“Holy shit!! Why the fuck am I being chased by wolves?!”
Branches whipped across Vivianne’s face as she tore through the dense forest, stumbling over roots and shoving through curtains of wet leaves.
Her lungs were on fire as she pivoted through thick bushes and jagged rocks.
Am I going to die?
For God’s sake, Vivianne was binge-reading the newest webnovel from her favorite author.
It was called ‘The Last Phoenix’s Burning Passions’.
Damn.
The novel sure was packed with shameless smut with lovely male leads.
It was almost 4 AM when she fell asleep and somehow woke up in this strange world an hour ago!
The nightmare began when Vivianne accidentally stepped on a dry twig.
She had been running for what felt like an eternity and now, running for her dear life to avoid becoming the wolves’ lunch.
More pairs of menacing eyes glinted between the trees behind me, joining the pack on her heels.
She glanced over her shoulder.
Then something much larger burst through the trees and sent the smaller wolves scattering.
A gigantic wolf bolted past them.
He was about three times the size of an ordinary wolf.
His unusual navy-blue coat flashed between the branches as he charged straight through the pack, sending all of the smaller wolves away in another direction.
“What the hell?”
The enormous wolf’s head snapped toward her.
Their eyes met.
Something about Vivianne’s scent made his body react strangely.
An unfamiliar heat stirred beneath his fur, clouding his thoughts.
He growled.
“Shit!”
Vivianne pushed herself harder, her legs burning as she forced her aching body onward.
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears, nearly drowning out the snarl closing in behind her.
Then Vivianne burst out of the trees and stopped dead.
A ravine stretched before her.
Tiny stones crumbled beneath her feet and rolled down the steep edge.
It was wide.
Too wide.
Far below, a river twisted through the ravine.
Its surface was barely visible through the mist.
On the other side stood another stretch of dense forest, tantalizingly close and impossibly far.
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”
Her gaze darted to the growling wolf then returned to the ravine.
There was no way around this shitty situation.
Fine.
Vivianne has transmigrated as this novel’s main character.
So that means she was a Phoenix, wasn’t she?
And Phoenix could fly, right?
Vivianne backed up a few steps, took a running start, and leaped.
For one glorious second, she was airborne.
Then she plummeted at breakneck speed.
“AAAAAAAAAH—!”
WHAM!
Vivianne landed face-first on the rocky ledge below.
For several seconds, the pathetic girl simply lay there, cheek pressed against cold stone.
Phoenixes could fly.
They were supposed to be majestic bird creatures, weren’t they?
So why the hell couldn’t I?
Did I transmigrate as a chicken instead?!
A blue pop-up screen suddenly flashed in front of her.
[Ding!]
Was it just her imagination?
Vivianne tried to tilt her head to the left and right and the panel followed her perfectly.
How strange.
Curiosity got the best of her.
She tried to touch the blue panel but suddenly it burned her fingertip!
“Fuck!”
[Initializing the system. Host detected.]
[Welcome, Host! Please enter your name!]
Her finger was still tingling from the burn, but she braced herself to type her name.
Suddenly, blinding flames erupted around her like crimson pillars.
Instead of scorching her, now they felt strangely warm.
The flames began flowing into her body.
Their warmth spread through her until the last flicker disappeared beneath her skin.
What was that?
[Welcome, Host: Vivianne Brandt!]
Suddenly, something small and fluffy popped out before her.
The cream-colored animal was as round as a cloud.
It had a mint-green mane, tiny golden antlers with enormous innocent bright-red eyes that blinked at her.
Its body was adorned with crimson-and-gold flame markings.
Somehow it looked like a divine beast someone had turned into a sheep plushie.
[Activation completed!]
[Welcome, Host! You have successfully been reborn as The F-Rank Sinister Phoenix in the Beast World! My name is Kirin, your personal heavenly guide. Nice to meet you!]
Sinister?
Why the hell am I called the Sinister Phoenix?
Vivianne gawked at the fluffball’s words.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean? I need to double check!”
She had only been in this world for an hour!
Barely knew where she was, let alone why everyone—or apparently the System—thought she was some sinister Phoenix.
Kirin squealed a tiny, cheerful “Piii!” then bounced excitedly on her little hooves.
She perched on Vivianne’s shoulder and showed her a blue hologram screen.
[Vivianne Brandt]
[Age: 23]
[Current: F-Rank Phoenix]
[Race: Phoenix]
[Bloodline: ???]
[Beauty: -10%]
She blinked at the pathetic status.
Vivianne knew people who got transmigrated into worlds like this always had such a system.
But seeing how pathetic her stats made her want to crawl into a hole.
She didn’t know whether she should cry or laugh.
And why did I have to have -10% beauty?
In my past life, I was the type of person that took great care of my appearance.
Curious, Vivianne decided to try to catch a glimpse of her reflection against the river.
Okay, -10% was way too generous.
To be honest, this pitiful face was a solid -60%.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host! As a reward from saving people in your past life, upon your transmigration, you have unlocked special skills that will help you to improve your stats.]
[Healing Lv. 1 – Accelerates the recovery of minor injuries.]
“Is this some kind of a joke? I am a Phoenix, am I not? Then why can’t I fly?”
Vivianne tried to scroll down the status window.
[Phoenix Transformation: Unavailable]
[Flight: Unavailable]
[How to Unlock: ???]
“Great. I wasn’t any better than a hopeless chicken then. An ugly chick.”
The Ugly Chickling.
Fantastic.
My transmigration story was already writing its own damn title.
[Main Story Quest Unlocked!]
[Collect Your Husbands ♡]
[Husbands Collected: 0/5]
[Main Quest: Locate the first husband!]
[Progress: 0/1]
[Rewards: Beauty Stats and Evolution Points]
“My… WHAT? Why five?”
Is this some kind of Pokemon?
Gotta husband ’em all?
And why did it have that annoying heart sign?!
Vivianne never even got married before.
And now she has to collect husbands.
Five of them to be exact.
This must be a dream.
Someone must be playing a prank on Vivianne.
Where is the stop button?
Now was the perfect time to wake up.
Okay, but those rewards were nice.
Something she really needed right now.
This F-rank female lead was downright hideous.
Her tangled hair was a complete mess.
There was even soot smeared across her cheeks.
Vivianne’s skin was pale and dull, with dark blemishes scattered across her cheeks.
Nothing like the gorgeous heroine the author had featured on the novel cover.
Has she ever even bothered to take care of herself?
Was the author a scammer, or did she go nuts with the cover?
Vivianne has to get those rewards.
The best course of action was to use whatever skills the System had granted her.
So she pressed her trembling hands against her injured legs and tried the healing spell.
[Healing Lv.1]
A faint warmth spread through Vivianne’s legs.
The pain eased slightly, but that was about it.
The wounds stopped bleeding, though they were far from healed.
“Seriously? That’s all?”
Still, it was better than nothing.
The navy-blue wolf stood on the other side of the cliff, howling as he looked down at her.
Somehow, the enormous wolf had cleared the ravine in a single leap.
Unlike a pathetic flightless Phoenix.
For several seconds, the wolf tilted his head at Vivianne as if he were trying to figure her out.
There was something about her that made his instincts restless, though he couldn’t understand why.
Before he could make sense of it, the wolf suddenly turned and darted into the dense forest, disappearing between the trees.
[Ding!]
[Main Quest: Locate the First Husband completed!]
[Progress: 1/1]
[Rewards: +4% Beauty, +15% Evolution Points]
“Whaaaat?! Don’t tell me that huge wolf is my first husband! Am I supposed to marry an animal?!”
She stared at the forest where he had disappeared.
Vivianne groaned and turned toward the ravine.
She had bigger problems to deal with first.
She climbed back up the steep ravine.
Gripping exposed roots and rocks until she finally reached the top.
The giant wolf was nowhere in sight.
For the first time since Vivianne had arrived, she could breathe.
Unfortunately, she had no idea where she was.
She wandered through the forest for several hours, following one path after another, only to find herself deeper among the trees.
The sunlight had begun to fade, and the forest looked completely different now.
Shadows stretched between the trees, while strange rustling sounds came from somewhere in the undergrowth.
“It’s impossible! I just want to go home already! I don’t even know where to begin looking for him.”
Her legs finally gave out.
Vivianne nearly passed out from exhaustion.
Kirin fluttered beside her, her tiny brows knitting together in concern.
“Are you sure about giving up, piii?”
Then—
[Ding!]
[Host has expressed an intention to abandon the Main Story Quest.]
[Confirmation Required.]
[Are you certain you wish to abandon the Main Story Quest? <YES>/<NO>]
A new line of text appeared beneath it.
The words glowed blood red, stark against the fading light, like an ominous warning.
[Penalty: Horrible Death]