"The jungle defends itself," Nava’rel thought over and over as she ventured deeper and deeper into its domain. Hunger roared in her flat stomach. She had been hunting for hours, exhausted from the mangos that didn’t provide enough energy for her journey.

  The need for sustenance forced her to continue delving into the jungle, navigating the difficult terrain with increasing skill as she traversed muddy paths and the intricate branches of the trees.

  "I’m too far from home, and there’s no food here. The damned jungle keeps prey away from the paths I take."

  She knew it. In her mind, she carried the encrypted knowledge of the World, and as she grew and leveled up, the harpy deduced her surroundings with greater precision. The jungle was a living entity, and she felt she belonged to the citadel that, little by little, grew in its domain like a giant marble fungus.

  The jungle was a hive mind that controlled all the creatures within it, whether plant or animal, and moved them across the map to its advantage. And against me.

  It had been at least two days since she had last fed on a swamp fawn. Though she had devoured it to the bone, leaving the poor creature a skeleton, the coveted level eleven still eluded her. Exhausted from her journey through the jungle, whose dense darkness made it impossible to track other creatures, Nava’rel paused to check her experience bar.

  Experience points needed for the next level: 34,712.

  She used her claws to switch menus and navigate to the skills section.

  Next skill to unlock: Stealth. Required level: 11.

  This skill allows you to enter partial invisibility when near solid structures, such as trees or buildings. Other players or creatures will only be able to see you when you attack or if they carry a revealing item.

  Nava knew this skill would make things much easier for her, and she had been saving her skill points to maximize its level. But if she didn’t get enough food, she would never be able to use it.

  "Goddess Tláloc, help me," she thought, closing her eyes and focusing all her attention on her other senses.

  Suddenly, as if the goddess had heard her, her pointed ears picked up the sound of a stream far to the east, deep in the unexplored jungle.

  "Water. Water is life. There must be prey nearby."

  With the speed of an assassin, she moved through the difficult terrain, farther and farther from her home, from her father Leye. It was all or nothing. She kept moving until she reached the river. Though her eyes couldn’t see what lay beneath the surface, her ears and instincts helped her detect a caiman floating among the logs.

  She didn’t know when she would find another prey. Nava was running on empty. She couldn’t afford to fail.

  She leapt into the water with the certainty of a jaguar and sank her claws into the reptile’s skin, which began to thrash violently against its sudden attacker.

  The world transformed for Nava as she clung to the animal’s back, and the depths of the river swallowed her.

  "I don’t have much time. If I don’t finish this beast soon, other predators might come for me. I’m in deadly territory."

  Though she was out of her element, and the lack of breath drained her mana, the fall had been lethal, and her claws were embedded in the small reptile’s neck. She held on tightly and finally managed to bleed it out, returning to the shore without releasing her hard-earned prey.

  Once she caught her breath, she climbed to the top of a massive elm and devoured the caiman desperately, as if a hungry feline might pounce on her at any moment. There were many jaguars hiding in the shadows, and she had to compete with them for the limited prey.

  After her meal, her experience bar had shortened, but she still hadn’t reached level eleven. Her mana bar had also increased to a quarter, but it wasn’t enough to return to the crystal wells surrounding the father core.

  "I’m too far. I have no choice but to hunt bigger prey until I refill my mana," she thought as she rested after her meal, ready to continue exploring the inhospitable jungle.

  But her heart skipped a beat when she noticed strange huts appearing as yellow dots on the eastern part of the jungle on her minimap, which she had just unlocked. There were at least three of them, glowing like small yellow dots in the middle of the green "sea" of the interface.

  That could only mean one thing. There were people nearby. The universal knowledge of the World sent her the memory of a tribe that inhabited the deepest parts of the Naxtul jungle. Right where she was heading.

  According to legends, they were a tribe of medium-sized beings who fought with shield towers and spears, and whose people moved through the jungle like nomads, much like schools of sharks traversing the Seven Seas.

  According to the collective memory that flooded the harpy’s mind, its people barely wore clothes to cover their private parts and were fierce warriors deep in the jungle but practically useless in open valleys and fields.

  As night fell and the little light penetrating the jungle canopy signaled to Nava that it was time to keep hunting, the harpy descended from the massive tree and began to move through the dense foliage.

  She had two options: continue straight east, risking being seen and attacked by scouts who were surely lurking in the darkness like relentless felines, or veer slightly north, where the terrain was vaster and she would have to move more but with better chances of finding prey.

  In the end, she chose the second option. Heading east would be suicide at best.

  It was almost dawn when Nava’rel found her next victim: a wild boar with massive tusks approaching a small stream to quench its thirst. The harpy sensed a slight lethargy in the animal, which had likely just finished grazing, and it hadn’t noticed her presence.

  Without the "stealth" skill yet, but with the cunning of an experienced predator, Nava waited in a nearby bush and, with imperceptible assassin-like movements, positioned herself on the animal’s back. With her mana nearly depleted and just enough energy, Nava leapt onto the powerful beast, latching onto its hairy back as she had done with the reptile. The boar thrashed violently, but there was little it could do with its massive tusks, as its attacker was anchored to its back. After a while of struggling, the exhausted animal could only bellow as Nava began to tear into its back with powerful bites, spending her last reserves of mana in the process.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  In the end, she succeeded, and the boar died with a piercing howl as Nava began dragging the carcass into the underbrush to finish her meal.

  This time, it took her several hours to devour every last piece of meat.

  When she was done, her interface exploded with the long-awaited notification she had been waiting for.

  Nava’rel, The Winged Shadow of the Forest: You have reached level 11. Your mana is fully restored. You have learned a new skill: Stealth.

  With the excitement of a little girl, Nava allocated all her skill points with quick movements of her claws across the interface screen.

  Lethargy began to take over her, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to move for several hours as she digested the boar’s meat, its bones scattered around her.

  As she began to fall asleep, she reflected on the immense jungle surrounding her and its infinite wisdom.

  "It wants the creatures that roam it to strive for its precious resources. This helps it maintain the balance of its ecosystem, allowing only the most cunning predators to survive without letting its herbivores be exterminated."

  Soon, she gave in to rest under the shade of a giant palm tree, her dreams filled with a tribe that dwelled deep in the jungle, its people beginning to stalk from the shadows.

  *******

  Leye observed the empty citadel around him. Like a mushroom growing among moss, the marble buildings were becoming more numerous.

  The massive coliseum loomed over the houses and mana wells like a galleon surrounded by skiffs.

  "So majestic, yet so empty," he thought, watching it from one of the elms that gave him the best view of the terrain. "Except for the bonobos and macaws, this place feels abandoned. Even the buildings are starting to be devoured by the undergrowth." He noticed the voracious vines climbing the white buildings.

  Every now and then, he received waves of experience from his linked heroes, especially Yowo, who was the most efficient. Otherwise, it was all solitude.

  As he gazed at the vast green and brown world stretching beyond the abandoned settlement, he felt more imprisoned than ever.

  The heroes should be here, using their mana points to grow more buildings, or bringing allies, merchants, soldiers, and other humans with various trades to inhabit the monkey-infested houses. But instead, they were far away, exploring the world, while he remained trapped in his rocky body, confined to this colossal fortress.

  The bonobos moved disorderly through the muddy paths, bathing with impunity in the crystal-clear mana wells and scattering banana peels everywhere.

  But there was little he could do. He couldn’t control his allies, and his only hope was that they wouldn’t decide to abandon or betray him.

  Not even his own daughter, Nava’rel, was entirely his. Though he could suggest some thoughts to her, as she was more deeply connected to Leye than the others, she was as independent as Nilu and the rest, and at that moment, she was somewhere far away.

  "If a group of outlaws finds my position, they’d only need a level one peasant and a fighter to conquer me. I literally have no defenses, except for these four stone archers around me, as anchored to the ground as I am."

  Fortunately, his immobile condition didn’t completely prevent him from contributing to the growth of his domain.

  After the encounter between Nava and Yowo at the Temple altar, small floating orbs of mana had remained inside the sacred chamber, and soon they began to take shape over the altar.

  Leye knew that, somehow, he had to dedicate all the mana to this incipient glow, which could only mean the birth of a new creature.

  Suddenly, a notification appeared before his eyes in the depths of the serpent-infested dungeon where his rocky body lay.

  Your creature Nava’rel has leveled up. You have gained 700 experience points.

  Your dungeon level has increased to 15. You are entitled to a new monster.

  Leye’s rocky body trembled with excitement at the new options unfolding in the interface. He read them carefully.

  Choose a new monster:

  Zar Quar: Jaguar Warrior. This fierce being with a feline face and a human body possesses the strength of fifteen gorillas and wields a mace capable of felling the strongest of enemies with a single blow.

  Type: Tank warrior with siege bonus. Ideal for melee combat, though weak against ranged enemies.

  Navira Scale Arrow: This fierce amphibian witch archer not only slows enemies with her water-type arrows but also possesses area damage abilities that can turn the tide of battle.

  Ideal for precise defense, though she requires high mana costs and is slow and vulnerable in melee combat.

  Leye weighed the options. A naga could always be useful, and he wasn’t overflowing with ranged units. Only Naya and Vidul attacked from a distance.

  Still, he decided to follow his instincts. He didn’t have a strong enough vanguard warrior to withstand an assault. Nilu and Yowo were experienced swordsmen, but they were berserker types, making their attacks more effective from the flanks and in later stages of combat. It would be risky to have them fight at the start of a battle.

  Nava’rel, on the other hand, was an assassin who benefited more from picking off isolated targets from the shadows and avoiding battles altogether.

  He chose the jaguar warrior.

  You have chosen Zar Quar, Defender of the Pyramid! Your monster will come to life in a few hours.

  Immediately, he saw the altar deep within his mother’s temple begin to glow. The energy took the form of a burly, feline warrior, whose dark, spotted fur floated over the circular altar.

  Leye marveled at his new creature. Though it couldn’t compete with Nava’s beauty, its robust body and jungle colors gave it a masculine appearance that filled the core with pride.

  Its humanoid legs with feline claws were covered by leather pants, and a long tail grew from its muscular rear.

  As the hours passed, weapons appeared around the creature. Leye opened the emerging notifications to see what arsenal accompanied his new monster.

  Mace of the Mythological Minotaur: Lost in the annals of time, this powerful, indestructible artifact can shatter armor of any material. Bonus attack against structures.

  Helmet of the Feathered War God: This beautiful obsidian helmet increases its wearer’s armor and health by 500 points. The wearer’s headbutts slow enemies for seven seconds.

  Impenetrable Chainmail: This item makes its wearer invulnerable to melee damage, though it reduces magic resistance by five points.

  Leye was amazed by his new monster’s weapons. Nava hadn’t brought any weapons with her at birth, except for her sharp claws and elbows.

  In contrast, the anthropomorphic creature now sleeping peacefully in his mother’s temple, glowing with an aura, came fully equipped. It had to be due to his dungeon level increase.

  He noticed the helmet. The obsidian’s colors shimmered between green and black intermittently, with elm wood finishes over the eye holes, as well as the chainmail itself, with thorny spikes across the chest. It must have belonged to some god, given its beauty.

  The mace looked more rustic, dark orange with faint bloodstains that hadn’t washed away over the eons, giving it a menacing aura.

  The next morning, after Leye’s rest, the creature came to life. It crawled on the ground, looking around, dazed.

  Finally, it stood up and instinctively grabbed the mace lying before it on the marble floor. It tested it with a few swings in the air.

  Then, it donned the helmet and chainmail.

  As if by instinct, it walked with heavy steps toward the temple exit and headed to the dungeon’s main castle. It entered the dungeon where Leye lay, as the snakes fled in terror at its presence.

  "It’s a pleasure to meet you, father. I am here to defend your domain from our enemies," it said, kneeling before Leye’s rocky body.

  Leye thought the helmet worn by the dark-furred, panther-like feline warrior was even more beautiful up close. But a new notification distracted him from his new monster’s headgear.

  Coliseum Notification:

  You now have more than five creatures linked to the core, allowing you to access a new game mode in your "Lost Sun Coliseum" building:

  Field Battle: Two heroes can choose two types of minion units and compete in the coliseum by defeating neutral monsters they encounter, which will drop items and experience. The hero with the most resources (and skill) can defeat the other, claiming their experience and destroying their base to win the match.

  Cooldown time per match: Two days.

  "Now things are getting interesting," Leye thought, still admiring the muscular build of the jaguar warrior kneeling before him.