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"Old Sword, I think this is the closest we are going to get to Vivian while following the planned route,

" Eldrian spoke up after looking at his map as they started traveling. During the past week, along with having learned a great deal, Eldrian also kept constant tabs on his map. Trying to figure out when moving with the division was no longer going to bring him close to Vivian.

nThis moment had arrived. The military's planned direction would now start moving further from Vivian's location, or rather the location Elrian had thanks to his quest.

nThe distance to Vivian was still great, Eldrian still was not able to accurately determine this from his map. He roughly felt that it was at least three days of travel. If the travel was uninterrupted, which was highly unlikely.

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"Are you sure?

" Old Sword asked, Eldrian had been keeping him up to date and they have made a few plans. The most likely to be used is to send Eldrian out as a guide for a group of more elite soldiers. This required the least amount of people and would actually have the best chance of success. Larger groups would attract more monsters.

nThe biggest problem was that such a group would love to move at night as this would allow them to almost never run into trouble. Eldrian was unable to do this, having to go to university. If he did not have such a commitment he could actually simply change his sleeping pattern.

nEldrian almost wished he could just skip all his classes, finding Vivian felt more important to him. But he knew that he would not be able to explain himself to his family.

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"I am, from here on the army is going to move further and further from Vivian's location. Therefore the longer we wait the longer it would take to reach her. I am also not going to reach Tier 2 in just a few days. Thus I am at my strongest.

" Eldrian replied, still hanging on to his few free attributes.

nDuring this week he had realized that the growth from leveling was really important early.

nNPCs could see all relevant statistics similar to players, but they perceived it as a magic skill. Not as the system giving them these statistics. Eldrian followed a similar route which limited what he could observe if someone was higher-tiered than him.

nTo better inform Eldrian on how strong people and monsters of relevant Tiers are, Old Sword had shared some general information. Such as that Tier 5 people generally had 250 in their focus attribute. This meant he could still beat them with tricks and innovation, or skill if he really outclassed them. This being less likely than the first two.

nTier 6 would easily have over 400, Tier 7's such as Old Sword would have close to a 1000. Which Old Sword shared to inform Eldrian on just how screwed he would be then, especially since those people would be able to use magic.

nThis helped Eldrian understand why he could actually fight decently well against Tier 2 and 3 NPCs when sparring. They did not use magic and it brought them almost to the same level. Certainly there was still a large gap in attributes, but it was possible to overcome this with skill and innovation.

nOld Sword had explained this to Eldrian to help him estimate if he could fight against a certain enemy. While Eldrian's observe would give him less and less details as the targets Tier went up, he should be able to see their Tier up to 4. Knowing this should enable him to make a smart field decision.

n

"Then we should gather the others. You also need some armor.

" Old Sword added the last part after giving Eldrian a once over. Astonished that Eldrian had still not bothered to sort this out for himself.

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"Do you have some spare light armor?

" Eldrian asked, really not wanted plate armor. Especially when it is going to likely be normal grade. He would only consider moving to heavier armors if the benefits were great enough.

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"Of course, an army always has some extra armor.

" Old Sword said jokingly.

nThey then spent the next hour finishing preparations. During this time the others whom Eldrian was going to do the mission with all gathered. Eldrian himself having gotten some nice leather armor.

nEldrian had lost most if not all of his fat during the past month since he started gaming. Having followed an intense schedule and being extra active through the game. As such the armor fit him really well.

nHis armor consisted out of chest, arm and leg pieces. The entire set was of a dark grey color. The arm piece was a gauntlet while the leg piece was a greave. Protecting only part of Eldrian's limbs, but it was better than not having armor. The lessened amount also allowed Eldrian to still move freely, not needing to get used to the armor.

nThe armor was actually made from the skin of a Direwolf and had no magical properties. As Eldrian had believed it would not have. Still, Eldrian was more than happy with it, it was nicely made and both Inspect and the system informed him that it was Tier 4 armor. Which was most likely top-grade armor for players.

nArmor had far less info than weapons, simply stating its name, Tier, armor rating and durability. Along with attribute requirements.

nWolf Breastplate

nGrade: Normal ; Tier 1

nArmor: 11

nDurability: 1300

nAttribute Requirements:

nStrength: 85 ; Agility 90 ; Constitution: 80

nThe information was mostly the same for the other two pieces. The leg armor called Wolf Greaves and the arm armor called Wolf Gauntlet.

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"I hope you all are ready.

" Old Sword said as he looked at the seven before him. Six of whom were some of the best people he had under him. The other was Eldrian.

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"Yeah, we just follow this newbie and find Vivian. Easy.

" A guy with blond hair replied, he had a bow slung over his shoulder and two long daggers at his side. Robed in dark green armor of unknown type, he looked like an assassin.

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"Terlas, this mission depends on him staying alive, and there is also the fact that you won't be able to travel much at night.

"

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"What!

" Shouted one of the others, this person had blood-red hair and eyes. Flames seemingly appearing in them from time to time. He had no weapon on him but Eldrian could feel that this guy was strong.

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"Evapius, don't act surprised. I did inform you that Haru won't be able to be with you all the time.

"

n

"I thought you were joking. How does that even make sense?

"

n

"Chosen can seemingly return to their world. At least this is how it was explained to us, which means he would not be here during some times. And those times are at night, specifically from 8 to 6.

"

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"Old Sword, do you truly think we will be able to do this?

" This time it was not a man, but a woman who asked. She had deep black hair and sharp light brown eyes. She was wearing form-fitting scale armor which clearly showed her toned figure.

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"Sabrea, that is why I pick all of you. You will be able to handle most situations and survive.

"

nHearing Old Sword's reply the lady backed down, giving Eldrian a curious glance. Even if he was somehow able to direct them, she did not understand how Old Sword could trust someone so weak.

nWith most of the unsettling questions answered, the group moved on to discuss tactics. Specifically how they were going to handle fights, none of them had much belief in Eldrian's strength. Handling him like a fair noble they had to escort.

nEldrian certainly did not enjoy how they were describing him, but he kept it down. Allowing them to come up with the best possible plan of action. Every time he felt his anger surfacing he would just tell himself that this was for Vivian.

nAfter almost half an hour of this everyone finally settle on what their jobs would be. Eldrian also learned the names of the other three. One was actually Andréas whom Eldrian had met previously, he was in charge of keeping the group stealthed.

nThe other two was a priest called Floyd, his job would be to heal anyone if an injury occurred. He would also be responsible for creating and maintaining a fire at night.

nThe last person was Cadriel, she was also an archer like Terlas. This made their final group composition one mage, one priest, one rogue, two archers and one vanguard.

nEldrian found it interesting that they had actually names for themselves, names which the system did not recognize. It actually just dumped the priest, mage and rogue together as mages. The archers as range users and the vanguard a melee fighter.

nEldrian's job was to not get in the way, they did not even want him to join in any fighting. Eldrian had first thought this was simply mean, but after listening to them discuss and having kept his opinion to himself. Eldrian had learned that they were all truly Elite soldiers.

nFloyd was Tier 5 and so were Evapius and Sabrea. Andréas was actually Tier 6 but he normally worked alone, which was why he could be spared to join the mission. Cadriel and Terlas were the weakest, being Tier 4.

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"Good luck.

" Old Sword said as he shook Eldrian's hand, a system notification popping up with it.

nAbout time. Eldrian thought as he wondered why it had taken so long for the notification to come up.

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