In her room, Cerelious was lying down on the edge of her bed with Punyao standing beside her. The landing protocol would have her placed into a deep slumber, and her attendant would be the one to administer the anesthesia.

“Hey Punyao, where will I be when I wake up?”

“You will be in a forest.”

“…That’s it? Wait wait, tell me more. I want all the details!”

“Denied. Reason: explanation of all details require more than the remaining time. Alternative: data can be retrieved from your microchip.”

Of course, Cerelious knew that she had access to all of that data. Really, she just wanted to hear her attendant’s voice one last time.

“Fine fine, a summary then.”

“Your starting point has been calculated to be within the most prosperous territory. The factors used were climate, population, food production, land structure, and development. For security measures, an extra factor was also included. In the past seven years, this starting point had seen no intelligent life within a 315-meter radius. The calculations were performed by SC-Arium.”

“Ahh, I see. Thank you, Punyao.”

“Praise received. You’re welcome.”

Cerelious gazed at her ceiling. There were plastic glow-in-the-dark stars and crescents of varying sizes. It put her at ease to see their cute representations because in reality, stars and moons were just spheres. One by one, she counted all thirty of them before she relaxed her body.

“Punyao… I’m ready.”

✦✧

As her eyes slowly opened, she felt a calm, warm wind brushing her body. That same wind entered deep into her ears, softly swaying the tiny hairs inside. She blinked three more times, each faster than the previous, to moisten her eyes and clear her vision.

Entering her eyes were sparkles generated by sunlight that pierced through the gaps of dancing leaves. Far above, sparse groups of fluffy, delicate clouds appeared to be melting in the sapphire sky.

Sitting on a large branch was a seven-year-old girl who—only moments ago—was lying unconscious against the trunk beside her. Having just awoken, she heaved her head in an effort to straighten her view; strands of hair swept along her face from the tilting motion.

UID: Aria.

Name: Cerelious.

Location: Planet Eyne.

Slightly dazed from the aftereffects of anesthesia, Cerelious reached for the trunk, regaining her sitting balance.

Five years of upbringing by various technologies and devoid of personal relationships since she could remember—it wasn’t exaggerating to say she knew more about Eyne than herself. As callous memories of her past made their way into her heart, she could only let out a slightly bitter smile.

However, she had hope. After all, she was now on a planet brimming with real people. And the fact that there were other races besides humans made her all the more zealous.

Looking down, she (her microchip) calculated that her height was 8.27 meters. After wiping the drool off of her face, she slid down the tree with her feet, using its trunk to decelerate her descent.

Although she landed with solid form, the strain had damaged her ankles significantly. With a command, nanomachines were on their way.

 [Command — ‘Restore’ ⟝ operation commencing]

During her materialization practice, nanomachines operated remarkably fast. This was because her spacecraft was where all of her nanomachines were stored and thus they were already nearby. However, the current distance was more than forty thousand times larger, which meant that on Eyne, it would take approximately three minutes for her nanomachines to reach her. For now, though, it wasn’t something she had to worry about.

[restore complete.]

A full recovery. But just in case, she decided to kick her legs a few times and twist her ankles. She whispered a thank you to the nanomachines, although there was no point in doing so.

Surrounded by countless tall trees, the forest was relatively quiet besides the echoing chirps coming from above.

Hff.

A deep breath to inhale the fresh scent of pure nature. Perhaps it was only a placebo, but Cerelious found that the air here was more pleasing than her spacecraft’s. Grabbing a handful of dirt, she playfully spread it around her palm. She then poked the innocent shrubs and flowers nearby.

Having calmed down, her attention had switched to humans.

[Command — ‘Locate: nearest human territory’ ⟝ 791 meters 53°.]

The Euclidean distance between her and the destination: 791 meters.

And an angle ranging from 0 to 360 degrees representing direction.

Even to her, these values were not very useful.

The useful part was the accompanying visual data that got injected into her perception by her microchip. She could now see a large, semi-transparent, glowing arrow dangling above her destination—a village. From here, it was a nine-minute walk.

With 170 meters remaining, the forest ended, and the area turned into plains. It was a spectacular sight. A wide river that spanned from one horizon to the other acted as a rough border between the forest and the plains. 

And there wasn’t only one village; the entire plain was covered in villages, each visibly separated by a considerable gap. Each village had their own crop fields, barns, animals, houses, and storages.

Much further into the background was a kingdom surrounded by a huge, white wall. It was clear that the plains marked the outskirts of that kingdom—that is, the area where commoners lived.

Cerelious felt her heart beating faster. In mere minutes, she would finally be able to talk with real people. But there was one thing she hadn’t yet paid attention to…

Umm… what am I wearing?

Her clothes were plain and shabby. Shirt and trousers made of cotton. Thin leather shoes. And to top it all off, a ragged brown hooded robe. Undeniably, she was a commoner through and through. She decided to put on her hood, now only leaving her face exposed.

Tied to her waist was a small pouch made of thin leather. Rummaging through its contents, Cerelious counted twenty bronze coins, ten silver coins, and one gold coin. Their actual worth was unknown to her, but Inspection data had recorded five types of coins: copper, bronze, silver, gold, and royal, ordered from worst to best.

Having exited the forest, her view was no longer hindered. At the far right was a wide dirt path that seemed to stretch all the way to the kingdom. Along the way, that dirt path connected with many smaller paths that led to each of the villages. Ignoring her earlier directions, she followed a dirt path instead.

From its sheer size and the number of people that were using it, it was likely a highway that connected kingdoms. Making her way towards the village, she passed by merchant after merchant, all riding large wooden wagons that rattled and creaked from the dry dirt path.

Her eyes glimmered at the creatures pulling the wagons. Yes, there were horses, but there were also smaller-sized dinosaurs such as ankylosauruses and triceratopses—all completely tamed. Knowing about them was one thing, but actually seeing the real thing so closely—it was enough to make her instinctively reach out her hand, but she resisted.

As much as she wanted to, Cerelious decided not to talk with those merchants as they were likely on tight schedules. Confident that she could ask for permission to touch those creatures in the future, she opted to stay silent.

Now standing in front of her village, she peered inside and saw Eynens walking, talking, farming, and lifting buckets and crates. The population in this country was mostly humans, but there were also some giants, and seldom dwarves.

Looking for someone to talk with, her eyes locked on to a woman who had just walked out from behind a house. At this rate, they would soon be within comfortable talking distance.

The woman was around five foot eight inches tall with peachy skin and chestnut hair that reached her shoulders. From her shabby yet clean clothes, she was likely a commoner in her thirties who lived and worked in this village.

Cerelious held her arms close to her chest. With excitement overpowering anxiety, she mustered all of her courage to start her first conversation ever with a real person.

“Um, hello!”