Chapter 7: You Get Behind and I'll Push

Harmony and Vault were sitting in his cave home with juicy clam meat cooking over a fire. They were both munching on kabobs that had taken a few tries for them to make without burning. They did lack seasoning, flavor and all the pizzazz that went into a decent meal, but it was still good.

Eunice was also very overjoyed about the fact that the Extract skill was used so many times to the point where it went from being a rank F- to a rank E-. It was such a huge leap in increase, it shocked all three of them.

She did warn them though, that the higher a rank of a skill, the longer it takes for it to rank up. Meaning she would need to get a lot more points in order to improve it. Tomorrow they were planning on going out into the forest again, to see what they could find in terms of supplies.

They also needed to focus on getting stronger and acquiring new skills. So they did need to find monsters to defeat. Perhaps they might be able to get better clothing or even armor.

Felicia thought they could have done a little bit exploring at night, but both Eunice and Vault advised against it. Apparently the dangers of the night are different than the ones during the day. Strange monsters, especially more deadly ones could potentially appear.

After they had their fill, they both decided to go to sleep. There was only really one bed made out of leaves so they decided to just share it. Both halves of Harmony were so tired from the whole day and everything that happened they drifted off to sleep instantly.

Vault was also exhausted from the events that transpired. He crashed the moment his face made contact with the leaves.

When the next morning came, Vault found himself sleeping face to face with Harmony. Their faces were just a few inches apart. He started blushing immediately from the proximity. He noticed she began to stir in her sleep and he quickly got out of the leaf bed.

Harmony sat up and needed a moment to process where she was. For a second she thought the whole thing was just a bad dream, but was greatly disappointed to wake up to reality. She did feel a little bit better seeing Vault getting breakfast ready by the campfire.

Despite being transported to another world, being forced to share a body, and fight for her own survival, at least she wasn’t alone. She walked up to him and leaned over his shoulder to see what food he was making. He quickly jerked away and his face had turned red. His reaction left her confused and stunned.

It's only now dawning on him that he was living with a girl, technically two girls. On the other hand, she was just very confused about his response. “Oh, right, you're used to living on your own. I didn't mean to startle you…I'm sorry.”

He relaxed himself and regained his composure. “I'm kind of just used to monsters surprising me from time to time. Now, I have to say you're not the ugliest of the bunch.”

She gave him a little chuckle. He got the cooking ware that he had crafted himself out of stone ready for the fire. He cooked up what remained of the clam meat, and used some berries they had found along the way, to make juice for them.

They began eating their breakfast together in silence until a thought came to Harmony’s mind. “Hey Vault, do you have a cooking skill?”

He nodded and put his empty dishes off to the side. “Something I picked up after trying to make food for myself a few times. It’s at rank E- last I checked. I'm hoping that if I get it really high then maybe I could even take just a single cup of water and make it taste like anything.”

Harmony set aside her empty dishes and stood up. “Eunice did say that our skills will develop other abilities as they get stronger, so I think it's possible. If you actually pull it off I want to try it.”

After finishing breakfast, they both headed out into the forest once again. This time they found another cave with an unexpected creature in front of it. Standing guard was a golem, a creature made out of stone. It had a humanoid-like shape and was about the size of a full grown adult.

It didn't have any facial features or anything that made it seem a bit more human. It seemed almost like an action figure without any details really.

Harmony was about to charge forward and do the first strike, but Vault tugged on her ragged clothing, stopping her in the process. “What's up?! Did you see more enemies or something? Is there a trap somewhere?!”

Vault shook his head. “It's not a good idea to just keep charging in, every single time. Remember what I told you about how the system works for advantages and stuff at the start of battle?”

She hadn't forgotten, it was more like her first instinct was to just jump head first into a fight. Eunice switched out with Felicia for control over Harmony. “The crafting boy is right. I would exercise a lot more caution before taking action.”

She scanned the surroundings for any signs of weaknesses or tactical advantages they could make use of. “There isn't too much to make use of at the entrance to the cave. Creating too much noise might alert more monsters inside, and draw them out. It's possible to get overwhelmed.”

She turned her attention back to Vault. “One should distract the creature while the other strikes from the back. Not only would it give one of the two of you the first turn at the start of the fight, but it would also begin the battle with the creature's HP a little lower.”

Felicia recalls the instructions she had received from both Vault and Eunice. Attacking a creature from the front or the side would just begin the battle. If she was the first to attack then she would get the first turn regardless of who was faster.

If she attacked the creature from the back then a little bit of damage would be dealt to it before the battle began. She would also get the first turn as a result. The same rules applied if the roles were reversed between her and the creature.

They needed to be careful and avoid giving the monsters any advantages. Regardless of whatever happened, once the fight began and the first turn was over, the system would give turns in the order of fastest to slowest.

In the mental world, Felicia noticed Eunice was sitting in a way where she was not facing her. Just trying to avoid eye contact with her as much as possible. Felicia smiled in her direction feeling a bit of gratitude for her advice. “Alright Eunice, I think we should go with your idea.”

Harmony and Vault distanced themselves a bit to remain out of sight from the rock creature. Harmony nodded upon hearing Felicia's response in her head. “Do whatever you like…Just don't do something foolish that would get both of us killed.”

Eunice returned control back to Felicia. She consulted with Vault in order to determine who would be the distraction and who would be the first to attack. After a minute of making a plan they both decided to take action.

Felicia charged ahead, running towards the rock creature. The moment she made physical contact the battle would start. If one of them just touched the other or if they even just threw a projectile of some sort, then they would be locked in combat.

Her stats were a bit lower than Vault’s and she felt better suited for a more frontal approach instead of being stealthy. These are the reasons why she insisted on being the distraction. The only goal she had was to avoid getting hit.

The creature seemed to be moving a bit slow, but it still did make an attempt to try and punch her. She dived under its fist and managed to avoid getting hit. It punched the ground with a loud thud, and made a little cloud of dust shoot up from the floor.

She quickly dove between its legs and out the other side. It turned around while trying to swing its other arm to try and punch her once more. She rolled along the ground and dodged again. She ran up to a nearby tree and used her chakrams to stab into the trunk.

She used her weapon as an assist for footholds in order to climb up to the top. She sat down on the top branch and looked down at the stone creature with a smug look. “Can't catch me, I'm too fast!”

The creature responded by punching the trunk and making the tree shake. She quickly held on tightly to the trunk in order to avoid falling. She almost instantly regretted taunting it.

Just then, Vault made his move. He quickly dashed out of his hiding spot and slammed his ax into the back of the stone creature. Harmony and Volt gave each other a thumbs up. Their plan had succeeded.

Dark fog exploded out of the rock creature and smothered the whole area. The battle had now begun.