“Yeah, that’s the bad news,” Ash said. “There is nothing to fill you two in on. He went missing a few days ago, along with his team.” Her brow furrowed. “How long was I asleep, anyway?”

“I assume not long, since you seem healthy,” Mia said.

Because if Ash had been incapacitated for a while, then the ‘corruption’ effect that intensified with each passing hour would be more obvious. Hazel was still worried about that. What was it? Did even a mild exposure endanger Ash? If indeed her exposure had been mild?

Ash looked troubled. “I hope so too. But as much for me, because I can’t imagine my brother has much longer. What day is it?”

Mia and Ash went back and forth, deducing how long she and Ash had been in the dungeon. They had timekeeping devices and a dating system, as expected of any moderately advanced society, but it took a few moments to work out how many days had passed for each of them. Soon, though, they discovered Ash had been captured for, as they’d expected, less than a full day. Half of one at most. That explained why the effects of the ‘corruption’ weren’t too potent.

Ash’s brother might not be so lucky—if he had indeed ended up in a situation like Ash’s.

“So you’ve been wandering around?” Mia asked. “Hoping to run into him?”

“What else can I do?” Ash countered somewhat angrily, sounding resigned. “Like I said. He’s my brother. I’ll try something before I try nothing. And yes, I realize how low the odds are.”

“There’s no one in Northwick Haven with any kind of tracking abilities?”

Ash snorted. “Not anyone willing to follow me down on a suicide mission. I’m not a local. I’ve made some friends, but not those kinds of friends.”

Mia grimaced. Hazel chewed her lip. The situation was even worse than she’d thought—and it had never looked good to start with.

“Let me think,” Mia said. She turned to Hazel. “And do you have any ideas?”

“To find a missing man in the middle of a giant dungeon complex? With no leads whatsoever?” Hazel asked. “Sorry, no. I don’t.”

“It has to do with the black crystal stuff,” Ash said firmly. “There’s no way Max’s whole team would get wiped out by some random dungeon encounter. It was supposed to be a routine trip. And they’re not like me. They’re careful. Meticulous. Annoyingly so.” She shook her head. “No, I promise. Something’s up. All this crap is related.”

“So we need to go deeper,” Mia said. “Follow where the crystal gets thickest, and we might find him.”

“It’s our best shot,” Ash agreed.

Mia turned to Hazel to get her opinion. Hazel had been chewing over potential ways to use [Skill Edit] to help but was coming up blank. Not only was the skill on cooldown but none of her abilities could be easily morphed into a tracking skill. She couldn’t just erase and rewrite a whole skill. Too expensive. If it was even possible.

So if they wanted to find Ash’s brother and his team, they would have to search for him the old-fashioned way.

The saving grace was that Ash seemed confident that the crystal and his disappearance was related. They had some kind of lead—if only an assumed one.

And not just that, Hazel had a quest focused on ‘discovering the source of the Corruption’. So any investigative work toward that goal was personally beneficial, too.

“I’ve got nothing,” Hazel said. “I guess we’re just pushing forward.”

***

Truthfully, working deeper into the dungeon rather than toward the surface wasn’t a wholly bad thing, even if it wasn’t her first choice of plan. Hazel needed to earn levels and gain practical combat experience. Doing so while helping save the lives of an entire missing party was just a bonus. Riskier, certainly, than more casual hunts, and it was delaying their return to the surface, which Hazel would like to happen sooner than later, but ultimately not a horrible thing either.

Because she did want to reach level five. Apparently, a good skill would come with that milestone. It would also signal the end of the ‘formation’ period of her class.

Seeing how even her normal skills were phenomenal, Hazel wondered what a ‘good skill’ earned at the key advancement stage of level five would be. Something completely broken? As good as [Skill Edit] itself?

That was probably hoping too much. But surely something incredible. She looked forward to her next level up.

With a group of three, progress was faster than ever. More importantly, quick progress meant more opportunities to activate [Attribute Siphon]. Not just on more numerous enemies, but more powerful ones too. Her stats trickled steadily upward. Something she appreciated. Hazel suspected she’d need the bonus strength for what was coming.

Mia had said E-rank stats were typically wielded by level tens, but Hazel was confident she would see her first E-rank sooner than that. Because both of her magic stats ticked upward into the flat F rank, and she suspected—though admittedly had no evidence—that it wouldn’t be much longer before she earned her first F+ stat. She couldn’t see how close she was, but she felt herself growing stronger and stronger.

And she was only at level four. The formation stage. Her leveling hadn’t even slowed down yet. She would have far more time during levels six to ten to gather stats. Considering that, hitting E-rank stats before level ten seemed a given.

In the fights, Hazel and Ash acted as the front line. Hazel, because she could regenerate each fight by eating monster loot, and Ash, because she was naturally an up-and-close fighter. She claimed not to be a true front-line tank, but she was plenty durable.

The tomboyish, muscular, tanned girl was far from impotent without her two-handed sword. Her body alone was plenty to wreak havoc with, as Hazel had discovered in the brief melee that had broken out on their first meeting. With just her fists and raw martial ability, Ash tore through the weak low-level monsters of the Gray Stone Hollows, working deeper through the cave system, always following where the black crystal seemed thickest.

Honestly, Ash’s skill was a marvel to watch. Mia was incredible in her own right, but not so swift, powerful, and vicious in her movements. The succubus had a mage-support type role, and while her skill in magic was likely impressive, Hazel didn’t have the proper framework to appreciate it fully. Ash, however, had far more skill in weaponizing her body, which was something Hazel could be properly amazed at. She was a dangerous whirlwind of kicks, punches, and nearly acrobatic maneuvers. Hazel wondered what she would look like with a sword.

Hazel had known that this world would surely create adventurers who had trained their whole life to clear dungeons—and thus acquire all the skills necessary for such—but Ash’s visceral strength hammered that knowledge home. She was a warrior in the literal sense. And Hazel, with some embarrassment, couldn’t tear her eyes away. At least in the after-fight moments when Ash was cleaning up the last of their opponents. She wasn’t suicidally lustful for tall, muscular tomboys. She stayed focused on her own fights. Even if it wasn’t easy at times.

Mia caught Hazel stealing looks at Ash’s sweat-covered tanned skin on more than a few occasions, to Hazel’s embarrassment. Hazel wasn’t sure whether the succubus was more annoyed or amused. She seemed to understand, at least. Hazel caught Mia looking too, for that matter. If more discreetly than Hazel. Ash, at least, remained unaware of how perverted her two teammates were. They only peeked when she was busy ripping monsters apart.

“So,” Ash said. “What’s up with you, anyway?”

“Huh?” Hazel asked.

“We kind of glazed over all of that. You’re a talking slime. Also, you’re too normal.”

“Thank … you?”

“Talking slimes shouldn’t be normal,” Ash said, sitting on a rock. They’d been working their way through the dungeon for a while now and had decided to take a breather. “So, again, what’s up with you?”

Hazel and Mia also took a seat. Hazel considered how to answer. She shared a look with Mia, who seemed concerned, but didn’t interject. It was up to Hazel how she wanted to explain her—apparently very strange—existence to Ash.

“Dunno,” Hazel said. “I just kinda woke up here, super confused. I know stuff I shouldn’t. Kinda fumbling my way through.”

“Stuff like what?”

“Like, people stuff?” Hazel said, shrugging. “As you put it, I’m too normal. But there’s plenty of stuff I’m clueless about. Like levels and skills. The dungeon. Monsters. Fighting. Mia has been helping me.”

“Weird.”

“Tell me about it.”

“How’d you two meet up?”

“Just bumped into her,” Hazel said. “She agreed to help me to the surface.”

“Just like that?”

“I’ve got the feeling she’ll help just about anyone,” Hazel said, giving Mia an amused look.

Mia sniffed.

Ash also looked at the succubus, appreciative and amused in the same way as Hazel. She faced back. “What’s that regen skill?” she asked. “I keep wondering when you’ll run out of stamina, but you don’t. Which doesn’t make sense. You can’t be more than four or five.”

Hazel twitched in surprise. How could she know that? She shared a look with Mia, who snorted.

“It’s not hard to get a general idea, watching someone fight,” Mia said. “You have the offensive output of around four to five, not higher, not lower. And she’s right. You’re unbelievably persistent for your level, thanks to—well, you know.”

Mia didn’t want to divulge anything about her skills—[All-Consuming], in this case—without explicit permission. Even when Ash had all but seen how the skill worked, with Hazel munching on various items as they progressed. Hazel had told Mia those details in confidence, and so she treated that trust seriously.

“I’m sure you’ve put two and two together,” Hazel said. She didn’t mind explaining the skill, at least not when it was obvious to any onlooker. “I can eat almost anything and regenerate stamina, health, and mana.”

“Damn,” Ash said. “All three? Mana too?”

“It’s pretty good. Benefit of being a slime, I guess?”

“Yeah.” She shook her head. “Talking monsters. It’s really something. Not that it matters. Only takes a minute to tell you’re as much a person as anyone else. Only an idiot wouldn’t see that.” She frowned. “You’re planning on heading back up to town with Mia? That’s gonna be an event. Not sure how people will react.”

“I’ll handle it,” Mia said.

Hazel expected her slime-like appearance would cause problems. It was an issue for later.

Ash asked Mia, “You said you came to Northwick Haven a few weeks ago? I never saw you around.”

Mia frowned. To her side, she rolled her staff around a few times in her grip. “I didn’t … socialize much. I came, got some information on the local dungeon, a room, slept, then set out.”

“Efficient.”

Mia shrugged. “I’ve been making my way south for a while now.”

“Oh?”

“Putting distance between me and my hometown.”

“Oh,” Ash said. “Running from something?”

“Not so seriously as you imply.” She shrugged. “I wanted to see the world.”

“I can get behind that. I was doing the same. Northwick Haven kinda grew on me, though. Been here for … sheesh, two months now. Only planned to stay a week or two.”

“It seemed like a quaint town. You were traveling with your brother?”

“He’s half the reason I stayed. Put together a team. I usually swap up teams often. Didn’t want to anchor myself down.” Ash sighed, and the worried expression from earlier returned. “Shit, I really hope he’s okay.”

“He will be,” Mia said confidently. “The Heavens reward those who persevere. And you’ve certainly persevered.”

Ash grunted, not reassured. “Maybe.” She pushed herself to a standing position, then rolled her shoulders. “We should keep moving.”

Mia nodded, then stood. Hazel did the same.

“I’ve got a feeling it won’t be much longer,” Mia said. “The monsters have been more crystal than, well, monster, recently. And they’re getting stronger. Stronger than level fives should be.”

Ash grunted. It didn’t sound optimistic.