I was in the middle of a strange dream—something about snakes turning into trees and then meowing—when I felt a tongue on my cheek and heard a childish voice shouting in my head. “Food!”

I was still more asleep than awake, so it didn’t fully register. Then I felt the “tongue alarm” again and heard, “Food!”

My eyes flew open, and Rue stood by my bed.

“You said it?”

Again, I heard, “Food!”

I jumped out of bed, hugging him. “Buddy, you can talk!”

“Food!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll feed you, hold your horses. But you can talk!”

I gave him a colossal snake steak to celebrate his new ability. Just then, Lis came down the stairs and into the kitchen. I told him, “Rue can talk now!”

Lis shrugged and said, “Of course, he’s already level five; he got five points in Intelligence.”

Of course, I forgot to use Identify. Why do I keep forgetting?!

I took a pen out of my Storage and wrote ‘Identify’ on the back of my hand. Lis saw this and started roaring with laughter.

Mahya walked into the kitchen and asked, “What’s so funny?”

Lis pointed to my hand, and she started laughing, too.

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

After breakfast, Lis stretched and leaned against the kitchen counter. “We should process all the scorpi-dogs and quill-bears before we return to Earth.”

Mahya nodded as she tied her hair back. “I also want more of the trees from this world,” she said, glancing out the window.

We left the house, and as we stepped outside, I noticed small green snakes lying dead on the stairs. Lis crouched down, picked up one, and scrutinized it, opening its mouth. “Baby burrowers,” he said, tilting his head as he examined the tiny fangs. “I think there’s a nest somewhere, and it might even have a nest mother. We should find it.”

“Why are they dead?” I asked, frowning at the lifeless snakes.

“House defenses,” Lis replied with a shrug.

“It kills stuff?!” I asked, my voice rising in alarm.

“Of course,” Lis said, raising an eyebrow as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Otherwise, what’s the point of defenses?”

“I don’t know... locking the house, maybe?” I muttered.

They started laughing again, and Lis clapped me on the back, nearly knocking me forward. “You’ll learn, my friend, you’ll learn.”

I just shook my head, feeling a bit out of my depth.

Mahya stepped forward, her eyes narrowing in thought. “How do you plan to find the nest?” she asked, folding her arms.

Lis turned to her with a grin. “That’s what we have John for—to help us locate the nest.”

“Me?!” I asked, pointing at myself in disbelief. “How?”

“The nest will be located on a mana vent,” Lis explained, gesturing with his hand. “Use your Mana Sense to locate the vent.”

“Why do we want to find the nest anyway? What’s so special about it?” I asked, still trying to wrap my head around the whole situation.

“Snake eggs,” Lis replied, his tone serious. “They’re a very rare ingredient in anti-venom potions.”

“I’m getting the feeling that all this adventuring business is a lot more complicated than I thought,” I said, shaking my head again.

They laughed again! Apparently, I was the day’s entertainment.

After Lis stored the snakes, he stood up, dusted off his hands, and instructed me, “Close your eyes, expand your mana senses as far as you can, and try to locate a direction where the mana feels thicker or richer.”

I did as he said, closing my eyes and concentrating, but I felt no difference. I opened my eyes and looked at him, shaking my head. He gripped me by the shoulders and started gently pushing me forward. “Don’t open your eyes; focus on your senses; I’ll lead you,” he said, guiding me along.

“Why don’t we use our Luck’s active ability to locate the nest?” I suggested, a bit frustrated. “That’s how I found an emerald mine.”

Lis chuckled softly. “Do you consider a big and dangerous snake a lucky find or a fortuitous encounter that leads you to a better fate?”

“Not really,” I admitted, frowning.

“Exactly,” Lis said with a tone of finality.

He continued leading me, his hands steady on my shoulders, and after about twenty minutes, I felt a subtle change in the surrounding mana. It was very faint, and I wasn’t sure at first, but after a few more meters, I knew it was the right direction.

I pointed confidently and said, “It’s that way.”

“Don’t open your eyes,” Lis reminded me, his voice calm and encouraging. “I’ll keep leading you. Just keep your hand pointing in the right direction.”

We continued like this for another half an hour, with Lis carefully guiding me, until we reached an area where the mana felt rich and thick. “We’re above the vent,” I said with certainty.

Lis nodded, satisfied. “The nest will be in a cave, so let’s start looking for an entrance,” he said, releasing my shoulders and scanning the surroundings.

We searched for several hours, expanding the search radius. After four or five hours, I heard Rue’s howl and went in that direction. When I got there, I saw an entrance into a dug tunnel that went downwards. It was so big that three people could walk side by side and stand straight without a problem.

That worried me, and I asked, “Will the size of the snake match the size of the tunnel?”

Lis glanced at the tunnel, then back at me, and replied with a slight shrug, “It’ll be smaller, but not by much.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t go in there?” I suggested.

Lis gave me a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry; you’ll stay behind and heal us if needed. Don’t forget, Mahya and I have traveled in high-mana worlds, and I’ve even been to very high-mana ones; we’ve faced scarier things. It’s too much for your level but not for ours.”

With that, we entered the tunnel, and I quickly cast my ball of light. The tunnel wound left and right, but consistently downward. After about an hour of walking, we reached a rock wall with a large opening.

Lis motioned for me to stay put. “Wait here,” he whispered and became invisible.

After five minutes, he returned, his expression serious. “She’s inside and huge.”

He turned to Mahya and laid out the plan. “I’ll create illusions to confuse her; you stick her to the ground, confuse her, blind her; I’ll try to control her mind, and then we’ll attack. I’ll strike from below and you from above. She’s enormous, so it’ll take a while to kill her. I’m not sure I can control her mind for long; her level is too high, but I’ll try to capture her mind as much as possible; you cast blindness and confusion constantly.”

Lis then turned to me, his eyes narrowing slightly as he gauged my readiness. “There’s a protruding rock in front of the cave; cast invisibility and hide behind it. Even if one of us gets hurt, don’t rush to us; we’ll come to you. Do you have any spells that can be cast from a distance?”

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“Mana Dart,” I replied, feeling under-prepared.

“What level?”

“One,” I admitted, a little sheepishly.

“Hmm, won’t be much help,” he said, nodding thoughtfully. “Still, try to shoot it with arrows, a crossbow, or something else. It’s a very high level, so I want you to make some advancements from it.”

“But I won’t advance until I raise my Wizard level anyway, so what’s the point?” I asked, wondering about the logic.

“You still receive the advancement; it’s just not visible yet. It would be a shame to miss out on this advancement.”

Mahya suddenly spoke up, her eyes lighting up. “I have an idea. Do you have wire?” she asked, turning to Lis.

“I have,” I said.

“Excellent,” Mahya said with a nod. “Also, give me all the crossbow bolts you have.”

“I have a ton,” I said, taking some out.

“Then give me fifty, and hand me the wire and something to cut it with,” she instructed, her hands already busy.

I handed her the bolts, and she took out the quills we had collected from the bears, carefully attaching them one by one to the bolts and wrapping wire around them with deft fingers.

“These should penetrate the scales with the bear's levels. I just hope they don’t fall apart when you shoot them,” she said, scrutinizing her work.

Lis grinned, clearly impressed. “Excellent idea. Hand them over.”

He took out an engraving pen and began engraving a rune on each bolt. After he finished, he examined his handiwork and said, “I believe this will keep them together.”

He then turned to Rue, who was watching intently. “Wait until the snake is on its last leg, cast Invisibility, and bite it as much as possible. But please be very careful.”

Rue sent a wave of agreement and nodded.

I hesitated momentarily before asking, “You’re not casting Invisibility?”

“No,” Lis said, shaking his head. “Mahya and I need to see each other.”

We crept into the cave, and when I saw the protruding rock he was talking about, Rue and I hid behind it. I peeked from behind the rock, and it was a horror show. The snake was HUGE. The other snakes they killed were about ten meters long and about half a meter in diameter; this one was five times larger, and its eyes and scales were glowing. I shuddered, just looking at it. If those are the beasts of high-mana worlds, I’m not going there—no way, no how.

I remembered Lis mentioning its level, so I identified it.

Tuonela Burrower Nest Mother

Level 81

SHIT!!

In an instant, the air in the cave shimmered, and suddenly, illusions of Lis and Mahya flickered into existence near the distant wall. The snake, sensing movement, reared back and hurled her massive head forward with terrifying speed. The sheer force of her attack sent tremors through the ground as she collided headfirst with the wall. But before she could recover from the impact, Lis darted forward, his speed so incredible that he left ghostly afterimages in his wake. His blade flashed in the dim light as he slashed across the snake’s thick neck, drawing a deep, dark line of blood.

Mahya, not missing a beat, defied gravity as she ran up the wall, her movements fluid and precise. With a powerful leap, she launched herself onto the snake’s head, her sword poised. She ruthlessly drove the blade into one of the snake’s glowing eyes. The snake recoiled, her hiss of pain reverberating through the cavern, but Mahya didn’t let up. She slid down the length of the snake’s body as if on a deadly playground slide, her movements controlled and graceful.

The snake froze mid-motion, and Lis struck again. His blade found its mark, cutting deep into her neck once more. The creature thrashed, her tail whipping. But Mahya was already on the move, sprinting up another wall with effortless agility. She launched herself into the air again, her sword aimed at another eye. She plunged her blade into the second eye with a swift, calculated strike, partially blinding the beast.

But the snake still had two more glowing eyes burning with fury. Mahya and Lis exchanged a glance and nodded at each other. Lis attacked from below, driving the snake back while Mahya scaled the cavern walls again. She leaped across the cave, aiming for the remaining eyes. With two more precise strikes, she plunged her sword into the last of the snake’s eyes, extinguishing the glowing orbs one by one.

I stood there, transfixed, my heart pounding as I watched the deadly dance unfold. Lis and Mahya moved with a level of skill and acrobatics that I could never have imagined; their coordination was flawless, and their attacks were relentless. They worked together like a well-oiled machine, exploiting every weakness and anticipating the snake’s move. For two minutes, which felt like an eternity, they kept up their assault—Lis striking from below, Mahya from above—until the snake was a bloodied, blinded wreck of its former self.

I shook my head, snapping myself out of the trance. I had a job to do, too.

I started shooting the snake with the crossbow. Not wanting to hit them, I didn’t aim for the head, but the snake’s massive size made it irrelevant. I just shot her wherever.

Lis called out, “Rue!”

Rue ran to the snake and started biting her in the tail area. She hit him with her tail and sent him flying several meters. My heart stopped, and I almost ran to him, but he rolled back to his feet, ran at her again, and kept biting her. I shot her with three more bolts, and the snake finally died.

Phew!

My heart was pounding so fast I thought it might burst out of my chest, and I was shaking from the adrenaline. I sat there and took deep, calming breaths until I felt stable again. This kind of fighting was not my thing.

Once I felt in control again, I joined them. While I was freaking out, Lis opened the snake’s belly and collected two crates full of snake eggs. Mahya removed one fang and worked on the other.

Curious, I asked her, watching as she carefully cut into the snake’s mouth, “Why are you cutting out the fangs?”

Without pausing her work, Mahya glanced up briefly and returned her focus to the task at hand. “They make excellent knives,” she said, her tone matter-of-fact.

“Then why didn’t you cut the fangs out of the other snakes?” I asked.

She shrugged, her hands steady as she continued to extract the fang. “Too small,” she replied before returning her full attention to the delicate process.

I wondered how long it would take me to know all the cool stuff they’d learned.

Lis stored the eggs and said, “I think we should take her outside for processing; there’s not enough room to move here.”

We agreed with him; the snake disappeared, and now we could see what she was lying on. There was another pile of eggs and a lot of mana crystals.

Lis gave a huge smile. “Nice!”

Mahya said, “We should check the bones; maybe we’ll find something interesting.”

I looked around for the bones she mentioned and discovered an enormous pile in one corner.

Lis wiped some sweat from his brow, then looked around the cavern thoughtfully. “We should also check all the tunnels,” he said, eyes scanning the dark openings around us. “We might discover additional snake skins that she’s shed and more bones to examine.”

I felt a shiver of unease run down my spine at the thought. “Can there be more snakes?” I asked, my voice low, trying to hide my concern.

Lis shook his head confidently. “No,” he said, meeting my gaze with a reassuring look. “If there were more snakes, they would have come to her aid. Mana beasts are very protective of their brooding females.”

We split up between the tunnels and started checking them one by one. In the tunnel I examined, I found a snake’s skin and two piles of bones. I had no idea what to look for in them, so I just stored the whole pile.

Another tunnel led to a smaller cave. There, I found a lot of smaller snake skins, probably from the other snakes, and piles of bones. I stored everything again.

When I returned to the main cave, Lis looked up from examining a pile of bones. “Did you find any tunnel branches, or does everything lead to a dead end?” he asked, his tone brisk.

“Dead end.”

Lis nodded, a satisfied smile crossing his face. “Good, we’re done here; let’s leave,” he said, standing up and stretching his back before motioning for us to head out.

We went back to Lis’s house, and I went to take a bath. I had the Clean spell but needed this relaxation to calm my nervous system. I still felt jumpy.

After I finished the bath, we met outside the house, and Lis took out the snake. I tried to pick it up with telekinesis, but I had no chance; the snake didn’t move even a millimeter, and my mind felt like it had spasms.

“There’s no way I’m picking up that snake,” I told Lis, shaking my head in disbelief as I stared at the enormous creature.

Lis chuckled softly. “Don’t worry,” he said, patting my shoulder reassuringly. “I have a solution.”

He dug into the snake’s belly, removed all the internal organs, and threw them away. He turned to me and said, “Can you peel it?”

It took me over ten minutes to build a thin layer of mana between the flesh and skin and peel off the skin. Lis took out the biggest sword I’d ever seen, swung it repeatedly, and cut off a fifth of the snake.

“Can you pick this up?” he asked.

I lifted the piece with some mental effort and silent cursing. I put it back down, took out a plastic sheet, and repeated the operation like with the other snakes: pick up the snake, cast Clean and Purify on it, and cut it into steaks. Meanwhile, Lis cut the remaining snake into large pieces, which I also cut into steaks.

Mahya showed us a crystal about the size of a grapefruit and said, “Look at this beast core; it’s one of the biggest I’ve ever seen.”

Afterward, she pulled out a green sack, roughly the size of a pumpkin, filled with green liquid. “This snake was very lucrative,” she said, her eyes gleaming with satisfaction.

Lis nodded. “We haven’t checked the rest of the loot yet,” he added.

After processing the snake, we took out the rest of the things we found in the tunnels and caves. The total loot was over fifty skins, which Lis said were as good as skin taken from a “fresh” snake, thirty-seven mana crystals with various aspects, and eleven weapons that looked utterly destroyed.

They gave me the weapons because I could restore them, and Mahya requested one of the restored swords because she was using one of Lis’s and needed to return it. They told me to keep the rest. We split the skins, and Mahya and Lis wanted the crystals for their project. I didn’t mind. After that, they started going through the bones individually, keeping most of them and splitting them three-way.

Curious, I tilted my head and asked, “What are the bones for?”

Mahya looked up from her work. “Selling to bone artisans,” she explained, tapping one of the larger bones with her finger. “They make good mage weapons because of the mana conductivity.”

After sorting the snake loot, we processed the dogs and bears from the last time. We set aside the scorpi-dog meat for Rue. It turned out that since scorpi-dogs were also a type of canine, they would significantly benefit him. They both gave me all the bear meat, telling me it was excellent for stews and minced meat dishes, while their eyebrows wiggled suggestively.

I shook my head, resigned. It seemed like our entire group always thought with their stomachs.

After finishing everything, we went to sleep. In the morning, we cut down another thirty trees, turned them into logs, and divided them into three. When I asked why, they informed me that a single log could sustain five to eight hours of fire.

Finally, we walked back to the Gate. Tuonela turned out to be a very profitable world.