The third delve of the day – a dungeon with nearly invisible slimes that ranged from hand-sized to 10ft (3m) cubes – was far better.

I was worried heading in, especially with the recent foibles of some teams.

Slimes were a pretty hard counter to me after all.

How do I find and then kill nearly invisible acidic jelly monsters? Especially with a morningstar.

But the Innate Capability of the leader of the clear team allowed him to easily sense the difficult monsters; all he disclosed was it was 'very good for this rift'.

One of the mages on my protection team laughed. "This rift is made for him. He literally sits outside it on a chair for teams heading in that didn't hire him, offering his services at an even higher rate. About 40% take him up on it."

The other three members of the clear team, none of whom had ever worked together, were mages with full mana.

I knew that for sure. I received AAI-backed Guarantees they were currently full on mana, though the request greatly confused each of them.

Even with that, it took a bit of convincing to get me comfortable delving again with an unknown team, especially in a rift that was actually dangerous to me. But, after reviewing the footage of their clears, I also knew this was a professional set of delvers who could each probably beat the rift on their own.

Each of the mages on the clear team had enough mana on their own to easily kill every slime. So with the overlap of the three and the team leader who could easily spot the monsters, we were extremely well-covered.

An ice spell made the slimes easy to smash with any blunt weapon, a fireball melted them with no resistance, and a lightning bolt… a lightning bolt caused them to explode, creating flying balls of acid. We had to make sure our positioning was right to not get hurt, but it still was a one-shot kill.

Once we actually got going, it was an enjoyable experience.

The mages had a bit of a rivalry going as to who could kill the fastest or in the most ostentatious way. My protection team, three people, two of whom were mages, told me how much a pain the rift was without a slime spotter.

"See, this here scar is from when one jumped on my arm when I was freezing another," one said.

The final fight was a sight to behold.

The rift boss slime had a number of objects floating inside, slowly dissolving with an acrid scent. Normally, that would give it an ominous feel.

However, the undulating mass of slightly green jelly also moved haltingly, about three feet (1m) every other second. With five people bombarding it with spells – the two mages on the protection team joined in – the fight lasted about twelve seconds.

All five claimed the kill. From the video playback, it was impossible to tell.

The 'slime spotter' let the rest of the team decide who would swipe the reward distortion with the ice mage winning.

Her hand fell gracefully through the distortion before the team all groaned slightly.

Another dud?

***

"Yeah, it's apparently just a high-powered acid. Not really even magical," I said to Inara as Steve and I allocated essence before our last team delve of the day.

Natalia looked up the reward from the previous delve in her database: a bottle of extremely potent acid went for about half a gold, though sometimes it had magic properties that made it perfect for enchantment etching. Then it would jump to ten gold.

But we wouldn't know until it was tested the next day.

Either way, the numbers weren't lucrative.

Two and half gold max to the team and two to me feels ridiculous.

Romie gave me a meaningful look with an AAI message saying we'd chat about their findings later.

Going over our strategy for the delve – the large, spiky lizards rift I had done the previous day with a carry team – Inara said, "Okay, obvious strategy is to have Pavel and Terry upfront to distract and tank but Terry, I just don't know if you have the strength."

She paused like I was going to fight back. When I didn't, she continued. "We should test if you can handle one first but with heavy team support. Are you okay with that?"

"Inara, I saw what these things can do. I am still Tier 1.4. I'm not even peak Tier 1.4 and those iguanadons could toss around Tier 1.7 delvers like they were dolls. Yes, unprepared and kinda mediocre Tier 1.7 delvers, but still, two were strength builds. Prudence over pride here. Just don't make a blooper reel," I said, turning to point at Romie.

Their face seemed frozen, clearly surprised I knew about their antics. But Risto had loose lips when drunk.

Laughing at our archer's misfortune, we finished the preparations and headed in, Pavel and I at the fore, shields raised.

Similar to last time, we had an iguanadon waiting right at the rift's entrance.

And a second.

Inara, being a great team lead, had prepared us for this. Pavel's job was to occupy one while the rest of us quickly killed the second.

My feigned charge had the beast staring at me, a look of pure hatred in its eye. Turning its head to try to impale me on a spike extruding from its cheek, I leapt into a roll to my right before it could pounce, forcing the monster to redirect its entire body.

Its moment of hesitation cost it dearly.

Romie's arrow penetrated deeply into an eye while Inara sliced off the tail barb with her favored X-slash.

The monster's lunge turned into a wobble. I was on my feet before it could get close and charged. My shield bash to the side of its face drove the arrow in further, though not to the brain.

The gout of blood from its mouth told me where.

I continued to keep its focus mostly on me until Inara slashed a back leg with such severity, I saw flecks of blood fly fifteen feet (5m) away.

Romie used the opportunity, especially when it opened its mouth to wail, to nearly finish it off. They pumped mana into their bow, using the [Triple Shot] enchantment to fire three arrows deep in its mouth.

As it screamed in agony, I approached from the side, using the heaviness enchantment on my morningstar to the max.

SMASH

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Its skull caved in.

The three of us quickly turned to find Pavel had nearly finished his own enemy off in the frenetic battle.

Bleeding from over 30 holes and gashes, the iguanadon tried for one last snap of the jaws.

It caught on Pavel's shield but did little more than ring its own funeral bell as the metal made a sonorous note.

Inara's husband-to-be turned to us with a giant grin. "Damn, totally thought I could beat you all to it. Almost had ya!"

Inara dashed in to drive a dagger up through the roof of its mouth into the brain.

"My kill," she said with a smile and pose to his exasperated chuckle.

An hour later, we approached the lair of the rift boss.

"Yeah, just warning you, we'll probably need three baths each after this," I said to Inara and Pavel. Romie preened at being left out.

"Oh don't worry Romie, I'll give you a big ol' hug. Can't have you not feeling included! It's all about team unity," Inara said with an evil smile. Then she turned to me. "Why are rifts so weird, giving a monster a stinking cloud attack?"

"No idea. But it's pretty awful. Like top five worst smells of either life. Without our masks, it could really make it hard to deal with so it's a potent defensive weapon," I replied with a knowing face.

The two-headed, six-legged monster of a lizard was not as difficult as the team from the previous day made it look.

Romie started with a few pitch-covered arrows we had left from the tumbleweed rift.

Even from over a hundred yards away, they managed a perfect shot, hitting the stink gland right where both heads met. Despite the distance, the smell of whatever the disgusting liquid the monster sprayed burning was atrocious, somehow ten times worse than the fart clouds themselves.

At least it's not getting directly on us.

It ate at the nostrils through our masks, making our eyes water.

The monster charged us, though clearly in agony at the still-smoldering gland.

Being bigger than a buffalo, Pavel and I did the smart thing, corralling it away from the team without taking a direct hit on the shield.

I was left head and Pavel was right.

As with anything, I made sure left meant the creature's left, not our left, during our battle plans.

I baited out an early snap of its mouth so I could try a new one-time-use weapon, a small throwing weapon like a caltrop. For smaller beasts that used tremendous biteforce, it could literally kill them in one blow, driving a spike directly into the brain.

The monster's maw closed around the metal contraption with an almighty crack.

The only outcome was a small cut to its tongue and more rage.

Damn. One shot kill would have been cool.

I used my shield to deflect most of the momentum of a swipe from its front paw, though skidded back slightly from the blow.

I charged forward, throwing my shield up to keep its mouth at bay. Smashing down with an enchantment-enhanced blow on the offending foot, two of its claws exploded.

The creature simultaneously snapped down with its mouth and brought the bleeding appendage at me, trying to trap me.

Blocking against the mouth with my shield again, I used the heaviness enchantment on my armor and morningstar both, making it nearly impossible to move me.

The leg smashed into me.

It hurt. A lot.

But it hurt the beast more.

Its clawed foot nearly pulped itself on my weapon, dulling every spike but doing incredible damage.

At nearly the same time, Inara managed to incapacitate the far back right leg, meaning it was slightly unbalanced.

Romie shot the last arrow dipped in pitch to land with a soft thunk right between the eyes of the head Pavel was fighting.

The rift boss went mad with rage, its eyes staring at the dully burning piece of wood stuck to its face, rolling over to try to put out the flames.

It was successful in extinguishing its flaming face agony.

But it literally exposed a soft underbelly to three melee fighters.

Rather than dashing onto the stomach like Inara and Pavel, I focused on smashing at its heads to keep the rift boss occupied and prevent it rolling back over too quickly.

I needn't have bothered.

Inara had its guts spilling out in less than a second, her daggers cutting through the beast's soft leathery stomach hide like a lightsaber through butter.

Somehow, as per usual, she dodged the spray of blood and guts that covered her betrothed.

He spluttered as the gouts of blood hit him, only having stabbed his spear down two times before the fight was essentially over.

Inara did her victory dance, moonwalking poorly, as her back dispelled the rift reward distortion.

I really shouldn't have taught her that.

Three measly pieces of gold fell to the ground as she gave the former tear in space a look of betrayal.

***

My final delve of the day was the trap rift a second time with the same team from day one. Almost the exact same scenario played out – the team triggered or disabled hundreds of traps with little effort, and we received another mystery box. Though this one felt rather underwhelming to my spiritual sense unfortunately – and we wrapped up well before dinner time.

My evening meal was supposed to be a quiet affair, a meal with a Councilor and another merchant, though I was assured that no one would be replacing either party at the last second.

Then the merchant asked if I minded if they brought a friend. I said of course not and asked the same. Which led to me inviting the team. That led to the Councilor bringing two friends himself.

And it all culminated in a rather raucous meal.

The restaurant was accommodating – or possibly they knew better and preemptively threw in the towel at the look of our group – putting us in a functional if not lavish back room.

Everyone agreed to no shop talk so instead of hammering out deals or trafficking in political favors, we all told stories and enjoyed each other's company.

And drank. A lot. I couldn't remember anyone's names by about four minutes in. I even forgot Inara's name for a good stretch.

The traveling merchant, originally from a small village directly on the border with The MM, told us all about the different customs in the neighboring Kingdom.

She confirmed that monogamy was more of a political game than a reality for the rich. However, most people that weren't fabulously wealthy and powerful lived lives reasonably close to those in the Verdant Kingdom; for the vast majority, more things were similar than different.

The local Tier 3 fighting arena champion and her wife – one of the top Tier 2 contenders in her own right, though yet to claim the top spot – explained how most fighting tournaments in the Kingdom worked. I asked tens of questions given I planned to compete in Velez's tournament in less than two months.

The Tier 3 woman said with a slight hiccup, "Yes, yes, sub-Tier matters. But most people put way too much stock into it. I was Tier 3.6 when I unseated the champ and he was Tier 3.9. Hell, he was probably towards the middle of that sub-Tier! It was training and smart prep," she said, barely glancing away from her wife who she looked at with adoring eyes.

"That's all well and good, but pretty vague," I said with a laugh.

"Good point, good point. Made it to the final and prepped only for him. I knew what would counter him and got an item enchanted on the down low. Surprised him good. He's a whip user, with an ability to make the whip intangible, so I just needed something to snag intangible things. Got a glove, grabbed that whip, beat the stuffing out of him." She laughed and then flexed despite it being the hand her wife was holding.

Her wife rolled her eyes. "For a Tier 1 tournament," the Tier 2 fighter said, "you need to focus on fundamentals. Half the people there just want to show off and the other half want to beat the stuffing out of someone without getting in trouble. Be the one there to win. Doesn't matter if they break your nose if you win. Doesn't matter if you've got no teeth left in the end if you win. None of it matters—"

"If you win!" her wife cut in with glee.

Not the most actionable of advice, but still, makes sense. Be there for the right reasons.

The advice for the actual fights was more useful and came down to 'outlast to win'. Most of the people in a Tier 1 tournament hadn't felt significant pain so if you could deal with taking your licks, as long as you could also damage your opponents, most people would either fold or forfeit before passing out.

Be the badass to win. I think I can do that.

When the merchant's friend – a bard known for his bawdy ballads – started strumming in the corner, it turned into basically a drunken karaoke night with live music. I couldn't exactly participate given I knew so little local music but did try an a cappella version of Sweet Child of Mine.

I was given a 'you tried your best' grade by Inara…

The Councilor was quiet but he smiled through the meal and fun all the same. When I asked him about it, he chuckled. "All day, every day, it feels like I have to be prim and proper. Always on my guard for how someone is trying to undermine me. It's nice to just have a pleasant meal with friendly conversation. Makes me wonder if it's all worth it, you know? Oh, I'm sorry, that is dreadfully morose."

"No, no, I get it. Every day, I seem to run up against tough questions about who I am and what I want to do. Should I push back against this powerful person or make nice? Do I want to make an issue out of this or that? How do I gain power so I don't end up someone's plaything or dead? It's nice to enjoy the moments where things are a little less hectic, a little less impactful, lower stakes."

His only response was to raise his glass as a 'hell yeah' before taking a deep drink of the local honeyed ale.

Steve had the most fun of us all, constantly stealing from everyone's plates until the Tier 2 champion snatched him off the table to settle in her lap and did the stealing for him. After he ate his own bodyweight, the sugar glider climbed to her shoulders.

I could feel through our link it was something like doing his best to repay her with a feeble attempt at a massage, made all the worse by 'requesting' food every ten seconds or so. Her hair ended up with an inordinate amount of food in it, which she found hilarious.

It was a good night.

[Incoming Message from Nina Asani: I will be there by early tomorrow. Do not cause further trouble. I will not have you hurt Velez. I will speak with you at first light.]

Well, shit.

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