Experience has reached multiple breaking points. [Young Garm, Saori Segawa] has risen from [Level 0] to [Level 3] Attributes have increased due to level up Acquired 450 skill points Multiple acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Mana Control Lv. 1] [Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 1] [Evasion Lv. 1] [Acrobatic Lv. 1] [Cooking Lv. 1] [Dismantle Lv. 1] [Physical Resistance Lv. 1] [Pain Resistance Lv. 1] acquired Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Enhanced Fang Lv. 2] [Physical Resistance Lv. 2] [Pain Resistance Lv. 2] gained You have bought [Arcane Mind Lv. 1]. Your current SP is 100 Primal Senses: An ancient skill that grants the user full usage of their senses at their highest potential. A combination of multiple skills that are inherited by a being related to an ancient beast. The skills combined are: [Enhanced Vision Lv. 10] [Enhanced Olfactory Sense Lv. 10] [Enhanced Auditory Sense Lv. 10] [Enhanced Gustatory Sense Lv. 10]

["That is the description, Ms. Segawa.”]

[“Interesting. So, that would make my “cheat” ability related to the five senses minus somatosensation.”] I said with a sigh. [“Hmmm, it does seem rather disappointing if we were to compare it to [Draconic Magics] or even [Primal Magics].”]

Ever since I’ve decided to travel with Miss Dragon, a month has now gone by. Mine and her “Age” has increased by one at the same time, so it seems like I was born 4 months after her.

After evolving, I ‘ve decided that it would benefit me to learn how to fight. I’ve inconvenienced Miss Dragon for too long now, riding what she calls the “Carry Train”.

I went into the first fight of my life, uhh I mean, lives with optimism, but the fight itself was a complete disaster. I was able to learn a few skills, but I couldn’t possibly count how many times Miss Dragon had to use [Minor Heal] or even [Modest Heal] to keep me alive.

Frankly, I nearly died once or twice. Urgh, it was horrible.

That’s why I’m crestfallen to learn that my skill isn’t helping me become a better combatant, compared to Miss Dragon’s [Draconic Magics].

Miss Dragon tried to reassure me that my [Primal Senses] is a powerful scouting and detection skill. I can’t disagree, but it still feels redundant with skills like [Enhanced Enemy Sense] and [Detection Sensor].

[“Anyways, enough about me. How is your transformation?”]

[“Feels good. My voice has gotten clearer, and my pitch is improving steadily.”]

Miss Dragon's appearance is now that of a 7-year-old girl when she uses her [Humanize] skill. Her body is completely wrapped by a shimmering coat of black scales, and most of the bone plates have disappeared. Ever since that skill became [Humanize Lv. 5], her features have started to resemble more like a young human girl, than a lizard girl.

She was most happy about her hair returning but complained that without hair care products, it would be difficult to take care of them. Her hair has already gotten a bit messy, but it really would be a shame if her black hair would lose its current luster.

Showering, using the limited amount of water from her storage, can only help that much.

She wanted to level [Humanize] up to level 10, but it seems the System is not allowing her, despite her abundance of SP.

[“It is still surprising that you were a little girl. I had you much older in my imagination.”]

["As I said, I was 15 years old when I died! I can't help it that my skill turned me into a seven-year-old kid!"]

[“I’m happy you’re feeling much better now.”]

I chuckled at her childish outburst.

I would also like to note, that she acts more like a child in this form. Teasing her is quite a lot of fun, especially now that her facial expressions are extremely discernable.

[“Please don’t treat me like a kid.”]

Miss Dragon vented her frustration of being treated according to her new age. I could only smile peacefully at this display.

[“Anyways, dinner is ready.”]

Due to my bad fighting results, we have decided that it would be smart to prioritize Miss Dragon’s evolution now. To not feel useless, I requested to take care of cooking duty. It’s a grueling job to cook with my current new body, making me wish for my own [Humanize].

Not only do I not have tools to do proper, quality work, I also do not have any hands to even imitate the cooking process I did in my past life.

My garm body is can’t grab things properly and I need to use my mouth to hold and grab the ingredient for our dinner. It’s such an embarrassment to my past life as a home cook, considering how unsanitary my cooking conduct it. Then again, I have to cook without proper hygiene and also on the ground on a wooden plate Miss Dragon made for me. My pride as a home cook is long gone.

Besides that problem, there is also the fact that we don’t have proper knives to cut the protein and the other ingredients. Our claws are our only hope. My claws are not sharp and precise enough, so I need Miss Dragon’s help here to slice the pieces into correct sizes. I can see that she has some experience in the kitchen. Good.

Aside from that, cooking is pretty interesting when you have the System helping you. [Cooking] gives you a detailed explanation how to properly cook. Which angle to cut meat, how short must you cut the vegetables, how much should you season, how hot should the pot be? Those sorts of instructions. It even alerts you when the water has reached the temperature you wanted. It is incredibly convenient. It gets more precise the higher its level. It’s absolutely essential.

Venison Herb Soup: A soup made with herbs and venison meat. The broth was thickened with a slime's gel and the various herbs and spices help to extract the meat's juices and essence, mixing in the broth to create a rich flavor

[“Yay~”] Miss Dragon began clapping, showing a bright smile. [“Thank you for the food!”]

[“I hope you will like it. Without the proper equipment, I’m not sure if everything came out perfectly.”]

Hearing me say that, Miss Dragon glared at me with a glint of envy and spoke.

[“Eh, what are you saying? Your [Cooking] skill is only level 1 and you’re already a better cook than me. Eating your food makes me feel both happiness and defeat. It feels even worse when I’m reminded that you’re doing all of this as a garm…”]

Despite complaining, she scooped up some broth and meat with her wooden spoon, which she made herself. Once in her mouth, her eyes fully widened in pleasure.

[“Mhmm, exquisite.”]

Adorable.

[“I am glad to hear that. I was not sure that it would work but this [Slime Gel] functions exactly like a thickener for soup. Having the same taste and texture as gelatin means it will not obstruct the other tastes. Very useful.”]

[“…I wish I could forget this was made with slime gelatin. Does every single slime look like an eldritch monster? Must the rank E and F ones also look like crawling horrors?”]

[“…You nearly burned down the forest again.”]

Her current appearance might be deceptive, but this girl is a walking inferno. If she can’t control herself then I might be in danger of getting burned!

It feels weird to think that this girl was only a 15-year-old idol girl in her past life. Her dedication to keeping up her idol training, despite being stranded in a forest, made me fond of her. She certainly reminds me of a couple of my own students.

It did surprise me that the concept of an “idol” was that popular outside of Japan and South Korea when she told me about her past life. Well, I guess I shouldn’t have been that startled. I heard that is was trending worldwide.

As a 26-year-old teacher, keeping myself updated on the current trends is an important trait.

[“Speaking of monsters, our luck has not been that good. D rank monsters are quite rare.”]

Miss Dragon guessed that she only requires one more level to evolve. However, our progress has been fairly slow, only finding E rank monsters and lower. Neither D nor C ranks have appeared yet.

[“It has been like that ever since I entered the forest.”] Miss Dragon closed her eyes and opened them again, having given the issue some thought. [“Your garm mother not only evolved to a C rank but also reached level 28 within 2 months. I’ve no idea how she did that. It can’t be from hunting E ranks.”]

[“Miss Dragon.”] Noticing something, I spoke up. [“It is just a guess, but could the reason for the lack of strong monsters be the presence of those garms?”]

Tilting her head to the side, my scaly companion asked me to clarify.

[“With how much difficulty you had with fighting my garm mother, could we not speculate that the pack killed most of the stronger monster, while also scaring off the rest? A territorial dispute that leads to a migration of monsters away from the area."]

Like a light bulb turning on above her head, Miss Dragon nodded in agreement.

[“Tomorrow will definitely be the day we get lucky, Ms. Saori!”]

I merely said “Maybe” and continued eating, until we were both full and ready for sleep.

Acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Prediction Lv. 1] acquired

*******************

Acquisition requirement fulfilled. [Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 1] acquired You have bought [Dark Magic Lv. 1]. Your current SP is 50 Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Dark Magic Lv. 1] evolved into [Dark Magic Lv. 2]. 0 SP remaining Magic gained: [Dark Bolt] [Dark Tendrils]

[“Ha ha! I knew we would get lucky! Oh boy!”]

[“Why are you happy because of this?! This is a disaster!”]

[“What do you mean a disaster? Finally, my chance to evolve. How could I not be happy?”]

Urgh, I forget sometimes that this girl can be incredibly reckless. Is it arrogance due to her strength or is she like this for real? Hearing her laugh so merrily that she finally found a strong monster, can only mean that she enjoys this. Fighting I mean. That is not a cute part of her.

Speaking of other things that aren’t cute about her, it's her habit of being stubborn. She can be flexible, as she can learn and adapt new ideas and strategies if it is proven that hers aren’t as effective, but before that happens, she will firmly stand up for her plans, once she finished planning it.

I know I’m in her debt but dragging me into these sorts of battles is not pleasant.

[“Alright, alright. I bought what you wanted me to, so can you do something, please! I cannot keep this up any longer!”]

Her plans demanded me to buy [Dark Magic] and level it up, so I’m broke again. I have never used magic before, just for your information.

[“Got it~”]

Oh my, this is not what I was expecting to do today. I didn’t think what we did yesterday could be called “setting a flag” but that seems to be what we did.

We couldn’t find any monster Miss Dragon wanted to fight this morning. Due to feeling hungry during noon, we started preparing for lunch but that was when a monster appeared in the area. Now, we are getting chased by this very monster.

While wheezing, I turned my head around to see Miss Dragon engaging the monster using magic. Knowing that the monster will be preoccupied, I took my chance to catch my breath, recovering a little bit of my used stamina.

[“Ms. Segawa just remember the magic explanation I gave you and use [Dark Tendrils] to keep this thing in check. Be careful of overusing spells and accumulating too much arcane corruption!”]

Understood! …Is what I would like to say but this isn’t the time to use any of my limited mana pool on [Telepathy]. I just need to concentrate on learning how to cast spells.

Oh right, what was the profile of this monster again?

Monster's Status Board Profile: Name: * Level: 0 Race: Rock-Skin Horned Grizzly Age: 10 Years Status: Health: 2342/2342 Mana: 111/111 Strength: 1151 Intelligence: 129 Vitality: 1403 Wisdom: 1284 Agility: 641 Stamina: 1169/1380 Effects: None Skill: Magic skills and related

[Mana Control Lv. 1]

Physical skills and related

[Stamina Strike Lv. 4]

[Mana Strike Lv. 2]

[Sundering Enhancement Lv. 2]

[Piercing Enhancement Lv. 1]

[Crushing Enhancement Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Claws Lv. 5]

[Enhanced Fangs Lv. 5]

Senses and Movement skill

[Stealth Lv. 1]

[Prediction Lv. 3]

[Danger Perception Lv. 4]

[Probability Correction Lv. 1]

[Enhance Enemy Sense Lv. 4]

[Tracking Lv. 2]

[Night Vision Lv. 7]

[Presence Killer Lv. 2]

[Evasion Lv. 2]

[Acrobatic Lv. 1]

[Terrain Maneuvering Lv. 2]

Resistances

[Physical Resistance Lv. 6]

[Pain Resistance Lv. 5]

[Bleed Resistance Lv. 1]

[Poison Resistance Lv. 3]

[Paralyze Resistance Lv. 4]

[Torpor Resistance Lv. 1]

[Fire Resistance Lv. 2]

[Earth Resistance Lv. 4]

[Wind Resistance Lv. 4]

Stat growths and related

[Health Recovery Lv. 4]

[Stamina Recovery Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Health Growth Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Health Capacity Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Strength Growth Lv. 3]

[Enhanced Strength Enforcement Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Vitality Growth Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Vitality Enforcement Lv. 2]

[Enhanced Wisdom Growth Lv. 4]

[Enhanced Wisdom Enforcement Lv. 2]

[Enhanced Agility Growth Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Agility Enforcement Lv. 1]

[Enhanced Stamina Growth Lv. 3]

[Enhanced Stamina Capacity Lv. 1]

Others

[Terror Aura Lv. 2]

[Dismantle Lv. 3]

[Starvation Lv. 6]

Rock-Skin Horned Grizzly A bear type monster with skin as tough as rock. Despite its bulky physique, it can keep up with most monsters due to its body's ability to accelerate to high speeds in a straight line. Both the fur and skin of this monster show extraordinarily defense to physical and magical abuse. Its meat is tough and hard to chew. Rank C

Miss Dragon mentioned that my garm mother was so much stronger, compared to this bear, which means that my hypothesis could be correct…which also means that more C rank monsters might appear in the forest now, now that the top hunter died! This is a disaster!

“Kraaaaaah!”

“Groaughhhh!”

In her dragon form, she doesn’t seem to have any trouble against the monster. She’s a competent magician, and with a high Intelligence stat and Mana amount, she can avoid close combat and fully dedicate herself to keeping a distance and flinging spells from a safe area. She is the natural predator to this bear.

[“Tsk, this bear’s skin is so hard. Not even my spear spells are able to pierce him.”]

I wanted to complain, “It’s still doing damage, though.”, but this isn’t the place nor time to do that. I’ve rested enough. I should start helping out, already.

Miss Dragon needed me to use the spell [Dark Tendrils] to prevent the monster’s movements. She gave me a brief breakdown of how to use magic, while we ran, but learning how to do something as complex as magic for the first time in my life, in a very nerve-wracking battle is not ideal at all. I can complain as much as I want, but this is really not the time to do that! Come on, Saori, you need to focus!

Alright, do exactly how she explained it to you. Imagine the spell you want to cast. Imagine the shadows under the bear and imagine controlling tendrils growing out of the shadow, snaring the bear with them. Direct your mana towards an exit path and have it mold itself into the tendrils.

Huh?

Words full of letters I’ve never seen or heard before began rushing through my head. Miss Dragon never mentioned this.

Could this be a spell chant? Should I ask Miss Dragon about it? Or should I try to read it? I feel that something is compelling me to do so. That it’s correct to read these words.

Slowly going through and deciphering each individual word, I began reciting the whole text, making good progress.

“Mgrraaaaaaaaaaaouh!”

[“No! Ms. Segawa, open your eyes! Terra Wall!”]

I could hear something crashing into and breaking a stone wall. The fight is getting more intense, the longer I stay like this. I need to hurry up. Reciting it is difficult.

[“Segawa-san!”]

Huh?

Hearing somebody call my name, I opened my eyes in surprise. In the next second, something picked me up by the scruff of my neck and pulled me away from what seems to be a truck crashing into a tree.

“Wruf?!”

“Grahhhhhhhhhh!”

[“Scheiße, that was close. Are you ok?!”]

[“Wh-What happened?!”]

[“The bear noticed that weird magic circle for your spell. It was close, but that bear nearly ran you over in a very cliché, anime way. Pay attention to your surroundings while you are casting!”]

Miss Dragon’s voice sounded like she was in a panic, when she scolded me about my mistake. I gulped and stared in shock at the devastated tree, imagining myself in its place, now a bloody pulp.

[“You need to get your shit together, now! We’re in a fight here. Inferno Blast!”]

With that said, Miss Dragon released me from her mouth and reentered into the fight, leaving me flabbergasted with what just happened there.

This…spell casting is harder than I thought. The amount of focus needed for magic casting is staggering, not to mention that chanting requires my full attention, which leaves me vulnerable.

This won’t do. How am I supposed to cast a spell without putting myself in harm’s way?

Hmm. I can’t figure it out. Should I ask Miss Dragon? She’s intensely involved in her duel against the bear and I don’t wish to interrupt her focus. Maybe it’s better to leave her be and continue figuring a plan.

Tch, no that would be a waste of time. Miss Dragon is counting on me to be able to support her attack. I have to ask!

[“Miss Dragon, how am I supposed to deal with the chant? I cannot divert my attention while reciting the words that are streaming in my head.”]

[“Woah, uhh, uhhh. Give me a second!”] Oops, that was bad timing. I should apologize later...

After blowing the grizzly away with [Earth Crash], she glanced over at me.

[“Uhh…have you tried using your senses. [Primal Senses]. Maybe rely on them to improve [Enhanced Enemy Sense] effectiveness? Sorry, I don’t have any experience with chanting at all.”]

Urgh, that really isn’t helpful. Relying on my senses…will that really work? I might as well try.

[“I’ll rely on your help, Miss Dragon.”]

[“I’ll keep you safe. Just snare him up and I’ll be able to take him down with one hit!”]

With those words, she gave me a thumbs up to encourage me.

Ok. Let’s do it again. Imagine the spell. Imagine what you want to do with it. Direct the flow of mana. Recite the chant.

“Mrrrggrrrrouh!”

[“Oh no, you don’t! Earthern Shackles, Flame Explosion.”]

“Grrrouh.”

[“Verdammt, the shackles can’t harden when they haven’t snared him yet. I gotta rely on the explosions then! Flame Explosion, Flame Explosion, Flame Explosion!”]

Explosions? Successive explosions that are getting louder and louder. Is the bear charging towards me?

…The sensor! The sensor is giving me a signal!

Proficiency requirement fulfilled. [Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 1] evolved into [Enhanced Enemy Sense Lv. 2]

[“Scheiße!”]

…Dodge now!

“Grouf.”

“Mgrrrrrouhhhhh!”

…The spell is finished! Dark Tendrils!

“Mgrrr?!”

The spell is working! Pitch-black tendrils emerged from the shadow of the bear and started constricting themselves around the bear, sapping him from the strength to move freely.

[“Nice work! Earthern Shackles.”]

Once the spell was cast; long, slithering ropes made from earth formed from the earth and started to snare around the bear’s legs and head, hardening once they stopped moving.

Without the freedom of movement, which he lost due to my [Dark Tendrils], he won’t have the strength to break through these shackles. The bear is being mummified by our two spells.

[“Thank you for being so obedient and staying still! The show is about to end! Have a taste of my newest spell…Scorching Sun!”]

A small sphere of flame began to materialize above Miss Dragon; its heat intensity and size rapidly grew ever larger, until that once minuscule flame has reached its final stage. Fitting its name [Scorching Sun], a massive ball of intense fire fell down upon the bear monster, ending its misery near instantaneously.

The spell demanded a very long materializing time, but for that power? Definitely worth it.

[“…That was a bit…too much?”]

[“Yup, that was overkill but I can evolve now, so who cares.”] Miss Dragon added. [“You know, now that I think about it, it would have been better for you to kill him, so you could level up easier. I literally only got 1 level for killing a C rank monster.”]

Considering the difference between our ranks, that might be true but…

[“I wouldn’t have even been able to hurt it…”]

[“Who knows but come on, be more cheerful! We fucking took down a C rank monster, yay! Ahahah, come on, come on!”]

Turning back into her human form, she picked me and began swinging and flinging all around the place.

The sight of a little girl playing around with her pet dog might come to mind, but, unfortunately for me, being swung around with Miss Dragon’s monstrous strength means you lose all hope of escaping this pendulum of doom.

[“Kya, please stop swinging me around! We-We can celebrate but please stop swinging…Do-Don’t throw me up! Eeeek! Waaaaaaaaaaah!”]