The night was deep and quiet. After making a brief stop in Durlag, a dragonfly-like magical vessel flew straight toward Fort Jacqueline.
After sending everyone back, Anser brought Iris to the top floor of the Black Tower.
The Dragonfly Ship remained parked silently in the plaza outside the tower.
"So tired. Is hunting like this really meaningful?" Iris kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the bed.
Compared to hunting and adventuring, she much preferred staying in a comfortable castle.
Anser simply smiled without answering. Instead, he quietly opened the Adventuring Party interface and checked each member's experience pool.
Some had gained only a few hundred points, while others had earned over a thousand. Everyone had made progress.
Although Iris hadn't acted very often during the hunt, she had still gained nearly a thousand experience points.
Anser opened her spell list and discovered that this amount of experience was only enough to help her master spells below 3rd level.
And among the spells below 3rd level that Iris had yet to learn, there was only one:
Counterspell.
'This spell is good.'
He tapped the dimmed spell name, and the dice immediately displayed a prompt:
[Spend 650 experience points to help member Iris master this innate magic?]
'Confirm!'
Several hundred experience points vanished in an instant, and the spell's name immediately shone with brilliance.
At the same time, Iris shuddered and her gaze became vacant.
She felt herself pulled into a strange space.
There, Anser tirelessly taught her how to develop her innate magic, especially the exceptionally difficult defensive spell, Counterspell.
After who knew how many rounds of practice and correction, she finally mastered the spell completely. Her proficiency with it even surpassed her mastery of Melf's Minute Meteors.
A long while later, she slowly opened her eyes.
A giant face filled her vision, warm and steady breath brushing against her.
"It was you." She extended a finger and poked Anser's lips.
"Now tell me, does hunting have any meaning?" Anser chuckled.
"How can this be..." Iris forced herself not to think too much about it, but the phrase Godslayer's Chosen kept surfacing in her mind.
"Don't overthink it. Get some rest." Anser offered no explanation. He lay down beside her and continued checking the others' status.
Because quite a few members had been stuck at bottlenecks and were relatively low level, this expedition had allowed Bratt, Finn, Kaleno, Giant Tail, his familiar Rex, and Nornoth all to meet the requirements for leveling up.
Anser opened Bratt's Character Sheet, and the level-up options appeared.
A 3rd-level Fighter could choose a subclass. There were many options available, but unlike Anser, every subclass on Bratt's list had a compatibility rating displayed beside it.
The highest rating belonged to Battle Master, while the lowest belonged to Arcane Archer and Eldritch Knight.
'So this represents the path most suited to Bratt.'
Anser quickly understood.
Everyone possessed different physical talents and temperaments. Naturally, the most suitable direction for their class development would differ as well.
Choose the wrong path, and you'll get half the results for twice the effort—and never go very far.
'Battle Master has a solid ceiling too.'
Without hesitation, he selected the Battle Master path for Bratt.
Finn advanced to level 4 and chose the Sharpshooter feat, continuing to improve his archery.
Kaleno advanced to level 5 and gained the class feature Extra Attack, officially stepping into the ranks of elite adventurers.
Unfortunately, both had already chosen their subclasses long ago. There was no changing them now—they could only continue down the path they had selected.
Giant Tail, Rex, and Nornoth were somewhat different.
Their progression templates differed from those of ordinary adventurers and resembled monster templates more closely. Their growth focused primarily on attributes and hit points, with very few skills. Leveling them was considerably more difficult.
Giant Tail's Challenge Rating had reached 6, and his Strength had risen to 19.
His overall combat power was no weaker than Makaria's.
Rex, Anser's familiar, changed the least. His Dexterity increased by 1, and the poison in his Sting became more potent.
Nornoth learned the 1st-level spell Faerie Fire, gained +1 Constitution and +1 Intelligence, and experienced a noticeable increase in strength, though there was still no sign that he might be able to fly anytime soon.
However, Nornoth was carefree by nature. He spent his days in Holrewen bullying kobolds and living a leisurely life. Perhaps only when he saw a flying carpet would he remember his dream of soaring through the skies.
'Everything is on the right track. The only issue is that experience gain is a bit too slow.' Anser closed the Character Sheet and pondered quietly.
The seven members of the Adventuring Party varied greatly in level, and the gap in combat power was even larger. Whenever they teamed up, everyone had to compromise for one another.
When Bratt and Finn felt challenged, the others—including Iris—found the hunt completely lacking in difficulty.
'Maybe everyone should form their own teams based on strength and preference, then figure out the best hunting times, locations, and frequencies. Full-party operations only need to happen occasionally...'
With that thought, Anser got up and walked over to his desk. He wrote down his ideas and posted them on the notice board in the Party Storage.
He could provide opportunities, but there was no need for him to act as everyone's babysitter.
Today, he had discovered traces of a small werewolf tribe and a troll. If he and Iris operated together, their gains would likely be several times higher than they were now.
Still, to ensure the safety of the party members, he dug through his inventory and tossed a pile of magical items he had no immediate use for into the Party Storage.
Azure Venomblade, Cloak of Protection, Royal Butterfly Cloak, Frostmark, Shadow Armor, Ring of Spell Storing, Ring of Rapid Armor Switching, Potions of Water Breathing, Healing Potions...
Among them were some of the spoils he had recently taken from slain star pirates and half-dragons.
The most valuable items were two Rare-quality weapons:
Oathbow and Executioner's Axe.
He had no use for them himself, but selling them felt wasteful. This was the perfect opportunity to put them to use.
He found a notebook and carefully listed every item.
Anyone who wanted to borrow something only needed to register it before taking it.
Others could also deposit items they weren't using.
There was no need to worry about things being lost. The Adventure Log would clearly record every transfer.
Finally, he pulled out a black shield from the Avaricious Dragonhide Pouch.
It was a magical item seized from one of Bane's Chosen, the same shield that had once blocked several of his Disintegrate spells.
...
[Magic Item: Anti-Magic Shield]
Category: Armor
Rarity: Rare (Requires Attunement)
While holding this shield, you have advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects, and spell attack rolls made against you have disadvantage.
...
The appraisal result left him somewhat disappointed.
This wasn't some legendary artifact, merely a Rare-quality shield.
However, for a Chosen, the Anti-Magic Shield was even better than most legendary shields. Combined with their exceptional resistances and saving throws, it allowed them to shrug off the vast majority of control spells with ease.
Anser was reluctant to lend it out.
For now, he decided to keep it for himself. It might prove useful someday.
...
Early the next morning, in the dining hall of Fort Jacqueline.
Anser, Stoll, Iris, and Grandma were enjoying breakfast together, but Brunhilde was nowhere to be seen.
"Aunt still hasn't come back." Iris frowned slightly.
"She's an independent individual. She can come and go as she pleases. Besides, she's older than all of us combined. She knows her limits," Anser reassured her.
That was what he said, but inwardly he was somewhat dissatisfied with Brunhilde's habit of wandering off everywhere.
At a time like this, she just had to go exploring some ruin. She had completely forgotten the divine oracle. Frankly, she was less dedicated than he was, and he wasn't even a Chosen.
"Lacks reverence."
Stoll suddenly blurted out the remark, though it was impossible to tell who exactly he was referring to.