Alta pointed at a few key symbols on the rock – squirming lines and wriggling swirls. “These represent things we should find underwater. It hints at their locations too, and it looks like there might be some minibosses guarding them.”

“Okay. So we’ll get these items, and then what? Press them onto the rock?”

“I think so. One is near the hydra, though.”

“We’ll deal with that later. Let’s go to the first location.”

A set of rocks jutted out from a barren section of the lake, nearest to the remote island. Their heads poked out of the water, held up by the octopus. A solitary woman sat naked on the center rock, scanning her eyes over the area occasionally.

Caesar tried to identify her, yet nothing came up. But the Ever-Shifting Faces had already fooled him once, and he would not be fooled again. “That can’t be human. Try to lure her over.” He sank underwater.

Alta’s head bobbed up and down above the water, as if desperately clinging for air. As she drifted closer, the woman noticed her thrashing and stood up. Their eyes locked together, and the woman on the rock moved her mouth a little and waved before diving into the water.

Caesar slipped an enchanted cultist dagger into his hand. Although only rank one, it would suffice until he repaired his halberd. When the two beasts in human skin met one another, one transformed into a black horse with a mossy mane. The other grew claws and hurled herself at her enemy. He waited until the two became entangled before rising upwards.

Kelpie – Level 25

[Rarity]: Rare

Good summon! He immediately marked the monster.

His dagger slipped around the beast’s side and into its ribs. He evaded its kick and swam off to the side, letting his octopus attack. Alta’s claws raked across its body, slashing and tearing, even as the horse retaliated. As more and more blood poured from its body, its movements weakened and became vulnerable to the octopus’ grip. The kelpie could no longer fight back.

Caesar and his Doppelganger hugged the monster and sliced away. It took a few more minutes to bring it down, but they did so without further harm.

Kelpie: Rare

Level 25: 50 Free Stat Points -> 10 -> 0, 1 Perk Point

Ability: Terrain Traversal (D) – Rank 2

Facet: Freshwater Rejuvenation (D)

Talents: Vigor, Superior Swimming, Water-walking, Humanoid Shapeshifting

Skills: Illusion – Charm Veil

Mana: 70

Strength: 15 -> 25 -> 30

Agility: 15 -> 25 -> 30

Vitality: 15 -> 25

Magic: 12 -> 22

Willpower: 12

Spirit: 9

[Terrain Traversal (D)]: An ability that allows ease of movement across all forms of terrain. The user moves quickly on light terrain, normally on rough terrain, and slowly on restrictive terrain.

[Freshwater Rejuvenation (D)]: A facet that increases regeneration rate of health and Mana inside bodies of freshwater and grants 10% more Vitality which can bypass rank limits.

[Water-walking]: A talent that allows the user to freely walk on water, float, or dive.

[Humanoid Shapeshifting]: A talent that allows the user to shapeshift into a specific humanoid form, with shared injuries, and grants immunity to identification.

Exactly what counted as a talent and what counted as a racial trait still eluded Caesar, but the Kelpie showed off its additional powers to extend the length of its back in horse form.

Charm Veil (Innate)

[Effects]: An illusion spell that increases attractiveness and positive disposition of the user for thirty minutes.

[Rarity]: Rare

[Memorization Cost]: 5

[Mana Cost]: 25 Mana

No Gigantism? That’s odd. He also noted the lack of noticeable sublimation for the ability, indicating either a tier-up like his Ever-Shifting Faces or a mutation like his Bone Elemental.

With the addition of this water horse, he’d have a steed to travel across the dungeon. Its charm veil was innate, meaning no real memorization cost and reduced Mana cost. Perhaps it’d help disguise his journey.

They dragged the corpse onto land and Caesar told her to butcher it. Although they had no ideas on how to retrieve the materials or use them, she could still practice. Meanwhile, he inspected the key on another rock from the center. It looked like a normal stone, but with a weird symbol carved into it, and the system identified it as an unknown object.

He thought of a way to best maximize his time. From here, he had many options: return to his ant queen and fuse the octopus in an attempt to gain an Aquatic talent or stay with Alta to see if a better summon was available. Judging by this Kelpie and its low-tier abilities, the rest of the guardians might not pose a major threat.

“Can you find these alone?”

She nodded in confidence.

“I need to head back to do the minor fusion. If you see the Order of the Fox, track them under your veil. I want to know every detail of what they do.”

They moved towards the next fight. Caesar was uncertain and thus wanted to test her full capabilities before leaving.

Greater Water Elemental – Level 25

[Rarity]: Rare

Roaring waves shrouded the next small island, and a giant humanoid figure watched the area. Eight tendrils grew from its back instead of arms and a whirlpool swirled around its waist. It noticed Alta almost immediately, and hurled its whips at her, while blasting Caesar with a few water bolts. He retreated further away.

Two of the whips crashed into the water, sending her deeper into the water. She spun around a third and a fourth, then launched herself onto the island. Water sprayed from its mouth in a concentrated stream, lacerating her arm and splitting the waves behind. Her claws slashed and tore a chunk of substance from the water elemental.

The whirlpool slowed and shrank, before exploding into a massive wave covering the island. It knocked Alta back into the lake. Although the monster had lost sight of her, it seemed to know her precise location and flung its whips again. She evaded and moved back onto the island, then prepared to catch the next blow.

But it never came. Invisibility worked as long as she stayed out of the water.

Alta crept behind the Greater Water Elemental and scanned the area for the stone they needed. She could not see it. It must have been buried underneath the island.

A better idea would be to kill the monster. She located its core and struck at the closest spot. Her claws ripped into the water elemental, digging deeper and deeper until it heaved her off. Its tendrils writhed, then plunged downwards, slamming her into the ground. She rolled away from the spray of water that aimed to behead her and ran around, raking her claws onto her enemy’s side.

Another wave threatened to knock her off the island again, and she took advantage of the momentary lapse in defense to attack its weakness. The core was almost within reach, but her efforts weren’t enough.

Caesar watched her spill back into the lake and relentlessly move forward again, undeterred by failure. Streams of spells washed over her body, damaging her greatly even as she dodged many. But horrors cared much less about injuries, if at all. She retaliated with a zeal unknown to most humans and eventually slew the elemental, tearing out its core as she did so. He nodded in approval.

[Item]: Greater Water Core – Rank 2

[Rarity]: Rare

[Effects]: A material imbued with water, or a catalyst for rank 1 water-type abilities.

“Good job.” He looked over her wounds. Torn flesh littered the island and lake, and the multitude of scratches all over her body were the least of her worries. But his Essence Crown already worked to repair them. Although this batch of essence might not be enough to heal her fully, more hunting would.

“Rest for now. We have plenty of time, especially if the last key is near the Fog Hydra.”

They dug out the stone with a symbol and waited for her Illusory Veil to return.

“Please stay safe, Alta. Keep your life a priority. Return to the rock with the symbols once you hit Level 25.”

She quietly nodded, and he left.

----------

The journey back to Mushroom Garden was quiet. He guessed the movements of all parties involved had reduced after a few skirmishes. Although he still ran into a few patrols along the river and forest, the Kelpie killed them easily with its charge.

It trampled all foliage in its path and scattered away most animals it encountered. Trees posed much less of an obstacle to his speed than he had expected, thanks to its ability. Since it ran much faster in the rivers, he lingered around them the most and left when necessary.

A heavy rainstorm began to fall. It forced him to take shelter behind a particularly thick grove of trees, but although somewhat exposed, his Kelpie’s body shielded him from the rest of the rain. Some water clung to his clothes and skin, yet he didn’t feel too ill after the storm.

When the weather cleared and he returned to the area, he found the ants swarming around the entirety of the mushroom forest. After unsummoning his steed, they backed off.

Dozens of worker ants ripped apart the bodies of other ants and animals around the area and brought them back to the tunnel from before. They roamed outside their original territory to retrieve even more food, sending deadlier teams of rank one soldiers to lead the army. Even a few large birds had come down from the treetops to feast on the remnants left behind by the swarm.

So, I can’t see their status screens or gain essence from their kills. I wonder what Alta can decipher. Perhaps she could communicate with my ant queen, and thus with me?

Caesar descended down the tunnel and met up with his Ripjaw Ant Queen in the same room where the deceased Cordyceps lay. He looked to the side and discovered one larva with a size greater than all the others, feasting on the majority of the food the workers brought in. Piles of materials sat against the other wall. Most were only Mundane, but some Uncommon materials were reserved for the slightly larger larvae to become ant soldiers.

His queen still looked a little sickly from having ingested the Venom Sac but continued gnawing away at the batch of rank one materials at her side. He unsummoned her and began the fusion attempt. Although the ant queen had disappeared, the ants around the nest didn’t question it. After all, she had not died. They continued to work with the same determination as before.

Ripjaw Ant Queen: Rare (Fused Rapids Octopus)

Talents: … Aquatic

[Aquatic]: A talent that allows the user to swim better in water and hold their breaths for longer periods of time.

Agility: 21 -> 23

Not bad. It needs a bit more, though. He resummoned it and ordered it to continue its actions.

The Cordyceps material remained in its hiding spot, behind the queen, and he began to carve out a few chunks from it. With the prominence of Common healing potions, he assumed the two kingdoms lacked sufficient knowledge on how to create Rare healing potions, so it’d be better to focus on procuring Uncommon variants for trade.

He walked back out and summoned his Kelpie for the queen to mark it as the colony’s ally.

“Use these materials for your berserker ants, and the rest of the Cordyceps to produce another Queensguard.” He handed over the three Rime Fruits and the Winterspring Fruit from his journey to this region.

It nodded in assent and returned to its work.

----------

His Kelpie galloped across the forests again, head held high. Although Caesar wanted to fuse it into the ant queen as well, it served a greater purpose as his steed. Another monster from the fog lake or even the hidden dungeon might fulfill the same purpose as a Kelpie minor fusion.

These ants are key to claiming this dungeon, killing the boss, and gaining free access to the hidden dungeon. Later, I can use them to explore for dungeons.

Patrols had increased around the areas where he had killed the other Fox Cult members. The Bone Elemental detected more movements around the area and led him to spy on one of the groups. This time around, mercenary teams were deployed as well, like sacrificial pawns. He shook his head and moved on foot instead, slowing his pace down a little to give Alta more time.

[Notice]: Congratulations! Your Doppelganger (Alta) has leveled up to Level 25! +2 Free Stat Points, +1 Perk Point