Hartha had likely been right that hitting things might do me some good. Unfortunately, a lot of the therapeutic value of hitting things went out the door when those things tried to hit you back. Believe it or not, having giant spiders try to cut your face off was, in fact, slightly-more-than-mildly horrifying.

As such, I spent a good portion of the trip a nervous, jittery wreck. No amount of mental preparation or logic had thus far been able to take away the primal fear that came with fighting to the death. Trauma Suppression would probably guarantee it didn’t haunt me afterwards, but in the immediate term, it did little to help.

On the plus side, I learned that there were spiders in the forest that weren’t quite as shit-inducing as the prince and the matriarch. The forest also boasted Mature Spiders which were a dull brown and lacked most of the weaponry their royal cousins were rocking. When fighting them, I could almost believe I was still on Earth. That didn’t actually make the experience less terrifying, but hey, it was something at least.

Even with the constant terror, I was actually doing pretty well. Hartha apparently had a healing spell (one from her class which she couldn’t teach me — I’d asked, multiple times) and with her there to heal me up if things got too rough, I discovered something quite fascinating: You can really fuck a spider up if you have a hammer. We hunted for hours, avoiding any groups that were too large for us, instead picking off small packs of mature spiders or solo spider princes.

Despite the fact that we were in training mode, there was still a lot of time for chatting. In between spiders, Hartha asked me all about Earth and Dex and what it was like to be a Protagonist. In return, she filled me in on the Forest Shadow culture as best she could, interspersed with a few tidbits of gossip. Stuck on another planet, surrounded by magic, these moments of conversation felt blissfully normal, even with all the pauses we took to smash up spiders.

In what felt like no time at all, the sun started to set, and I received another level up, complete with a small wave of euphoria. This time, there wasn’t even the pretense of letting me choose my stats: All of them were assigned for me instantly.

Congratulations! You have reached level 3!

+1 to Constitution.

+4 to Perception

+2 to Endurance

God’s Mind Activated:

+1 to Wisdom

+1 to Intelligence

I whooped and let Hartha know, followed by a wince as I saw the unlucky stat distribution. An entire 4 points in Perception? At least I’d hit a multiple of three and finally gotten the God’s Mind bonus.

“Congrats!” Hartha spoke as she healed me, the wounds I’d gained from the final fight disappearing before my eyes. “How many stat points do you get anyway? Is it different for Protagonists?”

I told her the stats I’d gained and she let out an actual gasp. “You got nine stat ups just now? Nine?”

“Err, I’m guessing that’s not the norm?” Six free points had seemed a little high, although I hadn’t expected that kind of reaction from her.

“Forest Shadows get +1 to Constitution, alternate between +1 to Strength and +1 to Dexterity every other level, and get one free point. I had to put 5 levels worth of my free points into Intelligence just to cast this healing spell, and even Rock with his rare Forest Commander class is only getting 3 free points per level! In terms of attributes, you’re basically a level 7 now!”

Well, that was one more way in which I was the weird alien girl, but that was at least pretty good for me, wasn’t it? The extra points would help me to hit above my weight class. I wasn’t sure what level Rock was, but it was possible I’d even be able to catch up to him in a few levels if I got lucky with how my points were allocated. Hopefully I might even be able to hit the giant bastard.

The part about Rock getting more points because of his class had me intrigued though. “Hartha, what’s up with classes? How do I get one?” Especially considering all my stats got assigned randomly, if there was a way for me to get more, I’d take it.

Her brows shot up, clearly surprised I didn’t know. “Sorry. Keep forgetting you’re new to this. Classes are things like ‘Rogue’ or ‘Warrior’ or even non-combat ones like ‘Carpenter’. They give you special skills associated with the given class and help you level up. Some fancy cities have ways of granting classes to anyone, but for everyone else, you get one when you hit level 10.”

I groaned. Level 10? If each level took more time to gain than the last, it would probably be forever before I got that high. I still had a sum total of 0 flashy skills or spells, and I was getting tired of being in a fantasy world and just hitting things with hammers or poking them with spears.

Ah well. Couldn’t expect to have everything after just two days, I supposed.

Having leveled, it was time to head back to the village. We kept chatting all the way, dispatching spiders whenever we ran into them, and arriving back shortly before sunset.

“That was a fun change of pace! Let me know if you ever need to do it again!” She smiled as she dropped me off back at the training grounds, and it occurred to me that I might have just made my first friend in this world. Look at that! I’d honestly had a fair bit of trouble making new friends back home. It turned out all I needed to do was hop on over to a new world and be open to meeting six-foot-tall, green people!

“Will do. Thanks for making sure I didn’t die, and all that. I’d be lying if I said that was, uh, ‘fun’ for me, because it was kind of terrifying, but I guess at least it was a break from training with the commander?”

She gave me a knowing look. “It would be odd if you weren’t a bit scared right now. Watch! In a few weeks, it’ll feel like second nature, I’m sure!” With those words of encouragement, she bowed and then left. Belatedly, I realized I should have asked her what I was supposed to do about food, but hopefully I’d be able to find someone to ask.

I started wandering off in the general direction of the tent they’d had me in earlier when a booming shout came from behind me.

“Protagonist! Where are you going? So weak that you can’t train anymore? The sun’s not even setting!” I turned around to find Rock walking to the center of the training ground. “And here I was looking forward to taking another little nap while you tried to hit me! Pity.”

I sighed, steeling myself to deal with the abrasive man again. “I haven’t eaten in hours. I’m going to find some food.” Even he wouldn’t stop me from finding something to eat after all that fighting.

Unexpectedly, his face lit up with surprise. “Isn’t that a happy coincidence! I was just coming from the mess area now and happened to pick up an extra bowl! It’s in the weapons tent, and if you eat it quickly, you might even be able to train while there’s still a bit of light left!”

I groaned, and my stiff limbs groaned with me. How had he managed to turn something as nice as bringing me food into something so unpleasant? I thought of telling him off out of spite, but in truth, I did still need the training. Two weeks wasn’t that long, and I didn’t know when I’d get an opportunity like this again.

Eager to fill my stomach and to get a brief respite from the slog of training, I entered the tent and began to eat, feeling a bit defeated as I did so. As soon as I finished, it’d be time to train again.

The night had ended with me dragging my weary body back to my tent and falling asleep instantly. Despite the fact that I’d already been tired at the offset of the training session, I’d convinced myself that I would keep at it until Rock said it was time to call it quits.

Partly, that was because I’d thought that if I showed him how serious I was about leveling, he might show me more respect. More so, though, I really just hadn’t wanted him to have the satisfaction of hearing me say I couldn’t keep going. For that reason, I pushed my body far past the limits of its 10 Endurance points and trained well into the night with him, so late that he’d had to light lanterns so I could see.

With each new ache my body had accumulated, I’d expected him to say we were finished, that it was late, that I’d done enough. Finally, when I truly could not go on any longer, I’d practically collapsed on the training ground, certain that my resolve had impressed even the heard-hearted bastard of an instructor.

Instead, he’d just stared down at me, a look of incredulity covering his face. “Done already?”

Not even my quickly-growing reserves of anger for him were able to keep me going. Defeated, I’d retired for the night.

I’d woken only a short while ago to a slightly less-than-gentle prodding from Amak. While he’d apparently attempted to wake me by calling my name from outside the tent, and then lightly nudging me after that failed to work, I’d been in such a deep state of sleep, it hadn’t even registered. In fact, when he’d finally succeeded in waking me, I’d wanted nothing more than to cuss him out, still exhausted from the day before. The only thing that had held me back was that he’d come bearing gifts in the form of breakfast.

Breakfast was a bowl of a green porridge with nuts and berries in it, somewhat similar to oatmeal save for an intense herby taste cut with a small kick of spice. To drink, he’d brought me a steaming stone mug full of a bitter orange liquid that I couldn’t identify. As I inhaled the food, Amak began to speak.

“Rock has informed me that he’s waiting for you at the training yard.”

I sighed, but had no intention of shooting the messenger. I nodded, expecting that to be it.

Instead, he cocked his head to the side and continued. “Also, do you need anything? I’m here to help if you do.”

I smiled and reminded myself that not all the giant forest shadows were out to get me. As it happened, there were actually a few things I’d been meaning to figure out.

“Some help would be really nice, thanks. For starters, is there a way I could maybe take a bath or wash my clothes?” I’d fallen asleep in the clothes they’d given me to replace my previous scratched up set, and already they were laden with sweat and dirt. Hopefully the shadows had a concept of bathing and wouldn’t consider me an oddball for it.

The corners of his lips tilted upwards almost imperceptibly. “I uh, hadn’t realized you were unaware of how to use the showers. But I think it’s a good thing that you asked.”

A good thing I asked? Evidently, I was not the only one who was aware that I stunk. What could I say? No one had ever claimed spider guts and dried sweat made for good cologne, and if someone had, that was horrifying, and I wanted them to stay the hell away from me.

He craned his head upwards and pointed at the very top of the tent where a small blue stone lay. “That, is a shower.” He then pointed to a number of similar stones in different colors that were inlayed into the tent’s interior. “These, are the controls.”

A shower in the tent? Having thought they were simply for decoration, I’d ignored them up till now. But really? Those little stones?

He pointed to each stone on the wall, listing their function in turn. “On and off, hotter, colder, more pressure, less pressure, dry. It works on clothes as well, but make sure you don’t have drinks or such in the room when you use the dry spell. Sucks ‘em right up.”

Slightly dumbfounded at the discovery, I gave him a muted thanks, happy I wouldn’t have to go without showering for two weeks.

“Anything else I can help with?”

I shook my head and thanked him as I finished up the last bits of my food. Though the beverage was a bit too bitter for my taste, I gulped more of it down, not wanting to waste it. After doing so, I was surprised with a prompt.

Drank Kash - Concentration and energy increased. +1 Charisma

It was magic coffee! Bless! I’d had other things higher on my priority list lately, but I’d really been feeling a touch crankier than normal the past few days without it.

It was either that, or the fact that spiders kept trying to kill me. Hard to say!

“If that’s all, I’ll take my leave now.” The shadow bowed.

“That’s all! And really, thank you for all of this.” I wasn’t sure what he’d done to get the duty of playing helper to a level three 26-year-old, but I was glad to have his aid.

He bowed his head. “Of course.” With that, he collected the bowl and cup and then headed out.

As soon as he left, I undressed and turned on the shower. The control stones were placed with forest shadows in mind, barely within reach for me, but within moments I’d heated the water up to the proper temperature and enjoyed as the tension rolled out of my body.

It felt magical, and in this case, I guessed it actually was. At some point I’d have to figure out how they enchanted the stones like that: the water somehow formed straight below the top stone before cascading downwards. About a foot from the ground, it stopped before turning around and getting sucked into the stone that I was supposed to press when I wanted to get dry.

Feeling clean, I spent some time soaking and scrubbing at my clothes, turned the shower off, then hit the drying stone. All of the moisture around me — in the air, on my body, in my clothes — was quickly funneled into the stone. Neat! At some point, I’d have to ask about what the soap situation was, but that was far better than I’d expected.

Finally done cleaning up, I dressed and made my way over to the training yard.

Unlike yesterday, it was occupied, a group of shadows equipped with spears and wooden bucklers sparring in pairs. Rock loomed above them all, standing arms crossed by the weapons tent.

“Certainly took your sweet time. Although I suppose I’ll forgive you: It looks like someone convinced you to clean yourself, and I’ll consider that a gift.” He ducked into the weapons tent and began rifling through some of the arms. “By the way, Hartha caught me earlier this morning. Believe it or not, she said she actually liked babysitting you. An odd one, that girl.” Done searching, he came out with a spear and a large grin. “Now, let’s see if today’s finally the day you can hit me, Protagonist! It won’t be, but I’m willing to be proven wrong!”

He tossed me the spear, and with that, we began.