It looked like leveling only caused my stats to change, but we half expected that anyway. I felt around, trying to find any sense of a limit raise, or anything that would indicate that it would be worth taking the time to train our stats again. I found nothing.

“My stats increased the same amount as during the awakening. My resources have refilled, but I’m getting no feeling that my limits have increased. What I do feel, is fucking amazing. It may be a placebo, but after seeing my increased stats, I feel ready to drop something twice that bird’s level just as easily.” It wasn’t an exaggeration. Maybe it was a placebo from seeing the numbers, or maybe it was because I was conscious for such a large jump in my stats, but I felt good.

The boys gave me jealous looks while Arthur got to thinking. He always furrowed his brow just the smallest bit when he put serious thought into something. “This is out of our expectations. We never expected that one of us would level before the others got a single experience point. The way I see it, we have two options: we can continue until enough of us level, or we can head back and see if Samantha can train her stats again.”

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice came from the trees. “I have another idea. How about the world travelers coming home with me? I think it’s in their best Interest.”

Seven figures dropped out of the trees, except for one massive figure who walked out of the bushes, in a circle around us. Ember and Odin snarled at the figures. I slowly spun around to inspect each. They were a mix of different beast-folk and kin races, except for the one orc who towered over the rest. Folk being more like anthropomorphic animals as opposed to kin, which only have animal features visible, like Arthur’s ears and tail. They were all equipped with leather armor and various weapons made of bone. A male lion-kin wielded a massive warhammer, two rabbitkin, male and female, had a strange sickle and rapier combo, a kangaroo?-folk wore a pair of bone knuckles, the orc wielded a tower shield even larger than Dean’s along with what was a short sword on his figure, but would be a longsword for me, a male moose-folk wielded a heavy looking spear with a metal shaft, and a lizardfolk, maybe salamander, had a longsword in their hands. The final member was a female wolf-folk wielding two axes, and I suspected she was the leader of this group with how she was walking up to Arthur. I tried activating [Queen’s Aura (Strength)] hoping it could give us some advantage.

“Shame there’s only one kin among you. I should inform you that if you think you’re hot shit for taking out a [Blood Parrot] in one hit, you’re not, so it’s best you come quietly.” She eyed Arthur up and down before she turned to me, unfazed by my [Aura]. “Too late I suppose. Tone down the [Aura] [Queen]. You're clearly weaker, so unease would’ve been a better choice. Less recognizable, and it’s better at making a much stronger opponent question their assessment of you.”

I turned my [Aura] off. I had questioned how she knew I was a [Queen], but just nodded.

Arthur seemed to make a decision on what to do while she was engaging me, “Are we prisoners or guests?”

“That’s up to you.”

“Prisoners then. That’s what you call being a guest under coercion.”

The kangaroo-folk spoke up this time, “We really don’t mean you harm. The issue is that you are very important, so we can’t risk you not coming with us.”

“We’re important because we’re world travelers?”

“Yes, and because you, wolfkin, are Chosen.” I remembered Arthur’s [Champion of the Thirteenth] [Title] and grabbed his shoulder.

“We’ll come willingly.” I leaned into Arthur’s ear, “I’m certain they’re allies, at least for now. They might have some kind of [Skill], but I think it’s more likely that they got our location and info from the Thirteenth Pantheon.”

“I hope. I imagine being the champion of an entire pantheon in a world where the gods play a more active role is a comfy position to be in,” Arthur smiled, but I could see a worry in his eyes.

“You chose to serve your country, Arthur, and you can choose not to serve the gods. If they don’t like that, they can take it up with me,” I leaned into him and rubbed his back.

“Ugh, newly weds,” the moose man grunted, “As if I needed a reminder that I’m single.”

“Maybe if you let your rack grow you wouldn’t have an issue getting a girlfriend,” the orc chuckled, “Besides, I think they're cute.

“You know big racks cause neck issues!” the moose-folk

The wolf-folk leader twitched, “That’s enough of that!” Her eyes met Arthur’s, “If you guys are ready, then let's get moving. Those two created a racket, and I don’t want to be here if the King shows up to investigate. He should respect your authority, but he may ignore it since you’re weak,” she retreated into the bushes and we followed.

We kept a brisk pace for a couple hours, the sound of the river steadily getting louder. Suddenly, Our guides halted. They gave a salute to nothing in particular before continuing.

The wolf woman explained a short moment later. “One of many hidden checkpoints, marked by a code containing tree distances, silence barriers, and scents. If we hadn’t saluted, the guards would’ve sent a runner and stalked us till they found an opportunity to ambush,” she smiled, clearly proud of her home’s defenses.

An hour after the checkpoint and the trees became a little denser, another half our, and we were finally out of the trees. The view was fantastic. I had recognized an our into our trek that we were on a steady incline, but I hadn’t realized how high we had gotten. Now that we were out of the trees, I could see that we were in no small mountain range. Just from where we stood, it seemed there were endless green mountains in any direction. Even the dense jungle couldn’t hide the majesty of the grand mountains, or the beauty of the rivers that flowed throughout the valleys. Further up the mountain I could see a city. It reminded me of images of incan cities, except instead of nature having reclaimed it, the city was designed to be a green city. I had no words to describe how amazing a sight it was. The way a gentle mist surrounded the city without actually lowering visibility, how the water features were set up to flow over and water the plants covering the buildings, and the way it all led to a pyramid just in front of where the peak splits into two natural spires. I could only think of the split as divine intervention as sun sat directly centered between them, and would stay that way as the day went on, as it descended behind the mountain.

“What is this place,” Dean said, just as mystified as I was.

“Welcome to Uywakunapa llaqtan, the City of Beasts., capital of Kawsaypa Reino, the Kingdom of Life,” a aged voice spoke. The voice came from an eagle-folk in front of us with a cane. “Also known by the name the First Pantheon gave us, Kykr konungdómr, Animal Kingdom. Bit on the nose when translated, but many would find value in that. I once had another name, but these days I am known as Machu Aguila. I am the Head Priest of the high temple of the [Thirteenth Pantheon], as well as the leader of our people. You may use an observation [Skill] on me if you wish.”

I did just that and got what I expected.

[Priest lvl - ???]

I could only see up to 20 levels above mine at the moment, and if he rules this place, he must be at least level 100, right? “Above what I can see, [Priest].”

Arthur nodded and responded, “Please scan us as well, if you haven’t already.”

The male rabbitkin chittered, “Watch your words. To imply that we wouldn’t have the manners to ask before checking someone’s Status is a great insult.”

“I apologize, we’ll keep that in mind,” Arthur nodded.

The kangaroo-folk frowned, “All are level one except the woman. She’s level two, likely only leveled from killing the [Blood Parrot]. To have defeated it in one hit at level one in the way she did, even with an excellent weapon, the stats required would point to the training period being over. Although unfortunate, the method and execution of the attack shows that they at least trained somewhat efficiently.”

Dean raised an eyebrow, “Training period? What’s that? And aren’t you going to share our classes too?”

“Hohohoho, there’s no need to share, your classes are obvious. Your some kind of [Protector], the two wearing the military dress uniforms are a [Mage] and [Brawler], the kin is a [Brawler] too, likely a [Tamer] as well, and the [Queen] is a [Markswoman] and [Mage] of some kind. Kin doesn’t seem like a [Mouthpiece], so he’s probably the [King],” the orc said with glee. He was almost 100% on his assessment, only getting Decker’s magic class designation wrong, assuming I had my magic and gunplay in separate classes, and calling Arthur a brawler instead of a [Warrior]. All easy mistakes, and logical assumptions.

Machu Aguila laughed, “Hoohoohoooo, Jukk, you have always been good at analyzing people. You were very close. The [Mage] is actually a [Sorcerer], the [King] a [Warrior], and the [Queen] is a [Magic Markswoman]. As to answer the question about the training period, come, I believe it would be best to continue in the temple.” He turned around and started walking slowly to the temple.

As we walked, I took notice of how lively the city was. The kids laughed in the streets, merchants shouted to passerbys, couples walked together, and there was more still going on atop the roofs. Another thing I noticed was that everyone was either kin or folk. Many were actively trying not to stare as we walked by. Some parents had to turn their kids away to keep them from staring.

Apparently Pvt. Thompson noticed that too, “Is there only kin and folk here? I expected them to make up the majority of the population, but it seems they’re all of it.”

“Yup,” the female rabbitkin answered curtly.

“Why is it only kin and folk? Is it related to why you need us? This place doesn’t look like a city in need of saving,” I asked.

“It is, and all will be answered in the temple,” Machu Aguila smiled.

After that, we were all silent for the rest of the walk. I tried my best to enjoy the scenery, but I was starting to get an ominous feeling. After a while we reached the temple. It was absolutely massive up close. It must have been as tall as a 14 story building! The entrance was large enough that Jukk, the eight foot orc, could walk though and have plenty of overhead clearance, and shoulder to shoulder with five other Jukks.

Through the main entrance was a hallway with a door on either side every 10 feet or so. It ended in a room with three paths; we took the middle path, which led to a set of stairs. Those stairs ended in another threeway fork, and we took the middle again. It was another set of stairs.

I was getting bored. “How many flights of stairs are we going to climb? I know it’s probably important, but just cause I probably could climb a hundred flights of stairs, doesn’t mean I want to climb more than seven.”

Jukk laughed, “You should not visit a mage tower without the intention to join then. Hundreds of feet of stairs, and no other way up unless you join. We’re almost there.”

We reached the top of the stairs, and this time, there was no center path, only a right and left. The head priest still went straight however, and tapped his cane on the wall. It opened up to another hallway. This time there were no stairs. Instead the hallway ended in a large open room. It must have been big enough to fit a couple aircraft hangars. There were glowing runes flowing like a river over the floor, which was the only indicator of the room's actual size. The walls and ceiling were missing. Instead, we could see the starry sky slowly passing over us. I would have thought it was the night sky if not for a dimmed sun being right where the actual sun would be if we were outside. In the middle of the room was a very large raised platform. As we went further into the room I was able to see more details of what was on top, details I recognized. It was a 3d map. In the center was a forked mountain with a city on top, surrounded by more green mountains and valleys. I spotted more cities, both on mountains and in the valleys. The map flattened out ¾ of the way to the edge, although it was still dense jungle. As it went out further, the jungle thinned, eventually becoming plains.

Machu Aguila walked around the map until he was opposite from us, and the guides closed the circle, four on each side. The Eagle-folk took a breath. “Welcome to the Heart. Your questions will be answered.”