Aspen led the way through the first door of the Dungeon, with Jake coming in a step behind him, shield up and sword unsheathed.

They’d never been attacked at the entrance to a floor, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen, and Jake was going to be careful.

“Careful,” Aspen called out as Jake stepped through, the bright light of the Dungeon blinding him momentarily. “Don’t want to step blindly here.”

Jake blinked rapidly as he adjusted to his new environment, his eyes widening as he took in their surroundings. Aspen gave the same warning to Alan and Gargan as they joined them, but Jake’s attention was elsewhere.

The four of them stood on a small plateau in a mountain, with sheer rock at their backs and an open sky ahead of them.

Moving to the edge, Jake peered over to see the steep drop disappear down into a light fog, concealing just how high up they were. That fog could well be clouds, though, which told him just how bad it would be if they fell.

“This is crazy,” Jake murmured, staring around them at the endless blue sky. “Is all of this really here?”

“It’ll kill you, and that’s real enough for me,” Aspen said with a laconic shrug. “Not sure about the theory, but believe me, you fall off the edge here, and it’ll be a long way down.”

Jake looked at the impressive drop with a dry mouth, wondering how many others had fallen to their deaths here.

“Well, at least our path ahead is obvious,” Alan said with forced cheer, pointing over to the far side of their little area, where a rocky bridge connected them to another peak.

At the far end of that bridge, Jake could see a handful of rocky structures stretching up around the path before it carried on out of sight, hidden by a light fog.

“Those would be where we’ll fight the first group of monsters,” Aspen said confidently before hefting his spear and setting off towards the path.

Gargan seemed content to go at their speed, but Jake didn’t want Aspen to go on ahead too much and so quickly hurried after him, followed by Alan and their new caster.

The rocky bridge had a slight arch to it and was wide enough for the four of them to walk abreast if needed, which was a good job. Even stepping out onto it was enough to make Jake feel anxious, and despite himself, his pace was slower than usual.

Despite his initial disregard for staying as a group, Aspen didn’t pull too far ahead and instead moved on slowly until Jake caught up.

“I’d have thought you’d have gone ahead and dealt with whatever monsters are there on your own,” Jake said as he caught up to the other classer.

“I might be a touch impatient,” Aspen said, a slight smile touching his features for a moment. “But I’m not a fool. Even Beasts can overwhelm a strong classer in the right situation. Besides, we’re here to see how we function as a team, and we can’t do that if I slaughter everything.”

Jake gave the muscular man an appraising look, mentally revising some of his initial impressions. The way that Aspen had been bulling forward had been a bit concerning, but at least he seemed aware of the problems that could cause.

That didn’t necessarily mean that Aspen would do anything to curtail that impatience, but it was something at least.

With them all moving as a group once more, they began to draw close to the second peak and those rock formations that Jake had spotted earlier.

“Wait, I see something,” Alan called out sharply. The rest of them stopped immediately and took ready positions, but Jake saw no immediate threat. “There’s something on those rocks; I think it’s watching us but hiding.”

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“What is it?” Jake asked, peering ahead to try and see what had caught Alan’s eye.

“I can’t tell. Something colourful caught my eye, but it moved too far back before I could make it out clearly. Using my Skill, I can see the edge of its snout but little else.”

“Likely the first example of the monsters we’ll encounter within,” Aspen said, glancing down at Jake with a raised brow. “Want me to deal with it?”

“Do you have a shot at it?” Jake asked, looking over to Alan, who shook his head. “Then yes, you go first, and I’ll support. Alan and Gargan, you stay here and watch for anything else.”

To Jake’s surprise, no one argued or questioned his orders. He’d half been expecting Aspen to try and take charge, but the big man had simply nodded and waited for Jake to make ready before leading the way.

Putting aside the almost contradictory behaviour from Aspen, Jake focused on what they were doing as they closed in with the second peak.

The rocky bridge led them directly to a rocky shelf where a corner of the mountainous peak had been eroded away. The rocky structures were remnants of this, as though they were a hard core that had persisted after the softer rock had been washed away.

Irregular and uneven, these columns of old rock were perfect for things to hide behind, and Jake was struck by the similarity between this and the way the rats had hidden themselves back in the first Dungeon.

“On the left, top of the rock,” Aspen snapped out in a clipped tone, giving Jake just enough time to look over as something pounced down from above.

The creature was reptilian in nature and stood about two feet tall, with grey scales lining most of its body that would blend in with the rock around it. This camouflage was somewhat undone by a streak of scales that ran from its head down its back to the tail, which was brilliant crimson.

Despite the lizard-like appearance, the creature had a long, feathered tail and two wings, which had both scales and feathers.

Both wings snapped out as the creature descended, letting it adjust its pounce to angle more toward Jake, but that was as much as it managed.

Aspen’s spear cut through the air to catch the creature mid-attack, swatting it from the air with ease and sending it flying back into the rocky column it had leapt from.

“Well, that answers that,” Aspen said as he walked over and retrieved both his spear and the creature’s Wyrdgeld. “Looks like it’ll be Ekhos up here.”

“Ekhos?” Jake repeated, hating that he knew so much less than the other man but eager to learn more.

“A grouping of feather lizards,” Gargan answered as he and Alan joined them. “From the look of it, this is a Lesser Raptor, the weakest of the lineage.”

“What else should we expect then?” Alan asked, moving over to examine the Lesser Raptor with interest.

“For the first five floors, we won’t see anything above Enhanced in strength. For the Ekho lineage, that means more of these,” Gargan said, pointing at the dead monster. “As well as the Enhanced version, called Raptors. They look similar but are a bit over twice as tall and run on their hind legs more easily.”

“They also get bone armour in places and are faster than a lot of Enhanced,” Aspen said with a frown.

“Faster than an Ironfur Murk Hound?” Jake asked, sighing in relief as both the other classers shook their heads.

“No, about the same. Bigger and stronger, but easier to hurt,” Aspen said, Gargan nodding a moment later.

“Understood. Thanks for sharing that; it’ll make this much easier,” Jake said gratefully.

“I’m not surprised you didn’t recognise them. They’re not that common,” Aspen said with a shrug before pausing. “Just how many Dungeons have you delved, though?”

“This will be our seventh,” Jake said, unsure of if that was a good number or not. Fortunately, it seemed that it was, as both Aspen and Gargan looked faintly relieved. “What about you?”

“About the same for me, maybe a few more,” Aspen said with a shrug and a wave of his spear at their surroundings. “Some people find one they like and just stay there, but I find the best training comes with variety, and I like to switch it up regularly.”

“Agreed, we tend to delve repeatedly until we complete it at least once with everything, and then move on,” Jake said, mentally revising Aspen’s suitability up slightly once again. That desire to keep moving to new Dungeons would work well with Jake’s need to do exactly that.

“What about you, Gargan?” Alan asked, looking over to the taciturn caster.

“Ten Dungeons, this is my eleventh. I also keep moving, but that’s because I don’t want the Triarchy to find me. My Patron is outlawed by the Triarchy in Strovia.”

Gargan’s statement fell heavily into the conversation, and Jake blinked in surprise, shocked that someone would casually admit to having a Patron like that. Then again, he’d known coming into this that they both had Patrons; that’s why they were working with the Resistance.

“Fucking Triarchy,” Aspen muttered with distaste. “So, guess we should do the whole Patron introduction thing, right?”

“I’d rather wait until we see if we can work together first before sharing mine,” Jake said before either of them could continue. “I mean no offence, but we barely know each other.”

“None taken,” Aspen said with a wave of one hand before pointing to the next rocky bridge that carried onward. “Shall we?”