{What are you doing? Run!}

[I-I c-can’t…]

{Give me control of the body. Quickly!}

[A-alright.]

I take control of the body as fast as I can, immediately grabbing the moss and placing it on our back.

Shit shit shit!

The wolves are following me!

I couldn't tell at first because their footsteps are so quiet, but they're definitely chasing me!

I'm so close!

Our cave is right there! Just a little more!

A sharp pain suddenly shoots through my back as a wolf pounces into me, sending me flying forwards.

Luckily, the wolf sent me right into the cave.

Unluckily, this means the wolves now know there is a cave behind the waterfall.

I need to hide in the hole Gloria dug, there's nowhere else to go.

The wolves probably can't fit in the hole, so I should be fine unless they know how to dig.

Unless they know how to dig.

Who am I kidding, of course they know how to dig. They're basically dogs, and digging is what dogs do.

Except these dogs are way bigger and way scarier.

But into the hole I go, because there's nowhere else to hide.

As I dive in, the moss on my back gets snagged on a rock jutting out from the dirt, pulling it off my back.

Shit!

Wait, no, that gives me an idea!

If I cover the hole with the moss, the wolves might not find me!

I quickly push the moss out, covering the hole to the best of my ability as I hear the wolves step through the waterfall.

My heart is pounding.

I'm curled up in a ball, as deep in the hole as I can.

The wolves' footsteps are too quiet to hear, but I can feel the vibrations from their steps in my head, which is pressed against the wall.

I'm terrified.

I'm shaking like a washing machine with a brick in it.

When will they leave? Surely they won't look for me for long, I'm probably not worth more than a few minutes of searching.

At a certain point, the time would be better spent hunting easier targets.

But when will that point come? I hope it's soon.

It's been a while now. I don't know how long.

Most of the wolves are gone now. There's just one left in the cave.

I think I'll be safe.

But I almost wasn't.

I got lucky. Extremely lucky.

I could have easily died at any moment.

I don't want to be cliche by saying “this happened because I'm too weak”, but I definitely do need to get stronger.

I've had thoughts of just living easily off of what I already have, but not anymore.

If I don't want to die, I can't just merely survive.

So, from now on, no distractions.

No more leaving the cave. From now on, we’ll either be digging, farming moss, or sleeping.

Anything else is dangerous and a waste of time.

{Gloria.}

[Yeah?]

It seems she's still a little shaken up.

{There's just one wolf left up there. As soon as it leaves, we’re going to plant the moss and then practice digging until we pass out from exhaustion.}

[Huh? Why?]

{The sooner we become able to set up traps capable of taking out those wolves, the better.}

[...got it.]

From the vibrations, I can tell the wolf is slowly moving towards the exit of the cave. It seems we made it out alive.

That reminds me, I ignored it because I was busy focusing on trying to survive, but I got a few new skills during that whole thing, didn't I?

It's not like I can check them, but it's nice knowing I didn't come out of that experience empty handed.

{I think the wolf is gone now. Are you ready to take over the body again?}

[Yeah, I think so.]

Gloria takes over the body, slowly and shakily getting used to walking again.

Man, looks like this experience really shook her up. I feel bad, but it's probably better for her to get used to this sooner rather than later.

Eh?

Level four? Isn't that kind of insane for how young we are?

I mean, skills are probably easier to level earlier on, but still…

There's no way this growth speed is normal, right?

It benefits us I guess, so it's not like I'm going to complain, but it is weird.

Finally, Gloria reaches the entrance of the hole, pushing the moss aside and cautiously stepping out.

Now, let's plant some moss.

I'm assuming moss is just like any other plant, and all we have to do is stick it in a hole and give it some water every once in a while.

We walk over to the entrance of the cave, bringing the moss with us.

{Make sure not to make the hole too deep.}

[I will.]

Gloria begins to dig, stopping every so often to check and see if the moss can fit.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

[Done.]

{Perfect! Now, we just have to wait for it to grow.}

[I'm feeling kinda hungry after that.]

{Eat some of the smaller pieces that we haven't planted yet.}

[I'm kinda hesitant to eat moss though…]

Oh yeah, I guess she was unconscious last time I tried this moss.

{Just try it, it's fine!}

[Alright…]

Reluctantly, Gloria bites down on the moss.

[Bleh, this is gross!]

{Oh come on, it's not that bad!}

[Yes it is! It tastes like medicine!]

{I know, doesn't that mean it's probably healthy?}

[I don't know, and I don't care. I'm not eating this moss anymore!]

{You have to eat it. It's our only food source.}

[We could easily go out and find some plants that taste a million times better!]

{No. We can't waste time anymore.}

[But-!]

{If you hate eating it that much, I'll just take over the body and eat it myself!}

I knew something like this would happen.

So I've been practicing.

Gloria is able to easily kick me out of the body and steal control, so shouldn't I be able to do the same to her?

[Wha- how are you doing this?]

While Gloria was digging, or walking, or anything else that doesn’t require my attention, I practiced.

I learned how to force control over the body!

It's all about visualization.

I just have to imagine my ‘mind’ as a vast ocean, and imagine this vast ocean pushing the liquid that is Gloria’s ‘mind’ out of the body.

It might sound strange, but just like that, I am now in control of the body.

{That's what you get for being stubborn! Now, think about what you've done wrong, hahaha!}

[You… I'll make you regret that!]

What?!

The vast ocean that I imagined my ‘mind’ as has suddenly begun to boil, evaporating out of the body at a rapid rate.

{What are you doing!?}

[Taking back what belongs to me!]

{The body doesn't belong to you idiot, we share it!}

[Hmph, says the one who just tried to take it from me!]

Not good!

I need to find a way to stop her!

If the ideal visualization of the ‘mind’ is a liquid, then if I imagine her ‘mind’ as freezing, then…

Gloria’s takeover stops.

[Oh yeah? Take this!]

Despite her ‘mind’ still being frozen, she somehow causes mine to evaporate faster and faster.

[{Huh?}]

[Soul manipulation?]

Doesn't that make this fight seem pretty scary?

I’ve been calling the two bodies of liquid our minds, but if those were our souls…

Couldn't this fight be really really bad for the both of us?

{...Let's not fight like this anymore.}

[Yeah, agreed.]

Although, it probably wouldn't hurt to train that skill up a little…

I should probably do that on my own though.

{You still have to eat the moss, by the way.}

[Ugh, fine. But only because I'm really hungry and I don't feel like going out to find something better!]

No, it's night, you can't go out even if you want to…

Whatever.

{Thank you.}

I relinquish control over the body, which feels slightly easier now.

Probably the effect of that skill.

[Bleh… I hate this.]

{Just bear with it. It’s for survival.}

[Right.]

[Enough, I can't eat any more…]

{Then it's time to start digging.}

[Ugh, but I'm tired…]

{Like I said before, we’re going to stay up digging until we pass out, for the sake of getting stronger.}

[I know, I know.]

We head back into our small tunnel, and Gloria begins to dig at the end, slowly but surely lengthening the tunnel.

I should also do something. It wouldn’t be right for me to make her work non-stop, and not even do anything myself.

But what should I do?

Hmmm…

I guess that soul manipulation skill might be useful. I'll work on leveling that.

I calm myself, blocking out the sensation of Gloria digging.

I do what I did before, imagining my soul as a vast body of water.

Now, if it's soul manipulation, the way to level it is probably to move it around, right?

First of all, I'll make it a sphere…

I focus, attempting to imagine the vast, waving surface of the liquid collapsing into the shape I desire.

The surface ripples gently, bending slightly, but nothing else.

Wow, this is tough.

It seemed much easier back when I was fighting with Gloria over control.

Maybe because of adrenaline?

No matter why it was easier before, it's hard now.

Maybe shaping it was too complex of a goal to start with.

Freezing Gloria seemed pretty easy, maybe that’ll be easier.

But, there's a lot, I don't think I can freeze all of this. I probably shouldn't freeze it all either.

This is my soul, after all. Acting carelessly with it could have consequences…

It should be fine if it's just a small portion though.

Hopefully.

Whatever, I'm doing it!

I focus on a small area in the center of the liquid.

I imagine it becoming still, completely isolated from the liquid around it.

Little by little, a small orb of ice appears. It slowly expands, the growth barely noticeable.

The ice glows faintly, the cyan light pulsing slowly.

Uuf, this is tough.

If I lost concentration for even a mome-

[HEY! FIR!]

The ice cracks, shattering into pieces that rapidly dissipate into the liquid around them.

…

Sigh.

{What is it, Gloria?}

[Geez, took you long enough! I called you like twenty times!]

{I was concentrating on something.}

[What were you concentrating on?]

{It doesn’t matter. What do you want?}

[Oh yeah! I’m tired.]

{Already? Has it really been that long?}

[No, but I already feel super tired.]

{Well, alright then. I guess we can sleep now.}

[Yay!]

Without hesitation, Gloria flops over on her side, and slams our eyes shut.

Ah, I already feel my consciousness fading.

I guess she really was tired.

I’m kinda upset I didn’t get to practice soul manipulation more, but oh well. I can do that tomorrow.

It’s not like I have anything else to do until Gloria gets our digging skill up a level or two.

Morning has come once more.

The powerful taste of the moss knocks any remnants of drowsiness out of me.

As soon as we can no longer eat anymore, Gloria gets to digging.

And now, I’ll work on leveling soul manipulation.

I focus, and the vast ocean comes into view.

Let’s try shaping it again.

I exert my will on the surface of the liquid, pushing and pulling it, but again, it’s no use.

I guess freezing it is the best I can do for now.

Calming myself, I concentrate on the movement of the liquid.

I’m pretty sure a liquid freezing is just the particles in it no longer moving, so if I just force the liquid’s movement to stop, it should…

Ah, yep, there it is.

An orb of ice has once again begun to appear.

The growth of it is still way too slow though.

This is really tough.

I focus on the movement of the liquid, concentrating as hard as I can to prevent even the slightest current.

The growth of the ice orb speeds up, but only by a little.

I don’t think I’ll be able to get it to grow any faster.

For now, I have to wait.

Slowly, the ice grows larger and larger.

That should be good.

If I can’t shape the liquid, isn’t the answer to freeze it and shape the ice?

I take hold of the currents surrounding the ice, and change their direction to go towards it.

The currents erode the once perfectly round sphere of ice, carving it into the shape of an apple core.

The center continues to shrink, until it is just barely holding the two halves together.

The ice snaps, breaking into two separate pieces, which then melt.

Level two!

Ah, I feel so proud of myself! It really feels so great to earn a great reward for hard work.

Oh? It seems Gloria has accomplished her goal as well.

Although, level two? I never heard us get level one though…

Ah! It’s probably a skill that’s innate to our species!

It makes sense, our digging-optimized claws were the reason I decided to make our main strategy digging in the first place.

{Gloria! Good job!}

[Hahaha! Aren’t I so great? Of course I am! I’m the greatest!]

Ahaha, she sure seems excited.

Urgh, I really don’t want to tell her that level two isn’t enough…

{Y-yeah! You’re great! Buuut…}

[Hm? What?]

{Level two… isn’t our goal.}

[Huh?]

{Digging will be our main strategy, so it needs to be higher level than two.}

[You’re telling me I have to keep doing this?!]

{Y-yeah…}

Ah, brace for impact!

[...Alright.]

Huh?

“Alright”?

She’s not upset?

Am I dreaming?

[But, you better make sure we get to hunt one of those wolves.]

{of course, of course! In fact, let’s start preparing the traps as soon as we reach level three in digging.}

[Hahaha! I’m getting excited already!]

Crisis averted, Gloria has been appeased…

For now.

Ahhh, time to go back to training soul manipulation… It’s so calming, like meditation.

In this cave, the greatest threat to me is not the wolves, but rather stress. This is mostly Gloria’s fault.

I’m glad I found such a good way to calm myself down.