A wet spot was forming on James's chest when he woke. Opening his eyes slowly, he was about to shift Luna off him when he heard a giggle from his side. Glancing over, he found the Fenrir sitting at the nearby table while pointing out the only other person that could be in the room with them.

"Really?" he whispered. Looking at his chest, he found Amber drooling on his chest with one of her ears flipped inside-out.

"Oh, yes," Luna whispered back.

Pulling his arm out from under Amber, he shook her lightly. "Time to wake up, kitty cat."

Groaning, Amber slid off him. "It's not kitty cat…"

"You're not supposed to be drooling on me either," he pointed out.

Eyes popping open, Amber stared at his chest for several seconds before shrugging. "This is what you get for sleeping in the same bed as me."

Grabbing the blanket, he wiped off the drool and slid out of bed. Luna handed him his armored pants and shirt before yawning.

"You two slept well," Luna said softly. "I believe the others are already up."

Slipping on his clothes, James ran his fingers over the feathers. Their familiar iron-like density and sharpness brushed against his skin in a comfortable way. The leather underneath was still rough and shoddy, but that would change once he made it to Running River.

Amber climbed out of bed next, dressed in only her underwear and bra. "Eyes up here, James," she tutted while pointing to her eyes.

Frowning, he grabbed her clothes from the floor and handed them over. "Get dressed."

Pursing her lips, she turned away from him. "You can watch my tail, I suppose."

Luna sighed. "It never ends…" Stepping up to James, she rested her hand against his cheek. "I love you, James Matson, but you and I are sneaking away tonight."

Humming, he pulled her hand away to kiss her fingers. "I love you too, and I believe that is an excellent idea."

"Get a room!" Amber jeered.

Luna perked up. "We do have one…" Moving to Amber, she grabbed the cat by the ear. "Get out."

"Ow, ow, ow!" Reaching for her ear, Luna slapped her hand away. "I'm going! I'm going!"

A moment later, Amber was pushed out, half dressed. Luna turned back to him with a teasing grin. Grabbing her chest wrap, she unhooked the clasp. "The room is ours."

Chuckling, he started to pull off his clothes again. "I suppose we did pay for it."

***

James started his morning much later than normal. When he and Luna did make it downstairs, they found everyone giving them knowing smiles and a few winks. Rolling his eyes, he sat down with the others.

"Has the rain stopped?" he asked.

Amber shook her head. "It hasn't, but we can use it to gain resistances."

Nodding, he glanced at the door. "It seems that Elder Bo is waiting for us at the outer gate."

"How can you feel that far?" Mender asked.

James sighed. "I couldn't before, but I learned Soul Senses and it allows me to spread my senses out over a large area. When I reached level eight, I gained a huge increase in my limit."

"Does that mean you can hear as well?" Jamie asked.

"Yup, and see. But it isn't easy," James stated. "In a city like this, unless I'm close to my target, I can't do shit. I recognize souls and emotions, but sight and sound are nearly impossible to focus on over this large of an area."

His admission made several of them uncomfortable, or at least their souls felt that way. Even when he touched Luna's soul he felt a difference that wasn't there before he leveled up. What was going to happen if he got stronger? They all knew he would.

Jamie started rubbing her chin. "Can you teach me how to gain that skill?"

James thought it over for a moment. "We can talk tonight about it. Tomorrow, we'll actively practice."

"Why do you need the skill?" Mender asked his sister.

Jamie gave him a pointed look. "So I can talk to my brother whenever I need to."

"You're talking about me, right?" Mender said with a grin.

Jamie continued to stare at him.

"Right?" Mender's smile slipped.

Jamie got up and walked away. "I'm ready, dear brother."

Chuckling, James got up as well. "My dear sister is right. We need to get going. The walk alone is going to take time as we adjust to the acid."

Everyone groaned.

Holding up his hand, he said, "just be happy it can't melt your hair. Let it drizzle on your hands and arms and build resistance to the rain. You never know when we might need to sneak through the weather."

Amber got up and growled at everyone. "We are moving out!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the oni brothers quickly saluted.

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Nodding her approval, Amber turned to James. "We are ready, Master."

Offering Luna his hand, James smiled. "Let's go. This is our first real mission as a sect. Luna will be in charge if I'm not around, with Amber acting as her second. When we stop for the night, I will explain your roles for Running River. It won't be easy."

Mender walked to his side and patted his shoulder. "We have this, James."

Relaxing, James let out a slow breath he didn't know he was holding. Turning to the door with his wife, he started out into the city. The moment he stepped onto the street was the moment he wanted to scream in pain.

The only reason he didn't scream was because he had Corrosion Resistance nearly maxed out. But he knew it was only going to be a few moments before he gained Acid Resistance.

Once the others joined him, they whimpered and ground their teeth. They were feeling it much more than he was, and despite the rain rolling over their bodies, everyone was healing fairly quickly.

Keeping the lead, James guided them out of the city. It only took half an hour to reach Bo, and by that time, he had several notifications waiting for him.

New Skill: Acid Resistance: Level 3/10

He only paid attention to the final notification. The pain was lessening greatly, and he could tell the others were adjusting as well.

It wasn't hard to find the elder as the man had a umbrella of stone floating over him. He was also using the cultivation ring Jamie had given him to supply his body with the Qi needed to keep the stone in the air.

"Are we ready?" Bo asked as James joined him.

"We are." Gesturing to his people, he added, "we will not be fighting this morning for obvious reasons. I want to make a good amount of progress while it's raining."

Nodding his agreement, Bo turned to the north and set out. James waved for everyone to follow, and they matched the slow jog of their weakest member. To his surprise, Brakin was the slowest.

Hours passed in near silence before the rain let up. The world shimmered under the revealing sun as the clouds parted. Drops of rainwater, dripped from the leaves of the trees, and the air was filled with a pleasant scent. It wasn't long until the world came to life. The water turned from deadly to normal within minutes of the clouds parting.

Insects crawled out of trees and the ground to chirp and sing, annoying everyone as they strained to listen to the Forsaken. The large animals started their hunts, or nibbled on berries while lapping up water. To his surprise, none of them ran from him as he slowed the group to a walk.

"Time to split up," he announced. "Amber, take Luna and you know what you need to do. You know what I expect."

"Yes, Master!" Amber quickly grabbed Luna and ran off into the forest.

With a smile, James turned to Jamie. "Take your brother and if possible, you two should split apart and hunt separately." Switching his attention to Linda and the oni brothers, he added, "that goes for you too. Spread out as much as possible and hunt. I'm going to keep moving, so you are in charge of using your own senses to find me again. Spread out far enough that we don't hunt this area to extinction."

Bowing, they all said, "yes, Master."

James watched them run away, spreading out over the land. With only Bo remaining, he started walking north, keeping a steady enough pace that the groups would be hard pressed to detect him.

"You're really pushing them, aren't you?" Bo asked.

"I have to," he stated. "I can't afford a weak party for when we reach the wastelands. They also need to be strong enough to survive in Running River."

Nodding in understand, Bo fell silent as they walked. Another hour passed before the man spoke up. "How many more people are you going to add to your group?"

James thought it over for a few minutes. He didn't have a solid answer.

If I add too many, we won't be able to level up properly. If I don't add enough, then we could be targeted and defeated. There has to be a middle ground with the numbers, at least for right now.

"I don't know," James answered truthfully.

Humming, Bo didn't comment.

***

Luna ran beside Amber, both of their tails flailing in excitement as they hunted their prey.

She's very eager to show her worth. But she has a long way to go before James truly accepts her as his second. She's weak right now, and no matter how much she wants that to change, there's just too many of us to change that without spreading out very far.

It was past noon when they finally slowed to a stop. Sniffing the air, Amber turned them to the west and started walking. Her steps deftly avoided branches and leaves.

She's acting like a true hunter. The only experience she likely has is from stalking the streets of the slums and demi-human district. She's doing rather well, I'll give her that. But can she kill this Forsaken without dying?

Sniffing the air a few more times, Amber crouched low as they came to a small cliff that looked down on a few trees and a small clearing.

Amber pointed to her eyes and then down at the black monster under them. The Forsaken was easily the largest in this part of the forest. Standing ten feet tall and a dozen long, it had six legs and a trunk that ended in a spiked ball. Its head was the largest part of the monster, showing off large ears with blades along their edges. It was one of the rare monstrosities in the forest.

Can she handle this? She looks confident, but can her claws tear through the monster?

Amber licked her lips as she summoned her claws. When she coated them in soul energy, Luna's eyes widened.

She already has her weapon. I'll be damned. Does that mean she doesn't have her Soul Attack?

The pupils of Amber's eyes were dilated as she snarled. Anger exploded through her soul as she leapt off the cliff. Luna only had a moment to process what her curse was before the cat landed on the Forsaken.

Rage. That's what she has to deal with. Will she attack me?

Shaking her head, Luna jumped down as well. The twenty foot drop was easy as she made sure she kept her distance from the fight. Amber was carving her claws through the Forsaken as her siphon ripped out its soul.

The Forsaken has a larger soul than Amber. Her claws are barely making a dent in its hide.

She continued to observe as Amber was thrown from the monster and slammed through a tree. Screaming in pain, Amber's claws flickered out as she rolled to a stop twenty feet away.

The Forsaken wasn't idle as it charged the fallen cat. Raising its trunk, it prepared to slam the spiked ball down on the woman. Luna refused to intervene as Amber's body crackled as her bones reset.

Before the Forsaken could finish her off, the cat rolled away and jumped back to her feet. Resummoning her claws, she siphoned the monster again and charged. Dragging her claws along the legs of the Forsaken, she drew blood while trying to sever tendons.

The large monster spun, flinging its ears out that carved through the air. Amber was barely able to duck in time as the ears screamed by.

Doubling her efforts on one leg, Amber finally tore through the tendons of one of the knees. It wasn't enough to hamper the monster, but she quickly moved onto another leg.

The creature's soul was slowly waning as Amber dodged and wove around the Forsaken. The ground trembled with each stomp, and the air screamed as ears and trunk flew through the air.

Despite the start of the fight, Amber didn't take any more damage as she bent, dodged, and flipped out of the way. She was dancing with death like a well versed partner.

Minutes passed before the creature finally collapsed. Amber snapped her attention to Luna before clutching her head and dismissing her claws. The anger in her soul dispersed and the cat jogged over.

"How did I do?" Amber asked.

Luna frowned. "Better than I expected. You should have gained a decent amount from this fight, but don't think you will keep finding many monsters this size."

Shoulders slumping, she nodded. "I understand."

"Good." Luna clapped her hand on Amber's shoulder. "Let's keep moving. James expects you to be level two before you reach him tonight. If you aren't you are not allowed to see him. Which means I'm not allowed to see him. If I can't see him, I'm going to beat the crap out of you."

Eyes wide, Amber started nodding. "Yes, ma'am!"

Smiling once again, Luna pushed the cat toward the next target. "Keep moving, kitty cat."

Growling, Amber spun on her. "It's not kitty cat!"

Cocking her head, Luna asked, "Kitten?"

Throwing up her hands, Amber started running away.

Luna wanted to laugh, but only felt confusion. She didn't know how to feel about the changes that James had gone through with his recent level up. She needed to think, and she needed to play her part. That was made harder by the nekorian's desire to be with him. Amber's soul felt different and Luna was afraid she knew why.

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