My head snapped up to let me stare at Hammy. He stood behind me by several feet, staring at my hand. “That’s so cool! You’re like a comic book character.” In one hand he held what was left of the bandage. “I wanted to see if you’ll toss this into your inventory. I need to get one of those inventory crystals.”

I almost bit my lip, thinking of the spare crystal around my neck, but I didn’t offer it just yet. At the moment, it wasn’t doing any good since I’d kept it for my father. I didn’t mind being the pack mule for the team, and it was becoming obvious they were valuable. Incredibly valuable, in fact.

“Also, I don’t want to sound like a creeper, but you ate that, right?”

I figured he’d notice, but I’d hoped otherwise. “I did,” I said, motioning to remains of the mess. Blood dripped from what was left of the torso, and feathers blew along the ground.

Dengu inched closer with Lenna close behind. He lowered his nose at the remains of my feast. He chirped once.

“It’s all yours, big guy.” At least, I assumed that was what he wanted.

Dengu’s head darted forward and his teeth sunk into the torso. He yanked it back a few feet and dug into the feathers, shredding them with his sharp claws.

“I thought you needed to eat?” asked Lenna, glancing between Dengu and me.

“I do, but I mostly stick to the hearts,” I said, laying it all out. “There are three others in my bag.” I pulled them out. “I’ll eat just about anything I can, but the hearts give me an extra boost.” This time I didn’t hide what I was doing as I quickly butchered the Microraptors, pulling the hearts into my inventory and leaving the rest behind. The feathers added fluff to the carcasses, and under all of that there wasn’t a ton of meat.

From what I had left of the allosaurus I wasn’t worried about my food supply. At least, not yet.

“You eat the hearts, raw?” Hammy’s mouth gaped open in horror. “I mean, at least cook them. How aren’t you getting sick? Though, I’ve eaten some pretty raw things since getting here and not gotten sick…” his voice trailed off as he stared out into the distance. His fists clenched tight at some thought he didn’t share.

“Yeah, I have an iron stomach,” I said, thinking of the old skill that had merged into my body skill. “Fires are hard in the jungle. Something always comes to investigate.” I stood up, leaving the rest of the carcasses behind. “No point in wasting the time right now.”

I pulled a heart out and ate it like an apple. A slightly spongy, wet apple that tasted like chocolate.

Hammy gagged and moved toward the bushes.

Two chocolate apples later, I smiled at the notifications.

[You have devoured a Microraptor and gained an insight into Quickness.]

[You have devoured a Microraptor and gained an insight into Quickness.]

[You have devoured a Microraptor and gained a stat point in Quickness.]

Dengu’s left nothing but bones behind when he was done with the torso, and his eyes moved to my leftovers of the three Microraptors.

“Food helps his wounds, right?” I nodded, and he dove right in. “I know it helps me.”

Lenna nodded, her eyes on an arrow in her hand. She dropped it into her quiver and pulled out the next one. “Yeah, it speeds up his healing. He didn’t want me to use the crystal yet, just the goop I have.”

“Goop? Is that from a carnivorous plant?” The sweet floral scent from the courtyard came back to me. That’s what it reminded me of, the carnivorous plant.

Lenna’s eyes went wide before she nodded. “Yeah, we don’t have a permanent healer, so we grow a few near the outer edge of our village.” She pointed to a small pouch hanging from her quiver. “It heals minor wounds and increases the healing time of worse ones. Where have you seen them?”

“I ran into one while in the Sanctuary.” I pulled out my canteen and cleaned off my hands, then my face using a scrap of cloth. Next time we found a lake, I’d need to clean all the clothes in my inventory and let them dry. Not to mention refill my water containers.

“Can I get the canteen?” Hammy came back from the bushes, wiping his mouth. “So, thinking about it is easier than seeing it.” He took a sip of water, careful to not place his lips on the opening. “We ready to move on? The day’s ticking by faster than we want.”

Lenna and I both glanced upward. The sun stood halfway to overhead, which didn’t seem possible. We’d gotten to the dungeon at dawn, and somehow it was now midmorning. That fight lasted longer than most of mine had, but not that long. The time on the paths didn’t add up to that much.

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“Dungeons must be weird,” I muttered, before speaking louder. “We should get a move on. Dengu, you ready?” He was my only concern. Lenna hadn’t gotten hit, and Hammy, while not super useful, could handle his own injuries and speak up if he needed something.

The dinosaur lifted his head from the last carcass, feathers covering a good portion of his snout.

Lenna chuckled and approached, brushing them off. “His shoulder looks better, but let me give it a push.” She held the crystal up to it. It gave off a blue light that dripped like water from the end. Each droplet hit the wound and sizzled. I blinked, and the wound scabbed over. The crystal still glowed, but less than before.

“Try not to reopen it,” she said while patting his neck. He bumped her shoulder with his snout. “Hey, I didn’t get hit at all. Some of us dodge.” His head jerked back and up with a squeak. Lenna giggled.

“Alright, let's keep going then,” I said, moving closer to the rock and trying not to smile at the cuteness of the two of them.

Hammy took up position behind me, while Dengu and Lenna brought up the rear.

As I stepped across the area where the rock sat next to the path, it started glowing a soft yellow color. Nothing else changed, so I kept walking down the path, keeping as quiet as possible. The ferns around the right side of the trail lessened, and the trees crept closer. Gaps started appearing, providing better lines of sight into the distance. The canopy overhead grew closer together over the trail, creating dappled sunbeams pouring down on us. The reduced sunlight caused the ferns to grow smaller, with different bushes taking over.

Leaves rustled in the distance and I crouched down, triggering stealth. I pulled my knife off my belt and waited. The rest of the party behind me froze. A small creature with stripes stretching down its tail and up to its head jumped through the bushes. It didn’t notice us at all.

[Baby T-Rex, Level 20, Prey, Tasty.]

The tiny T-Rex jumped from one log to another, unaware of us. A second one appeared and tackled the first. Giggles rose inside me, but I resisted. I didn’t want to spook the kids.

Hammy stepped up next to me, quiet for once. “You ready?” he whispered.

I shook my head frantically and put my knife away before reaching out to his arm.

He gave me a quizzical look as the two tumbled through the bushes away from us.

I waited another several moments, until I couldn’t hear anything else from that direction. My prey sense flickered off, and I stood up.

“Why would we attack them?” I kept my voice low just in case. “As you level, you don’t get anything from fighting beings lower level than you.” I motioned to myself, then Dengu and Lenna. “We wouldn’t get any experience from that fight.” I actually wasn’t sure about Lenna, but I bet she’d gotten to level 24 after that last fight.

“It’s still practice,” he argued, also keeping his voice down.

Lenna frowned as she moved closer. “They were children,” she said harshly, before glaring and walking farther down the trail.

I waited a second then caught up to her. “He doesn’t know better,” I muttered to her as I passed by.

“You never hunt the children, otherwise who will grow up to keep the forest in balance?” She threw her arms up in exasperation, but then took a deep breath calming down. “He will learn.”

That I wasn’t so sure about, and I wondered if Hammy’s history involved fighting mostly those lower level than him.

I stayed in the lead, hiking more slowly down the path, keeping my senses wide open. The dungeon placed those kids in front of us for a reason, and I wanted to find out why.

The trail twisted to the left, and a clearing opened up between three trees. A large fallen tree trunk lined the edge of the path. Something jolted inside me and I paused. Again, I triggered stealth as a tingle ran down my spine, then out to my fingertips. Slowly I crept forward, staying below the height of the log. I held a hand up to the others, motioning for them to stay where they were.

Everything inside me warned me that this was a trap.

I swallowed as I approached the log, aiming for a section with a broken branch sticking up. Carefully, I peeked between the branch and the log into the clearing. I blinked twice and sunk back down under the log.

My heart pounded and my mouth went a little dry. I didn’t dare do anything but slowly back away, toward the others. The notification blinked in the corner of my screen, and I didn’t doubt it at all.

The kids had totally been a trap. One I was thankful we didn’t trigger. Hammy could have doomed himself for sure. The rest of us might have gotten away, but I wasn’t sure of that.

Lenna tilted her head to one side in question, and I held a finger up to my lips. Then I pointed toward the ground and made a slow walking motion. I widened my eyes and pointed over the log with a fearful look.

She nodded and sank lower to the ground. Dengu sniffed the air, then vanished on the other side of the trail in the ferns, keeping far away from the fallen log. Hammy glanced between the two of them.

I mouthed some words without speaking. “Big boss, no fight.” He still didn’t get it even as I repeated myself. I took my knife and carved the words in the trail's dirt. I added, ‘Too high level.’

This time he read it and his face went pale. He stuck to the far side, like Dengu.

I snuck back to the log to keep watch, focusing on my stealth. My pale skin flickered, taking on shades of brown and patches of green, matching the ferns behind me. The color changed when I hid up close behind the log again. It changed to a deep brown, matching the bark.

Again, I peeked at the scene in front of me, wishing I had a camera.

The kids were back, this time playing next to the edge of the small pond. Laying on the ground with its eyes closed slept a bigger one. Much bigger.

I reread the notification.

[T-Rex, Level 60, Predator, Tasty.]

Another slept on the far side of the pond, with a third baby T-Rex snuggled right beside it. I heard a leaf rustle behind me and glanced in that direction.

Hammy had made it past the bend and worked his way down the trail. A corner in the trail wasn’t far, and he quickly disappeared from view.

I turned back to the T-Rexes and found the one that had been sleeping staring in my direction. A giant yellow eye focused on me, and I knew.

It saw me.