Cindy was glad the fights got easier the closer they got to town. Her heart hammered in her chest at the thought of Dad getting that low on hit points. Watching the golden motes fly off him so quickly made her quiver in fear. She was so glad Orin was there to help. Without him they would have surely had to retreat. Cindy had to be more careful, maybe with traps laid out ahead of time they could surely make the fights easier. She just needed to get over not using all her tools.
Every fight had to be important. Every fight needed to be treated seriously. She took deep calming breaths as she walked next to the other two in her party as they got back to town. Orin waved goodbye to them and promised that he would join them again tomorrow for more Stone Apes. Apparently he was also looking to get geared out in the full set. Cindy hoped beyond anything that if she got the abilities that it would have some sort of crowd control so they could run away if necessary. She looked at the broad back of Dad and whispered to herself, “We will keep each other safe. Not just him protecting me.”
Cindy swallowed heavily as they headed to the blacksmith to get gear upgrades. They had plenty of daylight to go to the farm after this and she could walk Dad through crafting their own items to be used in combat. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be though, Dad was supposed to be invincible. She had never seen him be hurt before. Even though this world didn’t have the massive gushing wounds she saw when she secretly watched scary movies behind her parents' back, the light motes seemed worse somehow.
Did you know how low your hit points were getting? Why didn’t you use all your skills? She desperately wanted to ask him. He hit a third of his hit points left before she switched to healing him. Why wasn’t he paying attention to that? He was so focused on fighting and defending himself. She knew he had potions, he just didn’t know to use them yet. She had to speak to him later.
Orin had talked to her in private on the walk back as Dad ranged ahead. “That first fight was rough. Why didn’t Dad use potions? That and his stamina was almost full the entire fight. I know you guys have brand new gear but does he know what he is doing? Didn’t he go to Hunter School?”
Cindy looked at Orin, “No, we kinda just threw ourselves into this. I thought we had a good idea of how to fight. We were handling Boroclops just fine before we left the village.” Cindy clenched her hands to keep them from shaking. This world was supposed to be different.
Orin shook his head, “Look, you two are being reckless. He needs potions, and we need to work together. Get him skills that he could use more often in a fight like my rooting and your spells. I admit his abilities to fight with his hands and body is great but that doesn’t mean much until your gear helps you with that.”
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Cindy looked at the large back of her dad. It was as big as she ever remembered back on earth. He always seemed larger than life. “I’ll make sure he gets some skills. Any idea where we should start off?”
Orin nodded, “Get a skill book. One that will activate his natural abilities to fight. Its called the Hand to Hand Master book. It costs a lot of Tennies but if you sell some of your materials you should be able to help him afford it. That will let him use stamina and that will decrease damage and let him pour stamina into attacks to do real damage. But that’s just my opinion.”
Cindy nodded to herself, “I’ll make sure he is upgraded. He won’t just be a one trick pony.”
“Good, I’ll look forward to what he will be able to do tomorrow.” Orin lapsed into silence as they continued to walk towards town.
Orin had veered off as they entered town and now she was looking at skill books. The price was indeed high, she headed towards Dad. “Dad, can we talk?” Cindy watched him take a knee and she stepped into his hand so he would lift her to his shoulder. “You need to be more careful.” She was almost whispering as she forced the words out.
“What do you mean?” His turned his head so his eye can stare down at her.
“You should have used potions in order to keep your health up. I had to stop and heal you, you were below half hit points.” She stepped towards his cheek and hid her face from the eyes of her father.
“I had plenty of hit points. Around two hundred more. It was only doing ten damage when I blocked hits right. Do you know I have five hundred hit points when I’m full.” The massive hand wrapped around her back and pressed her further into him, filling Cindy with comforting worth.
She shook her head rubbing her face against him. “I want you above two fifty at all times Dad. When you didn’t block right it took big chunks out of your health. Just… please.” Cindy placed her hands gently on him as she took a deep breath calming herself.
“I’ll try, just remember, you made me really tough.” Dad’s voice vibrated through her. He was right, she did forget he had more hit points than anyone else.
“Above two fifty. Now, Orin made a good point. We gotta get you a skill book. It’ll make sure all your karate will actually help.” She pushed away from Dad and blinked away the beginning of her tears. “You’ll have to sell some monster materials but I think that is more important than equipment for now.”
“What’s that going to do for me?” Dad asked.
“Well you have so little ways to spend your stamina right now. It is like fighting with a hand tied behind your back. You’ll be able to be more effective this way. I asked the help menu when we were heading back to town. We all can have one skill book. I’ll get one and you get one. We need to catch up to everyone else in this world.” Cindy hopped down floating to the ground safely.
“Okay, let's get our upgrades.”