Feeling nice and fully recovered.
Man, who knew there was a skill that lets you heal by leveling up?
I'd completely forgotten about that.
But this isn't exactly a trick you can pull off over and over.
I just leveled up, which means the next one is a long way off.
If I take massive injuries in every single fight, it's obvious my healing won't keep up.
That would mean building a makeshift home and holing up inside to recover...
That can't be the answer.
It'd just be a return to the same old life all over again.
Still, that doesn't exactly tell me what I should do instead.
Leveling up doesn't mean I suddenly get stronger.
Given how weak I am by nature, winning has to come from using my head.
To put it bluntly, if I charged in without thinking, I'd end up charging straight into the Sanzu River.
Oh wait, I was reincarnated, but I don't actually have any memory of crossing the Sanzu River.
I guess things will just have to work out the way they're meant to?
I'd prefer not to get injured, but I can't afford to be picky about that.
Besides, there's no guarantee I'll even win the next one.
That last fight — one wrong step and I would've been the one done for.
What if the frog hadn't charged into the silk the way I planned?
I don't even want to think about it.
Pulling through injuries in life-or-death situations like that without taking a hit — the bar's just too high.
Hmm.
No wait, hold on.
I've been assuming I'll take damage, but isn't that assumption itself kind of dangerous?
With my paper-thin defense, any hit I take does real damage.
Yeah, that's a huge problem.
Of all the monsters I've encountered, the frog didn't even look that strong.
I mean, I did feel how tough it was when we actually fought, but not from how it looked.
The coloring suggested it had some kind of poison, but it didn't look physically imposing.
Stripping poison out of the equation and going purely by raw combat strength, there are tons of things that look way tougher.
And yet, a single hit from that wimpy frog nearly killed me.
If something stronger landed a blow on me, I'd be done in one hit.
That's totally possible.
And if that happens, we're way past talking about injuries.
What do I do?
No, there's really only one countermeasure.
Relying on my defense is pointless.
Any hit I take, I'm out.
Which means — all I have to do is not get hit!
Well, isn't that simple!
Aha ha ha!
Sounds like an impossible difficulty mode, though!
The reason I had godlike evasion in my past-life games was pure repetition.
Confession time — in games, I died. A lot.
What they call "death memorization."
I'd die over and over, strictly observing the enemy's attack patterns and learning from each one.
Only with that foundation under my belt could I ever operate a gimmick evasion-focused build.
That's why I can never beat an enemy on the first encounter.
My current situation eerily mirrors that game character.
That character was built for speed, with a slight boost to attack.
Everything else was at base values.
Paper defense, no ranged options — a completely garbage build.
And that garbage build overlaps way too much with who I am right now.
Of course, the gap between a game and reality is enormous.
Moving a character on screen just takes your fingertips, but here I have to move my whole body.
Field of vision isn't just about staring at a screen either.
And above all, there's the tension of knowing that death here is final.
Huh? I don't look tense?
What, really?
Now that you mention it... I'm not that tense, am I?
Wait, huh?
Let's just pretend this conversation never happened.
Anyway, games and reality are different.
If I die in the mere premise of a game, there's no way I can pull off an evasion build in real life.
There isn't — but I've got no better ideas.
Ugh.
I'm working with way too few cards in hand.
Silk has plenty of applications, but Poison Fang only has one use.
I'm keeping the faith that Appraisal will become usable once my level goes up!
Resistance is helpful, but my base defense is garbage so...
Then there's Heterodox Magic and Taboo, both with unknown effects.
Heterodox Magic — the word "magic" implies I should be able to do ranged attacks or something, but I don't know how to use it.
Seriously, I need a tutorial.
If I was able to acquire it, the least it could do is tell me how it works.
Magic is supposed to be this fantasy thing — you'd think you could just use it by thinking about it or something.
I feel like that kind of basic convenience feature should come standard.
Sigh.
Well, wishing for things I don't have isn't going to help.
I peek around the boulder.
"Small Rock Turtle — Level 2"
Yep.
It's a turtle with a rock on its back, plain as day.
It's big, sure, but Galápagos turtles back on Earth are about the same size, so compared to the monsters I've faced so far, it's not particularly intimidating.
But if it's got "Small" in the name, does that mean this thing is a juvenile?
"Small Rock Turtle: juvenile Rock Turtle"
Oh, called it.
So it's a kid.
I absolutely do NOT want to run into the parent.
Alright, let's do this.
It hasn't noticed me.
Then let's go for a surprise back attack without hesitation!
I burst out from behind the boulder and close the distance at full speed.
I leap onto the rocky shell and spray silk all over it!
Whoa—!
I got flung off!
But I did manage to get the silk on.
The turtle can't move anymore, it can— can— CAN IT NOT MOVE OR WHAT!?
The turtle ripped the silk apart and charged!
Whoa—!!?
Retreat, retreat!
I sidestep out of the way!
BOOM!
With an incredible impact, the turtle slams straight into the wall.
Wow.
If that connected, I'd be flat as a pancake for sure...
Also, this is the first time something has torn through my silk.
Is this bad?
The turtle turns to face me.
Another charge!
Dodge!
BOOM!
Another charge!
Dodge!
BOOM!
Another charge!
Okay, that's enough of that!
As I dodge the charge, I catch a strand of silk around the turtle's leg.
It stumbles and, carried by its own momentum, goes tumbling.
It flips over upside down.
That's gonna take some effort to get back up.
Well, not that I plan to give it the chance.
CHOMP!
If it hits, I'm dead — but if it doesn't hit, it's no big deal!