"Not going to happen," Jake shouted.

Moving into the shadow of the spider queen, Jake tried to think of a way to win this fight.

"Running now, are you?" the spider said.

To Jake's surprise, it just so happened that this spider's evolution had an effect that the other spiders didn't have. She simply couldn't see behind herself, and if she couldn't, then Jake had an opening that he could abuse. Jake looked over the spider and with some hesitation, once he found an opening, he launched out of the shadow, his arm made into a fist rammed deep inside the spider's abdomen. The spider queen let out a blood-curdling groan.

"Get that out of me, you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Jake activated a skill that almost killed him the last time he used it. The arcane bomb blew the spider to bits; only her human half survived the explosion. Jake surprisingly was not as badly injured as he was last time he used the skill. He assumed it must have been because his arm was isolated inside the spider. That being said, Jake was still badly injured; his arm was blown off, and the left side of his body was burned. But he could stop the bleeding from his arm with the string from his ammo bag. And with some meditation, his injuries will heal in time. What he needed to do now was to end this test so that he can get out of here and back to his shuttle, which by now would have made it to the planet if all went well, and Jake wasn't holding his breath that it would have. Jake walked over to what was left of the queen. The queen was looking at him with rancor in her eyes.

"You, you're one of that bitch's puppets, aren't you? How else could you use one of her techniques?"

"I am no puppet, and as for that technique, I may have not been the first to create it, but it is my skill, not someone else's."

Jake put his weapon up against her head.

"Don't kill m–."

Bang!

Ding! Class level increased +100 points

Ding! Grade level increased +30 points

"Oh, did you want to say something? Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the sound of your head exploding."

The moment Jake made it to the entrance of the cave, there was a flash of light, and Jake found himself standing in front of a beautiful lady. He just stood there for a minute before remembering something he had forgotten.

"Oh," His hands went down to cover his private parts. "Sorry for my indecency, but, well, you know when you blow your clothing off and you have no spares."

The lady just stood there for a while as she stared at him.

"Um, why am I here?"

"Because I have a gift for you."

She threw Jake a set of clothing and a new cloak; they looked to be in the same colors as what she was wearing.

"May I ask what your name is and why it took you so long to hand me some clothes?" Jake said as he put on the clothing and for once used Identify on his clothing and the lady standing in front of him.

New item (Clothing of the Wandering Imperium pants and top rear) Self-repair function and +1000 points to intelligence when equipped Soulbound

New item (Boots of the Wandering Imperium rare) Self-repair function and +1000 points to agility when equipped Soulbound

New item (Belt of the Wandering Imperium rare) Self-repair function and +1000 points to wisdom when equipped Soulbound

New item (Cloak of the Wandering Imperium epic) Self-repair function and +1000 points to all stats when equipped Soulbound

Race Human

Level ???

"For the first question, you may know me as the Wandering Arcane Smith, but you can call me Aaliyah. As for the second question. Well, I don't have to tell you. Oh, but I can tell you it was fun watching you kill all those spiders," she said with a grin.

Jake just looked at her with horror.

"You, you were watching me."

"Yes, I was, and I would like you to join the Wandering Imperium as a junior officer under me, and I will teach you everything I know about the path we both follow."

"I'm sorry; I can't do that. I have my path to follow and my own aspirations. I won't say no to working with you in the future, but I won't work for you."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Aaliyah smiled at Jake as she raised her hand, white light coming from it, and said, "It shouldn't be enough the other way," before Jake felt an insignia being burnt on his hand as a token was floated into Jake's hand. Then he found himself back at the entrance of the cave. The first thing Jake did was identify the token, then he tried identifying the mark.

Item A token that grants unrestricted travel for the owner of this token in the Territory of the Wandering Imperium. Soulbound to Jake Everval

Identify (The Wanderer's Mark unique) This mark was given by Aaliyah La Flame, and it is a symbol of [redacted]. It will help with [redacted]. Only one can hold this mark; it will provide a [redacted] link to Aaliyah La Flame. Provides +10 free points to grade level advancements and reduces levels needed to get the next grade level by -5

"Man, that woman can't take no for an answer. She even forced some kind of link to her, but at least it helps with my grade stat, which is slow."

Congratulations! You have completed the Wandering Path dungeon. Calculating Dungeon rewards.

All levels cleared side quest cleared Top score earned

Title Dungeon master first to complete Wandering Path dungeon +10 points to all profession and class levels.

Item received Transport token locked to Aaliyah La Flame’s home world cottage. Can transport 10 lifeforms Soulbound to Jake Everval

Item received Upgrade token Upgrades an item one rank

"That's odd."

The next moment, he was back in the rust bucket of a shuttle.

"Well, that just happened, teleported in the middle of saying something. Anyway, what was I saying again? Oh yeah, the teleport token can take more than just me; well, I suppose that could be useful."

Jake moved up to the cockpit, hoping he would be orbiting a nice big planet. Looking out the window, he was utterly astonished; there it was, the third planet in the system. Jake sat down in the cockpit seat and checked over the console; he scanned the planet for civilization only to find the planet's surface had nothing but ruins and monsters. So Jake set up for a deorbit burn. But thinking of something, he pulled out the Upgrade token.

"If I can upgrade this rust bucket, I might make it through this."

Use upgrade token on soul shuttle yes/no "Yes."

Warning: To upgrade the soul shuttle, it must be unsummoned. Unsummon the soul shuttle to complete the upgrade.

Jake let out a deep breath. "At least it didn't just unsummon the thing; I would be dead for sure."

Jake started the procedures to deorbit. The shuttle fired its engines, and gravity took it. Jake was now on a course for what used to be a city. As he reached the atmosphere, the shuttle started to heat up. Jake activated the mana shield, and instantly, the shuttle started to cool down, although Jake's mana was draining fast. Jake kept going until finally, the pressure on the outside of the hull had gone. Jake deactivated the shield and started to prepare for landing. The ship was coming in hot; Jake had to counter the shuttle's velocity by firing the landing thrusters early, and he still landed a bit heavier than he would have liked. Checking the console, the atmosphere was breathable. Jake opened the cargo hatch and walked out.

"Ah, fresh air and solid ground; I love it."

Objective update:

Survive till the end of the tutorial Bonus objective: find your fellow earthlings and destroy the invading fleet. Humans found 0/4

Time till end of tutorial 365:00:00:00

Jake turned back to the shuttle and grabbed his equipment before, with a thought, unsummoning the shuttle before walking into the ruins to find a good place to set up a base camp. Looking around, an old-looking office building with access to the roof and good views in all directions. Checking his notifications, it seems the upgrade would take some time to complete. So, Jake spent the rest of the afternoon setting up makeshift defensive positions that he could use if he needed to. The final thing Jake did before it got dark was set up a bed in the stairway leading to the roof and blocking the path up. As the night fell, Jake went up on the roof to one of the defense positions, looking out with his enhanced perception; he could see clearly for about 150 meters down the street with only the moonlight. Off in the distance, Jake saw flashes of light coming from down the street and then lots of shouts and gunfire, then silence; the light had gone. There was a scent of gunpowder on the wind followed by the scent of blood. Jake quickly checked his notifications.

Humans found 0/3

"It seems to have gone down by one. I will have to check what happened down there in the morning."

Jake moved to a different defensive position. After which he noted movement in the street below him; it looked a lot like a wolf's but much larger. Its lower back was covered in scales, and its tail had foot-long barbed spikes, which were making a metallic sound as it hit the ground.

Identify Barb-tail Wolf Level 100 More information gathered by tutorial system The barb-tail wolf, unlike its earth counterparts, is a lone hunter; the barb produces a toxic compound that puts its targets to sleep. Be wary as it is very nimble for its size.

"That's a lot more information than I usually get."

As Jake said this to himself, the wolf looked in his direction. Jake quickly ducked down behind the brick ledge that surrounded the rooftop he was on.

"I hope it didn't see me. There's no way I can fight that monster yet."

Jake looked up into the sky and thought to himself, maybe it was actually safer up there. As he thought this, a large spaceship moved in front of the moon; it was launching lots of smaller objects from the front. As these objects left, the moon's beautiful glow, and dancing flames could be seen in the night sky. The clinking of the wolf's tail started getting quieter, so Jake decided to peek over the ledge once he did, he instantly regretted it because just in front of his face was a drooling wolf's face, its blue and red eyes staring directly into Jake's eyes.

"Oh, fuck," Jake screamed as he fell backward. Finding a bit of composure, he swung his beloved broomstick 0.1 in front of him and fired. Bits of broomstick 0.1 flew in all directions. Jake scrambled back towards the roof entrance. The only thing that was going through his head was the same thing over and over, run, Jake, run. Once he made it to the entrance, he went to open the door, only to come to a sudden realization.

"You cheeky fuck, you've been manipulating my mind. Why should I run from you? I killed a queen of higher rank than you." Jake pulled out one of his daggers and threw it at the wolf as he darted to the left, firing his rifle into the neck of the wolf. The wolf swung its tail at Jake, but Jake blocked it with a mana shield; he then fired two rounds into its abdomen as he moved in closer. The wolf then twisted, lunging for Jake's neck. Jake ducked under its attack and stabbed his other dagger between the jawbone and spine of the wolf. Jake let out a cry as the tail of the wolf hit him in the back. He staggered back; the sleep toxin taking effect. As he scrambled to gain his footing.