Chapter 1 - Nowhere

 

I’ve been flying for hours. Seriously, was there no end to this?! It seems i was going in the middle of nowhere, as if i stranded myself to a loop. I swear, something here didn’t feel right

I’d long left the facility i was in. Hopefully i can find someone, please? I could use a little guide… This sucks, i never really left my village, i never needed a reason to go anywhere else since, i was rarely curious about what it was like from outside anyways, who knows? Raydoss scum were everywhere, and before i knew it, i was kidnapped by them! Going anywhere near in the outskirts would’ve been a death wish anyways.

I couldn’t be mistaken, knights with red templates had been actively trying infiltrate to Sophiard, said knights with red templates were definitely familiar to the famed red knights, why were they even doing this i dunno, regarding that it was especially the villages that weren't safe, a few were captured, it was only a matter of time before our village was aswell, we were pretty helpless.

The kingdom of raydoss, directly responsible for more than the majority of human trafficking, i wouldn’t be surprised if all those slave traders come out from spawning there. 

At that likely said, i might need to conceal myself if i find my own anywhere near a town. I wasn’t sure, flying for hours was far from keeping me enthusiastic, it felt nice at start but it really irritates me when you’ve been going around in a straight line. I haven’t detected anyone’s presence aside from a few creatures just a few meters below from where i was gliding in the air.

Humans, treating other humans as livestock, i became a slave, causing the outcome where i’d become an experimental subject to someone else, all of those antics had been a result by none other than raydoss. 

And other than that, there were some casual visits of royalty, even the prince himself came to our village! By, err no less than a month ago… Wasn’t it during my birthday?  I wasnt sure, luckily i had the ability to know!

「Appraisal!」

… This was pleasant surprise?, my stats had gone up to three digits, back in the day, they were barely reaching ten degits, aside from my intelligence, which used to be my highest stat, was now the lowest.

It went up by 30-ish points not that much compared.. Of which unlike the rest of them, my magic formerly at one digit, had grown by an enormous amount, being my highest stat, as of now. I gained a lot of new skills, and i was apparently blessed by the gods i'll make sure to visit the church more often, what makes me wonder. Would they even care if i did or not?

It wasn’t a common thing where someone would be blessed by the gods, more so than uncommon. I was blessed by 3 different gods as a whole. Firstly, the blessing of stars? I wasn’t sure what it correlated itself to, there was no god mentioned and i havent heard of this either. I looked deeper into the blessing’s function, i was able to get some information out of it.

「Blessing of the Stars」¹It’ll be shown in future chapters :)

You are a child Adorned, Loved by the stars. The stars will guide you in fateful moments. 

I.. I wasn’t sure what this meant? It’s really obscure, a sort of cryptic message i guess. I guess i’ll find out somehow.

「Blessing of the Sun God」²1.45x Stat Boost when standing under direct sunlight

The sun watches over you with care, greatly relishing you from the presence of its rays.

It seems pretty nice, i did a little experiment of the sort, it felt more refreshing standing directly in the sunlight more than in the shade, i felt like my stats were going down when i went out of it, so that explains it much. 

I feel like i didn’t need to check on the last one, it was pretty evident. I knew what it meant, what it did. I was able to activate all sorts of magic interacting with flames, heat of the sort. ³「Blessing of the God of Fire 」70% boost in the learning, usage of the fire affinity.

Given what i did earlier, i guess i was kind of strong. I mean all in all, i quite literally obliterated an entire building. Said building was the size of an entire fort, the power of the sun in the palm of my hands! I was surprised how much time had passed, 6 whole years in that place.. i was sure, being 11 by the time i was sent there. 

There were alot of things i miss.. So many missed days i could’ve spent more of my time on. My friend even gave me a little gift on my birthday! It was a little shirt with my name tagged on it '♡ merla' I don’t know where it went after i was abducted by those masked guys, makes me sometimes i wonder how he's doing.. Wait! I-i wasn’t thinking of him okay, no. We were friends! Even if he di.. d look kinda cute.. ah, not again!

I came across a wet puddle reflecting my frame, odd.. I was, maybe looking in my twenties? 20 to 27.. ish- I’m still 17! I can't be aging that rapidly. Hopefully i dont end up looking like a granny in like merely, a few years? I dunno, had an insane growth spurt by the time i woke up.

Oh, i figured i could do a little touch with my appearance as well, atleast. Wings only? Crack! My wings started unwinding themselves, my insides began fragmenting, bones were folding in of themselves, oof.. I could feel Mm, ah.. ! An invisible force was tugging to pull them inside of me, it felt like i was being dislocated a million times over, not so fun. Ah.. ack! At the same time, the gem formerly bulging out was absorbed into my chest, a little breathing room. The whole process was gut-wrenching, blood was leaking from my back, successful or not, that shit was the most unpleasant thing i've experienced..  Second.

G-guh..  That felt like shit. I was left slouching on my back, oh gods my back..  It healed off almost immediately, but it wasn’t the most fun kind of experience, imagine having wings spanning atleast 3-metres long forcefully stuffed inside of you, right? Atleast i was able to conceal these damn huge wings, everyone would be looking at me in town if i kept it out ofcourse! 

There was also one thing standing out, i was kind of naked? Completely bare skin, no clothe and there was my hand tugging on this weird looking rod cannon, not to be underestimated, was capable of charging attacks obliterating any army, i’ll try finding a way to hide this off later.

While i was busy trying to find a town, anything i could stay in. I was left stuck in the infinite expanse of a grass parchment i came across, Trees were layed everywhere, i swear i could hear something cracking, those werent bones right..? Not me, seriously this entire land was flat yet it still took up the view. This was seriously frustrating me, WHERE  WAS  I.. ?

I also figured out that the rod i was holding, or Meltdown i guess, had the ability to change forms!

「Metamorphosis」⁴A skill that changes the user’s practical appearance. Although this only applies for the sword, not part of the skill-sharing with the wielder.

The blade vibrates, contorts. It kept spinning in a formless liquid shape coiling around my arm, it looked as if i was molding clay. The shape remained spinning, it began whishing out of control, also glowing red hot it left from the connection it had to my arm, seemingly still equipped, am i supposed to shape thing thing? I was able to grow a handle, from there thick string of molten iron wrapped around itself, growing a handle from the bottom of it.

The shape was enhanced further, two lines perpendicular to it were adjusted to sticking out downwards, after the guards were made, it sharpened to a single point, forming the edge of a blade, it sizzled a bit in the air before cooling down.

I was able to transfer my thoughts, ideas. Seems like i was right about connecting my thoughts on how i want it shaped, the blade formed into different variations of greatswords, each were imaginary on it’s own. I was able to freely change, augment its size and length along with the appearance, i could make out a vibrant glowing blade, the color seemed dependent on what elemental affinity i put into it.

From normal state, it was a lightly toned blue of mana, fire made it orange, solar did the same but it was brighter to a certain degree, nuclear magic made it way too bright, it felt like looking at the sun directly, good for a distraction i guess. ⁵This works for every other affinity such as Wind, Water, Earth, and any other derivative like Thunder, Storm, etc.

Meltdown in sword form

⁶Image source: https://cdn.donmai.us/sample/57/df/__elden_ring_and_3_more_drawn_by_yodetarou89__sample-57df981dd07820d688c48a67f904e50e.jpg some of you might recognize them from the image ehehe

 

I could try out a bow or scythe later, but who needs either anyways? I had spells backing me up that was capable of perfectly imitating that cutting efficiency, this was literally a cannon firing off miniature suns! The control rod form seemed pretty convenient universally, it could be used both as a close to long-ranged weapon at the same time.

.. Yeah this sword was pretty neat, although fire magic was not so versatile on its own, it can lead to a huge disaster if i was somewhere enclosed in a forest, same with the latter magic i had, i was lucky considing i was in the mixture of some sort of flatland between a wetland, i was freely able to cast it without burning my surroundings. This form was convenient enough for me to go anywhere with if i was guessing, who knows you never see someone wearing a cannon on a day out. I don't know if they'd let me in a city lookin like this though, i’ve never really gone out of my village either way ehh..

 

 

…

 

 

Should i try seducing the guards? Absolute not. I knew i was smoking hot, quite literally but that was not a given for me. I’m not gonna act like some sort of slut, hooker kind of lady! 

I came across a few little creatures along the way. Goblins, the weakest of the fiends, not even worth my time. I wasn’t surprised they were everywhere, there was a boar charging at me, i gave it a little love whack in the head. It got knocked out immediately. Food! How was i supposed to know if this thing was poisonous or not? I don’t know.

I transformed my sword into something shorter i could use as a knife, i carved through the skin, separating the materials i could extract from the boar, and yes it was a messy process. Luckily as for the blood, i was able to use decay magic, it seemed moreso like a more potent version of poison magic, but it was something else. I could pinpoint the place i wanted to rot, 「Erode」the skill worked by efficiently breaking down the bonds, shooting off the electrons in alternating directions. Effectively killing any mechanisms. It was really random.

I gave the command as the blood leaking out of the boar’s lifeless corpse disappeared into thin air. Yes! It was pretty nice, although it takes up a lot of mana for one spell, i couldn’t imagine how it would go if it was subject to. A hundred other boars?

It sounded ridiculous but i would definitely run out of reserves before i reach halfway into carving all of them. Another thing, carving it took forever, i wasn’t keeping track of the time but likely an hour i was barely reaching the bone part. I was trying to be extra careful here okay! There were unknown variables present to being stranded alone in here, what if this thing had some sort of venomous gland that would pop when touched? Scary.

It’s been a few days since i left the vicinity of that place. I haven’t seen anyone, anything other than the animals, several magic beasts lurking where i was. 

Occasionally, a few were watching me from behind trees curious, they didn’t really went in to ambush me, sometimes i just scared them off, they would usually go away from a little orb of solar energy i shoot out nothing harmful, just a bit flashy to be intimidating, all it did at best was make a small burn to the bark.

 

…

 

 

I spent the rest of the day cooking the meat i chopped into evenly spread cubes. Thanks to lava magic, i was able to create metals out of thin air, it was pretty easy to form something out of it like a pot, i just had to give it a little time to cool off, i cast a little flame magic to heat it up, done!

I left the meat in to strain the liquids in the water, while as i collected a few wood, i made little sticks out of. After straining the meat, i skewered bits of it to the sticks, i had a total of 20 skewers and it was ready to cook! I set up an iron wire grid, similar to a grill surface using lava magic, evenly placed them between eachother. I set up some lean wooden sticks to burn, catching fire, i slowly add the larger portions. I let it burn down a bit, just twirl it over the flames, flip them in a while.

Maybe i should’ve added a bit of vegetable bits, ehh. Not needed, i just wanted some food! My mouth was watering  as i looked over the skewers, the meat was lightly being nudged by the heat. I could see the texture of it starting to get a little brownish.

The first food i’ll be having in a while.. It definitely won’t be that flavorful, after all i was missing the spices. Gulp.. uu this was making me unreasonably hungry..

After waiting, turning the skewers over for a while. It was finally ready to eat. “I’m digging in!” Wasting no time, i immediately grabbed one of the skewers, the meat felt mellow, i tenderly chewed on, tastes like a cross between pork and beef, there was a uniquely juicy succulence over it, so good! 

Sadly i wasn’t able to feel any warmth over it, damn you heat nullification! 

Some of my skills were neat, useful in ways but some of them were even detrimental to me in a few ways, but still i’m glad for having these. It was still nice to have these on the occasion. 

I finished up the rest of the skewers, 18 of them. There were still larger amounts of meat remaining. I cooked the rest in flat cuts. Yum.

 

…

 

I spent the rest of the day making yarn, i wove wool i found from a strangely sheepish ⁷literally a sheep looking pig. I knit it into thin fibres, that from which i turned into cohesive threads i could use for yarn.

It was already midnight, yet i was barely feeling tired. I continued my prior actions, i was able to make enough for a shirt! I started knitting, i joined the loops overlapping to patterns of knots, moving the set of needles from one another. I started forming the textile clothes. Succeedingly, i was able to make a soft, flexible shirt to wear.

It was a bit confidential to say the least.. ? I was a bit off in measuring myself so i wasn’t really able to adjust it perfectly. But hey, i have something to wear. All i need now are shorts, i don’t need to make pants it would take too long either way, i could care less about making the shirt a bit loose, the same didn’t go for the shorts.

I did the same thing, started knitting up a simple fixated boy shorts. It fit pretty nicely, it didn’t take that long to make either. 

Ma.. i thank you for teaching me how to make clothes, i let out a small tear. I was thankful, really. Even if getting scolded so much, i wasn’t a let down, each criticism had a definitive reason to be so harsh. It was really useful to have these skills!

I also made a cloak, it was pretty rushed but i was just gonna make it a one-time use for something else.

I left the boar’s leather to cure somewhere, ah found it. There was alot in length, i procured another needle, the thread passed through needle nicely using a bit of my saliva. It should work well for a cloak? There was a lot of material to begin with, should be enough for a pair of boots aswell i’m making later. Marking the areas i was gonna cut. Adding the lace for effect, i split the leather dividing it into several layers securing it, after that i began adding a little tension i passed the thread, every third or fourth i gave it a pull to make it firm. 

I managed to make myself a nice fully operative cloak! It was rustic leather cloak, It somewhat had perceptive abilities to it, Hide Presence 1; Cognitive Disruption 1.

I was able to hide my presence while equipped with the cloak, i tested it out on an animal i spotted earlier, it wasn’t really able to notice my presence until i came into contact. I caught the soft fluffball using one hand, i nudged its cheeks a bit before it kicked me and ran away.

Does nature hate me? Whatever, i wasn’t sure what cognitive disruption did, but i’ll see it later or find out in someway. ⁸Cognitive Disruption makes their practical appearance unrecognizable, like superman costume off and on, lol.

 

 

 

 

 

…

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s been a few hours since i departed, i went through some of the parts in the wetlands. There was rain, a sudden heavy downpour hit me by my hood. 

Ugh..「 Nuclear Visor 」 This should help out a bit, somewhat.. The dense fusion shield formed above my head like an umbrella. I casted it with a low magnitude so it shouldn’t use up that much mana, 10 mp every minute?

I saw the presence of more trees since i arrived here, seems like i was entering a forest? There were trees gathered by the side, an open path was still clear out but i could tell, it was clearly a forest from this density. 

Wet puddles congest into the imperfections on the ground, i’m glad i made boots for this.. Water was splashed everywhere. And there was the occasional unfriendly visitor i would usually beat up, intimidating worked aswell, i wasn’t sure what this one was, it was atleast the size of a goblin, maybe i should join an adventurer’s guild? I was getting good at dissecting stuff on my own.

I came across one of these unfriendlies again, this one was quite strong. I figured i could use appraisal on other things

「Steel Titan Bear, Iron Monarch Tetsukuma」

It was a C-Ranked Magic Beast i think, named too?

Highest stat was strength, Oh wow, 1247? Almost as much as my magic stat. The ten meter tall mammal had skin as hard as steel covering its entire body. Skills weren’t that interesting, the stats, especially its strength, defense were ludicrously high.

「 High Tension Blade! 」

An aura of condensed photons encoats my blade as i readied to strike it, aiming at their lower waist, i prepared to cleave it in half but. 

"?" I was abruptly stopped, not enough! I channeled more of my mana to the spell, pouring to form a finer edge at its aura, it sliced through cleanly, dividing the bear from its torso to legs.

Oh, i also leveled up a bit it seems. This is the first time i've encountered something capable of taking on one of my spells. I had to be more wary from here, the air was growing dense in mana. There's a likelihood stronger magic beasts were dwelling in this place.

The clouds were also trembling kind of allergically to the surrounding mana, violent thunderstorms were occurring, it only intensified the heavy downpour coming from the cumulonimbus.

It was getting hard to see where i was going even, my visor fusion umbrella burned through the rain droplets, turning them into a mist that went up the clouds.

I was wondering, something felt familiar, was the sound something to be wary of? It was eerily reminding me of something. Lightning around the sky was beginning to strengthen itself, trillions of electrons discharged themselves in a constant succession, it was beginning to rampage the surrounding forest.

The sky was rumbling, i could feel the mana in the air crackling with power, it densely confined itself to form an attack. Something bad was approaching! Lightning pierces through the air in less than a second, .. ! I was barely able to dodge that, It grazed me a bit, but i felt like my hp went atleast two digits down. Could've been bad, dangerous.. 

I can feel it, its charging up an attack! Thunder was crackling from its open mouth, Storm hawks?! So that's where it came from! Krkk.. Lightning spread out evenly in the form of a beam, 「Thor's Hammer」⁹

A beam of lightning struck at me, but before it could reach, i'd reflexively put my hand up. Lightning coiled around my fingertips, just like that. It vanished.

Several other beams of lightning showered me from above, i kept running, sidestepping from the buzzing mana’s trajectory. I made a huge leap for one of the hawks, accumulating a large amount of mana, i focus-pointed the tip of my blade, a massive orb of fusion expands at the tip.

「 Giga Flare 」

A wave of accumulated fusion energy assaults the hawk, shooting out to destroy its head. I did it! Guh. An untraceable stun bolt hits me from behind, no more?!

The assault didn't end there, i was barely keeping count but hundreds of thunderbolts were ejected from the flock’s mouth. Guh.. ! 

「 Nuclear Visor! 」

A blue pulsating shield summons itself infront of me, eviscerating any coming bolt in contact, it simply just burned them away. I kicked up my feet as hard as i could, and in a flash, i was sent up in the air.

The hawk seemed pretty confused, sorry but you put yourself into this! 「High Tension Blade!」The same visible yellow aura encoats itself to the sword, before cutting off the hawk's wings. It came off cleanly, slicing it into two pieces with a red hot surface on the place where i cut it.

Not yet! I was stuck mid-air as i looked around, i was showered by an enveloping beam of lightning. It sizzled through my back, the beam knocked me who was blocking my sword, i was left paralyzed in the air, this is getting really bad. Shit, i can't move. 「Energy Absorption」

The shock undid itself, absorbing all the energy undid the stun. Another attack! I was fiercely struck by another attack, this time my senses were flaring at me.. Fire magic! 「Laevateinn!」the unstable burning projectile was detonated creating a large explosion, knocking me away in the process working as expected, i was averted from the beam of lightning closing in, luckily i had no burns thanks to Heat Nullification.

「Creeping Sun」

I brought my pointer finger from my palm open up, a small orb of fusion that grew gradually in size, it easily reached a house from its full size, the orb popped as a massive shockwave clashed with the bolts of lightning imminent on me, cancelling eachother out from their course, both attacks dissipated into the air, another wave of spells came at the time.

I can't dodge this, i'll have to attack aswell! A roaring thunder, it was imminently close.

「 High Tension Blade! 」

"Haa.. !! " Screaming did nothing of the sort to help. My mana reserves were running low, This is my chance.

I precede myself into a stance, delivering a slash vertically to the wave of thunder rushing at me, perfectly cutting it in half. I-i did it! I wasn’t so lucky. Groups of electrical charges advanced towards me, striking me from all sides, 「 Energy Absorption 」.    My body was sizzling with electricity, i was fully capacitive of millions of megajoules, as the energy was running rampant inside of me.

Slowly bringing me to rot, ravaging my body from the inside, i likely won’t be able to use the skill for a while. Things were starting to go downhill.. another?

「 Kanna Kamui 」

 

¹⁰

 Crap. I was welcomed to the face by a loud roaring thunder, There’s no time, i readied my sword as the attack coursed through my weapon, my wielding hand was pulsating with electricity, it wasn’t gonna hold up.

I got lucky, managing to make the lightning change its course, piercing up to the clouds! Ack.. My arm was torn apart instantly, my forearm was left without a wrist. I made my descent into the earth, my body went straight crashing to it, i was sent tumbling in a ragdoll. Shit!

Dangerous, another attack coming from them! I had to get away from here. Body enhancement spells, Faster. I had to get away somehow!

「 Solar Winds 」「 Unstable Dive!」

I cast the spells in tandem, Solar energy came to my aid, my entire frame was bathed in a sickly yellow aura, refreshing me with energy, boosting me by a bit. I kicked my foot, and shot up. The area i was in was left as a crater, then it was struck, the surface was permeated by a huge jolt of lightning magic, the hole was crackling with immense electrical energy, i was horrified if that had been me

I-i i thought i was dead! That was a close one. No.. Another?! 「 Kanna Kamui 」4x .. !

「Unstable Dive!」

I left afterimages as i was flicking my body away, in parallel directions i lunged forward, lightning struck and rocks were sent flying everywhere, it was grazed onto my skin as short traces of electricity clung to me, slightly peeling some of my skin off, as i was ready to absorb it- Another?! 「Unstable Dive」, i started pacing myself as hundreds of aggressive bolts struck the earth, assisting myself with a burst of energy, The flock were not giving me any time to think, i slightly stumbled my feet to the ground, it was shaking, the earth trembled as hundreds, it started proliferating.

The attack numbering from the hundreds of bolts of lightning were amplified by the flock, there were thousands, i couldn’t count the impossibly large amount of bolts ejected, i was struck. 「Energy Absorption!」but that was not enough. The skill had a given limit, probably depending on how much mana i had in count aswell.

The whole air was dense in mana, these flock of birds were dangerous, especially from their count were atleast 30 of these B-ranked Monstrosities!

My back contorted itself, bone was poking out of my shoulderblades, it began healing rapidly, more sets of electricity were sent in my direction, feathers were beginning to make their presence, i had wings again.

I moved back in succession successfully pacing the timing against these bolts, earlier i was able to convert the energy i absorbed into mana. Once again i had more reserves in action! I’ll distribute it carefully this time. My leg was covered in a distorting field of burning, solar energy.

「Blazing Solar Geysers!」¹¹Think of it somewhat like a volcano spewing out lava from its crater, sorry no img.

I soared up in the sky, i went higher, my legs were clenching with force. With precision, i was able to make a quick descent, evading the trajectory of several, counteracting bolts of lightning accelerating to my position, but failing to do so, i kept accelerating further, i was gonna reach the ground.

"HAAA…!!!”

My sole dug into the ground, it began trembling ferociously, geysers of solar energy erupted, the sheer heat emanating was liquefying the ground itself. They came in alternating directions, one of them was caught, their wings were melted, disabling them from their flight, a few were unlucky, unable to move fast enough to get away, several of the unfortunate were caught with their entire bodies covered in magma sizzling at a million degrees celsius.

Piles, gunks of flesh start to plummet, went slumping to the ground. While me, i was fine! I was perfectly fine, i hauled my fist up in the air, as long as i had my wings i should be fi- BOOM.. ! Well.. That didn’t sound good

Nope, i was jinxing myself pretty hard wasn’t i? Krrk.. k.. Crackle.. Yup. Whatever it is, i could tell it wasn’t happy. The clouds were illuminated by a surge, enormous, large amounts of mana were being displaced in those clouds, something big was coming, i was ready, i braced myself, then my senses came by a crash, suddenly my intentions were sorted to something else.. My head was BLARING, telling me to flee, i was being urged, the whole spell was gonna take up the entire surrounding!

I began to regenerate my legs, I need to get away.. NOW!

「Thor's Hammer」「Kanna Kamui」

 Several lightning spells were being thrown around, hundreds of lightning of bolts 「Ekato Keraunos」¹²a vicious amount of lightning bombarded the surrounding environment, i could no longer tell what was going on.

I cast every single defensive spell i had on the line, 「Energy absorption」was pushed past its limits. Plasma began ripping me apart, my joints, torso were being zapped by an internal outbreak of my own energy. Hngh..

 There was nowhere to run away to. Shit. My body began breaking itself apart, as my hp began reducing. 367..

328..  301.. 194.. ! 

「Energy Release!」

The surrounding vicinity was cleared out, traces of electrical affinity scattered in the air, clouds, and earth where charges were present. Pant… T-that didn't do shit.. ?

While  muttering under my breath. I was pushing all my reservations i could to help me out in this, i made futile attempts to restore my health before i was being hit by angry jolts, the flock did not wanna let up.

My sword already ran out of mp.. 800 left.

I had to make this quick. 

「Unstable Dive」

I immediately closed in, i charged up my blade with photons. 「Thor's Ha- Not happening.  mmer 」 My blade cleaved inbetween, a perfectly vertical cut ran across the hawk's body, slicing it in half.