Chapter 7.

By the end of the day, Amber was recovered due to being out of battle. She searched far and wide before finding a cave to pass the night, making sure that she was far enough from the tower. And even though she kind of expected it, she found herself slightly depressed now that she was alone with her own thoughts. 

She had left her home unintentionally. While at this point she knew she’d say no if given the option to return, she still felt bad for leaving those that were in her life without saying anything, bosses, professors, distant friends. She at least wished she could’ve left a note or something that explained she was living her best life. 

Perhaps, she never left her life, perhaps there was some sort of doppelganger in her place ⁠— the thought gave her some comfort and a small amount of existential dread.

And if she returned what was she supposed to say? Hey, I was in this world called Vir and I met a Primordial Spirit, he was super fun to talk to! Oh, he’s a god by the way. 

She didn’t really know how to deal with those thoughts, and she supposed they were fruitless. She felt guilt over something she didn’t cause. Deep down, she was glad her mother had basically wanted nothing to do with her after she chose to move for college. Otherwise she’d probably feel worse. Perhaps she’d return eventually. 

Now, she was truly alone. The Primordial Spirit was no longer there for her. Maybe that was why she got so many negative thoughts all at once. She was living her best life here in Vir.

Was it fucking painful? Absolutely, it was incredibly painful. Was it gross? It was. She had actually murdered frogs until she got desensitized to the entrails. But was it fun? It was the best. Amber loved every single second she got to push her limits, and she wanted more. She didn’t have any grand delusions like she was meant for this world ⁠— going to the bathroom sucked. 

But, she did feel like she was much more suited to fighting monsters than to fighting taxes. She was glad she got to experience this. 

As for her mother? Amber figured she’d be fine, she had gone two years without saying anything to her after all. 

Though, if her acquaintances knew, she hoped they’d be happy for her. Amber wasn’t too sure, since the concept of fighting monsters probably seemed horrifying, but multiple people advised her to do what makes her happy. And pushing her limits is what made Amber happy. 

That’s enough thinking for today, Amber thought. 

With a small smile, she fell asleep as a heavy rainfall started over the forest. 

 

* * * 

 

At first, Amber had been wary of the Arcane Council chasing after her, but as the days passed she felt more at ease. Except for the fact that she was starving. There were plenty of monsters in the forest that she could kill, even fish to try to capture, but she was quite horrified by the idea of eating raw meat. She had done it with frogs, but after she got to the floor with burning ground she had cooked everything. Plus, starting a fire might draw the monsters of the forest she had to avoid or the intruders of the tower.

And so, since she wanted nothing to do with raw meat, she decided to finally eat the berries of a bush⁠. If they were poisonous, she’d probably be fine with her current Toxin Resistance level. 

Finally, after a second of hesitation of eyeing the orange-colored berry, she ate it. And nothing happened for a moment before a small stinging sensation spread on her throat. Cursed Momentum didn’t activate given it was technically a self-inflicted injury, which also meant her class bonus of recovering three times faster was active.

A minute later the stinging was gone. 

And if she was honest, the berries tasted quite good. So, she stuffed her face with them whenever she encountered them. 

 

* * *

 

[Toxin Resistance has leveled up from level 6 to 7.] 

…

 

[Toxin Resistance has leveled up from level 8 to 9.]

 

Two more days passed as she continued traveling through her forests, mostly eating nothing but berries. Identify called them [Osthus Berries], but gave no further information than that. She thought about Identifying her sword too, but just before she could do that a deep roar echoed through the forest and she saw a large monster rushing. 

One tree after another fell as she hid inside a bush, Identify told her what she already knew. 

 

[Great Drake. Lvl. ???]

 

The forest was prowling with two types of monsters. Level 10 to 25, or monsters that she couldn’t identify. There was no inbetween. While she didn’t know what level something needed to be in order for Identify to show questionmarks, she didn’t want to fuck around and find out. That was an easy way to die.

She might’ve been insane but she wasn’t that insane. 

And so, she hid inside the bush for close to half an hour before she decided that it was safe enough to travel. While she could’ve tried to kill a bunch of level 25 monsters to try to level up, she was a lot more focused on finding civilization. The forest seemed ever-expansive, but Amber simply continued in one direction; following a river downstream. 

 

* * * 

 

Of course, she couldn’t always avoid the monsters that were way too strong. 

 

[Ruthar Bear. Lvl. ???] 

 

The gigantic bear with patches of different colored fur roared at her and began to chase. Amber immediately made a break for it, except⁠— it was too fast. She found herself weaving and sharply changing directions with Body Bash to keep the stupid bear off her tail. She would’ve loved to turn around and fight it but she didn’t want to mess with what she didn’t understand. 

The bear was certainly not as strong as the intruders of the tower, but Amber was quite sure it could tear her apart. She slid downhill, running from the frenzied bear. The trees blurred around her and a familiar figure came into view. 

 

[Great Drake. Lvl. ???]

 

The drake turned in her direction, a wingless dragon with green scales. It roared and immediately sprinted. Amber did another sharp turn to avoid the now two-chasing monsters and⁠— roars of anger began to resound. She spun only to see the Great Drake and the Ruthar Bear going at each other’s throats. The drake breathed fire upon the bear as it charged right through and clawed⁠— ripping a deep gash onto the drake. They began to claw at each other, and the drake pinned the Ruthar Bear down, breathing a deluge of flames into it. 

Then the bear bit⁠— ripped into the drake’s maw through the fire as both beasts cried in anger. They disengaged for a moment, the bear was singed all over and the drake was bleeding from its maw, and yet a moment later they started fighting again. Trees quickly being felled as collateral from their fight. 

It was brutal. 

Amber was watching from a safe distance, but she knew it wouldn’t be safe for long so she left. Though she made sure to note that the monsters were territorial. Something she kept to herself for future encounters. 

 

* * * 

 

Thankfully, her day had ended on a peaceful note. And now, in the very early morning she ate more berries. They tasted good. They had a bittersweet flavor she couldn’t get enough of. She also took the chance to finally use Identify on the black sword that she had taken from the Knight of all Mortals. 

 

[Enchanted Grade ⁠— Sword of all Mortals ⁠— Superb Quality 

This sword bears the Curse of Laceration, cutting any being that comes in direct contact with it, dead or alive.] 

 

She also inspected the dagger, but much like the sword it was also Enchanted Grade and bore the Curse of Laceration. Though it was only High Quality. She couldn’t really tell any information in regards to their metal or anything, but she supposed that was alright. She knew the sword of the knight was better than the sword of the Imperial Stone Guardian, and that was enough for her. It did say Superb Quality after all. 

“I wonder how Ax’thra is doing,” Amber thought out loud. “I’m sure he’d have quite the laugh if he knew I missed him. Hopefully my phone didn’t get destroyed during the fight,” a sigh left her.

If it did, she didn’t know how she was going to make the spirit pay, but she would. Or at least, give him an earful. Still, she found herself thinking about the Primordial Spirit quite a lot, while she felt a bit silly for worrying, she still did. He may have been a god, but right now she truly considered him a friend. He was her first friend in this world too. As for friends on Earth? She did have some but they somehow didn’t feel as close to her as Ax’thra did. 

“Well, maybe I’ll meet other Primordial Spirits in the future?” She had a feeling that wasn’t the case, and if she was honest she didn’t care for that either.

In the end, Amber wasn’t the most social person, so she wasn’t exactly looking forward to meeting humans but she did figure it would help her ground herself a bit. It was a fantasy world, so maybe seeing something familiar would help her think more rationally? Find goals? Feel better? She didn’t really know, though she did have a goal even now. 

To push my limits… 

Perhaps, that was enough, she felt quite free after all. Maybe she just wanted to meet a human for the sake of meeting one, morbid curiosity about how they lived; how their experiences were; that kind of stuff. There was so much to discover in Vir, after all. 

Maybe I can search for ruins from ancient civilizations? 

The Primordial Spirit did mention some of them had deadly monsters within them. So that could be a long term goal for her. Well⁠—

 

[Toxin Resistance has leveled up from level 9 to 10.]

 

Amber smiled, she was looking forward to leveling Toxin Resistance to 2nd Rank, perhaps that could be her short term goal aside from finding civilization. Amber tossed another berry into her mouth. 

She didn’t know how long 2nd Rank would take given the jump from level 10 to the next usually took longer than anything else from what she could tell. But, she still wondered what she would get. She had a vague idea but she wasn’t too sure, being able to tell whenever something was poisoned would’ve been nice. 

Amber had been traveling downstream for some time, the Osthus Berries were plentiful everywhere she looked. Sure, sometimes she’d walk close to an hour without seeing a bush, but eventually she’d find some. They made great snacks, and if she was being honest to herself she was beginning to enjoy the leisure time in the forest. Sure, she had to run from the occasional monster that was way above her level, but aside from that it was peaceful.

The weaker monsters surprisingly tended to glare at her rather than attack her, not something she had exactly expected, but something she welcomed. Of course, the monsters were still monsters and would attack if she got too close to them. 

Hours passed and mid-day quickly approached, and Amber felt bored, she kept on eating the Osthus Berries given they were pretty much on a never ending supply, but aside from traveling she didn’t have much else to do. So in the end, she went close to a random monster that seemed interesting, starting a fight with it. 

Though she gave herself the handicap of not using her weapons, just her bare body. Not only that but the monster was also higher level than normal. 

 

[Murkwelf. Lvl. 28]

 

She quickly found herself fighting the monster with nothing but her hands, getting slashed here and there but pummeling the monster nevertheless. The monster’s claws weren’t able to even scratch past her skin, so in the end she was still bored, however there was a certain high that came from stacking Cursed Momentum, so she just fought it until fifteen minutes passed. 

The last minute passed, and she punched. Her fist broke the snout of the beast, before a second one fractured its skull and killed it. It resembled a werewolf more than anything, hunched back, bipedal, sharp claws, wolf head. It had red furr too. 

Amber stared at it for a moment before shaking her head and at that moment, she heard a scream, before more followed. They sounded human. Something that made her heart immediately skip a beat and rush downhill in the direction of the noise. With each passing second the noises became clearer until the forest seemed to clear to an open plain where she spotted a series of wagons next to a road. 

There were people screaming, hiding behind the wagons as a number of warriors fought a series of small monkey-like monsters that had sharp claws and serrated teeth. And the warriors were⁠ dying. The monsters seemed frenzied as they charged forward, and there were dozens of them.

 

[Simia Insani. Lvl. 30]

[Simia Insani. Lvl. 31]

[Simia Insani. Lvl. 32]

…

 

Amber steeled herself and charged forward, deciding she’d use her new skill. 

 

* * * 

 

Thieney couldn’t believe his bloody luck, their route only passed by the dangerous Arthra Forest for an hour at most, and yet the goods they were transported had attracted a whole damn pack of Simia Insani monsters. They were strong, and fast, but more importantly the monsters were insane. Having a reputation for not stopping till their victims were disembodied. 

He gritted his teeth, this was way above his pay grade as an adventurer. He was a level 30 Tank Warrior, and most people were weaker. Considering the route they were taking, their levels were actually considered overkill and yet⁠— 

Thieney used Shield Strike on a monster, swiping it away and into the ground. Then he swung his sword, injuring another one. Things were bad. Really bad. He took in the state of the battlefield and watched what was happening, the monsters hadn’t gotten to the merchants just yet, but it would happen soon. 

He gritted his teeth as he saw a fellow adventurer die as two Simia Insani immediately began to claw at his corpse. The wretched things didn’t know when enough was enough. Was it some kind of fruit that the caravan had that had drawn them in? He had no fucking idea, and why would he? He wasn’t even a mage, a mage of his level would get paid double and be let on on a lot more details. 

Speaking of mage.

Thieny saw their mage be tackled to the ground, a woman who was screaming as three Simia Insani piled onto her. For a moment, he was about to close his eyes, but he saw a shadow blur into the battlefield. And a woman arrived, she looked average except for her strange and torn clothes and she wielded a double-guarded sword that did not fit her size. 

For a moment, he was shocked, but it was just another warrior⁠— and the woman punched one of the Simia Insani that was attacking the woman. In a single moment, hundreds of lacerations burst across the monster, it collided against the one next to it and in a cascade effect, all three monsters burst with blood, dying in an instant.

Thousands of cuts filled their bodies altogether, and all Thieney could do was just stare.

What? 

He saw the woman turn and slice with her black sword only to cleave one of the Simia Insani in half, then spinning she killed another one. For a moment Thieney was shocked, but two of the monsters jumped onto the woman. It was as good as over⁠. He watched the woman fall as she reached for her pocket and pulled out a dagger.

She drove it into one of the monsters and it screamed, lacerations spreading across its body even without being attacked. The same thing. Thieney didn’t understand what was happening, and his shock only increased as he watched the woman snap the neck of the other monster with her bare hand. 

She stood up and dashed, as a one-sided massacre of the monsters began. She cleaved two more monsters. Over half had died in just mere seconds, and the rest were taken care of just as brutally. Only a single more warrior died after she arrived, while the Simia Insani rapidly died.

The last of the monsters she held by the head as it clawed at her arm, doing nothing but scratching her skin. For a moment, it seemed like she was just observing it until⁠ lacerations began to spread all over the body of the last monster, before it eventually died from blood loss. 

When the battle finally ended, and the adrenaline rush wore down Thieney had only a single question floating in his mind. 

What the fuck did I just witness? 

Was it a mage? Was it a warrior? He had no fucking clue, but one thing was for certain. 

She was fucking terrifying.