Niall waited to make sure it was fully dead before he walked forward and cut out its energy core. “Foundation establishment,” He announced, holding it up so they could see. “Not bad for our first beast of the trip. Now we just need to bring it back to the trailer.”

“Or,” Nate began, while he pointed to his mother’s wrist. “We could just store it for a while.”

His parents blinked and began to laugh. They had momentarily forgotten about the storage bracelet.

“Right, or we can just do that.” His father admitted with a wry grin.

Nina took a moment to check around the tree, trying to find whatever the boar had been smelling, but gave up after a minute. There was nothing obvious there, and her knowledge of rare herbs and other items was somewhat specialized.

Nate marked where they were on the map, the dry-erase marker creating an easy-to-see line back to the rig and trailer.

With all the busy work completed, they once more set off.

Nate found his mind wandering more easily this trip as they walked. Without a proper destination in mind, it almost felt like they were simply taking a hike. His mind wanted to take in the sights, instead of remaining vigilant. Without that goal present, or the girls, the entire expedition just had a different feel to it, he found.

Which should have been obvious in hindsight. It wasn’t bad. He enjoyed spending time with his parents. It was just different, less fun, and more like the work and training it was meant to be.

The next beast they came across was a large rabbit. It had bone spurs sticking out the back of its feet like reverse claws. They were perfect weapons for a windmill kick to the head of an unsuspecting opponent. Not that he had ever seen a rabbit perform a flip outside of video games. Its teeth were heavily chipped and serrated, and several tufts of fur had only just begun to grow back.

They had just entered a small clearing when they spotted the Doberman-sized rabbit lazily hopping around.

Without needing to say anything, they lined up for a repeat of their earlier tactics. Nate waited until his parents were ready before gently pulling the trigger on the crossbow. With another explosion of forceful energy, the bows released their tension on the bolt and sent it rocketing through the air. He missed the rabbit by several inches this time.

The distance involved between this shot and the last one he had taken was easily double. He really did need to get some practice in with the crossbow if he wanted to be proficient with it.

Next to him, his mother released her arrow as well, as soon as she saw his was going to miss. Hers didn’t, and the wooden missile eviscerated its head.

There was no need for Niall to do anything this time around. Instead, he simply removed the beast's core and passed the body to his wife.

“Should we go for a couple more or start heading back?” Nate asked them as he brought out the map.

His father looked over his shoulder to where he had marked their current location on the map. “We should probably get at least two more before heading back. The beast activity seems rather light at the moment. We’ll need all the help we can get for later.”

Nina joined them a moment later. She had thoughtfully retrieved Nate’s crossbow bolt after retrieving her own arrow from the ground. Something her husband had forgotten to do when he picked up the body.

“Let’s head to this spot here,” She said, pointing to a nearby mark on the map. “From there we can begin to circle back to the rig and trailer.”

“What’s there?” Nate wondered as he memorized where they were going.

“A natural spring. This area used to be famous for them back in the day. Before the dimensional zones came, people used to believe that the water from natural springs like this one had healing effects. Drinking it was better for the body than normal water, and bathing in it could hasten the healing of wounds.” She smiled and shook her head. “Some of that may have been true to a small extent before, but it’s all true now.”

“Would it have helped with my problems before?” He asked as they began walking.

“It’s entirely possible. I can’t say how much, but it might have had some effect.” His mother’s face fell as she remembered those days. “Unfortunately, whatever magical effect is contained within the natural spring and its waters don’t like to be bottled up. We would have had to bring you out here directly. Which, in your condition, could have easily killed you. Not to mention the regulations about bringing non-cultivators outside the city.

“It was an option we were considering either way when things started to get better. It truly would have been a desperate move on our part, as there would have been no guarantee that it would have helped. In the end, we might have done all of that, put you in so much danger simply to fix your knee. Which I suppose would have been something.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Nate nodded along, understanding what she was saying. The sharp edge of the memory of how bad his condition had been had already started to fade somewhat. Despite the relatively short amount of time that had passed. It had always been that way for him; it was part of what allowed him to stay sane. The full memory of his pain tended to fade quickly once it was over.

Logically, he might know that the entire experience had been off the charts painful or disorienting, or whatever. Now, though, all he really remembered was always being tired and his knee hurting. The full extent to which it had hurt had diminished, and the memories of everything else had dulled as soon as they were healed.

“It’s alright, I understand. I’m glad neither of you had to sneak me out of the city so we could try and attempt this hike in my previous condition. I doubt I would have made it.” He meant for the words to be lighthearted, but instead they came out flat and conversation stalled for a couple minutes afterward.

“Remind me to thank George again when we get home,” Niall said softly as they stepped out of the trees and onto the broken remains of an asphalt road.

“Same honey, same,” Nina whispered back solemnly.

All along the sides of the road, they could see signs of where beasts had passed through. It was in a similar condition to the road back at the subdivision and had slowly been retaken by nature. There were plenty of areas as they pushed forward that they needed to skirt around because of the extensive damage.

As they neared their destination, they caught sight of a herd of lightning deer protected by a young lightning buck. It only had a few points to its antlers, but as Nate’s mother had explained the last time they encountered one, the true danger was the herd. The buck was a symbol of power, but the herd was the true strength.

They stayed well back and made sure to not make any aggressive moves toward them. Luckily for them, the wind was blowing toward them, instead of against them. So, while the herd of lightning deer still likely knew they were there, the lack of scent constantly disturbing them kept them from getting jumpy.

After a few minutes of walking like that, Nina and Niall gradually relaxed the tight grips they had been maintaining on their weapons all morning. The herd in front of them was acting as guards and keeping all the other beasts away. For the moment, at least they were relatively safe.

Not exactly how they wanted things to happen, considering they were meant to be collecting beast bodies at the moment. However, sometimes you simply needed to take life as it came, and this was one of those times.

A few minutes later, the natural spring came into view. At some point in the past, people had installed a hand pump so the water could be piped directly into buckets or bottles of water. The spring itself was little more than a pond, maybe ten feet wide and six or so deep.

There were several different beasts and evolved animals drinking from the pond or the many runoff streams. Each one was looking suspiciously at their neighbor but was not acting aggressively for the moment. They all understood that this was a special location.

Some watering holes were treated as neutral locations in the wild where no animals would be hunted while near it. This was one such location.

The three of them would need to be careful not to attack anything. They wouldn’t be able to accept the consequences otherwise.

Carefully, Nate walked over to the hand pump and gave the lever a few test pumps to see if it even worked. On the fifth motion, he began to feel a buildup of pressure and kept going, stepping out of the way of the faucet.

Eventually, slightly rust-colored water began to flow out of the pipes. “Hmm, just what I’ve always wanted to drink, rusty water, tastes just like iron,” Nate joked as he continued to pump, hoping it would clear up.

While he was doing that, his parents had removed their boots and rolled up their pants. Sitting on a nearby rock, they were soaking their feet and relaxing in the morning sun, amidst the non-hostile beasts and other animals. It was a rare sight, and one they were rather enjoying.

Nate kept working at the old pump and a short while later, the water that was coming out looked clear. Grabbing a bottle, he filled it up and held it up to the sky, where the sunlight would highlight any impurities. Outside of a few rusty iron flakes at the bottom, it was clear.

He passed the bottle to his parents after he had drunk his share and pulled off his boots to relax next to them. “It has an odd taste, very… minerally? Is that right?” He shook his head. “Either way, I can feel it bring back the energy I spent walking here from the truck. As for healing though, I don’t know. I don’t feel anything on that end.” His bracelet kept him in top shape for the most part, but it also helped him to become sensitive to healing energies.

Nina drank from the bottle next before passing it to her husband, who finished it off. “You’re right. I feel the little energy I spent earlier from walking and fighting coming back. Then again, I’m not injured, so maybe that’s why.”

“Hmm, should we bottle some up and put it in the storage bracelet?” Nate asked as he watched the different beasts and animals move around them.

“A few bottles wouldn’t hurt, but not too much. We shouldn’t be greedy.” His mother cautioned, as they each stood and pulled their socks on over wet feet. The boots they wore would keep them from getting trench foot, as they were designed to wick excess moisture out. A dry foot was a happy foot.

Niall had just finished filling the fifth water bottle when everything drinking from the spring went silent. Calmly, he passed the bottles back to Nina, who stored them and grabbed his tonfas.

Nate unslung the crossbow from his shoulder and made sure a bolt was loaded.

Thirty seconds later, the sound of other cultivators stomping through the underbrush reached his ears. His parents had no doubt heard them a while earlier as their expressions twisted into ones of distaste.

It only took him a few moments to reach his own conclusion as to why that was. These weren’t cultivators out on an expedition. They wouldn’t have been stomping about making so much noise if that was the case. No, these were more of the foreign cultivators from other towns and cities who had come to see the dungeon.

Sure enough, shortly after he came to that realization, a group of cultivators stumbled upon the spring. Some of the animals and beasts had fled, but many had chosen to stay. Lending to a no doubt ripe-for-the-picking buffet of potential beast cores.

“Don’t even think about attacking any of them,” Nate’s father commanded before the new group could so much as even twitch toward their weapons.