"So? What have you learned from today's attacks on that monster camp?" Jack asked as he walked around their latest skirmish zone, dismantling all the equipment and corpses of the slain monsters, while the remaining party of his had their eyes locked on the monster camp in the distance. They had just retreated a bit further from the camp after yet another strike, however, unlike the other times, they did not beeline for another side to repeat the same attack. Now, they waited for the sent out monster patrol and instantly engaged it, soon enough resulting in the current situation.

  "First and foremost is the stupidity of the entire group. We have been harassing them for quite a while when counting yesterday as well, so why have there been no changes in their response, or groups organization at the very least?" noted Kenji.

  "They also send a single party after us whenever we strike. That too seems too low a group, all things considered." added Izumi.

  "And the fact they still remain here, as if waiting for something when it is clear that their supposed prey has come knocking." finalized Chiyo.

  "Well, I have a suspicion they just cannot leave the camp en masse, the system somehow controlling them. If it was my guess, I say it's part of the tutorial. It would be nigh impossible for anyone to survive if a monster horde of this size were to sweep through the area." Jack confirmed his own guess, explaining the way they would continue to cleave through the monster ranks, increasing the time spent on each successive attack, stripping away more and more of the monsters residing there. If they were diligent in their approach, in a couple of days they should be able to finally properly raid the camp and take down the monster leader, something Jack expressed a strong desire to take on by himself.

  "What? Don't look at me with those large and surprised eyes, I have been holding back as much as possible to ensure you kids are getting enough practice with increased intensity and level of danger. Can't have you unprepared for the adventures you will go on without me. Besides, this is one of the last few proper fights I will get too have."

  "Why can't you just head out with us whenever your hands grow too itchy for a fight then?" Kenji asked.

  "Because crafters don't do that. And even a Virtuoso would draw too much attention should I do that often enough. It's easier to resist the temptation if I don't know the pleasure it provides. That and I will have plenty of fun stuff to do. Just think- crafting, experimenting with new recipes, managing our guild to be and so on and so forth. We are still in agreement of forming a guild of our own yes, or whatever the equivalent is called out there?"

  Jack received nods of agreement from everyone present, causing a small smile to spread across his face as he finalized the cleanup of the area.

  "All right, back to work then!" he clapped his hands and signaled for the next strike on the monster camp to commence.

  ------------------

  "Sheesh, I am exhausted." Kenji slumped in a chair as the entire party was gathered around their dinner table, the aroma of great and appetizing food wafting from the dishes that were spread all over it, something of a regularity within their home, no matter how bad things might be getting everywhere else in the village. The food assistance, if it could have been called so, coming from the villagers had stopped, forcing all the gifted to head out and try and forage for food on their own, though there was a sliver of good knews as well- the number of monster packs patrolling in villages vicinity had shrunk massively, no doubt the result of their activities in the monster camp.

  "So, how's our progress in the level department?" Jack asked before the party once again dispersed after a pleasant meal, everyone ready to get some much needed sleep before their next day of hard work. After a short debrief, he nodded satisfied and sent them off to rest as he gave the last few bits of info they needed to hear, noting that the next day they would be pushing deeper still in the camp.

  "We know their responses to quick and precise strikes, Let's test the response to a heavier attack then." Jack mentioned before everyone was finally allowed to retire for the night as he himself mused a bit more over the current situation. They had yet to encounter other parties close enough to the descent point, though he had sensed a couple of them getting closer as they were returning. His party had a couple of days at most to take care of the camp if they did not want to encounter and deal with others finding out their current actions and power level. Right now his group was considered strong, but not so much so that people would assume they could take on the monster camp on their own or anything else that such might would imply.

  Their actions had also caused a slight shift in said camp, the size of it shrinking bit by bit, but the most important part was that the side of said camp that could have been observed from the cliff above where the village was located had moved further away, allowing his party to get wild without too much worry they might be noticed from the village's side. And besides, nowhere had they been told by someone in charge that their task to end the tutorial was to eliminate the monster camp. For all that the people knew, they might just have to find some correct lever somewhere in the zone and push it, allowing their party to feign ignorance if they were ever questioned.

  So, once again the party set out come morning, leaving their farmer squad along with Carla and her two wards to do their own thing. With Alexander and his group no longer being a threat, and with Velka seemingly much smarter than her scum pompatriots, Jack was quite sure they would not have to deal with any people related issues in the coming few days at the very least, allowing his party to concentrate on the task at hand.

  Their beelining towards the descent was relatively fast as they encountered a single monster pack along the way, allowing them to start their operation 'Surgical strike' earlier than ever. This time, unlike the previous attempts, Jack pushed his party to go deeper into the camp, taking a more active role as they cleaved a bloody path deeper and deeper inside. Their ferocity and fluid teamwork, accompanied by Jack's insane awareness and over the top stats for the tutorial, allowed them to path further and further inside, getting nearly swarmed by angry and blood thirsty hobgoblins every step of the way.

  Soon enough tough, approximately two hours later by Jack's rough estimation, they had actually reached the center of the camp, a place that looked much like arena, white sand covering the ground of the place, a simple and rudimentary fence surrounding it as well. The place had four entrances, each facing one of the four cardinal directions, though only one of the four had something directly in front of it.

  If Jack's estimation was correct, the north side entrance was blocked by a simple, yet clearly impressive throne made out of bones of all manner of creatures, a hobgoblin twice the size of a regular one sitting atop said throne. It had a large scar, seemingly that of a monster paw, stretching all the way from what was supposed to be its hair line down to his mouth, making one side of the face to look quite destroyed, the eye including. The other eye, still clear and radiating greed and power was locked on Jack's party who had wound up right at the southern entrance of said arena.

  At this point, even the hobgoblins did not dare to approach them, their beady eyes locked on the arena before them and the king of theirs as it was eyeing the intruders.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "I call dibs!" Jack exclaimed as he eyed his party for just a moment and then stepped forward into the arena, loud roars coming from all around them. For all that they were quite feral, it seemed that there was still some rules these monsters lived by and apparently, the arena was a sacred thing to the hobgoblins. Then again, it was also likely due to the fact that no actual goblin could be seen anywhere within the camp, allowing for at least a rudimentary level of intelligence and rules to be formed, even if most such societal constructs broke down the moment said monsters left their camp, damn near instantly reverting to almost mindless creatures who desire nothing more than destruction and suffering of other species.

  With the first step he placed on the white sand, a notification popped up from the system, informing both him and his party of what he had actually set into motion.

  A group of braves had cleaved their way through the hobgoblin camp and had reached the arena of challengers. As per the monsters laws the chief can be challenged twice a day- once by a challenger of their own tribe and once by a stranger that has earned their right by reaching the arena. A single combat to either earn the right to be the new chief or to break the spirits of the assembled horde and cause it's dispersion. Defeat the chief or die trying.

  "Now that seems like a quest if I ever saw one!" Jack grinned as he slowly walked further still, soon enough reaching the center of the arena at which point the overly large hob also made its own move. It rose to its feet, reaching its right hand to the side of his throne and grabbing a large sized axe in the hand, only to then snarl, exposing fangs and jumping forward, landing right into the arena, creating a small sand cloud as it did so.

  The landing itself was no attempt to launch a sneak attack, Jack concluded instantly as the monster had not attempted any sort of attack the second it landed. Instead, it stood up once the dust cloud started to settle, a savage grin spread across the monsters face. Its posture and the way it held its axe exuded raw confidence and might, as if looking down on the small creature that had dared to challenge it. Then again, there were plenty of reasons for the monster to come to such a mind set.

  First, Jack was barely two meters tall, his body around the same size an average, fully grown hobgoblin reached, making the chiefs double size to appear enormous in comparison. Add to that the numerous times it had been challenged and came out the other end as a victor and more often than not with just the barest of wounds on its body, providing it with plenty of experience. To complete the set for its confidence were the appearance of its challenger this time as well. Sure, the creature was of a similar height to a regular hob, but it was clear at a glance that there were much, much less body mass on that thinner frame of his- clearly the power such form could output would be even less than his already lacking, usual challengers had the ability to output. The camp boss, while slightly intelligent, did not have enough of a brain to comprehend how the system worked and empowered individuals. It could not truly be blamed for it, there had yet to appear a creature in this place that went against its current understanding- the bigger a thing, the harder it wacks.

  It did, however, not enjoy the way said challenger looked at it, as if though its defeat and eventual death was a guarantee no, a promise even. With anger welling up inside of it, at both the sheer audacity of the puny creature and anger at itself for even daring to feel the slightest bit of whatever unpleasant feeling it was getting, it roared and charged forward. It was about time to take care of this insect and once again reassert its place and absolute dominance. And maybee, lay a claim to those pretty toys that arrived together with this challenger, having cut a bloody path through their camp- a primal, subconscious greed and desire for cruelty surfaced as it charged forward, its origin of a goblin nature coming to light once again.

  With just a few steps in the monster was already before the human, it's axe slicing through air as it descended in a straight line towards the shoulder blade of its opponent. Despite the monsters large frame, it was deceptively fast, having taken plenty of its challengers off guard. Not this time though, as in response to its attack Jack's gundao spun in his hands and redirected the downward coming strike, making it go entirely past him and as the axe crashed down into the white sand of the arena, he delivered a nasty kick to the monsters side, causing it to stagger to the side, clearly in pain and with expression of confusion of its face. The small creature was fast, not unexpectedly so, such creatures usually were, but the sheer strength behind the strike it received was unexpected to say the least. It made sense now why the small, for the monsters four meter frame at least, creature had shown such confidence and composure in front of the boss.

  The realization made the monster angrier still, as it went into a rage induced fit, proceeding to swipe with its axe as thought a creature trashing in its final moments, a fear of death creeping more and more in its subconsciousness. Jack either avoided the attacks or deflected them, the monsters strength and dexterity being of lower values than his own, making the fight almost a forgone conclusion. He did not rush in to finish the fight though as he was also observing the whole camp as he fought, calculating the time and effort they would have to put in to clear it out- clearly they had done a great job of culling the numbers in the last few days in particular, so he made a rough estimate that it was, indeed possible to finish up here today.

  "Key kiddos, it seems I will be quite the slave driver today and have you work extra hard." he laughed as he switched from defensive stance, repelling the incoming attacks while delivering an occasional counter strike with either a leg or arm, to offensive one, still doing the avoidance and deflection part but now incorporating proper, aggressive slashes with is gundao, quickly amassing heavy injuries on the monster.

  Hobgoblin Goliath(Rare)- a rare mutated form of a hobgoblin, allowing it to grow to twice the original size, greatly increasing its strength and endurance. Unlike most evolved forms though, this one has a notable flaw, as it pays a heavy price in advanced cognitive capabilities for the large increase in physical power.

  'The big log is dumb as all hell.' Jack snickered as he looked at the appraisal of the boss monster as he continued to deliver nasty cuts on the monster. he was inflicting a lot of damage, but the monster did have vitality of almost twenty and combined with its large body, there was quite a lot to kill, even for someone with Jack's strength that was above twenty one.

  A couple of minutes of a rather one sided cutdown, the large frame of the raging monster finally succumbed, its body fell limply on the ground, devoid of all life. Without wasting much time, Jack walked over to the corpse, knelt down and prepared to collect its matter, only to stop momentarily.

  "Oh? That should fetch a pretty penny outside." he hummed as he collected everything from the body except a small, black orb that was left untouched. He then took the orb and stashed it in his once again smaller spatial storage. As he stepped off the arena, a notification popped up from the system, informing their party of the successful challenge and the fall of the camp boss, initiating a choice for them to make.

  Bonus quest- clear the camp. Now that the monster camps boss has been slain, the tutorial could be considered finished, but what proper heroes let monsters roam free. Clear the monster camp of the remaining monsters for an additional reward.

  Will you accept?

  "Would you look at that!" Jack exclaimed as a grin was dancing on his face "Even the system is with me on this! You guys got the quest too?" he asked.

  "Yes."

  "Mhm."

  Hums and quick words of agreement escaped the lips of his group and Jack grinned even wider.

  "What are you waiting for then? Accept and off to work you go!"

  "Slavedriver." grumbled Fumiko, though she and the rest of the party did as told, well aware that it was in their best interests to do precisely as told. Did not mean they could not joke and grumble in the process though.

  The moment they turned away from the arena the remaining monsters also came out of their momentary stupor sa roars and bloodlust once again filled the area, their previous battle restoring once again. There was a slight hesitation that was felt in each of the monster actions, as though they were feeling instinctual fear from the little party that was cleaving their way through them all.

  "Chiyo, focus on taking down the hobs that are turning to flee. You have the range and vision for it!" Jack exclaimed as they slaughtered they way through wave after wave of incoming monsters, earning a quick shout of acknowledgement from Chiyo as she proceeded to do as told. Jack assumed that either the monsters could not leave the camp now that the bonus quest was on, or that they would not be counted among the ones needed to be slain if they ran away. There was the third option that his party would have to track said escapees down to finish the quest though, so it was better to save some time and ensure no such runaways formed, or if they did, there would be small numbers.

  Jack Raja(?)

  Age- 27

  Species- human(?)

  Level- 13

  Class- Twin aspect of Creation and Destruction(EX)

  Stats unassigned: +2

  Attributes:

  Strength- 24 (14+7+3)

  Vitality- 21 (12+7+2)

  Dexterity- 21 (15+6)

  Intelligence-7

  Spirit- 25 (20+5)

  Skills- Wisdom of Creation and destruction(EX), Choice of the creator(EX), Eyes of procurer(EX), Matter storage(EX), Arukain language(C), Spark of inspiration(EX).

  Spells- temporary spatial storage (shrinking)

  Titles(unlocked): The real Monster, Big Game Hunter, The brilliant rookie, The insane Solo. The actor. Executioner.

  Gear: amulet +2 vit: weapon- Gundao+3 str.