Following the ceremony and the announcement, the teams took an hour to change their attires, re-emerging at noon into a converted courtyard.

Ever the suspicious cynic, Walken subtly patrolled the perimeter, studying the site for anything of interest that may befoul the team. By the time the party was in full swing, he couldn't help but acknowledge a woeful absence.

There was no duelling arena.
Indeed, no space had been reserved for Fudan's foremost strategy. There wasn't even a barrier. Should a fight break out, there was a genuine possibility of damaging the ancient temple.

_Well, bollocks,_ Walken grumbled to himself. How could Gwen lay down the gauntlet when there's no place to jostle?

"What's the meaning of this?" He quickly joined the conspiracy of proctors in the courtyard. "Auberon?"

"You've got me there." The chief proctor put up both hands in a gesture of innocence. "Maybe they got wind of your Void Sorceress' records? I heard she has never lost a duel. That and she pounded down a pseudo-mythic in Burma. Who the hell would want to duel that?"

"..." Fudan's instructor blinked. What Auberon said made a lot of sense.

"If I were Cuzco, I wouldn't want to shame my princeling in public either." Auberon shrugged. "The son of a God must remain as such- you get my meaning?"

It was a reasonable conjecture.
Could it be true? Walken wondered to himself. Was this that Militant Pacifism he had heard from Kilroy? Supposedly, it was Gwen who came up with the idea.

His eyes passed the Incan nobles in their gold and jewels. It didn't take much effort to locate his cabal of sorceresses. There was Gwen, Petra, the golden boy, and the smitten priestess.

"Walken, you worrywart, leave them be," the Baron of Shenfield advised, "What is she, your apprentice? Didn't you kill her beloved Master?"

"You know that's not true," Walken warned his friend. "I am worried she might get us kicked out. You know what she did to the heirs to the Yooksung Group?"

"I too saw the Vid-cast."

"If she thrashes him in his temple..."

"Don't be such a prude, Eric." Auberon swirled the Argentinian Malbec in his glass. "Let the kids have their fun."

"What fun would that be?" A third voice joined their conversation. It was Cuzco's Tower Master, now the majordomo.

"Eric- you remember our host?" Auberon bowed, then brought the two face to face. "We met at the 97 Los Angeles PACT conference."

Walken suppressed a shameful flush of the cheeks. When he had last met Cuzco's Tower Master, they had been equals.

"I doubt one of the Ten would recall a provincial like me," sounded a voice with the consistency of silk. "Nonetheless, the pleasure is all mine, Eric..."

For an international broadcast, a smidgen of nationalism for the home front was expected. As such, cultural outfits had been the theme both Fudan and Cuzco had chosen for the mid-day llama feast.

On Cuzco's side, its members were ceremoniously adorned with a king's ransom of gold. Conversely, the Asian students elected a Shanghai speciality: silk cheongsams provided gratis by a designer in Suzhou.

For the men, their formal attires gave them a gravity which the youngsters lacked, adding significantly to Fudan's presentation. As for the girls, the styles which Gwen had picked out were elegant and provocative, scandalising the Incans with an attire that had bedazzled European expatriates for a century.

In their figure-hugging outfits and colour-matched heels, the girls cast such a sight that Jiro had trouble walking.

Playing their part as the team's poster-girls, Gwen and Petra made the rounds, shook hands and flirted with the smitten locals before taking advantage of lumen-ops that would soon arrive back home. For Gwen, it was business as usual, while Petra's coldness only made her more mysterious and alluring.

Sure enough, once the party had the momentum to proceed on its own, Inti approached. In his conforming-tunic, the young man was awe-inspiring. With his natural tan and trained body, Inti wouldn't look out of place if he were to apply zinc to his nose and emerge from the surf at Bondi.

"What do you think?" She nudged her cousin. "Ripper of a bloke, eh? You keen?"

Petra's answer came in the form of a playful pinch that made Gwen yelp.

But before Gwen could ply the old charm, a priestess intercepted the prince before he could introduce himself.

"Miss Song, it gets cold in Cuzco." A set of dark pupils traced the arch of Gwen's dress from hip to ankle. "I hope you won't catch a cold before the match."

"A chill, when the sun's so close?" Gwen suppressed a smirk as she teased her hapless interloper.

Behind the girl, she caught Inti trying to place his eyes somewhere innocuous. To gaze at the vice-captain's face was too embarrassing, looking lower was lewd, and to stare at her feet was perhaps worse.

She flashed a winning smile, urging Petra to do likewise. Before they duelled, it was good to lower her opponent's guard.

"So, Prince In—"

"He's taken." Tica's interruption snapped like a whip. "We're engaged!"

"..."
"..."
"..."

An awkward silence reigned as Tica gloated. Gwen wondered if she could get Tica into a duel by flirting with Inti. Petra had a dozen spells she had wanted to test on the Radiant Mage.

Cuzco's captain soon broke the tension by changing the topic.

"Dear ladies, may I borrow both of you to sound a proposal?" An overpowering earnestness washed over them like warm water. "Miss Gwen, as Fudan's Ace, I understand you occupy a central position within the team. Will you lend me your ear?"

Gwen lowered her eyes for a moment to circulate a mote of Almudj's Essence. Whether intentional or otherwise, Inti's unadulterated positivity was intoxicating.

"Of course, I'm happy to listen."

"Thank you. Then I shall make my case." Inti appeared unfazed by Gwen's glowing irises. "As you well know, Uncle Amaru has set a quest that benefits my people. No matter which one of us is the victor, Cuzco remains a beneficiary."

"That's right," Gwen concurred. "And?"

"And as such, we would be obliged if our missions could be carried out cooperatively."

"Oh?" Gwen studied the man's unblinking eyes. Cooperation? She was here to kick his ass, and he wanted to hold hands? In the previous match, both Jiantong and Seoul had wanted to butt heads, while Kyoto was an ally of circumstance. "From the get-go?"

"Yes, from the beginning." Inti showed off his perfect teeth. "In Amazonia, survival will be our greatest challenge, not each other. If so, why not strike an accord? Our competition shouldn't be won or lost because of us undermining one another. We can both benefit."

"A win-win?" Gwen rested a hand against her hip, fascinated by the prince's selfless generosity. The proposal was tempting. After all, wasn't the Middle Faction's motto mutual gain and mutual compromise? "I won't say no, but you can't expect me to believe you're happy with losing? Doesn't Cuzco have home advantage? Why should you hamstring yourselves?"

When he next spoke, Inti's voice took on a resonant, euphonic quality. "Miss Gwen, I am imploring you because I am a realist. I am under no delusion that Cuzco National will measure up against opponents outside our domain. I know that compared to the Europeans, our meagre mastery of Spellcraft will not win us the IIUC."

"You say that now—" she protested.

"Miss Gwen. I know you wanted to use the luncheon to duel myself and Tica." Inti's words exposed her naked ambition. "I've heard of your prowess. However, in my opinion, senseless fighting will only sour our future cooperation. That's why I had the duelling arenas removed."

Gwen chuckled uncomfortably. Beating seven shade of shit out of Inti had indeed graced her and Walken's data slates.

"Let me say this: progressing to round two isn't our principal objective." The Incan candidness caught her flatfooted. "With the quest unveiled, we have more important objectives. Do you wish to know why Cuzco strived to enter the IIUC?"

Gwen shrugged.

"It's so that we can remind the world that the Empire is a bastion of humanity" Inti intoned reverently. "For the days ahead, we will prove to the world that in Amazonia lies the greatest threat to the continuation of human dominion in the region. Should there be another beast-tide, South America may become a Demi-human continent."

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Inti's eyes burned with conviction.

"I bring, therefore, a proposal of peace. In the days ahead, we shall not impede one another's progress in our quests. As we are all siblings under the sun, should we not act as such? Cuzco has no conflict with Shanghai. Why not let us open a new chapter of cooperation between our two cities? I sincerely believe that in working hand-in-hand, we shall both succeed in our endeavours."

Inti glowed, and his audience quaked. Gwen felt her heart soften. In her eyes, Inti appeared as though a radiant labrador begging with liquid eyes. To refuse would be kicking the biggest puppy under the sun.

"I understand if you find it difficult to trust us," Inti whined. "I would be suspicious too. As a show of sincerity, my team shall swear on Inti's name that there will be no betrayal..."

"Hold your llamas." Gwen stopped the prince before he could continue to paw at her conscience. "Let me get Tei."

Taking advantage of her height, she scanned the party for her teammates. There was the flirtatious Jiro, keeping a dozen dates with a dozen priestess candidates, letting the girls pet his Firebird. Behind the young man, Rene answered questions while trying to keep Jiro from the giggling virgins. In a shaded corner, Mayuree and Eunae hid behind the dessert table, two introverts perfectly happy to be left alone. Across the courtyard, Richard conversed with the proctors, gathering intel. Beside the carvery, Lulan was slowly whittling the llama down to the bone.

Finally, she spotted Tei speaking to the Incan giant, Tupaq.

"Cap!" Gwen's voice summoned her captain to the corner where she and Petra stood in opposition to the golden prince and his bangled priestess. "Inti has offered us a deal."

The two captains shook; then Inti made his case.

Tei fell into silence.

Gwen knew her captain's dilemma, for their original plan centred around harassing Cuzco with her hounds and Familiars. If indeed Inti wanted a cooperative mission, was it then to Fudan's advantage or disadvantage? If so, was this a multi-dimensional ploy, or the innocent hope of a princeling?

"So that you know, I am fine with cooperation" Gwen delivered her verdict, drawing on her experience in Singapore. "Trust me when I say that between trolls, insects, carnivorous plants and the other demi-humans, we'll be taxed beyond belief."

Tei weighed her words.

"Captain, allow me to share a token of our sincerity," Inti earnestly intoned. "According to Quipu records, the lost temple of Mama Killa isn't a single structure. It's a sprawling city-centre swallowed by the jungle."

"Oh, I see!" Gwen threw away her vision of a half-sunken Indiana movie set. She had been to Angkor Wat in her past life and could imagine the majesty of a lost city consumed by the wilderness. If so, then the Explorer team would indeed struggle to locate such a site. In her old world, even with regular, non-magical trees, Machu Picchu had remained hidden for four centuries.

Tei thanked the prince. As the heir to a family of tomb guardians, he was no stranger to lost relics. If the "temple" was instead a vine-strewn city, then the competitive prospect of recovering relics had improved immensely. During the dungeon dive, the teams could race to the middle while watching one another's backs. With Gwen on their side, he had full confidence in a clean sweep through the complex that would leave no stone unturned.

"Well?" Tica butted in, breaking Inti's spell to critique Fudan's indecision. "Are all foreigners so lacking in trust?"

Tei looked to his vice-captain.

Gwen struck out a hand.

The two captains and vice-captains exchanged handshakes. The commotion was such that both scattered teams gravitated toward their leaders.

"ALRIGHT!" Gwen quickly freed her fingers from Inti's hands when Tica's lips twitched. "Let's celebrate!"

Inti motioned for more wine.

"No, no." Gwen materialised a white-jade bottle of half-century-old Maotai. From the other, she placed a dozen shot-glasses on a side table. "THIS is the Chicha of the orient, made from the finest scarlet sorghum. To celebrate our cooperation, why not have a friendly competition?"

"Ha!" Tica confronted her opponent, though her face only reached Gwen's chin. "I shall take you up on that offer!"

"Miss Tica, in the interest of our burgeoning friendship, I must inform you that Gwen has Russian blood," Petra forewarned their host. "When drinking, we have no equal."

"Oh, yes, the 'Russian' blood," Gwen smirked like a fox in a hen house.

Without adieu, she poured.

To the chagrin of his handlers, Inti drank without so much as a nod from the poison-taster.

"Somaq Mihuna!" the prince exhaled fragrantly, demonstrating his trust. "Wonderful!"

Tica followed suit, then flushed scarlet.

Petra passed a cup to Tei before happily supping her own.

Gwen slammed her thimble without blinking, then topped up the cups once more.

"Kawsaypac!"
"Gānbēi!"
"Cheers!"

They drank their drinks.
They filled the cups.

"Kawsaypac!"
"Gānbēi!"
"Cheers!"

Rinse. Repeat.

"Good man!" Gwen gave Inti a thumbs up. "To friendship!"

Tei despaired.
Three shots down and his vice-captain's bottle-hand remained steadier than an Earth Elemental.
Russian blood? More like draconic-constitution!
What happened to honour?
What happened to honesty?
Was Fudan going back on their word so soon?

At night, Fudan's cabal of Mages gathered in Gwen's portable habitat.

"Are you satisfied?" Walken admonished his students.

"I was testing his abilities." Gwen grinned.

The rest of the team snorted.

"Did you forget I was there?" their advisor grunted. "Inti had to be carried out! Amaru's niece was one shawl away from wearing nothing but a tunic!"

"So close!" Jiro sighed before being glared into submission.

"A full-body tunic," Gwen protested. "They're the ones who wanted to mix-alcohols! Amateurs."

"I told you to handle them with care!"

"That was me with kid-gloves." The Void Sorceress pouted. "If I used schooners, one of them might have died."

"You're an addict!"

"Killjoy!"

Walken clutched his chest with a pained expression, trying his best to keep his impulses in check.

"Alright, alright." Richard came between them. To Gwen, Eric was on her level, but to the rest of the gawking team, Walken was a renowned Magister. "Sir, your advice?"

"Hmmph!" Walken huffed. "Back to the business then: Contingency Rings. Team makeups. Amazonia. Collaboration and competition."

He tapped his data slate.

"I want to hear your proposals. Gwen, if you're so sober, let's start with you..."

A strange song lifted through the golden hall of Sacsahuamán.

_"Prince Inti_
 _Shinny is he:_
 _Inti of Coricancha—_
 _Strong as ten regular Evokers, probably!_
 _He faced the trollish galloping hordes—_
 _A hundred ogres with swords—_
 _Then threw them all in the SUN!_
 _Oh, Prince Inti—"_

The adolescent acolytes of Inti's temple grew hypnotised by the chant of a green-eyed Void Witch.

_"He's got sixty priestesses to attend to,_
 _and he's got virginal llamas galore…"_

"Gwen!" her instructor hissed at the girl's embarrassing display. What the hell was she teaching these kids?! Why were the lyrics so lewd? "Get back here!"

The girl returned.

"Inti's late…" she eyed Cuzco National's team just beside them, all present except for two central figures. Yawning, she stretched her legs. Tupaq the giant caught her eye before flushing a deep scarlet, changing the colour of his face from caramel to chocolate. As for the rest, the Incan team eyed Fudan enviously, gawking at their attire in the same way Fudan had eyeballed Seoul's thrice-enchanted uniforms.

For their international leg, Gwen and her peers wore quasi-magical combat suits sourced from the PLA. The whole ordeal had begun when Gwen convinced Guo to send a note upward that her team was fighting in rag-tag, often un-attuned clothing. To prove her point, she showed him her shredded bodysuit and cried wolf about the possibility of indecent exposure while overseas. Her grandfather had then grunted that he would look into it. A week later, there was a surprise inventory audit at the PLA Tower.

Serendipitously, ten suits of Shen-teī RECON MKII Operator's Garb soon arrived at Fudan. The design was proudly plagiarised from the lastest American variant: the plating absorbed damage, the mesh was self-healing, the interior self-cooling, and the fit was self-adjusting.

Haughtily, Gwen played with her straps, then once again polluted the sanctified air with her Gwenisms.

_"Prince Inti!_
 _Shinny is he-_
 _Inti of Coricancha…"_

0950.

_Clang!_

The double-doors opened.

"My apologies for the delay!"

Tica followed Inti demurely as the prince burst through the door with great dread. In front of her, the crowd grew instantly scandalised. They had never seen the prince so dishevelled.

Tica groaned, her memory was a mess.

When Tei Bai retired after three glasses, Cuzco National had gotten its hopes up. Then after that, Tica recollected nothing. All she possessed were vague images of Chicha, Aztech tequila, Argentinian red and Chinese Maotai; that and the wicked witch's smiling face.

Tica scanned the crowd, then sucked in a breath of cold air.
Fudan's contestants appeared as though dressed for war.
The witch waved back.

Seeing that the hussy was haler than a Frost-troll Howler, Tica's stomach cramped. Yesterday, she and Inti had spent an hour hugging the golden throne, despairing when not even a Restoration could clear the effects of scarlet sorghum. Unlike Chicha, Maotai was an elixir-like suffusion.

Amaru approached.
Tica felt her back covered in cold sweat. When provoked, her master could be madder than a plucked condor.

Thankfully, the chief proctor proceded her uncle. After welcoming the students, he asked them to register their inventory, declare all goods, then thumb the disclaimer for the Eye of Providence.

At the end of the hour-long inspection, Magister Amaru Paullu-Yupanqui presented the students with their Contingency Rings.

When her uncle placed the ring in Tica's hands, he gave her fingers a subtle squeeze, easing her anxiety. The jungle was a dangerous place, and Tica suspected the key rationale her master had the rings crafted was for her and Inti's safety.

"Students! These are the rings tied to the mother-lode inside Cuzco Tower," the kindly Tower Master explained with great patience. "As they use the same Enchantment as your Contingency Rings, both items cannot be concurrently equipped. As such, you have the option of using the given device or your own. Should you do so, Cuzco is not liable for your safety."

Tica watched as a few of Fudan's students incanted their secret commands, then removed their rings. Conversely, Cuzco's team had scant members wealthy enough to own Contingency devices. The palpable difference was enough to engender a feeling of inferiority.

If Shanghai was wealthy enough to equip their team with military Magi-tech and devices worth hundreds of thousands of HDMs, what would a top twenty team from London or Berlin or Los Angeles possess? With Cuzco's limited trade with the nations up north, how could they compete against that?

Her uncle Amaru had likewise said that the Inca needed desperately to catch up with the rest of the world. Now, seeing Fudan in their colour-coordinated skin-suits, she couldn't help but acknowledge that the Empire had a ways to go.

"... I shall await your arrival at our basecamp in Marcapata." Auberon had reached the end of his speech. "Let me remind you that beyond the Gate of the Condor, there is nought but Amazonia until you hit the South Atlantic. Try not to miss it..."

The teams moved out.
Once outside, a group of nobles, including the Sapa Inca, met the students for final well-wishes.

"May your noon be bright and fair." The Sapa kissed his son on the forehead, touching his three condor feathers to Inti's two. He then drew Tica close and kissed her forehead as well. "Be safe, daughter."

Tica blushed.

Her father was there as well, and he likewise kissed his daughter.

"Tica, take care of Inti."

"You know I will." Tica pulled herself away. "Solpayki, Father."

"Tupananchikkama."

In the Quechua tongue, the term favourably meant "until we meet again."

As for Fudan, they had only their advisor to see them off, a sad contrast that improved Tica's mood.

"Students!" her uncle, the Tower Master of Cuzco, ordered the contestants forward. "May the blessing of Inti fall upon you even in the darkness of Amazonia!"


To the sound of musical fanfare, cheering crowds, and the ear-piercing screeches of Inti's fans, the student Mages took to the air.

From above, the terracotta vista of Cuzco revealed itself as an earthen puma, resembling a filled-in Nazca figure.

"Alright, partner," Gwen affected a northern accent. "Where to?"

"To the east!" Inti spoke for his team. "Condor's Rise isn't far. A few hours at most."

"Lead the way, brother."

Cuzco's young prince rose above his peers. As they passed Cuzco's gates, curious farmers gazed from their fields of mountain maize, marvelling at the twin formations moving in tandem.

Three hours later, the assembly of students arrived.

Marcapata was a sentry town with a small population of enterprising locals living in a dozen modest mud-brick homes. It housed a hundred Incan warriors and a contingent of Mages overseeing the Teleportation Circle.

As a fortification, the township was constructed cliff-side so that the west-facing portion of the village rested on a green plateau of short shrubs and gentle cornfields. The eastern reach was a sheer drop of over a kilometre, with its jagged cliff faces halting the emerald sea.

When the two teams landed in the courtyard, their chief proctor narrowed his eyes, then walked a perimeter around the students.

"You flew here from Cuzco?"

"Yessir." Inti bowed, joined by his counterparts.

"Without drama?"

"None, sir." Tei saluted. "We're ready to proceed."

Auberon appeared at a loss for words. He spotted the Void Sorceress behind the others, chit-chattering with Cuzco's vice-captain.

"Right." The proctor scratched his chin. "Well then, let's get on with it. Split into your nominated teams; then I'll arrange your accommodations. You want to do this publically or in private?"

"Tei? Gwen?"

"Here's fine."

The teams parted.

Auberon Lucas wondered if he had underrated the sincerity of the llama luncheon.

In front of him, hiding nothing, the teams made their strategies self-evident.

Unsurprisingly, Cuzco's Explorers consisted of Tica as their squad leader. The Plant Mage was all kinds of unwilling to part from her beau, but the circumstances of the quest compelled them to take on their most suitable roles. On paper and in life, a Plant Mage with a Rainforest Sprite was a superior choice for the Explorer team, one that was wasted in the stony depth of the temple complex.

Cuzco National's next member was a scout by the name of Urqu, a Transmuter dabbling in Divination. From Urqu's feather-strewn cowl, Auberon suspected there was more to the young man than his unassuming biometrics.

Following the two core Explorers were three others. Uturunku was the Earthen Abjurer, Sumatika a Water Transmuter-Evoker, and finally, Qari was a Fire Evoker-Conjurer with an unusual Spirit.

Across the divide, Fudan's Explorers consisted of Richard as their leader, Anita on mobile defence, Jiro on offence, Eunae on utility, and Mayuree as Diviner. From the looks of the line-up, Fudan likely suspected that the lion's share of troubles would occur in the temple ruin. As such, members incapable of superior defence or instant-mobility such as Eunae and Mayuree would likely serve as hindrances. Conveniently, having a full-time Diviner and a Cleric supplementing Cuzco's Explorers was a palpable olive branch.

A few hugs later, the line-up was completed.

Inti's team consisted of the prince, the gentle giant Tupaq, the two sisters Misi and Kusi, and Mallqu, a quiet girl playing the utilitarian role.

Fudan's Dungeoneers, meanwhile, consisted of their captain, Tei Bai, Gwen Song, the Mineral Mage Petra, Rene the Magma Mage, and Lulan Li.

"Very good," Auberon Lucas ordered a proctor to take down their names. The Magister then materialised two data slates.

Richard and Tica stepped up to receive their teams' respective cartographic devices.

"The general location of the ruins has been pre-marked. Likewise, the map will record your progress," Auberon advised both Explorer teams. "If in one week you cannot find the ruins, your mission has failed, and you may use the map to trek back to Marcapata. Should you succeed in finding the ruins, mark it on your map, and we will deliver a duplicate copy to your Dungeoneering team. Once your mission is complete, return immediately to basecamp. As with your regional competitions, you are solely responsible for your safety. Any questions?"

The teams remained mum. There was no doubt that the road ahead was full of danger, but who would want to hear it from the horse's mouth?

"Well?" Auberon studied the teams, hoping for some friction.

"Sir." Inti bowed. "Please excuse us. We're going to have a meeting."

The chief proctor twisted his lips.
Was this the IIUC, or a sanctioned Field Trip?

Once the two teams made a huddle, Inti informed them that humans travelling through Amazonia had to choose a stratum between the sky and the forest floor.

Confused by Inti's words, Gwen asked for elucidation.

"I'll explain," Tica was the one who interjected. "Inti's not from this area, so he hasn't seen the true extent of what we're about to face. Coca!"

A jade-green seed pod struck the ground, materialised from Tica's pocket dimension. It dug into the hard stone, then sprouted into a little terrarium-like display.

"Is that your Spirit?" Gwen inspected the near-instant miniature rainforest.

"Not exactly." Tica smirked.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

The two girls exchanged cordial grins.

"Ariel!"

"Coca!"

"EEEE!" Ariel struck a pose the moment it materialised, flashing its new horns and brilliant mane. "EE! EE!"

"..."

An alien plant silently stood beside the contestants.

Each to each, the members of both teams surrounded their vice-captain's Familiars. Ariel swished its tail, blew out its mane, then stalked in a circle as though best-in-show at Crufts.

"May I touch it?" Even Inti appeared impressed. "Is it a dragon? No, it resembles a hound, not a puma, and it has no wings. A chimaera? A deer-weasel-fish?!"

"Ariel is a Kirin." Gwen returned politely, wondering what kind of a dragon was an oversized cat with wings.

"Ee!" Ariel huffed. It was most certainly not a weasel!

Fudan's attention turned to Tica's Coca.

"..."

The plant quivered with embarrassment. It was the strangest, most alien thing Gwen had ever seen. The questions hammering at Fudan's collective lips was "Wocao! What is that?" and "Seriously?" but they were too polite to say so.

"It's... a Sundew?" Richard suddenly spoke up. "It's an actual plant? You have an actual nature Sprite? That's amazing!"

Unsure of what to make of Tica's beast, Gwen feigned delight. The "plant" possessed hundreds of tentacles that formed a bloom some half-a-meter across. The centre had a strange pink hole, while on all the stalks a drop of sticky liquid engendered like honey. It was quite beautiful, but hardly the sort of thing a girl could hug, kiss or take to bed to cuddle.

"It's a plant!" Richard appeared genuinely impressed. "Gwen, recall that magical-plants don't usually have cores. This has to be a rare hybrid, or a unique Alraune or a Spriggan! How precious!"

Gwen clapped. She didn't even know what a Sundew was.

Tica, meanwhile, was all sorts of pleased by Richard's recognition of her Familiar's greatness, finding an unexpected ally against the absurdly dashing Ariel. When she turned to Inti to see if her beau was jealous that someone else was praising her; Tica found Inti neck-deep in the Kirin's fur, groaning softly.

"..." Tica despaired.
"..." Coca wept bitter, sticky secretions.

Sighing, Tica explained the journey ahead, using her terrarium as a diagram.

Firstly, Amazonia was enormous.
The region's outer rim was an Orange Zone, extending for about a hundred kilometres inward. The trees in this region were usually mundane, ranging from ten to a hundred meters, growing on the volcanic slopes of the Andes.

The inner segment of Amazonia, beginning where the foliage grew too dense for the sunlight to penetrate, was the domain of magical flora and fauna. From trees to fungi to predatory beasts to demi-humans like trolls, it made human exploration a farcical dream.

"Then there's the heart of the Amazonia," Tica explained. "The Quipu scripts tell us that the Apu live there and that there is a great tree larger than any other in the forest's midst. BUT, no one has seen it, and no Mage has ever penetrated that far."

For the students' current objective, the 'lost temple' was two hundred kilometres as the harpy flew from Condor's Rise. It wasn't so deep as to put them into troll territory, but neither was it close enough to be in the Orange Zone.

"Amazonia's Zone Rating changes depending on the layers..." Tica continued to instruct their Fudan allies with her superior knowledge.

In total, she explained, there were four layers.

The emergent layer of Amazonia was home to the largest collective of demi-birds in the Americas. Among the treetops of kilometre-tall mahogany and zumaumeira with the girth of skyscrapers, creatures ranging from the diminutive Yellow-breasted Thunderhawk to the man-eating Eagle-clawed Harpy ruled.

Conversely, in the "Canopy" lurked hordes of Fang-tooth Macaques and Star-tailed Gibbons. Should the contestants be especially unlucky, there was also the world-famous Displacer Jaguar, the highest tier of Displacer Beasts.

The "Understory" of the sea of trees, therefore, marked the safest path for human travel, as the lightless region grew into a wondrous world of luminous fungi, quasi-magical insects, reptiles and mammals. What marked this layer as different to the rest was the denseness of the foliage, making the region ill-suited for apex-fauna.

Finally, as for the forest floor, an infinite variety of spiders, slugs, and parasites occupied the sodden darkness. In the rich loam, underground aberrations grew to enormous sizes. Here and there, thickets of decaying foliage swallowed animals wholesale. And that was discounting the trolls.

Aghast at Tica's info-graphic, the teams agreed on a mutual route.

They would fly within thirty-kilometres of their target, then enter the understory to search for the three rivers that converged on the temple's ruins.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Good luck!" Gwen kissed each of her Explorers on the cheeks when all was said and done. She gave Richard her Portable Habitat, instructing him to share it with Tica's team.

"Inti's blessing." Cuzco's captain placed a golden symbol around his fiancèe's neck.

"Take care." Tica kissed Inti's lips in full view of Gwen and the others, leaving the prince flushing a sunset scarlet. "Stay safe."

"I shall."

"I'll protect him with my life," Tupaq promised. "Inti's blessing."

After more hugs and kisses, the Mages set off from the cliff, leaping from the edge like lemmings. For the first half-day, both teams would fly safely above the canopy, sparing the need to battle whatever creatures that took offence to their presence. Closer to their objective, they would then dip into the ocean of trees to dive for treasure.

"Eee! Eee!" Ariel sniffed Inti's tunic, swishing its tail.

"I hope they can work together without trouble," Gwen said. "I guess we'll find out in a week."

"Tica's a better leader than I." Inti instinctively offered an HDM to Ariel. "What are your plans for the interim?"

"Me?" Gwen grinned as she glanced at the rainforest below. "I am going to stock up, care to watch?"

Auberon and his team of proctors lounged in their make-shift pavilion, watching the crystal screens display the progress of the Explorers. So far, everything was proceeding smoothly.

"How long until they hit the emergent layer?" he requested of his assistant, Lucy.

"Six hours at their current trajectory."

"A lull then." Auberon yawned. He turned to the other half-dozen proctors currently on duty. "Anything of interest?"

"No, sir."
"All's quiet here."
"They're just flying for now."

His assistant switched through the Scrys.

"Master Lucas," one of the Senior Mages raised the alarm. "Gwen Song and Tei Bai just left Condor's Rise."

"It looks like Inti and Tupaq are joining them," another proctor called out from across the room.

"Are we recording the Dungeoneers?"

"Not until there's magical activity."

"Do it."

"Yessir. I am switching to Engine Two."

"Where are they going?" Auberon asked the general air. "Get me a direct Scry."

The Divination-Engines thrummed as the Magi-tech device began to stream the activities of Fudan's captain, first showing their location, which was the forest below the Marcapata plateau, then the contestants themselves.

The proctors followed the students until they landed on the jutting stones. Once alighted, the students engaged in a brief show and tell, with Inti demonstrating the Evocation Radiant Mages were known for, and Tupaq proving his Abjuration skills by blocking Gwen's Lightning.

Then, the Void Sorceress tossed a few Chakrams while Tei took a dozen punishing bolts from Inti.

All was well until Gwen summoned her Void snake. As anticipated, a great commotion broke out when Tupaq moved to protect Inti. With a great howl, the Tupaq Polymorphed into a puma-like beast, eliciting yelps of admiration from Gwen.

The proctors found great mirth in the reaction, for they had all seen the vid-cast from Burma. When Inti almost seared Caliban on reflex, the room burst into laughter.

"Caliban needs to consume things to use its skills," the sorceress informed the prince somewhat deceptively, apparently keeping her cards close to her chest. "Please stand well out of range while I activate the feeding magic."

Two men and one half-man-half-puma retreated a ways up the cliff.

Gwen Song then walked into the jungle.

"Good Lord!" a proctor spat.

The Void Sorceress soon stood amidst a dark pool, conjuring forth a viscous liquid that writhed and churned.

"Ah." Auberon whistled. "Nice."

The perspective changed. Now the scene was one in which the Eye of Providence hovered directly over the girl.

"Sir." Auberon's assistant, a minor noble by the name of Lucy Pritchard, opened her eyes wide with alarm. "How can she activate high-consumption Void magic without Clerical support?"

"How indeed." The chief proctor measured the girl on the screen with his eyes. "Get us closer. Run diagnostics. Get me vital readings."

The scene zoomed in. The sorceress seemed to catch something in the air. She turned to face the screen, then flashed a winning grin.

"I almost forgot she's a Diviner as well." Auberon smiled back.

On their vid-casts, the Void Swarm erupted.

A few of the proctors let loose audible gasps as waves after wave of swarming lamprey-things sallied forth into the jungle. When one of the proctors zoomed out to the furthest limit the Eye allowed; what they saw chilled their bones.

"The rainforest!" Lucy shivered. "It's dying!"

Auberon's mind took a second to catch up. Where there had been a verdant undergrowth of trees licking at the dark granite base of Condor's Rise, now a clearing began to rapidly develop. It was as though the forest had suddenly wilted, receding into the viridian surf like the waning tide.

"Sir, a megafauna is incoming," a proctor directed their attention to the edge, where an enormous constrictor covered in scabby skin emerged into the new clearing. With a mighty sweep of its tail, it crushed two-dozen lampreys. Its beady eyes then locked in on the fair-skinned sorceress, tasting her vitality through the polluted air.

"How convenient, a tier 6 titan boa." Auberon made sure the group was recording. "Let see how-"

"Shaaa! Shaa! SCREEEE!"

A creature charged toward the titan.

Where it had burst through the trees confident as anything, instinct now bade the boa to flee.

The Void Familiar, however, closed the distance in an instant, transforming into a spindly, ten-limbed spider, landing on the gigantic predator with both fore-limbs fully extended.

"SHAA!" A scorpion's tail stabbed into the boa's forehead.

"... never mind." Auberon's query ended when the Void swarm smothered the trapped snake within a minute.

The girl hugged herself, shivering in delight, her cheeks a rosy-pink.

Not far, Inti and his guardian-shaman watched with complex, unreadable expressions.

"Eric Walken, you devious prick…" Auberon mouthed under his breath. When his alumni had informed him that Fudan would be working with Cuzco, Auberon had scoffed. Now, Auberon's eyes had been opened. This display had shown him what a Void Mage was capable of in a place which was choked with biomass.

"Sir?" Lucy, his assistant, was pale as a sheet.

"It's fine, Lucy. All within expectations." Auberon dismissed his assistant's unease. "Although, I dare say those codgers at Oxbridge are going to have to review their papers..."

Five hours in, Richard's Explorers came upon their first test of faith.

"Do we help?" Anita questioned their squad-leader.

Below Fudan, combat had been joined between Cuzco and a group of half-bird, half-humanoid creatures Tica had named Copper-claw Harpies. Currently, a dozen of the winged beasts were testing Cuzco's patience, flying in and out of range, swooping back and forth to harass their shields.

Cuzco's Abjurer was proving his proficiency, throwing up yellow-tinged barriers to deflect their screeching assailants.

"Don't attack!" Tica's voice came through Mayuree's Message relay. "If they mark us, the whole flock will emerge. Remember, this is their home. They'll defend it to the death."

"Hold your positions." Richard coolly observed the action below. "Jiro, put your Firebird back in its house."

"We're not attacking?" Jiro furrowed his brows. "I reckon we can do it."

Richard mentally scanned through the entries from Gwen's bestiary. These particular creatures were unknown, but there was a general entry for Harpies of the Amazon. One annotation affirmed Tica's statement that the death of one or more harpies was sure to bring more.

If he were here with Gwen, Richard would not have hesitated to begin a wide-area bombardment, but alas.

"If we attack, the whole flock will likely emerge from those trees," Richard pointed to what he suspected to be a nest. "Mia?"

"There's a lot," Mayuree interjected before Jiro could answer. "I am sensing a super-dense clump of magical mana. Potentially, there could be thousands."

"All the same to me." Jiro was eager to finally show off. "My fire can't be doused."

"They may have shamans as well," Mayuree warned. She had likewise read the bestiary. "The more intelligent harpies are worse than trolls."

"Mia, any orders from our friends?"

"Nothing," Mayuree reported.

"I think they're testing us," Richard scoffed. "Untrusting buggers."

"What should we do?"

"Play along." Their squad leader licked his lip. Silently, he summoned his Familiar. "Lea, if they turn on us, I want a water prison on all of them. Jiro, you see the girl with the blue shawl? That's their Water Mage. If Lea imprisons them, I want her disabled. I'll take care of the rest."

"Got it. Let's buff up!"

"Crystalline Armour!" Anita encased her team's combat suits with semi-opaque plates. She then touched each of her team members with a lower-tier protection buff against unforeseen status effects. "Resistance!"

"Bless!" Eunae bolstered the team's physical and mental conditions before turning to Mayuree and herself. "Sanctuary!"

A faint glyph appeared and disappeared, making the two supporting mages less conspicuous.

"Tica, its Richard." Fudan's squad leader fired off a Message. "Six-o-clock's the nest, where the two trees arch. We'll follow your lead. I am coming in with a slowing AoE to discourage the birds. Get Sumatika to mist the area. I'll need as much water as possible."

"Got it," Tica's voice came through. "Suma?"

"Yes, Aclla Cuna." The Water Mage obeyed.

Besides Richard, Lea's long blue lashes battered as she transformed into a fine mist before coiling about his body.

Richard took a deep breath. "Fudan! Follow my lead!"

"Screeee!" Came the cry from a harpy-beast, extending both talons to rake the flesh from Richard's back. As the half-woman, half-condor approached, however, its wings grew suddenly sodden, so much that its feathers began to bead.

The bird fell.

"EEK!"

Where it had fallen, there was a blur.

"CAW—"

Two simian-shaped beasts snagged the harpy before it could again take flight, dragging it into the canopy. Where they had disappeared, a great hoot of blood-curdling howls indicated an impromptu feast was taking place.

"Mia!" Richard sent another bird to its certain doom. "What can you see?"

"There's too many of everything!" Mayuree was controlling her Arcane Eye, trying to find a path down into the understory. "We'll have to push through!"

"Urqu!" Tica commanded their team's scout, a local of the Antis region and a hunter who had trained in the forest since his Awakening. "Can you lead us down?"

Even as she spoke, Tica kept the birds at bay. As soon as she had seen Richard's tactic, she adjusted her own. Where she had harried the harpies with long, whip-like vines reminiscent of Gwen's Dark Tentacles, she now disabled the fliers with globs of sticky residue that sent them reeling below into the awaiting simians.

Besides her, Urqu wrapped his feathered shawl around his shoulders, transforming into the likeness of a sparrowhawk, activating a spell with an aura alien to Fudan's Spellcraft knowledge.

"I can," Urqu Messaged mid-descent. "It won't be easy though; if we lose someone..."

"Anita!" Richard gave the command.

"Warding Bond!" Anita activated a rare, party-wide Abjuration she had learned after Burma. At her tier and Affinity, she could daisy-chain five friendlies aside from herself, displacing the damage received among her allies.

"Faithful Guardian!" Eunae gestured quickly, equipping the agile flier with a reactive insurance barrier.

"Any last words?" Richard joked at Cuzco's expense.

Ignoring his ill-humour, Tica held out an inscribed sun-burst figurine. It was Inti's necklace.

"No one will die this day. Inti's relic will keep us safe." Her face glowed with confidence. "The Sun's blessing be upon us."

Richard blinked.
He had initially dismissed the token as a one given out of love.
Now she's telling him it's a relic?!
The bloody Cult of Inti could produce relics?

In his short stint as the Pretorian of Prince's, he had seen relics in the chapels of the Four Houses and the Priests who put them to good use. The divine items weren't rare, but they were exclusive in the extreme, possessed only by trusted members of an organisation's leadership. Based on his limited contact with scriptural magic, producing a relic was complicated in the extreme. First, a unique Creature Core was required as the housing material. Then, a high-tier enchanter inscribed upon the Core consecrated runes. Finally, the sanctified items were kept in a place of worship to collect the ambient mana of the faithful. Then, and only then, servants of the faith could call forth phenomenon divorced from the Imperial System of Magic.

Richard's mind was quick to accept the new reality.

Indeed, Inti WAS an object of worship. Likewise, Tica without a doubt, a priestess. It was fruitless to fuss over why a Chaplin could deliver a miracle in the heat of a despairing battle.

"When we're in the thicket," the priestess intoned haughtily. "I shall invoke the protection of Inti."

"Long live Inti, eh?"

The two leaders measured one another's response; Tica questioned Richard's sincerity, while Richard's eyes were as placid as a mirrored lake.

"I'll tether us." Tica waved her free hand. "Coca!"

Nine tendrils whipped out and touched each of the contestants with supremely sticky tips.

Richard fought down an impulse to Grease himself right there and then, allowing the vine to grasp his wast. Drawn by the sudden flurry of magic, all around them were now harpies that had taken offence to their entry.

"Ladies first," Richard silently ordered Lea to shadow Tica. In the worst-case scenario, the relic had to go.

"Follow me!" Urqu appeared to transform his arms into wings, then dived downwards in the likeness of a great condor.

Parting the feathery sea, the two groups began their downward descent, with Richard slowing the flocking harpies and Tica glueing their opponents to trees. The others managed with shields and barriers, leaving the butchery to the monkeys.

From the emergent layer, they entered Amazonia.

"SQAWWWWWRK!"

The sudden trill was enough to shatter their eardrums and terminate all thought.

In Australia, summer galahs made enough noise to drive green-keepers mad. Compared to that, the cacophony that now arose from atop the canopy was set to a hundred-times the decibel.

"Mass Healing Word!" Eunae flooded the party with a feeling of warmth, dulling the pain from their bleeding ears, then furthermore invoked a heal-over-time. "Mass Rejuvenate!"

Hundreds, perhaps thousands of birds entered the fray, crashing into the party with great bell-beats of metallic wings clanging against crackling mana barriers. The commotion was enough to send an avalanche of leaves and branches crashing below, eliciting howls of fury from the lower denizens.

"CLOSE UP!" Mayuree channelled Richard's command. "Lea! Water SHIELD!"

A semi-dome of crashing water fed by Lea, Richard and Sumatika opened the path forward.

"Lea, Jet Blast!!" Richard commanded his Familiar, releasing a great geyser of blue-green liquid to disperse the harpies, pushing away the frenzied flock.

"We're almost to the canopy!" Mayuree guided them with Arcane Eye while Urqu threaded the party through the crisscross of branches with his supernatural senses. "Forty meters!"

In the open air, a Mage could cover forty meters in a matter of seconds. Now, it felt as though they were pushing through a wall of mud, only the murk was composed of beak and claw.

"Gust!" Urqu freely poured his mana forth, aiding Richard's efforts. "Aerial Ram!"

Thanks to his liberal use of Jet Blast, Richard's mana dropped to half. He summoned an injector in one hand and waited for the divine intervention from their competitor.

"We're through!" Mayuree warned them. "Watch out for the monkeys!"

There was a violent tug on their waists from Tica's vines, then both teams burst through the flock into the canopy.

"HOLY SHIT!" Richard swore the moment his eyes adjusted.

What awaited them was a sea of simians big and small, hooting and hollering at the top of their lungs. Where the birds had made their ears bleed, now the noise was enough to burst their hearts.

"The Sun shines eternal!" Tica raised the symbol high with one hand. "INTI PROTECTS!"

A brilliant light erupted above the team, bathing the dappled canopy with blinding radiance, drowning out even the hoots from the howling simians.

"HOW FAR?" Richard shouted despite himself. The silence was deafening.

"Another hundred meters!" Mayuree's voice echoed in their heads. "Hold on, I am guiding Urqu through the lower levels!"

The radiance continued to burn behind the contestants even as they travelled away from the portable plasma orb.

When finally the air around the contestants grew soggy with the scent of fecundity and the sweet odour of decay, they knew that they had arrived at the understory. If Gwen had been present, she would have gone giddy with joy at the sight of the quasi-magical microcosm, a world within a world.

Amazonia, alas, was no earthly rainforest. Here was a realm inhabited by mystical flora and magical fauna, where perennials ranged from hundreds to thousands of meters from root to treetop, so dense with mana that the regions between them grew distorted, dilating space and time, becoming Dungeons in themselves.


"Dowsing!"

Both parties waited while Mayuree triangulated their path through the understory. By now, the contestants were traversing through a network of intertwining branches, vines, and fungal growth so prolific as to form a subterranean likeness. Occasionally, every hundred or so meters, a clearing would appear, exacerbating an explosive growth of new life reaching for the canopy.

"Weal is that way." Mayuree consulted a form of orienteering that required no light, no maps, and no knowledge of geography. It was one of the reasons why Gwen had lent the Diviner to Richard's party.

"I think she's right." Urqu consulted their data slate.

Tica kept her doubts private since she possessed no alternative solutions. The understory wasn't a place anyone could enter, and as such, getting lost was expected.

"Mia is a bloodline Diviner," Richard explained patiently. "She can Scry through the threads of fate to see what will grow: or in this case, where we'll need to go."

"We too have sacred women like Miss Mayuree," Urqu, who was an amateur Diviner, concurred. "I did not expect the Chinese to have seers."

"I am Burmese." Mia collected her dragon bones. "Fudan has many students from the South Sea."

"I am Korean." Eunae raised her hand.

"I am Australian," Richard obliged as well.

"I am half-Japanese." Jiro pointed at himself.

"I am a red-blooded Chinese," Anita declared patriotically.

"You all look the same," Qari, the Fire Mage, spoke up. "Maybe you were all a single Empire, once? Like ours?"

Richard snorted. The rest of the Fudan foursome stiffened.

"Qari, less talk, more action." Tica glared her teammate into submission. "Bring out Peanut."

Sensing that he may be in trouble, the Fire Mage made the gesture for Conjuring Familiars, materialising a bulbous scarab the size of a dog.

"Kekekeeek!"

Peanut possessed six black-marble eyes and a face only a brood mother could love. Its mandible clicked as it warmed up to its summoner, its dull dung beetle body wiggling back and forth.

"Ew." Lea appeared behind Richard, her exquisite face bespotted by a frown of disapproval. "Yuk!"

Jiro stifled a smile, stroking his flame-plumed bird.

Qari's face flushed, feeling the weight of their reproof. Where Fudan's Fire Mage possessed a beautiful sapient fire-condor, he had a bug. Where Richard's Undine was so titillating as to make even Tica blush, his was a beetle.

"Peanut, scout ahead of us," Tica directly commanded Qari's Familiar.

"Keekeke!" A pair of translucent wings extended from the beetle's shell, then without a word from Qari, it flew into the distance.

"I can use Arcane Eye." Mayuree raised her hand again.

"Not against the flora here, you can't." Tica waved her away. "Watch."

The team followed the hapless Peanut.

For the section ahead, the party had been tracing a kilometre-long path formed from the collapse of a great kapok tree. As the trunk was rotten, the party hovered just above the ankle-deep fungi, proceeding in a T-formation. Uturunku and Richard lead on either side, flanking Tica, followed by Mayuree dousing with her dragon bones, Eunae floated the middle, with Jiro, Qari, Urqu, and finally Sumatika and Anita bringing up the rear.

Peanut fearlessly buzzed forward until—

_BUNG!_

Without warning, when it crossed path with a glowing bed of fungi, the cluster exploded. The resultant blast flung Peanut sideways. On its shell, the spores rapidly began to erode its chitin, transforming the insect into a ball of furry, tiny mushrooms.

"Immolate!" Qari shot his Familiar a jolt of fiery mana.

_BANG!_

Peanut exploded, showering the sodden earth with a splatter of liquid fire.

"Wocao!" Jiro swore.

"Peanut!" In the next moment, Qari conjured another.

"Kekkekkee?" Peanut flourished its mandibles. It appeared to be the same beetle as before.

Tica grinned.

"Most of the dangers here are hidden," she explained. "We can use our Familiars to set off the predatory flora, but only Qari has one that can be instantly re-summoned."

At the girl's boast, Jiro packed away his feelings of superiority and regarded the fire beetle with respect. He possessed a Firebird, not a Phoenix. If he lost Tanyu, it would be half a day before he could bring it out again. It was true what Instructor Chen had said. Even a cockroach had its uses.

"Oh, is that all?" Richard folded his arms, unconvinced by the exploding bug. "Lea? Help me out?"

Lea hugged her handsome Conjurer from behind, her blue-green pupils mysterious and mischievous.

Richard took a deep breath, then began an all too common invocation, one his Undine would make uncommon.

"Conjure Elemental!"

Two-dozen water Sprites emerged from the soggy atmosphere, pale blue in their nimbus, comprised of delicate faces attached to elongated necks, with fins for arms and a fishtail for lower extremities. Where usually a Mage exhausted their mana at a dozen, Lea continued to call up her brethren with impunity. Soon, a hundred Sprites filled the vacant path of the understory, saturating the air to such an extent that the contestants began to wonder if they were underwater.

"Qari mate, appreciate the effort," Richard dismissed the Fire Mage with a friendly grin. "But look, we're in a hurry, so we'll have to borrow your powers elsewhere. I'll let you know when I am running low."

"Oh, my, they're so cute!" Eunae touched the little fan-tailed fish Sprites as they gathered around her and began to play with her hair. Sumatika, the other Water Mage, became instantly surrounded.

"Ooo…" Jiro tried to grab one, but the Water Elementals avoided him like the plague. The Fire Mage sighed, wondering when Tanyu could become a tiny hottie.

"ATTENTION!" Richard barked.

The dainty elementals lined up into pretty rows.

"Move out!"

Like a brigade of English red-coats, the Sprites drifted through the air.

_PUUF!_

In the distance, a Spotted Panther Cap exploded, filling the passage with infectious spores.

"Eaaarrrgh!" Two Sprites died a dog's death, their vacant spaces immediately filled in by two more.

"How's that?" Richard turned to their Cuzco companions while Lea conjured replacements.

"Is that all?" Tica scoffed. "I was giving Qari a chance to be useful. If that's how you want to compete for CCs, I'll oblige. Conjure Elemental!"

The ground glowed green.

Rows upon rows of broccoli emerged from the fungi. Tica plucked one from the ground and whispered instructions to its buttoned head.

"Amazing!" Eunae brought forth Luyi. "SO ADORABLE!"

"Eee!" Luyi cooed happily. It licked its chops, then bit into one of Tica's broccoli.

"Luyi! No!"

_Pssht!_

The walking vegetable blew a load of pollen on Luyi's face, forcing it to drop the wood-elemental with a yelp.

The party burst into laughter.

"Alright, I'll cover the air, you cover the ground." Richard opened both hands. "Happy?"

"Humph!" Tica brushed a fallen leaf from her priestess' shawl, taking on the bearing of a queen. "Let's move!"

Behind the main party, Qari picked up Peanut from the floor and hugged his beetle close to his chest.

Ahead of them, a cute deer, a cool hawk, a hundred water Sprites and fifty button-broccoli marched on into the jungle's depth, leaping, drifting and flying from mossy branch to fallen log.

"Kekeke?" The beetle scratched at Qari's face in a friendly manner. Qari was glad that Peanut was not yet sapient. Sometimes, not knowing was best.

"It's fine." Qari patted the poor beast, fighting the inferiority gnawing at his chest. "I am fine."

Thankfully, as a Fire Mage, any wayward moisture quickly evaporated.

"Earthen Shell!"

"JIRO! Alpha-strike! 7 O'clock, tree cove! Take care of the Shaman!"

"Phoenix Pinions!"

Just before the contestants settled in for the night, they had run headfirst into their first troll patrol.

Having experienced the ease by which the sprigs and the Sprites had smoothed their passage, the contestants had loosened their guard until Mayuree cried out "CONTACT! Trolls in the TREES!"

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Their original waypoint had been a large alcove that Urqu had scouted. When he returned, the shapeshifter had reported naught but a verdant growth of exotic fungi.

Nonetheless, when the party came within spell range of the sheltered cove, what had greeted them was a volley of mustard spores, followed by an eruption of moss-green bodies.

Eunae had immediately set about detoxifying the party while Anita refreshed their armour. What remained of Richard's fish-like Sprites as well as Tica's army of broccoli then smothered the inbound demi-humans, hoping to stall their advance.

From the darkness, a troll raised a sinewed limb.

_THUNK!_

A wooden spear the thickness of Richard's arm pierced Uturunku's earthen barrier, penetrating just enough so that its envenomed tip almost kissed the Abjurer's chest.

Richard responded by commanding Lea to forgo futile barriers; instead, she was to play the disruptor, attracting toward herself physical attacks to which she was immune. Behind him, Urqu raised a powerful Gust to deflect the accuracy of incoming projectiles, while Qari sent forth his Familiar while readying counter-attacks.

"Dulrag gunvaderakun glogusakum ishie!" a cry came from behind the Mages' barriers, a foul-sounding grunt of compressed rage. "Ulepearag ushhem! Uloar!"
"Uloar!"
"Uloar!"
"Uloar!"

A troll warrior cleared the wall of earth in a single leap, wielding a man-sized block of wood and a spiked, tusked club studded with crude teeth made from harpy-talons.

For the first time, Fudan saw their text-booked enemy face-to-face.

The Amazonian Troll, affiliated to its European cousins, was a stocky, barrel-chested monstrosity of muscle and sinew, with four elongated limbs and dark, envenomed claws. Its hideous face was a mangled mess of moss and craggy crevices, made salient by two beady eyes lit with an inner light.

"Kuk...GUOOD!"

The troll's tusked lips parted to reveal soft-pink tissue within, its crimson tongue a mess of fleshy-filaments.

_BANG!_

Peanut made a bee-line right for its face. When the troll warrior battered the beetle away with its shield, Peanut exploded, covering the creature with flaming goo.

"GAAOOO!"

The troll burned.

"HA!" Richard cried out. "Nice work, Peanut!"

"ULOAR!" The troll's skin grew suddenly scarlet. The light in its eyes changed from maddened beast to pure psychosis. Its back bulged, its muscles ballooned, it raised one whip-like limb and threw its club directly at Qari.

Richard's water barrier parted without resistance. Cuzco's Earthen Mage proved a split-second too slow.

"SHIELD OF FAITH!" Eunae intervened, erecting a barrier many times the sturdiness of an Abjurer's shield but costing a disproportionate volume of mana. It was a spell that marked the healer's aphorism of prevention over cure.

_CLANG!_

The barrier shattered like glass, sending both Qari and Eunae to the mossy, mushroomed floor. Qari reeled from the club's fractured fragments piercing his skin. Eunae self-medicated, fighting the feedback from her disrupted spell.

"SHAMAN!" Tica cried out. "Near the back! In the tree!"

Richard immediately ordered Jiro to take the Shaman with a wide-area AoE.

"TRUE STRIKE!" Mayuree added to Jiro's firepower without a second thought.

The Fire Mage's best spell did not disappointed.

A barrage of flaming bolts, over a hundred in number and growing fiercer with every explosion, enveloped the hollow, once an ancient acacia. The lightless space instantly filled with orange-yellow eruptions. There was an earth-shuddering sound of splitting wood; then gravity sent the building-sized log tottering into the forest floor below.

"Good work! Entangle!" Tica wrestled with two troll warriors who'd been sent into a rage by the now fallen Shaman. Her vines, which could arguably contest a titan boa and even wrangle one to death, were hardly holding the beasts. "Coca! Dissolve!"

Where a troll struggled against her paralysing vines, an enormous Sundew burst through the floor and caught the creature in its sticky embrace.

"Ashavuth gloge!!" came a terrified cry when a sticky glob of digestive juices smothered its skin, dissolved its bark-armour and began to eat into its body.

In the span of a few screaming seconds, the troll grew limp.

Tica gasped, evidently taxed by the display. Nonetheless, she held the second troll at bay. "Jiro! Qari!"

A flaming fusillade met her target head-on.

Acid and Fire, Richard pulled at his lips, a troll's only weakness. These were some unlucky indigenous folks that had happened upon them.

"ULOAR!"

By now, the first berserker had broken through the Uturunku's layered barriers. Whatever spell the Shaman had used, it wasn't just a body-buff, but transformed it into a living battering ram.

"Water Sprout!" Sumatika's spell sent the charging troll careening away from Eunae and Mayuree.

Anita stepped in front of the two support casters, offering her body as a last line of defence.

"Wait! There's more of them!" Mayuree's voice came through the crackling flames, her mana-infused orbs scanning through the chaos for the unique mana signature of the trolls. "Careful! Two above us!"

"Lea!" Richard reacted in time to form a gushing film of water above the team, misdirecting a spear so that its accuracy erred, grazing past Anita's Crystalline thigh-guard.

"Arrgh!" Urqu, who had simultaneously flown up to pry the enemy from the branches, fell to the ground, pinned by an arm-thick spear that caught his wing. Thanks to Anita's Mage Armour, his head and torso were safe, but the spell's design did not provision for shapeshifting.

"Shit!" Richard cursed his lack of hard shields. "ANITA! Keep them safe!"

"Crystal Dome!" Anita immediately formed a protective barrier; though rather than a dome, she had shaped it into a pyramidal structure to divert the troll's spears. "I got them!"

"Aid!" Eunae tossed a stabilising buff to the injured Air Mage. "Luyi!"

Her doe materialised outside the barrier as a deer. It ran forward toward the injured Air Mage, picked Urqu up by the scruff, then dragged him back toward the healer.

"Flame Wing!" Meanwhile, Jiro's hands met with a thunderclap. Tanyu launched from his sides like a meteor in reverse.

"Don't collapse the understory!" Tica warned, sending a Shape Wood through the floor to reinforce their position and check for imminent structural failure. "You'll bury us all!"

As the upper portion of the understory glowed a vivid orange, the remaining berserker recovered its footing. With a mighty swing of its shield, it battered away Sumatika's water bolts, took three of Tica's barbs in the chest, then ate a Fireball from Qari.

Then, the enraged monster smashed into Richard.

"No!" Anita cried out; her heart caught in her throat.

_Splosh!_

Richard's body exploded, dissipating into motes of water.

"Jet Blast!" A raging, hyper-pressurised torrent struck the troll, sending their red-skinned assailant flying from the understory like a cannonball.

"GARRRGH!" came twin, concurrent howls from above. Two flaming trolls fell from the branches, smashing into wayward bits of lumber before tumbling into the deep dark.

"Flame Arrows!" Qari let loose a wide-volley, peppering the hapless targets until they dropped out of range.

Their vice-captain, Tica, threw the last charred corpse overboard.

"Scrying..." Mayuree traced the whereabouts of the last troll with her fingers, finding nothing within the limits of her Detect Foe. "Okay. We're clear— for now… Are they dead?"

Tica shook her head. "A few are, hopefully. Unless burnt to cinders or dissolved in acid, they'll regenerate and return eventually, usually with more of their kind."

"Persistent bastards, eh?" Fudan's squad leader frowned unpleasantly. No wonder trolls were a menace.

"Coca, that's enough," Tica commanded her Sundew Familiar.

As if to demonstrate the extent to which trolls needed to be processed to prevent regeneration, it spat out what remained of its victim, which consisted of a skull, tusks, and bits and pieces of metal. Amid the remains, there was also a fist-sized, shattered Core.

"Cao!" Anita gagged, as did Eunae and Mayuree.

Jiro set the remains of both berserker alight, just in case.

"We should keep moving," the priestess advised before checking on Urqu's wounds.

"I am hale." Urqu had returned to his human form. "Just a bit sore from the itching."

"Nice work." Tica nodded at Eunae, who nodded back. Even in the midst of combat, Fudan's healer had removed the spear, detoxified the wound, and mended the flyer's mangled flesh. "We should make some distance. Coca can cover our tracks, but we won't be able to rest until they give up the chase. Don't expect to sleep tonight."

"That may not be true." Richard re-materialised Lea at his side. "Don't forget, we've got Gwen's Portable Habitat. We can place the entrance anywhere, even in mid-air."

"… Alright." Tica's sternness softened. She had indeed forgotten about the wondrous shelter. "For now, let's move to an intact part of the understory. It'll be much easier to hide the entrance."

As one, the party moved on. As they flew over the newly formed abyss, they had a good gander at the infamous forest floor. Where Jiro's flames had continued to burn, a colossal swarth of smouldering refuse had carved out an enormous opening, forming a passageway between the layers.

"That's going to attract attention." Jiro doused his flames.

"Yes, because fighting off a patrol of frothing berserkers isn't enough commotion," Richard joked as he scanned the darkness. Now that the fire was gone, it was impossible to tell where their fallen assailants may be lurking. "Mia?"

"I've got nothing," Mayuree apologised. "Detect Magic and Detect Foe don't work well here. I could send an Arcane Eye downward to confirm…"

"No, we have to go." Tica began to move. "Trust me; you don't want to be in Amazonia when it gets completely dark. There are far worse things than trolls here."

"Hey, that's good news." Richard rebuked her worries. "Do they eat trolls?"

After another hour of Diviner-assisted steering in the right direction, the team carefully set up their Portable Habitat some ten-meters up between the arch of two fallen logs. As additional insurance, Cuzco's vice-captain conjured a discrete layer of moss and a carpet of Sundews in all directions to serve as an early warning system and as camouflage.

"Come on in." Richard issued the entry Glyph. "Welcome to Gwen's secret abode."

When Tica and her team entered the grey-space of the pocket-realm, they marvelled at the intricacy of the habitat and its internal power supply.

"We should upscale trade with the northerners," Tica said. "A device like this will make expeditions so much easier."

"There are hot showers too." Richard smiled. "And a working kitchen."

After the tour, Richard made a sumptuous dinner of piping hot ramen rations and all-you-can-eat SPAM. Relaxing showers followed, concluding with room allocations. Anita, Eunae and Mayuree ended up taking the master bedroom, Tica and Sumatika in the guest, while the five men chose to use sleep on spare futons in the living room.

"Good thing Tupaq isn't here," Urqu, who had grown friendly with Fudan's Mages, remarked thankfully. "That guy, he snores like an Amazonian hippo!"

Their first day in the Amazon had been an eye-opener in many ways.
Unfortunately, tomorrow and tomorrow and so on, they would have deeper depths to plumb.

"You're doing this now?" Auberon Lucas stood in the slight drizzle, watching Fudan's Enchantress mark the fort's courtyard. "Really?"

"Sir." Auberon's assistant, Lucy, gently coughed. "Please refrain from granting unsolicited advice."

Inti and his crew likewise stood around the magic circle, watching the spectacle.

"Inti, I don't have a good feeling about this." Tupaq made sure to always position himself between Inti and whatever curio he investigated.

"Not to fear, it's a Planar Ally Mandala," Inti remarked. "An expensive one too."

"Why now?" Tupaq furrowed his bushy brows distrustingly.

"Why not? Better now than never!" Gwen explained. "We can't be doing this if trolls are hammering at our shields."

From the Explorer teams' departure date, two days had since passed. Every evening, their chief proctor had informed the Dungeoneers of the Explorers' progress. So far, their peers had encountered everything from trolls to sentient mushrooms to a plucky Displacer Jaguar but were otherwise safe and sound.

Then, on the morning of the third day, Auberon had received a most unusual Message, one slated for a contestant.

"Inform Gwen Song of Fudan University that the registrar now recognises the individual 'Golos'."

When the Message had been read out, the girl's answer was an ear-piercing "Hurrah!" followed by cries of jubilation and "Petra! It's happening! Get your Glyph tools!"

An hour later, half the fort had emptied out to see what the girls were doing.

Auberon and a few proctors stood to one side; Inti and his crew stood across. The resident Incan Mages, as well as the base's commander, occupied the final quadrant.

"Done!" Petra stepped back from the Mandala, having shown her cousin the process. "Gwen, assuming your pet is in Burma. You're going to need a mountain of Crystals."

"He'll be right." The haughty sorceress entered the summoning circle, then made a gesture akin to tossing a bocce ball. "He's coming through the Elemental Plane of Lightning, so it shouldn' t be too taxing."

"Okay, but I hope you provisioned enough crystals," Petra explained, producing a data slate and a pen. "Also, don't proceed too fast. I need numbers."

Auberon's brows twitched. _Are the two of you at Conjure Ally 3101 and not the IIUC?_ He wanted to ask.

In the next moment, a crate of processed HDMs bundled as a 1000 HDM unit appeared at the circle's centre, making Auberon's heart skip a beat.

_Thunk!_ Another crate.

_Thunk!_ Another.

Even Inti tightened his fists.

"Enough?" Gwen turned to Petra.

Petra shrugged.

_Thunk!_

The girls' audience stared breathlessly while four crates of HDMs thrummed with captive mana. Four thousand HDMs was no paltry sum. It was enough for a talented Magus to train for a year and a mundane Mage could retire on the same amount.

"Alright," their summoner clapped her hands, suddenly transformed into a ringmaster. "Everyone, please step behind the outer line Petra has drawn for your safety! For the duration of our Amazonian adventure, I'd like to introduce our temporary member, Golos! He's spiky, he's hotheaded, he's got a hankering for fish, and he's a big softie."

Petra almost choked at the last part. If anything, Golos was a murder machine on wings.

Gwen began her chant.

Tei, Lulan and Rene obediently stepped behind the line. Some of them had seen Golos; as for those had not, what they had heard wasn't good news.

Inti's party began to self-buff.

The circle glowed, the HDMs flared, feeding into the Mandala. The rare ingredients used to inscribe the circle burst into motes of retina-searing arcanistry, tearing apart space and time, opening a gate into the Quasi-Elemental Plane of Lightning.

"GOLOS!" Gwen's trilling voice filled the ozone-rich atmosphere as a brilliant bolt of lightning, thicker than an Acacia, struck the circle's centre. "COME FORTH! PLANAR ALLY!"


Gwen had good reasons for conjuring Golos.

Firstly, the Wyvern was no regular Planar Ally, but a true-to-life corporeal being with a Core, capable of sustaining himself indefinitely. Secondly, Golos was bound by his oath to Ruxin and just as beholden to Ayxin, so she had significant leverage over the unruly creature. Thirdly, since Fudan had chosen cooperative play, there was no reason why she shouldn't abuse every resource.

Golos, therefore, embodied great profit, moderate cost, and a median magnitude of risk.

Then there was a fourth reason.

Amazonia didn't appear, at least near its edge, to possess a dragon-host. In consulting with Inti and his peers for the last three days, she had grasped that the Incan variation of a dragon was akin to something of a chimaera, with the head of a llama, the maw of a puma, condor wings, snake's body, and a fish's tail. In a way, it was similar to a Kirin, though unlike the meddling Chinese dragons, "Amaru the Dragon" had more in common with Almudj in that it seldom if ever manifested.

According to Tica, the rainforest had a clear hierarchy with well-defined territories. Predatory birds and Harpy flocks occupied the emergent layer; simians, the canopy; fungi and lesser life forms in the dark zone of the understory; and finally, trolls and stranger megafauna occupied the forest floor. The apex predator that defied these boundaries was the Amazonian Jaguar; a creature sleek, midnight black and perpetually hungry, possessed of two or more puckering tentacles. Such a creature, Tica explained, was king whether across the arboreal realm, the forest floor, or the waters of the Amazon river.

Comparatively, Dragons, as a whole, were predators above the ecological pyramid. If so, what happens when a semi-trailer sized Thunder Wyvern was introduced? After all, in Huangshan, she had seen Magical Beasts lying down like carps on a chopping board.

The potential gains made her giddy.

"PLANAR ALLY!"

She finished her chant with a flourish, conjured a bolt from the blue, then waited for the Glyphs to cool.

The living lightning solidified.

Her audience marvelled, gasped, opened their mouths in abject awe. A smile touched Gwen's lips. She felt a surge of satisfaction, mingling with the lightning massaging her conduits.

Golos' armoured eyelids slid open, pulling back both membranes. The brute was magnificent as always, like a maned lion overlooking a herd of gazelles.

"What needs killing?" The Wyvern yawned, tired after the long transit. Its gaze swept the perimeter and spotted the Peruvians. "Those?"

"Back, foul beast!" Tupaq stood in front of his future sovereign. A split-second later, he was the size of a troll and sporting the head of a magnificent golden puma.

Golos' nostrils flared. "Eugh, musky. I prefer those females behind you."

The girls behind Inti readied their spells.

"Don't be a dick, Golos," Gwen intervened, then introduced each of their observers. "Those are our allies, that's our proctors for the IIUC, there's my team, and those are civilians. Okay? NO EATING FRIENDS!"

Golos reared its serpent's head, a few feathered plumes, inherited from his father, glistened with a rainbow hue. Without opening his mouth, the Wyvern was a majestic thing.

"Where in Huangshan am I?"

"Amazonia!" Gwen clapped both hands, snapping him to attention. "Isn't it exciting, Golos? You're in South America!"

"Are we near Shanghai?" Golos crackled with lightning. "I sense lots of life, all strange. And those people, they smell strange."

Gwen furrowed her brows.

"Golos, do you know where America is?"

Golos snorted. "It's across the ocean."

"And?"

"Near Japan." Golo rolled a reptilian eye.

"Strewth, you poor thing..."

Gwen patted the Wyvern on the knees, watching the electricity arc from his blue-white scales to her fingers, eliciting additional gasps from her disbelieving audience.

Golos spotted Lulan and Petra in the audience.

"You, I know you."

Lulan waved back uncertainly.

"Both of you smell like Naga." The Wyvern sniffed. "From Brother?"

"Whoa! WHOA!" Gwen raised both arms. "That's privileged information, dummy. Tell you what, you look hungry. We'll agree to a few ground rules, and then I'll undo the circle so you can explore. There's much to show you, and most importantly, tons to eat."

"Good." Golos snapped its jaws a few times, dislodging globs of thick saliva.

"I think you'll like it here." Gwen grinned at the Wyvern. "Now, for the quest ahead, we're competing…"

"Eat now, talk later." Golos' nostrils flared, forming two white-hot furnaces. "Hungry."

"… fine." Gwen struck Golos in the ribs, then turned to her teammates and her proctors. "Sir Lucas, Inti, everyone, if you would excuse me, I need to take Gogo for a walk."

"Gogo—" Golos protested.

"Where are you going?" Auberon appeared to be wrangling a massive migraine.

Gwen pointed to the Amazon.

"A walk in the park?" Gwen smirked.

"Miss Gwen?" Inti raised his voice.

"Yes, Inti?"

"May we observe our new ally?"

"Golos?" Gwen wasn't sure if her Wyvern was the sort to enjoy a meal in private or in public.

"If they keep out of my way," Golos grumbled. "Undo the circle. Also, what is Gogo?"

"We'll corral the beasts for you, Sir Golos." Inti far too quickly accepted his new reality. "Tupaq here is an excellent hunter. You shall have no want of prey!"

"Lord Inti!" the three girls behind him were aghast. "No!"

Golos snorted lightning.

"I like this one." He gave Gwen the evil eye. "Why can't you behave like this?"

"Why can't you be like Ariel?" Gwen fired back.

"HMMPH!" Golos nudged Gwen with its flank so that she stumbled. Gwen knew that Golos felt confused by Ariel. Strictly speaking, Kirins were many rungs above wyverns in the draconic-pecking order, not to mention Gwen's Familiar possessed the essence of a primordial being.

"Anyway, no funny business. Alright? I am going to let you out now. Petra?"

"Go ahead." Petra made the sign for "okay".

Gwen made a quick invocation, watching as the glow from the Glyphs faded. When Golos left the circle, he noticed a crate of HDMs which had yet to be drained.

"Ooo, is this for me?" Before Gwen could protest, the crate disappeared.

"YOU have a Storage Ring?" Gwen furrowed her brows. "Why?"

"Ruxin wants souvenirs." Golos stretched out his wings. From tip to tip, its arms exceeded twenty-meters.

"Is our newest member safe to be around?" Rene recalled being informed about Golos.

"Let's stay away for now," Petra offered sagely. "At least until it's fed."

Auberon and the other proctor exchanged looks of consternation.

"Sir." Lucy trembled as the Wyvern's depthless, slitted eyes registered all the food it could potentially eat. "Is this… cheating?"

"Inti, what are we going to do?"

After watching Gwen's "Gogo" hunt, Inti cooly meditated over the new revelations of Fudan's potential. Unfortunately, his peers possessed nothing of his level-headedness.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Do what, exactly?" Inti faced the three girls, each young, talented and a potential future concubine. All three were from the Shuar, an essential political and geographical ally of the Empire. Misi was a shapeshifter; Kusi was a Soul Priestess; behind the two look-alike girls, Mallqu, whose name meant little bird, was a Spirit Shaman.

"What are you going to do about that monstrosity?" Misi snarled, attracting a discouraging look from Tupaq.

"Peace, sister," Kusi stifled Musi's upset. "Inti, what do you make of this Chinese Amaru?"

"He's a Thunder Wyvern, actually." Inti remained in his meditative pose. "Her Kirin is closer to Amaru. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful brute, did you see how its scales caught the light? Gwen's a gifted girl, that's for sure."

"Waters of Titicaca!" Misi boiled over. "Don't you want to win?"

"Win?" Inti sighed. Even discouraged, the prince's aura was overwhelming. "We're here to recover relics of our people. That's a win."

"Your people."

"OUR people," Inti reiterated the collective pronoun. "The Shuar are as much a fabric of the Empire as I. How else could the Shuar's unique craft be accepted by the powers that be? You know how the outsiders treat Necromancy. The Shuar—"

"A label with no meaning." Kusi shook her head. "Inti, you should know better."

"Cuzco, the Inca, and the Shuar cannot survive alone." Inti's words flowed like golden honey. "How many years have your people fought the trolls? How many settlements are do you have left in Amazonia?"

"Are you mocking us?" Misi snarled like a jaguar. "If Tica were here, she'd give you a tongue-lashing."

"That was not my intention, my apologies." Inti raised both hands in an offer of peace. He grinned handsomely, a harmless, affable prince of the Inca. "As I said, we're in this together. Mallqu, do you have anything to add?"

The quiet girl shook her head. She appeared younger than the caramel-complexioned tribeswomen, with a face far more delicate than the headstrong Misi and paler than the soft-lipped Kusi.

"Then let's not worry about our wyvern-shaped boon." Inti gestured to the coiled monster out in the courtyard. "Fudan will repel the trolls, as will we. With a bit of luck, I dare say we can cleanse the ruined city entirely."

"That brute is going to destroy everything."

"No matter." Inti shrugged. "The relics are sealed in the old vaults. The upper city is a ruin for a reason, you know. In all likelihood, it's a troll fort by now."

The three girls stood while Inti returned to his meditation, one frustrated, one anxious, and one possessed of no particular emotion.

"Get some rest." Inti's soothing voice floated through the air. "I suspect Tica will be back soon."

Amazonia.

The lost Antis region.

By the account of early Incan explorers, the Amazon river was once a nameless serpent that spanned the horizons. Upon its death, its body then transformed into the great river, with its bones, flesh and guts becoming the river's life forms.

It was a good story, one that everyone in Cuzco knew.

Tica Chuquipoma-Yupanqui, however, did not take heed of this outlandish, outdated tale. According to her Master, Amaru, much of the mythos that surrounded Incan lore had been debunked by Spellcraft and western natural philosophy. The Apu, for example, were Magical Beasts. Amaru "turning in its sleep" was merely tectonic plates shaking the Andes. "Inti's birth and rebirth" likewise, was a solar eclipse. When she considered that the Aztecan Theocracy continued to sacrifice virgins to bring back the sun, she couldn't help but be cynical.

"According to the map, we can now follow the tributary upstream until we find the temple, or at least where 'three rivers meet'." Richard, her counterpart, studied the glistening river. The last few days had been a trial in itself, involving trolls, jaguars and walking mushrooms that erupted into an ocean of spores when they died. Were it not for Eunae picking up the slack; the contestants may have already sent a team member home to Cuzco.

By day four, both groups agreed that finding the river and back-tracking was more accessible than discovering tributaries smothered by overgrown greenery. At the very least, Magical Creatures that lived in the river kept to the water, affording the flying Mages more leeway compared to an overland trek.

SPLASH!

An Undine emerged from the scintillating water, ensorceling a human-sized fish with a silvery body and blood-red fins.

"This thing was lurking below us." the humanoid-elemental tossed the fish from side to side.

"That looks good for eating." Richard studied the trashing river-monster, chomping at the air with its dagger-teeth. "What is it?"

"A Pirarucu." Tica recognised the scarlet fins. "Red Fish."

"Tonight, we feast on Pirarucu steaks," Richard declared.

The others cheered half-heartedly. They were all exhausted by the humidity and the unceasing combat.

Nodding, Tica materialised her Sundew Familiar on the palm of her hand.

"How is it upstream?"

"…" the Sundew wiggled its tentacles.

"That many? How far's the inlet?"

"…" Coca contracted and expanded.

"Can we go around?"

"…" The tentacles performed an Aztecan Wave.

"I see."

"What's the matter?" Richard washed his hands. The Pirarucu couldn't be stowed in the Storage Ring while it was alive, so he and Anita had just performed culinary fish-surgery.

"Troll encampment barring our way, a big one. Twenty-thirty individuals at least." Tica chewed her lower-lips. "We can't bypass them without pushing into the canopy. If we detour, the combat will alert them anyway."

"Any Shamans?"

"Likely. Urqu can check from a distance."

"I need specifics to make a judgement. Mayuree?"

"Out of her range." Tica shook her head. "The trolls will scent you before you're close enough."

"Scent?" Mayuree sniffed her dirt-covered hands.

"Body odour, shampoo, your perfume…" Tica's counsel made the Diviner's skin crawl. "Troll Hunters, the thin ones with the long limbs, they have hyper-sensitive olfactory organs."

Richard considered their options.

"Hmm." He materialised a still-bleeding fish head. "What if a person's covered in this?"

Mayuree gawked at the lifeless eyes in horror.

"You can wear it like a helmet," Richard explained. "Wear the carcass like a coat..."

Their Diviner began to gag.

"Wait," Tica urged him to pack the fishhead. "We don't need the fish. I can cover us with Coca."

Mayuree breathed out.

"Okay, but let's test the theory first," Richard said. "I'll go with them. If nothing else, I can D-D Mia in a jiffy."

"Fine," Tica conjured a handful of Coca clones in her hand. "Put these on, and I'll do the rest."

An hour later, Mayuree, Richard and Urqu returned.

"Right." Richard tapped the map of the region their Diviner had scouted, perfectly happy with the wiggling Sundew sitting atop his head. "Here's the plan…"

The village which the party's scouts had observed was a settlement carved into the riverside, a primitive affair consisting of thick logs staked together to form a circular fence. The troll-home was a gathering outpost for fish, for they saw evidence of a drying rack, netting, as well as dozens of carcasses stacked in a pile, awaiting butchery beside a smokehouse.

"About ten warriors, two shabby-looking shamans, and the rest look like labourers," Richard said. "At least I think they're labourers. They have no tusks. What does that mean?"

"Likely youngsters, that or de-fanged slaves captured from other tribes," Tica returned. "To become a warrior; an adult troll has to survive in the jungle alone, the trophies they bring back as proof of their prowess determine the pecking order."

"Teenage trolls?" Richard scoffed, shaking his head in wonder. "Eh, they burn all the same."

The team again looked over Richard's plan.

On the map, several Xs marked the spot. These, Richard had explained, offered the best vantage to enable a raging, all-consuming forest fire. Thanks to Urqu, they could control the wind, and with Jiro and Qari, they could control the blaze. Together, they would herd the trolls into a narrow channel conveniently devoid of flames.

Then, within this short corridor of safety, Tica would entangle the lot of them, simultaneously unleashing Coca. Richard and Sumatika would play control, keeping the trolls penned. As for insurance, Tica would use faith-magic to bestow a round of raw radiance upon their hapless victims.

"Speed is key." Richard traced the Walls of Fire with his fingers. "Don't hold back on mana. Anyone need potions?"

The group shook their head.

"Good." Richard stood. "Good hunting."

Tica wetted her lips, already imagining the Inca's wrath falling on the savages. That, and the CCs she would gain for Cuzco.

With the newly risen sun, Golos scampered up the cliffside, dislodging chunks of stone and vegetation that had grown out over the centuries.

Once back at the fort, the Wyvern found a grassy knoll, then rolled over as though he owned the place.

"... those long-nosed pigs are as good as Ryxi's fish."

"Oh, there'll be plenty of fish as well." Gwen found a place to sit beside the big beast. "I heard there are catfish in there half your size."

"Burp!" Golos belched. "The snake was much meatier than I thought. I thought of Ryxi screaming for help while I ate it, hee hee hee…"

"See how good you have it, Golos?" Gwen pressed the Wyvern while he remained satiated. "In serving me, you'll have no want for crystals, for meat, or whatever."

"Serve you?!" Golos moved his neck so that he was snout to face with the girl.

"ERGH, your breath!" Gwen gagged; assaulted by a redolence akin to concentrated cat-breath.

"Hoooo!" Golos laughed childishly, then huffed in her face, glob and all.

Gwen Dimensioned Doored away, holding back a Chakram. Her draconic-constitution had given her finely-tuned senses, ones which she now deeply loathed.

Golos continued his deep-throated laughter.

"Bloody hell. Stay here and don't wander off." Gwen realised she had to change immediately or at least activate a laundry cantrip. "When you're done digesting, come find me in your human form. I'll introduce—"

The Wyvern snubbed her, turning away disinterestedly. It then coiled its semi-trailer body like a cat's, facing the sun to warm its scales.

Gwen stomped her feet in frustration.

The bloody thing was begging for a Caliban in the arse.

"Inti, you're not going to believe this," Musi interrupted Inti's morning rites. "Fudan's sorceress has gone mad."

Quickly, Inti exited the guard's room.

There, in the central courtyard, he saw her.

The spectacle he witnessed was shocking enough to warrant a hasty sign of the sun across his chest. He then moved closer, drawn by morbid curiosity.

"What in Titicaca's name is she doing?" Kusi held her lips with her fingers.

"Void madness?" Inti offered a suggestion. From Amaru, he had heard that those who dabble in the Void tended to be a little uneasy in the head. Still, he had never thought to witness such an unbalanced display in public, much less in the middle of the IIUC.

Currently, in front of Inti, watched by the proctors and others, Gwen Song dug through a pile of offensive wyvern excrement the height of her waist.

Not far, holding their nose and observing with expressionless faces, her teammates formed a protective perimeter, shielding Gwen from anyone who may, as it were, compete with her for the pile.

Feeling a rare revulsion coming on, Inti scanned the fort for signs of the Wyvern.

He soon spotted a hulk taller than even Tupaq, with a head of blue-silver and a ridged face only somewhat human. It didn't take a Spirit Shaman to guess that this was Golos in his poorly construed human-form, a realisation that filled his heart with yet more ambivalence.

"EUREKA!" came a triumphant cry from Fudan's principle sorceress. "YOU BLOODY RIPPER!"

Inti fought down a gulp of bile. Did she mean the Wyvern had blood in its stool? Was she a specialist Conjurer with a degree in veterinary care? He had heard of such Mages overseas, and the Temple too possessed virgins who could care for Magical Beasts.

A glint caught his eyes.

Gwen Song held a Creature Core aloft. From its appearance, Inti knew that it belonged to a Titan Boa- an elder-specimen.

"What…" he mouthed, accidentally swallowing the fetid air. Besides him, Tupaq and the three girls who had joined him gagged.

Across the pile, the proctors stared hard.

A tier-5 or 6 Titan Boa Core wasn't rare, but it was a good thousand or more HDMs.

And now, Gwen Song had found one in a pile of shit.

_Was that why the girl spent HDMs like water?_ Inti couldn't help but feel his economic acumen was being challenged. Where others dug crystals from the ground, she found thousands of HDMs by stomping through turds?

"I knew it!" The girl pulled her long limbs away from the offensive material, then quickly activated a laundry spell-device, soaking her suit and dispelling the sludge. In her other hand, she held three-more smaller Cores.

With great joy, she skipped toward the suddenly apprehensive Wyvern.

"Gogo!" she moved to hug him. "You magnificent draconic bastard!"