After hugging Sekh for a few more minutes, we dressed for the day in the clothes we had acquired the night before. I looked at my map while Sekh tied her boots and noticed Irisa was walking this way. She knocked right as I stored Beccy’s shield within my mana. 

“Good morning,” Irisa cheerfully said as I opened it.  

“Morning,” I replied. 

“Are you guys heading out already? If not, do you want some breakfast? It’s done.” 

“That...sounds good,” I replied. Irisa’s expression softened. She turned around and asked her mom to set three more plates at the table. A smile blossomed on Ichiha’s face. If they heard what we did last night, they didn’t show it on their faces. Perhaps they were keeping mum about it? I suppose it didn't matter because I wasn't going to bring it up.

They're acting a bit skittish, though. Not much, but I can tell something's up.

And so, we had bread and cheese with a family I had no intention of getting friendly with. The overall atmosphere was ‘lighter’ than the previous night, but that wasn’t saying much because I was still a verbal recluse. Wanting to do something and doing something were different things. But at least I wasn’t so ‘rude,’ so that was a small victory, I suppose. But I was trying. I really was. 

After some small talk, I learned Irisa had created about half of the items in the store. Ichiha ran it during the days her daughter went down to a place called Smithy’s Corner, an aptly named space with everything a practicing blacksmith needed. 

A quick search found it, and it was a pretty big area.  

“It’s on the way to the guild, so we can walk together. Is that okay?” Irisa said, emerging from her room with a thick, black apron. Her hair was tied back, allowing me to see the base of her horns. Her arms were powerful and muscular, too. 

“I...don’t see a problem with that,” I said after sipping a cup of water. I plotted a waypoint on the guild because I didn’t know this town like the back of my hand while pricking off pieces of slightly overcooked bread. Tilde adjusted her dress and loudly complained about the lack of eggs and sausage. Sekh told her to stop, and Tilde flipped her off. 

“When it comes to fairies? I think Tilde is one of a kind. You don’t see too many that travel with a High Elf and a Lionfolk, much less one that’s as ‘unique’ as her,” Ichiha said. She smiled with her eyes and apologized for the lacking menu. Tilde groaned and demanded a cup of coffee. Ichiha was happy to prepare a little bit for her. She even managed to find a fairy-sized cup to pour it in. I didn’t know what coffee tasted like since I wasn’t permitted to have it.  

That’s another thing I must get used to, but it smells good. 

Before we left the shop, though, Sekh and I drained the tub and filled it with fresh water gathered from the well in the backyard. Irisa was waiting at the door, and she escorted us down the street and across a small bridge.  

She turned and mentioned Smithy’s Corner was a few minutes away. My golden hair scattered in the summer breeze. 

“You know, I was afraid I’d wake up to you being gone,” Irisa said. When I asked why, she just said she wanted to have breakfast with us since I was probably feeling lonely. “I mean, you lost your horses and wagon, right?” I nodded. “As small as it was, I hoped you enjoyed breakfast. My mom always makes my favorite whenever I’m feeling sad, and it never fails to cheer me up.” Irisa smiled. 

“It was...good. I enjoyed it,” I managed to say. Irisa quietly squealed and said tonight’s dinner would be even better, and Tilde patted my head and said I was doing good.  

It was odd. If I thought about it logically, why couldn’t I treat Irisa the way I treated that guard from yesterday? Or treat her like I did when we first met inside the store? Was it because I was now living with her? I didn’t want to befriend her because I wasn’t planning on staying here that long. At the same time, I was a chimera. The last thing I needed was someone getting chummy with me and randomly barging into the room I was staying in.  

But it’s less likely to happen here than if I stayed at an inn. I just gotta keep the shield against the door whenever I'm in my room. 

Friends were off the table, but acquaintances? That was more likely. Especially if I kept her at arm’s length and never progressed to anything beyond that. I would still be getting some interpersonal communication practice, so that would work. Right? 

Minutes later, we reached the area collectively known as Smithy’s Corner. Dwarves, orcs, amazons, and ogres repeatedly slammed their smithing hammers onto burning ingots. The roars of the furnaces were loud, and the clanging of metal on metal didn’t help my sensitive ears. “Lyudmila,” Irisa said as dusted off her blacksmithing apron. Her hammer and tongs were in the front pouch. “Be safe, okay? There’s no shame in running away. You can always come back to fight a monster, but you can’t come back to life. Someone...I once knew told me that, and it’s honestly good advice. Oh, and are you sure you’re fine? It’s crazy hot. It feels like I’m about to sweat through my bra.” 

“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” The wool skirt covering my body should have made it unbearable, but [Heat Resistance (Lv.10)] was working overtime to keep me cool. I was getting odd looks for being the only one covered from head to toe, but I ignored them. 

“If you say so... Still, drink a lot of water, okay? Dehydration is not something you want to experience.” Yeah, she had that right. My face sulked with memories of my ‘parents’ laughing and taunting while my tongue felt like the sands of Arabia. Irisa didn’t notice my expression because she left with a smile, turning and running over to a workstation with her name on it. Tilde spoke my name, but I was too busy trying to understand why both mother and daughter wished me well. It didn’t make sense, especially because I was a freeloader until they sold those clothes. Besides, we weren’t friends at all, so did it matter if I perished? I wasn’t planning on it, but if I did pass, they wouldn’t have to worry about only getting 10%. If anything, they should be actively wishing for my death because they had more to gain. 

Or is that the wrong way to think about it? 

“Master?” Sekh’s voice brought me back from trying to understand concepts that had no meaning to someone like me. I shook my head to clear my mind and asked her about manually learning skills to change the subject. Since her body was freshly made, it wasn’t exactly ‘accumulated’. Forcefully learning skills too quickly would only cause her body to require a substantial amount of rest. I just hugged Sekh and told her not to push herself, and she replied she wouldn’t because she didn’t know how to protect me if she suffered from over-exhaustion.  

---

Our second day in the mines was drastically uneventful in terms of leveling, but it was fruitful because the actual ‘experience’ could not be overstated. After entering the dungeon and passing by the lobby, I used my map to locate a room with no one in it. It was somewhat early, so it wasn’t that hard, but I used the privacy to pull out my stolen 9mm and a box of ammo. Sekh mentioned there were guns back in her time, but they looked different. When she described them, I imagined things like revolvers and lever-action rifles. Maybe it really did take 1,000 years for the firearm technology in this world to advance because they were that unpopular. When I was a better crafter, I’d like to make my own rifle and revolver, maybe even a minigun, though I knew that was a long way off.  

A long way off is an understatement. I can’t even make a worthy mace for Sekh. I thought while staring at the abomination I had created for her. I removed my gun’s magazine and loaded 15 rounds. When I racked the slide after loading the bullets, an ammo counter revealed itself near my map, and it came with a small picture of the gun I was holding. That was useful because it let me know when I was running low, but I just had one magazine. The 9mm was stronger than Reina’s gun because it didn’t rely on my pathetically weak mana, so it rarely took more than 2 shots to put a goblin out of their misery. 

And it was louder, so Sekh and I spent much of our time in the dungeon without an incident, which also meant there was no one to interrupt my feeding. We just faced the goblins and spiders, and the latter’s bite only inflicted physical damage. Its venom wouldn’t ever seriously harm me ever again. Really, the only problem was dealing a decisive blow, which wasn’t always easy because they were agile. Sekh’s brutal mace was very effective in ending their lives if she could hit them with it. Since it was made from literal stone, it was very heavy, so she often had to use both arms to lift it. After a few encounters, we decided on a system of me providing the opening and Sekh finishing off our foes. Whenever she had a shield that wasn’t broken, she’d use [Taunt] to focus the attention on herself, so I could shoot from behind.  

When they’re under the effect of her skill, the enemies glow a slight red.  

“Oi! Master, I think it’s time to spice it up a bit, yeah? You have some SP burning a hole in your skirt, so you might as well spend them on [Fire Magic]. You can’t just strengthen your mana by assimilating, you know. You actually gotta use it in different ways, whether that’s with Reina’s gun or a spell. It’s like focusing on your arm and skipping leg days at the gym,” said Tilde when we stopped for a small break. She made sense, so off to the Skill Menu I went. 

It seemed spells were stored within something called a magic enhancer, which was how I learned [Fireball] immediately after purchasing [Fire Magic]— an example of one— with the SP I’d gotten from Mira. Tilde told me of another reason why chimeras were so feared. Instead of spending years learning the language of mana, which was practically the prerequisite for any mage, a chimera just had to eat someone who knew magic since we had the innate ability to just ‘use’ magic. But there were outliers, of course. Mira—the girl I ate who died by that alpha spider—was one of them. It was less of a defined skill and more of raw talent that granted her this boon, but that didn’t account for much if you die to a spider. I didn’t know if she was over-eager or ambushed, but did that matter? I didn’t think so. 

Tilde told me you didn’t need [Fire Magic] to use a fire spell. Acquiring the respective enhancer made it easier to cast, learn, and strengthen spells related to that element. It also ‘stored’ the spell within the master element skill, which only benefited chimera like me. For example, if I assimilated another mage, I would automatically gain all flame spells located within his [Fire Magic] without spending any additional SP. If he didn’t have it, but he knew fire spells that I didn’t, I wouldn’t get anything. 

When broken down to its simplest terms, chanting a spell was asking the mana in the air to take a certain form. For example, ‘curl into a ball of fire and launch towards my enemies’ was a rough translation of the chant to use [Fireball]. If you had [Spellcrafting], you could effectively create your own spells, though those that were gifted could already do this. The skill just made it easier, but it was still challenging. On the other hand, those with a high level of [Fire Magic] could alter the properties of [Fireball] on the fly to make it burn hotter, alter its size, or turn one ball of fire into dozens or hundreds at the cost of using more mana. 

Regardless, there were a lot of limitations. You couldn’t make a spell to revive someone from the dead. There were rules in this world, and you couldn’t break them. Or you could, but even Holy and Dark Lords couldn’t do that. Tilde was cryptic and didn’t speak much more about it.  

On that topic of learning skills to make something easier, it worked the same with languages. By putting in the effort to learn a language, you’d obtain the corresponding skill. But that wouldn’t grant you total mastery of it at that very instant. Something like [Scholar’s Tongue] would be needed. However, obtaining the skill would make learning the language easier, so there was still reason to put in the effort to get it. 

I’m so thankful for Tilde and Sekh. Without them, I’d be totally lost about everything. 

Once we found our next group of enemies, I only had to think of [Fireball] to use it, which I could do in a few ways. 

I unholstered my 9mm and watched as it became a deep orange. Clouds of fire swam around the trigger and grip, but they didn’t give off any heat. The front sight was slightly moving like the flame of a lighter. I took aim at a goblin picking its nose while holding the trigger for one second. One bullet was drained, but during that second, crimson energy amassed in front of the barrel. Letting it loose send the fireball flying away. It smashed into a goblin that didn’t notice in time, covering the nasty creature in a harsh conflagration and brightening the dark room. With no time to lose, I held the trigger down for as long as I could, going from 6 rounds left in the magazine to just 1. In return, the fireball was much bigger, but sweat just drowned my forehead when the skill automatically launched.  

It seemed the max level of charge was 5 bullets, but I couldn’t be sure because I dropped to my knees and huffed for air since that drained me about 55% of my mana. The four other goblins were trying to extinguish the one goblin, so they didn’t see the sizable ball of fire coming their way. When it smacked into them, a scorching flood instantly disintegrated everything in the room that wasn’t stone. Only the goblins’ ashes were left, but the fire was running too rampant for me to get close. Still, I ate what was left to regain my mana and biomass. 

We left an hour or two after this and enjoyed the walk back to Ria. I had used 30 rounds and only had 50 remaining. That was almost half of my arsenal in a single day. Bullets were rare. Once I ran out, I had to get lucky and hope that store with the Catfolk would restock. After a quick search of my map, they hadn’t yet done so. It was no guarantee, but that was fine because I had Reina’s gun to fall back on. If nothing else, I could just walk to another town and try to find one there. If that didn’t work, I could try to make one. I wanted to, but I was nowhere close to doing that. 

---

It was 9 PM when we entered the guild to earn our meager rewards for a hard day’s work, and 9:33 when we finally got back to the shop. Irisa, who wore a buttoned-up shirt with a black tie and pants, greeted us with a big hello and said we had arrived just in time for dinner.  Before I knew it, she ushered Sekh and I up to the second floor, where Ichiha was pouring a pot of vegetable stew into four bowls and one small cup. It happened fast, but Ichiha said Sekh and I had to wash up. 

The bath was quick and hasty, but luckily, a fragment of a bar of soap was sitting on our bed for us to use. It wasn’t big, so I needed to get some more. I wondered if I could make it? If not, I’ll just have to buy some, so I hope it wasn’t outrageously expensive. But after bathing and smelling like roses and honey, we dried off, got dressed, and sat down at the table for a meal. “Lyudmila? You seem kinda confused?” Irisa asked. She had changed into a cutoff shirt that seemed to be more comfortable. Her pants had been switched for shorts, which showed off her long, green legs. 

“Oh my, you aren’t hurt, are you?” Ichiha asked. Like mother like daughter, they wore the same thing.  

I wonder if that’s a quirk of theirs? I guess it does look comfortable. 

“Er… No, I’m fine,” I quickly replied. I talked about the day we had. Then for some reason, I spoke about the spider and the corpse from yesterday. Ichiha looked saddened, remarking that solo adventuring was incredibly dangerous, even more so when you were a beginner.  

“An alpha? At your level, I didn’t want to fight anything above me.” 

“What level are you?” I asked. 

Irisa flashed a smile and bragged about achieving Lv. 27, primarily through crafting, but she was not a stranger to fighting monsters.  

From crafting? Huh… I guess that’s good to know. 

“Yes, little Irisa once saw a sword being made, and that was all it took. She wouldn’t stop bugging me to let her apprentice to a blacksmith when she was little. My, that must’ve been 70 years ago…” 

“70?!” My surprise was evident. Was it really that slow to level up? If it was through crafting only, then maybe? 

“Is that weird? You’re a High Elf, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that I’m 89,” Irisa casually answered. “Mom’s—” 

“Sweetie, it’s rude to reveal your mother’s age,” Ichiha motherly chided her daughter. The two laughed it off and swallowed a spoon full of stew. I ate it, but my Biomass was full, so it didn’t do anything.  

[Analysis] reveals you’re 171, but you don’t look a day over 22. Guess oni are long-lived. 

I took a few more spoonfuls of this soup, and my mind wandered to the trash my parents forced me to eat. This is delicious. It’s only been a day, and I’m already being treated so kindly by pure strangers. Fuck my parents for the abuse they put me through. The quicker they die, the better. 

“Lyudmila, what are you doing tomorrow? I’d like to know. If that’s okay, I mean.” I looked up to see Irisa’s smiling face. I didn’t see any traces of a false smile or underlying plots ready to take me down several hundred pegs.  

Telling her wouldn’t make us friends... We’re only going to be acquaintances, so that’s fine, right? Tilde’s nodding at me, so it’s okay. 

“The dungeon.  

“Again? You three were down there for a while, right? Just be careful, okay? And remember what I said.” Again, Irisa found it necessary to wish us well. I didn’t understand it!  

‘Just be careful, okay?’ 

For the rest of dinner, those words remained locked in my thought. Sekh and Tilde talked for me because I tried my hardest to decipher the true meaning of that phrase. I think Irisa believed I was mad at her because while we were cleaning up, she quietly apologized for prying into my life.  

“No, that’s not it,” I said, staring into her eyes. “I… I have a lot on my mind. I was thinking about something. Umm... Thank you for the soap...”  

“Oh… Okay. I’m glad I didn’t say something insensitive. We don’t get a lot of High Elves around here. Honestly? It’s kinda hard to approach High Elves because you’re impossible to read. I was afraid I did something stupid. If I did, I’m sorry. I hope I wasn’t prying too much. And you’re very welcome! Think of it as a little housewarming gift to make your stay here a little bit easier.” Her stressed expression softened with a hearty smile and jolly laughter. I didn’t chuckle, but I did ease up as the night continued, eventually going so far as to reveal my weapon of choice, which carried us all into a round of surprisingly lively conversation. Ichiha was strangely fascinated by firearms. She knew far less than Greggie or Keeth, but it was fun teaching her. I didn’t realize it at the time, but Sekh told me I had a cute smile on my face. 

If I knew I was going to feel like this, I would have said something yesterday... It feels kinda good... 

---

Not too long after that, I was sitting naked on the bed after putting Beccy’s shield against the door when I locked it. My 9mm’s magazine was in one hand, and I plucked bullets from my storage with the other. Reloading was somehow soothing, and my mind wandered to what I would do when my ammo ran out.  

I could always collect the casings. But then I’d need gunpowd—firesalts, a primer, and the bullet itself. Wonder if I could find someone to teach me how to make that. I don’t have any kind of skill to help with gunsmithing. 

Meanwhile, Sekh pressed her chest into my back and wrapped her hands around my dick. She was practicing [Fleshcrafting]. I suppose a side effect was jerking me off, but I was seriously trying not to cum. It took time, though, and a lot of concentration. Sekh collapsed and breathed heavily into my neck. Her hands fell to the cover and exposed my penis. When erect, I was now a suitable 6”, which hopefully wouldn’t cause Sekh any more pain when we made love.  

When I turned around to hug her, she found it hard to keep her eyes open. “I’m...sorry... I’m too tired...” Thick beads of sweat started to drip. Tilde flew around and poked Sekh’s cheeks, then said nothing was wrong. She had just overstressed her mana by using more than she had, then likened it to overdrafting a bank account. It was a dangerous technique that couldn’t be categorized as a skill like [Piercing Thrust.] Using it wrong would result in the user’s death, so I told Sekh not to push herself like this anymore. 

“Don’t apologize. Is there something I can do?” 

“Hold me,” Sekh panted. I laid her on the bed and slipped in behind her. When my arms hugged her stomach, she said something that made me even harder than I already was. “You can… You can sleep with it inside me.” Her voice was slightly weakened from exhaustion. 

“You’re still sore, aren’t you?” 

Sekh nodded. 

“No. I’m not going to hurt you by rushing into it. But I will hold you.” 

“Don’t…let go of me,” she said with a weak breath.  

I rubbed her stomach and kissed her neck. “I won’t. Good night, Sekh,” I whispered, closing my eyes and nuzzling close. She was warm to the touch, and her fur was nice and soft. Especially when she moved her legs back a little bit, and they brushed against mine. 

It’s the very epitome of softness.  

“Good night, Master…” 

This is my first real day in this world. I have a companion, shelter, food, and water. None of it’s being withheld from me. No one’s beating me for trying to quench a parched throat... 

 It’s odd that pure strangers take to me so easily, but it isn’t a bad feeling...  Would it be incorrect if I go so far as to say that it honestly feels like I was intended to be born here? Sekh’s a go-getter. She’s brilliant, bright, and I know she would’ve excelled had she been born in my world.  

If so, would our positions have been reversed? Would she have freed me? How does fate work? Is everything decided from the beginning? Is life just following a set of instructions written before you’re born? 

I’m going to destroy my predestined path. The only thing I have in my hand is my life. I get to decide how I’m going to live, and I’m going to be in control until the end. It’s finally hitting me like a truck, but this really is my second chance at life. 

No one can take this from me, and I will take full advantage of it.