The tunnel opened up to a cavern with a giant hole in the ceiling. Bright sunlight filtered in from it, and the cavern was filled with bushes, trees, and the sound of water. I stretched my senses out and found a few creatures within my reach, but not many.

…And the group of them just dove into the jungle, without even pausing to check if anything was there.

I just stood there with my mouth open, tracking them with my senses. Something attacked Mary and Cass as they stood by where the water had to be. Abby kept heading across the area without even trying to sneak.

Mary screamed.

Everyone raced to her position, but I got there first.

With a single slash of my knife, the head of the centipede went flying.

Bright red blood trickled between her fingers, clutching her arm where a giant bite had made it through her armor. Abby helped her lean back as her body shook and an acidic scent hung around the wound.

"Mary, you know better than this," I said in a low voice. A quick use of Insight on the dead centipede showed it was level 32, and probably had venom in its bite.

"What happened?" Cass finally reached us. At least her knife was out.

"You guys split the party instead of watching each other's backs," I replied, doing my best to restrain my anger. Mary's face went a little pale, and I knelt beside her, pulling her hand to my crystal plate under my armor. I sent a burst of cooling energy her way, and felt it gather around the wound.

"Woah," her voice crackled, but the color returned to her face. "How did you…"

Abby helped her, and Mary pulled up the armor on her shoulder to check her wound.

"Three creatures are approaching from that direction," I said pointing. "You have less than a minute to prepare, and that was our only healing crystal."

The three of them froze for a moment before everything I had just said really sunk in. Mary barked orders, getting to her feet, and the others listened.

Killing the centipede had taken nothing. Absolutely nothing. This dungeon run was worthless for me, which sucked. But if it taught the others a lesson, and it kept them alive in the future, it'd be worth it. Then again, if they died, that'd suck even worse.

I stepped back into the shadows within the trees and pulled on my stealth. As soon as I did, the three bright red centipedes swarmed the others. They crawled in a wavy pattern as they attacked the group. Finally, though, the team stood together. Abby created a shield, stopping two of the bugs, while Cass and Mary focused on one.

Satisfied, I let my thoughts wander. I didn't think that beasts, well, insects, sixteen levels below me would be worth absolutely nothing, but they were. The disparity in strength, and probably stats, between me and the others finally hit me. It'd get better with people moving beyond the level 25 cap, but no one else was growing as fast as I was.

Then they killed the last red bug.

All three of them were breathing heavily, but no one else had been bit.

"You can check your banked levels on your stat sheet," I said from the shadows, but I didn't step forward. "Cass, what did you learn from this?"

Cass's eyes grew wide as I called her out, and for a second I wasn't sure if she was going to answer the question.

"That just because an area is familiar, doesn't mean the beasts are… I assumed it'd be like the jungles from Sanctuary, and those beasts are big," She motioned to the dead insects. "These aren't anything like that."

Something bigger crawled along the far side of the cavern, but it didn't head in this direction. Not yet.

"I fucked up," said Mary after a moment. "I went in overconfident, and wanted to prove myself."

Abby's mouth opened, but she closed it as Mary continued.

"I'm used to Jas having my back, but none of us have that chemistry, and when you suggested we rest, I felt fine. That first fight went perfectly. We didn't need to rest."

"But we should have," said Abby. "We discounted your suggestion, then went off on our own to check things out."

Thankfully, they understood my concerns, and why I'd just called them out.

"Exactly. I'm glad I'm here to help you guys, but you can't fight like I'm here. You need to finish this dungeon without my support. I'm just a ghost making sure no one dies."

The thing near the far side crawled a little closer.

"I'm pretty sure you have a boss fight to leave this area," I said, pointing to the far side where Abby had marched right from the beginning. "Are you ready for that?"

"No," said Cass. "I need a minute."

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"I'll keep watch." My senses were already monitoring everything around us. Including the fact that something swam in the water off to the right side, as well. While it registered as prey for me, it had the same feel as the thing guarding the far side.

Why would the dungeon have two bosses in the room?

Eventually, the three of them stood up, and Mary took the lead.

"Let's get this done."

The boss battle was with a giant snake thing, and it took them much longer to kill it than it would have taken me, but they did it in the end without any help.

"Can you put this in your inventory crystal?" asked Mary, staring at the carcass. "That skin will be useful.

I glanced at the various stabs, slices, and tears on its body, but only nodded. If someone could make something out of it, that'd be cool.

"I might need to cut it into smaller pieces," I said. The head and part of the tail were already cut off, so I tried yanking it inside my crystal as it was.

To my shock, it went.

[You have leveled your profession.]

Nice!

My profession currently lagged behind my class by almost double. The time in the dungeon had helped, but I needed to spend some time with the crystals I'd found to really gain some levels.

During the rest of the dungeon, I spent time watching over them, but also focusing on my skills: Insight, Augmented Senses, and Stealth. I kept hidden all the time, even when talking to the others. Insight I triggered on every little thing I could. Every beast or insect, every plant or stone.

Keeping my senses stretched to the max was all I could think of to try to level the skill.

For stealth, I tried to blend into my surroundings like Grizzle did. He didn't register on my senses without the additional boost I got from the territory. Grizzle had no smell, sound or even energy signature to give him away when he wanted to hide. Given how big he was, that was crazy.

Finally, something happened after another boss fight in a similar cavern to the first.

[You have increased your skill Stealthy Camouflage - II. In the shadows, you remain unseen most of the time. You move silently, knowing where to step and keep your scent and signature muted. Your skin can blend into your surroundings, making it harder for you to be spotted. This is especially effective at night.]

That was an upgrade. It increased the likelihood of me not being found when I didn't want to be.

"How much more do you think there is?" asked Cass, as they rested after another boss battle.

It took a second for me to realize she was talking to me, or at least trying to.

"You've killed three bosses now. Maybe one more boss, and maybe a final one," I said, letting my stealth fall. The final boss needed to be something special.

All three of them suddenly looked at me.

"Alright, we can get this done," said Mary, as she pulled herself to her feet. Mud covered her boots and hair from the last fight.

The creature had been something that had dug under the surface and tossed mud around to slow prey down.

It'd only worked until Abby formed a barrier under it, not letting it hide. Then they'd taken it down pretty quickly, even though it was level 32.

Mary led the way into the next tunnel, but paused not ten feet inside. "Uh, Alex?"

I stepped forward and saw the two pathways. One went to the right and higher ground while the second went to the left and lower. As I took the lead, a notification popped up.

[Divide and Conquer: go deeper, and stop the attacks from below. Go higher and complete the dungeon sooner. Both paths offer rewards. Choose wisely.]

"I'll go left, the rest of you go right," I said. This was a straightforward choice, especially when remembering that the higher-level challenges were all about going deeper into the dungeon. "Stick together and work as a team. Plus, just think, once we clear this, you'll get those banked levels."

Cass chuckled. "I can't wait for the extra stats."

"Same," muttered Mary. "Alright, good luck, Alex. Not that you need it."

She headed to the right, along with Cass.

Abby hung back for a second. "You remind me of your father."

The words hit me like a brick, and then she was gone, following the others.

I hadn't tried to emulate him when talking to the rest of them, but after training with him as long as I had, it was hard not to. He knew what he was doing and everyone else knew that. I needed that same kind of energy.

Turning to the left, I pulled out my knife, ready for some action. Dim light provided enough for me to continue downward. The rocky path was uneven in places, but there was still plenty of space to keep going. The tunnel opened up into a dimly lit cavern. Small holes let light in from above, while the floor had plenty of hiding spots with boulders and giant cracks.

I pushed my senses to the max and tried to go farther. The others in the cavern above barely registered at the edges. The warning now made a little more sense.

I stayed put, trying to spot anything else in the massive cavern. This was the biggest room by far, and would take several leaps to get to the other side.

Something crawled out of one of the giant cracks, near the center of the floor. The edge of it slithered by one of the light beams from above, giving it away.

I recognized it without Insight, but used it anyway.

[Deep Rock Cephalopod, Level 40.]

Thank god the others had gone above. I wasn't sure if it was because I entered the dungeon with them that the level was so high, or not.

As sounds of fighting echoed from above, a tentacle slithered up a boulder, then into the air, heading to one of the holes in the ceiling.

No, you don't!

I leaped across the cavern, knife extended to cut the leg off midway. My knife sliced cleanly through the extended tentacle, which went flying, splatting as it hit the rocky ground.

Several more slithered out of the crack in the floor, each bigger than the last.

I landed softly on the other side of the cavern, but sent a few rocks sliding across the floor. All the tentacles shot in my direction. I leaped in the air, smiling, slicing as any got close. My senses registered each of the limbs stretching from some central point in the center of that crack.

Last time I'd fought a Cephalopod, it hadn't liked the light, which might explain why only its tentacles went above. That space was much brighter.

I launched myself closer to the crack that it hid within, but as soon as I landed the many limbs swung around to grab me.

Three more were sliced off, and the others started retracting.

"No, you don't," I muttered, before aiming directly for my target. This time I pulled on the Soarstone in my necklace and flew across the cavern, no touchdown needed. The crystal around my left wrist slid down into the palm of my hand as I crossed the space. The tip of my spear, and the crystal around my knuckles, burned a bright white as I fell into the depths.

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