“Ugh, what?”

A needle piercing pain runs through my brains

I slightly raise my head and furrow my brows

“Pft, pft, gross…” is my reaction to the dirt in my mouth

My entire body is quivering, it´s freezing

I turn my head and try orienting myself, but I can´t see a thing

An unpleasant feeling of Déjà-vu strikes me…

I´m soaked, did it rain?

I brush the water off my skin and hug myself in an attempt to gain some warmth

High above some leaves rustle which leads to chills running down my body

My eyes have somewhat adjusted to the darkness so I take another look around myself

I take a few steps into the dark and bump into something from which some water spills over

My eyes fly open as I remember my experiment

I lean over the bucket plant I just ran into

“Drinkable water” Appraisal informs me

I take out some water with my palm and take it to my mouth

If your head hurts drink some water as they say

I can´t really tell if it´s helping though.

But the experiment is a success

The water isn´t as sweet but somehow has a nostalgic taste

I manage to turn my face into a weak smile.

Grabbing the stone lying besides the plant I look behind me

There I see my cave to which I start moving

Each step causes a hammering thud in my head, but as I reach my destination a familiar warmth surrounds my body

I venture a little further inside before sitting myself on a huge leaf I brought in the other time.

“Status” I stutter through my teeth, still not having warmed up enough

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Status]: HP: 8/8, MP: 3/17, Condition: Exhausted (high)

Clothing: Upper body: [---] → Effects: [---] Additional: [---] → Effects: [---]

Lower body: [---] → Effects: [---] Additional: [---] → Effects: [---]

Additional: [---] → Effects: [---]

Skills: Magic skills:

[Dark element (beginner)] LV 1/150, [Fire element (beginner)] LV 1/100, [Water element (beginner)] LV 5/100, [Mineral control (beginner)], LV 4/100, [Wind control (beginner)] LV 1/125

Enhancement skills:

[Aim enhancement (low)] LV 1/10, [Concentration enhancement (intermediate)] LV 9/25

Extra skills:

[Dexterity (large)] LV 4/50, [Absolute Pitch]

Information gathering skills:

[Appraisal], [Status]

Resistance skills:

[Cold resistance (small)] LV 8/10, [Mental exhaustion resistance (small)] LV 6/10

Support skills:

[healing Magic] LV 1/20

Still unknown/unsure:

[Exhaust] LV 1/35, [Odor control] LV 1/10, [silent] LV 1/10, [Float] LV 1/5, [Melanin control] LV 1/10, [Water creation]

Name: Aria, Race: Kid demon harpy (1/4), Rank: E, Rarity: Ω, Age expectancy:∞,

General information: x%?w/n!Σ3=§0

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I see…

I arch my head back, lean it against the wall and close my eyes

Is this the side effect of using MP over your limit?

I should´ve started with transferring only one mineral at a time…

Well, in exchange for this terrible state I got some good level ups – is what I want to say

But fuck level ups. I feel horrible, it wasn´t worth it at all.

Suddenly, my stomach grumbles

“Again?” I ask annoyed

“Not now, let me sleep” and lie myself on my side

5 Minutes pass

*Gurgle*

10 Minutes pass

*Grumble*

15 Minutes pass

*GURGLE GURGLE GRUMBLE*

“GOD OK FINE I UNDERSTAND”

Immediately regretting my decision to shout I crouch over in agony and hold a hand against my forehead

Everything is killing me right now…

Now then, I managed to warm up a little and dry myself, I can deal with my tiredness after I´ve dealt with my hunger

again…

“Haaaa, dammit” I mentally prepare myself to leave my snugly space

As I step outside with gritted teeth I follow the marks I´ve left behind to the Groosha Tree

With each step it gets a little easier to endure

On the way appraisal notifies me that my MP recovered by 1 and before long I pass my final marking

The Groosha Tree mounts in front of me

Though unlike last time no fruits lie on the ground…

Well, it would be too good to be true if there were

Dejectedly I look at the stone in my hand, toss it into the air and catch it again

Then I aim at a fruit, throw and miss it completely

…

I sloppily go fetch the stone and try to get a fruit down for an eternity

Or at least it feels like an eternity, in reality probably around 10 Minutes passed before the first fruit falls

And before I manage to catch it, it splats onto the ground

“No way”

Hastily I approach the puree and dispiritedly stare at it for a while

I sit myself on my knees and sigh, then continue scraping the parts of the former fruit, which are not covered in dirt, into my hand

Though it feels uncomfortably sticky, the sweet aroma coming from it makes me gulp down my drool

I bite into the mass and completely forget my depressed attitude

Before I notice I´m licking my hands

“Status: 4/17 MP → 7/17 MP”

Right, the fruit recovers MP

God what would I do without this tree

Unfortunately my happiness is short lived as the fruit is gone now

All my hard work for only this much?

I look at the Groosha Tree and immediately give up on trying to climb it

Or do I?

“Wait a sec” Circling the tree I search my surroundings

“There!” I set my eyes on a nearby tree

Risking it, I start climbing the supporting branches of the much larger giant standing besides the Groosha Tree

Before shifting my weight onto the branches above I carefully shake them to test their sturdiness, most of them won´t even budge though

Gripping the next branch I feel some crust coming off of it

It sticks to my hand

I wipe the dirt against my leg and keep climbing

After a few minutes I reach a checkpoint where I come to a halt

I hug the tree and look down while catching my breath

Cold sweat starts running down my back as I realize how high up I actually am

It didn´t seem to be that much of a distance while I was still on the ground

I turn my head upwards, there I see some branches of the tree I´m climbing connect to the Groosha Tree

Just a few meters left

I exhale a shaky breath and continue climbing, more carefully than before

Finally I reach the branch linking the two trees.

I carefully lie down and clench it with my arms and legs

Doing this without any kinds of clothes is extremely unpleasant, but ignoring that I move along the branch like a caterpillar

“Simply, don´t look down”

I never was afraid of heights, but this is honestly terrifying

A gust of wind howls through the forest which freezes me up on the spot

My grip tightens even further

I wait until the wind stops while only hearing my own heart beating

Afterwards I inch forward to the utmost front of the branch

I search for ways to cross and slowly begin regretting my decision to climb up here.

Out of all the branches coming from the Groosha Tree only one is slightly thicker than my thigh

I stretch out my arm in an attempt to grab it, but can´t grab it

It´s just out of reach

My only option to cross trees is to jump

Jump…

My vision begins spinning

“Get your shit together. Breathe. It´s only a small jump” I encourage myself

I position my feet for a jump without loosening the hold in my hands

I mentally simulate the landing multiple times until I´m ready

Then

“3, 2, 1”

“GO!”

I jump, arms moving towards the branch I´m aiming for

The less of a second I should be in the air stretches itself like a chewing gum

A nasty feeling soars in my stomach as I begin falling

I finally reach the branch of the Groosha Tree and grab it as tight as I can

“I did it!”

But

Unexpectedly, the branch bends downwards due to my weight

It´s more flexible than I thought

I fall down together with the bending branch

The next moment the branch suddenly stops in it´s tracks

My brain isn´t able to react to the break and my hands slip

“AAAAAAHH!!!”

At a fearsome height, I fall to the ground.