To his surprise, no one argued about the team name he’d set with Sindra yesterday.

“Doesn’t matter in the long run,” Will explained as they began their trek to the forest starting at the front of Myles’s ranch. “It only matters if we live, and if we live long enough to get out of the dungeon, as long as we aren’t something idiotic like Bathroom Slimes, we’re going to be fine.”

Everyone else summed it up similarly, agreeing that the Rising Stars was a good enough name for their rag-tag team of mismatched Classes.

“With a few snags, the dungeon was a pretty good test,” Myles began after they’d all joined in agreement. “We worked well together, and the results more or less speak for themselves.”

When nobody argued, Myles continued as they walked. Ashra led the way while Myles explained the current training exercise for the day.

“Ashra is going to be leading us to a monster den,” he began. Noticing the feeling of unease pass over the group, he elaborated. “It’s not reached dungeon status, at least it hadn’t the last time she was there. If it has, we will not be going in. The wolven are bigger than wolves, but not much smarter. According to Ashra, they usually keep a den of about six, not including pups.”

The last comment brought a bit of a vile taste to his mouth, but Myles wasn’t the one to bring it to light.

“We’re going to be killing pups?” Lyna asked.

Myles gave a grim nod. “Before they can kill us, yes. I know it isn’t the best case, but better us than something less than kind.” Lyna considered that and nodded, and Myles continued. “I’m going to try and tame one of the wolven if it’s rare or unique, but other than that, we’re to show no mercy to anything.”

“What if we hit the kill limit and trigger a region boss?” Kendra asked. “I haven’t seen any ambush rabbits or heard anything for the last few minutes. It’s too quiet compared to last time.”

As unlikely as that was, Myles did have a plan for that case. “We run like the Mists are at our heels back to the safe area, get a raid party together, and take it down.”

Simple plans always worked the best.

“Good call,” Kendra agreed.

Time passed quietly for the team. Kendra had been right. Not a single monster challenged them, but there were also no chests or other treasures to be seen. Myles didn’t focus too much on the branches for another observation reward, so they could have missed some. It was more important to keep an eye open for their prey and be ready to organize their attack.

Though to his surprise, Ashra was surprisingly talkative about the subject as she kept them moving at a decent pace.

“Wolven are dangerous in the best of circumstance. They are pack hunters and act as such. They can lay in wait or organize an effective strike to get at their prey and can inflict a diseases-like poison that easily ends those susceptible to it,” Ashra added with a warning as she broke a large branch in their path. “It varies from pack to pack, but the most common of them will bring fever, and if untreated, madness.”

“Wonderful,” Will groaned.

“Ashra is looking out for the herbs her people use to cure it,” Myles added. “There are five or six different kinds, but according to what she’s told me, they almost always grow around the caves. Whenever we find the plants, we’re near their territory.”

“Convenient,” Will added grimly.

“It is not,” Ashra pointed out, either ignoring the sarcasm or unable to process it. Experience told Myles it was the former. “The plant they eat for the poison is also the antidote when dried and preserved or eaten in a large enough quantity raw. When they pass the seeds, new plants grow, marking their territory.”

By the look on Will’s face, Myles didn’t think that made things any better.

Lyna snickered about the flowers being brown, and Tail sighed at the low brow joke.

To her credit, Kendra stayed quiet for the most part, backing Myles in the decisions he made. Whether it was to calm herself or show her acceptance of him, Myles couldn’t tell. Her emotions didn’t feel any different. Then again, he only had two major reads on her emotions: blinding rage and subdued. Since she wasn’t at either extreme, he wasn’t worried.

The rest of the party fell into a comfortable pace as they moved, and as Ashra finished explaining the danger of the wolven claws and teeth along with their application by the Ambush Rabbit Monsterkin clan, Will began talking about his new Skill. The talk took on a life of its own and led the entire party into a discussion of how their different Classes were progressing.

Will had figured out his new skills without issue and could now stop or reflect the force of a projectile thrown at him or others. Unlike his other skills, this particular [Distortion Mage] ability required a chant, something Myles up until now had only heard used by [Healer]s. He wouldn’t give them a demonstration because of the drain on his mana, but he assured them it would be noticeable when it happened.

Tail had gained a throwing skill called Unerring Aim. The skill wasn’t flashy like Will’s reflection ability, but it could be used to hit smaller and smaller targets without fail based on a scaling level of Soul Energy rather than mana. Myles couldn’t help but think that Unerring Aim would have been suspiciously useful against a giant slime boss with a small moving core.

Kendra had gained exactly what she wanted from the encounter. She’d grown into an apprentice ranked [Berserker]. She could control herself with up to five stacks of Bloodlust now without losing herself to the rage. She’d also gained a skill called Unbreakable Strike which, as the name suggested, would prevent her weapon from breaking when she struck a large, armored opponent or object. That made Myles consider her choice of weapon. Instead of the sword she’d gotten from the dungeon, Kendra was back using the warhammer from when they’d first met. Considering her new skill, he hoped that was for the better.

Lyna had learned a new skill as well, Reinforce. Apparently, being beaten within an inch of your life by slimes, allies, and rocks told her [Master of Arms] Class that she was destined to be a front-line fighter and was giving her more skills to stay alive there. She didn’t complain, much.

“I wanted a new power strike,” she explained, despite the ability to make her armor one stage higher. When Myles asked about that, she shrugged. “It makes pieces of my armor harder and more durable for a bit depending on how much Soul Energy I put into it. Leather is stage one, so it would be hardened to chain, chain to iron, iron to steel, and steel to… enchanted steel, I guess? Make sense?”

Knowing the pain of a misused skill, Myles had to ask. “Does it work on your weapons?”

She paused, shivering a bit at the question. “I tried that. It just works on shields, and they really aren’t my style. I like a bit of heft in my hit, ya know?”

Myles considered that. “What about weapons that work as armor?” he suggested. “I’ve heard of knives used to catch and break swords, and I think I remember seeing bladed shields people would throw used in the past Runs. Would it still work on those, or can it tell the difference?”

Lyna seemed to consider the option, and Myles watched as her eyes lit up like candles against the night. Almost instantly, he regretted his words as her giddy laughter started. The regret didn’t last long since she was using that madness to assist them, but he still worried sometimes about the armored halfling’s sanity when it came to combat.

Then came his turn.

“I got a new class,” Myles explained, beaming proudly.

That brought the group to a stop to examine him. When no one could determine how he was different, it was the blunt weapon that broke the question.

“What did you get?” Lyna asked. “Are you a different kind of [Monster Tamer]?”

Myles shook his head. “I’m a [Succulent Magician] now. I can enchant and control dough now.” He grinned just a bit, “Who knew mana poisoning could be helpful?”

Kendra snickered, but Will nodded. “You built a mana pool then? I’m surprised.”

“You and me both,” He added, then went on to discuss the aspects of his class.

For their part, the party listened, asked questions, and offered him a few more interesting ideas he hadn’t considered: Could he wrap things in the dough? How far could he stretch his control over it while it carried something? Could he make it actually alive? They were all interesting things to consider at a later day when he had more mana, but he doubted that last one. For now, he was content with his other abilities.

Caught up with one another, the party was ready to continue, stopping to eat only when they were sure they were safe.

***

An hour later, Ashra stopped to collect a few herbs, handing them to Myles to confirm her thoughts.

—

Elder Willowweed

Value: 15

Alchemical Ingredient - Herb

Description: A medium sized, flowering grass with three purple tufts at the end of each blade.

Detail: This flowering plant has a potent toxin that can be distilled into a poison that causes fever, paralysis, or death depending on the severity of the distillation. While the stems and leaves of the plant are toxic, the plant’s purple tufts of fluff are benign and can be refined into Elder Willow Antidote. The flowering tuft has a pleasant, meaty texture despite the seemingly airy nature of the plant.

Eating both would result in an upset stomach.

—

“Elder Willowweed,” Myles said to Ashra, who nodded and began picking more of the flowers. He took that as a good sign. “Keep an eye out and gather as many of the plants as you can. The more the better. We don’t know the refinement ratio.”

“Eating three tufts would counteract minor wounds,” Ashra added as she brought back several to Myles. “Six for deep wounds or excessive exposure.”

Myles nodded and turned to Will. “Can your abilities reverse poison?”

Will raised his hand and made the universal gesture for maybe. “It depends on a few things, but it should as long as it hasn’t spread too far from the wound.”

Just like how not all the blood returned to a wound, Myles figured and gave a nod to his [Distortion Mage]. He turned to Kendra next. “You’re our ringer, we’ll keep them confused and batter them the best we can. You finish the job.” Then, he looked to Lyna. “How tough is your armor?”

“Tougher than week old crust,” she assured from behind her armored wall.

“Then you get the pleasure of going in first when we find the den.”

“First dibs on loot?”

“Need before greed,” Myles reminded her. “Anything that’s dropped outside that we’ll figure out on our own.”

“But what if I really want it?”

“Lyna…”

“Can I at least call dibs on a helmet for Rocky?”

“Rocky doesn’t need…” Myles rubbed his temples and sighed. He’d been proven wrong before when he mentioned something. “Fine. If a helmet drops for Rocky, you can have it.”

“Rocky needs a sword too,” she continued. “If a sword…”

“Yes.”

***

It only took a few more minutes of searching to find the first wolven den. It was pretty much what Myles expected, a cave edged with those purple Elder Willowweeds and a musky scent of death despite the lack of corpses.

That wasn’t to say there weren’t any though.

Near the mouth of the cave, Myles caught sight of what looked like two human bodies, bloodied beyond recognition, and their clothes were no better than rags. He did his best to look past them and ignore the gore, trying to focus on the cave itself. Nothing moved within the shadows past the mouth, and he could have sworn the cave wasn’t deep enough to hide anything.

It seemed nobody was home at the moment.

Myles explained his findings to which Ashra gave a nod and tensed her muscles in a few familiar ways. “They are probably circling around us as we speak.”

With that, Myles made his first tactical command of the battle as growls began to come from all sides. “Into the cave!”

No one argued as the five rushed for the most defensible point. The growling grew louder as Lyna hesitated for only a moment to bring up the rear in her heavy plate.

“I’ve got this. Keep going.”

Myles caught a glance of her as he looked back. She didn’t draw weapons, but Myles had no doubt that a punch from a gauntleted hand would deal some damage.

Would was a strong word as Tail turned back, picked up the halfling, and carried her back to the formation with a surprising strength.

“Hey!”

“Don’t be stupid,” Tail chided in their wispy tones. “There will be plenty of time to fight when we’re in a better position.”

“You Mist-touched Korgan, put me down!”

“Soon enough.”

As they ran and bickered, Myles picked up on at least three forms breaking the cover between where they were now and the cave. He was amazed at how detailed his hearing had become, but he could clearly hear the three… no, four breaks now in the foliage. Four became five, and five, six as they reached the mouth of the cave. Lyna was dropped at the mouth, cursing in multiple languages as Tail stumbled in, and took out her frustration on the first thing she could find — the face of a pouncing wolven.

From over ten feet away, Myles could hear the bones fracture as metal slammed into muzzle, and they iron-copper scent of blood filled the air. The rest of the pack backed off from the cave as Lyna beat the creature into submission barehanded.

Backed off but didn’t leave from around the circle of the glen.

“Is everyone alright?” Myles asked.

“I am,” Ashra said.

“All accounted for,” Kendra answered.

“Yes,” Tail wheezed, attempting to catch their breath.

“As long as we don’t piss Lyna off more,” Will pointed out.

“Give me another face to punch, and I will be!” Lyna screamed at the wolves, which took another step backwards.

Rocky said nothing as usual.

Myles could feel the group’s eyes on him, and he thought. At least this decision was simple.

“Lyna, Taunt them. Everyone else, fire at will.”

“What did I do?”

Myles sighed. “It’s an expression.”

Lyna gave a firm nod, put one foot through the decaying corpse’s light, and screamed. “For the glory of Kess, fight me!”

As the pulse of energy flew from her, the air compressed and the wolven eyes took on a red glow. Their retreat stopped as all but two were taken by the skill, and Lyna held up a rather nasty looking base she’d been carrying. It glimmered with a faint red light, casting an aura that replaced the natural light rather than overpowering it.

Then the fight continued as blood splattered against walls and slowly dissolved into light.

She didn’t get to have all the fun though.

As the second began to push towards their chokepoint, a chain flew, piercing an in-flight wolven’s eye before pulling back. The beast yelped and flailed, losing its form before Lyna’s mace connected with its neck, popping the section against the uneven surface of the weapon with a sickly squelch and disgusting scent making the cave smell like a butcher’s shop rather than a den of monsters.

The third still growled as it approached around its dissolving kin and was met in kind with a second mace. Lyna was picking up the pace as two more came, Tail took one, but its death didn’t come until a mace came down.

“Look out!” Myles yelled, but it was too late to stop it.

The final pushed past and attempted to attack Lyna from behind—

Crack!

Its spine was suddenly in two before another word could be spoken.

“I have you,” Ashra said, looking to Lyna as the creature dissolved.

Lyna nodded at looked out. The remaining two were frothing at the mouth and howling with an empathic rage Myles could feel from his spot in the cave.

That couldn’t be good.