Inside the pitch black passage, I keep running at my pace.

It has been a while since the last time I saw a monster. Or rather, I should say I “found”.

Since there is no light in here, I cannot rely on my sight. If it was just the scent and hearing, then I wouldn't have managed to get this far.

I am able to use wind and light magic. Even before entering this place, those two attributes were what allowed me to survive. The wind magic in particular allowed me to find monsters before they notice, and it saved me countless times.

It was thanks to how I was already used to using it to scout my surroundings that I managed to “see” in this dark space.

It wasn't an easy task in the beginning. I considered just using the light magic to light up the surroundings, but I decided to not to. The monsters living in the dark were not blind, and they would have noticed right away if bright light suddenly appeared. It would have been like inviting them to come and attack me.

Thanks to that, I am now completely accustomed to using magic to sense my surroundings. And the light attribute is also being used for that purpose now. I am rather glad of how my detection skill has improved, since I still clearly remember what happened when a monster that I can't run away from found me first.

And that sense of mine now picks up something unusual. The sound of a wind, not the one hitting the narrow passage constantly, but one traveling through open space.

As I speed myself up towards it, I eventually start feeling the nostalgic sense on my eyelids. The cave has gotten brighter.

I slowly open my eyelids that were closed for a long time. There is light here. Not the magically created light but the natural one that I worried I would never see again.

I dash to the source of it, and as the light becomes brighter and brighter, I close my eyes and reach the exit.

…

My name is Luxe, and I think I should be ten years old now.

Why am I not even sure about my own age?

It is because of the time I spend in that cave.

Since it was completely separated from the outside world, I couldn't tell exactly how much time has passed.

I can roughly estimate it, though by checking how much my magic capacity has increased. The bracelet I am wearing around my right wrist is a magic item that measures the user's abilities. It is my number one treasure that I have received from my mother as my third birthday present.

According to her, mana is something that we possess, and are necessary to using magic. There is a maximum amount of mana once can store, and that is called magic capacity, and it increases slightly whenever magic is used. Since the mana will regenerate over time until it reaches the maximum amount, recurrent practice of magic is required to increase one's magic capacity..

Just like MP in a game, right? Well, I think it is a bit different, but that is an easy way to understand it.

Anyways, I have a fairly good estimation of how much my magic capacity should increase per day. That is why I think I have been in that cave for two years, and that now I am 10 years old.

Even in this world where people's intelligence are reinforced by magic, it is not normal for a 10 years old child to be able to reason like I do. After all, the reinforcement only accelerates the thought, and doesn't allow one to think about something one would never have thought otherwise.

For example, higher intelligence status allows you to solve a math problem faster, but if there was a problem that you couldn't solve to start with, then you won't be able to solve it no matter how much your intelligence is reinforced.

That is why, the way I came up with things like using light magic as a detection method similar to that of infrared cameras, is not something a normal 10 years old can do.

The truth is, I am a reincarnated person. I was 15 years old in my previous life when I died, and I was reborn in this weird world where levels and magic exist.

That's how I got the accumulated knowledge of my 25 years of life. However, I would prefer if people don't call me a 25 years old. I think it would be rather inappropriate since I have never experienced my life past 15 years old.

It would be also rude.

I didn't have anyone to talk to in the past years, so it was like whatever. But since I seem to be getting finally out of this place, I wanted to make this clear.

The life in the cave was so terrible that I don't even want to think about it. I entered there thinking that it was a “dungeon”, but I was too careless... I mean, since this world is similar to a game, then a dungeon should also exist, right? But nope, it was just a … Okay, let's not talk about it. The important part is that I need to never do that again.

Ah... I want to take a bath.

I extend my perception magics to my surroundings. I had already confirmed that there was no strong monster nearby, but I need to find a source of water. The sound of flowing water can easily be recognized, so I focus on my wind magic.

Last time I tried finding water like this was over two years ago. But that didn't bother in the slightest. Or rather, I can tell that the range my magic has greatly increased.

I distinguish the sound of running water. It has to be pretty far, and the stream seems to stop at some point. There has to be a lake there.

With the destination having been decided, using the wind magic Haste, I run towards the lake. A part of the magic is removing the wind resistance by the taking control of the surrounding air, but I purposely loosen it a little. The fresh air of the forest that I could feel is rather pleasant after all.

…

I enter the lake and start washing my body. Since I haven't been able to wash myself for a long time, it was the number one in the 'list of things I want to do', at some point. That is probably why it feels so blissful even though it is just something I used to do daily. I thoroughly wash my body and watch the black things dissipate in the water.

This is a bit shameful.

The condition of my hair doesn't seem to be too terrible. It has to be thanks to my light magic.

Even though light is a rare attribute, it is still famous because of its healing abilities. Using that, it is not difficult to regrow my hair when they are cut or torn, which wasn't unlikely to happen, since the new hair grew back each time, the current condition should have come to be.

I still would have preferred to have some shampoo, but I guess it can't be helped.

While washing myself for a while, I sense a movement towards the center of the lake.

'There are monsters in here as well?'

The perception using light magic seems to work pretty well under water, and the presence of the monster I found under water seems to be quite distant.

'It doesn't look strong. Since I have never seen one like that before, I better check them out.'

Thinking so, I dive in and chase the creature I found.

Before I entered that cave, I had never tried diving in water like this.

I wasn't able to perceive so well under water, and I wouldn't have done anything as reckless as going to someplace where I can't see anything.

It is a bit different now, though. I am able to perceive perfectly well using the light magic, and my movements have gotten a lot better as well. And the new experience and knowledge that I earn here should become useful at one point in the future.

Even though I have never swum before, it seems that I am somehow able to advance underwater, albeit not very fast. I try out different methods, like how I remember people swam in my previous life. Even though I have never swum in my two lives, the reason why I am able to somewhat do this is is thanks to the Strength status. While it is my lowest among the three that exist in this world, Strength, Agility, and Intelligence, it is still enough to allow me to pull this kind of stunt.

Those status that increases with level are magical reinforcements that happen naturally in this world. It applies to all creatures including humans, monsters and even normal animals. Since it is not something I can control, I didn't choose to put least points in Strength. I think my Strength is so low because of how my body is at the moment. Since I have a small and frail body of a child, I think there is a limit on how much it can be reinforced, even with magic. Because of that, I was able to run as fast as my friends in my previous life due to that at the age of 5, and it was when I the reality hit me that I was indeed in a world with different laws. Although the laws of physics that I knew in my previous life still exist in this world, so it's not like they are completely different.

The monster looks like a huge catfish. It seems to be swimming without taking notice of me. Observing it for a while, I can see that it uses its fins and tail to propel, and it's shape reduces the resistance. It reminds me of how I should control the wind magic to use the Flight. I think I can use this idea.

If I have to, I can always use wind magic to move. It would be like propelling air to move around, like a jet. But it would be the best to be able to move naturally and then use the wind magic to assistance.

Since I want to see what else it is capable of, I let it take notice of me.

The catfish starts charging my way as soon as it finds me, clearly with a hostile intention.

'It doesn't even bother probing, huh.'

Maybe the intelligence of it is still that of a fish. Even though the status boosting abilities also apply to monsters, their development have various directions. For example, this catfish seems to be mainly developed in Strength, which means its physical abilities are overall greater.

As I dodge the catfish trying to bite me with its mouth as big as my body, I analyze its movements.

It does feel frustrated after failing its attack multiple times, but it is not able to come up with another method of attack, nor decide to retreat.

'Then what about this?'

I adjust the force I put in, and punch the catfish that rushes towards me once again.

After my attack connects, the wounded catfish starts running away in surprise.

It seems like it solely relies on its primitive instincts, without any trace of intelligence. It is a bit of a letdown for the first monster I encountered underwater to be like this. Or shall I say that it is reassuring?

Those that only relies on their strength are easier to deal with, and the world would be a much better place if it was only filled with those kinds of monsters.

Since there is no point in chasing it, I don't chase it..

Instead, I focus my attention to the approaching creature from the surface. It seems to be an animal type.. a fox probably. It doesn't seem to be strong, so I should check it out as well to see what kind of monsters appear in the area.

I come out of the water and there it was.

A giant fox, about 2 meters in height, with soft looking orange fur.

Its bead like black eyes that are facing directly in my direction somehow remind me of the plushy that Will, my father, gave me.

I thought I didn't like it back then, but it was still nice to hold on it while sleeping since it was soft and fluffy. I wonder how it is doing now, I couldn't bring it with myself since it is so huge... and there would be no point in carrying a plushy around. It would also get dirty easily.

“$#@?”

I am surprised that the sound that came out is not the usual growl of a monster, I try to think of its intentions. I don't understand it, but is it some kind of language? Also, it keeps staring at my eyes. Wait, my eyes?

'Ah, is it perhaps finding it weird, since I am currently seeing with light magic instead of my eyes?'

Because of my time spent in the cave, I got accustomed to replacing my sight with magic. That's why, without purposely doing it, I wasn't using my eyes even though they are perfectly functional right now. It must has found it weird.

As I am pondering about it, the body of the fox starts transforming … into a human.

The appearance is that of around 10 years old girl, somehow similar to me. With her slightly curly orange hair reaching her shoulder, she looks like an energetic little girl. Except that her three fox tails and fox ears clearly show that she is not a human.

The tails have been reduced in size to fit that small body of hers, and are wriggling joyfully. Now that the size is more perfect, they look even more like that plushy.

Noticing my gaze, she starts transforming her tails. Oh, no..

…

It seems like it's a proper language that she speaks. I have encountered and studied various monsters so far, and some of them were living in a community, possessing a way to communicate with each other.

However, there was none that had a structured language. They were mostly just enumeration of 'words' to get their meanings across, but what this fox is saying resembles the language I was taught when I first arrived in this world.

As I listen carefully, there are words I recognize from the language I know that are mixed in. Also this girl.. no, fox's expression is pretty easy to read, so I am able to figure out the meaning of some sentences. My high intelligence status allows me to better find them and also memorize the past conversation to a certain extent. Thanks to that, I am able to analyze the language and start understanding what she says a little by little.

It is a good thing that she is so talkative.

…

She is truly a weird one. Among all the monsters I have encountered so far, none of them treated me with such hospitality. No, I would have been glad if they didn't immediately attack me the moment they saw me.

This appearance of mine seems to attract monsters.

It's not that I don't understand them for wanting an easy prey, but it is too much when most of the monsters I face start showing their hostility as soon as they see me.

Well I have been putting it to good use, though. Their carelessness was something I could take advantage of, and I managed to develop an assassin-like style that worked even better combined with my magic abilities.

However, it is because of those, that I am a bit unsure about what to do with the girl.. no, the fox in front of me.

She is with no doubt a monster, or a demon shall I say. Demon is basically subspecies of monsters, generally indicating those with high intelligence. They aren't necessary stronger than other monsters, but it makes them harder to deal with.

Monsters are magical creatures that mostly evolved from the animals. The biggest difference between them and animals is their aggressiveness. Since one can gain levels and become stronger from defeating others, I think they gained that feature from their evolution. There seem to be different theories about this, but I support this one, because of my knowledge from my previous life.

It is said that monsters are enemies of humans. It is said that from the ancient times, they waged war on the mankind, and there have been small skirmishes everywhere in the world between them. While it is true, after having observed the monsters so far, I have a slightly different opinion. They seem to see me as a free food instead of an enemy. And I think they do the same against other monsters as well, so their hostility is not only directed to humans.

Well, that applied to only the monsters I have seen so far, and there were only a few low ranked demons among them. In short, they were mostly stupid. I realize this from seeing this one that is speaking a proper language.

Even so, I have never expected that one would treats me with warmth and consideration.

She gave me clothes to wear. I don't really feel cold thanks to my 'Cold Resistance', and she seemed to be needing it more than me, so I wanted to give it back to her, but she insisted on it.

I wanted to tell her to just create another one, like she did with her transformation magic, but I couldn't find the right words to say.

She gave me foods to eat. Seriously, there was nothing decent to eat in that cave... I really don't want to think about it. Since I can't use fire magic, creating fire has been too difficult. I think I can make one with physical method now, but I got used to eating raw before long. If it wasn't for the light magic, I would have died to food poisoning back then.

Because of that, I felt like losing my mind a bit when I smelled the delicious food. I am truly glad that she shared them with me.

That is why, I am also glad that she asked me to come to her village. No, wait. It wasn't because of the food, it was so that I can learn more about this unusual demon.

Monsters with high intelligence need to be observed with great care. Even if this one seems to be weak, it is extremely dangerous to underestimate them. Since she seems to have an intelligence matching that of a human, who knows what kind of system is in place in their society? It would be dangerous if I act recklessly and make enemies that I don't know of their nature nor abilities.

And they also have the ability to create such delicious food. I wonder what other delicious stuff she will give me once we get there?

Don't be mistaken, though. I'm going there so I can learn about them. Not for the food. Okay, a little bit, but it is just secondary. It's a BONUS.