Shadara filled seven of her bottles with the red regeneration potion. “So, what’s our plan in the dungeon? Are you really going to take on the other leaders by yourself? What if you need our help?”

I filled up all twenty of my vials with mana potions. “While we’re in the dungeon, I was going to weaken everything and leave the last attack for you two.” I placed the vials of blue liquid in my small bag of holding. “But yeah, I was planning on taking them on by myself. You heard the rules of the arena: only one person can walk out alive, or you two have to surrender. I don’t want you two to sacrifice your shards for this.”

Shadara filled up five bottles for her meal potions. “We could just give you almost all our shards beforehand so we can minimize our losses.”

Killa folded up a small tent as she placed it in a backpack. “Somehow, I think the sphinx will know, and I don’t think we want to find out what the consequences are for trying to cheat the system.”

She walked over with a pack that had a bedroll strapped to the top and a small cylindrical rock hanging from the side. “Besides Shadara, she’ll be fine. Anything we can do, she can do better. We’re slowing her down.”

Shadara’s jaw dropped.

I clutched the sides of the barrel full of meal potions as I glared at her. “Killa, stop.”

Killa frowned as she looked at me with wide eyes. “You know it’s true. If something goes wrong, it’s your werewolf form we’re relying on. People can use us to get to you, and it will work.”

“Enough!” I shouted.

Killa jabbed her finger towards me. “It’s true! You know that. You can’t protect us from everything. You’re not the one who will make our dreams come true. We need to make our dreams a reality.”

I hung my head. “I know. But you two are more important to me than anything else I’ve ever had in my sad blip of an existence. You two are why I keep going. If something happened to you…”

“Stop!”

Shadara’s outburst froze my nanite blood. “Rina, she’s right.”

Not you too Shadara. “Why are you saying all this? I thought we talked about this already.”

Killa walked over and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Because I don’t want you to coddle us. Do you remember your first fight with a spider in that dungeon?”

It’s hard to forget.

“Do you remember how we let you handle it on your own?” Her melodic voice drove guilt through me like a hot knife. “It would’ve been so easy for me to pin it down and let you kill it just like you did for me with the deviant last floor. I didn’t earn that kill. Do you know what it felt like when I received almost a million shards and twenty stat points?”

The slime woman drew her other hand back. “Dirty. We don’t need handouts. Don’t make me feel like that again. I can’t give you the stat points, you must take your shards.”

Her hand formed a pale yellow crystal in it before she slammed it into my chest, and 911,850 shards were added to my total.

I stumbled backwards. “All I wanted to do was help.”

“We understand.” Shadara stepped up and held her hand out. It slowly shifted into a more bestial paw with long claws. “I have a power I need to learn to use. If you leave monsters severely weakened just for me to kill, I won’t learn to us it. We love you, but we need you to ease up.”

Killa wrapped her arm around Shadara’s shoulder. “You said it yourself. You don’t want to use your werewolf form as much as possible. Why?”

I fell backwards into a wall. “You’ve made your point. You don’t want to grow complacent.” I slid to the ground and buried my face in my knees as I used all four arms to pin them to my chest. “I’m such a hypocrite. I’m so sorry.”

I wanted to cry, but I didn’t have working tear ducts. They’re unnecessary.

Shadara knelt in front of me. She grabbed my head; her hand had already returned to normal, and she forced me to look her in the eye. “Rina, you have nothing to be sorry for. We aren’t angry. We aren’t. This is important. Just like you’re important to me—us.”

“Rina, I get it.” Killa spoke in a much more restrained tone. “You never had friends before coming to the Nexus. Then Bark betrayed that friendship, and you thought I died. You’ve finally found something you want and don’t want to let go. Things haven’t been simple for you. I should be the one apologizing. My tone was wrong. I didn’t need to yell. You’re a very understanding individual. My emotions got the better of me, and I lashed out at you. Will you forgive me?”

My lip quivered. “This place is awful. It can turn sisters against each other, trust into betrayal, and friends into enemies.”

Shadara pulled me to my feet. “We’ll not let the Soul Nexus break us. It won’t win.”

Killa pulled us into a group hug. “We’ll overcome—together. It’ll be a rock road, but we’ll manage. This is just a minor bump on the journey.”

I rested my head on Shadara’s shoulder for a moment before doing the same for Killa. “I’m sorry, Killa. I never considered your feelings. You’ve given me a much needed wake-up call. Thank you.”

Killa grew a third arm and ruffled my hair. “You did a good job defeating it and recognizing we had needs too. Your heart was in the right place. The heat of the moment makes it hard to see every side. Everything forgiven?”

I smiled and nodded. “Everything’s forgiven.”

The door opened behind us, and in walked a six-foot-tall raptor-like creature. Shimmering rust colored scales covered them from their snout to their tail, with an occasional patch of green scales here and there. Two short horns curled forwards from their forehead. They had long, thin arms, ending in sharp claws, and a thick tail swaying lazily behind. Their feet looked just like a velociraptor from Earth, complete with one oversized hooked talon.

Their face was unmistakably reptilian, with a wide mouth filled with sharp teeth and a thin nose that ended in a snout. Their eyes were deep amber and had vertical slit pupils. They wore a light green gown that went down to the knees with several leather belts holding it to their body at the waist and shoulders.

A chirpy and very girly voice sounded from the creature. “Hi there. My name is Meraph. Dagiel asked me to show you to the dungeon entrance. I...”

Her voice dropped. “Am I interrupting something again?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Again? I then realized we were still in our group hug.

I quickly let go of Shadara and Killa. “No, no, you’re not interrupting anything,” I stammered. “We were just...um...finishing up.”

Meraph gave me a mischievous grin and motioned for us to follow her with her tail. “Well, are you all packed then? The dungeon entrance is this way.”

Killa and Shadara collected our stuff as I drank the entire barrel of meal potion liquid. The raptor lady watched, enraptured as I tilted the barrel back, using my stinger arms to help stabilize it. As I placed the barrel down, I savored the meaty taste as it lingered on my tongue.

I’ve never tasted meat like that before. It’s pretty good.

As we walked behind Meraph, I couldn’t help but study her unique appearance. Is she a dinosaur? And what did she think we were doing? There are so many questions about her. But I did use the time to split my unspent points in my resilience and toughness while purchasing my upgraded muscles and tendons.

Synthetic tendons level 3 augment available.

Cost: 357,048 shards.

Synthetic muscle level 3 augment available.

Cost: 428,488 shards.

Purchase?

The process was faster than ever, but I still had to be careful as I walked. It wasn’t easy, and Killa had to carry me for a bit as the changes were made to my legs. The feeling was similar to the message the golems gave me back on the mansion-like floor where we met Elara, just not nearly as strong. The calibration process flashed through my mind. Meraph never once looked back or even noticed me tripping up.

Name: Rina Lone Augments: Predator Android: Level: 56 Cellular reconstruction Upgradable Agility: 635 Cerebral prediction matrix Weaponized Arcane: 340 Synthetic eyes: lvl. 2 Power: 223 HUD Quickness: 885 Mana battery (shadow) integration Resilience: 370 Synthetic skin (face) lvl. 1 Toughness: 370 Additional stinger arm X2 Unassigned Points: 0 Arm blade X2, retractable Shards: 930,321 Synthetic tendons lvl. 3 Synthetic muscle lvl. 3 Shadow Powers: Synthetic bones lvl. 1 Manifestation lvl. 9 Epidermal plating lvl. 2 Shaping lvl. 6 Nanobot blood replacement Distance lvl. 4 Nanoweave hair lvl. 1 Anchoring lvl. 1 Voice projector Infusion lvl. 5 Plated dragon teeth Solidify lvl. 2 Synthetic tongue Shadow Lycan Form Spell Leg scythe X2, retractable Talons

Synthetic Tendons level 3:

The host’s tendons have been upgraded to an ultra-dense titanium-niobium-ceramic alloy. Response time for the host’s actions has been further reduced, allowing for near-instantaneous reactions. The host will experience an exceptional increase in dynamic actions based on their quickness attribute. The host can temporarily exceed their maximum quickness by 50% without risk of damage. Attack power is now increased by the quickness attribute.

Stat bonus: +200 agility.

Synthetic Tendons level 4 agument available.

Cost: 1,392,487 shards.

Insufficient funds.

Synthetic Muscles Level 3:

The host’s muscles have been upgraded with an advanced arrangement of coiled metallic nanofibers. The host has chosen the speed specialization. These nanofibers respond to electrical signals with unparalleled efficiency, granting the host precise control over their movements. The nanofibers are extremely conductive and will malfunction if exposed to excessive amounts of direct current. The new nanofibers are designed to withstand minor amounts of direct current without malfunctioning.

Stat bonus: +300 quickness.

Synthetic Muscle level 4 augment available.

Cost: 1,671,103 shards.

Insufficient funds.

We arrived at a large, ornate door that seemed to be made of some kind of ancient, weathered wood with bronze inlays depicting feline shapes.

Meraph turned to face us, her amber eyes sparkling with excitement. “This is it—the entrance to the Pawed Palace. Are you ready?” she asked, her chirpy voice now filled with determination.

Shadara, Killa, and I exchanged glances, a mixture of nerves and confusion. Part of me expected something a little less grandiose.

“Things are supposed to be getting much more difficult with each floor,” Killa started. “We’ve come this far, might as well at least check it out. It’s okay if we have to back out shortly after entering.”

I nodded. “Yeah, we can just focus on scouting for now.”

Meraph’s glittered for a second. “Oh, I want to go with you so bad. But Dagiel told me I had other work to do. It’s more important.” As she spoke, her head swayed side to side as she had a hand on her hip while waving the other one.

She’s weird. Maybe she can give us an idea of what’s really going on here. “What kind of work, if you don’t mind me asking?”

The dinosaur woman sighed. She waved a clawed hand through the air in a dramatic fashion. “I’m a messenger. And suddenly I have a hundred messages to be giving out. Nothing has been going on for days, and now it’s all hands on deck. How did you three get allowed to go into the dungeon at a time like this?“

Shadara waved her hand dismissively. “It’s not a big deal. We just got here. But what’s the message?”

Meraph narrowed her eyes on the panther woman. “Funny, I wasn’t told to give you one. Everyone has a separate message. Since I don’t make a habit of spilling secrets, I suggest you get your training completed. Maybe then Dagiel will have a spot for you in his plans.”

She then waved at us before practically singing, “Good luck” before taking off in a blur.

I blinked. She’s faster than me. I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised. Eventually, someone out there will be more specialized in speed than me.

We stepped towards the door. It was a struggle to push the doors open, but we managed. Beyond the doors was a huge cavern. A wide path wound through the space. As I looked around, I could see faintly glowing crystals on the walls, floor, and ceiling. The crystals produced a faint, bluish light.

As we stepped into the dungeon, the air blew past us as the doors slammed shut with a massive bang.

Suddenly, we heard a low, menacing growl echoing through the cave. It started low but grew as the seconds passed. Then it was joined by another, and another. Several growls were growing, and whatever made them headed our way.

Shadara gulped. “Uh oh.”

I extended my arm blades and braced for a fight. I doubt my gun will be of any use until I get it upgraded.

Killa stood by my side. “Remember.”

I rolled my shoulders. “I remember. No holding back.”

My muscles coiled tighter as we waited. The sounds of padded feet and scratching racing towards us echoed through the cave. They were getting closer, and we didn’t know what to expect.

We didn’t have to wait long.

Bounding into the entrance area, seven large cats came into view. Each had varying fur and features. They all had fur ranging from white, brown, and black. Two were lions, with a third resembling a cougar. The next two were tigers, one orange and the other white. The last two were cheetahs. All of them stood seven feet or taller.

They all stopped a couple dozen feet from us. Each one growled as they stared at us. They didn’t move, but they were clearly ready to attack.