The night went by smoothly with no disturbances. The forest was strangely quiet, with no usual sounds of bugs or insects. Despite the eerie silence, I found comfort in the absence of danger. I wasn't entirely alone either, as I called upon Áine after two hours of keeping watch.

We sat silently near the cave entrance, with my shoulder providing a comfortable spot for her to watch the dark landscape in front of us. In the morning, when I went to wake up Sam, Áine retreated back into my chest.

I tapped her lightly on the shoulders to not startle her. "Hey, wakey, wakey. It's morning already, and we both agreed on an early start. Besides, we're going to be hungry soon, and frankly, we need to find food and water," I said as she opened her eyes.

She glared at me before yawning loudly. "I'm up! Geez. Even in a new body, I don't think I'm made to be a morning person," she said while grumbling to herself.

Luckily for me, Sam didn't take very long to get ready. It helped that we didn't have anything to grab or put away. Sam led the way through the forest with her giant stick in one hand. We quickly decided that heading towards where civilization existed would be best.

After some time walking in the still, silent forest, I deemed it safe to start a conversation.

"So, I never asked, but how did you have a fire going when I found you?" I asked her.

Without bothering to look back, she carefully stepped over a large root before replying. "Being bedridden means you have a lot of free time. With nothing else to do, I watched a lot of how-to videos. That being said, I'd never have the patience to rub some wood together if I didn't have this new body," she said.

"Yeah, I suppose you wouldn't," I said. I hesitated for a few moments, unsure if I should bring up her family. I started the conversation again, slowly. "I know your new body is a hell of a lot better than your old one. Hell, the change you went through probably feels like the difference between heaven and earth. It's just, do you think your family will take our deaths well?"

Sam stopped and stood still for a short while before resuming our walk through the forest. A few minutes of silence passed before she finally replied. "Don't think I can be blamed for not thinking of my family yet. With everything that has happened in such an extremely short timeframe, I haven't put any thought toward our death," she said. "Considering I pretty much had a life expectancy shorter than a year, I don't think it'll be too problematic. Don't get me wrong, I know they'll weep for me, but they have been expecting me to expire for a while now."

We continued in mutual silence, our situation weighing on us. Our journey through the forest ended up being completely uneventful. We managed to find a small river that continued in the same direction as our destination. Without any containers to store water in, we just drank our fill before moving on.

The night followed the same pattern as the previous one. Sam kept watch while I slept for around six hours. Since there was no activity, we continued this routine for most of the next day. At this point, we were both craving a good meal. Drinking water alone wasn't enough to satisfy our hunger.

There weren't even any random nuts or berries, just an endless expanse of blue-tinted leaves. Everything changed when we started to hear the telltale signs of life sometime in the afternoon.

"Didn't think the world was so loud until we've spent so long walking in a land of silence," I commented while watching a small red bug crawling on the nearby tree. "Not going to lie. I already miss my phone and my playlists."

Sam merely grunted at that. "I'm not going to complain about the change. Sounds mean life; if there's life, there's food. If we don't find something to eat here shortly, I'm afraid I will end up desperate enough to eat bugs," she said.

"Hey, bugs are good protein. I bet if we roast them over a fire, it'll taste pretty good." I couldn't help but tease. She made a face that was halfway between disgust and intrigue.

"We'll just have to see if that's true. If it comes down to that," she said with a clear tone of reluctance.

It wasn't till another hour of walking that we finally heard something large up ahead. We shared a look of excitement before we slowly trudged our way closer. A minute later, we finally found the source of the noise.

I spotted what appeared to be a wild pig with half of its face buried under some roots. It was roughly the size of a Great Dane and didn't have tusks. However, it had crimson fur and a faint red glow emanating from its nostrils. Despite its intimidating size, I felt my heart race with excitement rather than fear.

Taking a few steps back, we crouched down behind a thick tree. "I don't know about you, but pork sounds amazing right now. That thing could definitely feed us for a bit," Sam said in a hushed tone.

"Any idea how you want to do this? All I have are my fists and Aine. And while I believe she can heal us somehow, we both aren't fit for fighting anything," I asked her while motioning to my empty hands.

To that, Sam gave me a wide grin. "Don't worry, I think I'm currently packing enough muscles for the both of us," she said while flexing her arms.

"Don't remember you being such a showboat. Now, get serious. The only hunting we've ever done was for a good iced coffee."

"Fine, sorry. I'm just feeling good. It's hard not to feel excited about seeing what we can do. And we have cool magic powers now. You can't seriously tell me you're not excited about using magic!"

She was right. The feeling was hard to describe, but it was like there was some itch. My body didn't seem to want to feel fear. I may not be nearly as pumped as Sam was, but I could feel the need to use my magic.

I sighed before looking Sam in the eye. "Let's just try to be careful. If we are lucky, maybe we can kill the pig without any issues."

Some minutes later, I was slowly creeping behind a tree. The plan we concocted was simple. Sam would throw a rock a few meters away to grab the pig's attention. We were betting on it charging at her in retaliation. While it charged at her, Sam was to dodge behind a tree and then use her skill to strike the beast as it recovered from its charge.

Truthfully, there was a lot that could go wrong with the plan. Our assumptions were based on pigs from Earth. If the red glow meant anything, the pig was somehow magical. I could only hope that if anything went wrong, I could use Áine to heal us afterward. Our tale would be pretty crappy if we underestimated a magical pig and died.

I activated my Verdant Healer skill and summoned Áine. She seemed to understand what she needed to do because she gave me a nod while turning toward the beast. Sam gave me one last look before she picked up a large rock and cocked her arm back.

The rock hit the back of its head with a loud thunk. In response, it shrieked loudly before immediately turning to face Sam.

"Come on, Porkie! There's more where that came from," Sam shouted while bending down and picking up another rock.

Not giving her a chance to throw another stone, the pig charged. Despite its large size, the pig was fast, far faster than what we were expecting.

Sam managed to dodge to her left, but the pig still clipped her ankle, sending her spinning. It must have done some serious damage because I heard Sam loudly moan in pain as she landed.

My adrenaline started to spike as the beast slowly shuffled toward Sam. "Áine, I need you to get to Sam and heal her!" I shouted to the fairy as I rushed forward. It seemed Sam had some damage to her right leg since she was leaning heavily on her left.

Without wasting too much time for thoughts, I grabbed a fallen branch on the ground and ran towards the angry pig with my arms held high. As it seemed to finally notice my presence and began turning around, I brought the branch down hard on its back leg.

Another loud squeal was emitted as it turned towards me. Despite the evident force behind my swing, the beast stood on all fours, looking no worse for wear. When it snorted, a small plume of fire came out, scorching my hands. I began backing up as flames slowly erupted around each leg, burning the grass underneath it.

With one last puff of fire from its snout, it lowered its head and charged. Sam seemed to decide now was the perfect moment to launch herself onto its back. The beast managed to buck once before a meaty, water-covered, blue fist smashed right between its eyes. Blood instantly splashed everywhere as its skull was caved in.

Sam rolled off before the dead creature collapsed onto the burnt ground. With the battle over, I found myself lying down, staring up at the canopy of leaves. My vision was soon replaced by a small fairy hovering just above my nose.

"Hey Áine, don't suppose you can take care of second-degree burns, eh?" I asked her while holding up my roasted hands.

I received a firmer boop on the nose from the tiny fairy, followed by her gentle flight up to me. She placed her hands on mine, and an emerald green glow enveloped them, along with a new scent that filled my senses. The aroma was a blend of pine and newly cut grass, and even after the light faded, the fragrance lingered for a few moments.

I lowered my hands to my face and saw they were completely fine. There wasn't anything that would have shown that mere moments ago, they were covered in burns. Whatever healing skill Áine could use, it seemed to be pretty powerful.

Turning my head towards the fairy, she seemed relieved I was ok. "Thank you, Áine. It didn't even hurt at all," I complimented. She reached down to give me another small boop before she disappeared back into my chest.

Sam walked up, and I noticed that her limp was also missing. "Seems like she healed you as well," I said.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I fractured something in my leg. That damn pig hit hard," she said while sitting down next to me. "Wasn't exactly how I wanted it to go, but damn, I'm loving myself more and more. I crushed its skull with one friggin punch! I can't wait till I get more skills. That felt amazing," she replied excitedly. When she mocked kissing her biceps, I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool. I could have done without the whole getting roasted, though. Silly meat thought it could cook me instead," I grumbled.

We both burst into laughter in the middle of the forest floor, feeling a bit strange and hyped up on adrenaline. However, a small part of me was concerned about my reaction to the situation. Old us would have looked at new us like we were psychopathic axe-murderers.

Eventually, we stood up and made our way towards the corpse. There were small pieces of bone poking through the shredded skin. Blood had started to ooze from all of its orifices. I certainly didn't want to be on the receiving end if this was what a single punch could do. "Let's grab this and camp near the river tonight. Might as well have a source of water to wash things for us."

Before Sam could say anything, I activated my Dimensional Storage, and the little dragon whelp appeared. Opening its jaws again, it suctioned the whole pig towards it. The sight was damn comical. As it got near my dragonling's mouth, the body slowly began to shrink until there was nothing but blood left.

My dragonling gave a loud burp before disappearing into me without making another sound. I turned towards Sam with a smile on my face. I didn't expect the little guy to be able to swallow the whole thing. Sam's jaw was hanging open as she stared at where the corpse used to be.

Picking her jaw off the ground, she closed her mouth with an audible snap."Dude, that was weird. I get a portal, and you get some Kirby-esque little dragon. Your Legacy is strange as hell," she said while shaking her head as she walked away.

Thirty minutes later, we were standing next to the river. Both of us stared at the pig's body lying before us again. It seems I could pull out whatever I stored inside my dragon with a thought. I wasn't sure if I was disappointed or not that the little guy didn't just spit the items back out.

I turned towards Sam, who had her arms crossed. "So, uh, did you ever watch videos on how to skin or butcher?"

A brief look of horror dawned on her face. "Shit! We don't even have any knives to cut into it!" she yelled.

We were going to be hungry for a little while longer.

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