"S-Sacrifice?"

"That's right, dear, a sacrifice to increase my life. It's nothing personal, but I've aged too much for my liking. However, I can't go near a village to find more sacrifices because of those damned adventurers."

She said the last part with noticeable hatred in her voice.

"Increase your life?" I asked with fear and curiosity in my voice.

"Ah, that's right. Otherworlds don't have magic in them, so you wouldn't know about this type of ritual. But by using the life energy of other people, I can not only rejuvenate myself but also extend my lifespan. Believe it or not, I'm over two hundred and fifty years old."

Her age genuinely surprised me, but I was even more surprised that she knew I was from another world.

"H-How did you know?"

She continued placing the candles.

"What, that you're from another world? Well, it was quite simple, really. First, no one goes for a stroll in the Eldrenthorn forest. It's too easy to encounter monsters, even in this relatively safe area. You only encountered a few monsters because I've been hunting them for this ritual over the past few days. Second, the spell you used—or I believe it's an ability, inventory, right? Unless you're a high-level spatial mage, which you don't seem to be, you couldn't use a spell like pocket dimension. And third, your lack of knowledge even in the simplest things is noticeable."

She responded as she finished placing the candles and began placing monster bodies like wolves and some squirrels around me.

"So why use me and not a monster?"

"For vitality conversion."

"The what?"

She sighed at my question and answered, "Vitality conversion, dear. While it's true that all living species possess vitality, it differs from one another, like that of a monster to that of a human. Both have vitality, but they're too different to simply transfer from one body to another without negative reactions. So, it needs to be converted, let's say, from monster vitality to human vitality. But as a consequence, a lot of vitality is lost in the process, at least with the rituals I know. I know there are some rituals that allow you to not waste any vitality, but they are difficult to learn or even acquire," she said with a disgruntled look on her face.

"So, my original plan to solve this problem was to use a large number of monsters for it, but even that would only give me about ten years at most. But then I found you."

She stopped placing monster bodies around me and turned to look at me.

"But then you appeared, not just a young weak girl alone in this forest, but with enough vitality to give me another seventy years of life. Like I said, dear, it's not personal, but my life is more important than yours."

I didn't respond to the last part, partly because I had no response, partly because I was terrified, and partly because I was thinking about how to escape.

First, I needed to untie my hands, but the rope was too tough to break with just strength, and I couldn't take my knife out of my inventory because she would notice the portal. I needed something sharp, something like... claws!

Then I remembered my only special ability so far. Alright, so how do I use it? Resisting the urge to look back, I remembered the wolf's body. Alright, so it all depends on whether I can use the ability without touching the body.

I tried to use it like when I use analysis, but focusing on the wolf's body. Then I felt it, a kind of connection between the wolf's corpse and me. I could feel the wolf's body, but only superficially, like its skin, fur, eyes, fangs, ears, and what interested me, its claws.

I focused on the claws, and I felt like I could take them, in a more metaphorical sense than literal. After taking them, I focused on my own body in the same way. I could only feel the external part of my body, but that was enough.

Then when I wanted to use the claws on my body, it was as if my own image appeared in front of me, which seemed to be visible only to me because the old woman was still talking, although I wasn't paying attention to her anymore.

So in the projection, I put the claws on top of the fingers of my hands, and I felt two things. First, something inside me was depleted, which following the description of my ability, I assumed was mana. And second, I felt as if my fingers fell asleep, and after about 5 seconds, the sensation disappeared, although my fingers felt strange. It's not that the idea of changing myself was not daunting fingers into claws, I guess, but I prefer this to becoming a sacrifice for the old witch."