Jason had spent the better part of an hour at Kaelen’s table, listening to the reptile’s endless boasting, laughing at his terrible jokes, and nodding along to stories that seemed to grow more exaggerated with every retelling. But beneath all the noise, he had been gathering information. Every word about dungeon layouts, monster behaviors, guild hierarchies, and reward systems—he filed it all away in the back of his mind.

He learned that the Crimson Depths dungeon was located three days east of Eldrath, buried beneath an abandoned mine. He learned that the top fifty guilds had access to exclusive quests that paid in gold bars instead of silver coins. He learned that the Velveteen Watch—Thalion’s old guild—had once been ranked number twelve before they went dark.

Kaelen, for all his brawn, was surprisingly loose-lipped around someone who actually listened to him.

Finally, Jason slapped his palms on the table and stood up. "Well, this has been great. Really. But I should get back to my friends before they think I ditched them."

Kaelen’s yellow eyes flickered with something unexpected—disappointment. "Already, little meat? You just got here."

Jason forced a smile. "I know, I know. But I need to check on them. That one is still recovering, you know how it is."

Kaelen grunted, his scarred snout wrinkling. "You’re the first of your kind I’ve seen around here. Not elven. Not dwarven. Not feline or lupine or scaled." He gestured vaguely at Jason’s face, his arms, his bare skin. "You’re... different. We initially mistook you for a disfigured elf. Someone who had their ears mutilated or cut off. Or maybe a creature born from something twisted. But the more I look at you, the more I realize you’re something else entirely."

Jason’s smile tightened, but he didn’t correct him. He couldn’t. No one in this world knew what a human was except Ylva, who he had told during their journey but something told him she wasn’t paying much attention.

He was the first. The only. And Kaelen’s assumption—a disfigured elf—was as good an explanation as any.

"Well," Jason said, "I’m just me."

Kaelen nodded slowly, though his yellow eyes studied Jason with renewed curiosity.

"I like you, little meat. You’re not like the others. You listen." He reached into a leather satchel at his side and pulled out a rolled-up banner—thick parchment stamped with a golden seal.

"This is the next quest we’re taking. A dungeon crawl in the Stonefang tunnels. Nothing too dangerous. Mostly goblins and giant spiders."

He held the banner out to Jason. "Are you interested in joining us?"

Jason stared at the banner. Then at Kaelen’s massive frame. Then at Mira, who was cleaning her claws with a dagger, and Helga, who was sharpening her warhammer with a whetstone.

His mind raced.

He was not strong enough to go on any quest. He was weak. The things he had adapted to so far—a fraction of magic resistance, boiling water and partial blunt force trauma—were not enough to make him survive anything that would cause him death.

A single goblin could probably gut him. A giant spider would wrap him in silk and suck out his insides.

But Ylva and Thalion were a different case altogether. Ylva had claws, speed, strength. Thalion could blow up heads—when his mana wasn’t depleted. Together, maybe they could handle something.

"I’ll think about it," Jason said, taking the banner from Kaelen’s massive hand. "Give me a day or two."

Kaelen clapped him on the shoulder—hard enough to make Jason’s knees buckle. "Take your time. We leave at the end of the week." He grinned, revealing those rows of razor-sharp teeth.

"I hope you say yes, little meat. It gets boring with just these two."

Mira flicked her tail. "Speak for yourself, scale-brain."

Helga grunted. "He’s not wrong. You’re boring."

Jason laughed nervously and backed away from the table. "Great. Love the team spirit. I’ll, uh, let you know."

He turned and walked toward the corner where Ylva and Thalion sat, the banner clutched tightly in his hand.

Ylva looked up as he approached, her eyes scanning him from head to toe. "Still alive. Impressive."

"Barely," Jason muttered, sliding onto the bench next to her. He tossed the banner onto the table. "Look what I got."

Thalion leaned forward, his pale fingers unrolling the parchment. His eyes widened slightly. "This is a legitimate guild quest. Ranked C. Stonefang tunnels." He looked up at Jason. "How did you get this?"

"I made friends," Jason said, jerking a thumb toward Kaelen’s table. "Big guy over there likes me. Thinks I’m interesting."

Ylva’s ears twitched. "You? Interesting?"

"Shut up." Jason grabbed a leftover piece of bread from Thalion’s plate and took a bite. "He wants us to join their dungeon crawl. Says it’s mostly goblins and spiders."

Thalion’s expression darkened. "Mostly is a dangerous word in dungeoneering."

"Yeah, I figured," Jason said. "Which is why I told him I’d think about it. I wanted to talk to you two first."

Ylva crossed her arms, her tail flicking. "Let me get this straight. You want us—a werewolf, a half-dead elf, and whatever the hell you are—to go into a dungeon with a guild of professional killers?"

Jason shrugged. "When you put it that way, it sounds crazy."

"It is crazy."

"But think about it," Jason pressed, leaning forward.

"We need money. We need connections. We need a reason to be in this city without getting thrown out or killed. If we join this quest, even as tag-alongs, we get a cut of the reward. We get our names on a guild record and potentially, we get protection."

Thalion rubbed his chin, his cracked lips pressed together in thought.

"He makes a point. The Velveteen Watch is gone—or at least inactive. We need to establish ourselves somewhere new."

Ylva growled. "I hate when you both make sense."

Jason grinned. "So we’re doing it?"

"We’re thinking about it," Ylva corrected, jabbing a claw at his chest. "Don’t get ahead of yourself."

Thalion glanced at the banner again. "Stonefang tunnels are not far from here. If we go, we should prepare. Healing supplies. Weapons. A plan."

Jason leaned back, his swollen stomach finally starting to settle. "Then let’s prepare. We’ve got until the end of the week."

Ylva stared at him for a long moment, her eyes unreadable. Then she sighed. "Fine. But if I die because of your stupid decisions, I’m haunting you."

"Deal," Jason said. "And if I die, you can eat my body so nothing goes to waste."

Thalion blinked. "That is... morbid."

Jason shrugged. "Efficient."

Ylva’s tail flicked again, but the corner of her mouth twitched. "You’re impossible."

"And yet, here you are," Jason said, raising his mug. "To bad decisions and worse company."

Thalion hesitated, then raised his own mug. Ylva rolled her eyes but clinked her mug against theirs.

"To surviving," she muttered.

Jason drank deep, his mind already racing ahead. The dungeon. The egg. The possibilities.

He had a week to get stronger.