It’s our standard procedure to do a full after-action report after every battle, to go over what we did well, what we could improve upon, and how each of us can better utilize both our own abilities as well as those of our comrades for future engagements. However, with everyone covered in thick, viscous slime that is starting to reek to high heaven in the midmorning sun, we made the unanimous decision to postpone our report. At least until after the eight of us could rid ourselves of this abominable smell of shit and rot and rotting eggs and seemingly every other unpleasant stench that the combined forces of the System and the nine hells could summon to the fore. Even Alexey, with his twenty-plus years of combat experience in some of the worst situations known to mankind, is in full assent with the rest of us.

  We walk down the path left by the ooze, a barren stretch of dirt in contrast to the thick temperate forests which fill most of the countryside of the south-central United States. Tristan takes his time surveying the wreckage for any signs of life, either natural or aberrant. I am silently urging him to hurry on up so we can get a move on and be rid of this gunk for good. I suspect Chloe and the others are as well, though none of us state our shared desires out loud.

  After about an hour of searching through and around the ooze’s trail, we locate a small creek and make our way over. A bit of discussion follows, where we decide that it’s a sensible use of our magical prowess to make the field conditions a bit more palatable, all in the name of that glorious concept called troop morale.

  We dig a pair of small pools just off the banks of the creek, the two separated by about a quarter mile of trees and underbrush. Chloe and I use our wand and our [Heat] glyph respectively to heat the water to something vaguely approaching lukewarm, and the guys and girls separate to soak in our respective tubs.

  Chloe and I sit on the side nearer the creek, while Lindsey and Alana take the opposite side. I close my eyes and lean my head back, thinking to get a few moments of relative peace, but Alana dashes my hope when she splashes me with a tiny bit of water that lands directly in my right nostril.

  “Hey!” I say. “What was that for?”

  “Just wanted to say that both of you did nice work out there earlier. And even better work coming up with this bath idea. I vote that we absolutely take advantage and do this more often. What do you think, Lindsey?”

  “And I think that Chloe and I should get the final say in such things!” I interject.

  “Come to think of it, why didn’t we do this back on the last trip out in the wilds?” Chloe asks. “We had Anna and her fire evocations; we certainly could have done something like this at least once.”

  Lindsey sighs. “Because we— everyone but the two of you— are soldiers, and Alexey and I are both special forces. Or were, I suppose. We are acclimated to roughing it in less than pleasant conditions without access to baths and other modern comforts, sometimes for days or weeks on end. It was only because the aftermath of that ooze went above and beyond the call of heinousness that everyone decided to take the time to get all this gunk out of our hair and skin and everywhere else.”

  Chloe scooches a bit closer, such that our hips are just barely touching. “Kinda cold, Sera.” She shivers a bit for added emphasis.

  “Unfortunately, I’m down to my last two hundred [Ether],” I say. “Need to save it for ambushes. Besides, I start to get lightheaded when I drop under twenty percent.”

  Chloe pouts and grabs onto my arm from under the water’s surface.

  “So,” Alana says, “do you two think my brother is cute?”

  My eyes widen and my jaw drops. “I’m sorry, but… what?” is all I can muster in my stupefaction.

  “What? He’s only a year or two older than the two of you,” Alana says.

  “We’re not interested!” Chloe says. “Um, at least, he may be cute, but I’m not interested in dating him.” She blushes and slides away from me just a bit.

  “I’ve never been super interested in relationships,” I say. “I was always focused on trying to save up money to go to college and get good enough grades to get at least a partial academic scholarship. Never really considered the idea. And now with the System and everything else…” I trail off, not ready to talk about my past life and rebirth with them just yet. “The idea of dating just hasn’t been a high priority for me.”

  It’s a half lie, though I don’t want to admit it to myself, much less anyone else. Ever since Chloe broached the subject of the two of us dating a few weeks ago, I’ve become almost excited at the prospect. We’ve always been comfortable around one another, open about our secrets. Open enough that when I started learning about having a past life, I didn’t have the slightest bit of hesitation about sharing that with her. And she’s far from unattractive. She’s a catch for whichever guy ends up with her. Or girl, I suppose.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  But it doesn’t change the fact that I’m not confident about it. More importantly, she deserves someone who can fully commit to her, as much as I would want of anyone who might try to court me. And until my heart is set and ready to give my all to her, I won’t try to keep her tied down on my account.

  “Way to assume they’re even into guys,” Lindsey says.

  My face turns red. “Alright, that’s quite enough, I’m getting out!” And I do. I slip my towel around myself the second I get out of the makeshift tub and slip into the underbrush to get changed. I shake my head at Lindsey and curse her silently; it’s almost as though she–

  No, her hearing is good even before her class Skills and passives; she might have been showering, but she definitely overheard our conversation back at Chloe’s house a couple of weeks ago. Dammit all straight to the deepest layer of hell!

  I emerge from the underbrush about three minutes later, after having suffered the indignity of getting a little spiny burr caught in my socks while bathing. Half of me just wanted to burn the thing, but I decided to be a little mature about it and just flick the thing into the wind and hope it bothers something else for a change. The other ladies follow suit, and once we confirm that the guys are ready to continue onward, we regroup and continue our trek into the new landscapes that the System has provided for us.

  The rest of the afternoon passes uneventfully. About ninety minutes before sunset, we stop and prepare ourselves an early dinner. I set a [Heat] glyph in the center of a small pit, and after Tristan prepares some wooden logs for us, I set our campfire and gather up the equipment we need to start cooking dinner. A metal grate, a pair of pots, and some fresh water which I set out to start boiling.

  Tristan is officially excused from all cooking and clean-up duties due to his class restriction against touching or utilizing metal. He’s even got his own set of utensils and dishware and even a canteen made of hardwood to use in place of the metal ones the rest of us use. Which is not to say that he’s not making himself useful outside of battle and tracking. One of his Skills allows him to summon a replica of local wildlife and maintain a mental link to it, which he’s using to keep a literal bird’s-eye view over our immediate surroundings.

  Lindsey arrives back a few minutes later, and it seems that, much like the first night of our first trip into the wilds, we’ll be having venison stew for dinner. Chloe hits the carcass with an antidote and purification spell, and Alana gets to work carving up the meat as I begin boiling and seasoning the water. Even without the eight of us having worked together in a team in this manner, there’s almost no stepping on toes. We all handle our assignments from Nicholas with grace and proficiency, and within the hour, we’re all huddled up around the campfire ready to give our report.

  “I will start,” Nicholas says. “I failed to see the possibility of some sort of mind-affecting attack from our enemy earlier today. As a result, we lost a significant amount of our potential intelligence gathering capabilities, which in turn lowered our battle effectiveness by a substantial margin. Thankfully, we managed to overcome that difficulty, albeit at the cost of an [Ether Canister] that Sera needed to use.”

  I interject. “Speaking of [Ether Canisters], I want to suggest that if anyone has a General Skill slot available, that they highly consider working toward the [Basic Ether Manipulation] Skill. I have the more advanced intermediate variant, and by using it while I was absorbing the contents of the canister, I was able to increase the recovery by nearly seventy-five percent. I believe it scales with the quality of your manipulation skill and its rank.”

  “Good to know,” Nicholas says. “And good work with determining the correct spell to cast.”

  “I need to give credit to Chloe for that. Her new enhancement spell helped me keep enough mental focus to cast those glyphs together. And similarly, I want to give credit to Tristan for his Skill that allowed me to shrug off the creature’s [Maddening Cacophony]. If not for him, I’m not sure we win that fight.”

  “And I want to give thanks to Sera as well,” Alana says. “Her [Blessed Sword] is really quite something. If I may ask, may I use it for the duration of our travels together? My class seems to really like when I wield a Light-elemental weapon, especially a sword or spear. I discovered a hidden passive that boosts my damage by another twenty-five percent.”

  “Sure,” I say. I’d like to have a close-range weapon for myself if needed, but this is still better for us as a collective. I decide to set my personal misgivings aside to improve the chances that we all make it through this excursion alive. And preferably without any injuries beyond Chloe’s ability to heal.

  Alana smiles at me.

  Alexey raises his hand to his face, drawing all of our attention to him even as we continue eating. “My Skills worked effectively, and they were able to give you all the chance to formulate a plan to take down the creature. I gained a rank both in my [Pressure Fist] and my [Infuriation] Skills for my trouble. However, I learned that there are enemies that are uniquely resistant to my Bludgeoning-based attacks. I should be spending time devising countermeasures for such eventualities.”

  “There wasn’t much I could do in the battle,” Brent says. He does his best to hide it, but his voice harbors a crestfallen undertone. “I’m better against large crowds of weaker enemies than giant, strong enemies that my Skills don’t work as well against. I may not have been the best person for the job if we’re going to continue encountering creatures over level 30.”

  “I feel similarly,” Lindsey says. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t find ways to improve ourselves. That we weren’t able to do much in this particular fight doesn’t mean there won’t be other encounters tomorrow or the next day or the next day where the particular skillset each of us has will be better suited for that day’s challenge.”

  “Well said, Lindsey,” Nicholas says. “Does anyone else have anything they want to add?”

  “More salt to the stew,” Tristan says. “Maybe some oregano or thyme, if anyone has some.”

  Everyone laughs.

  “Alright,” Nicholas says “We know what we did well and what we need to improve on. Once we’ve finished eating and cleaning up, let’s turn in early and prepare to leave at the first light of dawn.”

  And we do.

  Did she forget about the part where I said I wasn't ready for a relationship?