Teddy pointed at Ray with a bit of charred stick. “Before we start, get this through your skull. Levelling points make you average. Training makes you dangerous.”
Ray opened his mouth, ready to argue, but Teddy cut him off with a look that made the words die in his throat.
“Everyone gets the allowance,” Teddy said. “You want extra? Earn it.”
Ray sighed, rubbing at his face. “Alright. Alright. I get it.”
He talks too much, Miu’s voice slid into Ray’s head, neat and sharp.
Ray snorted and said out loud, “Miu says you talk too much.”
Teddy’s eyes flicked to the cat, then back to Ray. “Good. She’s got sense. Now, show me what you’ve got.”
Ray checked his inventory and dumped everything that looked remotely useful into a neat pile. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to stop him feeling like he was fighting the world naked, and he liked that more than he wanted to admit.
====================================
Dagger
====================================
Basic Weapon
Slot: One Hand
Rarity: Common
Rank: F
Attributes:
- Physical Damage +2
====================================
====================================
Serrated Dagger
====================================
Basic Weapon with a serrated edge
Slot: One Hand
Rarity: Common
Rank: F
Attributes:
- Physical Damage +3
====================================
====================================
Cotton Vest
====================================
Almost no better than a regular shirt
Slot: Body
Rarity: Trash
Rank: F
Attributes:
- Physical Damage Reduction -0.5
====================================
====================================
Leather Sandals of Wind
====================================
Enchanted sandals that increase movement speed.
Slot: Body
Rarity: Trash
Rank: F
Attributes:
- Physical Damage Reduction -0.5
Enchantments
- Wind Rune (Trash): Movement Speed +1%
====================================
Ray blinked at the sandals twice, just to be sure. “Nice. I got an enchanted item.”
What’s enchanted? Miu asked immediately, curiosity slipping through her usual edge.
Ray answered out loud, partly for Teddy’s sake. “Boots. They make me move faster.”
Teddy watched him equip them. “Not bad for a first enchantment, mate. Movement speed fits the style you’re leaning into.”
Ray kept the plain dagger in reserve and tucked it where his hand could reach it fast. Throwing weapon. Last-ditch option. Something he could do when the distance wasn’t in his favour, when his legs couldn’t close the gap fast enough and his pride wasn’t worth dying for.
Miu, on the other hand, circled the camp, sniffing the wind and flicking her ears. She didn’t look like a front-liner. She looked like a knife that moved before you noticed it was in the room.
Ray said out loud, “She reckons she’s better at tracking and baiting than straight fighting.”
Miu bristled so hard her tail puffed. I am not bait.
Ray corrected without looking at her. “She says she’s not bait. She says she’s… strategic.”
Teddy gave a low grunt that might have been approval. “Good. Don’t force her into a role she hates. Familiars that fight their own nature die quick.”
Then Teddy tapped Ray’s chest with two fingers, like he was testing if Ray had a spine yet. “Now you. You want agility, fine. But you want to live too.”
Ray rolled his eyes. “You’ve said that one.”
“And you still need to hear it,” Teddy replied. “This isn’t a game where you dump everything into one stat and call it a build. This is life. A blade in the dark doesn’t care how fast you are.”
Ray didn’t argue, mostly because he couldn’t. Teddy wasn’t saying it like a motivational quote. He was saying it like he’d watched people die with ‘perfect builds’ and didn’t have patience left for the fantasy.
“Every stat matters,” Teddy said. “Not every stat needs points.”
Ray frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you train it,” Teddy said, like Ray was slow. “You run, you climb, you spar, you get your teeth rattled out of your skull, and you earn numbers the lazy bastards never will.”
Ray wanted to say he’d already been doing that. Then Teddy pointed at the clearing like it was a starting line.
“Ten kilometres,” Teddy said. “Now.”
Ray stared at him. “You’re joking.”
Teddy smiled. “No.”
So Ray ran, and he hated every second of it. The track wasn’t a track, it was roots and mud and uneven ground that made his ankles scream. He kept thinking about monsters and levelling and real fights, kept thinking this was a waste, right up until his vision flashed and the System lit up like it couldn’t wait to prove him wrong.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
[10km completed. Congratulations, you discovered legs. Agility +1, Dexterity +1.]
Ray slowed, breathing hard, and glared at the air like it had personally insulted him. Miu padded alongside him, not even winded, tail flicking like she could do this all day and still have energy to judge him after.
That is good, she said. Do it again.
Ray groaned. “You’re enjoying this.”
I’m improving.
Ray did it again out of spite, half expecting the System to pop up just so he could hate it properly.
Nothing happened.
No flash. No message. No taunt. Just the sound of his own breathing and Teddy’s laugh from the camp like the old man had been waiting for it.
Ray staggered in, sweat dripping, and glared at Teddy. “It didn’t give me anything.”
Teddy’s grin widened. “Of course it didn’t.”
Ray threw his hands up. “Why not?”
Teddy pointed at him like Ray was the joke. “Because it’s not a slot machine. You don’t get paid twice for the same shift.”
Ray stared at him. “So what, I only get one reward a day?”
Teddy shrugged. “Usually. Sometimes it’s one per ‘type’ of work. Sometimes it’s one total and you pick where you spend it. Doesn’t matter. The point is, the System doesn’t hand you a life on easy mode, and it sure as hell doesn’t let you farm it like a bloody hamster wheel.”
Ray hated how much sense that made.
He got dragged into bodyweight exercises Teddy kept calling “basic” like Teddy hadn’t personally been carved out of stubbornness and violence, and the worst part was that the old bastard was right. Ray’s arms shook. His core screamed. His legs wobbled even when he wasn’t running, and every time he tried to cheat a rep Teddy’s boot nudged his ankle or his stick tapped his shoulder, like the man had eyes everywhere.
Later, sweaty and shaking, Ray got hit with another message and the irritation in his chest shifted into something sharper.
[Strength conditioning complete. Congratulations, you lifted something other than excuses. Strength +1.]
Ray stopped dead and stared at the air. “That’s separate.”
Teddy didn’t even look up from carving a line into the dirt. “Now you’re learning.”
By midday Ray’s legs were jelly, his lungs felt like they’d been scraped out, and his mood had gone from annoyed to genuinely murderous. He opened his character sheet and the pattern was there, consistent enough to be trusted, strict enough to not be abused, and that terrified him a bit because it meant it wasn’t luck. It meant the world had rules, and rules could be turned into weapons if you were willing to bleed for them.
He didn’t get Intelligence or Mind from sprinting until he nearly vomited, which annoyed him, but it also made sense. Those weren’t going to rise because he suffered. They were going to rise because he did something with them, and the System didn’t care about pain unless pain came with a decision.
Mind rises when you push through fear, Miu said, voice steadier now. When you choose.
Ray muttered out loud, “She says Mind goes up when you’re doing scary stuff.”
Teddy’s mouth twitched. “She’s right.”
That was enough to light a fire under both of them. If you could get stronger without gambling your life on monsters every day, then training wasn’t filler. It was an edge, and an edge meant you didn’t have to rely on luck every time someone decided you were prey, which was basically every day since Ray landed on this planet.
The second day, Teddy stopped humouring Ray’s impatience and put him into sparring. It wasn’t even a fight at first, just Teddy dismantling him over and over until Ray’s pride stopped being the loudest thing in his head, and Ray started listening to the part of himself that didn’t want to die.
Teddy moved like he’d fought a thousand battles and forgotten more about violence than Ray had ever known. Ray charged, Teddy shifted, Ray missed, and Teddy tapped him on the ribs hard enough to make him wheeze, then stepped away like he’d barely moved.
“Again,” Teddy said.
Ray tried a feint. Teddy didn’t bite. Ray pressed anyway, got redirected, and ended up face-first in dirt with his daggers nowhere near Teddy’s throat.
Miu watched from the side, tense with frustration that had nowhere to go. He’s humiliating you, she said.
Ray spat grass. “Yeah. I’ve noticed.”
Hit him.
Ray glanced at Miu and saw the way her eyes had narrowed, the way her ears were pinned back like she was personally offended on his behalf. She made a noise that was half snort, half laugh, then rolled onto her back for a second like the idea of Ray landing a clean hit was the funniest thing she’d heard all day.
Ray huffed. “Alright, alright.”
He looked back at Teddy and said out loud, “Miu says I should hit you.”
Teddy waved him forward. “Then do it.”
On the third day, something finally shifted, and it wasn’t strength or speed. It was understanding. Ray had been watching Teddy’s movement skill, the slight bend of his knees, the way he vanished and reappeared, the distance limit, the angles. It wasn’t magic to Ray anymore. It was a pattern. A problem you could solve if you stopped trying to win like a hero and started trying to survive like a bastard.
Miu sat off to the side, pretending she was taking a break, but her eyes stayed locked on Teddy’s feet.
Ray took his stance, dagger in each hand, and charged straight in. Teddy bent his knees and Ray stopped short, dropped into a crouch, and forced himself not to chase the obvious answer. He guessed, spun hard, stabbed behind him, and felt the dagger bite flesh.
Teddy grunted.
Ray’s eyes went wide because it had worked. Not deep, but real, and the satisfaction hit him so hard it almost made him stupid.
Teddy back-stepped and slapped Ray across the face so hard Ray went sliding backward, boots carving a line through dirt. Ray hit the ground, rolled, and threw his spare dagger on instinct. It didn’t hit, but it forced Teddy to shift his shoulders.
Teddy nodded once. “Good.”
Ray pushed up, face stinging. “That’s it?”
“Good,” Teddy repeated, louder. “You’re learning. Don’t hesitate. Even if you’re going down, find a solution. Buy time. A fight changes in an instant. You take advantage of anything.”
Ray grunted and charged again, and this time he got greedy. His mind pictured Teddy swinging his fist like before, so Ray ducked early, expecting the same rhythm, and paid for assuming the world would repeat itself.
He ducked straight into a low kick that was already on its way.
It hit him square in the face with a crunch. Ray’s nose shattered and the world went white.
Before Ray could even fully drop, Teddy vanished and reappeared behind Miu, then kicked her into the air with the same casual cruelty.
“Did I say you could rest, cat?” Teddy snapped. “If you have time to rest, you have time to train.”
Miu twisted midair and landed on her feet, but she staggered. That kick had taken a chunk out of her health even though it hadn’t been meant to be lethal.
Ray sat up, blood pouring down his lip, head spinning. “What the fuck!”
Teddy pointed at both of them. “Lesson. Never let your guard down.”
He looked at Ray first. “Just because a foe did something before doesn’t mean they’ll repeat it.”
Then he looked at Miu. “And you. Resting doesn’t mean blind.”
Miu’s ears flattened and her voice in Ray’s head was low and angry. I was watching him.
Ray, half delirious, still said it out loud. “She says she was watching you.”
Teddy didn’t smile. “Not enough.”
Ray tried to stand and failed, the pain turning the world into a wobble. One kick, one hit, and he was down to scraps. He stared at Teddy, panting, and the thought finally landed properly.
If Teddy wasn’t holding back, Ray would have been dead ten times over already.
“What level are you?” Ray demanded.
Teddy ignored the question completely.
“Now I’m cooking lunch,” Teddy said. “By the time I’m done, I expect each of you to run a hundred laps around camp. No food until finished. Especially you, Ray. How do you still have a gut with a Body stat over twenty? It’s embarrassing.”
Ray tried to push up again and collapsed flat on his face. Teddy sighed, walked over, and shoved a potion into Ray’s hand.
Ray squinted at it through tears and blood and Identified it.
====================================
Identify: Minor Health Potion
====================================
Slightly heals the user. If the user has missing limbs or broken bones, will speed the recovery process.
Rarity: Common
Rank: F
Attributes:
- Health +25
====================================
“Wait…. Missing limbs recover in this world?” Ray asked before swallowing the potion in a single gulp.
“I mean, yeah? I’ve never really needed to try that, but I just assume we’re in a magical world. Magical worlds ain’t got time for no cripples” Teddy responded.
Ray didn’t know if that was comforting or terrifying, but he swallowed the potion in one gulp anyway. Warmth rushed through him, the dizziness easing until he could stand again. His nose didn’t magically pop back into place, but the pain dulled and the broken feeling shifted into something that felt like slow repair, like his body was being dragged back into shape whether it liked it or not.
He and Miu ran their laps while Teddy cooked, and Ray learned something unpleasant about himself. It wasn’t just humiliating, it was the fact that his body wanted to quit and he didn’t let it. He didn’t want to keep putting one leg in front of the other, but every time he tried to slow down he pictured the kick, pictured Teddy’s casual certainty, and that anger shoved him forward until his legs shook and his lungs burned.
Miu finished first by a mile, then prowled at the edge of camp, staring at Teddy like she expected another surprise kick. She waited ten full minutes before she even considered sitting down, and even then she did it with her body coiled like a spring.
Teddy noticed and smirked. “Smart cat.”
Violent human, Miu’s voice in Ray’s head was sulky.
Ray, breathing hard, still translated. “She says you’re violent.”
Teddy shrugged. “I’m alive.”
They ate together once Ray finally finished, and Teddy’s cooking had no right being that good. A full barbecue in the middle of nowhere, sausages sizzling like they were on a balcony, not a forest full of monsters. Ray didn’t know why that made his chest hurt, but it did, and he hated that as much as he hated the System’s messages because both of them reminded him there used to be a normal life where people argued about nothing and got to go home at the end of the day.
Ray watched Miu finish her laps without blinking at the air once, and it hit him again that she didn’t pause for screens because she didn’t have them. She just got better, like her body kept its own score.
I don’t get your screens, Miu said. I just get better.
Ray repeated it out loud for Teddy, because it mattered. “She says she doesn’t get the screens. She just gets better.”
Teddy glanced over. “Familiars don’t get allowances. They earn everything the hard way. Later, that turns into an advantage.”
That was it. No lecture. No wiki dump. Just a blunt truth that sat in Ray’s gut like another rule to survive by.
Miu decided, reluctantly, to give Ray an update.
Ray stared at her numbers, then at her, and the gap felt like a punch he couldn’t block. Miu’s voice came again, quieter now, almost stubborn in the way it refused pity.
I will catch up.
Ray swallowed and said it out loud. “She says she’ll catch up.”
Teddy looked at the cat, then at Ray. “She will. Familiars scale weird. They start behind, then they start bending rules.”
Miu’s tail flicked like she approved of that, and Ray found he approved too, because if she could bend rules, maybe he could as well.
After eating, Teddy stood and dusted off his hands like the break had been the warm-up.
“Sparring’s over,” he said. “We fight beasts now.”
Ray stared at him. “Are you sure? I’m not even close to fully healed.”
“How else do you expect to level your Lifeline skill?” Teddy replied. “If I hit you too hard, you die. If we find monsters around your level, we can control the risk.”
Ray exhaled slowly, looking at his hands like they belonged to someone else for a second. “Well. Today’s as good as any to die.”
Finally, Miu’s voice hit his head like a spark.
Ray translated with a grin he couldn’t help. “She says bring it on.”
They packed up and left camp. Teddy led them through the trees to a cave system about twenty minutes away, and when the dark mouth of it came into view Ray felt his stomach tighten. A montage was one thing, but this was where the numbers started to bite back, and Ray had a feeling the System was going to enjoy watching him find out.
Character Sheet Snapshot – Chapter 12