Gatherings

The saber wielding figure nodded and they both twisted a small purple gem embedded on their left fingers.

They both gritted their teeth in pain, but a dark purple fog started to emit out of both of their fingers that covered them completely until you couldn't see them.

After a few minutes, the purple fog dissipated and the hooded figures had also disappeared.

Jason and the group with him witnessed all of that and they looked at each other in confusion. Jeffery shouted out

"WHERE BE SHADOWY DUDES?"

Jason shrugged while Boops quickly checked the map to see if they reappeared anywhere close to them. He reported that they were nowhere in the maps range. Which was still fairly small and could only barely cover the rose knight trainees a few hundred meters away. Boops quickly dropped in a hint to buy him some subsystems. Which reminded Jason that he should stock up more points since the ones the rose knights and the wolves gave weren't adequate for anything of worth yet.

The bandits after realizing that their leaders had abandoned them started to crumble, parts of their group dropped their weapons and ran, while others attempted to make one final charge against the rose knights. The red and blue went to intercept the bandits that were giving a desperate charge while the green barrack members went to chase down the fleeing bandits.

After making sure one more time that none of the hooded figures were there and that none of the bandits were actually escaping from the rose knights. He motioned to the green barrack members next to him to join them in chasing down the scattered bandits to which they nodded and gave him a small salute and left. Jason and the wolves walked down to the city gates to where Charlie and the rest of the Blue two team stood.

They let Jitsuryoku take command for a bit and were currently resting. Charlie stood upright waiting for the people in the city of Muno to send a representative so that they could talk. While Colby stood silently behind him like a bodyguard. Lyle was lying down facedown breathing in the dry dirt like he didn't care. Ethan and Mark were restlessly swinging their swords through the air like they were eager for more action.

Charlie gave a small wave to Jason as he approached he said with a gentle smile

"I'm guessing you managed to help that village?"

Jason sadly shook his head

"no, it was already sacked when we got there, we were only able to save a few villagers, Jamie stayed there to take care of the wounded."

Charlie grimaced at the news

"that's unfortunate, I truly hope Psykhe can guide their souls"

Jason then handed Charlie the token he was given by Jamie, the one that gave him momentary command over the green team. Charlie looked at it and then back at Jason with an eyebrow raised, he muttered to himself

"he trusted you with this?"

Charlie put that thought away and started to think about the repercussions that would be gained from Jamie leaving the command. He sighed

"He really was a caring one, wasn't he? I can't believe I'm the only one who can do some sort of medical treatment now."

Jason widened his eyes

"wait, you are the only one who can do that sort of thing?"

Charlie nodded

"yes, I have an affinity with light and can use healing spells while Jamie is very talented in medical care, even without spells it's like he is gifted in treatment."

Around this time Jitsuryoku came back with the victorious rose knights. They clattered back to the front of the gate of Muno. Which was slowly opening to welcome their saviors.

While it was slowly opening Jason checked his Exp level which was stuck at 49. It seemed that he had gotten allot of Exp in fact the green bar which indicated his Exp level was already completely filled to the brink. Jason looked at it with confusion and frustration.

Maybe it was his missing stat points, he might have invested a bit too much into charm, but then again, the training center gave him allot of extra stat points in strength, agility, stamina intelligence, and wisdom.

Jason quickly looked over his status to check if anything was wrong

[Jason Archer]

[Age: 15]

[male]

[level: 49]

[Stats]

[strength 28]

[stamina 27]

[agility 27]

[intelligence 21]

[wisdom 17]

[charm 56]

[unused stat points: 10]

[status: healthy]

[points: 5476]

[titles: (world traveler), (Herald of the blessed), (Charming person), (battle junkie), (strong person), (high endurance), (fast person), etc...]

Nothing seemed off so why was he stuck at level 49? a perplexed and annoyed face was the only thing on Jason's face and soon Jitsuryoku spotted it and walked over to Jason with a bit of blood in his brilliant red amour. He placed his hand on Jason's shoulder which almost made Jason's knees buckle. He said in a hearty voice

"you did a good job with the traps Arch, I'm glad your part of this platoon, don't worry if you didn't directly participate in the battle, you have a much bigger effect then you think"

Jason shook his head still contemplating what was going on

"no, it's not that"

Jitsuryoku got confused momentarily but then a sudden empathy came to him.

"ah ha! you're in a bottleneck with your strength aren't you!"

Now it was Jason's turn to get confused he asked Jitsuryoku

"a bottleneck?"

"yeah a bottleneck its when your growth suddenly feels like it just stopped and you can't increase it anymore"

Jason looked at the Exp gauge that wasn't moving and thought for a bit, he answered him

"Yeah I guess its sorta like a bottleneck"

Jitsuryoku gave off a hearty laugh and stretched his red beard.

"well I had one or two bottlenecks before, and I know how you feel, there are different ways to get through one, but for me, it's fighting an opponent that is at least your strength"

"but I do that everyday"

Jitsuryoku chuckled again

"haha, yes that's very true, but I'm talking about a life or death battle, when I had a breakthrough I had to go deep into the forest, heh I encountered a metallic type of monster, almost lost my head a few times actually, it was a really tough battle"

Jason waited patiently as Jitsuryoku continued talking about the story of him taking down what seemed to be a metal monster that was in the shape of a spider except it had glowing red eyes and a bluish sheen on its body.

"anyways" he finished "when I finally ripped out that glowing red gem and it finally died, I felt a sudden surge, of what I think was energy or mana, I could see my muscles getting more taunt and my body get lighter and stronger."

Jitsuryoku shugged

"I'm not sure what really happened to my body at that time, but frankly it had been a good thing"

Jason nodded and thanked Jitsuryoku for his advice while he laughed it off and said

"just take it as an apology for treating you so badly back in the training center"

He then went off to talk with some red barrack members who were calling for him, while Jason started to go into thought

"defeating an opponent in a life or death battle huh? so like a boss?"

Boops answered

'Yeah I think so, the manual for the game did say something about how every 50 levels you had to do something, I guess it meant a breakthrough huh'

"was that WoW manual really that ambiguous? like it totally should have at least said something about the requirements right?"

'nothing dude, it has a note saying "the rest will be left for the player to discover" heh and your the first to figure this stuff out'

Jason wanted to complain but he knew that it was something that came with being ahead of the group. He sighed and looked to see the gates of the city of Muno finally opening to its fullest capacity.

There stood a group of armored guards each one of them held a long spear and they all stood in perfect formation. In the front was a strong man dressed in military-style clothes, he had long white hair and he looked a bit too old to be fighting on the front lines. Yet he held himself with an aura that made people look at him, and the soldiers that stood next to him looked at him with respect.

His grey eyes glimmered with a fierceness that would make its enemies tremble, and an elegant rapier that was decorated with gold and gems hanged on his waist.

He stepped up and gave a slight bow and said in an elegant voice

"I Baron Yasin Stiv the city lord of Muno greet the rose knights"

Charlie walked up out of the crowd and addressed the Baron

"I Charlie the commander of the 3rd rose knight trainee battalion greet the Baron"

The two smilled at each other, and the Baron turned around and waved his hand as a signal, and all of the civilians that were waiting impatiently erupted in a loud cheer.