As soon as I completed my masterpiece, I stepped back to admire my work. In front of me stood the vessel I would use to explore the mysteries of this world! This was a 1.7 meters tall female biped with a very thin figure. The tainted nervous system made a glowing red pattern appear upon her deep blue skin, giving her a striking ethereal air. Her back was adorned by a large pair of beautiful dark purple and black butterfly wings, with a wingspan just shy of two meters. Her straight hair was of the same color than her wings, and it cascaded down her back all the way to her waist. She had only one fiery red eye, as my avatar is going to replace the other one. Her charm magic, which had evolved to become much more powerful than what the tree was using, gave her an air of elegance and grace, simultaneously granting her the look of a powerful queen to respect and a delicate maiden you had to take care of.

I gingerly fitted my avatar in the empty eye socket prepared for it and used the last of my magic to connect everything together. I am getting a little tired of having to constantly change my body, but hopefully this one will be at least semi-permanent.

All these different bodies are getting confusing, so I am going to give each of them a name. In the future when I mention my body it will refer to the one I just crafted, while I will call my avatar as my demon form. As for my weird portal body, it will be named my comic form or eldritch form, because these names sound awesome.

As soon as the link was established, I gained access to an additional five senses and a hefty amount of charm magic. Excitement welled inside me as I piloted my new toy around and experimented with it, experiencing this world from the point of view of a native for the first time.

I originally intended to take the time to modify my body to resemble the giants I was planning to visit next, but this would require more monotonous work, and I can’t bring myself to delay my exploration any more. I will just hope they do not take issue with my appearance. Worst comes to worst, I will retreat and disguise myself.

I was expecting to have to wander about and search for the giants based on fragmented memories, but it was them who found me as soon as I approached their approximate location. I was lost in my thoughts evaluating the performances of my new body, when a pair of them jumped out of a bush waving their weapons and shouting at me in a language I cannot understand.

The two creatures, who I can no longer call giants now that I am almost as tall as them, were remarkably similar to the elves from your memories. They have a humanoid shape, pointy ears, a brown skin with the slightest hint of green, are clothed in long robes, and are armed with a bow and arrows. Though I am curious as to why their arrows are nothing but pointy sticks when you always picture them with a metal tip and feather fletching.

I may as well ask them. Hopefully, they can understand the language I just learned.

They cannot.

The elves were not overly flustered by this turn of events. They exchanged a few words before one of them turned and ran somewhere in the opposite direction I was coming from. I expect he was alerting his companions. The remaining man eyed me warily, but he showed no intention to take any hostile actions. For now, I think it is best I wait and see what happens.

…

It only took a few minutes for the elf to return accompanied by a shorter bright green creature. The green observed me for a second before addressing me in whatever language the fairy used.

“Greetings, might I ask for your name and species? I am loremaster Tobin, a goblin.”

A polite fellow, but not yet worthy of hearing my glorious name. I have no idea what species I currently count as but I wouldn’t tell him even if I knew.

“I don't know. I have no memories before today, not even of what what species I belong to.”

Not the most original excuse, but one that would be virtually impossible to disprove, and one without any loopholes. The goblin glared at me skeptically but chose to move on.

“Really? This forest used to be the home of a host of very powerful magical beasts, but several months ago they were all spotted desperately fleeing the place. Do you know anything about that?”

I believe revealing my knowledge of the demonic portal would only make me appear more suspicious, but I should offer some information to distract them.

“I do not know. I woke up underneath a sinister tree wreathed in black flames, and the sight made me so uncomfortable I chose to flee in a random direction until I was detained by the two gentlemen here.”

“You are a fairly powerful being yourself, so why did you feel so threatened by a burning plant?”

Am I considered powerful? It is certainly a step up from before, but I still couldn’t survive a day in the demon world. Perhaps this world is weaker than I assumed.

“I can barely control my powers and would have stood no chance against it. Besides, it felt more alien than dangerous, like something that shouldn’t exist in this world.”

That got a reaction. The goblin’s gaze sharpened and his doubtful tone became more urgent and forceful.

“An alien feeling? Can you describe it in more detail? Where was it exactly”

“I cannot express the impression it gave me, but I can guide you to it if you want”

The goblin grew excited, but he quickly calmed himself down and responded in a disappointed tone.

“Not right now. A few days of delay will not change anything, and I have learned not to rush into danger.”

Tobin waved at the elves to surround me and started to march towards their camps, forcing me to follow.

“Please come with us. I have more questions I would like you to answer, and this is hardly the most appropriate place to talk.”