"Don't do it," Samara warned Mark. "It's an obvious trap. The portal will disappear once you're the one to fall."

Mark had to admit this was the most suspicious thing he had ever seen. But they seemed quite close to the treasure. Thousands of possibilities swam in his mind, and though the safest thing to do was turn back and run, greed prevented him from doing so.

"Boss, I'll follow whatever choice you make," Hector said. "I can even go first if you want."

Mark shook his head. "No need. I should be the one to go first. But what do you all think about Leah? I agree with Samara, we shouldn't trust her. Especially not after what we did to her cousin."

"Really?" Elise argued. "I believe in her morals. You haven't spent time with her like I have. She wouldn't betray us."

"Things change, Elise. Especially people." Samara looked solemn as she said this. "I wouldn't place my complete trust in someone I met only a few days ago."

The rumbling noises outside their hiding spot continued. As a gigantic snake slithered past, a few undead wolves chased after it. Then a loud sound erupted near the entrance and a burning smell filled the air.

"Was that a fireball?"

They looked at each other. Staying here was not exactly safe either, once they were discovered inside this clearing. But jumping into the pit might be a death sentence. They had to make a decision eventually.

Mark's mind flew. He had a vague suspicion about the relationship between necromancers and druids. The natural choice was for him to drop a minion downwards as a test, but something told him this was the wrong decision.

"I need some time to think," he said, and walked some ways out of sight of everyone else. After confirming nobody was watching, he placed all but one Eyeless Wolf inside his pocket plane and quickly closed the portal. With the skeleton mage's safety ensured, he relaxed.

They had encountered another portal at one point, acquiring a Wooden Dagger afterwards. This was probably a druid artifact. If so, the undead they found inside the portal likely represented an invasion of sorts. Then the druids might have the means to detect and destroy undead coming through their portals.

Since the torch had disappeared into thin air, Mark guessed the portal was still safe. It was likely rigged to react only to undead. Whether this applied to necromancers or not, he still wasn't sure. But he could try.

"Alright," Mark said after returning, dropping down another torch to confirm the portal still existed. "Ready to go, Hector? I think it should be safe." He held Lifedrinker in his hands to perhaps slow his fall, if it ended up not working out. His wolf remained at the entrance.

"Always, boss." Without hesitation, Hector dropped down, eliciting a gasp from Elise. Mark followed suit once he saw the man disappear.

As he fell, Lifedrinker dug into the wall, and he prepared to open up his pocket plane. But nothing happened, and he found himself suddenly transported to a new environment. A honeyed scent filled the air while he and Hector took in their surroundings.

Leah had already gone ahead. His connection with his eyeless wolf had been cut off, but the connections with his minions inside the pocket plane remained.

A few seconds passed before the rest of his team fell from the air and onto the soft grass. As Mark waited for them to stand back up, his eyes narrowed. By now his eyeless wolf should've joined them inside the portal, but it failed to appear.

"How are you all?" he asked.

"Good," came their replies.

"But where's the wolf, Mark? I saw it following us in." Elise looked worried.

"It's gone. I ordered it to follow the last person down, so its disappearance confirms one thing. Leah is not friendly."

Her eyes turned sad. Then a hint of hope appeared in them again: "Wait. Maybe she didn't know that would happen to your undead. She said she had no idea how to read the inheritance, right?"

Mark nodded. "Perhaps. We'll know once I confront her. You all can stay back when I meet with her."

This place consisted of a massive field of grass, but the weather was completely different from the mines. Sweet scents and soft winds carried the memory of home. His teammates slowed down to enjoy the sights, but Mark continued to move with fists clenched and face twisted, as if out for vengeance.

A steep incline appeared. Climbing the path took a considerable amount of effort, but he managed to make it on top of the hill. And when he saw the person standing next to a massive tree, he gave her a hateful glare.

"Welcome, Mark."

"Leah! What did you do," he snarled.

"What do you mean?" She attempted to look confused, but her body language showed how calm she was. Compared to her previous behavior, this was eerie.

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Mark glared into her eyes. "Where. Are. My minions? They went into the portal at the same time I did."

Leah giggled. "You know what happened to them. Without a portal, there's only one outcome. Are you happy, Mark?"

His eyes shot wide open in a mock expression of dread. "No portal? Then, everyone else?"

"That's right! You're so smart." Leah clapped. "Finally realized it, have you? This was a trap."

"You lied."

"Yes, I lied. Of course I wouldn't tell the truth. Come on." She rolled her eyes. "It's a shame the trap couldn't kill you, though. I expected you to send a minion inside the portal first as a test."

She twirled a new, flourishing staff and aimed it at him. "Thank you for bringing me here. Let me give you a reward," she said. Verdant energy gathered on the tip of her staff.

Mark prepared to blast her with a Death Bolt, but his magic did not respond. Something in this plane made his necromancy sluggish. He had to make do with a swarm of Magic Missiles, and then an arrow from the grass interrupted the stalemate.

Leah stumbled back, confused for a second, before screaming. It was cut short as another arrow sank into her throat, and a storm of magic sent her body flying across the clearing.

Mark's party came running up, taking a defensive stance. The tension died down once it became clear she was dead.

"We should bury her here," Elise whispered. "She would've liked that."

"Not happening." Mark turned to face the horizon, where a long dirt road grew past the massive tree on the hill. "Now, let's go see what this place has to offer." He picked up Leah's staff, an Uncommon artifact bolstering nature spells, and carried it with him.

---

As their feet crunched down on the soil, Mark sighed. The others were all relaxed and happy in this environment, but not him. Here, he had little access to necromancy. His Aura of Undeath became scattered, clinging to his skin. The sheer abundance of life force in this plane felt like it was choking his magic.

It was the first time he felt so vulnerable. But it wasn't as if he couldn't cast magic at all. His Magic Missiles functioned just fine - it was Raise Dead, Repair Corpse, and Death Bolt which continuously failed. And if he did manage to muster a small spark, the spell quickly unraveled once it left his control.

"Having trouble?" Annabelle asked, noticing his mood.

He nodded. "I can't seem to cast necromancy here," he said.

"That's a shame. What have you tried? Maybe rubber-ducking it to me will help."

Mark placed a hand on his temples and wracked his head. "I've tried molding those spells to resemble something more like a Magic Missile. But something is always lost in the transition. It would no longer have much of an effect, since the core was necromancy."

Annabelle slowed down. "Perhaps the magic in the air only suppresses necromancy, but doesn't counter it completely. Otherwise the portal wouldn't choose to disappear when it encountered the undead."

"You're saying if I find a way to raise the dead, they'll stay? That's a good idea." Mark had the pocket plane, but could not experiment with so many people around.

He stored the theory for later, if this situation happened again. Then he considered another avenue to restore his diminished powers: what if he tried to learn nature magic? The system had shown him it was possible, since he had the ability to choose a Fire spell at one point. But that type of magic was so far removed from necromancy that Mark knew it would take a while.

They walked for quite a long time before something appeared in the distance. It was another tree, but instead of the trial they expected, only a portal hung in the air underneath its branches. Some kind of magic wasn't letting them advance further inside. And the key was probably to have a qualified nature mage to wield this staff.

Mark tried his best to activate the artifact himself, but nothing worked. He didn't attempt to inject necromantic magic inside, in fear of a hostile response. Handing it off to the others also failed to work. Both Annabelle and Elise had already made their class choices, making them not meet the prerequisite level of affinity to use the staff.

"Guess we can only leave," Samara said with a frown. She had been looking forward to getting more ingredients for her own personal use. "Wonder where this portal goes."

But Mark didn't feel right leaving just like that. He knew this place held an important inheritance for druids. Leaving meant he would never have such a chance again.

"Let's take a closer look," he suggested. "I really don't want to lose this opportunity."

On his behalf, the entire team wandered around the area some more. They didn't go too far from another and instead formed a chain of people who could still see each other in the distance. Through this method, they walked around a much larger area yet failed to see anything of note. Instead, they somehow managed to return to the portal even though they went in a completely different direction.

"That's probably enough," Samara muttered. "There's nothing we can do. Don't want to waste too much time here, either. Time to leave."

Elise, Annabelle, and Victor all agreed. They walked towards the portal with her but then stopped when they noticed Mark had not followed. He was still standing there, gazing out into the distance. Hector remained by his side.

"I'm not leaving," Mark bluntly said. "Hector, go with them and help, while I figure this place out."

"But boss, what if you need my help?"

"Trust me on this one. I don't think there are any threats in this inheritance, just tricks to keep out people who are not meant for such knowledge. I shouldn't be in any danger."

"Are you sure about this, Mark?" Samara asked. "We won't wait for you to return while we continue with our mission. What if you take too long?"

"I know." Mark knew his teammates wouldn't like that he was abandoning their goals for an unknown length of time, but he had a great excuse at the ready. "I just think there's something off about this whole necromancer and druid thing. Having my magic weakened like this? That's not normal. And dangerous."

"Alright. Good luck then." After a slight nod of her head, Samara turned and walked through the portal. He noticed the others seemed inclined to follow her lead as well, barring his presence. They'd survive without him.

"Mark, you'll be able to figure something out. I believe in you." As always, Hector piled heaps of praises onto him. With a grin on his face, he waved one last goodbye, and Mark watched him disappear through the portal.

Finally. Time to experiment.