Working together, we took down one armor at a time. It was absolutely necessary if we wanted to survive. A day went by, and we had managed to kill a dozen armors, but no food was found. Her Swordman went up to eleven, while my White Mage went up to Level 10, finally unlocking Create Water. As soon as I got the skill, I laughed and filled an entire waterbag. As soon as we got somewhere safe, I reckoned I’d make a bath.

My stomach felt emptier and emptier. I tried drinking water like they suggest you do, but it was really tough. Some people claim they go on water fasts for a full month. That meant it was possible to survive, especially for me and my fat deposits. Especially considering that illness wasn’t an issue. Was my clothing feeling loose? I felt like it was.

“What are you doing, Master?” Lydia asked after the latest monster collapsed.

“I’m deciding what job I should equip,” I explained.

It was at a point where I didn’t feel like I needed to keep White Mage up to protect Lydia. It was all about survival. What skills would keep me alive the longest? At the moment, my status was:

{Name: Deek

Class: Support

Race: Human

Job: White Mage (level 10)

Possible Jobs: Hero (level 6), Merchant (level 1), Alchemist (level 1), Cook (level 3)}

Alchemy wouldn’t be difficult to get to level 3. Neither would Merchant. Was the secret to survival with either of those jobs? That was the dilemma I was facing. Every kill I wasted leveling one skill was a kill that took away from another. Time was precious. I was a bit caught up in having so many options.

“Pick Hero…” Lydia offered her thoughts.

“Hero? Why Hero?” I asked.

Lydia blushed, looking very cute as she avoided my look, her tail swishing aggressively. “Because Master is a hero.”

“Hah…” Her reasoning was founded on something so simple. “Very well…”

I decided to go with her argument and set up Hero. My goal wasn’t to defeat this dungeon. It was to escape it. Of all the skills, I had the feeling an Escape Dungeon skill existed for a hero most of all. That was my justification for choosing as such.

We continued to fight for the rest of the day. At level 11, Lydia’s next level was slow to come. As for me, I was getting really hungry and it became all I could think about. It was at that point that I finally leveled up. It seemed like different skills took different amounts of time to level. Even though I’d leveled with Hero equipped almost as much as White Mage, Hero leveled slower because it wasn’t a support job. At least, that was my theory.

{Hero has increased to level 7.}

{You have unlocked the Hero skill: Sense Life.}

Sense Life? This ability was the least useful yet! I really wanted to curse. I was just about to switch to Merchant and hope for a miracle when I suddenly noticed that I could indeed sense a lifeform. I could feel Lydia’s life, but hers wasn’t the only one in the dungeon. It wasn’t the armor either. If it was, then there would have been one sitting just twenty feet away from us.

“Lydia…” I whispered. “I want you to attack with all your speed… right… there…” I pointed in the direction my sense life indicated.

Lydia pulled her sword and didn’t even question me. She lunged with her sword, drawing on all of her skill to attack the area I had indicated. A screech filled the air, and a creature leaped away from the corner, causing Lydia to pull back and cry. However, the creature had already been severely cut, and a few moments later it fell to the ground into a bloody pile.

Lydia approached it, and a moment later let out a sad noise. “Ah… it was just a cute bunny.”

“No…” I shook my head as I watched the bunny melt back into the earth. “This is food.”