Micro began to push the creature away, step by step, as it continued its violent attempts to resist him. Using the club as a handle, Micro walked carefully forward, enduring the screeching sounds the goblin made.

  “Do you think there are more?” Micro asked after a few dozen paces.

  “Probably not,” Blue answered. “Monsters are attracted to that sort of fog, but this one was probably already scouting the area.”

  “Scouting?” Micro inquired while dodging another kick.

  “They live in big groups, but they send out runts like this to survey the area now and then,” Blue explained. “They’re annoying. Most people just kill the rotten things…”

  “I know it’s best to put rabid animals out of their misery, but this is just…” Micro said with an awkward frown. He didn’t understand why the monster refused to let go of the club, but it made it easy to carry the goblin along.

  “Up to you,” Blue said. “But this fog is really…”

  “What’s wrong?” Micro asked, noting her concerned tone as he grew bored with the goblin in front of him, which had suddenly become almost impossible to see. “Is it another well?”

  “We’re probably near the opening,” she explained. “Fog like this usually oozes out of cracks that form when the forest shifts.”

  “This forest gets more dangerous every day…” Micro sighed as he continued along. “They should put signs up.”

  “You should probably stop now or—” Blue tried to warn him, but it was too late.

  Micro noticed the weight of the goblin increase, pulling down on the club, and him along with it. Micro moved his right foot forward to brace himself, but found no ground beneath it to catch him.

  “Oops,” He muttered as he and the goblin fell into a large crack in the ground. Compared to the many times he’d fallen down a mountain, he felt like the fog was slowing his fall greatly, though he had no way of knowing when he might finally reach the bottom of the misty crevice. He braced himself as the fog became so thick that inhaling it made him cough.

  The goblin’s screeching stopped around the same time their falling slowed nearly to the point where they weren’t moving at all, and the feeling of a rocky ground finally manifested beneath them. Though he was thankful that the dense energy at soften their landing, he was no loner sure which way was up.

  “Oh dear…” Micro sighed.

  “So this is how I die…” Blue added with a disgruntled frown. “Weird.”

  Micro was completely blinded by fog. It was so dense at the bottom of the crevice that it glowed bright enough to hurt his functioning eye. He still held the club in one hand, and assumed by its weight that the unconscious goblin must also still be holding on to it. He dragged it along for lack of a better idea of what to do with it, holding his other hand out to keep himself from walking into anything. His hand soon met a cold, rocky wall, which he began to follow it to the left, vaguely hoping he might find another cave to lead him to safety.

  “I have no idea how you’re planning to get us out of this mess,” Blue called out, her shouting still muffled by the fog.

  “Will the fog go away soon?” Micro called back as he shuffled onward.

  “Up there? Sure!” Blue replied. “But down here, nope.”

  “Oh dear…”

  “I’ve never actually been down one of these energy wells,” Blue shouted. “It’s probably going to kill us, but it’s also weirdly refreshing!”

  “Really?”

  “All this energy is feels like a breath of fresh air!” Blue celebrated, though she continued to cough. “I feel dizzy too…!”

  “How do you cultivate energy like this?” Micro called out. “I can’t concentrate with all the noise of it!”

  “You probably couldn’t cultivate a core down here, sure,” Blue called back. “But I’m not just a cultivator, am I?”

  “You’re a pixie!” Micro answered.

  “Yep!” Blue laughed. “The more energy there is, the better. We just soak up whatever energy floats on by…!”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  “Like a sponge!”

  “I don’t like that comparison, but you’re not wrong…”

  “Cultivating without thinking about it…” Micro thought aloud. “That would be convenient…”

  “What was that?” Blue asked.

  “It’s nothing!” Micro shouted, but his hand suddenly found something out of place. “Huh?”

  He stopped and ran his hand along the stone for a moment. Its smooth surface and distinct angles felt warm, and he found another just like it above it. To the side of the stones was an opening which felt even warmer, and he leaned forward to see if he could make out any details at all with his good eye through the fog.

  But he let out a knowing grunt as he was suddenly pulled into the opening by an invisible force, along with the club and the unconscious goblin. Blue held on to Micro’s ear with both hands as she was carried along with him, shouting something Micro didn’t understand. After a moment of panic had passed, he finally saw something other than fog.

  “This is definitely…” Micro shouted into the swirling clouds of amber coloured energy.

  “An amber dungeon?!” Blue shouted, her flustered voice finally clear in Micro’s sore ear. “What did I tell you—”

  ~

  The experience of being transported through the amber level dungeon’s portal was different from the jade dungeons Micro had experienced. The potent energy wasn’t more than his body could take, but the pressure of it stung his skin like ice rain. He worried that Blue might find it uncomfortable with only a jade core, but with his energy back in his control, he was able to confirm through her own energy that she seemed perfectly healthy.

  The goblin, on the other hand, had woken up and appeared to be in terrible pain, screeching and writhing as it fell through the portal beside Micro. It continued to convulse until it finally let go of the club which Micro still held. Though the sound of the goblin made him even more uncomfortable, Micro was soon relieved to feel his feet upon the ground. He blinked as his eye adjusted to the dimly lit room, and was pleasantly surprised to see it resembled the room where he met the guardian of the Jade Fire Turtle Art Dungeon. Blue dropped down to the ground, landing on her feet with a light tap. She bent over to catch her breath for a moment before looking up at Micro.

  “If I didn’t have the skin I’ve got, my core would’ve exploded by now,” she stated with an amused glare. “The energy in here is definitely not as easy to breathe as the stuff in a jade dungeon.”

  “Do you think you’ll be okay?” Micro asked, closely analyzing the energy in her body. He finally released his grip on the club, and it fell to the floor next to the goblin.

  “I’m in better shape than that thing,” Blue replied, pointing at the goblin with a frown.

  Its screeching had ceased, replaced by intermittent coughing fits where it lay curled up on the ground. Micro could clearly see that the energy in the room which made his own skin sting was eating through the goblin’s energy like rust, though it didn’t seem like the goblin was near death.

  “Well, that’s not our problem,” Blue shrugged.

  “Indeed…” a feminine voice suddenly echoed in the stone chamber. “And you have a number of problems…”

  “Oh, hello there,” Micro replied to the voice of unknown origin, looking around as his eye continued to adjust. “Are you the guardian of this dungeon?”

  “I am…” the voice replied with a casual tone.

  “Is this a dungeon we can leave whenever we like?” Micro asked. “Or is it the other kind…?”

  “I haven’t decided yet…” the voice replied. “However…”

  Suddenly, a long shadow dropped down from the ceiling, too quickly for Micro to track, and the eyes of a snake met his own. The snake’s head was only a few paces from Micro, and its body extended all the way up to the dark ceiling, obscured by shadows. Just like the guardian turtle he had encountered, the snake was far bigger than any animal on Earth to his knowledge. Its head was nearly the size of a small car, and its scaly skin glowed with a yellow hue, not unlike the dragon called Ray.

  “You’ve been making waves in the waters of fate…” the large snake continued with an alluring voice, though its mouth never moved but to smile slightly. “Touched by chaos, a soul far from home…”

  “It’s nice to meet you!” Micro smiled back. “I’m Micro, this is Blue, and Trill is the one in my-”

  “Yes… I know…” the snake continued. “Interesting…”

  “I really do need to be going now, so if you wouldn’t mind…” Micro explained, but the snake’s expression made him unsure whether it would consider any request he made.

  “You know not where you are…?” the snake asked, moving back slightly.

  “We fell in a hole, then I led us in here by mistake,” Micro answered.

  “This is the Amber Fire Serpent Art Dungeon,” the snake declared. “It is a fine place to find yourself, even by accident…”

  “Oh!” Micro shouted, causing the snake’s eyes to widen in amusement. “Are you the yellow basilisk called Lo?!”

  “I am not…” The snake replied. “I am the basilisk, Ura…”

  “Do you know where Lo is?” Micro asked.

  “I have been the guardian of this dungeon since its creation,” Ura replied. “Lo is a younger basilisk, one whose presence I have not sensed in many ages…”

  “Lo is from an Amber Water Serpent Art Dungeon, you tool,” Blue snapped. “And he got kicked out of his dungeon, so why would he be in this one?”

  “Ah, that’s right,” Micro said with an awkward smile. “Thanks, Blue. Sorry, Ura.”

  “What interesting news you bring me… I have wondered if guardians born long after the creation of these dungeons could be corrupted, but then…” Ura the basilisk suddenly began to glow more brightly, then dropped from the ceiling and coiled itself up on the ground, slithering around until she seemed to have tied herself in a complicated knot. Micro looked on in concern at the strange sight, but the calm glow Ura emitted eased his worries. After a moment, the glowing skin of the basilisk evaporated into the air. What remained was a woman of ordinary height whose hair, eyes, and skin all glowed with the same amber hue. A simple robe resembling the skin of the basilisk materialized around her, and she walked toward Micro with a curious expression. “Everything changes, some time or another…”