Sea Survival: My Luck is Off the Charts

The sun was nearing noon, but they had actually been pulled in at 8 AM. It was hard to say what time it would be soon, which way the shadows would fall, or how long they might stretch.

‘What exactly is the Shadow Tracking Card for?’

‘It couldn’t be for chasing my own shadow, could it?’

After all, the only hint the System gave was a single sentence: a marked shadow will always be found.

She wasn’t entirely sure of its purpose, so she didn’t rush to use it.

For now, all she had to do was make sure no one got near her shadow. She even drove away anyone who tried to get the slightest bit closer.

But as time ticked by, the sun continued to climb, and the shadows grew shorter. Faye Yardley watched her own shadow shrink, her brow furrowing slightly. Without further hesitation, she used the Shadow Tracking Card on her shadow.

[Congratulations, you have successfully marked Faye Yardley’s shadow. It will never disappear, and you can always find it.]

Faye Yardley really felt like cursing. ‘Is this “shadow stepping”?’

‘So this game is really just about finding your own shadow.’

‘If everyone had just stood still when the event started, no one would have died.’

Then, as the sun reached its zenith directly overhead, all the unmarked shadows vanished.

To be precise, they didn’t disappear so much as detach from their owners, flying one by one up into the sky.

The giggling shadows called out, “Come and step on me! Hurry, step on me! If my master can’t step on me, they’ll lose their shadow forever~”

As for Faye Yardley’s shadow, no one else could see it, but she knew it was inside her own body.

So no one found it strange when she looked up toward the sky.

Everyone had calmed down by now, all craning their necks, desperately searching for their own shadows. Someone spotted their shadow and leaped up to grab it, only to catch empty air.

It seemed that when the shadows mentioned “stepping,” they meant you really had to use your feet to touch them.

But when someone accidentally touched another person’s shadow with their foot, that shadow vanished in a puff of smoke—POP!—and the shadow’s owner instantly exploded in the crowd like a human bomb, without any warning.

After that, everyone knew exactly what was going on.

Not only did you have to find your own shadow, but you also had to stop others from stepping on it.

The atmosphere across the game field grew incredibly grim.

Faye Yardley surely wasn’t the only one who had received a Shadow Tracking Card, but the others were just like her—staying silent, doing the same things as everyone else, guarding against each other, and occasionally looking up at the giggling shadows that drifted around overhead, constantly changing position.

Faye Yardley kept her Dragon Coiling Stick held horizontally in front of her. Anyone who came near was prodded away with it.

No one was getting close to her.

She, too, was moving, slowly shuffling toward the edge of the crowd.

But there were too many people; there was no telling where the edge of the crowd was.

Besides, many people were running around, chasing shadows.

Those who managed to accurately step on their own shadows were immediately teleported away by the System.

This clearly meant they had completed the game.

‘But how am I supposed to complete the game when my shadow is inside me?’

Faye Yardley moved slowly, preventing anyone from getting near. Fortunately, no one tried to approach her with their feet.

‘My shadow is on me. If someone were to kick me, I’d be dead.’

As she continued to move with extreme caution, Faye Yardley suddenly heard a System notification:

[Congratulations! You and your shadow have successfully remained in the game field for half an hour. The First Tier of the shadow-stepping game is complete. You may choose to proceed to the next stage of this game, or you can skip shadow stepping and move on to the next game entirely. If you only chose the shadow-stepping game, you must proceed to the next stage. Oh, but you chose a lot of games. Want to continue?]

Without much hesitation, Faye Yardley kicked the air and said, “Next game.”

Faye Yardley was quickly teleported away.

She soon appeared in another game field, this one a green meadow. And for some reason, a long, fluffy tail was now attached to her backside.

‘So “tail grabbing” is literally about grabbing tails. But why is my tail so long?’

She glanced around and saw that some people had tails as short as a rabbit’s, clinging to their backsides like a baby’s fist. The difference was immense.

She decisively used a Tail Concealment Card on herself, and her tail quickly vanished from sight.

That’s right—it was only invisible, but it was still there. Faye Yardley was exasperated. She reached back for a feel, and the fluffy sensation was all too real.

She wrapped the tail around her waist and tied it in a knot. At least now it wouldn’t swing around when she moved.

She naturally kept the Dragon Coiling Stick held horizontally. Fortunately, her face was highly recognizable, and for now, no one was bold enough to be the guinea pig and try to touch her.

She didn’t know if everyone in this game field had come from the shadow-stepping game, but they all seemed to be playing a game of Statues, not moving an inch.

Since no one was moving, the System got antsy.

[My dear players, get a move on! Anyone who doesn’t grab someone else’s tail can’t leave here, you know~]

Despite the System’s encouragement, everyone just looked at each other, and not a single person dared to make the first move.

[Get moving, get moving~]

Faye Yardley shuffled her feet a couple of times. The people near her saw this and also took a few steps. One by one, everyone began to move, but they were all too cautious to make the first move.

As she was walking, Faye Yardley was surprised to spot an old man with a scale the size of a pinky fingernail hidden beneath his shoulder-length hair—a small trace of his original form.

Her gaze traveled from the back of his neck down to his tail—a fishtail, only about the length of an index finger.

‘So it’s not just sea-survival players like us here. There are Otherkin players, too.’

She had no idea how many Otherkin players had infiltrated the crowd, but it was hard to say if the current standoff was just because of the humans’ reluctance to act.

From then on, wherever the old man went, Faye Yardley followed.

Whenever he looked like he was about to make a move, Faye Yardley would smack his hand with her Dragon Coiling Stick.

More and more people began to notice the situation. Those nearby started thanking Faye Yardley, since she was the one stopping the old man from being the first to grab someone’s tail.

The System had only told them to get moving; it hadn’t specified *how*.

One of the bolder players asked Faye Yardley directly what was going on.

Faye Yardley thought for a moment before saying, “This old man is an Otherkin player.”

The old man grew very nervous and immediately retorted, “Nonsense!”

Faye Yardley gave him a small smile. Then, to the astonishment of the onlookers, she closed the distance between them with incredible speed and snatched his fishtail.

[Congratulations to player Faye Yardley for being the first to grab an Otherkin player’s tail.]

All the sea-survival players heard the announcement, and Faye Yardley was immediately teleported by the System into the next game.