A gentle rain fell upon Elijah’s upturned face as he floated on the surface of a small pond. He could feel fish and freshwater eels, turtles, and frogs among dozens of other aquatic creatures. Most were larger than they had been before the Earth was transformed by the touch of the World Tree, yet the difference wasn’t nearly as dramatic as it had been in the ocean. Elijah could only suppose that was due to space, but it was just as possible that the area’s ambient ethera wasn’t strong enough to support that kind of life. Whatever the case, he couldn’t deny that it made for a peaceful place to rest.

He'd been traveling for almost a week, and he still hadn’t reached Argos. Part of that was due to the number of Voxx in the area, but it was also because he didn’t rush himself. In the wake of everything that had happened in Ironshore – and what had preceded those events – he desperately needed to slow down and let the peace of the natural world envelop him.

He had gotten some of what he needed on his island, but increasingly, his home had begun to feel more curated than natural. Was it his influence? Nerthus’s? He didn’t know, but the island felt distinct from the true wilderness in a way Elijah couldn’t adequately explain. But he felt it, especially since leaving Norcastle and Kurik’s company.

While traveling, he’d found a couple of natural treasures, as well, though he’d left them alone when he’d found that they were too weak to give him much benefit. Perhaps if he was willing to dig them up and take them with him, that might’ve been different, but he refused to go down that road. He might’ve accepted that other people would make such use of those natural treasures – and kill any powerful beasts they stumbled upon – Elijah wasn’t going to do the same. If he’d learned nothing else, it was that he needed to be consistent, or he’d lose track of his own morality.

That was where his code came in.

He would kill, either in self-defense or the defense of others. He also wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever was necessary within a tower. Yet, he’d decided not to seek out violence, even when his instincts screamed at him to punish those who approached the new world differently.

Like with the hunters he’d killed what felt like a lifetime ago.

They might have deserved it, but Elijah wasn’t an unbiased judge, and he didn’t trust himself to make that determination. So, his code required him to stay out of such situations.

Of course, he wasn’t so deluded that he expected not to violate that code at some point. Was he strong enough to resist the urge to defend a guardian if he saw one being attacked? Maybe. Probably not, though. However, he intended to make a go of it, and if he failed, it would just serve as motivation to do better in the future.

The world was complicated, and his code was frighteningly simple. The two would eventually come at odds. And when that happened, Elijah felt that his reaction would come to define him. He could only hope that the result was a good definition.

He sighed, feeling a tiny fish nipping at his feet. It tickled, but there wasn’t anything in the pond that could really hurt him. And even if it did, he could always heal whatever damage that was done. He was so busy drifting lazily in the pond that he didn’t even feel the frog before it hopped out of the water and onto his chest.

“Hey bud,” Elijah said to the enormous bullfrog. It was slimy and the size of a basketball, but Elijah didn’t mind. He’d always had a certain affinity for the amphibians, so he had no issues letting it rest on his bare chest.

Then, without warning, the giant frog let loose with its tongue. Elijah had left his Sash of the Whirlwind with all the rest of his clothes and equipment on the pond’s shore, so he could barely even perceive the thing’s tongue as it sped towards his head. So, he never had a chance to react.

Fortunately, the fleshy projectile wasn’t meant for him.

Instead, it skated right past his ear and hit a massive mosquito that had been hovering nearby. Before Elijah could blink, the insect was in the frog’s mouth, with a few of its spindly legs sticking out from the opening.

“Uh…thanks,” he muttered.

It croaked in return, then hopped off his chest and swam away. The encounter had served to ruin the peaceful ambiance of the pond, so he flipped over and swam to shore. Fortunately, by that point, the gentle shower had ceased, and the sun had made a return. So, Elijah spent the next few minutes sunning on a rock, and when he was dry, he dressed, grabbed his crook and pack, and set off.

Only a few hundred yards into the woods, he caught a whiff of corruption. Thinking it was just another Voxx, he shifted into his draconid form, then adopted the Guise of the Unseen before tracking the corruption to its source. Yet, after a few steps, he realized that he wasn’t stalking a single monster. Instead, he’d detected a minor dimensional rift.

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So, knowing the dangers of leaving one of those untended – especially in the middle of the wilderness where no one was likely to find it – Elijah continued to follow the scent of corruption until he found what he was looking for.

The rip in reality was much the same as any of the others Elijah had encountered, and thick tendrils of black corruption extended for a hundred feet all around. If it wasn’t conquered and closed, those tendrils would continue to spread, and what’s more, they would corrupt the local wildlife. Elijah had no idea how far such corruption would go – perhaps indefinitely – but he had no intention of finding out. So, after shifting back to his human form and checking his equipment, he looked at his enhancements.

At level fifty, he’d gained another slot. So, he cast Essence of the Boar, Essence of the Monkey, Aura of Renewal, and Essence of the Lion. The only one he left off was Shield of Brambles, and while it was useful, the others seemed more necessary. Topping it off were his enhancements that didn’t take one of his slots: Essence of the Wolf and One with Nature, both of which he kept active at all times.

Thus prepared, Elijah stepped into the rift, and after experiencing the same brief moment of displacement, his feet slapped down onto black sand. The moment he reappeared, he recognized that the rift was different from the others he’d conquered. For one, he was in a cave, rather than outdoors. For another, he could feel hundreds of creatures via One with Nature. None of them were large, but they were all snaking through the sand in his direction.

Having no interest in seeing what they were, Elijah immediately cast Calamity, then Swarm. Neither was as strong as they had been when channeled through his Staff of Natural Harmony, but they were still powerful spells that could do all sorts of damage. More importantly, among other effects, Calamity was characterized by shaking the earth. That, in turn, was deadly for the monsters under the ground.

However, what Elijah hadn’t banked on was the loose sand, which blew every which way with Calamity’s blades of wind. As those deadly gusts scoured the cave’s floor, Elijah caught sight of the monsters. They were worms, maybe twenty inches long and as big around as his wrist. More disturbingly, they had lamprey mouths full of sharp teeth that Elijah suspected would be quite painful.

Thankfully, his forethought bore fruit, keeping the little monsters from reaching him. At the same time, they were subjected to Calamity and a thousand biting locusts manifested by Swarm.

But they didn’t die.

So, Elijah replaced Essence of the Lion with Shield of Brambles, then shifted into his lamellar ape form. His scales formed just in time, too, because the first of the monsters reached him a second later.

In the past, he might have flinched away from those lamprey-like mouths – or more importantly, the razor sharp teeth inside – but by that point, he’d experienced enough battle to trust his hastily activated Iron Scales. As the first worm tried to latch on, it was assailed by a thick and damaging thorn. It screeched, but it didn’t stop trying to bite him, which earned the monster a half-dozen more thorns. That, combined with the afflictions from his Swarm and the damage from Calamity, finished it off.

Then, the rest of the monsters arrived, and they died just like the first. Elijah was forced to chain Iron Scales, which rapidly drained his stamina, but it was the only viable option of dealing with so many small and deadly monsters.

At least for him.

Others likely had different methods of dealing with such a threat.

However, as passive as it felt, it was an effective strategy, and soon enough, Elijah was surrounded by a host of worm corpses. Yet, he knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. So, the moment the monsters were dead, he shifted into his draconid form and took a look around the cave. It wasn’t huge – maybe forty feet wide and half-again as long, ending in a single tunnel that functioned as the exit.

The message was clear. He was intended to go down the tunnel, which differed from previous rifts he’d encountered. In fact, it reminded him of a tower, though a miniature version of one.

That prospect was both exciting and daunting. The first, because it would almost assuredly give him enough experience to progress. In addition, with any challenge he could overcome, he would be rewarded by the system. Yet, it was also anxiety-inducing, because there was a chance that he’d bitten off more than he could chew.

Of course, he couldn’t let that sort of thinking infect him. He was one of the strongest people in the world, a designation he’d earned throughout countless battles, and he would do well to remember that fact.

So, it was with that in mind that he progressed down the tunnel, and it wasn’t long before he found the first foe. It was a normal Voxxian monster, maybe six-feet tall, and with two sets of arms. It was covered in a thick, scaly, viridian hide that shimmered in the darkness.

Elijah wasted no time before embracing Venom Strike as well as Predator Strike. Then, he pounced, leaping upon the monster’s back and clamping his powerful jaws around its head. He flexed, and he felt the thing’s skull collapse. It fell to the sandy floor, limp and lifeless, a second later.

Elijah leaped free, immediately embracing Guise of the Unseen. For a long few moments, he waited in that tunnel for any response. However, no new threats presented themselves, so he eventually moved on. About a hundred feet away, he encountered another Voxx, and it died in almost identical fashion.

Then a third.

And a fourth after that.

In all, he ended up killing ten of the creatures before he reached another large chamber. Unlike the previous encounter, this one was occupied by something more dangerous than a few bitey worms.

Indeed, there were three full-grown Voxxian monsters in the chamber. One was a few feet taller than the others, but even the smallest towered eight feet above the floor. But they were all different, both in height as well as build, which seemed incredibly important to Elijah.

He crept forward, studying the monsters. The largest paced back and forth, growling and grunting aggressively, while the others stood mostly still. Elijah didn’t know what any of it meant, but he was increasingly sure that it was all very important. So, he didn’t immediately attack. Instead, he watched and waited, devising a plan that he hoped would work.

Then, he padded forward, embraced his abilities, then pounced.