"So Akilatjin, what's next for us?" Alan asked as he looked down on the slumbering worm.

She had made it through most of the day, but the final speeches and awards had been too much and the dragon had curled up on herself and closed her eyes. Alan had assumed that meant she was asleep, but she answered him almost immediately.

"I joined you so that we could tackle challenges together. Today was entertaining, but there was no struggle for us. Let us do something dangerous."

It seemed that she was a creature after his own heart. He could while away the day like the best layabout, but at some point he would get antsy. Without something to do, his body would start to crave action. That was part of the reason he had trained in so many forms of martial arts. He had needed hobbies to keep himself occupied between missions. His more recent trial of becoming a doctor had provided him with an outlet, but his old habits died hard. Sometimes it was just nice to hit something as hard as you could.

"I have just the thing."

The only reliable challenge for him at the moment were the dungeons. He had just about gotten his fill of them recently, so he didn't want anything too strenuous. It would be better to test out how well Akilatjin fought, and to see if they could work together. A fitting place to do that would be the town dungeon. It featured bosses that were at the low opal level, so it should prove a challenge for her. Alan had been able to handle it with little trouble himself, and that was before his recent improvements. It should be just the thing to crack their teeth on.

There were some matters to handle before they could leave. Roger needed to know where they were going, He wanted to help with some of the cleanup from the day's events, too. Pitching in for the scut work was a great way to endear a leader to those he led. The last thing he did was pass off some more spell scrolls to Brud. There was a collection of minor healing scrolls, and some of the basic mage spells. If people were going to be grabbing some more classes, they might need to learn more spells.

With that taken care of, it was past dark when they set out. Alan was starting to feel like he had become a creature of the night. Sure, he had been active all day today, but it wasn't until the sun set that he ever got to deal with his own stuff these days. The trip to the town dungeon didn't take all that long, and on the way he had briefed Akilatjin on what to expect. Finally they stood before the dungeon entrance, and Alan just needed to know one more thing.

"So how does this actually work?"

"Which part of what we're doing is confusing for you?"

"I've never entered a dungeon with someone else before. How do we do this?"

Akilatjin stared up at him for a long moment before speaking. "You know, I have never done this either. Fortunately my memories cover this topic thoroughly. Because we are Bonded, and so close together, when you enter the dungeon it will take me with you. The energy will follow the link of our Bond and use it to pull me in as well."

That actually sounded fascinating. Alan was going to have to watch that very closely to see what it looked like to his senses. It would probably be aether that did the work, but he would get to see in a moment no matter what.

"Ready?"

"As a higher being, I am always ready. Now let us test ourselves!"

She was really excited by this opportunity. He had to remind himself that this was her first personal experience with a dungeon, and it should be exciting. Reaching out he touched the entrance portal, but he kept his eyes and senses on what happened as it claimed both himself and the little dragon worm. It was as she said, aether, some mana, and possibly another type of energy he wasn't able to see yet, wrapped around him, and then like water up a wick, it followed the Bond to Akilatjin.

Together they reappeared, standing in a clearing that was covered in snow. It wasn't a dusting either, it rose midway up Alan's calf. Akilatjin had to raise her body up off the ground to stay above the white powder. Behind them was a small mud dwelling. The doorway was facing him, but there was a hide curtain strung across it. The sounds of parents attempting to soothe panicked children snuck around the edges of the fleshy barrier.

New Quest: The Sheltered Hut

[A mother and father wanted nothing more than to keep their children safe. Unfortunately, while they were protected from the many dangers in a city, there are other threats in the wild. Protect the family who shelter inside from those that seek their lifeblood.]

"A quest, how wonderful! It is a shame we cannot feast on those quivering inside, but I look forward to completing my first Network task."

"Would you actually want to eat those people? Why? They haven't done anything to you."

"True, but I'm a dragon. There are appearances to maintain."

Alan gave her a long look. He wasn't sure if she was messing with him, or totally serious. The young dragon worm was still a mystery to him. Hopefully this time they spent together would help him understand her better. The in and outs of what the bond meant were also unclear, so that was another thing to work on. Right now they had a mission, though.

"Remember what I told you. We have to defend the hut and not let anything get in there. This should be a lot easier since there are two of us. I suggest we take opposite sides of the hut, not front and back but put the doorway between us."

"That sounds as good a strategy as any." Akilatjin said as she tapped the wall of the hut with the end of her body. "This isn't very sturdy. I wouldn't count on it keeping anything out for long."

"Good to know." Alan had already realized that, but he wanted to encourage her so he didn't mention that fact.

"Is waiting always this boring?"

They hadn't been standing in the dungeon for more than a couple of minutes when she started complaining. All of her previous encounters had come via tracking and patrolling. Waiting for her prey to come to her was a new concept, and it didn't seem to agree with the impatient dragon.

"You could use this time for meditation, planning, or you and I could talk."

"I have memories of this meditation concept, but no practical experience. Perhaps I shall try it."

Alan tried not to take that personally. The hut wasn't very large, perhaps six meters across. That allowed him to keep an eye on her as he also watched his side for any attackers. If it followed a similar pattern to previous setups, it would still be several minutes before they saw anything.

The poor dragon was set up to fail in her attempts to meditate. First there was her body. Finding a comfortable position for her to remain in was challenging. She ended up going with a mostly coiled up posture, similar to what Alan had seen on 'Don't Tread on Me' flags. The other issue was that meditation usually meant blocking outside stimuli from your thoughts, but that wasn't an easy task when you also had to keep watch for attackers. With years of experience, Alan was able to enter a light meditation while doing routine activities or passive exercise. Akilatjin had only the memories of her ancestors.

She had shared the concept of hereditary memory with Alan, and he had to admit it sounded nice. He would have loved to have gained all of his father's experience in the many tasks he had been a master of. Although, as Akilatjin explained it, she didn't receive actual skills, just the memory of how they should work. It would let her advance skills quickly, but it didn't give her free levels.

Whether she eventually mastered the skill, it wasn't going to happen right now. Shortly after she finally settled on a pose, Alan picked up the sounds of something coming through the woods. Three humanoid forms soon broke out into the clearing, all of them on the side of the hut away from the door.

Creature: Forest Troll (Uncommon) level 9, threat: low. This variation on the common troll can be found in deep forests. Their skin is a brownish green and they are capable of withstanding the indirect sunlight found in a mature forest. They are slightly shorter and less muscled than most of their cousins, but they are excellent climbers.

Each of them was about a head taller than Alan and if these were less muscled than other trolls, then he didn't want to see the ones that were considered to be the strongest variant. Each of them was wearing some form of animal hide loincloth and wielded a large, viscous looking axe. They all had a similar appearance, but were clearly unique. While each ugly faced troll was covered in dirt and grime, their axes appeared to be lovingly maintained. Clearly they were the most important objects in their possession.

A month or so ago, and these monsters would have posed a serious challenge for him. Now, however, they wouldn't even cause him to break a sweat, as evidenced by their low challenge rating. This town's dungeon hadn't been able to grow since he had arrived, and so what had been a decent quest then was now a joke to him. It would be a nice benefit to his plan of bringing in more people that the village, and therefore the dungeon, would soon evolve.

Whether it was a problem for Alan didn't really matter. This dungeon run was for Akilatjin's sake. It would be a good test for her, even if their levels were still a little low. With an early opal level, she should have an advantage against this first wave, but things would start to ramp up as the quest unfolded. With only a single group at the moment, it was easy to devise their strategy. In an effort to keep the semi-intelligent enemy from hearing the plan, ALan chose to communicate telepathically.

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"Ok, you take the ugly one on the left, and I'll take the warty pair on the right."

Akilatjin's body spasmed in what Alan realized was laughter. "They're all ugly and warty, their trolls, man! But your plan is sound. Let us tear them apart."

Her speech seemed rather formal and stilted, as if she was trying to impress him. Perhaps she was. Uncoiling from her meditation pose, Akilatjin rushed her target. Alan wasted no time in closing the distance with his own assignment. The trolls had been wearing bloodthirsty grins when they first arrived, but watching Alan flow towards them with a warrior's grace, and Akilatjin slide forward like a mini freight train wiped the smiles off their faces.

Hefting their axes they prepared to meet the charge. Alan wasn't worried, he had out his spewn and magical sword. In the dim light of the overcast day, the blade of his new weapon shone painfully bright in the trolls' eyes. It would throw off their aim when they made their move, but even without that advantage, ALan had faith that he was faster than they were.

Akilatjin was also not worried, but that was from a combination of overconfidence, and knowing that her troll would have a hard time attacking her if she stayed low to the ground. It wouldn't allow her to strike any critical parts of its anatomy, but that wasn't her plan for the moment anyway. As she entered his range, the troll brought his jagged edged axe down to cleave her in two. With a slight adjustment to her charge, Akilatjin easily avoided the attack and the blade ended up slicing into the ground.

The two trolls that Alan was attacking didn't even get a chance to attack. He had been holding back from his top speed, trying to match his charge to Akilatjin's. At the last moment he surged forward, catching them off guard and each hand made a deft slash that left both opponents with gaping wounds in their chests. Like the few trolls he had fought before, these two started healing almost immediately. The one who had been cut by his spewn, a fire imbued weapon, was regenerating much slower.

It didn't matter, since while they were distracted by the blood pouring out of their bodies, Alan spun around and repeated his attack, but this time he took their heads clean off. There would be no regenerating that. With his targets dead, he turned his full attention on Akilatjin and her opponent.

After avoiding its first attack, rather than trying to bite into its leg or feet, she had continued her charge, and then started climbing up its body. This time she did wind around its body, rather than just going straight up. Using all two meters of her length, she wrapped herself around his torso. Both of its arms were extended after its attack with its axe, so she couldn't bind them. The troll, however, was reluctant to start swinging its axe at its own body. It dropped the weapon and then tried to grab Akilatjin with its hands.

That task proved rather difficult as her scales proved to be rather slippery. It didn't seem like they should be, especially now that they were a little more raised than when she was a newly hatched worm, but it was another facet of her magic that there was a protective film over her whole body. The troll was finally able to slip its fingers under one of her coils, but that proved to be a mistake. It should have risked it and attacked her with the axe.

Akilatjin's body wasn't massively powerful, but she was still strong enough to make a boa envious of the force she could constrict with. The poor troll's fingers were crushed as she tightened around its chest, cracking its ribs and preventing its lungs from filling. It could have been a slow and agonizing death, but Akilatjin put it out of its misery by chewing a large hole in its throat. Blood sprayed out, most of it ending up in her gaping beak, but the rest showered her body.

"Oh, disgusting. That taste is just foul. No more eating trolls." Her whole body convulsed and a mangled chunk of flesh was coughed up on the ground. It was most likely the dead troll's throat.

"Quickly, let's move the bodies away from the hut so we have more room to maneuver."

Akilatjin just looked at him and Alan actually blushed in embarrassment. "Right, I'll use my hands to move the bodies, why don't you try and rub off some of that blood."

While he was moving the dead trolls, Alan also stored one of the axes. He had already earned some axes in previous loot drops, and he'd even created one himself, but the good ones had all been normal looking war axes. These rugged weapons had a much more savage look that some people might prefer. He didn't take the others because he was mindful of the dungeon's aether.

From what he had learned so far, creating items and weapons for its dungeon creatures to use took aether. These could later be absorbed to regain almost all of the energy spent. When adventurers turned into loot goblins and started grabbing everything they could, a strategy Alan had once embraced, it threatened the growth of the dungeon core by robbing it of its aether. This could lead to the core taking it out of their final loot, or taking a more aggressive role and trying to kill the exuberant gatherers. Taking a single weapon should be fine, taking them all might get the core all riled up. That might be fun another time, but this was not the time. Today's mission was simply a shakedown tour.

Quest Update: The Sheltered Hut

[That first group was simply the scouts for a raiding force. Their absence will likely be investigated. Continue to protect the family sheltering inside.]

The Network really did like to add background to its quests. If this was going to be his life from here on out, Alan would appreciate the extra spice. If he actually made it through the tutorial he would have to see what more there was beyond dungeons, but that was a far off objective. Better to focus on the current mission.

The next wave was four trolls, and Alan let Akilatjin take two this time. His opponents fell just as quickly as the last, but he got to see how his partner modified her fighting style. She could have tried the same trick, the other troll would have likely been hesitant about hacking at her while she was wrapped closely around his ally, but she didn't take that chance. Alan approved of that, it showed adaptability in her tactics.

She approached them low to the ground, just like in the first fight. Instead of coiling around one of them, though, after they swung at her, she bit down on the handle of one of the axes. Her beak was just wide enough to handle it, and when she closed it, the axe's shaft had been split in two, effectively disarming one of the trolls. That monster fell back on its butt, from both shock at the destruction of its treasured weapon, and being unbalanced from the lack of the heavy axes counterweight.

Ignoring that foe for the moment, Akilatjin swayed out of the way of the follow up strike from the last troll. She then lunged forward with her mouth open, biting down on its arm. Her magical maw once again had no trouble cutting through its flesh, and a large chunk was suddenly missing from its bicep, forcing it to cradle that limb to its chest. In a span of seconds she had disarmed one opponent and almost literally disarmed the second. Alan had to admit that she was proving an effective fighter so far.

With one arm crippled, the troll couldn't properly wield its axe any more, and when Akilatjin spat a chunk of its own body back in its face it was thoroughly distracted. She took advantage of that and bit down on its chest, devouring the part that should contain its heart. It collapsed moments later. Alan expected another fleshy projectile to come shooting out of her mouth, but instead she froze in surprise.

"Wow, their flesh is disgusting, but their heart is actually quite delicious."

That was slightly horrifying, and probably wouldn't be an issue in the future, maybe. The second troll took advantage of her inaction to get back to its feet. She saw it moving out of the corner of her eye and turned to face it. Alan could actually see the troll's instincts warring with the dungeon core's command to attack them. It knew it was going to die, but the core didn't care, the narrative required that it either win or die.

Akilatjin was oblivious to its internal struggle. She slid forward and with an attempt at a head fake, buried her mouth in its chest. Rather than biting her way through its torso, she used the sharp point of her beak and her rather impressive strength to crunch her way through its flesh and ribs. Alan could hear the crack of the ribs being broken as she pushed further in. The troll meanwhile was not taking it well. There was a lot of screaming and thrashing, and a futile attempt to pull her out.

Soon his body went limp and he crashed to the ground as Akilatjin withdrew the top portion of her body from the corpse. She made a very satisfied sound as her beak clacked together a few times.

"That was so much better without any of its disgusting flesh in the way. I think that is my preferred method for eating hearts now."

Not an issue at all. These bodies were dragged to the corpse pile. It was at the backside of the hut, but at the edge of the woods. There it wouldn't block their vision of anything approaching their ward, but it would make it difficult for creatures to come that way.

As the quest progressed, they faced troll squads of increasing size, until after beating seven of them at the same time, the next group included a troll warrior. Other than being a little bigger and more muscled, there wasn't much to distinguish the two. It was a level eleven, though, so it was solidly in the opal range. Alan drew off the regular trolls while Akilatjin took on the bigger guy. He knew it was a guy since its loincloth got torn off during the fight. Let's just say that this thing was packing a backup club.

The dragon chose to be a little more cautious with the more dangerous opponent. Rather than rushing in, she stopped just out of its reach and feinted a few times to get it to attack her back. She was judging its capabilities, and once more Alan was impressed with her fighting maturity. She soon discovered that it was indeed stronger, and slightly faster, than the regular trolls, but it was still no match for her.

A few quick bites left it disabled and lying prone on the ground. Then she buried herself in its chest again. The screams were almost loud enough to cover the sound of bones shattering. Once again the worm extracted herself with a satisfied sound as she savoured the taste of its heart. Alan had offered her the hearts of his own victims, but she seemed to take it as a point of pride to only eat those of her own kills.

After that, each round swapped out a regular forest troll for a warrior version. Alan started to split them evenly with Akilatjin and she still showed little issue with killing them. He had seen her fight before, but her current mobility was far beyond what she had shown previously. She was fast and able to make her body move in an instant. Thrusting attacks (which Alan was shocked to see the trolls try with an axe) had no chance of landing. She would simply bend a portion of her sinuous body to the side. Slashing attacks were also easily avoided by bending backwards.

If Alan had been forced to go against her, he would have gotten in close so that she would have a harder time avoiding him and then started to carve her up. That was if he wasn't going to use magic. And while on the topic of magic, whatever magic was involved with her all devouring maw was insane. With a simple bite she could bite clean through flesh, bone, wooden shafts, and even once the stone blade of a warrior's axe. That had made her tummy tingle in a remarkable way, but she still preferred the hearts of her fallen foes.

The final battle saw a troll chieftain escorted by five warriors. The chieftain was level twelve and rare, so it wasn't a surprise to see that he moved much better than his minions. He was faster, stronger, and better able to handle the massive two headed axe that he swung around like its weight was negligible.

Once again Alan took on the riffraff while Akilatjin faced the big bad.His fight wasn't worth commenting on, but Akilatjin had finally found someone who wouldn't be dominated by her own talents. That's not to say that she struggled, but it wasn't as simple as her other fights. Her speed and kinesthetic awareness frustrated the chieftain as he tried to land a single blow. On the opposite side, his hide was tough enough that her bite actually struggled to cut through it. It was the first time Alan had seen anything resist her beak.

Still, in the end she managed to land a few strikes in the same spot and finally get through his thick skin. After that she concentrated all of her blows in the same area and found that while his hide was like armor, the tissue underneath it was not so strong. In short order she was once again scarfing down her victim's heart and then she ate his axe as well. Alan could actually see a bulge in her form from everything she had eaten during their run.

Quest Complete: The Sheltered Hut

[You successfully eliminated the entire force of trolls that was endangering the family in the woods. Reward: one Opal.]

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