The next few days passed in a flurry of training, strategizing, and grinding experience. To Jade's relief she didn't again experience the unsettling feeling of sensing her friends' emotions during this time, nor did the urge to consume them arise. She suspected the inconsistency had something to do with how her human mind was adjusting over time to the demonic body it now resided in. It would probably be a while before she fully understood how to use and interpret her new senses.

There turned out to be a decent population of low-level monsters residing in the jungle near the sanctuary, mostly slow turtle-like creatures that snapped at them with powerful jaws but moved slowly enough to not pose much of a threat. They also encountered a few more of the giant spiders, although only one at a time, and they were somewhat smaller and weaker than the pair they had already fought.

The would-be adventurers needed more than just the numerical points the system awarded for each slain monster and completed quest, they also needed to acclimate to the visceral experience of real combat. Each of them had an aversion to inflicting harm and, to some extent, being harmed themselves. While Jade had managed to overcome her hesitation to fight and kill during her first few battles, those had mostly been instinctual responses to life-or-death situations. Now that they were planning on questing in earnest, it was time to get more comfortable with the realities of close combat. If Jade couldn't bring herself to cut down an enemy standing in front of her, it wouldn't matter what level she was.

Predictably, out of the three of them Naomi had the hardest time coming to terms with what fighting entailed. What Jade did find interesting was that only a very minor portion of her reluctance to fight seemed to stem from a fear of getting hurt. Rather, she was simply a gentle person who disliked causing pain. Fortunately, her primary contribution to most battles was healing and buffing Jade and Luis, a task that involved relatively little direct confrontation. When it came down to it, though, she proved herself quite capable of setting aside her reservations and dishing out punishment directly.

Jade and Luis had a somewhat easier time adjusting. Neither of them liked the idea of killing their way through the Labyrinth, but it was a reality they just had to accept. Although in Jade's case, that wasn't quite true. Ever since she'd accepted the transformation that turned her into a demon, a swirling mix of latent emotions had been simmering in the back of her mind. Exactly what they were was hard to quantify, but as the days went by Jade found herself less bothered by the bloodshed than she felt she should be. Did her new body make her more susceptible to anger and destructive impulses? If so, were these emotional seeds just the beginning of a larger transformation that she was still undergoing?

It was hard to tell, especially since she felt that she had plenty of perfectly legitimate reasons to be upset. Still, Jade didn't like the idea that her new nature was changing who she was or how she thought. Since there wasn't anything she could actually do about it, though, she did her best to push those worries from her mind. Her new nature as a succubus came with several powerful advantages that were sure to serve her well as they traversed the Labyrinth, and she didn't regret her decision.

"Arectus!"

An arc of crackling blue energy flashed past Jade in a blur of motion, slamming into the turtle monster in front of her. The creature, which was about the size of a large dog, gurgled in anger as the force blade impacted. The magical projectile burst on contact, sending out a wave of pressure that knocked over the hapless monster leaving it lying on its lumpy shell. Jade didn't wait to see if it could flip itself right-side-up again, darting in to slam her dagger into a weak spot highlighted by her 'Vital Sight' talent, a now exposed fleshy region at the base of the monster's stubby neck. It croaked, orange blood pouring from the wound to drench the jungle soil beneath it. Jade twisted the blade, wrenching it back along the creature's fleshy underbelly in a savage slash. The monster spasmed, bloodshot eyes bulging, and then went limp.

* You have defeated: River Snapper.

* You have gained 75xp.

"Nice shot." Jade said, sliding the bloody blade out of the monster's corpse and wiping it clean on a nearby fern. She looted it, something that was quickly becoming second nature, and added another handful of crescent coins to her pack. After the addition, there really wasn't much room left for anything else. Coins, clothes, the tools she'd taken from her apartment, and makeshift containers for monster effusions rattled together in cumbersome mixture. "We really need to find a magical bag or something." she added, hefting it back over her shoulder.

"Siora said something about a Labyrinth store earlier." Luis said, jogging over to her as he slung his sword across his back. "Maybe we'll find one there."

"We'd better." She complained. "Dragging around all of our stuff just isn't practical, not when we might have to fight at any moment. Do you know how much of a pain it is to take off a backpack when you have wings?"

"It doesn't look easy." He commiserated.

"It's not!"

A panicked yelp drew their attention to the bank of the lagoon. They turned to see Naomi hopping along the narrow beach kicking her foot frantically. A small river snapper, probably a juvenile of some kind, had its mouth clamped around her shoe. It hung on with grim determination, glaring at her with its beady eyes as her flailing sent it flopping around wildly.

"Get off!" She yelled, bashing at the creature with the base of her guitar. "Off!"

She connected with a solid thwack, knocking the turtle monster clean off of her foot and sending it flying into the lagoon. It splashed down a good dozen feet away, its lifeless body bobbing in the water. Naomi drew herself back upright, clutching her guitar to her chest and inspecting it for damage as Jade and Luis jogged over to join her.

"I'm fine." she said sheepishly. "Everything's fine."

"How did it even get you?" Jade asked, confused. "We could out crawl these things."

"Those little ones are quiet… It snuck up on me."

Jade suppressed an urge to sigh. They were going to need a lot more practice before they were ready to fight something actually dangerous. Unfortunately, time was something they didn't have much of. Hopefully the stats and abilities that came with higher levels would balance out their relative inexperience on the battlefield.

"That was a nice hit!" Luis said, slapping her on the back. "Maybe you should join me in the front."

"I'm quite happy where I am in the back, thank you." she replied, a wry smile on her lips.

"Let's find another." Jade said, bringing her companions back on track. "Naomi, ready to try out your new spell?"

She hesitated for just a moment, and then nodded. "Let's do it."

Not only was Jade determined to improve her physical ability to fight, like how to properly swing a dagger or aim a spell, she was also highly motivated to develop better combat tactics. Too many of her early encounters had involved desperate struggles and hardly any actual planning. That had to change. The reason Jade had chosen the 'Shadow Witch' class over the combat focused 'Blade Dancer' was so that she could employ tricks and subterfuge to tip the scales in her favor. That was a lot easier to do with appropriate preparation. Now that she was starting to acquire trap spells, it was time to shift how she approached fights.

All of them had levelled up again within the first day of training. Jade and Luis were helped by completing their monster hunting quest, whereas Naomi finished her spell casting one. The experience rewarded for those was accompanied by the general influx of XP awarded from defeating monsters, a source that already had Jade closing in on level 6 after another day of grinding. Follow-up quests had been provided to all of them, allowing them to continue working towards completing them while training together.

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Naomi had been given several spell and talent options for her 4th level. After a brief discussion with the team, she had elected to pick her first combat spell, Pyrotechnics, which launched bolts of sparkling fire. Although she already had three spells learned, a human racial ability allowed her to partially combine her talent and spell pools, letting her pick up a 4th spell. Her 'Idol' class also had a passive feature that expanded her spell limit at the cost of decreasing her capacity for talents. Combined, that gave her a lot of flexibility when it came to acquiring new spells.

Level 5 was somewhat less exciting for Jade and Luis, bringing with it only a pair of stat points for each of them. Jade split hers between intelligence and agility, which she was planning on being her strongest points.

* Jade Callian

* Base Stat Scores

* Strength: 6

* Agility: 11

* Fortitude: 8

* Intelligence: 10

* Willpower: 7

Boosts to intelligence didn't come with much of a perceivable change, the stat mostly affected spell power and mana supply. Jade didn't feel like she was getting any smarter, although she thought that her memory may be improving. It was difficult to tell. Agility increases, on the other hand, had much more tangible consequences to speed and finesse, each point bringing with it a minor but noticeable improvement.

The three of them also spent some time coming up with distinct 'moves' that they could fall back on, various combinations of their abilities that, through trial and error, were found to be especially effective in some situations. The simplest of them was what Luis decided to call 'echo', an attack that started with him hitting an enemy with a force blade to knock them off balance and create an opening for Jade to slash at one of their vulnerabilities. They kept these combos short and easy to implement, quickly discovering that battles were just too chaotic to expect carefully orchestrated set piece tactics to work with any level of reliability. Since Naomi usually had the best view of the battlefield from where she stood at the back of a fight, she was given the primary responsibility of calling out when to employ these moves, although any of them could suggest one if they felt it suited the moment.

Siora wasn't idle while the other three trained. The elf kept busy gathering local alchemical ingredients and brewing potions, even travelling back to Juniper's glade periodically to pick the dryad's brain on the best way to utilize the available resources. After three days, she'd managed to develop a small collection of restorative brews to restock their dwindling supply, among some other creations.

"I don't have many tools to work with here." The alchemist explained one evening, sitting at one of the sanctuary tables with Jade and showing her a vial of bubbling red liquid. "But I've figured out how to prepare some basic healing draughts from one of the plants that grows in the valley."

Jade took the proffered vial, examining it.

* Healing Potion

* Rating: D level potion

* Crafted by: Siora Windsong

* Effect: Restores a low amount of health over a 20 second period.

"I have four of them so far." She continued, motioning for Jade to keep the potion when she tried to hand it back. "Let's give one to everyone, and I'll try to track down enough of the ingredients to prepare another batch. Just remember not to drink two in a row, potions don't work well until the magic from any previous ones are out of your body."

"I remember." Jade said, having been told this several times over the past few days. Apparently, there was no hard rule on how long you had to wait between potions, just a general spectrum of effectiveness that increased with time.

"Also!" Siora continued, taking out another vial, this one green, from the pouch at her hip. "I made some progress with using the spider eggs as ingredients too. They have a strong affinity with speed. I've been trying to brew something that will enhance the agility stat."

"Trying?" Jade asked, looking at the green liquid with a mixture of interest and disgust. Drinking something that had come from that pile of sticky eggs didn't sound very appealing, but a faster reaction time would be useful…

"It hasn't been going quite as planned." Siora admitted, handing it over. " See for yourself."

Jade pulled up the potion's information.

* Potion of Lethargic Agility

* Rating: D level potion

* Crafted by: Siora Windsong

* Effect: Has a high chance of increasing your agility by 6 points for 30 seconds.

* Effect: Has a high chance of inflicting the 'drowsy' condition for 1 hour.

"This is… interesting." Jade said, trying to sound appreciative. Siora had been hard at work on these, and she didn't want to come off as ungrateful. Still, she had a hard time thinking up a use case for the odd concoction. There was no way she was going to drink something that would likely make her sleepy in the middle of a battle.

"I'm still working on the formula." Siora winced. "It'll get better, I just need to find something that can neutralize the toxin."

Referring to the ingredients as ‘toxic’ wasn’t doing much to make Jade want to drink the next iteration either, but she kept that thought to herself.

"I understand. Thanks." Jade said, sliding the potions into a pouch in her pack. "Is there a better way to keep these on hand? If I need to drink them, I don't want to have to look through my bag to find it."

"Hmm…" Siora tilted her head thoughtfully. "I've seen wayfarers that keep potions on belts. But I think they're enchanted to protect potions from getting damaged."

Jade grunted, another item to stay on the lookout for. She was about to get up to distribute the other healing draughts to her companions when she noticed Siora staring at her intently.

"…Is something wrong?"

"Oh! No…" The elf looked away, embarassed. "It's just that… You look just like a human."

"Until a few days ago, I was one." The remark came off as more bitter than she'd intended, and she coughed awkwardly to cover it. "This is what I looked like before… all of this."

"How much can you change your appearance? If it's ok for me to ask." Siora added quickly. "It's just, shapeshifting is really interesting."

Judging by Siora's expression, the elf also found it a little unsettling. Jade wasn't going to judge her for that, not when she'd feel the same way if their positions were reversed.

"I haven't had much time to experiment." Jade admitted. "But now that you mention it, I should figure out what my limits are."

Since Naomi and Luis were still busy picking out an evening meal from the sanctuary's rather bland supply of non-perishable canned food, Jade took the opportunity to practice. Transforming between her demon form and the body she had spent most of her life residing in was relatively intuitive, and her succubus form even had a variation that included claws instead of normal fingers. That was a little creepy to discover, but it was potentially useful. Jade quickly found out, however, that any deviation from those 'natural' forms took quite a bit of focus to achieve. By the time her party members finished eating and joined them she had managed to master changing the length and color of her hair. It took a surprising amount of effort, and the results weren't always what she intended.

"Yo… Jade." Luis said, walking up to their table. Wearing his breastplate and with his sword on his back, the already large man seemed to loom over them. "Why is your hair purple?"

"And why is some of it missing?" Naomi added, joining them.

"Damn it..." Jade cursed, frustrated. Focusing, she reverted her appearance back to her normal human visage. Her scalp itched as patches of hair regrew, its color morphing back to the dirty blonde she was accustomed to. "Just practicing. Does it look right now? This would be a lot easier with a mirror."

"Wow." Naomi said, taking a step back. "That looked weird."

"It's normal again." Siora added helpfully, then peered closely at Jade. "I wonder if your horns have any alchemical properties…" She added thoughtfully. “Can I take a sample?”

Even though she was currently in her human form, without horns, Jade's hands reflexively went up to cover her forehead. "I'm good." She said, scooting her chair a few inches away from the table. "I have a 'no experiments on my body parts' policy."

"But they've only been part of you for a couple of days." Siora pointed out. "And you're a shape shifter! They'll grow back… Probably."

"Probably?" Naomi asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Well, I'm not an expert on demons." Siora admitted. "But it makes sense that they would, right?"

"I'll pass." Jade said, eager to put the discussion to rest.

"So…" Luis said, rescuing Jade from the subject and sympathetically patting a crestfallen Siora on the shoulder. "What's the plan for tomorrow? More practice?"

"I think we should get moving." Jade said, standing up. "Every day we wait is one day closer to when the Cores activate." She finished grimly.

"You still think we should fight the boss?" Naomi asked, clearly less than thrilled by the idea.

"I think we have to." Jade said. "For the quest, for the experience, and to prepare ourselves for finding more of them."

"Plus." Luis added. "We told Juniper that we'd do it."

"She agreed to help us in the battle." Siora reminded them. "We won't be doing it alone."

"You're planning on joining the fight?" Jade asked the elf, surprised. She hadn't participated in much of their training, remaining focused on her alchemical creations instead.

"I want to help." Siora confirmed, nodding. Her anxiety showed in her face, but her eyes had a determined glint to them. "I might not be much of a fighter, but I have some tricks of my own." She patted the satchel that held her potions.

Jade considered that for a moment, then nodded. The elf's alchemy could only help, and Juniper was a much higher level than any of them. With the dryad's assistance here, they probably wouldn't get a better first chance against a boss monster. She looked to Naomi who, after a moment, gave a somewhat hesitant assent as well.

"Then it's decided!" Luis said with a grin, clapping his hands twice. "Tomorrow, we scout the boss."