Babel

Though it would be safer to approach after the battle ended, Linnaeus felt drawn towards the sound of combat. Since he needed to observe other Fledglings to understand their average strength, there was a need to spy actual combat, not avoid it entirely. If he kept taking a passive approach the entire time, he would never gain the information he required, meaning he would be grossly unprepared for the battles that were bound to come.Thus, while his instincts told him to seek higher ground and avoid danger, Linnaeus pushed onward until he saw a scene that gave him pause.In a small clearing, a burly man with an honest face was shouldering a delicate-looking woman with a missing leg. She had already passed out so he was practically dragging her body while trying to fend off a group of six Lesser Frost Wolves being led by two normal Frost Wolves. They were circling the man cautiously, seemingly waiting for their prey to bleed out after losing more than half their numbers in the pursuant hunt.The man had a solid build, brown hair, fur-covered ears, and a thick tail protruding from his backside. As for his companion, she had leaf-green hair, delicate features, and, most importantly, jade-green horns sticking out from the top of her head. Though it was impossible to be sure, as the bodysuits they were given covered most of the body, Linnaeus imagined she also had a few sections of scales as, poking out of her backside, a scale-covered tail was present.Linnaeus didn't know what tribe the man was from but the girl was undoubtedly a member of the Jade Dragon tribe. They were well-known for their physical and magical might, the direct result of their [Dragonification] and [Dragon Soul] Blessings. Though not every member had these Blessings, they were still famous as being nigh-peerless outside of the Tower.Judging by the state of the girl, she obviously didn't have the [Dragonification] Blessing but, what surprised Linnaeus most of all, was the resolute look in the man's eyes. He clearly had no intention to abandon his ally, even though they couldn't have known each other for more than two weeks. In the slums, he would be considered a profound idiot but, as Linnaeus watched the man continue to protect the unconscious girl, he couldn't help feeling bitter inside...As if they were hunting one of the large bear-like monsters, the Lesser Frost Wolves continued to circle their injured prey. They were smart enough to continually target the side where the woman was located, forcing the man to constantly be turning on his heels to try and take them down with the silvery-white sword in his right hand.Despite the man's best efforts, however, it was clear to see that he was slowing down considerably with the passage of time. His sword would continuously find purchase but the wounds were shallow, causing many of the Lesser Frost Wolves to have patches of blood-stained fur but, other than that, they were still able to continue their encirclement.Since the man wasn't using any Abilities or Magic, Linnaeus assumed his Blessing was either a utility or support type. Either that or, due to the prolonged battle, he had simply overused his SP until it had reached a critical level. Regardless, it was only a matter of time before the duo fell to the efforts of the Lesser Frost Wolves as it was simply impossible for him to lug around the woman's body while continuing to fight.Though his instincts were telling him to wait, Linnaeus was beginning to feel a considerable amount of guilt as he watched the man's struggles. He couldn't be certain of the man's character but, seeing how resolutely he protected his allies, Linnaeus' bitterness continued to grow. After all, he had only sought strength to protect himself and others so, seeing someone fighting to the death for another person while he just watched from the side was weighing heavily on his heart.While Linnaeus was struggling internally, he saw the man turn to his left, the side where the woman was located. It was much harder for him to complete this motion, something the Lesser Frost Wolves had been keenly aware of.Despite having performed the action several times without too much difficulty, this time the man got wrapped up in the uneven terrain, causing him to lose his balance. At the same time that he fell, four of the seven wolves immediately pounced toward him without any hesitation.Linnaeus could see the indignant look in the man's eyes but, rather than roll away and try to escape, he immediately tried to shield his companion with his own body. This was the last straw for Linnaeus so, before the wolves could reach their target, he used a [Barrier] to form a dome around the two in an instant. As a result, the wolves crashed into the hard surface, causing one to let out a loud yelp as its snout twisted at a sickening angle.While screaming curses in his mind, Linnaeus made his presence known to the group by leaping toward one of the leaders of the pack. It had been watching the hunt closely so it was completely unprepared for the sudden attack that, due to Linnaeus' [Stealth] and [Presence Concealment], went without a hitch.Though there was an incredible amount of resistance, Linnaeus managed to bury two of his horned daggers into the softer underbelly of the larger of the two Forst Wolves. This wasn't enough to kill it but, as his surprise attacks did triple damage and had a moderate chance to crit, there was no way for it to continue fighting.Deciding to leave his daggers where they had found purchase, Linnaeus pulled out an extra pair from his Inventory as he rolled across the ground before bounding to his feet. At this point, the other Frost Wolves had become aware of his presence so, with a blue barrier protecting their other prey, the only viable target was the figure wearing their kin as its garb.Rather than try to evade and defend himself from the encirclement, Linneaus tucked in his limbs to avoid being pulled in multiple directions. This left his head and neck exposed, as he kept his arms low and close to his body, but that was something he had done intentionally.Resisting every instinct telling him to evade, Linnaeus steeled himself as he allowed one of the Lesser Frost Wolves to try and bite at his throat. As the ivory-white teeth tried to sink into his neck, a blue membrane prevented them from finding purchase, allowing Linnaeus to stab upward with both of his daggers, once again burying the pair into the weakest spot of the Frost Wolves' bodies.Despite their intelligence and cooperation in hunting, there was no way the other members of the pack could understand what was going on at every given moment. When the first Frost Wolf had tried to latch onto his throat, two others had targeted his calves from behind, completely unaware of the fact their companion's efforts had ended in vain.Pulling his own shortsword out of his Inventory, Linnaeus twisted his body back, targeting the eyes of wolf gnawing at his right leg. It had been trying to trip him up by jerking its head from side-to-side but, with his [Barrier Aura] mitigating this force almost entirely, at the expense of additional SP, he was able to stand firm. This wasn't something the wolves were used to dealing with so, before it was able to pull away, Linnaeus had cut across the bridge of its nose, cleaving through both eyes in the process.Following the pathetic yelp of the now-blind wolf, Linnaeus rolled to the side to try and dislodge his other attacker and avoid being pinned in. His [Barrier Aura] was protecting him properly, but he was losing more than a hundred SP on the preliminary bite and several tens as they tried to penetrate his barrier.With four Lesser Frost Wolves and one pack leader remaining, Linnaeus began to back away with his shortsword held out toward the group. It was fortunate he had taken out the larger of the two pack leaders as, rather than show the usual confidence, the smaller Frost Wolf seemed very cautious. As the others tried to surround him, it had even gone to the side of the injured Frost Wolf, nuzzling the injured area of its companion and causing it to whimper rather pathetically.Resisting the small pang of guilt, Linnaeus equipped a horned-dagger in his left hand after backing up to a tree. Around the same time, his first barrier, the one protecting the two, had just faded away due to reaching the time limit. The brown-haired man was already standing with his own sword at the ready so, once the blue membrane faded away, he leaped toward the backs of the encircling wolves as he shouted, "Please, protect her!"As the man shouted, the wolves startled as they quickly split to the sides in order to increase the size of their encirclement. Linnaeus wanted to face-palm at the man for announcing his presence but, as he was just worried about his companion, he decided not to blame him. Instead, Linnaeus moved to the side of the green-haired woman and adopted a defensive stance while the man, now free from his burden, demonstrated surprising Agility as he pressured the wolves until they ultimately fled.In the end, four Frost Wolves escaped with their lives, three of which were of the Lesser variety. They had fled the moment the smaller of the two pack leaders turned tail, as if they had only noticed then and there that the battle was hopeless. This left a total of eleven corpses in the area, including the larger of the two pack leaders that had bled to death after its crippling injury.After sending the wolves running, the man turned towards Linnaeus with a grateful smile on his face as he released a tired sigh and said, "I really owe you for this one, stranger."For a brief moment, Linnaeus didn't know how to respond as, for the last few years, there had never been anyone to thank him. Even when he gave handouts to some of the weaker Street Urchins, they would just bow low before retreating away, often soundlessly.Rather than face his discomfort, Linnaeus shook his head before looking down at the woman and saying, "You need to wrap the wound and move away from this area. There will be more wolves to come."Hearing Linnaeus' words, the man gave a curt nod before stowing away his sword and picking up the woman's body. Then, looking toward the small figure that had started to walk backward away from him, he couldn't help but smile wryly as he said, "You are quite cautious. I'm guessing you are trying to be a Thief or an Explorer? Regardless, I really do owe you for this one. My name is Keith. If the opportunity presents itself in the future, I swear to repay this debt."After stating his piece, Keith watched Linnaeus for several seconds until the latter stated in a low tone of voice, "My name is Linnaeus...here, take this..."Linnaeus felt uncomfortable hearing the man's words but, before turning tail and vanishing into the underbrush, he pulled out a leaf wrap containing a total of five Plain Slime Gels. Since the man had a face of confusion, he also explained, "They recover Health and SP...this one treats fever and any weak status abnormalities..."Keith caught the tiny green gel that Linnaeus had tossed to him but, before he could express his gratitude or ask any questions, the short figure had already disappeared into the underbrush with commendable speed. Moments later, even his presence had vanished completely, confirming his suspicions that the boy must be pursuing one of the more 'discreet' paths.Though he was tempted to chase after Linnaeus and try to form a temporary alliance, it was clear that the boy didn't have many social skills. Thus, without pressing the issue, Keith fed one of the blue gels into his companion's mouth. He doubted the fur-clad boy would try to kill them after going out of his way to save them so wasted no time in trying to help the Jade Dragon woman, named Vera.Seeing that Vera's Health had indeed started to recover, Keith breathed a sigh of relief as he turned to flee deeper into the forest. He was heading towards the location of their Party Leader, intending to escape to the Fourth Floor and recuperate. It would take a few days for a missing leg to recover completely so staying on the Third Floor any longer was pointless. Though he suspected their Party Leader may have been trying to actively get them killed, he still needed to track them down in order to leave the Party and move on without them...

After witnessing the strength of Keith, Linnaeus had a better understanding of his standing among other Fledglings.Though Keith had been powerful, he didn't give off the impression of someone beyond Linnaeus' means to deal with. Instead, Linnaeus felt like he would come out ahead more often than not, so long as he didn't get caught off guard. With this in mind, he started to second-guess whether or not he was truly weak as, with more than 2/3rds of the remaining Fledglings having already moved to the Fourth Floor, this indicated the rest should be amongst the strongest.Having fought stronger opponents much of his life, Linnaeus knew that having higher attributes didn't necessarily mean you were able to suppress an opponent. If they fought cleverly and exploited your weaknesses, even those much weaker than yourself were able to come out ahead. This was how he won most of his battles so, after seeing Keith's battle against the Frost Wolves, Linnaeus felt more confident in his own power.The only Fledglings he really needed to be wary of were the members of the Eight Heavenly Families and outliers such as Ryuuna. Her existence had taught him that there were perfect counters to his Blessing, just as his could be considered a counter to most ranged attacks. In the future, he would have to be cautious of anyone who had a Blessing that could either penetrate or ignore his barrier, lest he finds himself on the receiving end of a brutal beating once again.Pain was an old friend to Linnaeus but that didn't mean he could disregard it entirely. Even with his [Pain Tolerance] reaching LV21, he still felt the full effects of his injuries. Thus, in order to avoid pain, Linnaeus continued to increase his proficiency with [Barrier Aura] while honing his Skills and Abilities as much as possible.In this manner, two more days had passed without incident, reducing the total number of Fledglings on the Third Floor to 87 as a layer of permafrost settled into the landscape. It was starting to get to the point that Linnaeus couldn't resist the cold so, after reaching Level 26, he decided it was time to seek out Ryuuna. He knew she was too proud to come seeking him so, unless he proactively sought her out, the Third Floor would likely become his grave.Fortunately, Ryuuna rarely ventured far from him so, after traveling for the better part of an hour, he came upon what looked like a massive graveyard. There were more than a hundred corpses of Frost Wolves present while, on the periphery of the grounds, icy blue Slimes, known as Frost Slimes, were slowly feasting on the abundant meal. They were relatively rare in other regions but, due to the large number of corpses, the Frost Slimes had started to congregate in the area in great numbers.Linnaeus had killed a few of the deceptively weak-looking monsters, looting a pale-white gel from them that, after ingesting, nearly froze him. He imagined they would be extremely beneficial in hot climates but, with even the day time temperature in the freezing range, it had put him into a state of Hypothermia that forced him to make a fire out in the open.To make matters worse, the Frost Slimes themselves weren't easy to deal with, as they would emit a penetrating cold plume, much like steam escaping from a pipe under high pressure. Thus, before he had ingested the chilling gel, Linnaeus had already been extremely cold as a layer of frost covered his dense layer of furs. Since then, he had made a point to avoid the troublesome creatures, despite the potential uses for the gels in later Floors.With an adequate amount of caution, Linnaeus navigated around the Frost Slimes before finding himself at the mouth of a cave. There was a current of warm air flowing from the interior, carrying with it the smell of burnt meat and fur. It was a very pungent aroma but, rather than stay out in the cold, Linnaeus ventured inward after covering his mouth and nose with fabric he had looted from the corpse of an unfortunate Fledgling several days prior.As he proceeded deeper into the cave, Linnaeus noticed that the ceiling was covered in a black residue that indicated exposure to smoke. Thus, when he found a campfire at the deepest part of the cave, he wasn't all that surprised. What confused him was that, despite his Party menu indicating that he was near Ryuuna, he couldn't pinpoint her position beyond the piles of partially rotting corpses that barricaded the warm interior from the external chill.It wasn't until he breached the foul-smelling chamber directly that Ryuuna's position became known to him as, adjacent to the cavern's entrance, he caught a bit of movement. In the next instant, several corpses were tossed aside as a petite figure wearing a white bodysuit charged him like a phantom as it released a feral-sounding war cry.Linnaeus knew there was no way Ryuuna hadn't sensed his arrival, especially as the Party Leader, so it was obvious she just wanted to lash out at him.Though resistance would only encourage even more violence, Linnaeus grit his teeth as he solidified his [Barrier Aura] and brought up both arms in a crossguard. He was honestly tempted to announce he was leaving the Party, as this would allow him to move on to the Fourth Floor, but he knew the rather fierce woman wouldn't forgive him so easily if he slighted her in such a manner.As could be expected, Ryuuna's attack slammed directly into Linnaeus' crossguard but, instead of a fist, she only struck with her palm. This caused him to be pushed into the wall by a pulse of golden energy, draining about 500 SP from his reserves. Rocks, dust, and soot also rained down from above, causing the interior of the cavern to become cloudy and sending Ryuuna into a coughing fit as she complained, "You sure kept me waiting...!"Understanding the futility of arguing, Linnaeus remained silent for several seconds before saying, "If I came running in the first few days, you would look down on me. I may be weaker than you, but I'm not incompetent..."After saying his piece, Linnaeus cast his [Barrier Aura] on Ryuuna, a functionality he had obtained upon reaching LV50 in the associated Magic. Though it was only effective within 50m of his position, he could cast his [Barrier Aura] on as many targets as his SP could sustain.With a membrane now filtering out all the dust and soot, Ryuuna was able to breathe easily once again. Instead of saying thanks, however, she murmured in a voice that obviously wasn't intended to be heard, complaining, "You should have used your barrier earlier, you bastard..."Linnaeus elected to ignore Ryuuna's remark, understanding it was just her being petty, something he had no control over. She likely had her reasons for behaving this way so, for the time being, he could only do his best to avoid antagonizing her.Since there was no sense in beating around the bush, Linnaeus asked, "Do you intend to stay on this Floor much longer? The outside temperature is reaching the point that I can't move freely. Since you are the Party Leader, I will respect your decision...but I would like to move on to the next Floor so we can make preparations for the next challenge."Hearing Linnaeus' words, Ryuuna seemed to fall into deep thought but he knew she was just looking at the information panel in her Status. There were now 81 Fledglings remaining, six less than when he had previously checked. This had many implications, the most likely of which indicated that other Parties were beginning to grow impatient. After all, while it was a show of strength to be the last on this particular Floor, they would lose their chance to prepare for the next challenge if they were too obstinant.Unfortunately, obstinance seemed to be Ryuuna's default mentality so, after contemplating for a few seconds, she stated resolutely, "Most of the crap in the rest areas is just a waste of Aether. It would be better to stockpile as much as we can for later Floors. It's not like any of the challenges require us to have supplies so we'll be fine. For now, we'll wait here to see what changes the tenth day brings. If my guess is correct, we only have a few hours of light left before permanant nightfall. I've saved up a ton of supplies at this point so we can hold out here for a few days, at the very least."Though he wasn't surprised by Ryuuna's words, Linnaeus barely resisted the urge to sigh as he gave a lazy nod and answered, "I understand...I'll cook us some food. If we want to be even safer, we can collapse the entrance to the cave and snuff out the fire once I'm done. With the size of these tunnels, we should have more than enough oxygen to last for a few days..."Hearing Linnaeus essentially say he wanted to avoid combat, Ryuuna snorted through her nose but, as she hated the cold quite a bit, she decided against insisting they go outside. Instead, she began to move some of the corpses outside of the cave as, if they were going to seal the entrance, she didn't want to be trapped inside with rotting bodies polluting the air they were breathing. Even if Linnaeus' [Barrier Aura] blocked out most of the smell, she had already tolerated it long enough over the last nine days.While Ryuuna was clearing out the cave, Linnaeus rekindled the campfire she had been using so he could cook some meat for them. It was obvious from the smell that the majority of her food over the last few days was burnt so, while his own cooking may not be the best, he expected it was infinitely better than anything she could prepare. He put a lot of care into preparing his meals as, after living in the slums his entire life, Linnaeus had a great appreciation for the savory meat he had gone most of his life without...After a few hours, the burnt smell in the cave had been replaced by the fragrant aroma of seasoned meat and various herbs. There was still a pungent aroma of rotten flesh in the surroundings but that wasn't really something he could do anything about. Ryuuna had left the bodies to fester too long and, if not for the cold temperatures, the smell would have been even worse.Since her nose had already filtered out the smell of rotten flesh, Ryuuna was largely unaffected by the pungent aroma inside the cave. This allowed her to smell Linnaeus' cooking even better than him, causing her stomach to let out a loud grumble, despite the fact she had eaten earlier in the day. When this happened, she instantly glared toward Linnaeus to see how he would react but, as if he hadn't heard her, he kept cooking the meat and tending to the fire with unwavering focus.Ryuuna suspected he was only pretending to have not heard her but, as there was no benefit in pressing the matter, she decided to let it lay. Instead, she sat down a bit away from him before extending her hand with a warning look reflecting across her golden eyes.With the predatory woman turning her gaze to him, Linnaeus looked up to match her line of sight. He could see the reflection of the campfire dancing in her eyes, giving her an especially vicious look that promised violence if he didn't give her what she wanted.Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Linnaeus pulled out some of the meat he had cooked previously. It was kept warm due to the fact he had used excess SP to preserve its state. They wouldn't have a fire after today and, knowing Ryuuna would complain if he gave her cold meat, he had already made the necessary preparations to ensure they had hot meals.After snatching the skewer from Linnaeus' hands, Ryuuna voraciously bit into the meat, finding it's taste considerably better than anything she had prepared herself. It lacked the gamey and burnt flavor she had grown to hate. Instead, it had a mouth-watering aroma, a palatable flavor, and a large volume of savory juices. It was even seasoned lightly, amplifying the flavor and making it taste like a completely different kind of meat, despite being the same thing she had eaten for the past few days.Before she realized it, Ryuuna had already eaten all of the meat from her skewer. This wasn't nearly enough to satisfy her, however, so she was about to demand another skewer. Before that, Linnaeus had already extended a second skewer to her, saying in a curt tone, "This will be the last one. I'll have something else for you to eat later, so pace yourself. Most of the stuff you dragged out is unusable so we'll need to ration our supplies to avoid running out during the Fourth Floor's challenge..."Though her instincts were to argue, Ryuuna mulled over Linnaeus' words and found them sensible. Despite this, she wasn't going to simply agree with him so, before collapsing the entrance, she was intending to go out and collect some fresh prey. A single large Frost Wolf would supply them with food for several days so it wouldn't be much trouble. Thus, after finishing the second skewer, she left the cave without explaining her intentions, leaving Linnaeus sighing in the background as he grilled more meat...

Though it wasn't noticeable at first, there was a discernible difference in the difficulty of the Third Floor with each successive day.At first, Linnaeus only had to worry about the stark contrast between the day and night temperature and a few monsters. Now, however, the evenings got so cold that a layer of ice would cover much of the forest. At the same time, monsters like Lesser Mountain Goblins, Slimes, and Horned Rabbits had started to vanish entirely. Instead, the most common monster he encountered were wandering bears and, infinitely more troublesome, packs of a monster called Lesser Frost Wolves.The average Lesser Frost Wolf was around two meters in length and a little under a meter in height. They were covered in pristine white fur and had vicious jaws full of ivory-colored teeth that could easily tear apart the other monsters present on the Floor. Linnaeus had even seen a pack of more than ten take down the massive bear-like creatures without too much difficulty.Though they were significantly weaker than the bear, the Lesser Frost Wolves were extremely agile and knew how to cooperate with each other. They would take turned targetting the back and legs of the bear, slowly wearing it down until it succumbed to blood loss. Then, when it could hardly put up a fight, the largest in the pack, lacking the Lesser prefix, would finish it off before enjoying the first choice bits for itself.The most troublesome aspect of the Lesser Frost Wolves, besides their speed and pack mentality, was their excellent hearing and incredibly sensitive noses. Since Linnaeus was rewarded with more experience when the enemies were strong or had advanced detection Skills, he was quickly gaining proficiency in his [Presence Concealment] and [Stealth].Unfortunately, it was almost impossible to actually evade their packs for a long period of time as, after a successful hunt, they would dutifully circle the area to spread their scent and watch for any other predators that might want to steal their meal. They were smart enough to take turns eating and keeping watch, often by using different footpaths than their predecessors to cover for any blind spots.If not for his [Barrier Aura] protecting him from surprise and combination attacks, Linnaeus imagined he would have been torn apart during his very first encounter with the white-furred demons. He had actually thought they were kind of cool at first but, after having his arm yanked in one direction while another Lesser Frost Wolf pulled his leg in the opposite, Linnaeus had quickly lost any positive feelings for the monsters.At this point in time, five days had passed on the Third Floor. The Lesser Frost Wolves had appeared during the evening of the third day, migrating from a snow-covered mountain to the north.Before the Lesser Frost Wolves appeared, there were 392 Fledglings remaining on the Floor, a value that could be tracked through the information panel of the Akashic System. Now, less than two days after their appearance, only 146 Fledglings remained, meaning they had either given up or lost their lives to the skillful hunters.As could be expected, Ryuuna was still alive and well, even if Linnaeus couldn't confirm her status due to the fact they had been separated since the start. All he really knew was that her Health would decrease at times, likely due to her own Blessing, before recovering a few minutes later without any issues.Since he couldn't imagine even twenty wolves taking down Ryuuna, Linnaeus was more focused on his own survival than regrouping. He had already guessed her intentions at this point so, rather than lower his head and chasing after her, he was intending to survive for as long as possible without her help.With this in mind, Linnaeus had made a home for himself in a canyon that spanned more than 50m across and several hundred meters deep. There had been a small ridge that formed a shallow hollow towards the back, located just behind a jagged rock structure. Though it was accessible to any sharp-eyed Fledglings that might discover it, such as Ryuuna, it provided adequate protection against the roaming bands of Lesser Frost Wolves.To combat the cold, Linnaeus had collected dozens of different types of pelts to line his tiny hollow. He used the sticky residue from the trees to adhere the pelts to the cold stone directly and, in order to find some small comfort in the sub-zero temperatures, he had a veritable pile of blankets to shield himself from the chilling wind that passed through the canyon.Linnaeus had noticed that the evenings were becoming longer with each passing day so, if this trend continued, he imagined perpetual night would descend upon the Floor by the tenth day. His current goal was just to survive until a week had passed or, at the very least, until the number of Fledglings had been reduced to less than 50 people.During his observations, Linnaeus noticed that many Fledglings had various tools and equipment, some of which they had graciously contributed to his survival efforts. What this told him was that, if he moved on to the next Floor early, he would be able to spend his Aether to obtain much-needed supplies and equipment. If he kept being the last person to pass through each Floor, the only way he could obtain supplies was by stealing them from others, something that became progressively more difficult with the passage of time.Though there were a surprising number of people with support and utility-oriented Blessing left, as these types were readily sought by other Fledglings, there was a noticeable increase in the number of people that gave Linnaeus a bad feeling. They were infinitely more dangerous than the monsters on the Floor and, if he was unlucky enough to be discovered, it was almost certain he would meet his end.While it might be possible to take out stronger enemies in a one-on-one situation, the vast majority of Fledglings had formed small Parties at this point. Many had even formed full four-person groups, generally consisting of 1~2 frontline members, a dedicated support, and a ranged attacker. They had a good balance of survival, tracking, and combat Skills, making it nearly impossible to defeat them on his own.Still, Linnaeus had been rather fortunate thus far as, even when he encountered other Parties, there weren't any people who could detect him. Though he knew a few might have the [Perception] Skill, they had been unable to detect him if he focused on laying low. This indicated their [Perception] was lower than his [Stealth] which, due to his need to constantly keep it active, had reached LV37 in the five short days since his arrival on the Third Floor.Though he had already been aware of this due to his rapid increases at early Levels, Linnaeus was increasingly aware of how quickly Skills developed when the enemies were stronger than you. At times, he would get ticks of 20 or more experience every ten seconds when he was using [Stealth] near large groups of Lesser Frost Wolves so it had been steadily growing. At this rate, he imagined he could even break through LV40 before leaving the Floor, if not higher.These were the thoughts that passed through Linnaeus' mind as he clung tightly to the fur pelts in his desperate attempts to resist the cold. This was the only thing he could do to distract himself from the chill that seemed to be creeping into his bones by the time light, and its accompanying warmth, descended on his sixth day surviving on the Third Floor.Though it was still unbelievably cold, as it took time for the ice to thaw out, Linnaeus stored his pelt blankets away before observing his surroundings. Once he was confident there were no enemies in the immediate vicinity, he created a few platforms using his [Barrier] magic, allowing him to easily scale the canyon's face without much difficulty.At this point, Linnaeus' entire body was covered in furs that he had roughly strewn together in an attempt to keep the cold at bay. He had even fashioned a make-shift helmet from the large skull of a Frost Wolf, giving him a slightly intimidating appearance that would hopefully deter anyone who thought he was an easy mark. Since he also kept several horned-daggers around his waist, he hoped to at least give them some pause that he might be able to exploit.More than anything, Linnaeus just wanted to avoid conflict entirely, at least against other Fledglings. He still needed to increase his own foundation and improve his strength, something he knew they were undoubtedly doing as well.If possible, Linnaeus wanted to observe several different groups of Fledglings to determine exactly how his strength compared to theirs. He was confident in taking down those with support or utility Blessings but, as they were often protected by those with combat-oriented specialties, he needed to carefully plan any attacks.This was how Linnaeus survived as, from his earliest memories, he knew how dangerous the world could be if you stuck your neck out thoughtlessly. The daily beatings when he first became a Street Urchin had hammered this simple truth into his bones time and again, to the point he would never forget the faces of his first attackers.Though he was now much stronger than before, and had even killed over a thousand people, none of this had been done haphazardly. His method was to observe and understand the strength of his enemies, only attacking when he was confident of victory or when his position had been revealed.If not for Saht, there were many times over the last three years where he would have lost his life due to his inhibitions about attacking others. She was far less hesitant than he was about taking a life so, whenever he had any doubts, she would always be the first to take action. This was something that bothered Linnaeus quite a bit but, as he wouldn't even be here if not for her proactive nature, he couldn't really complain.Linnaeus knew he needed to either team up with someone or change his core nature but, as he had been this way for over a decade, it would take time. For now, he just wanted to focus on increasing his foundation and, once he was confident in moving forward, he would begin to raise his Level in earnest. He wanted to start closing the gap between himself and people like Ryuuna, setting her as his goal for what real power represented...While Linnaeus was thinking about his growth, he heard slight rustling and the sound of ice crunch in the distance. He had already been actively using [Stealth] so he wasn't too worried, especially since the sound was several tens of meters from his location and moving away from him.Between the gaps in the trees, Linnaeus saw the familiar figures of several Lesser Frost Wolves, each moving deftly through the trees as they chased after an unseen target. It wasn't until he heard the pained shout of a man that Linnaeus understood what was happening but, rather than try and aid the unknown Fledglings, he vanished into the underbrush as he slowly skulked forward.If the Fledglings were smart, they would simply exit the Floor but, if they were obstinant, there was a good chance he would be able to reap a few rewards from their corpses. He had been able to gain a shortsword using this method and, though it had been bent, Linnaeus was able to straighten it out after wedging it between the nook of two trees.Linnaeus had aspirations of becoming a predator, one that could take down foes without hesitation and fear. For now, however, he was nothing more than a scavenger that would do whatever it took to survive. He didn't mind fighting dirty or using underhanded means to obtain his goals, so long as he never compromised what remained of his integrity. So long as he clung to this basic semblance of goodness, something Rebecca had seeded inside of him long ago, Linnaeus believed he would never stray so far from the light that he could never return...

Chapter 27: Foolishness