Leo grunted as he threw the final lizardman corpse off the side of the temple. He put his hands on his hips and bent forward, breathing deeply. It had taken a day and a half to clear the corridors, and both Leo and Leandra had been hard at work, taking turns keeping watch as the other worked below.

Ethan had been gone for the same time, and Leo had forced himself to focus on the work as a distraction from his worries.

“I hope he’s alright,” Leo thought as he straightened and looked around. Leandra stood on the edge of the pyramid’s top, looking at the jungle. “He’s fine. He’s got shadow powers to hide himself, and there are a lot of shadows in the jungle. He’s fine.”

Leo took a few minutes to stretch and move his body to loosen the knots. He sighed as he straightened again and blinked. He saw a blue bolt of mana shoot to the skies, deep in the jungle.

Leo squinted and looked in that direction as he called for Leandra.

“Leandra!” he waved her over. “Come here.”

“What?” she asked as she stopped beside him.

“I saw something,” Leo explained. “I think it was a Mana Bolt that shot skyward.”

“Really?” Leandra asked. “You sure?”

“Yeah,” Leo grimaced. “No, not really.”

“We-” she stopped as another Bolt shot skyward. “Okay, I saw that. What do you think?”

“I think,” Leo frowned as his eyes widened. “That Ethan may have found some other people.”

“Why do you think that?” Leandra raised an eyebrow. “That’s a bit farfetched, isn’t it?”

“It’s also farfetched to hope there's someone else in the jungle,” Leo said. And, hoping two, no three, Mana Bolts will draw their attention through the jungle. Ethan knows we’re in a clearing and elevated enough to see above the canopy.”

“Right,” Leandra nodded and sighed. “So, what do we do?”

“We investigate,” Leo said. “If it’s Ethan, and he told them to do that, it might be an emergency.”

“Alright, let’s go!” Leandra said and started walking.

Leo and Leandra headed into the jungle. It wasn’t far, but the jungle's density slowed progress. Fortunately, the jungle was nearly empty.

“It's probably due to the lizardmen,” Leo mused. They probably killed or spooked everything nearby.”

Leo summoned his armour, blade, and shield as they walked, having learned that summoning them costs a bit but nothing to maintain. The only additional cost to his equipment spells was if they were damaged.

Ultimately, it took until dusk before they saw any signs of the people who cast the Mana Bolt.

Leandra investigated the area and found signs of fighting, including pockmarked trees, turned earth, and some cuts and burns among the underbrush.

“Something happened here,” Leandra frowned. But there are no bodies or blood, so I don’t think anyone died or got injured. It was most likely a fighting retreat.”

“Can you track anyone?” Leo asked as he kept his eyes peeled on the surrounding jungle.

“Yeah,” Leandra grimaced. “I think so? I’m not sure, but I’ll try.”

Leo nodded and followed Leandra as she kept her eyes glued to the ground and the underbrush. It was another hour before they heard something in the distance. Leandra and Leo’s eyes met, and they picked up their pace, following the sounds.

When they got closer, they identified the sounds as fighting, and once they reached the area, they saw Ethan and four other people fighting a horde of zombie lizardmen.

Flesh was sloughing off their bones, and they moved in jittery, unsteady movement.

The other people were two people with bows, one with a sword and shield, and one with a staff. The archers, or rangers, and the mage, or healer, were swinging their bows and staff, respectively, to fend off the enemies while Ethan was dashing around, cutting and thrusting his blades. The front-liner was about to be overwhelmed when an arrow pierced the throat of one of the zombies, and a bright beam of light cut a line through the horde, giving her some space.

Leo rushed into the throng of combat, his shield held to the front as he charged through. Zombie lizardmen were sent sprawling, and once he reached the front liner, he took position next to her and began swinging.

Zombies fell to his sword as Brightshards flew and dropped bodies.

“Thank fuck!” Ethan panted as he cut down a zombie next to Leo. “Just in time, Leo.”

“You’re—urgh!” Leo said as he blocked an attack from a large zombie lizardman. “Welcome! It took some time to get here.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Ethan danced around an attack and thrust his sword deep. They didn’t speak more and focused on fighting.

It took a while, but with Leandra covering them and Leo supporting the front liner, they eventually cleared the last of the zombie horde.

Everyone was panting as they took stock of their situation.

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Leo saw some minor wounds on Ethan, but the other four were in far worse shape. The warrior sported a nasty cut along her cheek while the mage cradled an arm. One of the archers was unconscious but breathing, while the other one tended to his wounds.

“What happened here?” Leo asked Ethan. “Who are they?”

“Another group,” Ethan responded, wiping sweat off his brow. Or, two of them joined together. Apparently, one of them turned dark and became a necromancer.”

“Really?” Leo’s eyes widened. “So, all these are because of that guy?”

“Yeah,” Ethan nodded. “The healer, apparently. They lost one of their own, and he went mad. He ended up reanimating the corpse and got the class upgrade.”

“How the hell does one figure that out?” Leo wondered. “I struggled with drawing mana from a crystal. Reanimating a corpse sounds magnitudes more complex.”

“Yeah,” Ethan sighed. They said he mentioned a divine blessing or something.”

“Right,” Leo rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes. “Of course, there are evil gods as well. Necromancy, huh? I guess we know what riled the lizardfolk up now.”

“Hah!” Ethan snickered. “Yeah. Anyway, I told Roland, the mage, to fire a bunch of Mana Bolts into the air, hoping you guys saw them. Then, we were forced to flee as the zombies caught up. These guys have been on the run since day one, pretty much.”

“Wow,” Leo grimaced. “That’s rough. Do you trust them?”

“Well,” Ethan shrugged. “As much as we can trust strangers in this new world. We’ve fought together, and they’ve had plenty of opportunities to backstab me. They’ve saved my ass a few times, even.”

“Well,” Leo nodded. “That’s gotta be good enough. Let’s get them back to the pyramid. It should be easier to defend with more people and much better than staying in the jungle.”

“You’ve got that right,” Ethan nodded and rose. He approached the other group and explained the plan. They stayed for a few more minutes to recover their energy, then set off. The warrior carried the archer as they walked, so Leo took point and led the group.

The journey back was blessedly uneventful, and soon enough, the group broke through the dense jungle into the clearing surrounding the pyramid. To one side and down that side of the pyramid, lizardmen's corpses lay piled, and Leo stopped and grimaced.

“Right,” he grumbled. If there’s a necromancer, we must burn the bodies.”

“Fuck,” Ethan moaned beside him. “You’re right, but that’s going to draw attention.”

“Well,” Leo sighed. “The bodies will do that on their own. I’m surprised the stink hasn’t gotten worse.”

“Damnit!” Ethan exclaimed. “Alright, we’ll handle it once the group is settled in.”

With that, the expanded group ascended the steps to the pyramid's top, and Ethan guided them down the stairs into the cooler interior.

“So,” Ethan clapped his hands once they’d settled down. “Welcome to our humble home. This is Leo, and that’s Leandra. Guys, this is Petra the warrior, Archie the archer–I know, right? Marisha the archer, and Dylan the mage.”

“Good to meet you,” Leo said as he eyed the group. “I hope we can work well together.”

“Yeah,” Petra nodded and glanced at Archie, who was still unconscious. “I hope so, too. Do you have anything that can help heal?”

“I’m afraid not,” Leo shook his head, grimacing. “We lost our healer, Paul, on day one.”

“Yeah,” Marisha winced. “Ethan told us. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah,” Leo closed his eyes and sighed. “It is what it is. It sucks, but we’ve got to carry on in this shithole, so that’s what we do. Anyway, you guys rest up and tend to your wounds. Once you’re up and running, I think we’ll figure out a watch rotation and a patrol.”

“Patrol?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah,” Leo nodded and rubbed a shoulder. “We’re enough people now to watch the pyramid and patrol the nearby jungle at the same time. We must maintain a good grip on our surroundings and bring in more food. The patrol will help with both.”

“Right,” Ethan nodded. “Fine. I think they should get some time to rest, though. Don’t send them into the jungle too soon.”

“Of course,” Leo smiled before he frowned while rubbing his chin. “Maybe we could use the corridors for team-building or teamwork testing. So far, they’ve appeared empty, but we need to keep an eye on them.”

“That could work,” Ethan nodded. It’s not the jungle, so many of the lingering fears and tensions won’t affect us too much, but we still need to remain alert and work with each other to cover our bases.”

“Exactly,” Leo smiled. “Also, understanding more about the place can only benefit us. We’re ignorant of pretty much everything in this new world. Any information is good, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Agreed,” Ethan nodded. But, for now, rest up, guys. I’ll see you in a bit. I need to help Leo and Leandra destroy some corpses.”

They waved each other goodbye, and Ethan followed Leo up the stairs, where they got to work building a massive pyre to burn the corpses.

***

“Ooh!” Lunara said as she glanced around. “Things are heating up now!”

“Indeed,” Nox hums. “Necromancy is quite potent in the early levels.”

“Yeah,” Light nodded. “Although, I’m surprised Carl’s acting so early.”

“Heh,” Brimstone snickered. “Carl, God of Undeath, I’ll never understand that. How the fuck did that happen?”

“He’s the only one dumb enough to accept the position, Brim,” Nox smirked. “To become universally hated, except by the few who choose that dead-end path. Even the Necropolises hate the guy because he doesn’t deal with intelligent undead.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty dumb, now that you mention it,” Lunara mused. “Anyway, what do you guys think? Will our little pets make it?”

“Haah,” Light shook his head. “Luny, you know you should stop referring to them as pets. Honestly, it’s bad enough we treat their trials as a game. To them, this is life or death, you know?”

“Bah,” Lunara waved him off, pouting. “You take the fun out of everything. What good is immortality if we can’t have fun at others’ expense once in a while.”

“I’d agree if it weren’t all the time with you,” Light sighed. “No matter. Back to the Tutorial. They’re doing well. I think they’ll be the makers and breakers of this Integration Epoch.”

“Yeah,” Brimstone sighed. “My guy is on a warpath and headed their way. Honestly, I don’t have high hopes for his success. And that necromancer will meet his end soon enough.”

“I agree,” Lunara nodded, smirking and crossing her arms while raising her head. “Necros never last.”

“Hmm,” Light hums. “What do you think they’ll do once the Tutorial ends?”

“Oh, pfft,” Lunara snorts. There is the usual search for friends and family, followed by the realisation that they are probably all dead unless they have young children in the immediate family. After that, though, assuming they don’t snap, they’ll set up their nation and build up. I mean, it’s the same for every Integration. Why do you ask?”

“Just a feeling,” Light mused. “There’s something new about this Integration. It’ll probably follow a similar path, but I think there’ll be more pressure early on.”

“Well, that could be interesting, at least,” Lunara shrugged and focused on the screen before them.