"So the foxes are just false fox kits?"

"Yeah. I was expecting something way weirder."

Joe waited for the other shoe to drop. This rift was too weird and annoying for that to be Diana's big reveal.

"And the other?"

"Ssssquirrels. With four S's. I checked a second time."

"Ugghhh that's so awful."

"I know, right? It was so bad I got distracted and let the foxes get the drop on me. It was stupid."

"Understandable," Joe commiserated. "That might be the point of these awful names. Or maybe this rift sucks. Thinking about the poison, it's probably the latter."

Joe ambled forward, loosening his arms and shoulders as they walked towards the meadow. Again, they waited, and Joe charged the spitting squirrels. Even in his head, he refused to call the monsters by their ridiculous names.

The monsters died quickly, and Diana managed to keep the path to her back while she whittled down the foxes. Joe smiled as he saw that she had the fight and let her finish it. If she didn't need help, he'd let her collect the killing blows and the extra essence they held. Diana would need it to upgrade her skills after the significant expenditure on the uncommon skill.

A grumbling noise filled the meadow, and to Joe's embarrassment, he realized it was his stomach. Diana laughed and threw him one of the walnuts. He ate it and offhandedly encouraged the energy to support and revitalize his body. It didn't remove the hunger sensation, but between the nut and the berries, Joe didn't feel like he was starving.

"I'll charge the shrooms in the next room. Stay behind me until they're gone. The poison is no joke."

Joe charged forward, ignoring the foxes and keeping the shrooms in a single line in front of him. He couldn't dodge with Diana shielded behind him, but it limited the shots he could take at one time. Joe sliced and squashed one, not waiting for the fire before charging ahead to the next. Diana kept the foxes off him until he killed the next mushroom. The fight ended a minute later with two dead foxes.

Diana collected the loot while Joe stumbled back to the path. He pulled out the grey poison needles from his arm and chest before eating some berries. His skills and the magic healing pushed against the poison; while it was severe, Joe wasn't worried. He was far stronger now than he was the last time this happened.

Power flowed into Joe, and he accepted with a small smile. It wasn't enough to fill him up, but it negated the drain caused by his passive skills. A half-hour later, Joe felt his body shrug off the last of the poison and stood up. Diana had stopped the transfer a few minutes before, conserving some of her power in case of an emergency.

"You need some armor." Diana's statement was dry and matter-of-fact.

"I know, I know. It's on my list. I thought if we could get to Nik's town, Mike could rig something up from the leather. We just don't have the supplies and tools to do much right now."

That was enough talking, and they both charged forward to kill monsters again. The results were slightly better, with Joe only taking two needles. Diana collected the loot, and they fell into their standard recovery period between fights. Joe searched through his body and spirit, finding his mana low but acceptable for another fight.

"One last fight and then we call it?"

"That sounds good. I can't work on magic against monsters this strong."

A minute later, Joe hoped he hadn't been prophetic when he called for the last fight. The mushroom had died quickly, but the monsters had targeted Diana almost exclusively. She stood back to back with Joe, chewing a berry while standing on shaky legs.

"Stay behind me. We'll get through this," Joe yelled.

He stood and let the anger sweep through him. Joe had never been prone to anger, much less rage. He'd had suspicions for a while and voiced them with his comrades. Lately, he'd been sure of it. It had happened suddenly and without warning, though he hadn't noticed at first. When Joe had obtained the diminishing restraint skill, his mind had struggled with a new awareness of the system and its attachment to his soul.

As Joe gained bonus attributes, he felt his soul growing and forcing his body to adapt to its new power. At three attributes, the system had clamped down on his spirit, containing it in stasis. It attempted to do so anyway. Instead, Joe's skill funneled all the extra effort and essence into the wall around him. Cracks formed, spiritual, and almost imperceptible in nature. Finally, through blood, sweat, and tears, Joe grew one last time before the system finished clamping down on him.

Joe hadn't shared any of this with his companions. He wasn't sure it wasn't just in his head, and there wasn't anything they could do. They knew about his skill, and if they wanted it for themselves, he would do everything he could to help them obtain it. Even if it was true, it was an uncomfortable thought at best.

Using his new awareness of the system, Joe could feel his class when he used the class skill. When Joe used Bite in the rift, he felt the normal activation and, a moment later, a whisper from his soul. Almost like another spirit wrapped around his own. An echo of an echo of another soul. And that soul didn't feel fear at pain, injury, or doubt. It only raged against those that would attack it, killing everything that would hurt it by any means necessary.

The fire of emotion swept over Joe as he dove into the fray. The mushrooms were dead, but the other monsters were alive and harrying them. He knew it wasn't wise to lose his thoughts during combat, but Joe needed something to fight off the pain of poisoned wounds burning through his body.

Pain had been a constant companion since the system came into Joe's life, and he had slowly gotten used to it. Thanks to his skills, he'd shrugged off attacks and wounds that would have killed him a month ago. It still hurt. Right now, though, it was too much. Blood dripped from his legs that shook with the strain of staying upright. Joe gave in.

The fires of rage roared, and Joe lost himself in the combat. Both foxes died five seconds apart, smashed with the flat of his blade into the hard earth. A sharp edge was too good for the wicked things. The squirrels were next running and still trying to poison Diana again. Joe blocked all the shots with his own body.

Joe's body coiled like a spring, and the glaive launched like a javelin, bisecting one monster. Power surged to his face, and Joe dove at the last enemy. He ripped its throat out even as it scratched his face. Joe stood over his fallen foe, his body shaking like a newborn calf. Maddened eyes darted through the clearing, searching for threats.

Stolen novel; please report.

Diana stumbled in Joe's direction, and he flinched from her. She grabbed his arm, dragging him towards the rift portal. Joe resisted initially, but Diana's grip was like steel, even if her legs were rubber. Joe shook himself, his head clearing enough to stumble after her.

They ate a handful of berries and dove into their inner worlds. Joe swept the rejuvenating power through his ravaged body, clearing the poison from his organs before slowly removing the traces throughout the rest of his body. With his task accomplished, Joe felt a jolt of memory, and his eyes shot open, looking around frantically for Diana.

Joe's eyes found her a moment later, and he breathed a sigh of relief. She was awake and looking at him expectantly. Joe hadn't had any room for distraction while he fought the poison in his own body. He'd been worried that even though he'd taken most of the damage, Diana's lack of resistance skill and lower vitality would leave her fighting for her life. Apparently, that fear was wildly misplaced.

"Are you OK?" They both asked the question at once, and Joe smiled and answered first. "Fine, you?"

"I've been better. I can't wait to never come in here again."

"I'm almost out of mana," Joe said. "How about we head out and reset this thing?"

Diana nodded, and they left the rift together. The sun was shining in the real world, and fortunately, no giant dog monsters were waiting for them. They froze, though, taking no chances. Joe felt the mana drain taper off and reverse as his restraint skill faded out of use. A moment later, Diana's hand was on his back, transferring mana into him.

They spent the next ten minutes like that, silently recovering next to the flaming hole in the world. Joe never stopped scanning the area, always looking for motion or sound that would indicate an ambush. Finally, his mana filled, and he broke the connection to Diana. She staggered slightly, and he caught her by the arm, steadying her.

"It's safe to sleep inside. Let's go back in and get some rest. We won't get anything accomplished in this condition."

******

Joe let Diana sleep first once they were back inside the rift. There had never been an issue in the starting meadow, but he refused to let his guard down inside of the rift. It was literally a magic murder hole designed to eat people. There was no point in getting comfortable. He shook his head at the irony that it still felt safer to rest here than in the real world.

They didn't know why the hound avoided the rift, but he was happy about it. The closest tracks they had spotted didn't come within thirty feet of the portal. The monster was avoiding the area. Joe just wished he knew why.

After four or five hours, Joe's eyes were getting heavy, and he woke up Diana to sleep. She looked tired but understood once she saw him wavering on his feet like a sapling in a thunderstorm.

"Get some rest. I've got this."

Joe nodded and laid down. It was only a minute later when soft snores drifted across the grass of the clearing. Diana smiled at the idiot asleep on the ground before her and got to work. Slowly a soft light came into being over her palm, and it was so tiny it could be heat haze on the road if they weren't in the rift. She focused on it, getting the brightness up to that of a candle flame before she started moving it around her palm.

It only took ten minutes for the flame to gutter and disappear. Diana sat down, breathing hard and sweating. Her mana was empty from the brief use of mana manipulation. She knew the easiest way to get better would be to kill monsters and upgrade the skill. Diana still had every intention of doing that. But System skills weren't everything. She'd moved her mana before the skill had come along and made it easier. A half-hour later, she started again.

******

Four hours later, Joe woke up with a snort. He wiped a bit of drool from his chin and looked around guiltily.

"How long?"

"About four hours. How do you feel?"

"Not bad. A bed would have helped, but the attributes have helped with lack of sleep."

Diana made a face at him. Joe understood the sentiment. She had mostly magical attributes and was still much closer to the former baseline of humanity. They got up and dusted themselves off, and each stretched and limbered up before heading down the path.

"I know you're still working on things. How about I wound the other monsters so you can focus on one at a time? It will give you extra practice."

"That will really slow us down, are you sure you're OK with it?"

"Yeah. I could use the practice on controlling my attacks anyway."

The pair moved forward and did just that. Diana took down one monster, working on manifesting the flame of mana in her palm, while Joe crippled the other monsters. Often he would remove a foot and hold them down with the flat of his blade. Diana got faster at the manifestation of her mana, but she struggled to have it affect the monsters.

Despite looking like fire, Diana's mana wouldn't burn anything. It shed light but seemed to resist doing anything else. During the first run through the monsters, Diana continued to try different approaches and mental techniques. Nothing worked, and they moved on once she was out of mana.

Joe killed the fox. It wasn't a challenge, but he still enjoyed it. Joe doubted he'd ever get tired of killing that thing based on their history. Diana went over and upgraded mana manipulation to level 2. It emptied out her essence reserves, but she felt for just one essence level, it was a worthwhile expense. She'd have to save up after this. If she was successful and some point, it would suck to unlock the skill and not be able to get it.

They continued their previous strategy, and Diana was pleased with the increase. She'd slowly been improving, but the skill upgrade was a jump forward. The mana flame manifested after only a minute, and she was able to get it brighter than ever, though at a correspondingly larger expenditure of mana.

Still, the mana refused to destroy. It just sat there and looked pretty. The fact that it shed light and used power showed that it was doing something, but she couldn't figure it out. Diana kept working on getting it bigger and bigger. The light output didn't change, but by the end of the third boss, she could get the flame to the size of a small grapefruit. She gave the bearcoon an extra kick as it was dying. The size didn't seem to matter. Diana still didn't know how to use it.

"Ugggh! This is so frustrating!"

Joe looked over and gave her a knowing nod. He'd been there, and it sucked. His gamble had paid off with his new skill and bonus attributes. Joe knew hers would eventually.

"You're showing improvement. That mana thingey is way bigger now. That's something."

"But it doesn't do anything," Diana grumped.

"Well, switch it up, I guess. If pumping more power isn't the answer, try to condense it down. It might be like gas. Right now, it's too diffuse to interact, but if you get the density higher, something might happen."

Diana stared at Joe. It had started as a glare, but she'd lost focus after a moment. That was a good idea, and she knew it. It just stung that Joe had come up with it. She respected him, but he was the guy who got poisoned and injured while killing things he had no business fighting. Joe seemed to sense her thoughts and sounded defensive when he spoke.

"I know things too. Before the world went to shit and the system came, I did start college. Physics and math just haven't been as useful lately, so I'm rusty."

"I need to clear my head. Let's kill some of these stupid squirrels to get the food and then reset the rift. It's still too dangerous until we get better skills or equipment."

Joe nodded, and they did just that. The sun was lingering on the horizon when they exited. Joe squinted into the setting sun, looking towards the carwash and hoping to see nothing amiss again. He was not as fortunate this time.

A hulking mass of black hairless muscle strode out of the carwash bay where they'd killed the red hound. It raised its head towards the wind, but it was from the west. Joe knew it probably wouldn't smell them, but they were framed perfectly by the setting sun. The monster was the size of a full-grown texas longhorn and twice as wide. It casually shouldered a small tree out of the way before it walked off towards the north.

Towards the town, Joe realized with a shudder. Still, he didn't say anything. Joe didn't move and barely took a breath; so great was the instinct to stay motionless in front of the predator before him. Diana seemed to have the same thought, freezing in an awkward position rather than risking unnecessary motion. They stayed there for five minutes before Joe grabbed Diana's hand and went back into the rift.

"Holy shit," Joe said, his voice still shaky from the adrenaline and fear.

"I don't think level four is going to cut it, no matter how many people we have."

Joe looked over at Diana and nodded. She was right. A small power upgrade wouldn't do. They needed levels, skills, and gear. Then maybe they could take that thing down with the town's help. After seeing it again, and this time on ground level, Joe knew that they would eventually agree to help kill the thing. It was just a matter of how many deaths would take place in the time between. He shook his head to clear the gloomy thoughts and handed Diana some water.

They ate together, the magic food nourishing their bodies, if not their spirits. The water was used sparingly for drinking, even though neither of them smelled great. A bath could wait until they weren't in immediate danger of death. A minute later, they were packed up and moving forward. There was work to do and monsters to kill.