Karl laughed at the horror of the warriors, thinking that they would have to face Rae in combat. These were all first year students, there wasn’t even a faint possibility that they would be able to deal with that sort of attack.
Even if Offensive Optimization wasn’t a passive effect, they wouldn’t stand a chance against her strength, and Rae wasn’t one of the more physically overwhelming monsters.
Rita shook her head. “No, we won’t do that to you. Rae is going to practice her bleed effect optimization, and then we have to prepare Karl for an away trip.”
Only one of the students here knew that Karl had just gotten back from a trip, and he was more than a little jealous. But as strong as the pets were now, he would probably be heading out with an Ascended Rank group to try to solidify his gains and get himself recognized as an Ascended Elite during the end of the Semester exams.
The speed of his growth was far beyond what anyone would call reasonable, and even the speed of his pets’ growth was crazy. The Windspeed Hawk wasn’t full-grown for over a year, and the Lightning Cerro shouldn’t be full-grown until three years old, but Thor was most of the way there already.
He actually had far less than Rae to improve until he reached his expected maximum power, now that his body had received such a significant gain from the drake scale potions, and he was well over half grown already. Rae was closer to her adult size, but fortunately for the armoured car, not so close to her maximum strength.
Finding a resource that would allow her to increase her power would be a difficult task, but Karl was certain that at some point they would find something that she simply must have. It had been that way with the others.
When they found the best resources for their growth, they knew it.
So, he just had to keep looking, and they would find a way to help Rae break through her limits once she reached them.
Rita led the group away from the warrior training, and Rae returned to her web to have a little nap and dream of tearing apart armoured vehicles.
The two Bureau agents were a bit too relaxed right now, and they couldn’t have known about the actual attack power of the pets, so Karl assumed that it was a front for the eagerness to tell him something.
They were all excellent at hiding their emotions, but the fact that they were doing it when there was no obvious reason for them to be doing it was also a tell, in that it let Karl know that there was something that he was missing.
Rita led them to a classroom, where the remainder of the Bureau of Elite Development team was already waiting, along with Dana and two older soldiers that Karl didn’t know.
Colonel Valerie addressed the group. “Good, the last of our people are here. I have been made aware that there was a need for some practical experience, so I have arranged another mission for you two.
There are constant monster problems in the Golden Dragon Nation, that’s no secret to anyone. But now that you are both on the stronger side of Awakened as Elites, the defence against those monster attacks are part of your responsibilities.
Normally, the students only get to apply for a lottery to deal with issues in this immediate region, but we have noticed a larger issue further from the major population centres. It is our suspicion that there is an overloaded Dungeon or an active portal somewhere in the region, and we haven’t found it yet.
So, someone needs to deal with the overflow of monsters that are appearing every day, and the regular duty soldiers would greatly appreciate a short leave.
With that in mind, we have volunteered you two, as well as a combined team of professional exterminators and a team from the church, to fill in for them.”
Karl was speechless. There were monsters just appearing every single day? What sort of insane scenario was that? But when he thought about it for a while, the Elites had been constantly killing monsters for a decade, and the army had been killing them even longer than that, while their numbers never really went down.
Most of the continent was wilderness, that was undeniable, but the monsters shouldn’t have been breeding fast enough to remain an issue.
“So we will be working in a large team to clear the area? Or to search for the source?” Karl asked.
Colonel Valerie shook her head.
“No, you will be working in small groups to control the monster population, while you hunt for the source. The primary goal is to be population control. The military has been unsuccessfully searching the area for months, so our thought is that the source is underground or otherwise hidden from us.
So, the priority is keeping the population from growing enough that it will be a threat to the nearby towns.” She explained.
Karl looked at the two soldiers, who smiled back. “We are the helicopter pilots. We will be taking you to the rest of the team this afternoon. Now, I believe that someone said you have beasts on your team, how much space do they need, and do they need containment while flying?”
Karl shook his head. “I am able to hold them in a separate space, and they are no threat while flying. If there are no other students going, then you only need seats for the two of us.”
Colonel Valerie cleared her throat. “There will be others going with you. Four senior teams are looking for resources in that general vicinity. They will be dropped first, and then you will be deposited with your teams and the flight will return to base awaiting the call to recover successful mission teams.”
Dana took out a notepad and a pen. “At least there won’t be any wasted space. What do we know about the monsters in the area?”
Karl hurried to do the same, pulling a pen and notepad from his gear just as Colonel Valerie began her explanation.
“There have been at least three Goblin Tribes spotted in the area. We have reports of roaming Ogres and Trolls, and an unconfirmed report that there might be an Ettin Mage in the vicinity.
Strengths have varied, with most of the Goblins being on the low Common Grade range, but the Ogres and Trolls are all Awakened Rank. If there is an Ettin Mage, it will most likely be Ascended Rank.
However, there is a possibility that there will be an entirely different set of monsters when you arrive. Two weeks ago, the area was nearly overrun with Minotaur and Tremor hide Worms.”
Karl knew what a Minotaur was, but the worms were a new one to him. He didn’t recall seeing them in any of his books.
“Tremor Hide Worms are ten metres long, and large enough to swallow a grown man whole. However, they are slow moving, and restricted to sandy areas. They can’t move through rock, and are especially obvious and ineffective in wooded areas.” The Colonel explained.
Then she continued with her mission priorities. “If the makeup of the monsters in the area doesn’t change, then we would ask that you bring back the heads of the Ettin Mage, if you should happen to find it.
They are a hot topic of study these days, as so few Ogre type species can use magic well. They’re not particularly bright, and the government is curious about the brain makeup of the mages.
The rest is up for grabs, and you can keep what you want.
It should be noted that the monsters in this sort of self spawning region often have treasures with them that are far beyond what they should normally have. It has been known for them to have valuable potions, magical weapons, and even enchanted gems in their possession, so check everything that you kill.”
Karl felt Hawk and Rae laughing in his mind. Killing was their specialty, and neither of them had hands to be searching through the belongings of filthy Ogres and Trolls. When they got there, they would be able to hunt to their hearts’ content, and leave Karl to dig in the filth for treasures.
