A few minutes later, I could already see that what we were approaching was, in fact, not a village as I’d predicted. Instead, it seemed like a black patch in the grass. It had my attention as I had no idea what this could be.

“I can see it now,” Cellestra said.

“It doesn’t appear to be a village, though,” I replied.

“Oh?”

“It seems to be an area where the grass is black. I have no idea what it is.”

“Black grass?” The elf asked, visibly confused.

I nodded. “Even I can’t see it properly yet.”

I continued running and soon had to change my mind. It wasn’t a black patch of grass. Rather, it appeared to be a crater. I was getting mildly excited at the prospect of checking it out. I had seen a drawn picture of one before, but to see it with my own eyes was something else entirely.

The main reason for my excitement stemmed from something from my old life. These craters were caused by falling stars hitting the world. Some of these were filled with rare metals that seemed to have magical properties. Weapons made from these metals, often referred to as star metal weapons, were exceptional in combat.

I couldn’t believe that I used to want to have one of those. It was hard to imagine that the usual weapons had become fairly useless to me. Still, I was secretly hoping I’d find something here. This was far enough off the road that nobody might have found this. Then again, I had no idea how long it had been since whatever hit the ground here, did so.

“Do you have any weapons like that?” I asked.

“What are you talking about?” Cellestra asked, after tilting her head.

“Oh sorry,” I apologized. “That must be one of the times I didn’t speak my mind. I was thinking about how in my old world, we had exquisite weapons crafted from the metals of fallen stars.”

“Uhh,” Cellestra let out. “I have no idea. That’s not something I’ve ever thought about.”

“I can imagine. I doubt it’s something you would encounter.”

“I can see you’re pretty excited about it,” Cellestra continued. “Like, it’s obvious you want to have some kind of weapon in your hands again. Have you thought about what it would be yet?”

“I was thinking about a halberd,” I said, maybe a bit too quickly. It was hard to contain my excitement about this. “It has excellent reach, I have the strength, and it’s multi-functional.”

“Sounds like you’ve already thought about this a fair bit.”

“I have. Now imagine if I could make it from star metal. It’s like a dream come true!”

Cellestra smiled widely. “I have no idea what that is, but it sounds like it’s something that would make you happy.”

“I hope this world works the same in that regard,” I noted.

“How far is it the same?” Cellestra asked. “That you can tell, that is?”

“Hmm,” I let out as I thought about it deeper. “I mean, what I have seen so far isn’t anything new. I guess the deviation is that my magic isn’t the same kind that this world uses. I, in return, seem to be unable to learn pieces of this world’s magic. At least, that’s my conclusion after not being able to read that spell scroll.”

“That does seem like a fair conclusion,” Cellestra concluded.

Soon enough, we neared the crater. We finally reached it a few minutes later and I stopped at the edge. The impact was about six feet in diameter, and at first glance, there was no trace of the object that had created this.

That didn’t make me give up hope. I walked into the crater and started poking at the dirt in the center with my pedipalps. To my excitement, I could feel a hard object in the dark dirt and quickly unearthed it. Once I had dug it up, I was staring at a chunk of what looked like rock, covered in dust from the dirt.

I didn’t have a piece of metal with me to check if this object would make the iconic metal sound when tapped with other metal, but I did have a good alternative at my disposal. Without either of us saying a word, I walked back into the grass, dropped the object that I’d picked up with my front two limbs, and summoned a pressurized stream of water to clean the apparent semi-spheric rock.

When I did so, a metallic surface came into view. It was riddled with holes like cheese along the outlines. The colors that made up the metal put a smile on my face. In the metal, I could see blue and white veins that glowed faintly before dimming to then glow faintly again.

“It’s beautiful,” Cellestra commented from behind me, leaning to the side.

“We call this star metal. I don’t know if there is a name, or even use for it in this world. I hope there is. I’ve never held it, or even seen it in its natural form, but this glowing aspect of it doesn’t change. Even after forging it, the veins are still present in the finished product. That part alone already makes it appealing to certain customers.”

“I can imagine,” Cellestra said, still full of awe. “I have to admit, it would be fitting for you to have a weapon made from this stuff.”

“What. Because of my rear?”

The elf giggled at my bluntness.

“Well, yeah.”

“I can’t believe we actually found some. Do you realize how lucky we are to find this?”

“I have no idea,” Cellestra said. “But your expression does give me an indication.”

I nodded. “I certainly know of the value that this stuff has, so yes, that is probably a good indication. I hope we can get this refined sometime. Though, first up comes the other issue.”

I placed the chunk of metal on the linen bag behind me and summoned a few more threads to ensure I wouldn’t lose it along the way. After a brief stop, we were on our way again, one chunk of rare star metal richer.

For the second day in a row, all that was around us were grassy plains. Very little variation occurred in the landscape besides the low hill every now and then. The most noticeable thing we came across was probably a herd of wild horses. I was amused to see them staring at me, albeit from a safe distance. Cellestra was holding in giggles of her own as the creatures all turned to face me as I passed through the area.

“Are you any good with animals?” I asked after we passed them. “I mean, other than spiders of course.”

“I honestly don’t know. I never had a more… conventional pet like a cat. I wouldn’t know how my cu— …ailment would affect them, either.”

I shrugged. “To be fair, doesn’t it affect others more than you? At least when talking about those effects?”

“That’s true, I suppose,” Cellestra said. “But I wouldn’t want to be responsible for a pet being attacked and killed by the local wildlife.”

“Oh,” I said as I realized what she meant. “Yeah, I see.”

“It doesn’t mean I wouldn’t like one, though. It’s just that I never saw myself as being in the position to support one.”

“That’s fair.”

Silence fell over us for a few minutes before I came up with a new question that continued on our latest topic. “What would your favorite animal be?”

“Goddess, I don’t know. I think… cats? Is that too generic of an answer?”

I smiled. “Not at all. Kittens would always bring a smile to my face.”

“It’s been too long since I’ve seen any,” The elf replied. “I would love to pet one again.”

I thought Cellestra did it without paying attention, but I could feel her hand run over my soft hair on my cephalothorax.

“You know I can’t purr, right?” I said with a grin.

“Oh,” She let out, her hand stopping the movements. It remained on my soft fur, however. “What’s yours?”

“I would say a horse, but kittens are great too.”

“Let me guess, because of their use for battle,” Cellestra said with a sly smile.

“Well, yes, but they are also quite smart.”

“I wonder what they thought when they saw us pass through,” Cellestra referred to the horses from earlier.

“Who knows? At least they were smart enough to stay away,”

“Or dumb. If they knew you better they would know you’re completely harmless.”

“I guess that’s true, in a way, as well,” I said.

We continued our journey through the plains until evening was upon us. I could see the green treetops and brown trunks of a forest far away in the distance, but we wouldn’t quite reach that far before nightfall. It would seem our journey would take us through yet another forest the next day. For now, we decided to make camp here while we were still out in the open.

I sat down and summoned my flame spell while unloading some stuff from my back. I also placed the star metal chunk on the grass where its glowing veins and reflective surface shone beautifully in the flickering firelight.

Once the bag was placed on the grass Cellestra started rummaging through its contents for dinner. The elf handed me an apple and I absent-mindedly accepted it while thinking. I started contemplating how to convey my feelings for her. I was more than a little nervous, but now would be the time to clear things up.

I could do this.