“Guidance...?” Jason mumbled to himself, scrolling through his screen with one finger as he walked along. “No, that’s a questing thing. Navigation...? No, that’s probably boats or something. What abou-ack!”

Jason stumbled for, tripping over a rock in the road. He caught himself at the last second.

“What are you so into over there, anyway?” asked Lumiriel. “You’ve been talking to yourself under your breath for like half an hour almost, and that’s the third time you’ve nearly fallen on your face.”

The three of them had been traveling the road for about a day and a half, with little to keep them occupied except getting to know one another and coming up with theories and ideas about the System. So far, they had seen no sign of civilization beyond the road they walked, and it was beginning to wear on each of them. Only the occasional antics of Ceri, who alternated between riding on Kera’s shoulder and flying about, served to keep them amused. Currently the drake was off hunting up some lunch somewhere; Kera had assured the other two that he could find his way back to her at any time.

The forest had gradually thinned out as they’d traveled, slowly turning from dense forest to thin woods. The terrain had remained level, with only the occasional hillock that the road they traveled simply curved past while always maintaining a southward direction. The weather had, thankfully, remained cool without being cold, and it hadn’t rained yet either. Lunchtime was fast approaching, but Jason had other things on his mind than food.

“I’m looking for, well, radar skills, so to speak,” Jason said. He closed his status screen with a sigh of frustration.

“I’ve was trying to think of ways we might be able to gather stuff for potions more efficiently than just wandering around,” he explained. “The system has so many elements of games we’ve played, and it got me thinking: Minimaps are pretty much ubiquitous in modern RPGs, right?

“On top of it, huge numbers of MMOs have gathering skills that grant you the ability to see nearby nodes like herbs on your minimap. So I’ve been poring through the list to see if I can find something that might lead to either a minimap or some kind of sensing ability.”

“But no luck?” asked Lumi.

Jason shook his head. “None. I’ve been looking for skills that sound like they could lead to such a thing, and there’s a few ‘maybe’s in there, but I really don’t want to spend points just guessing. Especially when we don’t know if there are skills only available to a given class, which seems likely.

“I mean, I’ve got access to all these wilderness classes right?” Jason continued. “Minimaps could be a Wanderer Skill maybe, while Herb Finder was an Herbalist thing. Or I’m just missing skill requirements, or maybe you get an achievement when someone gives you a real map and the you can take a skill for it to be always visible, or you have to climb a super tall tower, and so on. There’s just too little information.”

Lumiriel laughed. “I am not jumping off any tall buildings just to see if I can reveal new map segments, just so you know.”

“Um,” said Kera hesitantly, “You just want to find potion stuff without having to walk around a lot, right? Why don’t we just ask Ceri to fly around and look?”

Jason blinked.

“I, uh, hadn’t actually thought of that.” He responded. “How would he know what to look for?”

“I’ve got Share Senses and Empathic Link, remember?” Kera said. “You just have to tell me, and then I can have him fly around to hunt and get some exercise, like he’s doing right now. Then I can look in on him every few minutes, see through his eyes, and then nudge him to investigate anything interesting or bring back stuff if it’s small. I always know where he is, too, so if he finds something you need to go harvest, I can just lead us right to him.”

“I guess that could at least help,” said Jason, “But it’s not really a replacement. Herbalism doesn’t really tell me stuff unless I’ve already encountered something or am looking at it. But it’s a decent idea. We could have him start bringing stuff back. Like maybe have him try and bring back big beetles or birds he catches or something before eating them, so I can see if there’s anything we can use like feathers or insect wings or whatever. And you could keep an eye out for like flowers and berries and stuff, I guess.”

“Where is he now, anyway?” asked Lumi. “No reason we couldn’t give him some vague instructions, right?”

Kera closed her eyes for a moment. Then she reopened them, and pointed off to their right.

“He’s over that way, by what looks like a river. I get the feeling he doesn’t like drinking the conjured water because it tastes funny to him. Exact distance is hard. Maybe 500 meters? I can [Share Senses] with him up to a mile away, and even past that we still always know where each other is. I get a vague sense of the distance between us, and it gets worse the further away we are from each other, but I always have a strong sense of the exact direction he’s in.”

She frowned. “Hmm. That’s weird. He’s feeling really uneasy about something. Now he’s actually afraid of something, he wants to hide in one of the trees.”

Jason motioned for everyone to stop as a vague sense of dread crept over him.

“Hang on everyone, I’m getting it too,” he said. “This happened last time, when I was I was down at that stream before Lumi encountered the frogoid. It was like my [Survivalist] Skill was picking up the presence of something without me actually seeing it.”

Lumi turned toward the woods on her side of the road, eyes searching. “What, like some kind of danger sense?”

“I think so.” He said.

“Ok then, everyone into the middle of the road,” ordered Lumi, sliding her backpack to the ground and drawing her sword. “Kera, you call back Ceri. Stay between Jason and I, and keep an eye up and down the road. I’ll watch this side of the woods. Jason, you’ve got the other. If anyone sees anything suspicious, speak up.”

Jason didn’t reply, he simply let his pack fall to the ground with the larger fishing spear and hammer, and drew one of his throwing spears from his harness.

“You picked up [Basic Throwing] already, like you said, right?” Lumi asked, without looking at him.

“That’s right,” he nodded, as he scanned his side of the road. “I-“

A sudden snap of a branch and a low hiss turned everyone’s attention toward’s Jason’s side of the road.

From the underbrush, a figure emerged. The creature was similar to what Jason though of a traditional Lamia, in that it was roughly humanoid, with a serpentine tail from the waist down. However, not only was this creature male, but its sported a thin covering of down across its torso, with decorative feathers scattered across its head, shoulders, and arms. A thin membrane of skin stretched between its arms and side, also feathered.

The creature hissed menacingly, rising upwards on its tail until it towered over then.

“Kera?” Jason murmured quietly while the creature hissed at them. It seemed to Jason that it was hesitant, or confused, and was posturing while it decided on some action. “Details?”

Kera merely trembled, shaking in fear.

“T-That’s it,” she said with a sob. “That’s the thing that chased me! How...?”

Lumi put her free hand on Kera’s shoulder, but didn’t look away from the creature, who was now looking back and forth between them, it’s long tongue flicking in and out, tasting the air.

“You aren’t alone this time, Kera,” Lumiriel whispered softly. “Breathe. Use your skill. What can you tell us?”

Kera swallowed, then whispered a command.

“It’s... got a name,” she said. “A yellow name. Seraptis. It’s um, my skill isn’t good enough to really see anything. It’s got two classes. [Serpentkin] and [Keeper]. No, wait. [Keeper] is some kind of title? It’s level 7.”

A level 7 monster with a title? Jason wondered. How’d that happen?

“Anything else?” asked Lumi, as the creature slowly uncurled its hands. Long, glittering black talons were revealed. Lumiriel tensed, raiding her sword into a defensive posture, but didn’t advance.

“I-No,” Kera stuttered. “My skill is-“

The creature crouched downward suddenly, and then sprang forwards towards them, clearly aiming for Kera. One claw slashed sideways at Jason as it drew past him, and he barely got his weapon up in time to block. The impact of its arm snapped his spear straight in half and sent him tumbling to the ground as he narrowly avoided being eviscerated.

Kera let out a shriek, and turned to run as the creature continued its dash, only for it to be intercepted by Lumiriel.

The creature slammed into the young Spellblade. Lumiriel managed to stay on her feet, unlike Kera who fell to the ground as the creature followed up by lashing the end of its tail around to strike at Kera’s feet. The snake-man then tried to swipe a claw downards at the fallen girl, only to back off as Lumi shouted and took a swing with her sword. Claws slashing, Seraptis retaliated, but Lumi ducked out of the way, her [Basic Mobility] skill keeping her out of the monster’s reach.

Jason managed to struggle to his feet while Lumiriel and the creature traded feints - the creature slashing out with its claws, Lumiriel testing its reactions with her sword. Kera meanwhile simply curled into a ball on the ground, covering her head as the creature’s tail lashed back and forth beside and around her.

Pulling another throwing spear from his harness, Jason waited for an opening. When Lumiriel suddenly launched a tiny sphere of flames into the creature’s face, causing it to rear backwards to avoid being burned, Jason threw.

The snake-man didn’t even notice as the spear deflected right off its hardened scales with barely a scratch.

Lumiriel was having trouble as well, Jason saw. While the creature seemed to be wary of the sword, more than once Lumiriel used her [Basic Mobility] to quickly step forward, only for the creature to deflect her slash, parrying her sword aside by batting at the flat of her sword with a forearm; it’s scales seemed tough enough to withstand at least partial cuts.

Jason decided he needed to be smart. Even if he couldn’t hurt the thing, he could still be a distraction like before.

He watched carefully, and when the creature next drew back its arm to claw at Lumiriel, he pitched his spear as hard as he could into the back of its head, relying on [Basic Throwing] to guide his aim.

It struck Seraptis mid-strike, and like before, ricocheted off without harm. But the impact still got the creature’s attention. It turned its head towards him angrily, and Lumiriel used that opportunity to launch another ball of flames at it.

This time the miniature fireball connected. Shrieking, the creature raised its hands defensively as the feathers on its head and shoulders caught fire, and it flailed wildly to put them out.

Jason dived to snatch up his hammer from the ground, while Lumiriel used the opportunity to lunge forwards and drive her sword deep into the creature’s armpit, where its scales seemed most flexible. There, they seemed more like proper skin than scale.

Blood sprayed, and the creature screeched. As Lumiriel drew back to strike again, the creature spun, lashing out with its tail again, this time catching the girl by surprise.

Kera, who had finally pulled herself together, stood up in time to see Lumiriel crash to ground, as Seraptis lunged towards the downed girl, its claws raking savagely downwards across the length of her body.

Both girls screamed; Lumiriel in terrible pain, and Kera once again in fear.

With a roar, Jason brought his [Crude Stone Hammer] down on the back of the creature’s head.

With a sickening crunch, the creature rolled off Lumiriel, stunned but not dead.

“Now, Kera!” Jason yelled, as the creature struggled upright.

Kera pointed at Seraptis, and Ceri, who’d finally arrived, swooped down on the creature, glowing with the lines of [Static Shock]. He collided with the creature, which roared as it went down a second time. A series of loud, rapid pops echoed as electricity courses through it. Kera, too, glowed, and reached out a hand to slap at the monster’s tail, shocking it as well.

Seraptis flailed wildly, and his thrashing knocked both Kera and Jason off their feet, though Jason managed to bring his hammer down on its lower end as he fell.

Having seemingly had enough, bleeding from both its skull and arm, Seraptis slithered rapidly away into the underbrush. Ceri attempted to follow, hissing angrily, but Kera called him back as Jason ran to Lumiriel’s side.

He waived aside some notifications as he knelt down. She was was alive, but bleeding profusely from long shallow gashes that stretched from shoulder to waist, and her clothing was completely shredded.

Lumiriel gave a quiet sob of pain. “Oh god, it hurts.”

“Stay calm, don’t move,” Jason ordered. He pulled off his shirt and balled it up. Gently he lifted one of Lumiriel’s arms up and placed it on to of the wadded up T-shirt.

“I need you to conjure a ball of water, Ok?” He said. “We’ve got to stop the bleeding, and I’m going to use this to put pressure on your wounds. Just give it a quick rinse, it’s the best we’ve got right now.”

“O-ok,” Lumi said. Her breath hissed through her teeth, but her hand flowed, and water inundated Jason’s shirt.

“This is going to hurt,” he warned. She nodded once, curtly, and clenched her teeth.

Jason directed Kera in aiding him, both of them pressing the shirt down onto Lumi’s wounds. Kera was crying softly, apologizing to Lumi for just cowering while Lumi protected her, while Lumi tried to reassure Kera, through clenched teeth and sobs of pain, that that was her job as the tank and it was her choice.

Jason was afraid at first that without any bandages or tools for stitches, his efforts wouldn’t be enough, but either by luck or by some element of the system, Lumiriel quickly stabilized, her wounds quickly ceasing to bleed.

The immediate crisis averted, he turned to Kera.

“Ok, it’s no longer an academic question. We need healing potions, right now, and I don’t have time to keep pouring through menus to find skills. We can’t risk moving Lumi, we have nothing to stop infection, and we don’t have a way to carry her safely anyway. Let’s use your suggestion from earlier.”

“I’ll set up camp,” Jason continued, “and keep an eye on Lumi. You sit down and make use of Ceri. Do a spiral search. Look for anything that you’d think of as being a potion ingredient, especially flowers, fruit, or anything colored red. Larger flying insects too, if you see them. Wings always seem to be an ingredient for some reason, but don’t try chasing them. Same goes for fish and small birds: if Ceri can catch it and bring it back, do so, but don’t waste time hunting.”

Kera simply nodded, wiping away her tears. She took a deep, steadying breath, and then moved over to the grass, where she leaned against a tree and closed her eyes. With a squawk, Ceri hurled himself off the branch of the tree he was in, and flew off into the woods.

Jason got to work.

“I’ve found something!” Kera shouted a short while later, startling Jason, who was busy helping Lumi have something to eat. With his help, she’d managed to very carefully lift herself into a half-seated position by raising up the ground underneath herself a tiny bit at a time.

“Ceri found some kind of old structure or something,” Kera continued. “It’s hard to describe. His eyes are different so it’s hard to understand what he’s seeing exactly. Something’s weird about the area too in a way I don’t know how to describe. More importantly there’s a bunch of fruits or something near it, and Ceri really wants to eat them because they seem special for some reason, so I bet they’re worth checking out.”

“How far?”

“Close. Less than half a mile,” she replied. “You want me to go see?”

“No,” Jason said. “Just point me the right direction. My [Herbalism] skill might be needed to harvest them and I want you to keep having Ceri search for other stuff in case they aren’t what we need.”

She turned, pointing. “It’s a little more than a quarter mile that way. There’s a sort of a low hillside, and some kind of cave, and there’s there’s stone pillars or something nearby. By the pillars are bunch of big bushes with fruits or something that are bright yellow. Lemons maybe? Though I caught the impression that Ceri thought of them as sweet, so maybe not.”

“Sweet is good,” Lumi said with a slight cough: “Sweet often equates to healing food in games.”

“Yeah,” said Kera. “My thoughts exactly.”

“Alright, I’m headed out,” Jason said, picking up his hammer and slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “Keep having Ceri look around while I check things out. If you can, just have him bring stuff back, you never know what might turn out to have what we need.”

“Ok.” Kera replied.

Jason set off through the woods, moving as quickly as he could without endangering himself. Several times he had to skirt wide around a large bush or a fallen tree, but fortunately his [Survivalist] skill kept him on course. In a matter of minutes he’d reached the area Kera had indicated.

It seemed that Kera had found the entrance to a dungeon.

He knew it the moment he arrived in the small clearing. If the stone archway that had been set into the side of the hillock and carved in likeness of coiled serpents wasn’t enough indication, the place had a weight to it. Just standing nearby, Jason felt strangely...full. He couldn’t think of any other way to describe the sensation.

The archway rose over a cleft in the side of the hill, where a large, vibrantly green bush sat just outside. The bush itself had a number of golden-hued berries growing on it, and Jason could see another bush, growing in the dirt just inside the mouth of the passageway, which sloped downwards into darkness.

Come in, said the spider to the fly. Jason thought to himsel with a sudden suspicion.

He glanced around cautiously, and caught sight of something that caused a brief moment of panic: a long streak of blood in the grass. As if a certain very large something had recently slithered through the arches and down into the darkness.

It must have come back here, to lick its wounds. It’s lair, maybe? I’d better be fast.

Jason quickly drew his knife and used it to remove one of the berries.

Golden Strawberry: A rare fruit often found near areas of high mana concentration. Possesses minor healing properties if eaten.

Jason did a mental fist pump and ate one.

[Golden Strawberry] Trait Discovered: Health

Heaving a sigh of relief, Jason swiftly harvested every easily-reachable fruit on the bush outside the entrance. He briefly considered stepping inside, but it was Kera’s description of Ceri’s reaction that stopped him. The bushes were positioned almost like breadcrumbs, with the archway giving off the impression of the mouth of some great beast.

Abruptly, Jason turned and headed back to his friends. He didn’t want to meet Seraptis in the dark if he could help it, and who knew what rules dungeons, if any, had here?