As soon as Auron's feet crossed the invisible boundary separating the jungle from the crater, a *bing* went off in his head from the system.

You have entered the Tropical Falls Languway Dungeon. Dungeon rank 2. Recommended party size: 4. Dungeons are known for their promise of two things, Treasure and death.

As he began to fall forward from the mentally straining mana saturation, Zander jumped down and grabbed him by the hood.

Just before, Zander had jumped away to watch the events. The familiar had hoped Auron would not have made this mistake again, but he was smart enough to be prepared. The look he had given Auron before was hard to make out on his reptilian face, but it was one of knowing Auron would do something stupid.

As Auron gently cradled his throbbing head, he looked over at Zander. "You going to grow in size again?" Auron croaked out.

[No. This dungeon is the same rank as that purple one from earlier. I regained some lost mana from that, so this level of ambient mana will do nothing for me. Perhaps in a higher ranked dungeon. I doubt it will matter by then. When you reach level twenty, I will have access to my fully grown form. Well, partially, at least.]

"Is that why I did not fully pass out this time? Wait. Just how much bigger are you going to get? My poor shoulders." As Auron quickly recovered, he mockingly rubs his shoulders while making a face.

[I believe it is level ten that you can handle a rank two. My mind is fuzzy on the topic because it is not something I ever had to pay attention to.]

"I miss you being the size of my hand."

[You fool. This is not even my final form.]

Auron struggled to stifle a laugh at the phrase Zander unknowingly put out so casually. Zander's serious expression dragged it out of him entirely.

Standing slowly, Auron wobbled a little, but then felt back to normal after pausing a second. He would try to remember to be more careful approaching unknown areas in the future.

A drip of scarlet fluid on his glove alerted him to a bleeding nose. The close contact with the higher leveled dungeon must have had a physical effect. Even though he was not missing any health, a cast of healing wind calmed him and felt great on his skin. Summoning his bucket, he used a great deal of strength to tip it over slightly. The rush of water was more than enough for him to scoop up and clean his face. After a few moments of collecting himself, Auron stood and came up with a plan.

Pulling up a map of the area, he could see where he had been so far and where he hadn't. After concentrating for a while, he slowly began to understand the properties of the map on his slate screen and made some manual adjustments. While he did so, Zander hopped on his shoulders.

Looking over to the nearest tree, he turned to Zander. "Can you get us up onto one of those branches?" He asked.

Without an answer, Zander gripped Auron while draped him like a fancy scarf and summoned a whirlwind to throw them both toward the sky. A more gentle wind nudged them from the sides as they landed on the thick branch several meters higher than the ground they were just on. Repeating the process once more, Auron reached out and grasped the thinnest part of the trunk toward the top of the tree. Their foothold now half the size as the first branch they landed on and less likely to hold their weight for long.

Auron swept his eyes over the landscape. The tree they were all was hardly the tallest, but he was able to confirm that their destination was on the other side of the dungeon below them. Looking over to the right of the hole, he saw the mountain range that bordered the entire area. Adding the details to his map, he came up with a plan as he heard his foothold begin to creak. "Heading down now," He yelled to Zander as he leaped from the branch.

Butterflies filled his stomach, and Auron could not help but smile as they fell back toward the earth only for his familiar to catch them in a ball of wind.

Auron looked at his mental artwork and sighed. He would not be winning any awards, but it would have to suffice. Drawing the map on paper might have been easier. As he looked at the screen in front of him, he wished for a magical pen.

With their destination in mind, Auron walked back to the area where he took a bath. Silently he hoped to see that person again.

As he crossed over the natural rock bridge and the two made their way into the jungle. As he looked around, there was no sign of the girl. With a sigh, he continued walking back to his root fortress that he had slept in earlier.

As he forged more mushrooms and put them all together, he was delighted that they all only took up one slot. As they marched back to the water, over the bridge, and toward their destination, he was confident they would do well on their journey. The addition of water on hand was the main reason for this confidence. Though there was a twinge of guilt in his gut, he knew deep down he would bring it back when he could.

As Auron walked, he kept his guard up and used the still version of Stealth whenever he heard a noise. At his request, Zander would shoot up above the canopy and check that they were moving in line with the mountain range, far enough away from the cliff that separated the jungle from the dungeon.

The plants and bugs left them be for the majority of their trek. However, Zander did smack a Remington battle out of the air when it became territorial. Auron shook his head in annoyance and raised an eyebrow with the obvious question of what the hell, Zander, simply replied that he does not like bugs.

After hours of their slow and careful crawl through the Rain forest, the two came upon one of the structures they had seen from their perch in the tree earlier. Auron was exhausted. Frequently he looked at his health bar expecting his aching muscles to make a negative change to his total health.

Even though they had reached their destination, Auron needed to rest. For an hour, they sat as he periodically drank from his neverending bucket of water.

The large wooden guard tower completely overrun with vines and small wildlife. Auron did not feel well-rested, but he was in a much better condition now. They could not waste any more time trying to find civilization, and this tower would give them the proper view to do so hopefully. As he put his hand on a moss-covered rung of a ladder leading up, Auron was pleased to find the structure seemed strong.

Auron climbed and climbed for a very long time. His Arms screamed from the exertion caused by bringing up both him and his lazy familiar. By the time he reached the peak of the tower, he was out of breath.

The flat spacious wooden top of the tower had no guardrails, its height poking out of the treeline. The surface of the platform was so broad Auron would need to jog to get to one side of it quickly.

The floor of the tower, littered with the remains of mostly eaten fruits and berries, made Auron question who or what had been here. Burns in the wood covered the area as well.

He walked over to touch one of the scorch-marks when noises caught his attention.

A series of barks, yips, and grunts rang out from the base of the tower. Auron had to steady himself from the violent shaking, so he placed a hand on the wooden platform. He then crept over toward the edge in a hybrid movement made up of shuffling steps and the occasional crawl. Auron peered his head over the side. His eyes widened as he watched a dozen primate-like creatures threw themselves upward towards his position with ease. His eyes glowed red as his observational skill activated.

Danger level: Medium Colors: Varied

Using the four main beams holding the top of the tower up from the ground and the crossing beams of the structure, the animals were halfway up in seconds. The construction going through a mini earthquake-like movement made Auron wish he had not eaten that day.

He scrambled to the other side of the platform and looked over to confirm they approached from all sides. He looked at Zander and knew they could likely just jump off and run away, but Auron was trying to be different. The skinny kid who found himself in a poisonous swamp would not survive here. He was a Rouge and had wind magic now; he would not run away, no. He would stand and fight.

Another reassuring thought for him was that Zander could likely decimate anything that Auron may have a struggle. If wind domination was not an option, he knew they could probably escape. Overconfidence for his familiar was something he would not quell. Auron felt pride in having such a reliable partner.

As the creatures reached the edge of the platform, their brown furry fingers gripped it, and they all flipped up onto it one after the other. Their knuckles matched the thick bristle-like coat of brown fur they all had.

Auron walked to the middle of the platform and took in a deep breath. When he released it, he focused on stopping the slight shake in his hands and brought out his dagger. Slowly he then turned and met the eyes of the creatures now surrounding him and his familiar. Bright black eyes void of any thought stared back at him as they screamed and grinned, showing off large canine teeth. Jumping forward and backward, they walked around using their fists as well as their feet in some sort of intimidation dance intentionally showing their butts off for some reason.

Auron noted some of the monkeys had brightly colored butts of one primary color. He recognized the glow of mana emanating off of those. The ones without the colors were slightly smaller and had just a light brown colored flesh that matched their other exposed parts.

The monkeys on one side of the platform stepped apart, and Auron was contemplating escape when the platform shook one more time. Barely remaining on his feet from the excessive sway that followed Auron watched as a hairy fist twice the size of the others, and his own lifted a monkey a great deal larger than his six-foot height.

King prismatic Baboon danger level high

The size of this monkey was not the only thing different about it. It had an aura of wind magic wrapping around its gigantic frame. This massive creature even wore some sort of belt. The belt had several pouches hanging off of it bulging with a lumpy material. The King baboon began to dance with the others. Punching its fists out and hitting its chest. The monkey then did a handstand and began to clap its feet toward Auron in a mocking gesture.

As to answer Auron's theory about the colors of their butts, the lead Baboon then flipped back onto its feet and faced its green butt toward Auron. Looking over its shoulder, the monkey then screamed a single bark at Auron as it wiggled its rear tauntingly. The bark, infused with wind mana, knocked him off of his feet and silenced the other monkeys. Their silence was short-lived as they all pointed and howled with amusement as Auron hit the wooden planks hard.

[Their butts Auron! Look at their butts!] Zander sent frantically over their link. Auron nodded in response, and Zander understood that his partner was growing and had already made the observation.

As he got back to his feet, he gripped his dagger tightly with his right hand. Summoning a coating of wind mana to his left, he then remembered what Zander taught him about not needing to place the source of magic only on his hands. Auron decided then to wrap the mana around him. As he prepared, three of the largest monkeys quickly ran over to the King one and were all taking something from it. This meeting taking their attention, gave Auron a blessed amount of time to work with his magic.

The process took a great deal of his concentration. The wind did not respond very well to him shaping it. He somehow knew he was right about what he was trying for though.

This was a spell he should have access to. Mentally gripping the power gifted to him through his link with Zander, he forced the wind to spin around him. The visualization of Zander's wind barriers helped greatly. Auron heard the system sound. *Bing*

Wind barrier discovered. Wrapping wind mana around yourself, you are able to deflect projectiles and temporarily increase small movements. The wind will respond to your movement and push you in the desired direction. Duration 60 seconds. Mana cost 20. This magic can be charged, but you lack the foundation for learning the next tier skill.

As Auron activated this new magic, he felt and saw streams of airflow in a bubble around him.

[Impressive Auron.] Zander sent over the short message, and Auron was thrilled with the praise.

The monkeys all seemed to step slightly back from the center when Auron activated his magic, but a deep bark from their king showed where their fear truly lied.

Auron did not want to waste any time with his barrier active, so he rushed forward. As he closed in on the edge of their circle, a gust of wind pushed him backward. The mega monkey did not appreciate Auron's rushing of their procedure.

Finishing their exchange, the three bigger monkeys all swarmed back to their places, spaced out randomly among the smallest creatures. They now even surround Auron and Zander on the square platform once again. The three then gripped the objects with both hands in a motion mirrored lead by their king. Each one of the objects took on a different color. The king and three larger monkeys then tossed the objects around to the others as if they were too hot to hold. Each and every time Auron tried to rush forward, he was pushed back by foreign wind. Losing his patience, he decided just to wait, and take on whatever they had planned.

Whipped up into a frenzy, seeing Auron's magic as a challenge to its authority, the King baboon began slamming its fists down as it rocked back and forth. After its outburst, it stood to its full height and crossed its arms over a puffed out chest, not partaking anymore in the magical game of hot potato. It then sounded out two bark-like yips. At the sound, the smallest of the monkeys hurriedly clambered forward. The circle of baboons then started to pass the glowing objects back and forth with higher speed at a blurred pace.

Auron quickly scanned the circle noticing only four colors were present in total. Softly glowing Red, blue, yellow, and a more brightly glowing green item. No sign of the other four colors of mana gave Auron a slight relief. His relief was short-lived as the runt in front of him jumped straight up and caught the red item.

Throwing it directly at Auron's feet, a fireball erupted as he jumped to avoid the projectile. His movement aided by the increase in speed given from his wind barrier. The wind pushing him in his chosen direction would be something he would have to get used to. He slid on the ground a little harder than expected. He did not slide far enough, though, because the flame still touched too close. The force of the heat removed fifty health just from the proximity of the fire. Auron decided he did not want to see the damage if hit directly.

The monkeys on the sidelines all continued dancing as one of them threw a blue rock to the air-born monkey as soon as it landed. Repeating its leap upward and throwing the blue rock broke summoning water, which raged out of it, extinguishing the flames from the previous throw, and smashing into Auron.

The force of the water slightly cast aside by his barrier, still knocked Auron backward into the line of monkeys behind him. They Caught him, and threw him back with a rough push, toward the center as the monkey in the ring with him threw a yellow rock gifted to him by one of the observing mammals.

Auron's wind barrier did little to stem the electricity that sped through both him and Zander. Twitching violently and falling to the ground, all they could do was watch Auron's health bar tick down another hundred from the water and then the electrically charged attacks.

Auron still fighting against an involuntary twitch, pushed himself to his feet, and jumped out of the way of a green stone thrown by the monkey. This object breaking on the wooden floor unleashed a wind blast that rivaled Auron's magic. The wind swiftly cleared out all of the water. Auron now knew where all of the scorch marks had come.