Cassis lay on top of Arianna, both of them panting heavily. The afterglow pulsed warmly through his limbs, but even as he tried to catch his breath, the heat returned. Stronger this time. Too strong. Below him, Arianna shifted, her hands already roaming across his body again. Her touch reignited his arousal, and he groaned as she moved against him with unmistakable intent.

They needed to do it again. No, it felt like they had to. Preferably without the rest of their clothes. He lifted off her to help with that, still caught in the feverish haze. Again, he found himself thinking how perfect she was. How she fit against him like she was made for him. Why hadn't they done this sooner?

Then—through the fog in his mind—a thought cut like a blade.

They hadn't done this sooner for a reason.

And not just some vague excuse. It had been something important.

He froze, sitting back on his knees. Something was wrong.

Why was it still so hot?

He looked at Arianna. She groaned at his sudden stop, reaching for him with a frustrated pout. She sat up, her fingers curling around his arm, tugging him back down. Her touch was like fire. He nearly gave in—nearly let the heat consume them both again.

But no. The memory hit him like ice water: the corpses. The monsters tangled in vines. The indecent positions. The unblinking, lifeless eyes.

They didn't die in battle. They died… like this.

The realization slammed into him. "It's poison," he muttered. "They poisoned us."

Arianna's hands were on him again, tugging at the waistband of his pants. He grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head. She moaned, arching her back and grinding against him. The heat was maddening—but he held on.

"Ari," he said sharply. "Ari! Please—listen to me. I think… I think we were poisoned. Can you use a heal spell on me?"

Her feverish eyes narrowed in confusion. "Poison? Is that why you stopped?" Then she smiled. "Can we continue after I heal you?"

He forced a laugh. "Of course. But you should heal yourself too. That way we can… you know, continue without worries."

She squeezed his hands, and her healing magic pulsed into him. A wave of cool washed through his body, smothering the unbearable heat, quenching the ache that had twisted his thoughts. He exhaled in relief.

A moment later, Arianna stilled beneath him. Her brow furrowed. "Cassis?" Her voice had cleared. "What just happened?"

He released her hands and immediately reached for both their shirts. Even with the fever gone, she was still stunning—and way too distracting to think straight. His eyes unintentionally strayed towards her chest. He licked his lips at the memory. She covered up quickly, cheeks red, and he did the same with a sigh.

"I think," he said slowly, "the tentacle monsters release a slow-acting aphrodisiac. That's why they didn't chase us after we ran. They knew we wouldn't get far. If we hadn't stopped... we might've ended up like those monsters we saw. Dead. Doing what we did."

Arianna's face paled. Then, after a moment, her voice came out hoarse. "That… actually makes sense." She looked at him sharply. "But I healed everyone before we went to bed. Why didn't it work then?"

"I don't know," he admitted grimly.

Then Arianna inhaled sharply, eyes wide. "The others!"

Cassis's stomach dropped. Of course. The others had been exposed too.

Actually, now that Cassis could finally think clearly again, he became aware of sounds filtering through the night—soft, rhythmic noises just outside the tent.

Moaning.

His eyes widened. No.

He strained his ears, hoping he was wrong. But there was no mistaking it now. Those weren't animal noises. Those were people—two men. He knew Liam and Camden were on guard duty together.

Cassis groaned, slapping both hands over his ears like a child trying to block out thunder. He wasn't a prude. Far from it. In the other timeline, he'd done a lot of things. He'd fought, killed, even sought out warmth from strangers – sometimes multiple strangers – when everything else had turned cold. But this? This was his little brother.

He did not need to hear that.

Arianna looked at him like he'd lost his mind, but then her eyes went wide, too. She'd heard it and had come to the same conclusion he had.

Without saying a word, she closed her eyes and cast her heal spell, channelling it through the tent all the way to the two men outside. Cassis watched the effort visibly drain her. Her shoulders slumped; her breath caught.

A second later, Arianna smirked.

"You can put your hands down. They've stopped."

Then, raising her voice: "Liam, Camden, don't be alarmed. We were poisoned by those monsters. I just healed you. We'll give you a minute, then come out to talk. I still need to heal the others."

Before Cassis could react, Arianna turned to him and said, "Turn around."

"Huh?" He blinked.

She was still just clutching her shirt in front of her chest. Then she reached for her bra.

He spun so fast he almost hurt his neck. Arianna laughed softly behind him. Of course it was ridiculous. He'd done a lot more than just look. But still he couldn't bring himself to risk another glance. And in all fairness, she still had the red cheeks to prove she was also embarrassed.

He clenched his fists, trying not to think. He'd nearly crossed a line. Hell, he had crossed some lines. And once Arianna realized he'd lied to her about his wish… she'd be furious. She had every right to be.

But they hadn't gone all the way. That line remained uncrossed. That had to count for something. Right?

Before he could spiral any further, Arianna tapped his shoulder. "You're good. Get out."

Cassis stepped out of the tent, eyes squeezed shut just in case Liam and Camden weren't fully dressed yet. Behind him, Arianna chuckled under her breath again. She definitely thought he was being ridiculous.

Then Liam laughed, too.

Cassis opened one eye. Then the other.

They were both dressed. Mostly. Camden's shirt was a little off kilter, but that was minor compared to what could've been. Cassis let out a relieved breath, not understanding how Arianna and Liam could laugh in this situation.

At least Camden didn't look amused. His brows were drawn; his expression grim.

Finally, someone who understood the gravity of the situation.

Too bad it had to be Camden.

Cassis held up a hand. "Please wait with the questions. I think I hear more…"

Sure enough, faint moans drifted from the direction of Luke and Nadine's tent.

Arianna, without needing to be asked, sighed and closed her eyes again. Another two heal spells left her and went into the tent. Cassis stepped toward her as she swayed, ready to catch her but she straightened again before he could touch her.

Still, something was off.

He studied her, frowning. This shouldn't be costing her that much. He'd seen her heal quite a lot of soldiers from across an indoor gym with barely a flicker of effort.

She must have noticed his concern, because she murmured in explanation, "I haven't had time to analyse the poison yet. I don't know exactly where it's attacking, so I'm flooding everyone's systems with the heal spell … everywhere. It's a huge mana drain."

Cassis nodded, feeling a tug of guilt. Of course she was pushing herself again; she always did.

Arianna exhaled slowly. "Finally… just Helen left."

She turned toward Helen's tent but paused.

It was quiet. No moaning. No rustling. Just the steady sound of light snoring.

Had Helen not been affected?

Arianna gave a little shrug. "Better be safe…" she whispered, and cast one final heal spell toward the tent.

The moment she did, her knees buckled.

Cassis caught her this time.

Liam and Camden rushed to her side, but Arianna waved them off weakly. "I'm okay… just some mana depletion. It'll pass. I just need to meditate a little to recover."

She slumped into a seated position, already closing her eyes to focus. Cassis brushed her hair gently away from her face and kissed the top of her head. She always gave everything—too much, sometimes.

Standing, he turned to the others. Time to take over.

Raising his voice, he called out, "Luke, Nadine, Helen! Don't worry, you were poisoned by those monsters, but Arianna healed you. You should be okay now. We'll wait outside. Get dressed and come join us."

Groans and muffled swearing came from Luke and Nadine's tent, followed by the sounds of hurried movement. But from Helen's tent came a loud, indignant: "What?!"

A moment later, Helen stormed out eyes wild with confusion. "What do you mean poisoned?! What's going on?!"

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Cassis held up a calming hand. "I'll explain everything. Just… give me a minute."

Shortly after, Luke and Nadine stumbled out as well. They all, except for Helen, were red-faced and mostly avoiding eye contact with anyone. Cassis laid out the facts.

"I think the tentacle monsters left behind a slow-acting aphrodisiac. That's why they didn't chase us. They didn't need to. We were already doomed if we didn't figure it out in time."

Helen's expression darkened. Luke muttered something under his breath and rubbed his face with both hands. Nadine looked like she wanted to disappear into the ground.

"They must've released it during the fight," Cassis continued. "And once it kicked in, we started overheating. Losing control."

Camden nodded grimly. "It explains a lot. Especially why the monster corpses we saw before… died the way they did."

Silence fell over the group as they remembered the obscenely positioned corpses they'd stumbled upon. The implications settled heavily over them all.

Then Helen crossed her arms. "Well. That's a new kind of nightmare fuel."

Though it was still the middle of the night, no one even considered going back to sleep. The atmosphere was too tense, the silence too heavy. Even Cassis, who had witnessed horrors beyond imagination in the other timeline, found his nerves fraying at the edges.

Arianna had rejoined the group, her cheeks showing a bit of colour again, though her posture was still careful. Cassis couldn't help but admire how quickly she recovered through meditation. Efficient as always.

She sat down beside him, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "It's strange," she said quietly. "I healed everyone before we went to sleep. And there was no sign of anything wrong. No imbalance, no residual energy, nothing. Just… normal. And yet…"

Her gaze slid to Helen.

"You didn't feel it, did you?" Arianna asked, brows knit. "No heat, no restlessness? You were asleep, weren't you?"

Helen blinked, then shrugged. "Yeah. Slept like a rock. But I could have just slept through the poison's effects because I had nobody next to me."

"Not possible. You wouldn't say that if you'd felt the heat. You wouldn't have been able to sleep. Cassis and I both woke up because of it." Arianna glanced around. "Look at us. We're all flushed. Covered in sweat. Like we just finished a sparring match. You're not even glistening."

Cassis frowned, finally noticing it. His hair clung to him, still damp. Liam and Camden looked like they'd been sprinting for miles. But Helen? Not a drop.

"That is strange," he murmured. "Could it be that the aphrodisiac was so slow-acting, it didn't register as harmful when you healed us? Like it wasn't fully active yet?"

Arianna considered that. "Possible. But something feels off. There's another piece missing…"

Cassis thought back to the fight. "What about the mucous? That stuff the tentacles were covered in. We all got some on us, except Helen."

Arianna turned sharply to him. "You might be onto something."

But Helen raised her hand calmly. "Actually… I think I can explain this."

Everyone turned toward her, surprised by the calm certainty in her voice.

"I recognized that smell," Helen said. "From years ago. It's been a while, so I didn't place it until now."

That alone was enough to raise eyebrows, but she went on, tone matter of fact. "I travelled a lot when I was younger and encountered many different people and drugs."

Cassis snorted. Kinda the truth, he thought.

She shot him a look but didn't concern herself further with him. Probably for the best. The real story—about her being kidnapped and conditioned into a living weapon by a secret black-ops program—wasn't bedtime story material.

Liam blinked at her. "You did drugs aunt Helen?" He sounded incredulous.

Nadine leaned forward. "Like hard stuff or only the legal things? I know other countries still have different legislation regarding that even though we have a world government."

Helen ignored the questions and kept talking. "One of my trips took me … somewhere. I was going out for the evening, then met a guy and was invited to a special get together. At his house there was a scent, almost identical to the one from those monsters. During the course of the evening, I found out that the scent was part of an aphrodisiac. But turns out, it only works when combined with another specific substance."

Arianna nodded, catching on. "Let me guess, both components are harmless on their own."

"Exactly," Helen confirmed. "The scent acts like a primer, lingering in the nasal cavity and slowly working its way into the bloodstream. The second agent—the mucous, in this case—triggers a chemical reaction once it enters the body. When both substances meet, that's when the effects kick in."

"Which is why it took a while to activate," Cassis said. "And also why your healing didn't detect anything. Neither element was toxic by itself."

Helen gave him a small nod. "And because I never got any mucous on me, I wasn't affected."

The group fell silent again, absorbing the explanation. It was unsettling but… it made sense.

They sat together until the sky began to shift, cool indigo fading into the pale gold of dawn. No one spoke much after Helen's explanation. It wasn't exactly discomfort, but nothing more needed to be said. They were still shaken, still wary, but together. No one wanted to be alone.

Using the quiet downtime, Helen took out the healing vine and insisted that Cassis or Arianna take it. She didn't want to keep any kind of vine in her inventory after this latest ordeal, especially if the vine was connected to those monsters.

Arianna put it into her own inventory, muttering about studying it further once they got back home. He hoped nothing bad came of it. He'd never heard anything of the sort, but as this dungeon dive had shown he didn't have complete knowledge of the past.

When morning arrived fully, they ate a quiet breakfast and packed up their tents with the sort of efficiency only exhaustion could bring. Their mission was technically complete. They'd achieved all three objectives. But that didn't mean they were done. Now they had to locate the gate out of this dungeon floor.

Luckily, Cassis had a decent idea of where to head. He had made sure to track their directions since they had entered the dungeon, relying on the fragments of memory and instinct honed in another lifetime. He missed having that internal map of his old survivalist profession, but he hadn't survived that long by being careless. With a few educated guesses and environmental cues, he led the way.

As they walked through the dense jungle, both Cassis and Arianna tried to sense the location of the gate using their Awareness features. They extended their perception outward as far as it could go but frustratingly, all it picked up were monsters. Still, they had learned to handle most creatures this dungeon could throw at them and the others had levelled up and grown significantly. The battles were quick, bloody, and efficient. Afterward, Arianna would move through the group, casting her standard Heal and Neutralize Poison spells before they pressed on.

At one point, while the group walked in companionable silence, Cassis and Arianna began talking quietly about how their Awareness features actually worked.

It surprised him at first, how differently she used hers. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

For Cassis, awareness came from his five improved senses. He didn't consciously activate them, but he processed far more than he once had. Shadows, movement, scents, background noise—he wove all that together like a net catching subtle details most people would miss. It was almost like having a sixth sense, but the system still classified it as Intermediate. That was because his senses were capped at his current rank. Once he hit E-rank, they'd improve again, and his Awareness would likely follow suit.

Arianna's approach was entirely different. She wasn't tuned into her physical senses like he was and couldn't correctly interpret what her new senses were telling her. That was normal since she had only had them for a few weeks.

Her Awareness was based on mana. She could pick up the faintest shifts in ambient particles around her, like a magical radar. It suited her perfectly.

"If we could each learn how the other does it…" she mused aloud. "Maybe our Awareness could evolve further."

He nodded. "More training, then."

She smiled. "Always."

Their journey continued at an almost leisurely pace, though danger still lurked behind every tree. Cassis took the time to gather monster parts and strange plants along the way, explaining his plan to the group. He told them about the alchemist profession, explained his knowledge with Sapphire again, and how he wanted to collect materials now for someone to use later.

The group listened with curiosity and, to his surprise, didn't question it much. Though he shouldn't be surprised. Most of these people had been with him and Arianna since the beginning. They were used to them having knowledge they shouldn't have and them using Sapphire as the explanation for it all.

The others all agreed to store what he gave them in their inventories, promising not to take any of it out until told. It was a small thing, but it felt like trust.

Some time later, Camden approached him quietly.

They probably wouldn't ever be friends, not really. But there was a mutual respect between them now, a silent camaraderie forged by surviving what no one else would ever understand. And—Cassis had to admit—he no longer wanted to strangle the guy for dating Liam even though he was almost a decade older than his younger brother. That was progress.

"Hey," Camden said. "That alchemist thing. Is it like… a chemist? From before the system?"

Cassis thought for a moment. "Closest comparison, yeah."

Camden nodded. "I might know someone, then. They were a chemist before everything went to hell. Not the fighting type, but sharp. They're looking for something—anything—that'll let them level without getting themselves killed."

Cassis felt a flicker of hope. "That could work. Most professions don't translate into combat power, though. You only get a class level every five profession levels."

"Liam's is different, though," Camden said carefully.

Cassis grimaced. He had forgotten that the others wouldn't understand just how different and overpowered Liam's profession was. He'd have to warn everyone. "Yeah. So different it could get him killed if word got out."

Camden nodded solemnly. "We won't tell anyone."

He cautioned the group and made them all promise not to share any information about Liam's profession. Then he had a very direct talk with Liam—stern, no room for negotiation. His life could be endangered by loose lips.

Liam, to his credit, didn't argue. "We'll only offer the bracelet to people we trust," he said, reaching for Camden's hand. "We're thinking of starting a guild. One that's only for bracelet holders. We'll slowly grow into a strong force and help children along the way."

Camden gave a nod. "I'll wear it too. I'll fight with him."

Cassis looked at them, heart unexpectedly full. He still worried, of course. He always would. But in that moment, he believed Liam would be okay. More than okay—he'd be a force the world would remember.

"But only let members over level 10 wear the bracelets. Usually, only awakeners over level 10 can get professions. The system made an exception for you. And I don't know why. So don't tempt fate by trying it again. Play it safe."

Liam startled, like he hadn't thought of that before. Then he nodded seriously.

In the end Camden told Cassis he would contact his chemist friend and the conversation faded back to silence. The jungle stretched on, but eventually, after more skirmishes, more gathering, and more scanning with Awareness, they found it.

The gate. Its swirling, unnatural shimmer called to them like a beacon.

No one hesitated. No one looked back.

They stepped through, leaving behind the humid heat, the twisted forest, the poisons and a memory none of them would ever forget.

As soon as he came out of the gate on the other side his field of vision was blocked by system messages. He noticed that people were near him and wanted to talk but first he'd get his rewards.

[Congratulations! You have cleared the dungeon by killing the designated boss monster. Timer for dungeon break is reset.]

[Congratulations! You have completed all three objectives. Reward gained: Unique Feature à Poison Resistance (Basic)]

He was pleasantly surprised by earning another resistance so soon into the apocalypse. Completing all the objectives had been worth it – then he thought back to the events of last night. No, it still hadn't been worth it. He'd almost crossed a line with Arianna. One he wouldn't forgive himself for crossing, even if she ever did.

But the system wasn't finished with him yet. He got some more messages:

[Congratualtions! Instructor has levelled up. Instructor has levelled up. Instructor has levelled up.]

Arianna's idea must have worked to some extent. This put him at level 16 of his instructor profession. Then that meant …

[Congratulations! You have gained a level.]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 20. Checking for possible evolutions … Requirements haven't been met yet. Please work hard to meet the requirements for evolution soon.]

Yes, he had already expected that…

Just one more reason to go into another dungeon as soon as possible.

[Recorded in the Hall of Fame]

This, he hadn't expected. He shuddered when a thought suddenly entered his mind. There wouldn't be a video of their fight against those monsters and the aftermath, would there? He'd have to check it immediately.

He opened his status, just briefly looking at his new status page:

Status Page:

Name:

Cassis Walker

MS (Mana Saturation):

42%

Race:

Human

Rank:

F

Features:

Awareness (Intermediate), Energy Perception (Expert), Stamina Capacity (Expert), Mana Sight (Intermediate), Mana Control (Advanced)

Unique:

Pain Resistance (Basic), Poison Resistance (Basic)

Level:

20

Class:

Flameforged Warlord

Professions:

Instructor (16)

Skills:

Slash (Expert), Stab (Expert), Parry (Expert), Deflect (Expert), Counter (Expert), Dodge (Expert), Acrobatics (Expert), Body Reinforcement (Intermediate), Dash (Beginner)

Ability:

Elemental Affinity:

Fire

Unique:

Shared Channelling (Arianna)

Inventory:

15 m

3

Spells:

Fire Blade (Advanced), Flame Burst (Beginner), Blazing Body (Beginner), Fire Lance (Basic), Mana Blade (Low)

Titles:

[The One Who Returned], [Warrior of Flames], [Protector of the Weak], [Monster Bane I], [Superior Survivor], [Giant Slayer], [Steadfast Leader], [Daredevil]

Patron:

Sapphire

Hall of Fame:

open

Satisfied with his growing strength, especially his mana saturation, he continued on to the Hall of Fame. His and Arianna's three videos were still the highest rated videos, but their dungeon run was newly trending. He watched it, not caring that other people were waiting to talk to him.

Once he had watched it, he sighed in relief. Only their fights were in there, not their nightly activities.

Finally, he could concentrate on the world around him again.

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