For all the weird shit I’ve seen in the tournament so far, this one took the cake. Here I was, thinking that getting Mark was probably one of my unlucky pulls in this tournament, just for this to take all my assumptions and throw them out of the window.

  Could this guy even read the written guides that the Guides had to learn from? My knowledge didn’t talk about the intelligence of human kids. I just knew that they took very long to grow to maturity, but were otherwise just as dumb as most mammals were.

  The boy, offering his hand for a handshake of his own, was about two-thirds as tall as Mark, his curly hair in a circle around his head in what the humans called an afro. It looked somewhat cute. Soft too. Some of his teeth were missing, though it didn’t detract from the purity of his smile at all.

  “They put kids in the tournament as guides. What the actual fuck is wrong with the gods? Talisha’s horrified statement broke the silence.

  Was that really so surprising? She’d already joked how Talisha and I were like kids. Actually, the longer I thought about it, the less shocking it seemed. I didn’t know how the guides enrolled into the tournament, but nothing said a kid couldn’t get in, right?

  I shook the kid’s hand, and felt a pang of sadness for Dusk. Poor guy. Could this kiddo even help him in any meaningful way? Dusk already said that his role was to protect his guide, but that seemed so unfair! Instead of a helper, he had to become one himself.

  “Hey there, little buddy! My name’s Shrimpie, and I’ll be the one to win this tournament! What’s your name?”

  Letting my hand go, he gave me another wan smile, and ran behind Dusk’s leg, hiding behind his wide frame.

  “Sorry, he’s a bit shy. And he doesn’t really talk.” Dusk laughed, stretching his neck to look behind him.

  Great. This guy would either be an asset that we could work with, or he’d just slow us down.

  “So. What can you bring to our party? I reckon you’re a close-range fighter? Like Shrimpie?” Mark asked, calculating.

  “Indeed. I use my spear, as you could have seen. I have some skills, and Xila shared some of her equipment with me. I don’t think most of it will be useful to you - they are items related to my spear fighting, but I will make no claim on these two corpses and their equipment.”

  Oh, right! Loot! I turned toward the mosquito, who lay hovering in the water. He bled out in the meantime, already ripe for picking. Not even bothering to look over the equipment, I just pulled everything into my inventory, including his corpse. I could scan his equipment later.

  Oh, my level increased again! I was up to level 23 now. For all of Mark’s worries, I was progressing quite nicely, if I had to say so myself. One more level to go before hitting the max. One level from reaching Xila’s.

  “Anyway, we should get going and find Xila. I have some catching up to do with that name thief!”

  Dusk cringed visibly. “I would… not recommend doing so.” I went to protest, but his hand shot up, stopping me. “I’m not saying you and Crudia are weak, Shrimpie. And I can see that you are level 23 already. But Xila and her gang.. They’re just ahead. Too far ahead. I’ve fought Crudia, and I saw you take down Mickey the Mosquito.”

  “Him and almost the other guy as well!”

  “Yes. But Xila’s biggest strength isn’t her level. It’s her items. Her evolution. She’s also a great fighter - I know we all like to think of ourselves as the best fighters there are, but she’s just a step ahead. Always a step ahead. I am not saying she’s unbeatable. But right now? I don’t see the three of us winning. And that’s if one of the others doesn’t join the fight on their side.”

  Whoah, I didn’t think of myself as the best fighter. I just simply was.

  “Wh-”

  “I get it.” Mark added, interrupting me. “He’s right, Shrimpie. We’ll get our revenge later, okay? But let’s focus on getting you some better items, and enhancing our base.”

  Talisha’s voice cut in as she tried to get closer to the kid. “We should also look into the town that Xila had mentioned. We haven’t found one yet. Dusk, you know the location, right?”

  “Yes. It’s in the black-grass region. There are some dangerous beasts prowling around that area as well.” He replied, voice hoarse. “But I wouldn’t recommend going there for now. Not until Xila stops waiting for me and those two.”

  God, would anyone here let me speak? I could see the reasoning though. I was pretty damn sure I could beat Xila when it came to just fighting capabilities, but if it came down to more skills, and better grade equipment - then I’d probably lose.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  This was like fighting against cheaters! How did they get so strong so fast? I was doing good, but these people somehow managed to get so far ahead of me that my great path to glory seemed insufficient. Blast them!

  “Shrimpie? Are we going to head back home now?” Crudia asked, her eyes droopy.

  “Home? It’s not our home, Crudia. It will be gone in what. Nine days?” I laughed.

  “Yes, but we still built it together, right? But okay, that doesn’t matter. I just want to sleep.” Why did she look a bit sad?

  “That’s a good idea, you two.” Mark was already hovering toward the swampy area we trudged while getting here. “It will be a bit until we get there, though. You better not fall asleep on your feet!”

  I did feel tired, but not that tired. So what if I was so tired that I didn’t feel like allocating my points or looking over the new items? That was not a tell of my current state, okay? “Who are we? Some silly humans? Though…yeah, let’s go.”

  Mark: Watch out for Dusk. He seems trustworthy, but you better keep an eye on him.

  I didn’t bother replying - of course I’d watch him closely. Mark was seriously underestimating my intelligence for some reason.

  We continued talking for a bit more, travelling slowly through the shallow water, praying that nothing swam in it. If something did, it didn’t chance an encounter with the three of us, and we arrived at the field of flowers unharmed.

  The sight in front of me was completely different from the picture buried in my mind - the memory that remained vivid. While beautiful during the day, now it was breathtaking. The flowers, for all their utility, would always be amazing for one of their qualities, and that was undeniablytheir beauty.

  The damn flowers glowed, too. Their petals were a deep pink in the moonlight, giving off luminescent colors. The still air let them remain stationary, shining dim light on everything around them. We really should have built our base here. It would be so easy to see anyone approaching through these things,

  Crudia, barely able to walk and not fall asleep a few moments ago, seemed to completely wake up again, and I had to stop her from running into the flowers once more, holding onto her by the scruff of her neck - Talisha’s suggestion. We were already lucky enough that we didn’t meet any enemies so far, and fighting for the third time in one night wasn’t in my checklist, not when I was this tired.

  Even the forest respected our exhaustion somehow - the path I remembered being a handful to get through, full of branches blocking our path, was open now. No stops for our path, no enemies that would slow us down. My map, now much more open than it was the beginning, served as the only guide I needed.

  And soon enough, the small wooden lodge was visible through the trees. Oh, my lovely house! I missed you so much. Your lovely grass beds, your beautiful gaps that let the air in.

  This was my favorite place now. The promise of sleep was so great that I even softened to the idea of calling it home, like Crudia did.

  And along with our home, there was something else. A goddamn bear almost as large as the small house. And for whatever reason, it sat right in front of the door. Looking at the sky.

  Okay, big fella, the skies are really beautiful and all. I get it. But did you seriously have to sit right there? Maybe it could smell that we were there previously, and chose this place for its night meal.

  Sighing, I used [Analyze].

  The three-eyed bear

  Type: Creature

  Level: 17

  You know the saying about bears, right?

  If it’s black, fight back.

  If it’s brown, lie down.

  If it’s white, say goodnight.

  And if it’s got three eyes, you should have been wise…. and you should have not approached this 2 tonne beast that likes eating the guts of players. What did you think? That this would have a happy outcome? Someone has not learned all their lessons yet.

  What? Are you complaining about that rhyme being ass? I’m not Shakespeare, okay? Sorry for my imperfect poetry. Would you like it if I wrote whole books about each of the hundred of thousand beast types that are spread throughout this floor?

  You know what? Screw you! I’m giving it armor under its skin! Yeah! Just for this one occasion. Just for you and your stupid crustacean brain. Next time you’ll know not to discredit us so much.

  What the fuck was wrong with the system. I had no clue whether what it said was actually true, since nothing actually changed about the appearance of the bear. I could not even see the third eye it was speaking about.

  “I’ve got this.” Dusk stepped forward, his guide left behind.

  Cocky. I liked it! But bed was more important than letting him go ahead. “Oh, I’m all for seeing you in action big fella, but I think we’ll need to cooperate for this one. Just look at the size of that thing!”

  Crudia, still completely awake, nodded enthusiastically. “Three is better than one, right?”

  But Dusk just laughed, and his spear shimmered in the air as he summoned it. “But I haven’t used my trump card yet, and he’s just in the position for me to use it to its maximum potential.” He exhaled, his breath misting a little bit in front of him in the cool night air. “Plus, I still have to show my worth to you, right? Just rest. It will be over before it starts.”

  Without giving us a chance to say anything more, he ran toward the bear.

  I saw him sprint , each step bringing him to faster speed, soon enough running far faster than I could even dream of. His spear began glowing - a light blue and white dust falling off of the spear, no, off of his whole body. He was a smear of colors, running so fast that dodging him would feel like a fool’s errand.

  And then he crashed into the bear. In a split second, itts torso separated into two equal parts, split horizontally.

  It wasn’t stronger than [Bullet strike], I knew that, somewhere deep inside. But the skill was amazing. The speed combined with the splendor of the colors, that itself combined with the sheer destructive power! I wanted that for me. Something that would show the world not to mess with me.

  As I walked closer in shocked silence, I only had one thought running in my mind. I’m so damn happy that this guy is on our side.