The Village of Virt celebrated the recovery of their village mother today. Hunters and gathers swiftly left off to hunt wild boar for tonight’s glorious feast.

In the meantime, the children ran out to play in the woodlands. Dangerous, yes, but Frost was assured that it was fine so long as the children didn’t venture into the Black Forest.

Currently, Frost found herself seated with the village mother, the head and a few ladies who were called the village maidens.

It would have been an honor if she was still a man but as another woman; it strangely felt alienating so to say. Like she was completely out of place, though in reality, that was far from the truth.

She seated just across the village head and mother in a spacious central hut. It oversaw the entirety of the village which spanned much further than she realized. It was absolutely larger than the meagre population of 30 she initially counted.

It made sense now that she realized it. A settlement close to a Relay Site should be well populated, at least according to what she believed. And on the topic of that, the question of Grandis and the absence of the Blessed arose.

“Frost. Please pay no mind to the young maidens in our presence.” The head apologized.

“Oh no, I don’t mind.” She affirmed, taking a small sip from her steaming teacup.

Ah… It tastes like mint and berries. Not bad at all!

“I’m surprised you’ve never heard of Paradise! From what lands have you ventured, if you don’t mind answering?” The village head spoke judgingly for her ignorance.

“Is it that much of a surprise?” Frost deflected the question, genuinely confused about the events from 15 years ago. But her tone was twisted in a manner that asked them to not pry.

“Dear. I’ve promised our Blessed friend answers for her kindness. As did you. We all have our reasons after all.”

“Well said, mother.”

“Village head, please don’t scare away the Blessed. We… Grandis needs them again.”

“Don’t bother them, we beg of you village head.”

The surrounding woman pleaded, rending the old man silent.

“It’s as you hear, Blessed Frost. Grandis yearns for your kind to return to our tainted lands. There are things we as humans can only do so much against. The same can be said about the Blessed.”

She placed her cup down and continued.

“Have you heard of the proverb the ‘price of paradise’?”

“Yes. I’ve heard it a few times before.”

“It originated from the pale megacity of Paradise. One million flourished in that city 15 years ago. Now all that remains is sorrow and silence.” Her tone was heavy. Frost instantly knew that this woman had witnessed a horror she could only begin to imagine.

“What happened to Paradise?” She carefully asked.

“Vanished. Annihilated. Some even say they were judged. We don’t quite know ourselves. It just happened.”

She took another sip.

“A one dozen-winged bird descended into its skies with a blinding light. All who looked up were devoured by the bird. On that night it grew one million more feathers, and on that following day it disappeared, leaving all who was left to succumb to their own cruelty, extending across to all of Grandis.”

The dozen winged bird… Cer mentioned that before.

“We’ve never seen anything like it. Something so holy yet equally as evil. I always wondered if my blindness was attributed to the trauma of that night.” She concluded.

The air was thick with emotion. Most of the people here undoubtably remembered that night. The sheer number of a million lives perishing did not click into her mind until she noticed how heavy the air had become.

… so that’s the evil in this world. In other fantasy fictions they had Demon Kings and the like, but here it’s almost completely abstract. A dozen-winged bird? What even is that?

“Your floating artifacts saw no one return. Until today. That’s why we are honored to receive a Blessed in our lands once again. Perhaps in time all will return to normal.” The village head solemnly spoke.

“I hope so as well.” There were no other words of comfort she could offer. The story of Paradise would be regarded as a myth back on Earth. But this happened only 15 years ago, not thousands.

She took it as the truth and wove it into her heart.

“A-are… are more of your kind going to return from the Blessed lands in the sky?” Someone asked in a desperate, pleading voice. “Radiant Ranked Adventurers are all we have in Grandis. The Unbounded won't even set foot here.”

“… I’m the first one so far, so it wouldn’t be odd if more were to follow.” Frost answered as vaguely as she could.

“I see…” The woman was neither satisfied nor upset. She just absorbed her answer and sipped from her own cup of herbal tea.

 

* * *

 

Their village was located just north of the ruins of Paradise and its successor Capital, Infernis. From what she understood Grandis was not just the name of the entire region but was in fact the name of the Kingdom that ruled its lands.

North of the village was a section called the Black Forest. Apparently, a monster resided deep within, only rarely seen from the outside as a yellow orb. No one knew if it was a Corrupted or not; but as far as Frost could tell –

“Yep. Those trees are not normal.”

– It may as well be the home of one.

When she followed the dirt path leading out of the village, she could not believe its proximity to such a terrifying place. The space within the forest of dead, blackened trees was so dark that light failed to penetrate it despite there being no canopy.

It was as if the darkness was in the form of an opaque mist. Every so often she would see a faint glimmer of light somewhere inside, like that of a lone star in a lonely night sky.

She refused to tread anywhere near it, and instead followed the green tree lines across the gaping road that separated the Black Forest and the rest of the woodlands. The village assured her that the surrounding woodlands were safe and the only trouble she’d come across were stags or boars, with the occasional stray wolf.

So basically, things she wouldn’t be able to deal with normally anyway.

Along the way Frost made good use of her [Appraisal] skill, identifying anything she came across.

A rock? Consider it appraised.

A twig that had obviously fallen from this tree? Yep, let’s appraise that.

What about this rock that’s slightly shinier than the last rock? Appraise Object.

To Frost; [Appraise Object] was a lot like looting in an RPG game with infinite carry weight. If she could, then why wouldn’t she? Besides, it was one way of gaining addition insight of this world. And it was free levels!

However.

 

< It’s a rock >

< A twig from an oak tree >

< A polished pebble >

 

Indeed. These items were useless. As expected of course, but she would have liked to get just a little bit more out of them. But then again, that would be like trying to squeeze blood from stone.

I know it says ‘basic information’, but isn’t this a little too basic?

She mentally sighed and carried on with appraising all that stood in her path like a madwoman. Before long she ventured deeper into the woodlands following an animal path. Pleasant birds sung as warm rays of light peered through the thick canopies, blessing the short grass and flower bundles.

It was magical in a way. An indescribable feeling of bliss bubbled in her heart as she found herself willing lost in the moment. She was not deep enough to lose sight of the entrance. Additionally, the appraised objects were left in a trail-like manner for her to use as a guide in case she was lost.

Her legs eventually brought her to a large, crystal-clear pond. It was still. So still that she could see the details of every leaf in its reflection. And for the first time – she saw her own face.

“… I’m actually not that bad looking, huh?” She hesitantly said this out loud.

She was no narcissist, but she couldn’t deny her own attractiveness. It was just surreal having to admit that the person in the reflection was herself.

She had fair skin and black hair which was, admittedly, far messier than she imagined. It terminated just above her shoulders like an assortment of fangs as cowlicks protruded everywhere like curved blades. They were soft and springy, and no matter how hard she tried to pat them down they’d just pop right back up.

Does it even matter what my hair is like? No. Not at all. But it looks like it’d be a pain to deal with if I ever needed to ‘fix’ my hair. Whatever.

Frost deeply sighed.

Her dark brown eyes were wide, yet sharp. She glared at herself and was instantly enraptured by it. Needless to say, she was a sucker for such eyes; the kind that drills into one’s soul, if that made any sense.

It was only a shame that she was the one who possessed them.

Yep. I’m done for. If I keep looking into those eyes, it’ll end up like that ancient Greek story of Narcissus and his reflection. It went from not bad to… well, pretty good.

Frost contemplated whether she should continue inspecting her body. It was embarrassing to say the least. But ultimately, she figured that since it was her own body there was no shame in investigating further.

“… yeah, definitely hills. Not big, nor too small. Slightly shorter than average. Probably 160cm. Those triplets were tiny in comparison. They’re like 140cm if I had to guess.” She studied the rest of her body in the reflection, removing her coat to get a more accurate look. “And for my lower body… I guess it’s normal. Normal as can be anyway.”

Frost was curious about an even lower part but decided against it for the time being. There was a time and place for everything, but now was absolutely NOT the time for that. She could only imagine the kind of excuse she’d have to whip up if she happened to be caught pulling her pants down in these shallow parts of the forest.

That aside – Frost went back to exercising her skills after having reequipped her coat.

Punch was the only other skill she could feasibly test. Prolonged Stasis required her to take damage as did Greater Healing. Home Cook required ingredients to cook with. She figured she could test out Home Cook when she returned to the village of Virt.

I wonder if [Punch] any different from a normal punch?

Frost approached a stray oak tree and, with little warning, planted a swift-striking fist against its hardened bark. A loud, dull thud followed. She had placed her entire weight into the punch and yet her knuckles did not bleed, neither was there any pain. When she drew her fist back in shock, she was surprised to find a fine imprint of her fist was left behind.

That’s way stronger than I thought. Bone can break from that kind of impact.

But then again, her measly 5 ATT would be rendered useless against someone with an equal ATT DEF stat. More interestingly was that it seemed to work automatically. That’s when it hit her.

Skills activate on intent, right? So if I don’t intend to use the skill, would it end up being a normal punch?

She gave it a try and, as expected –

“TCH!”

– Her bare knuckles painfully scraped against the bark.

“T-That’s why it’s an active skill and not a passive one. Status.”

 

HP : 119 | 120 | ^1 HP/Min

MP : 250 | 350 | ^1 MP/Min

 

“No point in using Greater Healing for 1 HP. Wounds persist until they either heal naturally or through magic.” Frost whispered to herself, washing the peeled skin away with the water of the pond.

If it ended up getting infected, then she could always use magic. As carefree as it sounded, such was the reality in a world of magic.

Antibiotics? What for? Just use magic.

Frost slumped backwards onto the oak tree and stared up into the clear skies, breathing the calming breeze that swept by the forest. There was something oddly calming about the rustling of a thousand leaves. If it were up to her, she would have fallen asleep on the spot.

But it was an unknown world. There was no telling if she’d wake up again, or worse, where she’d wake up. Frost surrendered herself to gravity and fell with a long exhale, wondering how such monsters like the dozen-winged bird came to be.

Natural selection? Evolution? Some sort of artificially made creature? Animals gain certain characteristics over time because it’s favorable for their survival. 12 wings might have been needed depending on the size of that thing… yeah, between that and the Nexus, I can sort of understand why people revere them like deities.

In the end, who wouldn’t? A creature capable of annihilating a population of a million was food for thought. But she was still hungry, both figuratively and literally.

And while lost in those tranquil thoughts, the cry of a child suddenly jolted her upright.

“Run! Run! There’s a big skewered beast inside of the Black Forest!”