Cal squinted. "You are saying this was a reward? What about the elimination quest?" A frown etched lines into his forehead. "Seems like this place is more like a one-way ticket to an early grave. What's the point?"

Elena's laughter tinkled through the air, light and unbothered. She flicked some persistent ash off her sleeve with a flourish, her violet eyes sparkling with mirth. "Oh, Temp," she chided, "you're thinking too much like a mortal. I suppose I can’t blame you. Most elites you find would not die to anything here."

"That strong?" Cal raised an eyebrow, his voice tinged with skepticism.

"Heh, wait until you have some dao-bound skills. Then you’ll realize." Elena twirled, her black hair fanning out as if mocking the gravity of their situation. "Here, being eliminated merely means getting kicked back to their fancy clans because they were being lazy. A delightful interlude or vacation. And, well, if they die… it’s a shame, but they probably weren’t cut out to be warriors in the first place."

Cal briefly thought on the fallen warrior. The artist. What must have happened to him?

Cal cinched the last strap of his pack with a tug, the satchel stretching shut over the essentials he'd finally finished hiding. "How is this place a reward?" He cast a glance around the ominous expanse, a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. "I've heard of survival retreats, but this is less 'find yourself' and more 'lose yourself… permanently.'"

Elena leaned against a moss-covered stone, her arms folded across her chest as she watched him with an amused glint in her eyes. "You say deathtrap, I say opportunity," she quipped, then sighed. "Too bad you weren't this enthusiastic about treasure when you passed by the tenderwillow grove."

"Tenderwillow?" Cal echoed, drawing the satchel around his body. "What is that?"

"You really don’t know? They are big flowers – strong for plants." Elena said with a chuckle, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. "Their unique fruits can completely enhance your vision. So many fruits within a week. I could’ve -" She pouted, but only momentarily.

Cal's brows knit together, the notion of tenderwillow and its far-fetched fruits lodging in his mind like a splinter. "Tenderwillow?" he repeated, as if tasting the word for the first time.

"Indeed," Temp chimed in, a hidden chuckle in its voice unexpectedly warm for a machine. "Let us not forget the fallen muscleflowers! They burned too bright, taken from this world too early! Indeed, a cruel fate."

The comment elicited an awkward chuckle from Cal. Muscleflowers. “Ah, those tenderwillows. Enhanced vision, huh?" Cal let out a laugh, shaking his head. "Could've used that before I mistook them for kindling."

“Hmph. Anyways, let's move from here, Soon the ash will spread and I don’t want to get ambushed by a brood of spalazors" Elena suggested, shivering outwardly, but already in motion. Her eyes swept over the uneven terrain, assured and untroubled. "There's an alcove nearby that was marked on Mara's map."

"Safe haven or will we be ambushed?" Cal asked, but followed her lead, his boots crunching over detritus and fallen leaves.

"Neither," she said, tossing a glance over her shoulder. "Just a place to sit in relative peace. Mara's heading west, so eastward we will go."

"East it is," Cal agreed, stepping over a gnarled root. Cal was no more anxious to run in with Mara than Elena was, especially with the sudden realization that he was outmatched from the start.

The alcove beckoned, a pause in their journey—a moment to weave strategy and probe Elena for answers.

Cal and Elena trudged through the thick underbrush, following the path that led eastward. The dense vegetation seemed to grow taller and more tangled the further they traveled, making their progress slow and arduous.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

After what felt like hours of trekking, in reality a paranoid hour at most, they finally reached a cliff overlooking a vast expanse of molten lakes. Cal's heart skipped a beat as he recognized this as another fiery symbol on the fallen warrior's map.

"This is it," he said in awe, his eyes scanning the desolate landscape. This alien environment was a volcano? An underground volcano! Seeing it in this raw form was both exhilarating and terrifying.

Elena stood next to him, her gaze fixed on the bubbling lakes of lava below. "Looks like a fun place," she commented dryly.

Cal couldn't help but snort at her sarcasm. " I always wanted to take a lava bath."

“That’s the spirit, look at our reward!”

Cal chuckled at the absurdity of their situation before Elena's expression turned serious once more. "This area is known for its physically strong creatures," she warned.

Cal nodded solemnly, knowing that he had intended to come here anyways. But seeing it now, with his own eyes, made him realize just how alien this world truly was.

With determination, Cal began to descend down the cliff face with Elena following closely behind him. As they made their way through the rocky terrain littered with smoldering geysers and sharp obsidian rocks, they encountered several fierce creatures that challenged them along the way.

They looked like golems made of rock, Simple but hardy. Their swings were filled with momentum, but terribly slow. With Elena's precision, she weakened them, but avoided their vitals. Cal soon noticed that she let him deal the killing blows.

Cal's boots scuffed the rocky earth as he trailed behind Elena, the alcove looming ahead like an open maw. Uncertainty coiled in his gut and remained, however. It remained a silent serpent that nudged him towards caution. He stopped.

Cal's voice cut through the quiet with a serrated edge. "Why seek me out in the first place?"

Elena paused mid-step, her silhouette framed by the mouth of the alcove. She turned, her violet eyes finding his blue ones with precision. A smile, cryptic yet candid, played on her lips.

"Well I did want to thank you, but mostly convenience," she began, her tone laced with a pragmatism that belied the whimsical twirl of her hand. "You and I, we're... in the same boat. Kinda."

"Oh? " He rolled the word around, skepticism seeping through.

"We are. Whether you agree or not." She stepped closer, her presence a paradox of delicate strength. "You and I both need what beasts can offer. Their cores. And I don’t want to land any killing blows, I’m not maxed out yet. We are ghosts for a reason. I am surprised you are so cavalier letting the system fill you with luck instead of just using beast cores.”

Realization dawned on Cal. First, it was a beast core, not an organ. Second, luck felt even more dubious now than before.

She paused, “or maybe you are already maxed out. That would explain why you are too strong for a mortal and too week for a stage one." She paused again. “Honestly, I have no idea, you are a weird one.”

"So you want my help collecting organs, er, cores, without dirtying your own hands," Cal inferred, arms crossing over his chest.

"Exactly." A nod from Elena, emphatic, sure. "A win-win. It seems you have no qualms with being the reaper; I reap the benefits without the bloodshed."

"Quite the arrangement," Cal muttered, his mind racing to weigh the scales of this newfound alliance.

"Quite," she agreed, a single brow arching in challenge and invitation both.

Elena's gaze did not waver as she assessed Cal, her eyes sharp like shards of amethyst. "Your being so weak? It's a non-issue for me. I’m strong enough alone."

"Is that supposed to be comforting?" Cal huffed, the ghost of a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Take it as you will." She shrugged, dismissive yet focused. "You’re just what I need now, and if we work together, I won’t have to deal with some entitled young masters from integrated space. The value of that alone is immeasurable."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," he jested, though the knot in his chest loosened ever so slightly. Elena's indifference to his deficiencies fortified an inkling of trust, a rare commodity for him.

"Then consider me your most devoted admirer," she quipped, the corner of her mouth quirking up.

"Fine," Cal said after a beat, conviction anchoring his words. "Let's say I help you—what's in it for me besides avoiding becoming beast fodder?"

"Hmm, what do you want?" Elena replied nonchalantly. “You aren’t a karmic healer, right?”

“Heh.” Cal chuckled, "I want you to share what you know about integrated space."

“Easy. Done.”

"Alright." Cal nodded, extending his hand, a symbol of accord. "You've got yourself a deal."

Her fingers clasped his, the handshake sealing their fates together. They stepped forward then, into the alcove, their shadows merging as one.

“Great, I’m starving. Let’s eat!” She reached for her side and pulled out a large direhog leg and started driving a stray stick through the middle obviously intending to light a fire.

At first Cal was confused, but then he followed up, “oh, and teach me how to use one of those!”