The strike group had barely left the mansion next morning after their joint breakfast and as they headed towards another city gate, one that was further away from the direction they had arrived from, avoiding the coming gifted groups when they heard it start. Even as they moved away from the main avenues of the coming celebration, they could clearly hear the beginning of the loud music and cheers echoing all the way back here- the first of the new gifted groups, led by powerful factions were arriving and being greeted quite enthusiastically by the local populace- all too eager to earn favours and good will of the future powerhouses.

  "It is still going to be a pain in the ass moving through the city in the next few days." sighed Fumiko as they moved further and further away from the loud celebration going on, focused only on their own task at hand. There was the small benefit of most of the streets in their path being mostly deserted though, allowing them to move with far greater efficiency and speed as they departed. Even the gates on the other side were barely staffed, left with the bare minimum of people the city could keep here to prevent chaos and potential infiltration by either beasts or unwanted local populace- a lesson learned the hard way over the years.

  "It never ceases to amaze me just how bland most of this place is. Everywhere you turn, the same brown and boring building type just stare right back at you, barely recognizable from one another. To be honest, without a map, street name plaques and the more eye catching signs I am sure it would be easy to get lost here." Kaede shook her head as she spoke once the party had stepped past the gate and was heading towards the direction of the forest surrounding the city from three sides. They would have to trek through the forest for at least an hour to start encountering something worthwhile, some random small encounters not whitstanding. An encounter with a smaller group of lesser creatures was almost as guaranteed as the sun rising every morning before they reached their supposed depths where more dangerous creatures roamed.

  Just as expected, some fifteen minutes later the group encountered their first farm up targets, consisting of five goblins, each and every one of the little shits as scrawny and repulsive as any other, and much to the expected reaction, charged at their group like the mindless and overexcited beasts that they were. unfortunately, since they were not even proper level fives, izumi and Fumiko alone were enough to deal with them, each of the girls rushing forward and slicing apart two goblins each in quick succession while the fifth was taken down by a well aimed arrow coming from Chiyo, showing just how much their scout had progressed with her archery.

  The large trees and their leave filled canopies created a slightly dark and glum atmosphere in the lower level of the forest, the lack of most shrubbery the deeper they went added to the darkening place more and more, as if promising larger and larger creatures to come forth the deeper they went. And truth to the promise, soon enough the group encountered yet another monster group, this time consisting of ten, level nine wolves. Not all that much more dangerous than the goblins individually, but as a group they represented the wisdom of beasts- not something to be taken too lightly, lest one was all too eager to lose a limb, or worse still- their life.

  The hunger was apparent in the packs eyes as they split up and circulated the group, who in turn changed their formation, moving Kaede, Emi and Chiyo to the middle, protected in a triangle by the front line fighters. The moment their group was in formation, Kenji let out a relatively quite howl of his own, activating his taunt skill and drawing a large target on his armoured back. With the greatest threat recognized, the pack of wolves charged in, each attacking with fearful coordination and timing, ensuring that an opening for the next wolf would be larger and larger, as one would eventually deliver a fatal attack, either with their fangs or the suspiciously sharp claws.

  Unfortunately for the wolves, their speed was not nearly great enough to escape the reaction and reflexes of the groups melee fighters, with Izumi and Fumiko utilizing openings they saw to dispatch some of the incoming wolves, their bodies flying past and collapsing to the ground, blood seeping out of their cooling and lifeless bodies. Kenji too seemed to entirely disregard the wolves coming in, using inhuman strength to bash them away, breaking bones with loud crunches as he did so.

  The ones that quickly enough realised their targeted group was far, far too strong for them, tried to escape, only to be pelted with arrows that either outright killed or heavily wounded some, or were crippled by a nasty curse or two, courtesy of both Chiyo and Emi, soon enough followed by finishing strikes from either of the attackers. Kaede, noticing her party was wrapping up, started to clean up the combat scene, filling up Jack's matter reserves with each of the wolves dematerialized. Once done with that, she quickly checked on her parties condition, ready to doll out heals if necessary, and determining their group was in tip- top shape, signaled for them to head further still, with Chiyo already seeking trail of larger packs as they headed deeper and deeper inside, all while keeping track of the times spent inside, calculating how long could they continue their expedition for, lest they overstay and are forced to spend the night in monster infested forest.

  With the same relative ease they took care of their next two encounters as well- a pack of ten level twelve hobgoblins and a pack of eight, level fourteen hobs. The latter seemed to have been a pack of a rather unlucky hobs, as half of them seemed quite banged up even before they landed even a single strike, either having escaped from another adventurer party or another, much larger and more dangerous predator stalking the forest this deep in.

  "Incoming, five o- clock!" called out Chiyo, with Kenji reacting on pure instinct, dashing towards the side, rising up his shield to block most of his body and braced for impact that came soon enough.

  With a groan, Kenji took the brunt of the collision, though he was still sent tumbling back a few meters, revealing the form of a two horse sized, overgrown cat, shaking it's head and clearing the momentarily cloudy mind.

  "Level 19, Shadow cat!" from the side called out Emi, giving the group plenty of info to work with as both Fumiko and Izumi circled past Kenji, trying to deliver a preemptive strikes to start bleeding the thing out while it was still distracted and confused from the contact with the wall that was their protector class tank, at the same time giving plenty of time for Kenji to get his ass up from the ground and back in position, once again drawing the overgrown cat's attention just long enough for the rest of the group to deliver enough damage for a proper takedown.

  Fumiko was quick enough to deliver one nasty slash to one of the beasts front paws, leaving a deep gash in it, blood pouring out with gusto, though the soul shaking shriek that followed as Izumi's katana cleanly sliced through the bone was something else entirely, with the shadow cat falling down on its face and rolling around in agony.

  "I think Jack made your's better. Did you give him a kiss or something?" Fumiko joked as both girls had reacted immediately, jumping back a few steps, leaving cats thrashing area.

  "As if he would succumb to the advances of kids." Izumi rolled her eyes and jabbed back "How about you show me how it's done? No doubt you and your boyish charms could do the trick!"

  "Why you!" Fumiko fumed, struck in the one weakness she had no actual rebuttal against.

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  "Focus. It's still alive!" came a bark of an order, ending the banter as the two girls replied in unison "Yes Boss!", focusing entirely on the cat as Kenji was charging in, his shield raised and ready to pin the cat in place, giving even more chances for the party to end it's current misery.

  Emi overlaid a few curses on the creature, making it more sluggish, easing the task her party had in front of them, providing all the necessary opening for both Kenji and their melee fighters to finish the shadow cat.

  "Collect its ruby from the forehead and the kanines. Those fetch a pretty penny in the markets, the rest can be 'turned'." Emi spoke as she was the more knowledgeable regarding the market prices and value of different monster parts and stuff. "And check for a mana stone- these ones are fairly likely to have one. Should be around heart." While Kaede, alongside Izumi were more focused on party management in combat and back in town, Emi was going all in to be come their families coin master. Not only was she not all that interested in the actual management, but her contractor class gave additional perks for her in this line of work. And if there was one thing that the party shared, besides their ever growing appreciation for Jack, it was their desire to be the best they could be, occupying a niche and ensuring excellence in said field.

  Chiyo worked swiftly, carving both the ruby and kanines, her knife almost dancing across the shadow cat's head, moments later getting sunk into it's now still chest, spilling still hot blood on the ground. In just a few more moments, Chiyo's arms disappeared in the freshly cut hole, moments later coming back out, now bloody and steaming, though a half fist sized glowing stone was clutched between her fingers.

  "Nice!" Emi smiled as she noticed the stone. "This one seems bigger than average. We were indeed lucky."

  The corpse was then dispersed, filling up Jack's matter storage as Chiyo washed her hands and once both tasks were done, the group headed out further, once again in search for more and more prey.

  -----------------------

  There was not much Jack could do as he was now, with little to no matter at his disposal and a decision to hole up in their mansion for the time being, hoping to avoid as much of any possible undesirable encounters as he could. Did not mean he was stuck with boredom. After all, while it was true Jack would not leave the premises, the same could not be said about the mercenary that took care of the shadow walkers a while back. And he really, really wanted to help the brash dragonkin out, teaching her a valuable lesson in what her skills actually can do and that she should be able to tell the difference, lest she suffers dearly for the mistaken assumption she had made about them and the different signals represent. That and he was quite interested in chatting up Zekira. A mature, calm and exotic redhead was quite in his strike zone, both as a potential employer for the up and coming merc and a company for future. While he had attained the smallest of measures of the older sister, he liked her demeanor and was not at all opposed to a possible relationship with her, should the dice fall in the right order.

  Thus, dressed in well concealing cloak, his face masked as something plain and easily forgettable, even if mostly obscured, he discreetly left the mansion, ensuring no one would be the wiser. The farmer squad, as well as doc, were informed Jack would hole up for quite a while and they should not disturb him, as well as told about the compensation from the dragonkin clan possibly being delivered, in which case they should gracefully accept and go ahead with their day as planned beforehand.

  With all loose ends tied up and secured, he could explore the city to his heart's content, checking out the districts he had yet to visit, slums being one of the destinations. He had debated with himself for a moment whether he should check out the whole festivity at the gate where the gifted were received, but decided against it, prioritizing the opportunity to roam the mostly empty streets. While he was an aspect of destruction the last go around, focusing more on battle and annihilation of everything that stood in his path, this time he was an aspect of duality, both destruction and creation, as well as the fact that he was not stuck in a never ending, almost, tunnel filled to the brim with nothing but monsters and only extremely rare few zones for trade and meeting other creatures with intellect, giving him plenty of other things to grow interest about and enjoy.

  What was stopping him from making the place his guild were to live a better place? Nothing but himself and his lack of power, and since he was in the mood to do some good deeds, he was mapping out the slums, checking out on the overall situation here. As expected, plenty of beggars loitered around, much like those that seemed left sick and starving. Plenty of rough looking and clearly shady dudes also hung around, telling volumes about just how riddled the place was with gangs of criminals. He had also noticed quite a few guards stationed on the exists of the slums, no doubt to prevent any of the undesirables sneaking over to the gate where all the festivities happened. There was no way the management of the town would allow for such unpredictable and lowly variables to possibly mess up their great chance.

  Unlike the 'proper' blocks of the city, he also noticed the larger number of beastkin, though most of those present had a lot of beast features in humanoid forms. Werewolf like humanoids, covered entirely in fur, with muzzles and fangs like real wolves. Bird beastkin with bird heads and human bodies and so on and so forth, most in just as bad a condition than most other unfortunates around.

  Jack found someone looking somewhat decent- no obvious tells of diseases or worse, though clearly starving as well and moved towards them, still maintaining casual demeanor, as though he was not locked in on that particular man. The demihuman Jack zeroed in on was a dog like beastkin, with human face, though mostly covered in fun and barely protruding dog like muzzle, as though his body had been extremely indecisive whether it wanted to retain proper human face, or go all in on a muzzle, ending up with the thing in between. A white, short fur covered most his body, with black dots littered here and there, seemingly a dalmatian in origin.

  "Got some questions. Do you have some answers?" He asked half muted, though loud enough for his target to hear, instantly earning a wary gaze that quickly zeroed in on the few coins Jack was grinding together.

  "I have no guarantees sir, as poor and unlucky that I am, but ask away, I will do my utmost to help." with the friendliest voice the beggar could muster, he spoke, smiling and revealing a row of sharp and seemingly dangerous looking teeth, creating a rather comical, if not downright tragic sight.

  "Oh, it's nothing complicated I want to know. What I seek is information about the ones who control this place and groups of note. The crime bosses and what not, as well as what kind of activities they focus on. Slave trade, stealing, racketeering, smuggling? Any info goes. If you could then also point me in the direction of the group I would find it most helpful and additional rewards would be provided."

  Like a devil, whispering in the poor man's ear and winning the decision easily, Jack offered more, near instantly prompting the man to talk, revealing everything the beggar knew about the questions asked, going so far as to offer the general locations each of the groups of interest stuck around. Jack also asked if about the groups, if any, that were trying to clean the place up, be it by offering work or otherwise.

  By the end, some thirty minutes later, Jack gave the man additional few coins, ensuring that the initiative to prove their knowledge was properly awarded as he left the place, heading towards the group he found the most interesting, just like he had said to the informant. Was it any wonder that unlike the numerous criminal gangs that seemed to do their very best to squeeze everything and a bit more out of the poor sobs around here, the groups trying to make this place better could be counted with one hand, and even then you would still have several fingers free.

  Chapel of mercy was one of the samaritan groups working here. Apparently founded by a rather successful retired gifted lady, often referred to as the Saint, the Chapel of mercy was quite simple in it's premise. Their priests, accompanied by several melee fighters, would pass through the slums every now and then, offering some light healing to those most in need, alleviating the suffering and pain. They would also offer simple jobs for the people here. Nothing too complicated or dangerous, serving as a way to earn a meal and perhaps some coin. Some of the more determined had proven themselves and earned permanent employment in such manner, leaving the slums behind.

  The other samaritan organization was Faith of Three. A religion worshiping three saints of theirs, though supposedly they had ascended to a higher realm a long time ago, leaving their followers to tend to world's downtrodden and those struck by misery. According to the beggar, they did similar work to that of Chapel of mercy, though in his honest opinion, the Faith of Three felt somewhat fishy. He had heard rumors about people going missing after signing up to work for Faith of Three and similar whispers, though none dared to openly speak, for those expressing such worries too seemed to be disappearing at a worrying rate.

  It seemed Jack would have more than just gangs to take care of. This Faith of Three seemed quite shady as well.

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 16

  Class- Twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(EX)

  Stats unassigned: +11

  Attributes:

  Strength- 24 (14+7+3)

  Vitality- 23 (12+8+3)

  Dexterity- 21 (15+6)

  Intelligence-7

  Spirit- 25 (20+5)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX).

  Spells- none.

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. The actor. Executioner. Survivor. Pioneer, Record breaker.The new champion supreme.

  Gear: amulet +2 vit: weapon- Gundao+3 str. Rings- spatial storage, vit +