The group ate deliciously, practically licking the plates. The main menu today was hot noodles, which was perfect for the cool nights.

He also added dimsum and a few vegetable side dishes, just because.

The group happily ate their meal and then settled in the living room after for some small talk. At some point, Marcus looked out the window. In retrospect, he (and a few others) had been doing this intermittently the past half hour.

"They're still not here?" Marcus asked, looking a bit concerned.

"Who are you looking for?"

"There are relatively young adventurers who went a day ahead of us," he said.

This made Finn frown, unconsciously touching the back of his neck.

Finn paused. He remembered seeing a few corpses back then, one of which was against the toughened rank cradlebeak.

After an awkward silence, he described the descriptions of the people he saw.

This made them flinch.

"Are they here?"

"...no, unfortunately."

…

He took them to the makeshift grave he made, mood heavy.

"I only found three. Should I recover their—"

"No need, it's fine," Leiah said. "From the descriptions, we know who was found. The others were probably eaten already." She sounded cold, but the way her eyebrows furrowed was telling of her heartbreak.

Nona shook her head. "We warned them not to be arrogant…"

These were relatively new adventurers who had been itching to head out. It was just that there were other missions and things they had to prepare, so they got delayed.

That team was in a rush and believed that Level 1 wouldn't be that much of a threat to them, so they still went ahead when they could've waited a few days.

Marcus rubbed his eyes. "I told them I'll teach them a lesson if they disobeyed, but what could they learn? They're dead."

The group decided to vent their anger towards other toughened monsters that appeared nearby. They were planning on going to the Level 2 zone anyway, might as well take a few down in advance.

Later that night, Finn found it a bit hard to sleep. Although he knew that his existence here helped out a lot of people, it still wasn't easy to accept those deaths. Some of those people were not even 20 years old…

And as if he wasn't problematic enough, he received a mission just before he finally succumbed to sleep, jolting him up awake again.

[New Personal Mission Activated! Reach Fortified Level within a Year!]

[Information: Reach Fortified Level within 1 year.

Timeline: 1 Year

Punishment: Death]

…shit.

…

Finn was coming along to the trip to the borders of level 1 and 2, to fight against more toughened. Although there was an increase of that level around his inn, they weren't that many, at least the number of cores he could gather in a week was very limited.

Considering how much he could absorb as well as how much he had to absorb, minimum, he had to step up his game.

The group of toughened and resonant-level adventurers left before dawn with their backpacks full of supplies, including some of Finn's Class D and Class C snacks and bentos.

However, he purposely didn't make too much. As useful as they were, they were also very attractive to monsters. They'd rather handle monsters one by one, and not in mobs, while out in the open thankyouverymuch.

There were also the sauces in Finn's space, so they were ready to barbecue the heck out of meat they encountered.

Besides, fresh toughened stage meat, along with his special sauce—and even if done outside the Inn kitchen—would be at least E-class essence food in Finn's hand.

It was just that they encountered a few of the usual hoovesore a.k.a. beef source, and the cradlebeak, the premium poultry source, just on the way there, still within Level 1.

"Toughened monsters are so common in these parts?"

"I don't remember it being like this…"

Finn looked at them. He knew the inn had something to do with toughened monsters appearing more often, but was that really all? He vaguely remembered that there was a limit to its effect and they should be over that by this time.

"Well, it's not bad for us. At least we can start with decent battles earlier." Marcus said, as optimistic as always. "Maybe we wouldn't have to enter level 2!"

He was also quite excited not to be the tank this time! He enjoyed dealing damage so much more than being the meatshield.

Nona shook her head. "It's a pity for your natural ability to gather aggro."

"..."

Finn and the others laughed at their banter, focusing on the battles at hand. Fortunely, the groups were not big, and it allowed their small group some breathing area even if it was not as easy as being surrounded by awakened-tier monsters.

They tried to handle one or two at a time as a team, but Finn wanted to try on his own, with Durgan, the strongest in level there, assisting whenever he was in trouble.

Finn was still the priority to guard though. This way, Marcus was still half a tank, to his chagrin.

"Think of the sauces in my space!" Finn yelled. "More monsters =more meat = more food!"

This successfully fired Marcus to do a good job.

Anyway, Finn's exercises lately had been solo, with one assistant at best. Because he didn't really have a fixed team and he had the advantage of the barrier, he wasn't used to much teamwork.

He could adjust if needed, of course, but he wanted to test how far he could go on his own.

For now, while they only encountered a few toughened monsters at a time, Finn took this time to do one-on-one while the rest (including the larger awakened mob) were handled by everyone else.

Finn looked at his stats.

[Status]

Name: Finnick Altheus Solthar

Race: Human

Physical State: Toughened Tier 1

Energy State: Dormant

VITALS

HP: 978/1000

Mana: 995/1000

Stamina: 988/1000

Wallet: 2698 Gold

Hearth Points: 6832 Points

Active Skills: [Ingredient Scan] [Dish Analysis] [Heated Arc] [Farming] [Assesment] [Feather Step] [Sticky Soil] [Tracker][Blade of Fire] [Thunder Clash] [Stone Guard]

Passive Skill: [Blade Proficiency - Growth Type (Lv 3)] [Monster Instinct]

[Strong Stomach] [Improved Palate] [Foraging] [Fire Resistance] Preserver's Touch]

Condition: Normal]

While his stats were still high, they hadn't even landed on Level 2 yet, so he couldn't be so careless with using too much mana yet.

Let alone mana, he had to watch out for cooldown, as well.

He did not activate his [Feather Step] unless he really had to. He needed to be able to run well if there was an emergency. Anyway, he was fast enough, especially with teammates around him.

When fighting one on one, he preferred not to use skills at the beginning. It would not only let him tone his foundation, which he had been training in the very awesome [Staff Training Room], but it was just so much more efficient to only use his skills when he was facing a lot of enemies at one time.

The others handled the remaining monsters and, at some point, they had time to watch him.

ROOOAR!

Finn looked as the monster pounded on to him. It was big and strong and most would feel intimidated, weaker ones would even freeze.

However, Finn stepped back, pushing the monster's forehead with the blunt end of the weapon.

Bang!

He used the momentum and pushed himself up, using the staff's weight and added centrifugal force to make a strong snap at the monster. He then attacked the weakness.

One would think it was its relatively long neck, but it wasn't. It had evolved to have a very sturdy neck, possibly to handle the whiplash of its speed.

The usual weakness, the eyes, weren't straightforward to target either. This was because they had narrow eyes and a wide peripheral vision (including the way their neck moved), so they'd be likely to avoid the attack on the eye before they could do damage at all.

The weakness to target, as he knew from the [Ingredient] Scan, would be the gaps between the plates. Articulated armors left seams, especially for flexibility, though he had to be fast and accurate enough to actually hit them.

At this, Finn's shots were calculated and accurate. The skill and grace he showed when handling his weapons had improved leaps and bounds since the last time they saw him.

He was also getting used with his new weapon, one that could apparently change as needed. It was usually in Halberd form, but they swore they saw it extend at some point!

"He's gotten so good…"

"Damn. He grows too fast."

"That weapon is awesome."

"It must not be easy to control."

"Whats the secret?" Marcus elbowed Durgan, who was smiling. In retrospect, didn't this guy grow stronger too?? They had been working together for years. They knew the halfling's attacks, techniques, and were aware of his capabilities.

When he stayed here, they were not sure if he continued to grow but he actually did!! Did he go to Level 2 often?

Durgan smiled. "Staff secret."

The others gaped, suddenly understanding that the Inn actually had more secrets—one that only the staff could access!

Was it really too late to apply?!

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