Noseen, elsewhere…

  “The petition of neutrality has been accepted. You both may approach the table.” The voice wasn’t heard, more felt inside my bones, but it wasn’t my first time in front of the Great Ones. I wouldn’t say it was comfortable, but it was at least familiar.

  Darkness covered my surroundings. The type I couldn’t see through, not without seeing things I shouldn’t. The ancient wooden table glowed with an inner light as my wings buzzed behind me. I hovered at one end before landing gently on the table.

  Another creature approached the far end as my mind raced.

  [Killmento, The Architect, Forger, Level 641, Tasty.]

  Humanoid, with bright orange skin and red eyes. Though he tried to give off a nonchalant mood, his scent betrayed him, and he couldn’t even look at my form. A difference of a hundred levels would do that.

  If I could roll my eyes, I would’ve. Several hundred eyes sank into my body, along with the spikes, extra claws, and wings. I rolled my shoulders back as I took my humanoid form. I didn’t want to be rude, after all.

  I resisted saying anything, given his lower level and the fact that he’d called this meeting. If it hadn’t been for the Great Ones, I wouldn’t have attended at all.

  They encouraged me to be patient.

  The tense silence stretched for several moments as fear gathered around him. It made my mouth water and teeth buzz with anticipation.

  Finally, he broke.

  “If I have offended the Blood Emperor, it was in error. I have come to confirm the slate is clean between the two of us.” His words rang true as my mind raced, trying to understand his statement.

  Alex came to mind.

  Still, I did nothing but tilt my head to the left, waiting for him to continue.

  “As far as I know, I didn’t encroach on your territory, and any oversight on my part, I hope, can be forgiven.”

  Everything finally clicked into place.

  He’d created the portal to the Jungle folks' world, which Alex had destroyed. Then, I’d created a link to the Sisters.

  No wonder he was scared.

  I moved to nod when he spoke up. I quickly hid my reaction, waiting to hear more.

  “Assuming you are not offended, I would love to discuss a potential joint connection, maybe even a Crossroads connection.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him.

  “With appropriate compensation, of course,” he said smoothly at my subtle movement.

  A Crossroads connection was rare in the universe., Instead, people in this age favored megacities with multitudes of portal options. Crossroads were the other option, and had been popular once, but only a very long time ago. A Crossroads connection was a neutral zone where multiple portals are connected. It appeared much like this space we currently occupied, to those powerful enough to travel through it.

  A connection from the world Alex currently fought on with the Sisters and the Jungle World would make things much easier. At Rank 2, it’d give the children of creatures on the Sisters a step up from the Sanctuary. They could keep progressing and eventually return home.

  Yet, I didn’t need this Forger for that. Even if he was the Architect, a being known for his portal research, I didn’t need him. He’d unfortunately based his entire progression on it, but he wasn’t the only one who could create portals, obviously.

  Dumbass.

  The system did not reward those who tried to search out its secrets. Or those who tried to leave.

  “How do you propose that?” I kept my question short and sweet. The Forgers did not own the world Alex was on, nor did they own the area on the other side of the portal we’d destroyed.

  He shivered as my words hit him, yet it felt preformed.

  Now, things were getting interesting.

  “I have a couple of options available to propose, and we would adopt your pick, of course.” Images and information appeared floating in the air of three different planets, including the one Alex was on. The other two were also Rank 2. Nothing was higher, which was interesting.

  Data on creatures that inhabited the worlds, along with populations and median rankings, flowed. Other data flickered, but I ignored it.

  “And compensation?”

  He smiled, showing his own sharp teeth.

  “Opponents, of course. We have plenty that would love to meet you in the Arena.” More profiles appeared, all Forgers. All were much higher rankings than the Rank 2 worlds I’d been shown. The Arena was a rare place, where any could fight and gain experience, even if one did not kill another. Though, plenty of Arena fights were to the death, as well. The System suspended all rules about level differences within the Arena.

  “I will think on this.”

  His eyes froze just for a split second before he nodded at me.

  “I will send the full information your way.” He gave me another nod before he quickly left the table into the darkness.

  The table vanished, and the darkness took over as my form melted back into my hunting attire.

  “What do the Great Ones think?” I asked, knowing they needed the question asked in order to speak.

  Images assaulted my mind, of bloodshed and war.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  I smiled at the positive affirmation.

  It was time to ready ourselves.

  ###

  Alex, in the tunnels…

  This was amazing.

  Holls dug a brand new passage through pure rock to connect the end of the tunnel to the tunnel that led to the badlands.

  Lenna racked up several kills against beetles with her arrows in the other direction, while Kabi meditated and focused on recovery.

  I watched Holls with glee as he crossed the halfway point. His two front legs dug into the rock like it was nothing. Then he tossed the rock at a certain point of the chasm to help pile it up. Dig rock, place rock to slowly form a bridge, and dig more rock.

  The chasm wasn’t as bottomless as I thought in certain areas, which was why we could do this at all.

  While the rock pile probably wouldn’t be a true bridge when we were done, it at least would be a pillar to hop across if we ran into trouble.

  “The beetles are down,” said Lenna, putting away her bow.

  Strange darted down the narrow ledge to the other tunnel. Nothing moved in the area.

  Then he crept back.

  “Time to go!” He nuzzled my leg, and I swallowed a lump in my throat. I’d already given him everything he needed to deliver, including the communication stone that Dan had.

  “Be safe, and get back as soon as you can. Remember the map.”

  He nodded, chirped, then raced away as quickly as he could.

  Kabi had scribbled a copy of the map for us to use and given the original to Strange to deliver, along with news about the threatened dungeon entrance.

  I wasn’t sure what else he wrote, but it’d been a long letter.

  Holls kept moving, and I joined Kabi, sitting in the tunnel entrance with his eyes closed.

  Dengu slept behind us both in the tunnel, bored.

  I didn’t need any more sleep, but getting some sort of handle on my new skills felt like a good idea. Dan’s book had several runes he’d used in it, plus some that he hadn’t been able to make work but that his teachers had shown him.

  While the communication crystals were amazing, we needed a way to make sure everyone would remain in the loop, even if they were removed. Plus Dengu and Strange didn’t have one.

  I wanted to figure out how Cekta had done it. The short-range communication rune, at least. Picturing it in my mind was easy, and then with the notes from Dan, I immediately found where Dan went wrong.

  A slanted line versus a curly one in one part of the rune was the only difference, but a critical one.

  I drew a copy of Cekta’s rune into the dirt floor, making sure I could draw it from memory.

  “You can test that on me…” Kabi spoke softly, and I still jerked. “It looks like how Cekta draws his.”

  “I based it on what I remembered from him. I don’t have any paint, and carving it with my spear doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

  “I fully agree. I’d rather you don’t tattoo your first one.” Kabi snorted and rubbed the side of his neck with a hand.

  “Do you know of any problems with doing runes in blood?” I asked, hoping for some insight. Nothing came up when it crossed my mind, but it was a pretty far out there idea. Even though blood had been used as ink in many cultures, and we had plenty of it from our recent kills.

  Kabi jerked his head back at first, but then looked thoughtful.

  “Grandfather taught Cekta how to make his paint. He had to make his own version. He had so much trouble trying to find something that would hold his energy.” Kabi’s face softened, like he could see something I couldn’t.

  Happiness rippled down our connection, making me smile.

  He chuckled before adding, “It took ages for him to discover his paint had to be blue.”

  “Hold my energy…” Crystals held my intention when I crafted them. In the beginning, it took a lot out of me, but now I could shape and create things much easier.

  This was the same way.

  Using my crystals to create the runic bombs was different, and it had leveled my profession. It gave me a way to gain levels, and I needed them, but first I needed to change my profession.

  Still, I cracked open my stat sheet to check my current levels. I’d kept the 18 free stat points, but now I had to spend them. Quickness and Flexibility had fallen behind yet again. I tossed 9 points in each, which had to be enough for now.

  It didn’t solve the paint problem, or the profession problem.

  All I even had that could possibly create a non-permanent mark was potentially blood. Or mud.

  First, I made some mud with the water crystal, then tried to send my energy into the dark mixture. It passed through it like nothing. All that came to me was that it didn’t stick. So, mud was out.

  Fuck.

  I cut my finger before I second-guessed myself and added the scant drops I squeezed out into the mud mixture before the small cut healed.

  This time when I pushed my energy into the goop it caught in a few places, but only those places. The rest of the energy didn’t stick. Either I needed to do this completely in blood, or try something else.

  Could I grind the crystal up? My energy easily soaked into that pretty well.

  I took out a bit of mingled crystal and shaped it into a chunky crayon. Then I focused on the tip and tried to draw with it. I needed it to be soft enough to leave lines behind, like caulk, or a thin glue.

  It worked on the stone, but I had a much harder time when I tried to use it on my own skin.

  The crystal didn’t want to be soft enough.

  Back to the ground idea. Maybe a crystal powder, mixed into a paint? But I didn’t have a way to do that. If the rune didn’t need to be on someone’s skin, I could carve it and melt crystal to fill the space. But that would run into the same problem of dependence on crystal. My goal needed to remain on changing my profession into something that wasn’t dependent on crystal.

  It needed another source.

  I cut my finger again, squeezing as much blood out as possible. It was barely enough to sketch a quick rune for accuracy on the back of my hand. This time, I focused on my energy as I pushed it into the form.

  The energy caught on the blood, but it burned my skin and I quickly cut off the flow.

  “Damn,” I whispered as I wiped the now toasty mark off the back of my hand. It left a faint impression on my skin, but healed away quickly. “So that’s why people don’t use blood.”

  With the crystals, I’d created the runes inside without any substance, just pure energy, and it worked. Why did they need to be painted on? Could I just implant it into my body without using paint?

  The patter of Holls’ claws on stone headed in my direction.

  I quickly stood before tossing him a chunk of meat from my inventory.

  He wagged his scary tail, which smacked into the wall, sending bits of stone all over the place. The way to the other tunnel was complete.

  I resisted telling him he was such a good boy.

  “Everyone ready?” I asked, keeping my thoughts to myself.

  Kabi nodded along with Lenna, who smiled at Dengu. Strange was so far down his tunnel that I wondered if he just sprinted nonstop. It would be like him.

  He’d gotten fast. Maybe even faster than me.

  I took the lead.

  Nothing moved in the tunnel, and Lenna’s light made it easy to confirm that, along with my radar. We moved swiftly, though in several areas, smoke lingered from the fires we’d set. It felt like forever to get back to the open cavern where I’d set the biggest fire.

  Burnt horribleness, and exploded eggs, met us.

  My eyes watered at the smell, which drifted along the tunnel in advance of the cavern.

  We eventually reached the cavern and it confirmed several things. The beetle and beetle eggs were clearly dead. But the fire didn’t travel to the rest of the cavern, and the area beyond the table hadn’t caught.

  Lenna hustled to the sleeping areas, searching for anything interesting. Dengu kept pace with her, while Kabi and I hurried to the tunnel near the far entrance. Several openings loomed, but nothing moved beyond them.

  This tunnel led to the badlands, while the one next to it eventually made it to the surface, which was a different way to go.

  Both options had positives and negatives.

  We all wanted to get the heck out of the tunnels, but our new friend Holls couldn’t travel in sunlight. It literally damaged him, and he was afraid of it.

  Now, we had to choose.

  Daylight, and get support from Lenna’s abilities, or tunnels and have Holls by our side?