That night as Gi slept he was inundated by strange dreams. First, a swarm of yellow capped mushroom monsters chased after a tall green figure, spores floating up into the air with every step they took. Occasionally, the figure would spin around and a large teal bow burst forth into existence in their arms. Waves of power blossomed off of it as a wave of ghostly arrows cascaded out and crashed into the mushroom monsters.

The scene switched. A hazy view of a city of red marble domes was seen as through a veil causing light to twist in strange patterns. The light bounced off of strange trees that seemingly had leaves made of a dark green ribbon. Dark shadows played about the city in the trees as an even larger shadow swept across its bricked streets.

Again, it switched. This time showing a one armed goblin tossing another goblin into a giant tree with a hole in its trunk. The hole shimmered like a mirror as the goblin disappeared within.

Switch. A red dragon lay prone on an enormous pile of books surrounded on all sides by columns of bookshelves that pierced the sky. The barest hint of grey light peeked just outside the cavernous library and a low psychic hum rumbled from the dragon as though reciting a poem beneath their breath. There was no response.

Switch. A brown furred ferret wearing an iron chestplate kicked other ferrets awake. All of these were smaller and only one other had a chestplate. The ferret yelled-

"Wake up, Boss!" A dragonfly torso landed right on his face, giving Gi a horrific up close view of twitching insect legs and a ribbed exoskeleton.

"Uwah!" Gi yelled, scrambling to sit up and Poe landed back on the shelf to settle atop his open book. "What the hell was that for?"

“It’s dawn. We have to meet Elizabeth.”

Gi rubbed at his face, leaning on the frame of his rope bed. “Right, right.” His dreams still lingered in his mind, but he couldn’t quite remember them. He thought he’d dreamed about Krayli… and Nori? Gi hopped out of the rope bed, the move made awkward due to the way the ropes sat and only having one good arm. After exiting the bed, he landed in the part of the lake that ran under his new house. The slight chill to the water shocked him awake and he hopped back onto the part of his house with a dry stone floor. A very obvious realization hit him though.

“You can’t breathe underwater.”

“Nope!” Poe agreed happily.

“So you can’t come with us then.”

Poe’s multifaceted eyes looked like they got large and teary even though he was sure that was impossible. “But I wanna go…”

“Poe, you can’t breathe underwater.”

“I-“ Poe deflated, practically melting on top of his open book. Gi sighed.

“Hey, uh, listen I’ve got a special mission for you.” Poe’s head perked up. “Grung is charging us two coppers a piece for meals. That’s gonna be expensive. I need you to check the shops and see if that’s the only price for food.”

Poe whispered under his breath, “the Fattest Unicorn meets a merchant…”

“What?”

His dragonfly friend hopped up and flew into the air, buzzing around excitedly. “I’ll do it, boss! I’ll take the mission.”

Gi tried to hide his smile, but he handed him the bag of copper and tied it around his abdomen in a way that he could reach it with his forelimbs and tongue. It might be a little gross, but in a city of monsters, he was sure the merchants had seen worse. “Oh and could you grab me something to write on and with? I want to make sure I capture everything that we’ve learned so far. We’re way behind here.”

Poe trilled happily and then flew out of the house. Gi’s spirits were feeling a bit higher after a night’s rest. Sure, he still needed to be stronger for Danna and he didn’t know exactly how to achieve that other than killing monsters, but hunting with Elizabeth was an opportunity. Getting more information from Jalx was also an opportunity. Gi stepped outside of his new house and practically screamed.

The iron teethed goblin child was standing just outside his home, staring with his too big eyes. At his yell, Elizabeth popped her head out of her own home and saw him and the child. “You’re up. Good.” She turned to the little kid. “Get out of here.”

The kid just stared at her and Elizabeth stared back. He wondered how long the impromptu staring contest was going to go on when Jalx appeared. “Hazz. Don't bother Elizabeth. She'll kill you."

The kid stared up at Jalx and then without another word headed away from the lake towards their house. "That thing will be the death of you."

Jalx grunted, but wasn't as quick to ignore Elizabeth as he had been Gi. Instead, he paused before responding. "He's my path."

Elizabeth's response was flat. "Then get a new one."

"Can't." The two's conversation had all the terse awkwardness of two children at a middle school dance without any of the underlying feelings. Elizabeth had seemed to lose interest and started towards the lake, but Gi couldn't help but ask the obvious question.

"Why not?"

Again, Jalx grunted, glancing towards the kid called Hazz before responding. "What's more important to the snake? The head or the body?"

Gi thought a moment. "The head?"

"Neither. You cut off either one and the snake still dies."

Without another word, Jalx turned and left, leaving Gi to catch back up with Elizabeth. The two of them waded out into the lake until she was knee deep and Gi was at his upper thigh. "What did he mean by that?"

Elizabeth turned her flat stare to him and he regretted asking the question. He recalled that Jalx's reason for not irritating Elizabeth was potentially being murdered. Still, she answered. "When a Progenitor dies, their subordinates paths are all cut off and they can't progress unless they create a rare opportunity. Jalx is a Subgenitor to a dead Progenitor."

"Oh." Gi hadn't considered what would happen to his future clan if he died before.

"The kid Hazz is something like that. Annoying bastard, but Jalx insists on trying to renew the clan's original fate instead of supplanting his own. He's an idiot."

"Wh-"

"No more questions." She leapt upward and dove into the lake. Not wanting to be left behind, Gi followed her though much less gracefully. A gulp of water entered his mouth and he was surprised to discover the lake was salt water. Without considering what that meant, he opened his eyes, but thankfully the salt water didn't burn them.

Ahead, he could see Elizabeth head down at an angle towards what looked to be giant kelp trees beneath the surface. The light from the surface fell against them casting long shadows that prevented him from seeing the ocean floor.

For some reason, Gi first tried a quick stroke with his good paw while he kicked with his feet, but the notion felt unnatural. A few moments later, he pressed his arm against his side and slid his body through the water like a snake using his hind legs to steer. The new method was much better and he quickly caught up to Elizabeth.

Thinking of his breath, he also searched internally until he sensed his [Merfolk's Blessing] skill. Strangely, this skill had a passive component that seemed to be what gave him a better swim speed than when he'd been in the Child Stage. It also has an active component that he activated and a quick attempt at breathing ensured that he could breathe in water without issue. Like his other skills, its use felt natural even though he was literally breathing water.

Elizabeth paused just outside of the kelp forest. The first stalk sank far into the lake below, easily twenty times larger than both of them.

Stay on my right. I will freeze the front and left. You kill or distract the right. You can keep the profit for any that you get the killing blow on.

Her thoughts entered his mind directly like the non-humanoid monsters often did. Did she have some special skill to do so? Or was it something that he should be able to do as well? He wanted to ask, but she had already started swimming downward, her head swiveling to check all angles. Gi followed after her.

The two of them continued into the kelp forest. The shadows grew longer and deeper, but the light never actually stopped breaking through despite the depth. The dim light gave them just enough to see by, but only barely.

Anxiety rippled through him, wondering whether each shadow was one of the Dragon Pikes in disguise. Having seen both Grung and Elizabeth fling the dead fish about like they weighed nothing had made any concerns he had drift away. Now his anxious mind realized the truth. The Pikes were bigger than him. What use would he be against creatures like that?

Elizabeth's dull voice rang in his mind. Time for you to prove your worth.

Gi hadn't even noticed her stop, but she had and now looked deeply into a cluster of kelp just ahead of them. He stopped beside her peering into the darkness, but he could see nothing. The hint of a current in the lake didn't provide any details either. He tried to ask what she meant but only a blurble of bubbles came spilling out.

Like those bubbles were a firing pistol, four long dark shapes exploded out of the shadows. His anxiety led to panic and he froze, immediately forgetting what the plan was. Elizabeth did not.

She flicked her finger lightly like a master harpist working their instrument. A thick snowflake emerged from her finger and danced towards the approaching Pikes like a butterfly.

While the Pikes weren't as intelligent as a humanoid, they weren't stupid either. Elizabeth had already flicked out another snowflake as the first one reached the lead Pike. It shunted its tail to the side, taking a sharp turn around the snowflake, but it almost lazily intercepted the Pike's new path.

As the snowflake touch its snout, the Pike's entire body stiffened and was instantly flash frozen. The change was so quick that the chill reached even Gi, but his robe kept the worst of it off of him. He shivered anyways and it was just enough to shock him into action.

From what he could see, Elizabeth's attacks were powerful, but they had a ploddingly slow speed. Even he could tell at a glance that the fourth one would get to them before she could get off the equivalent snowflake. If he wanted to live, he had to buy her some time.

Gi switched on [Merfolk's Blessing], taking a deep breath before he swam out away from Elizabeth. He released [Divine Bolt] from his finger, but the light angled oddly underneath the water. Between that and the Pike's speed, he missed by a wide margin.

He cursed, but the Pike still swivelled its head towards him, slowing down before reorienting towards Elizabeth.

A glance at Elizabeth told him that brief distraction wouldn't be enough. With a sudden inspiration, Gi flicked on [Concealing Light]. In the light above, it was practically invisibility. Here in the dark shadows? He was a brilliant light show. A veil of light trailed after him, illuminating the nearby area and glittering against the backdrop of the lake.

The one he'd distracted turned its head back at him before shooting straight towards the tantalizing snack that he'd made of himself. Gi tried to control his fearful heart like Danna would want, but the act of running away made his heart beat faster. He fled through the water, his body undulating with a speed that he hadn't shown until now, but the Pike was still faster.

Hoping that he'd made enough distance, he activated [Celerity]. Its teeth opened to shred him, but not before his internal energy entered his muscles, and he shot forward. The Pike's teeth snapped shut behind him, but Gi couldn't afford to look back. With another boost of [Celerity], he cut an angle, forcing the Pike to take a wide turn to continue the chase.

From the corner of his eye, he could see three frozen Pikes and a fourth snowflake headed towards Gi's own quarry. If he waited, Elizabeth would kill it, but that was the thought of a weakling. A thought of a monster that would never progress. Gi flicked his hind feet to reposition himself just a little bit in front of where the snowflake would be.

Churning his internal energy, he brought his finger around towards the Pike that had quickly caught up to him. It drew closer, looming larger and larger. Its teeth opened and Gi's heart hammered in his chest.

Don't hold back. Don't hold back. Don't hold back. He whispered Danna's mantra in his mind, attempting to steel his heart. He waited as long as he dared when it looked like the Pike's teeth would slam shut on him and then he fired a burst of [Divine Bolt]. Even as close as he was, two of the bolts of light angled oddly in the water, scoring against its flesh. One did arc into its giant maw as planned and the Pike reared upward in pain.

Elizabeth's snowflake hit it just a second after and a suddenly hard and frozen tail smacked into Gi's face. He released a stream of bubbles as he yelped and a small cloud of blood spread out from his nose. Gi pressed his paw into it, trying to stem the bleeding, but even that light pressure hurt.

Elizabeth's face remained the unflappable mask of a drowned human woman, her hair drifting to the right in the slight current. Light. An unfortunate aspect to have for a aquatic creature. Still, a decent performance nonetheless. You can have the profit of that one, but no more freebies. No kill. No money.

She stared at him almost daring him to disagree with her. Gi considered it as he would need money eventually, but he stopped himself. If he couldn't kill one of these Pikes, would he ever be able to live up to Danna's wishes of him? When he didn't respond, she went on.

Think you can distract two long enough for me to kill them?