Zahra and her mother were hospitable beyond belief. In fact, at first, it made me a bit uncomfortable. A nagging voice at the back of my head kept saying that this was a trap; it was too good to be true—the usual suspects when I was overwhelmed by someone’s kindness.

Zahra and her mother offered us their home as a place to stay for the night. It’d be a three-day trek from here to the capital. With no other cities or towns in-between, we wanted to ensure that we left with no shortage of [Energy].

Basbousa was my new favorite treat. From what Zahra had told us, basbousa was great for maintaining and restoring [Energy]. I had no doubt that Cannoli could replicate the recipe point for point. Well, eventually, anyway. Just from my understanding, a generational recipe like that took a lot of time to master.

Kind as Zahra and her mother were, I was surprised that they were willing to accommodate so many people with a home as small as theirs. Most of us had taken to the floor with blankets.

Better than having to take turns on watch.

When the morning sun rose, I rose with it. It gave me pause to reflect on just how much of a morning person I’d become. Gone were the days of staying up late, playing video games, and wishing I had a girlfriend.

Thinking back on it, I was pretty pampered in my old world. Even if I did miss some of the first-world amenities I’d grown so used to—like cars, microwaves, and cell phones—I was missing those amenities less and less as time went on. I imagined this is what it felt like to be productive and to have purpose.

I stretched my back and arms, and my bones popped. I sat up to see Keke by the window with her bow. A blue-gold glow outlined her features.

Her gaze caught mine, and she turned around with a smile.

“Good morning, Matt,” she said, smiling.

“Morning, Keke,” I said back.

“How’d you sleep?”

I massaged the muscles between my neck and shoulder. “Not great. But I feel oddly charged up if that makes any sense.”

“Must be the basbousa,” Keke nodded sagely. “I had trouble falling asleep. What’s your iPaw say?”

“Good question. Appear, iPaw.” The device manifested in my hand. I scrolled over to where my Party was displayed.

Keke

Base Level 8

Scout Class Level 8

Health Points: 27/27

Myana Points: 15/15

Energy: 42/37

Strength: 4

Magic: 1

Vitality: 2

Dexterity: 5

Agility: 5

Resistance: 1

“Huh. Well, this is interesting,” I said as I hunched over into a more comfortable position. “Your [Energy]’s at 42/37. You have 5 over your max?”

“What?” Keke blinked. “Well, I do feel like I could take on the world right now.”

I frowned, then went to where my Stats were listed.

Matt

Base Level 9

Warrior Class Level 9

Health Points: 54/54

Myana Points: 7/7

Energy: 33/28

Strength: 6

Magic: 1

Vitality: 6

Dexterity: 1

Agility: 2

Resistance: 2

Sure enough, my [Energy] was higher too. Even so, I couldn’t help but find it strange that I had a Base and Class Level on Keke. Felt wrong when she was so clearly more experienced than I was.

Guess these are the advantages to being a man in Nyarlea.

“Matt. Matt?” Keke broke me out of my thoughts.

“Oh, sorry. Yeah, my [Energy] is 5 points over my max as well.” I scratched my chin in thought. This would be a great recipe if Cannoli could master it. Zahra’s mom really knows her stuff.”

“No wonder I feel so restless,” Keke said with a light giggle.

Still, though, that was strange that the basbousa carried over to the next day. At the very least, I would’ve thought the effects would’ve worn off by the end of the night.

Well, I guess it was best to consider it a blessing. The others were beginning to stir anyway—it would soon be time to leave. I’d learned a lot of things about traveling—one of them being that it was usually best to leave as soon as the sun rose. The longer that ball of fire was up, the hotter it was going to be. Desert or not.

“Time to get up, everyone,” I said once I’d gotten to my feet.

Ravyn shot up, her hair a tangled mess. Heavy bags rested under her eyes as she observed the room.

“Ravyn? Did you sleep okay?” I asked.

She looked at me, squinted, then nodded. “Fine.”

Convinced she was lying to me, I left her alone.

One by one, everyone got up. Zahra’s mother was up minutes after Keke and I, and she set to making breakfast for all of us. It was kind of nice. For a while there, it felt like we were staying the night at a bed and breakfast. Minus the beds, of course.

After we ate a bunch of food that I couldn’t tell you the names of, Zahra and her mother shared a hug, and we were off.

I wasn’t eager to return to the desert trail, especially knowing that we’d have to spend a minimum of three nights in tents. Three more nights of watch rotations. Despite that, I found a spring in my step and held no hesitation in hopping up on the giganshank and getting back on the road. Erm, well, as much of a road as could be expected.

We had enough supplies to last a few days by the time we left. Tristan was adamant about ensuring Zahra, Destiny, and Lara had everything they needed. Zahra assured him she needed little more than the katana around her waist.

The iPaw was pretty vague regarding second Class advancement and Skills. I knew [Myrmidon] was a branch from the [Warrior] path, and, honestly, that was it. So, before we left, I did what any guy would do and asked Zahra about her Class while she and Tristan were discussing necessary supplies.

“I trained to become a [Myrmidon] on San Island. I was a [Warrior] before then, like you,” she explained.

“Do you use any axe Skills?” I asked. I was struggling to picture how a [Warrior] became a [Myrmidon]. Transitioning from a Class that used axes to a Class that used katanas just didn’t make much sense to me.

To my surprise, Zahra nodded. “[Myrmidon] has plenty of axe Skills.” She tugged the handle of a small axe from her belt—a throwing axe. “[Myrmidon] Skills incorporate the axe as a weapon of utility.” She allowed the axe to fall in her grip until she held it just below the head. “Most of my time was spent relying on the katana for close-quarters combat and falling back on the throwing axe as needed.”

Listening to how Zahra described the [Myrmidon] had me leaning away from it. As appealing as the katana looked, it also seemed to require a lot of technique and finesse that I wasn’t sure I could handle. I thought back to Erina, briefly wondering how she was doing after the loss of her arm and whether or not she’d still feel able and up to teaching me what a [Battleguard] could do.

“I was nervous to learn at first,” Zahra continued. “But my master was one of the few who was able to become a [Samurai] on San Island.”

“So what should I expect in a fight?” Tristan asked. Not wanting to take up too much of Zahra and Tristan’s time, I let them speak for a while, listening in so I could better understand.

“I’m fast.” She paused, frowning. “Much faster than you might be comfortable with.”

“Yeah, I was a bit worried when you stabbed our food,” Tristan said with an anxious laugh.

“Sorry about that,” Zahra said as she played with the end of her braid.

“It was actually pretty cool,” Tristan said, shaking his head.

“Thanks. My attitude was a problem that came up quite often when I was training with my master. She said I was too much of a showoff.”

“I don’t mind that too much.”

“Oh, that reminds me. Since it sounds like neither of you have ever seen a [Myrmidon] in action, I take it you’ve never heard of the extra factor called [Perception]?” Zahra asked.

Now that was a confusing thing to hear out of her mouth. I hoped this wasn’t some extra, hidden Stat on my screen that I’d neglected up to this point. Then again, neither Cailu nor any experienced catgirl had ever brought it up.

Tristan and I shook our heads.

“Well, then you’d best let your Party know about this too. I’ll try and give as much warning as possible, but whenever [Myrmidon]s are in battle, they’ll receive a [Perception] bonus. It took me a long time to adjust to it myself, but I can pass it along to my friends on command.” Zahra put the axe back into her [Cat Pack], then pressed the tips of her fingers together with a rather girlish smile. “If your [Perception] gets high enough in the heat of combat, time may look like it slows for a split-second.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “Like, you control time?”

“No, I think what she means is that how we perceive time changes,” explained Tristan. “Am I right?”

“So smart,” Zahra said, her smile growing more prominent. She nodded. “Exactly right. To any onlooker, nothing will look different. To those who are fighting, the flow of combat might feel distorted. That’s something only [Myrmidon] can do.” At that, Zahra puffed out her chest and rested her hand on the sheath of her katana. “It especially works great if you have more points assigned to [Agility] and [Dexterity] like I do.”

I thought back to what Espada had said a while back when she snatched the iPaw out of my hand—how [Agility] would be important at some point. Maybe this was one of those times she was talking about. However, I was willing to bet that I had more [Strength] and [Vitality] than Zahra did.

“So, just keep that in mind. When it happens, the people and objects around you might feel like they’re slowing down. They’re not. That’s just how you’re perceiving things. It can be a little scary to see the battle play out in slow motion.”

Tristan visibly swallowed. “That’s an eerie thought. Thank you, Zahra! I’ll let everyone know. Anything else?”

The [Myrmidon] shook her head. “Nothing I can think of. Shall we depart?”

I nodded, wincing at the thought of the impending heat. “The desert won’t cross itself.”