Max didn’t sleep well that night. He tossed and turned, trying to decide what to do about James. He didn’t trust him anymore, but years of friendship didn’t disappear overnight. By the next morning, he didn’t have any better idea of what he wanted to do.

  Most of the fighters from yesterday were healed by morning. There were only two that were still injured enough they couldn’t walk. Karl organized travois for them both, and a rotating roster of who would pull them.

  Max had travois duty when they reached the foothills shortly before lunch. The mountains loomed above them, their final challenge before the first layer. Now that it was so close, the mandatory quest lay heavily on his shoulders.

  His backpack also weighed on him since he wasn't using his belt around the strangers. He had been pushing his Levitate on the travois and couldn’t spare any oomph to lighten his pack as well. He suspected he would have to level up his Levitate before that was possible.

  They headed west for an hour before stopping at the base of a trail. It led straight up through a mountain pass. The dirt path turned to gravel a quarter of the way up. It looked well maintained, but with the name of Donner pass, Max suspected it would be difficult.

  While they were eating lunch, Karl addressed everyone. “We are going to push for getting over the pass today. I know that means we will arrive in the valley just before nightfall, but I want to sleep in a bed tonight. We will have to push, but we can do it. If you decide to sleep here tonight and make the hike tomorrow, just be warned that we have seen tracks of a Boar-Wolf in the area.”

  There was general murmuring at that announcement. Unsurprisingly, no one decided to stay behind. The lightning attacks of the boar-wolves were too dangerous to consider fighting them.

  They set out at a steady pace, heading straight up the mountain. Max was able to keep pace with his Levitate, and suspected many of the others were doing the same. James was having problems. He didn’t have magical assistance and didn’t start out in great shape.

  The rest of the caravan started outpacing him when they were halfway up. James went from the head of the line all the way to the back while he desperately tried to keep up. Lily was trying to be encouraging, but it was hard for her too. Her short legs counteracted her general fitness.

  By the time James had made it to the back of the line, Max had made up his mind on what to do.

  “James, come here for a second,” Max said.

  When he came close, Max put his hand on James’ pack. James’ eyes widened when he realized that Max had greatly lightened his load.

  “What did you do?”

  “When you get Levitate over six, you can lighten other things besides yourself. I can only do one thing at a time right now.”

  “Uh, thanks... I really... appreciate it.” James said between huffs of breath.

  “I don’t hate you.” Max said without looking at him. “I know it kind of seems like I do right now, but I don’t. We’ve been friends for years and I know you are the same person. I want to stay your friend. But you’ve lost my trust. I won’t fight with you anymore. I can’t face monsters with someone I can’t trust to do what they will say they will do.”

  James was silent for a few minutes. Max glanced over to see a red face. He didn’t know if it was strong emotions or heavy exercise.

  “That’s fair... Can we... hang out... sometimes? Give me... a chance to regain... your trust.”

  Max tilted his head back and forth. “I won’t say no. I might be up for hanging out in a few weeks. You are buying the first round if we find a bar.”

  “Deal.”

  Max felt a little lighter. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was the best he could come up with.

  During the next break, Max sat down next to Bisrat. She was laying down, all curled up. She was massaging an ointment into the underside of her tail. She was methodically ensuring each small tentacle was clean and moisturized.

  “Ah. I bet the stone on this mountain is murder on your tail.”

  “The rock face is fine. It’s the gravel that really gets to me. It’s murder on my cilia.”

  Max took a breath. “Hey, listen. There is something you should know. I won’t be fighting with James anymore. We might stay friends, but he’s off the party. That means Lily and Yang won’t be in our party anymore either. Lily’s in love with him and Yang wants to protect her. I don’t know if Gus will stick around either. He was talking about wanting a better share of the loot yesterday. I’m telling you all this so you can decide if you want to stick around with me. I would love to have you on the team. I think your skills are invaluable. But I know it isn’t the party you asked to join.”

  Bisrat looked up at him, but didn’t get up. “That’s too bad about your friends, but I didn’t ask to join their party. I asked to join yours. You’re the one with amazing potential, I’ll be sticking with you as long as the money is flowing.” She went back to rubbing her tail.

  “Well, thanks. Glad to have you onboard.” Max said.

  They got going again shortly after that. The caravan stretched into a longer and longer line as people’s different capabilities became apparent. No one was particularly worried about monsters. Apparently they didn’t wander up this high often. The tops of the mountains were devoid of mana and the monsters didn’t like that.

  Max almost cried when they crested the mountain. They were here. Finally safe from magic cancer after weeks of constant worry. It was like a weight was lifted off his soul. Everyone from his party stood nearby, drinking in the beautiful sight.

  The first layer stretched out in front of them. Rolling hills and isolated groves dotted the landscape. It was mostly plains full of multi-colored grasses. There were black dots randomly scattered about, which Max assumed were dungeons. Cities were built up around denser concentrations of dungeon towers.

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  There were some flying monsters, and fewer flying machines. Or at least that’s what Gus said. Max only saw specks in the sky.

  The curvature of the world was much more pronounced here. The first layer stretched up, narrowing towards the top of the sphere. The actual top was blocked off by endless mountains, but it was clear that the southern edge of the first layer was much longer than the northern edge.

  Max glanced back to the second layer. It was fascinating how different the foliage was even though the climate felt the same. What held his attention wasn’t plants, it was the island floating in the air in the distance. Bespin. It would be his first stop in the search for his brother. Then Hogwarts, Gotham, and Coruscant. It might take a while to find his brother, but he had already waited years. He could be patient for another few months.

  Karl walked up to them and said, “We are splitting up now. The higher leveled peeps are running ahead. I wanted to talk to y’all since I knew you were new. Don’t worry about the wild monsters around here, they are easy compared to the ones on the second layer. Mostly kobolds and knife snakes around here. Head for that city there, it’s the closest and they are pretty friendly. Max, thanks for landing the final blow on Bawk Bawk Senior. I’ll buy you a beer the next time I see you in town. James, I’ll put in a good word for you when I swing by the Silver Eagle guild hall. Make sure to check them out. Y’all Stay safe.”

  And then he was off. It was clear his group had invested in Levitate. They quickly headed down the mountain, taking bigger and bigger jumps as they did.

  Max decided Karl was a bit selfish. Max had saved everyone with that hammer strike and gotten Karl a huge monster core out of it. The only thing he promised in return was a beer if he saw him again.

  They made their way down the mountain, the six of them quickly ending up alone as the others rushed ahead. Max suggested they eat dinner on the go and push forward in the dark to reach the city. They all agreed because they wanted to sleep in a real bed tonight.

  Max admired the patchwork colors of the grasses in the plains below. There was green and yellow from Earth, interspersed with red from the Lunuk homeworld, and blue from the Paj homeworld. The purple grasses were probably native to the Igra world.

  A message appeared as they reached the base of the mountain, five of them jerking back in shock as one.

  Mandatory Quest complete. Essence rewarded for following the directive.

  “Did you guys get two level ups as well?” Max asked.

  “No, I got three. I’m level fourteen now,” James replied with a wide grin.

  “I’m fourteen too. Maybe you were right on the cusp of a level up before,” Max said.

  Gus and Lily had leveled up to fourteen as well, but Yang was stuck at thirteen.

  “It’s all that sneaking around. You need to get your sword bloody more often,” Gus said.

  Yang scowled at him in response.

  Bisrat shook her head. “If I wasn’t sure you were lucky before, I would be now.”

  “Doesn’t everyone get a level up when they complete the mandatory quest?”

  She held up a finger. “Yes, one. You got two level ups, and that’s after you hit the soft cap of twelve.”

  Gus asked, “What’s the soft cap?”

  “The monsters on the first layer are easy. Too easy. After reaching level twelve, you don’t get essence from killing them anymore. The only way to keep advancing is killing dungeon bosses or moving to the second layer. The caravan we joined was full of people trying to save up for the move to the second layer. Most people just stop at twelve, even the dungeon divers.”

  “I guess we are lucky, already the big dogs the day we arrive in town.” Gus said and strutted forward. “Except you, Yang. You’re still a little dog.”

  Yang didn’t reply, but Gus tripped and fell on his face a few moments later. He swung his hammer around himself as he got up, but he missed her as she faded into the grass. He chased after her, widening the path she took.

  “Stay out of the blue grass, guys!” Bisrat called out. “It’s sharp enough to cut through your clothes.”

  The grass was chest height and thick enough to make it hard to see through. Gus and Yang both cursed and quickly returned to the path already worn through the prairie. Both were dripping blood from their pants, but the cuts weren’t too bad. Max still felt some sympathy for the loss of Earth pants.

  The sun set when the closest city was still miles away. Max pulled out a flashlight, but it had fried from the mana. Bisrat saved the day by pulling out a glowing orb on a stick.

  They were on guard the whole way there, but weren’t attacked once. The other hunters must have killed any monsters in the area. They saw the dark shapes of dungeon towers loomed in the distance, like sentinels protecting the town.

  The lights of civilization pulled on them, guiding them unerringly to the city. Despite the occasional hill, the curvature of the world ensured they never lost sight of their destination.

  The ground surrounding the city had been scoured clean, only dirt and stone remaining. The city walls were twelve feet tall, the shortest ones yet. Max couldn’t tell what they were made of in the dark. Whatever it was, it wasn’t wood.

  “Ho there, travelers. Welcome to the city of Skyhold, all that are good and just!” a voice atop the walls said.

  Max paused, wondering why that sounded familiar.

  Another guard said, “Knock it off, Greg. I keep telling you we aren’t supposed to goof off on duty.” He turned to them and said, “Sorry about him. This is actually the city of New Pants.”

  Max laughed, “Skyhold is a way better name than New Pants. But I guess this is real life and not Dragon Age.”

  Greg laughed. “See! He gets it!”

  “Shut up, Greg.” the guard said and turned to Max. “It’s a crescent entry fee per party. We can make change if you only have monster cores.”

  “I got it, no problem.” Max said and gave him one of the coins he had won gambling.

  The guards opened the gates and let them in. The streetlights softly glowed, revealing a city unlike any he had seen before. The buildings weren’t made of wood or stone. Or maybe they were, but every surface was covered in canvas. There were different colors and patterns of canvas, but it looked like the buildings were clothed. Maybe in the same material they made pants out of.

  They got directions to an inn that had space and crashed out.

  Max slept deep and long, only waking long after the sun had risen. Or rather, after the thing blocking the sun had moved out of the way. His stomach told him it was close to lunchtime.

  He stumbled down cloth stairs to the inn’s main room. It was set up like a tavern, with a stone fireplace on one end and a bar on the other. He found Bisrat eating at one of the tables in the middle. He grabbed the chair she had shoved to the side and plunked down.

  “So good to see you up. You are the last one. But don’t worry I didn’t wait long. All of us slept in today. I wanted to be here when you woke so we could talk about the future. I have some ideas of what I could help you with and we need to decide what our next steps will be.”