Cen sat, curled up in a ball, beside her brother, who looked to be in a constant state of wanting to ask her how she felt but not wanting to disturb her.

Cen glanced over at her brother and placed a hand over his cheek. "Seriously, I'm fine. My aura is really warm. You should try cycling it too."

And glancing up, at the circle of concerned faces arrayed around her, she grimaced. "Honestly, I'm fine. And you should all try it."

Kur shook his head. "We can't stay here for much longer anyways. We need to keep going."

"Sorry!" Cen said, springing to her feet. "I'm fine, now! Honestly!"

"And the affinity?" Tuk asked her, at last unable to hold back the question from bursting past his lips.

However, a shadow darted over Cen's face, and she shook her head.

"There was something in the rain," she said, in a hushed tone. "Something that called to me… That resonated with me. Something that made sense, and that was right and true… But I still don't know what it is."

"It's alright," Kur said. "Some affinities are rarer than others, and more difficult to unlock. Any moment of enlightenment is a step forward in the right direction, and we just have to be patient. Eventually, you'll get there."

"I know," Cen said, trying not to sound defeated.

"Just keep an eye out," Kur told her. "But don't stress over it. It'll just make it harder for enlightenment to come."

"Got it."

"Alright, if everyone's good to go, we should really get started," Kur said, facing west. "We have a lot of terrain to cover."

"And things to face," Gad added.

And with that, they finally got underway.

Nar stared up as he walked, his eyes lost amidst the dark recesses of the tall trees above them. In his hand, he twirled a tiny fallen branch he had picked up, dark green pines still attached to it, and once in a while, he lifted it to his nose to inhale its aroma. The needles smelled crisp and invigorating, and there were touches and hints of other scents in the smell that he couldn't put a name to.

The others walked mostly in silence as well, and they too were lost in the surrealness of the pocket reality contained within the dungeon. From the smooth, bare walls and corridors of the B-Nex, to the metal that made up most of the Scimitar's inside, the dungeon was unlike anything they had ever laid eyes upon, and nothing like they had ever expected to even be possible.

The low creaking of the tree trunks as they swayed gently. The soft forest floor over which they stepped, and the stray droplets of rain that surprised them once in a while, when a sudden gust shook them loose above their heads, and above it all, the permeating, all-encompassing, even if slightly muted sound of the rain, which still fell upon the forest…

"It's like a dream," Rel suddenly whispered to Tuk. "Except I don't think I could ever dream this up."

"Yeah…" Tuk said, his voice similarly taken by hushed awe. "Nature is… I don't even know how to put it."

Nar looked down at the tiny branch in his hands.

Nature had been covered in their brief. In the dungeons, guardians grew and shaped their realities with a soft touch, a guiding hand, more than an imposition of will. Everything from the flora, to the fauna, to the very terrain and weather, existed in an organic way, shaped out of the aether as it wanted to truly manifest… As the Crystal and Radiants had Dreamed it to be, in its infinite possibilities and states, when they had created the Source.

From metal, to rock, to pebble, soil and sand, and to tall, strong trees and tiny, soft moss… Sapients forged and built, broke down and re-assembled, gathered and recyled, and made the Nexus after their own needs, wants and desires. But out in the Labyrinth, aether grew and became what it had been Dreamed to become.

Nar gently lowered the branch back onto the floor. The knowledge was there within his mind, but he still wasn't sure how it all worked. Aether became reality, the physical things he could touch, and even drink and eat, but he still couldn't touch aether in its pure, raw energy form.

Does that mean that I'm made of aether too? He thought, glancing back at the tiny branch he had returned to the forest. And that I too was once just pure energy in the Source?

After all, one of the first things the System had told him was that attributes allowed him to go beyond the natural limitations of his body and being. And that the Source, through stamina and HP and skills, allowed him to achieve feats beyond what he should normally be able to do… He shook his head. That sort of stuff didn't feel like the kind of knowledge he could just get by himself.

I'll ask my master when I get back, Nar thought, flinching from and then whipping a stray rain drop from his cheek. This is all way beyond me…

Or maybe, they might even get a Nature 101 class, now that the apprentices had all gone through their first, and mind opening and blowing surprise immersion into the dungeons.

"I'm fine, stop fussing!" Cen whispered at Mul.

"I wasn't looking at you!" Mul lied, poorly.

Nar smiled and shook his head. Cen was, as far as he could see, back to her normal self, but Mul was Mul.

Truly a big softie on the inside, Nar thought, smiling to himself.

They walked loosely in their new formation, as the trees in the first half of the forest were spaced out enough to allow them to more or less maintain it. Gad spearheaded them, with Jul and Mul two steps behind on either side of her. Viy now guarded their left flank, while Nar held the one to the right, with Kur and the ranged party members walking in the center of the formation.

Once in a while, Nar scanned the now endless, darkened forest behind them, to ensure that nothing snuck up on them. He trusted Jul's senses and alertness, of course, but if there was one thing he had learned from the Climb was to never let his own guard down. There were always surprises.

"I can hear water," Jul announced in a hushed tone. "I think it's the stream."

"What?" Kur asked, startled. "Are you sure?"

Jul nodded.

"That doesn't make sense…" Kur said, raising a hand for them to stop.

"Where's all the beasts?" Viy asked, looking around her. "Or was I just expecting a lot more of them than there really were?"

"No, no… There should've been loads of them," Kur said, as he too scanned the trees. "We were supposed to be fighting our way through the forest, not strolling through it."

"And there's none of the stuff on the gathering list either," Mul said.

"Yeah… Which also doesn't make sense," Kur mused. "There should've been plenty of resources around."

Nar stepped a ways from the group, and scanned the tree trunk littered horizon that stretched before him, in its soft rises and falls. The soil had grown more uneven, rising in parts and falling in others, though not in any significant way, and of course, while beasts could still hide behind trees and the slight raises that blocked his sight, even with the rain, he trusted that his [Hearing] would've caught anything that moved close enough to them… And as of yet, there had been nothing at all but trees, wind, rain and the sound of their own squelching muddy footsteps.

"I haven't heard anything," Jul said, giving voice to Nar's thoughts. "There's been nothing around us, except for some animals and insects, hiding in the trees and underground."

"Things are supposed to be variable, right?" Gad asked their party leader. "And a guide is just that. A guide."

"Yes, but not to this extent," Kur said. "I guess let's just keep going for now…"

They got underway again, and some moments later, Nar too picked up on the sound of gentle, running water.

"Let's get up there carefully and slowly," Kur whispered, as they paused before a slight hill in the forest, which obscured the stream from them. "And remember that aura's the only thing that's going to hurt this boss. Physical damage is useless unless you hit an elemental's reservoir, but we need to loot that, so don't damage it! And keep an eye out for it splitting into smaller elementals."

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They all nodded in a tense silence, ready for their first dungeon boss. They creeped up the hill, however, as they crested the terrain, and peered down onto the stream…

"Where is it?" Tuk whispered.

Jul stood up.

"It's not here," she said, looking confused.

"Is it somewhere else?" Kur asked her.

The quam shook her head. "Not that I can tell. It's just the water."

Kur sighed and stood up as well, and the rest of the party followed suit. "Let's get down there and have a look. Carefully! I don't want anyone tripping and injuring themselves!"

When they reached the stream, Viy shouted a startled curse.

"Watch out! There's mud everywhere!" she said.

"Ugh," Mul groaned, his feet sinking down to his ankles and holding fast.

"The mud is here at least," Tuk said, lifting and dropping his feet into the mud with a fascinated look. "Wow! It really holds on to you."

"You don't think this is the elemental, right?" Cen asked, leaning down to take a closer look at the mud.

"What?" Rel asked. "You mean it's already dead?"

"That's not possible," Kur said. "The dungeon resets. Unless…"

He bit his lip for a moment. "Just in case, let's take a few minutes and look for the boss's aether reservoir. It should look like a semi-hard, dark brown clump of hardened soil. And it glows a bit, so it should be easy to spot in this low light. Jul, Nar, keep your senses out, just in case it's hiding somewhere in ambush."

They split around the muddy margins of the murmuring stream, and searched through the mud.

"Could it have fallen on the stream?" Cen asked. "And get washed away?"

Kur shook his head. "It's too heavy for that. If it's in the water, it should be at the bottom of the stream."

Nar dipped his hand into the gentle flow of water, pushing his [Sight] higher.

Rocks, leaves and branches, he thought, passing a hand along the bottom of the stream in stunned fascination. But nothing glowing.

His eyes traced alongside the stream, searching for that glow, but instead, he spotted Gad a few feet from him, kneeling by the water with an expression that conveyed both her confusion and a sort of emptiness.

He rose to his full height and approached her, his feet squelching softly in the mud.

"Gad?" Nar asked, squatting at her side. "You see something?"

The tank shook her head.

"No. I thought I saw… For a moment…" She blinked and seemed to fully return to the now.

"You okay?" Nar asked her.

"Yeah," she said, standing up. "I thought I saw something, but there's nothing there. Any luck?"

"Nothing," Nar said, peering into the streambed. "At least nothing glowing."

"Hmmm," she said. "Kur?"

"Yeah," their party leader said. "You can stop, everyone. If it was here, we would've found it already."

"What could have killed it though?" Tuk asked.

"The goblins," Kur said. "They live in the dungeon, and to them, this reality is everything."

"So, monsters and beasts fight each other?" Rel asked.

"Everything fights each other inside a dungeon," Kur said. "The beasts hunt one another, and while the goblins and the trolls stay in their own territories… Well, it's rare, but something might've taken out the Mud Elemental. But, and a lot more likely though, I think it just didn't spawn this time."

"Oh!" Tuk said, nodding. "I forgot about that!"

Kur exhaled wearily. "Yup. This boss has an 80% chance of spawning, but 20% is still a large margin. As for the beasts… That, I don't know. Let's just keep walking and see what happens. Things are strange, yes, but it's nothing concerning. Not yet at least."

"Well, it's been a nice walk so far at least," Tuk said, beaming, refusing to let his enthusiasm fizzle out.

"Bah," Mul grunted. "We're here for gains! Not for fun!"

"And we'll get them," Kur said. "Alright, Gad. Lead on."

They vaulted over the small stream and got underway again.

"Is this the part where there's invisible, venomous snakes everywhere?" Viy asked, scanning the pines littered floor.

"Camouflaged, not invisible," Kur corrected. "But yes, it is."

Viy pursed her lips and scanned the floor around her with a solid stare, and for his part, Nar did the same. Antidote or not, the last thing he wanted was to step on a venomous snake. However, no matter how hard he looked, the forest floor just looked like the floor, a brown and green motley of moss, branches and pine needles, and nothing else.

"I don't see anything," Tuk whispered.

"Me neither," Rel said.

"Just keep walking," Kur told them. "And just be on the lookout for something… Snakey, I guess."

"Awesome," Viy muttered.

Nar quickly forgot about the beauty of the forest around him, and all of his senses became consumed by the task of spotting those pine needle vipers.

"Ugh! This is killing me!" Tuk said after a while.

"Relax, we've got plenty of antidotes," Kur told him, patting the large backpack he carried.

"I guess…" the ring tosser mumbled. "Doesn't it hurt though?"

"Well…"

"Man, don't toy with my heart like that!"

Kur sighed. "Yes, Tuk, it hurts. It hurts a lot."

"Great. I'll just keep my eyes on the floor then."

"You're walking behind us," Gad told him without turning. "Anything that's going to bite, it's gonna bite one of us three first."

"That doesn't make it any better!" Tuk said.

"Shhh!" Kur snapped. "Just keep walking!"

Silence fell upon the party once more, and onwards they continued. However, Nar couldn't help but notice how the longer they went without finding any beasts, the tenser Kur became, gripping the straps of his backpack ever tighter. He might not be showing it on his face, but their party leader was getting increasingly worried.

The beasts are one thing, and even if they could have all killed each other , that is a bit of a big stretch, Nar thought, lifting his eyes off the floor to briefly scan behind them. But all the materials too?

No, something wasn't right. He just couldn't tell what.

"Alright," Kur said, after another good while transpired. "We've reached the territory of the Moss Back Snake Duo. There're three spots they can be in, so we'll just check them all. As for the two bosses themselves…"

Kur wiped out his screen and checked the guide as they walked.

"It's a male and female duo, guarding their eggs, which we want to grab," he explained. "And these snakes are… Quite big."

"Define big?" Tuk asked.

"Well, the male's about 25 to 26-feet long."

"26!" Tuk, Rel, Cen and Mul all cried out at once.

"What the fuck?" Mul said, his suppressor quickly activating. "That thing's like six times bigger than me. How thick is that damned snake?"

"Almost 5-foot…" Kur muttured, and they all groaned.

"I can't even wrap my arms around that," Cen said, raising her small arms in front of her, her fingers reaching for each other but not touching.

"And the female?" Tuk asked.

"Well… She's even bigger," Kur said, looking everywhere but at his party members. "Like twice as big."

Nar stopped in his tracks and stared at Kur, and the others did the same, the silence that befell them almost eerie.

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Kur muttered.

"You're telling me there's a 50-foot snake out here?" Mul said, scanning the dark trees. "That thing can swallow me whole."

"Do you want to not fight it?" Kur asked.

"No… I mean, yes, but no. I do want the gains," Mul said. "But I don't have to be happy about it."

Kur passed a hand over his pale, wet hair. "The size isn't even the worst of it…"

"Just tell us," Gad said, resuming walking again. "It's just a snake."

"Two…" Jul whispered.

"Well, they are covered in rock-like, mossy scales…"

"Hence the name," Cen said.

"Yes, so they will be disguising themselves as rocks," Kur said. "However, a big rock is a lot easier to spot! But… It also means that their bellies is where we need to aim our attacks at, as their scales are like armor. Really, really good armor."

"Oof," Rel said.

"Yeah, that'll be tough for us," Tuk agreed. "But we'll manage!"

"Hmm," Kur said, still reading from his screen. "The female will be the bigger problem."

"Pun intended?" Viy asked, smiling, and eliciting a laugh from the party.

"Whatever," Kur said. "Her bite is corrosive, and so is her spit."

"That means… Acid, right?" Nar asked.

"Yup. It spits big globs of acid," Kur revealed. "And it will be faster and tougher than the male as well."

"So, we should kill the male first, then?" Gad asked.

"We can," Kur said, hesitating. "But it says here that doing so will send the snake into a frenzy, buffing her damage and speed even further."

"It might still be easier to just kill the male first," Gad insisted. "I can then just focus my taunting on the female. Besides, a lot less can go wrong with one boss instead of two."

"Yeah… My thinking was the same, to be honest," Kur said, rubbing his chin. "I'm open to suggestions though."

"One sounds easier to handle," Nar said. "Maybe Gad can keep the female busy, and I can try tank the male?"

"That sounds like a plan," Gad said, nodding.

"Hmm… Alright, let's do that then," Kur said. "Nar, you tank the male, and Viy, Rel, Cen, Jul and me will DPS it. Gad, you'll keep the female busy, and Mul and Tuk will help you keep it distracted and away from the male. Once the male goes down, we'll focus on the female then."

"And if I lose aggro?" Gad asked. "If that snake's that fast, I might not be able to catch up to it in time."

"Far point," Kur said. "Viy you're swapping with Mul. If Gad does lose her aggro, you can use your [The Weight of Guilt] to try and slow it down."

"But… I might hit Gad too!" Viy said, staring at the tank in pale horror.

"I can take it," Gad said, smiling at the spear woman. "I'm already slow as it is. Plus… I don't have anything to be guilty of. I think."

"Are-Are you sure?" Viy asked. She had gone even paler, and her wet hair, neatly tied in a coil behind her head, looked as though it was made out of pure darkness against her colorless skin.

"Yes. Just do it," Gad said.

"Alright…" Viy relented, looking down.

"Good! That's decided then!" Kur said. "Of course, stuff can happen, so just keep your head cool, everyone. No matter what happens, we can handle two snakes."

"Two giant snakes…" Mul muttered.

With their plans drafted, the party continued on their way, and soon reached the first spot indicated on the map.

"Nothing," Jul said. "No snakes, and no nests."

"Do you think they did this?" Rel asked, passing a hand over a big gash carved into one of the trees.

Looking around himself, Nar spotted several more trees sporting the same kind of injury, glistening sap leaking from the gashes, and a few of the smaller trees even lay broken across the forest floor.

"Could be," Kur said. "Alright, onto the next spot then."

They trekked up a rise in the forest floor, and reached a flat area. Trees were sparser here, so the ground was a lot wetter and muddier. It was also dotted by several aggregations of large rocks.

Great… Nar thought, glaring at them in suspicion. However, they just looked like innocent rocks to him...

Gad guided them onwards, scanning her surroundings, and suddenly, Jul raised her hand, her body seizing up. Armors flared to life, and weapons were drawn.

"We're close…" she whispered.

Kur gestured for them to tighten up around the center of the party as they proceeded.

Where are they? Nar thought, straining his sense attributes to the max.

All he could see around him through the falling curtain of rain were trees, pine needles and moss, and still, innocent looking rocks. And as they stepped deeper into that sparser area, rain fell on him harder, hampering his senses and his movements further.

I hope we don't have to fight here, Nar said, grimacing at the mud. This stuff's so slippery!

Jul raised her hand again, and they all froze, backs facing into the party, and weapons pointed outwards.

The forest was suddenly very still around them, the rain falling gently, and Nar's heart drummed hard against his ears, his sword pointing this and that way as he scanned his surroundings. Water dripped down his face and blinded him, forcing him to keep blinking, and it was in between blinks that things exploded from the forest floor and suddenly, a wide open, hissing mouth was headed straight for his face, his [Instinct] screaming at him to move.

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