As we continued towards the glow at the end of the current passageway, the glow just kept getting brighter. Likewise, the scent of water became more present, and once the downward path evened out and opened to a spacious cavern, it was obvious why.

  There was a huge lake down here, and the rocky walls were covered in those glowing mushrooms I’d seen in the forest. This would actually be a great place to use as a home base to come back to every night, I thought. I briefly wondered why Mom and Dad chose somewhere so much more secluded for our den, then realized the obvious reason was that Mom would barely fit through some of the tunnels that made it down here, and Dad simply would not fit at all.

  Lily and I both slowed down, our tails wagging as we looked around the cavern. There were a few more branching tunnels off to either side. I looked back the way we had come and listened closely. I didn’t hear our pursuers coming yet. We were faster than they were, and they probably slowed down at the last fork in the tunnel as they tried to decide which way we could have gone. If we were lucky, they’d separate, and we’d have another chance to win a two-on-one fight. Though even in that case, I’d have to be careful, as I was still out of mana, so I would be much weaker.

  Yes, it would be better to avoid fighting the red masks altogether, so we’d have to keep moving. Still, the mushrooms were a welcome sight, and I instantly went over to the wall and bit a nice big one off. I cringed as I chewed and dissolved it into the chalky taste that coated my mouth. As unpalatable as it was, I did feel my fatigue and the wound to my backside heal almost instantly. I knew I’d be at or near full health now, and Lily hadn’t actually taken any damage herself in our last fight. I then quickly went over to the pond to take a drink to try to wash the taste out.

  As I approached, I slowed and flinched back as I saw something move under the water. It was long and slithered along the rocky base of the pond below the surface of the water. Was it a snake?

  I approached the edge of the water more carefully, scanning for any other movement. When I didn’t see anything, I quickly took a drink, lapping my tongue in a few times, but then jolting backwards as movement caught my eye again.

  A giant snake burst out of the water, as if using the ripples from where I was drinking as a target, and I scrambled backwards even further to get away from it.

  Its upper body then flopped onto the ground as its mouth opened, revealing sharp fangs as it hissed at me. I continued to scramble backwards, checking for Lily to verify she was keeping her distance and not in any immediate danger.

  The snake was much bigger than the last one me and her had killed; this one could easily fit one of our heads into its mouth. Lily darted back and forth, barking and growling as it began to slither out of the water and towards us.

  I growled and nudged Lily with my body, barking at her in warning. We did not have time to deal with something like this!

  Luckily, she obeyed, and we began running towards one of the other tunnels, soon leaving the snake behind as we disappeared even further down into the cave system.

  I turned back before we got too far, attempting to use a Pulse Sense, but I apparently was still too low on mana. I really wish those mushrooms also restored mana, or at the very least drinking from that underground lake could have done the trick! Whoever the hell designed this world sure didn’t like to make things easy on a pup!

  Before the light from the last cavern completely disappeared, I looked back to the entrance of the tunnel we were now fleeing down to see the snake had already given up on pursuing us. Though, that made me wonder what it typically hunted while it was living here. Surely it must have had some food source, and I didn’t see anything else that was obvious. Well, maybe, whenever any other inhabitants of this cave got thirsty enough for a drink, they turned into an easy snack for the snake instead, just like what almost happened to me.

  That thought about other inhabitants worried me even more as we descended even deeper into the darkness. I thankfully had night vision, so I at least wasn’t blind, but there could be any number of dangerous things down here. This was unfamiliar territory, and I worried over the possibility that the red masks might not be the worst threat for us to run into.

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  The tunnel branched again; this time one of the routes clearly was much smaller, so I opted for that one. I took a moment to judge the size and determined that a human being could indeed fit through here, but they would have to crouch and squeeze their way through. Actually, if a red mask did try to come this way, that would be the perfect time to attack, as they would have no ability to swing their daggers effectively. Although, jabbing those electric poles forward could still be a threat.

  The passageway eventually opened wider again and led to another unique cavern. My eyes widened as I saw little green orbs floating around that reminded me of the ones that floated from the top of the lake in the middle of the vale. Except they were much smaller and did not simply float up but hovered around while slowly moving in all directions. I soon realized they were bugs with glowing butts.

  They provided a little light to the cavern, but it was much dimmer than the mushrooms, so it would still be quite hard to see without my Night Vision. Lily was probably as good as blind herself, with just some impression of where the walls were thanks to the bugs.

  I scanned the floor of the cavern and noticed a shape sitting atop a rock. I focused on it, thinking it actually was just part of the rock—it was the same color, after all. But then suddenly, part of it opened up and a tongue shot out, snatching one of those glowing bugs out of the air. It was a frog!

  I let out a small chuff, thinking of Genzo and wondering if he had evolved from a frog like that. Though, he said he traveled to this vale from somewhere else, so this was unlikely to be the cave where he was born.

  I noticed Lily looked at me with a turned head, wondering what I found amusing, perhaps. I do wish we were able to talk like humans, because I would have loved to tell her about Genzo. Meeting him was one of the only truly good things to happen since we’ve been separated…

  …Well, I also got to try some tasty new food as well. I’d love to tell Lily about snacking on the Leaf Crawlers, or gorging myself on the belly of a Felsnare Grazer. Oh, and not to mention that delicious bone Genzo gave me, which unlocked Marrow Sense! I suppose those were good memories as well.

  Either way, now wasn’t the time to take things easy. There were at least two red masks trying to find us, and probably more on the way. Since they seemed so determined to find us, I couldn’t expect them to just go away. Now they knew for sure our location, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they sent a whole team to start mapping out these cave systems and searching for us.

  Finding this cave to flee into certainly bought us some time and was a huge lucky break. However, unless we found an exit that the red masks didn’t know about, and we could then lose their trail for good, we wouldn’t ever be safe.

  I chuffed towards Lily and led her to another passageway, leaving the cavern with the camouflage frogs and light bugs behind, when suddenly a ding sounded in my head along with a blue box appearing in front of me.

  [Achievement! Novice Splunker!]

  Congratulations, you haven’t been eaten by cave monsters… yet. The underground welcomes its newest wanderers!

  +5 Vigor

  +5 Sense

  I growled and flicked the achievement away with my eyes. Lily tilted her head at me curiously.

  I sighed and kept going. I appreciated the extra stats, but I really didn’t need that ominous message making me more nervous. Well, it is not like I hadn’t already considered the possibility of there being dangerous monsters down here—

  I suddenly froze in place as something occurred to me.

  I remembered the time with the Black Prowler, before I knew it spotted me, and I was trying to slink away. An achievement popped up then as well… What did it say again?

  It was hunter becomes the hunted, or something like that, and it had flat-out warned me to start running.

  Between that one and a few more oddly specific achievements, I was well aware that these things were tailored to my specific situation. If I needed any more proof, this last achievement pluralized “wanderers,” meaning it acknowledged Lily’s presence.

  With that consideration, I paid more attention to the exact wording of that achievement. Specifically, “You haven’t been eaten by cave monsters… yet.”

  It was a very strange idea… but out of everything else related to the System, the achievements were the only thing that could be tailored to me, meaning they could be altered as whatever entity controlled them saw fit. Therefore, if such an entity wished to communicate with me, achievements would be the only way it could do so.

  So if it wanted to give me a warning…

  Then, another ding sounded in my head. This one was both slightly reassuring and existentially horrifying.

  [Achievement! Never Alone]

  It’s a dangerous world, but you’re a smart pup who appreciates her friends—both big and small.

  +1 sense

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