It was barely half an hour in their exploration of the lake region when Sigmund's wounds were entirely fixed, and Gabriel knew he had recovered his Life to the max when he received Helping's Hand experience.

You have gained:

Class Level + 56%

Helping Hand Tier 4 + 56%

It wasn't only about maximizing experience and reducing costs, the reason why the giants preferred to heal naturally or with the help of Skills.

As Carla explained to him, Life potions were good for emergency situations, but if there was an option to heal up based only on a Recovery boost, it was always the right choice to take.

"Why is that?" Gabriel had asked.

"Well, Olive is much better than me, no? She's a magi-healer, ask her."

And Olive did indeed answer, "A Life potion does replenish Life, but it does not fix the body to its right conditions. I'll give you an example. If I lose an eye in battle and a lot of Life with it, and then I choose to take a Life potion, my Life will be replenished, but my wound will heal without restoring me back to what I was before the wound. However, suppose I allow my Recovery to heal or use a Recovery boosting Skill, even as basic as Helping Hand. In that case, my body will return to its original conditions, my eye will grow back, and my Life will be replenished."

"Holy shit… but what happens if I just need to take that Life potion, maybe to survive something? Will I lose, my… I don't know, foot…. forever?" Gabriel asked.

"Only momentarily, but you will need to go through the pain of having your art cut up once again, and then a Recovery based ability can speed up the healing process," she explained.

Gabriel nodded. It was good to know. Maybe his Recovery would be useful, after all.

The new region of the island was shaped very much like a stand-alone island on its own.

The lake's portion visible to Gabriel and Carla was much broader than the one the others could perceive. Their sight extended the clarity by three to four times as much as regular eyesight. So, where regular sight blurred, their vision was instead as clear as day and focusing, they could distinguish many more details; of course, that meant sacrificing the non-focused portions of the panorama.

Thus, what paved before them was a lake spanning roughly ten to fifteen square miles, one gigantic waterfall feeding water to it.

Inside the lake, sprouted islets, each with their minuscule ecosystem. The closest islet was within enhanced view distance. Thus, Gabriel could perfectly make out the details, even though portions of it were covered by dense bush.

"How are we going to get there without a boat?" Gabriel asked.

"Well, we have our umbrellas, but you guys could travel on water if you're scared," Dikez said, clearly intending Gabriel and Olive, "Olive's a water mage, after all."

"Yeah, I already thought that I head to shoulder all your weight, but since you've got your flying umbrellas, let's do as you said," Olivia answered.

They defined the strategy, then separated, the giant departing first, while Olive was still setting out her magic.

She waited for the party interface range to stop functioning before talking to Gabriel; she took him by the arm and turned toward him.

"What?" Gabriel asked, "Right here? Isn't it better later?"

"Oh, come on, Gabe! I should have never let you convince me into bedding you. You only think about that… now listen, really-"

"I don't always think about fucking; it was a jo-"

"Listen! We need to get out of here. I was too taken from the new experience, and the flying and believing that we've made it past our persecutors, but I was wrong. I think they're onto us."

"What? How do you know?"

"I- It's a sort of feeling… it comes from- from my" she lowered her voice, "Dark magic. Seriously, I can feel they are waiting for us," she said, tugging the arm on which her hand was pinching him like an eagle's talons.

"And you figured that out once we separated? Yesterday everything was fine, this morning too, are you sure your feelings can be trusted?"

"No- not one hundred percent sure… but I know it's gonna happen, sooner rather than later."

"Ok. Then I think we should speed up my training then, don't you think so? If we keep on running away, I will never build up the strength to protect myself, and we established that you are not exactly a fighter. Look at you. One water wall and you are still white as a ghost."

"That's just because water magic needs a source of water nearby, and since I can't feed it my Life points, it takes away from part of my vitality, but that's not the issue!" She paused and after that continued, more strongly than before, "What do you think? That you can level up and face them? You have no idea the difference between a level Tier 1 and a Tier 3; it's like heaven and earth! Those giants," she pointed at the flying trio in the distance, "they are Tier 3, which means at least forty levels higher than you! You can't hold a candle against me, and I'm still a Tier 2. Do you have any idea how long it would take you to handle just one Tier 3? Now think a whole party of them, six Tier 3, against you; what could you do? Nothing, that's what you could do. That is why I want to bring you to a place that will treat you and nurture you until even dealing with Tier 5 or 6 individuals will be just a warm-up for you. You are the Herald, Gabriel… but right now… you are just a child who has yet to evolve his first Basic Skill… you just can't do anything by yourself."

Gabriel could not answer. Even opening his mouth up was an exercise in futility because he had to shut it once again every time she added something new.

She's right… and yet… and yet, what if I level up? Isn't that supposed to help me become stronger?

"But why can't I just level up and face them? I leveled up thrice! Thrice! With one turtle, if I stay here just a few days, I could get up to level… I dunno, forty!" He said, convinced.

"You just don't know how it works, Gabriel. I'm sorry. Yes, you might even reach level 20 and get you Tier 2 here, or forty for Tier 3, but then that's it, no more bonuses. What more, once evolved, Skills don't Tier up the same way they do now; it becomes something else; strengthening evolved Skills takes time, training, discipline, understanding, not just monster kills. You'll find out in a while anyway, now let's just go… you need to figure out things yourself, and if we get caught into trouble once again… we'll let faith guide us." She finished, then she put her feet into the water, producing a wave of bubbles that expanded from its center, where her feet met the water, becoming then a stable boat that pushed the bubbles up and made them stand up on it without sinking.

She could have let them swim toward the islet, but this way, it was much faster, safer too; monsters littered the lakebed, after all.

Gabriel stood in silence, she still gripped his arm, but now it was only to not let him fall.

I am that weak, am I? Liz, what can we do about it? Liz shrugged, pensive.

Yeah, I've got no idea too.

I guess… I guess we need to give it our all.

He asked for some spirit balms from Olive, like any other Druid, would have dozens at the ready.

She did not only give him six spirit balms, which were essentially weird tablets that looked like small soap tablets. She even gave him Mana potions. Tier I Mana potions. They could replenish up to 30 points of Mana, sighing, "You're gonna be my ruin…"

By the time they got to the inlet, Sigmund, Carla, and Dikez had already taken down a couple of overly aggressive penguin looking creatures.

Upon using Analyze, Gabriel discovered that the beasts were called Kairuki Aggressors, and though their corpses had been ravaged, the scan did not show much more than that. He could still distinguish the electric blue of their furs; their beaks were short and stubby though they head a spiky crown sparkling with electricity.

"Fuckers had me scared. They jumped out of nowhere and buzzed my crotch!" Dikez said, half angry, half-joking.

"Well, at least you didn't get to stand on end…" said Gabriel, recalling his Stamina misadventure.

"Yeah, that would have definitely been more pronounced… am I right? Am I right?" He said, elbowing Sigmund and Carla.

"You are disgusting, Dik," Carla said.

"Stop being a dick, Dik," said Mundo.

"You're a dick, Dik," Gabriel joined the chore.

Dikez just mocked them, making sounds that meant nothing, and gave them the tongue.

"Anyway, there's a turtle right there, Water - 3 I think, this dungeon-delving is becoming weirder by the hour…" Carla said.

"Are Water - 3 turtles that rare?" Olivia asked.

"Any element - 3 here is rare. Bosses are element - 4, here, so the one in front might be of the earliest spawn," clarified Carla.

"Exactly, Class level 41. We skip it. Let's change the place," Sigmund said.

"Wow, are you sure we want to skip it?" Gabriel.

"Yes, water turtles have a full recovery Skill at Class level 40, and we only have an O.H.K.O attack. If that fails, we're done for. So we skip." Sigmund's verdict was final. They moved to another island.

Once again, the giants flew away on their umbrellas, and the human couple skimmed the waters. Olive had to fend off a couple of fishes assault this time; thankfully, Brill was strong enough on his own to take care of one while Olive water strangled another and maintained Gabriel and herself afloat. She struggled a little bit in the process but did not make the boat rock too much.

"Wow, I didn't think one could use two magic skills at the same time!" Noted Gabriel.

"Perks," Olive smiled, satisfied by her own abilities.

Damn, I wonder what the new active Perks will be like! Two more levels to find out.

***

The islet they were heading to was further to the north, which meant going closer to the forest, and, in fact, Gabriel could start to make out some of it and its densely packed trees.

This time Olive had sped up considerably and would have reached the islet simultaneously as the giants if it wasn't for the attacks they had faced. So when they got there, the giants were still studying the islet; Gabriel wondered why, since they had trained here for most of their lives.

Hey, now that I think about it, do giants age the same as us?

He would undoubtedly ask.

"This is weird. It seems uninhabited. The monsters have all left, but there's too much chaos for me to guess what direction they've taken," noted Carla.

"The boss might have summoned them; maybe he wants to launch an attack on another boss," proposed Dikez.

"Intra-dungeon war? Is that a thing?" Gabriel asked, a mocking tone in his voice.

"Rare, but yes, and though I have never seen this islet composition, it sure as hell is ideal for fighting off attackers, so the Boss must have mustered a good number of attackers of creatures," Sigmund said, studying a broken branch.

"So they do, rage war among them… but, you always come here, isn't it so? What does it mean that you've never seen this islet composition?"

"It means what it means, these islets move, cause they are sleeping turtles actually," Mundo confirmed some of his worries.

"Fuck… then why don't we get the fuck out of here?" Gabriel suggested with emphasis.

Dikez chuckled, "These ones do not move. They are mini-bosses, they only attack if the Boss is threatened, but really, nobody, ever, would threaten the Boss."

"Wait, I don't get it, so the bosses are not something one can take on? I thought the whole reason dungeons existed was to strengthen oneself; what better way to do so if not taking down bosses?" Said Gabriel, confused.

"You really are a newbie, dude. You're thinking based on videogames." Dikez sat by a tree, resting his back on it. Even sitting like that, his torso was taller than him.

So they know about video games?

Dikez continued as the others theorized, "Bosses," he stated, "aren't really something anyone can take on, especially not when the maximum number of regular party members is six. If we had the chance to make a raid, and we were all Tier 5, maybe we might have a chance to take on one of these islets; and that's a big maybe. But taking a level one hundred Boss monster by ourselves? That's nothing but a joke."

"Level one hundred?" Gabriel's heart skipped a beat.

"Yeah, looks a lil' bit unfeasible now, does it?"

"A rare monster, a guardian, is twice as strong as a regular monster of the same level; an elite monster is twice as strong as a guardian; a champion is, four times as strong as an elite one. A Paragon monster is eight times as strong as a champion monster, and we're already talking of Tier 7 or higher sentients to deal with one of those by themselves... and the cherry on top? A Boss monster is sixteen times as strong as a paragon. That's how strong a Boss monster is. No one can take a Boss monster one on one, nor a party… a Raid maybe, but even that would be inconsiderate, if not formed by people in the upper Tier."

Sixteen times as strong as a paragon… how- how many times stronger than a regular monster is that? 2048… a boss monster is 2048 times stronger than a regular monster?

"How? How is that possible? We're talking about things capable of shattering mountains here…" Gabriel said.

"Yeah? And why wouldn't it be possible? This island is floating in the air, the water around us is made of pure Mana, the grass is made of Mana, the earth, the monsters; everything around us is made of it. Why would it be impossible for a creature living inside a Dungeon not to be able to rule it? They would start dissipating and die outside of a dungeon, so they are immortal in here, segregated in their little world. Powerful as gods."

"We are just their guests; we need to be thankful that they have their wars. If power stagnated, a boss could raise with the will to never let any sentient dwell in here anymore." Sigmund joined the discussion.

"It has happened in the past, many times." Olive joined.

"Really? Where?" Dikez.

"In the Deep, for example... the Naga Dungeon. It happened when the Serpentess took power. It's been a hundred years since someone last entered the place and left alive."

"Wow," Dikez had seemingly never heard of it.

"It is said," started Carla, "that the big powers were born like this, taking over and inglobing Dungeon cores themselves. Yggdrasil, Vulcan, The Face, Densil, maybe even Valhalla itself."

"Don't start sprouting heresies now!" Dikez said, kicking dirt at her. He got up a little bit mad at that statement.

"You really are a child, can't even hear about other people's opinions." Carla shook her head.

"That is not your opinion; that's just the Priests stupid nonsense eating away at your belief!" He answered.

The priests? Gabriel and Liz shared a look, a look which then expanded to Olive.

Their influence reaches even here, just what are these people?

"Alright, alright, let's drop the bullshit, we are wasting time, and I'd like to take a few damn turtle's backs if you don't mind, let's hop over the ridges; we'll see what happens there," Sigmund said, closing the debate.

***

Once again, they parted, heading for the north, where the water gave way to the rocks and the plains doomed on the party once again.

"Did you hear that?" Olive asked.

"I did indeed… were you expecting to hear of the Priests even here?"

"Of course, but I wanted to make sure you noticed." If she wasn't pushy now, then he did not know her at all.

Oh, I know her at least that well. Am I right? He thought, turning toward Liz, not deigning to give Olive an answer. But from Liz, he only received a cold stare, which could be interpreted as, 'Really? Sexual jokes again? Loser.'

These interpretations are getting more and more specific… I wonder if I'm going weird or if we really are establishing some sort of connection… though that would mean that you are delivering me your messages with your mind. I swear to god, if you end up mind controlling me, I'm gonna throw myself off a cliff!

Liz shook her head in disdain. She had been given such a weak-minded human.

***

Olive's foam boat and the Giants reached the rocks at roughly the same time. And waiting at their edges was a party of four which had engaged in fighting a turtle.

Two turtles, and… those are the penguins. They are electrical, after all.

And they were losing.

A giant was on the ground convulsing; another was losing blood on the ground.

A giantess with a long blond ponytail looked at Sigmund's incoming party, a gaze of plea.

“Dustille!” Sigmund shouted.

That was when the Giant sprang forward, uncaring of breaking any silent oath the party shared about experience and monster stealing.

Gabriel started doing the same, but Olive stopped him.

"Gabriel, don't waste your time hitting the monsters. The other party has touched them first; the Anchor will not give you any contribution. However, we can heal those giants up," she said.

Gabriel looked at her, a complex stare made of gratitude, judgment, and questions. Making it the first time in which he actually started doubting the girl.

Why has she said that? We were clearly running there to give them a hand. I didn't even think about gaining experience, yet she… even though maybe she just said it for my good… but that was weirdly cold.

If Liz felt the same, she did not react, anticipating them following after the giants.

Gabriel just nodded at Olive, and they ran at them.

The situation was more serious than they thought. They found five dead snakes by their feet, although they might have been more given the bodies' state.

Two big turtles were still fighting with ample strength. One was slumped on the ground, probably dead; four Kairuki Aggressors were still zapping and pecking at them; concentrating their efforts on one of the giantesses. She had a wand and a shield, probably a support class, while the ponytail one was holding up a ruined round shield, trying to soak up as much damage as possible from the turtles' magically focused assault.

But that was not her role, Gabriel could say by the enormous bow she had hanging on her back. The shield probably belonged to one of the male giants on the ground.

The one convulsing had stopped and was trying to get up, badly failing; the other one did not move and had lost a lot of blood.

The first one reaching the site was, of course, the trio of giants, Dikez first followed by Sigmund, which initiated his Skill.

Turning into a red cannonball, Sigmund exploded forward, greatsword thrusting in front. He was aiming for the closest turtle, and his strike was true.

The sword bisected the turtle's neck, crashing through part of the carapace; the turtle's paddles sagged on the floor as it stopped living.

Sigmund had no way to repeat the act, and even removing the sword, now encased in the carapace, was not coming easy. As it seemed, the short period of preparation before the assault had seen his Skill dissolve faster than he wished. His red complexion and fuming orifices had stopped as soon as he had made contact with the creature, and he was now failing to activate it back again.

Gabriel had no idea why, but maybe he guessed it was the turtle's element's influence. His attack definitely had something to do with the property of fire.

As the two humans reached the place, they both focused on launching healings. Gabriel extended Helping Hands on each of the giants, then seeing the three gashes and the lack of an arm on the Giant splayed in a pool of its own blood, he focused on him.

Once he had done, he left the job to the more capable Olive and focused on helping the Giant with a wand; judging by her lack of magical casting, she had no Mana left, or maybe the continuous electric assaults were stopping her from using it.

He found the second thing more likely as he, empowering his Sk'rayr spear and using his Skill to perforate one of the Kairukis' head, noticed.

Gabriel was zapped almost senseless, but he stood in place, anchored by the electrical current flowing through him, as the dead body still released it.

Another of the penguins, enraged by the sudden death of his companion, turned toward him to peck at him furiously,

The penguins were as big and tall as a man, and even though he had no idea what level they were, the danger of cornering the Giantess, clearly a Tier 3, spoke for itself.

The Kairuki hit him square in the chest, thrice, perforating him each time. Each peaks putting a hole big, almost as a fist in Gabriel's chest. Gabriel couldn't even scream.

The Giantess paralyzed had no way of helping him. Her eyes were just filled with terror.

The penguin was about to strike again, this time heading for the human's face. But Liz would not allow that.

She jumped forward, taking the hit square on, her neck and chest reduced to a pulp.

She was thrown back, hitting Gabriel's face. The combination of her body pushing on his, and the current from the dead penguins weakening, shoved Gabriel enough so that his body could fall backward, escaping the next assault by the Kairuki.

An assault that never came, as a shield, flying through the air, hit the monster square on, practically bisecting it.

Gabriel's eyes closed on Carla dashing forward to stand in his defense and starting to shine of white energy, which collected around her arms and left hand still shielded.

***

Gabriel woke up on the soft ground. He was resting on a mattress. It was really comfy, a mattress with a huge facial as a frame?

A plain-looking face of a giantess was smiling at him. She was not a beauty, nor was she ugly, a brunette like any girl next door but, her smile was one of those that couldn't help but draw the same from you. And so he smiled back, dumb like a donkey.

"Hello. You have one hell of a smile, Giant. It almost makes me wish I was eighteen-foot tall," he said.

She chuckled, hers was silent laughter, and Gabriel took that chance to get up, noticing that he was resting on her legs, head on her lap, the rest of his body comfortably supported by her stretched legs.

"How is everyone?" He asked, getting up, though the Giantess hugged him from the back, wrapping her arms around his abdomen and drawing him forward as if he was a teddy bear.

"Alright, this is uncomfortably pleasant, but you should really let me go," he said, to Olive, Carla, and the ponytail giantess chuckles.

She squeezed him just for a couple more seconds before letting him go.

"So," he said, getting up and dusting off his clothes, "did we manage to keep you all alive?"

"Yes, thank you, Gabriel, right? Mundo's party is making quite a name for itself, but you are definitely new additions."

Wow, he thought, looking at the beautiful Giantess, green eyes perfectly kept golden foliage. You stay down. I don't need another fetish in my life, especially not a giantess fetish. He said to his lower head.

"So, you know our names. I don't know yours, though." Gabriel looked around. The men were coming back from a talk. They had been talking by the rock's ridge. So he was all alone with the females.

"I'm Dustille; the girl behind you is Charlene, the big guy with the shield over there," she pointed, "is Greencliff, and the viking is Terry."

"YO!" Terry said, speeding up to come and salute them.

Terry had been the Giant lying in a pool of blood. He was whole again, probably courtesy of a very tired looking Olive. She sat, overly spent, by Carla's side, leaning on her arm.

The men quickly reached the sitting party; Sigmund stood while everybody else sat.

Charlene stroked Gabriel's hair as he looked at the people, thankfully smiling, taking their place in a circle on the ground.

"Charlene, my lady. You know I'm not a toy, so really, we should get to know each other better if we want to get intimate, don't you think so?" Once again, the Giantess chuckled, emitting no sound.

Gabriel smiled, arching an eyebrow; the Giantess would not answer.

"She's a peculiar girl, isn't she?" He asked.

"Charlene cannot speak, but she's a well-natured girl," said Greencliff, the one who had been convulsing on the ground. The Giant was a really handsome one. His curly hair was golden and short; he would look like a prince if not for the heavy armor, making resembling an average knight.

Unlike his fellow party member, Terry was a wild one; with unruly dark hair and looks, he was covered in fur and leather, showing off part of his huge chest. A fiery look in his eyes.

This group of giants, all looked adults, in opposition to the youth like Sigmund and Dikez he had the chance to study; their builds and their faces definitely indicating they had long since come of age.

"She doesn't? Pardon my ignorance, I'm kinda new to Alter, but I thought magic could cure everything."

"Everything, yes but, Dragon curses. Those, my friend, you can't dispel."