Is that what I did? Huh, I guess so. I mean, I was more acting out of self-preservation, trying to bat back the weird armadillo creatures while making my way out of drown-zone-central, than actively trying to save Terimus. But I also definitely wasn’t going to leave him there to get stomped to death. Trying to poke the pebblebacks away from him was instinct—just seemed like the right thing to do. Look at me, already being a hero!

“And what about you?” Rena asks, turning to me. “Where did you come from?”

I stand up straight, resting the butt of the spear on the ground. Not like I could fight these two off anyway, even if I wanted to. “I was just trying to get some water. Certainly wasn’t expecting a whole herd of these guys to come stampeding down the hill toward me!”

Rena rounds on Layf. “You were supposed to scout the valley ahead of time!”

He holds up his hands. “I did! I swear! There wasn’t anyone here.”

Rena snorts. “Well clearly there was!”

“This argument is great and all,” Terimus says. “But I might have a broken leg. Think we can figure out who’s more responsible for near-manslaughter after we get out of here?”

Rena sighs. “Layf, go find his footbird.”

“Aye, aye,” Layf says with a salute, then reins his bird around to trot off to where a group of pebblebacks have taken to grazing nearby. He turns his head back to shout over his shoulder. “It’s still not my fault!”

Rena swings down off her own steed and heads over to Terimus, crouching down to check him. Gingerly touching his leg, a small glow of pink light blooms from Rena’s fingers, and Terimus sucks in a pained breath.

“Oh, give me a break,” Rena says, the light flickering out. “It’s not broken, you probably just pulled something.” She glances up sharply at me. “Hey, kid. Get over here and give me a hand, would you?”

I hesitate for only a moment, weighing the likelihood of any of this being a trap. Considering I have literally nothing but the clothes on me, highway robbery seems unlikely. Besides, I kind of like them.

“Sal,” I say, jogging over to help. “Not kid.” I wrap one of Terimus’s arms around my shoulder, while Rena takes the other.

“Sure thing, kid,” Rena says with a pointy grin. “Now come on, let’s get him over to those rocks.”

#

As Rena patches Terimus up and Layf starts setting up a camp, I ask a lot of questions, and I learn a lot of interesting things.

“You guys really don’t know what I’m talking about?” I say, incredulous.

“I can assure you, none of us have a voice in our head called an ‘Echo’,” Layf says. “Um, do you think you might have hit your head in that fight?”

“I didn’t!” I object. “And you guys are sure you don’t see stats? I mean, it says right here that you’re a warrior, and you’re a bruiser, and you’re a ranger.”

“Bruiser?” Rena says with a snort. “What does that even mean?”

“I don’t know, I kinda like the sound of warrior,” Terimus says with a grin. He winces as Rena ties off a bandage with a sharp pull. “Ow! Careful, there.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, warrior, was that too rough?” Rena smirks.

Layf rolls his eyes. “Get a room, you two.”

Weird. How come none of them can see stats like I can? I ask Echo.

[The user met the prerequisite as defined for system access.]

And those prerequisites are…?

[User does not have permissions to access said data.]

Perfect. I guess I’ll just have to keep asking around until I can find someone more knowledgeable than these guys. I mean, it can’t just be me, right?

Echo doesn’t give me a lot of time to dwell on this.

[Role Requirement] she pipes up when Layf pulls supplies out of his pack, setting out some alien looking fruit, a stale hunk of bread, and some dried meat. Oh, right. That dumb Chef Role I have. Hey, now that I’m thinking about it, none of these guys have a role—just me. What the heck’s up with that?

[Role Requirement] Echo says again.

Are you kidding me? Now? My fingers tingle with anticipation as Layf begins slicing up the bread. As stupid as this role is, it looks like I need to get my hands on one of his knives.

“Need help?” I ask. It’s like an itch in the back of my head. Maybe I can just dice up one of the fruits.

He waves me off. “No, you’re our guest. Don’t worry about it.”

I rub my hands together, as if it would disperse the tingling, and look around the field to distract myself. Now that the stampede is over, the pebblebacks have taken to grazing around the valley; several of them appear to be passed out, laying flat on the ground like a bunch of weathered boulders. “We don’t have to worry about any of these guys heading over here for some payback?”

“Nah,” Terimus says, wincing as Rena pulls a brace tight around his leg. “They’re pretty passive when they’re not trying to trample you. Just gotta wear ‘em out a bit first.” He points to a couple of the sleeping ones. “Those are what we’re after. Once they’re sleeping, they’re down for at least a day, and not even Widengra’s Wrath could wake them. That’s why we ran them down the hill in the first place. When they’re passed out, it’s easier to harvest the geodes that grow on the males’ hides. They should fetch us a respectable sum back in town.”

[Role Requirement.]

“Are you sure I can’t help?” The words burst from me. I swear the tingling in my brain and hands are getting worse. I don’t wait for Layf to object as I spring to my feet and grab one of the fruits from the cloth he’d set it on. “Here, let me.” I hold out my hand for the knife.

Layf arcs a perplexed eyebrow at me, glancing at his teammates.

“Oh, give it to her,” Rena says. “If she was trying to pull anything, she wouldn’t have given Terimus’s spear back.”

Shit, I do look suspicious, don’t I? “Sorry,” I say. “It’s the mind voice thing again.”

Layf shrugs, handing over the knife. “I was done with it anyway. You really should get your head looked at, though.”

Relief fills me as soon as my hand wraps around the hilt, soothing the static from my fingers. I immediately sit down and start cutting into the fruit, exposing a soft, blue interior the consistency of an orange. Juice drips everywhere as a result, and I belatedly realize maybe this sort of fruit is meant to be peeled. Oops. Oh well.

“Anyway,” Rena says, breaking the awkward silence as they all watch me butcher this piece of fruit. “We’ll probably be heading into town tomorrow, after we’ve finished with the pebblebacks. Might as well make camp here and give Terimus time to rest his leg. You’re welcome to spend the night with us if you’ve nowhere else to be.”

I pause my mangling of the fruit. Instead of two halves each cut into four slices, the scene before me has become a large stain of blue pulp and several bruised peels.

I bet a town would have some sort of Adventuring Guild. Or maybe someone there would know about my Echo and Stat interface. Think there’s an Offworld Bureau I could check in at?

“That would be great!” I say. “I don’t really have any plans. I’d love to stay with you guys for the night and travel to the town with you tomorrow. Thanks!”

“After how you helped me out, it’s no problem at all,” Terimus says. “Where’s all your gear, anyway?”

“Oh, uh.” Well, I’ve already told them about Echo and my stats. How much weirder could admitting my origin be? “I’m from another world,” I say. “Just popped up here a few minutes before the pebbleback stampede.”

The three of them stare at me.

“Don’t suppose you get off-worlders very often?” I ask.

“Layf?” Rena says.

“I’ll get my medicine pack,” he agrees.

“Wait—I’m serious!” I object. Is that why I have stats and they don’t? “Okay, to be fair, it all does sound a bit crazy, but I can prove it.”

“Oh?” Terimus says.

I sit there a moment, thinking. “Okay, actually I can’t prove it. But I would appreciate it if you just believed me on this.”

Rena shakes her head. “Well, you seem sound in most other respects.” She dubiously eyes the fruit I’ve turned into a pile of pulp. “Most other respects. Regardless, you can still travel with us to Fairwood, where you can hopefully find help for your…condition.” Somehow, I don’t think ‘condition’ is referring to my being from Earth. “For now, let’s break our bread.”

I give up on the fruit and sheepishly hand Layf’s knife back. As I do so, I feel a sort of mental ping.

[Daily Role Requirement quota fulfilled,] Echo says. [Counter reset. Skill Obtained! Knifework: Level 1.]

Man, this really is like a videogame. I sure won’t object to that knife skill, though. Maybe next time I won’t make an embarrassment out of myself.

Layf passes around the bread, meat, fruit (whole pieces as my pile goes tactfully ignored), and a canteen of water, as the group chats and lazes in the afternoon sun. A pebbleback occasionally wanders by, some of them gleaming with black crystals like what Terimus mentioned, but all they do is grunt, graze, and leave us alone. I eventually find myself laughing along with the group’s jokes—Layf seems to be the butt of most of them—and even enjoying the stale bread and dry meat. The fruit and water keep my mouth from going dry, but even without that it sure beats hospital food; something about the salt of the meat and grit of the bread tastes real in a way the fruit cups and defrosted waffles never were.

Maybe this Chef role isn’t all bad. If I’ve been reincarnated in another world just so I can make and eat good food the rest of my days, I can’t be upset with that.

Our meal is interrupted when a sharp crack like lightning shakes the air. I wince, looking around for the source, while Rena jumps to her feet.