My best opportunity to find out about the astral space was at the memorial service and the meal the company put on afterwards. Some were telling their stories, and I moved from group to group.

The astral space itself was like a long valley. The rock walls on each side had minerals but would also spawn rock elementals and other rock-type monsters. The valley was about three kilometres wide, with the entrance near one edge and stretching out both ways from the entry point. Nobody knew how long it was. The valley was a mixture of bush and open areas, and there was a lake to the left, but this team went to the right. The area around the entrance spawned mostly low bronze with some iron monsters, and as you went further from the entrance, the magic increased in strength up to silver at about five kilometres in. This is what attracted Silver rank adventures to the town, as our normal bronze level of magic was normally too weak for them.

“When our wagons went through the entrance, I was disoriented, and Jack was throwing up. I could hear fighting. The Adventurers had gone through first and were already fighting a pack of Howlers. They were only Iron strength, but there were a lot of them. The adventures were cutting them down like wheat. Young Denise was looking at them admiringly. She had always wanted to be an adventurer.”

“May the gods rest her soul,” a woman said that I didn’t know. There were murmurings of agreement. I wasn’t sure about the gods in astral spaces. Apparently, the astral spaces are outside this world, and the gods can’t go there. Where does her soul go if the god of Death can’t go there?

The story continued, “We found a grove of Weeping Willows and camped nearby. The area was surrounded by mist from the moisture produced by the willows, but we spent the next two days felling willows and trimming the logs. We were attacked mainly by mist elementals and bark lurkers. The bark lurkers are silver rank but solitary, and the adventures handled them fine. I found an Awakening Stone of the Mist, so I am due a nice bonus in my next pay.”

“You didn’t keep it?” I asked.

“We are there for the company, lad. All resources we find are company property, not that some don’t try to sneak things out. It is a quick way to become unemployed and be prosecuted for theft. The company bonus is generous, particularly for an uncommon stone like Mist. The adventurers have a different deal with the company, but we are employees.”

“When did things go wrong?” I asked.

“We went further in to find Silver Oak, which is so popular with the rich folk. We found one and made space on the wagons, but a pair of silver-rank tree panthers attacked us at the same time as a flock of bronze-rank Shreiking Swallows. The swallows got Fred and Denice before one of the Adventurers noticed.” he shuddered at the memory. “The adventurers kept the panthers busy while we got the wagons moving, but the swallows kept coming and coming. We lost one of the wagons when the swallows killed the Armoured Oxes that were pulling them, and you know how tough it is to get through their defences. We had to hunker down and wait for the adventurers to fend them off.

“It seemed like everything was out to get us on the way back. We kept losing people, and a silver-ranked stone elemental smashed a wagon from which we had to run. The adventures were out of healing potions, and the one healer they had was out of mana potions and could only try to keep the adventurers alive, which was our only hope for getting out of there. The coin is nice, but I am never going back. You can’t spend the coin if you are dead, and my missus was always against it.”

I moved on to a different group. There was a lot to think about. The Astral Space was incredibly dangerous, even for bronze-rank adventurers, let alone for people like us who are not even Iron Rank.

It was the worst number of fatalities since the monster surge. Apparently, the surge in magic also affected the astral space, and they had to get a gold-rank team in to clear the space after the surge. I never realised that.

I moved from group to group. The details changed, and there was some anger at the company for only hiring two bronze-rank teams.

I needed some space to think about all this. I was getting peopled out. We only had one day off work a week, so I didn’t have enough time to go home for a visit.

I would sit on my roof and watch the stars to get some peace, but the noise of the city is still all around me. I need to get away.

Stolen novel; please report.

The next day off, I left the city. The forest is about a two-hour jog with my iron-rank speed attribute. I passed by a lot of farms and other rural activities before I reach the forest. I left the road and keep jogging for an hour to make sure I am away from everybody.

I found a quiet meadow with a stream. I sat and let the sounds of the forest surround me. After a while, the animals start reappearing and going about their business. A bear ambled to the stream, drinks, and hooks a fish with his claws. A bear essence wouldn’t be so bad, especially if I could summon something like that. Getting a summons is not guaranteed, even from the animal essence. Your chances are good, though.

The bear wanders off, and a while later, some deer appear to drink. There are birds in the trees, and I spot a snake. The forest is alive, and I love it. I might have gone for a druid essence combination if I hadn’t had the opportunity at the sharpen essence. Never mind, I am on a different path now.

I make my way back slowly, collecting some berries and herbs. I find some wild ginger and onions. I brought a small backpack, so I was quite happy to supplement my meager and cheap meals with fresh produce.

I made myself a sturdy walking stick with my hand axe. The end was not quite sharp, but it could have been done quickly if I needed it.

I needed it.

The first thing I knew was that a thorny vine scraped along my leg but didn’t penetrate my fur. I looked curiously, as I hadn’t noticed it when I was walking. As my eyes traced the vine, another suddenly dropped over my shoulders. It didn’t penetrate my fur, but it did tear the strap to my backpack, and I ducked away, leaving the pack behind.

I looked around urgently, drawing my hand axe and sharpening my stick. I saw the next vine coming at me, blocked it with my stick, and hacked at it with my axe. The axe blade dug into the vine but didn’t go right through. That told me this was iron-rank, as it would barely have even made a mark against a bronze-rank monster.

The sensible thing to do would be to run and notify the Adventure Society. But a second swing of my axe severed the vine, so this was not an impossible monster.

Then my choice was taken away as two thicker vines whipped out and wrapped around my legs, yanking me off my feet and starting to drag me to the centre of the mass of vines. Some of these thorns penetrated past my fur, and I knew I was bleeding.

I dropped my stick as I leaned forward and hacked at one of the vines with my axe. I saw another vine coming for me, so I sharpened my claws and swiped at it, leaving four deep claw marks in it but not severing it. It did send it away from me, though.

I also sharpened my toe claws and twisted around to claw at the fins dragging me, and I kept hacking with the axe. The axe was better, and one of the vines came loose, letting me pull against the drag. This dug the thorns deeper into my leg, but I figured that was the better option than being dragged into that tangle.

I fended off two vines and added small bleeding to my arms. I finally went through the vine dragging me and scrambled back, untangling myself. I grabbed the stick again, sharpening it as the mass of tangled vines came toward me, and I ducked two more attempts. I was continually deflecting vines, and I managed to sever two more.

I was deciding to run when I realised I had severed most of the long vines, which was why it was moving toward me. Could I kill it? How? Fire would be the best, but I didn’t have that. There will be a monster core in there somewhere. Do I hack in until I find it?

I moved closer and then ducked back as a vine swung at me. I lay my stick on it, putting my weight on it to hold it down as I hacked with the axe and my claws, soon severing it. Then, I repeated the process. The vine was not smart and kept trying to get me. I removed a vine at a time until I was hacking at the central mess with my axe, and the vine couldn’t do anything.

When I extracted the green monster core, the vine suddenly died. I just sat exhausted for a bit. I was bleeding from several places the thorns penetrated, but it wasn’t bad. The bleeding would have stopped by the time I got to a farmhouse. This certainly got my fur a workout.

I looked at my axe. The wooden handle had gouges where thorns had gotten past it, but otherwise, it was fine. I would be dead if I didn’t have it with me. A machete would be better against this monster.

Then I realised I had just killed my first monster! Alone! Wow! “Whoo hoo!” I yelled because I could.

I picked myself up and looked around. Then I realised This wasn’t the only thorn vine here. Iron-ranked monsters spawn in multiples in this low bronze area. I backed away. I grabbed my broken pack and looked at the mass of thorns.

Could I do another one? Not now, but could I come back with a machete and a first aid kit and do another one? Would they be here next week? How long do Iron-rank monsters survive?

I should report this to the Adventure Society and let them send someone to deal with it. I put the monster core in my bag. That was worth a bit. It would get me closer to my goal.

I headed back to the city, mulling this over. What should I do? The thorn monsters were not threatening farms or people; they couldn’t move very fast. They would kill some forest animals, but that was all for now.

I would sell the core, look up the vines at the Adventure Society, and then decide.