After what felt like hours of walking, the trees to our left were replaced by a cliff, and I was introduced to the ocean. I couldn’t help but smile because I’d never seen it in person. The water just looked so fantastically blue, and the strong waves rocked the boats and ships with such ease that I thought they were about to flip over. 

I was so mesmerized I kept staring out the wide blue yonder for another thirty minutes with wonder in my eyes. When Tilde tapped my head to get my attention, I looked ahead and took in the outline of Ria. The foul-mouthed fairy said it was a village, but it looked more like a town. At this distance, I was close enough for it to appear on my map, so I opened it and used [Analysis] to get some information. Then I realized I could use it on Dirge, the country we were in. I didn’t have that option before, so I probably had to find a landmark before that became available. I was rewarded with information about the country, but it was mostly restricted to the climate until I explored more of it.  

Huh... It even used knowledge from my world to help me better understand it because it said the weather here was most similar to the Caribbean Islands. Ria had a population of about 18,000, which was a good bit big, I supposed. 

After canceling out of the information screen, I scrolled my map around the city and saw three streams of water flow from the north before turning west. Since it was a coastal cliff-side city, there was obviously a harbor. Turning on satellite mode revealed a somewhat long downward path near the middle of town that you had to travel to reach the docks. But it was bigger than a simple village. 

“Good afternoon, ladies. Welcome to Ria! May I see your identification documents?” spoke the guard standing beside the eastern entrance to Ria. He was a Lizardfolk with gray scales covering his forearms, legs, and tail, but everything else was flesh and blood. Really, other than the tail, he looked like a human.  

“Yeah... sorry about that. We lost our papers after a few pissed-off boars rammed our cart. Scared our horses, and they ran off with everything. You got a Scan Stone around here?” asked Tilde, who lied as easily as she breathed. 

“That isn’t a problem at all. Terkos, take over while I take them to the office!” the guard said, turning his head to another Lizardfolk that stood some distance away. He lifted a lazy hand, and we followed our escort to the office.  

Tilde climbed to my head and peeked down, staring into my eyes for a second or two before falling over. I caught her even as she screamed her head off. Our escort turned around in a flash, but Tilde meekly apologized and rubbed her head. 

As we followed the guard, I looked around and familiarized myself with Ria. It didn’t seem to be divided into separate districts or portions, but it wasn’t entirely mixed. Most buildings seemed to be built of stone and brick instead of straw or hay, and the roads were mostly paved and well-maintained. Men and women of all shapes and sizes walked amongst us. Not all of them were armed with weapons or armor. Some were just dressed in somewhat normal clothing that would be worn in the Middle Ages. Some of the women were even taller than me, with skin the color of dirt and muscles more defined than what Murag had.  

Amazons, they were called. 

They wore only panties, loincloths, and protective metal bindings over their chests while carrying powerful warhammers and battle axes. Power was everything to them. One caught my gaze and smiled, so they weren’t without any manners, I guess. I also saw Ice Elves with their blue skin, Steel Dwarves with their steel-colored skin, and Deerfolk with the tall, imposing antlers stretching off their heads. This world really had it all. Humans seem to be a minority, though.  

As our guard escorted us, he also acted like a tour guide. He recommended the best places to eat, the best place to grab a drink after a hard day’s work, and so on. We soon reached the guild, and our guide explained that the guild and government offices were in the same building. He escorted us in after ascending the stairs, and we encountered something like a post office.  

A few desks separated the open lobby from the space behind the counter, which held glass cases with red and blue colored bottles. A set of stairs led to the second floor. A steady amount of people were coming and going, so it looked like this place was fairly popular. A few doors in the back behind the desk probably led to the back offices. Smartly dressed employees, mainly humans and elves, patiently spoke to adventurers who held papers from a quest board nearby. 

“Okay, so let’s get your documents. If you like, you could also sign up with the guild at the same time if you aren’t a member.” I looked to Tilde, and she nodded, so I nodded right back at the guard. 

We waited in line until it was our turn. A few words later, the elf receptionist excused himself to go to the back room, and he emerged with a circular stone. All I had to do was place my hand on it. After a second, it glowed, and the light produced from the stone transformed into my identification documents. The guard scanned them over, then said everything seemed to be in order. He did the same for Sekh and Tilde. After wishing us well, he left to go back to his post. 

If I want to be honest, the whole interaction felt weird and awkward. Firstly, he didn’t say anything about Sekh and her collar, though it wasn’t his place to involve himself, so that point was moot. Secondly, he actually treated me like a person and not as an afterthought. He wished me well, and that just didn’t sit right in the pit of my stomach. 

I turned back to the receptionist and handed him my papers, and Tilde went off to look at the available missions on the quest board. The process didn’t take that long, either. The receptionist placed my papers under a metal registration card, and I had to add a drop of blood to the top. 

Seconds later, Sekh and I walked away, but I wasn’t happy. The bitch behind the desk said something about how a prissy princess like me had no place on the battlefield, but he changed his tune when I summoned Yaekira's daggers and danced them around my fingers. Equipment with {Mana Link} was rare, and my having one meant I was either strong or had powerful connections.

“Lyudmila Springfield...” I said, joining Sekh. The silver ID card was physical proof of our rank with the guild. We’re rank I... That determines the difficulty of quests we can take on... Tilde said you get additional perks when you rank up. Is it worth it? Probably. 

“Here, take the one about the boar cores,” she told me. The fairy flew to my shoulder and rested against my head. “The Mines of Gamor is an hour north of Ria. It’s the perfect starter dungeon, so we don’t have to overly prepare for it. It doesn't even have any requirements. It might be a bit cramped, but whatever.” 

“A dungeon already?” I asked. 

“Uh, yeah? You want to get stronger, right? You can’t do it just sitting around and jerking off. Besides, you're still Lv. 1. We gotta pump those levels, girl."

“That does seem like a good option.” Sekh looked at me expectantly while gripping the weapon I made for her. It looked like she was raring for a fight. I honestly couldn’t blame her; I was almost craving battle myself. Could it have been my beastly instinct? Possibly.  

We left the guild, intending to leave through the northern gate to head to the dungeon, but I had other plans. I walked around Ria with Sekh and Tilde while using my map to locate any nearby firearms. Without a scan feature, I was limited to where I had gone. 

“We’re poor, so it’s not like you can buy it,” Tilde said when I told her what I was doing. “Wait… If you had a skill like [String Shot] then maybe… See, you have to be touching something to store it, but that something could be something that stretches really far.” 

“So... Would a spider have that skill?” 

Tilde nodded. “Yep! They can spawn in the mines. So, let’s head there.” 

“In just a second. I don’t know if there are any guns around here. Let me find them first.” We continued to walk around, and I would do another search for guns, and it always returned with an error stating the target couldn’t be found in the indexed areas. 

But it was working. I did a search for males, and about 10,000 results came back. From there, I could filter out the information by name, race, gender, and level. And I could see if those 10,000 had a specific skill. Or even what kind of weapon they held in their right hand.  

I also used my map to discover something interesting. The average level of all the guards was about 44, which wasn’t that high, but Tilde said that 44 was pretty good. Most humans never progressed past Lv.65 because of their life span. Those dedicated could break through the first cap at 99, but they’d be in their twilight years by then. Of course, there were outliers. There were rumors of a middle-aged human who was Lv. 150, and he was only 39.  

But gossip was gossip, and even if it was true, why did I care? I was too busy using my map to find a firearm, and after about twenty minutes, I got a hit. Immediately, I placed a waypoint on it because the gun wasn’t on a person. It was inside a store

I had Reina's gun, but it took the wind out of me after a couple of shots. I'd rather have one that used bullets for the time being. At least until I could fire off a few dozen without passing out. 

We were in the town square, which seemed to be very popular. Benches and water fountains stood in the very middle, which held a statue of Gloria, the Holy Lord that ruled over Dirge. I couldn’t make out her features, but she shared the same title as my mortal enemy.  

The store I walked into must’ve been extremely popular since my map was full of white dots, and all of them were inside.  

And it was a tight fit. I had to raise my arms and squeeze past a few people to stop inside what looked like a general store. A sign on the wall said weapons and armor took up the third and fourth floor, so that was where I went, bypassing clothes, rope, oil, lanterns, torches, canteens, backpacks, tents, and much more.  

The stairwell was awfully cramped to the point where we were almost shoulder to shoulder, but we finally made it. My target was hanging behind the counter, and to get there, you needed a key to open the door that led behind the counter if you didn’t want to jump it. There was just one gun. It looked like a G19 9mm pistol, but [Analysis] just referred to it as a 9mm handgun. It even had the safety lever incorporated into the trigger. 

I mean, Beretta and Glock were brands from my world. They might look like them, but they aren’t them. I suppose there are only so many ways to make a gun. 

It was all black with nary a hint of color, unlike Reina’s Scorpion’s Bite. Four boxes of ammunition laid right under it. [Analysis] indicated each box held twenty 9mm rounds, and the gun had a 15-round magazine.  

Why do I even need [Appraisal]? [Analysis] does everything better.  

Strangely enough, there was no glass separating the customer from the employee. And in this case, the employee was a girl named Erin Barclay. She was a 15-year-old Catfolk, and she was hard at work tending to the needs of the other customers. Her eyes were full of determination, and that violet tail, which matched her hair, never took a moment’s rest. 

“We’ll return later,” I told Sekh and Tilde as we left. “If she’s still working by herself, it’ll be easy to steal.” 

It took a while to leave that crowded store, but with the side mission complete, it was time to head to the dungeon.  

---

“Okay, so the reason you haven’t leveled at all isn’t related to your chimerism. It’s because it’s just a slow process,” Tilde said when we left out of the north gate. She made sure we were alone before she started talking.   

“Why did I level up after killing that goblin?” I asked. 

“The most logical explanation is that Meruria took the monster from a dungeon undergoing an event known as experientia. When that happens, the experience gained from a monster birthed from the dungeon is dramatically increased. There’s no real rhyme or reason why it happens, but it just does. Okay, these are your goals! One: get to Lv. 2. Two: if you find any corpses, slurp them up. Three: find enough cores to sell so we don’t have to sleep outside. I need luxury to maintain my adorableness. Four: find a spider monster and eat it. Eh, while we’re kinda on the subject, I can talk about Bellerophon. 

“Back in Big Tits’ time, they weren’t all that impressive. Really, they were little more than a guild that suddenly put on their big boy panties and fought like hell to carve their name in history. Don’t really remember when it happened, but they aren’t a joke anymore. Seriously, don’t fuck with them. They're outright experts at slaughtering chimeras. They have an office in nearly every Divine Country and outposts in the Mortal Countries. Ah, that refers to countries that don't have a Lord leading them.” 

“How often are chimera made?” I asked. I looked back and made sure we had the road to ourselves. Then I realized I could use my map to accomplish the same thing if I zoomed out just a little bit. It didn’t work for what was ahead of me because I hadn’t yet been there, but I could see if anyone was coming up the rear. 

“It used to be one every four or five years,” Sekh answered. “Has it increased?” Tilde nodded. 

“Yep. Based on what I heard, there’s a new one every year. That’s on account of how violent the world is. Seriously, you’d think it’d be more peaceful a thousand years after you, but it’s not. Without a common enemy, people revert to their old ways.” 

“It sounds like you didn’t care if Sekh succeeded or failed.” 

“I didn’t,” Tilde remarked. She sat on my shoulders and cursed the sun before continuing. “I was pretty much immortal. Even if the world went boom, I’d have been fine. But now things are different. After I found you, I became killable. If I die, I stay dead. That’s why you don’t have to worry about me being in the way during fights.” Tilde jumped to the top of my backpack. It was sturdy enough to support her weight. She tapped my head and hummed a little tune. 

When she got tired of that, she realized she needed to speak about skills, but there wasn’t much left for her to cover. She just said that using skills over and over again was an alternative to leveling them up, so I wasn’t required to use SP to enhance anything. It was the same with gaining skills, so if I committed myself to many months of hammering away at an anvil, I would soon learn [Blacksmith.] It seemed like SP was a shortcut—one I was happy to take as long as I had some. 

But I’m a 0-Star… Can I even learn skills naturally? I asked that, and the answer was a no. It seemed like spending SP was my only path. But why could I learn titles? Sure, I didn’t get any of the effects of using them, but it still seemed weird I could learn one but not the other. Tilde and Sekh didn’t have an answer to it, so all three of us were confused.  

Somewhere along the way, I noticed that it wasn’t just us traveling out to the dungeon. Wagons filled with supplies and people passed us by, and I kinda spied on them until they were out of my range. 

I thought it would be a Herculean task to assimilate even the smallest thing without being caught, but I ended up only being partially right about that.