Layhla was a cruel mistress. Mud’s mind could barely form thoughts

  through the haze of exhaustion as he forced his heavy, trembling legs

  to take another agonizing step. Then another.

  Ironically only an

  hour ago, he’d been admiring the way the sunlight played with her

  long, golden hair and the feline grace of her movements. Watched in

  awe, marveling at how every muscle in her body seemed to work in

  harmonious tandem.

  Now, he was fairly

  certain she was the devil in disguise.

  “Hey… I think…

  I need a break,” he panted. His foot caught on a clump of raised

  dirt and he missed a step, stumbling as he almost went face-first

  into the ground. He barely recovered, his breath coming in ragged,

  painful gulps. “We’ve been moving for an hour. Where are we

  going?”

  “We are heading

  to that small copse of trees just ahead,” she said curtly. “We

  could have taken a more direct path here, but we took a more…

  scenic route, so you could get some exercise.”

  She didn’t even

  sound winded as she said those horrific words.

  “You’re evil,”

  Mud panted, the words scraping like sandpaper against his raw throat.

  “Does… exercise… even matter in a place like this?”

  Without warning,

  Layhla came to a blessed, sudden stop. Mud, unable to halt his own

  momentum, nearly plowed right into her. His boots skidded through the

  loose dirt and gravel, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

  “You’re right.

  Exercising isn’t just about strengthening the muscles, though”

  she said, looking back at him with an unreadable expression. “In

  this world, you could run from dawn to dusk and never lose a single

  pound. Your physical form is locked in its current mold. Everything

  is dictated by your level, and more importantly your Stat Points.”

  She sighed,

  watching him double over. “But exercise is for the mind, too. We

  have to train your brain to push your body, even when your body is

  screaming at you to stop. If you can’t handle a short jog, you are

  going to be in real trouble when we get to some of the harder content

  later.”

  “That’s dumb,”

  Mud replied, though his voice faltered.

  He knew she was

  right. He just really didn’t want to admit it, and he hated running

  even more.

  “No, it’s not,

  and you know it.” She punched him roughly in the shoulder, a solid

  stinging reminder that she wasn’t going to let him slide. “Now

  come on. We’re nearly there.”

  A final, agonizing

  few minutes of cursed ‘jogging’ finally brought them to the edge

  of the copse. Mud veritably collapsed, going down like an avalanche

  of flesh, momentum carrying him into the dirt with a heavy thud.

  “Oh, sweet mother

  of god,” he wheezed, rolling onto his back with his arms splayed.

  “I have never loved the ground so much.” He eventually managed to

  drag himself upright, leaning his sweat-slicked back up against a

  smooth rock.

  “So, what are we

  here for?” he asked, squinting past the first line of trees to find

  whatever mystery lay hidden in the shadows. “Seems pretty peaceful

  to me.”

  “Well, first, we

  need to get you an actual weapon. Unless you plan to punch your way

  through the world,” she said, her voice dripping with its usual

  sarcasm. “This area is a known farming ground for Imps. They’re

  low-level and easy to kill, but most importantly, they have a chance

  to drop elemental staves.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  She looked him

  over. “Based on everything I’ve seen, I’m going to assume your

  absolutely terrible in melee combat. We need to get you something

  with range, that way you can hide behind your summons.”

  “You really don’t

  hold back with the compliments, do you?” Mud sighed, running his

  arm across his forehead to wipe the sweat and salt from above his

  eyes.

  “You want a

  compliment? Earn it.” She reached out, offering him a hand to haul

  him up from the dirt. “It turns out I need something here too, a

  small wooden core with a fairly low drop rate. If we see any of

  those, they’re mine. Everything else is yours.”

  Mud pulled up his

  menu, his fingers moving with confidence as he selected Ricky from

  the list. He aimed the glowing reticle at a patch of mossy earth, and

  with a familiar shimmer, his furry companion appeared.

  “Well,” Mud

  said, trying to somehow bolster his own courage. “Let’s get this

  over with.”

  Layhla frowned,

  looking down at the rat as it sniffed innocently at the air. “You

  realize that rodent isn’t going to stand a chance against an imp,

  right?”

  “I don’t plan

  to use him to fight,” Mud said, shrugging sheepishly. “I figured

  he could scout ahead for us. He’s stealthy and quick. You know, a

  summon can be valuable even if it’s not the best for combat."

  Ricky darted off

  into the shadows of the trees, as if he understood his mission. Mud

  turned his gaze to Layhla, his voice dropping. “To be totally

  honest with you, Layhla… as obsessed as you are with strength and

  power, why are you even here? Why help me? I’m arguably the weakest

  player in Horizon City.”

  The question hit

  her harder than he had expected, almost like a physical blow. For the

  first time since he had met her, her composure slipped and she seemed

  uncertain.

  “You… confuse

  me,” she replied. Her words were slow and methodic, the usual sharp

  edge gone. Shaking her head she gestured in the direction Ricky had

  entered the trees. “I don’t want to talk about it. Just… Let’s

  follow the rat.”

  They pushed through

  the dense tree-line for several minutes. Every so often, Ricky would

  dart back from the shadows, chitter at them, as if making a report,

  and then vanish again into the underbrush. The deeper they went, the

  more the forest seemed to close in; the vines and low-hanging

  branches felt like reaching fingers, snagging against Mud’s heavy

  frame and making every step a struggle.

  “Be alert,”

  Layhla whispered. Her hand hovered warily over the hilt of her short

  blade. “Forest Imps are tricky pests. In these woods, they are

  pretty much another part of the foliage.”

  She scanned the

  canopy, her eyes sharp and alert. “Be prepared to move at a moments

  notice.”

  A sudden, frantic

  squeaking erupted from the undergrowth at his feet. Ricky exploded

  from the ferns, his tiny claws using Mud’s leather vest as a

  makeshift ladder. The rat scrambled up his body and over his

  shoulder, launching himself into the air toward a nearby trunk, his

  teeth sinking into something fleshy and rough that had been hidden

  expertly camouflaged against the bark.

  A thin, bony arm

  flailed in surprise, trying to shake the clinging rat. Ricky was

  tossed back with a small spray of dark green blood, vanishing into

  the ferns, but the enemy’s cover was blown. The Imp, a gnarled,

  three-foot-tall creature with spindly limbs and rows of needle sharp

  teeth screeched and launched itself at Mud’s throat.

  In a blind panic,

  Mud threw his arms up to defend his face. He caught the living

  missile mid-air, his fingers slipping on its greasy skin. The

  creature was a blur of motion, gnashing its teeth inches from Mud’s

  nose and thrashing with surprising, wiry strength.

  He struggled to

  keep the monster at bay, his muscles burning as he gripped its narrow

  shoulders. The Imp arched its head back, preparing to give a final

  desperate bite, but instead its head simply vanished.

  There was no sound

  of a struggle, just a clean, silver arc of steel that came

  dangerously close to Mud’s unprotected face. The Imp’s body went

  limp in Mud’s hands, and for a fraction of a second, he saw what

  appeared to be a green health bar fade away.

  The notifications

  flooded his vision, scrolling past in a triumphant blur.

   [Mud has

  reached LV. 2]

   [Ricky has

  reached LV. 2]

  [Summon Monster

  has reached Lv. 2]

  New Skill

  Unlocked:[Eagle Eyes]See through the eyes of your

  summoned monster

  Mud

  dropped to his knees, desperately

  parting the thick ferns. “Ricky? You okay, buddy?”

  A

  moment later, the rat emerged. He scrambled gracefully up Mud’s arm

  and took his place on his shoulder, looking immensely proud of

  himself despite being matted with sticky, dark green gore.

  Layhla

  reached over, her movements surprisingly gentle as she patted the

  rat’s head with a fingertip. “Maybe I underestimated you, little

  guy. That was incredibly brave.”

  “Oh,

  so now the gets a

  compliment?” Mud asked, his voice thick with sarcasm.

  “He

  earned it,” she replied, a tiny, rare grin tugging at the corners

  of her lips. She turned her gaze to Mud, her eyes mischievous. “And

  you? Oh, Mud, the way you so gracefully panicked… it nearly took my

  breath away. Truly, I’m swooning!”

  Ignoring

  her jests, Mud turned his attention back to the fallen Imp. He

  noticed a small, flickering icon hovering over the corpse. With a

  quick tap, he opened the creature’s loot window.

   [5

  Gold]

  

   “Well

  that's disappointing,” he said, his shoulders slumping. “The

  little blighter didn’t have either of the items we need.”

  “That’s fine. This forest is crawling with them; we just need to

  keep hunting,” Layhla said, casually wiping green ichor from her

  blade using a clump of grass. “And don’t forget to allocate those

  new stat points. Congrats on the level, by the way. Maybe consider

  putting a few of them into Stamina?”

  Mud grumbled something incoherent under his breath, opening his

  character sheet as they moved deeper into the shadows of the forest.

  They didn’t notice the yellow eyes tracking their every move from

  the safety of the canopy. The forest was watching, and they were

  about to find exactly what they were looking for, along with

  something they weren’t.