Returning to VSO was a relief as the pain in my arm faded away. While I would still have to face the injury upon logging out, at least here in the game, I wouldn’t have to feel it.

Sitting up, I jerked backward as I saw Linnea sitting less than a foot away in the tent.

“You're late,” she said with a frown. “I had to tell Adam you were doing some weird Psion thing. He seemed to buy it and left to scout ahead.”

“Thanks,” I said awkwardly. “Had some trouble in the real world, I’ll be out and ready to go in a minute.”

She flashed me a concerned look but nodded and moved to leave. I doubted she would leave it at that forever, but for now, at least I had time to gather myself.

I was soon out of the tent and munching on a trail bar while I began packing my gear. I had already missed much of the travel that we had planned for the morning, so I wanted to get started as quickly as possible.

Before long, I had everything packed, and I set out with Linnea to follow the path Adam had taken. Luckily, I had shown them the planned route last night, and it seemed he had remembered and followed it.

“Are you alright,” Linnea asked as we began moving up a steep mountain trail. “You looked pretty out of it when you arrived in the game and I’ve never seen you be late like this before.”

I shrugged in response, before deciding that I might as well just tell her. I’d always heard that talking about your issues helped, perhaps it was time to try.

“I got mugged,” I said with a sigh. “I managed to get away with just a cut, however, it was still pretty shocking. Had to hurt one of them to escape too and I feel pretty bad about that.”

She gasped as I mentioned the mugging, “That’s horrible.” Before I could react, she moved up next to me and laid a hand on my arm. “I’m glad you're OK though, just be careful out there.”

A moment later, she slipped away and continued. “You're in the US, right? You have the accent for it. I’ve heard it’s getting pretty bad over there.”

“Yeah. Lots of unemployment, crime is through the roof, and the corps are taking advantage again. I’ll be careful, I’m already planning on changing where I spend my time.”

While that was easier said than done, it was going to be a necessity. The nearest other gym was twice as far and more than twice as expensive, however, it was at least in a much safer neighborhood.

One of the routes to reach it also followed a major highway, so I would be much safer traveling there. It would put more strain on my finances and require more time management, however, with luck, I could avoid any more muggings.

“That’s at least one advantage of being in twenty-four-seven full dive,” Linnea said with a grin. “No outside dangers, you just stay in a secure facility.”

“Oh,” I said. “Do you think it’s worth it?” I had considered it myself, however, it was fairly expensive, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to fully leave the real world like that.

Linnea’s face fell a little as she responded. “Ah, well, I can’t really talk to that because of some personal circumstances. I think most people are pretty happy with it, though.”

I was curious about another vague reference to her situation but decided that now wasn’t the time to push. She would either open up eventually or she wouldn’t and I didn't want to hurt our working relationship by prying.

She relaxed as we moved on and we returned to casual chatting as we continued down the path. A quick message to Adam let him know to wait until we caught up, which took a little over an hour. While we could move quicker with him having cleared the way, he still had several hours of head start.

Just before we caught up, Linnea darted in for a quick hug before blushing as she moved away. “Jared,” she paused before continuing. “Thanks for not asking.”

I nodded in response, trying to stop myself from blushing. I wasn’t sure what was happening between us. Sometimes it seemed like we just worked together and at other times I thought she might be interested.

Still, now wasn’t the time to figure things out, perhaps it would be best to just ask her once we got back to civilization. As it was, we had finally caught up to Adam and were ready to proceed up the mountain.

From the data on the alien device, it looked like they built this facility right into the peak of the mountain. To access it, we would have to climb all the way to the top, braving not just the normal Beasts but also the massive avians that nested on the very tops of these mountains.

Considering that we were further north than I had ever been before, I could only assume that this mountain would be even more dangerous than the last one. Adam’s rather ragged appearance when we arrived only worked to confirm that.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Hey guys,” he said with a wave from where he was leaning up against a tree. Fresh wound sealant was obviously visible in several new rents in his armor, telling the tale of a tough fight.

“You alright, man?” I asked, guilt hitting as I saw the wounds he’d gathered while out on his own. If all had gone as planned, this never would have happened.

“Yep, I’m good to go. None of these scratches are enough to slow me down,” he stood as he finished, looking as tall and strong as usual.

I sighed in relief to see that he wasn’t too injured and still seemed to be in good spirits. He even flicked me a handful of cores as we got close. Despite how well we had been working together, I was still a little surprised and touched by this gesture.

As far as I was aware, he wasn’t obligated to gather loot for me like this based on his mercenary guild contract. He could have even just kept them hidden for himself and I would have never known, it once again showed that he was a man that was serious about doing the best job he could.

The rest of the day passed smoothly, the three of us being more than capable of killing anything we came across. With Adam and me up the front and Linnea supporting from further back, we had a strong front line and a massive amount of firepower.

That night we camped again and were, thankfully, able to gather enough wood from the trees dotting the mountainside to make a fire. After setting up and having dinner, I slipped into my tent and reluctantly logged out, not looking forward to dealing with the real world again.

As I expected, I woke to find my arm aching atrociously, the painkillers I’d taken earlier having long worn off. I pulled myself from the pod with a groan and stumbled over to where I had left the first aid kit.

Quickly downing a couple of pills, I only stayed conscious long enough to heat a meal before I flopped down into the bed. That night’s sleep was plagued by nightmares featuring an endless variety of scenarios based on the mugging earlier.

In most of them, I never escaped, instead suffering form after form of torture while in others I went too far and ended up killing the man and going to jail. By the time I woke, I felt like I’d had barely any sleep at all.

More than anything, I just wanted to lie there and try to get some proper rest, however, I wasn’t about to be late again. Instead, I ate breakfast and changed the bandage on my wound, disinfecting it again as I did so.

It looked red and sore, however, I didn’t think that it was getting infected. Or at least I hoped so, as I had only the most basic medical knowledge. Since I couldn’t head out to the gym with a wounded arm, I spent the extra time I had searching the internet for warning signs.

Armed with the knowledge to hopefully spot an infection early, I relaxed a little and prepared to enter the game. Soon I was settling down in the pod before everything went dark.

The next few days passed uneventfully. While we had many fights that I knew would have been hard with two people, having a third allowed us to complete them with only minor issues as we moved ever higher.

It was growing extremely cold as we continued to higher elevations and the snow on the ground was becoming thick enough to be a problem. This was where my days of preparation and planning before the trip came to fruition.

We donned heavier clothes and snow shoes before continuing onward, our pace slowed but not stopped. That night we couldn’t find enough wood and had to take watches over the night, something that was simplified by having three people.

By the fifth day up the mountain, things were becoming rather miserable, however, we still pushed onward. Beast sightings were becoming far between this high on the mountain however, I still managed to get the last XP I needed for level seven that day.

I quickly paused to do the level-up, selecting Skin Hardening as my skill and placing my bonus points into Mind again.

Skin Hardening Level 1

Enables the Skin Hardening trait to work at full capacity. Increases the effect of the trait by five percent.

The next day I was able to test the ability out as we began encountering yetis. The first time we had fought a yeti, it had practically crushed my side with a single hit. This time I was pleasantly surprised to only be tossed aside after I activated the ability.

The hit still hurt and I could feel a bruise forming, however, it was far from the bone-crushing force that I had experienced before. The cost was even quite reasonable, being a per-second drain rather than being dependent on the damage I received.

If I used it reactively rather than keeping it on all the time, the cost was quite manageable and I could use it for most of my fights. This opened up a whole new world of survivability for me and would be of enormous help in more serious fights.

That was good, as I was expecting the facility to be highly dangerous. I hadn’t been able to bring Elana this time as she had become involved with the mining operation the city was setting up at the mineral deposits I had found.

Not only was she fairly well paid for her help, but it was also the kind of project that was what her class was designed to do. It would give her even more experience than helping with a facility again and I was happy for her, even if it would have been better for me to have her along.

Still, she had said that she could find the time to have a look at anything we brought back. We would just have to navigate the facility without her, something that I was hoping Item Attunement would help with.

I had trained with it a lot since the last facility and I also had far higher stats. Considering this, I was pretty sure I would be at least able to open the doors unless they were entirely out of power again.

Finally, on the seventh day, we were getting close to the peak, and the facility hidden within. We’d had no Beast sightings at all that day, and it was making me nervous. While it might just be the lack of food this high up, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was because something was eating them all.

I could still remember Brian saying that the birds up here grew large enough to threaten his VTOL. Something that large would be enough to kill nearly any Beast I had encountered so far. The only thing we had seen on the mountain so far that might be able to fight back was the yetis, and we hadn’t seen one of those in some time.

Just as we got within the last mile of the entrance, my fears were brought to life as we heard a shrill screech echoing around us. I spun to see a gargantuan figure descending from the sky, at least the size of a small aircraft.

We were about to have a serious fight on our hands.