Octavia cleared her throat as she glanced around the forest. Her dress pants were ruined, and her shirt was fraying around the edges. It broke her heart a little seeing such an expensive piece of fabric already going. But there wasn’t much that could be done. Not only that, Octavia wanted a hot shower or a bath.

She groaned as she pulled her cloak across her body before walking across the clearing back to her friends. The food in her stomach did wonders to quell the annoyance that was building within her. But there was no caffeine to take the edge off, nor was there a shower on hand, so she was a volcano building up, on the verge of exploding from the frustration building up inside of her.

“Alright, I’m back.” She pulled at her shirt, annoyed at how constricting it felt at that moment.

“Good, good. Now, let’s head out while there is still daylight and try to get a few levels.” Derrick spoke up, casting his gaze across the area. “Though we are supposed to be in a beast wave, it’s been a little too quiet.”

“Yeah, I noticed that too. When I went out for firewood, it was as if nothing lived in the area.” Julia nodded as she adjusted her leather armor.

“I’m not sure what is happening out there. But whenever I made a sound in the forest, it seemed to come to life for a split second. It felt like The Quiet Place for a second there.” Octavia chuckled as she dropped the chakram from her shoulder to her hand. The mentioning of that small fight reminded her she needed to drop a stat point into will power, which she happily did as they stood around talking.

“Interesting. If there are velociraptors running amok, that doesn’t bode well for us. I’d prefer to not run into a T-Rex today if I can help it.” The mage grimaced as he brought out his wand. Now that it was in broad daylight, and the risk of murder bunnies killing them off was heavily reduced, Octavia could finally get a good look at it.

It was everything she’d imagined a wand would be. It was slender, and the wood looked smooth. Though if she was going to be honest with herself, she was expecting something a little more Harry Potter-esque, but that was probably just her inner child speaking. It was still pretty cool though.

“Don’t you know? They can only hunt by movement.” Julia giggled, as she finished adjusting her amour, and hefting up her tower shield.

“Remind me to bring my jeep.” The rogue couldn’t help but smile at the joke as she stepped forward into the sprawling forest with the others.

Once again, everything was painfully quiet outside of the whispering wind that rustled the verdant leaves of the trees, and the occasional creak of a swaying tree. But that same coppery tinge filled the air, the same one that Octavia at this point knew was blood. Why was it so heavy in the air? In fact, it was so heavy It was to where it was drowning out the natural musk of the forest.

“What do you think is happening out there?” Derrick broke the silence as they pushed through the foliage.

“Hell if I know. But whatever it is, there is a lot of blood involved.” Octavia grimaced as she shifted uncomfortably. Though she spilt her fair share of blood over the last day or so, this was insane. It was almost as if they were swimming through it.

“This is so gross.” Julia’s disgust was palpable. Octavia agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment. Swimming through blood was not on her to do list for the day.

“Whatever it is, it’s vile.” Octavia shuddered as they pushed further into the forest. The sound of the wind faded and was replaced by creaking branches, and the distant roar of far away creatures.

Everyone instantly was on edge. Their movements slowed as they moved over the underbrush. Julia was at the front with her tower shield held high, Octavia stood near the middle with her chakram ready to be swung at a moment’s notice, and Derrick at the rear, his wand held tightly between his fingers.

“It sounds like they are still a ways out. Should we travel towards them?” Julia spoke up first. Her face was flushed slightly, and her fingers were bone white across the handle of the short sword.

“Yeah. We need to figure out what’s causing this beast tide at any rate.” Octavia shrugged, only slightly bothered by the sudden cacophonies of bestial roars. It made her blood rush and her fingers twitch.

“Even if we can’t get out of the tutorial till the timer is up, we can at least try to get deeper into the dungeon.” Derrick grumbled as he moved closer to Octavia. His sea-blue eyes whipped across the forest at all the sounds.

“Yeah, but we need to take this one step at a time. Since there are velociraptors, it’s safe to assume that there are other kinds of monsters lurking around. So let’s be quiet, shall we, at least until we see an opportunity.” Octavia whispered in response, fighting the rising blood lust in her chest. Had she always like this? Or was it simply because the system woke something deep within her? Truly, she didn’t know, but it felt good.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I agree with Octavia. Let’s see if we can locate where all the fighting is taking place, and once we get there, we can clean up the weakened ones or just observe.” The black-haired woman spoke as she hacked away some bushes that barred their path.

“Yeah, I know you’re both right. I just don’t like it.” The man grumbled as he followed along their footsteps. The distant sounds of beasts clashing grew louder with every passing minute.

Time trickled by as the team of friends trekked further into the forest. They were nearing the source of the cacophony. Roars split the air, and the essence of blood was so thick here, a thin red mist clung to everything in range, and crept up the trees like small twisting vines.

The scent here was so heavy, it made the air still. It burrowed its way into Octavia’s nose and stifled her breath. The other two were struggling just as hard as she was. Their breaths were labored, and the moisture in the air seemed to condense as though it were the middle of winter.

”I think we found the source of the beast wave.” Octavia joked through tortured coughs, trying to wave off the feeling of stickiness in the air.

“This is vile. The last time I felt like this was when I was learning how to butcher.” Derrick growled as he tried to bat away strands of crimson crawling up the sleeve of his robe.

“You had strands of magical blood vapor creeping up your arms when you worked in restaurants? Where the hell were you working?” Octavia waggled her eyebrows as she stepped over some down trees. The forest was thinning here, with the spacing growing large enough that they could fan out with no issue.

In the distance, an enormous mushroom cloud of blood vapor reached into the air, expanding with every gust of wind. The frenzied cries of hundreds of monsters reached a mind-rending level. Derrick grumbled as he moved closer to Octavia. His sea-blue eyes whipped across the forest, searching for anything out of place.

“I don’t know what’s going on up there, but I have a strong feeling it’s how we get the hell off of this floor.” Octavia’s voice came out as a strained whisper as the sanguine miasma grew thicker. The fear it brought overrode her desire to want to be quiet.

“Fucking hopefully. Though we should probably smoke some meat and collect some supplies while we are up here. There is no telling what the next floors are going to be, and I’d rather have some food to take with us.” Derrick crept up through the forest, matching Octavia’s pace.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. We can go hunting before we complete the floor. Depending on what we find, we can probably split up after the fact.” The rogue responded as her eyes lingered on the mushroom cloud.

The mage shrugged, as he fell in step next to Octavia. His blue eyes danced nervously across the forest, as the sounds got louder. The occasional beats roar split the sounds of teeth mashing, and the

“I’d rather we didn’t. But I get it. Even though the system said death isn’t permanent, something about severe consequences still scares me.” Octavia shook her head, trying to push away the nagging thoughts of her friends getting hurt. They were fellow adults, damnit, there was zero need to be acting like that.

“Trust me, I get it. Since you are a rogue, you may be better suited to operate by yourself. If you want to go alone and scout ahead, you can. I'm as squishy as can be, so I'll have to stay next to Jules.”

It was an offer of freedom that threw Octavia off step for a split second. She wanted to run free for a bit, but it didn’t quite sit well with Octavia to leave her friends behind. It made sense; she had a mobility skill and could get around much easier than they could.

“Alright, I’ll scout ahead, but don’t do anything dumb till I get back.” She hissed under teeth as she gripped her chakram so tight her knuckles became white. Jesus, why was she acting like they were her kids?

“Sure thing, mom.” Derrick tittered as he picked up the pace to stand behind Julia. “Don’t worry about us. We will be okay.” He turned his head back and flashed the rouge a small smile.

“Yeah, don’t worry! I can protect him.” Julia whipped her head back and gave the man a sly wink. “I am a tank, after all! Who knows, maybe one day I can be big and burly since that’s his type.”

“Shut up Jules.” Derrick grumbled again as he quickly caught up to her.

“Alright. Then, in that case, I will rush ahead. I’ll see what’s up, and then I'll meet back up with you guys.” Octavia broke away from the group, quickly plotting her course through the trees. The spacing between them was growing wider, and the foliage was growing slimmer, making it easy for her to move over the forest floor.

She was a little frustrated with herself, feeling the way she did. She didn’t want her friends to get hurt, but at this point she was feeling like a helicopter mom. They were adults, and they had classes, so they would be safe. All she had to do was trust them.

Trust for Octavia was hard. Not when she worried they could get up and leave, or just fall over dead. It was frustrating feeling all these things. Perhaps it was her deep-seated fears of abandonment she had buried deep into her soul, rising to the surface, even more so now because of her current reality.

Octavia’s heart beat heavily in her chest as she ran. She gulped down the blood laden air heavily as her legs burned from running. While the woman was in shape, Octavia wasn’t the walking definition of peak physical condition.

As she ran towards the source of the combat, her mind wandered. There was still so much she didn’t know about this system, or what it wanted. Even the skills It brought when it arrived was still a mystery.

There was so much to learn, and she had yet to fully embrace it. It made her sick to even consider that she was falling behind it. She was Octavia Rossi, in no way could she settle for being mediocre. No, she had to be great. It was the only way forward for someone like her.