After hours of non-stop punching, Archie fell on his ass, covered in blood and guts. Staring at the moon, Archie let out a sigh of exhaustion as he deactivated his skills and pushed aside his mask to wipe his sweaty face.

  Archie glanced over his shoulder and saw Evelyn completely drained, her face drenched in sweat and limbs trembling in exhaustion. Archie pushed himself off the ground and gave her an Effigy of Endurance from his spatial ring.

  “Snap it,” Archie instructed Evelyn as he held it in her trembling hands. “It’s no stamina potion, but it’s the best thing I have.”

  Evelyn did not reply. With her trembling hands, she snapped the wooden tortoise in half and released a sigh of relief. Evelyn stumbled slightly but was quickly caught by Archie, who slowly sat her down.

  “Sleep,” Archie said with a look of concern at Eveyln’s exhaustion. “I’ll make sure no one disturbs your rest.”

  Seeing the look of worry Evelyn gave him, Archie smiled trying to ease her worries. “It’s alright grandma, get some rest. That stampede was nothing to me, I can handle a thousand more.”

  Evelyn tensed up when Archie called her grandma but closed her teary eyes and went to sleep. Archie stared at the small tears that escaped her eyes with sadness.

  Archie got up from his crouch and stood in front of the cave, looking into the jungle. Not a single sound was heard, not even a squeak Archie questioned.

  Goosebumps prickled Archie’s back as he thought of a possible reason, maybe? Maybe even Oliver. I need to check on their camp after I make some upgrades.

  His gauntlets desperately needed an upgrade, especially with them being his lowest-level gear and his main weapon when fighting.

  Looking through his notifications, Archie was disappointed to see that he had only leveled his Class and Race once. But considering that he had mostly killed F-Grades and low leveled E-Grades, it made sense.

  *Your Class has reached Lv 66– Points allocated, +4 Free Points*

  *Your Race has reached Lv 66– Points allocated, +3 Free Points*

  Archie dismissed the messages of the couple hundred F-Grades he had killed, most had been level 20s. Instead focused on the E-Grades he had killed, one type of beast in particular that he had killed quite easily but had an interesting skill.

  *[Resonance Bat Lv 52] has been slain – XP has been given. 520 Tutorial Points given*

  ***

  *[Resonance Bat Lv 52] has been slain – XP has been given. 520 Tutorial Points given*

  The bats attacked him by screeching at him. The first few screeches rattled his brain, but with a surge of nature mana, vines exploded from his shoulders and their thorns shredded their tiny bodies, while Archie focused on punching the larger beasts that tried to force themselves into the cave.

  , Archie thought.

  But collecting their cores would be something that had to wait; Evelyn was sleeping.

  “These are great!” Archie commented as he collected the bat cores from their corpses with his left hand and ate his sandwich with his right hand.

  “I’m glad you enjoyed it, dearie,” Evelyn responded with a smile. She looked better than before, and the Effigy of Endurance and a six-hour rest had refilled her depleted mana and stamina pools.

  “I don’t think I can ever not enjoy them,” Archie smiled as he pulled out the last core from a bat. He had collected a total of thirty Resonance Bat cores and sent them into his spatial storage. “Are you ready to head back?”

  “More than ever,” Evelyn chuckled. “I’ve more than surpassed my goal of reaching level 30 as a Healer.”

  [Human Lv 45]

  She indeed had, and she benefited greatly from last night's stampede. She cast her aura of regeneration and healing touch for over five hours straight without rest until her mana and stamina pools were depleted before quickly refilling her reserves with their respective potions.

  “Alright,” Archie said while clapping his hands, smiling as Evelyn passed him another sandwich. “Let’s head back.”

  As Archie and Evelyn emerged from the jungle, they saw that the camp had suffered some damage from the stampede. The grass had been mostly kicked up, claw marks etched onto the wooden camp walls and ground, and various ashes and chunks of stone looked to be gouged out of the camp walls and thrown onto the ground. Not to mention the numerous corpses that surrounded the camp's walls.

  But the camp still stood mostly whole from the aftermath of the stampede. Various high-level F-Grades stood guard around the camp, either patrolling or manning the walls.

  As he and Evelyn approached the walls, they were greeted with James’s voice. “I need four more Warriors and three more healers with me for the expedition! Whose coming?”

  “Hey, James!” Archie shouted, waving to get his attention. Unfortunately, due to the loud shouts that filled the camp, James couldn’t hear him.

  , Archie thought. From what he could see, , the Healer tents looked to be only half full of only low-leveled F-Grades.

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  Looking at Evelyn, Archie shrugged and smiled. “It was fun.”

  “Thank you for helping me,” Evelyn smiled. “And thank you for calling me grandma…I appreciate it.”

  “Any time grandma,” Archie smiled before turning around and heading towards his base.

  “Whenever you’re hungry, pass by for some food!” Eveyln shouted looking at Archie’s retreating back.

  Archie slightly turned his head, looking at Evelyn, and waved. “I’ll be sure to stop by every chance I get!”

  As Archie made his way towards his base many of the creatures that lived in the jungle were now scattered across the island. Various snakes and frogs trying to blend into their new environment. Various monkeys knuckle-running across the ground exploring their new surroundings due to the lack of available trees.

  But the jungle creatures also met opposition from other E-Grade creatures. Gorillas fighting against Emus, Pythons eating Dodos, and Jaguars fighting Iguanas…

  Archie swiveled his head,

  Archie crouched on the ground and looked at the two Jaguars and Iguana giving each other a stare down.

  [Vinetailed Jaguar Lv 53

  [Vinetailed Jaguar Lv 52

  [Emernian IguanaLv 45

  Suddenly the jaguars started to move in a circle around the iguana, however, the iguana refused to stay still, it kicked off the ground, jumping four meters backwards, its eyes never leaving their forms.

  The sudden jump from the iguana reminded Archie about the promise he made with Xelgar. Archie quickly took out the thin strip of paper filled with intricate symbols and ripped it.

  Light blue smoke emerged from the ripped paper and formed a small 2D rectangle in front of Archie. The 2D rectangle flickered for a second before the image of Xelgar appeared…completely entranced by his Aetherglass…in a bubble bath…

  “Yo,” Archie hissed at the image of Xelgar. Xelgar looked up from his Aetherglass in confusion and said, “Archie? Where are you?”

  “Look up,” Archie replied making Xelgar look up in shock before dismissing his Aetherglass and looking at Archie.

  “Oh, Hey!” Xelgar smiled. “A bit weird for a call now.”

  “Xelgar, not now,” Archie hissed at Xelgar. “It’s happening, now!”

  Xelgar looked confused for a moment before realizing what Archie had meant. Xelgar snapped his fingers making the screen go black for a moment before it returned to normal.

  Xelgar now sat on his porch fully dressed and rotated the light blue 2-D rectangle he was displayed on to face the fight Archie invited him to.

  Throughout their ten-second conversation, the iguana and the two jaguars stared and circled each other down, trying to find a hole in the other’s guard.

  One of the jaguars felt that it was enough, kicked off the ground, and lunged at the iguana. The iguana dodged its lunge, then turned on its right paw before it tail whipped the jaguar across its face. Its spiked tail sliced through its left eye, causing it to flinch back in pain as blood spurted from its eye socket.

  The iguana kicked off the ground with its right forefoot, dodging the lunge of the second jaguar. While it was in mid-air the first jaguar’s tail extended and slapped the iguana away, sending it tumbling on the ground.

  “Oh shit!” Xelgar shouted, his eyes wide.

  “Shh!” Archie hissed at Xelgar, eyes just as wide.

  “Don’t worry about the noise, only you can hear what I say,” Xelgar said as his eyes focused on the crouching iguana.

  The iguana dodged away from an extended vinetail whip from the second jaguar but wasn’t able to fully dodge and got clipped on its left forefoot. The iguana’s eyes narrowed as he was forced to dodge once more from a whip strike from the second jaguar.

  Just as it dodged one vinetail whip the other was already on its way to strike. Small cut marks started to accumulate across its body due to their increasing speed with every strike. But with every strike, the iguana made adjustments to its dodges, slowly getting closer to the two.

  “Archie, look at the iguana,” Xelgar said as he intently stared at the fight, gaining Archie’s attention. “It’s adapting mid-fight. It's making micro movements every time it gets hit, learning from its mistakes with its foot movements.”

  Archie was curious at what Xelgar meant, but listened, nonetheless. Archie stared intently at the movements of the iguana; its eyes never stopped moving as they bounced in between the jaguars, and adjusted the positioning of its feet, constantly closing the distance while at the range disadvantage.

  . Archie thought while looking at the iguana.

  The iguana mid-air spat a dark purple projectile in the second jaguar’s smiling open maw making it choke slightly but keeping up its attacks. The iguana kicked off the ground dodging a strike from the first jaguar and digging its claws into its tail.

  When the first jaguar retracted its tail, intending to whip it back at the iguana it was in shock as the iguana came barreling at it.

  The iguana leaped off the jaguar’s vinetail and latched onto its face, clawing it as its talons gained a dark purple gleam.

  The iguana leaped off the first jaguar’s face, dodging a vinetail strike from the second jaguar. The second jaguar was unable to stop its strike, making the first jaguar tumble backwards as the strike slammed into its bloodied face.

  “Oh, fuck!” both Archie and Xelgar exclaimed from behind their hands. Archie thought, mouth wide open.

  The iguana quickly kicked off the ground and ran towards the second jaguar, whose neck progressively gained a dark purple tone, and foamy drool pooled in and out of its maw, its eyes unfocused.

  The iguana leaped into the air and onto its face. It latched onto it, by sinking its sharp claws into its face. The iguana then stabbed its tail in the destroyed left eye socket. Its tail deeply penetrating into the jaguar’s brain causing it to jerk backwards before collapsing onto the floor.

  “This is amazing,” Xelgar commented and Archie agreed. “This isn’t MFAL quality, but it’s good.”

  “What’s MFAL?” Archie asked, eyes still glued onto the fight.

  “MFAL stands for Multiversal Fighting Association League, the greatest combat association within the multiverse,” Xelgar answered.

  "They also stream," he added with a wide smile.

  Archie tilted his head in understanding, there had to be people similar to them who enjoyed this stuff.

  The iguana landed on the ground and then turned to face the last jaguar, but instead of jumping at its prone body, it stared at it, whilst hissing.

  The last jaguar kept on shaking as the scratches the iguana made on its face kept leaking blood and pus.

  After a minute of shaking the jaguar went limp.

  The iguana took a deep breath and released a shrill screech into the air.

  The iguana then looked around; finding nothing around it, it tore into the jaguar; feasting on its prize.

  Archie and Xelgar let out a large exhale, “That was good." Xelgar said.

  “Good?” Archie questioned, confused at Xelgar’s words. “What do you mean good? This was great.”

  “It was a good fight, don’t get me wrong, but…If you saw a MFAL fight you would agree with me.” Xelgar said with a look that looked like, 'it is what it is'.

  Archie knew that look, it was the same look he had when Illinois always beat Michigan.

  Archie looked as the iguana stuffed the beastcore of the jaguar in its mouth and swallowed it whole before moving on to the next jaguar.

  “Hmm, I got to watch some MFAL then,” Archie said as he stood up. “You got any of the matches recorded?”

  “No,” Xelgar responded with a sigh and rubbed his creased forehead. “My daughter thought it would be fun to delete my saved videos and replace them with her Super Intergalactic Justice Fighters shows she watches.”

  “I’m guessing MFAL is a seasonal thing then?” Archie chuckled.

  “Yeah…” Xelgar responded dejectedly. “Swing on by, I’ll give you another slip of Smokecall paper.”

  Archie chuckled at the name, staring at the iguana as it swallowed the second jaguar beastcore. “Yeah, I’ll be there in ten.”