For the first time in her new life, Kaltyr suspected that she was going to die…because if she didn’t explode from happiness, she had no idea where it would all go!

Atop the riverbank, the sweaty, exhausted girl jumped and twirled with joy, extending her arms upward and shouting with what she could only describe as extreme jubilation.

-General Skills-

-Class Specific Skills-

???

Magic Sense Lvl: 0

Small Projectile Throwing Arts Lvl: 2

Fishing Lvl: 1

Although Kaltyr experienced much glee when her throwing arts leveled up to 1, she could think of nothing that could top the euphoria she felt when not only her throwing arts leveled again, but she gained the Fishing skill at level 1 at the same time! Practicing for what felt like hours was completely worth it! Though, she knew not why she received Fishing at level 1 instead of 0 like the other two she had, but she also didn’t care.

After a minute, the lass calmed down in order to catch her breath. Celebrating her achievements was exhausting.

“Although my right hand is out of commission for a while, I found a two-for-one water and food source, and leveled the necessary skills to catch the food!”

With a silly grin plastered on her face, Kaltyr took out her pocketknife.

“Although the fish have mostly fled this area, there are still a few big enough to hit. Plus, I think I got Fishing from hitting and/or killing a few with rocks. I’ll probably be able to collect their bodies. Not exactly a meal fit for a queen, but enough for a night!”

She opened her knife and took a stance, feeling no different from before she had the throwing arts and fishing skills, but willing to place her trust in them. A moment passed as she zeroed in on the biggest fish she could see and took a long, slow breath. Taking into consideration how light refracted, Kaltyr swung her arm and flicked her wrist, throwing the blade at where she calculated the fish to be.

Too tired to cheer, the girl only smiled as her knife sunk into the innocent creature, its momentum pushing the fish down to the riverbed. Then, she stepped into the water to retrieve what food she could find.

“Oh, so there was a fish corpse lying around here! Luck-“

Kaltyr’s observations were suddenly cut off when her attention was pulled elsewhere—specifically, to the sky.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.”

Again, the color of the sky almost appeared to be washed away as the dark green of the last couple hours was replaced by a, somehow more ominous, dark blue hue.

“Seriously, what the hell? I get the feeling that the sky should naturally be blue, but…this still doesn’t seem right. At all.”

Kaltyr’s back even shivered at the foreboding impression she received when she stared up at the heavens.

“Yeah, screw it. I don’t like how all this feels. Time to head back. I’m not taking my chances.”

Encouraged by the veil of mystery shrouding the secrets behind the color swapping of the sky, Kaltyr quickly did her best to dry her legs before putting on the cargo pants. She didn’t want to dirty any of her pockets, so she elected to simply carry the two fish in her hand. Though, she wasn’t happy about it, because she could only safely use her left hand to carry them, meaning she might have to drop her food if she ended up needing to defend herself.

“And I only have so much water to use for all of my needs. I don’t want to have to waste some to wash the dirt off my food!”

Sighing, Kaltyr began her trek back, climbing the gradual slope to reach the hilltop she first spotted the river from, then backtracking to locate the rabbit burrow she previously attacked.

“As expected, the rabbits are nowhere to be seen.”

Upon reaching that far, the stress and exhaustion from everything that had occurred that day finally seemed to catch up to the girl, as she no longer felt at the top of her game. Her eyes drooped slightly and the urge to sit down to rest grew stronger.

Of course, it was natural for such a thing to occur. Kaltyr’s day, even when not accounting for emotional stress, was full of tiring activities—mainly, hunting in a dense forest and throwing rocks at fish.

“Huh…I remember the vegetation being pretty and all, but…this looks straight out of an animated fantasy movie.”

It was only in her current fatigued state, in which Kaltyr’s vigilance dropped significantly, that she began noticing a few finer details of the native flora. Since she wasn’t bothering to search for possible prey, she could take the time to inspect the beauty of nature. Flowers appeared more vibrant, and the grass fuller with life. Bird and insect calls sounded less chaotic and more like a chorus. The forest as a whole swayed melodically with the wind. It was…

“Beautiful.”

Fungi as well, when she took a closer look, felt less like toxic threats to her life and more like background decoration—like completely natural parts of the forest…which they were.

“Just for a moment…” Kaltyr told herself as she sat down to lean against one of the many sturdy trees surrounding her.

“Just a minute of rest.” She assured herself, feeling as though she were at the cusp of touching upon something paramount. The next instant, her eyes closed, along with the rest of her senses.

She didn’t fall asleep, but it almost felt like she did, because no longer was she focused on the outside, but within. At first, there was nothing, which felt normal to the girl. Of course she wouldn’t see anything but images she conjured—which she couldn’t see now, as her mind and body were rife with exhaustion.

Yet, the next moment, a few dull, gray lines became visible to her mind’s eye. Kaltyr would have dismissed them as parts of her imagination, but more lines appeared, connected to the first. Then, more. She couldn’t tell how long had passed as countless dull lines surfaced from depths she couldn’t comprehend in a place she couldn’t locate.

For the first few moments, the lines appeared disorganized, if not random. Yet, as the rest began appearing, Kaltyr recognized that they took the shape of a very important organ. She watched as the dull lines rhythmically beat and extended outwards to form more organs, then muscles, connective tissues, bones, and everything else.

Within her mind, Kaltyr saw the general form of her body made from an innumerable amount of dull lines, even being capable to move her perspective so that she solely saw different parts of her body or layers that would normally not be visible from the outside, like her skeleton.

And most captivating of all was the burning white light that sat directly where she assumed her brain to be.

Understanding that there was nothing more to see, Kaltyr exited her mind’s eye and opened her physical ones. Besides a few bugs investigating her, nothing seemed abnormal or different about the environment.

“Guidebook.” Kaltyr immediately thought aloud. “I remember the guidebook saying something about this.”

Quickly, but without hurrying, the girl took the leather-bound book from her pocket before opening it and turning to the second page.

“It’s as I thought.” The edges of her lips curved upwards. “Those lines I saw were meridians—my magic channels.”

As she took the time to stand and stretch, she willed her information to appear before her, no doubt in her mind about what she would see.

-General Skills-

-Class Specific Skills-

???

Magic Sense Lvl: 1

Small Projectile Throwing Arts Lvl: 2

Fishing Lvl: 1

“And thus begins my ascension to greatness!” Kaltyr cackled, imagining herself battling divine beasts and deities at the same time in the center of a cyclone as they assaulted her with a hail of what she imagined magical spells to be.