Leo and Cain spent the next few hours killing only what they had to in order to reach the front doors of the keep. They picked up two more shards along the way, both of them going into Leo’s pouch he was forced to equip around his waist in order to carry them.

Leo hit level 42, while Ellie hit Level 39. He thought that it was quick until he looked at Cain who was already Level 46.

Sharing experience with Ellie had its benefits, but it also had downsides if he wanted to keep up with Cain. Thankfully he hadn’t seen Cain break out any cooking equipment or start crocheting, so his profession should be lower.

When they finally approached the doors, it was awe inspiring. They were massive. Dark as the void and intricately carved. Small flaming runes danced across the framework. Like little lava worms forming patterns.

Leo pressed his hand on the door. Already fearing what was going to happen.

Quest Updated!

You have reached the bastion of the cinder general, but it appears to be locked. In order to advance, you will need to seek out a Cinder Core and insert it into the lock.

Objective: Place a Cinder Core into the door 0/1

Current shards: 3

“Of course it’s locked.” Leo sighed.

It would have been a bit too easy to just stroll right up and smack whatever was inside it around.

Might have been a nice change though.

“Hunt,” Cain said.

“Spot on. Does your Beast Essence give you intuition?” Leo said sarcastically.

“Careful,” Cain spat.

“Let’s go then. We need a bunch more shards and I don’t want to spend the rest of my tutorial with you.”

“Agreed.”

And so, Leo, Ellie and Cain fought elemental after elemental, gathering shards until they had enough for their first core. The level ups were slowing down due to grinding against the same enemy, but they still both gained another.

This one put Ellie at level 40, which was another skill for Leo. Another boon to go through once they had the chance.

It was tiring work tracking across the hellscape. So after they finished the last set, Leo suggested they rest for an evening. Take a well needed break to sleep.

Cain agreed as they were both flagging over the last few fights. But neither one of them wanted to admit weakness.

Two stubborn idiots, with a voice of reason being a dragon that gave him a look that told him to be the bigger person.

They settled down on a rocky outcrop, far away from where they had been fighting to avoid any random worms showing up.

Leo took out all the shards from his pouch. Each one was like a shard of orange glass pulsating with power. The heat they gave off was intense, but not enough to really bother him thanks to his Fire Essence.

Would you like to combine: Cinder Core Shard (10) to form a Cinder Core?

Yes/No

Leo was about to click yes when Cain smacked them from his hand.

“What the fuck was that for?” Leo asked, his Nerveflash hadn’t reacted due to Cain not exhibiting any kind of threat. It had also been quicker than he was expecting.

“Danger,” he said firmly.

“The system told us to create the core. Are you saying that if we do that it’ll harm us somehow?” Leo tried to decipher.

Cain nodded. “Rest first. Core after.”

“Fine. But you’re picking all those shards up.”

Cain turned, put his head down and fell asleep.

What a weird dude.

Going into more fun things, Leo had expected to just learn a skill without a choice when Ellie reached level 40, but to his great surprise, the system had a choice of three available. Something he hoped would continue going forward.

Looking at the first one, Leo was definitely interested.

Interposed Instinct (Uncommon)

Your bond sharpens your protective reactions.

When either you or Ellie is struck by a heavy attack, the other gains a brief increase to movement speed and reaction time, driven by instinctive urgency to protect.

Cooldown: 5 minutes

He wasn’t sure what kind of skills he was expecting when he’d been told there was a selection. In-fact, Leo hadn’t really understood what kind of path the bond was taking overall until recently.

The skills he’d been given were leaning towards fighting together. Which made sense due to the nature of the Bond of Unity. After getting Senses of the Dragon, Leo thought he’d eventually just receive skills that would let him turn into one. Or something adjacent.

He wasn’t against this kind of path, Ellie was part of his future after all. So skills where they protected one another like this was quite welcome. Movement speed and reaction time however felt quite underwhelming. It just felt like it could be so much more.

So he moved on.

Emberheart Exchange (Uncommon)

Your bond burns with shared life and instinct. When one of you falters, the other can answer the call.
Convert a portion of your own stamina into a brief surge of vitality for Ellie, or draw from her strength to steady yourself.

Cannot be used if either of you is critically exhausted or unconscious.

Cooldown: 4 minutes

Another kind of restoration skill.

A way of healing Ellie was very appealing, especially the converting stamina into health. It didn’t say how much, so it could be minimal, but the longer cooldown implied something different.

Seeing her injured in the previous fight made him want to just take this skill right away. He paused, steadying himself. A saner mind prevailed and he quickly looked at the last option.

Wyrmstep (Uncommon)

Channel draconic motion through your body, coiling power into your legs before releasing it in a sudden, explosive leap.
Allows a rapid jump toward a target or location. Ellie instinctively adjusts her position to follow or flank your target.

Can also be used in mid air to lesser effect.
Scales with Agility

Cooldown: 30 seconds

And kind of wished he didn’t.

He suddenly needed to think about this logically. When considering all his options for combat, one thing he majorly lacked was crowd control—some kind of stunning effect.

Disorienting and staggering he could do, freezing eventually too. But no hard stops. This wasn’t that of course. But it did cover another angle he needed.

A gap closer.

Spark Dash was invaluable, and his new improvement to it in Lightning Drive was a fantastic gain, but it was very linear in its ability. This attack would prime him for dual assaults with Ellie, closing the gap while also dealing damage. Not to mention its evolution paths if he could find a way to link it with an element.

He did pass up a skill similar to it in his class with Skybound Leap at level 30. But this was much better.

Sorry Ells, I have faith in you being able to fight without needing me to heal you right now. He thought, stroking the little dragon on her head as she napped. She mewled happily.

You have unlocked the Bond of Unity skill: Wyrmstep (Uncommon)

Leo closed his own eyes, finally resting off the full stress of the day.

Sleep took him quickly and only when he felt a rumbling on his lap did he awaken. His eyes shot open, taking in the scene at once. Ellie was growling as deep as she could, big rainbowy eyes glaring.

Cain held all ten of the fragments, and then pulled a hatchet out.

“You need a weapon to put the shards together?” Leo asked, voice low. “Or were you planning on using that on me?” He placed a hand on Ellie’s back, easing her rumbling.

“For after,” Cain replied.

The shards began glowing, then started floating into the air as they all shot into each other. They combined quickly, giving off a massive heat and insanely bright light. Leo had to shield his eyes, relying purely on Nerveflash, which finally started sparking.

Along with the combination of the shards, a message appeared before them

Your group has combined 10 Cinder Core Shards into a Cinder Core

The message itself wasn’t bad. In fact, it was really straight forward and kind of pointless.

Leo identified the Core.

Cinder Core

A core of concentrated Fire mana. This core can be used to unlock the gate to the Cinder Bastion.

As basic as could be. Confirming it was entirely what he’d call a “Quest item.”

Problem was: why did they both feel a sense of danger?

“The mana…” Leo muttered.

“Worms,” Cain said, agreeing.

The ground rumbled, shaking the landscape. All three of them prepared themselves for whatever was coming.

How did Cain know before we even formed the full core? It said nothing about any kind of danger. Leo considered for a moment as the quakes escalated.

It had to have been some kind of intuition skill. Some kind of beast-like premonition sense. Perhaps that’s why Cain got so testy when he’d called it out. He was bang on the money.

“That doesn’t feel like a normal worm,” Leo said.

But before Cain could even grunt, the small mountain of obsidian next to them shattered into hundreds of pieces. What emerged was a magma worm, but at least fifty-percent bigger. It had glowing red horns atop its head, with spines of glowing obsidian coating its back like a stegosaurus.

Leo identified it after knocking a piece of rubble away, stopping it from hitting his face.

Magma Worm - Level 55

By far the highest thing he’d ever fought. Some of the elementals had come close to the worms they’d killed initially, but not to this degree. It felt much stronger than just a few levels higher too.

“That thing’s a beast,” Leo said in awe as the creature let out a deep bellowing hum. It was like a creature one would see coming out of the depths of hell.

“Don’t get in my way,” Cain said firmly before he took off towards the beast.

Leo’s body was coated in a loose layer of lightning with a thought. Then it amplified as Lightning Drive kicked in.

With all his recent points in Agility and both Stance and skill in effect, he dashed past Cain in a blue flash.

“Don’t get in mine,” Leo quickly shouted.

Ellie was in his soul-space, waiting to pounce when the moment was right or become his weapon if needed.

The speed he was experiencing was incredible. Gliding across the broken ground and shattered landscape with ease. The focus needed to not lose his footing was a bit harder though.

Wyrmstep activated for the first time as Leo’s body coiled and sprung. The power of the attack coursed through his limbs, enhancing his attack as he closed the gap. Wind rushed past his face as he met the beast midair.

His fist slammed into the stomach of the worm, and Leo felt the strain in his arm as all the power and momentum was pushed through.

The worm staggered for a moment, buckling slightly as the pain washed over it.

Tough. Need your help on this one Ells.

Ellie giddily responded from within, forming into a pair of draconic gauntlets. He’d never get tired of this feeling. So much power, and it only got stronger as they both leveled.

Leo controlled his descent with his Cloak, but combining it with Lightning Drive unfortunately didn’t work. He couldn't run faster while not on the ground.

But he could still Spark Dash.

A dash carried him to the side, dodging a beam of hot lava from the worm. He pummelled the worm with rapid fire jabs coated in lightning. Then in quick succession hammered a Volt Crash and Spiral Break into it.

With all the power coursing through him, his stamina was dropping fast. Keeping all his buffs active really took a toll on his resources. Fuel the Fire unfortunately took stamina based on his current Strength. Which right now was a lot.

It could really do with some kind of upgrade, preferably one that took less strain to keep going.

He shook that thought off for now, he was in the heat of battle, literally.

The worm wasn’t happy with his insolence. All of its plates on its body started glowing, then began lifting from its body like it was opening vents.

That’s not good…

Leo’s Nerveflash told him to move. So he did, Spark Dash had him hitting the ground as Layered Bastion came up.

Three thick walls of solid earth was all that stood between him and the venting of a giant worm filled with lava. The heat was crazy. Fire Essence or not, that attack would have turned him to ash.

What the fuck is up with the difficulty spike? It recommended level 35!

He braced while he internally complained. In the corner of his view, Cain’s health bar was dropping slowly. There wasn’t anything he could do. And if the worm took him out and not him… Well.. no lost love there.

The attack finally petered out, taking Leo’s walls down to a thin sheet of hardened rock. He stood up, looking over the beast.

Where he expected weakness or some kind of downtime, there was none. The worm started moving, barrelling through the ground as it burrowed towards them. The obsidian was basically water to it based on how quickly it could shift it around.

Leo still had his Lightning Drive running and it was eating its fill. Ellie was no longer equipped, opting to save the resonance as there was not much downside to dismissing the skill. He was running across the landscape, mirroring its movements as he chased the beast down.

Leo wasn’t sure what it was moving towards until he saw Cain. His barely exposed skin was burnt black. The fur that coated his body was singed, little embers coating the ends of the hairs. The worm was chasing him.

It’s chasing the core. Leo realised.

He kicked it into second gear, running towards the worm and catching up rapidly. The strain in his legs started to build, but he pushed through it. Draconic Equip coated him once again, taking a chunk of Resonance as Wyrmstep closed the gap.

His hands grasped onto the spikes coating its back as he desperately tried to injure it. The main problem about grabbing onto a fast moving worm that went underground was just that.

It went underground.

Leo was going to just brace himself, he could hide behind the spike and travel underground with it, laying blow after blow into its back as he whittled it down in Earth Stance. Until he remembered that they were basically on top of a layer of hot magma.

Oh shit!

He jumped just as it took a dive, the momentum carrying him to its next emergence point as he glided through the air. It wasn’t far due to Cain deciding to face it.

Spiral Break slammed down once again on its back as he descended, embedding his fist into its flesh underneath. The resonating damage from his Earth Stance helped the internal injuries.

With his other hand, he formed a Frost Lance and slammed it through the hole he’d made before it could close or move. The ice went deep and Leo jumped off.

*Snap*

Absolute Shatter ripped its insides apart. Causing the worm to cry out in pain for the first time. Cain took this moment to strike, appearing above it in a flash. Both hatchets cracked into its head, following up with a flurry of strikes that tore the plates from it.

It shook violently, each wild movement threatening to throw Cain from it. He held on by driving his hatchets deep, clinging on like an ice climber. Leo had to admire the man’s grit, it matched his own.

The drive to not give up and take down the enemy, even when it might take him with it.

Leo didn’t look at him with admiration for long. It renewed his instinct instead.

This man was not to be taken lightly.