A few days later, she walked into a plain garden.
This garden was larger than any place she had seen before.
Various flowers covered what seemed like the entire plain.
Red, purple, white, blue, with layers of colors stacked together, stretching from her feet all the way to the distant hills.
Standing at the edge of the garden, she looked for a few seconds.
It was pretty, but only in a fleeting sort of way.
She did not have much of a sense for colors.
Red or blue, there was no difference to her eyes.
What she really needed were flowers with yellow petals, even though she did not know why she liked yellow-petaled flowers herself.
…
Yellow ones were not actually that hard to find.
They grew in scattered patches throughout the garden.
Chara was not picky.
As long as they were yellow, she picked them.
She gathered them handful by handful, holding the yellow flowers against her chest.
Some of the stems had tiny thorns that pricked her fingers and drew blood, but she did not stop.
After picking about a handful worth, she squatted down on the grass and started weaving a flower crown.
She had not really learned how to weave one, but this kind of thing did not seem to require learning.
She just wrapped the stems around each other one by one, intertwining the long ones and connecting the short ones.
Slowly, like this, a circular shape emerged.
After finishing, she looked at the flower crown in her hands.
It was not very pretty.
It was loose in some places and too tight in others.
The yellow petals were squeezed together crookedly, and a few of them were even crushed by her grip.
But she did not care.
As long as she was happy, that was enough.
She lifted the flower crown and placed it on her head.
● You equipped…
a flower crown?
● Wow, that is probably pretty cool?
Isn’t it?
● Your DEFENSE increased by 6.
To be honest, these white words floating in front of her eyes were neither a status panel nor anything she had ever seen.
The words would appear and disappear on their own.
It was like they were talking to her, or just talking to themselves.
She did not even know where these words came from.
It was as if they just floated out beside her, saying strange things, or sometimes saying nothing at all.
She even suspected her brain was broken and she was hallucinating.
But those words always appeared at the right time, reminding her of things she had not noticed, or stating things in a calm tone after she did something stupid.
She also tried to suspect that maybe something was following her.
But this “something” had never harmed her, and had not even tried to scare her.
…
Chara adjusted the flower crown a bit and dismissed the words.
She stood up and looked around.
● It is time to leave here.
She did not know where the next stop would be.
Anyway, she would just keep walking until she could not walk anymore.
That was how she had always lived.
Walking out of the garden, she stepped onto a patch of hard dirt.
The grass grew sparser, and the stones became more numerous.
In the distance, she could see some low hills.
She was walking straight ahead.
Then she stopped.
In the middle of the path ahead, something was floating.
It was a yellow star, about the size of her fist, hovering half a meter above the ground.
!
● You encountered…
a yellow star-like thing?
● You do not know what this is, but it does not seem hostile?
Chara did not move.
She was thinking about whether to go around it or do something else.
But her hand had already reached for the [Broken Knife].
When seeing something unfamiliar, preparing for battle first was a habit that had saved her life more than once.
● Action: Check
● ???
ATK: ???
DEF: ???
Does not look edible…
The Narrator was sometimes really weird.
Weird enough to make her want to hit it.
She hesitated for a second, then raised her knife and chopped down.
● Attack: ???
-99
The star flickered, then shattered into countless tiny specks of light, scattering into the air.
● You won.
You earned 0 XP and…
DETERMINATION…??
0 XP.
Not a monster.
She had killed so many things, whether monsters or humans, and each one gave a little XP.
But this yellow star gave nothing, only giving one word: DETERMINATION.
What is DETERMINATION?
Can you eat it?
Then, two floating blackboard-like buttons with orange text appeared in front of her.
● Save
● Load
She had no idea what these two words meant and did not understand them when put together.
She switched the knife to her left hand, reached out with her right, and touched the [Save] button.
It made a slight click sound, like some kind of machine being triggered.
● Save successful.
Just these words, and then the buttons disappeared.
Nothing changed.
Chara stood there for a moment.
There was no explosion, no injury, and nothing bad happened.
She turned around and walked a few steps back to the edge of the garden.
Then she stopped, walked back to her previous spot, reached out, and touched the [Load] button.
A window popped up.
● Select a load method.
● Body Revert
● Health Revert
● Target Memory Revert (Excluding Self)
● Full Personal Revert
● Item Revert
● Target Revert
Chara looked at these options, reading them word by word.
She could roughly guess what each option meant, but was not entirely sure.
She had not seen the word “Revert” before, but combining it with [Save] and [Load], it was probably an ability to return to a previous state.
She thought for a moment and selected the first one.
Body Revert.
A very small wave passed through her body, and then she found herself standing at the edge of the garden, exactly where she had stood after taking a few steps back just now.
She looked down at her hands, then at the grass beneath her feet.
She had indeed moved locations, returning from where the yellow star disappeared back to the edge of the garden.
She walked back to the yellow star location, selected Body Revert, and was back at the garden edge.
Walked back again, selected it, and was back again.
…
She tested it back and forth five or six times, and the result was the same every time.
As long as she selected Body Revert, her location would return to the point where she saved.
Chara stopped, feeling it was somewhat novel.
She had never seen or heard of this thing.
She did not know why she suddenly had this ability.
But she knew one thing: this ability was useful!
And it did not require killing anything to use.
…
Chara stood in place for a while, committing this to memory.
Then she raised her head and looked around.
She did not know where to go, nor did she know what she would encounter next.
But at least now, she had gained one more thing.
DETERMINATION.
Although she did not know what it exactly was, since the Narrator said it was DETERMINATION, she would just treat it as DETERMINATION.
Chara tucked the [Broken Knife] back into her waist, tugged at the dirty green striped shirt on her body, and took a step towards the hills.
After walking a few steps, she stopped and reached up to touch the flower crown on her head, confirming it was still there.
The yellow petals were already somewhat wilted, and the edges were starting to turn black.
She lowered her hand and continued walking forward.
● Feeling a sense of novelty, the air seems somewhat clear.
You are filled with DETERMINATION.