The next morning Jack and the others woke up early. He cooked two portions of Chicken Soup for Bowler and Flame. The food gave them a 10% boost to stats for the next three hours. While he himself just ate normal bread. He then told them about the Party function and they formed a party with Jack as the leader.
He figured that it was time to help his friends level up. The incident yesterday had reminded him that individual strength was of limited value when facing numerous enemies. Even if he had enough power to protect himself, it might not be enough to protect his friends. The best way to protect them was to help them become strong as well.
The party system would allow him to power-level his two friends. It was a loss to him as he would do most of the work yet his experience gain would be lessened. However, it was something he thought he should do.
Actually, Jack had considered just copying what the guilds usually did when power-leveling their core members, by luring and weakening the monsters before letting their core members deal the killing blow. But it was too much of a hassle for him. With his overpowered damage, it would be difficult to weaken but not kill the monsters. If he changed to a weaker weapon, it would take a longer time to weaken them, which would limit his team's gains. So he opted for the Party system as the easiest and best value.
After they set up the Party they prepared to set out, but Jack suddenly heard Peniel's voice in his ear.
'Try to open up the Map.'
"Map?" Jack was confused. "What are you talking about?"
"What map? Who are you talking to?" Bowler asked.
Jack looked at him in bewilderment.
'Don't get bothered by it. They can't hear me,' Peniel said from empty air. 'Unless I speak out loud, they won't hear me. This is me speaking to you psychically.'
"Psychically?" Jack blurted out.
"Huh?" Bowler was puzzled by Jack's self-talk. "Brother, are you all right?"
Flame was also looking at him with brow creased.
Jack heard Peniel's voice again, 'Oh, actually, you don't have to speak out loud either. You can speak to me through your mind. And I think you'd better do that, or else your friends will think you're going cuckoo.'
'Why didn't you tell me about this before?' Jack spoke in his mind.
'There are a lot of things I have not yet told you about. If I were to tell you everything that I know, a whole month would still not be enough time.' Peniel retorted. 'Now try to focus and open up the Map interface.'
'How do I do that?' He asked.
'Same as the way you activate your skills; think about it.'
He focused his mind to summon the map interface. Suddenly a holographic image appeared in front of him. The image showed details of the landscape from a birds-eye view. He could see the City Hall, the abstract sculpture, the pond, the bridge, and the river they crossed yesterday. But not all the landscape was visible; several parts were covered by some kind of grey fog.
'After looking at it, do you understand how this map works?' Peniel asked.
'These visible images are the areas we have walked past. The ones covered by grey fog are the ones we have not yet traversed.'
'That's correct,' Peniel confirmed.
'There are two green dots nearby. Hey, they are in the same positions as on my radar.'
'Yes, they are Bowler and Flame, the Friends registered in your system. If you formed a Party with people who are not on your Friend list, they will also appear on this map.'
'So it serves the same function as my radar?'
'No, this map only displays friendlies: like friends, party members, and guild members. Your unreasonable radar, on the other hand, also displays hostiles, which, in my opinion, completely gives you an unfair advantage.'
'Speak for yourself, I wouldn't mind getting more unfair advantages! By the way, what's the range of this map?' Jack asked.
'Around a thousand meter radius with you at the center.'
'I see… So it has much greater coverage than my radar.'
Jack was still studying the map when he realized Bowler was waving at him from behind the map. Bowler had been trying to get his attention since he started acting strange.
Jack laughed to himself, he then told Bowler and Flame about the Map system. They tried it out and were excited about these new functions. Like Jack, they studied their own maps for a while.
While they were examining their maps, Jack suddenly thought of something. He thought-spoke to Peniel, 'Hey, does this mean you can read my mind? Do you know everything I'm thinking about?'
'Don't be absurd,' Peniel replied. 'I speak to you psychically but I don't have Psychic skills. We can speak with our minds because we have the link that the Goddess created. This thought speaking can only be done between us, we cannot do it with other people. And thought-speaking doesn't mean mind reading. If you don't intend for me to hear your thoughts, then I won't be able to.'
'Oh, that's reassuring,' Jack thought with a relieved sigh.
Peniel sent him a disdainful thought, 'Don't worry. I am not interested in hearing your dirty thoughts, thank you very much.'
After the three finished familiarizing themselves with the map system, they headed out. The members of White Scarfs didn't give them any trouble as they left the building. They didn't meet Silverwing or any of the other four in his entourage. Presumably they were busy with their own matters at the moment. Jack didn't bother to look for them either. He had told them of his plan yesterday, so he didn't feel obligated to remind them now. They went southwest as Silverwing had suggested yesterday.
In this southwestern section, the light dome ended at a commercial district with several large malls lining the street. They could already see several monsters roaming around outside. They could also see several groups fighting with the monsters. Their idea of hunting monsters for experience while waiting for the day to pass was not exclusive to them.
Jack walked further along the edge of the light dome looking for a more secluded area where they wouldn't have to struggle with other groups for experience points. After a while, they finally found an area where there were no other people. They could see two unoccupied groups of Goblins and Zombies outside the light dome.
"Ok, let's start with that Zombie group. Afterward, we will move on to that Goblin group. Those Goblins might call for backup, so let's leave them for last. Alright, we do it like we did on the way here. I take the vanguard. Flame, you look for opportunity and flank them when you see one. Bowler attack at will from a distance," Jack laid out the strategy.
"One other thing, we will be sticking together out there, but in case we get separated, remember to use the Map to locate the others and regroup," Jack reminded them.
Bowler and Flame nodded.
Once everyone was ready, they charged out of the safe zone. The Zombies who sensed them immediately welcomed them with attacks. Jack used Swing as an opening move which hit all four Zombies in the group. As the Zombies stumbled backward, Flame took advantage of the opening to backstab one of them. Bowler sent his Energy Bolts hurtling at them, causing further damage. Their cooperation was fluid and organized. The more they fought, the more they found that they cooperated very well together. The Zombies were no match for them and were quickly disposed of.
They advanced towards the Goblins without bothering to take a rest. The Goblins were a little bit more troublesome than the Zombies as they were faster and also higher in level. But still, it didn't cause them too much trouble. The Goblins called for another two packs of nearby Goblins when their members were killed, but Jack's team easily dispatched the lot.
They went further in and battled more monsters. In just half a day's time, Bowler had managed to level up to level 10, and Fierce Flame was close to reaching level 11. Jack was still some way away from reaching level 14 as each level upward required a greater amount of experience. Not to mention that his experience was further divided in half due to his dual-class.
When it reached noon, Jack noticed some blue dots appearing at the corner of his radar.
'Finally making a move, eh?' Jack thought when he saw this.