Caesar studied the extent of Alta’s damage. Burns scarred her skin, revealing horrific red flesh. She groaned a little as he fed her a rank two Uncommon healing potion and poured the rank one healing potion onto her wounds to soothe them.

She recovered quickly enough, telling him about the bandit leader. He unsummoned his hippo and left her to heal from the essence while he traveled further into the brush.

The Bone Elemental led Caesar forward through the foliage, tracking the din of battle and the roar of flames. He looked through the burning bushes. On the ground lay a dull and cracked orb which sputtered out flecks of arcane energy. He glanced at the charred corpses and continued through the fire, stalking the man in obsidian.

Another explosion shook the forest. The group of six stopped running and turned back to clash with the obsidian man, aiming for his armor. He stepped to the sides, dodging a few arrows to catch the mace that fell toward his neck. Caesar bent down and picked up a glass vial. He narrowed his eyes and marked the bandit leader, then summoned his hippo hidden behind a bush before stepping forward again.

The man abruptly stopped dodging and let an arrow shatter his hip armor, tearing out a throat in return. Two swords broke a few more pieces off, but his molten gauntlet gripped one and burned it into slag. He hurled the molten chunks at the archers in the back, then pivoted to butcher the rest. Glass shards poked through his skin and fell to the ground, as his wounds recovered.

The bandit leader turned and lobbed an obsidian vial toward Caesar. It only shattered his barrier, but he still cried out and dragged himself behind the foliage.

He heard the two women scream and let fear seep into his breathing as twigs snapped and crunched. Boots stomped closer.

“Nice try.” Magnus stretched out his claw for the kill but stopped and whirled around in surprise. Caesar rolled away and wielded his halberd as Alta engaged the enemy.

Two Khopesh of Shattering strikes broke the molten gauntlet, cracks creeping up its sides. The bandit looked a little less stoic, now. His claws barely brushed past her hair. Caesar lunged at the man, who retreated to the left and slipped another vial out from his hands. Bone spikes shot forward, and Magnus’ cautious reflexes couldn’t save his wrist from injury.

His eyes grew more frantic – he had no idea where those attacks came from. His fist trembled and the vial dropped onto the floor. Bone shards struck it as well, causing an explosion that wrapped around the bandit leader’s body. A few crucial seconds passed. Barriers disappeared as Caesar unsummoned the hippo, ready to materialize it directly in front of the man.

Magnus staggered out and swung a claw at Alta, whose final khopesh strike shattered the segment of obsidian covering his right hand. He pounded his left fist against her face. But where a normal human might have faltered, Alta grinned. She refused to budge and kept an iron grip onto him.

Caesar summoned his hippo right behind the bandit leader. Jaws snapped him up and chewed on broken glass, ignoring the pain that pricked its insides. Magnus gave one final cry, blessing the party with black essence upon his death.

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Doppelganger (Alta) has leveled up to Level 23! +2 Free Stat Points

He put a point into both her Presence and Vitality.

Essence of Humanity: Rare

Rank 2

Skills: Alchemy, Weapon Smithing, Warfare, Daggers, Unarmed, Footwork

What exactly determines these essences and their skills? He supposed Magnus naturally knew how to do those things listed above but needed more guesswork to tell what extent.

But first, the loot. He had already rifled through the dead bandits from the wolf fight and torn apart dozens of bodies to try and find more materials. Except for a few useless enchanted weapons, nothing else of value had been found.

In the current field, the charred corpse of the ranger carried an enchanted bow and staff on his back. He threw them away and pulled away burnt clothes to discover a small, empty vial. He was hoping he’d find something else to supplement his healing potions, strength potion, and haste potions, although haste couldn’t be used since its rank was too low.

But his careful looting kept him motivated. He even managed to find an artifact hidden in their boots – a small ring, which he slipped on.

[Item]: Ring of Disease Protection

[Rarity]: Rare

[Effects]: When worn, provides resistance to diseases.

He studied the new essence as he searched through the other seven corpses. With six slots filled, he needed to think well about his next target. Should he fuse the new Essence of Humanity into Alta, or some other humanoid? Would it even work, as a Rare? The cores looked to be of equivalent strength. Did he really have to wait until rank three?

Enough enchanted gear was present on their corpses to outfit him and Alta in their entirety, albeit just rank one. He donned a full set of lightweight leather armor while she wore heavy iron armor fitted for the strong. It covered her entire body, including her face. She could now continue blending in during battle, instead of revealing her true form whenever she used Presence.

Caesar picked up a small map and a note. Apparently, there were several teams of people around the entire dungeon waiting for infiltrators to arrive. Exploration of this dungeon needed more people. But the two kingdoms were at war when letters were sent, and spies chose to make their move. In response to the expected aggression, plenty of bases had already been built, with many rank two individuals defending them. This map showed the assigned patrol routes.

Alta spoke about her journey in greater detail. Obsidian Knight? It sounded like a dangerous title. He hoped he wouldn’t encounter whoever that was inside this dungeon. The bandit group had moved with a clear purpose, as if they were headed toward something. Another leader was indeed a good possibility.

-------

The party left in search of more rank two monsters to fight. He wanted his hippo to level up again before he followed the map back to the outpost. More information would be nice to get, but he’d have to get creative if the place was well guarded.

In another clearing, a few giant boars milled about. They looked up lazily and flopped back on the ground. Caesar tiptoed past them without any incident.

“I thought these were supposed to be enraged?”

“Check the plants. Some of them look like the ones Magnus picked up.”

Caesar identified a few but acquired no real information except for their common name. Learning Alchemy would provide more knowledge, but he didn’t know what level was required. Thus, he’d rather avoid the huge beast packs instead of taking the time to produce a counter for the Rage Powder.

-------

Bushes cracked and bent. Something was coming, and fast. He summoned his hippo and played dead. Two gigantic flightless birds crashed through the foliage and sprinted straight toward Alta. Caesar shivered as fear involuntarily flooded his body.

Terror Bird – Level 23

[Rarity]: Rare

Wind cloaked their beaks and backs. They axed her shield, barrier, and even parts of her armor, ripping out several chunks of flesh in the process. Her slashes struck flesh, but not heavily enough to deter them. The hippo crashed into one, pinning it down. Caesar lashed out with a halberd strike into the other’s neck. That sent it careening to the ground, which Alta exploited. Her khopesh dug a deep gash into the bird’s stomach as he chopped at its legs.

A bear roared through the trees. The Rage Powder must have made it furious enough to follow the birds. Caesar and his party ran from the area, headed toward the camp closest to them.

Another pack of fifteen wolves blocked their path. These had armor-type abilities, some of wood, and some of metal. Luckily, only two wolves were rank two. A Necrotic Fog blew through the area, corroding away the wolves’ bodies. Withering Blasts aimed at the wolves’ legs sought to bring them down. A storm of bone embedded themselves into flesh, injecting the wounds with ice crystals.

The wolf leader mustered the urge to run as the rest of its brethren fell apart. He chased it down.

Danger began to escalate as animals rampaged across the forests. A fallen tree blocked the road, and Caesar fought off a family of boars to bypass it. Roars blared through the forest, and his Bone Elemental constantly swiveled its head around to sounds of movement. The clamor of a nearby fight brought a few great apes crashing into his location, dragging his party into the battle as well.

Sabretooth Tiger – Level 23

[Rarity]: Rare

They switched targets to Caesar and Alta. After finishing off the apes, the hippo spewed a black sludge at the pouncing tiger. Flesh melted away and quickly regenerated. To stun it, the behemoth rammed itself into a few trees while bone spikes pierced the tiger’s hide, slowing down its healing with icy poison.

“Good job,” he praised. Engaging in so many rank two battles had finally allowed her skills to catch up to the expected level.

Caesar looked up at the fort positioned high on the hills. The gates were closed, and archers manned the walls. Unless nobody inside wanted to explore the dungeon – a very unlikely sentiment – they’d open up once the Rage Powder’s effects wore off. To make the best use of his time, he sought out a nearby cave small enough to block out most of the larger creatures and set his Bone Elemental to warn him if it heard anything coming.

A brown bear guarded the cave, its lower torso resembling mud. Unexpected, but still an easy fight. The party tore it apart and delved deeper into the cavern. As they descended down the network of walls, they noticed beads of water drip from stalactites.

“Stay here. Let me go check something.”

Caesar ran back up and ordered his Bone Elemental to retreat from the cave entrance if it detected rain. He then rushed back down.

The cave contained many varieties of insects, some of which he’d like to extract once he had the luxury to do so. A little beetle’s carapace shimmered in fluorescent green lights, almost like an aurora. Another pair of spiders weaved an intricate web from two different spots on the wall, aiming to merge into one. They’d all look great as decoration. But for now, he ignored them.

The cavern ended in a pool of misty water, deep below the earth. The scene was beautiful, but he couldn’t enjoy it as its inhabitants noticed his party’s entrance. A family of albino salamanders dived into the water, surfacing to propel icicles. A group of bats dropped from the ceiling, tearing into the Necrotic Fog only to die on the other side. And a miniboss emerged from deep waters.

Fog Jellyfish – Level 27

[Rarity]: Rare

Some misty substance permeated the creature. A few Withering Blasts went straight through its body, hitting the salamanders instead. To adapt, the hippo interspersed a few Bolts of Decay into its spell battery, successfully coloring the monster with rot. Yet it drifted forward, undeterred. Caesar switched his Skeleton Mage for Alta and continued the bombardment of magic.

It stopped and began to billow out waves of fog in an attempt to encroach onto land. More of its minions rushed toward the group, trying to provoke the hippo to cast its fog spell again, instead of its blasts. But he had other ideas and marked the monster before ordering his Magic monsters to exploit the jellyfish's weaknesses.

“Time your spells! Fireball first, then Withering Blast.” When defending, the jellyfish lacked intelligence to properly avoid stronger attacks. It instead absorbed hits whenever it could, thus letting the most damaging spell hit it.

Caesar hacked away at the monster horde, slicing into a group of bats, lizards, salamanders, and flying fish. After killing plenty, he backed off. A few of the larger creatures formed a corpse barricade to block the enemy’s projectiles, enough for his retreat.

Wisps of Necrotic Fog touched the suicidal creatures and lingered around their corpses. This brought the fog closer, and the jellyfish began to drift onto land. Simultaneously, it exposed itself to more spellfire and simply died without reaching the barricade. An essence core rose from its corpse and flew into Caesar’s crown.

Fog Jellyfish: Rare

Level 27: 54 Free Stat Points, 1 Perk Point

Ability: Incite (C) – Rank 2

Facet: Highlight (E)

Talents: Physical Resistance, Fog Form, Fogmind Neurotoxin, Gigantism

Skills: Hydromancy – Create Fog, Disperse Fog

Mana: 60

Strength: 9

Agility: 11

Vitality: 23

Magic: 12

Willpower: 11

Spirit: 12

[Incite (C)]: An ability that instills aggressive emotions within beings of low intelligence and Willpower who have spent enough time in the user’s direct presence. Duration is ten minutes and cooldown is twelve hours.

[Highlight (E)]: A facet that grants visibility of a single target to all other beings in the area. Cooldown starts on use. Duration is a minute, and cooldown is a minute.

[Fog Form]: A talent that allows the user to shift into mist or assimilate into fog, granting it immunity to physical damage and letting most Magic spells pass through it without harm. No damage may be done during this form.

[Fogmind Neurotoxin]: A talent that indicates this entity’s successful production of the fogmind neurotoxin. This type of neurotoxin reduces Willpower and muddles the mind.

[Gigantism]: A talent that indicates this entity’s increased size from normal.

Caesar was uninterested in a summon limited so much by its abilities and movement. Not only did it not have a proper sublimation, but it also had weak facets. But a Minor Fusion using this thing might not work. Since he ended up not being able to move the cores that received fusions, he had to assume they’d be considered cores of greater strength.

He shoved the Fog Jellyfish core into his Bone Elemental core, hoping for the best.