It took three tries before Gordon caught himself a burrower.

The first two attempts it slipped from his hands to escape back into the stone, netting him several more bites on his arms in the process. And it took a further twenty minutes for him to figure out how to subdue a creature that could move through stone like it was water. But he prevailed, and set his brand new level 1 into Tamer.

“It feels like such a waste,” Gordon bemoaned, looking over his greatly reduced stat sheet. “Three levels gone just like that.”

Levi nodded. “There’s a reason so few people ever devolve their classes. Imagine doing the same at level 20, or 70.”

“I know it’ll be worth it in the long term. It just hurts right now. I was finally getting somewhere.” Gordon sighed. “Strength okay? I want to get health regen up.”

“Initial levels hardly matter for stats. Your priority is to get your regen on all of them up to at least three or four.”

“Okay." Gordon tapped the air. "Now, what does this little guy have to offer?”

Levi wished there were a way to view other people’s stats in more detail. “Care to share the details?”

“Sure. Cynomis Burrower, level 1. 28 health, 30 mana, 20 stamina.”

“Weird creature.”

“And I named it Flomper.”

“No.”

“Too late! It’s official.” Gordon held the cynomis out. “Flomper, meet Levi.” He dropped his voice to a stage whisper, voice going gooey. “He thinks ‘Skarm’ is a better name than yours, but that’s because he’s been hit in the head one too many times.”

“I refuse to acknowledge such a name.”

“Your loss. Isn’t that right, Flomper?”

Skarm leaned up on his toes and jumped up to prod at the furry addition to their team. The cynomis promptly tried to bite his finger.

“Come on,” Levi prompted, gesturing to the next room. “We are still in a hurry here.”

“Someone’s just jealous they didn’t come up with the best name ever.” Gordon put the cynomis on his shoulder. It sat up, looking smug and self-assured. “We should be able to level both of us today. Isn’t that exciting?”

“Would you please stop using that voice. This is serious.”

“But Flomper is just so fluffy and sweet.” The ‘fluffy and sweet’ cynomis bared its large teeth at Levi in an entirely non-reassuring grin.

That did make him smile; at least one of the pair would take this seriously. “Sure. Doesn’t mean you have to coo over it like it’s your firstborn.”

“But he is my first minion. That has to count for something.”

“Just stay on the lookout for more.” Levi started forward into the next room. This one resembled the first, many different heights of stone blocks. He made his way across carefully, Skarm following close behind.

Gordon kept talking to his new pet, leading Levi to wonder just how lonely he was. He may have been out of touch with normal society for half a decade, but this couldn't be normal.

“Just keep an eye on him while he's distracting himself,” he murmured to Skarm. “If he’s about to step in a trap, try and stop him.”

Skarm saluted.

But Levi didn’t find any traps in this room. They crossed over half the distance without encountering more than a stray chunk of stone, one that could only be considered a tripping hazard by the most generous of definitions.

Any time a dungeon seemed safe, things were probably about to go wrong.

The far end of the room contained two taller blocks, each the size of four normal blocks, hiding the exit passage from view.

“Wait here.”

Skarm stopped immediately, and Gordon looked up from playing with his new pet.

“What is it?” Gordon’s eyes darted around the room, trying to spot the danger.

“Just a feeling. Not sure what.”

Levi carefully edged around the leftmost of the larger blocks, checking each tile before stepping on it. No traps, no traps…

Giant centipede.

Levi jumped back as it lunged from the shadow of the giant block, six feet of too-many-legs and rearing up to strike at him with stone mandibles sharpened to wicked, jagged points.

“Incoming!” Levi shouted as he ran back to the others. “Aim for its back!”

He ran past Gordon, who was in the process of drawing his sword. The cynomis jumped from Gordon’s shoulder and launched itself at the centipede’s exposed back with an eager shriek; Skarm jumped on by its tail and started tearing into it with his claws.

Levi wove between taller blocks, jumped over lower ones, and finally vaulted himself up onto one just a bit higher than his waist. He’d remembered this being close to another, a bit higher, and continued moving, letting his momentum pull him onward. He cleared the gap between blocks, caught the edge of the taller one, and scrambled up faster than the centipede could lunge.

Breathing hard, he paused atop the block to take stock. The centipede spent only a moment trying to reach Levi before turning back to deal with the minions attacking its back. Gordon had his sword out now, pointed ahead as he charged. Things seemed to be well in hand, but…

Levi turned to survey the rest of the room, and saw the telltale moving shadow behind the other block. A second monster waited there. He glanced back at the rest of the party, who seemed to have their hands full but were doing well enough, then at the potential ambusher.

Level 1

(Stone Centipede)

Health 100%

He could deal with this.

Taking a step back, to the very edge of the block, Levi sprinted forward and drew deeply on system stamina to launch himself forward in a massive jump across the void between his lower block and the quad-sized huge one concealing the centipede behind.

Levi grinned as the wind rushed past him, roaring in his ears, the rush of speed and movement making him feel alive again. He’d been held back so much since arriving in the past, his usual fighting style relied heavily on stamina and to be stuck with such a tiny pool was severely limiting. He'd taken too many close calls due to running out in the middle of what should have been easy combats. 100 wasn’t much, but it was infinitely better than 50.

He hit his target block perfectly, drawing his shortsword in the same movement as he twisted over the side of the stone, landing directly on top of the second lurking centipede. His blade slammed down into its vulnerable back and bit in, allowing him to hold on in a standing crouch as the angered beast hissed and thrashed in its attempts to get him off.

“You are going to be mine, so you may as well get used to it.”

The centipede violently disagreed with his assertion. It twisted onto its back, slamming Levi’s body against the sharp corner of one of the nearby elevated blocks, then coiling back on itself as dozens of legs clawed at him, trying to pull him free.

Levi held on, mana continuously flowing into his sword to maintain its grip on the centipede.

"You will not escape me," Levi grunted with the strain. "I've gone too long with nothing but gremlins. You... will... be... mine!"

The centipede hissed and squirmed and slashed at him, its slicing claws dealing steady damage to his health as they tore across his body.

He almost reconsidered refusing Gordon's suggestion that he find a shirt, but knew that the dungeon creature's claws would have torn straight through it even if they'd taken the time to go shopping. He'd hold out for a system armor piece. They'd have to find one sooner or later.

Level 1

(Stone Centipede)

Health 45%

Not enough. His shortsword was inflicting active damage as time went on, but not fast enough. At this rate, his own health would run out before the centipede dropped into taming range.

He needed another option. He didn't have a secondary weapon on hand, and if he released his grip with the shortsword he'd be thrown off and crushed and sliced by the centipede.

"Guess it's up to split second timing."

He waited until the centipede bucked in one direction, then released the sword's jaws and jumped clear. The centipede whipped its head around just in time for Levi to land on top of it. He slammed the sword down, chomping it into the centipede's tough but relatively unprotected back.

His mana was running dangerously low now, between using the special attack twice in quick succession and trying to maintain the beast bite ability indefinitely, but at least he'd done some serious harm to the centipede.

Level 1

(Stone Centipede)

Health 32%

That would help, but not enough. Gritting his teeth, Levi grabbed a mana potion. "This isn't the sort of thing I want to make a habit of." Bracing himself, he swallowed the liquid power.

Sparks dazzled across his vision, roaring in his ears, his senses all whited out by the surge of energy. He diverted as much of it as he could straight into the manablade, keeping its jaws clamped tight and clinging to its hilt like it was his only lifeline.

He distantly felt his body slammed into the stone walls again, the centipede doing its best to kill him, then his vision cleared enough to repeat his attack. Releasing the blade's jaws just as the centipede moved a predictable direction, jumping free to gain momentum, then slamming down to reattach before it could get clear.

He loved Beast Bite. As much as he missed his old swords' abilities to extend and form shields, he wouldn't trade this ability now that he had it.

The third time repeating his tactic brought the centipede safely into taming range, though his own health was desperately low as well. Being slammed into walls wasn't an ideal circumstance, but he had enough stamina by now to have absorbed a good bit of the blunt impact. The centipede's countless claws were more damaging to him than the blunt force attacks.

Level 1

(Stone Centipede)

Health 4%

"Now, my turn." He activated Tame.

The centipede hissed in defiance, but any resistance it put up was fleeting. A moment later it slumped in submission.

Tame: Success!

Would you like to name ‘Stone Centipede’ at this time?

"Cen," Levi said, releasing his sword and staggering back against the giant block of stone. He took a half second to catch his breath, then straightened and nodded to his newest minion. "Come with me. I want to see if your brother is still available."