Octavia slinked through the forest, her feet hardly touching the ground as she glided over it. The forest was lively once again with the distant chirps of birds and the distant sounds of wildlife. Thankfully, it gave her time to really digest the events of the day.

  Everything felt far too easy. Although monsters filled the grasslands, most were too busy fighting each other to notice her. That could be written off as simply the first level of the tutorial, where things were easy. It made sense because the system’s job was to help them grow. However, that didn’t bode well for the deeper areas, since there was no telling how hard they would be.

  Yet, the thought was exciting, simply because it gave her a chance to travel and explore. Though it led to the question, was everything in here real? Was it a simulation? After all, she could taste, feel, smell, touch, and see everything, but did that truly mean anything? Octavia felt a budding headache build as she jumped over a large tree root and landed deftly onto the forest floor.

  Her eyes scanned the ground as she tried to search for any signs of her friends, yet nothing existed. It was as if they hadn’t passed through here, which frustrated the woman to no end. It was dumb to travel ahead like that without establishing a meetup point. In fact, it was dumb what she did. Rushing ahead into a giant bloody mushroom cloud wasn’t the best of choices she had ever made, but it had results and sometimes the end justified the means.

  The forest breathed in tandem with the pulsing wind, and the pungent coppery scent had long since faded into the backdrop. Octavia took a deep breath, tasting the air and noting how the natural smells had settled back in. Though, with how much time she spent in that blood essence, she could still taste the metallic tang of blood.

  The woman’s head whipped to the side as she followed the scent like a bloodhound, the effect even more pronounced due to the passive her new outfit gave her. But this scent was fresh, way too fresh. Not only that, there was also the faint stench of burning wood. Perhaps her friends had set up camp close by.

  Following it, she glided through the forest. Her breath came in steady waves and her muscles burned with the strain. Octavia felt alive and stronger than ever. The forest around Octavia grew thicker as more trees seemed to sprout in her path. The branches were wrapped tightly around one another, strangling the light. Vines crept up, trying to reach the few rays of light that slipped through the canopy above. As the woman plunged deeper, she marveled at the strangeness of it all. Some areas were open enough to allow grass and other small bushes to grow, yet places like this were thick so that only the hardiest of plants could survive.

  This was life, or at least, life, under the system, where only the strong and adaptable survived. But the more Octavia thought about it, the more questions built up. What did the system get out of all of this? What was the end goal? Again, her mind wandered with uncertainty as she flowed through the forest, following the smell of blood.

  Eventually, she stumbled into a small clearing. The center was soaked with blood, though it wasn’t nearly as bad as the ritual area. On the far side of the clearing was the broken corpse of a tree a rat and a campfire that was burning steadily. Derrick was seated nearby, cutting a slab of meat with Julia’s sword. “Ah, here you guys are.” A smile crossed Octavia’s face as she moved towards her friends and relief flooded through her veins.

  “Mm, someone’s been busy.” The mage glanced up towards the redhead. He had a set of glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. They looked as if they were ripped from an antique shop. The frames were crafted from what looked to be burnished bronze, and the lenses were clear, yet they radiated a slightly azure haze.

  “Woah, you wear glasses now?” Octavia stifled a chortle, as she covered her lips. She scanned the clearing, searching for Julia, and ?found her heart rate spiking.

  “It was part of that reword drop that we got. I got these glasses and this really nifty vest. The vest enhances my magic regeneration, while these glasses allow me to see the flow of magic.” He shrugged as he brought Julia’s sword back down on the slab of meat, cutting thin slices and stacking them on the rock next to him. “You, on the other hand, look like a character taken right out of .” A smirk crossed his lips as he dropped another cut of meat with a meaty thud.

  “Eh, the outfit looks cool. But I don’t know what is. Anyway, where is Julia?” Octavia glanced around nervously while biting her lip.

  “Jules is answering nature’s call right now. She should be back soon.” Derrick’s eyes came to rest on Octavia and a frown cut away his small smile. “You look different. What happened?”

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  “Well, I found the monsters were being driven mad by a blood ritual, with this little guy the cause.” As Octavia spoke, she reached into the tool belt, pulling out the small bloodstone. “Plus, it was emitting this strange aura around it that gave me a bunch of free stats.”

  “Oh! Can I see that?” Derrick eyed the bloodstone hungrily as he reached out.

  “Sure, but don’t lose it. I want to figure out how to use that aura going again to see if I can give you guys a boost.” Octavia carefully passed the bloodstone over to the man, whose eyes lit up like fireworks.

  ” How interesting. The magic flowing through this stone is potent. But unfortunately, I don’t know any rituals.” Longing filled his eyes as he passed the stone back over to Octavia, who took it and slid back into its pocket.

  “Yeah, I’m at a loss myself, but I’m certain we will learn some. It should come in handy if we find that settlement stone or whatever it was that we talked about earlier.” She shrugged, and sauntered over, sat down on a rock next to Derrick, and relaxed. Her body ached, and her arm was growing sore from the constant use of the chakram. Even with her newfound strength, she was only human.

  “That is certainly something we could do. Though I do struggle to wrap my mind around running a city.” The man gazed into the flickering flames; exasperation was as clear as day in his voice.”

  “Yeah, but we only have so much to go on. Besides, the advisor said that we knew too much about the system, so the goal isn’t too far-fetched. We just have to dive as deep as we can and see what happens.” Octavia yawned as exhaustion crept into the corners of her mind.

  “Huh, it didn’t really explain much to me about that. Maybe I didn’t ask the right questions,” the mage mused quietly as he cut another small slab of meat. “Which reminds me, Julia got a spacial backpack, so we can stuff a bunch of resources from this floor into it and carry it with us.”

  “Hell yeah! Oh, also, I think we should hit level five before we decide to plunge deeper into this dungeon. I only stopped this ritual because of luck. But there is no telling what is going to be waiting for us on the next floor.” The redhead yawned and pulled the chakram from her shoulder, setting it down next to her.

  Its blade was still covered in blood, and she wanted to wipe it off, but a lack of materials stopped her. Perhaps some leaves or squirrel fur could work. The other option was to leave it. After all, this was a world of magic now, and the blood aura changed her body, so perhaps leaving blood on the blade could change it as well.

  “Yeah, you aren’t wrong. Even though the blood ritual has been stopped, we should still sleep in shifts,” Derrick said as he stood up and walked over to a stack of firewood sorting through it.

  “I’m going to take a quick nap, I think, and then you two can go after. "Octavia fell backwards as she spoke, her words laced with exhaustion. The wet rock bit into her back, but it was still better than sleeping on the ground.

  “That works. I do want to get this meat smoked, so it'll be a few hours yet.” Derrick stacked a few twigs into a teepee, tendering to the smoldering embers.

  “Bet. Anyway, I’m going to check out my stat screen and distribute my points before I pass out, so nudge me if you need anything.” Octavia shifted her bleary eyes over to her screen, and the other notification that was hidden.

  Ah, well, she was two levels away from the class milestone. Though that begged the question, what would level five bring? In fact, how did the system even build classes? Once again Octavia spiraled into more thoughts that tugged at all the corners of her mind.

  Stressing over something wouldn’t change the outcome, so why bother? The woman took a breath and recited the mantra her father had taught her growing up. Octavia opened her eyes and gazed at the sky above, watching the clouds slowly float past. Her mind wandered, as she finally took a second to process everything that had happened. What would become of Earth? Since this was a new universe added to the fold, it would be a given that other factions would come to fight over it.

  The thought made Octavia shudder. The Earth was home for all of humanity and damn anyone else that tried to take it from them. Perhaps her thought process was altruistic, but she wanted to protect Earth from whatever existed beyond its confines. Man, beast, or even God, it didn’t matter. No, Octavia wouldn’t allow it. The thought of Earth getting picked over by vultures filled her with rage.

  It was a rage that she didn’t quite have words for. It just felt wrong to know that there were other people out there that would come here, and take everything humanity had worked for, just to expand their influence. The strong took from the weak. Wars were declared just to snap up a more favorable trade deal, or for a rare resource. There was no reason for the greater multiverse to be different.

  There was a good reason Octavia wanted to create a city. Even though there was very little she could do in the grand scheme of things, she would fight for something greater than herself. Fight for her friends, and whatever was left of mankind after this. She wouldn’t take defeat lying down. No, she would fight for her friends, for whatever was left of mankind after all of this was over. This was a new life, and it was one that she would sink her teeth into and hold onto no matter what.

  A sigh escaped from her lips as she focused back on the sky, listening to the rustling trees and the distant chirp of faraway birds. It was a budding dream, one that needed to be tended to, but now Octavia was too weak, and this tutorial still needed to be finished.