In the end, Elana slowed us down less than I’d expected. While she lacked the benefits of an increased Toughness attribute, she was an experienced hiker and had little trouble keeping up the pace.

Even in combat, she wasn’t too much of a burden. While she didn’t carry a weapon, apparently being a terrible shot, her drone had a small, repeating plasma gun on it. It didn’t do nearly as much damage as Linnea’s long rifle or even my pistol; however, it was useful for distracting Beasts.

It could usually keep at least one enemy busy, helping to keep the numbers down during a fight. Like this, we made good time, winning half a dozen fights and reaching the base of the mountain by mid-afternoon.

The mountain was an intimidating sight, reaching high into the sky before us. Behind the first lay others, some even taller, forming a massive mountain rage that continued further north.

I was glad that I had a path already mapped out to follow. While it would still be tough going, whoever had done this trip in the first place had found the easiest way up. From the look of things, we shouldn’t have to actually climb anywhere. Instead, we would gradually hike our way up.

As planned, we camped there at the base, making ample use of the available firewood to protect us during the night. It would be harder to find fuel the further up the mountain we went, and I wasn’t sure we would even be able to locate any by the last day.

We would have to come up with another plan then, perhaps taking watch shifts or even trying to push on to the facility. For now, we made camp and used our spare time to plan our ascent.

“I looked over the Beast reports you sent me,“ Linnea started us off, professional as ever. “It’s going to be dangerous, however, I believe we can handle it given our recent experiences. We will have to be careful about our supplies, though. I understand Brian won’t be picking us up from the top?”

I nodded in response, glad that she had brought that up. “Correct,“ I said. “He won’t fly within ten miles of the mountains because of the large avian Beasts that apparently live in the peaks. While the team that went up before us saw a few of them, they weren’t ever forced to engage.”

“Following the path they took,“ I continued, gesturing to the mountain in front of us. “It should take us around three days to get to the valley containing our target. I’m hoping we can clear it in a day or two at the most, then three days back to the base and one last day to the clearing Brian dropped us off in.

“How did you find out about this, anyway? “Elana piped up. “You seem to have a lot of information on it.”

I winced slightly, a little embarrassed to explain just how much I’d spent on this information. While it perhaps hadn’t been the most rational decision, that was the issue with irrational fears. They often pushed you to do anything to avoid them.

Still, I didn’t really have a good reason to hide the information. Just being embarrassed wasn’t a good enough reason to lie. “I purchase the information from another explorer,“ I finally said.

“It was quite expensive,“ I continued. “However, I believe it will be worth it, even if my primary goal isn’t there. I can’t see how a large, ancient ruin like this would be lacking in loot. As long as we make it there, clear the place out, and get back down safely, I expect to make most, if not all, of that investment back.

Whether I would also make enough money to cover what I was paying Linnea was another question, though I still had my Explorer Guild mission reward coming. With that combined with whatever I made here, I was hoping to finally break even on everything I’d spent so far.

Linnea nodded her head thoughtfully. “Sounds risky, hopefully, it will work out for you. I’m not in a dissimilar situation to you actually, I spent everything you paid me and a bit more on a new gun.” She patted the rifle beside her.

“Now I’m making that back again with this mission, probably just to spend it all again afterward on more gear. It’s like an investment cycle, isn’t it? You put money in and hope you make at least most of it back. Then repeat, over and over again, until one day you might make a profit.”

“Of course,“ she smirked at me as she continued. “I have the advantage of only spending and losing your money since you keep hiring me.”

I had to chuckle at that, she had a point. Still, I didn’t regret it, she’d more than made herself worthwhile in the fights so far. I would have had to settle for a much less impressive end to my previous mission without her.

Elana sighed from across the fire. “At least you two can get XP easily. I’m not even level three yet and so far the only way I can advance without dumping money into crafting is to slowly help the NPCs.”

She turned to face me with a smile,“ So thank you again for bringing me along, Jared. Even just the slow trickle XP from helping out in combat is nice and I’m really hoping to get some good XP once we get to that facility of yours.”

I nodded in reply, hoping that it worked out for both of us. Then I brought the conversation back around to the trip, showing them the path we would take tomorrow. After we’d talked the plan to death, we turned in for the night.

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The next morning we woke up bright and earlier to find a layer of frost on the ground. Even just here in the foothills, it got much colder than down in the city, particularly as we moved further into fall.

It was a stark reminder of why the city was so intent on gathering food, I could only imagine they must have harsh winters if they were getting frost this early. It was a good thing we’d all brought winter clothes, I expected the temperature to drop below zero at night once we got further up the mountain.

We pulled our camp down and set out, following a barely visible game trail as we went. It twisted and turned as we went, always following the path of least resistance forward. While taking such a roundabout route would increase the total distance we had to walk, that was still preferable to trying to make our way straight up.

At one point, we even spotted one of the usual users of the trail. A white-coated goat was sprinting down the path in the opposite direction, though it quickly leapt off as we got closer. It let out a loud bleating sound and ran off across the side of the mountain, somehow keeping its balance on the rough ground.

“I guess we now know what the Beasts up here eat,“ I mused as I watched it go. “When they can’t get a bite of us, that is,“ I finished with a laugh.

Linnea wasn’t laughing, however. “Jared,“ she said urgently. “Check your watch please, I think that goat was running from something.”

I’d learned to trust her experience by this point, so I pulled up the map on my watch without asking questions. Sure enough, four red dots were heading for us at speed, only seconds away.

“Contact inbound,“ I shouted, moving to the front of the group. Linnea quickly pulled her rifle and slid into her sniper stance while Elana moved even further back. As she did so, I heard the soft whir of her drone taking off.

We’d already worked out a routine for fighting groups during the last day’s travel. Our discussion the night before had further refined it into a solid strategy.

As four Beasts burst around the corner, Linnea opened fire, taking the one on the right in the face. It shrieked and rolled, then came straight back up to continue its charge. Linnea would keep firing at that Beast till it was dead, her role in our group was to focus fire the enemy down one at a time.

As the pack continued charging, a drone buzzed past the leftmost one, actually brushing its fur on the way past. Once past, it spun, firing tiny balls of plasma into the creature’s back.

The targeted Beast let out a roar, spinning around to charge at the drone. Elana piloted it deftly, always staying just a few inches in front of it. We’d discovered the day before that most Beasts would continue chasing the drone forever as long as it stayed close.

That left two for me to keep busy, though hopefully not for long. As the tank of the group, it fell to me to keep whatever was left of the enemy away from the other two. As long as I could keep the Beasts away from her, Linnea would kill them all, eventually.

I faced both of them down as they charged. They split as they approached, coming at me from both flanks.

I’ve seen that trick before, I thought, focusing intently. It was intended to make avoiding both of them impossible, luckily I wasn’t exactly helpless. I fired at the one on the left, stalling it and giving myself time to focus on dodging the other.

While I still hadn’t increased my agility, I’d had a lot of practice over the last two weeks. I would never be fast, however, I was no longer the stumbling moron I had been in my first few combats.

As long as I had enough lead time, I could dodge a Beast coming at full speed by taking advantage of their slower turning capacity. As I slid past its attack, I fired into its side at point-blank range.

This close, I could get a good look at them as well. They looked rather like small bears, though they still came up to above my hip. They were tough too, both of them only hesitating for a couple of seconds after being struck.

They slowed after recovering, beginning to circle me while growling deeply. I had to turn to keep them both in eyesight, knowing I’d be in deep trouble if they got behind me. Then one charged from directly in front of me and I couldn’t worry about the other anymore.

I fired once, twice as it approached. My first shot hit, and my second went wide as the beast went if for a low lunge. It barreled into my legs, swiping at them with its clawed front feet.

That hurt, though not as much as being bitten by the wolves had. My Toughness was even higher now as well, I could endure this for a while with only superficial wounds.

Then the second beast hit me in the back of the legs, gripping them, ironically, in a bear hug. It pulled, heaving me over to the side with terrifying strength. “Linnea," I shrieked as I went airborne. “I really hope you're done with yours.”

“Nearly,“ I heard her yell back. “They're insanely tough. The Lake Beast is the only thing we’ve fought that’s taken more damage and still kept coming.”

I hit the ground hard, leaving me winded. The Beast never let go of my legs either, keeping me pinned in place as the other one advanced with a growl, flashing its massive teeth at me.

Oh, come on, I thought in a mixture of terror and annoyance at their teamwork. I’d preferred when the Beasts had been mostly dumb, thank you very much.

I fired once more then it charged, only halting it for a second as I struck its chest. Then I discarded my pistol and pulled out my dagger. If it wanted to get in close, then I’d oblige it.

While I was in an awkward position, lying on my side with trapped legs, I still had the advantage of reach. I stabbed forward to meet its charge, allowing its own momentum to drive it onto my blade.

Unfortunately, I missed its eyes, instead digging deep into the side of its face. I grunted as my arm folded almost instantly, unable to keep up with the creature’s weight and momentum.

I’d done enough, however, as the creature backpedaled away, ripping its face off my blade. It was bleeding heavily as it went, still up, but definitely injured. Then a massive plasma bolt struck it in the side. Linnea was finally done with hers.

Trusting her to keep it busy, I twisted to face the one gripping my legs. It objected to that, biting into my left thigh as I came to face it. Unfortunately for it, this put its eyes well within my reach.

I stabbed forward, taking out one, and then the other. While I was far from a blade master, it was almost impossible to miss a stationary target at this range.

It still took the damn beast ages to die as it furiously dug its teeth into my leg even harder. Eventually, however, I managed to take it down with further cuts from my dagger.

“Well, that was exciting,“ Linnea laughed as she walked over, already haven taking care of the remaining Beasts.

Exciting wasn’t exactly the word I’d have used, but I accepted her help in patching myself up, nonetheless. We still had a long way to go before we’d even be done with the first day.