"Hey, increase my willpower," Jake said.
"I didn't hear a please…" Lana said.
"Please, buff my willpower before I throw you in the middle of the monsters," Jake said.
"That is better," Lana said.
Jake had no idea how that was better since he barely changed the words and said the same things to piss her off. Regardless, he used his buff as well to increase his willpower since he wondered if that would make his mind less fatigued while keeping the dark flame walls while firing the bullets. That helped a bit, but not as nearly as he had expected. Even with his and Lana's buffs, his willpower almost doubled. Still, it seemed the effect it would have on a tired mind would be limited… perhaps he should have used those before attacking. Jake realized that he still had a lot to learn, but that was fine. As long as he could feel himself improving, he had no reason to feel bad.
Regardless, despite the situation, the group managed to slay the wolves before they could turn Julian into a porcupine. Things would have been better if Jake had stepped forward with a shield, and it was too much for a party of five to have only one frontline that didn't move around like Karina.
"You really are pretty frail, huh, kid," Jake said when he passed by Julian to gather the monster's materials. "You either will have to become a solo duelist, or you will have to change your status distribution or find someone that uses shields to cover you."
"Jake… you are only two years older than him…" Louise said.
"What about it?" Jake asked. "Ah, there are two other options: you stop facing so many enemies or become fast enough to stop the barrage of attacks of an army by yourself."
"As expected of Jake… always saying unrealistic and unreasonable things," Lana said while furrowing her eyebrows. "... Although Julian suffered a bit here, it isn't like we can't handle this type of battle."
"I am getting the hang of this… don't worry," Julian said.
"It doesn't seem like you got hit in many places aside from the external parts of your arms and legs," Jake said. "Did you avoid the ones aimed at your vitals? If you are going to let those parts get hit, you should at least wear some equipment that will protect you in those parts. It isn't like you moving much right now, after all."
"I will do that!" Julian said.
"Why so much excitement, dude…" Jake frowned. "Anyway, if you aren't going to help with this. I am going to take all the materials for myself."
The others joined Jake since the crystal scales looked quite valuable. Recently, they have had a hard time gathering funds to buy new items, so they were learning more about good spots to grind for materials. While they were working on that, Jake recalled that the red tribal armor would help Julian a lot since it protected the parts that he was getting hit often. So, he wondered if he should give it to him… selling for the price would be too much of a pain.
"Hey, kid," Jake said. "I have something that might interest ya."
"What the fuck… Why are you suddenly talking like you are selling something shady?" Lana asked.
"How many coins do you have?" Jake asked.
"Around one hundred thousand…" Julian said.
"Tsk, I got this from the redhead guild master for a lot more…" Jake said after showing the red armor. "Well, it can't be helped… I am going to sell it to you."
"The redhead guild master?" Louise asked while showing a complex expression.
"I don't know her name, and I just know that she is annoying. No wonder she gets along with Frederick," Jake said.
"Only someone like Jake would call a reliable leader annoying…" Lana said. "By the way, I can buy that magic staff from you."
"Nah, you don't have enough to pay for it," Jake said. "Which makes me wonder, Frederick had this kind of item, but he doesn't lend to you guys?"
"The guild master believes that items that are above our current level would hinder our growth," Louise replied.
That made sense… considering that they always fight in groups, their growth was already limited permission, to begin with. Nevertheless, Jake ended up selling the staff to Lana despite his words. It was for the sake of saving time and making her become a bit more useful, so it couldn't be helped.
The group began to move to hunt other monsters, and using their upgraded gear… which was basically Jake's second-handed equipment, they made some more progress. Just as Jake had mentioned, Julian began to protect his arms and legs with the armor, and thanks to that, he lost a lot less health than before. He also had the Repair skill, so he could prevent the armor from being damaged beyond repair.
In any case, when they saw a small group making so much progress, the other parties also decided to fight and make use of the momentum to decrease the number of enemies as much as possible. Those who were used to that kind of battle against hundreds of monsters managed to make some progress, but those who weren't got hurt more than a little bit. While Jake's group was hunting, the guild masters were watching things from far away. They had planned to deal with the situation, but it seemed that it wouldn't be necessary.
"I thought you said he was a melee fighter…" The redhead guild master said.
"He is… but it seems that his wound is more grave than we expected," Frederick said. "Anyway, Milena, you should talk with the other guys… keeping secrets like these will only bite us in the butt later. The innate skills of everyone are evolving, so it is only a matter of time… I also heard that more and more people are having weirdly realistic dreams. It is only a matter of time…"
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