I’m exhausted. We’ve been at it for 7 hours at this point with no end in sight. Muscles sore, stamina stretched thin. There’s also this 1-meter long worm trying to gobble up my face currently as I’m fighting for my life. Needless to say, I’ve been keeping busy today. Every level gives me 5 points of potential to upgrade myself, either to stats or skills, passive or active. Eva made sure I didn’t spend a single one of them. She wants me to farm the weaklings as much as possible. That being said, I’m still the one struggling against these weaklings, fighting to the death with this giant, toothed gummy worm.

Keeping it at bay with an outstretched arm, I fish into a side-pocket to pull out a dagger I looted from one of the many corpses I left in my wake and stab it, ending the miserable creature’s life. One of the skills I started with is the ‘eyes on the prize’ skill. It helps me find just that little extra loot potential in everything I come across. I must have gotten it from when I was growing up poor with mom. She brought home the income, and I would make the best of it. Finding sales, haggling, scouring flea markets to find valuable to sell. If it had worth, I would find it. Later on in life, I got a summer job at a grocery store. They would throw out food that’s about to expire, and I would steal it. I’m pretty sure they knew what I was doing but never wanted to stop me. Sometimes, I wonder what happened to that proactive kid to turn me into such a background character.

Snapping out of my sudden melancholy, I throw the worm off me getting up to wipe down any gunk still clinging onto me. “gettin’ the hang of it, are ya, cowboy?” I hear behind me. Eva has been trying out accents from time to time to keep herself from being bored. You’d think watching someone fight for survival sounds pretty exciting, if not a bit horrifying. But apparently, it gets stale after a bit. And seeing how the fighting was pretty straightforward, she didn’t have much advice that needed to be given.

“Still wish you had an actual way of helping me fight,” I murmured, slightly peeved off. She flipped her hair behind her shoulders flippantly. “And get my hair dirty? In your dreams! and besides, not like I can interact with anything other than you.”

Sensing her bitter tone, I try to shift the conversation to something more lighthearted. “ At least you seem to get comfortable in your body. I was unsure if I should turn you in this or a tiny old man” I grin at her. She rolls her eyes with a smirk. “Well, it’s probably the only way you’d be able to interact with a hottie like me!” a smug look adorns her face.

It’s a lot easier to talk once you get used to her. Maybe it’s because of the circumstances, but I wish I could talk to everyone like that. Fighting these creatures seems easier. Deadlier, sure, but less anxious. These monsters just want to eat me. They don’t care what I’m like, nor will they judge me based on how I look or talk. Finally, I decide to bite back, “I can be charming if I wanted to. You’re just not sophisticated enough to understand.”

She lets out a hearty laugh. “ My bad, guess I must’ve misunderstood you being single for the last three years being a part of your plan.” Critical hit, maybe I still need a bit more practice before I can match up to her sass.

“Anyway, pick up what’s left of your dignity. These worms and snails don’t level you up much anymore. It’s time to head back. We can decide what to spend the points on and how to teach you some cool new tricks. Maybe you’ll even be able to do a cute little magic show to show off to one of those hot singles dying to meet you.”

Having teased me into oblivion, she motions me to the head back to down the corridor towards the dreaded gate that likes to touch you just a teeny bit too much. I shudder at the thought of having to get in there again, but a shower, hot food, and bed do sound enticing.

“Actually,” she began, “ that reminds me, did you ever flush last time?”

Damn it.

“Does no one know how to flush a toilet after they've had a shit?”