"I was told we shouldn't mess with these things." I say as I stand only a few feet away from a deadly Punctastar.
"That's wise, I wouldn't have you deal with them either, without myself nearby." Inari replies. "With the loss of many of the forest's ants, these creatures are growing in number and threatening to over consume the parasitic fungus on the trees. Therefore, I'd like you to dispose of them with my help."
"Oh, okay. What do we do?" I glance back at Sakura and Josh who are both nervously holding their weapons behind me.
"They will counterattack instantly when struck, so make sure you're ready for their response. They don't have eyes and can only vaguely sense where we are so try to direct their strikes by carefully placing your own. Make sure to get under their scales or you won't do any damage, I'll use time magic to slow the Pointystar."
"Pfft. What did you call it?"
"It's a Pointystar. Why, what do you call them?"
"Punctastars."
"Needlessly verbose. We fairies have a much more practical grasp of language."
"Right, and what do you call the ants?"
Inari is more hesitant to respond this time.
Cough, "Meany bugs." Cough.
"Pffhehehe!" I try my best to hold in my laughter but seeing the formidable fairy using such juvenile names is sending me.
"The names of the creatures is irrelevant. Language is about concision, and considering you knew exactly what I meant, I'd say our names are more than sufficient."
"Right, right, and what do you call the fungus?"
"I don't need to answer your question. Just focus on the task at hand." She says as she begins casting her spell.
"Got it, thanks again."
A blue film forms across the Punctastar and I can see it moving noticeably slower. I take a deep breath and stab at one of its arms while bracing for the counterattack.
Snaap!
I just barely manage to move aside as the pointed spear flies by my face and smashes into a tree behind me. The tentacle then swiftly retracts.
"Damn, that's fast."
"Based on your stats, I've slowed it so you should just barely be able to dodge; as long as you're paying attention that is."
"Wait, how do you know my stats?"
"Your breathing, how you step, the pressure you of your grip on your spear, and how quickly you notice what's going on around you. All of these pieces of information can be used to estimate your stats."
"Wow, what are your stats?"
"We do not engage with the seal system so we don't have stats. Accepting the aid of the gods is too restrictive on our freedom."
"Oh, so you don't have health points?"
"The health point system you use is actually based on ours. We, along with monsters, naturally shield ourselves from damage with our latent magical abilities."
"Oh, so this Punctastar has health points too?"
"Yes, you'll need to whittle it down if you want to actually kill it."
"Interesting."
"Why don't I shoot it with an arrow?" Sakura suggests, having built up enough courage to speak to the powerful fairy before us.
"Go right ahead." Inari smiles.
We all back up and Sakura shoots an arrow at the monster. The arrow bounces harmlessly of its scales and it lashes out to the left of us. Now that I have some distance, I see just how far the arm can stretch. It looks like a chameleon tongue. The scales separate as it stretches to expose the soft, slimy flesh beneath it.
"Okay, I've got an idea." I explain what I'm thinking and we all get in position.
I'm at the front with my shield up while Josh stands behind me and Sakura is further back. She looses an arrow and immediately hides behind a tree. One arm flies past us at lightning speed.
"Now!" I shout.
"Slash!" Josh brings his sword down and slices the arm clean off. The Punctastar retracts the stump but otherwise seems unbothered. It must not have much neurological function if it doesn't react to losing a limb.
"Huh. Well, let's try that again."
We try the same tactic but the monster stops reacting to our provocations. Next, I loop around to the damaged side and attack the stump with my spear. It writhes about until it eventually runs out of strength and falls to the ground, its vulnerable belly now exposed to the air.
I hear both the kids gasp and their eyes go wide. This must be the first time they've leveled up. Josh is breathing heavily while gripping his sword with both hands while Sakura has a crazed smile on her face.
"Alright, let's head back. I think that's enough for today."
"No!" Sakura shouts. Her teeth clench hard as she glares knives into me.
"This is your first time leveling up, I know it's intense. Our best course of action is to head back-"
"Noo!" The little pink-haired girl drops her weapon and flexes her muscles. Veins pop across her wirey frame.
"Sakura."
"NOO!" Her eyes glow red as she charges me. I put up my shield to protect myself but the blow still sends me flying.
She's above me. My mind races to try and keep up with her demonic speed. I hide behind my shield as best I can as a flurry of blows rain down upon me like hail.
"Sakura!" I shout, trying to bring her back to reality.
"Ahh!" She screams while continuing her attack. Blood splatters onto the ground from her crumbling fists. I catch a glimpse of her hands and see the exposed bone of her knuckles, fractured.
"I think that's about enough of that." Inari says calmly. A tree root rises from the ground and wraps the little girl up like a bale of hay. She bites and tears at the root with all her might but the flesh of the Mammoth Tree is too sturdy.
"Thanks, I don't think I'd have made it out of that unscathed."
"You're surprisingly calm." Inari notes.
"Not the first time I've had someone try to beat me to death. Besides, I was the one who brought the kids out here so I'd have no one to blame but myself."
"How Noble." She says in a mocking tone. I shrug and turn to Josh who is still in the throws of post level euphoria.
"Deep breaths. Let's sit down and focus on our breathing." He does as he's told but maintains his death grip on the hilt of his sword.
We sit for the better part of an hour as the children come down from their high. It reminds me of Nick when he first leveled up. What was the goal of it all? Several parts of the system seem counterintuitive, or obtuse. Nick mentioned that the system was designed by the gods but what were their intentions? Why did we need money to raise our job level? Were the gods catholic?
I tried to push these thoughts from my mind as I meditated in the middle of the fungal layer. The bizarre colors forcing their way through my eye lids weren't much of a help either.
Once the fervor wore off, Sakura passed out and Josh laid down on the ground. The occasional tremor would works its way across their bodies, reassuring me that they weren't dead.
"Who are you?" Inari's stern voice wakes me from my stupor.
"I'm Nick." I reply automatically.
"I believe that's the name of the body you inhabit. Who are you?"
"I'm-"
...
...
"Who am I? I have all these memories from a previous life but who do they belong to? What even is my name?"
"I don't know..." I whisper.
I sit in silence as I realize how much I've been stripped of my previous identity. I'd been talking about this body as if it were my own almost from the very beginning. My stomach drops so hard it's as if all my guts fell out of my ass.
"Normally, the gods replace the consciousness of those they conjure here."
"What?" I gasp.
"Did you think yourself special? Souls of individuals from Earth have been brought across time and space for tens of thousands of years. It looks like there was something of a mix up in your case."
"You know about earth?"
"Of course; how do you think humans made it to this far off planet?"
"We were brought here?"
"My lord, do they teach you anything about the past anymore? I know it is common practice to shape the past in such a way as to guide the future, but this is bordering on absurd." Inari rolls her eyes and leans back in the air.
I suddenly feel wrong. I'm overcome by a profound dysphoria. Everything is wrong. I'm in the wrong skin, saying the wrong things, doing the wrong things. It's all just wrong.
"It's unnerving, no? The conceptualization that we exist separate from the vessels we inhabit."
"Is that what I'm feeling?" I ask as I look down at someone else's hands growing out of my arms.
"How should I know?"
"What? You can't just call out the emotions I'm feeling and then say you don't know!" I whip my head around to glare at the elder fairy, but she's gone.
"Lucky guess."
"Ahh!" I jump at the voice that emanates from directly behind me. "Why would you do that?"
"We exist both completely separate and utterly interwoven with everything else around us. We are part of a system for greater than ourselves and yet sit above it as impassive observers. We exist, no matter how uncomfortable that may be."
"Are you quoting Satre?"
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." She says, lazily.
"I don't really know what you meant by that but I feel weirdly better."
"It is because you stepped out of yourself, if only for a moment. You are uneased by the uncertainty around and soothed but the remembrance that it will all go on regardless. There is only one day; it starts in the morning and is lost as the sun inevitably sets."
"Are you sure you're not quoting Satre?" I chuckle. Inari just rolls her eyes without bothering to respond. "How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Do whatever is was that you were describing."
"I hear every call and see every death, from the Mycorrhiza beneath our feet to the creatures flying in the sky. I live it all." Her eyes are wide open, piercing me. It is as if she's watching the blood flow through my veins. No, deeper than that. It's as if she's watching my cells produce ATP.
"That sounds like a lot." I say as I lay down and look up at the faint ray of light struggling through the canopy.
"It was, but like all things, you get used to it."
"So, are you omnipotent or something?"
"Even the gods are not all knowing. I'm merely perceptive."
I tilt my head to the side at the familiar phrase.
"So, you have a really high perception stat?"
"As I said, we don't-"
"You know what I mean." I interrupt her before she starts monologuing again.
"Yes, I suppose you could say that."
"If you were connected to the system, and I understand that you're not, what would you estimate your perception stat to be?"
"Do you seek such power?"
"More than that, I want to sate my curiosity." I smile.
She watches me suspiciously for several moments before continuing.
"If I were to put a number on it, I'd say... at least ten thousand."
"Wow! That's incredible." I close my eyes and imagine what it would be like to perceive the world so broadly. I guess the concept of the self would get pretty murky if you were only a tiny fraction of your awareness. The discomfort I feel leeches down into the soil. I fade away along with all the sounds around me, waking to a pleasant slumber.