“Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along.”

George Herbert, British Poet

Coco trudged through the forest, carving a path through ferns and around the mudholes that darted the landscape. The capybara kept her gaze fixed on the approaching mountain, which rose high above the centre of the island. The rock was a faint shade of red and devoid of plant life, as if the stone itself were toxic to life that dared try to grow upon its surface.

Following behind Coco, Milly kept her eyes attuned to the world around them, her Improved Perception and Detect Life talents working overtime to avoid the beasts that had grown more frequent the closer they got to the mountain. They’d had to hide several times that morning from roaming packs of monsters, though the combination of her two talents gave them sufficient warning to avoid the fight.

I’m ten levels higher than I was yesterday, and I’ve got more advanced magic now. I feel stronger than I ever have. Could I win if I had to fight?

Milly watched as a pack of… something… charge by. The half-ostrich, half-husky creatures – Milly’s couldn’t even begin to fathom how their anatomy worked – sniffed the air as she and Coco hid in the ferns. Milly clenched her hands tightly, her Obsidian Fists at the ready.

Coco gave her an anxious look that sent a clear message of ‘are you fucking nuts? Put those away.’

Milly relaxed and stayed hidden, and the pack moved on a short while later.

Coco chirped her approval.

“I won’t fight them unless I have to, Coco. I think I could take on single lizardman myself – maybe – but I don’t want to risk it. But if I could… how strong could I get?”

Coco let out a quiet bark as they resumed their journey to the base of the mountain.

“What’d you say? I can’t get strong if I’m dead. Well, you’re dead, and I think my magic has made you a tiny bit stronger than you were in life,” countered Milly with a soft chuckle.

Coco turned her neck to glare at Milly, her beady black eyes at the top of her head narrowed in disapproval.

“Was that insensitive?” Milly apologized. “Sorry Coco. I’m still trying to figure this all out.”

Coco gave a short, pleasant chirp, as she accepted her apology.

The undead capybara had grown in both intelligence and personality during the night, and with each hour that passed, Milly felt the magical bond between them strengthen. There was a cost to maintaining the bond – about five percent of Milly’s magic reserves – but she decided it was worth the price, if only for the company.

It took them the entire morning to make their way to the mountain as they cautiously picked their way through the jungle. They arrived just as the sun reached its zenith in the sky, and when Milly’s foot finally touched the rocks at the base of the mountain, she couldn’t help by let out quiet celebratory cheer.

After more than a week – after all those setbacks – I made it. I finally made it!

She gazed up the steep slope of the mountain, the ruins hidden in the clouds that covered the peak. The first hundred feet was a sheer climb straight up the cliff, with small – seemingly man-made – handholds that formed a path along its surface.

Even with my enhancements, it will take hours to climb this mountain. I swear, if this turns out to be a wild goose chase… Well, no sense in waiting around for another monster to find me. Time to get moving.

Milly grasped the first handhold, and Coco let out a tiny, desperate bark.

“I know, Coco. I haven’t forgotten about you. But you can’t climb with me. Maybe I could put you in my inventory?”

Coco recoiled in horror and protested with a quick chirp.

“Maybe I could carry you with my telekinesis? I would be expensive, but it might work.”

Coco’s little bark told Milly that option was slightly more acceptable, though only slightly. It lacked the dignity required of a capybara.

Milly chuckled at the notion.

“Yah, and you’d been a sitting duck for any fliers that saw us. Well, what do you want me to do? It’s not like there’s an escalator going up this mountain that we can…”

Milly’s gaze fell to the rock at her feet, and she laughed as an idea popped into her head.

I wouldn’t have been able to do this yesterday, but with my new suite of advanced magics, it might just work.

Beckoning Coco to her side, she carved out ten-foot by ten-foot stone slab of earth and lifted it against the side of the mountain. She channeled a combination of earth and water to seal it there, creating a mobile platform that she could direct with her magic. She lifted Coco onto it with her telekinesis and climbed on board.

“Well Coco, let’s see if this works,” Milly said hopefully as she channeled her earth and telekinesis magic into the slab.

The stone slab shook, as if it a gear were clicking into place, and it began to move up the mountain’s slope.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Milly laughed with delight as they began to ascend.

“I can’t believe that combination worked. Milly’s Magical Escalator! Why climb when you can ride!”

This advanced magic is on a whole new level. I’d never have been able to do this yesterday. Reaching advanced level has opened up a whole new world of possibilities, including combining magics together with my Weaver class talent. And if this is the power of advanced magic, what happens when I reach a level beyond advanced? Advanced magic became available when I reached level twenty. I wonder when the next level can be selected?

Milly opened her talent web and scrolled to the elemental talents. The talents above advanced level was greyed out – unavailable to her until she met the prerequisites – though she could see what prerequisites were required. She focused on earth magic.

Earth Magic (Master)

Prerequisites:

* Earth Magic (advanced)

* Level 40

* Base Magic Attribute: 75

I’m level thirty-six right now, with a base magic of sixty-eight. If I put every point I earn into magic until I hit level forty… I could do it. But the only way to level up is to fight. Maybe it’s a risk I should take.

Coco headbutted Milly’s thigh – a not-so-subtle reminder that they were currently ascending the highest point in the jungle in a manner that was anything by discrete.

Milly scratched the capybara behind the ears to show her thanks, careful to avoid the icicle-shaped hole that had ended her life. She surveyed the injury, along with the torn flesh on Coco’s back caused by the lizardmen’s tormenting.

I wonder if there’s a skill to patch her up. An undead version of healer’s touch perhaps? She doesn’t seem to mind the damage, but it weakens her and makes her vulnerable.

Coco plopped down on the slab, enjoying the scritches and staring out as the jungle grew smaller and smaller below them. Milly sat beside the capybara, her knees hugged to her chest, and tried to enjoy the view as they rose higher and higher.

As I thought. This island is almost perfectly circular. That’s where I washed up on shore, and that’s where I set up camp the first night. There’s the cliff I dropped on those lizardman, which means the Waypoint Pillar is just below that. There aren’t any other islands on the horizon yet, but maybe I’ll be able to spot one as we get higher. If these ruins don’t have anything to help me, I might need to make it to another island on my own. I just need to know which way to go.

The canopy below rustled as a herd of hybrids charged their way through the jungle. With her improved perception, Milly could hear their symphony of grunts and squeals as the pack communicated with one another.

Experimental hybrids. Research Station Omega. What the hell have I gotten myself into? I wish Cally and Rain were here with me. I hope they are safe. Passi… I’ll get home to you. I promise. I won’t let you grow up in this world all alone.

The slab beneath them crunched loudly as it continued along the path, sounding like an avalanche happening in reverse. Milly spent a few moments fine-tuning her magic to make it quieter. She wasn’t entirely successful, but a delicate weave of water and air at the platform’s base managed to deaden the noise so it wouldn’t reverberate across the entire island.

“There’s probably an easier way to silence it than that combination,” Milly muttered, as she scratched behind Coco’s ear.

Unbidden, the talent web popped up and scrolled over to a web called ‘Auditory Magic’ – one of the advanced magics with air magic as a prerequisite. It focused on magic such as sound illusions, percussive blasts, and silent steps. A must-have, according to the description, for spies, thieves, and assassins.

“Of course that’s a thing,” Milly chuckled, dismissing the player screen. She wondered if the talent web responses to her contemplations were pre-programmed, or if they were the result of Luna or one of the Tutorias operating it behind the scenes. She suspected it was pre-programmed, if only because the notion of the Tutorias having access to her inner thoughts sent waves of dread down her spine.

The thought reminded her of the last time she had seen Luna, the game’s AI Director, whom she had accidentally stumbled upon during the first Arena. Luna was as much a six-year-old child as she was the AI Director. An artificial entity of dueling personalities, created by Oracle and imprisoned at the heart of the contest.

She’s as much a prisoner here as we are. A lonely little girl, with the weight of the world on her shoulders. And the longer the contest goes on, the more she will struggle to contain it all in her mind. Eventually, it will drive her insane. Oracle knew this, but in her desperation, she still imbedded Luna at the center of the game.

The thought made Milly shiver. She had come to care for Luna, in much the same way she had grown to love Passi. Despite the horrible purpose she’d been assigned to carry out, Milly wanted her to be safe.

But she isn’t safe, is she? Oracle had a second purpose behind creating an autonomous AI. She suspected there was a puppet master – someone, or something – working to defeat the contest from within. As long as there is no victor in the God Contests, the madness will continue to kill the gods. But who would want such a thing? That was Luna’s job – to figure out the identity of this being and put a stop to it. And she recruited me to help. It’s why she gave me my sub-class – Her Inquisitor.

Milly hadn’t yet discovered the identity of the puppet master, though she had her suspicions. In Hephaestus’ memory orb, she’d learned of the secret third designer of the God Contest – Cizen, the Mayan God of Death. The same God that now whispered in Xavier’s ear – who fed into Xavier’s addictive, power hungry behavior.

I don’t know if Cizen is the puppet master, but the memory orb showed me that he’s no fan of Luna. I need to warn Luna about him. I didn’t get a chance the last time I saw her. We were interrupted by the dragon attack on the Castle of Glass. If I can find a system backdoor, I can get back to her, but if there’s one on this island, I haven’t been able to find it. I…

A tiny, almost imperceptible flash of light appeared in the east at the periphery of Milly’s vision, interrupting her contemplations. It was traveling fast and headed straight for them.

“Shit, Coco, I think we have company,” Milly said, scrambling to her feet as she caught a glimpse of the creature. It was a harpy – the truck-sized creature with the body of an eagle and the face of a woman that she had seen slice a boar’s head from its body with a single swipe of its powerful talons.

There was no place to hide. They were halfway up the mountainside now, its slopes treacherous and barren. For a second, Milly contemplated carving out a cavern in the mountain so they could hide, but as she pressed her hand against the mountain’s surface, she could feel the toxins flowing within.

Coco might be fine, but I don’t know how it would affect me. I don’t think that research station was built on this mountain by accident. Perhaps the toxins have something to do with the hybrids. Either way, unless I want to grow a second head, that’s not an option.

A shrill cry screeched across the sky as the harpy soared towards them, faster than Milly had expected. Each powerful flap of its giant wings rattled the canopy far below and closed the distance quickly. Coco cowered behind Milly’s legs, and Milly felt the power of Salem’s Fury activate within her – violent fire shining in her eyes.

Salem’s Fury works if I’m protecting Coco? Well, that changes things.

Milly’s hands flared with twin balls of deep blue fire as she created a whirlwind of air around the still-rising platform, Salem’s Fury elevating her magical power.

“Coco, you stay put and keep out of the way, okay?”

She stared the harpy in the eye as it dove towards them, its talons extended for the kill.

“I’ve got this.”