Steak and Lilith crawled out of the bathhouse into a courtyard. With the majority of the inhabitants of the castle turned into undead beings, vegetation now rules these lands. The fountain in the middle and the works of stone around them were covered in vines and other flora. Trees grow free, its branches piercing into the nearby windows.

“Seems like a good place to rest,” Steak, the druid, said with a smile on his face.

Lilith agreed. The few ghouls that were in the courtyard were wrapped in vine and tree, some even had flowers growing out of their eyes. It would have made for a beautiful grave if they weren’t still writhing around. They quickly put them to rest using their claws and dagger.

With daylight soon gone, they made a makeshift camp in a relatively clear area. They sat there with a campfire in between them. Steak offered the leftover meat he had in his inventory, and Lilith did the same with the water she had.

“This doesn’t taste like either pig or reptile,” Lilith said as she took a bite out of the overcooked meat.

“At least you won’t get tapeworms from it,” Steak said.

Lilith furrowed her brows. “How do you know that you have a tapeworm inside of you?” She asked.

“That’s what the blue box told me under ,” he said.

“Blue box? Oh, you mean the system. Well, I don’t actually know what it really called, but that’s what I heard the others call it during that rest period,” she explained. “Speaking of, now’s a good time to go over it.”

Steak followed and summoned his status screen. He glanced over at Lilith who seemed to stare into empty space. I guess others can’t see it, huh, he thought.

Skills

Rank

Cost

Metamorph

1 - 30%

n/a

M.morph-Bearcat claws

1 - 52%

2.5/sec

M.morph-Turtleboar Shell

1 - 20%

2.5/sec + Dmg

Effects

Tapeworm

Hatchling

Wrath of Nature

Rank - 1

He went over his skills, trying to make sense of the numbers. With the current skills that he had, it seemed like he was going in the direction of a close-ranged fighter rather than a spell casting druid.

The portion seemed more like defects than something that would aid him. Then, he noticed that the percentages for both and increased by a bit, despite not consuming or killing them for a while.

“What do you think makes a skill increase in rank?” He asked.

“I’m also not quite sure. None of mine have reached the second rank, but my did increase in percentage also. If I were to guess, it must have something to do with either training it like a muscle or deepening your understanding of the skill itself,” she explained.

“That makes more sense than what I’ve had in mind,” Steak said.

Cold wind blew against his body that made him shudder and tuck his knees closer. Lilith unbuttoned her cloak and threw it at him.

“For shielding me earlier,” she said. “Besides that might be more useful for you than it was for me. You said that your skills drained Mana each second, right? I can just make more in exchange for my blood.”

“Thanks,” he said.

He held the cloak in his hands. Upon a closer look at it, he noticed that there was some sort of energy or magic imbued in it, though it was still physically invisible. . His grip tightened the moment he saw the number attached to it.

“Four!? That’s more than what I initially had. Are you sure you want to give this to me?” He asked.

“You better shut up and wear it before I take it back from you,” she teased.

He put it on without any hesitation. It fit perfectly as it was a bit oversized on Lilith despite them being similar in height. At last, he was covered up and not exposing himself. He had graduated from wearing his makeshift diaper, though of course he still needed to wear it. Steak finally felt like a dignified human being. Not forgetting the additional stats that it gave, he opened up his status screen.

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Status

Name

Steak

Strength

2

Level

5

Vitality

1

Race

Human

Agility

1

Class

Druid - Metamorph

Dexterity

1

Health

100

Magic

1

Health Regen /s

0.05

Spirit

7

+4

Mana

100

Points

1

Mana Regen /s

1.75

Next Level

32.56%

Before Steak could say anything else, Lilith suddenly stood up and pulled her knife out. He turned around to see Jill slowly walking up to them. Steak noted the slight smell of iron in the air.

“Oh, thank god you guys are still alive,” Jill said.

“No thanks to you,” Lilith replied.

“You have to believe me. I tried, I really did. But I panicked and by the time I got up to the second floor I realized that I didn’t have the rope with me,” Jill said.

“You can stop with that. We already know you’re lying,” Steak said.

Jill balled her hands into a fist and stood there for a moment, thinking what to say. She sighed and let go of her grip, she couldn’t talk her way to get them to trust her anymore.

“You two would’ve done the same if you were in my situation, if you had the opportunity to get out of there alone,” she said in a low voice.

“We were all in the same situation, you just chose to save yourself,” Steak said.

“Like you told me earlier, don’t lie. I know it crossed your minds, you just didn’t have the opportunity to escape like I did,” Jill laughed.

Steak couldn’t say anything back.

“Say what you want. It won’t change what you did. Just leave us be,” Lilith said.

“Oh, I’m afraid you guys will be the ones bothering me after you encounter what’s ahead,” Jill chuckled.

The two gave her a questioning look. Jill smirked and released her hand that covered the side of her stomach. A chunk of flesh was torn off and the wound was seared shut. It was blood, that was what Steak smelled earlier. As dark as it was that night, the campfire didn’t help illuminate the entire damage done to her. And it was because of this and their emotions that they failed to realize she was injured sooner.

“Explain,” Lilith ordered. Not once did she put her knife away, even after Jill showed that she was injured.

“After I panicked, I ran and found an exit that led to this courtyard. I didn’t stop and rest here like you two did. I entered the castle,” Jill looked up as she talked.

***

A few hours before Lilith and Steak escaped the bathhouse, Jill wandered and pilfered the seemingly empty castle alone. To her disappointment, there wasn’t anything of worth in the lower levels of the castle.

It was then that she remembered what kind of people even lived in a place like this. People of importance, perhaps even descendants of a royal lineage, or the king himself. And a king wouldn’t spread their wealth all throughout their castle, they would gather it all up in one area so that it would be easier to protect.

Like a starved animal, Jill rushed up the stone stairs of the castle in an attempt to gather all of that ancient wealth. The guilt of leaving her teammates behind, gone from her mind.

A set of ornate double doors blocked her way, it was the only one of its kind in the castle. An indicator that what lies beyond it had great importance, like a throne room. Without a doubt in her mind, she pushed one of the doors and slipped through.

“Money, money, money, here I come,” she sang out loud.

She skipped along the king’s path, a red carpet in a long hallway illuminated by magical candlelights. It was surprisingly well maintained, especially when taking into account the other parts of the castle. The only one not surprised was Jill, who was blinded by greed.

Two hooded figures descended from one of the pillars lining the hallway. They were the same height as her, short like children. Gray feet peaked from below the dark robes.

“Protect the king,” they both whispered. Their voices weren’t as damaged as the other undead beings Jill previously encountered.

Jill turned around and ran the opposite direction the moment they gathered balls of ice and fire in front of them. It was a good thing that she left the door slightly opened or else she would’ve died right there and then. An icicle got her in the side which was followed by a fireball that closed the wound.

The small thief had to crawl out with her arms through the door to escape. Shortly after crawling out she stopped moving and gave up, thinking that it was better to die a quick death than to endure anymore pain. However, the undead mages never came.

Curious, she peeked back inside the ornate hallway. The two mages continued to float in the same spot, whispering at each other.

“Stupid brother, the rat would’ve bled to death by now if you didn’t cast your stupid spell. You sealed her wound,” one of them said.

“You’re the dumb one. It was your job to freeze them in place so that I can finish them off with my spell,” the other said.

They continued to bicker as they slowly floated up, back to the ceiling. Jill watched and shut the door closed.

***

“And that’s how I got that wound,” Jill explained as she knocked at the same ornate door from her story.

It was their second day in the dungeon, and the sun was up. Lilith and Steak decided that it would be for the best to have Jill back in their group, though they still didn’t trust her with stuff. The two took turns keeping watch at night, wary of Jill who slept soundly.

Having Jill guide them through the castle greatly reduced their travel time. They didn’t need to spend time looking through all of the rooms anymore as Jill would’ve already looted anything of importance.

“Are you sure that this is the only way to the king’s chambers?” Lilith asked.

“It’s the only way to anywhere,” she shrugged. “The castle goes higher up, but there aren’t any more stairs here,” she said.

“So, we’re forced into another fight to progress forward, huh? Are you going to leave us to die in this one too?” Steak asked.

“On my momma’s life!” Jill placed a hand on her chest.

“I bet you would’ve sold your own mother,” Lilith rolled her eyes. Then, she looked at Steak with a serious look on her face. “Remember what I asked of you back in the bathhouse,” she said.

Steak nodded in response, but he couldn’t exactly remember what it was. He also couldn’t ask because it seemed like Lilith didn’t want Jill to know.