Chapter 158 Harsh Lesson

“Say, what are the farmers doing?” Jay asked Paul, pointing at the large teepee structures.

“…and why are they covering them with dirt?”

“Oh. That’s how they make charcoal. Burning the wood with less air creates charcoal. I’m not really sure how it works though.” Paul shrugged, finally deciding to just pick Peter up and carry him to the guild.

“Oh okay, thanks… Thanks for today.”

“You’re welcome mate, and again, nice work. You kept your mind clear and focused out there…” Paul looked at some more adventurers fighting over the antlers, “…it’s a shame more aren’t like that.”

With a nod, Paul marched off, chatting to the other guard as he carried Peter.

“Charcoal huh…” Jay scratched his chin, watching the whole process.

“I suppose it must be for forges or alchemy,” he guessed.

Anya had been quietly following Jay the whole time – they were meant to be running into the mist keep dungeon today after all.

“You really did do well today.” Anya encouraged, still standing around him.

“Thanks.” Jay shrugged, he didn’t feel like he was that impressive.

“Anyway… I was wondering – are you planning to go back to mist keep today?” she questioned..

“Yeah of course, there’s still plenty of time left in the day.” Jay nodded, “You coming?”

Anya smiled, “Yes please.”

“Good.” Jay nodded and he went back to watching the charcoal burning process – it was nearly over.

Slowly, the adventurers in Jay’s field, the ones who were under his command, had gathered up. They were talking and looking at Jay occasionally.

Jay simply tried to ignore them, thinking they were like the gossiping adventurers that would wait outside of the dungeons and murmur whenever he passed by.

After they had a discussion, Dan left the group and approached Jay.

“Hey, Jay? We were talking and decided that you should get the other set of antlers.”

“Me?” Jay said, raising a brow. He wanted an explanation.

“Well, we only slayed them because of you. Besides, you were literally drained by this one and did the most to slay it, so it’s yours. Rightfully.”

“Well sure then.” Jay smiled, he wasn’t going to turn down some extra loot.

After grabbing them off Dan, Jay now had two sets of the large treant antlers.

[Treant Antlers (Wooden Elemental)] x 2

“Also… do you need any party members for a dungeon?” Dan raised a brow, his eyes full of hope.

“Ah, not for now. Thanks though.” Jay let him down softly.

“I see… Well, I wouldn’t know if I didn’t ask. It’s a shame you go solo all the time though, you’re a good leader. Anyway, let me know if you change your mind.” Dan nodded.

Dan walked back to the group, smiling at them with a thumbs up. The rest of them smiled lightly and they went back to discussing who should get the last pair of antlers.

Anya was looking at Jay with a sly smile as she listened to the whole conversation, seeing him turn down another adventurer almost made her laugh.

“What? I don’t need anyone for now. I wasn’t lying” Jay smiled, “Besides, it was weird that he noticed how I usually go alone.” he shrugged, “It’s a little stalkerish.”

Anya shook her head, “Literally everyone notices that…”

“What?”

This was the first Jay was hearing about it. He had no clue he was a topic of conversation among the young adventurers.

Anya sighed, not wanting to make too much of it.

“Basically no one but you goes into dungeons alone… Well… there is another guy doing it now too, but people notice stuff like that.”

“Oh… huh. I guess it is a bit strange – but I do go with you sometimes” Jay shrugged with a smile.

The piles of wood were now alight and soon to be charcoal; simply from his curious nature, Jay decided to remember it. It wasn’t every day one would see such an interesting process after all.

With that, he began to walk through the farmland, back to Losla.

There were still some rumbles and cracks of lightning sounding from somewhere south, but they were getting less and less common. The elemental incident was coming to a close and all the adventurers were heading back to Losla.

A few guards were left in the fields in case any more elementals came through, but most of them now headed south to support any others who were still fighting.

Jay and Anya walked in a scattered line of other adventurers heading back to Losla, getting the occasional glance – but no one approached them.

“So… I’m level nine now” Anya gave Jay a mischievous glance, “You must be close to levelling up to ten by now?”

“Oh yeah. Yep, very close.” he chuckled, remembering to check his exp after the long battle.

Jay quickly opened his notifications, trying to hide his grin as he opened it.

[4625 Exp]

[Level Up!]

[5 Free Attribute Points]

[1 Free Skill Point]

“No one knows I’m now level 11” he thought, stifling a chuckle.

“Now, let’s see… I already decided to put 5 points into energy so I can summon skeletons endlessly. Well… for a longer time anyway.”

Jay quickly dumped them into energy without a second thought, it was still clear in his mind how close he came to losing a battle with Estobar. If he ran out of mana slightly earlier, it may have been over.

Jay and Anya walked back quietly, most would think they were bored, however Jay was considering where to put his ability point.

“Hmm… I could have 5 level four skeletons, or 4 level five skeletons… four times five is still twenty either way. Hmm…”

“The skeletons are all still level three though. I shouldn’t have waited to spend that other skill point. I think it’ll be better to have an extra skeleton until they’re all level four, otherwise it will just be a waste – why raise their max level to five if they’re not even four yet.”

With a nod, Jay added another point into his raise skill.

[Raise Feeble Creature level 4] -> [Raise Feeble Creature level 5]

<[Raise Feeble Creature level 5]>

– Imbue a small skeleton with necrotic energy, raising it to fight for you.

[4/5 Raised]

[Costs 5 mana+3/level of creature]

“Awesome…”

Still, he was trying not to smile all while realising he could now summon up to five skeletons. The new one would need time to level up, but every addition of a skeleton would make dungeons exponentially easier.

Needless to say, he was now walking a little faster towards the mist keep dungeon. Perhaps if the new one killed high level creatures, it would level up faster?

Unfortunately, he did not have access to their exp pool information – Jay also got 100% of exp when they killed something, so it seemed that they gained a different sort of hidden experience.

As they walked through Losla, other adventurers began splitting off – some went to other dungeons, some went south to watch the battle, others went to the guild, but most went to lunch.

The horn at the guild was no longer sounding, and the adventurers were no longer needed – but still, the powerful battle in the south could still be heard, and it naturally drew adventurers towards it.

Jay and Anya ignored everyone else as they proceeded with their plans, heading straight into the mist keep dungeon.