Fran stood at the top of the stairs that led down into the underground room which for the last week had been her home. Even though Archer had packed everything that had been down there, including her bed and the stone furniture, into his [Dimensional Storage], Fran felt a ping of loss. Even though it had only been a hole in the ground, it had been the first place she could call home for more than four years.
But she knew she couldn't stay.
Even if she had grown stronger under Archer's tutorage, she knew that she would never become strong enough to evolve if she stayed. She wouldn't let her dream, her parents dream, her entire people's dream die. She would do whatever it took, enduring any pain and hardship, and conquer any enemy to break through the wall.
She wanted to be strong. As strong as Archer was. She wanted to be able to fight the things she had seen him fight in her dreams.
[Fran, are you ready to get moving?] Archer asked her.
"...Nn." Fran replied with a confident nod, turning her back to the hobble and towards the wider world.
[So, which way do you think the nearest city is?] Archer asked her.
"Nn… this way." Fran said, pointing in a direction that felt right, trusting her [Directional Senses].
[Alright then, hop on.] Archer said, floating parallel to the ground, right next to Fran. As she hopped on, Fran felt Archer grabbing hold of her ankles with his telekinesis as he started to shoot forward.
It was an exhilarating feeling, flying on top of Archer, and Fran's eyes light up from the excitement.
By combining [Float], [Telekinesis], [Mana Thief], and [Mana Control], Archer could continue flying for a few hours, even while supporting Fran's weight. So long as he didn't fly too high, as the effects of [Float] and [Mana Thief] weakened as you got further away from the ground and way from any easy source of mana.
Though that might have made it even more exciting, having to duck and weave through the trees while moving at high speeds. Even if Archer was doing most of the steering, Fran found herself mesmerized by the thrill. The wind rushing through her hair adding to her adrenaline.
This was SO much faster than the horse and wagon.
Though after two hours of riding in such a fashion, Fran was willing to admit that her arms and legs were starting to go numb from the wind chill, and was glad when Archer called for a break so that his mana pool didn't dip too low.
You should always keep something in reserve in case of a fight.
While Fran rubbed the feeling back into her legs, Archer offered her some grilled meat, a snack to help her keep her energy up. She used some of her own mana to infuse fire mana into her hands, helping to push heat through her.
[How are you holding up?] Archer asked her.
"Nn." Fran just gave Archer a thumbs up to indicate that she was holding in there.
[I know it isn't comfortable, but we've already covered two hold days worth of walking distance. Just try to make it until we get in sight of a town.] Archer said, seeming apologetic. [We should try to find some kind of alternative means of transportation in the future. Either that or a [Skill] to take the edge off the cold. I suppose we could use Wind Magic to shape the wind around you, but that would be rather costly. A [Cold Resistance] skill would be best, but I don't know how high of a level we would need in order for it to be effective, or what Demonic Beast would have it. Right now, we are in a rather temperate environment, so I can't imagine anything here would have a use for such a [Skill].]
"Nn." Fran said with a nod. Archer had a point, while his ability to absorb [Skills] from the monsters he killed was amazing, it was limited to the kinds of Demonic Beast they encountered. If they wanted to hunt for specific [Skills], they would need to find out what kind of Demonic Beast had the skill and travel to wherever it was that the species lived. So if she wanted [Cold Resistance], she would have to travel to extremely cold places in order to find it. Places she would need [Cold Resistance] in order to safely traverse.
[Clothing enchanted to keep warm would also work.] Archer suggested. [I'm not sure if such a thing exists, but if we go to a big city we might be able to find something.]
"Buy clothes?" Fran mumbled, her hand touching her chest and feeling the leather tunic that Archer had made her from a lesser wyvern's hide. While it wasn't the most beautiful thing in the world, it was comfortable and easy to move in. It had also been a gift. She didn't know if she liked the idea of replacing it with something bought at a store. "No money." She finally said, more as an excuse.
[...True.] Archer admitted. The slave merchants had surprisingly little money on them, barely more than a hundred Gorudos, which Fran had informed him wasn't even enough to pay for one night at a cheap in. [We can figure out some way to make money. But we don't really need to buy the clothes. If I get a good look at them, I can recreate any of their enchantments, as long as we have the materials.]
"Archer's equipment: greatest." Fran said with a sharp nod of her head. The armor she had now was just something that Archer had thrown together in a few minutes with what materials he had on hand. She couldn't wait to see the kind of things he could make her when he actually had everything he could ask for.
However, her daydreaming about superduper armor was cut short as her [Presence Detection] Skill, sharpened by her [Vigor Control], picked up signs of rapid movement. It was still a good distance away from them, but the unusualness of the presence made Fran believe that there was a battle.
"There's a fight." Fran said, getting to her feet and looking off in the direction. She sharpened her hearing and could make out the sounds of goblin battle cries.
[I think you're right.] Archer said. [Seems like a band of goblins are attacking something. Probably no more than twenty individuals.]
"Good target." Fran nodded before starting to run off in the direction of the fighting, drawing Archer from her back.
It was time to put all her training to the test.
It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Yes, Kral and his party had been warned. They had been told that Demonic Beasts had been sighted closer and closer to the city in the last month, but they had gone anyways. Though they would claim they didn't have much of a choice.
Those who don't work don't eat, and money was tight. After paying for their second hand equipment, they barely had enough for their daily bread and had been grateful for the fact that the Guild Hall let them sleep under the stairs, lest they be out on the street.
Two simple G-rank missions. Finding five herbs used in healing potions and tracking down a wild boar. It should have been safe and easy. They hadn't expected to be ambushed, and not just by one goblin, but thirteen.
Conventional wisdom would say that a group of five to six G-rank Adventurers could reliably handle G-rank threat, such as a single goblin, without too much danger. So Kral, Lily and Eustace might have been able to handle one, and that was only a might.
However, a group of ten or more goblins was considered a F-rank threat, and would mean death for a party like theirs.
Kral would have called it a miracle that they had managed to break through the goblin's encircling them, with him carrying Eustace, their injured mage on his back, but he had a feeling that it had less to do with their fortune, and more to do with the goblins having fun toying with their prey. Rather than simply attacking and killing them, the goblins were throwing rocks at their backs as they struggled to run away.
One such rock slammed into Kral's head, causing the man to stagger and almost fall. He could hear the goblins' laughter as he struggled to maintain his footing.
"Come on, we have to keep moving!" Lily shouted, dropping her bow so that she could grab Eustace's other arm.
"Lily… Kral… I'm not going to make…" Eustace struggled to speak through the pain, but stopped as his body was seized by a fit of coughing. Kral's blood ran cold as he saw the trickle of blood escaping his friend's mouth. The arrow had gotten him in the side before any of them had the time to register what was going on. It was a dangerous injury, and their need to move was not helping matters. "Leave me. Save…"
"Don't talk like that! We aren't leaving…!" Lily started before giving her own cry of pain. An arrow caught her in the shoulder, her body twisting with the impact as she dragged Eustace down with her, Kral barely managing to keep his feet.
Looking down at his injured party members, the warrior felt hopeless. He could do nothing but look around him and the group of goblins that now had him once again encircled, laughing at him and throwing stones.
Anger rose up in him. "Well, what are you waiting for!?" He shouted at the mob, lifting up his sword as best he could. A previous injury to his side, received when they had rushed through the group before, screamed at him. In the end, his sword just slipped through his fingers.
Who was he kidding? There would be no final heroic stand for him.
"Kral!" Lily screamed as a pair of goblins rushed forward with rusty iron knives, ready to finish him off.
*Thud* *Thud*
Kral blinked in surprise as a pair of polished steel knives flew passed his shoulders before slamming into the faces of the goblins, cutting straight through the bone of their skulls and killing them in an instant. And as they fell, the goblins behind him let out a scream.
It felt surreal to Kral as he turned around to see their reinforcement, a small girl, no more than twelve years old, wearing some kind of reptilian leather armor and holding a broad sword that was far too big for her body, blood dripping from its blade. At her feet were four more goblins that she had just cut down. But the most unreal thing about it was the detached, almost bored expression that she had.
The goblins screamed in anger at being disturbed and began to try and attack the girl.
An arrow flew passed him and towards the girl who gracefully sidestepped the shout before charging forward herself, raising one and to her side as she began to mouth a chant. "[Stone Arrow]."
A sharpened stone appeared in the air in front of the girl and flew straight towards the archer goblin which had been shooting at Kral's party. The goblin didn't even have time to be surprised as the projectile slammed into his face, caving in his skull and killing him in an instant.
Five of the remaining seven goblins rushed forward. Two had knives, another two spears, and the last had a sword and shield. While the five of them attempted to slash at the girl, the last two goblins picked up rocks, throwing them at the girl in an attempt to throw her off balance.
None of it made a difference. She parried and dodged all attacks made against her as she pressed through the goblins, cutting down all those that dared to attack her at close range.
The stone throwers were shocked, not knowing what to do, but before they had a chance to decide, the girl cast her spell again. "[Stone Arrow]." There were two rocks this time, and for each of the remaining goblins.
"Nn. Weak." The Black Catkin child said, her voice completely dry as she said it. It was as if she was disappointed.
"So… strong." Lily said. Kral could only nod his head in agreement.
The two still conscious Adventurers jumped as the girl looked up and turned her head towards them in a manner that made them feel like she had forgotten that they were even there. Her cold expression as she stood there covered in goblin blood sent a shiver up their spins, despite her childish stature. Without a word she started to walk towards them, and then past them.
Lily and Kral watched speechless as she leaned down over Eustace, grabbing a hold of the arrow in his side before ripping it out.
"What are you doing!?" Lily shouted in horror, while Eustace just screamed, but the girl placed her hand over the wound.
"~Gather light of healing, [Cure Wound]" The girl said as her hand began to glow. Right before their eyes, the wound began to close, until nothing of it remained.
"I… what… what happened?" Eustace said as he started to come too, a hand moving to his side. "The pain is gone."
"Eustace, you're alright... AWH!" Lily screamed as the girl grabbed the arrow lodged in her shoulder before pulling it out as well. Kral winced as he watched the small child heal the wound, and counted his blessings that he didn't have any arrows sticking out of him.
That didn't stop him from staggering back when the girl moved up before him and looked up at his face. "Kneel." The girl said sharply.
"W...what?" Kral stammered.
"Too tall. Can't reach head injury." The child said curtly.
"Ah, right!" Kral said quickly, doing exactly as the girl told him to, and kneeling down. She placed a hand on the side of his head and repeated her spell, causing the pain to retreat as the wound closed.
"Alright now?" The beastkin girl asked them.
"I… I think so." Lily said, still in a daze.
"Nn." The child simply nodded her head before turning and starting to walk away.
"H...hey! Wait a second!" Kral called out to her, causing her to pause. "Tha...thank you for saving us." The man said awkwardly before continuing. "You're an Adventurer, aren't you?"
Fran had been more than ready to leave when the man called out to her. While she had saved their lives, she wasn't at all interested in the small group of people they had found being bullied by a bunch of goblins.
To be honest, Archer himself wasn't all that interested in them either. Yes, he agreed with Fran in helping to get them back up on their feet, but grouping up with them seeming suboptimal.
Each of them was absolutely pathetic, with stats even lower than Fran's had been while she was a slave, and weaker than even a goblin's. None of their key stats was beyond the single digits, and they didn't have any skills to speak of, save for the mage with [Fire Magic] Lv1, which itself was almost useless.
These people would be less than worthless in a fight, and Fran and Archer were very much intending on fighting things, given Fran's declared objective being becoming strong enough to undergo evolution. That, added to the fact that each of them seemed to be in their early twenties and might have misunderstandings about who is in charge around here, made them very undesirable to have around.
That last fight had given her just enough EXP to grow from level 5 to level 6. A nice first step, but Fran still had a long way to go if she wanted to reach her goal. After that small taste, Fran was hungry for more combat, and Archer was willing to let her practice tracking multiple opponents against these weak goblins.
Without how many they just found, there should be a nest nearby, and a large one too. Perhaps a few hundred goblins.
[It's doubtful that they know anything about the situation around here, they are probably from a nearby settlement. It wouldn't hurt to talk to them and build up a good relationship for later. You never know when someone can get you useful information or a foot in the door] Archer suggested.
(Why would I want my foot in a door?) Fran asked, not understanding the expression.
[It's an expression that means they might be able to get you opportunities or information that you might otherwise not be able to get.] Archer explained. He was becoming pretty used to Fran's lack of experience with expressions and was more than willing to explain when one came up.
"Nn." Fran said, nodding to what Archer said, before giving the small group her bare minimal attention. She was still much more interested in her level up and finding more opponents. "Not an Adventurer." She finally told them after a long enough silence to make them uncomfortable.
"You aren't? But I thought…" The warrior started to stammer but stopped, shaking his head and bowing towards Fran. "I'm sorry, I'm being rude. We still haven't introduced ourselves too you. I'm Kral, and this is Lily and Eustace. We are G-rank Adventurers."
"G-rank?" Fran asked, not sure as to what the man meant.
"Just like Demonic Beasts, Adventurers are divided into ranks going from G-rank to A-rank, with a few above even that at S-rank." The young woman explained.
"G-rank: weak. Understood." Fran summarized, causing the three adventurers to wince.
[Ouch, that one probably hurt.]
"Need more healing?" Fran asked them, yet again misunderstanding what Archer had meant.
"No we're fine, thanks to you." Kral said. His eyes drifted over to the dead goblins. He seemed momentarily conflicted, before he continued to speak. "You're the one who killed these goblins, so its only right that you are the one who gets to keep them."
"Wait, this little kid killed all these goblins? Are you for rea…?" The mage, who had been unconscious when Fran had first arrived, was quickly shut up by the bow user.
"You've already saved our lives. We couldn't possibly accept any more than that." Kral said.
"Goblins worth something?" Fran asked, a little curious.
"Well… sort of. Their horns can be used in some magics, but they aren't very valuable. Most merchants will buy them for 5 Gorudos a piece. But since the Adventurers' Guild has an open bounty on Evil Beings, you can exchange them at the Adventurers' Guild for 20 Gorudos." Kral explained.
"Not much." Fran said simply, and Archer had to admit she was right. 20 Gorudos? Based on his understanding of the cost of a room and a single meal, he estimated it to be the same as $1.50 USD. Killing thirteen of them was barely enough money to buy the three lunch.
The man blushed with embarrassment. "...There weapons might be worth another 2 or 3 hundred."
"...Does the guild buy any Demonic Beast?" Fran asked after a slight pause, remembering the mountain of corpses that Archer had been dismantling over the last few days.
"Normally, yes. As long as the material has a use." Lily said with a nod. "Though you have to become a member of the Guild first."
[Hm, useful information.] Archer said, to which Fran nodded in agreement. Then, the girl glanced over at the goblin archer's body.
"What about the evolved versions? How much is a high goblin worth?" Fran asked, pointing the goblin out.
"What!? There was a higher breed!?" Eustace shouted in panic.
"Nn?"
After Fran pointed out to them that there was not just one, but three high goblins in the group, the three adventurers went into a panic.
Fran and Archer both thought they were overreacting a bit. After all, they were just goblins. Before meeting Fran, Archer had slaughtered the Evil Beings by the hundreds.
Though Fran's interest returned moments later when they started to talk about the possibility of another Goblin King, and how it would mean that there was the possibility that in a nearby Goblin Nest there were hundreds of hobgoblins, as well as a Goblin King and Queen.
"How much EXP do hobgoblins give?" Fran asked them.
"Huh? Well, since a single hobgoblin is considered an F-rank threat, it should be worth around ten times more than a normal gobl… where are you going!?"
In canon, killing those 13 goblins (including 3 high goblins) grew Fran from level 5 to 6. Later in the canon, it is shown that killing a single goblin is enough EXP to grow from level 1 to level 2. So after just 4 levels, the EXP requirement increased by more than ten fold.
This high scaling trend continues throughout the story, with the 130 she killed after that (including 20 high goblins and 4 hobgoblins) grew her from 6 to 12.
However, during the attack on the goblin nest, Fran killed more than 200 hobgoblins (including the goblin king and queen) and over 800 beetles (g-rank monsters) and only grew from level 12 to level 17.
Then killing the B-rank Demon (the Demon was actually on the low end of B-rank stats wise) grew her from level 17 to level 25. Growing her more levels than when she killed the 1000+ monsters leading up to that point.
assuming that the amount of EXP requirement only went up by 10 times every 5 levels, the Demon was worth almost 40 times as much EXP as all the other monsters she had fought that day put together. Meaning he was worth 8000 hobgoblins (F-rank monster) + 320000 beetles (G-rank monster)
This is where I got my estimate that the amount of EXP gained increases by a factor of 10 with each threat level increase.
Hmm23: "Now that i think about it Fran could just kill the lich or the priest/fragment to Evolve though i don't remember is the fragment could do it just for her or to reléase the black catkin curse"
Answer, no for the Lich, yes for the Evil Priest.
While the Lich would be an A-rank Demonic Beast, he's existences was not connected to the Evil God, so he wasn't an 'Evil Being'. So Fran killing him wouldn't have let her evolve. The Priest/Fragment would have let her evolve, but she would need to solo kill it. But that would only let her Evolve. The fragment was strong (maybe even Servant strong in terms of raw power (not in skill, obviously)), but it wasn't S-rank strong.
S-rank Demonic Beasts would be things as powerful as True Heroic Spirits (pseudo gods). Remember that Leviathan had 5 digits on his stats and his race was Divine Beast. It was a monster capable of destroying the entire planet if it set its mind to it.