Over the next nine days, the group combed through the inner city in careful sweeps, mapping streets and establishing routes they could move through without getting caught off guard.

Not every encounter was worth remembering. Some fights blurred together into the same motions and reactions, others ended before they had the chance to become anything at all.

What mattered was the pattern that emerged.

The deeper they went, the more resistance they encountered.

Leo looked over his gains as they headed towards the broken keep. Their plan for the approach was finalized and approved by Cecelia.

Over the days, Leo had reached level 39, with Ellie hitting level 36. Their gains had come with a skill for each of them.

Leo’s was unlocked upon Ellie reaching level thirty. There wasn’t a choice, merely an unlock.

Unified Motion (Uncommon)

Passive Effect: Your bond with Ellie deepens into instinctive synchronisation. When you commit to action, Ellie moves with you, not beside you.

Basic positioning, intent, and momentum are shared, reducing hesitation and misalignment when acting together.
Scales with Bond

It wasn’t a flashy skill, but in a fight the difference was immediate. Each strike flowed into the next with her, their movements lining up without thought. Be it breath attacks, defensive manoeuvres, or just a chomp while he punched, all of them were quicker and more seamless.

Moving onto Ellie’s new skill, it was one he was glad to see. He may or may not have insisted she chose it, his protective instinct outweighing any increase to her killing potential.

Glittering Scales (Uncommon)

Passive Effect: Your scales harden as your body grows, their layered structure providing natural protection against harm. While still young and incomplete, the scales offer reliable physical defense, turning aside minor blows and reducing the impact of heavier strikes.

Grants increased physical durability and resistance to cutting, piercing, and blunt damage.

Scales with Toughness

When she’d begrudgingly taken the skill, her softer, uneven scales had hardened into something more defined, layered and solid across her body. He’d seen the hesitation in her, the brief uncertainty over whether people would still reach for her the same way.

That wasn’t an issue.

Ashley loved how bright and sparkly they became in the light. Giddily talking about how pretty she looked at every opportunity. It helped raise the young dragon’s confidence.

There had been no elemental infusion upgrade for his skills at level 35 in his class, much to Leo’s chagrin. He could only hope that it would appear at 45 or perhaps 50.

The rest of his friends had been busy leveling too, finding some new loot, and deciding what this new reality really meant to them.

Amy had almost completely given up on fighting, taking up a position in managing the crafters in the camp with Hector. The reason behind it wasn’t entirely clear, but Cecelia didn’t quarrel over it.

Nolan’s group continued to head out day after day, exploring and gaining levels. Jules had been replaced by Marco in their party after a terrible fight near the non-broken keep had resulted in him being almost killed. His nerve had yet to return.

There was no sign of Ruby or Gareth, no matter where they ended up scouting. It was as if they had completely vanished within the city, leaving no trace behind them. Leo was expecting to at least see remnants of Ruby’s destruction but there wasn’t even an ember.

Now the main group were around thirty minutes from the broken keep. The number of ants in this part of the city were heavily reduced. Whether it was due to all the days of fighting or the continuous nightraids, no one was sure. Leo had assumed the ants were endless, but perhaps they had a limit.

As the group moved forward at an easy pace, Leo pulled up his stat page, taking a moment to look over the changes. Glad to see the improvements.

Name: Leonidas Hawkins

Level: 39

Race: Human (E)

Class: Elemental Adept

Companion Bond: Ellie (E)

Health Points (HP): 2070/2070

Mana Points (MP): 2144/2160

Stamina Points (SP): 2804/2900
Resonance: 278/278

Stats

Strength: 259

Agility: 300

Endurance: 290

Vitality: 207

Toughness: 155

Intelligence: 216

Wisdom: 177
Will: 135

Bond: 56

Free Points: 0

Bloodline: Bloodline of the Elements

Essences

Fire (E)

Fuel The Fire (Uncommon)

Scarlet Impact (Uncommon)

Ice (E)

Frost Lance (Uncommon)

Absolute Shatter (Rare)

Lightning (E)

Nerveflash (Uncommon)

Spark Dash (Common)

Earth (E)

Stoneskin (Common)

Layered Bastion (Uncommon)

Wind (E)

Cloak of Wind (Uncommon)

Tailwind (Uncommon)

Titles

Bloodline Originator

First Blood

Dungeon Delver I

Stormforged Pactbearer

Ahead of the Curve

Trial Tower Allstar

Class Skills

Unarmed mastery (Uncommon)

Elemental Stance (Rare)

Volt Crash (Rare)

Iron Repetition (Common)

Echoing Talon (Uncommon)

Spiral Break (Uncommon)

Bond Skills

Storm’s Guidance (Unique)

Stormforged Presence (Exalted)

Senses of the Dragon (Common)

Draconic Equip (Rare)

Unified Motion (Uncommon)

Race Skills

Multiversal Polyglot (Unique)

Identify (Common)

Meditate (Common)

Anchored Progression (Unique)

He’d gained a total of 67 free points over the levels from his and Ellie’s gains. Placing them in the following stats; 10 in Strength and Agility, 10 in Wisdom, 17 in Will and—to his utter distaste—20 points into Toughness.

The reason for it came when Bjorn and himself were chatting about their stats. Leo’s Agility had caused Bjorn’s eyes to widen considerably, but when he heard about his Toughness… Well… Let’s just say he had many concerned individuals talk to him about it.

So in the end, he promised to at least dedicate some to it. Twenty was his limit for now. With how fast he was, it wasn’t like the antlings could touch him unless he made a mistake, or was surrounded.

His skills had been falling behind a tad in terms of upgrades. Each night—the ones where he didn’t have to fight, that is—he would concentrate on his mana control, try and combine his skills with the Essences inside him. It just wouldn’t take.

Leo then tried to upgrade his Class skills in a way that didn’t require an element. He spent hours drilling his technique on makeshift dummies. One of the crafters even said he could create a construct that would block hits and not get easily destroyed. He had a great time hitting that one.

Until he broke it.

But the breaking of it came with a boon, that being an upgrade to his Unarmed Mastery skill. A bit overdue if you’d ask him.

Unarmed Mastery (Uncommon)

Your weapon of choice is no weapon at all. Master the art of using your fists to deal with your enemies.

Grants increased damage and technique when using unarmed strikes.

Provides a bonus to unarmed damage based on Strength and Agility.

The skill description hadn’t changed whatsoever, apart from removing the ‘small’ in the bonus to unarmed damage. When he’d tested it out he’d maybe call it a ten percent increase, maybe slightly more. Nothing crazy, but useful.

Ellie’ stats were coming along great too.

Name: Ellie

Level: 36

Race: Elemental Dragon (E)

Companion bonded to Leonidas Hawkins

Health Points (HP): 1080/1080

Mana Points (MP): 1290/1290

Stamina Points (SP): 1400/1400

Stats

Strength: 170

Agility: 197

Endurance: 140

Vitality: 108

Toughness: 119

Intelligence: 129

Wisdom: 114

Will: 113

Free Points: 0

Essences

Dependent on bonded companion

Skills

Rebirth (Unique)

Rend (Common)

Bite (Common)

Elemental Breath (Rare)

Wingbeat (Common)

Glittering Scales (Uncommon)

After seeing her place her free points in Agility to begin with, Leo was proud. When she kept doing so, that’s when they needed a little talk. It was a bit contradictive, since Leo himself had tried to avoid the same stats she did. But he had to put his foot down and make sure she invested in her other stats like he did.

Her other skills had yet to be upgraded, but Leo could feel she was improving quickly. It shouldn’t be long until either her Bite or Rend would reach uncommon.

A nice find he’d discovered was that when the Bond stat reached 50, Ellie’s stat gain based on Leo’s increased by five percent. It implied that if they kept raising it then it would get even higher.

“So,” Ashley broke the silence. “Do you guys think it’ll be a dungeon?”

“Could be,” Leo said. “It just says in the quest to ‘Slay her two generals.’ That could mean they aren’t even in the keeps.”

“I don’t think they will just be roaming around,” Cecelia added without turning around. She was currently at the front of their little group.

She continued. “I believe that there will be some kind of instance, similar to the Tower and Beast Pens. Otherwise we’d have surely seen it by now.”

“That’s true,” Leo nodded. “If it’s a five-person dungeon, should we just hop straight in?”

Cecelia paused her steps until the group caught up, but she didn’t turn around. “I’ll make my decision based on the information when we get there.”

Leo rolled his eyes a little. It was a bit of a non-answer, even if it made sense. He was just excited to go into another dungeon again.

“We also don’t know if Ellie counts as a person,” Cecelia added. “And don’t roll your eyes at me.”

Leo’s face was one of confusion. Does she have eyes on the back of her head?

Bjorn laughed. “You’re too predictable, kid. Gotta be real subtle if you want to make a face at her.”

“Don’t think I haven’t seen you huff after I turn around when you get given orders,” Cecelia said casually.

“She’s got you both. I just do it to her face,” Ashley said, proud of herself.

“Much preferred,” Cecelia said.

A few more minutes of walking and they finally breached the area of the keep.

A paved area surrounded the square-shaped keep, the ground unnaturally intact compared to the rest of the city. The surrounding buildings boxed it in, blocking any clear view of what lay across the full space. The moment they had entered the paved area, everyone was instantly on guard.

Ant corpses littered the ground, not fresh, but not yet decayed, their bodies left where they’d fallen. There were at least fifteen corpses dotted around, many of them carved apart in different ways, as if whoever fought here hadn’t needed to be careful.

The keep itself wasn’t as ruined as they’d expected. While the towers and upper fortifications were missing chunks, shadows filling the gaps where stone had once stood, the lower wall was perfectly intact.

“Stay alert,” Cecelia said quietly as the group pushed forward.

Two people came around the corner giving them a direct line of sight to their group.

“Hey!” one of them shouted.

Then he turned to the area the group couldn’t see. “We got company!”

It wasn’t a friendly voice, but it also wasn’t an instant declaration of fighting.

“You lot stay right there. Don’t come any closer,” the other man said.

From this distance, and after zooming his eyes in, Leo could make them out vividly.

Both of them were kitted out in different apparel from the starting gear, wearing some kind of forged armour. Leo guessed it was forged because they were identical. No weapons were visible but that didn’t mean they weren’t armed.

“We have come to explore this keep,” Cecelia said, her voice carrying cleanly across the space. “We aren’t looking for conflict if we can avoid it.”

The men ahead of them murmured between themselves, low voices passing back and forth, but before any of them could answer, movement stirred at the edges of the area. More figures stepped into view.

And not just from one side.

“They’re flanking us,” Leo said under his breath.

Cecelia nodded, she’d already clocked them.

Leo’s gaze moved across them, picking out details without meaning to. The way they stood. The way they watched. Nothing about them felt uncertain. A tight feeling settled in Leo’s chest as he recognised the tattoos on some of them.

The knight he’d killed, Reggie, carried the same.

“Convicts,” Ron spat.

Ashley sucked in a breath. “I want to go.”

“Not yet,” Cecelia said, quick and controlled. “Just be ready to leave, I would do the same if an unknown group approached us. They aren’t guaranteed to be unfriendly.”

More of them appeared until the group settled at around fifteen. None of them wore starting gear. Everything had looked taken, made, or earned the hard way. Despite that, none of them moved to attack. They were all looking behind the keep. Waiting for something.

Someone.

He stepped out and Leo couldn’t help but be on edge.

The man was heavily built, broad and powerful, but there was nothing slow about him. There was something animalistic in the way he held himself, like every movement was controlled and deliberate.

His hair was shaggy, like he couldn’t care less. He wore no armour on his chest, instead being covered in tattoos of various shapes and designs Leo had never seen before. Not quite tribal but the closest thing he could picture.

“What do you want with this keep?” he said, voice low but carried without issue. He also spoke slowly, like talking wasn’t natural for him.

Leo, for the first time, felt pressure from someone else. He quickly spoke into Cecelia’s ear. “This guy is really strong. Be careful what you say.”

Cecelia gave him a sideways glance but then looked up at the keep, longing in her eyes. A look Leo didn’t like.

“We have come to enter this keep and slay the general within. I assume that’s what it contains?” Cecelia said.

The man looked at them with disinterest. “No.”

“No?” Cecelia questioned. “So the general is elsewhere?”

“No entry.”

“Why not? Surely if it is an instance then multiple groups can enter at once,” Cecelia argued.

“Reward,” was all the man said. Leo didn’t like his look.

“Could you perhaps use more words?” Cecelia gave him a flat look that he didn’t even blink at.

“He’s saying that you can’t enter because the first clear reward gives the key to the Queen’s cast-”

The man speaking was cut off mid sentence, his head separating from his body before the words had even finished leaving his mouth. His head hit the floor with a wet thud.

“Take him.”

“Yes Cain,” one of the other people said. “I’m sorry–” the man stopped speaking after a look from the apparent leader.

“Cece,” Leo said quietly. “This is the part where we leave.”

She wasn’t listening, entirely focused on the man in front of her.

“Why haven’t you cleared the keep already?” Cecelia demanded.

The man said nothing. Then he turned to look at the rest of his people.

“Do not ignore me.” Cecelia’s sword appeared from her storage ring, raised towards the group.

Bad idea Cece. Leo thought.

Surprisingly, this brought a smile to the man’s face. “Tower.”

His words weren’t a question, but it answered Leo’s question of who cleared the opposite Tower. Whoever did was powerful. It made sense it was this man.

“Cecelia, enough!” Bjorn said forcefully. “I’m sorry for our trespass, we will head to the other keep.”

“No, we won’t. I’m not being pushed around by some neanderthal.” Cecelia was more agitated than Leo had ever seen her.

“Ron! Leo! Help me with her, we are leaving!” Bjorn started dragging her backwards.

She struggled for a moment, eyes locked on Cain, but didn’t dare fight her own people.

They began leaving, none of the men saying anything or moving at all. Leo was thankful they had made it out in one piece, but he still had a bad feeling.

A pressure washed over them, like being caught in the gaze of a predator. The aura bathed the area, like standing in the jaws of something waiting to close, one wrong move and it would clamp down.

“I didn’t say you could leave.”