Inside a simple little wooden cabin, Lara had barely opened her eyes when a girl walked in carrying a bowl of fish soup.
“Anything feeling off?
I made you some soup to warm you up.
You should’ve seen my face when I watched Dad carry a girl off the boat — I thought he’d given up fishing and gone into the human trafficking business.” The girl smiled and handed the bowl to Lara.
Sunlight streaming through the window turned her golden hair brilliant and bright, and even though the soup was still in someone else’s hands, warmth had already found its way into Lara’s chest.
Do people in other worlds just come standard with looks like this?
Lara had spent her entire life in the modern world as a complete loner, practically a stranger to the kindness of strangers.
Against a smile this genuine and open, she had absolutely no defenses.
“Drink it while it’s hot.
I’m Nina — what about you?
What’s your name?
What’s a girl doing running around out in the wilderness all by herself?” …
Oh no.
Lara had spent the entire night running with nothing on her mind but finding another person.
She hadn’t spared a single thought for how she’d explain herself once she actually did.
When it came down to it, a lone girl spending the night outdoors was already suspicious enough — and on top of that, her map showed this area was near the southern coast of the continent, essentially uninhabited for miles around the nearest southern port.
The thought made her nerves pull tight.
“My name’s Lara.
I’m actually an adventurer — I’m in the middle of a challenge to walk all the way south to the port on foot.” ‘Lara?
That sounds made-up if I ever heard one.
Can’t even be bothered to use a convincing fake name while lying.’ Nina watched Lara, who had gone stiff with nerves and was saying the first thing that came to mind — which, in her flustered state, was actually kind of endearing.
After all, if someone really was heading south, this village was essentially the only path through.
Bypassing it meant either the eastern or western mountain ranges, both of which were high enough that a girl alone wouldn’t stand a chance against their dangers.
Still, even the southern port was a considerable distance from the village — so a human turning up alone in the southern forest was strange by any measure.
But that was fine.
As long as she wasn’t a demon or someone dangerous, Nina was happy.
With a face like that, she was more than willing to respect a little personal privacy.
Everyone had their secrets.
“I see.
I’ve already washed your original clothes and hung them out back.
A few branches got to them, it seems — once they’re dry tonight I can patch them up for you.
And here are two outfits of mine; you’re welcome to wear them in the meantime.” Nina picked up a dress from the bedside table.
A perfectly ordinary brown linen skirt, with a ribbon tied in a bow on the side at the waist — all the hallmarks of its owner being a girl in full bloom.
Nina held it up for Lara to see, then set it back down.
“Th…
thank you.” “Rest up for now.
I’ll come get you when dinner’s ready tonight.” Nina said her piece and left the room, leaving Lara alone to take a long, slow breath and ease some of the tension wound tight inside her.
‘Phew.
Thank goodness I got through that.’ Only after Nina had gone did 0083 drift out from within Lara’s body, projecting a map of this world into the air.
“Congratulations, Master — you have successfully exited immediate survival crisis.
According to data provided to me by the Goddess, we are currently situated near the southern coast of the continent.
To the north lie the Southern Nations, which are presently in a state of war; no specific city information or positional markers are available for that region.
Beyond those nations lies the Central Continent — a comparatively peaceful and secure area, home to the headquarters of the Mages’ Association.
I recommend proceeding there for study and training.
Whether your long-term goal is a stable life or accumulating strength to one day conquer the world, it serves as an excellent starting point.” 0083 continued marking the map, charting a route from south toward the center that took the safest terrain possible.
Watching 0083 flit through the air, a suspicion bubbled up in Lara’s mind.
“Hey, 83 — don’t tell me other people can actually see you?” 0083 had never appeared in front of anyone else, only showing itself after Nina had left — that pattern was hard to ignore.
“As you have surmised, Master.
Your retinas are not fundamentally different from those of any other human.
Whatever you can see, other living beings can see just as well.
You may eventually learn magic that renders me visible only to you — but that time is not now.” So she’d have to keep 83 hidden until she could actually protect herself.
Otherwise, being branded as someone carrying valuables and getting mugged wasn’t out of the question.
For Lara right now, establishing self-defense capabilities was the single most urgent priority.
She needed to get a thorough grasp of everything she could actually do.
“Can you identify Nina from here?” “No, Master.
To identify a target, they must be within your field of vision.
The greater the distance, the slower the identification process.” “Can you identify while you’re inside my body?” “That is possible.” Time passed quietly as Lara probed the edges of her abilities.
She pieced together a clearer picture of 0083’s range: it could think and converse — but everything it could visually perceive was, at its core, a form of light manipulation, a branch of the Holy Light Blessing’s development.
Which meant 0083 was essentially capable of carrying out remote-casting services on her behalf.
Metamorphosis currently required 0083’s assistance to use, since Lara had absolutely no way to understand the fundamental composition of other living beings on her own.
But 0083’s analysis function was of the same type as its identification — meaning it could directly analyze the structure of other living beings without contact or ingestion, meaning it could directly analyze the structure of other living beings without contact or ingestion, essentially copying the biological blueprint of other creatures — a scanning eye for biology..
The only downside was how long it took.
For example, learning even the most rudimentary lethal combat spell from scratch — without knowing its underlying principles — would take weeks.
But as her accumulated mana grew, the speed of this analysis and learning would accelerate.
Directly ingesting the biological matter of other creatures sped up the parsing of their information considerably.
And if she wanted to transform into a specific target in a short amount of time, she’d need to consume them almost entirely — which put it squarely in serial killer territory — straight out of a madman’s diary..
And from last night’s experience, Lara had also realized that the Holy Light Blessing was considerably more powerful than she’d imagined.
This wasn’t illuminate-the-dark-of-night power.
This was illuminate-the-whole-world power.
Quantitative change had tipped over into qualitative change — what a glow-up.
Then there was her physical strength.
This body was even more formidable than she’d assumed — she’d outright steamrolled Aura, a demon, on raw physicality alone.
And absorbing other creatures could boost her mana further.
Natural brute strength paired with growing magical ability — she could genuinely cultivate both the martial and magical paths at once.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, the room gradually darkened.
A knock came from beyond the door.
“Miss Lara, are you still awake?
It’s time for dinner.” Nina stood outside.
As the daughter of a fisherman, meals in this house were usually fish soup or dried fish.
But with a guest in the house today, she’d gone next door and traded with the hunter for some game — a rare chance to mix things up for once.
A moment later the door swung open, and what met Nina’s eyes was Lara in the dress — both hands clamped down over the front and back of the skirt, refusing to lift her gaze and let Nina see her thoroughly flushed face.
‘This is not a garment designed for human beings!’ Lara thought, red to the ears.
It was her first time ever wearing a skirt.
The faint whisper of a breeze drifting up from the hem left her deeply uncomfortable.
Nina, however, didn’t share that view one bit.
Moving with the easy familiarity of a fast friend, she cupped Lara’s face in her hands, tilted it up, leaned in close for a good look, then stepped back and gave a small, satisfied nod.
“Hehe — I knew it, so much cuter.
Girls should wear skirts.
It’s way better than that weird thing you had on before.
Consider these two outfits a gift.
A girl has to know how to present herself — looking this cute and not putting in any effort would just be a waste.” “Thank you.” Lara was genuinely grateful to Nina, but somewhere deep inside, the last remnant of her male pride was quietly bleeding out.
And honestly, the school uniform wasn’t that bad — it was modern craftsmanship, at least.
Nina was in excellent spirits today: good food ahead and a pretty face to enjoy the meal with.
Maybe this was what people meant by a life well-lived.
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