Alonso suddenly opened his eyes. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, the first rays of light touching his tired face. Somehow, he had dozed off while sitting there, facing the ocean.

He didn’t even remember at what point he fell asleep last night, but he reckoned it must have been late—very late. He checked his self-made EM internal clock:

“Let’s see… 12,082 heartbeats… With a resting rate of about 60 beats per minute, that’s… around 201 minutes? So, roughly three hours of sleep. Hm, I should probably devise a more accurate way of measuring time.”

“You have so many projects left unfinished and you want to add more?”

He rubbed his eyes, feeling the grogginess settle in. “Guess I’ll have to rely on the sun for now. Let’s get back to it.”

He got up slowly, stretching his stiff muscles as he gazed out at the ocean. The morning light danced on the waves, casting a serene, almost magical glow over the water. For a moment, he felt a sense of peace wash over him, amazed by the refreshing beauty of the scene before him.

But then, the memory of the leech came crashing back into his mind, and his expression hardened. The bite on his ankle still throbbed slightly, but it was much better than the day before. He reckoned it wouldn’t affect his combat skills much.

"Time to find Abhijit, I guess," he muttered to himself, shaking off the lingering thoughts. He grabbed his sword and began making his way along the beach.

After a few minutes of walking, he spotted a figure in the distance. As he got closer, he recognized the familiar silhouette of Abhijit, who was crouched down by the water’s edge, seemingly lost in thought.

"Morning," Alonso called out, his voice cutting through the morning quiet.

Abhijit looked up, a hint of relief crossing his face when he saw Alonso. "Morning. You look… well-rested, considering."

"Yeah, got a few hours in. How about you?"

Abhijit shrugged. "Slept on and off. This place doesn't exactly make for a peaceful night’s rest."

Alonso nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I get that. Anyway, ready to head back into the jungle?"

Abhijit stood up, dusting the sand off his hands. "As ready as I'll ever be. Anything special last night?"

Alonso paused for a second.

“Are you going to tell him about the three deadly creatures you found yesterday?”

“Three? Oh, come on, Houston.”

Alonso chuckled and looked at Abhijit. “I nearly died from a black panther-like monster and got bitten by a big fat leech when I decided to take a bath on the shore. I guess you could say it was a night to remember.”

Abhijit’s eyes widened in surprise. “You went into the jungle last night? So this panther-like creature is a new type of monster? And a leech in the ocean? I don’t remember encountering one when I took a quick bath. I stayed just at the shore, though—didn’t go more than a meter deep.”

Alonso slightly frowned at this new information. Was he just unlucky?

“Unlucky or more like going to the ocean while soaked in blood?”

He scratched his head with an embarrassed grin.

“And this new creature, Alonso, the panther—how was it? Was it strong? Did you kill it? Anything special?” Abhijit asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

“Yeah, it was a nasty one. Packed with perhaps more than 300 kilos of mass, an eyeless face with sharp metallic fangs, and a nearly impenetrable hide.”

Abhijit remained quiet, carefully processing the information. “So you detected it through the fangs, I suppose. And how did you kill it? The heart, the throat?”

“Yeah, the throat. Anyway, you’ll get it with practice. The only slightly weird thing about it is that it doesn’t disappear after death. And the orb is stuck inside the brain, so you have to do a bit of butcher’s work to get it… And it also has normal meat. Not that it probably interests you, but it’s edible, just so you know.”

Abhijit raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on the meat. Instead, he asked, “Do you think they only come out at night? And how much stage progress does the orb give?”

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“Maybe,” Alonso replied, “but there's only one way to find out. The first orb gave 0.020%. Not sure about the second one yet,” he added, glancing at Abhijit. “Anything else?”

Abhijit hesitated for a moment, looking like he wanted to say something but then shook his head. “No, that’s all.”

“Great,” Alonso said, already turning toward the jungle. “Let’s not waste any more time.”

Abhijit trailed behind, his steps slightly hesitant, while Alonso moved ahead with quick, purposeful strides. The undergrowth thickened as they ventured deeper, the air becoming cooler and more humid.

It wasn’t long before they encountered the first worm. Alonso swiftly severed it without breaking his stride. He crouched and absorbed the orb.

> Stage 1 - 1.133%

What?

A progress of 0.010%. Shouldn’t it be 0.001% like all the last 30 or so worms? This was the progress he had obtained yesterday when he killed the first one. Did the progress reset every day? That would be great!

A smile crept onto his face, making Abhijit slightly raise an eyebrow in question, but he remained silent. They continued walking until they detected another worm. Once again, Alonso calmly placed his sword in its path, effectively letting the worm kill itself by being severed in half. Another beautiful orb lay on the ground behind him.

Alonso crouched and touched it, then squeezed it.

His gaze fixed on the orb, unmoving, as if he were seeing a ghost. Where the hell was his stage progress? How did it go from an orb giving 0.010% to the next being ineffective?

He looked deeper into the orb, trying to crush it, but it was useless. He placed it on the ground and tried slashing it with his sword, but all he got was a nasty recoil in his arm. Unbreakable? And practically weightless at the same time?

Abhijit, watching the entire scene like a ghost himself, finally spoke. “Is that… the orb? Did it not get absorbed?”

“Seems so,” Alonso sighed as he picked up the orb again. “Perhaps I reached my limit with the worm orbs. Anyway,” he suddenly tossed the orb to Abhijit, “Check it out.”

Caught off guard, Abhijit still managed to catch the orb, which absorbed instantly upon contact.

“How much progress did it give you?” Alonso asked, a thoughtful expression on his face.

“0.001%, same as the last couple of dozen I’ve killed.”

So, 0.010% was the final gift after reaching the limit? It ends where it finished—interesting. And the limit is… 49, right, Houston? So not 55 or 100 as we had guessed. So, 49. Why 49?

“The square of 7.”

“And 7 is…”

“The number of white rooms we passed before reaching the island.”

“Anything else with a 7?”

“...”

“Is everything okay, Alonso?” Abhijit interrupted his thoughts.

“Yes, let’s keep going. By the way, how did the training session go yesterday? You reckon you can take on two worms at once now?” Alonso asked, shifting the conversation.

“Yeah, there shouldn’t be a problem. I think I’ve got the idea pretty well.”

“Good,” Alonso nodded, pleased with the response. “We’ll need to cover more ground today, so being able to handle multiple worms at once is a must. Try to keep up.”

Alonso turned away and started pushing deeper into the jungle. His expression darkened at the thought of killing worms with no benefit at all.

As they moved along, they continued to kill more worms, with Abhijit absorbing all the orbs until he, too, reached the limit. He was caught off guard by the extra benefit from the last worm they killed.

“Welcome to the free farming group,” Alonso smiled as they finally found themselves in the same situation.

“Farming?” Abhijit asked curiously.

“Oh, it’s a gaming term, don’t worry about it,” Alonso replied, glancing around the dense jungle vegetation. “I’m thinking of fashioning a bag for the orbs we’ll be collecting. Any ideas on how I can make one quickly with what we have at hand?”

Abhijit thought for a moment, scanning their surroundings. “Well, we could try weaving something from the vines around here. They seem sturdy enough. If we can find some large leaves, we could use them to line the inside, making sure nothing falls out. It won’t be pretty, but it should hold together long enough.”

Alonso considered the suggestion, nodding in agreement. “Sounds like a plan. Let’s gather what we need and get started—and be careful with the worms while we do it,” he chuckled.

They quickly set to work, each keeping an eye out for any approaching worms. Abhijit seemed surprisingly skilled at this sort of thing, deftly weaving the vines together into a rough, but functional, bag. Alonso, on the other hand, found himself struggling a bit more, but with Abhijit's guidance, he managed to piece together something serviceable.

Before long, they each had a simple bag fashioned from the jungle’s resources. Alonso tested the strength of the vines, pulling on them to ensure they wouldn’t snap easily.

“Not bad,” he said, impressed with Abhijit’s handiwork. “You’ve got a knack for this.”

“Just picked it up along the way,” Abhijit replied with a modest shrug.

“Good to know,” Alonso grinned, securing the bag over his shoulder. “Let’s get moving. We’ve still got a lot of ground to cover.”