Stumbling Up: A Loser's Guide to Progression - Chapter 38: I'm not Crying, You're Crying

Tidemaws are giant leviathans who sit in river deltas and salt marshes. They slowly burrow into the ground, expanding their bodies and control over the local water. The creatures get their names because they can influence the tides, drawing prey in or pushing potential predators out. Our tidemaw was a giant among leviathans, controlling almost the entirety of the swamp with its moist breath, drawing more than one curious explorer towards its mouth with dancing lights.

One of my prized books, which I’d stashed in my pack, was a compendium of monsters that indicated that tidemaws, while classified as monsters, for the most part preyed on bugs, small animals, and water creatures. That they existed much like the brush comb whales of the deep ocean.

This one had been different, influenced by the corruption spilling over the Ursine Wall. It was twisted, reveling in human flesh, in the draw and trap of sentient life. I wasn't sad to see its life end, but as I fingered the now-closed slits along my neck, I knew that killing a legend didn't leave me unscathed.

The tidemaw's death throes were long and violent. It opened and closed its mouth, as though snapping for the life draining from it.

I had a front seat to the tidal forces, as no one was able to pull me out of the muck. Waves of water gushed out of the tidemaw, followed by moments the ground almost tilted to suck moisture down. Everyone else had to retreat to higher ground or risk getting sucked into the dying creature. Everyone but Richard, who used his [Glue] skill to stick to my shoulders.

At first, I worried that the maw was going to drain the swamp with it, but it died with its jaws clenched shut. A tall wall of warty skin shut tight, leaving a giant green mound where the dark pool of death had been.

[Corrupt Tidemaw defeated. You have earned experience.]

[Quest Granted: [Legacy of Lael Voss]

You have defeated the corrupt companion of Lael Voss, earning her undying gratitude, completing the first half of the [Legacy of Lael Voss]. To complete Lael's legacy, talk to Rhi Voss. If you are successful in getting Lael's Key, return to her workshop and clear out the corruption to complete the quest. Adventure Onward.]

Great, another quest. If that was Lael's companion, I didn't want to know what waited in her workshop.

If I have to get covered in muck one more time, I’ll quit.

We'd been through several rounds of water receding, then flooding over us, then receding. Richard had kept using his [Clean] skill to wipe the muck off every time. I didn't have the luxury, so I looked like a swamp monster out for revenge.

"You could have left. I'm sure Meredeath would have taken good care of you," I said the words calmly, refusing to bite the bait. Richard was fine.

Every time I let you out of my sight, you die.

I didn't have a rebuttal to that. He was right.

"At least I don't stay dead?" I wiped muck from my eyes. I was tired of the smell of half-rotten vegetation and the mud in my boots. Of being dirty. There was grit in my gills.

Yes, but [Gills]? What are you, a sea slug?

Richard shuddered, as though nothing in the world was worse than a sea slug. He had his hang-ups.

I didn't know what I was anymore. Was I human? I had gills. Sure, it was associated with a skill, but skills usually didn't alter a person’s physical appearance. Maybe I was becoming a swamp monster.

"Richard, can you explain to me why I have [Gills]? Skills aren't supposed to work like that, are they?" I was proud that my voice quavered only a little. I was alive, for that I should be grateful, but I wasn't sure [Cheat Death] was something I wanted to use if it was going to change me like this.

I was hoping we could avoid this question for a while. What do you say? Want to not die for a while? Are you even capable of that?

"You planned for me to have [Gills]?" Everything I thought I'd pieced together about Richard was falling apart.

No. The body augment. [Cheat Death] is an obnoxious skill if you are not careful with it. And you've been anything but cautious.

"It's going to be a bit before the rest of them join us, and I'm stuck. So let's have the conversation now."

Richard undulated, moving from his shoulder perch. The swamp was still wet, but it was drier than it had been with the tidemaw dead. The muck around my body had dried, cementing me in place. Once everyone was back, they would have to help dig me out.

Richard oozed his way onto the wet mud and perched himself across from me on a bit of bark.

His yellow skin stood out in bright contrast to the rest of the grey and browns of the swamp. Richard's tentacles extended towards me, as though asking for patience. This conversation was long overdue.

What do you want to know first?

I had a hundred questions that had piled up. It was rare that I got some alone time with my slug.

"Am I your pet?" The question I was most afraid of bubbled out of me. When the system said it, I thought it was making fun of me. I'm sure it was, but I was afraid there was truth in its taunting.

That's a strange idea. Where'd you come up with that?

He dodged the question. Was I the pet of a slug?

"The system and I had a little chat." My words were tight.

Richard stood before me, his foot-long body glistening. His body rippled, something I'd come to associate with discomfort.

The system is a world-class dick.

"Takes one to know one," I said. I don't know why the idea bothered me so much. It'd become apparent that while his powers weren't terribly helpful, Richard was somehow much more powerful than any of us. He'd been around for a long time. Hell, he claimed to know the bone lady. He called the system a jerk. Who did that?

But I was hoping that in becoming an [Adventurer] and surviving the [Trial Dungeon] that I'd finally step out into my own. I wasn't broken, I wasn't weak, I wasn't the tag-along. I was Cole, the [Adventurer]!

That's why the truth hurts. I was still just an extra, an add-on to Richard. Survived by chance, mainly because Richard and Meredeath protected me.

I looked at the fanged banana slug coldly. The slug's antenna drooped. The dark spots on his hide were dull and washed out.

So we're linked. We're companions. Does it matter who's 'in charge?' We're both entities with agency, wants, and dreams.

He was my owner. I'd been relegated to the role of a pet.

The realization was like a boulder hitting a lake. Ripples of change raced across my mind, reassigning meaning to our interactions, to my class choices, to my role on the team.

"Are you immortal?" I asked, but it wasn't the question I needed to ask. However, it was a good distraction as I built up my nerve.

I'm not dead yet.

"That's not an answer."

It's remarkably hard to prove immortality. I haven't died yet.

I hadn't either, but it didn't mean I was immortal.

"Why me?" I wasn't proud that I'd asked. I wasn't proud of how much I needed the answer to be something special. Something that set me apart. Made me special, unique.

You said yes.

Had I? I don't remember the system asking me if I wanted a yellow asshole following me around. Or me following him around.

"Does that mean I could say no now?"

You always have the right to say no.

[Please confirm: You wish to terminate [Companion] and [Sponsor] relationships with [Richard, the Fanged Banana Slug]?]

The pop-up notification hung in my vision. I thought about it and made a choice.

[Your relationship with [Richard, the Fanged Banana Slug] has been terminated. You have lost the class [Dead Wrong], you have lost the effect [Weak], you have lost the skill [Companion], you are no longer in [Your Mom's Party], you have lost [Partial Rapport] and [Minor Manipulate Slime].]

[Quest Granted: [Find a Sponsor]

Congratulations on passing the [Trial Dungeon] as an [Expeditionary Force]. You have lost your [Sponsor] for your specialized [Adventurer] class. You must find an appropriate sponsor for an [Adventurer] class that you are qualified for. You have [1 month] to complete this task. Failure to do so will result in a return to a mundane status. Adventure Onward.]

I watched as my health, stamina, and mana bars ticked up the same as Leo’s 75 points. I felt stronger and more able than I'd ever felt in my life.

"Had you been holding me back this whole time with a [Weakness] debuff?" I was angry and embarrassed. Betrayed.

Richard stared at me, his tentacles drooping.

Slugs don't win by might. We're tenacious. Survivors.

Tenacious liars.

If I could have walked away, I would have. But I was cemented in dried mud.

The voices of my friends filtered through the forest, it'd been a bit since the last dying spasm from the tidemaw. They'd taken refuge back in the natural forest, not having my affinity for breathing underwater.

Richard's head drooped, and I resisted the instinct to make it better. To make him feel better about the role he'd put me in. This wasn't my story. It was his.

Half sunk into the ground, I didn't have a great view of the forest, but I heard Tandy laugh. That'd been rare these last few years. She'd been pulled further and further into her family's plans for domination of the weaver trade. Their family dynasty. It was good to hear her laugh.

I needed to figure out if that was enough for me.

Meredeath rounded the corner first, her eyes looking for me. When she found me, her face lit up in a smile.

"Looks like you're stuck," Leo said, teasing me.

"I could use some help," I admitted, plastering on a fake grin. "Turns out a slug companion isn't so helpful at mud removal." I wondered vaguely if companion was even an appropriate word. Master? Owner? [Sponsor]? He was nothing now. Just sitting on the log. "Also, Tandy, could you reinvite me to [Your Mom's Party]?"

I watched her expression as she frowned at the interface, "Sure, Cole. Did you do something? You're not showing up under... the party drop-down anymore." She'd stuttered under Richard. She'd at least known the whole time.

A nugget of anger simmered in my chest. Had they all known?

As it turned out, no one was good at mud removal. Not without a shovel. It took the rest of the afternoon to dig with our hands to free me.

That night, we camped by the divide between the swamp and the forest. Richard clung to Meredeath, and she said something about him not feeling good. I couldn't hear him, for once. There was no incessant commentary on how I was screwing it all up.

I turned my back to the fire, contemplating how I was going to get a new [Sponsor] and possibly some new friends.