The days after that started to flow into one another. I would dash and twist and turn my bad, moving it as it pleased me until I grew a little bored, then I would spend time with Dixy, learning the language. In the beginning I followed a road I saw and visited a town, but the guards immediately tried to apprehend me, so I ran away.

In the end, whenever I came across another road, I made sure to travel perpendicular to its direction. I never stumbled upon a town or a city. The landscape is really vast and empty, and if you do not follow the roads, the chances of finding a settlement randomly must be miniscule.

I grew accustomed to it and kind of liked it… That is until I grew bored of my time with Dixy. I could now read Dixy from one end to the other without help. I tried just talking with Dixy but in the end, it felt too unsatisfactory. Her replies continued to give me the feeling of not really speaking to a person. Like the responses are predetermined somehow.

It was then I stumbled across a dungeon. I had stumbled across a few, but not wanting anything to do with the insane God, I had ignored them except for hunting for a little bit of food and water. Though I don’t really need it, it is sort of nice to experience the sensation of eating and drinking every once in a while, even if I eventually had to eat everything raw, as my fire-starting kit ran out of the sparking stone.

The thought occurred to me that I would be able to not really mind anything for a while longer, if I procured the magic lessons. I am unsure if Dixy will be replaced with another text inside of her, or if I will get a new book. While thinking of Dixy, I couldn’t very well bring her into the dungeon. My track record shows that all I bring with me gets destroyed… But God is powerful and this place is abandoned. Surely if I leave her here outside the entrance, she will end up just fine.

The next idea I had was… I was going to lose my sword and armor anyway, so I might as well leave everything here. Undressing, I noticed that the color of the leather had faded quite a bit and tears were in it. Compared to that, the cape was strangely pristine and looking as if I had just received it. How did I not notice before? It escapes my mind quickly again and I delve into the dungeon.

Only 20 deaths or so and 135 floors later, I have bested the single monster at the end. It was weird, like a piece of cloth that aimed to seal off my movements, moving erratically and somewhat fast. I beat it eventually after 4 deaths, by repeatedly chopping parts of it off. On my second death, I broke a piece of it off, as it had entangled and was crushing me, and noticed on my next attempt that it was lying on the floor, lifeless. And so it became my strategy to take it down, though it got me two more times, even with a careful “death by a thousand cuts”-strategy.

The rest of the deaths all came from the variant monsters, but it didn’t bother me. In fact, I always felt a little happy hunting them down. I feel like there is a limit to physical workout and strengthening in my body, even in this world, but I know that killing these variants give me the ability to use more magic before running out of steam, so I am certain progress is being made.

I am staring at the staircase leading down. I fear meeting the Goddess. What if she is pissed with me like Ahorn and disintegrates me? The thought terrifies me, which is a bit of a surprise. While wandering a few thoughts popped into my head. About how I was the unlucky one, having to outlive and lose all my loved ones… But I guess ceasing to exist is still scary. There are still many things I’d like to do… And maybe, one day, I will achieve all manner of things I haven’t tried yet. Having a family, raising kids, maybe working a forge could be neat? It looks delightfully exhausting, if I remember correctly.

I steel myself, take a deep breath and descend down the stairs.

Once again, there is an orange orb clad in luminescent vines. I slowly approach and touch it before freezing in place.

“Ahhhh, it’s you! Long time no see! My, you don’t look all that different from last time, what have you been up to?”

The childlike body emerges and starts speaking to me as if I was an old friend. They should not I don’t exactly like them.

“Ahaha, that’s fine, it’s fine! What’s important is what I promised you, right? Magic book, if I remember correctly, now, do you still have the old one”

I left her outside the dungeon, since it would definitely get destroyed if I brought it.

“Nonsense, nonsense! The work of this cutey is quite resilient y’know? It won’t break easily y’know?”

That’s at least nice to know. Then, I wish for-

“Wait what? Did you think of it as a her? A book?” She looks confused. I don’t think that’s wrong. She has kept me company and taught me a lot. As I think this the face of the God starts to look sad.

“You… You’re really lonely aren’t you?”

I am not. I do fine by myself. Especially since there is no one to die on me. Ah, I think I may have an issue.

“Riiight. So, I will just go ahead and fix that book for you, but from one immortal to another, you really shouldn’t cut yourself off from others, y’know? Though it hurts when they are gone, nothing hurts more than when you are alone, y’know?”

She is starting to piss me off. Playing psychologist. The book appears in her hand and a thought dawns on me. If there’s any chance, could you not make her make her more like a person? The book?

“Awww, sweetie….” My thought is immediately met by another pitiable look. I hate it! Stop judging me.

The God appears to be in a bit of thought.

“Tell you what, I will do it, but only a little bit of a time. Make sure to come see me often if you want someone to talk to!” What is this patronizing attitude?

“There, all done. Now, you run along, and be sure to talk to people every once in a while, bye-bye!”

Before I know it I am outside the dungeon again. Shitty God, how dare they fucking judge me like that. Piece of shit.

I look down at the book that mysteriously found itself in my hands. It is more than double the thickness of before, making it really massive. It will be cumbersome to read this while walking.

Fearing the answer a little, I open it up. Lots of patterns and descriptions of how to use them and form them is in here. I take another breath. “Is it still you, Dixy?”

“Oh, hi Yos, let’s learn some magic today, shall we?” The voice is still not that expressive, but there is clearly a tone to it and that way of talking was clearly never heard before.

A smile spreads across my lips.