Duskbound

Velik left the Raven's Nest ten minutes later, having waited just long enough to receive close to five thousand decarmas that had been left over from the sale of the two champion seeds and to deflect some questions about his plans. Torwin had strongly hinted about forming a partnership, and if it had been just him, Velik might have considered. The old monster hunter had the levels and skills to keep up, but his apprentice didn't.

He'd restocked his supplies for his next trip north while he was waiting for Torwin to return, and thanks to both his time spent practicing with Jensen's compass and the instructions Torwin's artificer friend had given them, Velik was confident he could track down what he was looking for. He wanted a few hours of sleep before he left, but then he planned on finally ending this decade-long ordeal.

In a way, he was thankful that the monster population had exploded. If he'd been able to keep it under control forever, Velik probably would have spent his entire life going up and down a hundred mile stretch of wilderness frontier killing monsters over and over again, and the mere thought of that exhausted him in a way he hadn't thought possible. It wasn't the fatigue of a hard day's work or of laying somewhere, wounded and waiting for the pain to stop. He couldn't quite describe why he recoiled from the idea—he'd already been on the job for ten years, after all—but Velik very suddenly realized that he hated his life here.

It was the hot meals, the conversations with a person who didn't look at him like he was scum, the answers the other hunters could just give him without any struggle to try to piece it together on his own. The actual monster killing part, he still enjoyed. Despite how he'd come by his class, he was grateful to have [The Black Fang]. But he was ready to do it somewhere else.

Not until this is done, though. Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, I'm going to find you, Chalin. We're going to end this once and for all.

The plan was simple. If Chalin was making champion seeds somehow, then he had a class that was similar to a dungeon. The only difference was that instead of becoming tied to a single location and reclaiming those seeds if a team of hunters happened to come in contact with him, he'd left them scattered about the wilderness for some reason. Velik had no answers for that behavior, but he also didn't much care what the reason was.

If he could follow that trail, then eventually, he'd find Chalin at the end of it. Once they met, one way or another, that would be the end of things. And then Velik would leave the frontier and maybe get to have something resembling a life. If he collected enough champion seeds, maybe he'd even end up rich enough to do whatever he wanted.

Velik settled into his hollowed-out den and went to sleep for what he hoped was the last time ever.

* * *

Jensen watched the local kid walk out of the inn and rolled his eyes. "Melodramatic, isn't he?"

"He's young, but truthfully, he's gone through a lot. He was essentially exiled from his home after his own actions caused monsters to attack it and orphan him. That's a tough way to live as an adult, let alone when you're seven. It's obvious he's completely lacking any sort of education or training. Everything he does, he's making up as he goes along. Despite that, he's managed to thrive as a hunter."

Torwin lapsed into silence and stared at the door. Whatever else was on his mind, he apparently wasn't in the mood to share. Jensen hoped he wasn't thinking about trying to pick the kid up as another apprentice. That would violate the terms of the contract between the Hunters Guild and the Alderworth family.

He kind of got the impression that his master wasn't thrilled about having Jensen as an apprentice anyway, though he wasn't sure if that was because he didn't like Jensen in particular or if he just didn't want any apprentice. For as much as his father was paying to have the best the guild had to help him gain a rare or better class evolution, Jensen didn't see what Torwin had to complain about. Completing this contract would set someone like him up for life.

This whole job was supposed to be a way for Jensen to practice some skills and pack on a few levels, but Torwin was more interested in Velik just because of his unique class. If he'd just taken the job seriously, they'd have cleaned out every monster within fifty miles of the towns by now. Instead, he was inventing some sort of mystery to keep in contact with Velik.

It was obvious that the dungeon seed the guy had found when he was a kid had screwed his life up, but there was no way his buddy was out there, walking around like some sort of living dungeon, shitting out monsters every five steps. That guy had probably died a decade ago. They could go find the source of the monsters, maybe Velik's childhood friend's grave, and take care of it, but that wasn't the contract they were out here for.

"Let me ask you a question," Jensen said.

"What's that?"

"What should I be doing to evolve [Tracker] into [Ranger]?"

Torwin let out a heavy sigh. "Jensen, you're a smart man. I understand that you have constraints on your future, but in my opinion, you will never achieve a class evolution into [Ranger]. There are other classes that would suit your personality far better"

"I… wait, are you just giving up on me?" he demanded. "We have a contract!"

"Your father and the guild have a contract, and if you want someone else to help you, I won't take offense. But I don't think I can get you to where you want to be. I was going to put this conversation off until we were done here, but I'd like you to consider an alternative."

"The contract is for [Ranger]. My father won't accept alternatives."

It had been hard enough to get him to accept [Ranger] for Jensen. He'd wanted some sort of noble profession, something like [Merchant Lord] that would allow Jensen to oversee the Alderworth financial holdings while his older brother ruled the family. It was only when his sister, the middle child of the three, had developed her own class that Father had finally agreed to let Jensen keep his original class of [Tracker], and only under the condition that he grow it into something of at least rare quality.

"Then I'm sorry to say that your father is bound to be disappointed," Torwin said, turning his attention fully to Jensen. "I can't make you act like a [Ranger], Jensen. And I'm sorry to say that you don't have the right motivation to be one. You don't care about these people."

"Why would I? They're strangers. We came here to do a job, and that was to kill the monsters around the village."

"So, if you were in charge, you'd say we should go out, wipe out everything within so many miles of the border, collect our fee, and leave?"

"That is exactly what we were hired to do."

"And that's why you won't ever evolve your class into [Ranger]. A [Ranger] has to care about people, to be a hero to those in need. You're not a hero. You're a mercenary – an honorable one, maybe, but a mercenary, nonetheless. The sooner you square yourself up with that truth, the sooner we can start looking into an alternative class that actually fits you. Or you can keep on trying, but you're never going to succeed."

"But…" Jensen sat there, unable to think of what to say. He had to become a [Ranger]. It was the only class his father would let him keep that was remotely close to what he wanted to be. If he failed, he'd end up shackled to an office somewhere on the family estate, or banished to an outpost stewarded by one of his many cousins.

"I'm sorry, son. I truly am. You're caught in a hard place, torn between the class that's right for you and your family's demands. Why don't you take some time to think things over. I'm going to follow our new friend out into the deep wilds and put an end to this monster incursion. All I'm asking you to do is keep a lid on the monsters showing up around here for the next week or two. Train your skills. Gain some levels. When I get back, we'll have a real discussion about your future.

"Don't lose hope," Torwin told him as he stood up from the table. "I might not be able to guide you to [Ranger], but if your father's primary requirement is the prestige of a rare class, well, I have something else in mind that he might like even better."

"You don't know him," Jensen said numbly. "Once he's made up his mind, it's impossible to change it."

"Oh? Even if I could offer an epic rarity class instead?" Torwin teased.

Epic! Something that he thinks would fit me?

"What… What is it?"

His master winked at him and said, "For now, you just focus on keeping these villages safe. Once we've finished up this job, we'll talk more. We've got some people I'll need to get on board, including your father, before we start the process."

Torwin swept out of the common room, leaving Jensen sitting there by himself, his mind awhirl with confusing and contradictory thoughts.