"Why aren’t you helping him?" Luke asked, gesturing to the blue-banded goblin.

  Around them, still more goblins fought for survival. The red-banded ones were outnumbered and wouldn’t be standing much longer.

  "This one," Hiroki said, indicating the Goblin Leader wearing a blue armband, "became agitated when we tried to help it."

  The three of them watched the fight as the Goblin Leader, the one they’d made a deal with, came out on top, slashing a deep wound across the red-banded Goblin Leader’s chest. Deep enough to kill. After the remaining goblins were cleaned up, the leader approached Luke and his group. Four of its soldiers carried a wooden chest covered in what looked like runic letters, with bands of metal strapped around it. From the fearful and somewhat confused expression on the leader's face when he as much as glanced at the chest, Luke figured it was something dangerous.

  The Goblin Leader gestured for Luke to accept the chest, then backed away, turned, and scurried away.

  "That's a good sign," Curtis muttered.

  "A poor way of showing gratitude," Hiroki said as the trio approached the chest, all other goblins now spreading out and leaving. "Not even a word of thanks."

  The moment Luke opened the lid and saw the contents, a message popped up.

  Quest Completed: You have honored your deal with the Goblin Leader.

  Reward: ??? (Unknown Entity).

  Reaching in, Luke retrieved the item, unsure what to think.

  "An egg?" Hiroki asked.

  Curtis sighed. "It's big, at least. Maybe we can cook it?"

  It was indeed an egg, white with specks of purple and pink, except the colors caught the sun, glittering in a strange way. It was big too, like an ostrich egg, maybe even bigger.

  "I don’t think we’re meant to eat this," Luke said, looking around for the Goblin Leader. He wanted to ask where they’d gotten it from and what sort of animal might hatch from it, but the leader was nowhere to be seen.

  "Do you think the other Integrated were here for that egg?" Hiroki asked.

  "I was just thinking the same," Luke said. He got a hint of what was inside through Weaver’s Eye. Whatever was in there was alive. As he reached in with Threads of Mana, he discovered that the egg itself had mana channels, and whatever was inside had them as well. Some sort of Integrated item, or maybe an Integrated creature growing inside, perhaps. The System that now permeated Earth didn’t know what it was. "Maybe it’s from their system," Luke suggested.

  "Could be dangerous. Feels like a lot of risk carrying that thing around," Curtis grumbled. "Why don’t we just smash it and be done with it?"

  "No," Luke said, trailing off as he kept investigating. There was something off about the mana, something foreign. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. "Let’s hold on to it until we know more."

  They continued on, Luke placing the egg into his inventory. Even though it was biological, it disappeared into there without issue.

  Dungeon closing in 60 minutes.

  By the time they made it back to the spot where the missing Integrated from Earth had landed, the corpse was long gone, dissolved into those motes of light they’d seen so many times.

  "It can’t be a coincidence that we met them here," Luke said, still considering the egg. "We fought against Integrated from another system," he continued, "one that gave us an item our system can’t identify."

  "We should post about this on IntegratedNet, see if anyone’s found something similar," Hiroki said.

  Luke turned to him. "IntegratedNet?"

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

  "It’s a social platform for Integrated. A lot of good information," Hiroki said.

  "Never heard of it," Luke said.

  "Couldn’t be bothered," Curtis added. "I don’t like social media."

  "It’s not social media," Hiroki said, sounding almost offended.

  "Can I heart, like, or upvote posts?" Curtis asked.

  "You can."

  Curtis nodded. "Social media."

  Luke kept thinking about the egg, about what might come of it, about the other Integrated, where they’d come from, and what sort of society they might have. The mere existence of their system was proof that life existed outside Earth. He had never doubted it, of course, but knowing it for real, truly knowing... it was different.

  Still different was meeting someone not from Earth. A sentient species. Life-changing stuff. And of course, the first thing they did was start beating the shit out of each other.

  With no need to hurry, they reached the portal and left the dungeon. Giving the now healed Integrated the news about their friend was unpleasant, but seeing Dot's expression light up when they stepped through the portal lifted Luke’s spirits enough that their tears didn’t shake him too much. He’d seen enough death by now to keep a clear head.

  They stayed around until the portal closed, just to be sure the other Integrated wouldn't attempt to come through. Luke told Dot about what they’d seen inside and what had happened to Hannah.

  "She’ll be back, won’t she?" she asked once they’d finished. Surprisingly, her first concern wasn’t the egg, nor the enemy Integrated, but their missing friend.

  "She’ll be back," he said. "Either she’ll find us, or we’ll find her. I just hope that happens before we have to face Relian."

  Once they’d left the portal and the area behind them, they made their way back to Hiroki’s car. This time Hiroki was in the driver’s seat.

  Dot was the first to speak. "Where to next?"

  "Relian is still east of us," Luke said, checking the time on his phone. "Plenty of daytime left. Maybe we should just keep going."

  "East is vague. Can you be more specific?" Hiroki asked.

  "Not really. Sorry."

  "I don’t think there are any roads straight east from here," Curtis said. "We’d have to go southeast a bit. Follow Road 30. That'll put us in Akron, or we go northeast toward Toledo, then follow the water to Cleveland."

  Hiroki looked to Luke for a decision.

  "Cleveland rocks," Luke said. When it was clear they didn't get his reference, he added, "You know, the Drew Carey show."

  They looked at him in silence for a few breaths, then Hiroki cleared his throat and put the car into drive, easing them out of the parking garage. "Haven't seen that one."

  "How far is it?" Hiroki asked Curtis. "To Toledo, I mean."

  "An hour and a half, maybe," Curtis said. "I’m going to sleep for a while."

  Hiroki glanced at Luke through the rearview mirror. "Once we get there, Luke, I want another session with you. What little I saw of your bojutsu against the goblins, I wasn’t impressed."

  "I’m having a hard time combining staff work with my Lifeweaver techniques." Luke brought out a thin thread of mana from his palm and let it trail toward the dashboard.

  Hiroki nodded, pondering. "Let me think on it, Luke. You should be able to combine the two into something greater than either part."

  "Can’t you extend the threads through the staff?" Dot asked.

  Dot, sitting behind Hiroki in the back seat, had her eyes closed, brow furrowed in concentration. Weaver’s Eye showed Luke she was hurting herself, making small internal cuts and suturing them with Needle of Life, training focus, pain tolerance, and dexterity. It didn’t give her experience, but it was an impressive way to train, even still. After a while, she opened her eyes and wiped sweat from her brow. "Maybe someone can craft you a staff with mana channels?"

  "I’d want that," Hiroki said, voice a little breathless. "Then maybe I could extend my strengthening techniques through it. Right now, wood is too brittle against monsters."

  "My magic staff broke, too," Luke said, turning to Dot. "Haven't seen anything like that, but maybe it's a thing. I'll have to check it out."

  She gave a small smile and returned to her training. Curtis snored in the passenger seat as the road blurred past.

  Luke opened his skill list again. Leaving an unallocated point sat wrong with him. Sure, he might get new skills at level 20, but that was far off, and leveling had slowed. He’d need more grinding. The thought of reaching level 20 brought something forward in his mind that'd nagged at him for a while, so he pulled out his phone.

  "Hey, Dot," he said. "What did you call that Integrated who killed you in the Tutorial Dungeon?"

  "Leslie," she answered. "Why?"

  "What was his class?" Luke asked.

  She shrugged. "Something fire-related."

  "Solarian, maybe?" Luke held his screen out.

  "What the hell? That's him! Level 19? He was only level 4 or 5 when I met him."

  "Maybe there’s a lot of experience in killing Integrated," he said.

  Dot gave him a strange look.

  “I’m not going to start doing that,” Luke said, raising his hands in defense.

  “Good,” she said. “You’re a healer.”

  "But we should probably report him," Luke said. "To the DIA, I mean. If this guy is doing something bad, they should know."

  "You think he's killing people?"

  The thought of an Integrated murderer was more than a little chilling, but yeah, it was a possibility. Touching the gray orb didn't turn someone into a good person. Most people weren't even close to good. That realization wasn't a fun one. Killers, gang members, other criminals, terrorists. The world was becoming a scary place.