As we walked I took in the information that I had come across. I did not have to destroy the monsters for the system to award me experience. This world was okay with having a subtropical forest in the middle of a cave in an otherwise temperate area. There were monsters here who would steal the boots right off of your feet and clothes right off your back. Monsters in a dungeon which was considered a beginner dungeon.

I had to quit assuming that just because this world used mechanics like a video game, it had the same safety rails. I didn’t dwell on it further because Alec patted me on the back.

“You are losing yourself there! Keep your eyes around us, Wade.” He gave me a grin along with the words and then took to looking around us. He was serious, passively watchful and it made me want to be on the lookout too.

As we went forward, Alec started up a conversation while still on the watch.

“So, I first saw you on the first day you were here, but despite we’ve not had a chance to talk. What was your life like back before you were incarnated?”

I purposefully looked around us, even though there was not a thing to see. Despite having been here for months now, not many had asked me. Charles and Jose had, but others hadn’t. Certainly, no one who was a native of Hekatondrona had. I figured it was some sort of taboo.

I also wasn’t sure if I was ready to talk about it. I still wasn’t even truly settled in here despite the time that had passed. I still dreamed of my family’s faces, I even tried to sketch them so that I would remember their smiles until I could see them again. As the silence stretched on and I opened and closed my right hand, Alec looked apologetic.

Before he could say he was sorry for bringing it up, I took the first step. Memory flooded my mind, images, and sounds that happened at a party which was the first time I had been introduced to some of those who would become my best friends; a time when Melody had to whisper in my ear, “If I see so much in you, why wouldn’t they?” I could almost feel the warmth of the kiss she had placed on my cheek.

I was here for at least two years, and there was no point in being miserable or closing myself off from making new friends. That was part of why I was even in this dungeon, after all.

“I didn’t mean to ignore the question, but it is not an easy emotion to deal with. My life and world were very different from here. While we had animals, we didn’t have monsters or magic. I lived with my wife and four kids, and I was in my thirties.”

As I spoke the words, I could feel a shadow of that strength across me so much it felt like a presence across my chest. I could see images of the first time Alec had sounded out and read a word, as his older brother and sister sat waiting for me to begin a tabletop game with them. I could almost hear the quick back and forth from them, as Osbert told him he was too little, and Gwen said he didn’t even know how to read or write so would never be able to understand a character sheet. I remember the determined smile he gave me when I said, “If he can read this, we can help him with the rest. He knows his numbers after all.”

I remembered saying it too quickly and him looking like I had said a magic spell. I remembered slowing down, and as I said the sounds of the letters, him echoing me. Then a declaration, “I know it now! It’s Dragon!”

The pride on his face made it worth the time that had been taken from the game, and the time that I had to spend teaching him the rules. Osbert and Gwen even transformed from resentful to telling him how things were, what each dice was, and suggesting what kind of character they thought suited him.

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I was breathing heavily when I took hold of my focus again. “I loved them a lot, every day thinking that I was doing it for them was enough to fill me with strength.”

Alec gave a nod but was silent. “I believe it, you sound like my uncle does when he talks about his kids. But you’re still moving forward. We shepherds have a saying, ‘Keep your eyes up and your feet moving and you’ll find the way.’ Try it!”

I looked to my feet as we walked, for a moment. Then I looked to Cerbearus and Ossicarn. Maybe it would be easier with friends.

***

Once again, we found ourselves confronted by Cobluchins. This time, it was thirty of them facing off against a palisade of sharpened wooden logs that were glowing with the light green energy I was starting to associate with nature techniques. Inside I could see Keiran with a heavy cast-iron skillet held like it was a club, and Kenneth with his broom - a broom I had not even seen him bring with us.

In the only gap in the palisade that existed, a Cindnutum scampered about. Any of the Cobluchins that got too close got a bolt of fire spit at them. Some dodged the fire bolts only to be smashed into by what I first mistook for a millstone. When it stopped its third roll into the Cobluchins, I realized it was a grey-colored pig monster with stony patches on its skin. Its face was dominated by a sizable nose that made its bright green eyes and tiny tusks hard to see.

Before I could take the time to analyze it or come up with a game plan, I noticed a third monster within the palisade. This one I would have sworn was a woodpecker, except it had a lime green stripe down its back and brown and forest green colored feathers dominating the rest of its body. When one of the Cobluchins tried to get smart, it would fly into the air and start peppering the robber monkey monster with a volley of wooden spikes that almost looked like nails.

I had never seen either of those monsters, but forced myself to focus. This was not the time to let myself fixate on the excitement of seeing a pair of new monsters. Instead, I looked at the Cobluchins, and in looking at the group as they charged and were countercharged. I instantly locked onto the sight of one of those Cobluchins in the back with my missing monster egg, and not just with my monster egg - but chewing on it voraciously.

I didn’t come up with a great strategy. I didn’t communicate with my allies and monsters. I didn’t even think as I saw this. I just saw the sight and felt my anger rise. I ran at the mass of Cobluchins.

I slashed, I stomped, I grabbed one of them by the tail, and spun it around before launching it into the palisade. Beside me, Baloo the Cerbearus and Bagheera the Ossicarn caused mayhem even without instruction. I was no professor, I was no destined hero. At that moment I was just a maniac.

[[ You have successfully defeated and incapacitated a level 1 Cobluchin. You have gained one experience point. ]]

Around me, I heard Alec shouting instructions, Calvin and the Tipsy Tauracean cooks smashing into the Cobluchins. Their monsters fought the fight as well; and in the process, I saw that prompt another thirty times. As the last of the Cobluchins that were assembled fled, I noticed at least twenty sprawled on the ground.

My shield-like monster egg was on the ground, with damage and cracks. I felt panic for a moment, but I must have shown it. When the others saw me and my chest continued its bellows-like movement, Alec rushed forward to scoop it up.

“Don’t worry, we can fix this. All it takes is you spending some of the experience is spending some of the experience we just made defending ourselves.”

He walked behind the rough palisade, and I followed him behind it. Kenneth, Kieran, and Calvin followed us in, with their monsters following in tow. Baloo and Bagheera stuck to my heels.

I hoped the solution was really as readily available as Alec said.