Al... Most... There...

'Hey! I think we've gone far enough!'

Rizz's thoughts blared through the Frostcat's mind. Yet the beast continued dashing through the thick woods. 

'Stop! You need to rest, don't you?' Rizz telepathically reasoned, patting the side of her head. 

Still, Jaaga continued running. She ignored Rizz's telepathic calls. She ignored the rising sun overhead. She ignored the arrows in her back and hind legs. Nothing could faze the Frostcat. Jaaga didn't even call back to him. 

All she did was run. Run straight ahead, always correcting her course after sidestepping trees or undergrowth. 

'Seriously, you need to rest! Help me find some herbs and we can lie low while we recuperate!'

She wasn't the only one injured. Rizz had a grazing cut on his lower left side, along with a broken arrow in his right shoulder. 

Rizz groaned as he stared at his hidden left hand, braced between his chest and her back. 'Damn it! First I lost a crystal and now you won't stop to let me heal you? Jaaga, we need to stop and rest. Before you kill us both!'

'Al… mo…' 

A weak reply drifted into Rizz's mind. But it wasn't loud enough to decipher.

'You'll kill yourself if you keep this up!' Rizz telepathically roared into the stubborn cat's mind. 

'... al… most…' Jaaga's weak reply got slightly louder.

'Almost what? You're almost dead, that's what!' Rizz argued. 'Stop already, so we can both rest and heal up–'

Jaaga's speed was declining by the minute. Her haggard breaths sounded like squeals of pain. 

'Almost… th… there…'

Hearing that, Rizz tilted his head to the side. 'Almost where?' 

'... al… mo... al… most…'

Determination could only fuel her battered body for so long. And her fumes of persistence were finally running dry. 

Thud, thud, thud…

She clipped her foot on an overgrown root, crashing into the uphill undergrowth. Jaaga and Rizz both tumbled through bushes and over the surprisingly rocky ground. 

"OW! That damn arrow!" Rizz screamed while scrambling to his feet.

While Rizz felt throbbing pain from the arrowhead still in his shoulder, Jaaga quietly collapsed. She used every fiber of her dwindling consciousness to breathe in… before crying out. 

ROOOOAAARRR!!!

"Hey?" Rizz threw both hands over his drooping ears. "Warn a guy next time… Jaaga? Jaaga?!"

Rizz glanced at the fallen mana crystals. He also peeked at his health bar with a mocking laugh. One-third of his health was taken by the grazing cut and the lone arrow. But after that hard tumble, Rizz was put past the halfway mark. 

However, Rizz's immediate focus was shifted completely to Jaaga. To her health bar, status, unstable breathing, everything!

"Jaaga, stay with me! Don't go to any lights, you hear me? No lights, no rivers, no meadows, no nothing!"

Rizz shouted as loudly as his battered lungs would allow. He checked her limbs until he could feel a pulse, no matter how weak it was. According to his system, her HP was more stable than anything else. More than half of HP was left. But that wasn't enough to shake the sinking feeling in Rizz's stomach. 

"You can't die! You're not allowed, not while you're with me!"

As her breathing seemed to be stabilizing, ever so slowly, Rizz's eyes darted all about their surroundings. "Come on. Come on. Gimme something to work with, you damn Stooge!"

Rizz stood up and felt his legs tremble. He remained standing but mostly through willpower. "Fucking lv. 1 body! Fucking Stooge! At least drop me off in friendly territory, or at the tutorial dungeon!" 

Cursing the heavens was a way for Rizz to remain alert and active. He let his pent-up rage fly off the tongue while gradually picking up speed. Soon, Rizz was jogging to nearby trees and bushes while fueled by frustration. 

"If I die now, it's your damn fault, Stooge! You'd better take responsibility and give me one free respawn! Or I'll come haunting you from your stupid robot for the rest of your shitty life!

"And don't forget, Jaaga! You can't die either, or we're both dead!" 

Rizz would always glance back at the fallen Frostcat. He would mention her sometimes as well. "I'm still here, Jaaga, so you are too! Cling to life, damn it! This is all your fault for not listening to me!" 

Everything out of the goblin's mouth was screamed. His throat was quickly feeling the burn. "God! Damn! Shit! ... There's nothing around here!" 

Rizz kicked a rock, sending it flying in exchange for stubbing his toe. "Dumb Stooge… What the hell do you want me to do now? Spin your fucking gatcha game for a revival skill?!"

Despite the obvious mocking tone, Rizz rapidly opened his menu. 

{Primary Quest}

[Escape Dorson City: Unclaimed]

[Escaped at high speed under the darkness of night with no direct combat, leaving no chance for immediate pursuers to keep up. Reward: 100 skill points, +50 additional skill points… Claim? Y / N?]

[Escape Dorson City: Achieved]

"That only leaves me with 465 points. That's enough for a ten spinner… How dare you tempt me, Stooge!" Rizz ruffled his hair with his uninjured left arm. "You're gonna make me waste my damn points…" 

Before his shopping impulses could take hold, Rizz flipped through the {Skills} tabs. "How, for the love of Thilea, am I supposed to unlock the basic skills? Shouldn't they just be there for me to upgrade? They're not even common rarity, and you still locked them behind a goddamned paywall?!

"Can't I just increase health regen, or max health? Or do anything besides spin your damn wheel?!" 

… c-crumple…

Shutting up, Rizz froze. His ears twitched, kicking in his high-alert gamer senses. *Was that a twig? From something approaching?*

Rizz's racing thoughts forced him to step closer to the Frostcat while glancing over his shoulder. "For the love of Thilea, that better not be... a damn bear! Of fucking course!" 

Maybe a hundred meters away, a lumbering black bundle of fur crushed some bushes blocking its path. Rizz couldn't see it too well from that distance, unable to recognize the exact species. But Rizz didn't need to get close to know that the bear was beyond his level. 

Knowing he wouldn't see the beast's level, stats, or anything, Rizz's mind immediately went into frantic overdrive to calculate his best odds of pulling off a miracle.