Lost_Star

Thank you everyone for the feedback, and comments left on both Royal Road, and ScribbleHub the continued support for this series has been a great help in giving me motivation to write, so I can't express how happy I am to see it.  So thank you for reading!

After doing a quick check on the state of my body, I found that I was mostly fine besides some bruises. The ant, on the other hand, didn't get so lucky. It had missed the water entirely, instead hitting a bunch of sharp rocks nearby. 

The once intimidating creature now lay in a heap of mangled limbs and greenish-yellow blood. I let out a sigh of relief, realizing that for once I had actually gotten lucky when a system notification filled my vision.

{Primary Mission “Survive” completed- - - - calculating reward

{100 gp has been deposited successfully!}

{Primary Mission “Survive” has been reissued}

{Primary Mission “Survive” has been updated with a failure condition. Reward set to new difficulty (~100GP)}}

I lay on the cold wet ground of the cave, looking up at the ceiling that must have been ten or so meters above me. I let out a large sigh. My tattered dress was soaking wet; the only light on my face was from some strange glowing strands of moss in the ceiling 

Despite all this, I couldn't suppress the smile on my face. I had done it. I had bested this damn world,  just this once. So what if I just happened to fall off a cliff and land in the right place? Yeah, I'd chalk it up to luck rather than skill, but it was my actions that brought about the result, and frankly, I'm scraping the barrel for stuff like this, so just let me have it, okay?

Gazing at the glowing messages slowly starting to fade in front of me. My eyes felt a little wet, I honestly couldn't tell if it was from the water, fear, relief, or happiness. Heh, Maybe it was some combination of them all. I was shivering now, letting out a sneeze. The thought entered my mind that my body wasn’t suited for this kind of life.

Up until now, everything had been out of my control. Things had been happening so fast, I hadn't had enough time to take everything in. Well, even if I did have enough  when I first got here. I don't think things had fully set in yet. I mean, I had just been thrown out of a weird goddess’s domain, I can’t say after that I was really ready to go over everything about this new life I had been given, much less so my new body.   Noticing that I had been referring to this body, and its circumstances as mine, for a while now, I couldn’t help but think that I seemed to be getting adjusted. However, I wasn’t sure if that's something I should be happy about or not.

Though it was hard to accept,  I was a woman now, I was objectively speaking another person, and if I escaped from here I might really have to face that fact, I wasn’t me, there’d be people “I” had never met saying they knew me, family that wasn’t mine asking “what happened you’ve changed”, I guess my love life will be a bit barren, eheh, unless this world is more tolerant than it’s ominous architecture would suggest.

Still I couldn't stop my smile from getting a bit larger on my face. Really now, I shouldn't be thinking about stupid stuff like this. I'm still just lying here shivering on the ground, but well, hey, having a good spirit is all I could do at the moment. Little familiar thoughts like these are all I really had to somehow cope with this world. and yeah I’d like to think I was doing pretty well at keeping my head above water, but somehow this cave where the only thing I had to do was survive was comforting when compared with what comes next. 

With that in mind, I guess it’d be best to take a better look at myself. Maybe I had been consciously trying to avoid it, but since the time in the mirror I hadn’t even taken note of what I looked like, holding up my hands in front of my face. What met me was not the sturdy, if a bit soft, hands I had always known, but instead a pair of frail, ragged hands, covered with a variety of small nicks and gashes, dripping wet, and a depressing skinniness. Despite all this though it wasn’t all bad, I honestly did think that with more care the body had a lot of potential to be pretty.

A small sound from the system interrupted my contemplation. I saw my GP increase from 0 to 100 along with a small tingling sound. I figured I needed to check the shop, but checking the map and not seeing any red dots nearby, I decided it was fine to continue to examine the body it seems I'd be living with from now on. Look, maybe now's not the best time to take a break, but hey, guess I'm feeling a bit cocky after, after all, I Had killed Mr. Ant over there. 

Crawling over to the nearby pond, I took a look into the surprisingly clear water. What met me was that same unfamiliar face. Truthfully, I looked a bit better now that I had been forcefully cleaned off by my fall. The previously ragged hair now had regained a bit of its luster, and my skin seemed to shine a bit more than when I had last seen it. But I can't say I looked particularly healthy. There was a large gash on my head from the crash, but now it seemed mostly to have stopped bleeding. Lightly placing one of my hands on the spot, I couldn’t help wincing slightly, while the pain wasn’t bad it still felt uncomfortable enough for me to let out a small moan. 

Honestly, I don't think I'd ever really get used to this body, but I guess I have no choice but to try. Seeing the face reflected in the water mimicking the movements I had been making, I couldn’t hold myself back from trying a few expressions on my face.Looking at the series of strange expressions being reflected I couldn’t hold back a faint laugh. 

Having a bit more time to contemplate, I think I had finally found out why I thought my face was so odd looking. Somehow, my face didn't look good with anything but a frown or a scowl, with my neutral expression being a blank, cold stare. Simply put my face didn’t match up with my emotions, a smile looked like I had some sort of devious plot in the works, or I was smirking about something, if I tried to force myself to look cheerful it just looked out of place,

Looking down from my face, I wondered if I should explore more. I stopped before, as I felt like I was taking something that wasn't mine, but now I guess I'm finally prepared, or maybe compelled, to accept this body as my own. Looking down, there wasn't much in the way of my vision. Before all this misfortune had started, the clothes I was wearing weren't in good condition, and now they were nothing more than rags, covering up a body that, to some extent, looked even more tattered. I guess I didn't have to be worried about feeling anything immoral. I hadn't noticed as my body had filled out the dress quite well, but it really wasn't in good shape.it  was dotted with scars and wounds that couldn't have possibly come from me, My legs were less dainty and more anemic,and though it wasn’t in the best condition my skin still seemed to hold onto some of it’s former beauty, and if one could look past everything else this body could be considered fair smooth, and almost elegant in a way.

Looking up from the now slightly muddled water, I thought that maybe it'd be best to turn my attention from such things. Now wasn't the time to develop any sort of dispositive nature. For now, I'll just keep thinking of myself as me, and yeah, if I get out of here alive, I'll need to struggle with all these changes, but for now I can set aside all those worries about a future which may never come.

Splashing some water on my face, I noticed something. I was starting to get hungry, very hungry. Luckily, I could at least drink something, even though I admit, drinking strange trans-dimensional water may not be the smartest decision. But at least there's a decision to be made. I also hadn't eaten since I got to this world. Admittedly I do think I saw a commodity tab in the shop, but when I run out of GP, I'd just go back to starving. That is, unless I... my vision drifted towards the smashed-up pile of exoskeleton and strange meat lying against a bunch of rocks. Unless that thing is edible. Slowly picking myself up, away from the water, taking a few uneasy steps towards the mass of foreign flesh, wondering if maybe I should just crack open the shop, I consoled  myself with the fact that I wasn’t forced to eat anything I started walking closer resolved to at least take a look, and hey maybe it’d be like, some hidden delicacy, but somehow I couldn’t take that thought seriously.

Finally drawing close enough to the dead ant, to touch it,  I hesitantly reached out and was greeted by the hard, cold feeling of the exoskeleton. Under that was a foul-smelling mess of slimy-looking blood and mushy meat. Looking at it, the idea of trying to eat the thing immediately seemed silly. Besides, I wasn’t even sure if it was safe to eat in the first place. The idea was mostly from desperation anyway, so I decided not to mark it against my intelligence.

Just as I was about to pull my hand back and resign myself to checking what the shop had to offer, a bright flash of a system notification popped up in my vision.

System:

{Detected compatible energy source}

[Processing ways to collect]

ding {Submission issued “Place both hands on the corpse in front of you” [Reward GP 0~17]

Possibility of raising soul integrity 3%}

Looking at the notification, I was a bit pleased. For the last while here, the notifications I had been getting always came at the start of something bad. But this one, regardless of what any of the words meant, seemed easy enough to accomplish and purely beneficial. 

I didn’t delay in grasping the hard shell with my other hand. Doing so I felt my body start to heat up, and while the feeling wasn’t completely uncomfortable,  it did make me let out a few strange gasps. I wanted to pull my hands back instinctively, but  I couldn’t. After a few moments of that feeling, I could feel my hands start to relax, as all my body was left with was a comfortable heat, which drove off the wet feeling of cold I had been covered with until now. Just as I took my hands away, I saw a second system notification pop up.

System:

{Successfully gathered compatible energy}

[Quest completed reward issued ~12gp]

{Attempting to raise soul integrity}

. . . [Failed]

Sighing, I looked at the notification. I wasn’t sure exactly what had failed, but somehow, I still felt disappointed. At least I was able to gain a few GP out of it, though I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened. My body felt a little lighter, and the hunger, which had been incessantly nagging me, was now distant judging by what the system said, I think it’s fair to say I somehow absorbed the ant’s life energy. Getting ahead of myself, I started to think that maybe I was actually given something quite cool by the goddess, though It hardly made up for anything. 

 Looking at the corpse of the ant, it looked mostly untouched at first, but upon closer inspection, the previously hard exoskeleton now seemed a little weak, with the flesh under it now having a more rotted look to it. Glancing away from the ant, I decided that it wouldn’t do me any good to try to ponder on something I didn’t understand, instead deciding that It was finally time to actually spend the Gp I had gotten.

With the familiar sound, I was once again greeted with the childish layout of the goddess’s shop. Ignoring the overpriced potion section, I scanned over the sections again. What caught my eye was the “basic survival gear section,” something which seemed perfect for my current situation. Opening it up, I was met with the familiar rows of items, each displayed as a cash shop item from an old RPG. I wasn’t sure exactly how any of this worked, but looking over all the items, there were quite a few useful ones.

I thought about a few items which seemed useful and decided to get a new set of clothes. It wasn’t necessarily what I wanted in terms of style, being what seemed to be some sort of dress with what looked like some sort of reinforcement over the midsection, though I couldn’t tell what it was reinforced with. I would have preferred some sort of more, well, masculine clothes. After all, I still felt a bit out of place dressed in that type of thing, but all the options I saw were either skirts, dresses, or other clearly feminine items. Maybe this goddess was just a bit narrow-minded, but I really didn’t see why I couldn’t be offered some less gendered clothing. Luckily, the cost didn’t seem that bad for the dress, only taking 65 GP. Everything else in the section was much more affordable than what I had seen in the potion section. There was a wide variety of simple-looking weapons and what seemed to be a collection of camping gear. Moving on, I also knew I needed a weapon, but I wasn’t sure what to get.

Looking over the options I had selected, I doubted if they would be very useful as weapons. I was thinking about buying a small hand crossbow, a similarly small but hardy hand axe, or a dainty but sharp-looking knife. I would have preferred to get them all, but as I only had 47 GP left after buying the clothing, I could only get one.

There wasn’t much of a description to the items besides their name and a few points like, “knife is very sharp.” The crossbow was currently the most appealing as it would require the least amount of skill and strength to use, but it only came with three bolts, so I doubted I’d be able to survive with it, even if after buying it, I could still afford to buy a few more bolts. I still doubted if they’d be enough to fight off the number of red dots there seemed to be. Sadly rejecting the crossbow, I began comparing the next two weapons. The hand axe looked like it would have a decent shot at breaking through the shell on the ants, but the problem is I wasn’t sure how long I’d actually be able to fight one of them in a contest of physical strength. Even if I did manage to smite one through pure strength, I’d probably be too exhausted afterward to do it again. Next was the knife. It looked to be a simple combat knife, and as much as I hated to admit it, it probably was the weapon which fit my current state best. Though it required the most skill to be lethal, it also required the least strength. While I’m not trying to claim I’m some sort of cool hero who’ll smile while yelling “I know something you don’t” while switching the weapon to the other hand, I would say I’m confident enough that I can best an ant in terms of swordsmanship, even if I wasn’t at all confident in actually being able to beat them. After all, even though it looked hardy, it didn’t seem particularly fast or smart, so as long as there were no other types of monsters in this weird cave, I could probably defend myself.

Deciding that was good enough, I thought about purchasing the items. As I did, a new brightly colored notification happily popped in front of me, asking if I wanted to purchase the selected items for the price of 110 GP. Confirming that I was sure of the purchase, I heard a ding as both the shop and the notification were turned off without any input from me. As a small golden circle began to expand in front of me, I backed up slightly and raised my hands in front of me, though I wasn’t sure if I actually was doing it to defend myself or if it was just a natural reaction to something unexpected. As the circle continued to expand, lights and particles started to shower the wet stone floor. After a few seconds of this, I heard a small clinking rattle and a muffled thud. With this, the circle disappeared almost as if it had never been there, and what was left in its place was a set of neatly folded clothes and a knife sticking into the ground. They both matched what I had seen in the shop, but still, the sharpness of the knife seemed a little much. Not that I was complaining, but if I had still been standing there, wouldn’t it have just ended up in my foot? What if I purchased one of those fragile-looking potions? Wouldn’t I be left to lick it up off the floor? Regardless of my doubts, it seemed like this system from the goddess actually worked really well. Though I wasn’t sure how it worked, it at least did.

First, I decided that I’d need to put on some clothes, seeing as all this time I had been partially walking around. Bending down, I took the bundled clothes into my arms. The set included a pair of shoes, which hopefully made up for their feel in durability, a pair of light pants, as well as the main dress itself. Everything was made of cloth, but the shoes along with the dress seemed to have some sort of leather-like reinforcements along them. There wasn’t much to them besides that they qualified as clothes. I’m sure if I sat in a corner wearing them, I’d be mistaken as a beggar. I guess that’s fine, though. It’s better than walking around naked.

Taking off what was left of my previous garments, doing so I took another glance around my body, this time no longer impeded by clothing, and yeah, I can’t say I felt anything still, but a bit of distress from trying to reject that it really was my body. Sighing, I pulled myself together. I’d already been trying to accept it. Repeating thoughts like that wasn’t going to help. Luckily, it wasn’t that much of a challenge to get into the new clothes, which was a relief as the warm feeling I had been enjoying since placing my hands on the ant, was starting to wear off.

Sliding my feet into the shoes, I was surprised to see how well they fit. I supposed it was the system’s doing. Not that I was likely to get an answer back from the goddess anytime soon, doubly so considering what I had sent her last. Reaching down, I went to pick up the knife. Even though it had only fallen a short way out of the weird portal earlier, it seemed to be stuck pretty deep into the rock. Finally, after a bit of tugging, I managed to dislodge it. In my hand, it felt shockingly light. Swinging it around a bit, I really had to say, it felt like a nice blade. Heh, I’d wonder what people would have thought if they saw me swinging around a knife going “yes, this will do nicely” in my last life. Hehe, I’m sure it’d be fine when I told them it was because I had to hunt down a bunch of giant ants. You know, maybe humans are just a bit too adaptable after all.

Taking one final look at everything I had put on, I couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction. I actually felt a bit prepared this time, less like I was some helpless toy being tossed about and more like I was some helpless adventurer setting out on a journey. Of, uh, yeah, let’s go with that. After this, I’ll slay that devil who sent me here. Uh, though maybe I should clarify if she’s listening that that was a joke, a joke, okay.

Sadly, my heroics were cut off by the insistent flashing of my map. Opening it up, the confident joy immediately escaped my lips.