My stat sheet rose before me.

  Name: Shrimpie

  Species: Peacock Mantis Shrimp

  Class: NONE

  Level: 14

  Attribute points: 10

  HP: 73/105

  MP: 0/0

  Strength: 33

  Dexterity: 40

  Constitution: 28 (+2)

  Intelligence: 10

  Charisma: 15

  Skills - View

  Equipment - View

  Evolutions - None

  Status effects: Null

  5 whole new levels was a record! I might have expected a bit more after killing fifty of these things, but they were so easy to kill that I shouldn’t have been that surprised. I watched my HP slowly tick up, thankfully already regenerating. The 10 points, ready for distribution, beckoned to me, whispering for me to put it all into strength.

  Mark spoke before I could do so. "Hey, Shrimpie. Ummm, good fight!"

  Praise? From Mark? What the hell did Talisha do to him? Was she finally teaching him manners and etiquette when it came to higher beings, such as myself?

  I could do nothing but smile though. Receiving praise felt really nice for once. "Thanks, Mark! I’ve gone to level 14, would you believe it?"

  "Oh yeah, I saw. You should probably spend half on strength and constitution, and the other half to charisma."

  "Charisma? What do I need that for?"

  "You don’t need it at the moment, but you might need it later on. There are people that aren’t players too. Or, better said, there should be. I don’t know if they are at this floor too." He swallowed. "Or rather, they definitely are, but this floor is so large that it would be a stroke of luck to find some."

  That still didn’t answer my question. "And what would be the use of charisma with these non-player people?"

  Talisha stepped closer, interrupting Mark which was about to speak. "Well, I don’t know about charisma in game-terms, but in my former life experience, it meant getting away with things easier. Like, if I showed cleavage to a police officer, you didn’t get a fine!"

  "Yeah, more or less what she said. Charisma will be really useful if you meet any non-hostile creatures."

  And that related to me how? "I haven’t even gotten any equipment!"

  Mark nodded, as if that was completely understandable. "Not yet, but as long as you survive long enough, you’re bound to get some. Just trust me, okay?"

  Sheesh, they were really coming on strong with this one. I could not see the benefit of a higher charisma, but the fact that they both seemed positive that it would bring benefits made me spend the points anyway. I had pressed the + button five times, and then spent the remaining points on the other stats.

  The five of them looked like so now :

  Strength: 35

  Dexterity: 40

  Constitution: 31 (+2)

  Intelligence: 10

  Charisma: 20

  That meant that just one of my stats was on a human level now. "Mark, is intelli-"

  I never got to finish the sentence, since Crudia decided that now would be the time to throw herself at me, wrapping me in a tight hug. "We did it, Shrimpie! We won!"

  God, I was just about to throw her away, but the fur… it felt so nice, so soft. Was this how warm blankets felt like? I could just get lost in this feeling…

  Before I could say anything, not that I wanted to, she continued.

  "And you were so awesome. One moment, a fish was attacking you, and then boom! You deflected and protected us both and killed all of them in seconds. You looked like a hero! That flash, that shield, ohmygosh it was so awesome!"

  Okay, she could be my lifetime ally. It was great to finally be recognized for my greatness. In fact, it was surprising that it took this long, but better late than never! After another few moments, she tore away from me, and immediately, my skin felt cold at all the spots her fur was. Could she shed? Could I make a hoodie, like the one Mark wore, out of the fur somehow? It would feel so soft…

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "My God, Crudia. How old are you?" Talisha’s voice was neutral, but I could feel a hint of something else, as if she was watching something unseemly.

  "Umm, like three winters old, I think? Seems about right!"

  Talisha facepalmed. "Mark, we’re watching over children."

  Hey, I was no child? Rude. I was an adult, just as Crudia was. If anything, it was weird how long these humans took to mature.

  Whatever. I felt too tired to argue now, my eyes already drooping. As the battle went out of me, keeping them open was harder by every passing moment. With the few spare moments, I inspected Crudia’s level.

  Player - Crudia

  Race - Common Raccoon Dog

  Level - 11

  Class - None

  Oh wow, she managed to level up even more than I did. Sure, gaining levels required more XP as I went higher, but it still felt weird being outdone like this. It wasn’t like she killed more enemies than I did! Who balanced this thing? "Do we share XP? Since we’re a party?"

  Talisha looked confused, but Mark nodded. "Yes. Since you’re both friended, I made you two a party. Talisha accepted it," he gave her a side eye, "but she probably doesn’t remember. But yes, your XP was shared for this fight, and will be for every fight going forward.

  Well, that answered my question somewhat. Without further ado, we continued talking for a bit, which mostly meant that I listened to more praise from Crudia, prompting her whenever I felt like it. And then we continued building the hideout.

  Somehow, it took less time now after the fight, as if us being tired made it easier to understand the damn building menu. Having Crudia build helped too - for some reason, she seemed to understand the thing faster than I did.

  For all my doubts from before, I found myself liking the little creature now. Her prowess in battle, her instincts, the way she kept watching out for enemies even as we built - it all just improved my image of her so much that I actually found the idea of grouping with her for the whole tournament appealing.

  The building was done in an hour, and by the end of it I felt so tired that I would probably just fall asleep the moment my head hit the… what? Ground? Oh wait, Crudia built a bed.

  She placed two beds made of wood and grass on the ground of our little wooden cottage, and I jumped on it without even asking, grumbling at Mark to watch out for us in the night. I was asleep before I could hear his reply.

  —---------------

  [DAY 3]

  Oh wow. I woke up as the sun hit my face through the cracks of our hideout, and I immediately felt a change. Holy cow, was I grumpy yesterday. It appeared that going for two days without almost any sleep wasn’t the best idea.

  Crudia lay in her own bed, curled into a ball of fur, and so I decided to start the day without her.

  I noticed now that finishing the building yesterday rewarded me with a Skill level point. Wow, so not a new skill, but just a level? So greedy! Building the house was much harder than chopping down five trees, let me tell you that, you dumb gods! Make it make sense!

  Well, whatever. I mentally swiped away the notification about [Bullet Strike] gaining a level, and I scouted the area around our base. Mark and Talisha sat outside, each of them looking as alert as they did when I went to sleep, watching for danger. Awh, Mark actually listened. He was even useful in a fight yesterday. Yeah, for all our differences, I was actually kind of glad that he was here with me. Hopefully, the feeling was mutual.

  "Hey Mark! Good morning! You need to go sleep too?"

  His tone was bored. As if sitting around for hours on end, without anything to do, and with what was basically a stranger his only company could be boring.

  …

  Yeah, I guess I could understand the tone.

  "Hey, Shrimpie. Told you before - I don’t get tired. Not in this body."

  Did he? Boy, did this man talk about a LOT. He’d not be grumpy about me not remembering one little thing, would he? Before I could tell him that I definitely did remember, he just went on.

  "You ready for today?"

  "Ready for what?"

  Seriously, what? Don’t tell me that it will require more crafting.

  As if reading my mind, Talisha smirked and joined the conversation. "Collecting and crafting. Mark explained the whole system of survival games to me while you two slept, so you better get ready. I do think that his game knowledge will be helpful here, so Crudia and I will go with his instructions too."

  I could not suppress the groan and the shiver of my body on the mention of what lay ahead. Whoever came up with this floor was truly a devil, and this was his masterpiece. A torturing device with death being the only escape.

  That was the moment that Crudia finally emerged from our little base, eyes half open. I wondered whether my groans or the talking woke her up - they were equally loud.

  "Hey ya’ll. What’s going on?"

  "Crudia, we have to do more crafting! Can you believe it? Please, tell them-"

  Her eyes fully opened, glazed over with excitement. "Oh, how lovely! I love crafting, and collecting stuff! It feels so rewarding to finally collect all you need just to be rewarded with an item!"

  Oh god. And here I thought that we were allies, Crudia!

  "Shrimpie, if it makes you feel any better, you’ll be doing the more exciting part." Mark intercepted, probably some manner of empathy commanding him to tell me at least some good news. "You’ll be collecting materials for armor and tools."

  "I thought armor could only be obtained from the bosses?"

  He nodded. "That, and rarely from normal monsters. It’s better than what you guys will create, but it’s better to have some shabby armor than to have none at all. You still have that hide from the wolf? From the first day?"

  I nodded, seeing the thing in my inventory. Did it have a use?

  "Good. We’ll use that for Crudia’s armor."

  She looked so excited that I expected her to start jumping in place, a ball of energy so potent that it seeped into all of us. "I’ll have new clothes? Oh my gosh, and here I thought this couldn’t get any better!"

  Both Talisha and Mark nodded at the same time, and Mark continued. "Yes. Armor, but yes. But we need more Materials. Shrimpie and I will go gather some minerals and metal. You and Talisha will focus on crafting more crafting facilities, since we’ll need several. Focus on getting a furnace for now. And then, when that’s done, we’ll focus on traps."

  I wanted to object about traps being useless, but I realized that blocking off a way to attack us surely would have helped us last night.

  Gods, I’d have to collect and craft more after all.

  We discussed strategy and what else we’d need to collect, and I did my damn best to not zone out, which went as well as I expected - I caught maybe a third of what Mark said. What I knew was that I’d need to collect a lot of metals.

  As much as I complained, the idea of having some armor was definitely tempting. There was a certain freedom in being mostly unclothed, but I missed most of the protection that my chitin used to provide.

  We ate some crabs, Crudia talked everyone’s ears off, and then we split, just as yesterday.

  With Mark in tow, I waved at Crudia, who returned the goodbye tenfold, and left our little base.

  Today’s journey would take me north, beyond the forest.