Everyone took in their surroundings.

"Doesn't strike me as a dungeon. At least like anything from a video game. This place is huge," Levi commented. "It's more like an entire zone.

"I've never played a lot of games, so I wouldn't know, but it definitely isn't how dungeons were described to me," Joe said.

"I'm definitely going to try to make friends with some buffalo," Paige said.

"So, what's the plan?" Maddy asked. "We brought camping supplies. With the time differential, we could probably spend a week in here and still make it back to the safezone on the same day we left."

David shrugged. "I'm good with that. Seems safe enough."

Everyone turned to Levi, who had become the unofficial leader.

"I think the first thing we need to do is make sure that we can all leave the dungeon and then reenter. Then we figure out the difference between the passing of time in here versus out there. That will give us some idea of how long we're actually inside the portal. Considering I don't feel any symptoms like headaches or anything, and my Parched Soul counter is ticking at the same rate, I don't think we're being literally sped up. So the time dilation is probably similar to the way time dilation works with theory of relativity. But, I don't know nearly enough about that to even begin to mak-"

Paige cut Levi off, "Levi... you're spinning off on stuff, again."

"Yeah, thanks. Point is, if you start feeling affected by the time dilation, let me know. Otherwise, I think we're good on that. So, once we have things figured out, we can camp here for the day, and explore only within sight of the portal.

That will give us a chance to figure things out at a safe distance, with an escape if we neen it, and Paige can make buffalo friends."

"Sounds like a plan," Joe said.

----

After some experimentation, they found that the time dilation was ridiculous. Time moved at least 100 times faster in the portal.

That essentially made the amount of time they spent in the portal a non-issue unless they literally spent years within it, which no one planned on doing.

They quickly set up camp. There wasn't much to it. Bedrolls and packs were laid out. A potential place for a fire was cleared to prevent grass fires, but they didn't build one yet.

"What now?" David asked.

Levi shrugged. "I don't think it's smart to go too far for now, and there's nothing to do as a group, until we actually start venturing out. I need to meditate. Paige wants to try to make friends with the buffalo. I guess do whatever."

-----

Levi stared into himself. His body was on autopilot, following the Tai Chi slow sets. His mana and stamina channels hadn't been behaving properly since he'd over-exerted himself against Eric.

The new, mutated growths that had developed bumped into each other, mana and stamina flows colliding. Levi could tell it was affecting his efficiency with both by a small amount. And he didn't think it was reversible.

But he was curious about it. Where the mana and stamina collided, there was some fourth type of energy that formed and burst out of the energy channels. It was similar to the grey white color of his essence, but it behaved entirely differently.

As his body moved through his slowsets with Mana Skin and Empowering Flow activated at an extremely low level, Levi studied the way his energy channels responded to his actions. When a burst of the new energy was generated, it would rapidly flow down both channels in a wave.

Focusing on his body and his Skill's reactions to the burst of new energy, while also maintaining his meditative state, had seemed almost impossible at first. But with practice, he was starting to maintain a low level of awareness of what was going on outside the meditation space. That's when he noticed what he'd describe as small increases in Empowering Flow and the strength of his Mana Skin every time the small bursts of the new energy occurred.

While the bursts did provide more power as they happened, the overall drop in efficiency was way too high of a price.

He had hope he could eventually use it somehow. Trying to hold on to the energy or control it somehow had been fruitless. The bursts were too infrequent and happened far too fast for Levi to react. Like the most difficult game of wack-a-mole he'd ever played, he simply couldn't keep up with them.

So he did something a little reckless. He increased his Mana Skin and Empowering Flow to a level he'd never applied in the slow sets. His awareness of his body informed him that it was a bit of a misnomer to refer to them as slow sets with the amount that Empowering Flow was increasing his movement speed. He didn't activate the Skills nearly as high as he'd regularly done in combat, but it was still far higher than he'd ever used for slow sets.

He noticed the bursts of the new energy were being generated far faster.

And then he did something even more reckless. He maxed out his Mental Boosting. It was something he'd never used in meditation or while practicing the slow sets before. He'd only maxed out Mental Boosting once, while fighting Eric, and he'd needed days to recover.

Still, it accomplished what he wanted. Suddenly, keeping up with the new bursts of energy wasn't nearly as hard as it had been before. And they were happening at a much higher rate with the greater activation of his Skills. Knowing he probably had 15 seconds at most before he did more damage to himself that would take days to recover from, he focused on 'catching' one of bursts.

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It took several attempts, but he managed to latch on to one of the bursts before it dissipated. Seizing it with his will, he sought only to hold it still, to try to understand what it was.

It felt like more than stamina or mana. He also felt that it wanted to spread out, not dissipate like he'd thought. Rather, it felt like it sought to fill the empty space outside his mana and stamina channels.

And then, the energy broke away from his will. But unlike before, it did not shoot along his other energy channels, but shot back into the convergence of those channels. He felt a mild pain flood his body, radiating down his center from his head to his tailbone. It was not enough to throw him from the meditation, so he endured it and watched.

As the burst of energy flooded back into the point where his mana and stamina channels connected, the channels bloomed. Like vines twisting into growth, a small patch connecting the two channels formed, as dense and fine as the webbing of a spider's egg sac, and replacing some of the seemingly mutated mana and stamina streams.

He did end his meditation, then. Levi sat down and thought for a moment. He didn't feel any lingering pain or weakness. He didn't feel like he'd need time to recover, but still, he worried. 'I'm not sure that was a good thing.'

Unfortunately, Levi still had a little more meditating to do with something else he'd been trying to figure out. But at least he was pretty sure that the next part wouldn't be nearly as risky.

----

Paige wasn't having any luck with the buffalos.

Actually, they'd simply ignored her.

They didn't flee, but as she approached any of them, they would just drift away from her.

She tried pleading, but that did no good. They ignored her.

Occasionally, one would randomly call out at her to go away, but otherwise, they treated her like she was a mild annoyance.

'Why are animals always assholes?'

She decided to sit and just watch them for a while, instead of continuing to chase them. They were incredible beasts to witness. Massive and powerful, moving in a peaceful graze with the mountain range in view beyond them.

They all seemed male. Paige wasn't sure how buffalo social structures were formed, and she didn't know if it was the natural way it occurred or if it was some weird thing with the system.

She also didn't know how to get the buffalo to warm up to her at all. The crows had wanted food. Mama-cat had wanted a daughter she could be proud to have raised.

The buffalo seemed entirely content with what they had. They definitely didn't want anything to do with her as things were. She was relatively certain the reason they'd simply ignored her rather than trampling or goring her was entirely due to her circlet.

And she didn't have so much as an apple to offer them.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the crow swooped in. "You need to move now, miss. Back to the portal."

"What, why?" Paige asked.

The crow pecked her hard. It hurt. "I said go. Back to the portal, now."

The crows had never done anything to harm Paige. For a split second, she thought about smacking the crow, and then she realized how dire the situation must be if the crow had pecked her like that.

She wasted no more time, jumping up and heading toward the portal in a sprint.

----

David and Maddy were looking for a source of water. That mostly involved Maddy tagging along while David walked the perimeter just within sight of the portal, scanning the horizon for any body of water. He used his Ability, Keen Eye of the Hunter, to see much farther away and catch details like movement or reflection.

The search also involved a fair amount of Maddy talking.

"I just didn't think their relationship was quite like that. I mean, I know they had that day fishing, and both of them came back all hot and bothered."

"Uh huh," David said as he continued scanning. They'd almost made a full circle at that point. David had been methodical in his approach. So far, he'd only seen one slow moving stream, but decided to keep searching, just in case a better source presented itself.

"I'm just saying," Maddy continued.

David tuned Maddy out as he spotted movement. He couldn't see clearly what he was looking at, but he could swear it looked like wolves with small riders on their back. At least twenty flew over a hill, straight toward the herd of buffalo, where Paige was located.

"...I mean, maybe it was just a spur of the moment thing. But that kiss was hot. Who would've thought Levi had it in him. He's always so damned stiff... you know I wouldn't mind if you snatched me up like-"

"Maddy, we need to move. Back to the portal. Now." David said, grabbing her wrist and pulling as he took off running.

She stumbled, and he stopped and gave her a moment to get her feet. "David, wha-"

"Run. Now."

When she didn't move, David threw Maddy over his shoulder and took off as fast as he could. He didn't stop until he was back to their camp.

----

Paige kicked Joe's foot as she ran into camp.

He jerked awake from his nap, immediately alert, his hands instantly on his sword and shield. "What's going on?"

"Something is coming, I don't know what. Just get ready."

Levi sat in mediation, so Paige did the best thing she could think and kicked him, too.

Looking around, she was glad to see David sprinting into camp carrying Maddy like a sack of grain.

"What the fuck." Levi said as he righted himself from Paige knocking him over. "Paige..." Frustration flooded through him for a moment, until he saw David running up carry Maddy.

"What's going on?" Levi asked.

"Get down!" Joe said in his commanding voice, throwing himself down.

As if trained, the remaining four of them threw themselves down behind the tall grass.

"What the fuck is going on?" Levi asked.

"Something is attacking the buffalo," Joe answered.

"The crow warned me, I don't really know what's happening. I just knew danger was coming," Paige said.

"Looks like massive wolves," Joe said, peaking over the tall grass. "They look a little off, but can't see clearly from here."

"They... have... riders. Small... riders," David said between gasps of air.

They all slowly lifted their heads up to peer over the tall grass.

"Think we should go back through the portal?" Maddy asked.

"I think we're okay right now," Levi answered. "They don't look like they've noticed us at all. Plus, there's a good chance part of this entire thing is fighting them."

"We don't know how strong they are," Joe added. "But the only way we'll know is watching them a little... or fighting them, but this is safer."

"At the first hint of real danger, we jump through the portal." Levi was all for watching, but they didn't need to risk a fight without knowing more.

They all watched as the group bore down on the herd of buffalo. They could all see the small figures that rode the enormous wolves. They had weapons, pressumably bows and spears. The buffalo turned into the attacking group rather than stampeding away, trying to trample and gore their hunters.

The hunting group deftly avoided the attempts from the buffalo, injuring a buffalo badly enough that it fell to the ground, unable to stand. The hunting party then rode away just far enough to lose the aggressive attention of the herd. After their retreat, the buffalo herd decided to escape rather than continue their counter-assault, leaving the fallen buffalo behind.

Once the herd was gone, the hunting party moved in and finished the injured buffalo.

"Yeah, no way we can handle that," Levi said.

"Nope. Highly coordinated, fast, and they seemed to only take the risks they needed to for a successful hunt. You see the way they created distance and waited for the herd to leave?" Joe commented.

"Yeah, well, they're coming this way. Directly toward us, actually, so probably time we jump through the portal, huh," David alerted the group.

They all let out a curse as they stood and turned to the portal.

But between the group and the portal, deliberately blocking the group's escape, were four huge wolves with small green riders on their back. Three of the riders had bows trained on their group, and the last sat calmly with her hands scratching the neck of the wolf she rode.

"Well, fuck," Paige said. She hadn't even heard them sneak up with her Enhanced Hearing.