Walking through the night was no easy task, especially not in this biome that seemed to just throw things under my feet at every opportunity that it got. Twigs of all shapes and sizes, mushrooms that had no damn reason to be as large as they were, carcasses in all the states of decomposing. Just nasty stuff, overall.

  Bryga and Fink didn’t seem to mind as much as I did - I even asked them how they took things like this in such stride, and their answer to that was simple - They have not been in another biome since the tournament began. Mark asked some more questions about their life here so far, and this led to several interesting differences in our experiences so far.

  Since they had no guide at all, the notion of building a base did not even occur to them. I had to admit that it probably wouldn’t occur to me either if Mark wasn’t there. Finding a fairly well-hid crook under a rock was all the home I needed before, after all. These ways of habitation were probably completely alien to most of us, especially since nobody had seen humans before.

  Their life in the tournament mostly consisted of hunting for food and raiding any boss enclave they could find. Or at least Bryga’s life was like that - Fink was apparently lower level when they met.

  “So, how many bosses have you killed so far?” I asked, suddenly curious. I still had no idea whether Bryga was one of the ten with an evolution or not, and I was edging closer and closer to just asking outright. My patience was probably not my biggest virtue, I had to admit.

  “Oh, I killed three now, I think! Finding them usually takes more time than the fight, though. Fink was only in one of those fights, but he proved his worth!” She said, beaming, and clapped the much smaller man on his back. He was either used to that or simply did not care - either way, he showed no reaction. Other than falling on the ground from the sheer force of the clap, of course. He hurried to get up.

  Both of them scanned the surroundings every few seconds, checking for threats. I had to admit, I liked their carefulness. Though, undoubtedly, they had to have some to survive this far into the tournament. How funny. I kept pivoting between thinking of them as someone completely unskilled and then going back to wondering whether they were some of the strongest in the tournament. I’d have to fix that, I knew. Most players who survived a week in would be pretty strong, honed by several battles already.

  Oooor they hid in one of the cities, trying to wait out the tournament. Hopefully, there weren’t many players like that.

  I half-shouted, looking for my guide.. No point being quiet - Bryga already made sure that every monster in the whole damn biome heard us by now. She was either cocky, or just that strong. I was betting on a combination of the two. “Hey Mark! What did you discover on the pillar, by the way? I never asked you.”

  He looked away from the chat - apparently, he was being caught up to speed by Talisha on the results of the battle. “Oh, right. They were pretty cryptic, but I’ve learned a bit.” The two other players perked up at that, coming a bit closer to him. His voice suddenly lost a bit of its edge. Was the guy shy? Hah, I’d let him eat this later. “Ummm. The pillars showed a monster, probably a boss, chasing a-”

  “Mark, I swear to god, if you go into another lengthy explanation that might fill half a book again, I’ll punch you.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “You can’t punch me. You know that.”

  I smiled. “I’ll find a way!”

  He extended his middle finger at that, but chuckled a bit, and continued. “Okay, so what did I see there. Hmmm. The bosses on the second floor will be able to leave their base, apparently. Expected that to happen sooner or later, though the guides didn’t mention when exactly that happens. Good to have a warning.”

  His hand went to his chin, thinking, and he got quiet. “What, that’s it? I obliterate them before they even get a chance to leave anyway!” Said Bryga, showing us her monstrous bicep. God, how big was her strength stat anyway? My stats have been really good from the start, at least according to Mark, but god damn!

  A thought struck me. “Wait, isn’t the big boss coming to attack the city? Out of its base?”

  Mark stopped for a second, thinking. “It’s a quest. Wasn’t meant to happen on this floor. Let’s treat that… as a special occasion.” Mark finally let go of his chin and the lack of beard there, and continued. Did ghosts need to shave? “I also think… I know what the level max is. Or, at least, I can try to make an educated guess. I think it’s level 40.”

  “Just 40? Not 50?”

  He shook his head. “No. I expected it to be 50 as well, but they lowered it, I think. It might have to do something with how this whole tournament is built, or something else I don’t understand. I’m seriously not sure on that part.”

  “How do I get stronger, then?” Said Fink, his voice suddenly almost as loud as Bryga’s. ”I need as much int as I can get, and they’re lowering the amount for some reason?”

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Mark looked at him for a second, studying him. Speaking of that actually made me come to the same conclusion as Mark - what was even Fink’s way of combat? Int? He was definitely not tournament king material then. Everyone knew that strength was the thing that mattered the most! Also colors. White and black were okay, but he was definitely envious of my gorgeous colors.

  Mark finally spoke. “I don’t think it’s going to be that much of a bad thing for you guys, actually. You’ll unlock more skills once you get a class on the second floor. You’ve managed so far. I’m sure you’ll do fine afterwards as well.”

  Fink seemed to think about it for a second, and then nodded and got a bit behind us, walking right in Bryga’s shadow.

  I did not tell them about the fact that my teammates defeated the boss already. Honestly, at this point, I kind of wanted them to join our team. Sure, we’d have to split experience and equipment five ways instead of three, but that seemed like a good enough payment for having two fairly experienced players on our team. And for all that Mark discovered, he’d not mentioned the same thing Xila did - that we’d need ten players for the next floor.

  Another thirty minutes or so passed, spent by walking in silence, until we finally reached a part of the map that showed me the black plains that lay just ahead. Apparently, the two of them already waited there - just beyond the clearing in which we got split up. I hurried my two new companions, and soon enough, the black grass replaced the blue one.

  Two dots got closer and closer, and not too long after, Crudia and Dusk, waving to us in greeting, got visible. Bryga and Fink looked to each other, and then Fink spoke in a quiet voice. “I thought we’d be battling a boss?”

  I did my damn best not to physically cringe. “Ehhh. I might have discovered that they’d already beat it, and decided to invite you to dinner?”

  Fink’s eyebrows shot down, visibly angry, but Bryga beamed like a child. “Dinner, you say? Good timing! It appears that I am starving!”

  Fink rolled his eyes, but he left his dissatisfaction at that. I should probably have been a bit angry, but I couldn’t really blame the guy much - I knew the feeling of expecting a fight and then not getting one. Truly, there was nothing worse!

  Coming closer, Crudia, Talisha, and Dusk cringed once they saw me. Dusk was the first to speak. “You okay there, Shrimpie? You look… battered.”

  “Battered is putting it lightly,” added Talisha. “He looks like he came back from the dead. You look as if you bathed in swine blood, dude.”

  “Or a hero that came back from a battle!” said Crudia, watching me with awe. She was truly the best wingman in awesomeness farming. Bless your soul, you awesome Raccoon dog!

  “Not far from the truth, actually. The boss I fought was Rare rank, and level 25.”

  “You should have seen him before he used the healing potion. The intensity in his eyes. I honestly thought he’d just kill me right there if I made the wrong move!” Grinned Bryga, clapping me on my back. Really, that’s what she thought? I mean, I did think she might be Xila for a minute, so she wasn’t that off-centre either.

  “And you two are?” Asked Dusk, looking at them with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Watching his eyes shift from the eyes of Bryga to Fink’s was kind of funny - It was clear he had some trouble, same as I did. At this point, she’d need to carry Fink on her shoulders all the time to make this easier for us.

  I let them introduce themselves to one another, shake each other’s hands and all that stuff. I expected Crudia to be a bit wary, as she tended to be, but she was probably too tired, because she didn’t seem like the scared woman I’d met a few days ago at all. Instead, she smiled at them, seeming almost as confident as I was. The whole thing kind of filled me with pride. It seemed she was learning, bit by bit. I was certain I knew why, though - things like that just happened after extended time spent with the best of the best.

  Greetings over, we walked through the black plains, headed straight to the city in which this whole fiasco started. The four of them talked about their experiences so far, all the topics being something I’ve heard at one point or another, so I just zoned out and focused on putting one foot before the other.

  I felt so tired that I didn’t even watch the map, which would probably be a mistake during normal circumstances, but Bryga’s massive bulk just kind of scared everything that even thought about approaching. At one point, a Mole orc emerged just a few steps away from us, suddenly appearing as a red dot on the map. He took one look at us, gaped, and then went to burrow back into wherever he came from. Dusk’s spear-throw stopped him from doing so, getting an approving whistle from Bryga.

  Soon enough, we approached the town, almost a whole day after we left. So much has happened, yet so little at the same time. I still had to go through the new items, to recruit Bryga and Fink to our cause, but I was just so tired that these things just all fell into the ‘do tomorrow’ list in my head. And in Mark’s, since I ordered him to remind me.

  Three human guards approached us as we were just shy of the city. They looked scared, their legs shaking under them. Now this was the proper way to show respect! I didn’t explicitly want them to be scared, but it was definitely a bigger show of respect than just looking away from me like all the merchants did. Wait, was my damn skill responsible for that?

  I looked them over, and found them as unimpressive as I expected - rusty spears, tunics that looked like they’d have trouble blocking an attack from a paper towel, and the soldiers themselves seemed to have more tooth gaps than teeth themselves. Real classy. But the respect was still nice. It showed some intelligence, at least.

  Wait, did they fear me, or did they fear Bryga? How dare they look at her? What disrespect! Scratch all my previous thoughts - these men lacked brains after all.

  “Hands above your heads! By the Mayor’s decree, everyone coming in at night is ordered to stay out until dawn!” One of them said, his voice shaking.

  Great, just what I needed. I definitely did not feel like explaining the situation to these guys, but it appeared I’d be given no choice but to back out or just knock them out. Cracking my shoulders, I prepared for yet another fight. I almost didn’t even feel like fighting this time around, if one could believe it. Almost.

  Fink stepped up, his weapon appearing with a shimmer, exactly the same way as my own. What appeared was not similar to my shields, though - it was a modern weapon of some sort. He aimed it at the soldiers, and before they even realized what was happening, a rancid gust of gas spilled out, green and thick, covering the air around them.

  They fell to the ground, unconscious.

  Well, that was one way to do it.