Thanks to Violet’s hard work securing us “food,” we’ve managed to pretty much get all of our physiological needs met. Sure, the food is disgusting, and we have to go on a dangerous hike every time we want a drink of water, and the only place warm enough for us to stay smells like death, and we only get to sleep in furtive little naps on hard stone, and...


    Okay, so things could be better, but now we’re just standing at the precipice of death instead of hanging precariously from it, and it’s almost entirely thanks to Violet. She saved me. I was a little bit uncomfortable at first, sharing my body with someone else—especially as it became so clear that she isn’t me—but without her, I wouldn’t have lasted a day.


    I want to do more, to repay her for everything she’s done for me, but there’s not much I can do right now. Seeing that there’s magic in this world has given me hope—Violet doesn’t seem too interested in it, but if I learn how to do it, maybe I can even use magic while she’s in front!


    But that will have to wait. My [Wanderer] class is too important to our survival for me to switch right now—which means that I need to level it up so that I can fuse it into something else and free up a slot. To that end, I’m now taking the time to comprehensively map out the known areas of the cave system.


    Using a broken chunk from a rock snail’s spear as chalk, I start drawing a map in the Pillar Room. The choice of room isn’t arbitrary—it’s far enough away from our de facto garbage dump that it doesn’t smell too bad, and it’s got enough open floor space to expand the map to a pretty large size.


    Starting in the middle is the Labyrinth of Candles, where I started. I don’t want to try mapping out the Labyrinth itself—it’s got too many confusing winding corridors that loop in on themselves, dead ends, and pointless twists without any apparent purpose. The only places of note are the Pillar Room, the Altar, and the entrance to the Caves.


    Unfortunately, that entrance is also the garbage dump. There was too much...goop from Vi’s first attempt at butchery to clean up effectively, so we had to just leave it where it was. I’ve got signs that can lead me between the points of interest within the Labyrinth, so I’m fine with ignoring the rest of it for mapping purposes.


    From there, the Dark Corridor leads into the Caves—a distinct biome from the Labyrinth’s weird, man-made but nonsensical design. The Caves are a lot bigger than the Labyrinth, and easier to get lost in despite the relatively straightforward tunnels.


    Since they are dark and monotonous, getting turned around is a serious risk without the navigation signs we’ve been using. The Crossroad is the first branch from the Dark Corridor, which I have assigned as the Snail Corridor and the Gecko Corridor—the left and right, respectively—so named because one of them is obstructed by a rock snail shell and the other is where the laser gecko ran off.


    I mark the Gecko Corridor as unexplored and move on to the Snail Corridor. Snail Corridor leads to the Twisted Cavern—which is similar to the Pillar Room in that it’s a hub with a lot of different entrances and exits. Violet insists it’s the most dangerous room we’ve seen, even though nothing has happened there yet. The winding pathways through the columns are easy to get lost in, and it’s hard to keep track of all the exits.


    I mark all the exits I can remember as unexplored and move on to the next path. The Hike—easily the longest stretch we’ve explored—is a good ten to twenty minutes of walking down a series of tunnels with several branches.


    We’ve actually explored a few of the branches already, since tracking the snail’s path didn’t originally lead us in a straight line to the stream. There are a few loops and dead ends that I mark, while I note the rest as unexplored.


    Finally, the Underground Stream—which is kind of a redundant name since everything is underground, but it feels more important with a nice name like that. We have to make pretty regular trips there, despite the danger, because it’s our only source of water and we have nothing to carry it in.


    It’s also the coldest place we’ve found so far. I wasn’t too sure until we’d been back and forth a few times, but it gets progressively colder the further away we get from the Labyrinth. The Underground Stream is noticeably colder than the tunnels near it.


    I wonder where that laser gecko we ran into went? We haven’t seen it again since we first found the stream. It’s probably long gone by now, I guess. Off to do whatever a laser gecko does.


    I stand up and wipe the sweat from my brow, admiring my handiwork. It’s pretty rough, but it feels good to have a solid reference for where we are and where we’ve been. Hopefully, as we explore more of the caves, this map will help us plan out our routes.


    For the finishing touch I scrape three notches into a nearby wall. My best guess for how long we’ve been down here—three days. It’s not a very good guess. I don’t think my leg should have healed as much as it did in that time, and it feels like it’s been so much longer. But I also haven’t been getting a lot of sleep, and there’s nothing else to go by.


    For all I know it’s only been closer to one or two days, but three feels right, so it’s what I’m putting down.


    [Level up!]


    Wanderer is now level 7.


    +1 Resilience.


    Nice! I enjoy the gentle tingly feeling as the [World Engine] bestows its blessings on me. Or whatever. Leveling up feels nice, is what I’m saying. It’s weird how quickly I’ve gotten used to everything. Stuck in an underground complex of tunnels and caves with monsters, magic, levels, and nobody but myself for company.


    “Good work, Allie.”


    Speak of the devil—it looks like she’s awake.


    “Thanks!” I reply. “I leveled up from drawing it.”


    “Really?” Vi’s tone conveys a hint of interest. “I thought you only leveled up by exploring new places.”


    “I...hmm, that’s a good point, actually.”


    I frown down at the map, scratching my chin.


    “Maybe by drawing my map, I’ve changed the significance of the Pillar Room?” I suggest. “It’s the Map Room, now. That, or the [World Engine] considers mapping to be an integral part of exploration.”


    “Makes sense,” Vi agrees. “How are you feeling?”


    She always asks that when she wakes up, but I don’t mind. I hop lightly on my toes and roll my neck and shoulders performatively.


    “Like crap,” I answer honestly. “My hand and leg are feeling a lot better now, but I’m still stiff as all get out, and my joints are all sore from sleeping on stone. And speaking of sleep, I feel like I haven’t slept in a week. These micro-naps are not cutting it.”


    “I know,” Violet sighs. “I’m sorry. I’d like to improve our security, but I’m still at a loss for how.”


    “I wasn’t trying to criticize you, Vi,” I assure her. “Just answering honestly.”


    “Thank you,” she says. “If you’re feeling up to it, do you want to try exploring...the Gecko Corridor? Why did you call it that?”


    “That’s where the laser gecko went.”


    “But the first one we encountered was on the other path?”


    “...shut up. My map is perfect!” I cross my arms defiantly. “Anyway, why do you want to explore that way?”


    “Two reasons. First, anything we find down that path is guaranteed to be new, which will be good for leveling you up. And second, if the Labyrinth is going to be our base, then I want to know what our immediate surroundings are like.”


    I shrug. “Makes sense to me. Shall we go now?”


    “Breakfast first,” Violet insists.


    I grimace. “Do I have to?”


    I recognize that we have to eat to live, but the raw lizard meat is absolutely disgusting. It got slightly more tolerable once it dried out a bit, but the other side of that equation is that it also got much tougher, which meant more chewing. It hasn’t started to stink yet, but I have no doubt that Violet’s going to keep us eating it well after it starts going rancid.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    I refuse to touch the snail meat.


    “You can switch with me if you want,” Vi offers, “but we need to eat as much as we can while food is available.”


    “No, it’s fine,” I grumble, grimacing as I fish out a bit of gecko meat and take a bite.


    Violet is always willing to take the short straw, and I don’t want to take advantage of her. I gamely choke down the vile sustenance, and after a not-so-quick trip to the stream to wash it down—I really wish we had something to carry water in—we’re ready to get exploring.


    “Are you sure you don’t want to front for this?” I ask Violet as I peer cautiously down the unexplored tunnel.


    “I still get most of the benefits of Awareness while you’re in front, but your Resilience is wasted when I am. It’s better this way.”


    I purse my lips and nod. I know I’m holding her back, but that’s all the more reason to face forward and do whatever I can to pull my weight.


    [Level up!]


    Unified Collective is now level 7.


    +1 Ego.


    I guess the mechanism approves.


    Progress through the tunnel is slow, since I have to be extra vigilant of anything out of place. Rock snails and laser geckos both blend seamlessly into the environment, and getting ambushed by either of them could be instant death. We’ve gone back and forth between the Labyrinth and the stream enough times that I’d notice if there was so much as a pebble out of place, but for a new path I have to take it slow.


    It’s an oddly winding path, and I’m stuck wondering how these caves even formed. Did something dig this tunnel out? Was it erosion over time? There’s magic in this world, so who knows? And what about the friggin’ Labyrinth?! That’s clearly man-made, but how the heck did they build something there, and why?


    I’m getting worked up just thinking about it, so I set those questions aside and return my attention to the path in front of me—where it should have been in the first place.


    The tunnel finally opens up into a new room, but I can’t see anything in here.


    “Stop!” Violet practically shouts, her urgency startling me into taking several steps backward.


    “W-what?” I stammer. “Is it a snail?”


    “No,” she says calmly. “Watch your footing.”


    I glance down to see that the path ahead just terminates suddenly. I was one step away from plunging to my death off a cliff.


    “Oh frick!”


    Actually, maybe not—it’s not like the candles provide that much illumination, it might not be that far down. I take a candle out of my cloak and toss it over the edge. A cold sweat forms on the back of my neck as I watch the light plunge down into the abyss and fade out of sight entirely.


    “Oh frick!” I take another step back from the edge.


    “I suppose the lizards and snails don’t have to worry so much about sheer drops like this when they can cling to walls,” Violet remarks.


    “That doesn’t do me any good! If I slip here we’re dead!”


    Just to be safe, I very carefully check the edges of the tunnel to see how wide the ledges are. The path leads left and right, with maybe two feet of space between the wall and certain doom.


    “No,” I declare. “Absolutely not. I’m not doing that. This is as far as we explore down this branch.”


    “What if this is the way out?” Vi asks.


    “We’ve got other paths to explore,” I answer. “Let’s exhaust our other options before we play with fire, okay?”


    “Sure,” she accepts readily. “Though we’ve barely even started exploring today, so maybe we should check out one of those other options.”


    “Sounds good to me.”


    I take the time to draw an extra large warning a good distance away from the tunnel’s opening.


    => ABYSSAL CHASM OF CERTAIN DOOM =>


    “A bit dramatic, don’t you think?” Vi remarks.


    “I never want to come that close to walking off a cliff again,” I say. “And thanks for warning me, by the way.”


    “It’s what I’m here for.”


    [Level up!]


    Wanderer is now level 8.


    +1 Resilience.


    “Oh! A level!” I celebrate as the tingly feeling washes through my body. “I think we’re getting close to the cap.”


    A quick look at my status confirms it.


    [Allison: Tier 0 Human]


    [Class Slot 1: Tier 0 [Unified Collective ]* - Level 7/10


    [Class Slot 2: Tier 0 [Wanderer ]* - Level 8/10


    [Attributes]


    Power: 1


    Resilience: 9


    Awareness: 1


    Ego: 8


    Will: 1


    [Skills]


    Parallel Wills (1)


    Retraced Steps


    “My [Survivalist] class is almost there too,” Violet informs me. “It leveled quite a bit when I was preparing our food.”


    I shudder at the reminder of our “food” supply. “I wonder what happens when we reach it.”


    “From what I gather, we’ll have the option of either upgrading or fusing classes that are capped, but I’m not sure how that’s going to work with our weird situation.”


    I nod along. The mechanism has already had some weird hiccups with our shared status.


    “I hope we’re able to fuse each other’s classes together,” I say, “but I guess we’ll find out when we get there.”


    * * *


    Without a way to keep track of time, I have no idea how long Violet and I spend wandering around trying to map the caves. Most of the pathways leading out of the Twisted Cavern lead to dead ends, even deader drops, or loop right back around to the Twisted Cavern. Apparently the [World Engine], in its questionably infinite wisdom doesn’t deem those important enough for me to level up.


    The progress is agonizingly slow. After the near miss earlier, Vi constantly reminds me to take things slow and watch my step. I appreciate having her as a lookout, but sometimes she can be overbearing. I don’t need to be nannied!


    Finally, as I reenter the cavern from yet another stupid loop, the mechanism gives up the goods.


    [Level up!]


    Wanderer is now level 9.


    +1 Resilience.


    “Yes!” I exclaim, my shout echoing through the tunnels. “Finally!”


    “Congratulations,” Vi offers, “but don’t make so much noise. We don’t want to attract anything.”


    “Tch, spoilsport.”


    The rush of energy feels good. Even better than usual, actually. Some of the bone-deep weariness flees my body, and my fingers aren’t quite as numb from the cold anymore.


    “Huh, that felt a bit different,” I remark.


    “I noticed,” Violet replies. “Maybe multiples of ten are significant, somehow. You’re only level nine, but if we consider the starting point, you’re at ten [Resilience] now.”


    I shrug. “Maybe. Why do you think I got a level this time, and not after all the other useless loops and dead ends I’ve wasted the day on?”


    “Could be a number of things.” Violet starts listing off suggestions. “Maybe the mechanism tracks progress from smaller achievements and adds them up like experience points. Maybe that was the last unexplored passage connected to this cavern. Or, maybe there’s some sort of time delay on gaining levels.”


    “Haven’t we gained multiple levels at once before?” I point out.


    “True, but maybe it’s not gaining levels so much as gaining new accomplishments that’s on a cooldown.”


    I blink. “A what? How do you know all this stuff?”


    “I don’t know,” she non-answers. “To me, it’s weird that you don’t. Does it really matter? If we know different things, that just means that the scope of our knowledge is bigger than either of us thinks—that can only be a good thing.”


    “Can’t argue with that,” I grumble, still kind of wanting to argue with that.


    I rub my hands together to warm them up. Before the level, I was thinking about trying to sleep, but I’m feeling pretty pumped up now.


    “Let''s try to get that last level!”


    This time it’s Vi who’s surprised, though I’m not sure how I could tell that before she’d even expressed it.


    “I thought you’d want to take a break,” she says. “It’s been a long day, and the lack of progress is disheartening.”


    “Wow, don’t try to oversell it or anything, geez.”


    “Sorry.”


    I shake my head. “I was just kidding, Vi. I don’t know, I’m just not tired anymore. And the sooner we get that last level, the sooner I can try something else. I want to see if I can do magic.”


    Vi takes a long time to respond, and when she does her tone is the sort of careful apologetic voice someone uses when telling their child a pet needs to be put down.


    “Allison, I know you’re eager to switch classes, but I’ve been thinking. It depends on how the mechanism actually works, but if I’m interpreting it right, then I think our best course is to fuse your [Wanderer] into [Unified Collective], then switch you to [Survivalist] while I work on something that will let us fight.”


    “Wh—fight?!” I ask in disbelief. “We barely survived the last two and now you want us to do it on purpose?”


    “We were lucky to scavenge food the first time,” she declares calmly. “We might not be so lucky in the future. The fact that we almost died is why I think we need to learn how to defend ourselves, Allison. We are going to have to fight for our lives one way or another, and if we don’t prepare ourselves now, then we die later.”


    I hate this. I can feel my eyes starting to water. It’s so stupid—the one thing I could get excited about in this awful place, and Violet has to ruin it with her stupid reason and logic. It’s not her fault—she’s right. I’m the idiot here for letting my hopes run away with me.


    “Fine,” I say, hating the nasally way my voice comes out. “I think I’m going to take that nap after all.”


    I tune out Violet’s response as I curl up with my back against the uncomfortably jagged stone wall, wrap the cloak around me, bury my face in my knees, and cry.