Lucas was in his office doing some paperwork while Grishna and Elara were standing next to him with big smiles.
'I have already informed my executives that I'm heading to Affoltern today to clear the C-rank gate.'
'The combat teams will be training today and tomorrow they will go on a hunt again.'
'Leah said that the headquarters will be ready on Monday. It's Saturday today.'
'That's sooner than expected, wich is good.'
'New recruits will also be joining us starting today and I will have to assign them to their teams.'
'I might even create more teams if there are too many, but I plan to have 15-20 members in a team.'
'Oh right. I should send the combat teams to collect materials in the E-rank gate since it's pretty much empty right now.'
After dealing with some matters, Lucas was ready to go to the neighboring city to clear the C-rank gate.
'I will meet up with Ghost when I'm there to receive his report.'
***
Lucas was on his way to Affoltern with his new sport motorcycle.
'Having money really is amazing.'
'I have a few millions in my personal bank account now. Maybe I should buy a house.'
'I also don't like putting my avatars in the space unless necessary.'
While engrossed in his thoughts Lucas finally arrived at Affoltern.
There were a lot of barricades there with military personnel.
They stopped Lucas and asked for his identification and purpose for coming here.
Lucas did as they asked and explained.
Luckily their supervisor knew about Lucas so it was easy getting in.
A couple minutes after entering the city Lucas stopped on the side of a road.
He could sense Ghost approaching him.
And in a few seconds he appeared before him.
"I greet my master."
"Hello Ghost, give me your report."
"Yes master. There are 28 F-rank gates, 12 E-rank gates and 5 D-rank gates that all broke."
"The C-rank gate will break tomorrow."
Ghost took out a map and showed where all the gates were located.
He also said where most monsters were and how to get to the C-rank gate as fast as possible.
"Good job Ghost. Let's go."
Lucas unsummoned Ghost and took off with his bike.
It took him around 40 minutes to arrive at the C-rank orc village gate.
He tried avoiding any large groups of monsters to preserve his energy.
The few who got in the way were easily killed.
When Lucas arrived he immediately entered the gate and spawned in the middle of a forest again.
He summoned Ghost, Grishna, Krasbert and Elara.
Ghost was ordered to head for the village and wait until at least half the orcs in the village left and then enter to kill the boss.
The others would first deal with the 20 hunters outside and then kill the rest that come after.
It was much easier killing them this time, especially for Krasbert who was too weak last time.
But Elara couldn't handle a single orc by herself.
She aimed for the ones who were injured and didn't die right away.
This was also a valuable experience for her since she mostly fought weak monsters before.
It took them 15 minutes to kill the hunters.
Elara killed 3, Krasbert 5, Grishna 5 and Lucas killed 7.
'Is this the first time I killed more than my avatars?'
'I really have become stronger.'
'I think the A-rank sword mastery helped the most.'
After another 15 minutes Lucas could sense a larger group approaching.
'I would like to just storm their village from the start and have a head on fight, but it's still too risky and dangerous.'
There were 40 orcs coming towards Lucas and his avatars and he was prepared to fight at least them head on.
He wanted to test himself without ambush tactics.
As soon as they were close enough, Grishna started shooting arrows infused with mana.
Lucas and Krasbert charged into the large orc group and Elara stayed next to Grishna in case some got to them.
Lucas fired three consecutive fireballs that incinerated three orcs heads.
He had chosen to focus his magic training just on the fireball spell until he was satisfied with it and it showed.
The fireballs were basically giant magic bullets made of fire.
After killing those three orcs, Lucas unsheathed his B-rank steel sword and beheaded two orcs at once.
Two other flanked him, but he dodged one thanks to his sixth sense and blocked the other with mana shield.
He then cut both of them in half and proceeded to charge towards others.
Krasbert was pretty even with stats and skills to the orcs so he focused on one at a time.
Once he pierced ones heart with his steel claws or beheaded one, Krasbert quickly retreated before he could be ambushed by another.
And when he couldn't do that, Grishna would save him with her arrows.
While Krasbert killed one orc, Grishna killed two or three and Lucas killed five or six.
Lucas was completely immersed in the fight with his sword.
It was like he was in a trance.
Even though his sword mastery might be A-rank, that doesn't mean he could actually use it's full power.
Compared to the skill's rank, his understanding was very low.
Lucas still had little experience with the sword so naturally he wouldn't become an expert this quickly even with all the knowledge he gained from the skill.
But during this fight he could finally put some of that knowledge into practice.
Every challenge he faced made him stronger.
All his slashes and thrusts were becoming cleaner.
His footwork was also improving and he could dodge and parry attacks easier.
His standard looking slashes were utilized in perfect motion and timing.
He was cutting through orcs like they were made out of butter.
Lucas soon realized that there was mana surrounding his sword like a thin layer.
'This feels so natural.'
'Why didn't do this sooner?'
'I relied too much on my stats instead of understanding my skills better and utilizing my mana in better ways.'
Lucas then proceeded to cut down the last few orcs in excellent precision.
All 40 orcs were now dead and the ground was filled with blood.