“Look, we can talk about this! There’s no need for violence!”

  Unfortunately, the oversized lizard-horse didn’t seem keen on diplomacy, as indicated by it charging at me, maw gaping.

  I ran screaming.

  My bare feet padded across the wet dirt at top speed, followed by the mud splatter of hooves behind me. I didn’t even care that the place stank like moldy human socks anymore. I just wanted out.

  As soon as I saw something big in the distance, I turned left at the crossroads, passing by a tangle of hissing pipes snaking through the ceiling.

  My breaths came out quickly, my tail swished behind me, and I wished nothing more than to slap my past self.

  Honestly, what had I been thinking, joining the fresh rift subjugation party? I had known these got way more dangerous than the conquered ones! And I hadn’t even been to one of those since becoming a street performer! Why couldn’t I stay out of this?! The money wouldn’t be worth this anyway!

  Yeah, but I also couldn’t have predicted I would get separated from the rest right away. Stupid moving walls! Since when did rifts just shift like that?!

  I turned left.

  A dead end.

  Panic.

  I jumped at the cloudy glass wall blocking my advance and latched onto it with the pads on my hands and feet. The beast snapped its jaw at me and I only barely moved my tail away.

  My heart drummed in my chest as I climbed higher. Then I chanced a glance behind me.

  My pursuer glared up at me with violence in its eyes.

  I slid a hand off the wall, yanked down my eyelid, and blew a raspberry.

  “You suck! I hope you stub your toe!”

  It didn’t have any toes.

  “…And I hope it rains on your wedding! Bweh!”

  I must have gone too far, because it then dipped down its head and its lower jaw bulged.

  My eyes went wide and I scurried to the side, careful not to fall off.

  The spot I’d been on a second ago clinked, then exploded in a sizzle of steam. The shockwave of the blast nearly knocked me off but I managed to hold on.

  I definitely did not scream.

  Attached upside down now, I eyed the unmarred glass wall that had taken the shot like nobody’s business. I stared down at my imminent death, my black-and-yellow tail stiff in fear as I thought of a way to get out of this situation.

  “You… You aren’t the only one who can do that!”

  I detached one hand, made a pinching motion, and focused.

  A beat later, the air above my hand shimmered, and a card popped into existence between my fingers.

  It had a light blue rim and featured a picture of a white ball of energy with a thin glowing trail behind it. Above the picture sat the title of the skill.

  “[Tricky Trail]!”

  I drew my hand back as the card pulsed with light and then swung my hand forward at my enemy, releasing the projectile.

  As soon as it left my hand, the card expanded and turned into a form resembling the drawing on it with a low screech. It tumbled through the air in an erratic motion and then slammed into the soil right next to my foe as it barely moved out of the way.

  Unfortunately for it, my skill detonated, showering the abomination in crushing light and wet dirt alike.

  My limbs moved as soon as I saw my pursuer flip over. I slipped from the glass dead end to the rocky side wall, climbed around the beast, reached the bottom of the wall, and swiftly transitioned to running on the ground.

  The roar I heard behind me filled me with dread and made me move faster.

  I ran through the crossroads past the tapestry of pipes again, still trying to think of a way out.

  Then I heard the crash behind me.

  My neck automatically craned back and my breath hitched as I saw it.

  Coming from the side passage, a humongous two-headed snake had intercepted my pursuer. One of its heads gripped the smaller beast’s body in its jaws, trying to gobble it up whole. The other head… gazed in my direction.

  The lizard-horse struggled for a moment longer before the snake bit down harder, making a burst of steam pop out of its side and snuffing the life out of it. An essence card popped out of the corpse and the snake immediately absorbed it.

  But I didn’t care about that. I needed to get out now.

  The head looking in my direction dipped low and its eyes flashed orange.

  I instinctively threw myself to the side, just in time to dodge the line of blazing death that appeared between the snake and the stone wall where this passage curved to the side.

  I wasted no time in scrambling to run further, trying to cut its line of vision so that it couldn’t do that again. Maybe even find another crossroad where I could lose it entirely.

  It didn’t take long for the giant double snake to finish its meal and decide I would be the dessert. Unlike the lizard, that thing had no problem catching up to me. I never had any chance of getting away.

  And to add salt to the wound, I reached another dead end. But unlike last time, a massive dark pit greeted me in place of a wall to climb on. Even if I could jump far enough to reach the far wall, the hot steam coming out of the tangle of pipes covering it wouldn’t do me any favors.

  Completely trapped.

  I skidded to a stop and stared at the hole in horror. Then I whipped my head around at my approaching doom as it made its way around the final corner and rocketed in my direction with its mouth open.

  My mind raced, petty insults came to mind, and then I remembered my other skill I normally considered just a joke. A quick plan formed in my head and I had no time to worry about whether it would work or not.

  I acted on it.

  Another card appeared in my hand. This one had a shiny dark blue rim and a picture of a frog mid-air, its eyes bulged and mouth open in surprise, surrounded by straight lines forming a sort of Sun-like shape around it.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “[Transfrogify]!”

  Just as it snapped out at me with its fangs, my card turned into a sphere of energy and then split itself into two directions. One half hit me, the other hit the snake.

  We both changed with a poof.

  The huge two-headed snake turned into a huge two-headed frog while I turned into a small black and yellow frog with a tail.

  With its neck much shorter and its now non-existent fangs posing no threat, I managed to quickly hop on top of its leg, then on its back, and then finally behind it, all while its disoriented form continued barreling past me.

  Three seconds later, we both turned back to our original forms. Since I was quite used to it already, I swiftly reoriented myself.

  To my shock, the snake reacted in time just before sliding off into the abyss, and curled its tail around the rocky cliff face.

  Luckily, my other skill finally regained its spark at the perfect moment.

  [Tricky Trail]

  The snake opened one of its mouths to hiss at me and its eyes flashed cold blue.

  I threw my skill straight down its throat as I rolled to the side, dodging the sudden line of ice that materialized right next to me.

  My attack exploded, sent a shudder through its body, and dislodged it from where it had caught itself. The other head hissed and snapped in my direction, but couldn’t stop itself from following the rest of its body down the pit.

  I stood there for a second, taking ragged breaths, speechless at what had just happened.

  Had I seriously just defeated some high tier monster…?

  No, no way. It couldn’t be dead.

  After all, it hadn’t given me its–

  A loud splat echoing from down below made me flinch. Then, a glowing projectile shot out of the hole, spun in the air, and headed straight for me.

  I tensed, but soon recognized what this was and cupped my hands in anticipation.

  The card gently landed in my waiting hands and its glow gradually faded.

  As it did, my eyes widened when I saw its rim.

  Purple with a lattice pattern.

  An Epic?!

  It had a picture of two featureless faces staring at each other.

  The title?

  ◆Duality◆

  “An Epic essence…” I muttered in awe.

  I had never held an Epic essence or skill before. This…

  I stiffened as a loud rumble rippled through the walls and the ground, shaking the entire rift. Just like before, my surroundings shifted.

  The pipes at the far wall rose up to the ceiling while the walls grew out to create walkways around the pit on both sides, leading further into the rift.

  The shaking eventually stopped as the rift re-stabilized with a loud hiss of steam.

  A muted roar from far away followed.

  My gaze snapped to the hallway the snake had chased me through – looked different now – but I saw nothing.

  Which didn’t mean I wouldn’t get ambushed as soon as I left this spot though. And with how everything had shifted again…

  Sure. I’d defeated a big monster, but it had all been luck. I wouldn’t get as lucky next time.

  I looked back down at the Epic essence and knew what I had to do.

  “It’s a sign.”

  I had to craft a new skill right here, right now. Something to help me through this. Something powerful.

  “…Okay.”

  First, the base.

  Well, I wouldn’t get a better base than an Epic essence, right? I wasn’t sure if ‘Duality’ would be a good base, but…

  Didn’t matter. Epic was Epic.

  Now for the other two…

  I immediately gravitated toward the one Very Rare essence I’d gotten a long time ago.

  Glossy dark blue rim and a very weird picture of small explosions or something.

  ◆Fission◆

  For this one, I had no idea what it meant, but explosions sounded good. That ought to make it into something powerful, right?

  Now… I needed another one. Having only two essences would be useless.

  I didn’t have anything good anymore though.

  Glow, Spark, Dust, Stone, Breeze…

  All Basics or Commons. But I wanted something good out of this. Didn’t want to waste an Epic and a Very Rare.

  I grimaced as I remembered… that essence.

  I hesitated for a moment, then pulled it out without touching it and made it float next to the other two.

  Dark blue rim and a picture of a faceless person, looking down at two masks in their hands – one looked like a beautiful woman and the other a scarred bald man.

  ◆Identity◆

  And it would have been all fine and dandy if not for the trails of ethereal blood marring its surface and dripping down from it, and the usual two diamonds decorating the title having cracks in them.

  I gulped as I seriously considered using it.

  Then I remembered a familiar motherly voice in the back of my head.

  ‘Don’t ever use corrupted essences. They might kill you… or worse,’ it said.

  Then I heard a loud crash in the distance and flinched.

  I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists, torn on what to do.

  Use a Common essence and risk the skill not being good enough to get me out of here?

  Or use the corrupted Very Rare essence and hope it wouldn’t kill me?

  “This is a terrible idea.”

  I tilted my head to the side.

  “Yeah, but how bad could it really be?”

  I tilted it to the other side.

  “I could go insane and die.”

  Tilt.

  “But without it, I might just die anyway.”

  I grimaced.

  After a few agonizing seconds, I came to a decision.

  Half-measures had never done me any good anyway.

  “…This better be worth it.”

  I steeled myself and grabbed ◆Duality◆ in my left hand and the other two in my right hand. My fingers twitched as they touched the ethereal blood on ◆Identity◆, but I didn’t falter.

  “Okay… Let’s do this! Craft!”

  The essences began to glow and the two in my right hand turned into pure light. Before I could second-guess myself, I slammed the two into the Duality essence, making it shudder and warp in on itself.

  The picture of the faces and its title disappeared and began shifting.

  I held the gestating skill in both hands, waiting with both dread and anticipation for the result as the pressure on my mind intensified with every second.

  I grit my teeth as my head pounded, wishing it would hurry up!

  And then it was done.

  An overwhelming mix of senses slammed into my mind as my breaths stuttered for a moment, and then…

  I fell in two directions at once.