Ryu just shrugged and began walking forward. Chi quickly followed him and took his hand as WhiteLotus, Rose and Violet followed behind. Each girl was good looking so any guy who saw a scene of a single guy with four beautiful women would feel jealous inside. The group slowly made their way through the Great Fordon Plains. They traveled day and night, trying to make it to the Forest of Shadows as soon as possible.

During this time, Ryu got a good idea of the three girls' strengths and even watched as Chi improved by leaps and bounds as she fought the lower level monsters. Ryu was teaching Chi her martial arts and how she went with the flow of battle, which was something she could use in the real world. Even WhiteLotus joined in on this while Rose and Violet could only frown at their lack of flexibility. When the girls saw how easily Ryu was able to use his own flexibility in ways that just blew their minds, they couldn't help but be in awe of it all.

On the second day of travel, the group of five were standing outside a very dark forest. "Is this the forest?" Violet asked.

"Mmm, should be. From what I can tell by the monsters roaming the area outside the forest, the ones inside are at least in the fortification realm. So Violet, make sure you keep a close eye on WhiteLotus's health." Ryu Instructed.

"Wait! Wait! Ryu, you want me to tank these things!? Us three have just broken into the fortification realm, and the monsters outside, which are not even close to the fortification realm, we're already struggling with our current gear." WhiteLotus frowned.

"This time, I will be helping. You might not have realized it, but you three work very well in a team. So now we need to practice as a full team, or we will end up wiping in the dungeon. Think of this as nothing more than a warm up to what is to come." Ryu said with a smile. He had faith that they would be just fine now. As long as they worked together, he was sure they could easily clear this dungeon.

"Alright..." WhiteLotus still didn't share Ryu's optimism but still sucked it up and followed along.

The trees were tall, the branches were thick, and the leaves were numerous, causing the sun above to be completely blocked out. This meant the forest itself was pitch black. Almost as if they were walking into an abyss. "Keep your guards up!"

Ryu was scanning the area. He, unfortunately, could only rely on his heightened senses of his stage eight fortification realm cultivation to sense his surroundings. His ear twitched when he heard something not too far away. Even Chi pinched his arm and pointed in the direction he had heard the sound. "Ryu over there sounds like 4 monsters."

"No, I think it is just one. Look at the webbing… I think it's a spider type monster." Ryu said with a frown. He readied his sword, and it was a good thing he did because a white substance came flying at them and wrapped right around it and was trying to pull it out of his hand.

"Shit! Ryu!" Rose yelled out and was about to cast a spell but stopped when Ryu yelled out: "Not the webbing! It's good it did this instead because now!" Ryu grinned and pulled hard on his sword. As soon as he did, a massive spider two times the size of him came flying through the trees and landed in front of them. It had a large white spot on its back, and on its head, there was two scythe like legs.

"Ew! Disgusting!" Rose yelled out. She even shivered at the sight of the thing.

"Stage one fortification realm white spotted spider. At least this will help you get over the fear of the smaller guys." Ryu said as he tore the webbing off his sword and quickly began shouting orders: "WhiteLotus, you're up front. Violet, watch her health. Do not let her fall below half."

"Roger!" "Got it, boss man!"

"Rose, hold off on attacking, so you don't draw agro until WhiteLotus has got its full attention. "

"Got it!"

"Chi, your with me. We will move around to the back side of it so it can't run away and call for help. There is no telling how many spiders are nearby." Ryu wanted to be careful. The area was so dark they could only see a short distance around them even with their eyes adjusted to the dark. They could only rely on their hearing to tell if more enemies were coming. But he knew once the battle started, it would be hard to listen in to any adds that might be coming their way.

WhiteLotus did not waste time as she ran forward and landed a solid kick to the spider's side before quickly jumping back. The spider roared and swept out with its scythe like front legs catching nothing but air. But WhiteLotus did not waste time as she went in for another attack. This time she did not jump back but instead, when the scythe like claw came her way, she quickly bent backwards at the knee, letting the claw fly over her body. She then sprung into a handstand and used both feet as she flipped her body backwards, kicking the spider in the face.

"Violet now!" Ryu yelled out. Violet quickly began her chant, sending out five soul bolts all at once before switching to a deadlier soul fire spell.

Once after, the other green flames shot through the air and landed on the spider, causing it to roar out in pain. The Spider was almost about to die when Chi suddenly yelled out: "Ryu the trees! There are monkey monsters in the trees!"

"Chi, how many!?" Ryu looked around. He could not see them at all! Chi could because of her race. It was at a time like this that Ryu kind of wished she had noticed the race selection part of the character creation menu.

"Only four. They are to our south. They seemed to be watching and not looking to attack." Chi replied.

"Okay, keep an eye on them. This spider is… Shit, another !" Ryu raced forward and, in a flash, appeared behind violet and slashed out. The spider that had just tried to attack violet from above was slashed in half in an instant. Green blood and spider parts rained down and sprayed all over Ryu, Rose, and Violet.

"Ugh! I want a shower!" Rose yelled. Although it was not real, the three could feel the sticky warm substance on their bodies and the stench that came with it.