Poison sucked. It's not like Joe hadn't been very aware of that before today. Over the last week, Joe had taken a crash course in just how awful it was to be poisoned. He was hard-pressed to decide which aspect of poisoning was his least favorite.

The slowly dying while being aware of his life fading probably deserved first place, but that hadn't happened since Diana discovered the berries had healing properties. Even during his worst cases since then, there was always hope the magic would pull him through it. The burning and cramping were a solid two and three, respectively.

These and other similar thoughts percolated as Joe fought off

another round of toxic squirrel spit. He hadn't gotten used to the darkness of the newest rift branch, and the monsters were fast. They were at least his level, and all of them seemed to focus on speed over anything other than poison. That wouldn't be so bad, but the squirrels refused to fight up close.

Joe hadn't faced actual ranged attackers yet, and he liked them almost as little as poison. The only upside is that it exposed glaring weaknesses in Joe's fighting style. He made a note to ask Nik about it once they finished with the rift.

Speaking of Nik, the man was a ghost. His speed and reflexes were higher than Joe's, but it wasn't an unsurmountable gap. The most significant difference was Nik knew how to fight. He moved before the hits and kept his movements to a minimum. Speed and accuracy were his hallmarks, though his endurance wasn't great. The one time he'd stumbled and taken some poison to the arm, he'd been out of the fight a minute later.

Finally, the poison cleared out of his body, and Joe rolled to his feet.

They'd gone back and cleared the first room again. Joe had been hoping to discover some easily exploitable weakness in the monsters like before, but no such luck. They were fast, and their poison hurt. Against all projections, the squirrels were the powerhouses in the fights. Joe just wished they dropped berries.

It had always seemed weird that the rift dropped so many healing berries from its weakest monsters, and now it made sense. If you didn't collect a lot of those berries, it would be almost impossible to make it past this point without being hugely overleveled or having a poison resistance skill.

Joe thought about his poison resistance skill constantly. He'd considered

going back to upgrade it every fight since the bearcoon. It had gotten to the point that even Nik was curious.

"Is there a reason you aren't leveling your poison resistance?"

"Yeah, well maybe, I don't know." Nik continued to look at Joe, so he

elaborated. "I feel like I get bonus attributes faster if my essence is high.

The text of Diminishing Restraint said that it wasn't just effort but essence was required. Maybe I'm wasting time, but if I can max out my attributes, I'm that much closer to my next level."

Nik nodded. He wasn't much of a talker, and Joe was okay with that. Sometimes he would have liked some snappy dialog to break the tension, but a reliable partner in a fight was worth some sacrifices.

The men stalked forward, and the next meadow came into view. Two more foxes chased each other through the clearing. This time instead of squirrels, two knee-high grey mushrooms stood a few feet apart near the middle of the meadow. Joe stared for five minutes, and the mushrooms never moved. Neither man believed for a second that it was anything but a poisonous ambush monster. After a moment's discussion, they decided to try and avoid them until after the foxes were dead, just like the roses. They'd have to be careful as their attack range was unknown.

The men charged, and the foxes dashed towards them. Nik ran to the left and Joe to the right. The foxes divided, and everything was going according to plan when the mushrooms shot out a wave of needles. The range was double that of the roses and blanketed most of the clearing.

Nik was on the outer edge, and luckily one of the foxes took the needle closest to him. Joe was closer and took two separate darts in his left arm. His arm trembled and burned almost instantly, with the glaive shaking in his grasp. The fox kit had avoided the area attack and darted in to bite Joe.

"One damn fight!"

Joe was enraged at this point and barely noticed his mana sinking as his body fought off the newest invader. He planted the butt of his weapon and lashed out with his foot, sending the small fox flying into one of the mushrooms. That triggered a second wave of needles, but the fox absorbed all of them that shot Joe's way. Then it got up and charged again.

"The foxes are immune to poison. Don't let your guard down," Nik yelled as he stabbed his foe.

They might have been immune to poison but taking four needles at close range still seemed to have hurt them. Joe charged and ignored the fox that danced away. He swung in another lawnmower sweep and cut one fungus off from the ground. Joe was surprised when it showed no signs of dying.

Another pulse of needles shot out. This time Joe noticed it was from a horizontal strip under the cap. With the mushroom on its side, most needles went into the ground and the air, with only a few being dangerous. He ran over and cut off the other mushroom, clearing the AOE damage from the meadow. However, the mushrooms weren't dead and continued to shoot lines of needles every few seconds.

Joe ignored them and turned back to the fox. It was almost on him again, and he clumsily dodged at the last second. The fox wasn't in great shape either, spots of blood showing where the needles had struck it earlier. Joe gritted his teeth and firmed his grip on his weapon. A horizontal strike from his glaive almost bisected the fox before the weapon dropped from his shaking left hand.

Joe dropped the glaive and ate a berry before picking up the massive weapon with his right hand. It was unwieldy one-handed, but Joe's left arm was mostly for show at this point. The cramps and numbness had made it all but useless. Nik had finished off his fox, but the mushrooms seemed largely unaffected by stab wounds, limiting the man's damage. Joe used the flat of his blade and slowly pounded the mushrooms into a paste.

Once the mushrooms burned away, leaving a long thin needle with a purple-green iridescent sheen behind, Joe sat and started working on his poisoning. He debated in his head about going back and leveling up his poison resistance. Joe knew it needed to wait, though. Poison resistance wouldn't help him beat the monster hound.

Stolen story; please report.

That was the crux of the issue. His real fight wasn't this rift. It was the monster roaming the real world. Poison resistance would be invaluable for running the rift and getting rewards, but Tough Skin would be better for a physical fight. It would probably help in the rift if Joe could get it to the point where it helped him resist the poison entering his body. Joe knew it was the right call, but he was so damn tired of being poisoned.

Joe stood up a few minutes later, and both men shuffled down the path. The monsters didn't seem to respawn when they were in the clearing, but Joe didn't feel like testing that theory at the moment. Once they were back on the relative safety of the path, Joe ate another berry and continued to force the foreign mana out of his system.

Twenty minutes later, Joe was fighting fit again and ready to go. The drain on his mana had intensified, and he was down to a quarter of his pool. That would be enough time to get through a couple more fights at its current level before he bottomed out. Joe was willing to push through adversity but pushing through a poison rift with no mana for regeneration wasn't tough. It was stupid.

The poisoning had helped him work on his mana senses and mana control, and Joe felt like they were pushing the boundaries of what he could accomplish. The training sucked, but it would be worth it if he could get his bonus attributes without excessive damage. Higher magical attributes would keep mana drain from putting a time limit on combat in the rift. His new passive was a leach and a half.

The second fight was better but still not clean. Both men were fast enough to deal with the foxes. The issues were the poison needles. Nik was fast enough to avoid the AOE at a distance, but the arc tightened up as you got closer to the shroom. Joe needed to block, and his glaive wasn't ideal for that. So, for now, Joe bulldozed ahead and took out the mushrooms while Nik followed in his shadow and dispatched the foxes. It was fast and effective but continued to eat away at their dwindling berry supply and Joe's patience.

"How are you holding up?" Nik was taking a break while Joe flushed more poison out of his system. Despite his best efforts, he'd still taken three needles in the last fight.

"I've got a few more fights in me. Mana's getting low, but I want to see the boss if we can."

Nik nodded before speaking. "Our gear is a real limiting factor now. We're basically fighting naked except for our weapons. If we had some light armor, it could stop some of the poison."

Joe had the same thought. The poison everywhere wouldn't be as big a problem if every hit wasn't practically guaranteed to hit the skin.

"We might be able to make something from the snake scales and fox pelts. They're pretty small, though. It's going to take a lot of rewards to make anything."

"I was thinking about the small rift in my town. The monster is the reward. If we cured the leather, it could be used as basic armor."

Joe grunted and nodded. He hadn't forgotten about Nik's town, but things kept spiraling out of control here. Joe wanted to keep his promise to the man, but he didn't think he could leave while the other monstrous hound was in the area. His thoughts must have been plain on his face because Nik spoke up before Joe had a chance to say anything.

"Hey, I know we have to kill the other hound. I'll get back eventually. I originally came here to save my friends from those things, and as long as we're keeping that thing away from them, I'm happy to help."

Nik's simple statement took a weight off Joe's shoulders that he hadn't realized was there. Joe took promises seriously, and the fact he hadn't kept his to Nik had been weighing on him every time he saw the man. Joe resolved to keep his word as soon as the second hound was dead. The fact that they might get armor out of it was a welcome bonus.

They approached the third clearing carefully, though Joe knew what he would see there. The rift had its patterns, and sure enough, all three types of monsters were present. This time it was two foxes, two squirrels, and one mushroom. Joe waited until the squirrels were close and then charged.

Joe managed to kill one of the damn things at the start of the fight. He ignored the second one running away and dashed straight for the mushroom. The area attack would make the fight too difficult for the men to handle if left unchecked. A couple of swings took care of that problem, though a needle in his side disrupted his core strength.

A squirrel loogie hit him in the right arm, and Joe turned to his new least favorite monster. He roared loudly and chased after the damned thing. The foxes tried to harry his legs, but Nik stayed with him and punished any monsters that got close with decisive stabs. Thirty seconds later, all the monsters were dead and flaming. Joe stood and wobbled back towards the path before sitting down once again.

+1 Vigor

"Finally!" Joe shouted towards the heavens, causing Nik to look at him.

"Magic?"

"No, vigor. I'll take it, though. I feel like my glamour is getting a workout with all these new and interesting types of poison."

Joe's voice was deeply sarcastic in the back half of his statement. He was happy with the vigor, though. His regeneration perk worked by boosting and enhancing his vigor attribute. Joe suspected that the more vigor he had without the skill, the better it would work. He couldn't think of a good way to test the theory and decided not to overthink it. Stronger healing was in his best interest considering his barroom brawler combat style.

The two types of poison were still flowing through Joe's system after the message. He ate another berry and, on a whim, one of the nuts as well. The proliferation of mana in his system was intense. The scratches on his body were healing at a slow but visible pace with the addition of the blood mana. Joe focused on directing what he could and keeping all of it from running out of control. He was sweating and shaking slightly twenty minutes later when it all paid off.

+1 Glamour

"Oh thank God," Joe mumbled to himself. The poison ran out a few minutes later, and Joe focused on spreading the last drops of beneficial mana through his body.

Joe inspected his mana pool and found that he was very low. The newest attribute had slowed the drain to a bare minimum, but he still hadn't reached a breakeven point. He wanted to see the boss so they could try to plan for next time, but it might not happen. These monsters were a new level of danger, and rushing ahead without leaving a path for retreat would invite disaster.

"Ugghh, let's do it again."

Nik nodded, and both men went back towards the third clearing. The previous fight had gone pretty well, given their level of equipment and speed. It was still a sloppy mess that relied on Joe's ridiculous healing and poison resistance to brute force the solution. Joe shook his head slightly at the thought, and he'd had worse. The second fight was a little cleaner, with Joe only taking a single needle on his way to the mushroom. The foxes continued to be utterly ineffective as Joe focused on eliminating the ranged threats.

`

Against a slower party, the foxes would be dangerous opportunists, but Joe was fast for his level, thanks to his class bonuses, and Nik leaned into speed even more than he did. Despite the danger of Joe's combat style, or rather lack of one, Joe was a hard counter to the agile foxes. He ignored the obstacles and poison that would typically have people distracted and full of openings. It was hard to sneak attack a Mack truck barrelling straight towards you.

That being said, Joe was getting tired. His reaction speeds were noticeably slower than at the start of the rift, and his recovery took longer after each fight, despite all the healing and nourishing mana he'd ingested. Even if his mana pool wasn't down to dribbles at that point, Joe was close to bowing out. Only the allure of the next boss kept him pointed forward and striding towards the last monster clearing.

"I'm about done," Joe said. "If this group looks doable, I say we rush it, run and peak at the boss, and head back."

"Yeah, I'm getting tired. I don't want a careless mistake to put me on the sidelines for a week. Not everyone can heal through a dozen poisonings a day."

"Actually," Joe said, "you could if you had my skill. We could work on unlocking that for you next time."

"Didn't you have to almost die a few times to get that one?"

"Something like that. It would take some trial and error, but I'm sure we could figure it out."

"I'm going to have to pass for now. I'll let you know if you change my mind."

Joe shrugged as they moved forward. He didn't blame Nik, but it was a handy skill. The final clearing came into view, and Joe paused to consider everything. Two foxes, two squirrels, and three mushrooms inhabited the final meadow before the boss. The mushrooms were spread out to provide a veritable killing field of poisonous needles, with the other monsters darting between them.

"Shit. I hate saying this, but I think we should go back. My mana is too low to risk that much damage."

Nik nodded but never took his eyes off the monsters as they backed away. Both men retreated to the last portal, and Joe checked his essence before they left. He was sitting at six, with eight being his cap for level four. The urge to level some skills was killing him, but he still had two more attributes to earn first.

Both men exited the portal together, curious and fearful of what they would find on the other side.