“Yeah, Hellion, right?” he asked, his eyes wide at the tone of my voice.

“That’s him…”

“He’s been out here twice, both times to check in with me about the drop ship, and talk about places to set up a more permanent village,” explained Hammy. “Not that this area would be the place for that.”

“No, this area isn’t great for a village.” Lenna snorted. “Stuck between the mountain and Rank One monsters.”

The more they spoke, the more questions raced through my head. First, Hammy had created something to warn them about teleporting people, and now monsters were ranked.

Lenna must have spotted the confusion on my face. “We’ll talk more once we get to camp.” She motioned ahead to where Dengu vanished farther down the trail. “We must cross through that area before we get to camp.” She held a finger up to her lips in a gesture to be quiet.

I nodded as Hammy slowed down behind me. Each of his steps were quieter than the last. I slipped into stealth mode, my footsteps going completely silent while I pulled out my knife. Lenna moved ahead, putting space between us, and Hammy let me gain some space as well. The narrow pathway between the ferns tightened.

Despite all the caution, I felt nothing with my prey sense and bird song filled the air. A faint buzzing came from Hammy’s direction, the bugs following him even as they avoided me. The more I focused on sound, the more I noticed his buzzing. It couldn’t just be the bugs.

A few bright rays of sunlight cut through the canopy, and in those areas tall, bright green ferns stretched in the light.

Ahead on the trail, Dengu appeared, facing our direction as we slowly moved. The dinosaur actually nodded at Lenna, and I wondered at how smart he really was.

Lenna’s shoulders lowered and the hand that rested near her bow dropped. “We’re good,” she whispered over her shoulder.

Hammy immediately started walking normally, each footfall crunching as it hit the ground. “Thank goodness,” he said, his voice coming out in a rush. “I want to save the fighting for the turtle.”

I sent him a confused look, but he didn’t notice. “Don’t you want to level up?”

“Can’t until I get done with the first quest.”

“Your experience is still banked,” I explained.

“What?” He asked, moving up next to me and stomping over the plants at the edge of the trail. “Where did you hear that?”

“It was in the quest notification.”

His mouth opened, but he snapped it shut without saying anything.

“Let’s get a move on to get to camp. We can discuss the turtle there,” said Lenna. She then picked up the pace and we both hurried to keep up. While it wasn’t as sticky hot this far north, the increase in pace got my blood pumping, and with my cloak on I slowly heated up. Sweat gathered on the back of my neck, but I resisted pausing to take the cloak off.

Dengu pounced off the trail, landing on a fallen log then continuing to pad along on top of it off to the left. Lenna followed him, jumping easily into the air, then balancing across it. I followed, doing my best to land softly.

Hammy landed with a thud behind me, but his suit didn’t splinter the log as far as I could tell. On the other end of the fallen log, a fainter trail cut through the ferns and around several large trees.

Then, both Lenna and Dengu vanished behind one of the giant trees with roots stretching every which way. I blinked, but kept moving around it, keeping my eyes peeled. A slight gap in the roots with an impression of a footprint pointed the way. I ducked down and darted inside.

I gasped at the campsite. The tree stretched above me by at least two feet, and beams of light poured in through several smaller gaps in the roots. The dirt floor was compacted and five areas for beds sat around the outside of a fire pit, although only two had bedrolls. Stacks of wood rested against the roots near the entrance, along with a storage area. But the thing that drew my attention was the ceiling. Small bits of crystals dotted it like stars, glowing softly in the sunlight.

“Don’t just stand there,” grumbled Hammy behind me as I blocked the entrance, gaping at the display.

I stepped aside to let him in, but went back to studying the crystals. They faintly glowed green, which was new. I reached out with a hand and lightly hummed under my breath. They rippled and glowed brighter for a second before I cut the sound off. The feeling they gave off was strange. Instead of rock, they felt like the forest, like the trees.

I glanced at Lenna, wanting to ask about them, and found her eyes wide and staring at me. Then the look vanished from her face as she sat down on the farthest bedroll, while Dengu perched next to her.

“This is one of my people’s safe houses.” She motioned to the room. “They are dotted across the forest. They are places to rest and eat.”

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

“This is handy,” I whispered, glancing back up at the ceiling.

Hammy stomped over to the other bedroll, giving me a glance at his back. A row of small crystals the size of golfballs ran up his spine. Each glowed faintly, attached to the metal connecting his outfit together.

“So you can use the crystals as well…” It wasn’t a question.

Hammy shrugged his shoulders and did something. Then he stepped out of the suit, and onto the ground. He wore the same blue-grey cotton clothing that most of the colony wore, along with the ship boots. The only difference between us was my armor, and mine looked worn.

“I’ll let that recharge as we make a plan,” he said, sitting down. “So, you’ll stab it with your glowing knife and then we can take it out once the armor is destroyed?”

I moved toward one of the empty spots and pulled my cloak off before setting it down under me.

Lenna covered her face with her hands as Hammy kept rambling about a plan.

“Once it's dead, we can check out the dungeon.”

“You like to keep things simple,” I finally added. Though, his super simple plan worked for me. I needed to get to the dungeon, per Noseen.

“I mean, it's hard to come up with a plan for a fight. It changes depending on what the creature does. Like, last time, I tried to punch my way through its shell, which didn’t work. Lenna’s arrows bounced off like rubber, and poor Dengu couldn’t get a grip.” He chuckled. “It was almost comical. We retreated as it tried to attack us by snapping its jaws, but we were all faster than it was.”

He motioned to his suit. “I thought I might need to go work on a sword at my workshop while we tried to track down another greater creature, but then my alarm tripped and we found you.”

“You’ve mentioned a dungeon.”

“Yes, you need a team of at least three to enter,” said Lenna. “It’s one my people go through as a rite of passage to complete the second citizenship quest. The dungeon takes many days to complete, if the team wants to complete the entire dungeon.”

I tilted my head to one side. “Don’t we need to complete the entire dungeon for the quest?” This was what I needed, more information from someone who knew what all these quests were about. The fact it’d take a few days worked out timing-wise with my family.

“The dungeon is complete after the four temples, but underneath there is an additional level if we do well enough. We don’t need to complete it for the quest…” Lenna hesitated, her eyebrows drawing together. Two fingers twisted strands of her hair together. “My father said to ignore the underground level. Finish the quest and leave with those rewards.”

She seemed to realize what she was doing with her hands and they fell into her lap. Dengu nudged her shoulder with his snout.

“What quest is after the dungeon one?”

“Oh, the crafting one. You need to create an item to give as a gift, and then after that is the naming one. Only the five quests to become one with the universe.”

Dengu huffed.

“We will complete your quests as well,” she said while scratching under his chin. “He has a similar, but different, set of quests to complete. All beasts do who become aware.”

My eyes widened. Noseen must have had a set like that if he really did start as a mosquito. “Aware?”

Lenna explained that as beasts leveled, they gained intelligence. So their quests involved learning how the world worked, more so than killing, eating, and sleeping, which they clearly already did.

It made sense, since our quests were about becoming a citizen of the universe, that beasts would have different steps to become citizens. They’d need to learn different things. They already knew how to kill things, that’s for sure.

“Not that all beasts are smart like Dengu,” added Hammy.

Dengu squawked at him in reply.

“No, you’re the best,” replied Hammy.

“So, let’s get this turtle done and out of the way,” I said looking around. Once we killed the turtle, the dungeon was next, and that was my target.

Lenna glanced at Hammy, who nodded.

The hike through the forest took longer than from the tunnel to the safe house. The sun passed the noon point when Dengu raced back toward us. This time, we didn’t hike down a trail, instead it was a rough hike through the underbrush. Lenna knew the way, and circled around two areas she deemed unsafe.

“The turtle is ahead,” she said as she motioned through the bushes that Dengu brushed past. In the distance, the sound of water took over. “The water comes from the dungeon, and flows into a big lake. The turtle created a home on the sandy shore.”

The information was a recap of what she’d explained on the hike through the trees. We each snuck forward under only a thin line of ferns, and bushes blocked the lake from view.

I peeked out through the leaves to get a better view. A giant creature lay in the bright sunlight on the sandy beach. Turtle-like, but not quite like the turtles I’d seen pictures of back on Earth. Its shell stood taller on its back, with thin black lines instead of plating running from front to back. Four legs stuck out from the shell, along with a short stubby tail. The head pointed toward the water, its eyes closed, along with a sharp beak that looked more like a bird than a turtle.

A stack of dark boulders rested to the left of the turtle and water crashed down them, creating a mist in the air. The scene was almost picturesque, except when you really took in the size of the turtle. It was bigger than a truck. I used Insight.

[Greater Armored Snapper, Level 25, Prey, Potentially Tasty.]

“It’s level 25 now,” I said after pulling back through the ferns. Hammy paled and glanced at Lenna, but she kept her eyes on me. When she only nodded, I continued, “I’m going to head toward the rocks, and attack from there. Make sure you enter the fight when I do.” My concern was that I’d end up taking the thing out before they got any strikes in. If they didn’t get the credit, this wasn’t worth it. Yes, I’d probably get some good experience, given it was equal to my level, but I wanted to check out the dungeon. Hammy needed to complete this quest before we did.

I silently circled through the ferns, careful to keep my senses alert as I made my way toward the rocks. The ground sloped upward, and finally I found the stream that led to the lake. Small rocks dotted the edges of it, covered in moss. It almost looked like an aquifer, like it was intentionally put in place.

Using stealth, I headed to the right, keeping low to the ground and keeping the stream to my right. Ferns and thick bushes covered the edges of the stream on the other side, but this side had more space, almost like a pathway.

Again, it caused me to hesitate. Why was this area clear of plants, when there was water and sunlight?

I shoved my concern aside as I crept forward. It didn’t take long until the edge of the lake came into view, along with the turtle. Its head faced the lake, perpendicular to my location. Pulling out my knife, I lengthened it into a spear. I took one deep breath, then another, before I launched myself into the air, aiming for the shell.