"Hey, stay where we can see you," Alexander called out as they entered the western section of Floor 5. "This area's got the worst hallucinogenic toxins we've found yet."

  The morning light filtered through a strange, purplish haze hanging over this part of the gardens. Unlike the northeastern section with its aggressive, obviously dangerous pnts, the western quadrant appeared deceptively beautiful. Delicate flowers in vibrant colors swayed gently despite the absence of wind, while crystalline structures caught the light and scattered it in hypnotic patterns.

  "Don't touch anything without checking it three times," Lyra warned, adjusting her mask. "Pretty usually means deadly in here."

  They moved in a tight formation, with Riva taking point, Alexander and Valeria fnking, and Elijah and Lyra providing technical support from the center. After yesterday's successful expedition, they had refined their protection systems further, adding an additional filtration yer to their masks and applying a second coat of protective seant to their gloves.

  "This is weird," Elijah said, frowning at his scanner. "The toxin signatures keep shifting, like they know we're here or something."

  "Probably adaptive defenses," Lyra suggested, kneeling to look at a cluster of iridescent mushrooms without touching them. "Some pnts can change their poison chemistry based on what's trying to eat them."

  As they moved deeper into the garden, the haze thickened, and the pnts grew more unusual. Vines with transparent stems revealed flowing colored liquids inside. Flowers opened and closed in synchronized patterns that seemed to follow their movements. The air itself felt heavier, as if saturated with invisible particles.

  "I'm getting some amazing biological samples here," Elijah said enthusiastically, carefully collecting specimens in sealed containers. His inventory screen showed his medical storage slots nearly full of different pnt parts, each automatically beled and categorized by the system.

  Alexander kept a watchful eye on everyone's position while maintaining his map updates. The beauty of this section was undeniable, but everything about it set off his internal warning systems. Flora shouldn't track movement. Pnts shouldn't pulse in rhythm with human heartbeats. And the silent, coordinated way everything seemed to be watching them was deeply unsettling.

  They had been exploring for nearly three hours when they came across a small clearing dominated by what appeared to be a single massive pnt. Its central structure resembled a tree trunk, but instead of branches, dozens of translucent tubes extended outward, each ending in a bulbous sac filled with vibrant blue liquid.

  "I've never seen anything like this," Elijah said, carefully holding out his scanner. "The chemicals in those sacs are crazy complex."

  "Back up a bit," Alexander warned. "That thing looks like it's built to trap stuff."

  "I'm just scanning, not touching," Elijah said, keeping his distance. "But this stuff could be huge for us. If we could make it safely, it might boost reaction times, sensory processing..."

  Lyra moved closer to peek at his scanner. "Looks kinda like what we found yesterday, but way stronger. Those sacs are under pressure too—see how they're pulsing?"

  Elijah nodded, tweaking his scanner. "I'm gonna try to get a better read on what's inside." He carefully extended a probe from his equipment, keeping it near—but not touching—one of the sacs.

  What happened next occurred too quickly for anyone to react.

  One of the sacs suddenly contracted, spraying a fine mist directly at Elijah. Though most of it hit his protective clothing, some found its way through a tiny separation between his mask and neck seal—a minor gap that had developed during their hours of exploration.

  "He's hit!" Alexander shouted, rushing toward Elijah as the pnt's other sacs began pulsing faster.

  Elijah stumbled backward, dropping his scanner. "I'm fine, I—" His words stopped as he gasped, clutching his throat. "Can't... breathe..."

  Alexander and Lyra grabbed him as his legs gave out. Together they dragged him away from the pnt, which was getting more agitated, its sacs squeezing and expanding rapidly.

  "Riva! Watch our backs!" Alexander yelled. "Make sure nothing follows us!"

  They pulled back to what looked like a safe spot and set Elijah down. His breathing was quick and shallow, and angry red welts were forming on his exposed neck.

  "Mask seal broke on the right side," Valeria said, examining his gear. "Toxin got in there."

  Alexander was already swiping through his inventory for medical supplies. "Elijah, what do you need? Tell us!"

  Elijah's eyes looked gzed, and he seemed to have trouble focusing. "Regur... antitoxin... won't help," he gasped. "This stuff's... different..."

  Lyra knelt beside him, scanning the residue on his gear. "It's a neurotoxin with a weird protein structure—nothing like we've seen before. It's attacking his nerves."

  Alexander grabbed a general antitoxin from his inventory and used it anyway, hoping it might help a little. "Stay with us, Elijah. What would fix this?"

  Elijah's hands shook as he tried to open his inventory. "Need... special... binding agent... don't have it..."

  His eyes rolled back, and his breathing got worse. The welts were spreading up his neck toward his face, turning an arming blue color.

  "He's going into shock," Valeria said, sounding less detached than usual. "We need to get back to camp now."

  "He won't make it," Lyra said quietly, staring at the spreading blue pattern.

  She seemed to be struggling with a decision. Then, making up her mind, she opened her inventory and went to a hidden section protected by a password. Alexander caught a glimpse—it had just a few items with strange icons unlike standard game items.

  She picked something beled "Compound S-17" – a small vial of amber liquid. The description just said "Experimental - Use at own risk."

  "Hold him down," she said firmly. "This'll hurt, but it should stop the toxin."

  Alexander met her eyes, then nodded, helping Valeria hold down Elijah who was starting to spasm.

  Lyra opened the vial and carefully put three drops on Elijah's skin where the blue pattern was worst. The liquid sizzled, making Elijah cry out. Then she put two more drops in his mouth.

  "What is that stuff?" Alexander asked, watching the blue pattern immediately start to fade where she'd applied the liquid.

  "Something I made," Lyra said, focused on Elijah's reaction. "I've been experimenting with stuff I've collected since Floor 1, trying to recreate something I knew how to make before. Wasn't sure it would even work in here."

  Within minutes, Elijah's breathing improved, and his eyes started to clear. The blue pattern stopped spreading, though it didn't completely disappear.

  "How'd you know that would work?" Valeria asked, watching Lyra with new interest.

  "I didn't know for sure," Lyra admitted. "But the scanner patterns looked familiar. I've been collecting pnt stuff and mixing batches at night during my watch shifts. First time I've actually used it though."

  Elijah's eyes opened fully, and he looked up at Lyra, confused but starting to understand. "You... gambled on me," he said hoarsely. "With your secret project."

  "Your symptoms matched what I made it for," she said simply, avoiding his eyes as she put the nearly empty vial back in her inventory. She paused before adding, "Wouldn't have tried it if I thought it'd make things worse."

  Alexander immediately got what this meant. In the Game, personal crafting projects—especially ones that could save your life—were guarded like treasure. The recipes, ingredients, methods—these could make the difference between surviving or not. Pyers kept such knowledge to themselves, protected it fiercely. You didn't share them, and you definitely didn't use untested stuff on someone else.

  Yet Lyra had just used most of her carefully made antitoxin on Elijah without hesitating.

  "Let's get back to camp," Alexander said, helping Elijah sit up. "Riva, you take point. Valeria, watch our backs. I'll help Elijah walk."

  "I'll help too," Lyra said, moving to Elijah's other side.

  Together they made their way back through the garden, moving more slowly with Elijah still weak from the poison. The pnts seemed to watch their retreat, some even leaning toward them as they passed, but none attacked again.

  By the time they got to camp, Elijah could walk with just a little help, though the blue pattern was still faintly visible on his neck.

  "You should lie down," Alexander told him, helping him to his sleeping mat. "Lyra, can you keep an eye on him?"

  She nodded, already mixing a more standard treatment for the lingering effects.

  While Riva secured the area and Valeria organized their samples, Alexander watched Lyra taking care of Elijah. Her usual guardedness was gone, repced by genuine concern as she checked his vital signs with a gentleness he hadn't seen from her before.

  Once Elijah was stable and resting, Alexander went over to Lyra as she cleaned her gear.

  "That was your secret project," he said quietly. "Something you've been working on by yourself."

  She gnced up briefly, then went back to her work. "He needed it more than I did."

  "Most pyers wouldn't share something like that."

  Lyra's hands stopped for a moment. "I'm not most pyers."

  "Why'd you do it?" Alexander asked, genuinely curious.

  She was quiet for a long time before answering. "Where I come from, I watched someone die because... resources were saved for someone else. For me." Her voice grew tight. "I won't let that happen again. Not when I can do something about it."

  She gnced over at Elijah, then back to her work. "I've seen what happens when you hold back what could help others. I won't make that mistake."

  Alexander wasn't sure what to say. This was clearly about more than just today's incident, but he could sense the raw emotion behind her words. Whatever had happened in her past had left deep scars.

  "Thanks," he said simply, then left her alone.

  As night came, they sat around a small cooking fire, talking quietly while Elijah rested. Valeria had barely spoken since the incident, occasionally looking at Lyra with a thoughtful expression.

  "Is he gonna be okay?" Riva asked, nodding toward Elijah.

  "Yeah," Lyra said. "The mixture neutralized the toxin. The blue marks will fade in a day or so as his body processes everything."

  "What about that pnt?" Alexander asked. "What was that thing?"

  "Some kind of defense system," Lyra suggested. "Probably protecting whatever grows in the middle of that clearing. We should stay completely away from that area tomorrow."

  "If we even go back," Valeria said. "That section's way more dangerous than we thought."

  "We still need to finish the mapping," Alexander reminded them. "But we'll change our approach. No samples unless absolutely necessary, stay further apart from each other, and check seals every fifteen minutes."

  As they talked about tomorrow's pns, Elijah stirred and slowly sat up. The blue pattern had faded a lot, now just faint traces instead of angry welts.

  "Look who's back," Alexander said. "How you feeling?"

  "Like I got kicked by a neural stunner," Elijah said with a weak smile. "But I'm alive." His eyes found Lyra across the fire. "Thanks to you."

  Lyra shrugged uncomfortably. "Wasn't complicated once I figured out what kind of toxin it was."

  "I don't mean that," Elijah said. "I mean your experimental stuff. I know what that means—using something untested that you've been making yourself."

  Everyone went quiet, all getting the significance of what that meant in the Game.

  Lyra fidgeted with her scanner, clearly uncomfortable with the attention. "Made sense. Your medical skills are too important to lose."

  "Still," Elijah insisted. "Thank you. I want to help you improve the formu, if you'll share it. We could make it work even better."

  "You don't have to—"

  "I want to," he interrupted gently. "I think together we could really make it something special."

  Something passed between them then—a look that went beyond their different backgrounds. Maybe for the first time, they weren't seeing Architect-css versus Unaligned, or healer versus technician, but just two people who had crossed an invisible but important line.

  After dinner, while everyone was getting ready to sleep, Alexander updated his private logs. Under team dynamics, he wrote:

  Big development between E and L. First real trust moment beyond tactical teamwork. L sharing secret crafting project suggests she's integrating with team more than expected. Watch how this retionship develops—could help team cohesion but might cause issues if L's background becomes a problem.

  As he finished writing, Alexander looked over to where Elijah and Lyra sat together, talking quietly while Elijah showed her something in one of his medical guides. Their body nguage had totally changed—the careful distance they'd always kept was gone, and they leaned slightly toward each other as they talked, comfortable in a way he hadn't seen before.

  Trust didn't come easy in the Game—for good reason. Everyone knew attachments could get you killed, that today's teammate might be tomorrow's quota fulfillment. But without some trust, no team stood a chance.

  What he'd seen today wasn't just Lyra saving Elijah—it was her making a choice that went against all the survival instincts that had kept her alive as an Unaligned. That kind of choice changed people and retionships in ways you couldn't reverse.

  For better or worse, their team had just become something more than a convenient alliance.