Ethan’s many injuries tingled and itched as [Enduring Brawler] worked on healing him.

It was bothering him, but it wasn’t too bad. Keeping himself busy was helping, somewhat, and right now, he was experimenting with his control over fire as well as with the new modifier he’d acquired.

Ethan held his clawed hand in front of him and triggered [Extended Enhancement]. Mana rushed out of his chest and, for a second, his claws grew to nearly twice their usual size. He took in their enlarged shape, and couldn’t help the dumb grin that drew itself on his lips.

This should make for some interesting applications mid-fight.

For the next few minutes, Ethan played with his flames. He grew them larger, smaller. Tried to shape the fire around his hand. He hadn’t been sure of the effectiveness of these small exercises at first, but after spending a couple of hours on them, he was sure his control was getting better.

The fire responded faster to his will, and with every session his control of the flames slipped less often. As long as they were his own, of course.

Ethan had also discovered that even if he was the one to propagate a flame—like lighting up a torch—as soon as the created flame and his own disconnected, he lost control over it. In this case, the torch’s flame would be completely independent from him, and if he touched it, it would burn.

The fire resistance helped of course, but that meant if Ethan somehow ended up setting his environment on fire, he’d be as screwed as the opponent he was fighting.

At least I’m immune to my own heat, too. But not the smell or smoke. Ugh.

He was still in the tunnel, true, but even though the smoke had wafted out already, he couldn’t get the scent out of his nose. Ethan shook his head, then stood up. He rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck. “Alright. Let’s see what’s at the end of the tunnel.”

With his claws dimmed, he made his way deeper into the cave. It was quiet. A few torches dug into the wall lit his way, and he stopped to examine them. He realized they were made of wood shrub, but the top, the part that was burning, was a purple spongy thing.

Mushroom-tree cap?

He eyed the torch for a few moments, then frowned. He couldn’t see much smoke wafting off. Even when he put his hand above it, it didn’t darken . And when he tried smelling it, he didn’t get much outside of the smell of burnt lizardlings already stuck in his nose.

Weird.

A minute or two later, Ethan arrived in a small, empty cave. A few small mushroom fires were still lit, with a few beds made of hide around them, but nothing else. No lizardlings.

This might have been some sort of warband or raiding party.

As he walked through the bed rolls and examined the surroundings, Ethan stilled. Right next to the closest fire was a limb. Ethan thought it was a skinned toad leg for a second, but then he noticed the yellowed bone and severed fingers.

Ethan looked away, stomach roiling, but the image wouldn’t leave his sight for a few seconds.

He moved away from the fire and back toward the exit. Ethan took some calming breaths as he examined the cave for an extra minute or two.

They’re already dead. Calm down.

Ethan wanted to leave the cave and find somewhere else to rest, but he forced himself to think rationally. That poor person was already gone, and god knew how many others were dead. Leaving the cave wouldn’t change any of that.

This is a safe spot. Better than the forest. Get some rest and move on.

Ethan turned his attention to his surroundings, then leaned over and dragged one of the bedrolls to the exit. Over the next few minutes, he built himself a small barricade. It would block anything from coming in, and if something still pushed through, it would be noisy as hell.

Finding the darkest area of the chamber, Ethan laid on his side and closed his eyes. As sleep took hold, he only had one thought; there must be a main camp of these things nearby, and he was going to find it.

***

Ethan yawned and stretched his arms. His neck and shoulder hurt from sleeping on the ground, but Toughness was helping him with that. The pain was already fading, and he definitely felt more refreshed.

Main Quest: Gain access to the second floor within 6 days, 11 hours, and 7 minutes.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I was asleep for around… 3 hours? Better than nothing. But man, I’m starving.

The feeling was dampened for a second as he recalled what he saw earlier next to the fire, but the gnawing came back with a vengeance. His stomach gurgled, and Ethan wondered about what he could eat.

I don’t know enough about mushrooms. Maybe toads? Aren’t they toxic or something?

Ethan sighed. Maybe there were deer in this forest? Then again, how was he supposed to catch something like that? Fish? Same problem.

It’d have to be something that came after him.

Yeah. Hopefully I’m attacked by something edible.

There were a bunch of dead lizardlings still littering the tunnel… But that felt weird. Eating something that could talk and all. Even though they were nasty little shits.

Ethan stepped over the bodies and wrinkled his nose at the smell of stale smoke. The light of day was approaching—or more accurately, the light of the mushroom trees—and as the clearing appeared ahead, Ethan’s steps faltered.

[Mystic Toad (I) - Level 32]

Ethan briskly stepped back behind cover and cursed as he saw the toad’s mouth turn to face him. No lasers came at him, but one thing was clear; the toad was watching the exit.

Seeing it from this close made his hands twitch. Ethan had never stood this close to an animal this large. It dwarfed cows or anything you might see in a farm. Maybe closer in stature with a stout, smaller elephant?

It wasn’t much larger than the toad he’d seen up in the castle, but it felt… more imposing. Could it be the levels?

Focus.

The toad was massive, with softly glowing, patchy purple skin on its back, and off-white thick hide on its stomach. It blinked slowly, one eye after the other, but at no time did the deep blue and almost luminescent eyes look away from the cave’s entrance.

What’s it doing here? Was it the smell that brought it here? Was it feeding on the lizardlings?

As shock faded into the background, Ethan began considering his options.

First, he could just wait it out. It was bound to get bored and leave. To hunt or whatever. And then Ethan could get away and go on with his day.

Second, he could throw out some lizardlings for it to munch on, then make a run for it.

Third was… kill it? Maybe?

That prospect was more exciting than nerve-wracking, but it still sounded risky. Incredibly so. The toad had 14 levels on him, and he didn’t miss how the name above its head was different from the other giant toads. That might mean something happened at level 30 that changed these things from regular toads to super toads. It also might have to do with the roman numeral of one. It could be some sort of upgrade.

If that was the case, Ethan would bet it’d get a boost as well.

The young man took another step back.

Yeah, the rewards would be amazing, but this was too soon. Still, Ethan struggled to stamp out the temptation to try a quick strike and see how he’d fare against such a monster. But if he got hit… he might be out for days, if didn’t kill him outright. And he doubted he’d be able to safely disengage, either.

Alright. Plan number 2. Lizardlings.

Ethan began dragging lizardlings over and chucking them out to the toad. It ignored the first. Then the second. Then when the third flew out, it gurgled and kept its eyes on the tunnel.

On him.

Ah… Shit.

Now that he recalled the last time he’d seen this thing—or maybe one similar—it had killed a regular toad and only took its fragments. None of the meat. Which meant that maybe it was him and his fragments that it wanted?

Ethan pursed his lips as he watched the monster, then he looked down at his hands.

Can I wait it out? I don’t want to be stuck here for too long.

Ethan exhaled, then summoned the claw around his right hand. Carefully, he fed the flames more mana. The blaze grew larger. Brighter.

Next, he tried to funnel the empowered flames into a narrow, tight tunnel that he pictured coming out of his palm. The gout of fire surged outward, easily a meter or two away, but it quickly got out of control. The flames reverted to their usual shape around his claws.

This’ll take a minute.

Ethan panted as he glared at the toad, who stayed still and kept dumbly staring at him. “Jokes on you, we’ll be here for a while. You might starve before I do.”

The toad inflated its throat and made its loud call, while Ethan went back to his practice. Minutes went by, with Ethan making sure to direct the flames outside. He was already thirsty, he didn’t need to superheat the tunnel more than it already was. And then—

A regular giant toad stepped into the clearing. It gurgled, seeing the mystic toad, paying no attention to the cave walls or the tunnel Ethan was hiding in. Instead, it attacked the mystic toad, who instantly opened its mouth and carved a hole through the newcomer’s head.

The purple toad hopped twice, eye swiveling to keep Ethan in sight. It collected the newcomer’s fragment, then ripped off one of its legs before hopping back and stationing itself in front of Ethan’s cave. It began slowly munching, cracking the toad’s bones as if they were made of biscuits.

The message was clear. It wasn’t leaving before it got him in its belly, and it could call for a meal at any time.

Crap. Alright. Let’s see if I can throw it instead.

Over the next few hours, Ethan alternated between condensing the fire into a small ball—which was significantly more challenging than just pushing the flames out—and practicing his control over the flamethrower. He was seeing progress, of course. The flamethrower might be ready soon, but condensing flames to throw? Not yet. He was missing something in that process, and every time he stopped condensing the flame and readied himself to throw the ball, it would burst into a gout of chaotic flames.

He needed to figure out how to stabilize it. But that was for another time. For now, he had to make a final test on his flamethrower, then deal with the toad.

Hopefully the flames would be strong enough to affect it.