"That is an ugly rabbit," Nathan commented.

"Yes, it is," Samantha put a hand on his arm. "Why did you just shoot it?"

"To kill it," he answered.

"She meant," Keith said. "Why not let one of them get the Experience for it?"

"Why bother with simpler things?" Nathan asked. "Save your energy for what might be difficult to fight."

"Nathan!" Samantha exclaimed. "We were getting ready to set up camp! As far as we can tell, it would be extremely unlikely for something to attack us!"

"So?" He asked. "The rabbit was weak. A single bullet took out all of its Health and killed it. It probably wouldn't have given you much Experience in the first place. Come on, let's set up camp."

The demigod and the psychic pulled camping equipment out of their small storage orbs, and the six teens got to work setting everything up, Keith working on enchanting a defensive ward around the camp, Nathan working on setting up a place to cook, and the other four working on the tents.

"These are pretty nice tents," Samantha said. "Who's sleeping in which? I would have expected two – one for Nathan, Katie, and me, and the other for the other three."

"Keith and I get that one," Nathan pointed at a tent. "You and Katie get that one," he pointed at another, then to the last. "And Michael and William get that one."

Everyone but Keith gave Nathan befuddled looks as the demigod resumed arranging the logs to cook over. While he did have a camp stove to use, he wanted to do a proper camp cookout, as they had several rabbits they had caught during their first day of traveling, in addition to some herbs, fruits, berries, and vegetables the group had found. Oblivious to the looks, Nathan ignited the logs.

"Nathan," Samantha said. "Why are you sleeping with Keith?"

"I'm not sleeping with him," Nathan responded. "I'm sharing a tent with him. There's a difference. He will be on one side, and I will be on the other. And he will not be using me as a table if I sleep on my back or stomach again."

Everyone decided to not ask about that incident, though Samantha noticed Keith snorting as his face turned a little red.

"Why are you sharing a tent with Keith, then?" Samantha asked.

"Because you two would want to have sex," Nathan said. "At least every now and then while we're traveling, especially if we're sharing a tent. I'm not doing a three-way, and not something with someone else present. I'd prefer it if you didn't share a tent with anyone else, but that wouldn't be fair to Katie if it was just me and you and I neglected her at night but not you. This way, it's even for both."

"What he means," Keith spoke up from where he was painting runes into the ground. "Is that he and I will probably be doing some enchanting work at night, and he'd rather not bother either of you. But that's something he's shy about, so he's using the neglect thing as an excuse."

"The tents are enchanted against sound," Nathan ignored his friend's explanation as he put a grill over the fire. "As long as you've zippered it all the way, the enchantment will activate. Keith and I will probably need to reestablish the enchantments a few times while we're here, but that shouldn't be an issue as long as the weather is nice for a couple of days."

"When did you do the enchantments?" Katie asked. "Haven't you two been busy outside of the game?"

"We didn't," Keith answered. "Nathan ordered them shortly after the Tutorial and had me send them to an enchanter who could do that. Since the Tutorial had lasted that long, Nathan guessed that we might end up needing to camp out, so he asked me about soundproofing and such, mostly because he doesn't like hearing snoring or other people having sex. I knew a gal, so had them sent to her."

"You only have three?" Samantha asked. "I would have expected extras."

"I have four," Nathan answered. "They're six-person tents, which means we can realistically fit three or four people in them comfortably. Two for a full team."

"So… then couldn't we just split the fourth one and have-"

"No," Nathan interrupted. "It wouldn't be fair even if we took turns being alone in a tent."

"What he really means," Keith said. "Is that it's necessary to have at least one other in the tent with you, in case of an emergency. Give me a few minutes to finish, and I'll explain."

Nathan waited for the fire to heat up as Keith finished, and as Nathan began cooking, spreading the logs for heat rather than flames, Keith approached the team and set up a couple of folding tables, pulling out folding chairs as well. Then, he pulled out four identical, neon green plastic whistles, which he handed to the other four members of the team.

"These are emergency whistles," Keith told them. "They will penetrate the tents' sound barriers, so only use them if you need to. If we get separated, stay put. I will use my sight to locate you, but if something comes up, use the whistle so I know it's an emergency. The sound will travel pretty far, even in a forest."

Stolen novel; please report.

"They can penetrate enchantments?" Michael frowned. "How? These are normal plastic whistles. I can buy them for a dollar at the store."

"Maybe," Keith said. "Or maybe Nathan and I carefully enchanted them specifically for that purpose."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Keith said. "It's okay to use your brain a little, it won't kill you."

Nathan snorted, and Michael's face flushed with embarrassment. The group sat down, and Samantha, Katie, William, and Michael played cards and Keith began working on an enchantment. To the others, it looked like a cube of some sort, while Nathan understood what the psychic was making after just a few glances at it.

"Personally, I think it should be an orb," Nathan muttered.

"It'll probably end up as one," Keith responded, speaking normally. "Doing a crystal cube instead of a crystal orb might make it more difficult for most of the enchantments we'd do to stick. It's more of an experiment that can help us find out a little more about the differences in doing the same enchantment on different shapes and forms."

"You really just want to see if it will explode."

"What?" Keith asked. "No, I don't! You're the one who likes seeing if enchantments will randomly explode on us!"

The other four teens gave Nathan a horrified look.

"Nothing has so far," Keith told them. "Mostly, the enchantment itself just fizzles apart. There was the one time when-"

The psychic's eyes widened, then he hastily set the cube aside and pulled out an orb, immediately beginning to work on it. Nathan finished preparing dinner, and as everyone else ate, Keith continued to work, barely stopping whenever Nathan or Samantha put food to his mouth in an attempt to get him to eat.

"What is he doing?" Samantha asked.

"Enchanting," Nathan answered.

"I meant what is he enchanting?"

"He's working on a bomb."

The other four teens flinched back, exiting their seats to take several steps away as they stared at the orb.

"Don't worry," Nathan said. "It won't explode. The runes that would cause an explosion aren't connected to each other."

Which was for the best. When the final version of that particular bomb was created and finished, there would be no testing of it. It would be used exactly one time, and one time only.

The bomb to destroy the dimension with the Soul Engine.

Nathan understood why Keith wanted to try putting several enchantments together. The experiment which Keith had latched onto involved a dimensional rift Nathan had accidentally created. It lasted for only a moment, and they'd agreed not to try it again. The rift was minor, only a small tear which sealed back up immediately.

After dinner, Nathan set William and Katie to cleaning the dishes, as he brainstormed with Keith over a few aspects of the enchantment. Samantha and Michael relaxed, watching Nathan and Keith at first, then playing cards. When William and Katie finished cleaning and drying the dishes, the four of them began roasting marshmallows for s'mores, which Nathan and Keith ignored in exchange for enchanting a metal rod eight inches long and rounded on both ends.

"What in the world is that?" Samantha asked when she saw their new project.

"Ear-breaker," Nathan answered.

"A what?" She asked.

"This rod," Keith told her. "Once it's finished, should emit a powerful, continuous sonic boom. It would be akin to standing right beside lightning when it struck, only without the shock. Just the sound. Nathan wants to call it the 'boom rod', but I'm nixing that idea."

"Boom-stick?"

"That's something else."

"Boom-beam?"

"It's not a beam."

"Boom-"

"Try something without 'boom' in it."

"Thunder dick."

Keith appraised the rod, then sighed.

"I can see that, but no."

"Thunder rod?"

"Sounds like something out of Final Fantasy."

"Never played."

"I'm aware," Keith told him. "And you've promised to play it with me at some point."

"Lucas likes it."

"Let's just get back to work," Keith told him, and Nathan nodded.

"Why are you two making that?" Samantha asked as they resumed enchanting the rod and writing down information.

"Sirens," the enchanters answered together.

"Sirens?" She asked. "I don't think they'd have sirens here, and even if they did, why would you be adding more noise to it?"

Nathan gave her a confused look, and Keith snorted.

"She's thinking an alarm type of siren," Keith told him. "We're talking the mythological creature 'siren'. Our hope is that the… the sonic rod is going to help us deal with them if we come across any here. Some of the Dungeons are located on or by bodies of water, so it's a possibility, even if they aren't connected to the ocean."

"Wouldn't it cripple us as well?" Samantha asked.

"Yeah," Keith answered. "Especially since we're all awakened. Sirens don't actually work on Nathan, so they aren't necessarily a threat to anyone who's with him."

"How does that work?" She asked.

"They aren't you."

"Or Katie," Keith added.

"I guess," Nathan shrugged, his response causing Samantha to laugh.

"Okay," she said. "And-"

"Also," Keith said. "I saw sirens as they truly were when they were female, and Nathan saw them as they truly were when they were male, so it seems their enchanting song doesn't work at all if you aren't attracted to that sex. You do have to hear the song in order for the appearance change to occur."

"Okay," Samantha said. "There are male ones?"

"Yes," Keith stopped enchanting. "And that's what the sonic rod is for. We'll make one for everyone, and if they come across a Siren Patriarch, use it."

"They're dangerous?" She asked. "Wait, that's what nearly killed Nathan, isn't it? You said that it was after a fight against a Siren Patriarch that Evala was entered in, and she was pulled in by the Overseers because of her healing ability."

"Yeah," Nathan said. "One nearly killed me, but I'm stronger now. It's abilities are able to bypass Keith's mental defenses, and he had genuinely thought I was the siren and the siren was me. Without a song. It later put a spear of ice in me. I woke up to a catkin after. Keith, are you sure we should have done that rune and not this one?"

Keith looked at the rune sequence Nathan had written on the paper in front of them, then to the matching set of enchantments on the rod.

"Maybe," he answered. "We can check both. Anyway, Samantha, the purpose of the sonic rod is to disable both sides until Nathan and I can arrive. It's doubtful even a Siren Patriarch would be able to withstand it, so you'd just need to deal with the pain."

"What about earplugs?" She asked. "I'm assuming you two have them."

"They don't work on Siren Patriarchs," Keith said. "No song, remember?"

"Right," she said. "We're all heading to bed. Don't stay up too late, we are in a Dungeon."

"Yeah," Nathan kissed her. "We'll go to bed at a reasonable time. Sleep well."