The bear steak, while a welcome treat, had unfortunately stoked their hunger to desperate levels. So out of necessity, Nathan and his team prepared for their next foraging hike. When picking a direction for their upcoming foray, they decided to seek out the melons Alexander’s team had discovered that morning, mainly due to Iliana’s insistent urging for fruit. Having never ventured up the North trail, there was also the side benefit of scouting for new useful plants with his Wilderness Survival skill.

The addition of Alexander to their group increased their team numbers to four members, at least for the duration of the trip. The Russian player wouldn’t have been Nathan’s first choice since they already had a Metal Prime with Monster Harvesting, but they needed a guide who knew where the off-trail melons were located.

The only other two players who knew the melons’ exact location were Gabriel and Ava. Gabriel, the speedy Fire Prime, would’ve been the best choice for his combat ability, but the man seemed more interested in helping Harrison build barricades around their camp. Ava, a Water Prime, might’ve balanced their team’s affinities as well, but she flat out refused to leave the perceived safety of the camp. Nathan hadn’t really appreciated her attitude, but he wasn’t going to force her to go either. Alexander at least agreed to guide them, but only as a temporary one-time thing since he didn’t want to break up his old group.

Alexander also gained the NP bonus effect when he joined Nathan’s Group Leader tab. The Russian player didn’t put much stock into Maya’s worries that joining another group could wipe out his hidden leadership experience counter.

“So these melons,” Iliana said while grinning, “how big did you say they were?”

“About this big,” Alexander said, holding his hands out before him in a roughly basketball size shape.

“Are they plump?” she asked, making squeezing motions with her hands in the air. She laughed loudly as Alexander caught onto her meaning. He looked uncomfortable for a moment before he began chuckling along politely. Nathan, who had been on the receiving end of her juvenile jokes too many times to count, could empathize.

About ten minutes before, Lilly had activated her newly acquired Buildings skill to purchase the outhouse building. She placed it about fifty yards North of the medical tent, ten feet off the trail.

They now had two of the three required buildings for the settlement bonus and the potential first achievement reward. They chose to buy the outhouse before the weapons vendor since the NP investment was significantly less. It would leave the majority of their points available if any other events happened that might change their planned strategy, or if someone needed the NPs for an emergency healing.

Nathan contributed 8 NPs to the outhouse’s construction, slightly overpaying his share to compensate for the players who were short points. The wooden structure was fairly basic with four walls, a roof, wooden slats for a floor suspended over a deep hole excavated in the ground. The hole was about four by four feet wide and seven feet deep, accessed by a smaller round opening in the floorboards for the user to deposit their business through. There was no bench for sitting so they would need to squat over the hole.

A few of the players, such as Maya and Lilly, seemed unfazed by the squatting revelation, having grown up with a similar toilet setup in their respective countries of India and Kenya. The Western cultured players were a lot less excited by the foreign style, but most were at least glad for the extra privacy it provided.

Unlike the medical tent, the outhouse couldn’t be moved by mundane means so it appeared that where it was placed was where it would stay. But Lilly made a fascinating discovery in her interface Buildings tab that solved the issue. If she selected the relevant option, the building could be compressed into a movable form, though they hadn’t tested it yet to know what form it would take.

That was because there were a few limitations to the transport ability. Only the building owner, Lilly in this case, could initiate the moving process for a cost of 20 EPs, and she would need to spend a continuous fifteen minutes holding her wristband to the building to complete the transformation to its mobile form. These limits and costs indicated to Nathan that Tygerion had designed bases to be mobile, but only if it was preplanned. The players wouldn’t be able to cut and run if they were suddenly ambushed.

Maya had immediately given Harrison a hard time for not paying enough attention to his own Buildings tab or they might’ve already known about the ability before they voted. Harrison argued that the mechanic was stupidly hidden since he had to focus and toggle several submenus to find it. Nathan had watched over Lilly’s shoulder as she showed him the option, and he had to admit, it was placed in a rather counterintuitive area of the interface that would’ve been easily missed. Tygerion wasn’t one for making things easy to figure out. If anything, it seemed like it was intentionally the opposite. He had to give Lilly props for combing over her interface in exacting detail to find it.

As for their morale, the existence of the moving mechanic was a great relief to the players. It meant they’d be able to transport their base when needed. Their investment in the outhouse would not go to waste, he thought, chuckling inwardly at his own toilet pun.

“Ready to go?” Lilly asked the team.

“Yep, let’s do this,” Nathan replied, moving his mind back to the task at hand.

He was carrying his new fused spear, along with one of the backup goblin spears. Given how easily weapons were damaged, he figured a spare might come in handy. He didn’t expect his new fused spear to break as easily as the vanilla goblin ones, but it was still possible and he’d rather be prepared. He also pocketed a yellow flower root and three small rocks, the latter for use with his Snare skill.

As they were leaving, they passed Maya who was sitting by herself in some kind of yoga meditation pose. He’d seen the lavender pajama clad woman doing it earlier, but hadn’t commented on it at the time. Her eyes were closed, legs crossed underneath her, with back tall and straight. She opened her eyes when she heard them approaching and smiled.

“Doing some cultivating?” Nathan joked.

Maya looked confused. “What do you mean?”

Nathan sighed. Explaining a joke was the worst sort of awkward. “It’s from a genre of Chinese fiction where martial arts gurus would gain increasingly powerful levels of magical power through meditation, or rather cultivating. The magic would be called forth from their inner Chi.”

She listened attentively to his explanation. “Ah, I see. We actually call that inner force prana.” She paused as her smile widened mischievously. “And yes, that is exactly what I am doing.”

“Wait, what?” he stammered. “Seriously?”

“Yes. I’m trying to visualize my internal Fire energy and perhaps discover ways to interact with it,” she said. “I used to do a lot of yoga and meditation in the real world so I wondered if I could use it here to maybe unlock a skill.”

Alexander spoke up, “That makes sense actually. Was that why you were sprinting up and down the hill when we first arrived here? To learn a new skill?”

“Yes, exactly. I was trying to tap into the speed aspect of Fire. Can’t say I was successful though, at least not like I am right now.” She smirked as she let her statement sink in to the other players.

“Like right now?” Nathan asked.

Maya pointed at her glowing wristband. “I don’t know what it is yet… it only just lit up. Want to see what I learn?”

He shook his head in amazement. “Yeah, we can wait a few minutes before we head out.” He glanced around at his team and received nods of affirmation. They were curious too.

Maya looked deeply satisfied with their reactions. She opened her interface and began reading. She soon collapsed back with a yelp as the learning process took effect. Maya looked miserable as her body contorted in agony. He thought about earlier how she’d made fun of his own expression during a skill learning, saying he looked like a deranged monkey.

“He’s grinning,” Iliana stage whispered to Lilly.

“Yes, he does that a lot around her,” Lilly whispered back, intentionally loud enough for him to hear. Both women shared a laugh.

He felt heat rush to his face. He chose to ignore the peanut gallery and sat down to study his interface for a couple minutes. He’d once before thought he might’ve sensed something when he’d focused on his own energy. The sensation had eluded him though. Now he knew he just needed to be more persistent with his efforts in seeking it out.

Once Maya relaxed, she sat back up. Her toothy grin said it all. She opened her interface and read aloud the description.

[Fire Mastery I: Requirements - Fire 3 Prime. (Reduce EP cost of Fire affinity activated skills by 5%.) (Increase all effects and elemental damage of Fire affinity skills by 5%.) (Gain +1 Mental.)]

“Brilliant!” Maya exclaimed. “First skill I’ve seen that reduces the EP cost of other skills. Increases their effectiveness too.”

“And it’s another unlockable skill from doing actions,” Nathan mused. “If I were to guess, there should be a similar skill for each of the five elements. The Wood version would make Snare cheaper and last longer.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Maya declared, her excitement by the new discovery infectious. “I now have a new task to give players when they are idly sitting around. Affinity meditation practice.”

“Awesome, we’ll practice it too when we’re resting,” he said. “It’s time for us to go though, it's already the start of the afternoon and these attacks are only going to get worse. Do you know if Harrison’s team will forage too?”

“No, he says he wants to work on the barricades around camp. His team will guard here while I take a turn with my team foraging down the South trail. I think the yams give the highest return of calories for our efforts.”

He nodded. “Be careful.”

She smiled, “You too. Bring me one of those melons I keep hearing about.”

“Will do. I’ll try to find more tasty herbs for the yam soup too.”

“Brilliant. See you soon!” She smiled before turning to walk back down the hill.

Nathan watched her a moment before he turned North and led his team up the trail.

“He’s grinning again,” Iliana said to Lilly.

“Yes, he can’t help himself,” Lilly replied. They both laughed and Nathan felt his body heat rise again. He was a twenty-nine year old man, dang it. Why did he feel so embarrassed by their teasing?

Nathan began scanning the foliage as they traveled, hoping to sense something with his survival skill. They hiked five minutes before he spotted something that triggered his hidden knowledge. A small green plant with leafy stalks. His skill informed him that when boiled in water as a tea, the leaves would improve natural recovery rates and debuff resistance. He plucked the two plants by their roots and placed them in one of his back pockets, the stalks hanging out behind him. They continued their hike, Lilly leading in front at a brisk walk.

“So Alexander,” Iliana said. “Are you single?”

“What?” he said, surprise lighting up his face. The tanned woman giggled at his expression. The man shifted his goblin spear to his offhand and began scratching his facial stubble. “Well, I’m married. My wife is expecting our first child.”

“Oh wow, how far along is she?” Iliana asked, now more serious.

“Six months. It’s going to be a boy,” Alexander stated proudly.

“Aw, congratulations!” she crooned.

“Thank you. I was actually building his crib in my toolshed right before I was brought here.” The man’s voice began to crack as he spoke. “That was yesterday morn...”

Alexander trailed off, leaving his sentence hanging in the air. Nathan glanced over to see the Russian man’s thoughts must’ve taken a downward turn. His eyes were red and watery and he was subtly slowing his pace to fall behind the others. Alexander wiped at his eyes without Iliana seeing, but the action didn’t escape Nathan’s notice.

“I always wanted a boy,” Iliana said obliviously. She continued to follow after Lilly, not looking back at the man. “My boyfriend didn’t want to marry though. But I thought about being a surrogate mother, a good way to make some money. He didn’t want me to do that either since it’d make my breasts sag.”

When Alexander didn’t answer, Iliana glanced back. “It makes sense though, I don’t want them to sag either,” she chuckled.

Lilly said, “Maybe we shouldn’t discuss our families for a bit.” She wiped at her own eyes.

“What?” Iliana asked, still not understanding. Then she saw Alexander’s reddened eyes and she gasped. “Oh no, I didn’t think. I should just keep my stupid mouth shut.”

Nathan wasn’t immune to the story either. It hit him in the pit of his stomach. Alexander’s child would grow up never knowing his father unless they could somehow win the arena. He shook his head in frustration. They had each lost so much when they were forcibly kidnapped. And what about those still on Earth? Wives, husbands, mothers, friends. Those people had all lost people too, disappearing from their lives without a trace.

He began thinking about his own family. He missed how his Mom and Dad would randomly visit his apartment unannounced with homemade dinner. It was both annoying and awesome at the same time. He’d last seen them a few days ago but it seemed much longer. He had a sister who lived in Ohio too. Nathan kept telling her he would visit more often but he never seemed to make the time. He usually preferred going on outdoor adventures with his friends instead when he had a free weekend. What were his friends and family doing now? Searching for him? They had probably reported him missing by now, although he’d only been gone a day and a half.

“It’s no problem to talk about my family,” Alexander finally said, having mostly composed himself. “Yana will do fine raising him. Her mother will help too I think.” He paused a moment before saying, “So tell me something about each of you too.”

Iliana looked at a loss for words so Nathan decided to start first. “Okay, well, I’m a data entry clerk for work.”

Lilly asked, “What exactly is a data entry clerk?”

“Yeah, I was wondering too,” Iliana added. “What is that?”

Nathan grinned, “It’s kind of like digging a hole in the ground and then filling it back in again. Repeat that over and over again to capture the feeling of never seeming to accomplish anything. Of course, this is all done on a computer instead. I honestly think digging would be more fun though, at least it's good exercise.”

“It’s not that bad,” Alexander said with a chuckle. The change in conversation had restored his mood. “It’s basically just entering information on paper documents into computer systems, at least it was when I did it. I would take some freelance data entry jobs from time to time. It's a good way to pay the bills, but I’ve never found it to be steady work since once everything was entered, the job was over.”

“I clean toilets,” Iliana blurted out. She glanced furtively at each of them to gauge their expressions. When she saw no one reacting strongly to the news, she relaxed slightly and elaborated, “I mean, I clean houses. It’s hard work, but pays well enough.”

Lilly nodded. “I’ve done my share of cleaning too. At least until I signed my contract with Nike.”

“Whoa, really?” Nathan asked, almost missing a step. That bit of interesting information had struck him out of seemingly nowhere. He really needed to do a better job of getting to know the other players, especially his teammates.

“Yes, I am a runner, even competed in the Olympics in 2016.”

“No way,” Nathan said, searching his memory of famous Kenyan track athletes. He’d watched every single televised track race in the last Olympic games and knew most of the top athletes. Most serious runners like him kept up with the sport. “What’s your last name if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Mwangi.”

“Lilly Mwangi…” he pondered aloud, wracking his brain. Then it hit him. “You’re Lillian Mwangi! The fifteen hundred meter runner?”

The taller woman smiled shyly. “Yes, that’s me.”

“That’s incredible. No wonder you had the highest Physical stat of all our players. Wait, you once held the women’s world record! Wow, I’m teamed with Lillian Mwangi, this is so awesome...” He trailed off as he realized he was gushing like a fanboy and likely embarrassing both of them. He glanced down at his EP counter, checking the time. Despite his excitement, they were still in a death arena and needed to keep focus. “Anyway, heads up everyone, the next attack will be in a couple minutes.”

The reminder of their scheduled attack ceased their conversation though they continued hiking for another minute. As he reached 20 EPs, he halted the group and they got into battle positions. The section of forest trail was relatively straight, so they would have clear sight lines either way. Nathan dropped his backup goblin spear by his feet, eager to test out his new fused weapon for the first time.

As they waited for the monsters to appear, an idea began to form in Nathan’s mind as he stared at the backup spear on the ground. He’d never had an extra spear before. He reached down and picked the goblin spear back up.

“Nathan, you’re not seriously going to fight with both spears, are you?” Lilly asked. The former Olympian looked amused.

“Sure,” he joked. “I’ll hold one in each…”

He was interrupted by growling. He soon spotted four wolves in the distance padding towards them. Perfect. The way the monsters were grouped together made it ideal to try his new idea. He barked a quick order since he was adding something to their battle plan at the last second. “Move up right behind me as I run forward to throw my spare spear. Then we’ll pair off one each as we discussed.”

He dropped his fused spear to the ground and then held the crudely made goblin spear up in the air above his shoulder. As he hoped, his Pole Weapons skill assisted him in his grip. He sprinted forward about three quick steps but was disappointed to find his weapon skill became silent in its assistance from that point forward. He threw his arm forward anyway, launching the goblin spear at the pack of wolves.

He had teammates in college who threw javelin so he had some idea of how it should look when done correctly. Based on that, he already knew he’d done it completely wrong. The spear sailed through the air about three yards above the heads of the wolves before disappearing from sight somewhere off the side of the forest trail.

He felt a blush rise up his back as his teammates moved up to form ranks with him again.

“Impressive throw,” Lilly said with a wry smile. She tossed him his fused beaver horn spear.

“Thanks,” he replied sheepishly. “It could’ve gone better.” He caught the spear, grateful for her foresight since he’d forgotten to mention for one of them to bring it in his excitement.

They stood four abreast in a defensive line while the wolves charged towards them. Alexander and Nathan held the center since their spears had the longest reach while Iliana and Lilly took the wings. They would have more space for using their sword and mace close-range if they weren’t boxed in by their allies’ spears.

As the wolves neared, Nathan held his fused weapon out before him. As fast as the wolves were, he’d only have one chance to stop one before they got inside his spear’s reach. He knew the wolves were agile too, able to easily dodge spear thrusts as had happened in the previous battle.

He waited for the right moment, and stabbed as hard as he could, intent on not giving the wolf any time to react.

“Analyze Enemy!” he shouted. He regretted having to spend any EPs on the battle, but he needed to add the wolves to his compendium. His fusion skill received modifier bonuses from enemy information, so he intended to add every monster he could.

His fused spear pierced the wolf’s eye… and the weapon met no resistance. Blood and gore sprayed out in every direction as the wolf’s momentum caused it to impale itself further, the creature’s face and body slicing like an onion peel where it met the razor sharp horn tip. Green glowing energy flowed out of the monster, channeling down his spear towards his hands. It flowed into him and merged with his core in a strange living sensation. His wristband lit up with a green glow, indicating he had a new entry for his compendium. The creature pixelated and disappeared even before it had finished its forward momentum.

Alexander fared better this time around too, though not with such a gruesome result. His spear smacked one of the wolves hard against the side of its head eliciting a yelp as the monster tumbled to the side of the trail. Like Nathan had advised him earlier, the Russian player had swung his spear instead of stabbed, the wide angle of his attack more forgiving of his inaccuracy against an agile target. The man hadn’t unlocked Blunt Weapons yet, so the style of attack was likely to gain him the corresponding weapon skill too.

Iliana slashed at her wolf in a similar manner too. Her powerful swing left a bloody gashed across the wolf’s face which she followed up with a killing stroke to the neck.

Lilly’s mace impacted the fourth wolf, catching the top of its head. After the one blow, it’s brain became a mushy mess. The monster quickly disappeared into glowing light.

The only surviving wolf was the one Alexander had struck. It regained its feet and limped back towards them. A silvery glow surrounded Alexander as he activated Monster Harvesting before he fatally speared the wounded enemy. The creature collapsed on the trail but didn’t turn into pixelated dust like the others. They would be allowed three minutes to harvest.

Alexander drew his steel knife and crouched next to the dead body.

“Its claws might be useful,” Nathan said. “But be careful of their poison, it really sucks.”

Alexander studied one of its paws and began slicing around a claw to remove it. Nathan wondered how the poison might be secreted out of them. He thought about snakes and how their venom glands produced the poison, not their fangs. Would the wolf’s claws even be useful without the accompanying mechanism that produced the poison?

“Make sure you don’t sever any poison sacs attached to the claws,” he cautioned.

Iliana said, “This will take forever. Step back.” She held her scimitar in the air like a headsman’s axe.

Alexander saw her meaning and scrambled back. Iliana swung her blade down and severed one of its paws mid leg. Yep, that would do it.

Not satisfied to stop there, she chopped off its other three paws too. Alexander grabbed one of the paws and began skinning it with his knife. Nathan averted his eyes while the two worked, but his mind was still consumed with theories.

“Iliana, can you please chop the wolf body apart as much as you can?” he asked, grimacing at his own bloody suggestion. “We need to test how much of its body will remain and how much will pixelate after the time limit.”

She said nothing but he saw her comply when she beheaded the creature with one swift stroke of her blade. He had to turn his back and take a few steps away as the continued butchering sounds reached his ears. He took deep breaths to keep his nausea at bay. He urgently needed a distraction. He glanced down at his green glowing wristband and decided to go ahead and check out his messages.

[Banewolf (Tier 1) added to Enemy Compendium.]

[Your (4) participating group members have been awarded 3 NPs each (3.5 NPs - 15% modifier) for the defeat of four tier 1 monsters.]

[Due to your victory over a tier 1 monster with a ranged weapon, you have learned Ranged Weapons I.]

His eyes went wide at the unexpected skill reward before intense muscular pain overwhelmed his body. He gritted his teeth, bearing the pain as best as he could manage. Once his body relaxed, he sat back up. For a moment he savored the physical well-being provided by the Physical stat gains. Then his stomach cramped in hunger.

“You okay, Nathan?” Iliana asked. The tanned woman was wiping her bloody sword with a large leaf to limited success.

“Yeah, a little hungry but otherwise feeling pretty good. But it’s weird. I somehow learned the Ranged Weapons skill.”

“From that amazing spear throw?” Lilly asked from further down the trail, her amusement evident. Nathan figured Iliana’s teasing manner had to be rubbing off on the taller Kenyan player. He had say, he preferred Lilly’s more tasteful sense of humor better than the crude shock value of the Bulgarian woman’s jokes.

“Yeah, it was pretty amazing, right?” he boasted with a self-deprecating grin. “But I would’ve thought I needed to at least hit the target to learn a skill, but I guess not.”

“It is strange,” she said with a contemplative expression. “We’ve thrown rocks at tier 1 monsters before. Why did we never gain the skill before?”

“Maybe rocks don’t count as weapons?” Alexander suggested. He was still peeling free the flesh from the wolf’s claws with his knife.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Lilly said. “An object is a weapon based on intent. If I crush the head of my enemy with a rock, then my rock is a weapon.”

Nathan nodded his approval. Too bad Mr. Rock wasn’t present to hear the compliment she’d paid to rock-kind.

Alexander shook his head. “None of my group’s players learned any weapon skills from using rocks either. Even against tier 1 pig men.”

“Hmm,” Nathan pondered aloud. “Both Maya and I learned Pole Weapons with a self-fashioned staff so I don’t see why rocks wouldn’t count. I agree with Lilly that they should be considered weapons.”

Alexander shrugged. “I think so too, but rocks still don’t give weapon skills.”

Nathan nodded in acceptance. He couldn’t really argue with the evidence even though the mechanics were strange. Another opaque Tygerion design choice?

Lilly said, “Can you read your new skill description, Nathan? Which elemental affinity does Ranged Weapons have?”

“Sure, one sec.” He opened his interface and read it aloud.

[Ranged Weapons I: Requirements - Water 2. (Learn basic techniques and muscle memory for using bows, crossbows, slings, thrown weapons, and other ranged weaponry.) (Gain +2 Physical.)]

Nathan said, “So I received another +2 Physical, nice! That puts me at 138. Anyway, we now know Ranged Weapons is Water’s weapon skill. I honestly hadn’t expected that.”

“Makes sense to me,” Lilly said. “With Water Primes having healing abilities, maybe they aren’t meant as melee fighters, but instead will assume ranged and support roles? Regardless, both Wood and Metal Primes will have easy access to the ranged skill too. It will be an easy unlock since all it takes is one badly thrown spear for a free +2 Physical stat.” She smiled teasingly at Nathan.

“Alright, alright,” Nathan said. “I bet with my new skill my next throw will be a lot better. Anyway, if we can find my spare spear, wherever it is in the forest, Iliana and Alexander can learn the ranged skill next battle too.”

He glanced over to the horror scene of the mutilated banewolf. As curious as he was about the results of their experiment, he didn’t want to see for himself. “So which parts of the wolf disappeared?”

“Its head is gone,” Iliana said.

“And the front half of its body too,” Lilly added.

“So everything else remained?” Nathan asked.

“Yes,” Alexander confirmed. “I think what disappeared is its brain and heart and everything still attached to either.”

Nathan nodded. “Interesting. Okay, our next logical test will be to extract those two organs from a monster and see if the remainder of the body stays.” He thought about how he wouldn’t be doing the grisly task himself and added, “Assuming you guys and gals are willing to try. I really appreciate the harvesting efforts you all are doing.”

Alexander nodded. “No problem. Yes, this is a good plan I think.”

Iliana smiled, “Thanks! I’ll try it!”

Lilly nodded. “So, you added the wolves to your compendium? What does it say about them?”

Nathan was dying to know too. He switched to his Enemy Compendium tab and read his new entry for all to hear.

[Banewolf (Tier 1):]

[Physical: 116.]

[Mental: 45.]

[Elemental Affinities: Water 7 (Prime), Wood 1, Metal 1, Earth -1, Fire -6.]

[Skills: Banewolf Poison.]

[Rewards: 3 NPs.]

[Possible Loot: Banewolf claw - rare, Poison orb - epic.]

“Never seen either of those loot drops before,” Alexander said. “Except for the claws when we harvested them manually just now.”

“Me neither,” Nathan said. “Did you see a poison orb anywhere in its body while hacking it apart?”

“No,” Iliana said.

“Hmm, each monster has an orb on its loot list,” Nathan observed. “Maybe they’re located in the heart or brain so disappear along with it? Or maybe the only way to get them might be from a lucky loot drop?”

He received a few shrugs from his teammates in reply. Nathan decided they’d spent enough time here already. “Let’s leave the monster parts here for now,” Nathan suggested. “We can collect them on our way back.”

“Won’t some scavenger come by and steal the carcass?” Lilly said.

Nathan paused, considering. “We haven’t seen any evidence of scavenger animals in the arena but I agree it's a very real possibility. But unfortunately all of the body parts are too bulky to carry with us. For insurance, let’s take one of the paws with its claws just in case the rest of the parts are stolen.”

“Let’s just go already,” Iliana urged impatiently. “I want some of those big melons.” She held her hands out as if holding them at her chest and laughed.

He chuckled despite himself. The joke wasn’t really his style of humor but he appreciated her efforts to keep the mood light.

For the monster parts, he decided to take a fully intact paw instead of the one Alexander had already been stripping since it would be less bloody for transport. He put it in his only empty back pocket with the poisoned claws carefully facing away from his body. It was probably not the safest way to carry it, but he had no better option.

They found his spear in the underbrush after five frustrating minutes of searching, then they returned to the trail to resume their hike. They hadn’t gone far before Nathan spotted slender brown vines that triggered his survival skill in his mind. The skill suggested they could bind things together. He thought it would be perfect as a substitute for the leather strap in the beaver horn spear recipe. He took three long sections of the vines, stripping off their blooms and leaves, and looped the vines around his shoulder to his waist like a bandolier. He once again wished he had a bag to carry all the random things he tended to collect while hiking.

The trail terrain switched from rolling hills to a slight steady incline. After fifteen minutes of hiking uphill, the trail eventually opened out of the forest into grassy fields about waist high. A few minutes of travel later, they arrived at the edge of a deep valley, covered in a sea of thick grass that collectively rippled as they blew in the wind.

For the first time since being in the arena, Nathan could see over the distant landscape, his view unimpeded by forest. He could make out a distant waterfall, among many other natural wonders. Or unnatural, he supposed, given the artificial nature of the arena world. The beautiful sight still managed to steal his breath away as he marveled for a few moments.

He then took note of a few of the valley’s strategic features; mainly noting the trail descending steeply downhill and then going back up again on the other side. The entire valley was about four times as deep as their own valley creek encampment to the South and at least a quarter mile wide.

Alexander veered left, leading them off-trail along the edge of the hilltop. He took them a hundred yards, wading through the waist-high grass, before stopping. The grass had given way to thick green vines which covered the ground in a tangled mess about a foot high. Large green melons were visibly growing off the plants.

“The melons are as beautiful as I dreamed,” Iliana said. She took a step forward to pluck one.

A quick glance at his EP counter displaying 34 suggested their next attack would happen within a minute.

“Iliana, let’s get ready for the attack first, then it's melon time,” Nathan said.

“Aw,” she groaned. Despite her disappointment, she returned to her position beside her teammates. Lilly and Iliana exchanged weapons for the fight. Lilly would use the scimitar to unlock Blade Weapons and Iliana wielded the other woman’s mace to gain Blunt Weapons, the skill still having eluded her to this point. Nathan gave his spare spear to Alexander so he could throw it for Ranged Weapons.

They were soon attacked by three wolves and six beavers. Nathan was happy to see more of the tier 0 rodents since they needed more horns to fuse improved spears.

The vine-covered field made for an awkward battlefield for the players, but it was even more difficult for the monsters since they were the ones attacking. The players only had to hold defensive positions.

Alexander’s ranged attempt was even worse than his, his late release causing the spear to land five yards in front of him, sticking up out of the ground at an angle. He looked at the others with a shrug before gathering his other spear to use in melee.

Nathan, Lilly, and Iliana killed one wolf each while Alexander took care of the beavers as they rushed forward one at a time.

Both Iliana and Alexander were able to use Monster Harvesting on a beaver each during the fight. The Russian player immediately set to work removing the horns from his beaver. For the other, Iliana took her scimitar back from Lilly and performed Nathan’s organ extraction experiment by beheading it and then working to cut out its heart. Nathan’s entry of the horned beavers in his compendium stated they could potentially drop an EP orb, so he asked her to search for one as she worked. Unfortunately, she didn’t find any orbs in either the heart or brain after crudely chopping both apart.

Once the three minute harvesting time limit was up, both the head and heart of her beaver pixelated, leaving behind the rest of the dead carcass. The experiment confirmed the two organs were the key to the monster’s pixelation. Alexander managed to extract one of the horns before his beaver disappeared as well, adding it to their pool of monster parts.

The smooth fight gained each player another 4.5 NPs after his Group Leader 15% NP bonus. It brought Nathan’s total back up to 25.

Since they now had a horn, a vine binding, an extra goblin spear, and he had the required EPs, he could fuse another spear. But Nathan’s Wilderness Survival skill was screaming at him that the fruit was delicious. He would have to eat first and then craft.

Iliana had similar thoughts, not waiting to check her pending interface messages to learn her new weapon skill. She ferociously hacked a melon in half with her scimitar and devoured the greenish flesh inside. Nathan wondered briefly how quickly her sword would become dull being used for every menial task as it was. He needed to figure out how to get her a whetstone to keep the blade sharp. Perhaps the weapons vendor would have one?

With prodding from the others, Iliana reluctantly stopped eating long enough to slice three more melons in half for her teammates. Nathan accepted his melon eagerly and took a bite. It was so sweet. The juice was refreshing and helped quench the needy thirst generated from the hike.

He ate until he was full and then ate some more. Nathan was sure he would probably get sick later, overeating too much fruit usually messed up his stomach. But he found he didn’t care at the moment. He just hoped his currently active First Aid recovery buff would help him out if that happened. What good was science magic if it didn’t help with an upset stomach?

Having a full belly for the first time since being in the arena also did wonders for his psyche. He was hopeful. Things had been going really well today - at least relative to yesterday - so he was optimistic about their chances in succeeding. They might not all die.

Lilly suddenly froze in her movements and cocked her head. Iliana began to say something but the taller woman shushed her. Nathan became fully alert as he got the impression she was listening to something. Then he heard it too. A frog croaking. No wait… make that frogs, plural. The sounds echoed across the valley. While the sound normally wouldn’t be cause for alarm back on Earth, it was the first he’d heard any such noise since arriving in the arena. Anything new meant danger. The players each dropped their partially eaten melons and readied their weapons.

Nathan glanced at his EP counter and frowned. 37 EPs. It wasn’t time for a scheduled monster attack.

Across the valley, he could barely make out movement on the far trail. He crouched down and signaled for the others to do likewise. The way the melon-covered hill sloped downward, his team had to be fully visible to whatever was on the other side like they were to them. It was just a question if the things were observant enough to look their way. His team remained silent and motionless, trying their best to not draw attention.

As the movement descended the opposite hill, he could soon make out several distinct forms. He strained his eyes but still wasn’t sure what they were. The croaking continued to echo across the distance. Were these some kind of frog monsters?

The distant forms continued down the trail at the same steady pace. If Nathan and his team had been spotted, the creatures hadn’t done anything to let on.

Soon, the monsters reached the crevasse of the valley where the ground evened out. Nathan had a better look at them now. They walked upright, appearing humanoid in shape. There were four of them, marching two by two in unison carrying crude wooden spears like the guthark tribesmen. But they weren’t actually guths. They were bigger, considerably fatter, and croaked instead of yipped. Maybe they were tier 2 versions of the goblins?

He glanced at his team. It would be an even fight, four against four, if they chose to engage. But that was if they made a fair fight, which would be dumb. He planned to make it as uneven as he could. Ambushing the monsters would gain them a massive advantage, ending the fight as soon as it began.

Nathan whispered to his team, “They are going to pass us by on the trail. We can either hide and let them go by, possibly letting them go onwards to our base, or we can ambush them here with the element of surprise.”

Matching his whisper, Lilly said, “We don’t know what these things are or what they’re capable of. The only other time we fought anything between scheduled attacks was against a mini-boss with a flaming sword... and we only barely won.”

Alexander whispered, “Didn’t you gain +2 Fire affinity and your headdress from that battle? I think the reward is worth the risk.”

Iliana said, “And my hair was burnt off too.” Her voice was slightly louder than the rest of them.

Lilly shushed her the same time Nathan whispered, “Keep your voice down, please.”

Iliana’s eyes went wide and she mouthed, “Sorry.”

Nathan nodded to her in acknowledgement. “If we ambush them, that will make it a lot less risky. We need those extra NPs, affinities, and skills.”

“I agree,” Alexander said.

The monsters had begun their ascent up the trail on the player’s side of the valley, temporarily disappearing from view due to the hill’s angle.

Nathan looked back at his teammates. “We need to decide quickly. Are you both in?” he asked the two undecided players.

“I guess so,” Iliana said. She nodded to herself, then added, “I mean, yes, I am.”

Lilly spent a few moments contemplating before she finally nodded in agreement too.

With the decision made, Nathan began crouch-walking back towards the trail where the monsters would soon pass by, hopefully unaware of their presence. His team followed, staying low and silent in the grass.

The monsters became louder as they neared. Nathan thought they might be talking with each other the way they took turns creating strings of various styles of croaking.

Nathan’s team reached the trail well before the frogs came into view. He was relieved by the perfect ambush conditions. The waist high grass to either side of the trail would conceal them entirely as they laid in wait. He quickly whispered in each player’s ear, “Wait for me to start the attack. We take one each. Use your best combat skill to kill it as fast as possible.”

He gestured for Alexander and Iliana to stay on the melon side of the trail while he and Lilly crossed to the other. That would keep one spear and one close-ranged weapon on each side of their trap.

Nathan laid flat on his belly next to Lilly, closest to the walking monsters. The grass was thick enough the monsters would never see them until it was too late. At least he hoped they wouldn’t. To be honest, he was more worried they’d be smelt than seen. They hadn’t exactly been maintaining the best hygiene.

Nathan checked his EP counter to see he now had 39. He would have several options. He could make two Snare activations at 16 EPs each. Or for 13 EPs he could use his Attack Up skill for 35% extra damage. He figured it also wouldn’t be a bad idea to cast Analyze Enemy for only 8 EPs to add the new monsters to his compendium. Or lastly, he could save at least 20 EPs for an emergency First Aid. But if everything went to plan, they wouldn’t need any healing.

The first two monsters partially came into Nathan’s view through the grass. He could see their large reptilian bipedal legs. But Frogs were amphibians, weren’t they? He corrected his previous thinking; he could see they had two large amphibian legs. The feet were clawed in a way that reminded Nathan of the velociraptors in Jurassic Park, which sent a shiver down his spine. But dinosaurs were reptiles, right? He restrained himself from shaking his head in annoyance at his own silly thoughts. He knew his mind was only trying to distract himself from his nervousness.

Any moment now. Once he spotted the legs of the back two monsters, he took a deep breath. Now!

Nathan sprang to his feet, his fused spear stabbing forward in the same motion. He had decided to go for maximum damage, intent on a killing blow with his first strike. “Attack Up!” he roared and red Fire energy from his core suffused his muscles and spear. His skill announcement also had the dual purpose of signaling his teammates to strike. He pierced the right rear marching creature in its bulging frog-like throat.

Now that he could see the shorter monster clearly, he noticed its large crocodile snout and fat bulbous body. His fused spear penetrated the bulging brown leathery skin stretched over its throat, but not nearly as easily as he expected. Even with the additional attack damage from his skill, the razor sharp horn tip still stopped only a third of the way through the creature’s neck, which from all appearances should’ve been its most vulnerable area. Geez, these things were tough. But despite the thickness of its skin, his surprise attack proved enough to deal lethal damage. He pulled his spear out and green fluid, possibly its blood, gushed out of the creature’s wound in buckets. The frogman fell to the ground with a gurgled croak.

He heard Lilly, Alexander, and Iliana shout their own skill activations in their native languages as they each hit their own mark.

Unexpected movement from his right made him instinctively jump back. A blade whooshed downward through the air right where he’d been standing.

His heart leapt into his throat. There’s a fifth freaking monster!

Nathan had only an instant to raise his spear in time to block a follow-up swing from the unexpected enemy. His fused spear shaft caught the blade, and he muttered a silent thanks that it didn’t slice in half from the impact. The fusion process had improved the spear’s durability too.

The new surprise assailant had green skin and was a foot shorter than its brown spear wielding brothers. The fat creature wielded a one handed gladius sword like a Roman legionnaire from antiquity. It wore a set of leather bracers similar to Nathan’s own.

Nathan was too close to the enemy to maneuver his longer weapon so he slammed upwards with the butt end of his spear into the monster’s crocodile snout. It reeled back but maintained its balance. It released a string of angry croaks from its bulging throat. A silvery glow began to surround the frogman and its gladius. It’s using a Metal skill!

Nathan didn’t want to find out what the unknown skill did. As a Wood Prime, he was weakest to the Metal element. He decided it wasn’t wise to conserve the rest of his combat skills against this enemy.

He reached in his pocket and retrieved a small stone. “Snare!” he shouted as he zipped it towards the sword assailant. A green flash confirmed it struck the unsuspecting creature and vines began to spread over its body from the point of impact. It croaked and began struggling against its restraints, trying to slash at the growing vine prison with its short sword.

Nathan didn’t waste a moment before spearing the distracted creature through its throat. Green blood flowed over the beaver horn as he yanked it out. The ease of the spear sliding through its bulging throat skin suggested the smaller green frogman was frailer than its larger brown brothers. Without waiting to see if the monster pixelated, he turned to assist his teammates.

Lilly, who was next to him, had paralyzed her adversary with her Stun skill during her initial surprise mace bludgeoning to the head. She followed it up by smashing down over and over again, violently crushing the creature’s skull. The bloated enemy quickly collapsed to the ground under the brutal onslaught, proving that blunt weapons were effective against the creatures, at least when applied to their heads.

Directly across from him, Iliana, with the help of her Thrust skill and its defense ignoring ability, had apparently over-penetrated her enemy. Her sword was buried deep all the way up to her hand in the enemies’ scaly torso and extending out its back in gory detail. But the sword was stuck. Iliana struggled to pull her sword free of the monster’s chest, the hilt slippery with green blood. She needed to show some restraint with that overpowered skill, he thought to his chagrin. A less powerful attack would’ve been enough to do the job and not disarm her in the process.

The impaled monster croaked in agony, which apparently activated a skill because it became surrounded by a yellow energy glow. The skill seemed to rally it long enough to lash at Iliana with its clawed hand, swiping her across the face. She screamed out, clutching at her wound as she fell off the trail back into the tall grass.

“Iliana!” Nathan shouted in concern.

The mortally wounded creature collapsed immediately after, Iliana’s scimitar still buried in its chest.

Alexander was having the most difficult time with his enemy, finding his crude wooden spear unable to do more than give surface wounds to his tough skinned foe. The two exchanged spear thrusts at a distance, each dodging or blocking the other’s strikes. The frogman croaked loudly and became surrounded by a red Fire energy glow. Its movements sped up considerably, and it rushed towards Alexander. It began bashing downward at the man with its spear, putting the Russian player on the defensive as he backed further into the grass off the trail.

Nathan considered launching his spear at the enemy, but he was afraid the unpracticed technique might hit his own teammate. As Nathan moved forward into melee range to assist, a strange shimmer in Nathan’s periphery drew his attention to the left of the two combatants, on the opposite side from him. The shimmer resolved into another of the smaller green frogmen, adding a sixth enemy to the battle. Those sneaky frogs! The small green ones seemed to have some kind of chameleon camouflaging technique. Similar to the one Nathan had killed, this one also wielded a gladius which slashed at Alexander’s unsuspecting flank.

“Watch out!” Nathan cried out, unable to help in time.

Alexander was too slow to react, his attention still on defending against the brown frogman’s spear swings. The unseen enemy sword caught Alexander’s elbow, severing his arm in half in an instant. Blood spurted in a stream from his new stump. Alexander screamed in pure agony as he dropped his spear to clutch at his missing appendage. Now defenseless, the brown frogman hit him in the face with the side of his spear.

An instant later, the green frogman’s sword swing caught Alexander's neck, decapitating the player. The Russian player’s severed head pixelated before it even touched the ground. His body glowed and disappeared in glittering light an instant later.

Nathan stared in shocked horror. His scream remained trapped in his own throat. He couldn’t wrap his mind around his singular thought. He’s dead...

“Alexander, no!” Lilly cried out. She leapt over her downed enemy to engage the killer green frogman. Her bold attack surprised the creature. Lilly’s mace crushed its head in a single blow before it could react.

From Lilly’s now exposed flank, the remaining brown frogman swung its spear. Lilly had no time to dodge so she instead raised her free forearm. With a loud crack, the spear collided with her blocking arm. A yellow flash from the impact indicated her Defense Up buff triggered to reduce the received damage. As she pushed the spear away, it was remarkable to see the woman’s arm wasn’t broken, though she winced in pain and cradled it to her side protectively. Her passive Tough Skin skill synergized with her active defense buff or else the result would’ve been much worse.

The frogman readied its spear to swing at her again, sensing the weakness in his adversary.

Nathan blinked as he realized he was gaping dumbly. The shock of seeing Alexander’s sudden death had paralyzed him as surely as being hit with Lilly’s Stun skill. It had only been five seconds since his teammate’s death, but events seemed like they were playing out in slow motion in front of him. His hands clenched his spear. No, he wouldn’t be a spectator.

Almost unconsciously, he raised his spear and launched it forward. His Pole Weapons and Ranged Weapons skills worked seamlessly in tandem, guiding his movements as he released the fused spear in a javelin throw. The enhanced weapon rocketed into the side of the brown frogman from only three yards away.

The creature croaked in surprise as the spear penetrated its fat round body. A flash of yellow energy appeared on the frogman’s skin where the spear pierced, most likely activating a defensive skill of its own. The projectile only sunk into surface flesh four inches deep, not nearly enough, showcasing the frogman’s incredible defenses. But the distraction the attack provided was long enough for Lilly to bury her mace in its face. The frogman crumpled backwards.

Lilly began bashing her mace on the downed foe with her good arm, screaming in such uncontrolled rage that spittle flew from her lips. The creature, unable to respond, somehow continued to survive her brutal attacks. Its stubborn will to live seemed to intensify her anger.

“Lilly, that’s enough!” Nathan shouted, knowing they didn’t have time to spare. His mind was catching up with the situation as he tried to maintain a clear head. “Please help Iliana, she’s hurt! It’ll be easier for me to finish off the wounded frogmen with my spear.”

Lilly hit the creature twice more before she ceased her brutal assault. She blinked at Nathan with unfocused eyes. Then she took a deep breath, seeming to finally process his words. She nodded wordlessly before moving to Iliana who was crying out, hidden somewhere in the grass.

Nathan surveyed the battlefield. Three of the six enemy bodies hadn’t disappeared, meaning they weren’t actually dead yet. As much as he needed to render aid to his surviving teammates, he couldn't discount the possibility the hardy frogmen could be playing possum, hoping to ambush them as soon as they turned their backs.

Nathan collected his fused spear, pulling it from the side of the brown frogman along with a pool of green blood. He quickly stabbed downward into its throat, causing the creature to pixelate in response.

He next moved to the green frogman that had killed Alexander, his teammate and the father of an unborn child. He stood above the monster, hesitating a moment as he contemplated the nature of his bloody task. Not wanting to drag the execution out any longer than necessary, he pushed conflicting thoughts to the side, aimed his spear, and plunged it in its throat.

As he pulled his weapon out of its flesh, sunlight glinted off a silver object under the creature’s neck flap. It was partially hidden by the way the frogman’s throat bulged in and out as it breathed. Nathan nearly let go of his spear in astonishment as he recognized it.

A quick glance found a matching bracelet with a blue stone on its arm. In the heat of battle, he hadn’t noticed the distinctive accessories on the creatures. His mouth went dry as he stumbled back. A wave of nausea threatened to empty his stomach, but he managed to hold it together, in no doubt thanks to his improved Physical and Mental stats.

The green frogman began to glow, pixelating into a thousand glittering diamonds and dispersing, the silver collar and bracelet disappearing with its body.

Movement in his periphery made him turn his head. The last remaining enemy, the brown frogman Lilly had initially downed, had sprung to its feet. It glanced at Nathan, green blood dripping off its snout and out of one of its ruined eyes. Nathan readied his spear in a defensive posture anticipating its attack, but instead the creature turned away. It began sprinting as fast as its feet could carry it down the trail.

Nathan blanched. The monster was fleeing, likely to warn its friends.

No, not monster, he corrected himself. Player.