[DAY 5]

  The day after all the things that happened we spent doing more menial stuff, including training, testing out our new skills, and trying new battle formations that included our newest addition.

  I woke up the next day, as refreshed as one could be after a day like that. Forcing my eyes open, I watched the bump that was Crudia in the other side of the room, snoring a little bit under her blanket. Dusk was not in the room anymore, and neither were the guides. As silent as I could possibly be, I stood up, reached the door, and stepped outside.

  The sun was already blazing in the sky, the air too hot for my liking. Yawning, I looked for the rest, finding them standing in a circle not too far away, right next to the campfire which burned in small flames. Timmy was standing behind Dusk, listening to the others with curiosity that kind of reminded me of Crudia.

  “Good morning.” I waved, stepping closer. “What are you all talking about?”

  “Morning. We’re discussing what to do today.” Said Mark, motioning for me to step closer.

  Talisha raised her eyebrow. “Is Crudia still asleep?” I nodded, and she sighed. “I’ll have to go wake her up. She was too overzealous yesterday.” She hovered, and just went through the walls.

  A brief silence followed, and then there were loud voices coming from inside. I could swear that I heard Crudia beg for five more minutes.

  Dusk coughed into his hand. “Anyway. Want breakfast?”

  As if in reply, my stomach grumbled. I’d eat anything at that moment. “Maybe.”

  Dusk nodded, smiling, and went to spear a slob of meat onto a wooden stick. He then stuck the stick in the ground, angling so the meat was dangling over the fire. It wasn’t a crab. Maybe it was the bear?

  “Okay. So, plans for today.” Mark stepped closer to me, meeting my eyes. “The others are suggesting we take a day off. Craft, rest, all that stuff. While I can see the possible good sides about that, I am once again reminding them of the fact that we’re on a set timer. Tightly scheduled. And spending a whole day not getting XP or equipment seems like a waste.” He stopped. “Yo don’t want to go a day without fighting, right?”

  I looked him in the eyes, finding the silent plea in them. I knew the answer before he even finished the whole monologue, and this time I wasn’t going to say no just because I wanted to be a dick. “I think they’ve got the right idea. I need to test out my new skills, Mark. Spend points. And I still don’t know what Dusk does, except that one cool attack.”

  Mark grabbed his cheeks, pulling the cheeks down in an anguished look, just as Talisha and Crudia stepped out of our base. They didn’t react to Mark - none of us did. We just all sat down, and proceeded to wolf down the breakfast in silence.

  …

  “So, training next?” Said Dusk, wiping his mouth.

  “Yeah. Me and Crudia have this thing going where she stand behind me and covers my flanks, but it will definitely work better with three of us.“

  They both nodded, and we got up on our feet. There was nothing better than some exercise after filling my stomach. We walked away from the fireplace, standing in a triangle, leaving the guides behind. Talisha really took to the kid - she bombarded him with questions as if the guy could answer. I’d probably be annoyed were I in his shoes, but he seemed the opposite - he gave her a really big smile whenever she gave him attention.

  Using [Analyze] , I quickly scanned my teammates. We were kind of similar - I was at level 23, same as Dusk, and Crudia shot up all the way to level 22 now. The differences in stat strength were probably minimal, and that would make us a good team. Or at least I hoped so.

  With our levels being near max, we were probably on the higher end of the tournament average as well. The fact that I missed out on an Evolution was definitely pissing me off, but I decided to not think about it much. If Xila could get one, I’d get one eventually. I just needed to find a way to impress the gods, one that didn’t include being one of the first ten to reach the max level.

  I’d need to do the steps before that first, though. “So, Dusk. We’ve not fought together yet, but what I’ve been doing with Crudia so far is simple - I take the front, she-”

  “You want me to cover a flank?”

  …

  “Yes.” I sighed. How cocky. “As I was saying, I take front, you two go behind me on the sides. I think it’s the best shot we’ve got in a defensive formation.”

  “Probably going to be useless against bosses, though.” Added Dusk, thinking aloud.

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  I didn’t even consider that. “I guess so? We have nobody to test the formation on, though. So we’ll just wait for an actual battle for that.”

  “So, why are we here then? Standing away from our guides, I mean.” Crudia asked, her ears perked up.

  A good question! Finally! “To spar, of course! I want to see our new teammate’s abilities! Don’t you want to see them, too?”

  Hmm-ing, Crudia considered for a moment, followed by a sharp nod.

  Dusk took the duel proposition in stride, nodding as if he expected as much. “Who am I battling, then. Is it you, Shrimpie?”

  Was that even a question? “You bet!”

  Stretching my arms, I cracked my neck and called upon my shields. “Umm, what are the rules going to be?”

  Watching me, spear in hand, Dusk had an answer ready. “How about first hit wins? We can heal, so as long as we don’t just one-hit kill each other, it should be fine.”

  “Please don’t hurt yourselves, you two!” Shouted Talisha, hovering closer from where she was before. Our duel finally broke our guides out of their talk, it seemed, and they all watched expectantly.

  “Yeah, no killing strikes. Got it.”

  We didn’t agree on a countdown or anything similar, though he apparently expected one; judging from the shocked expression once I rushed forward. He quickly regained his composure, the tip of his spear aimed at me.

  A jab. I blocked, swatting the weapon outward, and planted my foot in the ground to punch. I saw him smile, the expression too self-assured to be an expression of someone about to be hit in their face. I reacted instinctively.

  [Block]

  His eyes shone a luminescent hue of blue, and the spear suddenly came swinging back in an arc, reflected off of my body with a clink. I’d lose if I didn’t have the ability.

  But I did. My fist was already in motion, Dusk’s confident expression replaced by fear - finally. I stopped the swing just before my shield embedded itself into his nose, and just tapped him, lightly. He fell on his ass with a thud.

  “I guess I win!” I smiled and offered him my hand. Dusk seemed frustrated now, his eyebrows furrowed. But then he sighed, and accepted my hand.

  “I suppose you do. That was shorter than expected.”

  “Oh, we’re not done yet. We’ve got a whole day ahead of us!” I said, laughing, as I motioned for Crudia to replace me, and I joined the three guides in watching.

  Several hours passed, just like so. Dusk sparred against me, then Dusk versus Crudia, and then I fought Crudia myself. I won all of the duels except one - where Crudia suddenly disappeared from right in front of me, appearing hunkered down behind me, and she smashed her hand into my calf with so much force that I just collapsed. I wanted to continue, but Mark and Talisha stepped in, saying that the duel was over, much to my disappointment. The little raccoon dog really was getting better!

  For all of Dusk’s visible strengths, he won the least. Crudia just dodged his attacks and closed the distance in seconds, forcing Dusk to use some strategies he himself said he’d never considered before. As for me, I quickly got used to his attacks - the strongest one not usable without running a bit - and even though he was fast, I did always manage to block them. It wasn’t an easy feat, beating him.

  “Beating you is the easiest thing in the world, dude!” I said, picking him up from the ground once again. If he was mad at all, then he didn’t show it.

  My sweaty forehead made the hair stick to it, and I was feeling exhausted at this point - only a few hours passed, but I already felt as tired as I did yesterday after the battle.

  “Want to go grab lunch?”

  Nobody protested.

  We ate some more bear meat - the juicy meat a fine switch after the days of just surviving on crab meat - and I spent a good hour deciding on where to allocate my points. I had 12 ready to go after yesterday, but I knew that these would be the last ones I’d see for more than a week. My precious points! You came and went too quickly!

  I, of course, wanted to put them into strength or dexterity, but Mark was keen on raising the charisma at least a little bit.

  “It will be really useful in the city!” he said, grabbing his hair again.

  But I was not as sure about his conviction. “What about Xila? She said she’d wait for Dusk and the two insects there, right? Charisma won’t help me fight them off.”

  “But you’ve got enough strength!” There was not even a hint of a fight left in Mark’s voice. God, did us not listening to his advice for just a day wreck him that much?

  “I think an even more important aspect is that Xila already left the city.” Said Dusk after gulping down a big chunk of meat.

  I felt completely shocked. How was I to fight her now, if I didn’t know where she was? “How can you know?”

  “She doesn’t wait around. Must have figured the three of us died or something.” He chuckled. “For someone that tries so hard to build a squad, she certainly doesn’t care much for it.”

  God damn it! I wanted to find her there! Now all I’d be left with were… whatever was inside the city... Humans. Ew.

  Mark seemed to be thinking about something else now, occupied by the map and Timmy who kept walking through him as he just ran around the fire for some reason. A weird game that Talisha suggested, judging from the way she and Crudia were cheering him on.

  I decided to spend most of the points on strength - for all of Mark’s whining, I was to be the king of the tournament. Not him. I did add a few points into my other stats as well, though. They ended up looking like this:

  Name: Shrimpie

  Species: Peacock Mantis Shrimp

  Class: NONE

  Level: 23

  Attribute points: 10

  HP: 110/110

  MP: 0/0

  Strength: 43 (+5)

  Dexterity: 42

  Constitution: 33 (+2)

  Intelligence: 10

  Charisma: 24

  Skills - View

  Equipment - View

  Evolutions - None

  Status effects: Null

  Good. These were finally nearing numbers I’d be kind of happy with.