Ethan stood quietly over the unmoving body of Savannah as the cut near her collarbone continued to pulse. A spellcore had already fallen out of it, and now, green filaments were floating out of the blue magic and to his untrained senses, they felt different. One was sickly and pale. While the second was deep and vibrant. Both twisted around themselves, growing smaller and focusing their energies until they coalesced into two small gems. A few moments later, the two primagems dropped to the ground, and Ethan picked both up, along with the spellcore.

  Assimilate [Primagem of Lifeforce (low-grade)]?

  Assimilate [Primagem of Sapping (low-grade)] ?

  Assimilate [Force Arc - (Tier-2)]?

  He looked at the three little gems in his palm, then back at the frozen smile of the woman.

  Ethan had never been a believer and honestly, he’d never had cause to yearn for an afterlife where he’d meet those that passed. On the contrary. But as he looked down at the woman, he sincerely wished it was real.

  That she could reunite with her daughter after this hell she’d been through.

  Ethan glanced at Gerald and the others. Liz’s leg was mostly healed, and Gerald was awake. He’d been mostly concussed and bruised, but he was alright. Physically, at least.

  Ethan had checked the backpack and he saw what had been inside. All of them had, and as far as he was concerned, he might never be able to remove the image from his head.

  It was true that they were all getting used to the violence of this new world, but some things were still difficult to stomach. But they had to. The quest continued to tick forward and at this point, most of them were confident that they would be left to die in this place if they didn't find the exit in time.

  Ethan glanced down at the little pool of still forming fragments. Turning to Ember, he asked. “Do you know how we can share this?”

  The cat was busy licking her injured paw, and she answered without looking up. “[I can control what I take in, but you’ll need to practice. Otherwise an enchanted item would do.]”

  She didn’t seem that affected by the death of the human. Or by being attacked. It was as if this was all a common occurrence to her.

  Ethan glanced back at the little treasure of fragments. He hadn’t fought alone, so it didn’t feel right to take all of Savannah’s fragments. When he said as such, Gerald stared at him. The man seemed haunted, but then he shook his head, and Liz broke the silence first. “If you hadn’t been around she might have killed us.”

  Gerald seemed the most distraught. Maybe it was the content of the bag, or maybe because he thought his attack had been fatal. That he was the one who killed the woman.

  Ethan doubted that. Savannah had clearly been burning the candle at both ends, only holding on and lasting thanks to the ability of the gem-like organ in her chest and once its content had been consumed, all the damage, fatigue, and grief hit her all at once.

  Ethan’s explosions and Gerald’s stab would not have been enough otherwise. They had tipped her over the edge for sure. They weren’t innocent. But in a way, it felt like Savannah had been looking for a way out and clashing with them over Ember just happened to be it.

  She could have lived through this, if she’d backed down. The stab wouldn’t have been enough. Ethan had been severely knifed when he was barely level 30 and had been fine after a couple of hours. Even though he had a trait that accelerated healing, he couldn’t see how a level 47 person would die of a stab wound that didn’t target her heart or brain. He wasn’t even sure if those were still as fatal as they’d been before.

  Lots of ifs and maybes he might never get the answer to.

  Looking around, Ethan took in the state of his companions. Amelie’s face was still tense. She forcefully wiped at her eyes, and she almost flinched at Liz’s words, about how they’d be dead if it wasn’t for him. Her knuckles were white around her wand. This fight had lit something in her.

  For the others, Liz was sad, but she never stopped glancing around to make sure the scavenging monitors weren’t coming toward them. As for Audrey, she stared gravely at the slumped woman and at the pink backpack in her arms, then she shook her head. “She wouldn’t have attacked if it wasn’t for Ember,” she said. The words dropped on all of them like a bucket of cold water, and Ethan gave her an even stare. Dropping her shield to the ground, Amber proceeded to sit down and wince. She looked down to Ember who’s ears twitched. “But Ember saved our lives more than once. Attacking her is the same as attacking us.”

  Ethan exhaled, while the others nodded. Audrey continued, nodding toward the fragments. “I’m good. I got enough from the monitors.”

  The others voiced the same opinion, then after a couple of quick words, they went back up to the tunnel. Liz wanted to bury the woman, but Ethan told her he would do it, and told all of them to get some rest and start on their path declaration. Ember stayed, so Ethan turned to her. “You want to take half? She came after your life.”

  “[I’ll take some. But not half.]”

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  The cat got up, softly limped to the luminescent nimbus of fragments, then closed her eyes. As if she’d been inhaling smoke, a tendril of fragments rushed toward her, sinking in her body for a few seconds before she cut it off and stepped away. She sat on her haunches and looked up to him. “[If there are humans with tier-2 Prime wands, then you need all the help you can get. You should take this. But if we’re sharing, I wouldn’t say no to a primagem or spell if you have spares.]”

  Ethan glanced down at the woman, and at the absent gem that used to be in her chest.

  Tier-2, huh?

  Glancing back at Ember and considering her request, he thought it was fair. Ethan glanced down at the two green gems in his hand and when the cat growled in her throat. “[I said spares. Those aren’t spares. They’re valuable, but right now you need them more than I do. And it’s your dagger that made their harvest possible.]”

  Which reminded him. Ethan eyed the stretch of soil he’d flown over. The dagger should be somewhere there, still. He looked down at the cat and nodded. “Alright. In that case, I got a couple of extra scale spells. And a tier-2 breath-gland.”

  The cat’s little features twisted in distaste. “[Not scales, and I’ve got a breath-gland already… so next time.]”

  He sighed, shaking his head, and sat down. “You’re really choosy,” he said, glancing around the still smoking battlefield. “Is the tier-2 Prime wand why she had that many forms out?”

  “[Yes. The second tier allows for such. And more.]”

  Ethan looked down at the pool of fragments, then dismissed the horns and summoned his spellcaster form.

  A twelve-inch cylinder of red-engraved metal fell into his open palm. The wand had a thick pommel, much like every other spellcaster wand he’d seen, and fit perfectly into his closed hand. Red glowing runes shone down its length, and it came to a thin point near the end. No crystal or gems adorned it, which Ethan liked.

  It reminded him a bit of his lance.

  Leaning over, he tried to do the same as Ember. Touching the nimbus of fragments, he tried to control the flow but unfortunately, it happened faster than he expected. The fragments rushed into the wand and by the time he managed to stop the flow, only scraps were left.

  “[Good start. But you’ll need to practice.]”

  Ethan could only agree, then he collected the remains with his regular wand.

  Prime Wand: 167 fragments collected.

  Wand of the lesser fire elemental: 16 fragments collected.

  “I’m going to bury her. Do you mind checking up on the other? They’ll probably start on their path stuff soon. I’ll join you in a bit.”

  The cat nodded, then began making her way toward the tunnel and instead of climbing, she hopped on the air with the anklet of hers.

  Cool ability, he thought. Then he turned back to the dead woman, and got to work.

  By the time he finished up, more water monitors had crept out of the brush and while most were busy tearing into the dead lizardlings and drakes, a couple were making their way toward him. Ethan ignored them and instead, he found a nice stone with a flat surface and with one claw, he slowly carved out the words “Savannah and Emily Miller”, only pausing to blow up the two water monitors before he put the headstone on top of the improvised grave.

  He didn’t believe anyone would ever find it, but it felt right.

  Next, he picked up his stash of spellcores, tracked down the dagger he’d dropped, and put everything in the little pouch he took from Savannah. He was pretty sure it was a dimensional pouch. One of the items he’d been offered as a choice when he’d hit the highest level in the group, which, as of right this second, he was once more.

  Though he didn’t get a hidden quest for it.

  Just need a belt and some clothes, and I’ll be set, he thought as he made his way back to the tunnel.

  Ethan came to a stop near the entrance, and glanced back at the improvised grave.

  Hope you find some rest. And I’m sorry.

  Then he joined the others.

  ***

  “Is it done?” Audrey asked as soon as he stepped in.

  The mood was grim as he walked into the tunnel. No one had felt that bad after Lance’s death, but this was different. What happened to Savannah could have happened to any of them. It may have already happened. Their loved ones might have already fallen to a similarly gruesome death and worst of all, they had no way of knowing.

  Ethan took a seat near the entrance while Ember stationed herself near the back.

  Savannah had snapped. Understandably so. Ethan had told them how the lizardlings had been summoning the drakes and how Ember had come to be. But to have her daughter die in such a manner? Ethan couldn’t tell which was more awful: losing her child and finding her dead, or being captured and having to watch as your child was used in a sacrifice by the creatures.

  Amelie opened her eyes, and there was none of the usual mirth he’d learned to expect from her. Her gaze was smoldering, and her cheeks were flushed as she looked at the glowing mushrooms ahead of her. “We got our asses handed to us.”

  No one answered, but there were a couple of nods. A couple of seconds later, Liz spoke up. “I don’t know about the system and its classifications, but honestly, lizardlings are a terminate-on-sight for me from now on. If we get back to earth and these things come with us… we’ll have to warn everyone. If the system doesn’t do it for us.”

  Ethan was about to say something when there was a ripple in the air. Not visibly, but he felt it in his chest. He glanced to his right, and found Ember’s ear twitching before her eyes slid to Gerald.

  It seemed the process had already started, but not all of them seemed ready to begin their own process. As for Ethan, he wanted to look through his earnings and plan for the next step: Finding the rift.

  It was time to get a move on and find the damn exit. But before that, he had to spend his ressources. He had to upgrade the Prime wand. He wanted to ask Ember about how spells were evolved, because so far, it was taking longer than he wanted. And most importantly, the fight had revealed a weakness he intended on addressing.

  Ethan had been sent flying way too many times. He had the resilience, but not the weight to tank the hits. He wasn’t too concerned though. Only a few days ago, he had seen a solution to such problems. Something like [Minotaur’s Frame]. And it so happens that he was sitting on a tier-3 spell token.

  He looked away from the interface for a moment. The others had their eyes closed. He stared out toward the exit for a couple of seconds, feeling the fatigue ever so slowly recede out of his sore joints, then got to work.

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