“Nothing…” Lindsay muttered softly. “There are no weird websites or search history on this thing. Heck, my laptop has a weirder search than his does. I didn’t even know you could search for things on the internet in half the ways that he has.”

  Angelica nodded. “How boring. Whatever. Let’s just look at his notes. I want to see the latest changes he has made to the file.”

  At the moment, Nate had restructured everything, so that there were two files in the main folder. A text document, which held the latest note information. The second file was an Excel-style document with a single page dedicated to each dungeon, listing all its information.

  Nate had been keeping track of the initial cost to create the Dungeon Core, when it had been created, and even what number the Core was. The general location of the dungeon was listed, along with its theme, monster type, items that had been researched, and finally a map Nate had created, which included the traps.

  It was actually rather impressive and far more comprehensive than what the two were expecting.

  “Was he keeping everything this organized last time we saw his notes?” Lindsay asked, more than a little impressed.

  “Maybe? We only ever saw the text document, not this second one. He showed an impressive attention to detail when creating each of these pages.” Angie said.

  In front, Nate suddenly jerked the steering wheel and jammed his foot on the brake as a group of cultivators stepped onto the road ahead of the Overlander.

  Before either of the girls could say anything, he was already unbuckling his belt and using the motion of his arm to cover his mouth. “I’m going to use the door back there to exit the RV in a moment as soon as I walk past, enter the first dungeon, and wait for me there.”

  Aura made her appearance as he walked past, and the two vanished after touching his arm. Mika was still curled up on the bed in the back, either sleeping or meditating.

  Stepping outside into the hot, humid air, Nathan listened to the nearby warbles of bird calls and the annoying trills of cicadas. Aura’s disguise was already in place as they began to approach the cultivators standing calmly in the middle of the road.

  Nate cautiously nodded to them. “Is there a reason that you have blocked the road like this?”

  “They don’t feel very strong, Nate,” Aura told him.

  She wasn’t looking at energy signatures, she wasn’t strong enough to do that yet. Instead, what Aura was doing was inspecting the people themselves. It wasn’t the most exact of methods, but it was better than nothing.

  He reached down to scratch her head, unable to respond telepathically or in a manner that wouldn’t be heard by these people.

  One of them stepped forward, and clasping his hand inside a fist, bowed slightly to Nate. “Sorry for the disturbance, traveler. We are part of a newly formed sect that has laid claim to the lands in this area, including the roads that pass through them. The Sect Elders have informed us that they have no interest in limiting or restricting the use of these public services. However, a donation to use them would be appreciated.”

  “You’re creating a toll for the road?” Nate questioned after a moment. He had more questions but wanted to get a move on before the girls started to get worried. “I am fine with paying a toll to pass through your territory and use the road, assuming it means that the road ahead is safer than normal.”

  “It will be,” The same man as before said.

  “Very well. I find the idea agreeable. How much is this toll?” Nate still had some coins from their time in Philly jingling around in the pocket of his leather pouch. “Also, this may be presumptuous of me, but I assume that some of the funds you collect will be used to help maintain and fix the roads, correct?”

  The man opened and closed his mouth, turning to the others in the group, who all shrugged. “I’m not actually sure. I don’t know if anyone has asked or even made that suggestion to the Sect Elders.”

  Nate nodded. “I would suggest you do so if they haven’t already thought of it. Having a safe area of passage is nice, but having that along with a nice road is even better and will lessen the sting of having to pay a toll.”

  On his Old Earth, tolls were used to improve certain roads; at least that was the idea. Usually, it started out that way, and then the local state government got greedy and started diverting the funds toward something else.

  “I will do so…” He shook his head. “Anyway, the toll is twenty coppers.”

  Whenever he had to buy something here, it brought a small smile to Nate’s face. They were still using America’s currency, though they were calling them different things. A penny was now called a copper coin. A dime was a half-silver, a nickel was just a silver, with quarters being large silvers. Half-dollars were called half-gold, while gold coins were usually something that had been somewhat recently minted.

  Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

  Nate pulled out a couple of coins from the pouch on his hip, glad that he had never transferred the money into storage. From here on out, he would always make sure to have some money on hand, as working the menu was a little obvious if you knew what to look for. He had gotten away with it in the past, but that had been with people who knew him and in peaceful settings.

  Opening his hand, he revealed the contents to the group in front of him. “Do you have change for a half-silver?”

  He had seven coppers, a nickel, and a dime in his hand. The dime was worth seventy-five copper, and the nickel double that. It was a simplistic system, but it worked well enough.

  The leader of the group nodded and exchanged the money with Nate, no questions asked.

  Sect members were generally well respected and treated those around them well. They weren’t common bandits. So, even though he was being charged a toll to use the road, the people in front of him wouldn’t attack them or try to take the little money he had in his hand.

  A metal slip was handed to Nate as the rest of the sect members faded back into the trees. “Hang this on the outside of your vehicle, from your mirrors or windshield wipers. It will ensure that no one else will stop you and ask for a toll. It will begin to shine as you near the boundary of our territory, just remove it then and hang it from a tree limb near the road. One of our outer-sect members will retrieve it.”

  He nodded, flipping the metal sheet over in his hands a couple of times. “Good luck with your sect. I hope it all works out.”

  Back at the Overlander, he threaded it through the windshield wiper and let it dangle in plain view.

  Aura kept an eye on their surroundings while he did that, making sure no one attacked them. It was only once they were safely back inside the RV that she relaxed.

  “Tell them to come back out in three minutes,” Nate whispered to Aura, as he closed the side door and hurried to the driver’s seat. The sect members may be somewhat trustworthy, but that didn’t mean he wanted to stick around longer than needed and test their patience.

  With the way forward now clear, he tapped the accelerator and began moving at a more sedate pace before gradually picking up speed again.

  While he was driving, Nate soon felt the familiar feeling of the girls returning through his core, and held out his hand to the side, depositing them both onto the passenger seat. It was a tad cramped, but that is what they got for both returning at the same time.

  Lindsay appeared moments before Angie and ended up on the bottom, only for her friend to end up squishing her as she landed on top of her.

  “Ugh, Ange, you need to exercise more. I think you broke my everything.” The girl complained theatrically, trying to rearrange herself.

  “Oh please, I’ve seen you eating more snacks than usual while driving,” Angie shot back, poking her in the side with a finger.

  Lindsay’s mouth fell open in shock, and abruptly she turned to Nate. “So, what happened?”

  Barely managing to hide his smirk, he told them of the sect that had taken over this area.

  “Well, at least they’re not bandits…” Angie muttered once they had resettled themselves into their own seats. “It sounds like what they’re attempting to do will actually stabilize the area.”

  “Not to mention they’ll take over repairing the roads… hopefully,” Lindsay added.

  “Were… those… people… good?” A timid new voice none of them recognized asked telepathically.

  The surprise of hearing a fifth person speaking caused Nate to briefly jerk the steering wheel, only to correct it a moment later as he looked over his shoulder. “Was… that Mika?”

  Aura, who had taken up a temporary position in the passenger’s seat, while the girls sat around the table, had perked up in equal surprise. “Have you learned the skill already, little one?” She asked.

  The weasel in question scampered into view from where she had been studying on the bed. Seeing Lindsay, she immediately latched onto her leg and climbed the girl like the small tree she was and settled around her neck. “Pets,” The little beast companion demanded.

  Aura sighed and rolled her eyes. “I suppose that answers my question. Regardless, her vocabulary won’t be the greatest for the next few weeks. At her current realm, learning new words will take time.”

  Nate kept one ear open on what they were saying as he focused on driving.

  Mika’s voice was young and immature, hinting at her young age. She also possessed another quality that all young people seemed to possess, in that SHE WOULDN’T SHUT UP! Once the weasel understood, people could hear and understand her, she began talking constantly.

  Within minutes, Aura was receiving constant glares from Nate and Angie; Lindsay chose to suffer in silence.

  “You knew she was like this, didn’t you?” Nate hissed at the kitsune.

  Aura turned away from him. “I have no idea what you are talking about. But if I have to put up with my ears getting talked off, then so should you.”

  Mutual suffering. He could respect that, not that he would let her know that. “I’m going to tell Lindsay that she isn’t allowed to give you any more scratches, pets, or brush-downs for the time being.” He whispered smugly.

  Aura’s tails flared up, before falling limply onto the seat, drooping just like her head. “You’re mean.”

  He reached over and scratched behind her ear, an action that she leaned into.

  “I thought you didn’t like petting me or giving me scratches,” She said after he had been doing that for a few moments and driving with one hand.

  His hand stilled for a moment before he forced it to start moving again. “It’s not that, it’s just… in my eyes, you aren’t a simple animal or beast. Unlike Mika, when we met you could already speak, so you’re more of a person to me. Asking me to pet you or give you scratches is a little like having me do that to Lindsay or Angie. Sure, I know it’s not the same, but there is a part of me that can’t get past that.” He shrugged. “I don’t know, if you want some pampering or comfort though, just ask. Eventually, I’ll get used to it and it won’t be an issue any longer.”

  She nodded gently so as not to disrupt his movements, but didn’t say anything.

  “I do have a question though?” He said suddenly, glancing into the rearview mirror. “Why didn’t the chatterbox go into the dungeon with them? She has a core now. Wasn’t that the requirement?”

  “Only partially,” Aura replied. “The two of them now need to redo their bond, I believe, with Mika’s core as its base. Once that is done, it will tie the two of them together properly… Or maybe Lindsay just needs to add Mika as her beast companion in her wrist computer. Either is possible, I suppose.”

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