Leah walked into the cavern soon after Samara had plucked five magical fruits from the ape's central tree. Mark went over to meet them.

Behind the Nature Mage were Andrew and Ralph, acting like her loyal bodyguards. Elise was smiling. It seemed she was happy about something.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

Leah nodded. She reached into her bag and took out an extremely familiar coin. But unlike Theodore's gift, this coin lacked the same magical glow. It looked dead of magic.

[Unpowered Coin] - An artifact which used to contain an unknown power. May be useful somewhere else.

"I only have this to offer." She bowed to Mark and slipped the coin into his hands. "It doesn't look like a treasure, but I promise you I found this in a very dangerous place."

"It says it's just a coin," Mark lied, making a wild guess that was what Common Identify saw. "You think this is enough to buy our services?"

Leah licked her lips and tried her best to smile. "Please believe me. I can take you there first if you need."

Mark made sure to study her for a while before pocketing the coin. "Let's just go. I'm much more curious about the opportunity you mentioned. But I need to know what we'll be dealing with if we help you."

Her eyes widened, then her face brightened. "There's something in the depths of the mines," she said. "It has to do with my class."

"Nature Mage? How did you get your class, anyway?" Elise asked.

"A rare opportunity. It led me here." Leah looked almost desperate. "I'm willing to follow your lead if you help me."

"And what about these two?"

"They'll help too. Right?"

Ralph, the warrior, hesitantly nodded. But Andrew kept his arms crossed.

Leah shook her head at him. "Drop your prejudice, please. I really need their help."

The archer made a noncommittal grunt. He met Mark's eyes for a few seconds before looking away.

"Alright. But if we run into a bad situation, I'm not paid to defend your lives," Mark said.

"I don't think I should go," Ralph said. "I'm too weak. Can I stay back?"

"Coward," Andrew spat.

Ralph simply raised an eyebrow in response. "I don't want to be in danger. I know you might not trust me, but I promise I won't say anything."

Mark studied his expression. He didn't think the warrior was lying, and it would be better to have less variables on this trip. "I'll keep an undead monster around you. It'll be watching," he said.

The Core of Animation was not hard to use. Mark quickly reanimated another Eyeless Wolf, though he noticed the lack of soul flames. He told it to follow Ralph which it promptly did. But this was only meant as a bluff. Slow him down a little.

"Thank you," the man said. "Good luck." He stood there, waving, watching them walk away.

Once Mark had gotten everything in order, he returned to Samara's location. When Andrew saw more people joining them, it calmed him down. He began to realize what he had just agreed to. Heckling a powerful necromancer was not in his best interest.

Elise looked shocked to see Hector alive and well. Then her mouth widened even more when Annabelle and Victor emerged from the darkness. Her eyes took in their harsh wounds and she spoke softly, "What happened to you guys?"

"We'll talk later. Can you heal us first, please?"

Elise nodded. Her hands glowed with a soft light as she stepped closer to them. Mark had received this effect a few times for extra stamina, but now her power as a healer truly shone through. Wounds knitted together and stopped bleeding completely. Patches of dead flesh fell out to be replaced with smooth, shiny skin.

Hector let out a sigh of relief. Leah tried to step up as well, letting her magic flow through her in green waves. They poured into the three people in front of her and created a second wave of healing. Even Victor, ever-stoic, couldn't help but moan as the constant pain in their muscles faded away.

"Good work," Mark said. Leah gave a sweet smile.

"Boss, that's some excellent help you've found. Well done."

"No need for such flattery. Let's go."

Hector, Annabelle, and Victor had chosen simple class upgrades: Disciplined Warrior, Elemental Mage, and Bulwark. They granted only two additional stats compared to four. Mark wondered what the difference was between a Rare and an Uncommon class. The thought of there being another level only excited him, and he moved faster without thinking.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Leah led them down the tunnels and into another cavern. But instead of the boss monster they were expecting, there was only a butchered body remaining. Whoever had killed this monster had killed with a purpose.

"The rest of the body's unsafe to eat," Hector said. "A seasoned hunter did this."

Samara nodded. "They're good at this," she remarked. But they all threw the incident to the back of their minds as they journeyed deeper. Along the way, more and more corpses showed up instead of the fights they were expecting.

"Looks like a necromancer came through here. Or one of the guilds," Leah said. "There's no other way for so much carnage to happen so quickly. This place was fine two days ago."

"These wounds are pretty varied," Mark noted. "Try studying them to see what you can glean."

Samara nodded. Both Andrew and Leah swallowed their words after looking at him. It seemed as if Mark was expecting to come into conflict with the guilds.

He used the chance while they were looking over the bodies to open a hidden pocket plane portal far from them. His goblin warrior brought in the corpse of the other necromancer and continued following at a distance.

Once it became clear the path was devoid of experience to gain, Mark pulled out his map and showed it to Leah, who recognized another, faster path through the mines. They finally encountered their first enemies after another few hours of traveling. He had long lost his connection with the Eyeless Wolf he reanimated. The Core of Animation seemed quite weak.

This pack of monsters consisted of several different animals all supporting each other in this cavern, in addition to a swarm of undead. There were very few safe places for the living. Eyeless Wolves, hard-skull monkeys, giant bats, and even insects worked together to find and scavenge for food. But the idea still interested Mark. How had this come to be? If he found a method, he could try to import such an environment into his pocket plane.

"What happened here?" he asked Leah with high expectations.

"I don't know. I might be a Nature Mage, but I have no idea what's going on in this tutorial."

Each pack of animals were led by a single Level 25 leader, usually a monkey. They worked together in harmony, with the wolf and monkey as the primary fighters while the others took turns to harass them. Occasionally, other animals would rise to the level of a leader, gaining different abilities based on their role.

Mark's orc mage blocked the furious blows of a monkey and turned a nearby wolf into meat chunks. Flames emerged from the orc and burnt away the massive hovering swarm of flies. Then it charged and minced up another wolf hiding away in the bushes. The magical fire dancing around its tail petered out, and the orc threw its staff to impale the monkey right as it tried to get up.

A Magic Missile blew open a bat above them, not letting it fly away to join another group of monsters. That was another thing about these animals which was weird. They never fought each other, only the undead, and would split away to join other groups if they incurred too many losses. And they could devour the fleshy undead they slew, though he noticed they didn't do it too many times.

The existence of these animal packs was so unnatural Mark wondered if they were artificially created by the tutorial or by another force in the multiverse. He vaguely remembered the tutorial being of light welcoming them to The Core of Eternity. Whatever that was, its power made him feel both fear and wonder. But he threw those thoughts to the back of his mind once his teammates cut up their bodies.

Living monster corpses at Level 25 contained a glimmer of crystal. Identify revealed them as pieces of something meant to be whole, developed over time - Monster Cores. They gathered up these pieces, but it was unclear if they had any use in this sliver of its potential.

A small hiccup occurred when Andrew spoke up. He wanted a share of the loot. But with nobody on his side, he could only relent.

"Shall we continue?" Mark made sure his party had a chance to develop their skills in combat. His minions only fought the most powerful enemies. The damages accrued by the melee fighters were highest, but having two healers made it much easier to keep going. They could do this all day.

And so they did. Another two caverns were taken through the same tactics he used as the last one. Sending in the undead lizard made for one of the strongest defensive walls they had, while arrows and magic eliminated easier enemies first. Once the danger had decreased, their melee fighters closed in on the more elite enemies.

Andrew had long stopped complaining once he realized the sheer effectiveness of Mark's minions. Meanwhile, Mark had thrown such trivialities to the back of his mind, moving forwards with a dogged determination he had not expected to find. His skeleton mage was nearing its 25th level.

They reassembled after separating to collect the spoils. Skinning animal corpses and plucking out their internals had become second nature. Sometimes, on stronger bodies, they'd find a few more slivers of crystal. Mark gave each member in the group their fair share - except for Andrew - before considering the rest of the things they found.

After they ate a short meal, Mark drove them to keep going. Even Andrew looked forward to following behind Mark's army, securing easy experience behind the cover of his minions. Currently, his undead lizard remained strong, thanks to having solid support to back it up. So disposable animals became his Skeleton Mage's main force.

Mark's practice of his magic and mace increased during this journey. Having people to cover for him allowed him to experiment more in combat, instead of being forced to aim for the most efficient methods. Death Bolt gained all the advantages he had learned with Magic Missile, and his new Aura of Undeath swelled in size. He managed to extend it to twice its range even during combat.

The mace's properties didn't improve, but his melee skill did, slightly. He liked to call himself a decent fighter, though still without a passive skill. Occasionally, he allowed his humanoid minions to try the weapon out. His orc mage did especially well, though its staff was still a more rounded weapon due to its range.

Samara developed her skills as well. With deeper explorations of the mines, more herbs became available for the ranger to squander. And when Leah attempted to give some of her own tips on how to work with the plants, Samara was forced to acknowledge the other woman's abilities. Though an awkwardness still hung in the air, tensions had improved slightly.

Elise's healing abilities swelled once she had to practice within each and every fight. She worked seamlessly with Leah to improve their abilities and both of them reached a new level with their efficiency. Healing speeds and mana costs became better, and even their casting ranges increased when Victor became surrounded at one point.

Mark only reached Level 32, but the others gained two or more, depending on their original level and how hard they worked during each battle. Andrew gained three and picked Archer as his class.

There was one more Level 30 cavern remaining before they would reach the zone Leah mentioned. But when they entered the area and looked around, they discovered several out-of-place pieces of rotting flesh and the caved-in bodies of many animals.

"Scattered chunks all over," Leah muttered. "It has to be him. Necromancer Char - one of the top three necromancers on the bounty board. He's close by."