In the small surviving group, there are no healers. Once again, it shows just how rare they are. But beyond the lack of healers, everyone here seems to have some weaker way to regenerate their wounds, whether it’s passive, a trait, maybe an active skill that allows for a weak form of self-healing, or an item with even weaker healing effects. I once had an epic sword back on the 4th floor that could do that.

But the stronger you are, the higher your physical stats and the more body upgrades you’ve gone through, the more useless items like that become. They just aren’t powerful enough to regenerate the body of someone at that level.

While the others argue and try to heal, I watch the Harvester from atop the mountain. It’s back near the portal, dragging its body with its two arms as it moves around to gather the corpses.

Now, combined with the earlier expedition that discovered it, there are a lot of items lying around. I’d bet many are damaged low arcane, or even straight up low arcane.

I glance back at the surviving members and think.

Do I really have enough information to kill the Harvester on my own? Should I try to convince them, or force them to attack it again so I can gather more info?

Or maybe I just can’t defeat it right now and should focus instead on entering the 2nd floor. It is something I think I could have done during the clash, but I didn’t take the opportunity when it presented itself.

All because I believe my skillset could let me kill this thing, even though it’s a much higher level than me. Even now, years into the tutorial, I still strongly believe that if a person has the right set of skills, traits, and passives, they should be able to defeat someone far stronger, even someone who should be able to kill them in the blink of an eye.

Let’s say Tacita meets someone with weak physical stats and poor perception. Even assuming that person was 100 levels higher, if they grew too fast and didn’t work on their perception, she could easily kill them.

Or Jean facing someone who relies on mana. Someone with a mana regeneration attribute upgrade who uses endless barrages of weaker mana-based attacks. With his trait strengthened, Jean could be nearly unkillable in that scenario.

And those are just examples that come to mind.

Simply put, this is a game of rock, paper, scissors, not just a straightforward difference in power levels.

I shift my focus back to the conversation as I hear something interesting.

“We should try it one more time,” says the man who was most involved in organizing this. I remember him from the first clash. A ranged, sneaky type, using a fancy bow, I’m sure must be arcane, and arrows that are powerful despite being hard to notice.

“Are you crazy? That thing wrecked us when we attacked it with over 100 people, and now you want to kill it with just eight?” the vyssari man hisses at him.

Someone snorts from the side, a velnar with a huge hammer, clad in full armor. “How did someone like you even get to Beyond? The weak ones died, along with the impatient ones who attempted this too early. Now we know more about the monster, so we can prepare.”

“Or we could just sell that information. It would go for tens of thousands of shards if we sold it to the right guild,” the vyssari counters, ignoring the insult.

The man with the bow starts again. “As my tall friend said, we know more about the Harvester now, and I believe we can kill it with enough preparation. Of course, that doesn’t mean some of us won’t die. But if you were scared of that, you should’ve switched to Hard difficulty while you could, or given up your Beyond spot to someone else from your tutorial.”

“Or,” the vyssari replies, “and listen carefully, both of you, my brave human friend and tall velnar friend, we could return, sell the information, find some more Locals, and lead another expedition with what we’ve learned. All of us could survive that way.”

As with the other members of his race, he’s very short and mostly human-like, except for his scaly legs. I think I saw him using mostly earth-based attacks during the fight. Huge stone spikes and arms doing everything they could to slow the Harvester.

“Damn, it almost sounds like you were part of the expedition that got wiped out before us, and now you're thinking about putting together a third one just to get more loot,” the velnar with the hammer says, smiling brightly as he stares down the vyssari, “We can kill the Harvester ourselves and split all the salvageable loot. Close to 200 people’s worth of items should be enough. I remember a woman with an arcane shield who got her head blown off. I want that shield. I bet you could find something for yourself, too.”

Someone off to the side laughs. “I say we share the portal’s location with more people, without the other information. Then we wait for them to die, deal with the Harvester, and take the items.”

I can see that the vyssari is still interested in that one, but the velnar and the human archer are contemplating too.

A few don’t like the idea, but no one says anything. I stay quiet too, but I continue preparing a new structure in my mind.

“Hey, creepy mana boy, what do you think?” I hear the velnar say, and only after a moment do I realize he’s talking to me.

I look away from the Harvester and meet the velnar’s gaze. I keep looking until he breaks eye contact, then turn away so he doesn’t bother me any further.

That human archer talks again, "We could gather another expedition if you want to wait another few weeks, assuming you’re still too scared. As for me, just killing the Harvester and taking the items on the ground is enough. Honestly, I'm fine with just heading to the second floor. I'm sick of this one. If you’re part of the greed subclass and can’t control yourself, maybe you should just screw off right now."

These words piss off the vyssari man. I can sense it from his heartbeat.

The archer continues, even though he possibly noticed it as well, "There are eight of us here. Each of us was able to get rid of that mark or avoided having it placed on them in the first place. Just work on a way to do it again, and the danger drops a lot. Surely there will be more skills for the monster to throw at us, but you would be dumb not to expect it."

He looks around and smiles. "I'm sure some of you have noticed this: our bony friend's senses are mana-based, and the only part of its body it protected from the attacks was its head."

The feylith woman with the crown that looks like it's made of water floating over her head snorts from the side, "We also have noticed how little damage we dealt to it. That man you called mana boy probably did the most damage with his Empyrean skill."

I turn around and look at her, to which she shrugs and asks, "Can you make a stronger one?"

"Yup," I answer.

"But if you tried, there is a high chance the Harvester would sense it and focus on you?" she asks.

"It’s likely. When it uses that pulse to mark people, those marks were placed on the people who were radiating the most mana first. The arrows also targeted the people who either used the most mana after that or caused the most damage first."

My answer excites the archer. "Exactly! So, mana boy, why don’t you draw its attention? You can remove the mark quickly enough to dodge the arrows while we close in to kill it. This time, I’ll make sure to put an arrow right through its head, and the others can strike through the opening. I think the rest of the team will agree with me, but how about this: you take 30% of the loot for the risk you take, and the seven of us split the rest?"

That makes the velnar laugh out loud, "That was your plan? Fucking ridiculous. As if..."

"Why not," I say.

The laugh cuts off, and eight pairs of eyes turn to me.

The archer talks first again, "Great! Let's prepare then."

No one says anything for a while. I can feel the weight of their eyes on me, waiting to see if I happened to be joking.

I wasn’t.

Then I move a few steps away from the group and sit down on a patch of solid rock with my legs crossed. I start modifying the structure in my mind further. I’ll need stronger mana compression, faster deployment, tighter control. Nothing I haven’t done before, but this time my margin for error is much smaller.

Behind me, voices pick up again. There is less shouting now. Instead, they seem to have focused their conversation on strategy. Everyone starts working on suppressing their mana as much as possible. A skill. An item. Some quick paintings on the skin. Others just do something with a distant resemblance to my Mana Cycling with the intent to keep as much mana inside their bodies as possible.

No one questions the plan directly, but it’s clear they’re all adjusting their own priorities. They’re not worrying about me. They just want me to draw enough attention so they get a chance to either kill it or slip through the portal.

From the corner of my eye, I spot the velnar hammer-user tapping his foot, shifting weight back and forth like he’s already halfway through the fight in his head. The archer is the opposite, still, calm, running calculations behind that steady gaze. The others are a mix. Nervous, angry, impatient.

The Harvester, meanwhile, keeps pulling itself around the battlefield.

A few times, I'm forced to join the conversation, but not too much. Seeing what happened in the camp and probably noticing my lance made them put some trust in me. It obviously isn’t a blind trust. Everyone here is surely expecting to get screwed over.

We move thirty minutes later.

I walk in first, stopping at about the same distance I did last time. Out of curiosity, I keep circulating mana inside of my body to lower the leakage as much as possible, and the Harvester doesn’t even react to me. It probably also annoys my trusty teammates, who seem to think I may have changed my mind.

Taking a few more steps, I stop and let mana seep out of my body, and finally, the Harvester reacts. It stops in place and turns in my direction. A single powerful pulse rushes through the area, and I don’t fight it when the mark is placed. It still makes me curious how it manages to bypass my defenses.

While I observe the mark, the same as before, the Harvester reaches towards the sky, and a beautiful purple bow forms there out of that mana. It then creates five arrows and lodges them in place.

[Empyrean Lance] forms to my right, and I send as much mana to it as I can channel. The arrows that the monster releases all shoot towards the sky, twist, and head my way. All of them.

The longer they fly, the more speed they pick up, taking the shortest way possible to get to me while fully ignoring anything in their way.

Removing the mark is easy this time, and I just take a few swift steps to the side, and all the arrows pass by and bury themselves into the ground as if it were no harder than foam.

I raise my mana again and continue to feed the lance, and another pulse is sent through the area, and five more arrows head my way. The mark this time is different, and right after another pulse bursts forth, placing a second one, and then a third, making big changes to each of them.

Finally, the others move as well and rush the Harvester from the nearest mountain, using nothing other than the strength of their bodies.

One after another, I break two of the marks, but the third’s difficulty spikes too much, and despite my effort, I fail to remove it before the arrows reach me.

I lean in and explode into motion, the world around me blurring as I do so. The arrows follow my twists and turns, trailing me perfectly while I continue to work on the mark.

Then, five more pulses are sent from the Harvester, each placing a new mark, no matter how much I try to avoid it.

So instead, I focus my attention on the arrows. I break the first one easily with a disrupting wave, but the moment I do so, the second one changes to counter it. I still break it, but then it doesn't work on the third arrow, and the Harvester shoots another five my way. This time, a total of eight arrows trail me, already starting to catch up.

The others reach the huge skeletal body of the Harvester. I catch a glimpse of the velnar man swinging his hammer, which shines with white light, towards the head, and the archer standing atop the skull, shooting an arrow made of what feels like a dozen colors.

Two deep vibrations shake the area, and the arrows trailing me falter for a moment before picking up again and continuing to head my way. Three of them split up and head towards the group.

I absorb my movement and stop on the spot, turning to the five arrows. My mana swirls in front of me into the shape of an orb and then compresses further before turning black.

It then feeds on my [Empyrean Lance] and absorbs it completely.

Each arrow is ripped apart by the pull of the black mana and vanishes into it. For a moment, I struggle to keep the orb under control, which shows just how much mana was packed into the arrows it absorbed.

The Harvester, which was about to deal with the group, turns its head towards the black orb, even though it has no eyes. The three arrows twist, change direction again, and head back my way, combining into a single arrow that compresses further. Even as three of them combine, it shrinks from the thickness of a tree to the thickness of my leg. A core of white mana glows inside the resulting arrow.

Taking a deep breath, I push more mana into the black orb, which expands with a thump and moves in front of me.

It clashes with the arrow and devours it in the same manner as it did to the ones before.

Handling it becomes even more difficult.

Pressure from the Harvester increases further. Purple mana surrounds it, and where its forehead is, a mark starts glowing, and inscriptions spread from it, creating a circle around the skull.

The bow it holds expands in size, compresses, and becomes slimmer and more deadly looking. Then the monster reaches out with its other bony arm and pulls out another arrow from what looks like a hole in space.

That arrow burns with white light, and its light illuminates the entire valley and the sides of the mountains before it dims down, and the monster nocks it to the bow.

That also happens to be when the male archer releases another arrow, and it finally does some damage. Made of multicolored light, it pierces through the skull of the monster only to exit on the other side and deep into the ground. The velnar slams his hammer down onto the damaged area while the others continue doing whatever they were doing.

None of it helps, and the Harvester ignores them entirely.

In quick succession, a dozen pulses expand from it, and each places three marks on me, each more intricate and powerful than the previous one. Not a single mark is placed on the other attendees.

At the same time, it continues to draw the bow in an unhurried manner. The glowing white arrow radiates an immense degree of mana radiation, nearly disrupting the bow and damaging the immensely durable bones of the Harvester. Even the remaining attendees begin to suffer. Blisters rise on their skin, and blood seeps from their eyes, noses, and ears.

I don't even blame them as the seven make their way toward the portal, grabbing whatever they can from the ground before rushing into the portal.

Only the archer turns back before he passes through and shrugs apologetically.

Looking at how slowly the Harvester prepares its attack, I could probably escape as well, yet I'm here. As threatening as it is, it also feels like a challenge. The two of us clashing against each other. And here at least, I don't think I’ll lose.

I grab the ball of black mana with my hand and force it to change shape, all while letting it feed on more of my mana. It stretches to twice my length and takes the shape of a javelin while I let collected kinetic energy run wild through my body as I take a stance. One of my legs slides back, and I lower myself in preparation for a throw. A knot of compressed energy halts the core of the javelin to give it a further boost after I throw it.

I can't allow myself any distraction, so I use no thermal energy and let my new thermal construct deal with it as I delicately control the kinetic energy tearing through my body. The memory of Lioren using it to move my body keeps flashing in my mind.

The white arrow and black javelin launch at the same time.

Two sonic booms echo off the mountains, and by the time the shockwaves ripple through the air, it's already over.

And I'm alive.

As I start walking, I get my mana back under control and start combusting thermal energy under my skin to heal the damage while suppressing the pain as much as I can.

The Harvester still stands there, wobbling from side to side, but there's no mana around it at all. The bow is gone, there's no sign of any arrows, all the marks placed on me are gone, and even the mana radiation that once surrounded it has vanished. There's a wide trail with an area entirely devoid of mana, even the ambient field has been disrupted, and it continues to stretch far behind it into the distance where the black javelin flew.

In the center of the Harvester's head, there's a hole through which the black javelin flew. As I come to a stop next to it, the body finally collapses, falling and ending just a step away from where I stand.

[You have defeated Reanimated Harvester - lvl 398]

[Lvl 316 Lvl 317]

[Lvl 317 Lvl 318]

[Lvl 318 Lvl 319]

[Lvl 319 Lvl 320]

[Lvl 320 Lvl 321]

[Manifestation - lvl 2 Manifestation - lvl 3]

[Manifestation - lvl 3 Manifestation - lvl 4]

[Redistribution - lvl 65 Redistribution - lvl 66]

I look to my right.

[Perception - lvl 64 Perception - lvl 65]

A pulse of my mana disrupts the camouflage of the lynthari man standing there with a dagger in his hand, and surprise evident on his face.

He moves quickly, but I'm long since prepared. A Needle Point explodes his knee, and before he can move again, I'm standing in front of him. Another powerful pulse of my disruption cancels out his strengthening, and my hand, coated in oscillating mana, cuts through the dagger he lifts in defense, and then pushes through his head.

[You have defeated Fade Stalker - lvl 310]

"You thought I didn't notice you like the others didn't?" I say to the corpse of the opportunist.

Then I scan the area to confirm I'm alone. Only then do I move to start gathering all the items littering the ground.