“We’re not friends, Durff,” said the old woman. Jyotsana.

“Okay,” he shrugged. “Does that change anything? Are you coming or not? Do you plan to stay at Life Transformation forever?”

Her face scrunched up, wrinkling even more than normal. “You really think I’d get the opportunity?”

Durff shrugged. “Maybe. But I know you won’t get it anywhere else, at this point. There aren’t many opportunities outside of claims. So are you coming or not?”

“Hmm. I wouldn’t have expected you to lead anything. Why me? You’re already solidly in Integration.”

“I’m motivated to get stronger myself. And I’d rather have people who I trust. Most of the rest… might not have saved me.”

Jyotsana grinned widely. “And you think I would have, on my own? It was that scout, Sybella,” she said, referring to Velvet’s cover identity.

Durff shrugged. “I’m also inviting the twins. They made stuff more breakable.”

“Fine. Let’s just hope it’s less of a disaster.”

“I’ll keep everyone in line if you all get paranoid.”

“Will that actually happen again…?” Jyotsana wondered.

-----

It didn’t, as it turned out. Oh, Jyotsana was worried about all sorts of things, but the actual emotional issues being projected were anger. Fortunately, Jyotsana fought well when angry. They ran across some similar golems to before, and the twins were properly able to repeat their techniques even when mentally oppressed.

“Whoever made you tried to trap us!” Juli said, smashing in the side of one of the golems.

Durff also struck harder, the anger seeming to improve his strength. Maybe everything was fine for them. Even so…

“That was harder,” Durff said.

“Lots,” Misi, the brother of the twins agreed. “Who knew one person made so much difference?”

“That’s because Sybella was strong,” Durff explained.

“Are you saying I’m not, huh?” Misi glared at Durff.

“I would not insult my companions. My mom taught me that being angry shouldn’t affect how you talk to people you like.”

Flames flickered between Jyotsana’s fingers. “This place is also an issue.”

“Yes,” Juli, Misi’s sister agreed. “But…” she punched the wall. “At least we can sort of function? Ow. I’m an idiot.”

“What was this guardian protecting?” Misi wondered. “Aside from the parts, which are rather valuable…” he looked around. “It seems like a dead end.”

“Not if I can help it,” Durff said. He charged towards the end of the path, swinging his hammer. “Give us the treasure we earned!”

Rather than his weapon rebounding off the wall or smashing through it, he felt no impact. That caused him to stumble forward. Then he saw only blackness. Well, that was it. “It really was a dead end!” he cursed. “I should have been more careful!”

“Durff?”

“I can still hear my friends calling from the other world. How odd. I can’t help but be angry I allowed this to happen.”

Flames suddenly flickered next to him. “Hey, ya lug,” Jyotsana commented. “It’s just an illusory wall.”

Durff smashed one of the real walls. He managed to chip it, but it felt good.

“Whoa, look at this!” Misi said. “A silver-spined pinecone!”

“And a five element ivy!” Juli said. “I would have been so angry if we missed this!”

“... Are those valuable?” Jyotsana asked, looking at the pile. It seemed like mostly junk.

“Better,” Misi said. “They’re rare.”

“So… how much would they sell for?”

“I would never!” Misi clutched the silver pinecone to his chest, piercing his hand. “Ouch. Also, I don’t think anyone would care.”

“Hmm.” Jyotsana reached into the pile, pulling out a flaming seed.

“Amazing!” Juli commented. “A true Rubyvine seed!”

“What’s it good for?” Jyotsana asked. “Decent fire element.”

“Well, you can crush it to make a powder good for slaying ice phoenixes,” Misi said.

“That’s… specific,” Jyotsana commented.

“What happens if you eat it?” Durff posited.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that!” Misi shook his head. “It’s far too rare to just consume.”

“Couldn’t we grow it?” Jyotsana questioned.

Misi chuckled. “Only if you can put its origin planet back together. Anyway, the elemental boost would be a waste. You never know when you need-”

Jyotsana popped it in her mouth. Flames began to coil around her, and the twins scooped up the rest of the pile and rushed out of the area. “We should have mentioned the explosive potential from consumption first!” Juli shouted at her brother.

Durff looked at the old woman and pat her on the head. “Ow,” he said as his hand burned. “Don’t explode, okay? But I’m going to go over there.”

-----

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

An hour later, Jyotsana staggered down the hall, her body blackened. She also had red vines growing out of her limbs, and some stalks from her ears. She also faintly flickered with the power of Integration.

“Whoa, you survived that?” Juli asked. “Now I’m definitely the weak one.”

“You all waited?” Jyotsana looked around.

“You weren’t dead,” Durff grumbled. “How could we leave? But we had to fight several patrols of smaller golems,” he gestured. “These are new. Or rather, as old as the sect. Probably. But I haven’t seen them before.”

“We were talking,” Misi said. “About getting out of here and taking a rest. You certainly look like you could use it.”

“Yeah,” Jyotsana grumbled. “I feel awful. But exploding might have been fine.”

They traced their route back along the path they came, before finally reaching a dead end.

They exchanged glances.

“... Did we go the wrong way?” Durff asked.

“These brats were responsible for remembering,” Jyotsana said.

“This is definitely it! See, there’s the mark I left,” Misi commented.

“Then why is there a wall?” Durff asked.

“... I dunno,” Juli said. “We checked to make sure we could get in and out, and we passed here several times.”

“I’m gonna smash it,” Durff said.

One good swing was not enough to break down the wall. However, he got into a rhythm, and ten minutes later they could see through the back of the stone. It crumbled away to reveal… nothing. Not more wall, or endless dirt. But nothing.

Durff poked it. “It’s hard?”

“But-” Misi panicked. “How? We were so careful. If this one had portals we weren’t going to go through!”

Jyotsana sat down. Her sigh brought with it a gout of fire. “The portal was hidden there,” she said. “I’d bet anything. We’re trapped in another secret realm.”

“Okay. So we just have to find our way out. There was one before!” Juli commented.

-----

“Alright, Catarina said. “That should hold it.”

She’d just finished the ‘inner’ portal, just to make it more secure. It shouldn’t disappear when they wandered off.

“Everyone ready?” Timothy asked, hefting his shield. Fuzz barked in encouragement.

As their group started down the corridor, the first thing they ran into was a pack of golems.

“These are smaller than I saw before,” Velvet said. “But I’m sure they’re still fairly dangerous.”

Alva was already shooting, her arrows impacting one of them repeatedly in the same spot. She slowly worked her way through its armor before any of them reached their frontline- which was Timothy and Fuzz.

Timothy stepped forward, blocking the punch of the fastest one. A trembling echo came from his shield, and then a crack- but from the arm of the golem. Normally something like that wouldn’t be able to damage itself in an attack, but Timothy’s techniques allowed him to basically double the strain, reflecting the attack back at his enemies.

Fuzz chomped the first one, his flames not causing immediate damage but his teeth sinking nicely. That provided a good opening for Velvet, who slashed at the restrained enemy.

Catarina stabbed one with her sword, and it crumpled to the ground.

“Well that’s not fair,” Timothy said. “What was that, huh?”

“They’re powered by formations,” she shrugged.

“And so you can just instantly bring them down?” Timothy grinned.

“I had to study them… for about that long,” Catarina said.

“Hmm,” Velvet said. “These are somewhat weaker… but mostly I suppose I was held back too much before. Since the majority of us can use Augmentation level strength.”

“Well, it’s not too bad if they’re like this,” Timothy said. “But I’ll stay ready for tougher ones. Our recent participation has been in large scale battles involving Domination cultivators. It turns out Augmentation isn’t really that bad.”

-----

There wasn’t a way out. Durff and others wandered for days and mapped out the entire area. The good news? They circumvented all the traps and seemed to have defeated all the guardians. They got a number of resources, about half of which were going to Juli- who was at the peak of Life Transformation.

Durff punched the wall. It was more cathartic than hitting it with his hammer, in some ways. “Should have brought a formation master.”

“You think we can just pick those up off the street?” Jyotsana commented.

“Not a real master, perhaps,” Misi shook his head. “But at least a specialist.”

“... I think we have to do it,” Juli said.

Technically, they had found a way out. Or rather, some sort of portal generator. The issue was that it was quite similar to the description that had been found in the first of the Nighstar sect’s locations. The second one, that had a whole lot of people missing to never return.

“I didn’t think it would be worse,” Durff said, punching the wall almost hard enough to break his fist. It was close. Maybe he would. He deserved it.

“We can try to bust our way out in the next place,” Jyotsana said. “Though… perhaps we try to calm down, and rest?” Even as she said that, flames spurted out of some flowers on the vines now growing out of her. She found it unpleasant, but only mentally. It didn’t actually hurt or seem to hinder her in any way.

“I’d like to try to break through,” Juli said. “We’ve found enough for me to try. But I don’t think this is… the right environment for me.”

“Pfeh,” Jyotsana spit out the sound. “Kids.”

-----

“I figured it out,” Catarina said. “The formations are concealed, but the mental effect here. There is one.”

“What is it?” Velvet asked.

“Confidence. Or overconfidence.”

Fuzz barked in disagreement. “We should be confident, we are very strong.” That was, likely, his uninfluenced opinion. The mental effects might not even work on him… certainly not to their full extent.

“We can resist it, obviously,” Catarina said. She stopped for a moment. “Though it is quite difficult to judge, we’ve been rather successful. And I’ve been marking up some changes to dull the effects. Because it’s annoying.”

“I think this would be quite dangerous if we were weaker,” Timothy said.

“Great,” Alva grumbled. “I’m the weakest of us. By a very important step. I’m still effective, I think, but…” she gestured around them vaguely.

“An objective assessment will require a clear mind,” Catarina said. “But we did not bring you for nothing.”

“This sensory inhibition stuff is awful,” Alva commented. “I could at least take advantage of corners and stuff if it wasn’t so limited.”

“We might be able to push past it,” Velvet said. “I wasn’t feeling free to maximize my efforts before.”

Alva furrowed her brow, then nodded. “It’s kind of draining. But I can extend a bit.” She took a few shots, rounding the corner.

“Enemies?” Timothy asked. He didn’t bother rushing forward, since none of them were in danger if she was fighting something around a corner or two.

“Just testing. I needed to confirm my attacks could reach. It’s also more difficult.”

“A good training ground, perhaps,” Catarina said. “Though I don’t know what insights you need, in particular.”

“That makes two of us. Which means that this overconfidence stuff isn’t too bad,” Alva said. “Hey, were we looking for a portal like thing?”

“Eventually,” Catarina said. “Though I would prefer to do a thorough exploration of this area first. If it brings us to another location, or a deeper subspace… both are somewhat problematic. But I would like to observe it to see if I can figure it out.”

“Then we’re almost there,” Alva said.

Velvet nodded. “I sense it too, now. It’s… sunny?”

“Ah,” Catarina nodded. “That would make sense.”

At least it did to someone.