Fin woke up to the sound of abrupt movements, slapping, and whipping sounds. He opened his eyes to see Brando dancing around in his underclothes, whipping his pants through the air like a madman.

"Something bit me!" Brando dropped his pants and began wiping off every part of his body with his hands. "Check my back."

Fin got up and shook the blood into his tingling legs while trying to find anything crawling on Brando's back. "I don't see anything…" Then he noticed a new notification and exclaimed, "I got something!"

"Where is it?!" Brando thrashed around, trying to get whatever it was off him.

"You're fine; put your pants back on; I just got a new notification." Fin popped his status window into view and read out loud.

* Path Quest: Gain over 50 enemies +1 ability point +2 path quest reveal

* Blood Quest: Devour your enemies: +1 level, +3 gold stat points, +1 eye ability. Forfeit all Pain Quests

* Pain Quest: Swallow your enemies whole: +1 level, +4 basic ability points, +1 breath ability, Forfeit all Blood Quests

"I have over fifty enemies and a new ability point!" Fin yelped, bringing the attention of the parameter guards as he read the new entries on his quest log. "These quests are useless, though, there's no way I'm eating a goblin."

Brando looked concerned. "Hey, if I ever offended you, you would tell me before killing me in my sleep and roasting me over a campfire, right?"

Fin laughed. "You'll believe me after I get this ability. What should I get, Strengthened Talons or Crushing Grip? Those are the only useful ones I can think of unless Fear Howl can scare the goblins into releasing us."

"I don't know how effective you will be at scaring anyone into dropping their keys, and if all the talons will do is make your fingernails harder to bite off, then I would go for the grip." Brando offered his hand. "After you do, squeeze my hand as hard as you can. That way, when it doesn't work, you know that I know that you are completely insane."

Fin went to take Brando's hand, and a thought occurred to him. He voiced it out loud, "This is a bad idea; if I'm not lying, I'll probably break your hand. That's not worth proving that I'm not crazy. I'll think of something else."

A notification popped up, and Fin instinctually looked at it.

* +1 Wisdom realized.

He went to his status page and saw that his wisdom was now three, but he wasn't feeling tired. It was curious. Fin assumed it meant that it would add itself without side effects whenever you upgraded a stat point naturally.

"If you want to try crushing a rock or something, be my guest…" Brando's attention went to Fin's feet. They were covered in little red welts with even darker red ants crawling all over him. "You're covered in fire ants, you crazy bastard!"

Seeing the ants, Fin began frantically brushing himself off. Before not too long, he was the one jumping around in his undershorts. He noticed the bite marks didn't hurt but were the reason why his legs felt tingly. It was the pain resistance. There was a reason for pain; it prevented you from getting seriously hurt or killed.

Before Fin was fully dressed, a bell rang in the distance, and the two made their way toward the entrance.

Brando picked up a rock and handed it to Fin. "Something to practice on."

"I haven't upgraded it yet," Fin took the rock and inspected it. "I'll do it now." He pulled up his window and selected his single ability point.

The window showed the familiar dragon, and he mentally selected the talons. As soon as the display was visible, the words "Crushing Grip" glowed and then disappeared from the list.

He selected his status page and saw that his passive attributes said, "Pain Resist." Still, he had a new category called "Active Abilities," where Crushing Grip was located. He squeezed the rock to see if his hand strength had improved, but nothing happened.

They arrived at the gate to find two lines. One line ended at Leonard issuing a pickaxe, the other at a barrel of water, and the lady from yesterday handing out little, white squares. The two decided to get some water first. They were both parched.

When they got to the end of the line, Brando dunked the large wooden ladle and drank from it.

Sophia offered him a white square while Fin drank from the barrel.

"What's this?" Brando inspected it in his hand.

"Breakfast," Sophia replied, handing Fin one as well.

"So, they're not trying to starve us to death?" Brando pondered out loud.

"You are the heart and soul of this operation," Sophia waved the two out of the way to keep the line going. "But that doesn't stop them from making you wish they would kill you."

Next in line was a lady nearly as old as Sophia. She gave a quivering thanks for the meal and slowly made her way to Leonard.

Fin stood behind her. When Leonard gave her the pickaxe, the weight of it made her arm sag. How much longer will this woman last in here?

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She slowly walked off, not complaining but determined.

Fin got a sick feeling in his stomach. If he wasn't so hungry, he would have lost his appetite. After taking a bite of the sodden square, he did lose his appetite. It tasted slightly fermented and had a flavor that resembled rain boots.

Noting the look on Fin's face, Leonard interjected while handing him a broken-handled pickaxe. "You'll get used to it. Just give it some time."

"It tastes like a wet dog!" Brando stared at the bite he took, not seeing the proffered pickaxe in front of him.

"You know what, here," Leonard dropped the pickaxe in the box and replaced it with another one. "This one is slightly sharper. It's not much, but I hope it cheers you up."

Brando took the tool gently and recomposed himself. "Thank you, sir."

The sound of boots and feet on gravel filled the silence as the pair walked aimlessly toward their next mining spot.

"I don't know how I could swallow anyone whole," Fin broke the silence. "Assuming I wanted to swallow someone whole, dragons must have been huge to pull something like that off."

"Enough!" Brando bellowed. "I get it, you want to make me feel better by giving me some crazy notion of hope, but I don't want to talk about this dragon twaddle right now. I have to come up with a real plan to get out of here. I can't live off these wet dog, soggy squares, so I have to figure out how to get out of here while I still have the strength to."

The silence fell as abruptly as it had been broken. Fin wanted to figure out how to use his new ability so he could prove he wasn't crazy. He picked up a rock and willed his hand to have a crushing grip around it.

An odd feeling shot through his arm. It felt like pure power was vibrating rapidly through his body. It was almost like the wave that moves down a rope when you whip it up and down. A loud snap echoed through the ravine.

Brando turned to see the final crumbs of rock fall to the ground. "What was that?"

"I just crushed this rock." Fin looked at his undamaged hand.

Brando picked up another rock and gave it to Fin. "Do it again."

Fin took the rock and repeated the same thing he had just done. The energy felt weaker than before, but it filled his body with intense power. He crushed the rock in his hand, producing another loud noise.

Brando stood disbelieving. "How did you do that?"

Fin smiled. "Crazy dragon twaddle."

"Can you do it again?" Brando asked, finding another rock to crush.

"The power was weaker the second time through," Fin admitted. "If I can, I don't want to waste it on crushing rocks."

Brando ignored him and handed him another one. It was slightly bigger. "Do this one."

Fin set down his pickaxe and wet dog bread and then took the rock in both hands. He willed his hands to crush the rock. The waves moved even slower than before, but his grip tightened. Cracks slowly split throughout the rock in tight webs. He knew that he had to concentrate to keep the power from dying out. The grip on his fingers slowly pulsed. He could feel when the waves of power were at a peak and when they were weakest. Timing the wave, he somehow caught it at its crest. Quickly, he loosened his muscles and sent the power to the rock. The rock split into two pieces.

Fin felt dizzy and sat on the ground. It wasn't that he overexerted his muscles, but he felt he had overexerted something.

Brando stared at him with open eyes and an open mouth. "You can do dragon magic!"

Fin tried telling him that he had been trying to explain that this whole time, but instead, he had to, what? Catch his breath? No, he wasn't out of breath. What was he catching? A notification popped up, so he looked at his quest log.

* +2 Intelligence realized.

* +2 Wisdom realized.

* +1 Charisma realized.

"I have a confession to make," Brando confessed sheepishly. "I didn't really believe you when you started saying all these crazy dragon things. I only pretended to because you were making so much effort to make your story sound true."

"I don't remember a single time where you pretended to believe me," Fin laid on his back and closed his eyes. "Also, you're still calling them crazy dragon things."

"Well, it is crazy!" Brando protested. "I mean, if someone came up to you and said, 'I have troll powers,' you would think they're crazy too. Anyway, are you okay?"

"I must have pushed myself too hard. I got some bonuses from the effort, though, so I think it was worth it. I might feel better after I choke down this fermented square." He reached over and picked up his now dust-covered square. He then tried to eat it as fast as he could. The squishy texture made it go down easier, though he wasn't sure how it could have been harder.

"I guess I'll start digging," Brando hefted his tool and began chipping at the closest bank.

Groups of miners passed them without a glance. It was as if someone lying in the middle of the road wasn't all that uncommon. Finally, Heidle walked past and remarked on Fin's ant bites. "I see you found the fire ants. Nasty little buggers, those."

Brando, understanding the words "ants" and "little buggers," absentmindedly responded, "It's his own fault that he's always trying to make new enemies."

Heidle grinned. "The best thing to do is to not scratch it when it starts itching."

Fin sat up. "What did you say?"

"Some say you can piss on it, but a dwarf would never!" Heidle spat on the ground. "Best just to leave it alone until it heals."

Fin wasn't listening. He bolted up, "I made new enemies! Don't you get it? To dragons, we're as small as ants!"

"Dwarves are even smaller than you," Heidle suggested. "That's probably why those lizard pests keep breaking into our mines and sleeping on our treasures."

"I can eat the ants!" Fin said before jogging off down the road.

Heidle watched him go. "It's a little warm outside, but I didn't think it was that hot. There's a reason dwarfs prefer living underground."

Brando, sensing a question was asked, shrugged. "He'll be okay. He's probably going to go eat some fire ants."

Heidle teetered on a thought. He didn't want to show these strangers one of his good spots, but if they were eating fire ants, they could use a few gems. Back home, he would never share his secret ore veins, not to his closest friends. But this was different; here, you weren't mining for greed; you were mining for survival. It pained him to lose something he had worked hard to find, but he had other spots. Finally, he made up his mind.

"Do you see all the dirt here?" he pointed with his pickaxe. "It's got the wrong hue."

Brando looked quizzically at the dwarf.

"Come on, I'll show you a better spot." The dwarf waved the man to follow. "Eating fire ants when there's a whole mound of gems right there. A great way to get sick and die out here if you ask me."

Brando followed, unsure what the dwarf mumbled to himself when they reached a partially mined area. The dwarf gave him some verbal instructions, or at least he thought they were instructions. He asked the dwarf to speak slower.

The dwarf just pointed to a spot on the cliff and said, "Dig. Here."