Jeremy gazed out at the freezing snow on the second part of the 4th floor of the dungeon.

  “Missing the third-floor creepy-crawlies?” Flint asked.

  “No. I don't hate the cold that much,” Jeremy said, returning his cloak to his pack with a sigh. “Do you suppose Boggan is right? I can't kill other adventurers, maybe I'm not human.”

  “Boggan is probably right,” Flint said. “You're not a real human. And your quest for vengeance is a complete waste of time.”

  “So I should leave this dungeon immediately.”

  “Exactly,” Flint responded. “You've been in four situations where you'd have been well within your rights to kill, yet each time you've hesitated. Why?”

  Jeremy thought it over as he shivered uncontrollably. “I don't know. It didn't feel right.”

  He soon gained a passive cold resistance skill and stopped shivering quite as much.

  A flash of movement, and he raised his bow. A horse-sized, four-eyed wolf emerged from behind a snow-covered hill and charged.

  Jeremy got off one shot with his bow before the creature was on top of him, and he desperately fended off an enormous mouth full of sharp teeth.

  “Squeak!” Squeak slid over the monster wolf's mouth and face, draining the wolf's health, giving it to Jeremy, and distracting the wolf just enough for Jeremy to pull out his sword and stab the monster in the throat.

  Soon, the dungeon was reabsorbing the monster, and he'd gained another healing potion and a few wolf teeth for crafting.

  As they moved farther in, it grew even colder. Wind raged in a blizzard that made it impossible to see more than a few inches in front of his face.

  Sending Squeak to scout—cold or snow did not affect the shadow beast—he learned there were also large monster bears.

  Killing one gave him a warm bearskin cloak.

  Exploring this section confirmed what the saurians had told him. There was little of interest here, and all the evidence pointed to the desert as the treasure's location. If only he could determine where.

  ***

  After returning to the desert, he left the red path and climbed to the top of a rocky outcrop that offered a clear view of his surroundings. Finding an indentation in the rock that protected from the elements, he cut up his first cloak, given to him by the dungeon, using its self-repair feature to make an unlimited amount of cloth. He got out the needle and thread he'd purchased from the gnomes and used the gnomes' sewing kit and the last of his velociduck tape to form a makeshift tent shelter from the sun, wind, and sand that provided as much shade as possible in a world with four suns.

  Once that was done, Jeremy called a meeting.

  “You are not leaving the fourth floor until you uncover all its secrets,” Flint said with a tired sigh.

  “Exactly,” Jeremy said. “In the meantime, I'll avoid the red path. The last thing I want is for other adventurers to know I'm here. Flint, Book, and Squeak, if you have any idea of how to uncover the fourth floor's secrets, now is the time...”

  “Squeak?” Squeak had no idea.

  “I'm afraid you know as much about that as I do, Jeremy,” Flint said. “The secret to the dragon queen's gift should be in this desert. I did want to point out that an adventurer serious about training and growing stronger would be fighting the scorpions barehanded.”

  Jeremy coughed on his dungeon ration. “How could I do that? It's hard enough to kill those things with armor-piercing arrows.”

  “A strong adventurer would have carefully examined the scorpions' bodies for weaknesses.”

  “I hate you, Flint,” Jeremy said with a sigh. “Anything else?”

  Book vibrated happily.

  To uncover a dungeon's secrets, look for anything out of place. Sometimes the dungeon's secret is right in front of you, and you're just too stupid to realize it!

  “Thanks for nothing, Book,” Jeremy grumbled.

  Like it or not, it seemed Jeremy would be here for a while.

  Putting Squeak on guard, Jeremy turned in for the sunlit night to suffer from nightmares. This time, small dungeon scorpions crawled inside him, trying to eat their way out while Nashul prevented him from moving. Great.

  ***

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  “Well, Flint,” Jeremy said, examining the next scorpion he killed as it dissolved into the dungeon, “it would seem the scorpion's belly has less armor. But I'm not sure I can take advantage of this. Less armor still means armor. These are nothing like the pushover monster rats I killed on the second floor.” He thought about how he could flip the scorpion monster onto its back so he could somehow break through the softer exoskeleton beneath, and he wasn't liking his odds. Scorpions were fast and dangerous.

  “That's what a weak adventurer would say. A strong adventurer would put away his weapons, unequip his armor, put down his pack, pick up what little courage he possesses, go into the desert, and kill the next monster scorpion with his bare hands.”

  “Are you sure you aren't trying to kill me?”

  “Sadly, not an option. I want to leave the dungeon. But if you insist on becoming strong, this is how you do it.”

  Fighting monster scorpions with his bare hands was the last thing Jeremy wanted to do, but he suspected Flint had a point. Since the saurians had left, he'd accomplished little. His time with Nashul had improved his Parasite Resistance and Trauma immunity, but had cost him strength, endurance, and vitality, which he needed to regain.

  Jeremy groaned, but did what Flint suggested, storing his weapons and armor in his bag of holding and taking nothing but his clothes.

  “Your storage ring as well,” Flint said.

  “I hate you,” Jeremy said again, taking off his storage ring and leaving it next to his bag of holding.

  Jeremy crept forward, trying not to think of how stupid he was being and wondering how he was going to take on a monster scorpion with his bare hands.

  A SUV-sized scorpion, twice as big as any he'd faced previously, crept silently over the rocks. Seeing Jeremy, it charged.

  Jeremy ran, scrambling through sand and rocks. He found a crack between two boulders, counting on the scorpion's size to protect him.

  Instead, the scorpion slammed into one of the boulders. Once, twice. Pincers pounded the rock. The tail smashed the boulder with a boom.

  The boulder shattered, showering him with sharp rock shards.

  Jeremy ran. The monster was faster than him in a straight line, but Jeremy could turn faster and could zigzag through the rocky terrain to stay ahead of it.

  “While you're running away like a true hero.” Flint floated next to Jeremy, feet propped on the image of an easy chair, sipping a cup of tea. “Let me suggest that's unlikely to result in killing the monster scorpion.”

  “What do I do?” Jeremy panted. “How do I kill this thing?”

  “If I told you how to kill the monster scorpion, I'd be doing you a disservice. I look forward to observing a strong adventurer like yourself in action.” Flint vanished.

  Stupid, worthless Flint. Jeremy knew exactly what to do. That was to run back to his shelter, equip his armor, get his longbow, and fill the monster scorpion with arrows.

  This was what he attempted to do. As he climbed the rocky outcropping, he thought for a moment he'd lost the scorpion, or the scorpion had given up chasing him, but it turned out the monster scorpion was a faster climber than he was.

  Before he could make it to his shelter, the scorpion climbed over the rocky outcropping from the other side and charged, barreling down the rocks at lightning speed.

  The scorpion lashed out with its stinger.

  Time slowed as Jeremy watched the stinger coming at him. This did nothing to speed up his movements. All he could do was think about how much the sharp stinger was going to hurt when it slammed into him.

  At the last possible moment, Jeremy flung himself to the side. Since he'd been precariously perched on some rocks, this left him in mid-air, maybe a hundred feet above rocky ground. He grabbed the stinger as it went by and clung to it for dear life.

  The stinger pulled back, putting Jeremy in range of the monster's pincers, strong and sharp enough to cut him in half. Jeremy's feet slammed into a rocky outcropping, and he pushed against it with his legs, pulling on the stinger with all his strength.

  The scorpion lost its grip on the rocks, and both it and Jeremy fell to the sand some a hundred feet below them.

  Jeremy slammed into the scorpion's belly, cracking its armor and partially breaking his fall, while leaving him stunned. Fortunately for him, so was the scorpion.

  Pushing himself slowly to his feet, Jeremy grabbed a rock and smashed the scorpion's cracked underbelly. The rock bounced off, and Jeremy dodged a razor-sharp pincer that missed him by millimeters.

  He bashed its underbelly again and again, dodging the pincers and tail. The cracks on its belly expanded as the rock shattered in his hands.

  A pincer slammed shut directly over his head, cutting off a significant portion of his hair and some of his skin. Blood poured down his head and neck. Not seeing much choice, he smashed the cracked underbelly with his elbow, causing the expanding cracks to widen, and the scorpion's belly gave way. He drove his fist through the cracked underbelly, reaching for anything that might be vital. Feeling something pulsing, he pushed his hand deeper and grabbed it, releasing the electric charge he'd been building up over the last few days.

  With a screech, the scorpion twisted and slammed down on top of Jeremy like a freight train. Jeremy lost consciousness.

  Jeremy came to with a groan, the scorpion dissolving around him as it returned to the dungeon. He coughed and spat dissolved scorpion goo, fighting to breathe. A bald, bloody spot on top of his head was from the scorpion. He'd been lucky not to have lost his head.

  “Good work, Baldy,” Flint said, appearing next to him. “That was surprisingly intelligent, luring it onto the rocks and making it fall. Perhaps you're smarter than I give you credit for.”

  “Shut up, Flint.” Jeremy pulled himself to his feet. The bleeding on his head had ceased. That had been too close. He checked his stat sheet. He'd leveled up and... “I've got Enhanced Physical: 4!”

  “It's about time,” Flint responded.

  “You're telling me.” Jeremy jumped around, enjoying how much lighter he felt despite his bruises and wounds. If he pushed himself, he could jump higher than he was tall.

  Jeremy and Flint watched the monster scorpion dissolve and return to the desert sands. Instead of leaving him a healing potion or a scorpion steak as he expected, the scorpion left behind a hand-sized book.

  His language gift translated the title. “The Child's Way of the Sand Monarch: Rank Novice.”

  Underneath the title was the word “CAUTION.”

  “That is an interesting dungeon drop, Jeremy,” Flint said. “Now, before you open this book, you should first--”

  Jeremy opened the book.