Very quickly, Malan and Elena’s walk through the jungle became a slog. Even with his suit augmenting his movements, the unending battle against the thick weave of vegetation that criss-crossed every conceivable route through the trees was brutal. Elena had come prepared with a pair of longer knives strapped to her thighs, and between them they hacked a path through the luscious green.

He glanced at his former Captain, her teeth bared as she hacked through another thick bunch of vines and plant stems, and had no idea how she was still going at the pace she was. Even with all his augmentations, Malan was starting to feel the strain of hewing and having to wade through bush and briar, and the temperature was beginning to grow uncomfortable, despite his suit’s best efforts.

Besides a sheen of sweat coating her face, however, Elena seemed on the surface unaffected. She still moved with all the power and grace that she had started with an hour ago, and lost even an inch of pace.

Allowing his body to move on autopilot after her, he focused his attention on his display once more, and on particular its reaction to her. At the thought of it, the information about her flickered into existence before her eyes, the note saying [Lvl. ???] hovering ominously just above her head. Standarr had the same, whereas Bessna had one the stated her to be Level 2, and some of the humans around the settlement had level ranging from one to five.

For a time, he’d thought non-sentient beings did not have a level. Several of the fauna he’d scanned since he’d arrived—birds, mostly—simply stated [Lvl. -], which Malan guessed meant they didn’t have. However, about ten minutes into their trek today and they had disturbed a set of nesting hawk-like birds about as large as he was which were both [Lvl. 1].

Deciphering how the system he’d joined with calculated these numbers seemed fairly essential both to his survival and success, and so far, he had only one working theory. None of the other levelled beings he’d encountered—human or otherwise—had any more detailed stats that he could see. Malan himself had levels for his race, profession and almost all of his unlocked skills, whereas everybody else simply had a single, set level.

It was possible that extra information was hidden from him, and he couldn’t rule that out, but it was equally possible that those not bound to a Starbound just didn’t have access to those things. The best and most likely theory Malan could conjure up through the jungle heat was that the levels attached to people weren’t levels like his were. They could not absorb celestial energy like Starbound could through the bond, and so couldn’t level up, per se.

Instead, the level rating he saw above Bessna’s head was not necessarily her level within the system, but instead they system trying to convey to him a rough approximation of her threat level. It was why regular birds had no level—they weren’t capable of causing any damage to him at all. On the other hand, those hawks had been the same size as he was. A talon in the wrong place, or enough swarming his shields could pose a significant threat, and so were level one.

Not only was it possible that Bessna had some skills or expertise that made her a dangerous opponent, but she also wielded a weapon that, Starbound armour or no, posed a significant threat to him.

That left Elena and Standarr. Their [Lvl. ???] posed a mystery to begin with, but if he applied his theory, it made a certain kind of sense. He knew Elena was former military. Properly dangerous, if a little rusty. The same went for Standarr, at least based on appearances. Both were well-trained, experienced and dangerous.

It was quite possible that there were opponents so dangerous he was not able to get an accurate read upon as they were far above his own.

He glanced back at Elena as she continued to eviscerate the jungle. It was quite believable, watching her swing that blade with ruthless efficiency, and in the way she walked and moved. Like a predator. Then there was her fitness routine, which had left her in peak physical condition.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I’m starting to wonder if I should start working out too,” he said breathily, as he hacked at his own share of the greenery. “You’re a machine.”

She looked across at him with a raised eyebrow. “You realise that’s literally the point, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” he said, shrugging. “I guess I just never saw the appeal of it.”

Elena froze mid-swing, and pinched at the bridge of her nose. “You genuinely don’t understand what I’m driving at, do you? I don’t prioritise my fitness and strength because I enjoy being strong, or because of some former military habit, or any of that other bullshit, Mal.”

“They why?”

“Because of this,” she said, gesturing vaguely towards the jungle with her blade. “I keep myself strong because I can never know when I might need every possible edge I can get. When am I going to need that extra one percent in order to survive—or to keep someone else from dying? It’s impossible to say. The only thing I’m certain of, from brutal experience, is how it feels to have failed because I wasn’t just one percent stronger, or faster.

“Just working in space is dangerous enough, but being Starbound? Or military? That’s a different level, with so much more at stake. Let’s say this whole kidnapped kids things is straight up—what happens if you get there, and you’re just not strong enough to save them? Or fast enough? It’s already too late for you to change those things. You’re already just relying on hope. Hope that you won’t need that extra one percent. I hope you won’t either.”

Malan’s mouth worked in silent shock for a moment. “I’d never even thought—”

Elena waved him off. “I’m not saying it to make you stress, or to make you feel bad. Of course you never thought. You’re a tech at heart, and young. You solve problems with your mind, not your body. And that was enough, until you put on that suit. You haven’t had the time to think about it, or to prepare yourself for it. But it’s been barely more than twenty four hours since you became Starbound, and already your walking into a potentially dangerous situation where people’s lives could be at stake. You don’t have the luxury of not thinking about it anymore.”

Malan nodded, fighting back the urge to react to the feeling of what felt like pretty stinging criticism, even if it was from a place of kindness. What stung more than anything else wasn’t the words themselves, but just how right she was about him.

Elena stared at him through dark, weighing eyes, gauging his reaction to her words.

“I don’t want to ask too much but, would you…”

She smirked. “Get you started? Don’t sweat it. Of course I will.”

He nodded in thanks, but hesitated as another thought struck him. He opted to ask it whilst getting back to work on carving their path through the jungle. “The other stuff that I thought was just habit—the made bed, the tidiness. I take it there’s more to all of that?”

Of course. Those things are important in a few ways. Not in and of themselves—there really isn’t much of a direct benefit to having my bed so pristinely made. But it teaches and reinforces a few things. Attention to detail, and discipline. Things that are incredibly important. But to be honest, for me its about self image. In my head, I think what would I be like if I could be exactly who I wanted? Then, when I’ve got this perfect, future version of myself, I ask how would that person live their daily life?”

She smirked slightly. “That ideal person always makes their bed, so I do as well. That way, my day always begins with taking an action that the perfect me would take. With progress towards becoming that person for real.”

Malan opened his mouth to respond, when Elena froze, a frown marring her features. A crack sound like gunfire exploded in the jungle ahead, and was followed by the raucous howls of what must have been several large and frightened animals.

“What the—” He said, but stopped as Elena raised her hand, silencing him.

“That was an explosive. Human made,” she muttered, withdrawing her firearm and peering into the tangle of trees and vegetation.

They stood in silence for a moment, listening as a dull rumbling drew closer and closer, before Elena gestured towards some of the larger tree trunks nearby, and they scuttled behind them. The sound was coming closer far faster than they could flee, and from his makeshift cover, Malan readied his gauntlets.

Four enormous creatures burst from the shadowed undergrowth alongside a cacophony of high pitched shrieking. They stood on four legs and were clearly mammalian, with scruffy brown and black fur fine enough that mottled black and grey skin was clearly visible beneath. Malan tensed as they slowed, sniffing into the air with a whiskered, square snout, revealing jaws that held a series of razor-like, serrated teeth, with two, almost sabre-toothed canines that curled downwards from the top row.

They froze suddenly, turning their land speeder sized bodies slowly in the direction of Malan and Elena, snout working madly, and Malan got a good look at their eyes and sucked in a breath. They were vivid red and swollen, lined with pulsing yellow veins. Tacky yellow liquid matted the fur around those orbs, and trickled down their faces, catching in downy fur and whiskers.

Most importantly, however, they were looking directly at him.