Even as I clutched the knife tighter, the twitch of my fingers wouldn’t abate.

Blood was already dripping down my hands from where I’d accidentally cut myself earlier, and now, I could hear it approach once more, claws scraping against the floor of the cargo space.

The narrow path between the crates stacked in here was too tight to face it. I needed to get elevation.

Just as I’d gotten my fingers around the top of the nearest crate stack, however, another pulsating current passed through my body, causing my muscles to forcibly contract.

My knee smashed into wood, a bolt of pain passed through my body, and worse still, the crates I’d been gripping at began to tip over. The heavy things fell across my back and shoulders to all but subtle crashes, and behind me, a loud hiss now sounded as I hit the floor.

Without wasting a breath, I rolled to my feet just in time to see the massive frilled pouncer round the corner, maw open and frills wide as it, hissing and spitting, set off in a sprint towards me.

In two steps, I’d lunged off the nearest crate, meeting the angered creature halfway.

The moment I was in the air, everything slowed down. A clawed paw came my way, but my body moved as easily as if both my feet had been planted on the ground.

I twisted to the side, avoiding the attack as I slashed the creature across the back and the neck before gracefully landing on my feet behind it.

There was now real anger in those hisses and spits, the narrow space preventing the large creature from turning around.

I could’ve ran up and finished things off easily enough, but instead, I flipped the knife over, only for another electric current to pulse through my body just as I was about to catch it.

The sharp blade cut my fingers once more, causing more blood to drip onto the floor. I clicked my tongue before throwing it straight at the back of the creature’s head with a bit more emotion than I’d intended.

Still, the aim was damned good enough, if not for the fact that the doors to the cargo space had just open up from the other side.

Error…

Outer Interference Detected

Battle Simulation, Ending…

That same frilled pouncer which had once cut open my back, months ago, now flickered out of focus. The knife, however, continued on its trajectory, burying itself into the wall right next to the door that’d just opened up.

Right next to Mikayes’ head.

“Kid! For fuck’s sake, the ship is rental!”

𐫰 𐫰 𐫰

“You’re still doing that self-torture?” Mikayes asked as he handed me a colorful packet of band-aids, my fingers still twitching involuntarily as I received the heart-and-flowers speckled thing.

The boxes I’d tipped over had already been returned to their stack. There’d been no damage to the floor.

Nothing noticeable, at least.

“It’s for my training,” I said, clicking my tongue as the steady current coursing through my body made it impossible to open the package. More so than fighting simulated monsters. “It’s advanced muscle stimulation. Though, I might have been a bit too ambitious with the settings…”

It was that same feature that’d once punished a couple of cocky brats back at the carrier, though, rather than slowly ramp it up over years of training, I’d been speed-running through its setting in a few short months.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

I didn’t even turn it off as I went to sleep.

“Everything about you is too ambitious, kid.” Mikayes snorted. “Just remember, I’m paying you to make me rich, not to get yourself killed. And so far in this journey, all you’ve done is triple my food expenses, you damned gluttonous brat.”

“You should’ve been more careful in your negotiations.” I grinned, getting to my feet. I’d given up on any medical care for myself for now. My bleeding had mostly stopped by itself anyway. “A growing kid needs to eat, you know, and you offered to cover my working expenses during our contracted period.”

Emphasis on growing.

Although it’d turned me into a rickety straw of a youth, always starving for something to eat, the Accelerated Growth part of the Cryak mod hadn’t been for nothing. Only months had passed, but looking in a mirror, it felt more like years.

These days, my insides were slightly less out of synch with the body of a mid-teens boy, and standing before Mikayes, I didn’t even have to look up to meet his eyes. Soon, it’d be the other way around, and I could tell that the foxlike man was stressing about it.

“And you’ve been enjoying my new growth as much as I have, anyway,” I finished.

It was true. Mikayes was very much in the camp of those who thought the new acrobatics enabled by my Aerial Movement was, indeed, rad. Personally, I was a bit torn about it.

Once I had confirmed I had the ability — one of my only B-grade ones — I’d done some extensive research about its implications. Unfortunately, any documented combat uses were limited at best.

Mostly, at least when it came to wing-less species, it seemed favored by the traveling troupes of the cosmos, along with exotic dancers or specialized athletes.

It certainly put me in interesting company, and I still couldn’t help but cringe a bit when I pictured myself doing flips and somersaults while fighting.

I’ll look ridiculous…

“Oh, speaking of which, did you see the videos I sent you?” Mikayes picked up, eagerly jumping on the topic. “In the Cryak world these days, it’s all about the dive-bombing, kid. It’ll be super effective, I promise.

“All you have to do is find some suitably high place to climb up onto, and you can…”

Yeah, I wasn’t planning on taking any combat tips from the merchant either. Not any time soon, at least. “If you want to see something really cool,” I cut in as his speculations became a bit too out there, “The offer of lifting me onto a scale is still on the table.”

Mikayes eyes narrowed. “You know, I might do it if you actually told me why you want me to do that.”

Because I’m trying to figure out the fringe uses of an achievement system that I’ve received, and the easiest one to test is called Damsel In Distress…

It would’ve been too long of a story to tell, so I just shrugged. “Your loss. It could’ve been really neat, though…”

Despite the time I’d had with it, I still hadn’t figured out all the intricacies of my new, altered System.

Sure, I’d gotten quite a few levels over these past months, but I still felt as if any real progress remained hampered by the fact that I still couldn’t access my UI in any convenient way.

Even now, just to run a simple Battle Simulation, I was forced to use a clunky access device that was currently — I looked around the cramped cargo space — in here somewhere?

“She still hasn’t made any progress?” I asked, trying not to sound too eager.

Mostly, I felt bad about all the extra work I’d ended up pushing on Jenna. Sure, she’d agreed to help me figure out my UI, but at some point, after a hundred or so revisions, I’d started to think my specifications might’ve been a bit too specific.

She’d been eager enough in the beginning, but these days, whenever I tried to inch our joint project closer to what I’d possessed in my past life, her face would either switch between being flustered, or straight up frustrated. “And how am I supposed to do that?” she’d huff. “It’s impossible…or, maybe…”

And in the end, she’d always relent before the challenge. She was an enthusiast through and through, and if making a new sort of graft was only a little bit impossible, she desperately wanted to be the one to do it.

“Who knows.” Mikayes shrugged. “All that mumbo-jumbo you two are working on is beyond me…Though, I suppose she did seem somewhat eager when she told me to go get you? I thought it was because you didn’t show up for breakfast, and because we’ll be landing in a few hours…But yeah, no, she’s probably done with it actually.”

“She is?”

Before I could bolt of, Mikayes held up a hand to stop me. “Hold it there, speedy. Get rid of the blood-stains before you go see her. You know how she gets. There are still days when she lectures me on how incredibly irresponsible it was to bring along a kid for this journey. Don’t make her right.”

“Already told you not to treat me like a kid,” I said, having just glanced down to, indeed, find several red stains upon my shirt. “The rest is on you two.”

“Yeah, and if I tell you to go treat water like wine, you think you’ll manage to get drunk of that, too?” Mikayes asked, rolling his eyes. “It’s hard not to treat you like a kid with how you look — used to, at least.” He gave me a displeased once-over, muttering something about “bloody bean-sprout never stops growing,” before continuing, “But I don’t think she actually believes you to be as young as you look. She’d never have let you onboard if she did.

“Sure, she was hesitant at first, but after the things you worked on, seems she’s starting to accept it more and more… Not fully, though,” Mikayes hurriedly added as I nearly set off again. “So, get rid of the blood, and then you can go see her.”

“Fine,” I conceded with a sigh. “But if our docking gets delayed because I have to double check some specs, that’s on you.”

Before Mikayes could object, I’d already left him — snatching up my access device along with Celian’s book lying next to it.

I’d made a habit of carrying them both around over these past five months, but soon, I’d only need one. Hopefully.