up," Jade complained after remembering all the trouble they had gone through to rank up. Which was something the others could all relate to so no one spoke against her statement.
"Well, life isn't fair... Anyway, Audrey, did you have any luck on your hunt?" Muku commented briefly on Jade's complaint before moving on. Experience exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire
"Oh that, no luck at all. We only found a few Half-Steps, no Rank Twos at all" Audrey replied. While Muku, Emily, Hope and Elsa went with the stadium women. She and Layla had gone out looking for Rank Two beasts while Jade and Chloe remained at the mansion.
"Oh, what a bummer. I guess we really have to move on soon. This place really isn't good for people of our strength level" Muku spoke in a disappointed tone. His plan to leave gets reinforced in his mind.
"Okay... Anyway, we killed the beasts and brought back the meat. We thought we could give it to the stadium residents if we don't need it." Audrey replied. She didn't have much reaction about leaving earlier than expected since she was okay with anything Muku decided. The others agreed, and the area around the stadium was rather boring with zero danger after all.
"Oh, okay. How nice of you. We'll call a few of them tomorrow to retrieve it then..." Muku replied.
After that, they went through their usual nightly activities and then went to sleep. Of course, they mediated for a bit before that...