Theo stepped into the frost-covered forest. He looked around, and saw that he stood atop a small butte. Beneath him, on the mountainous terrain, snow capped trees faded into autumn leaves. Looking farther, through the mist and clouds, he could see the dips and valleys of the Hex. From up atop the butte, he could see three sides of it, sliced off as if with a blade. It gave an eerie impression, a reminder that this world was artificial. Even the sea to his right vanished off a cliff — he had no idea how that worked, if there was something holding the water back, or if it cascaded off the side, like sailors used to think the oceans did. His gills called out for the water, taking in the cold mountain air. Whenever they hurt, he took to splashing water on them, which briefly dulled the pain. Was he stuck with them now? They were useful for a water dungeon, but a mountainous arena? They might be more of a burden. He kept the gills closed, pressed flat against the skin of his neck, to keep the dry air out of them. He would need to come up with a solution for them, eventually, but couldn’t think what would work. He put the thought aside.

To his right, the mountains at the center of the tutorial rose against the dawn sky, jagged and tooth-like, their peaks shrouded in mist. He had a sense that those mountains were the most dangerous part of the Hex. He couldn’t say why, but he just knew. Out of curiosity, he used identify on the tallest peak.

Mount Ardith: A mountain at the center of this Hex. There appears to be magical interference stopping you from learning more.

He frowned. Magical interference? At this distance, the mountain looked menacing and bleak. Its highest peak was completely covered in mist, a cloud that seemed stationary above it, an endless storm.

“Is this…” Alice said.

“It’s still the Hex,” Theo said.

“Why is it snowy?” Alice asked, “it was like, late summer when we entered the dungeon. How long were we inside?”

Theo tried to count the days, but there was no way of telling time in the dungeon. He knew they rested a good amount, but they certainly didn’t spend more than a week inside — he doubted they even spent more than a couple days. And yet, the world outside had moved on.

“Maybe time moves differently in the dungeons,” Theo said, “my Drudic Knowledge ability called it a pocket dimension. If that’s the case, then it might make sense that times move differently in there.”

Blake nodded. “It’s the same with planets. Time doesn’t pass the same on every planet, depending on their distance apart.”

“And folklore. There are plenty of stories of people going into the Fae and then coming back a hundred years later, not having aged a day,” Theo said.

“Or like when you’re in a really boring class, and it feels like ten years have passed…” Alice said seriously. Blake and Theo looked at her for a moment, then moved on.

“We need to find Jessica,” Theo said.

“Theo…” Blake started, “you know what this means. If it really has been weeks… months…”

“We’ve got to try,” Theo said. Then he set off down the mountain, back in the direction of the bandit’s camp.

Going was slow at first. The snow at the top of the butte was slippery on the stone, although not more than a centimeter thick. It made the way down treacherous, even supported by his staff. Alice and Tiberius led the way. Tiberius knew his way naturally around the terrain, and Alice used her new robes to float gently from stone to stone and tree to tree. She landed on each easily, smiling wildly as she did so. Blake steadied himself using his staff of lightning.

Eventually, they made it past the snow-line and into the autumn forest below. The trees smelled dry and earthy, their leaves red and brown and ochre. Birds sang in the forest, and the last insects of the season buzzed indignantly. Creatures scurried underfoot as they walked, some that Theo recognized, others that he didn’t: squirrels and spiders and birds with brightly colored plumage. At one point, a rustle appeared in the hedgerows, and a dog-sized tarantula skittered towards them, fangs bared.

Theo lifted his staff, ready to spray the thing with thorns, but a small bolt of lightning came from behind him. Thunder cracked in the woods, sending birds flying, and the spider was thrown back, crackling with electricity. It hit a tree, shaking dust from the canopy, and then slumped to the dirt, belly up, legs spasming. Theo lowered his staff and looked back at Blake. He stood, still holding the smoking staff in both hands.

“What? We’re still trying to level up, right?” He said. “Plus, I really wanted to try that.” He grinned stupidly and blew the steam rising from the staff like it was a pistol.

“Let’s just focus on getting there. We can take out any enemies that attack us, but we won’t pick fights,” Theo said. The three and Tiberius set off again through the woods, following a deer path that wound through the massive oaks. They climbed up over the rolling terrain, through valleys and ravines carved from running water, over hillocks crested with fields of wildflowers. Ruins speckled the landscape wherever they went: broken bits of statues or abandoned stone forts, their walls crumbled into dust. What had the Hex been, before it was their killing ground? Out of curiosity, he cast identify on a shattered temple where they’d stopped to rest.

Anezian Temple (Ruined): The Anezi were a classical era civilization on the planet Pranahati, in the Universe designated Reality Forty-Three, one of the Thousand True Realms. The Anezi reached a magical and scientific peak circa MV 505 (Multiversal Standard Year Five-hundred and Five), and then collapsed due to magically-induced climate change. Their reality was harvested for scrap by the Gamemaker circa MV 1347, due to the planet Pranahati being considered a dead world. This temple is one to their god, Rkara, God of Forest Silence. Rkara’s current whereabouts are unknown.

So that’s what being harvested for scrap means, Theo thought, they what, cut out Hexes and use them for battlegrounds? Game arenas? Is that what’s going to happen to my hometown? He looked up at the temple surrounding them. Thought of the hands that built it, centuries — millennia — ago. Again, the feeling of being lost overwhelmed him. Who were real? Were the finfolk real? Were the Azeni? Reality seemed muddled, when it could be warped the will of a Gamemaker he could not see.

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They rested the night at the ruined temple. Theo summoned a flame, and they finished the rest of their rations from the dungeon, along with rabbit meat they’d caught on the way. Theo prepped it, sliding off the skin and then impaling the rabbit on a spit. The meat was gamey and tough, but it was fresh, and far better than the jerky and hardtack they’d been eating. Theo also took some time to gather herbs from the area: nettles for soup, pine needles for tea. He was surprised to find that herbs now came with far greater amounts of information than before the dungeon. He used identify on a flower he’d never seen before:

Blue heartflower (common): Blue heartflower is a species of magical plant endemic to the integrated realms of the multiverse. While all plants collect mana, stamina, and health energy to a degree, Blue heartflower was magically engineered by ancient Archdruids to collect and store ambient mana from the multiverse. Because of this, consuming blue heartflower will temporarily restore mana and increase mana regeneration. It is the primary ingredient of mana potions.

The flower was a simple, orchid-like plant with a heart shaped bloom. The color was deep blue, edging on purple, and he could feel the power swelling around it. In fact, he thought he could literally see the mana emanating from the forest floor: multicolored light, almost rainbow-like, floating like smoke. He blinked, at it was gone.

He picked the blue heartflower and stored it in his inventory for later. A message followed:

Warning: storing living or biological material in your inventory that is not otherwise preserved (I.e. certain kinds of rations) will not stop the organic material from rotting or souring. Proceed with caution when storing ingredients and raw foods in your inventory.

He noted the message and then dismissed it. It made sense that inventory wouldn’t preserve living things, he supposed. Although he wasn’t quite sure how inventory worked at all. He went back to collecting plants, and by the time he returned to camp, he had a full batch of medicinal herbs and plants. He set to drying them above the fire, hoping to extend their lifetime in his inventory. While they were drying, and he was on first watch while Blake and Alice slept, he pulled up his menu. It hovered before him, a burning circle in the air, speckled with runes. The menu had become more complex as he’d leveled, giving more options and pathways to access knowledge and abilities. But there was only one thing that really interested him at the moment. He selected the rune in the bottom left portion of the menu, that meant Map.

He hadn’t had the opportunity to use the map that often, mostly because he hadn’t seen much of the Hex. But now, with the information provided from his travels and the vantage point atop Kal’ech’s dungeon, he had a fair amount of information. The Hex didn’t have directions, but for simplicity, he labeled the map with North, South, East, and West arbitrarily. He simply dragged a finger in the air on the rune-map before him, and the letters hovered there. At least that made things a little simpler.

They’d been summoned in the far southwestern corner of the map. That area, and the area immediately around it, was cleared of the fog of war. If he concentrated, he could zoom in on particular landmarks: the giant head of stone where they’d camped. The stone hand that they’d fled to. The clearing where they’d fought the Velocirabbit. He labelled these for simplicity: Summoning Hill, Stone Head, Stone Hand, Rabbit Clearing. From there, a long path of cleared of fog lead to the Bandit Camp, which he labelled as well. Kal’ech’s Dungeon was already labeled on the map, as was Kal’ech’s Dungeon Exit. He labelled the butte where both the entrance and exit were as Mount Kal’ech, and then noted the distance between their current location, Azeni Temple, and the Bandit Camp. A long stretch of fogged land still separated them from it, but it seemed like they were only another day’s walk away, to the northwest. Tomorrow, they would confront the bandits.

If they’re even there at all. If Jessica is even still alive, he thought. He shut his eyes and pushed it away. He couldn’t afford to doubt. He had to keep moving forward.

He pulled up his stat menu and looked at his current levels. He’d been steadily adding skill points, going for a more balanced approach than before.

Name: Theodore Cross

Species: Human (Evolved)

Class: Druid (Path of Evolution)

Character Level: 4.3

Essences:

Strength: 2.3

Agility: 1.9

Durability: 3.3

Charisma: 1.2

Intelligence: 2.5

Wisdom: 3.6

Power Available: 0

Skills:

Bushcraft (Basic)

Herblore (Basic)

Wilderness Medicine (Basic)

Minor Magic (Basic)

Thorn Spray (Basic)

Minor Beastspeak (Basic)

Animal Companion (Basic)

Call of the Wild (Rare)

Mutate (Basic)

Swimming (Expert)

Ink Squirt (Remedial)

Warp Water (Remedial)

Silent Swim (Remedial)

Spearcraft (Remedial)

Waterbreathing (Remedial)

He hadn’t tried the Warp Water ability that he’d gained from Kal’ech yet so he summoned mana to his hand and cast the spell. The knowledge of it flooded him, and he instantly knew what to do. He reached into the pot before him that held the nettle soup, and was able to draw the water out of it, manipulate it to his will. It was different than what he could do with Call of the, Wild. That usually just meant he could do only the most basic elemental manipulation. Parlor tricks. With Warp Water, he could turn water into a weapon. He experimented with pulling water from the air, then coalescing it into a baseball sized orb. He could fire it like a cannonball, hard enough to shake the trees and leave a mark in the wood. It’s not Blake’s void spell, but it’s something, he thought. He’d been feeling underpowered since Blake had gotten that spell. What good was thorns against a literal black hole? Not that he’d ever have to go up against Blake. They were allies. Quest or no quest. Still, there had always been competition between them, and Theo wasn’t going to be found lacking.

He itched at his gills. Another perk of Warp Water was that it became easier to rehydrate his gills when they got dry. He was soaking them in levitated water when he had the idea.

He examined the Mutate ability. It had since upgraded from Minor Mutate, and the description was as such:

Mutate (Basic): This ability allows the user to make small anatomical changes to any living thing their level or below, as a function of the user’s Wisdom ability. Requires concentration. Cannot be used on an active enemy.

Previously, the Minor Mutate skill had only allowed him to change creatures less than half his level. But if the full Mutate ability allowed him to change creatures at his level or below…

He raised his hands to his gills, pulling mana there. Then he focused on the skin around his new gills, grabbing on to it with his mana. The skin stretched and pulled and grew, sealing the gills shut. The itching and the discomfort faded away. He could still feel the gills under the skin, still feel their want for water and the pathways they created to his blood. But he longer felt like neck was an open wound. Much better, he thought.

But then he thought, why stop there? If he could change his own body…

He focused on his fingernails. He vaguely knew what they felt like in bear form, and so he grew them out, forming small claws. His teeth, too lengthened into fangs. He knew enough about animal anatomy to know how certain animals saw in the dark, too. The tapetum lucidum was a small reflective layer at the back of eye, that contributed superior night vision to wolves, cats, and other hunters. He closed his eyes, focused for a moment, and let the mutation work. When he opened his eyes again. The world was brighter. The stars were bright spotlights over the woods, and the flame before him roared, making the midnight forest seem like dusk. He blinked staring out at the night with new eyes.