I woke up to chemical warfare.

  Red's gas could've violated the Geneva Convention. The glutton had discovered a wax-coated wheel of sharp cheese last night and demolished half of it—wax and all—before I caught him red-handed.

  "This dog stinks," I muttered, hurling my pillow at Red, who casually rolled over and claimed it as his new bed.

  Cass's bunk sat empty. I glanced around our summer camp-style quarters, taking in the utilitarian charm of our temporary lodging. She'd claimed the bottom bunk closest to the door—either tactical positioning or a weak bladder. Hard to tell after knowing someone for basically a week.

  I swung my legs over the edge and materialized my clothes, pulling out the wash kit. Morning routines on Ark took seconds—this tiny device stripped away dirt, oils, grime, and even cleaned my teeth. Every gaming convention back home needed this tech.

  Red scrambled up with an enormous stretch and jaw-cracking yawn as I headed outside.

  Warm morning drizzle created a cinematic atmosphere as Cass practiced with her sword. She tossed two polished sticks skyward, twisted with inhuman speed, and thrust her blade forward.

  Lightning-quick, but her aim was shit. One stick went flying while she spun and slashed clean through the second. Frustration radiated from her as she stomped to retrieve the wayward stick.

  "Training?" I asked when she noticed me.

  "Something like that." She wiped rain from her forehead. "I've seen Nana skewer both sticks with a rapier in one fluid motion. I know I'm fast enough, but my aim is garbage."

  "You cut that other one in half like it was nothing," I pointed out. "Aiming's not your problem. Besides, short swords aren't built for thrusting—why not try cutting both?"

  "Too easy." She shook her head. "I need something that'll trigger a Seal breakthrough."

  I wandered to her pile of practice sticks—light, hollow shoots resembling polished bamboo—and picked one up.

  Without warning, I hurled it at her. The stick spun end over end through the drizzle.

  I blinked and missed it. The stick had split lengthwise, exploding into fibers around Cass like confetti.

  "Wait here," I said, grinning.

  I ducked into the hall, sliced red fabric from a blanket with my spearhead—I'd pay them back later. Returning, I tied the fabric around another stick's center.

  Cass watched with obvious confusion as I tossed the marked stick high, arcing it toward her position. She tracked its flight, settling into stance.

  Then I grabbed handfuls of shoots and launched them skyward, creating a chaotic gauntlet between her and the target.

  Her eyes went wide. She stepped back, gaze darting between airborne sticks as if she were calculating trajectories.

  Time slowed. She swung upward, twisting her blade to catch a stick sideways, then drew her second sword in a silver flash.

  Unmarked sticks clattered around her. A perfectly cut piece of red fabric drifted down to land at her feet.

  She beamed with pure triumph.

  "Okay..." I said, genuinely impressed. "Speed and accuracy clearly aren't issues. Maybe confidence?"

  She scoffed. "Fuck off, you sound like Felix."

  I laughed. "You have way more skill than I do. You were a whirlwind of death with those Glids. Can't wait to see what you do against the frogs—maybe see how far you can push yourself?"

  She sighed, nudging the red fabric with her boot. "I wish I could just take a pill and find a Seal candidate like you."

  "I nearly died, Cass! Everyone spent all afternoon telling me how dangerous it was."

  She looked down at the scattered cloth, frustration visible in her shoulders. "Alright, but if I'm going all out, you need to get your shit together."

  Red sneezed—perfectly timed punctuation.

  My head whipped toward him. "I know! I'm getting used to having my ass kicked—monsters really don't like me. We've got pearls from yesterday. Maybe someone here has potions to trade."

  Cass nodded, wiping rain from her sword before sheathing it. "I'll bet Lou does. Pearls have way more value than coins in smaller prefectures."

  "Perfect. That way if something goes wrong, I can actually take care of myself."

  Cass smiled, eyebrows raised in amusement. "You're going to make a great mentor someday." She whistled to Red, who immediately perked up. "I'm finding breakfast. Let's go, Red—Ben has to clean up these sticks."

  My face fell as Red trotted to her without a second glance. "Oh, come on. Traitor!"

  The walk back to the swamp felt weightier this time. I knew these monsters were dangerous—I had to accept this wasn't some game. Like running into a burning building to save someone. Every nerve needed to stay sharp.

  Lou had traded two Class-F healing potions for what I could only imagine was a small fortune in mana pearls. The Russet Vildar turned out to be incorrigible hoarders and legendary barterers.

  Lou's shop reminded me of a Chinese market—absolutely packed floor to ceiling with seemingly random treasures. Paintings, sculptures, crystal figurines crammed every surface.

  "I told you I should've done the talking," Cass said as we walked, boots squelching in damp earth. "We could've just gone back to the City for healing potions."

  Still smarting, I shrugged. "I apparently suck at bartering. I can feel my ancestors judging me."

  Cass cracked her knuckles—the sound muffled by thick gloves. Red trotted up from behind, earning a playful scowl.

  "This time we're fucking ready." She rolled her shoulders, psyching herself up. "We were just scouting yesterday. This one's for real." Her jaw tightened. "These guys are just Class-F, and they don't seem interested in leaving their swamp. So if we need to run... we run."

  Pretty sure Cass said that last part through gritted teeth. Running didn't seem to be in her vocabulary.

  "I got this," I nodded. "Full mana, got potions, enough pearls to fill a bucket. My turn to prove I can actually do this."

  Most of my confidence felt genuine, though Bravery definitely hummed in my mind, cheering me on.

  I grinned. "Bet I can kill more Lumifrax than you."

  Her expression went dead serious. She stopped walking, and then her face twisted into a wicked smirk.

  "Don't spend money you don't have," she said. "This is your first monster hunt. This is my... fiftieth? It's not even a fucking contest."

  I scoffed in mock outrage. "That's a really roundabout way to say you're scared I'll win, young miss."

  She laughed—a full belly laugh echoing through the humid air. "Is that you or Bravery talking?"

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  I winked, pulled my spear from my earring, and started running toward the swamp. Red bounded alongside, tongue lolling.

  I wasn't going to let some fucking frogs ruin my adventure.

  A moment later, what I assumed was Cass blurred past me, pausing fifty paces ahead just long enough to flip me off with both hands before flickering back into motion.

  In retrospect, I should've waited until we were closer. The muggy air was already making me sweat, and armor wasn't helping.

  Finally arriving at the swamp, pure mayhem greeted me—and Cass was the eye of the storm. If she'd had armor and spirit-steel swords with the Arbortrux, I was absolutely sure she could've kept pace with Valor.

  Dozens of smoking, oozing Lumifrax corpses lay strewn about, sliced into precise pieces as Cass carved through them like a living blade. Purple ichor painted moss-covered trees and murky water.

  "This was a bad idea, wasn't it?" I said, looking to Red. All I got was a panting side-eye—like the dog was saying

  I gripped my spear and charged, finding Cass ahead with at least three frog monsters leaping at her in a coordinated attack. She spun in one fluid motion, blade cutting through all three mid-air like choreographed perfection.

  The creatures exploded in purple ooze, but Cass was already moving. Her sword sang through more frogs as I lost sight of her behind a massive cypress.

  Just as I jogged to catch up, Bravery screamed at me to duck. A massive tongue sailed overhead, cracking against bark with a wet, meaty slap.

  Spinning my spear, I thrust blindly toward where the attack originated. I didn't need to see—Bravery was doing most of the work, guiding my movements.

  The spearhead sank into something soft and yielding. I pulled back, twisting left to see my kill, only to find... nothing. Whatever I'd stabbed had vanished completely. Could these frogs turn invisible? Fucking terrifying.

  Cass jogged back, gaze falling on my spear tip. The ooze coating it was purple, but more vibrant—practically glowing with inner light.

  "What was that sound?" she asked, breathing hard. "You get some—"

  Bravery screamed again. My body moved on instinct, throwing myself backward. I hit swampy ground hard, moss squelching under my weight.

  A sickly purple tongue wrapped around Cass's waist and yanked her like she'd been shot from a cannon. The whiplash snapped her head sideways as she disappeared into thin air.

  I scrambled toward where she'd vanished, Bravery warning me just in time to skid to a stop before a rippling wall of blue and purple energy. The barrier felt bizarre—my eyes struggled to process what I was seeing, like staring at heat shimmer. When I tried to sense it with my aura, the feedback just... stopped. Dead air. Red's hackles visibly raised down his back.

  Some kind of portal? I'd had such great luck with portals.

  Cass needed help, and it was a three-kilometer run back to town. But I'd killed a giant fucking crab my first night here.

  I was up.

  I barely had time to register my new surroundings—some kind of luminescent cave painted in pastel blues, oranges, and violets that pulsed like a living thing.

  My body jerked sideways as I dodged another thick tongue, only to have a second slam into my ribs. The impact nearly knocked me off balance, but mana-infused armor absorbed most of the blow. I staggered as my feet slipped in fresh muck squelching between the cave's uneven stones.

  Holy shit. This wasn't just a luminescent cave—the frogs here had obsidian-black skin covered in the same jagged pastel runes I'd seen on Glids. The markings pulsed with their own light, and there were dozens clinging to every surface.

  Once I'd gotten my bearings, I spotted Cass spinning through chaos. She punched a frog with a small shockwave that made the thing pop like an overripe blueberry, spraying bioluminescent gore across the cave walls.

  Red barked beside me—a loud, resonant sound that somehow spasmed through my muscles like electric shock.

  Cass's gaze snapped to us, and she practically teleported to my side, movements barely visible.

  "Spirit realm, or... something smaller," she said, breathing hard. "Which way did you come in? We need to get the fuck out."

  "Directly behind me," I said, watching more neon frogs crawl along cave walls like living graffiti. They dripped glowing purple goo and black ooze everywhere, viscous liquid sizzling where it hit stone.

  "What the fuck are these things?" she asked, eyeing runic patterns. "They look like Glids..."

  "Like I'd know? I don't want to find out." I turned to run back the way I'd come, only to freeze.

  Three much larger versions of the black and neon frogs blocked our exit, their bulk filling the tunnel.

  Bravery pulsed in my mind like a war drum, daring the frogs to attack, but they seemed laser-focused on Cass. She twisted away as two creatures launched their tongues at her in perfect synchronization.

  Meanwhile, several smaller frogs entered my diminished aura space. I was too slow to avoid a barbed tongue that wrapped around my forearm, spikes digging through armor joints like needles.

  These things were way more dangerous than regular Lumifrax. The tongue retracted with a wet ripping sound, leaving stinging pain that filled my arm as blood dripped to my elbow.

  I spun my spear and impaled the creature that attacked me while Red danced around several other strikes, seeming completely untouchable. His movements flowed like water around every assault.

  I knew he was a magic dog.

  I lost sight of Cass as I weaved around two more attacks, only to feel one of the larger frogs' tongues enter my aura—far too fast to react. It smashed against my shoulder with a sickening crunch that echoed through the cave.

  I screamed as white-hot agony shot down my arm.

  I really needed to stop breaking my collarbone.

  "You good?" Cass called over the chaos, sounding winded.

  Gritting my teeth, I slammed a healing potion from my earring. The relief wasn't even a fraction of what I'd felt drinking the Winters potion, but it was enough. My collarbone snapped back into place with a painful wave that blurred my vision. The bleeding stopped, though my arm still throbbed.

  The mana cost was disproportionately high compared to how little it actually healed.

  "Yeah, I'm coming to help!" I called back, dancing around another attack. Through my aura, I could sense more runic frogs rushing toward Cass. They barely registered me as a threat—just an annoying distraction.

  Then I noticed two larger frogs on the ceiling preparing to drop directly onto her.

  Everything froze.

  Despite her skill and power—she was leagues beyond me—Cass was being overwhelmed. All Bravery seemed good for was self-preservation, but I needed to help.

  Something finally clicked. The aura, the need to protect, the feeling that had come with Valor—it all flooded into me as Bravery shattered in my mind and rebuilt itself.

  My blue aura exploded outward, awareness spreading to every corner of the luminescent cave as I hurled my spear through the air with a sonic boom.

  The shaft plowed through both falling frogs, causing an explosion of glowing purple goo as the spear embedded itself in the opposite wall.

  I was already moving on autopilot, suddenly standing beside Cass. She stared wide-eyed.

  Valor sent out a wave of intent that rippled through the cave. Instead of daring them to attack me, it it.

  Hundreds of eyes locked onto me, accompanied by a wave of predatory hunger. I was now food source number one.

  "About time!" Cass said with a fierce grin. "I'm at forty-eight. You're at what... two?"

  She spun, slashing through a frog that had hurled itself at me with reckless abandon. The creatures seemed almost enraged by Valor's presence, like it was driving them into a berserk frenzy.

  "Forty-nine!" she announced.

  Reaching into my earring, I slotted coins into every shock spike I had left from Rainhaven and charged toward the larger frogs blocking our exit. I hurled the spikes like throwing knives at two smaller frogs, laughing as electricity crackled and popped, making them explode in showers of sparks.

  A massive tongue from one of the larger frogs wrapped around my waist and pulled.

  Mana flooded from my reserves—dangerously low now—as I dug my feet into the ground. My armor's boots found purchase, insane amounts of mana anchoring me in place. I had to absorb practically every mana pearl I had left to top myself off. Maybe a minute of power remaining.

  I stabbed my remaining four shock spikes into the tongue and seized up as electricity coursed through my body. It wasn't as bad as expected, but I was pretty sure I was screaming like a death metal vocalist—which wasn't entirely voluntary.

  Electricity arced across the wet blue tongue, and the attached frog exploded in a cascade of sparks. Electrically charged debris struck a dozen other frogs, triggering a chain reaction of explosions that lit up the cave like a lightning storm.

  Cass stood dumbfounded, purple gore dripping from her swords like paint from a brush.

  I turned and flipped her off. "Start helping, or I'm gonna catch up."

  "Where the fuck have you been?" she said, incredulous.

  A tongue from above lashed out—this time at Cass. I sprinted toward her as the world seemed to slow, caught the appendage mid-strike, and yanked the frog down before stomping it with my boot. The satisfying pop echoed through the cave.

  She spun into action, leaping around luminescent walls so fast that even Valor had trouble tracking her movements. I knew where she was most of the time, but she was going all out now—her speed even faster than what I could muster with my Seal candidate.

  She specialized in speed. Made sense.

  I pulled two lantern orbs from my earring and ignited them with infrared light. They screamed through the humid air, vaporizing moisture around them in hissing clouds.

  I hurled one at a cluster of frogs. The orb exploded mid-air, searing through creatures like I'd thrown a frag grenade. Purple gore splattered cave walls in abstract patterns.

  Moving to throw the second one, a barbed tongue snapped against my wrist, and I dropped the orb.

  "Oh, fuck!" I bolted toward our entry point, sensing Cass following through my aura. I spun to deflect two more tongue attacks just as the dropped orb exploded on the ground, sending up far more debris than expected.

  The cave shuddered and groaned like something alive. Valor relayed intense urgency—wherever we were wasn't stable.

  Red dashed around me, his fur sparkling with light. Dozens of exploding frogs, and the dog didn't have a single drop marring his coat. He danced around the creatures with obvious glee, completely ignored as they focused their fury on me.

  Without warning, the cave shifted back to swamp. I stumbled at the overwhelming sensory shift, Valor completely disoriented by the transition.

  My mana was plummeting fast. I still burned bright with blue energy, but had no idea how to stop using Valor. Time was running out.

  Cass slammed into my back as she raced through the dissolving portal, followed by Red, who crashed into both of us. We went down hard in the muddy swamp with a collective splash.

  A smooth sucking sound filled the air. Then the portal dissolved completely, leaving us in simple marshland—surrounded by very regular, very angry monster frogs.

  Heavy croaking filled the humid air like a demonic chorus.

  "I left my spear in that spirit realm..." I said.

  Cass sighed, pushing herself up from the muck. "Fuck... Time to retreat."

  Obviously, I passed out.