Morning dawns and Rosha wakes Jason and Courtney up for breakfast. She isn’t the best at cooking but was able to throw together some soup. Easy enough with what they had left over from last night’s meat plus beans and a couple herbs that were around their campsite. The mint wasn’t the best choice but it woke everyone up the rest of the way and they could set off bright and early.

As the day goes on the land, they travel through changes. It goes from plains of grass to a few scraggly trees and now a few hours before sunset it is more like a loose forest. The trees aren’t quite right next to each other but they are never more than a few strides from one. Jason gets the feeling that if he had traveled this way alone, there would be more trouble at this point. Just over the last hour he spotted not one but two foxes of greater than expected size and a small squad of goblins.

Night comes along and the group settles down. Rosha and Courtney decide to swap shifts but once again the night passes in peace. This pattern of travel continues until the fifth day. They have settled down for dinner when a growl alerts them to danger.

From behind a thicker copse of trees five mangy wolves step out. The group relaxes at this. Regular wolves in this quantity stopped being a threat to them long ago. These wolves wouldn’t buck the trend either. Not that they get the chance as from within the trees a pair of green scythes sweep down and crush two of them. Quite spooked the other three hightail it away.

What looked like another bit of green foliage bends over and takes a bite out of the dead wolf that was farther away. Now that it has moved the group can now spot the giant praying mantis hidden between two trees. The question marks that show up instead of a level when Jason observes it warns them off an attack. Instead, as the mantis feasts on the wolves it had killed, they pack up and move out.

They don’t stop until half an hour has passed and they find an area clear of trees. Still, they take their time and check the area. After they are assured that there aren’t any giant monsters standing over them the night once again passes in peace. If with a little more stress to sleep off.

A couple more days pass but the group is finally forced into combat. It is another giant praying mantis though compared to the last one, Jason was tempted to call it a medium praying mantis. Only a head taller than him with a level just north of 20 he figures the group can take it. Not that they have a choice about it as the monster flies right at them as they cross a clearing.

It comes down from the sky and blows up a cloud of dust around the group as they fall back into a defensive position. Jason tosses out a dagger as it lands but the winds from its wings rebuffs the attack. This does however force the mantis to react and gives Rosha enough time to get her bow ready to shoot.

The mantis’ scythe slaps out and cuts a deep furrow through the ground as Jason throws himself out of the way. He scrabbles up under its feet and grabs another dagger then plunges it into a leg joint.

The mantis rears back only for Rosha to sink an arrow into its chest. As green blood pumps out, it slams both scythes down on Courtney who had stayed near it. At least that is what it thinks it did. When the scythes touch her though the illusion disappears.

Jason has made it through the mantis’ legs and is now behind it. The previous mantis just outclassed the group but this one was perfect for him. His legs tense and as he jumps the ground beneath him cracks. As he flies through the air, his fist seems to glow with internal light and he smashes down on the monster’s back. He slams the mantis into the ground. The arrow stuck in its chest gets thrust deep as the exoskeleton shatters.

Rosha rushes up, her weapon now in its bladed staff form, and she grabs it with both hands by one of the ends. With a stomp she stops a distance from the mantis with her staff stretched out behind her. Then she takes all that momentum and whips her staff up over her hand. It whistles through the air and on impact the blade slices through the mantis’ neck, decapitating it.

The fight did not take long but the cleanup was a slog. Now no longer coddled by the System they have to harvest their rewards in a more visceral fashion. The body was a complete loss with cracks spread over much of the chest area. Besides that when the exoskeleton was cut away Jason’s blast punch had wrecked even the organs. As they did not know what was valuable inside a mantis despite all the mess, the only treasure retrieved was a small monster core.

It was one upside of bug monsters beyond a certain size. Even the near infinite numbers you find in a giant ant nest will all have cores. For the bugs, while mystical energies have reduced the square law restrictions, beyond a point they just can’t live without help. In NeoRealm that assistance comes from their monster core as it will actively circulate oxygen through their bodies for them.

However their relief and cheer from victory falls away like a rock off a cliff. Lily wheezes in her cage, clearly in pain. Courtney rushes over and uses her magic to scan Lily but her hp is full. Whatever has gone wrong comes from some other source. Still she casts a small heal to see if it will help. When that doesn’t work Jason goes through his menus one by one to try and find the source. Then when he opens her status menu, he finds something. Where before she was level one with zero progress towards level two. The progress now reads ###.###%.