Four level 3 monsters sat digesting recent kills on a plateau of rock shaped like a flat hill. There'd been no sign of any changes to how Growth worked with the intruding monster system growing stronger. Evolution and fusion, two of the advantages monsters could gain, likely had either different triggers or were 'perks' the monsters could spend the equivalent of potential they'd gained instead of advancing. Any and all Encyclopedia entries directly touching on the monster domain were still absent, so Daniel didn't know.

He did know that he didn't like the fact that one of the wyverns in the pack below had the ~Evolved~ tag after its name. All of them were otherwise the same, young frost wyverns, which would give a good baseline comparison for how evolution changed things. The group looked warily at Willow again as they observed from afar. "You're sure there aren't any spirits down there?" Tlara asked. "Because like fuck am I dominating any with one. You can pull it like you did the sparrow before it dies."

"It's hard to tell from this distance, but I don't think so." She stopped shielding her eyes and shook her head, the other hand keeping her stable on the wounded wyvern as she did so. "Whatever evolution is must not be tied to having a spirit. It makes sense in a way, monsters should only gain spirits when they're formed. Hopefully, the one down there won't be as difficult as the sparrow was because it's empty."

"If it is…" Daniel remembered the aura of fire around the shimmertail redsparrow. Kahvin, while under the effect of his father's sacrifice power, had struggled to remain close enough to deal damage. He had a few fire smoke bombs made that could theoretically counter that, though it would still cause problems. "Either way, I'm definitely going for scans once they're in engagement range. If I can get an elemental affix off of them, Elemental Onslaught will be way easier to handle."

"You'll have to be fine with just the bodies if I have my way," Evalyn denied, continuing to make Daniel rue his excitement in having a proper leader again. "I want you and Khiat to try and down the evolved wyvern first. If it proves too tough, aim for the others. These are a young variant so they don't fly too well, ideally we can damage their wings and finish them off while they're flightless."

"You can finish off most of them," Tlara qualified. "I didn't come all the way out here just to watch four perfectly functional tools get blown out of the fucking sky. I mean, that might be fun, but it's also a waste. You know how much the lazy fucks in Aurus would pay for these? Shame I can only dominate two, and that's if I dump my shock runner."

Evalyn stood her ground, or at least the patch of air she was hovering on. "We'll leave one or two depending on how this goes, but I can't say for sure the evolved wyvern will be one of them. It's too much of a risk given we don't know what it can do." Tlara crossed her arms, but a look from Willow forestalled further argument. "Is everyone ready? Sigron, your bond is working again?"

Everyone nodded to the first question, but at the second the Knight's spectral hands reappeared in answer. Sigron had to sacrifice them in the ruins when both curses and poison had debilitated the team, and the fact that they hadn't come back the next morning had worried Daniel. It turned out that the bond benefits from Sigron's parents just had a different trigger needed to regain them.

Honestly, you could tell by the fact that his prosthetic arm was fully repaired, as Bekali had damaged it beyond the point that the self repair affix on it could recover from. Nothing TLC couldn't fix. One of the hands waved at the group while the other gave Evalyn a thumbs up, drawing a raised eyebrow. "Alright. No point in giving the wyverns a chance to notice us. Daniel, Khiat, you're good to go."

"Want me to go into stealth?" Shuni quickly asked before either could raise their weapons. "No way I can hit from this distance, but I can find a spot to ambush them from on the way here."

"No," Evalyn quickly decided. "I'm pulling us out if the evolved wyvern proves too dangerous. It's already a lot to throw at us to fight level 3s that are harder to hunt than the average for their level. We're not all Gadriel." She read the half-frown on Shuni's face and sighed. "I'm responsible for you. With how your powers work, I'm going to lose track of you if you're out of my sight from the start. I'm not saying I'm going to be on your back from now on, but there is going to be a learning curve for both of us."

"Yeah, I get it," Shuni said, but there was a bit of standoffishness there that no one liked. Part of it was probably the difference in how Evalyn led the team compared to him, which was that she actually put effort into leading it and thought forward into how to incorporate members other than 'let them do their own thing'.

That was just growing pains, but Daniel was worried Shuni might also be a bit jealous of Evalyn, depending on how much of their history she'd learned by this point with Thomas in town. He'd yet to clear the air with the Rogue after she'd continued showing signs of interest after the initial rejection, mostly because, as he'd told Hunter, it was hard to define exactly where his feelings stood.

Fortunately, he only had to deal with four pseudo-dragons today instead of the potential relationship drama. Daniel loaded an exploding lightning round, the sound of him doing so bringing everyone's attention back to what mattered. "I'll start charging Power Shot. Khiat should fire first because this is going to create some chaos."

The dusker nocked a lightning arrow on her bow but didn't draw it yet. "From here… my arrow will take around ten seconds to get there."

"No idea on my shot, other than it'll be faster." He thought back to the hunt they'd been on with Talonwing, which had effectively served to find out how accurate he was at what range. Sitting above a kilometer away from the wyverns meant he'd have no chance at hitting them despite how large a target was presented, but then again he wasn't aiming for the monsters. As he engaged Quick Mind to once again try and train that for aiming purposes, he realized he did have a way to estimate how long his shot would be in the air. "Wait, three or four seconds, but only because the far shot barrel lets it keep its speed for longer. I'd still say you should release ten seconds before I fire."

"I'll use a sun arrow. If it's only one I won't be tired afterward." Khiat drew back, and the enchanted arrowhead began to glow faintly. When shot, the entire arrow would turn into a blazing streak of light that released a minor radiant explosion on the target along with the primary damage. It was a bit ironic that Khiat used this kind of attack considering she was vulnerable to the sun, but then again weakness was one of her archetypes. All of her powers would be developed based on those and her actions without a class to guide her.

"Get ready," Daniel said seriously, both to Evalyn and Khiat. "15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10." Khiat's bow slapped as she fired, the arrow no doubt flying unerringly toward the evolved wyvern given her superior aim augmented by her other powers. The descending beam of light, which had nothing on the one Rikoor's death had summoned, would no doubt alert their targets. Daniel still wasn't too concerned even if his shot landed a little late.

While Daniel had been counting and waiting for Khiat's arrow to release, he'd also been aiming. Quick Mind had been taking in everything he could see to try and estimate where he should be leading the shot. It couldn't account for everything as the bullet would encounter various gusts on the way down, as well as other factors he didn't fully understand like the Coriolis Effect. Wait, would that be a thing in this world? He belatedly realized he'd need to ask Lograve for advice on sniping as the Arcanist had practically turned himself into a local copy of Wikipedia.

Either way, the feature had given him some help. There was nothing that said it grew better each time he used it, but even if it didn't, he did. Quick Mind was based on his cognition, which improved the more he experienced and learned. Natural talent was also a factor, which would have made Khiat a monster if she could get this feature. After a minute, Daniel was only confident that he could hit the island, and buying more time for the feature to run with Moment of Clarity wouldn't help. It was at its current limit of assistance.

Daniel released Power Shot as his verbal counting hit zero. The explosive attack was primed as soon as it left the receiver, which was another very important reason why his weapon could never misfire and have the bullet accidentally strike the barrel on discharge. Compared to Khiat's arrow, now almost to the flat hill the wyvern's were parked on, his projectile was invisible as it shot through the air.

"The evolved wyvern did something!" Khiat called out as her zoomed-in vision on her target tracked the hit. "It covered itself in ice and my sho-" Her words were drowned out as Daniel's attack landed and the sound of the blast reached back. Despite how cool Might and Magic was, some of the original recipe combos were superior in certain conditions. Fearsome Roar might have been worthwhile to add to his attack, but its fear effect was relatively weak, and couldn't compare to what Scatter Shot added.

Daniel hadn't been aiming for any wyvern, but the island itself. It said something that he was pretty sure he only clipped the exterior edge, but the plume of electrically charged explosive energy made that a non-issue as a large crater was carved from the side of the island. He'd caught one normal wyvern in the primary blast, which was looking distressed as it tried to take to the air behind its allies. The evolved wyvern, meanwhile, appeared unfazed despite Khiat undoubtedly getting a headshot.

"Are you sure you're still an Artificer?" Evalyn asked as she inspected the damage. "That looked like some kind of high level fireball."

Khiat fired again in the time it took Daniel to answer, a normal arrow this time that she was using to probe the evolved wyvern. "Takes a lot of setup, and you saw that one wyvern mostly tanked it. It can bust through nonmagical dirt no problem, but it doesn't have what I need to kill durable targets." He loaded another round, but the wyverns were still outside his effective range. They were flying fast, and using clouds and small islets as cover while doing so.

"Tlara, Willow, you should pull back," Evalyn suggested as everyone saw part of the evolved wyvern turn briefly to ice, causing Khiat's arrow to bounce off. They could have contributed, but Tlara was using the crippled wyvern as a mount, and Willow's bond protection had limited range. "Khiat, start aiming for the other ones. Blockers, go out. Shuni, I want you to try and shadow Sigron so you can dive one if he manages to trap it. If we get overwhelmed, everyone needs to be ready to dive and make a fighting retreat."

"Who do we kill first?" Hunter asked, adjusting the enchanted bone claws he was wearing with apparent discomfort, yet to be used to them in an actual hunt.

"Assuming Khiat and Daniel can't get the other normal ones down in time? Save the evolved for last." The green auras of his allies joined the picture as four moved out, Evalyn cautiously following behind to be in the rough center of the formation. As ever, that was important for her music, the new instrument he'd made for her held more confidently in her hands compared to Hunter's claws.

Nice, Daniel thought as he read the notification that popped up as she began to play.

System Alert! You are under the effect of allied Ability: Sharpshooter's Song. Source: Creature: Evalyn Lasial.

It wasn't just that Evalyn had awakened a song that helped ranged attacks after returning to the Octyrrum, it was that she was using an electric guitar to do so. Technically it wasn't amplified, but Evalyn both had a power to alter how her instrument sounded, as well as an enchantment on the instrument that helped sound carry across distances.

She didn't have Alex's talent for free-styling, but did have a decent memory and a couple month's worth of access to what Earth music Daniel hadn't brought over himself. She was using something that sounded ubiquitously from an action movie soundtrack now, which honestly worked for Daniel despite how familiar it was. He felt a faint magnetic movement from his weapon as he tracked one of the standard frost wyverns up front, like a constant weaker version of Snap Shot.

His first shot missed at around 600 meters out despite stacking the actual ability on top of Evalyn's buff. It was outside of his current record and, more importantly, the wyverns were able to move more easily through the air compared to the whitesprings despite their age. Every beat of the wings represented the chance for them to redirect in the air, whereas the advance of the former monsters had been predominantly linear.

Khiat, meanwhile, had managed to hit the wing joint of one and slow its flight. I think we can get one, maybe two flightless before they reach the others, Daniel thought, not allowing the presence of Evalyn to make him neglect his own assessment of the hunt. Will that matter if they just dive for the ground limit and heal? It'll be fine as long as I don't have to go Beast Mode, but if I do need that it'll break the auras.

Having both Hunter and Tak back made his second form largely superfluous under most circumstances, but it'd be a waste to just ignore it. There were still so many powers to awaken, but right now the team needed an Artificer rather than another Hunter.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Daniel fired his next shot at the one Khiat had wounded, focusing on the wing she'd injured. He couldn't pinpoint the target, not at this range, but struck the wide part of the leathery skin that bridged between the hard spines underneath. These appeared to be just bone, other regions continuing to show that the lightning spines of the Thormundz had been something unique.

With the lack of Power Shot behind the attack, the results of his explosive assault left only a fist-sized hole and strained tissue surrounding it. Scatter Shot's not doing it against these targets. Hunter, you're sure you don't have another spell waiting to be awakened?

Doesn't feel right, the ringcat responded. It was possible that he had one undiscovered as he'd advanced some after coming back to life, but Hunter, as well as everyone else, had continued to avoid having their powers identified by Daniel. That only left a handful of possibly useful spells, but they were all either fear-related which wouldn't be effective against a higher level enemy, or would turn the projectile intangible. Lion Charge was the exception, though its bonus only worked with short-range attacks.

I guess combo attacks can't solve everything, Daniel thought, briefly disheartened as he racked the next round of the magical gun he'd made while sighting the next part of the wyvern he wanted to shoot. Oh well, the Spoke will just have to give him a good one next time. Between half of his magazine and Khiat's steady attention, the targeted wyvern gave a wailing cry as it lost control of its limb and began to tumble through the air. He'd kept using Scatter Shot despite its effectiveness being questionable. A potential waste of mana, but why did that matter when his sister had turned out to be an infinite source of mana potions?

The evolved wyvern suddenly burst through a cloud, its passage through the condensed water vapor provoking rain as it chilled its surroundings. It was close to engaging the front line, and Daniel took some comfort in the fact that whatever it had done to the cloud wasn't due to an aura like the sparrow had had. Otherwise he'd have felt it by now.

Hunter and Tak squared up to face the evolved wyvern while Sigron flew to protect one of their flanks, the Knight's malleable arm having consumed the lightning wing to make a flat, wide shield. That there were three opponents in the sky meant that one would inevitably get past, but together he and Shuni could work well to take one down.

Triple Mirror, Hunter thought toward him as they prepared. While Might and Magic's combinations didn't have official system names, Daniel wasn't going to pass up a chance to make his own that might be shouted before letting them off. It was also good for coordination considering he had telepathic communication with both Hunter and Tak out to at least a few kilometers, and there was no range limit on activating the ultimate combo attack.

Feeding Recollective Strike into the best power ever, Daniel watched as the evolved wyvern was met by two Taks and four Hunters, all of which rapidly flew toward it in a six-sided chain attack. They still had to orient on one plane, but in every other way it was as close to an omnislash as they could get.

Most of the attacks were blocked as the areas the two targeted snap froze to ice before they were struck, but a low rasping growl emanated from the wyvern as Tak's second attack managed to cut a gash into its side before the defensive power could activate in time.

It can be overwhelmed, Daniel thought, Evalyn no doubt thinking the same as he saw her watching the evolved monster as well. A Songbolt shot toward the wyvern engaging Sigron as she switched to her melee attack buff song, though she didn't call out any revisions to the team plan as a whole. Contrary to what Shuni might be fearing, Evalyn didn't micromanage everyone, but she was the overall shot caller.

The wyvern breathed frost out of its maw at the last of the Hunters to hit it, but this was only one of the illusions that disappeared when the combo attack was over.

Again, Hunter thought, somewhat displeased in not being able to injure the wyvern himself.

Daniel would've been annoyed at having his own powers locked down while they did their combo move if it wasn't also the coolest thing ever. Instead he took a moment to shoot the last round he had loaded at the wing of Khiat's target before metaphorically turning his key to launch the next missile.

Reminds me a little of Khare, Daniel thought, briefly disheartened. Could they have combined Called Shot and Mirror Strike? With the possibility of remaking the bond, or seeing the gestalt again at all, up in the air, all he could do was refocus as his eyes caught where the third wyvern was heading. "Evalyn!"

"I see it!" The Bard looked around the battlefield, frowning as she couldn't find Shuni, and came to a decision as the last frost wyvern came straight for her. "Pulling my buff. Shuni, can you and Sigron handle yours alone for now?" Her song stretched as she maintained Ironhand Ballad, waiting for the Rogue's reply. Sigron might have been able to answer if he were not currently trying to keep the jaws of the wyvern he was facing forced open while manipulating his shield arm to cover the gap. Oh, and his ongoing struggles with mutism.

"Shuni!?" Evalyn shouted again, forced into an odd dive when the delay prevented her from reacting to the wyvern's approach in time. Daniel somewhat worriedly fed Hunter a third Recollective Strike as he joined Khiat in targeting Evalyn's wyvern, aware that Mirror Strike was one of the only things keeping the fight with the evolved wyvern stable.

The Rogue appeared on the neck of the wyvern Sigron was struggling to grapple, avoiding the frost breath that was beginning to turn the metal of the Knight's arm slightly blue as the bond hands tried in vain to stop it. "Fuck, sorry! I was on my approach." She continued to stab into the neck, though her daggers were penetrating less now that Sneak Attack wasn't buffing her. "Think so!"

Evalyn didn't reply but sent her Songbolt somewhat haphazardly toward the evolved wyvern as the latest Mirror Strike resolved, unable to properly aim it as she was avoiding the winged death chasing her. A change came over as she internalized her guitar, moving into her trance power, Investiture of Song.

The tables turned instantly, at least on that side of the hunt. Many powers had learning curves that could reward practice, such as Lograve's Aquakinesis. Evalyn had been forced to live for months within her strongest boosting power, and for her troubles had been rewarded with a far greater than usual tolerance of it. Most people, for example, could not handle having their consciousness process reality flickering at the tempo of death metal.

For all the young frost wyvern was a being meant to live in the air, Evalyn was able to make micro-adjustments to both avoid attacks and do what damage she could with the short sword Daniel had enchanted for her upon her request. The two normal wyverns were well and truly monsters Wingcraft could handle, if only by burning mana and stamina respectively. The issue lay in who the damage dealers, Daniel and Khiat, should target. Evalyn in the state she was in couldn't provide guidance.

It's risky, but… "Khiat, stay up here. I'm going to get closer." Daniel yanked the barrel off his blast bow as he said this, loading a magazine of splitting ammunition. One of the benefits of enchanting something he was very familiar with, like his ammunition, was that it was pretty hard for him to fail except for cases of major distraction. As he continued to improve his design, he'd used the properties of the hammerite in both the receiver and barrel to revise how they connected, allowing him to quickly remove the barrel in combat while leaving an externally threaded stub barrel for the splitting ammunition to be fired from. He'd still need some time to put it back on as, if the initial Power Shot hadn't already shown, he had to be absolutely certain it was reattached properly.

Diving, Daniel set a rough course in his head as he cruelly abandoned Hunter and Tak to a fate of only being able to use their combo attack normally. His plan was to buzz each of the three wyverns, scanning them with his phone while delivering however much of a charged Power Shot he could build between each one.

Hoping both for some kind of ice affix, and that his friends would stay safe while he pulled off his impromptu plan, Daniel only just remembered to check to make sure the ammo he currently had was compatible with the element his igniter was set to.

And I want to add a third into the mix, he thought humorously. Evalyn was coming up first, having been the last to engage the wyverns. An arrow streaked by him heading for the same target, though Daniel didn't flinch, trusting the one who's fired it. "Evalyn, going to hit all of them and then help Hunter!" he shouted, knowing it'd be easier for her to hear than anyone else given how she was currently processing reality.

She just nodded, not seeing any sign from brief glances that he'd need to be elsewhere. The wyvern chasing her was constantly catching up, but unable to either snare her in its jaws or catch her with the plume for white-blue breath. The Bard would usually duck out of the way, though as Daniel made his final approach Evalyn did something slightly more fancy as she planted a hand on its snout, twisted in the air, and used the redirected momentum from her winged boots to leave the monster clear for Daniel's shot.

Moving his left arm so the scanning field of Encyclopedia would eclipse the wyvern, Daniel gripped his blast bow tightly with the other and consciously activated the cling effect of the overwrap so the recoil from the overcharged shot wouldn't make him risk losing the weapon. The wyvern snarled as Daniel approached, but with his downwards velocity, there wasn't much it could do to stop either of his aims.

A roughly 45% Power Shot sent a cone of lightning pellets through one wing and into the side of the beast, which broke the outer scales and sent bluish-purple blood seeping out. At the same time, a notification popped up on his screen, and Daniel briefly paused time as he passed under the wyvern.

Hunter, Tak, you doing ok? he thought to them while reading.

You have scanned a Monster listed below;

Young Frost Wyvern, Living

(Injured) - 1

You have met the requirements to unlock multiple Encyclopedia entries, listed below.

Encyclopedia Entries:

Monster: Frost Wyvern, Detailed

So many attacks. My mana is getting low, Tak reported. Not bad, but not good. And I think it is getting better at telling which is the real me.

Doing fine, Hunter added, somewhat more gruffly. Still feels weird, but I'm getting better too. You coming?

Yeah. Daniel checked his own draining reserves and found himself around half full. It was an exorbitant usage for anything outside of clearing astral rifts, though he had Alex's gift in his back pocket and was waiting to hit about a third before using it. There was nothing in the description that told him how much it would give back. The others have the top two handled. I'm worried about what the evolved will pull out once it gets hurt enough to care.

It does seem, hmm. Hunter paused in thought, and since that was literally the intent of the ability, Daniel kept Moment of Clarity running for a little longer. Intelligent isn't right. I agree with Willow, there is no spirit, but its instincts are better. It's holding back.

Letting us exhaust ourselves on the others, you mean? Both Hunter and Tak agreed with that, and Daniel's sense of foreboding grew. A fight without the involvement of the monster system's bonuses would have been rough, but the gear and familiarity the team had built up, as a whole if not in some specific cases, was leveling the playing field. It was a careful balance, however, and their enemies had far more health to spend than they did. Matters could grow dire very quickly if things tilted even a centimeter in favor of the wyverns.

What if you two fought it now, straight up?

The ice block is annoying, Tak replied thoughtfully. It is fast with it. Not too fast, but I may need to use my bad power to win.

Not worth it, Hunter instantly rejected, sharing in Daniel's concerns over it temporarily breaking Tak's soul. We can't beat it now, too tough. Have the others fight the rest, you help us distract it. Maybe let Tlara take one and use it, he added bitterly, still with some hold up over how far the group's outlook on the Beastmaster had shifted. Need everyone to kill this.

Fair enough. I'm sure Evalyn's got the same idea in mind. Daniel's mana was continuing to slip down despite how quickly mental conversation could go, and he ended it there after giving the other two a quick warning.

Sigron and Shuni's wyvern was by far the worst off, not counting the one that was currently falling toward the ground limit. It had taken the brunt of his initial bombardment, and had a Shuni that was darting in and out of stealth Sneak Attacking it repeatedly. He saw merits for both schools of thought here as he readied his second flyby.

Shuni and Sigron could handle themselves in this fight by themselves, with the Knight effectively tanking while the Rogue struck sweet spots. They were in the most control of their wyvern, as Evalyn had to struggle to evade and the evolved wyvern was playing the long game.

On the other hand, this wasn't the only part of the hunt. If Sigron and Shuni hyperfocused on just their side and ignored call outs, they could either leave an ally in the lurch or be surprised by another monster trying to sneak up on them. Daniel could at least see that much, but from both his past and current experiences, he knew that without something like Tactician guiding him, he couldn't both take care of himself and the entire team at the same time.

Well, if I can't lead, I'll settle for shooting guns and looting formulae.

You have scanned a Monster, listed below:

Young Frost Wyvern, Living

(Injured): x1

You have met the requirements to unlock multiple Encyclopedia entries, listed below.

Encyclopedia Entries:

Formulae: Frostfang, Weapon

Formulae: Circlet of Cooling, Item

Ok, second one is weird, Daniel thought as he continued to fall past the two fighting, leaving a section of the wyvern's wing blown out from his Power Shot. First one has potential but I'm not sure if I can adapt it to bullets. I'll have to read the description later. Still need the affix I know they'll give me.

Daniel was beginning to regret not asking about this facet of the Encyclopedia during his ten minutes of direct access to his Spoke, but like the heart mana he'd kind of figured it out already. Monsters had concepts baked into them, whether it be powers, affinities, or parts of their biology, that his Encyclopedia would then use to generate formulae off of. Considering the implications of True Enchanting, it might have been possible that patterns from the monster's mana structure itself were being siphoned and simplified into an aspect he could use. It would track with why healthy monsters gave more compared to dead and defiled ones.

He'd already seen redundancies in what the power would give him when scanning different types of ludegrunds, so there was likely an eventual limit on what he could get. Going after both frost and ice wyverns, if the latter existed, would probably have his phone try and give him the same type of affix rather than a different one. Still, he wouldn't complain either way.

Hunter, Tak, get ready, Daniel thought as he fell toward the last frost wyvern still flying. I'm coming in hot.

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