Ranthia took over scouting duties as soon as Republius finished with her armor. It wasn’t like she had any special skills in it, but she had a nice blend of speed and vitality. Speed was her third best stat—it had edged out even mana regeneration. Honestly, sometimes she barely felt like a [Mage] anymore; her magic power and control stats were close to her formerly dismal strength stat. It was strange, but it was what Hunting had recommended and it kind of felt great.

  Republius was probably a better scout, but the man was so busy with his numerous other duties that it made more sense for her to handle the task. It wasn’t like she needed to defeat a classer’s obfuscation skills; her goal was to ensure there were no obvious problems for the wagon and make sure there were no dangerous beasts in the vicinity. Anything that hid beyond the scope of her senses was highly unlikely to choose to become a problem.

  Plus, being a scout had the tremendous advantage of giving her more distance from the [Healer] that Ranger Headquarters had assigned to their team. The man was so self-assured and obnoxious that Ranthia had already started to fantasize about stabbing him. He would survive. Probably. Unless she activated [Void Edge]. She’d decide in the moment if she ever acted on her urges.

  It would end her career, assuming her team didn’t side with her and hide the body, but it would be so worth it. She had met very few men who were quite so versed in being so passionately opinionated and so incredibly wrong about nearly every single word he uttered.

  So, yes, there was a minor bit of frustration.

  There was one other benefit too; it seemed that the abuse that she had suffered in Ranger Academy had awoken something in her. She had started to find running, dancing, and weaving between the trees fun. Open roads were considerably less entertaining, she liked—almost craved—the obstacles. Obstacles transformed a boring run into an impromptu dance, where she embraced the rhythm of nature. After everything she had been through, she reveled in those moments when her movements got to embrace dancing in any form. She had even started to incorporate little dance moves into the day-to-day moments.

  She didn’t care how much her teammates rolled their eyes over it. Mostly. She was still going to end up murdering their [Healer] though.

  He wasn’t even a Ranger; he was practically equipment! And yet he had the sheer gall to tell her that her scouting was too slow—too slow! As if his speed stat wasn’t practically a rounding error.

  They were to reach their first town of their round later that day. Surprisingly, the wagon really wasn’t that much slower than she was back when she was young and had travelled solo. Of course, half of the team could be faster if they just ditched the wagon, but there were a lot of reasons to not. The wagon offered many benefits. Faster travel for the rest of their group (and, sadly, one asshole [Healer]). It carried their belongings. It provided shelter and was reinforced to handle even an ornithocheirus attack. It was a nice cache of mana due to the integrated arcanite hidden within its structure. And it made their presence more noticeable in town.

  Since they were close, Ranthia had been ordered to scout into the wilderness around the town to ensure there were no impending problems. Large goblin nests, signs of dangerous dinosaurs establishing territory; basically anything that might threaten the somewhat smaller sized town in the near future.

  She was about to turn to scout in the next direction when, distantly, she heard terrified screams. Immediately she drew a special arrow from its little holster next to the quiver on her back—which still felt weird to carry, yes—and loaded it into her bow. She fired it into the sky, angled in the direction that the scream came from.

  The shrieking arrow—the recent successor to the whistling arrows that Rangers previously commonly used—earned its name and the loud screeching noise that filled the air should draw her team to the same direction. Not that they had tested it before, but what was initial teamwork other than expecting basic competence from those around you?

  Ranthia was already moving at full speed toward the screams.

  “What’s the situation?” Her team’s leader asked once he arrived.

  “Just past those trees are four spinosaurids, irritator I believe. They’re trying to get into a small cave, and there’s people in the cave. Haven’t tried to get close enough to communicate. The dinos seem to be enraged.” She replied.

  Sure, she’d known the salient details about dinosaurs from her time as an Adventurer, but naming family groups and such, that was all thanks to the Ranger Academy. She still had her doubts about how useful it was, but she wasn’t going to leave details out.

  She was mostly just relieved that the dinosaurs clearly couldn’t get into the cave, so she wasn’t forced to do something stupid solo. The whole point of being in a Ranger team was that she only had to do stupid things with backup!

  Her leader, Leosomething, drew his own bow and placed a perfectly ordinary arrow on the string. A moment later, he fired the arrow straight up. Some Skill he possessed left a trail behind the arrow, forming a shining column of light above them.

  Okay, Ranthia had to admit that the man had an impressive position signal.

  The eight of them had gathered, at last, beneath the slowly fading column of light (seriously, that had to be one of the top signal Skills in Remus!). While they waited, Leola (no) had Ranthia scout further until she located the direction that the people—and dinosaurs—had come from. Along the trail she found two dead men, both had been savaged by the dinosaurs then left where they fell.

  “So, it’s not about food.” Ranthia concluded her scouting report with those words. It was a supposition, but predators didn’t abandon kills to get more food—that was a great way to lose your food to scavengers.

  Most of the team nodded along with her—Pibald (that wasn’t even a Reman style of name!) was the sole skeptic. Leodius started to solicit plans from the group—no doubt testing them—when they were cut off by a loud crack that filled the air. Followed closely by a scream.

  “Damn! Republius and I will take the highest level Spinosaurus! Ranthia, you handle the next highest solo—don’t go hard; we’ll help you finish it if we have to! Mettlea, Hallus, Secundia you have the third! Penticus and Pibius take the weakest one and try to end it quickly without hurting anyone else! Go!” The leader called.

  They went.

  Ranthia charged out at full speed, the others that moved were slower. The dinosaurs turned as they noticed the Rangers’ approach. But even as they turned, arrows flew past Ranthia and the others, each bound for the highest level dinosaur, a level 347. Ranthia’s target was level 297. The level 246 dinosaur was already charging at them, but Ranthia just twirled around it and left it snapping at air—the trio spearheaded by Acid-guy could handle it.

  Ranthia reached her quarry. Irritators were large, but they weren’t too much taller than Ranthia was, on average. And this group seemed to be about as average as average got. The beast snapped at her when she got in range, but she avoided the lunge and gracefully arced her knife behind its skull while she moved. [Critical Strike] guided her blade, [Void Edge] and [Cross Strike] made sure the cut did more than a little damage.

  [*ding!* You have slain a [Irritator Challengeri] (Wood, level 297)!]

  [*ding!* [Critical Strike] has leveled from 181 to level 184!]

  Ranthia nearly lost her footing, even as the dinosaur crumpled. She had… not expected to kill it in one blow. The Earth [Warrior] guy that was supposed to draw the attention of the weak one hadn’t even gotten there yet!

  After her momentary distraction, Ranthia resumed moving straight for the weak one, a beast that was only a few levels higher than herself. It reared back. She danced around it and struck at its left leg with her other knife when she moved past. The damn knife shattered apart, but fortunately none of the shards got her. The dinosaur stumbled, then fell; its leg wasn’t able to support its weight.

  [*ding!* Your party has slain a [Irritator Challengeri] (Wood, level 347)!]

  Ranthia left the dinosaur that she had dropped and pirouetted to transfer her momentum, then raced back the way she came. She passed the Earth guy—his spear was held ready to end the dino she had driven to the ground. While he took care of that, she raced after the level 246 dinosaur that the man with Acid fists fought, supported by Ice that restricted the dinosaur’s movements and a constant barrage of conjured metal. The dinosaur was already bleeding, but it wasn’t down.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Ranthia wove straight through the spells; [Combat Awareness] and her own senses tied into [The Flow of Battle] let her predict their paths accurately enough to avoid doing anything stupid. The ice that covered the ground was a bigger obstacle… or perhaps an opportunity. Once Ranthia reached it, she—only a little recklessly—dove into a slide across the ice. As she passed under the dinosaur, between its legs, she slashed its gut with her remaining knife. The maneuver worked even better than she had hoped; she cut a nice wide arc through its belly. …And her smug self-satisfaction was ruined when its guts flopped right on top of her.

  Ranthia emerged on the other side—forcing Acid guy to dodge her—sputtering and cursing as she tried to get the taste of raw dino intestines out of her mouth. The beast was slowing fast though (not that Ranthia was paying attention) and a few blows from her allies finished it off.

  [*ding!* Your party has slain a [Irritator Challengeri] (Wood, level 226)!]

  [*ding!* Your party has slain a [Irritator Challengeri] (Wood, level 246)!]

  “Clear!” Her party members called out once they confirmed their targets were dead.

  Ranthia was more than a little distracted. Gods and goddesses, why did her aim have to be that perfect?!

  The men in the cave turned out to have been local idiots that got it in their heads to steal some dinosaur eggs for a quick profit. Ranthia was slightly smug since—once she washed off—she had been the one to notice that all four dinosaurs were female (studying had value, who knew?). That, coupled with how strangely enraged they were… It was an obvious enough situation to figure out.

  Republius had confirmed the eggs in their possession, what few remained. The idiots had managed to smash all but two in their reckless retreat.

  He recommended the town guard charge them with risking the safety of the town, but he strongly doubted that the charges would stick. The men had, by their own admission, planned to run to town but the dinosaurs were too fast, and they were forced to seek shelter in that cave instead. Which was a small mercy—who knew what sort of damage those dinosaurs might have done to such a weakly defended town?

  Especially since the town seemed to be in a poor state. Either the harvest last fall had been poor, or some other expense had wrecked the town. It looked like they’d sold or traded away everything that wasn’t immediately essential. Their leader said they had no prior report on problems in the area and no one approached them for assistance while they lingered, so it was likely just a local issue. Ranthia suspected that the town was likely to recover; their fields seemed to be doing well already and they were obviously growing far more than they needed for their small town.

  Slightly more mortifying was that Secundia had taken to following Ranthia around gushing about how Ranthia had fought. Ranthia was tense and, frankly, somewhat uninterested in the older woman’s praise or companionship. Sure, the woman was nice enough, but something about her personality came across as immature—even though she was at least six years older than Ranthia. It just made her awkward to deal with.

  At length the sun went down and the eight of them—thank Xaoc the [Healer] wasn’t welcome at their meetings—gathered in a room that the town guard (all three of them) used for their breaks.

  “After-action report. What went well, what can we do better?” Their leader began what promised to be a new routine.

  “My speed stat is awful, should have warned you about that. If not for Ranger Ranthia taking out my target’s leg, it could have caused problems with other fights.” Earth guy admitted.

  “With the momentum of battle, I would have been better served helping you kill your target. That way we could have turned our arrows on a disabled target. Instead, I wasted time binding your target, which I do not believe had a meaningful effect.” Republius answered.

  “You followed our former protocol, nothing wrong with that while we get a sense for our current team’s capabilities.” Leopold (still no) assured his second.

  “I need to keep more than two knives on me, even when I’m not expecting trouble. We had spares in the wagon, but I lost one of my knives in a single strike. That’s on me; I haven’t practiced enough with my full-power strikes. My weapon reinforcement skill just isn’t doing much anymore.” Ranthia admitted, grudgingly. It was a better admission than “I shouldn’t open a belly when I’m directly below it,” at least.

  “You may need to revise your loadout. A bandolier or a different belt may be required. I will permit you to use the team funds to acquire either item, within reason.” Their leader replied.

  Ranthia nodded, vaguely unhappily. A bandolier might get in the way, and she was still wearing the same belt that the deserters-turned-bandits had given her back when she was eight; the idea of setting it aside too—so soon after she lost the knives that had come with it—grated on her more than a little. She was running out of her ties to her past.

  No one else spoke.

  Ranthia was a bit surprised by that and she swore she saw a brief flash of annoyance on their leader’s face. Unfortunately, she hadn’t really paid much attention to the others—which was probably a mistake in and of itself, even if she wasn’t very high on the team ranks—so she had no idea if anyone else had made a mistake.

  She suspected that Hail’s ice field had limited Acid guy, but that might have been Acid guy’s call for all she knew.

  And then their leader announced they’d begin teamwork drills when they had time.

  Teamwork drills became a fact of life for the team. While they were in town or camped in the woods for the evening, they were gathered into randomized groups (by drawn lots) and were expected to gauge one another’s capabilities. They did this through a variety of games and contests, learning where they and their allies excelled and where they fell short.

  Through these drills, Ranthia found she was faster than anyone else in the group—albeit with a few caveats—which surprised her. Speed was only her third best stat and most of her fellow Rangers out-leveled her! Yet only two of the team could beat her in some of the races. First, the team leader—Leoios!—could beat her in a unidirectional race, but if there were substantial obstacles or turns, she took the lead each time. Republius was faster than her in heavy vegetation since the man had some sort of Skill that allowed him to pass through undisturbed by plant life, even though his build preferred him to minimize movements while he performed his archery.

  The Acid [Warrior] made for an awkward sparring partner. He could turn off his Acid, of course, but almost all of his Skills revolved around him fighting unarmed. Ranthia, on the other hand, had almost all of her Skills tied up in knives. Blades versus fists made for a poor spar, even with a [Healer] on hand. And in hand-to-hand he beat her with utter ease; his level and Skills beat her raw stats and [Ranger’s Lore] enhanced fundamentals. When they had to spar, the most useful thing they found to do was for him to try to land a punch on her while she danced around and evaded. That gave her practice on evasive tactics in close combat, while it gave him practice on hitting highly evasive targets with irregular movements.

  Other games were far worse for her. Ranthia struggled not to be the absolute worst in ranged target practice. Earth [Warrior] guy had a more accurate throw than she did, and they had two skilled Archers and three [Mages] that were able to fire off conjured material or energy at targets reasonably deftly—though Pibius (progress!) was far worse than his peers. This left Ranthia and Acid guy competing with one another to not be the absolute worst as they threw knives.

  Ranthia’s suggestion of Tali for a contest got vetoed by their leader, yet somehow his addition of some overly complex rule-heavy game played with stones and a carefully drawn game zone was okay? It was boring and frustrating! Ranthia hated it every time it came up.

  The fact that she hadn’t won a single match of it so far had nothing to do with her disdain.

  The various tasks, exercises, competitions, and drills did help her cement her opinions on her team.

  Their leader, Leoios, was as hard-assed as any of her instructors in the Academy had been. He was a man used to command who expected everyone and everything to follow every order to the letter of his intent. He was a stickler for the rules too, at least to the extent that adherence didn’t actively set them back. Grudgingly, she fully expected to end up respecting him. Even if she probably would never consider him a friend.

  The second-in-command, Republius, on the other hand, had a stick up his ass. He never quite seemed to relax and always felt tightly wound. Something about him was just cold and off-putting, though he was beyond competent at his job.

  Hail, the Ice [Mage], seemed decent enough, she supposed. His sense of humor didn’t seem to mesh well with hers, at least so far, but the man was at least friendly and well-meaning. The inability to joke around kind of limited how close they got (which was probably mostly on Ranthia; she still had major issues letting go of the culture of Adventurers).

  The Earth [Warrior] was a bit of a bore. The man was pretty self-assured, but if he didn’t have his bare feet on the ground he was remarkably lacking for a pure [Warrior]. His slow speed (what [Warrior] doesn’t invest in speed at all?!) made him easy to work around, at least. She just didn’t have the patience to converse with him much, for several reasons (especially his fondness for spouting off about his daughter when nobody asked). His bird was cute, she supposed, but she really couldn’t grasp why anyone would form a companion bond with a regular sparrow.

  Acid guy was nice and the two of them had spent several conversations discussing his second class, Poison [Mage]. She liked the theory of creating clouds of Poison, but unfortunately, he really did need a third class to make good use of it; something like a Wind [Mage] would be ideal. He seemed to appreciate her recommendation that he should try to talk to alchemists to see if he could learn to do anything medicinal or more complex with the Poison other than just ‘poison things’.

  Secundia felt like a kid, and it drove Ranthia nuts. The woman was distractible and all too excitable. Worse, the woman really, really wanted to be close friends with Ranthia out of feminine camaraderie, but Ranthia found interacting with her to be exhausting. It drained her social energy as fast as any large gathering ever had!

  Then there was Steamguy (yes, she had learned Pibius’ name out of spite, but she had decided to not use it). She hated Steamguy. He had a chip on his shoulder and her performance on their first mission seemed to have only made it even more massive. He was rude in that petty, childish kind of way where people assume that they’re being subtly passive-aggressive, but it was impossible to miss.

  He was better than the [Healer], but that was not a compliment.

  Still, she got along relatively well with two of the group, tentatively respected a third, and could mostly tolerate and work together with all but one. The [Healer] didn’t count, he wasn’t a Ranger; he was equipment that didn’t know when to shut up. She considered that a success and hoped that the teamwork drills would help improve their interpersonal relationships over time.

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  Nozomi Matsuoka.

  Sarah "Neila" Elkins.