Ethan stopped behind a bush and brought up the main quest. He hadn’t checked on it in a while, and after all that fighting and sleeping, it was time to check it again and see how much time he had left.

Main Quest: Gain access to the second floor within 6 days, 3 hours, and 21 minutes.

Reward: 1 tier-0 wand.

“It’s been… Around 21 hours since this stuff started. Alright, not bad.”

He felt like he’d progressed pretty well, all things considered. And thanks to his heightened Toughness, he was doing pretty well for someone who should be dehydrated right about now.

Gotta find something soon, though.

Ethan continued his advance along the edge of the giant cave wall, eyes peeled for movement. The forest was buzzing with life, as always, but the activity seemed mostly focused on the central part, which he wasn’t keen on approaching just yet. As he navigated through the bushes and boulders, Ethan wondered about hidden quests.

Creating a spell probably counts for one. If that’s possible. Upgrading a spell or trait as well, probably. Though I have no idea how I’d do any of those two. What else… Killing a tier-3 being for sure, but that’s probably a death sentence right now.

Ethan heard movement and dropped into a crouch, grimacing from the whiff he got from himself. The bush rustled once more, then a large lizard broke out of the vegetation. It paused for an instant to taste the air with its forked tongue before veering away from Ethan.

No vibrant colorations. Maybe edible?

[Water monitor - Level 21]

Its smooth and glossy deep blue scales reflected the glow of the mushroom trees. Its tail swayed as it continued trudging through the vegetation, and Ethan had a thought. A wild guess.

Maybe the water monitor knew where to find water.

Carefully, as stealthily as he could manage, Ethan tracked the water monitor for nearly five minutes, keeping his distance from the lizard and making sure nothing was creeping on him in turn. Finally, Ethan came up on a clearing.

Nestled against the wall of the cavern was a pond that snaked away toward the center of the forest in a small stream. Ethan had to hold himself from sprinting toward the water, because the lizard he’d been following wasn’t the only monster around.

[Water monitor - Level 21]

[Toad - Level 27]

[Water monitor - Level 28]

The air was tense around the pond. All three monsters were wary of each other, but they kept to themselves, with both water monitors sharing the pond while the toad settled further downstream—thankfully—and just used the water to rub its face and skin.

There was some sort of truce going on, and Ethan wondered if it would hold if he stepped out and got himself a spot to drink and wash up.

Worth a shot. And if it doesn’t work out, I could probably take them if they got aggressive. Otherwise, I’ll get a drink then break the truce.

The young man stepped into the clearing, and all three monsters immediately turned.

Easy. We’re all friends here. For now.

Ethan moved slowly. He kept all three monsters in his vision, especially the toad. One of the monitors hissed, but none moved so he kept slowly walking. He crossed in front of the toad, who blinked at him and squeaked, but otherwise didn’t attack. A few seconds later, Ethan was on his own side of the pond. All four of them continued eying each other, but the peace held.

Ethan grinned as he lowered himself to the water; when he finally looked down, his eyes widened.

It’s a spring! On my side, too!

A few inches ahead, the water rippled outward as the spring gently pushed it up. Up to this point, Ethan had been willing to risk unclean water, but a spring made everything so much easier. He wanted to plunge his face into the water and drink, but he couldn’t take that risk. Instead, he cupped his hands and brought the clear cold water to his dry lips.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The crisp, cold water went down his throat, and it might have the tastiest sip he’d ever experienced. Unfortunately, it was quickly marred by the hissing coming from the two monitor lizards, who bared their teeth at him.

Ethan summoned his claws and glared down at them. “Shut it.”

That made them hiss louder, and they began swimming toward him. He turned to the toad, who stared dumbly at all three for a second before it turned and hopped away.

Smart toad.

The monitor lifted its head above water, and a glowing blue beam shot out. Ethan instantly ignited his claws and braced, only for the stream of blue light to hit the wall of flames and explode into—

Mist?

Ethan looked at the steam and tentatively smelled it for a second before he looked down at the lizards. “Was that water?”

This time, both shot at him, and he allowed one to hit his forearm. The projectile was like a heavy punch, but it did explode into safe-looking water.

Ethan grinned wider and put both hands in front of his business area. “Alright. Keep them coming, but not the face. After that, I’m cooking one of you.”

***

Ethan merrily chewed on his piece of roasted monitor tail. He’d taken his pants off and was sitting at the edge of the pond, letting his feet dangle into the crystal clear water. Right next to him, the fire he’d made with a few mushroom branches crackled while a second skewered piece of tail roasted on top of the fire.

“Wish I had some salt and pepper,” he said as he lifted his feet and looked at them, then glanced sideways at the clothes he’d washed and laid on top of a couple of bushes. “And I need magic-resistant clothes.”

His t-shirt hadn’t been able to handle the increasingly powerful flames. The shoulder parts were already gone, while the sides were full of burnt holes. It had finally fallen apart from the pressurized jets of water.

His pants were doing a bit better, but they still had a few holes from the lizardlings, and they had been incredibly dirty from all the fighting. The shoes were fine. They were mostly dirty… but they might not last long, either.

At least they were clean now. He’d used his ruined t-shirt to wipe them up.

“Are there even stores around here? Doubt it… But maybe after the main quest’s done? Are magic clothes even a thing? Or do people just carry spare clothes on them at all times?”

No one answered, so he bit once more into the tail. It was good meat. Plus, this little encounter had netted him 36 fragments and another level, which he used to make his Mana stat a clean 10.

“I didn’t test [Whisper], though.”

Ethan chucked the sharpened skewers he’d carved with his claw and picked the next piece of skinned tail. It was well seared, with the fat glistening and rolling down as he picked it up. He blew on it a couple of times then bit into it, which was only possible because of the fire resistance he was getting from his wand’s unique trait.

It was still hot though, and he had to huff a few times to try and cool down the bite he’d gotten.

“So good,” he said after swallowing the piece.

As he was about to bite once more, there was a rustle of branches to his left, then a figure stepped out. When Ethan saw what it was, he bit into his still smoking piece of roasted tail and huffed to cool it off.

[Lizardling- Level 17]

“Human thing,” the lizardling spat, then it clicked and two more lizardlings showed up. Both were under level 20.

Ethan continued chewing. “Hey.”

One of them raised its dagger and pointed at the dead lizards. “We will do the same to you. If you don’t follow.”

Ethan bit once more into the meat, which seemed to annoy the lizardlings. “And then you’ll feast on my flesh?”

The lizardling clacked their jaws and made weird noises for a moment before the first one spoke again. “Enough words. You will come with us. Alive or dead.”

Ethan eyed the three lizardlings and chewed. They could lead him to another warband. Or maybe even a larger camp. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t escape or kill them if needed. He could just follow them for a bit. Find their camp and go from there. And who knows. Maybe it could help him find a lead about the main quests.

“Alright.”

Ethan got up, and all three raised their weapons, then lowered them in confusion as he put on his still wet pants and socks, then laced his shoes.

“Lead the way.”

“We give the orders,” spat out the spear-wielder.

Ethan refrained from smiling and raised both arms. “Alright. You got me.”

As they led him along the cave wall, Ethan stayed hyper-vigilant of the spear carrier behind him. The leader stayed ahead, while a third scouted to the right, ready to warn in case something approached from the central area.

Ethan assumed they wanted to put him in a cage like they’d done with Liz’s group—who he should probably go check on soon—but just in case these three tried something, he had to react fast. But as the seconds then minutes went by, it really did seem like they wanted to take him alive.

Time went by, with Ethan being slowly escorted deeper in the cave. He was pretty sure they passed to a second forest after a while. The walls had closed in around them for a moment before they widened, as if they’d gone through a mini-tunnel, after which they dove into the woods once more. Around fifteen minutes later, they arrived at another camouflaged entrance, and Ethan’s smile widened.

The cave entrance was larger. The camouflage was better, but most importantly, there were two lizardlings guarding the entrance—both above level 20—and Ethan was pretty sure he was looking at fortifications as well.

This might be the largest camp yet.

“Move, human thing,” said the lizardlings behind him before poking him in the back.

Ethan slowly turned to face his captor, smile still on his lips.

The lizardling looked up at him as he loomed over it. It tightened its grip on the spear, eyes narrowing—and Ethan kicked it in the nards.