A sweat droplet dripped down Kaltyr’s face as she watched the human-shaped water hover above the gentle river.
There’s nothing… I don’t sense magical essence or mana within it.
The girl’s palms grew sweaty, threatening to loosen her grip on the antler.
How is that… The water’s just floating in mid-air! Is that possible without magic? But I don’t sense anything!
She cast a quick glance at the pseudo-sword she held.
Will physical attacks do anything against an enemy just made out of water? Will the antler just pass right through it? Are only spells effective? Should I have put my stat points into External Mana Manipulation after all?!
Frustration and fear crawled around within Kaltyr, giving rise to regret over her judgement despite all the solid reasoning behind it… Then, she recalled her roster of skills and how one in particular might make a difference.
Wait…does it…
The image of how her antler had lit up like a…Christmas tree, in her Magic Sense brought back some confidence.
I’ll have to speculate on that noun later, but yeah! Item Mana Infusion would probably give a weapon some magical qualities, right? And Body Mana Reinforcement does the same thing, just to my body, I think. Like that, I can assume that if spirits that pass right through non-magical things exist, those skills would be their bane.
Kaltyr eyed the water entity, which began floating in her direction.
But even if I’m right about all that…is this thing a spirit, or something else? Plus…what if I can’t sense it because it’s far stronger than me? Even if it’s within my capabilities to fight it when I’m at full health…what if the wounds the level 2 deer gave me interfere enough to widen that gap too much for me to overcome?
She gulped again.
[I have no issue with repeating myself, so I will: There is no need to be frightened, Kaltyr. I am no enemy.]
But the water entity did not slow its approach, causing Kaltyr to begin taking steps back as she found the courage to speak.
“T-then, what are you? And w-why? I mean…why are you here?”
The girl was inundated with vexation by the fact that she was so easily frightened by something unknown appearing, and quite irked that her apparent innate bloodlust did not choose to make an appearance. What was the point of a natural inclination toward savagery if when she needed it the most—when she was actually scared—it refused to come out? Though, to be fair…the water entity lacked blood to lust after.
[I must decline answering.]
A blood vessel popped up on her forehead at the same time as her knees began shaking.
“How am I s-supposed to believe you when you, you say that you’re not an e-enemy, but won’t answer?”
Kaltyr’s back made contact with a tree, and she jumped in fright. But before she could turn to run, the water entity stopped moving, keeping a distance of three meters.
[I previously planned on answering your questions, but because you showed so much fear despite my declaration, I am now offended. Ask me again when I feel better.]
Then, much faster than it had appeared, the water entity…left. It lost its form, splashing to the ground and soaking the dirt as though it were just normal water. The wet dirt showed no signs of being anything more than the ordinary stuff it looked like.
Suddenly alone again, Kaltyr reflected on the water entity’s words…and ignored them.
There’s no way I’m dying to some overgrown puddle because I believed its lies! I have to get back to the clearing.
Thinking that, Kaltyr slapped herself hard in an attempt to stabilize her mind and rid herself of fear before returning to her previous task of moving the deer. In all truth, she wanted to head back to her territory as soon as possible to hide behind the invisible barriers that promised to keep her safe, but the seven deer corpses were too valuable to leave behind—she needed all the resources she could obtain from them, even if that would put her in danger… And at the thought of danger, she dumped her latest five stat points into Internal Mana Manipulation, figuring that the long trip would now be considerably less dangerous.
Then, astonished at her new strength, the girl grabbed four deer bodies at once by their hind legs and dragged them ten meters into the forest before returning to drag the other three. She could only move two at once before the increase in her strength and had used that knowledge to calculate how quickly she could get back to her safe zone, but now with her strength doubled…
“This won’t take long at all!”
……
It didn’t take long at all.
Kaltyr stood within the clearing of safety and looked on at her pile of dead enemies, pride in her abilities welling up. The trip had hurt like hell thanks to the stabbing she’d received a little before the water entity appeared, but not much else had interfered with her. She’d seen a few beasts watch her from afar without nearing and assumed that the seven bodies she dragged along worked well as a deterrent of smart beasts. After all, if she was capable of besting seven opponents and didn’t fear being seen with their corpses, how powerful must she be?
Or at least, that’s what I can infer the beasts thought, but there’s really no way to be sure.
Kaltyr sat down next to the mound of defeated foes in the lotus position and recouped on mana for a few minutes. When she filled her soul to its max capacity, she dismissed the whirlpool of magical energy and released a tired breath. Her Magic Sense skill leveled up to 4 during her magical essence refinement session, but the process of absorbing magical essence seemed no less difficult than it had been when she first attempted it. The act of using her will to take control of the surrounding ambient energy seemingly required a lot of focus no matter how powerful she got.
“But it could also just be the case that neither Magic Sense nor my Life Level play parts in the absorption process’s difficulty…or that it’ll only be easier when I level them up a lot more…or that there’s a separate skill for that I’ve yet to find…or that I’m missing some other qualification like the Class or Title things I saw on my Status Profile.”
The girl grimaced and scratched the back of her head.
“Regardless, it’s not easy, so I can’t do it in the middle of battle like I wanted to…”
While trudging through the forest from the river to her territory and dragging along the deer corpses, Kaltyr had continuously mentally replayed all the fights she’d been in since awakening in Manic. The number one detail that jumped out at her was the fact that she didn’t have much trouble at all battling against a single opponent at a time…which was a given considering the gap in intelligence between herself and her beastly competitors. However, even intelligence only went so far if she couldn’t prepare herself for an incoming conflict. Had Kaltyr not been lucky enough to climb the trees she had when she needed to, the odds of her becoming nothing more than food and fertilizer for other life in the forest would have jumped significantly. Especially if she ran out of mana mid-fight. But, alas, refining magical essence during combat didn’t seem possible.
“And I don’t want to have to rely on luck to survive, anymore.”
It had also been through sheer luck that Kaltyr only encounter the pack of wild dogs when she was within the safety of the clearing. Just like with the deer, they heavily outnumbered her…but unlike the deer, they had much more than antlers at their disposal. Their teeth, Kaltyr thought, would have torn her to shreds had she been anywhere else. While she only had to fear three racks of antlers when she fought the family of deer, each dog she saw was equipped with teeth and claws. Additionally, nothing said that they couldn’t climb trees. She was incredibly fortunate to have fought them from the safety of the clearing and injured them enough to prevent them from returning.
“Which brings me to my main concern: the water entity.”
As far as Kaltyr could gather from the limited amount of information she was able to collect when the water entity appeared…her newest enemy was a person. It communicated with levels of intelligence that no other beast had displayed and even knew her name.
“Which is terrifying, because I don’t remember saying my name out loud. Ever.”
She wondered if it could see her Status Profile, but soon after realized that it would be inconsequential. Even if it were aware of all her skills, she doubted that that information would be of any use to it in a fight. For starters, Kaltyr assumed it had a higher Life Level and/or higher level skills because it could see directly through her Stealth Mode. Then there was how it had appeared and disappeared at will with Kaltyr having no idea how or even being capable of sensing its presence. Lastly, the girl doubted that anything she was currently capable of was anything uncommon. She figured that if she could learn to do it in her time frame with her circumstances—which included being an amnesiac and lacking a teacher—then it was nothing special.
“Thus, whether it can see my Status Profile is of barely any or no consequence to me. What’s vastly more important is…”
Kaltyr nervously gulped her saliva yet again as a stupidly terrifying notion dawned on her, making the air still and the sunlight colder.
“Since it’s a creature capable of sapient communication, I think, then isn’t it a social being?”
Vague ideas about how social creatures were more successful than their nonsocial counterparts surfaced in the girl’s mind, bringing with them the nightmare of a hypothesis that was: there are more of those water entities out there.
She didn’t want it to be true—the proposition was scary beyond belief—but, to her, it was a likely possibility.
“Roaming gangs of dogs and deer are bad enough, but now I have to worry about strange water-possessing spirits, too?!”
Kaltyr groaned toward the sky as she did her best to conquer her quaking heart. She had just begun to feel confident in her chances of surviving and thriving in the forested wilderness she awoke within, but another variable had decided to show up and ruin everything.
“Looks like I’ll have to consider the possibility of leaving this place and relocating. I don’t want to take any chances with sapient beings before I’m sure that I’ll either be welcomed or can protect myself!”
She thought back to the sight of the water entity rising from the river.
“Wait, was one of those things responsible for that perfectly-cut log that I saw floating…”
Silence reigned while Kaltyr’s eyes slowly widened at what felt like everything coming together.
“That’s it: I’m leaving this place. I guess I’ll either head for higher ground in the opposite direction of the river or move far downstream.”
The girl shakily got to her feet and took a deep breath in, waited a few moments as her mind cleared and body shook a little less, then released it. She looked over everything cluttering her safe zone and sighed at the fact that she was going to have to leave most of it behind unless she could figure out how to make a big bag…
[I think you are “jumping the gun”, as they say.]
For the second time, Kaltyr jumped, spinning in place and flooding every meridian in her body with mana. She turned, scanning her environment for enemies, but nothing stuck out to her. No floating bodies of water. No beasts. Thinking that she had time to prepare herself before she was attacked, the girl located the antler she’d left on the ground and equipped it.
Then, a force began pushing her right foot up.
Kaltyr immediately sidestepped and transferred a sizable portion of her mana into the antler before swinging her weapon down onto the rising dirt.
[I may never get to assisting you if you insist on continuing to make the same mistake, Kaltyr.]
Her antler sword dug a few inches into the mound of dirt, but the ground continued rising at a slow pace. Kaltyr attempted to pull back her weapon, but it was completely stuck in the mound. Even after she adjusted her posture and pulled with the full force of her enhanced strength and body weight, the antler refused to budge a centimeter.
[Your behavior is rather disappointing, Kaltyr.]
The mound of dirt finally finished rising and moved on to the next process as the humanoid shape began to form, its limbs and head being chiseled out of the dirt pile. Seeing this, the lass retreated, abandoning her best weapon and equipping her knife.
Then, as though she were run over by a…truck, it dawned on Kaltyr where she currently stood.
[I will bestow upon you three seconds to change your attitude. Thr—]
“MY APOLOGIES!”
Against her every instinct and fighting against the pain in her stab wounds, rational judgement forced Kaltyr to return her mana to her soul as she clenched her teeth and dropped her knife before bending at the waist with her arms to her sides, apologizing while facing the grass below.
Her heartbeat rang like war drums in her ears and her skin itched as sweat began to form, but she maintained her posture like her life depended on it…which it actually might, she thought.
The now-dirt entity did not immediately respond, choosing instead to let time silently drag on. Kaltyr wondered if that was a form of punishment, but did not comment on nor resent it. After all, with each passing second, she became more confident that she’d made the right choice by submitting when she did. It was quite the sudden change in heart, but a smart one, she thought.
[Hmmm…]
Although Kaltyr did not directly see the dirt entity move, she could hear its earthy feet making contact with the ground and lightly crunching grass as it began walking around her. Strangely, the dirt the entity was made of did not grind against itself as it moved, only producing sound when it came into contact with other things…
[You have made the only correct decision.]
She mentally sighed in relief.
[But I am not sure of whether I should accept your apology. It came quite late, after all.]
The girl’s shoulders tensed.
[How will you defend yourself?]
A brief moment of panic passed as Kaltyr considered making a run for it, but soon after realized that it meant a verbal defense of her actions.
“I, uh… You thsee—”
She bit her tongue.
[You bit your tongue.]
F*** you.
Kaltyr began again.
“You see, uh…sir?”
[You may refer to me as you see fit.]
“Okay, Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth.”
[You are making fun of me.]
“I’m doing as you said.”
[Whatever. Go on.]
By this point, even ignoring the wounds she gained from being charged by the Life Level 2 buck, Kaltyr’s sides and abs began to ache. Bowing at the waist took a lot out of her muscles.
“Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth, may I assume a different posture?”
[Denied.]
Bastard.
“May I have my weapon back?”
The antler sword still stuck out of the dirt entity’s head.
[Denied.]
She resisted the urge to groan and took a moment to compose herself.
“Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth, please understand that I have been in a rough situation for a few days now, with my only company being my amnesiac self and the countless beasts that wanna kill me. I think it was only reasonable that my first response to your appearance was to defend myself against an enemy, especially considering the fact that you gave no evidence of your friendly intentions. It was only natural that I responded to your presence with fear and hostility.” Kaltyr surprised herself with the amount of elegance she managed to display while speaking in such a situation. “That is my defense.”
[Fine, you may sit down.]
The dirt entity changed its mind rather quickly, as though it didn’t really care.
Kaltyr’s first response to the dirt entity’s phrasing was to ask if that meant she may only sit down and if she wasn’t allowed to move besides that, but held her tongue and sat down obediently.
Uhhh…
Yet, despite doing as Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth commanded, it remained silent, merely walking around the clearing and examining her scattered belongings. Kaltyr was impatient for answers and squirmed in place, wondering whether Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth wanted her to be quiet or was waiting for her to speak first. After an entire minute passed, Kaltyr’s left eye began to twitch.
It didn’t tell me not to speak, so…
“Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth?”
The girl’s voice came out sounding much meeker than she anticipated.
[Yes?]
The dirt entity dropped the snake bones it was previously inspecting and turned to face her. The dirt figure’s face—Was it a face if it lacked features?—unyieldingly stared at the lass, making her uncomfortable. Its lack of eyes was chilling.
“Er, please answer my questions.”
She felt a violent urge to gulp her saliva but stayed strong, meeting the dirt entity’s “gaze” head-on.
[What questions?]
A vein popped up on her forehead again, but she kept her cool.
“My questions from earlier. What are you and why did you appear before me?”
Kaltyr wasn’t sure why, but she didn’t appreciate how she was being treated, and so did her best to wear a stern expression, but wasn’t sure if doing so would make a difference.
The dirt entity maintained its silence for a few more seconds, as though it were contemplating something, before breaking eye contact and bringing one of its stubby arms up to its head. It grabbed and pulled out the antler that Kaltyr stabbed it with moments before.
[Is this your only weapon besides that knife you wielded earlier?]
Kaltyr finally relented and gulped her mouthful of saliva, eyes wide open as she considered that maybe Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth was still peeved with her about the antler.
“Uh, aaah, yeah…”
She cast a quick glance at the pocketknife that lied just outside of arm’s reach and tried hard not to feel regret over obeying the dirt.
[Although bones are decent as base materials for tools, did you not consider that a bone alone would not be the best weapon? Especially for such a choice as a sword. Something with more reach is better suited to take care of large enemies.]
The vein on Kaltyr’s forehead threatened to burst as her eye began twitching again.
“Of course.” She growled through her teeth, barely holding back the impulse to shout. “I only got that deer antler a little while ago.” The lass lifted her arm, using a finger to point at the nearby stack of deceased deer. “I was planning on sharpening it, but besides that, I don’t know what else I could do. I don’t exactly remember much about weaponsmithing, or whatever it’s called.”
Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth raised the antler from its “eye” level, bringing it up as far as its stubby arm could take it. It leaned its head back, following the antler with its “eyes”, seemingly still inspecting it.
[I was told that guiding you in the best direction was preferable to merely giving you the answers.]
Kaltyr’s eye stopped twitching long enough to raise her eyebrow as she tried processing the response she received.
Did… Did I ask it a question?
“I’m pretty sure that you asked me about the antler and that I answered your question, Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth.”
Again, the dirt entity did not move, simply gazing up at the antler it held to the sky, apparently having deep thoughts about life, or something. Meanwhile, Kaltyr’s patience was wearing thin. She’d been made to believe that her life was in danger by a being that gave off the impression that it’d easily overwhelm her in a battle but that also supposedly meant her no harm. Its voice seemed to carry directly into her thoughts from nowhere, it appeared to lack a permanent physical form, and its ego was easily injured! It mentioned previously planning to answer her questions, only to refuse to answer upon being asked simple ones! All the questions her mind produced at breakneck speeds were being forced to pile atop each other, unable to exit and be answered, to fester, building pressure…
Kaltyr bit her tongue. She wasn’t going to get answers by being angry…
Without warning, Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth brought its other arm above its head, grabbing onto the antler, and began breaking it.
“YOU LITTLE SCRAWNY PLAY-DOH CHEWING TOILET WATER GARGLING PIECE OF S*** GRUBBY FLOWER POT THAT CAN ONLY GROW WEED—”
Something shattered within Kaltyr when she saw her trusty sword being broken apart by Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth and she leaped at the dirt entity, reaching for the antler. Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth merely strategically backstepped so that Kaltyr grabbed nothing but air, all the while continuing to snap the deer bone into pieces, dropping them as it did so. After the fifth failed attempt at reclaiming her rightful property, the lass remembered that she was no longer a normal puny human. The air quivered slightly as Kaltyr flooded her body with mana and exploded in speed, tearing grass with her each step.
Yet, the dirt entity, after only a slight increase in speed, easily maintained its evasive maneuvers until the antler was destroyed and separated into several equally sized pieces.
[That’s enough.]
Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth completely stopped and held an arm up, facing Kaltyr as her empowered fist descended. However, those two words were enough to remind her of her circumstances. With a “whoosh”, the girl’s fist passed a centimeter away from the dirt entity’s “head” before she also came to a stop. But rather than move away, Kaltyr leaned forward, bringing her face down closer to the little dirt pile.
“Why?”
That single word carried with it the most rage and frustration the girl thought she’d ever endured as she unflinchingly stared into Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth’s “eyes”, demanding an answer.
[Think hard over what I previously stated.]
Its response came as robotic as ever.
[Regardless of my reason, you have more.]
Then, Sir Quiggly-Do the Fifth lowered its arm stub, no longer pointing it at Kaltyr, instead gesturing to the pile of deer corpses.
Kaltyr’s frown became a sneer as she realized that the dirt was right, but threw back a retort, nonetheless.
“Just because I have more doesn’t mean you can break my stuff.”
Kaltyr’s baring of her fangs seemed to lack any effect on the dirt entity.
[That will be all for now. Do whatever you wish. I will return if you understand and act upon the meaning of my actions.]
“Don’t leave, coward! Answer m—”
When Kaltyr noticed the figure of dirt begin to crumble, she shouted, bringing her fist back around to grab onto the mysterious entity. Yet, in the end, she held nothing but loose topsoil.
