“Reincarnated,” Ace announced. “I can’t believe that we’ve all been reincarnated.

It wasn’t the first time that we’d had this conversation since leaving the Guide, or even the fifth. However, this was a good way to keep us distracted from our current surroundings and just how disgusting they were.

I was currently walking through mud that was six-inches deep. Everywhere I looked, just about all I could see was a massive field of mud, with occasional islands of floating plants. There were none of these islands on our path, just more mud.

The pathway was entirely covered with mud, varying between two to six inches in most spots. However, there was an edge to the path and a steep drop off. I didn’t know how deep the mud went through most of this area, but as soon as you stepped off the edge, you were in over your head and sinking fast.

Maya walked in front of the group, using the butt of her spear to probe the ground as we walked, to help locate the edge of the path so that none of us went over it again. She also had the best reflexes out of all of us, having invested more into agility than anyone else, so she could also react to trouble the fastest. Olivia also continued to probe the ground with her staff, mostly for her own comfort, though this helped confirm the safety of our path.

“It makes sense,” Turtle said, repeating what he’d already said before. “The whole reincarnation thing would explain why we have these specific new bodies…and why we all adapt to them so easily.” He looked down at himself and shrugged. “This is so different from who I used to be that it should have taken me years to get used to this…and to everything that comes with it.”

Turtle looked around, though his eyes settled on Maya for a few seconds as he gave her an appreciative look. I felt the stirrings of jealousy, though I wasn’t quite sure why. I shoved those feelings aside for the moment, embarrassed even having those emotions.

“That story also explains our talents and affinities,” I added thoughtfully.

There were a few looks of surprise and interest at that since this was the first time I’d brought this up during the repeated conversations. However, this was something that I’d been thinking about.

“The Guide said that Magdalena was a paladin of Avexis,” I explained, “which is probably why Avexis gave me my ability. That’s probably why I have a specialization in divine type primal magic. My soul has been exposed to it for so long.”

“OR,” Olivia said, “you…SHE already had that specialization, and that is why she became a paladin in the first place.”

“Possible,” I agreed. “But unlikely. And from the images that the Guide showed me, it looked like Magdalena was a knife fighter…which would explain my talent for knives. If you do something enough, and become experienced enough, you may remember it on a subconscious level. I believe that is where our talents come from.

“I can see it,” Bunny mused. “In that mirror, I saw an older version of me…” She gestured down at herself to indicate that she meant an older version of her current body. “She was riding a giant rabbit like it was a horse. From the images I saw, I think she might have been some kind of messenger or courier.”

“That would be something to see,” Maya said. “A giant rabbit… I bet it would be good for fighting too.”

“Honesty, I can’t wait until I can summon a giant rabbit,” Bunny exclaimed with a broad grin. “That would be so awesome. I hope that’s my next ability.”

“A good theory,” Olivia told me. “But we don’t have any proof.”

“No,” I agreed. “No solid proof, though there is some evidence.” I gestured to Maya and added, “Respawned players get talents and subtypes. People who become players the other way don’t.”

Maya nodded at that. “It’s true. We’ve been wondering about that for awhile. Players like me, we only get a main affinity that’s related to our class and the type of magic we use. None of us has ever shown a subtype affinity or a talent. None.”

“So, you won’t get a specialization?” Ace asked Maya.

“Probably not,” Maya responded with a shrug. “But who knows… Maybe if I specialize on my own, choosing the same types of abilities and then using them for long enough… Maybe I’ll be able to unlock a specialization that way.”

“That would fit with my theory,” I agreed. “Maybe we should talk to some of the dungeon run players who have been around the longest and see if any of them have ever developed any. It’s possible that they have but just never reported it.”

“Considering everything that we’ve seen and experienced,” Bunny said. “The reincarnation thing isn’t too hard to believe.”

“What I really can’t believe,” Ace grumbled, “is that we’re still chasing after those assholes.”

I held up the silver metal sphere which continued to gently tug in the direction we were going. “We’re still on the right track.”

“Good thing we have that,” Ace said. “Or we would have lost them back at the funhouse.”

“It isn’t like we’d be able to see any monster bodies they left behind in THIS,” Turtle said as he pointed to the mud around us.

Turtle looked like he was about to add something else when Bunny abruptly held out her hand and exclaimed, “Incoming.”

A moment later, I saw what she was referring to. There were bubbles in the mud, coming towards us. I took a deep breath and braced myself to use my ‘Invocation of Spite’, but I didn’t use it right away.

A monster burst out of the mud and tried to attack Maya, but she stepped out of the way. It flopped down onto the path, it’s mouth still open to bite Maya. The mouth was massive, at least a third of its entire body, and there were numerous rows of sharp teeth. Maya’s spear pierced it a second later and she casually flung it to the side and over the edge, where it sank back down into the mud.

“I hate those damn mud piranha,” Ace grumbled. “You can’t see them until they come out of the mud, much less actually hit them.” He had both his scepters out and pointed to the mud which was still bubbling.

“Agreed,” I responded.

The mud piranha, as we’d taken to calling these monsters, were annoying as hell. They’d hide in the mud until they attacked, and we couldn’t do a damn thing to them until they’d actually come out of the mud where we could see them. They were all so coated in mud that we couldn’t tell if they were fish, reptiles, or something else entirely. All we saw was mud and teeth.

More of the mud piranha emerged from the mud, but we were ready to deal with them. Turtle braced himself with his shield, though I wasn’t sure how stable he’d be there. It was hard getting any solid footing in the mud, and a previous group of mud piranha had knocked him back over the ledge, and we’d barely been able to keep him from being pulled under.

Turtle activated both of his abilities, so I pushed ‘Blessing of Avexis’ onto him. A moment later, little red sparks began to hit each and every monster that attacked him. Individually, these sparks didn’t do a lot of damage, but they really added up over the whole group.

“NOW,” Olivia shouted as she unleashed her shockwave, which caused a save of mud to shove away from her, clearing the path for several seconds before more mud flowed in to replace it. All of the monsters were flung back into the mud, and it took a few seconds before they began emerging again, this time a little more staggered.

I blasted the first mud piranha with an ‘Invocation of Spite’, then used my hammer on another that came close. I didn’t bother using the hammer head since I’d already learned that they were too slippery for that to work very well. Instead, I used the beak on the back side, and that spike drove right into the monster’s head.

The fight lasted for several minutes before we finished off the last of the monsters. The hardest part of the fight had been keeping my balance since it would have been far too easy to get knocked down or slide off into the deep end.

“Your shockwave is the VIP again,” Ace told Olivia when we were done. “That thing is great for knocking them all off balance.”

Olivia smiled at that. “It is pretty effective.”

“Definitely,” Maya agreed. “Between Turtle and your shockwave… Your combo is great for handling large groups.”

“I doubt we would have been able to get this far without you,” Bunny offered.

Then Bunny looked around and let out a sigh, clearly thinking about how she hadn’t been of much use in the mud region. None of her rabbits had been able to handle the mud and had all ended up stuck in one spot. Sir Fluff hadn’t gotten it nearly as bad as the horned rabbits, but even he had been nearly useless, which was why Bunny had sent them all away.

“Hey, look,” Turtle announced, pointing into the distance.

I immediately saw what Turtle was pointing at. Something incredibly massive had risen from the mud, though all I could make out was mud and the glimpse of teeth. I was suddenly VERY thankful that it was far off in the deep mud.

“Is that a giant mud piranha?” Turtle asked, his voice shaking a little at the sight.

“A mud whale?” Bunny asked.

“No,” Ace responded with a grin. “A MUDaladon.”

Turtle chuckled at that. “A megalaMUDon…”

Olivia face-palmed. “Please stop.”

“Whatever it is,” I said with a worried look, “we should probably get out of here before it sees us.”

“Definitely,” Bunny enthusiastically agreed. “I do NOT want to see that one up close.”

----------

It was great to get out of the mud fields. Walking through all that mud had been slow, exhausting, and filthy.

As soon as we moved into a new area with lush green fields, I immediately dropped to the grass. None of us had been able to sit down since entering the mud.

“A bath,” Bunny moaned. “I would give everything I own for a long hot bath.”

“Be careful what you wish for,” Maya said as she dropped to the ground. “We might walk into a bunch of geysers.”

I looked over at Bunny, whose arm was still in a sling. “How are you feeling?”

Bunny looked down at her arm and winced. “It feels a little better since I slotted some vitality, but I definitely want to put more points there now.”

“I think we all do,” Olivia agreed. “I’m exhausted.”

We all just sat around for several minutes, none of us relaxing entirely. As tired as we were, this was still the Labyrinth and monsters could show up at any moment.

Then Bunny abruptly sat up and said, “I hear water… It sounds like a waterfall.”

I looked around but didn’t see any water, other than all the mud from the direction we’d just come. Instead, I saw green fields with large rocky outcroppings all over the place. There was one right ahead of us, with the path going right past it.

“Over there,” Bunny announced, pointing to the outcropping. “I hear it there.”

There was a bit of grumbling but we all got back to our feet and began staggering towards the outcropping. The allure of water was just too strong to ignore, no matter how tired we all were. When we reached it a few minutes later, I was suddenly thankful that we’d listened to Bunny.

The rocky outcropping formed a large crescent, with an opening in the middle that was about fifty yards across. Water was pouring down from the top of the outcropping, though I didn’t see any source of where it could have come from. What I could see was the waterfall that rushed down into a large pond. And then, as if all that wasn’t enough, we found a large treasure box at the opening.

“Food,” Turtle announced as he opened the treasure box. Then he looked at the pond with a grin. “And water…”

“A safe zone,” Bunny gasped, nearly looking like she was about to burst into tears of joy.

Maya looked up and gasped, “Gracias a Dios.”

“Just what we needed,” I agreed with a long sigh. Then, before anyone could go into the water, I announced, “Fill our canteens first. Then shower.”

There were no arguments. Everyone scrambled to fill up their canteens, and then we all went into the water to clean off. Armor and clothes were quickly removed and then soaked to get rid of all the mud and grime that had built up during our time in the Labyrinth.

None of us worried about dirtying the water, because this was a safe zone. The Labyrinth would clean the water, and before long, it would be just as fresh and pure as it had been when we first set eyes on it.

Once my clothes and armor had been taken care of, I set them to the side of the pond to dry off. Only then did I focus on getting myself cleaned. My eyes went to the waterfall, and I saw that I wasn’t the only one with the same idea. Olivia had just stepped out from beneath the falling water while Maya took her place.

It was at this point that I realized that everyone was buck-ass naked, and that I was hardly the first one to notice this. Ace and Olivia were eyeing each other, trying to be subtle about it but failing miserably. Turtle was trying hard to be chivalrous and not look at anyone, though I did catch him giving me a quick glance or two. For some reason, I felt rather pleased by that.

“Well, I am worth looking at now,” I mused to myself.

It was a strange thought since I’d been rather plan and unremarkable looking as a guy, but now… Well, I was certainly no supermodel, but I was still pretty good looking. I felt rather proud of that, a fact that Turtle just further confirmed with his attention.

When I went to take my turn under the waterfall, Maya and I moved past each other. In that moment, we both paused in order to look the other over. I couldn’t help but comparing myself to her, at least a little, though I also admired just how good she looked. What surprised me though, was the way she looked me over, giving me an appreciative smirk and a wink before moving on.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” I quietly mused to myself. It seemed that Maya was into girls. “Maybe something to think about later…when this is done.”