I was in the water, swimming on my back, slowly. I wasn't far from the shore, close enough to keep my chain planted in the soft ground near the beach.

My profile showed 10EP, which was enough to get me back to the base, but clearly insufficient if I were to engage in a fight.

The Knight stood on the gravel beach, watching me with his sword drawn. It was unlikely that he would join me in the water, as my chains posed too great a threat. Being immobilized on land was not very dangerous, but in the water, it was a different story.

"His armor is too heavy, but if he removes it to swim, that would give me an opportunity to snatch it from him," I thought.

However, I was somewhat disappointed to see him running to go around the lake.

The lake was expansive; it took me about 20 minutes to swim across, but it would take a bit longer to run around.

"If I decide to swim with all my might, I'll have a good head start on him," I thought.

That's what I decided to do. Staying in the water for too long was unnecessarily draining my energy.

I started swimming freestyle while occasionally checking the other player's position.

He continued running around. Despite his heavy armor, he was impressively fast.

It was astonishing to witness such endurance after our confrontation.

As I kept swimming, I reached the part of the lake that was too deep to allow my chain to rest on the bottom, reducing its weight.

From being my primary survival tool, it had become a burden that risked dragging me down.

Swimming while pulling it exhausted me more rapidly, so I needed to make it useful, even if it meant spending more EP.

I ordered my chain to twirl behind me like a propeller. I immediately felt my speed increase. But I also saw my EP decreasing more rapidly.

Once again, I considered leveling up, but part of me felt it would be a waste. If I used my PP, I would be saying goodbye to my trump card, to a chance of surviving fatal injuries.

So, I continued to rotate my chain behind me. Then, when I saw that I had only 3EP left, I stopped using the chain and swam on my back to conserve energy.

A few minutes later, I finally reached the other shore.

As I turned around, I saw the other player running, maybe 10 minutes from catching up to me.

He had been fast; I had little advantage, and I was exhausted.

My endurance was undoubtedly my biggest weakness.

I retrieved my clothes and the first thing I did before running was put my shoes back on. The forest was littered with stones and pieces of wood that could slow me down.

Then I went into the forest. I made sure not to head towards my base to avoid him discovering where I spent my nights. Besides, I was too tired to climb all the way up.

While running, I realized I didn't know where to go.

"Should I run as long as possible, hoping to lose him? No, he probably has more EP than me. Should I hide? He didn't notice me in the water; his perception isn't very high. That might be a good idea. Or should I level up and then ambush him? If I manage to steal his entire armor, it would be a worthwhile decision. But even if he is weaker than the Drifter I defeated, I don't think I can win this..." I thought.

Stolen novel; please report.

His intelligence and adaptability were way higher level than the dumb Drifter I had killed.

I analyzed all the possibilities and In the end, hiding seemed to be the best option.

I scanned the surroundings until I saw a small pile of rocks behind which I could ideally hide.

I got onto it and looked around. There was a tree a few yards away that I could leap to using my chain. With the remaining 2 EP, I had enough to jump maybe three times, from tree to tree.

I threw my chain, which wrapped around a branch, then I jumped, and my feet landed against the trunk. I was a few centimeters off the ground. I hoisted myself up to the branch and threw my chain onto a branch of an adjacent tree. I hoisted myself up again and jumped to a final tree.

If they had been more leafy, I could have hidden on one of them, but they were too sparse. It felt like being in the open.

I dropped behind the thickest trunk around me and sat against it. I dressed calmly.

"He will follow my tracks to the rock, thinking he has found me. Then he will see that there is no one and search the surroundings. And if everything goes well, he won't find me," I thought.

I relied heavily on the assumption that his energy was low. If that was indeed the case, he would feel very uneasy about staying too long in unfamiliar terrain.

After a few minutes, I heard the metallic sound of his armor approaching. I didn't turn around, but I could easily hear his movements.

He slowed down when he saw the rock. He walked slowly, and I heard him unsheathing his sword. The metallic sound of metal against stone indicated that he had realized I wasn't there.

It was the crucial moment. How long would it take for him to turn back?

The minutes passed incredibly slowly.

I heard the sound of his armor getting closer, then moving away.

"Come on, give up... It was just a helmet and shoulder pads... It's nothing..." I thought.

I had been unlucky, stealing from a player who was very attached to his armor.

Would he kill me if he found me? It seemed a bit extreme.

Finally, I heard him sigh. It was a good sign.

"OKOVANI!! YOU BASTARD!! I'LL FIND YOU EVENTUALLY, YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!!" he shouted so loudly that I jumped.

"How does he know my name? Is it on my profile?" I wondered.

I was convinced that the profile only displayed the player code. But that was a minor detail; the most important thing was that he seemed exasperated.

I heard the sound of the metal moving away. He had finally given up.

I was exhausted, and I wanted to collapse and sleep, but it was neither the place nor the time.

I decided to wait there for a few hours without moving. He was potentially not far from here, waiting.

"If he has to leave, it will be a little before nightfall to avoid the Drifters," I thought.

I didn't know if there were Drifters in the area, but I intended to wait until nightfall regardless.

.

When the moon finally appeared, I was still sitting in the same place.

I had spent the day wondering if stealing from that player had been a good idea.

It had earned me a good number of points, but was it worth making such a strong enemy?

Finally, I decided to get up. I opened my map and headed toward my base. Sitting all day had allowed me to recover some EP. Enough for me to climb the tree.

My chain was wrapped around my right shoulder. I walked casually. I had just stolen from another player for the first time, and I felt bad. A little guilty.

This man hadn't done anything to me, and I had arbitrarily decided to attack him. Worse, I couldn't even blame it on any impulse or unpaid debt that influenced me. I had made that decision simply because it was the fastest way to gain debt points. And now I found myself in the forest at night, exhausted, with a new enemy who wanted me dead.

"It would be just my luck to encounter a Drifter..." I thought.

I took a few steps forward when I suddenly stopped at the sound of a crack. There, to my right.

Suddenly, a tree collapsed as something passed through it at high speed. The projectile crashed against a trunk a few meters away from me.

I easily recognized him with his brown armor. It was the knight I had stolen from.

He was dazed and groaning, trying to get up. I hid behind a tree, hoping no one had seen me.

Something was approaching in the distance. A silhouette.

"A Drifter?" I thought.

"When I ask a question, you answer. What is a low-level like you doing here at this hour, are you looking for something?" the silhouette asked, walking toward the knight.

I didn't dare look at the scene; my back was against the trunk, and my head was fixed forward. "Whatever happens, it's none of my business," I thought.

"I... Uhh... I have nothing to say to you..." the knight replied. Given his difficulty in forming a sentence, he must have been in bad shape.

"Were you with a friend?" the silhouette asked.

I could now hear the voice much clearer; the silhouette was very close.

"The guy hiding behind that tree, perhaps?" The voice said.

My body froze. "Fuck..." I thought. The night was going to be long… Or end abruptly.