Miria growled as she stalked through the woods.

Low on HP! Please, as if I need to hold myself back over a number. I'll kill some monsters and get a level and then we can go find those survivors and like, return to civilization... It'll be fine.

She smashed her way through the underbrush with the hatchet, cutting a trail in the general direction of the road she'd seen leading to the store.

I bet they have radios or whatever? Or something. There'll be someone there who'll know what to do...

She hissed, before changing direction, doubling back towards the apartments.

I still should get a level or two before I try for it, though. I don't want to take too many risks...

She paused as she spotted a small nest of Saprolings ahead.

Perfect. That'll show her...

She marched up, sword ready, and met the oncoming rush of angry vine-worms with her blade, cutting them all down with ease, even the pair of Level 2 ones.

There. A dozen more like that or so, and I'll have that level in no time.

Miria hummed happily to her herself as she walked home, admiring her gains.

Got enough for that level... Barely. I'll see if I can get some more experience to bring the cost down...

Her antennae twitches as she hear the sound of something rushing through the air above her, and she flinched back and brought up her sword to clumsily chop at the monsters descending upon her. She gave one of them a shallow cut before it slipped away, while the other avoided her strike entirely and dived at her.

[Murder Squirrel, Level 2 x2]

It landed on her armored upper arm, clawing and biting at it but failing to penetrate, before it let go and dropped down - and then closed it's jaws around her lower arm.

[-2 HP!]
[HP Depleted!]

She screamed as it's jaws cut through her flesh and it's claws raked over her skin, her lower arms partial chitin covering deflecting them somewhat but still leaving her with nasty scratches - and a savage bite wound. She brought her upper arm down to grab it's head and crush it's skull in her fist, while the other Murder Squirrel circled her.

[Murder Squirrel Defeated! +17 Essence!]

"Get back! BACK!" She screamed, slashing at it as it tried to approach her, then bringing her other hand to her blade, setting her stance, and charging forwards to cut it down.

[Murder Squirrel Defeated! +16 Essence!]

She clutched her injured arm, hissing in pain, then stowed her sword and began jogging back to the apartment.

*Fuck me this hurts! Aaaagh, fuck, this was a dumb idea...*

Claire's eyes widened in horror as Miria approach, arm bleeding heavily. "Oh my god! Oh, let, let me get the bandages...!"

Miria sighed, gritting her teeth against the pain. "Disinfectant too. Fuck me, this suuuucks..."

"U-uh, r-right!" Claire said, darting away as Miria leaned against the wall. "Right away!"

Claire sat in her little garden, an arc of trees and bushes grown around the edge of the building hiding her from the forest while she cried. The plants murmured soft reassurances at the edge of her thoughts, while her tears watered the soil. "This is my fault! I got mad and shouted at her until she felt the need to go do something dumb!" She said, even as the low floral murmurs insisted it wasn't so. "What if she gets infected? I know we cleaned the wound, but it could still happen!" More arboreal rumblings came to her, and she shook her head and whined. "That's not good enough! I need to do better." The plants paused, before their voices came to her again, this time with a different kind of offering. "What? Oh... Oh! Thank you! That's perfect!"

"Hey Miria... Are you doing okay?" Claire said, wringing her hands as she approached.

"Feeling like a damn fool, and my arm still hurts, but otherwise, yeah. Bought that level up, seems it helped, though not a ton - only one of the HP went to healing my arm, and it's still pretty injured." Miria said, sighing as she lay in bed, resting.

Claire bit her lip. "Welllll, I have something that might help?" She said, approaching. "My uh, garden gave me another spell..."

Lesser Healing
- Cost: 2 MP
- Casting Time: 5 seconds
- Target: One creature in skin to skin contact.
- Restores 3 HP to the target, with normal healing conversion.

Miria jerked into a sitting position. "Damn! Your magic really keeps coming through, huh! You got MP for it?"

Claire nods. "Yeah, I was keeping some in reserve, just in case..." She says, and reaches out to Miria's arm, which she presents. Claire gently unwraps the bandages, and then lays her hands on either side of the wound and closes her eyes. A nimbus of green and gold energy swirls between her hands, and as Miria watches, her wound begins to close.

[+2 HP!]
[+2 HP!]
[+2 HP!]
[+1 HP!]
[+3 HP!]

"...That's all my MP for now, sorry. I hope it helps?" Claire said, and Miria laughs.

"Helps? Girl, this is fantastic! Damn but we need to get some more essence into you though, you keep coming through with golden tickets." Miria says, admiring her arm, now almost entirely healed, before pulling Claire into a hug.

Claire blushes, before returning the hug. "U-uh, thanks. I-I'm sorry I yelled at you. I, that was, kinda my fault..."

Miria sighs and moves her hands, her top two resting on Claire's shoulders and her bottom two on her hips. "Look, I don't want to play the blame game. It's miserable, and there's more to go around than either of us wants. Let's just both try to do better in the future, okay?" She says, and Claire nods.

"...Okay." She swallows, then continues. "...You said it was level 2 monsters that did that to you, right? Have you been seeing more of them lately?" She says, and Miria blinks and tilts her head.

"...Come to think of it, yeah, I have. Why do you ask?" She says, and it's Claire's turn to sigh.

"Well, I think the monsters might be leveling up. So, if we don't do anything, we might end up facing higher and higher level monsters, until we have, like, level 20 wolves trying to blow our house down..." She says, wringing her hands again.

Miria pulls a face and sucks on her teeth for a moment. "...Uh, yeah, that would fit with what I've seen. Shit, that's bad. That means we need to keep leveling just to tread water and keep our current position stable..." She lets out a breath. "Well, with your new spell I think we can do that, at least." She gives Claire an apologetic look. "And, I know you don't like the idea, but if there are other survivors we should try and link up with them... I know it's not certain, but I think it's worth a shot? If nothing else, we can probably loot some supplies or something..."

Claire wrings her hands for a moment, then sighs and nods. "...Fine. But we need to be smart about it. And, to that end..." She swallows nervously, looking up at Miria. "...I think you should use your signature ability on me. Y-You know, the servitor eggs..."