“A room of treasure?” Anthony asked, his greed evident.

“My probe found a hollow part of the wall up ahead. Inside, there appears to be heaps of coins and other items,” Alfred said, though he seemed to hesitate.

“What’s the catch?” Alistair asked.

His brother answered for him. “The treasure is surrounded by dead bodies.”

“So what? That just means we don’t have to fight anyone for the loot,” Anthony said.

Evangeline advocated for a more cautious approach. “Do we need to remind you we all got entranced by an unknown assailant? We don’t even know how we got here in the first place. This could be a trap.”

“You make a good point. However, I’ve scanned the tunnels deeper and there’s no end in sight. Our best bet is to investigate the room. It might even be our ticket out of this cave. Worse comes to worst, it’s not as if we were going anywhere soon before,” Alfred said.

“I don’t care what you lot do. I’m taking a look.” Anthony strutted to the location Alfred pointed out. “If my impeccable danger sense isn’t tingling, nothing can be wrong. I have the highest Wisdom on Earth, it’s impossible for me to fall prey to a non-physical attack.”

Alistair didn’t even want to point out the irony that two minutes ago, Anthony was drowning in a pool of hallucinatory slime, his danger sense apparently not working.

Not seeing any other options, they followed him up the right side of the cave that Alfred pointed out. Without his [Eyes of Truth], he couldn’t help directly in scouting, but with his [Ghost Whispers] he could feel the emotional imprints of the deceased within the enclave. Nothing screamed of immediate danger.

Bartholomew put his hand to the wall, a metallic gray sheet forming over his arm in an instant. “I detect no poisons or chemical toxins.”

Alistair’s sister spoke up as well. “Nothing on my end, either.”

“Let’s try this out,” Anthony said, kicking the cave. Unlike when Alexandra did it, Anthony smashed cleanly through a thin, slimy layer of rock.

A couple more kicks and the wall crumbled away, revealing a small room. There were skeletons dressed in diverse attire strewn about the cavity, carrying various weapons and objects in their bony hands. But the most noticeable aspect was the thousands upon thousands of Gold drachma in heaps that went up to Alistair’s knees.

“My God,” exclaimed Alfred. “That’s several times our family’s stores. Bartholomew, how much is there?”

“Approximately 2.4 million based on volume, though a more precise count is needed.”

“Hey!” Alexandra shouted. “Look, Anthony’s hoarding all the coins!”

Alistair turned to Anthony, who was indeed grabbing all the coins he could, transferring them to his Store wallet as fast as he could.

“It’s alright,” Evangeline said. “Check your own wallet.”

He looked at his balance and sure enough, it was increasing despite him not doing anything.

“Oh, I see,” Alfred said. “Because we’re a part of the same team, it looks like we share all the coins equally.”

Anthony abruptly stopped his collecting.

“That’s not fair,” he complained. “Early bird should get the worm.”

While the rest of the group discussed the allocation of the coins and the other items, Alistair found himself drawn to one skeleton in particular. Based on its height and hip bones, it once belonged to a female, and from the horns on the skull, not a human woman.

As he was dragging out his teammates from the slime pools, Alistair had a chance to reflect on his current path. He realized something about killing Kellus wasn’t entirely aligned with his Dao Inspiration, and also wondered how he could use his recent additions to improve upon it.

Fledgling Dao — Dao of Justice: Primary. Dao of the Fist: Secondary. Elements: One against the world, Indefatigable drive, Punishment of Evil, Way of the Fist, Deathblow, Untouchcable Speed.

It was interesting to see all the aspects of his Dao plainly laid out in neat phrases, though he felt it didn’t encompass everything in his Dao Inspiration, as no words could fully describe it. He remembered an element of his initial revelation that brought upon his Dao Inspiration, the idea of fighting the system, big S or little S. It was that aspect that made his defeat of Kellus unsatisfactory and not in complete alignment with his Dao like he had been when he killed Marcus. While at first, he wasn’t sure, he was positive that the reason was that it was a pre-ordained event for the entertainment of others.

Individual evildoers, even those as heinous and malevolent as Kellus Bratevalla, were but cogs in the greater machine of the Final Frontier Empire. And perhaps even in the greater Multiverse, which he had every indication was just as brutal and cut-throat. It wasn’t an excuse to be a bystander just because if one tyrant died, another would take his or her place, but it had an element of truth.

He felt his Dao Inspiration change just the slightest bit to greater emphasize systemic change, but that wasn’t enough for a breakthrough to the next stage. But he had the perfect piece to add — a remembrance of things past. Not a reference to the early 20th-century French novel, but the strong nostalgic presence emanating from the horned skeleton.

Alistair had been wracking his brains on how to combine the newest element of his cultivation, his ghost side, with the path of justice. Feeling the spiritual presence of the skeleton lady, he figured out a connection.

The reason he was drawn to her corpse was the strong imprint of regret and love it gave off. More than any of the other bodies in the room, he could feel her story, similar to Ogarth the dragon. She was an Einzat Demon, born of another universe, who immigrated to the Final Frontier Empire for a new life. Unfortunately, she was tragically enslaved and brought to Dragon Den’s Island many thousands of years ago to extract the psychoactive slime of the Herax Turtle, an enormous subterranean beast, for use in recreational drugs. She met her end in the belly of the beast, as did most of the slaves who performed the near-suicidal job.

He now understood how he could incorporate the ghosts; he would borrow their power in exchange for fulfilling the unrealized dreams that haunted them. For Marizel the demon, all she wanted was freedom for her fellow workers. While he wordlessly explained to her that the company responsible for mining the island was no longer present, the principle of the idea caused a change in his Dao Inspiration.

Achievement upgrade: Fledgling Dao (II) — Upgrade a Dao Inspiration. Adding a new element or altering an existing element in a substantial way to one’s Dao. Reward: +1o Wisdom, +10 Charisma, +10 Agility.

Badge Acquired: “Jack of All Trades” (Untiered Legendary Badge): Achieve 500 total points of stats with at least 50 in every attribute before level 30. All Stats +15%.

Alistair looked at his new stats in triumph. A 15% increase went a long way with his numbers at that point, and while he wasn’t sure about it, based on Alexandra’s “Fledgling Strength” Badge he was hoping for some kind of overall stats Badge. His rank shot up to #401, despite not gaining a single level. The Dao Inspiration upgrade and his new Badge looked like they were worth a pretty penny, though he had to exchange his “Slayer of General Krazz” Badge. Additional Badge slots were a commodity he needed more of.

Everyone worked to gather up the drachma and gear. Alistair was content with the upgrade to his Dao Inspiration, so he let the others split it five ways. Not that any of the items were that useful for him, either. Alexandra found an item called Girdle of Vigor that converted 5% of her Strength to Endurance, a tremendous bonus for her considering her level of Strength. It capped out at a total of 20 added Endurance, but that wouldn’t happen until she reached 400 Strength, which was a long way away.

After they finished collecting all the loot, they had two options. The left chamber of the fork up ahead, or the right one.

“I still don’t understand the cave system,” Evangeline said. “Where is all of this slime coming from? We don’t even know how we ended up here. Something must have bypassed all our defenses at the same time, but I don’t understand how that’s possible. Also, there’s something strange about the spirituality of this place.”

“You think we’re trapped in another illusion?” Alfred asked.

“No, that’s not right.” She shook her head. “The illusion was so obvious in retrospect. It couldn’t replicate some of the complex aspects of people’s souls under my [Soul Sight], but I couldn’t connect it at the time. This is different.”

“Oh no,” Alistair moaned. How had he not seen it before?

They were inside a Herax Turtle. The knowledge granted from Marizel told him that the creatures could be kilometers long and burrowed deep underground until surfacing to feed. Creatures swallowed by the titanic turtle would be paralyzed and kept under self-satisfying illusions until it completely digested them. He didn’t connect his knowledge until his sister mentioned how weird the cave was.

With some trepidation, Alistair activated [Eyes of Truth].

Name: N/A

Species: Herax Turtle (Adolescent)

Level: 55

Class: N/A

“I don’t want anybody to panic,” Alistair said. “But use an inspection Skill on the walls.”

“What the fuck!” Anthony exclaimed, in direct opposition to Alistair’s advice. “Are we inside whatever the fuck a Herax Turtle is?”

“It appears we are,” Alfred said.

“My apologies. I should have realized from the humidity of the air and biological signatures we were inside of a living being. I can’t believe no one thought to simply use [Inspect] on the cave itself.” Bartholomew grew his metal skin again, touching the walls of the cave. “We must be inside the digestive tract.”

“Wait, I have an idea,” Anthony said, seemingly having calmed down from his earlier outburst. “Why don’t we kill this thing? Imagine how many levels we’d get for killing a level 55 monster? I might shoot up straight to number 1. We can’t let this opportunity go to waste.”

“Excuse me? How are we supposed to kill something that’s level 55? That’s almost the difference between us and a level 1. In fact, it’s even more for some of us,” Alexandra said.

“We’re already inside the beast! We just have to find its heart or brain and blow it up. How protected could it be? It’s like how Ant-Man could kill Thanos from the inside, if you know what I mean.”

Alistair wanted to protest at Anthony’s pop culture reference, but he refrained himself. Honestly, his idea didn’t sound so bad. It was high risk, high reward, but that’s what the Felons vs. Fellows wanted, right? He wasn’t going to reach the peak just by dawdling around. And if he could put on a show for the producers, possibly getting extra perks, why not?

“I think he’s right,” Alistair said. “If we’re attacking from inside the body, it won’t be as tough.”

“Already ahead of you.” Alfred put a finger to his ear. “Brother, can you analyze the signal?”

“35 degrees left, 33 degrees right, heat signature increasing across the gradient.” Bartholomew tapped his ear as well. “The temperature is higher on the left side, rising deeper in. I believe aiming for the hottest part will get us closer to the core.”

“I can sense a greater spirituality from the left as well,” Evangeline added.

With everyone on board their crazy plan to kill the level 55 Herax Turtle, they walked down the left chamber. After twenty or so meters, the passage shrunk down to uncomfortable heights. Alfred, the tallest among them, practically had to crawl. The temperature also skyrocketed. Bartholomew announced the temperature had reached 50 degrees Celsius and rising. Alistair was sure without his Constitution, he would have been collapsing from heat stroke.

The Wood brothers and Evangeline navigated them through the labyrinthine caves, hunting for the hottest and strongest aura location. Alistair couldn’t help but note how strange a digestive tract it was. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the layout, and it twisted in asymmetrical patterns that defied the standard laws of biology. He supposed there was no reason it had to follow the laws of Earth science, though he remembered the Dao archetypes tended to make things not entirely alien.

At last, they came to a dead end at a long wall of fissures and indents. The heat coming from behind the wall was enough to make him feel like he was burning alive, and Evangeline and Alfred were doing even worse, the Supersoldier carrying his brother on his back.

Bubbling red liquid erupted from the fissure, pooling into a river that traversed the floor, stretching out to their left and right. A booming noise pounded at a careful tempo every few seconds, shaking the entire cavern.

“Is that the heart?” Alexandra asked, who still looked healthy, along with Anthony and Bartholomew.

“It seems likely,” Bartholomew said. “Alfred’s bug melted from the heat. The temperature beyond this wall exceeds 120 degrees Celsius.”

“The aura is so strong,” Evangeline choked out, the heat wearing her down. Alistair concurred with her statement. Even the less sensitive members of the party were feeling the oppression of the Herax Turtle’s aura.

“We didn’t come all this way to give up, now, did we?” Anthony said cheerfully. “If you can’t withstand the heat and pressure, take a step back.”

Alistair paid close attention to Anthony, trying to gather any information about the man’s fighting style. He placed his palm on the pulsing red wall and closed his eyes. Alistair felt the same powerful aura that buckled him to his knees gathering in its full force. He saw Anthony’s Dao in its harsh beauty, an endless pit of entropy and command over the fundamental force of time. The wall crumbled into nothingness.

That was when the fun started. The moment the wall disappeared, a wave of green slime came rushing forth, threatening to put all of them back into the turtle’s thrall.

Anthony stopped it all without a second thought. There were some benefits to having the fifth-ranked man on your team.

Without the element of surprise, Anthony easily stopped the wave of slime, freezing it in time before reversing it back into the dark cavern from which it came. Evangeline and Alfred stayed back, unable to enter the heart chamber, but the rest of them stepped inside.

Twenty meters into the natural room laid the largest heart Alistair had ever seen. The beating organ was larger than ten of Alistair put together, pumping every ten seconds. Each pump created a physical shock wave that exceeded a mere sound, pushing them back a meter at a time and nearly shattering their eardrums. He couldn’t decide if the sound or the pressure on his soul was worse. It felt like he was being compressed from every angle, getting even worse during the heartbeats.

Anthony was stuck holding back the slime. The green liquid that previously filled the space wanted to crash back down and drown them all, but Anthony held it frozen on both sides, his hands outstretched.

“I can’t hold this back forever,” he gritted out, a vein popping out of his forehead.

Alistair nodded at Alexandra and Bartholomew. It was up to the three of them to finish the job. She activated [Barbarian’s Fury], her recently upgraded raging Skill, now offering a 30% increase to her Strength and Endurance. A slight red aura of evaporating blood now accompanied her upgraded Skill, something that Alistair had to admit was quite badass.

Bartholomew also changed, his metallic skin wrapping around his entire body. Alistair was starting to feel inadequate that he didn’t have his own transformation. His best approximation was borrowing power from a ghost, which he did, absorbing the last remnants of Marizel. He felt her bid him goodbye and infuse his aura with her demonic poison. Normally, he would have befallen immediately to the dark toxins running in his veins, but her spiritual imprint gave him temporary immunity.

The Supersoldier took an RPG out of a dimensional storage space, aiming it at the heart. “I think our best bet is you two getting your poisons in the heart.”

He launched a streak of blue at the beating heart, creating an explosion that temporarily blinded Alistair, yet still barely charred the ugly heart. A deafening pump came a second later, forcing them back to ten meters away from the organ.

Bartholomew attached rocket boosters to Alexandra’s feet to allow her to keep up with Alistair, who [Dashed] toward the heart, his fist imbued with a [Mana Strike] as well as demonic poisoning, causing the cloak to be purple instead of blue. Alexandra was right behind him, her giant Tang Clan Dirk dripping in violet smog. They got five meters away from the heart when it pounded again, in violation of its normal pattern.

They flew back right into Bartholomew’s arms, who rushed to catch them.

“I can’t hold this back for much longer! Be quick or we’re going to be dissolving in slime juice again!” Anthony shouted, still freezing the thousands of gallons of slime. “I can freeze the heart for a second when you get close, but that’s going to cause the slime to come crashing down. Will you be ready for that?”

“We have to be,” Alistair said. “The heart must be able to detect when we get close and can beat as a defense mechanism.”

Another beat of the heart sent them back a meter. At a further distance, it was less powerful, not sending them back the fifteen it did when they were closer.

“On three?” Alistair asked. “One, two, three!”

Bartholomew dual-wielded two RPGs, firing them at the heart at the same time Alistair [Dashed] and Alexandra ran with her rocket-boosted shoes. The rockets exploded first, clouding his vision in light, but he still charged forward, poisoned [Mana Fist] ready. He could feel the heart engorge with a powerful aura as it prepared a beat, but Anthony got to it first. While the man was nearly level 30, the turtle was level 55, and even if it was just the heart of the creature, it resisted Anthony’s Dao of Time, so the heart froze in time even less than Anthony expected, just for a quarter of a second. But that was all they needed.

Alistair struck first, landing a powerful punch that split open a meter-long wound in the heart. Blood poured out, completely covering Alistair, but that didn’t stop his poison from seeping inside. Alexandra was right behind him, and she took getting dirty to a whole new level. She stabbed the inside of the heart, traveling within the wound Alistair created for maximum damage. Her gigantic dagger pierced the heart straight through, and she hefted it around inside to cut it even more. Every second the poisoned dagger remained in the heart, the ancient concoction of the Tang spread more of its corrosive toxin into the heart.

They just had to hope it was enough, since Anthony’s lapse in focus on the slime waves caused them to crash down.

Anthony went back to freezing the waves right away, but the natural laws of physics had enough of a single man violating them so much, his grasp on freezing the slime eroding over time. He gave them just long enough a period for the three of them to make a mad escape.

They wasted no time grabbing Evangeline and Alfred, who were both completely out of it, tracing their steps back through the cave system as the wave of slime chased after them.

It took them only a minute to make it back to the original grotto at full speed. Sagacity out the window, Bartholomew fired two more rockets at the wall of the cave right in front of them, followed up by Anthony focusing his Dao of Time to rot the living walls into nothingness. Alistair tried his own [Void Beckoning], though he wasn’t sure how effective it would be against the inside of a living creature. While it was impossible to tell what destroyed the wall, they could finally spot daylight again. Alistair had never been happier to see the sun.

They exited out of the turtle’s side, a small puddle of green slime following them out. The turtle itself looked like it was mostly buried underground, with the part they escaped appearing like a rock that jutted out of the ground. While they couldn’t see the whole turtle, they could feel it, now that it was dying. Vast amounts of Mana bubbled up to the surface, finding its way into Alistair and the rest of the team’s bodies.

Level up! You are now level 27. +2 Agility, +2 Intelligence, +2 Charisma, +2 free Attribute points, +15 Upgrade Points.

The fruits of their venture were already paying off, it seemed. From Alistair’s observation, his teammates were also absorbing the Mana of the dying turtle.

“We have trouble,” Alfred said, weakly standing up from the ground, the heat and pressure of the heart doing a number on him. “It looks like our dead turtle attracted some attention.”