"Hunter Lev," Kim's voice made him look towards the bubble containing all the hunters and the harvesters.

"Do you see something?"

"My skills are trying to guide me to the right," replied the man.

"Harpies ahead," the scout sent after a moment, looking in the same direction. "Monkeys, thornlings, and trolls, too. They seem to be fighting each other."

"Prepare yourselves," Lev sent back and gazed at the large brawl that had broken out. A troll commander was fighting seven harpies by itself, its long arms impacting their durable bodies with loud shockwaves. He was interested in something else, though.

Her range of detection is quite high for a platinum hunter, Lev thought to himself, raising his invisible bubbles higher to take stock of the situation. None of the monsters were above level 350, though that was still a daunting prospect for the platinum hunters that had yet to cross the level 250 threshold.

She's also not using any active skills, so is she scanning something like movement or heat? Would it be considered rude to ask?

He decided it didn't really matter. Lev had seen the monsters long before her, and that was enough. A hundred meters behind the troll shamans, the bubbles landed on the ground, still concealed.

"Listen up," Lev sent to the scout, who prepared to relay his words. "All of the monsters will most likely focus on you the moment you step out, so stay close to the bubble. If you think things are getting out of control, just run back inside. I'll keep the opening there just in case."

An argument rose in the secondary bubble holding the hunters, not heated but more confused. Lev couldn't hear the words, but it seemed that the warriors wanted to know about his capabilities and push themselves accordingly.

"Sir, they want to know if you will also fight alongside them."

"I will," he answered after thinking it over. "Tell them not to hold back at all. My constructs will be with them, only invisible."

"Kim," Lev then addressed the harvester. "I'm assuming whatever your skills detected is in the middle of the small horde?"

"Flamepetals, and yes. They are also fighting over it."

So monsters fight over natural resources. Do stronger treasures attract similarly stronger monsters? Or is it just a coincidence?

Two minutes later, the warriors stepped out of their bubble, and the change was instant. The trolls whirled around, roaring at the top of their lungs. Harpies forgot about their opponents, immediately taking flight to locate the sentient beings in the vicinity, just as the trees started shaking from the approaching monkeys. It was like the mindless creature had some warped instinct for detecting humans and killing them at all costs.

In mere seconds, the troll commander exploded through a few tree trunks in the way, its giant stone club already swinging towards the closest warrior who had no time to react.

An invisible, enchanted wall stopped the weapon in its tracks with a deafening crack. Taking a few steps back in surprise, the commander threw the now-crumbling club away before trying again with its bare hands.

They landed on the same invisible shields once again, the monster smart enough to find its location but not enough to understand that it might as well be invincible for its strength.

Somehow, its fists hit harder than the massive club, Lev noted, eyes on the treetops and the horizon for the other monsters closing in.

Two earth spikes flew at the platinum mages behind the warriors, aimed from a higher spot to bypass the shields and weapons. The mages were ready, as two wind walls immediately sprang up to stop the incoming projectiles.

For a brief instant, the earth spikes and the wind walls clashed in a battle of potency, almost cancelling out each other before the latter crumpled, letting the spikes pass through. Regardless, they were slowed enough to stop dead at the waiting barriers.

Impressed, Lev identified the shamans.

[Troll Shaman - Level 289]

[Troll Shaman - Level 288]

Not bad, he blocked the next rain of sharp pebbles and also the commander's attempts to reach the warriors. It was getting more and more pissed off. Those wind walls are more durable than my barriers were at the same level.

Lev supposed it came with a specialized class. He could do much more than the wind mages could at the cost of construct durability, a worthy tradeoff in his opinion.

The first monkey jumped out of the trees after a few seconds, unsurprisingly painting itself as a target for ranged attacks due to its inability to dodge mid-air. It was a corpse before it even hit the ground.

Several more followed, at which point Lev stopped holding back everything but the commander. Stone barrages flew at the wind mages that struggled to hold them all back, protecting the warriors as they engaged in a deadly dance with both harpies and monkeys.

Meanwhile, the commander suddenly tripped as several ropes tied around its legs. With a single jerk, it tore through all of them and tried to stand up, only to fall face-first again.

Lev tested several things in the upcoming minutes, paying half a mind to the platinum hunters and their surroundings, ensuring nothing crept up on them.

Two visible round shields slammed into the commander's face, barely pushing it back a few inches but throughly pissing it off. With a gurgling roar, it easily shattered them both before colliding with an invisible wall in an attempt to run.

The mental feedback from the collision made Lev wince. The burst of speed the troll's sheer physical strength could bring about was astonishing, and he kept taking mental notes to see how it moved its limbs. His barrier armor wasn't limited by human physiology, and not learning from the physically strongest low second-threshold monsters would be foolish.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Half a dozen barrier glaives materialized mid-air, two of them supporting the struggling warriors. A harpy stumbled to the ground as the glaive scored a deep cut across its waist, releasing a burst of lightning inside. The second glaive pinned a monkey to the ground, and both of the impaired monsters were killed with ruthless efficiency immediately afterwards.

"Report," he sent to the scout, holding back the rest of the glaives for now.

"Only the remaining five harpies will take a bit of time, otherwise we are done here."

"Anything unusual?"

"No, sir."

Alright then, he started streaming lightning mana into the six glaives, all of them now hovering around the commander as it struggled to free itself from the ropes entangling its limbs.

Three of them swung down in a single, crisp movement. Just as many lightning slashes originated from their blades, reaching the monster in a blink.

Unable to dodge, the attacks landed on its chest and face before exploding in a wave of heat. Seeing the destructiveness, the platinum hunters pulled out all the stops and quickly put down the remaining harpies, not wanting to stay out for a moment longer.

Chuckling to himself, Lev waited for them to get inside their bubble. When the scout confirmed that they were all unharmed and safe, he proceeded with his testing.

By the time the fires cleared, the troll's skin and muscles had already regenerated, the speed of healing eclipsing what an average Master healer could manage. Lev was here to observe the same, even if his method was somewhat cruel and sadistic.

Barrier glaives went through its extremities, leaving deep gashes, while the ropes kept it contained. No hints of mana were visible in its healing, and he was also starting to realize just how horrible it must seem to the hunters.

A few more seconds of keen observation later, he decided their healing properties came from their skills and were powered by stamina, both of which were impossible to replicate. Without further delay, he beheaded it with a glaive infused with lightning, the construct struggling to cut through bone.

A burst of mana later, the commander's head toppled to the ground, its flesh wriggling to try and heal back its body before going still.

[

You have slain [Troll Commander - Level 295]

]

Two hunters stepped out of the bubble after it was over. They methodically harvested the cores from the fallen monsters, not needing any external help as they went. Kim also exited the bubble, sending a message to follow him.

Face scrunched in concentration, he looked around several times before picking a direction. It was slightly off from where the trolls were fighting, and he quickly started jogging while surrounded by several hidden shields.

Picking up the hunters harvesting the cores, Lev and all his bubbles followed.

Nearly ten minutes of floating forward later, a message came through his communication crystal.

"We're here."

Here goes nothing, Lev took a deep breath and activated the mana concealment and invisibility formations on his armor, powering up to the maximum despite costing more mana than he regenerated.

Only after he triple-checked if they were properly functioning did he step out of the main bubble, holding Stargazer in his hands. It remained to be seen if the formations on his armor could completely hide his presence, and if not, at least only attract weaker monsters instead of the calamities that usually tried to kill him.

"Oh, you're here…" Kim blurted out in surprise, eyes slightly wide after seeing the approaching glaive held by an invisible Lev. "That is rather unnerving."

Suppressing a laugh, Lev deepened his voice and growled,

"Good."

Kim shuddered, much to the amusement of the second harvester leaving the bubble. Ahead of them, a giant obsidian… plant was towering above the trees, containing a large amount of fire mana. The reason the resource was called firepetals became obvious too.

It did not look like a plant.

The more he observed the minor treasure, the more it seemed like some giant being had thrown a dark, angry spear to the ground. Made up of several layers like an onion, each layer unfurled into petals that somehow absorbed pure mana from the ground while converting it into fire mana, visible from their glow that ever so slowly strengthened.

"What is this thing?" Lev asked, making sure to mask his excitement at finding such an exotic plant.

"We don't know," came the immediate answer, causing his face to fall a little. Kim continued regardless, unable to see his expression. "Given their properties, though, we assume that they came from combat between extremely strong monsters, slowly adapting to thrive like plants by feeding on mana."

Jay took over after that. "Look here," he crouched near the stem of the plant. "It draws mana from the ground, similar to how skills or enchantments would. This is the only reason we make that assumption. Otherwise, it's just like any other plant absorbing ambient mana."

"What about the petals, then?" Lev touched one of the large firepetals, each as large and thin as his arms. They actually damaged his armor quite a bit. "How does the pure mana change to fire mana?"

"Again, we don't know," Jay shrugged. "It's most likely a natural property of the material petals are made of, which is probably why it's resistant to fire, unlike normal plants, and enhances the resistance of other materials."

"A theory?" Lev asked.

"Yep."

All three of them fell silent and circled the giant plant. It was thin enough to look unnatural, but Lev had yet to see what kind of flora was found in the grand forest. Perhaps things like the firepetals were normal.

Crouching near the base of its stem, he sent a message to the scout to keep an eye out and brought all his Perception to bear. Narrowing his focus to the points from which mana entered the plant, he watched its flow like a hawk.

Seconds passed before patterns started becoming obvious. Channels were present in the stem, facilitating the mana's flow and making it more… malleable, for the lack of a better term. It was as if the plant was slowly taking control of it, priming it for use.

Nothing more could be observed, and neither was Lev looking for ways to absorb ambient mana. It had been tried and tested by several geniuses, and the only outcome was soul damage.

He was more than happy with his Mana Well alone.

Standing up, he carefully noted all the patterns in which the mana swirled inside the stem. None of it made sense, yet the experience was entertaining regardless. He wondered how many skills or other phenomena were at play, doing what humans were able to accomplish in a stationary plant.

Gradually, the absorbed mana reached the lowest petal. Somehow detecting that it was full, it rose higher, skipping nearly a dozen petals before entering one. A smooth transition took place, a process Lev could finally detect as conversion of mana through a skill. His converters operated the same way, cycling mana through enchantments responsible for the conversion.

Just like the enchantments though, he couldn't see anything responsible for the conversion. Like runes, it just happened. No one knew why, only theories.

"Neat," he summarised. Kim took that as a cue to start harvesting the petals.

Taking a steadying breath, he crouched next to the lowest petal and summoned thick gloves on his hands. Gently holding it up, he used mana for the first time as it rushed to his eyes, revealing properties of the plant that Lev couldn't see with his eyesight and Perception alone.

Seconds passed in silence as Jay scanned the remaining petals, noting the ripest ones.

Lev focused back on Kim as the man finally moved. Summoning thin needles from his storage artifact, he sent a small amount of mana in each before stabbing them at precise locations.

With great interest, Lev leaned forward and observed their effects. All of the needles immediately reacted, completely stopping the flow of pure mana just beyond the point where it started to be converted to fire mana. That allowed Kim to form a sharp blade of pure mana, a construct possessing surprising lethality despite being a non-combatant.

Ease born of practice allowed the blade to almost glide through the petal, cleanly cutting off both the entire petal as well as the segment responsible for converting the mana into fire mana.

"Whew," Kim breathed out and looked at where the invisible Lev was holding Stargazer. "Do I need to explain?"

"Nope," Lev answered. "Let's take as many as you need before moving on."

Kim nodded and summoned a long, transparent, and enchanted blue bag. Carefully, he slid the harvested petal inside before powering up the bag's enchantment, which constricted on itself, tightly hugging the petal's length and blocking any mana from leaving or entering. The opening of the bag instead detected the petal's "input" of pure mana and connected to it, letting a small stream of pure mana enter it.

"To keep it fresh?" Lev simply asked.

"That, and to further enhance its inherent properties for the best quality product."

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