really
… Oh.
This feels wrong.
long
What is this place, anyways?
[I have no explanation.]
constantly
[Please refrain. Focus on your target.]
Right!
had
The crabs will get to me. They’ll eat my corpse–
[No, they will not. Look to your left thirty metres away. Do you recognise that lump of flesh?]
Point fruit!
<hr>
<div>
[Unallocated Points: 0 → 14]
<div>
What do I put the points in, Archive? I ain’t got enough to level up my speed again, right?
[You do not. I would recommend either increasing your toughness or strength by two levels. Both options would cost thirteen points, but considering you are running headfirst into every single wall of vines, I would recommend tough–]
had
… No.
Toughness ain’t right.
A Sand-Dancer has no business getting hit by anything while dancing.
had
did
… ‘Sand-Dancers were not always mere performers for children and guardians for caravans’, ‘In the far, far east, where the mountains pierce the skies and the lands are shrouded by an eternal fog as dense as a brick wall, the Mori Sand-Dancers were warriors against the Swarm. They developed jump techniques for the sole purpose of war.’
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
[Marisol. Focus. Another bad fall like that and you may break a bone or two–]
There are hundreds of different jumps a Sand-Dancer can perform, but the fundamentals of every single jump boil down to the same four parts, There’s the ‘lead-up’, which is where you build momentum. Then, there’s the ‘launch’, which is where you gather up all your momentum by clenching every muscle in your body. After that, there’s the ‘flight’ where you have to control your spin while maintaining your balance, and then there’s the ‘landing’, where you hit the ground with only one foot while the other is stretched out parallel to the ground.
I can already do a double spin jump on sand, but on solid ground like this, and with powerful glaives for legs…
If I can build up enough momentum and do a double spin jump, wouldn’t I be able to bash through any wall standing in my way?
thousands
Deposit all my points into strength!
<div>
[Strength: 2 → 4]
<div>
Now that’s a ‘bashing jump’, Archive! A technical jump I can use to knock donation thieves into the next desert over!
[... Impressive, indeed,] [but you could have just put your points into toughness and continued crashing through the walls of vines head-on, no problem. Your momentum was only slowing because you were unconsciously flinching and braking whenever your forearms were scraped.]
Thick skin ain’t look good on a Sand-Dancer! I’m putting all my points into strength and speed from now on!
[The attribute levels do not affect your surface appearance. Increasing your toughness level will not change how your skin looks, not to mention… ah, whatever. Do as you will for now.]
speed
Ow!
[You could have just grabbed him normally. Are you trying to kill him?]
immediately
Ow!
[You have the strength of four average adult men. There was no need to pull that hard against a little boy.]
He wouldn’t let go! What was I supposed… to do…
…
… Dammit.
Why do I feel like the bad guy here?
[You crashed into him at the speed of twenty metres a second. I believe you may have broken a few bones of his.]
Should I… maybe go after him? See if he’s alright? I… I didn’t really mean to–
[Leave him be. You retrieved your book, and he is a native. He must have ways of mending himself,] [Now, please make sure to secure your book around your waist properly. You were lucky the boy did not run off into some coral crevice you could not follow him through.]
…
… Alright.
<hr>
<div>
[Objective #5 Completed: Pursue the boy and reclaim your book]
… And, you know, now that you’re mentioning it–
was
Real
…
[... While you may not have a fishing rod, you have two glaives for legs,] [Hailing from a land of sand as you do, do you know what ‘spearfishing’ is?]