Waking up, I sluggishly scan my surroundings with mist-filled, confused eyes.

A steady stream of incomprehensible information originating from my soul steadily flowed into my brain, forcing me to divert most of my mental processing powers into sorting it.

In the meantime, my body operated on autopilot: Using a combination of Burrow and Spatial Slash to create a makeshift table, retrieving my breakfast from my Spatial storage, and then doing some morning stretches, 

A few minutes later, a long drawn out yawn escaped my mouth as brilliance gradually returned to my eyes.

But as the last bit of information was processed, my eyes widened in shock and I hurriedly brought up my status window.

To my relief and utter joy, the word Nameless that has been there ever since I reincarnated was gone, and in its place is now my brand new name: Irisia Violet.

“You there, D?” Unable to restrain my excitement, I subconsciously called out to the air.

And sure enough, the characteristic smartphone soon popped out from thin air.

“What’s up? Missed me?” D’s voice came from the smartphone, a hint of teasing hidden inside.

“I’d be lying if I said no, but that’s not why I called for you.” I said as my lips unconsciously curled into a soft smile. “You should be able to check my status, right?”

“Of course. I can even add some wonderful titles to your collection if you want.” She affirmed in an expectant tone.

“Hmmm… Y’know what? Sure. Go ahead. Just don’t add in anything that would get me labeled as a world enemy.”

She’s probably gonna add in a few whether I want it or not, so why not just go along with her? 

It sounds very interesting and who knows, I might even get a bunch of free skills out of it!

“Hooh? So that’s your true nature, huh? M’kay, I’ll go through the list and choose a few for you. No guarantees for the latter part though.” She said, mild surprise evident in her voice.

… Ah, well. She caught me I guess.

I wouldn’t call myself hedonistic per se, but I’m certainly the kind of fish that lives for her desires, and my desire for fun and thrilling experiences is among the top on my list, just behind my close ones.

“No hurry, I’d rather you take your time and give me a pleasant surprise than just slap the first weird looking title into my status.” I responded. “But then again, I didn’t call you for this.” I helplessly smiled.

“Hmm?” She paused, and the loud sound of a chips bag being opened came from the phone. “Need something?”

“I most certainly did not need nor want to hear that.” I deadpanned. “Quickly, check my status!” I excitedly followed up.

I patiently waited for about a minute, but she didn’t reply.

“The name entry! Right at the top!” I eagerly shouted, realizing that she might not look at the only place where she’d never expect a change..

“...” I still don’t get a reply. 

However, I heard the sound of an object falling, most likely her own smartphone.

“Now we’ll always be equal friends!” Hopefully more, I unconsciously thought. “You must be shocked speechless, right?! This is definitely the best piece of news you ever got, right?!” I said with a smug grin.

“It is…” She paused and took a deep breath before asking in a trembling voice. “How…?”

“Huh?” I was stumped.

Honestly, I didn’t think that far when I decided to tell her, I just subconsciously wanted to share the happy news with someone close to me.

But now that she’s questioning me about it, I’d rather not lie, so I don’t know what I’m supposed to answer with.

Goddess Alkreya didn’t forbid me from speaking about her, but now isn’t exactly the best time to have a heart to heart talk with D.

It’s not an issue of trust. The problem lies in me, not her.

Any sort of logical answer would eventually require me to explain why I agreed to someone else naming me, which would lead to me telling her about the fate shenanigans Alkreya spoke about.

By then, no matter whether she believes it or not, a hidden seed of hope will be planted in her heart.

The thing is, I’m not strong nor arrogant enough to believe I could possibly live until the day that seed matures and bears its fruits without any accident– not by a long shot! 

So, I’d rather not talk about all of that stuff before I actually have the capital to stand behind it. More specifically, I should only speak about it after ascending.

Dammit, where did my usual thoughtfulness and caution go…? I feel like I’ve become a lot more childish since my reunion with D…

“... That’s a secret. For now, at least.” I answered after a bit of hesitation.

The truth is always the best, lies always lead to the worst results.

I hope she doesn’t take this as a sign of me not trusting her…

Silence settled over the cave for a few minutes before D’s voice came from the smartphone again.

“Will you tell me in the future?” She asked in a low voice, causing me to breathe out a sigh of relief.

What she actually meant should be something along the lines Can you tell me in the future?

Basically, she wants to know if something or someone is preventing me from speaking. 

As the evil goddess of this world, she certainly knows that names in this universe are basically slave contracts in disguise.

So, if I answer negatively, she could take it as a sign that I was forced into this, which means that my show off attitude is actually me asking for help.

“Definitely! I will tell you as soon as I’m strong enough! Promise!” I hastily nodded.

You can’t even imagine how happy I am right now…

Instead of sulking or jumping to conclusions, D’s first thought was actually to confirm my safety!

This means that my position in her heart has unknowingly reached a very high level already!

“Hee hee~” I unconsciously giggled at that thought. “Oops!”

“What was that about?” D asked curiously.

“Nothing.” My instant response came, paired with a quick head shake. “Whaddya think about my new name?” I perked up my ears in anticipation.

“Well, I think it’s incredibly fitting, yet unfitting at the same time.” She answered with a thoughtful tone. “I can’t get my hands on why, but it feels like you’re missing a vital part of your identity.”

Why did she turn into a riddler-type character…? Crap, did I break her?

I just stood there, looking at the smartphone with a quizzical expression. Excuse me, what? I’m very confused right now  is probably what my face says right now.

“Nevermind. Even if both your intuition and comprehension are out of the norm, mortals are simply unable to comprehend some things.” She stated, dropping the subject.

Not knowing what to say, I just smiled embarrassedly as the atmosphere became kinda awkward.

“Uhh… Okay. Could I get some directions for the nearest human settlement from you by any chance?” I inquired in a clumsy attempt to break the silence.

“Just keep on moving inland and you’ll eventually come across a medium-sized town. Here’s a piece of advice from me, don’t get too involved and forget what you actually are.” She said in an inexplicable tone.

“It’s fine, it's fine. I already disguised my status with Concealment, so unless I actively lift my disguise, I only need to worry about administrators!” I reassured her while patting my chest.

“Whatever you think. I’m looking forward to your upcoming terrific adventure.” She said in the same tone.

For some reason, I suddenly had an ominous premonition as I watched the smartphone disappear, but I selectively ignored it.

I mean, I’m about to come into contact with actual intelligent creatures that aren’t divine and aren’t actually out for my fucking life!

I’d rather not be on edge when that happens.

 

As there was nothing else left for me to do here, I peeked out from my makeshift home.

I approximately figure out the current time of the day by looking at the sun’s position, I update Sage’s clock before I shapeshift into a human form and immediately teleport to the top of the cliff.

Facing away from the ocean, I opened my eyes for the first time in a while and set off on a new journey.

Due to the massive data bank I have in my archives, I was able to experience what it is like to travel in a brand new world.

I already traveled the ocean for months, you say? Nahhh, that doesn’t count.

Earth’s ocean wasn’t a place I could just dive down and explore with my human body, so my ocean journey was more of a trip to another country.

Land is a different story however, I’ve explored a good chunk of Earth’s landmass, and a subconscious image of land as a whole was formed deep in my mind, similar to how common sense is.

And right now, this image is being constantly impacted and broken, then repaired with bits and pieces from an entirely different image.

It’s a fascinating feeling.

The landscape here is nothing like Earth, and so were the natural spots. As it turns out, this planet has more than one moon!

I didn’t realize that before because the only times I went above water was in the morning when I was sunbathing, so I was astonished the first time I saw multiple moons shining at night.

Because of the system, magic and monsters came into being and then integrated into the natural order, causing the ecosystems to evolve into something that feels very foreign to me.

Basic animal instincts like marking territories and the relationship between prey and predator are still there, but the increased strength and intelligence granted by the system made everything a lot more… volatile.

Wild felines still prey on regular rabbits, but they would definitely have to weigh up their options before provoking a ground of horned rabbits, let alone the magical elemental-type rabbits.

Size difference and physical characteristics are certainly dangers that still need to be considered. However, adding magic into the equation just fucks up the entire formula.

My description might make it seem like I’ve been traveling around for months– maybe even years, but in fact, I only spent five days walking forward.

Fortunately, I came across the first trace of civilization by the afternoon of the sixth day.

It was a dirt road that had a mixture of footprints, animal tracks, and carriage wheel marks scattered across, all of which appear to be fairly recent.

Using my Spatial Awareness sphere and Detection, I compare their depths and estimated their age, then I lock on to what I believe to be tracks that were left behind by a caravan two days ago.

Humming along to a tune, I start following behind them with a brisk skip to my steps

As I can't speak any of this world’s language yet, I’m actually unable to communicate with the denizens of this world.

I’m also oblivious about common sense and similar matters on this planet, so rushing my first contact frankly seems like a recipe for disaster.

However, using a mixture of Sage and Telepathy, I should be able to use a discounted version of mind reading to quickly decipher the former and maybe glean a bit about the latter.

It’ll most likely take a few hours of physical contact to do that though, and the longer I stay in contact the more information I would learn.

The ideal scenario would be finding a caravan where a merchant is accompanied by his eldest daughter.

Out of everyone in there, the eldest daughter is the one who’s most likely to remain asleep throughout the entire night, which would be my chance.

The fact that I wouldn’t have to touch a man makes it all the better!

Unbeknownst to me, my upcoming contact with humans would include all what I wished for, though it was by not means a pleasant one.

---