It took Sam less than half an hour to refill her vital energies. The second she was full, her Rebuild skill kicked in. It instantly restored her legs, reducing her quarantined energies by a decent amount when it did. Looking down at her half-naked body, she could only chuckle ruefully and shake her head, "How do I always end up naked?" She couldn't help but laugh at herself as she searched through her inventory for some pants. Finding a pair that was less damaged than others, Sam realized they were from the rogue she had killed. "Oh no! I gave my last pair to Naris!" Sam groaned, realizing she was going to have to wear the pants of someone she had killed if she wanted to cover herself.

Holding the pants away from her, Sam went to the stream and started cleaning them, lamenting her bad luck. She hadn’t received system-generated ones from looting the bodies, and the rogue had soiled herself when she died, so the pants were disgusting. “I didn’t think that was even possible here on Hallista! I haven’t had to poop since I arrived…maybe it’s because I use so much magic energy it just doesn’t build up?” Sam grumbled to herself as she cleaned the soiled garment.

After twenty minutes of cleaning, Sam realized she was doing it all wrong. The pants were leather, so her repair skill would work on them! With that realization, she formed an arcane dagger and cut the disgusting parts out of the leather garment. Then, she used her skill and repaired them, excitedly watching as they grew back spotless. Not only that, but the parts that regrew were dry! Over the next hour, Sam slowly destroyed and repaired the dead rogue’s pants until they were essentially brand new.

Slipping on her new pants, which were a little tight but not enough to be uncomfortable, Sam was proud of herself for having figured out how to use her skills to her advantage in such a mundane way. She joined Lupie and Nul by the fire Lupie had built as she worked. Sitting down on the soft grass, Sam took the offered steak from Lupie and munched it slowly, lost in thought. She was worried about Nara and the others but knew she could do nothing about them with Nul still unconscious. Plus, there was no way the battle wasn’t already over, and Sam could only hope the sci-fi lady had been able to handle the insanely powerful priest. Sam didn’t doubt that her friends could have easily taken out the weaker priest and sword-wielding flying woman.

Thinking about the two combatants she had killed, Sam checked her messages.

You have defeated Acolyte of the Light [Level 67]. Bonus experience earned for defeating an enemy at least 20 levels above your own.

You have defeated Valkyrie of the Light [Level 64]. Bonus experience earned for defeating an enemy at least 20 levels above your own.

"Oh well, I guess it was too much to hope for a level-up…but a Valkyrie?" Sam thought with disappointment, “I thought they would be the good guys…err girls…good girls.”

Sam decided she would still hope Valkyries, unaffiliated with the church, would be good and not evil. She knew it was silly to think that way, but she didn't want her childhood heroes to be her enemies.

After a short mental debate, Sam decided to loot the bodies, reasoning that if the fight was over and all the church members had been slain, it would take some time before anyone found out and tried to resurrect them. At least, that was her hope. As quick as a thought, the bodies appeared from her inventory, were looted, and dismissed back into the pocket dimension. When it all went smoothly, Sam sighed, relieved, and checked what they had for her.

Loot:

Human; Acolyte of the Light [Evan] Level 67 Items:

28-Gold; 47-Silver; 427-Copper; 35kg Human meat; Robes of the Light; Leather Gloves; Leather Boots; Ring of Light Beam [29% Charge]; Large Mana Potion x 2; Health Potion x 4.

Loot:

Avian; Valkyrie of the Light [Christina] Level 64 Items:

17-Gold; 87-Silver; 25kg Avian meat; Repulsion Armor [0% Charge] (Full set); Medium Recharge Crystal x 1; Large Stamina Potion x 7; Large Health Potion x 3.

“That repulsion armor packs a punch!” Sam thought, remembering its impact when she punched the woman. She briefly entertained the idea of donning it to see if it would fit her and decided against it only because she was in an unknown place and didn't want to change anything like donning metallic armor until she was in a safe area to try it first.

Thinking of safe areas brought Sam's attention back to her current location. At that moment, Sam realized there had been no safe zone notification; a large snake with dark scales sprung from the cliff above them and slammed into Lupie, who had dozed off by the fire!

Sparks went flying as the ten-meter-long snake landed in their midst. Its thick coils scattered the fire before quickly wrapping around Lupie like a constrictor.

Sam watched curiously to see how Lupie would respond. She felt no real danger from the creature and decided to try and identify it just as tentacles of blood began piercing through its scaled sides. Lupie had sent Sam a message stating she was unharmed through their party chat, so Sam wasn't worried about her.

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Slithian Naga; Hunter [Level 59]; Hostile; Affinity: Light, Tera

“What’s a Naga?” Sam thought, watching the two as they rolled around in the grass. Then she finally saw the head of the snake wasn't that of a snake at all but instead was the torso of a man from the waist up.

"Hang on a second, Lupie, don't kill him yet," Sam said when she touched the Naga with a mana thread and realized he was pretty much done. Sam healed the Naga a little to keep him alive until Lupie could extricate herself from his coils. It was a good thing she did because Lupie's idea of freeing herself was to literally dig her way out through the Naga's side, nearly severing him in two as she did so.

As soon as Lupie was free, the snake man crumpled in a pile of limp flesh. Moving to get a better view of the humanoid part of his body, Sam kept healing him and asked, "Do you speak?"

When the creature only stared at her with angry red eyes, Sam tried again, "Look, I know I can speak to and understand any creature on this planet. You can respond, or I can let my friend eat you alive," She stopped healing him to emphasize her point, holding up two fingers and adding, "You have two seconds, one—”

“I speak,” the snake man cut her off. His voice sounded very hissy to Sam, but she could understand him well enough.

When he didn't offer anything more, Sam asked, "Why did you attack us?"

"You are in my domain. It is my right," The snake man responded as though it explained everything.

"Okay..." Sam said, drawing out the word, "So, us being in your domain means you can be as stupid as you want to be and attack beings far more powerful than you," She looked at him with a smirk, "Your kinda stupid aren't you?"

"I must defend from invaders and provide for my tribe! And you are much lower level than I am!" the snake man snarled before coughing up a mouthful of blood and wheezing for a few seconds.

"Well, you did a great job, buddy," Sam said dryly, "And just so we're clear. We have no intention of invading anything. We were fleeing from a fight and landed here." She looked at the dying Naga and sighed, asking, "Look, if I heal you, do you promise not to attack us again? Because if you are going to be a problem, I would prefer to kill you now so my friends can see what you taste like."

"You would spare me?" The Naga asked slowly, clearly not believing Sam.

“Only if you aren’t going to be a problem,” Sam said.

The Naga paused for a long time, and for a second, Sam thought he would bleed out before responding, but he finally said, “I accept your terms. I will not harm you if you spare my life, but I will require you to leave my domain immediately!”

Sam laughed, saying, "I have no idea where your freaking domain begins or ends, Snaky. I'll tell you what; why don't you forget we were ever here and return to your tribe. I promise we'll only stay around for a day or so to see if our friends find us. Otherwise, we will move on to find—" Sam snapped her fingers, "Hey, do you know where the Elf King’s palace is? That's where we are headed, and if you could point us in that direction, we will be out of your hair, uh, scales, in no time!"

"I cannot disclose the location to foreign invaders!" He growled, continuing, "You will gain no information from me, Human spy!"

“You know what, never mind. I’ll find it myself,” Sam said in annoyance. She added, “My offer still stands. I let you go, and you leave us alone. So, what do you say? Life or death, which one do you choose?" She wasn't really planning on killing him, figuring she could wait until he fell unconscious, then heal him just enough to keep him alive but remain unconscious until they left. She realized he was just defending his territory and was certain she would feel bad if she killed him; he was so much weaker than them that it almost felt like she would be killing a child. That isn’t to say she wouldn’t let Lupie do the honors if he proved to be a continuous problem, but she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

“I choose life,” The Naga finally said with defeat.

"Wonderful! Excellent choice!" Sam grinned, clapping her hands.

“But I will accompany you until you have left my domain,” He said.

"The fuck you will," Sam retorted, staring at him like he was a lunatic.

“I will swear to not harm you upon my honor as long as you do nothing to my domain or its inhabitants.” He quickly added.

Sam mulled it over, “Honor and oaths seem a big deal on this planet, at least for those who have honor. Hmm, this guy did seem to be willing to sacrifice himself before he would give up any info on the Elf King's whereabouts…dammit, here I go trusting people again! Argh! I hate being softhearted!" She finally spoke to him while nodding at Lupie, "Okay, but if you try anything, I will let my friend finish the job she started."

“Aww,” Lupie whined, “I wanted to see what he tastes like!”

Sam looked back to the Naga's torn-apart body and asked Lupie, “What are you talking about? It looks like you’ve already taken several bites out of him.”

"Yeah, but I want to taste him with seasoning," Lupie whined.

Sam laughed and patted Lupie's head; she was still in her small form, which made it even more hilarious to Sam as the Naga was nearly ten times her size. Pulling out the chunk of Naga meat from behind Lupie's ear, she said, “Come on, let’s get the fire rebuilt while I heal this guy. I bet he tastes a lot like chicken.”

Lupie snatched the chunk of meat from Sam’s hand and eagerly ran around, picking up random chunks of scaled flesh from the ground near the crumpled snake-man. Lupie caught back up with Sam, practically bouncing in excitement, "Oh, what is chicken?" Lupie asked as she followed Sam back to their firepit. The Naga had clearly already been forgotten.

***

Sam healed the Naga enough so he wouldn't die but stopped short of full health. That is until the Safe Zone notification popped up with him nearby.

Looking over at Snaky as she had started thinking of him, Sam admitted, "I have to say I didn't believe you, but I guess the System doesn’t lie.” Sam went ahead and finished healing the snake. He let out a soft hiss when his health was full, but other than that, he stayed coiled up at the edge of the firelight. The waning sun was now far past the rim of the canyon, bathing the grassy area in darkness.

Sam figured he was just as weirded out as she had been the first time she watched someone cook and eat her flesh. Lupie wasn't helping as she moaned with each bite of her roasted Naga skewer.

Sam picked up Nul to cradle the slime in her arms by the fire, checking again for any injuries. Sighing when she found nothing wrong with the slime, Sam settled back against a log she had summoned from her inventory.

Sam closed her eyes after holding Nul for a while and enjoying the heat of the fire. Safe Zone or not, she kept her mana threads hovering around the Naga. She didn't need sleep for a few days, so she meditated while waiting for her companion to wake up.

That’s how they all stayed for the first few hours of the night. Sam figured that would be it for excitement and was enjoying Lupie's soft snores when Snaky suddenly snapped to attention and closed half the distance to Sam as fast as a cobra strike! Sam was instantly on her feet with a shield up around her and Nul and an arcane blade in her hand.

Snaky stopped short, his eyes wide in fear and awe as he looked between Sam and the six mana threads with crackling teardrops of pure void energy hovering just a meter from his face. Slowly, he held up his hands and asked, "By the old gods, is that a Void Slime in your hand?!?"

"Oh, for fucks sake! Go back to sleep, and we'll talk about it tomorrow! You realize I nearly killed you!" She dismissed her spells in frustration, "Again…I nearly killed you again!”

Sam looked down at Lupie, who was still snoring and shook her head wryly. Of course, the Safe Zone was still in effect, so why would she wake up when a giant snake man attacked.