Ethan sat at the ledge of the tunnel, gazing down at the agitated mushroom-trees of the second layer after he assigned his new point to mana and checked his fragments

  I’m at 405 fragments in the Elemental wand. I’m almost at 500. I have more than a 100 in the Prime wand but if I could just transfer them…

  He couldn’t. He tried over and over. Tried to meditate and visualize them moving about, but nothing happened.

  Oh well.

  Ethan really hoped the new tier in the Elemental wand would allow him a new form. He had to keep the scales, because he had no clothes. He also had to keep [Mana Heart] going, because he didn’t want to exhaust himself and be forced to rest some more.

  I hope the tier upgrade will be enough to give me another form. I need [Claws] back.

  He had the lance for now, of course. He could also generate an inferno of flames and empower them even further with the horns, enough to roast the swarm of water monitors before they could even get near him. But it still felt like something was missing without the powerful talons.

  And now I have to hold the dagger in my hands… because I have nowhere to store it.

  Ethan sighed. Glancing behind, he saw the others resting. All but Gerald, who just sat and watched the other end of the tunnel, just in case something snuck up on them. Finding the tunnel hadn’t been too difficult, and after the battle and the hastened retreat from the fire, Ethan thought a break could be beneficial to everyone.

  He felt fine himself. It probably had something to do with his stats and with Enduring Brawler.

  He looked back down at the agitated biome ahead and reviewed the loose plan they had. The goal was for the team to stay up here and shoot down everything Ethan would lure to them. Amelie and Liz would benefit the most from that strategy and hopefully they’ll level quickly. Gerald and Audrey might not get a lot of levels that way, but sooner or later, the lizards will start climbing, and they’ll be able to get their levels then. Ember would be their backup. She would watch their back and only intervene in case of emergencies, while Ethan would take on the bulk of the water monitors as they came.

  That should net me a nice chunk of Essence as well.

  After the earlier battle, Ethan noticed his Essence count had gone up to five. Even though he’d used its special ability earlier.

  I should also make sure the horns don’t consume Essence… I know the horn’s magic empowering doesn’t consume it, but maybe the running thing does. If it does, it’s probably cheap… but not free.

  Well, he might not be able to confirm that right away, but he was most certainly gaining a few more Essence points soon. Ethan was sure a swarm would be created in minutes, which would be plenty of levels and fragments to him, though he was still a bit worried for the others.

  I’ll be able to collapse the tunnel if we need to retreat.

  Next to him, Ember was peering down, ear flicking back and forth as she watched the occasional flashes of light and jets of water break through the canopy.

  She seemed excited to get down there, and so was Ethan. He was itching to get his hands on the missing fragments and get the last level.

  I’m just one level short of finishing the side quest as well. One more trait and 10 stat points at level 40.

  He was so close. Though unless he could sneak a couple of water monitors and retreat, it might be a minute until he could find a safe spot to assign his points and trigger the wand’s upgrade.

  Ethan glanced down at his bare hands. He’d managed to uncover them, just as he did with his face, though he’ll have to cover them up when the fight gets going.

  Maybe I should replace [Mana Heart] with [Claws]?

  He shook his head. This was good training. He couldn’t let [Claws] become a clutch and unless something resistant to fire showed up, he’ll be fine. And even then, worse comes to worse, he could just switch the heart or the scales with [Claws].

  But now that he thought about their opponents, Ethan gave the cat a sidelong glance. He could pick her brains a bit while he waited for the others to rest up. “Are you weak to water? Will you be okay in this fight?”

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  Ember tilted her head up at him, then stared back down at the giant cave ahead of them and yawned. “[It depends. But I don’t enjoy it.]”

  Ethan raised a brow. So being strongly attuned to an element could cause issues?

  “Were those fire drakes weak to water?”

  “[No. They’re resilient bastards. They might not be the best at handling water, but it doesn’t affect them more than any other element. Well. Basic ones, at least.]”

  Ethan hummed. “Does that mean I could have blasted them with fire? And what kind of elements are there? Outside of basic?”

  The cat’s ear began twitching more and more, and Ethan took that as his signal that this might be the last answer he was getting. “[It’s not immune to fire. But it’s used to it, so you weren’t wrong to prioritize other types of damage. For elements… The basics are These; Fire. Water. Air. A few others. Non-basic are combinations and specialization. Magma. Cursed elements. Metal. There are countless, and some can be very… unpredictable. So you should always be careful. You never know what you might encounter.]”

  Ethan extended a hand and flared a bit of fire out of his rust-red scaled hand. The cat nibbled on the thin stream of fire, and the two continued watching the world below them.

  ***

  It took less than two minutes after Ethan had stepped into the brush to find the first water monitor.

  Its dark scales reflected the blue and purple light of the mushroom trees. It was tearing into a dead mystic toad, twisting and pulling at the strip of meat and using its clawed forelegs to manoeuvre the carcass.

  Level 39.

  Ethan didn’t waste time and jogged forward, dagger in hand and horns jutting back along his hair. He might not have the chance to use the weapon much soon, so he thought he’d better make the most of it. By the time the lizard began turning, hissing at being disturbed in its meal, Ethan shoved the dagger in the side of its bloodied jaw. The lizard thrashed away, but it was already marked, so Ethan jumped on the creature’s back and grabbed it in a chokehold.

  “Night night,” Ethan said before summoning a blaze of flames out of his hands and against the reptile’s throat. He saw a flash of magic as it tried to summon its reinforced scales, but it was too late.

  Within a couple of seconds, Ethan felt the throat crack and give, and as he got up, blood seeped out of the decapitated beast, while flakes of charred flesh and ash fell out of his hand.

  The dagger wound pulsed a few times, but there was nothing to pick up aside from the fragments.

  84 fragments. Dammit. I’m so close.

  Ethan briskly made his way back to make sure the others weren’t under attack, only to see a couple of water monitors shooting water up at the tunnel. Audrey was taking the sprays on her shield while Liz and Amelie shot down at the monsters. Then one of the creatures leaned back and ululated.

  Welp. Time to test the horns again. Essence is at…5. Okay. Let’s see.

  Ethan began with a relaxed jog, but quickly accelerated toward the monsters. As his strides sped up, a rush of power washed over him, seeping into his flesh and bones. His stride lengthened, and a mound of earth that would have tripped him was blown to dust as if an explosion had gone under it.

  Ethan’s momentum was completely unaffected, but his mood was.

  He couldn’t help but grin as the world blurred around him.

  A corona of yellow-orange slowly built up around him as he streaked toward the reptiles like a comet. Ethan felt like nothing could stand in his way at this point, and he was only a few seconds away from impacting the two creatures. One of the water monitors, a level 41 creature, saw him come and shot a thick jet of concentrated water at him. It hit him right in the chest, and he barely felt it.

  It was like being hit with a nerf-gun.

  Ethan laughed as he left geysers of upturned earth in his wake, and when he noticed that he did consume an Essence point in this manoeuvre; he didn’t care.

  It was worth it. And he was confident he was about to get it back. He was getting the gist of his Path, and this just felt natural to him.

  Ethan impacted the level 41 with a kick. There was a small resistance and weight against his bare-scaled foot for a fraction of a second before something gave out. Blood and entrails exploded ahead of him and as he tried to slow down, Ethan found himself sprayed and showered with blood and viscera, which forced him to stop laughing as the stuff was getting into his mouth.

  You have defeated [Water monitor (I) - Level 41]

  You have reached Level 40. 1 stat point awarded.

  Gross. But fucking worth it.

  Ethan managed to stop around fifteen feet later. He hopped out of the grove into the earth he’d created, then grinned at the remaining monitor. It opened its mouth, a blue glow in the back of its throat, and a glowing crossbow bolt caught it in the neck. From the corner of his eyes, Ethan saw the first water monitor step out of the bush.

  This should be fun, Ethan thought as he collected the fragments, which finally put him at 547 fragments.

  Ethan paused, then sprinted at the lizard just ahead of him and broiled it in a second before he scrambled up the tunnel.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Liz, alarmed.

  Ethan grinned at her, and she saw her gulp while Amelie continued shooting at the lizards but still gave him an excited look and a nudge. “It blew up like a watermelon. That was awesome.”

  Right. He was covered in blood water monitor chunks, But there was no time to dally.

  “Upgrading my wand,” he said as he already began looking through his interface. “Buy me some time. And no peeking!”

  Ethan slipped past them and dropped on his behind. He quickly plugged [Detect Life], confirmed nothing was around, and triggered the upgrade.

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