As Robert approached, he read the small letters at the bottom of the sign. "Looking For Group", they spelled. Exactly the place he wanted.

Several young Archhumans were gathered in small clusters of three or two in the area ahead. Their equipment was brand new, undamaged, and polished to a shine. They looked more like fancy and realistic cosplayers than real warriors but Robert didn't let the looks deceive him. There were full-blooded Archs, scions with access to the best training facilities and growth supplements money could buy.

He felt a pang of envy. But also pride. Robert wasn't at the same level as them but he has earned what he had. And he was a healer. A greenhorn healer but still valuable.

And that all of them had that lack of experience in common. This easy passage was popular as a way to get combat experience, to sharpen their wits, and get some pocket cash.

People looked qt him and made an instant judgment. He had no weapons or armor, and his clothes were bland and "inexpensive", if compared to what they used to wear.

Instead of shying away, Robert tried to project confidence.

"Hey, you," a man in brigandine called him out.

His armor looked like leather with rivets but it was rather rounded and stiff. As the young man moved, Robert could see the hidden bands of metal slide oner one another.

"Me?" Robert earned a nod. He extended a gloved hand.

"Are you looking for a team too?"

"Yes, I am," he replied as they shook hands. The young man didnt squeeze Robert's hand though his grip was firm. "Name's Robert.

"Chris," he smiled with perfect pearly whites." What's your position, Robert? Caster, support?"

"Healer," Robert replied, lowering his voice. It didn't matter. Archhumans had heightened senses and a lot of the teens around were paying attention to the newcomer.

The LFG section erupted with hushed whispers. Robert didn't notice the envious stares burning a hole on his back.

"Wow, thats great!" Chris replied, his grin widening. "We were waiting for a fifth, support or ranged, but a healer is even better."

"Are you going to delve?"

"Right away. We have a slot on hold, if you join us we can go in the next few minutes as soon as the staging area clears a spot."

"Staging area?"

"You aren't from around here, right? The Samson Corp has every delving group heat a short lecture abou rhe rules and the dangers of the passage. It's a way to remove any legal liability."

Robert could imagine the parents of these young Archs raising hell because their precious babies were scratched by a slig-man's wooden spear.

"Sounds good to me. What's your group loot split?"

Chris glanced back at his party. A blonde girl wearing a steel breastplate with a pair of sabers at her hips, the image of a warrior princess. A brunette holding a staff… no, an unstrung bow, Rober concluded after seeing the quiver of metal arrows on her back hidden behind her fluffy curls. And an asian teen in boiled leather armor wearing a bandolier full of throwing knives.

"These are Liz, Karla, and Xiao. Guys, standard split?" They nodded. "Equal shares. Each pays for their own gear."

Robert felt almost naked. While his clothes were stronger than ordinary fabric, meant to be worn by Archhumans, they still offered no protection.

"Are we good?" Chris asked, shaking Robert from his reverie.

"Yes, sure."

He heard the other groups voice their discontentment. Chris had snatched the "new healer guy" as one said. Robert felt some pride as he was now someone others needed and wanted.

Chris brought Robert and made formal introductions. They talked strategy and positioning, to make sure the group wouldn't step on each other's toes or get in the way during a fight. Robert didn't have a ranged heal and this meant the vanguard had to fall back to get healed.

*

*

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The passage was on a room at the end of a long corridor. Several thick metal doors dotted the corridor, ready to be dropped at the first sign of danger coming from the realm beyond the passage. Though the Mollusks were relatively safe, rifts and passages interconnected the realms in an insane network. Often, more than one path linking two realms existed.

What made the passage on District twenty-one so valuable was that it offered a zero-step access to Faralethal. Other longer and more dangerous paths already existed.

Samson personnel blocking the rift checked the party's documents before clearing them for entry. Chris went first, followed by the women.

Right before entering the passage, Robert braced himself against the wall and entered the liminal void. He wanted to find if the passage extended into that coterminous dimension or not. It didn't. Where a tear in reality existed in the real world, he saw nothing. The passage had no representation whatsoever.

And now he would spend around a week in the void. Robert made sure to memorize the position of his body when he entered so he could keep others from noticing the sudden teleportation.

With how much time he had in hands, he walked back home. Robert made a mental note to buy more books, any books, so he had something to do while he waited to return to reality. Also, an hourglass he could keep on himself to count time.

Fortunately, his Time affinity gave him a pretty good internal clock. It could be off by a couple of hours but he sensed when it was time to get back. Robert took his place among the colorless statues of his party. He carried a backpack with food and some camping supplies, hoping nobody would ask where it came from.

He took his position and waited. Patience was a skill he had been nurturing for months now but he made getting the damn hourglass his top priority. His estimate was off by a few hours as he waited for time to resume moving forward, motionless.

He still stumbled forward and slammed into Xiao's back.

"Whoa!" Xiao shouted, surprised as he held his ground. He was strong enough to bear Robert's weight without falling forward. "Everything alright there, buddy?"

Robert was thankful that Xiao's voice carried more concern than anger. "Sorry. I lost balance for a moment. I'm fine now, thanks for the assistance."

"No worries, man. Where did that pack came from, though?"

"Oh, it was what made me stumble, actually," Robert misdirected.

"Cool," Xiao squinted. "I thought you brought no gear. Lets go through."

Robert entered the passage after Xiao. The edges of the rift had a faint shimmer but the passage let light through without any distortion. Were it not for the obvious mismatched parallax and scenery, nobody would tell it wasn't the same world.

The Mollusk Realm was a hot and damp jungle with alien vegetation. One of the reasons he chose this particular passage was the realm's biome, teeming with Life. He wanted to gather as many wisps as he could in this place.

Robert felt sweat bead on his forehead. Taking a moment to look behind him, he saw one of the Samson Corp. Employees waving at him with their signature business smile on.

On his side of the passage, the jungle was thick with vegetation everywhere. Ankle-high grass and moss patches covered the floor, trees two hundred feet tall hid the sky with their interconnected crowns. Thorny bushes blocked visibility and forced them to cut a path through. Vines as thick as a man's arm hung from branches.

Despite the dense foliage, it wasn't dark. Some background, diffuse light permeated the whole realm, making shadows thin and faint.

"Take care not to get any sap on your skin. If not poisonous, it could be corrosive," Chris warned. "Also, don't step in those gooey clumps of half-dried mucus. You could get stuck, then eaten alive by the lesser slugs."

Robert followed Chris' sword and saw the gooey clumps of half-crystallized mucus. Behind it, some snails and slugs the size of his fists hid from sight.

Once the party's attention was away from him, Robert triggered his talent again. He estimated he had half an hour in liminal void and used this time to scout around and confirm the passage also didn't exist on this side. It didn't and he found no threats ahead, other than those Chris warned against.

Back in the same position, he waited to come back. The party went slowly through the jungle, carving a path.

"Wouldn't other groups need to open their own way?" Robert asked.

"They did," Xiao answered. " The vegetation regrows fast but not fast enough to shut our path behind us. But remember the rules, no stalking. We avoided the recently opened paths because of that."

Robert hadn't seen any other paths. But he was a city dweller and this was his first time in wilderness that wasn't a park.

*

*

"Mollusk patrol a thousand feet ahead," Karla warned.

How she could sense them from this distance and through the dense foliage was a mystery. Robert's Life Sense spell was practically useless in that jungle.

Feeling the need to be useful, Robert slipped into the liminal void. He had to climb bushed and vines as he couldn't bend even the smallest leaves. In fact, he walked over the grass instead of through it.

He checked the Mollusks. They had four slugs and two snails. The creatures had the lower body of a snail but a humanoid torso where the head should've been. The similarities with humans ended there. Their heads were mostly featureless, with two comically large eyestalks. The whole body was covered in rubbery slimy skin, constantly secreting a droopy mucus.

Snails were half as large as the slugs six feet from belly to tail and four feet tall at the shoulders. The slugs had wooden spears tipped with some sort of black glass while the snails carried large hewn stone axes.

He went around, checking if the Mollusks had any friends in range. He was feeling tense with these six enemies, and wasn't sure they would escape unharmed if more enemies arrived at the wrong time.

After finding nothing, Robert made his way back with time to spare before he had to return to the real world.

Color returned. Karla startled and jumped around to stare at him. "What?"

"Four slugs with spears, two snails with really large axes," Robert alerted, ignoring the archer girl's surprise.

"How?" She mumbled audibly.

"I have Life Sense," Robert misdirected.

"That's awesome, Rob," Chris replied, smoothly giving him a nickname. "You ready, Your Highness?"

Liz scoffed and ignored her charismatic leader. She drew both sabers and lowered her center mass. The blonde teen looked regal and deadly, like a great cat ready to pounce.

"Five hundred feet. Four… three…" Karla whispered. "Ready."

Xiao drew a half-dozen knives as Karla nocked an arrow. Robert approached both.

"I have a spell to give you some extra speed. I will use it on the lowest setting so you don't stumble."

He cast Minor Haste on both, the spells eating a tenth of his essence reserves.

Xiao chuckled. "Everything seems to slows down."

"Good buff," Karla said curtly. "Thanks."

Robert felt proud of himself.

"Got any for us meat shields?" Chris asked.

"Unless you don't want healing, then no. Gotta save some juice."

"Use it on the princess, then."

Robert cast his spell on Liz. She looked back and nodded her silent appreciation. Robert thought she was too young, else he'd be infatuated with her beauty.

A bush crashed down getting sucked away as the slug came through. It looked like they were eating the thorny foliage. Robert noticed they didnt have mouths on their ruberry heads. Or noses.

Robert felt the wind rush past him toward Karla. An arrow flew oner Liz's crouched form and struck the lead snail on the chest. The creature screeched, the sound coming from below as the skirt of flesh around the snail's body warbled.

The arrow was followed by Xiao's knives, zipping through the air one after the other and sinking deep into the snail's flesh. It hissed, bubbled, and sizzled as the creature screamed in pain. Steam rose from the knives.

The other three snails moved past their dying brethren and lowered their spears. Liz dashed with sure steps, the sabers down by her right side. As she approached the spears, her hair and polished armor shone. Robert avoided the glare as his eyes hurt. By the screams of the slugs, it hurt theirs even more.

He heard the spund of flesh being smacked and cut, reminding him of a butcher's shop. Then more slashes as he blinked the purple spots in his sight away.

"Heeeyaah!" Chris war cry boomed as he jumped from a leaning spike of rock and brought down a granite maul down on the third snail. As rhe Mollusk was flattened, dozens of geanite spikes shot from the ground, impaling the creature.

Robert assessed the battlefield. The four snails were dead or dying. Liz had bisected two. The jungle was quiet. Then, the ground rumbled.

"Brace!" Chris shouted.

"From the left!" Karla warned.

"Mine!" Chris answered.

The leader of their party crouched and slammed a hand on the jungle floor. The topsoil churned and raised abruptly creaking roots and ruffling leaves.

One of the snail shells rolled up the makeshift ramp and vaulted over the party. The other came straight at a flat-footed, gawking healer.

Robert saw the mesmerizing patterns of the rotating shell give place to a maw full of sharp teeth. Panicking, he did the only thing he could. He dove into the liminal void.