It was clear that James needed this. It was the culmination of many of his level-up decisions after all.

  He would miss his Thorncat and Iron-Hide Boar, but he supposed he could go find some more.

  4, 3, 2.

  Iron-Hide Boar unsummoned.

  Materials consumed:Iron-Hide Boar (Metal)

  Thorncat (Ammunition).

  Crocodile leather (Leather) x 20

  Pine Wood (Wood) x 20

  Undead Essence (Rare) ×5

  Drake Essence (Common) ×10

  Beetle Essence (Basic) x 50Heartwood x8

  Crawler Beetle (10).

  Dung Beetle (9).

  Giant Worker Bee (19).

  Crafting initiated (2/2) (Queue Full)

  Time to completion: 1 week.

  James hadn’t even been here a full week yet.

  Everyone was watching James intently, even Twill.

  “What?”

  “That’s our line James, you have been staring at system prompts for a few minutes and your emotions have been all over your face.” Edward said.

  “Oh, uh.. So Ken, how’s that Regalia set going?” James said, trying to change the conversation.

  “It’s nearly complete, thanks for asking,” Ken responded, also not providing any details.

  They all ungracefully grunted and moved on.

  It was a far less heart pumping swim back through the underwater passage this time.

  His Greyfang Alpha-Wolf waited, while his Iron-Hide Boar was of course gone.

  No one commented on it.

  James checked his deck. Apparently the drop spiders weren’t needed for the price so at least he still had that.

  He was just about to re-summon Charlie and Squire when he got a system notice.

  System Notice - Random Drake (Common) essence card completed.

  Given what had just occurred with the Pulse rifle James was hesitant to claim it. Did he need more crafting materials? Was it too late for that now?

  Come to think of it, why hadn’t the craft prompt

  James felt like he was only beginning to understand the crafting rules.

  Taking a breath James used the card.

  Play Card: Random Drake Essence (Common)

  Effect: Drake (Common) Aspect preset.

  Calculating… Additionally options detected.

  Crafting Table detected. Options unlocked.

  Card Enchanting detected. Options unlocked.

  Gear Crafting detected. Options unlocked.

  Card Combining detected. Options unlocked.

  Card Info detected. Options unlocked.

  Wait—NO! Trait detected. Options unlocked.

  Options found.

  Calculating…

  Gear Construction materials required.

  Greyfang Alpha-Wolf (Wolf)

  Drop Spiders (Silk) x 5

  Crocodile leather (Leather) x 5

  Pine Wood (Wood) x5

  Heartwood roots (Spices) x 8

  Calculating…

  Accumulative effect: Random Drake (Common) rarity can be upgraded and converted to Item: Drake (Uncommon).

  Silken Cloak of the Wilds (Uncommon)

  Category: Aspects:

  Effects:

  

• Silent Movement (Uncommon):
• Camouflage (Forest/Neutral):
• Temperature Dampening:

  Traits:

  

• Croc-Reinforced Weave (Uncommon):slashingpiercing

  Stat Bonuses:

  

• Might:
• Agility:
• Endurance:
• Mind:
• Perception:
• Will:
• Presence:

  Crafter:

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  Compatible Materials Required:

  

• Greyfang Alpha-Wolf (Wolf)
• Drop Spiders (Silk) ×5
• River Crocodile (Crocodile) x 5
• Crocodile leather (Leather) ×5
• Pine Wood (Wood) ×5
• Heartwood roots (Spices) ×8

  Level Requirement:

  Do you wish to craft a Silken Cloak of the Wilds? All listed material will be consumed. (Yes/No)

  Wait—NO! Deferred. You must decide within 6 seconds.

  He was expecting the Alpha. This would seriously impair him for now. Good thing Charlie and Squire were becoming powerhouses.

  3, 2, 1

  Greyfang Alpha-Wolf unsummoned.

  Materials consumed:

  Greyfang Alpha-Wolf (Wolf)

  Drop Spiders (Silk) x 5

  River Crocodile x 5

  Crocodile leather (Leather) x 5

  Pine Wood (Wood) x5

  Heartwood roots (Spices) x 8

  Surplus material to requirements detected. Additional copy created and queued.

  Gear Crafting initiated (2/2)

  Time to completion: 4 hours.

  Soon he could pay Edward back for all the resources the party had been filtering into him.

  Twill was again studying James intently.

  “You have that look on your face again,” Edward said.

  James pulled the two full crocodile leather sets he’d looted and handed one over to Edward.

  “This is from the crocodile loot. You were right!”

  James put on the full set himself and was covered head to toe.

  When he put on the last piece he got a notification.

  System Notification - Set Bonus detected.

  Stat Bonuses:

  

• Might:
• Agility:
• Endurance:
• Mind:
• Perception:
• Will:
• Presence:

  It wasn’t quite the same feeling as he got from a level-up. The stats felt tethered somehow to the gear. He still felt great, but it was that true caffeine feeling, where you know it will eventually wear off.

  The exit was all the way back up the waterfall path to the stone dungeon room that they always started in.

  He would have been exhausted if not for the system enhancing his stats. Still, he needed a break soon.

  Twill led the way down the steps and they descended.

  At the bottom they walked into a dungeon room. Four walls - no exits apart from where they’d come from.

  Quest 7: Reach Dungeon Level 8 - Completed.

  Reward: 200 gold.

  Random Rare reward available. Option to pass on reward for a better one next level.

  Do you want to pass or collect a reward?

  Trait Activated – Wait—NO!

  Effect:

  Everyone was now in the room and still nothing had happened.

  James opened his mouth to speak… and then stopped.

  Twill was not telling them what to do, or not do. She also hadn’t said what to expect in advance.

  She could be messing with them but he doubted it. She seemed intent on the Legendary reward.

  She would likely handle things herself, or thought we didn’t need any help.

  Everyone was being quiet. That was weird.

  James looked at Edward and noticed that he kept turning away… something was off.

  He gave Squire and Charlie the command to come to him and nothing happened.

  Oh no!

  James checked Bonded Echo and found Squire was confused.

  He resummoned them.

  They appeared next to him and seemed relieved.

  Squire climbed onto his shoulder, and James kept a hand on Charlie’s fur.

  So what now…

  James dropped into Commander’s Space and straight back out again, taking his summons with him. Nothing had changed.

  That’s when he noticed something he hadn’t before.

  Charlie and Squire existed twice. The fake copies looked the same, but did not copy the movements of the real ones. The fact their faces could never quite be seen gave away the next fact. Details were hard to copy.

  James took out his mace and bone shield and attacked the fake Charlie.

  The mace went through the illusion without impact.

  The other copies started to move. He attacked fake Squire next and the blow harmlessly passed through it. That was the easy part, he knew that they weren’t there.

  But what about the others?

  Next he walked over to Twill. She would know what was coming so should be prepared.

  James carefully pushed his shield into her. There was a grunt, as the shield pushed against a real form. He kept pushing until what he was pushing was no longer lined up with the fake. The image faded and Twill appeared, smiling.

  She mouthed “well done” then put a finger to her lips, mimicking to be silent.

  Twill pushed James until he fell over. Ahh - got it.

  James went over to Ken next and started to push him over with his Shield. He got part way through when Ken started hitting him with his staff. Rather than pushing back James went completely lax, letting Ken knock him over.

  James mouthed “well done” to the fake Ken and put his finger over his mouth indicating to be silent.

  He still couldn’t see Ken’s face, but pretended he could.

  James then carefully pushed at Ken until he fell over. The real Ken appeared fallen to the ground.

  Twill and Ken repeated this weird dance.

  They all turned to Edward. Twill motioned for them to stay still.

  It took Edward another ten minutes before he came over and hit Twill with his warhammer.

  Twill fell over. The blow looked painful. But Twill still mouthed “well done” and put her finger on her lips.

  Twill got carefully to her feet, then carefully pushed at Edward. She seemed happy with the results.

  Not long after James felt Edward push at him with his warhammer, letting himself be pushed over.

  He probably didn’t need to but he mouthed ‘well done’, and put his finger over his lips. He then pushed Edward over.

  Now Edward’s face was back to normal, smiling.

  The same played out with Ken.

  Twill’s finger didn’t leave her lips so they all got the message.

  Edward and Ken pushed through where Charlie and Squire had been.

  Twill took a while to realise that she needed to go to Charlie and Squire but as soon as she did she pointed at James, Charlie, and Squire and gave a thumbs up.

  Once that was done Twill motioned them over to the wall. She motioned, pushing and then pretended to fall over. Then she motioned edging forward with her feet instead.

  Doing so herself she disappeared into the wall. James tried it as well and his foot slid and found an edge over air.

  He kept his balance, lowering the foot enough that it felt another ledge. Steps. Three steps and he was completely past the fake wall.

  His sight cleared, and he saw Twill again smiling.

  There, in a nook was a Bronze edged chest.

  Twill warned not to talk yet and not to touch the chest.

  Ken and Edward followed. James’s eyes widened as the chest colour shifted from Bronze to Silver, then Gold as they went through.

  Twill motioned to his arm and mimicked plucking a card. Her other hand did not leave her lips.

  He nodded and summoned Charlie and Squire again.

  The colour shifted again from Purple, and finally to Orange.

  Twill didn’t hesitate for a moment longer, tapping the chest like a wasp.

  “Yes!” She screamed. “I got it. I finally got it!”

  Twill has left the party.

  She disappeared.

  “No, no, no, no, no, no.” James fell to his knees and screamed, “Noooooo!”