The group continued to travel, heading towards the borders of level 1 and level 2. Level two was at a slightly higher mountain range than the one the inn was in.

Interestingly, at some point, they saw some familiar karst mountains at a distance. They could recognize it because the arrangement was so unique. "Hey, isn't this nostalgic?"

The odd rock formations, the caves amidst the small mountains, and so on.

This area was where they met. Not far from there was where they found and killed the Thornvines, as well.

The borders between level 1 and 2 were not far from that location. The area they were heading was probably made of the same material as the area they met in, in fact.

Speaking of which, Leiah and the others looked at each other. A few months ago, they had been in this area and they hadn't encountered a lot of toughened beasts back then.

Now, they encountered a handful of kilometers before it. Finn listened to their curious comments but did not speak. If it was due to the inn, then many of these toughened would be heading in that direction, but they were not.

Could things really have changed in some other way that they were not aware of?

Further, Pang mentioned that the inn's area of influence was only several kilometers or so. So the sparse number of toughened level monsters in those areas would be attracted to the inn, but it wouldn't lure monsters from Level 2, at least not yet. It wouldn't affect anything beyond that, and this was well beyond that.

In a sense, the inn was simply consolidating the monsters already nearby, though the scope of 'nearby' had expanded just a bit during upgrade, but the scope itself wasn't that wide.

"Imagining those rats gathering in thousands and trying to climb up…cringe."

"Hehe, it reminds me that I should've thrown Frago down the rat mob when I had the chance," Marcus said, earning a few cackles because they totally agreed to it.

Silence passed by them and large smiles graced their faces.

Although it had only been a few months—and the number of times they had actually met could be counted with a hand—why did it feel like they've been through so much together?

Anyway, they took this chance to head to the old nostalgic cave to rest and barbecue some of the meat they deserved to eat.

They even encountered a few thornvines, some of which were crawling creepily. This time, Finn wasn't afraid of getting close anymore.

Even if they tried to drag him in, he'd just stab them with his weapon, heating them up, and burning their entire bodies as well as their entire cluster.

[Heated Arc]

[Blade of Fire]

[Killed! Thornvine (Awakened)!]

[Killed! Thornvine (Awakened)!]

[...]

Although using mana against awakened monsters he didn't have to fight might seem wasteful, he needed to feel his improvements for the sake of building confidence!

There was nothing more confidence-building than easily massacring beasts that had once made him go through so much trouble.

Not to mention, he would never stop acquiring awakened stones!

One, they still had plenty of value for him. Another, he needed them as upkeep for his sister-egg's core pool!

…

After a short rest, the group continued to move forward. The team continued to either kill or run away from the mobs that they encountered. The next hour or two was like this.

The moment they stepped on the Level 2 area—which really didn't have a clear delineation—they encountered twice as many toughened monsters!

At this point, Finn had no choice but to cooperate as a team, as well as use a few skills.

"Guys! I'll make quicksand in front of ugly bird and ugly boar! It lasts 10 seconds, get as many monsters there as you can!" he yelled, pointing at an area where the two types collided.

He expanded his halberd to a pole. He was not a mage, and magical techniques still needed the touch of weapons. The weapon elongated by an extra meter, and Finn did not seem to struggle at all.

If the mass was not increasing, just changing shape, then it was relatively easier for Finn to handle.

They nodded and started luring the monsters there as well.

[Sticky Soil]

The sticky soil was 2 meters by 2 meters in area and a meter in depth. The front legs of two monsters and the hind legs of one were caught and immediately imbalanced them. The team quickly made their shots.

Stabbing with a long thin weapon was not easy. Turning it to a whip was too difficult, so what he did was to transform it back to a halberd, pulling a few monsters with its transformation momentum.

Finn stabbed the farther one, and he even managed to pull one in before the soil settled.

[Killed! Cradlebeak (Toughened!)]

After the skill, it was just soil in the end so the monsters just had to lift their legs up. Fortunately, the team just had to stab down, taking advantage of their momentary imbalance.

[Killed! Gloomrat (Toughened)!]

[...]

They stayed along the borders of level one and two, and it was definitelya challenge. They often had to find hiding places as they fought, and then changing places after finishing off a mob.

They would often run back to level 1 when they were overwhelmed, afraid the enemies would increase, and only return when they had taken a few breaths.

The next few hours passed by like this, and there were a lot more toughened monsters than it was a few months back. And they were only at the border. They camped in a place with rocks on the side to minimize the areas they had to guard, and it was also slightly on a hill, so they could

"I guess we'll stick around here. It could get too much to head further in."

"Valid."

Fortunately, they had a lot of snacks that Finn made, making recovery a bit faster and enjoyable. For example, Leez wasn't much of a fighter, but she was pounding her mace against enemies with a passion, because she wanted to eat.

Anyway, they trained specifically at the border only. Most of them were toughened-level anyway, and Gideon was only one person and his priority would always be Finn (even Durgan was), so they didn't really have to go too deeply and encounter more fortified-level beasts.

Soon, night descended upon them.

They found a small cave at the side, which was still part of the karst mountains at a distance, though it was just a big rock formation on this side. They did not dare barbecue this time but only ate the bentos, which were fortunately C-class anyway.

Finn also spread out some beast repelling potions on the cave's mouth.

So…now that they were finally in Level 2, he wondered what could happen next.

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