I was as ready as I could be for my holiday job with the Astral Space professor Odele Venter and her Research Assistant, Silver Ranker Steven Perich. The team was made up of three Bronze rankers who were a team, and it turned out Val and I knew them. Zavis, Lyari and Haemir, the lightning sword master, Dryad and Troll who guided us in the third Semester Adventuring course.

“We are graduating,” Zavis said, “So this is some starting coin for us before we head out into the wider world.”

“Congratulations,” I said, and Val added her congratulations.

That was the total of the team for two weeks. Venter was Gold Ranked but not really orientated to fighting. She had the Knowledge, Magic, Balance and Mystic essences. She had a portal and would be our transport.

Perich was more combat-orientated with Might, Magic, and Staff, which also led to the Mystic confluence.

Zavis, with his Sword, Lightning, Adept, and Master, was paired with Val, who had Sword, Adept, Dance and Master. Lyari, with her Tree, Growth, Life, and Dryad, was the team Healer, and her brother Haemir, with Blood, Might, Renewal, and Troll, was our big, messy defence/big hitter. From our time of adventuring, I knew he had gotten very messy. His blood and guts got everywhere. He could come back from almost anything. He denied that, and technically, it wouldn’t be true till gold rank, but that was what it seemed like.

I would take the scout role again. I had version two of my armour on with the sand quintessence, which was stronger, more resistant to heat, and more transparent. I had a good supply of Sand Quintessence and the Sandy Resin mix for repairs. I had not yet gotten cutting magic into the resin, but I thought I was close. Version three of the armour is not far away. I have to figure out a way it doesn’t cut me. It would speed level my Resistant Fur but would be very uncomfortable.

A solution could be to have an inner layer.

I also had a supply of ready-made shields in my Hunters Pack coated in various Resin mixtures. One had the sandy resin. Others had an experiment I did with the Fire Feathers, and it was constantly warm. I had another with the resin in spikes, and it had a poison mixture added, but I had no idea if it would work, and nobody would let me try it on them. Now that Haemir is here, he probably will.

We started with the underground caves and the earthworms and shadow creatures. This was a fairly small space, and we stopped at the same three places as before to take readings.

Val was very unnerved as it was confined tunnels, and the only light was what we made.

“Set a perimeter here,” Venter said, “and hold them off until we are done. A couple of hours at most.”

The worms were bronze rank, and Zavis and Val took one side as he had two skills that could damage the incorporeal shadow creatures, but Val had none at iron rank. Lyari stayed in the middle to heal in either direction, and Haemir and I took the other side—a bronze and an iron ranker on each side, one who can deal with the incorporeal.

“Worms. I can eat worms,” Haemir said, “with my Troll constitution, I can eat almost anything and use it to fuel my healing. This damn confining cave means I can’t properly transform, though.”

I saw his skin take on a green tinge as he activated his Troll Skin. I saw a bit of dirt fall from the roof.

“Worms incoming,” I announced.

“I need about an hour and a half,” Venter said.

Claws appeared on the end of Haemar’s fingers, and his teeth grew.

“Do you have a fighting style for using your claws and teeth?” I asked as I sharpened my claws. The worms were bronze, and the shadows were all incorporeal, so I hadn’t bothered getting out any weapons.

“Yes. It is called the Feral Fighting, and it is more than a fighting style. They are my primary weapons, so this is more of a way of life for me. I will pick up weapons when needed, but I live and train for this style.”

“Interesting, you can tell me more later. Pass me your hand.”

Haemir looked puzzled and reached over. I grabbed his hand and sharpened his claws. I had not thought about doing that when we had adventured together.

“Hey, I felt that,” Haemir said. He ran his claws along the Troll Skin of his other arm. Lines cut into his skin, almost immediately closing back over. I noted his blood had a green tinge as well. “That would usually require more effort. That is awesome.” He reached out with his other hand, and I sharpened that as well. “Teeth, too?” he asked.

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I was a bit dubious about that as his teeth had sharpened, and the upper and lower fangs were very prominent. “They will cut into your gums,” I warned.

“Not a problem,” he said, leaned closer, and grinned at me, showing his teeth. I sharpened them as well. I forgot that one of the many ways he healed was through blood consumption, which could be his own. His Troll Blood was poisonous to everybody but him.

Suddenly, I felt my Power increase. Haemir had loosed his Mighty Aura. Then I felt a small heal over time effect engage as Lyari loosed her Boost Life Aura. Zavis’ Cutting Aura would only affect enemies, but Val had the same aura, so it was increased. Zavis’s bronze rank was more powerful and would affect non-corporeal creatures, whereas Val’s wouldn’t. I loosed my aura to boost the Spirit. Neither Venter nor Perich bothered to loosen their aura, or maybe I couldn’t sense it.

The first worm on our side dropped from the ceiling. It was a mid-sized worm, about as round as my head. Haemir was on it before it finished dropping to the ground and was tearing it apart. The worms could hit hard with their bodies and crush if they got around you. They had no teeth in their mouths, but they ground down what they ate somehow. They would eat their way through the earth.

They were bronze rank, so Haemir was not having any trouble with the one, but there was a lot in this swarm. I knew Lyari’s Roots would have spread in the cave around the Instruments, keeping the worms from disrupting the sensors, but that just pushed them to the edges. This was really a bad environment for Lyari as well, as she got energy from being in the sun and the only plants here for her to manipulate were her own.

I attacked a worm coming out from a wall, and I noticed it had wounds, probably from Lyari’s Roots. Two child-sized plant people appeared beside me. They were carrying short spears and could restrain with their roots. They were Lyari’s short-term Dryad Summons.

I reached up to the roof and planted Ardisia in it, and her vines hung down over the tunnel. I used rend to rip open a worm, and two Kais appeared from my claws and started eating into the flesh, disappearing into the worm.

Haemir was also chomping down on a worm as he swiped at another, and one wrapped around his arm. His Troll Bones were very hard to break, so I wasn’t worried.

I went to work alongside Ardisia, stopping the worms from getting past us to the instruments. For bronze rank monsters they were slow but tough. They were hard to kill as they had no central nervous system and could take a lot of damage.

I wanted to try some of the poisons I had made, but I did not want them on my claws. The poisons would have to wait until I used weapons. I am not immune to my poisons, which is a clear advantage to Affliction specialists and trolls. Haemir had a Corrupting Blood Skill.

We got into a rhythm. Ardisia would entangle and draw blood, and I would Rend and insert Kai, who would devour the worm from the inside while I continued to take it apart from the outside with combinations of my attack skills. Even then, we would often need Haemir to finish it as we were too slow.

Ardisia was only Iron rank, so the worms would often tear out of her vines and sometimes tear the vines out of her. She was using their blood to heal, and her roots were planted into Lyari’s roots, which meant Lyari’s Empower Growth Skill was always active in Ardisia. I could see new vines visibly regrowing. Working with a Dryad was amazing for Ardisia. It meant she could keep up with the bronze rank worms.

I saw one of Lyari’s summons get squashed into a pulp and then regrow itself when the worm moved on. The power of a healer is incredible.

I was finishing a worm when I was slammed sideways into a wall, and several of my ribs broke. A worm came out of the wall, wrapped around my torso, and started to crush me. I tore into it with my claws, but my Kais were still in the other worm. I used Rend repeatedly on the same spot to tear it in two halves.

More ribs broke, and I could feel the pressure on my insides. Then Haemir was there, and he grabbed the worm, ripped it out of the wall, and took a bite out of it. I sagged down, and a root extended out of the wall and touched my shoulder. Healing power swept through my body, and several ribs snapped back into place, and I was back in action in less than a minute. I think that was one of Lyari’s higher-powered healing spells, and it helped that I was only Iron Rank to her Bronze.

Kai rejoined me, and we rejoined Ardisia. The fight turned into an exercise in endurance, and I was continually munching on jerky I had harvested and made in preparation. Eating and fighting are dangerous, and I almost choked a couple of times. It took two times to learn my lesson.

The worm fight took almost an hour, which was a very long time. The worms were not really difficult for the bronze rankers; it was just us iron rankers who struggled.

“How was it at your end?” I asked Val as we rested.

“I hate these tunnels,” she said. “My perception skill lets me see magic, so I can see the worms, but not where the walls are. I banged my helmet several times. I also cannot damage up a level like you, so I felt I was useless. Even my Plunging Strike execute Skill was useless as there was no one place to finish them off. There was nowhere to manoeuvre and nothing to parry, so only a few skills were repeated over and over. It was horrible, and I am regretting coming.”

“Oh, I'm sorry. We should only have two more stops here, and then we will move to better spaces after this,” I hope, I thought, but I didn’t say.

We sat to meditate while the reading was finishing, and I felt Rend and Ardisia go up a level. I collected a lot of Worm meat, as I knew a nice recipe for it. I put most of the energy into Earth Quintessence as everything was Bronze level. Hence, I will not be cooking the meat for myself yet.

“Oh, that’s good,” Val said. “My Thrust, Multi-Strike and Quick Repeat Skills all levelled.” She seemed much happier at that.