“Okay, nitwit,” the ring spoke into Oliver’s mind. “I took your party this direction because I think you guys can handle some of the trickier content in this Stage. The first is a dungeon with multiple pieces of gear in it as well as some stat-boosting consumables.”

“What’s a stat-boosting consumable?” he asked back.

The ring was silent for a moment. “I know you aren’t that stupid. It’s what it says, it’s something you consume to raise your stats. Permanently. It’s the only way we can do that outside of completing Stages in the Tutorial.”

Oliver relayed their mission to the rest of the party, who mostly just shrugged. Scooter flew them out of the city they started in, which had the appearance of a very fantasy world based castle town. There was a large castle on top of a hill inside a bend in the river, and a city reaching out from the castle in concentric rings. Nicer, taller buildings sat nearer the castle, while simpler, smaller buildings lay furthest away. Oliver spotted what looked like a cathedral of some kind, but what faith would be practiced in the Tutorial, he didn’t know.

Scooter flew at a pace that left the few people traveling on horseback in the dust, but was still probably slower than a car would travel on a small residential street. Still, flying in a straight line over all of the obstructions that other Tutorial-takers would have to deal with was an amazing boon.

The countryside passed below while the group rode in companionable silence. Scooter flew without a single sound, but the passing wind still made conversation a chore, so the group silently decided to keep their thoughts to themselves until they arrived at their destination. Small farms and winding dirt roads passed beneath them until the farms and roads gave way to forests and what could barely be called a trail.

Rose tapped Oliver on the shoulder to rouse him from his thoughts, and gestured at a point in front of them. Oliver looked out to see that they were over thick forest now, with no gaps in the trees to see the ground below. Ahead of them, where Rose had indicated, stood a majestic tree that stood easily half again as tall as the surrounding forest. Oliver nodded, confirming that the tree was their destination to Rose, who guided Scooter to drop just above the treetops about a hundred meters from the taller tree.

They slowed to a stop and Oliver realized that there was no place that Scooter could get them all the way to the ground. Just as he was about to ask the others if they had any ideas to get down, Rose let out an excited whoop and jumped off of Scooter’s back, disappearing into the leaves below. A few seconds later, they heard her yell up, “That was awesome!”

Cora just shook her head with a smile that said she was used to the antics of younger people. She used her new [Duplicate] perk to create a copy of her shield, then flipped both of them to face down. She hopped up on one and motioned to Silas to jump on the other. Barton wagged his tail and joined Silas on his shield as Silas and Cora floated down through the canopy on the pair of shields.

“Can- Can she use that to fly?” Nada asked, disbelief in her voice.

The ring answered her question to Oliver, who relayed the answer. “Ring says the best she can do for now is a controlled descent. Apparently there are Perks to allow that.”

Nada turned and locked eyes with Oliver. “I want to fly. Tell the ring to figure out a way for me to fly,” she demanded with intensity.

Oliver listened to the ring for a moment before responding. “It says that it shouldn’t be a problem.”

Nada turned and peeked over the edge of Scooter’s gently hovering form. “It’s a problem for now,” she observed. “I am not just jumping off like perky down there.”

Oliver was quiet again as the ring spoke, then quietly asked, “Are you sure? Okay, then.”

The Egyptian girl was only about half a head shorter than Oliver, so he didn’t have to stoop very low to wrap his left arm under hers and around her back.

“Hold on tight,” he warned her.

Nada barely wrapped her arms around his neck with a startled, “Wha-” when he jumped. When they cleared the top level of the canopy, Oliver was grateful that there were no large limbs in their path down. He had purposefully aimed towards the tree trunk as he jumped, and when they were about halfway to the ground, he took his spear that he had gripped close to the spearhead and jammed it into the tree trunk as they fell.

There was a jerk of Nada’s arms around his neck, but they held tight to each other as the spear slowed their descent. Slightly. It was enough that they landed on the ground with a heavy thump, but without injury.

Oliver let out a heavy breath and commented nonchalantly, “That wasn’t so bad.”

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Nada gave him a heavy backhanded thump on the chest, chastising him, “Warn a girl a bit, next time.” Her face held a ghost of a smile that told Oliver that she was enjoying the excitement, at least a little.

The group dusted themselves off as Rose glanced around. “Where’s Trinket?” she asked.

Right on cue, a fat blue raindrop hit the ground next to them with a splat. Trinket’s body was spread out on the ground like a bug on a windshield. Just as the group started to worry, the slime pulled itself back together into a rough ball shape.

Now that the Party was on the ground safe and sound, the rest of the group looked to Oliver for direction.

Oliver’s innate leadership skills roared to life as he pointed into the forest and mumbled, “Um, that way.”

As the group walked, the ring offered Oliver advice about their group formation, which he relayed to the others.

“The ring says that this dungeon will be a good chance to practice fighting together in hostile territory. Nada and Silas, you two are our squishy spellcasters, so you need to stick with Cora. Stay right behind her at all times. Rose, you and I are physical combatants, so we circle around the other three as we need to.”

Rose raised her hand and asked, “Question. Doesn’t the tank usually go in front? I’ve played a few RPG’s, and the tanks are usually first in line.”

Oliver pointed a finger at her. “Right, but it’s too hard for you to try to punch enemies or me to throw my spear at them from behind a shield. We need to trust that Cora will keep Nada safe, and that Nada will heal us when we take damage. Silas will just have to aim around everyone else with his spells since he’s not equipped to be on the front-line.”

Cora raised an eyebrow. “And where was all this advice in the last Stage?”

Oliver bashfully raised a hand to the back of his head. “Uh, the ring was hoping that I’d... abandon you guys and go solo. Since we made a party, he’s helping us all out now.”

“Great,” Nada deadpanned, her eyes looking a bit dangerous.

The group made their way through the forest in the formation that the ring suggested. Barton stuck closer to Silas in the center and Trinket just kind of bobbed all around, seemingly dancing to a song only it could hear.

Soon enough, the group could see the massive tree that was their destination. It was easily ten meters across, and there was a narrow gap between its roots that looked like it could admit a full-grown human. Rose danced to the front and went in first, with the center trio following, and Oliver bringing up the rear.

Once inside, the gap opened up to a proper hallway, though one with intertwined roots for walls and dirt and stone for a floor. A narrow stream wound its way down the corridor, creating a rather idyllic setting. Light streamed in occasionally from gaps in the root ceiling, but Oliver was certain that it wasn’t actual outside daylight, but some kind of magic lighting. The lighting was just enough for a misty, early-dawn atmosphere.

A few steps in and the group was greeted with a message.

Welcome to The Burrow.

Only one party may enter a Dungeon at a time. Dungeon rewards do not reset, and may only be collected once. Upon completion, your party will be transported back to the Dungeon entrance. If you wish to exit before completing the Dungeon, you must exit on your own.

As soon as the message faded, a pair of rabbits emerged from hidden alcoves in the walls. The pair looked exactly like wild, brown rabbits that you might fight to keep out of your garden. Exactly the same if rabbits were a meter tall, not counting the ears.

“Aww,” Rose cooed. “We don’t have to figh-”

She was cut off by one of the rabbits charging and kicking her with its back legs square in the torso. Rose flew back through the air, landing with a heavy thwack on a protruding root, her body bending backwards before flopping to the ground.

Nada immediately had her staff up and was enveloping Rose in her healing aura. Cora duplicated her shield and floated each one of them between each rabbit and the core group.

Oliver turned to check on Rose, but the ring screamed into his head to stay focused on the fight. He snapped his eyes back to the rabbit that had kicked Rose and launched his spear in its direction. The rabbit hopped to the side, but not quite enough to completely dodge the spear. It clipped the rabbit’s torso, taking off a chunk of fur and hide, but the rabbit stayed upright.

As Oliver was calling his spear back to his hand, he heard Cora encouraging Silas.

“Silas, honey, a little help here,” she half-shouted, trying to find the right balance of urgent and compassionate.

The boy must have snapped out of it, because in the next moment, a bolt of electricity slammed into the other rabbit, stunning it right before it launched its own jumping attack.

Oliver’s spear smacked back into his palm as he was drawing his hand back to throw it again. This time, Oliver heard Barton’s [Cry of Strength] in time for the buff to boost his throwing power. His spear landed center-mass on the rabbit, driving it back into the root wall where the spear pinned it to the wall like a macabre trophy.

The other rabbit was trying to shake itself free from Silas’s lightning when Oliver’s spear punched clean through it. Must have not hit any bones, Oliver thought to himself.

Both rabbits dissolved into nothingness, leaving a couple of items dropping to the ground where they were, but Oliver and company were already running for Rose. The Filipina was groaning and rubbing her head while Nada’s healing magic continued to work on her.

Slipping into ‘medical professional’ mode, Nada examined her patient. “Rose, can you hear me? How are you feeling?” she asked.

Rose raised a single arm into the air and gave a shaky thumbs-up. “Pro tip,” she told the group. “Just because something is fuzzy, doesn’t mean it wants to cuddle.”