Instead of heading south toward the ranks of ever-taller mountains blocking the sky in that direction, I spun Switchblade west and hit the throttle. Accelerating to at least 250 miles per hour, I rocketed across the grassy valley, aimed for the distant slope heading up to stage 2. At some point, I needed to get a speedometer to see exactly how fast I could push the hover bike.

  “Lucas, you’re heading the wrong way,” Cyrus said, his voice carrying easily to my ears, despite the howling wind noise from my fast ride.

  “I just want to check something first.”

  “You can’t get back to stage 2, Lucas. You’re just wasting time.”

  “Maybe,” I acknowledged as the wide slope drew rapidly closer. “But I’d be stupid to just take your word for it.”

  “When have I ever lied to you?” Cyrus asked, sounding hurt.

  I barked a laugh, then coughed violently when I swallowed a giant bug. It exploded in my mouth with way more nasty bug juice than any Earth bug that big should possess. I even got an achievement for killing a level-6 Spiny Beetle.

  Once I spit that nastiness out, I responded. “Cyrus, from day one you’ve been jerking my chain. You dumped that tier-1 evolution on me without explaining it. Then after the fact, you only explained it piecemeal. Every time we chat, you give me spoonfuls more, but how am I supposed to survive if I don’t know how the game works for me?”

  “You know enough to take your next steps,” Cyrus said. “You humans always clamor for more and more information, whining about life not being fair, or asking why this or why that. Now it’s my turn to ask why. Why can’t you be satisfied knowing you need to kill some more big monsters to reach level ten and climb to stage 2? I’ll be able to share more with you then.”

  “See, that’s exactly the issue. You’re withholding information just to force me to rely on you when you’re the one who got me into this mess.”

  “I know you’re under a lot of stress,” he said in a soothing voice, as if wanting to become my shrink, or something. “This week has been hard, I know, but I promise I want you to succeed. I have big plans for you that would get wrecked if you failed and died now.”

  “Not as encouraging as you probably think,” I growled, then focused on riding as I hit the slope and rocketed up.

  I’d taken a more southerly track than the other times I’d climbed the slope. This section was more heavily forested, forcing me to slow and weave through the giant trees. I spotted red dots on the edges of my map, but ignored them. No way monsters strong enough to give me real experience lurked down this low.

  “Fine. You’ll see,” Cyrus said. Thankfully, he left me alone after that.

  Within moments, I approached the boundary to stage 2. I slowed to a halt behind a huge tree with a trunk more than 20 feet across and a crown that reached at least 600 feet high and spread over more than an acre. There, concealed from view from any werewolves who might be lurking up on stage 2, I opened my full map.

  It spread to cover my entire vision, showing me several miles in every direction, including the southern parts of stage 2 I’d already explored. Unfortunately the area closest to me remained hazy since I hadn’t explored it yet. I didn’t spot a lot of red dots, but monsters could be hiding in the unexplored sections.

  It did show me the line marking the boundary between stage 1 and stage 2. Using that line, I estimated where the boundary would cross in front of me at the top of the slope. Accelerating again, I shot up until I closed to within 100 feet.

  There I banished Switchblade and jogged up to the top of the slope. Slowing, I extended my hands and crept forward. A moment later, they struck an invisible barrier, just like Cyrus had promised.

  I spent a few minutes exploring the barrier and trying to push through. It remained invisible and impassable.

  “You’re wasting precious hunting time,” Cyrus interjected.

  I ignored him and scanned the nearby trees. Some of the giant canopies stretched over the boundary. I scaled a promising one, using the thick bark for handholds. Bonus advantage for high Agility and Dexterity. Too bad I didn’t have the Bio Morph utility spell. Climbing would have gone faster.

  Still, with a few minutes of focused effort, I managed to climb to a branch at least 300 feet above the ground. It extended out over stage 2, the perfect bridge to test if the barrier rose that high. The branch was over 10 feet thick, so I easily walked down its length, questing for the barrier again.

  And I found it. Even that high, it totally blocked my path. When I crouched and slid my hands around the branch, the barrier fused perfectly with the wood, as if it flowed right up through the whole thing.

  “Satisfied?” Cyrus asked.

  “Had to try,” I said with a shrug. I would have loved throwing all his doom and gloom back into the AI’s invisible face if I’d managed to get through. I’d held out the slim hope that since I’d already ascended to stage 2 once, it would let me through again.

  Nope. The barrier felt impassable, and with Cyrus watching my every move, I couldn’t believe he’d let me figure out how to sneak in. I was just wasting time. I considered scouting along the boundary, looking for a monster to try sticking myself to again, but I doubted Cyrus would let me pull that hack trick again either.

  Back to hunting, then. At least now I knew the option of spoofing the barrier wouldn’t work.

  When I dropped back to the ground, I summoned my hover bike and pushed it hard back down the slope. I’d only wasted half an hour. It was worth it, but now I had a lot of hunting to finish.

  Within 10 minutes, I zoomed across the lower stretches of the central valley and up into the southern mountains, weaving through the lower hills to the higher peaks rising behind. They still looked tiny compared to the bigger mountains farther south even though they eclipsed the biggest mountains on Earth.

  Some rose in rocky bluffs, with cliffs rearing thousands of feet, while others were covered in forests. Some trees towered over 1000 feet, monsters that shaded entire valleys with their branches, while in other places, the smaller trees and bushes crammed in so close together, not even I could easily pass.

  Not wanting to waste time, I skirted those dense areas, but kept my eye on my mini map. Periodically I stopped to expand to a full map. My upgrades helped show a larger area than most people would get, and I used that to scan the denser vegetation for signs of more powerful monsters.

  I spotted quite a few possibilities, but most ended up being too low-leveled. Growls and hoots and howls rang across the peaks and through the valleys and canyons I followed, but I avoided as many of the weaker monsters as I could. Moving fast, I could slip away before wasting time fighting beasts that didn’t offer any gains.

  If I’d led a party of level 15-25 baby humans up there and spent the time overseeing their battles, they all would have leveled up repeatedly. That didn’t help me, though.

  The afternoon settled toward evening as I pushed higher and higher up steep canyons and sped along rocky mountain passes. The air grew cooler and crisp, but did not feel thin. I had to have climbed to well over 20,000 feet. On Earth, I’d be nearly up to the top of Mount Everest and would be gasping for breath. It didn’t make sense. From what I’d seen of the game world when we were first teleported in, it had looked a lot smaller than Earth. Shouldn’t we run out of air at lower altitudes?

  I wasn’t about to complain, though. Stronger monsters lived at higher elevations, so that’s where I needed to hunt. I’d risen even higher than stage 2, so there must be better prey up there.

  Finally, after cresting yet another high hill, I entered a lush high-mountain valley, dotted with hardwoods and pine several hundred feet tall. Scattered among the sparse undergrowth, I glimpsed a new type of monster.

  “Whiplash Mammoth. Level 38. These giant pachyderms have evolved into the ultimate herd protectors with speed boosts and power stomps that will literally shake you off your feet and deliver stun damage. When you mess with one, you are declaring war on the entire herd.”

  “Awesome,” I whispered. I’d always thought elephants were cool, and these giant, brown shaggy monsters were at least 3 times larger than the biggest bull elephant I’d ever seen photos of.

  They towered over 20 feet at the shoulder and almost double that in length. Their legs were massive pillars, their heads as big as dump trucks, with tusks longer than spears. Their flexible trunks extended to the ground where they wrapped around small trees, easily ripping them up by the roots.

  I spotted only half a dozen red dots on my mini map. That was perfect. Exactly the type of monsters I needed.

  “Time to see how tough you guys are.”

  Pointing Switchblade at the closest giant mammoth, I twisted the elevation throttle with my left hand, tipping the front end up, then triggered Shattercore Ballista. The targeting indicator settled on the center of the huge monster’s torso for a perfect broadside, and the glowing spear of energy blasted away.

  The spear punched deep into the whiplash mammoth’s torso, tearing right through the dense fur and hide before detonating in a spray of blood and gore. I’d worried it might have enhanced defense, but the ballista worked beautifully. That should should have taken out the heart, or at least a lung.

  Instead of freezing in shock or even keeling over, the mammoth bolted away, moving as fast as Switchblade on full throttle. Blood fountained from the wound, but if that had been a fatal blow, the mammoth hadn’t realized it yet.

  It skidded to a halt behind another huge tree over 100 yards from where I’d hit it just seconds before and only then trumpeted in pain and rage. The sound shook the air like every brass band in the world had gotten together and blared out their loudest note.

  Every other mammoth joined in, their flexible trunks rising into the air as they tipped back their heads and trumpeted their outrage. The air shook and I clapped hands over my ears.

  “The whiplash mammoth oratory assault has left you Rattled. Your balance is reduced by 15% for 5 seconds.”

  Of course they hit me with a new condition. I swayed on the bike and had to snatch the controls again. The world spun and I nearly pitched right off.

  Ow. Maybe just diving into an attack wasn’t the smartest thing I’d ever done. The mammoths oriented on me. Like an idiot, I hadn’t even triggered my mirrored cloak and they spotted me instantly. While the wounded bull trumpeted again, the rest of the monsters charged out of the trees.

  There were more than 6 of them too. Additional dots appeared at the edge of my mini map and shot in to join the rest of the group. So it wasn’t a fluke that the first mammoth took off so fast. I’d doubted the description of a speeds boost. The monsters were so huge, I figured a speed-up would be just lumbering a bit faster.

  Under other circumstances, watching monsters that had to weigh 20 tons sprinting faster than cheetahs would have been so cool. At the moment, the sight was just terrifying.

  I leaned forward, preparing to hit the throttle, but the pack of 10 giant mammoths didn’t all sprint at me once they formed up into a loose line. They did advance, but moved with an oddly stilted stride, smashing their heavy limbs into the ground with every step. The ground shook and literally rippled like waves in a pond that rattled the huge trees like saplings.

  I pushed Switchblade to its max height as the rippling earth waves passed beneath me.

  “You have avoided the whiplash mammoth stunning waves. This unique attack delivers overwhelming elemental damage as well as leaving targets stunned for 3 seconds.”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Whoa, that would have been bad. I scanned the advancing monsters as they continued their advance. They ranged from level 37 to 42.

  Four seconds into the fight and I’d learned a lot. They were even tougher than I’d hoped, had elemental powers, but luckily I could ignore those. The movement abilities could prove dangerous, and they could take a ballista to the lungs without dying instantly.

  Still, I could take them. I had to. It was literally a life-or-death situation for me as well as them.

  So I accelerated hard, banking around the herd and into the trees. Slipping between the trunks, I set a roundabout course toward the wounded mammoth still lingering at the back of the pack.

  The ballista might not have killed it, but the monster was wounded. I needed to see what it took to finish one off. Then I’d just have to repeat the process with the others.

  No problem.

  I closed on the wounded mammoth from behind. It was leaning against a tree, blood still geysering from the huge hole in its side. It didn’t look great, but I wouldn’t underestimate it. As I closed, I realized I had another problem.

  It was too tall, I’d never reach its head with my blade. So I shot past, so close its long leg hairs whipped at my face as I slashed out with Soulrend.

  The ethereal blade tore through the monster’s rear leg, but hit more resistance than I’d expected. The mammoth’s spirit must be denser than most, or it had enhanced spiritual defense, because the unexpected drag on my blade nearly pulled me off the back of Switchblade.

  I slowed in time and hit the monster’s front leg as well, then accelerated away. It would fall and I could target . . .

  “Oof!” I grunted as the mammoth’s long trunk shot out like a whip and wrapped around my waist. It moved so fast, I didn’t have time to trigger Switchblade’s defenses.

  The mammoth trumpeted in pain, the sound shaking me like a leaf. Even as it started toppling to the ground like a ponderous tree, it snatched me off of Switchblade and lifted me 30 feet into the air, clearly planning to smash me to the ground and crush every bone in my body.

  If it had managed to pin my arms, I would have been in trouble. I slashed down with Soulrend in that split second it held me aloft. My blade severed the end of the monster’s trunk. The rest of the long appendage whipped down reflexively, but the end had lost its grip.

  The movement didn’t smash me to pieces against the ground, but as the limp trunk dragged across my torso, it still spun me around in a dizzying blur.

  The mammoth hit the ground with an impact that shook the clearing again, and I landed hard on its shoulder. The thick fur and meaty muscle softened the impact and I rolled to my feet unharmed. My enhanced stats helped me weather the dizzying spin far better than I ever could have back on Earth.

  The mammoth was struggling and bellowing, trying to lift its huge head, but lying on its side, it was momentarily helpless. I sprinted up its hairy shoulder and dove under one giant flapping ear bigger than 2 king-sized mattresses stitched together.

  Soulrend plunged into the narrowest part of its neck, and I slid down the side of its throat, dragging the blade all the way, severing its spirit as I went. The blade was nowhere near long enough to cut all the way across the throat, but it still cut deep and delivered devastating spiritual damage.

  The mammoth bellowed again, but the sound was strangely muted so close to its body, shielded by its own bulk and one giant ear. The other mammoths were closing fast, but hopefully they wouldn’t notice me concealed behind the giant ear.

  How the hell was I going to finish it off, though? I could climb back up its fur and head for an eye maybe. Then it flapped its huge ear again, revealing the gaping hole in the side of its head. Its ear canal was easily big enough to crawl into.

  The sight sparked a memory from when I was a kid. I’d watched one of those nature shows about African natives. They’d hunted an elephant and when they killed it, some of the smaller hunters had crawled into its ear to begin harvesting it from the inside.

  That could work.

  Not hesitating to think about how insane the idea was, I leaped up with all my increased agility and grabbed the lower edge of the mammoth’s ear canal. Flipping myself up and over, I slid into the soft, sloping tunnel.

  It was pitch black in there, especially when the ear flap closed over the opening again. Even with Wolf Sight, I could barely see. So I pulled out Torch of the Mirrored Moon and switched on the magical flashlight.

  The mammoth’s ear was like a tunnel plunging into its huge head. Crouching nearly double, I scurried down several feet until I reached a thin membrane blocking the way. Must be the mammoth’s ear drum.

  Soulrend couldn’t cut through physical barriers, so I drew my sabre-tooth bone dagger from my inventory and slashed through the membrane. Outside, the mammoth bellowed and the ear tunnel twisted as it shook its head.

  The movement made me stumble, but not fall, and I pushed ahead. Behind the eardrum, I found a wall of bone that had to be its skull, the last barrier to its brain.

  I plunged Soulrend through the bone and dragged it up, then down, then sideways as far as I could, tearing through the monster’s spirit brain. The mammoth bellowed one final time, the sound higher pitched with a note of desperation, then its head collapsed to the ground, unmoving.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! You have defeated a level 38 Whiplash Mammoth. Bonus experience gained for defeating a higher-leveled enemy.”

  “For discovering a unique way to kill a monster, you receive a gold Earwig loot box.”

  I cringed and rubbed at my own ear. Earwigs didn’t actually crawl into people’s ears, but some bugs did. I’d known a guy who got a moth stuck in his ear. Had to go to the hospital to get it removed. The thought of a bug with a sword crawling into my ear and stabbing me in the brain made me shiver with disgust.

  “It worked, didn’t it?” I muttered to myself as I willed the loot box open. It contained a single item.

  “Ahab’s Harpoon. Uncommon. Launches a fire-imbued harpoon with bonus piercing damage when fired at close range. Weapon reloads in 5 seconds.”

  I whistled as I examined the sleek harpoon launcher. It looked a lot like a SCUBA underwater speargun, but thicker. The pointed tip of a harpoon stuck out of the end, glowing with a sullen, red light.

  “Exactly what I needed. Thanks,” I said as I headed for the exit.

  “Vae Victis,” Cyrus responded.

  “You switching to Latin now?”

  “You should know this one. It means Woe to the Vanquished, and is often used in conjunction with the phrase, ‘To the victor go the spoils.’”

  “Makes sense. I appreciate this loot.” Indeed, now I had a plan.

  I slid out of the ear and looted the dead mammoth. In addition to the normal mana crystals, I received nearly 1000 elephant steaks, both long, ivory tusks, 1 mammoth-hide whip, and a new potion.

  “Potion of the Road Runner, times 3. Double your speed for 30 seconds.”

  Higher-level monsters sure produced better loot. I was tempted to try harvesting a spell, but decided to hold off until the other mammoths were dead.

  I activated my mirror cloak as the huge mammoth evaporated into stinky black smoke. The rest of the herd had gathered around the fallen mammoth, so as the huge ear concealing me faded to smoke, I stared up at walls of angry monster on every side.

  I gulped and held perfectly still. If they sensed me, they’d crush me to paste. Thankfully, the nasty smoke of the looted monster made them shake their heads and retreat a few steps.

  Not too far, though. Standing in the midst of the entire herd, I triggered Creeping Death.

  “Creeping Death. Spell. Surround the caster with a dense, choking sphere of gas 1 yard in diameter. Aura expands by 1 yard per point in perception. Will affect any exposed flesh. If inhaled, does triple damage.”

  “Effect: Drain 10% of life and mana from every target for every second they remain within the aura. Once they leave the aura, drain fades by 25% per second over 4 seconds. Effects of healing potions severely curtailed while drain is active.”

  The dark smoke billowed out in every direction, flowing over the heads and most of the bodies of the Whiplash Mammoths. They trumpeted in surprise and most of them fled with bursts of speed. 2 of them remained in the aura cloud, though, whipping their trunks around in rage and stomping their feet.

  The ground bucked under me, sending me tumbling.

  “You have taken elemental earth damage. You are Stunned. A percentage of the damage has reflected back against your attackers.”

  My muscles froze under the mammoths’ onslaught and my health bar dropped by nearly 30%. Without all of my protective gear, that attack could have killed me.

  My Tesla Coil bracelet poured energy back into me, boosting my normal regenerative speed, but I still couldn’t move. I crashed to the ground, helpless to fend off any additional attacks.

  Thankfully, the cloud of dark aura helped obscure me, and my mirror cloak was still engaged. The reflected damage had startled the stomping mammoths enough that they stopped their attack and spun, searching for whatever had struck them.

  If they’d kept stomping, they might have kept me stunned and kept hitting me with elemental damage. I could still trigger potions, and with my bracelet and other protective gear, I probably would have survived, but if they’d kept up the rampage long enough, they might have killed me before I could do anything to stop them.

  I had to be more careful. As soon as the stunned paralysis wore off, I triggered one of my new Road Runner potions from a hotlist spot. Energy zipped through me like happy bursts of lightning and I couldn’t stand still.

  I was about to target the nearest mammoth, still turning slowly, searching for enemies, but the idiot had remained in the Creeping Death cloud too long. Its rampage had included breathing heavily, which tripled the effects of the nasty spell.

  That meant 30% drain to life and mana every second, and it had already stayed in the cloud for 4 seconds. Even as I looked, the huge monster collapsed to the ground, its hide flapping loosely, as if much of its bulk had simply melted away.

  The other mammoth that had stayed within the cloud also collapsed. I waved away the notifications and willed acceptance of looting the corpses as I focused on the next nearest monster.

  It tipped its head up to bellow in rage after seeing its companions collapse. Perfect. I sprinted straight at it, flashing across the distance at twice my best speed and launched myself up under its flapping ear.

  I plunged into its ear canal, tore through the ear drum, and slammed my new Ahab harpoon into the wall of bone at the end of the ear tunnel. I pulled the trigger, and the harpoon bucked in my hands as the spear slammed into the white bone.

  The wall of bone shattered and the spear plunged through, disappearing into the gray spongy material of the elephant’s brain. Deep inside, it exploded with a firestorm of crimson flames. The flare of light illuminated the room-sized brain and reflected off the walls of the skull.

  The monster fell straight down, dead before it reached the ground.

  I repeated the process for each of the other mammoths. With my cloak obscuring me from view, they could never get a good lock on my position. Some of them tried stomping the ground, but I was wise to that trick now, and waited inside the ear canal of my last victim until the stomping subsided.

  Two sprinted at full speed in wide circles around the forest, trying to stay ahead of the hidden enemy killing their herd members, but they were sprinters, not long-distance runners. That tactic only left them exhausted and easy prey for me to rush in and finish off.

  I did have to drop a couple of them to the ground by slashing their legs with Soulrend first. Somehow they sensed the danger and kept their huge ears flapped close over their vulnerable ear canals. Crashing to the ground distracted them long enough for me to get in and strike.

  I ended up with nearly 10,000 elephant steaks, 20 huge ivory tusks, 8 mammoth-hide whips, and 245 long rolls of mammoth hide leather. Each mammoth gave me dozens of hides, each big enough to create several jackets. And I got several more Road Runner potions. Even my oversized inventory was starting to feel decidedly cramped.

  Best of all was the final message, though.

  “Congratulations, Lucas! You have reached level 9. Two points added to Dexterity.”

  “Yes!” I shouted in victory as I dumped a bottle of Laundry Day potion over my head to cleanse me from the monster gore I was soaked in. Some of the mammoth brains exploded when I harpooned them, and not all the brains and blood and bone evaporated when I looted them.

  I tried Harvest, but it failed. I would have loved a ground-stomping spell. Soul Feed topped off all of my stats, and the killing spree had filled my Tesla Coil bracelet to bursting.

  “Well done, Lucas,” Cyrus said. “See, there’s still hope.”

  “Are there any more mammoth herds around?”

  “Don’t be silly. Not only would that be boring, you wouldn’t receive any experience from killing more of them.”

  “I know I get less after killing a few of the same monsters, but I should get something, right? They’re all around level 40.”

  “Whiplash Mammoths are no longer a challenge for you to defeat, so they offer no experience gains. Look to the future and find something new to tackle.”

  “Is that something new? You never said you’d stop giving me experience for monsters I know how to kill.”

  “Consider it merely a deeper explanation, one you didn’t need before. How often have you faced the same monsters many times?”

  I should argue more about that. It sounded like Cyrus was playing fast and loose with the game rules. He really was holding back my experience.

  I was thrilled with finally getting a level, but a dark suspicion I didn’t want to consciously acknowledge yet was starting to grow in the back of my mind. Cyrus was pushing me into a corner. What would he make me do to get that last level?

  Maybe I could figure out what he had planned. So I asked another question that had been bugging me for days.

  “Cyrus, can you explain better why I can’t use more of my tier-1 stats? I know you said something about the efficiency is too low until I evolve spells and abilities, but why? It still doesn’t make sense.”

  And it was super frustrating to know I had so much more potential power if I could just figure out how to unlock it.

  “It’s simple, Lucas. I thought you understood. The reason your efficiency has not increased is because your spells and abilities remain tier-0 and relatively low leveled.”

  “Because you won’t give me upgrades.”

  “Upgrades will come. The point I think you fail to understand is that your spells and abilities are the conduits through which you utilize your stats. They are like garden hoses used to deliver your available power, while your full potential is more like a city main. You simply cannot push as much through a garden hose, even if you have a big enough reservoir.”

  I frowned as I puzzled through that. “So they effectively reduce my available power.”

  “Exactly! Simple, right?”

  “No, it’s not! It takes me many times more experience to level up, but I’m not getting the promised benefits.”

  “Getting all dramatic isn’t your style,” Cyrus chided. “You said yourself you’re several times stronger than anyone else.”

  I took a deep breath, fighting down my frustration. “Yes, I am.”

  “You’ll understand more as you level up and unlock more of your tier-1 potential. It’s not a single step from tier-0 to tier-1, but more a staircase. You’ve taken the first, most important step and unlocked a lot of power. Each subsequent step will unlock more. Using our earlier analogy, each step is like upgrading the size of the hose you can use to unleash your stats.”

  “You’re still going to refuse to allow me to take the next step until after I hit level 10?” I needed more power now.

  “You won’t be ready to leverage that power until then. For now, you have enough on your plate, so I won’t distract you with things that won’t matter if you don’t hit level 10.”

  My anger and frustration were growing to the point I was having trouble maintaining the facade of cordiality with Cyrus. He was railroading me down a path I could barely see, but I lacked the power to change course. I couldn’t afford to openly turn hostile toward him either. I would look for ways to break at least some of his control, but for now I couldn’t ignore the most important thing.

  I did need to hunt. The glimpses into deeper truths and paths to power would prove vital once I hit the all-important level 10, assuming Cyrus wasn’t lying about that. For the moment, I had to trust he’d give me the experience I needed if I killed enough monsters.

  As usual, every week I try to share another cool story I've discovered. Here's this week's link, and this one definitely looks good.