Despite deciding to move on, Cass didn’t just up and leave right away. Instead, she packed up her sleeping mat, rolling it into a long tube. She made herself a strap for it from a vine and slung it over her shoulders.

She left her pot and tea cup. They were heavier than she wanted to carry and were easy enough to make again later with Elemental Manipulation.

Only then did she set out, staff in hand, sleeping mat over one shoulder, pockets full of herbs and potatoes.

She walked along the cliff side, keeping the cliff to her right and walking with the wind at her back. It danced up the cliff side, rolling in eddies and rotors as it crested the ridge and joined the flow running above it.

It was as rocky and dry as ever, the plants here thin and scraggly. To the left, the forest thickened again, the trees shielding the bioluminescent specimens in exquisite darkness.

She cycled her attention between the forest below the cliff to her right, looking for a new destination; the forest to her left, keeping an eye out for monsters waiting to jump out and eat her; and Foraging, looking for something, anything, that wasn’t a vineroot.

About an hour into her hike, a snap of wood to her left froze Cass in place. Her eyes snapped to the dark woods, scanning them for the noise’s source. Her brain summoned images of the monsters she’d seen so far. The hound. The lordlings. The terrorcat. The badger.

It invented new terrors. Wolves and bears and lions. Faceless men and tentacle-armed amalgamations. Shadows with screeching voices and beasts with horns and fangs and claws.

All the while, her eyes frantically searched the dark, her hands gripping around her staff.

Should she run? She could just run. She didn’t need to know what it was. It could be nothing. It didn’t matter. If she ran she would definitely be safe.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. A brown streak rushed from the forest underbrush.

Cass didn’t have time to react. It barreled into her, knocking her from her feet, something sharp piercing her side accompanied by a jolt of electricity.

Cass flew back, bouncing over the rocky ground, her muscles spasming from the lightning running through them, pain overwhelming.

Eventually, she skidded to a stop. She wanted to lie there dead, but fear pushed her back to her feet before that impulse could take root.

Standing tall in front of her, snorting and snarling, was the largest boar Cass had ever seen. It was about chest high at the shoulder, its eyes beady and mean, its tusks curved and cruel and already blood-soaked.

Thunderback Boar

Lvl 4

[A common species of the Uvana Valley. Completely immune to lightning and an adept swimmer despite its appearances, there are few large mammals as well adapted to the seasonal conditions of the Valley. They are one of the few who do not go to ground outside of the dry season, instead taking the opportunity to expand their range.]

The same level as her, yet it had knocked her back so far? Cass put a hand to her stomach, where its tusk had gored her. It hurt but it wasn’t actually that deep. It was not as bad as when the terrorcat had bitten her shoulder.

The boar snorted, pawing the ground with a hoofed foot.

Cass needed to make a decision. Did she fight this thing or did she run?

Running was the smart thing to do, wasn’t it? Running minimized her chances of getting hurt. Running meant living to see another day.

But didn’t it also mean stagnation?

This world had levels. Levels that went up through killing and carnage. The terrorcat had brought her to level 4. It was only because she was at level 4 that her Fortitude was at 7 rather than 2. That might be the only reason she was standing here rather than curled in a crying ball on the ground.

Levels meant strength, which meant survival.

She was the same level as the monster, but what about next time? What would she do if it was level 5?

Or 7?

Or 10?

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Did she want to keep running for her life? Would there come a point where the level difference would make running impossible?

Her hands curled tighter around the staff. This was stupid, but she needed to do this. If she couldn’t kill a monster her own level how could she survive long term?

The boar charged again.

Cass’s eyes widened as panic froze her body. She wanted to fight, but what exactly did that mean?

She swung her arms down on the approaching boar. Somewhere in the back of her mind Staff Mastery had suggestions. Like a backseat driver, it yelled commands at her. She could move better. Hit harder.

The boar slammed into her before the staff could connect. The monster’s thrashing head knocked her legs out from under her as it charged past.

It skidded to a stop, electricity arching off its back as it did, while Cass scrambled back to her feet.

Staff Mastery begged Cass to widen her stance, to hold the staff differently.

Cass knew she should listen. It probably had her best interests in mind. That was probably how one properly wielded a staff. But if she listened to it here, then what? How much of her actions would she let the system dictate for her?

She swung the staff again, hitting the boar on its flank as it turned again. Wood hit flesh with a smack. The boar snorted in frustration, its snout thrashing at Cass’s legs.

Cass backpedaled, sweeping her staff at its face as she did. Staff Mastery suggested it would be more effective if she lowered her center of gravity, if she swung with her whole body, if she did more than just flail in panic.

She ignored it. She could do this. She could kill this thing on her own. She could level up on her own.

The boar charged again. Who was she kidding? This was too much for her. She wasn’t cut out for combat. She wasn’t even very good at real-time combat in video games. She turned.

She ran.

The boar was faster. It slammed into her, its force ramming through her. Like a pedestrian over a car’s windshield, she rolled over the boar as it sailed through her.

She needed to get up. She needed to run. This was a bad idea. This was stupid. She was wrong. So wrong. She wasn’t cut out for this.

She staggered to her feet. The boar was already facing her, pawing the ground again. She couldn’t outrun it. She would just have to Wind Step away. She’d be gone in the blink of an eye.

And why was she more comfortable with Wind Step, exactly? Why could she rely on that skill, and Foraging, and Identify, and Set Camp, but not Staff Mastery?

Why Stealth, but not Staff Mastery?

She didn’t have an answer. Foraging didn’t alter her actions. Wind Step was something so completely alien to her human experiences. Atmosphere Sense she couldn’t turn off. The information provided by Identify was more like a game wiki than internalized knowledge.

Stealth was what she wanted to do.

She didn’t want to fight. She didn’t want to kill.

She didn’t want to be good at it.

But she needed to survive, didn’t she?

She needed to be what the system wanted her to be.

The boar was charging her. Running at her full tilt. There wasn’t time to get out of the way.

Staff Mastery begged her to lower her body. To plant her staff in the dirt and angle it toward the charging mass of squealing monster.

Cass hesitated. She could still Wind Step. The wind around her swirled and gusted. It promised freedom and safety. She could just keep running. She would find a safe harbor eventually.

Staff Mastery kept begging. It didn’t promise anything. Just survival. Just this one moment.

Cass planted her staff. Guided by Staff Mastery, she held it like a spear, the narrower end pointed at the charging boar.

The boar didn’t slow, instead it veeried to the left thrashing its head angrily. Lightning arching off its back in every direction.

As soon as it had passed, Staff Mastery suggested Cass get back to her feet, to take a stance. Cass did, her body comfortably finding the position the skill suggested.

It was easy. It was natural. It was terrifying.

Her staff whipped out after the racing boar, snapping after its legs, its knees. There was a crack of bone breaking, a squeal of pain. It was that easy.

Limping, the boar continued. It thrashed its tusks at Cass. Her staff deflected the strike and slammed down hard on one of its beady eyes. A jab to its snout. A heavy blow to its temple.

Strike after strike after strike. Cass was a blur of motion, her body moving on instincts she did not possess. Natural. Effortless. Terrifying.

Staff Mastery has increased to level 4.

The boar didn’t stand a chance.

It charged again, but she slammed her staff into the boar’s head. Off balance on its broken leg and battered body, her strike drove it down, arresting its charge. Stunned, it was unable to get back up as she brought her staff down on its skull again and again until she felt the bone give under her strike.

Level Up!

+ 1 Dex

+ 1 End

+ 1 Ala

+ 4 Free Points

A rush of energy overflowed through her. She inhaled in surprise. She felt stronger. More potent. Like the world around her was more vibrant and she more real.

The feeling faded quickly, but the memory of the sensation hung at the edges of her mind. It almost made her want to go find more monsters to fight so she could level up again. Almost.

In its place, she felt the ache of her injuries. The first gouge to her stomach was the worst of it, but she would be bruised all over before the day was up.

She should have just run.

She should have just listened to her skill from the get-go.

She inhaled sharply, collecting up her sleeping mat which had been knocked off her body early on in the fight, and restringing it over her body.

Yes, she was injured. But, she had come out stronger for it, hadn’t she? Another level in Staff Mastery. Another overall level. 7 more stat points. 4 she could put toward whatever she wanted.

This was what she needed to survive.