He was the last one for introductions; Cage decided to keep it simple. He didn't want to draw too much attention, but he figured it would be inevitable due to his dual affinity.
Taking a deep breath, he said, "I'm Cage, a Stage One and a dual affinity enchanter. I'm good at close combat."
A few were surprised, but most weren't. The people who felt his aura were undoubtedly interested in his overall strength. Still, they had seen his frightening aura beforehand and had witnessed him easily counter Harry, so they assumed he was close range. What was surprising was his physical prowess; it shouldn't be at the level it's at.
Cage's physical strength was enough to rival a peak-level Stage Two. Unbeknownst to Cage, it was due to his unique constitution. It was only increasing as his bloodline began to awaken as well.
While he was strong, he wasn't bulky. Rather than his muscles being as big as a bodybuilder's, they were very dense. Unfortunately, they weren't fully developed due to his young age, so his physique was still limited.
Layla stared intently with a look of curiosity and a hint of excitement; she asked, "What is your compound magic? Is it strong?"
Cage froze a little. He was a little taken back by the question because he wasn't expecting her to be curious. Cage rubbed his forehead and sighed, "I don't know my compound element. I've only been at mid-level for a week or so. Hence I don't know if it's strong or not."
Layla had a slight look of disappointment similar to when Cage responded to Dan after hearing his response.
After about an hour, Vic finally finished digging out the base.
Taking a look inside, Cage saw a large main entrance connected to several corridors. The corridors were zigzagged for defensive purposes, and they linked together several rooms.
One corridor went to an area with rooms for the females in the group, while another went to a different area with spaces for the males. The main entrance, going further back, had an area with stone furniture and had plenty of chairs.
The last corridor went to several storage rooms for holding materials or food.
There was also an area that went down about a meter in elevation and contained a fire pit for if it got cold. There was no lack of burnable materials in Quadrant X after all. From what Cage had seen, forest fires weren't uncommon.
After the expedition team familiarized themselves with the base, they assembled in the main hall.
Andrew cleared his throat, "half of us will go to gather enough water to last us for a few days while the other half will hunt for food and to complete our task. We have the swift-footed rabbits from before, but that isn't even enough to last us a day."
After Andrew assigned groups based on compatibility and their specializations, the two groups split off and went to complete their tasks. The group that went to get water consisted of the weaker half, but they weren't defenseless. Even a squad of peak-level Stage Twos would have trouble dealing with them.
The second group sent to hunt beasts was even more frightening. The notable people were Cage, Andrew, Layla, Vic, Dan, and Arman.
Dan activated a detection spell.
[Radar!]
a gray 3d map began to manifest in front of Dan. It looked similar to a modern radar in some aspects, but it was transparent and acted like a hologram with various red dots representing life forces that had mana.
One of the downsides was that it couldn't differentiate friend from foe, but out in Quadrant X, there was no risk of friendly fire due to there only being the 20 of them in the area.
After looking for the nearest beasts, Dan found some and said, "There is a beast half a mile from us up ahead!"
After seeing where they were, the group formed a plan.
The beast was in a place with many rock formations to act as cover while being shrouded by vegetation. The various sources of cover and ambush spots would make the fight much more manageable. Their plan was relatively simple. The close-range fighters would draw their attention while the long-range fighters would support from behind. The mid-range fighters would ambush the beast from behind the natural cover.
After explaining the plan, Andrew also gave another thought to the group. "Use this as an opportunity to familiarize yourselves with each other fighting styles. Also, if our healer, Layla, is in danger, try to protect her."
Hearing this, Layla smirked.
"I can guarantee I won't need protection..." she said.
While being a healer and a close-range fighter might seem suicidal and counterintuitive, Layla was no pushover. People placed too many stereotypes on the healing attribute. They all viewed people with the healing attribute as squishy, marshmallow-like, medical stations until they had Tier 2 magic, and most people conformed to the stereotype. Still, Layla saw the healing attribute for what it actually was. To put it simply, it was a frightening attribute.
The group spread out with the mid-range fighters going around and getting into position to flank from the sides.
The long-range fighters stood some distance behind to support the close-range fighters with their spells.
Everyone held their breath. Their target was not going to be easy to fight. It was a creature known as an earth-hog. It was a large brown warthog that looked like it had stone skin and had two large tusks that they also needed to watch out for. It was a Stage Two beast that boasted very high toughness and very high strength. Fortunately, they weren't very fast.
Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned.
The earth-hog abruptly scraped its hoof on the ground and charged at them, but specifically at Cage.
"Quick! Dodge!"
Cage dived to the side and narrowly avoided the tusks. If he had been any slower, then he would have gotten impaled!
The beast crashed into a rock, unable to stop, and became dazed. Not letting go of the opportunity, the Cage dashed to the head of the beast and brought his dagger down.
[Resonation!]
The dagger plunged into the beast's head, or at least that's what Cage thought would happen.
The dagger barely pierced the beast's head; it didn't even make it past the skull!
'So tough!'
Cage jumped back as the beast regained its senses.
The earth-hog's eyes flashed with a dangerous glint. It clearly didn't enjoy being stabbed.
"ROOOAAARRR!!!"
Enraged, it let out a deafening roar and stomped its hoof.
The ground began to shake, and stone spikes raced along the ground in the shape of a shockwave.
Cage and the other close-range fighters jumped into the air to avoid it, but the beast had predicted it.
It charged towards Cage while he was still in the air and raised its tusks to pierce him clean through.
Cage panicked, 'I can't dodge!!'
[Air Cannon!]
Suddenly, he felt an invisible impact hit him and knock him out of the way.
Turning, he saw Andrew standing a distance away with his arm extended after a punch.
Cage flipped through the air and landed on his feet. Sighing in relief, he thanked Andrew, "Thanks, I owe you."
'I'm still inexperienced. I could have used [Burst] to dodge, but I panicked,' Cage thought, thinking back to his mistake.
Cage resolved himself to get more combat experience, but that wouldn't be a problem considering they were in Quadrant X.
Watching his past self fight was very different from actually fighting. In the heat of the moment, he still froze up from panic.
Getting out of his thoughts, Cage jumped back into the fray.
Recalling how his attack had barely gone two centimeters deep, he shouted to the others, "Aim for its eyes or try and deal internal damage! Its skin is incredibly tough!"
It was only due to Cage's skill that his dagger had gone so deep. If anyone were attacking, they would have been lucky to break the skin.
Hearing his warning, Andrew changed his strategy to try and deal internal damage to the earth-hog's head.
[Air Cannon: EX!]
Andrew poured an eighth of his mana pool into his skill and thrust both his fists forward.
Swoosh!
A stream of air with a meter radius rushed towards the beasts at a frightening speed.
Boom!
The beast was thrown off its feet and sent flying.
It smashed into a tree, but it didn't stop there. It kept smashing into several trees, with each one snapping like a twig. It only stopped when it crashed into a boulder, which also shattered into rubble on impact.
Layla jumped forward and placed her hand on the beast's head.
[Marked!]
Before she could follow up with her second skill, she jumped back as the beast stood up, seemingly unharmed.
It shook its head, getting out of its daze, and snorted in annoyance.
The beast reared back and planted both its hoofs into the ground.
Next to it, a mound of earth rose from the ground. It began to take shape into a replica of the earth-hog.
Andrew cursed, "Shit! It has a clone skill!"
No matter the opponent, a clone skill was troublesome. It would at least add one more opponent into the mix. There was a story about how a Stage Seven had used a clone skill and created an army. The Stage Seven had conquered an entire city by doing so.
Andrew and Cage locked eyes and nodded.
They would target the original. If they didn't get rid of the original, it could just re-cast its skill and create another clone.
Andrew shouted, "Someone, take care of the clone! Layla, Vic, you two will help us!"
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A/N: I'm going to start writing another story soon, but I will still be working on this one, so don't worry about me dropping it. Just show your support if you like it!
Whichever one is more popular or has more support will be the one I prioritize.
That's all, happy reading!