In a small clearing, not unlike the one Ethan and the team had left, a new fight was taking place.

Audrey jumped in front of Liz and summoned another shield as the tongue of the toad shot out once more. The fleshy appendage hit the tower shield with a loud squish, then it pulled, but this time, the muscular woman held her ground. Her feet skidded on the ground, digging a groove in the soft earth while a blue bolt from Liz and a gray bolt from Amelie flew past her. In the meantime, Gerald surged from behind a tree, roaring as he ran at the extended appendage and swung down, severing the tongue.

Audrey didn’t even stumble as the pull on her shield suddenly vanished. She’d been ready.

Blood sprayed out of the tongue as the toad squealed and pulled it back. Two more bolts found the giant monster next, one of which lodged into the roof of its mouth and through its brains.

Ethan watched from the sidelines, impressed at the team’s teamwork. They handled themselves well against the level 25 toad and none of them got injured. They might not be ready for a mystic toad, but it was only a matter of time before they could take on something of that level.

Ethan heard the sound of crunching branches behind and instantly summoned his claws. Fire ignited over the ember-like skin as he looked behind him, drawing the team’s attention as he did, only to find an unruffled orange cat that meowed at him. “[I require sustenance.]”

Ethan stared down at the cat for a second, heart hammering in his chest, then sighed as plopped back down on the rock he’d been using as a seat. “Alright.”

He dismissed his right hand and extended the left down, then produced a thin jet of scorching flames. The cat wasted no time and scampered toward the fire, only sniffing once before she began chomping through the flames quickly enough that Ethan had to increase his output to match the cat. She was growling and purring at the same time, devouring the flame as if she’d been starved. More and more flames danced around her fur, while her eyes began glowing brighter, as if the light of the fire she consumed shone through them.

Ethan was tempted to pat the cat, but they might not be there yet. “Seems like you’re liking my recent upgrade.”

Ember did not answer, and only purred louder as she ate her way through his mana reserve.

Actually, that’s something I need to address soon. The last upgrades are doing a number on my mana.

He wasn’t regenerating mana fast enough now that he had two tier-2 spells in his wand and even though the new Prime wand might be helping him regen faster, it was not nearly enough to counter the expensive new flames and it would only get worse once he started to lob spells faster.

It’s all in the fragments. Gotta get back out there soon.

Ethan glanced up at the four as they finished up the toad, then down at the cat. “Those are friends. Please don’t hurt them. And maybe keep an eye on them in case of danger?”

Ember continued devouring the flames and ignored him. Ethan frowned, then he reduced his flames until they were barely a candle’s worth. Instantly, the cat pawed at his hand and growled louder at him, then gave him an annoyed meow that rang in his mind. “[Fine.]”

Ethan grinned and increased the flames so they were thicker than they’d been moments ago. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

***

Amelie’s eyes were trained on the cat lounging on top of another boulder while Ethan spoke with the team about what he found out, while they shared some of their own discoveries. The most interesting tidbit had been the difference between “sequential” and “selective” in the wand settings.

“So why shouldn't we always have it in the selective mode?” he asked as he eyed his wand status. “I haven’t encountered the sequential mode issue as I didn’t have a lot of spells, but it sounds like a pain to only be able to shoot spells in a set order. Using the spell you want whenever you want sounds a lot more practical.”

Liz, Audrey and Gerald instantly looked at the fourth member of the team, who was making soft clicking sounds with her tongue to attract the cat’s attention. Amelie looked up to find them all staring at her and slowly straightened up. “I’m not sure why all of you are looking at me. Liz’s the one who figured it out.”

Liz was suddenly fascinated by a tear she had gotten in the side of her overalls.

Amelie drew her lips in a line, then summoned her wand. She aimed at the toad’s corpse and shot a gray-hued projectile. “Basically, what sequential-mode does is that it primes the second spell in your wand as soon as you cast the first. Picture it as a…” she trailed off, looking around for something, then she snapped her finger. “A gun. No, a revolver. Picture a revolver. If you have just one spell, then it’s as if all six cylinders have that exact spell ready. You just pull the trigger, and the gun fires, then it lines up the next bullet. If you have different bullets, you can organize them in order, and the gun moves through them in order. You shoot one, it prepares the next. You just have to pull the trigger.”

She shot a gray projectile, followed by green smoke, followed by another gray projectile in quick succession. Ethan put her cast refresh at around 2 seconds.

She dismissed her wand, stared at the air for a second, then summoned it again. The wand looked the same to Ethan as she pointed it at the dead-toad once more.

“If you set your gun to selective-mode, then what you’re basically doing is that you’re reloading your gun one bullet at a time. You get to choose the exact bullet you want, at the exact time you want it. But you waste time.”

She did the same with her wand, but this time, the spells did not alternate in the same order. She just called a spell randomly, just before she shot them. The time between spells was easily doubled, if not more.

Amelie dismissed her wand and put her hand on her hips, then blew on a lock of white-hair away from her eyes. “We’re not sure yet about how to get the most of this… feature. But it’s there. Now, what did you say about hidden quests? We already found a couple, but I’d love to know more.”

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Over the next few minutes, Ethan shared the few hidden quests he discovered, which matched the couple that the team had found for themselves. He hadn’t learned anything new—aside from a hidden quest to heal someone back from the brink of death—but he didn’t expect to earn that one.

Liz and her team were deep in thought when they’d learned the other venues they could pursue for easy rewards, and Ethan felt good about sharing such leads. For a moment, he’d felt a bit cagey about keeping his advantages to himself, but he quickly stomped those thoughts out. He didn’t want to gain an edge by hoarding secrets and power to himself. He didn’t want to do it by starving out everyone else when he himself had benefited from a free meal and a safe roof when he most needed it before this all started.

He wasn’t going to be that sort of person. Plus, knowing a path was possible didn’t mean everyone could pursue it.

After they were done chatting, Ethan, Liz, and her team searched the area and within a handful of minutes, they all stood in front of a depression in the ground that funneled down into a tunnel and as he examined it, it made sense to him why he hadn’t encountered these tunnels earlier.

While he had previously explored at the edge of the caves and refused to dive deeper into the mushroom forests, the tunnel they were now looking down into was practically dead center in the cave and as Ethan looked up ahead at the other connected caves, he could now picture more access-tunnels leading down within them.

What kind of caves are these? Did something create this?

Ethan was no geologist, but it didn’t seem like this environment could occur naturally.

“I hate saying this now that we might go down the tunnels…but have you guys seen what an ant-nest looks like?”

Ethan looked back toward the woman for a second, then glanced up at the cave-network that stretched ahead, before looking back down to the tunnel.

Ant-nests?

From this angle, he could see somewhat deep within it. It stretched down evenly and in a mostly straight line. It was illuminated with small glowing mushrooms growing around the path and along the walls. The only reason Ethan thought there were no mushrooms in the middle of the tunnel is because it must be frequently used.

Insects dug this cave?

A shiver ran down his spine. He didn’t have a phobia of creepy-crawlies, but he didn’t like them either and if this had been dug by insects… then those things would have been giants.

Liz, Gerald, and Audrey all shuddered at the thought.

“I think you’re right,” Liz said as nervously scratched the back of her neck. “I grew up on a farm and we… uh, made a mold of an ant nest once. But if this place was made by ants or any other insect, then I’d rather not meet any of them.”

Amelie shrugged as she rubbed her chin. “Just a thought. They’re probably gone. I mean, if this had been an active nest, it would have been crawling with them. So we’re safe. Ish.”

Ethan agreed. He stood up and cracked his neck. “I’ll head down first and take a quick look. Shouldn’t be long. If things get dicey up here, follow. Otherwise… well. Keep leveling. Ember should help if something dangerous shows up, but um… safe.”

He didn’t think the cat would murder them, especially after she had agreed to Ethan’s request. But he doubted she would actually help unless they were literally about to die.

Ethan stepped past them and descended into the tunnel. He needed a t-shirt soon. He didn’t like being the only shirtless person.

***

Liz Taylor

“Amelie, for the love of god, stop bothering the level fifty monster,” Audrey snapped as she nervously eyed her sister as the latter slowly approached the cat. She reached out with her hand, making cooing noises, trying to appease the fire elemental, and the cat swiped at her hand and hissed once more.

“Ouch! I almost have it!” She pointed at her hand and quickly healed the claw marks. “Dammit, I should have gotten a fire spell instead of healing. It would have trusted me faster.”

The cat hissed once more, tail raised, then hopped away from the rock it’s been resting on and climbed up a mushroom tree.

Amelie shook a fist at it. “Just you wait. We’ll be best friends in no time. Do you like meat? Let me find you some meat.”

Liz smiled as she sat down while Gerald took over, watching their surroundings for threats. It’s been an hour or so since Ethan had headed down the tunnel, and they had already been attacked by a water monitor.

It didn’t last long against their organized assault.

Amelie rushed toward the dead lizard and when she got there, she tapped her pockets for a knife she didn’t have, then asked Gerald for his sword. Moments later, she came back toward the cat with a slice of lizard meat. She tried to tempt the animal with the glistening red meat, but Ember pointedly ignored her.

Liz felt a weight off her shoulder. Not that they were safe or anything. They still had to survive on their own and do their best to defend themselves from monsters and from other participants. But with Ethan nearby and with a powerful cat watching over them, she felt that for the first time since this all started, she could go to sleep peacefully and get more than five minutes of shut-eye at a time.

Ahead of her, Audrey was also getting some rest. The fit woman was doing some shoulder stretches, back straight as always, while she worryingly watched her sister continuously fail to get the cat’s attention.

Liz pulled some of the roasting lizard and blew on it. She would kill for some utensils. Or a pan. Or a water bottle.

I wonder if Sonya and Mathew are alright. And I hope my apartment is still standing.

The mechanic softly shook her head. To think I just got done paying for it.

Liz chewed in silence and eyed the two sisters. At least she had no family to worry about. Both her parents had passed when she was young, and her extended family never reached out past the funerals, and neither did she.

Amelie soon joined the campfire and picked up a skewer of roasted lizard. When both Liz and Audrey stared at her, she grumbled. “I’m just giving it a break. I’m not stupid enough to piss it off too bad, but I wish it would give me a chance… It’s so damn cute.”

Audrey picked up two skewers, one of which she took a moment to give to Gerald before sitting back down. “How did he end up getting a cat, though? It’s barely been two days since this all started… And how is that da—how is that cat at level 50? Did he explain anything to you?”

Liz shook her head and shrugged. “No clue. He’s not very chatty.”

Amelie turned the skewer in her hand and blew on it. “He’s strong though.”

Both Audrey and Liz eyed the girl as she bit into her skewer and fought the meat to tear a piece. After a second, Audrey asked. “That’s it? You’re not gonna make any other comments like you’ve been doing when he was around?”

Amelie gave them a confused look and a ‘hmm?’ as she chewed.

“You were practically slobbering over him,” pointed-out Audrey. “I know you’re not usually shy, but I’ve never seen you flirt that aggressively before.”

Amelie shrugged. “He’s cute. It’s the end of the world. Sue me. Why? Are any of you calling dibs?”

Audrey chuckled. “Not interested.”

“Same. I’m more interested in surviving all this than looking for a new relationship,” Liz said, waving the question away with a hand. “So… yeah. Go right ahead.”

Amelie raised an eyebrow as she chewed. She swallowed, then spoke. “Who said anything about a relationship?”