Blood gushed from Kaltyr’s exposed thigh, but it came in little rivulets rather than a waterfall. It seemed to the girl that her wound had begun healing incredibly quickly compared to what her gut said it should do, just as her hand did. Though the wound still appeared fresh, with her skin and flesh very obviously mangled in the golf ball-sized spot the fish had attacked, it had almost stopped bleeding altogether when she rested on the river shore. Of course, now that she was up and running again, blood began to flow.

“This log better be worth it!” Kaltyr growled through her clenched teeth.

Her target, previously over ten meters away, was now within reach of the girl… Almost, within reach. Kaltyr growled some more as the log stayed closer to the center of the river than the shore, forcing her to have to jump in and wade towards it if she hoped to acquire it.

Thankfully for her, however, she really didn’t need the log to verify her suspicions. Yes, the wood could serve as kindling after it dried or as a part of a simple structure, but she didn’t pursue it down the river for that.

“Aah shit…”

With a deep groan, Kaltyr came to a stop, allowing the piece of wood to gain distance on her. It didn’t matter anymore; it had confirmed potentially catastrophic information.

“That log was definitely cut down by something.”

The girl, once again, placed her palms on her face and dramatically pulled her cheeks downwards. The wood, she confirmed, was roughly cut on both ends. As far as she could tell, if it had broken naturally, then its ends would have been splintered, burned, or something. She figured that wind, land erosion, and other natural forces could have taken a thin tree like that one down, but there would be signs on it that any of those had occurred. If the tree had been uprooted by wind or something, it would have been whole! But no, the piece of wood appeared to be a segment of a thin tree’s trunk as long as Kaltyr’s arm span with both its ends seemingly having been chipped away at by something sharp.

“I intended to look for people, but not this quickly!”

Although signs of human activity would normally have left Kaltyr elated…Kaltyr was not in a “normal” situation. None of what was going on around her felt like it should be possible. Mana…magical essence… She knew for certain that none of it was a part of her regular life before she awoke in the clearing. And since Manic was now her home world, she had to take every irregularity of it into consideration when making plans and decisions. Her gut might tell her that other people would be compassionate and friendly towards a stranger needing of help like herself, but logic said otherwise.

“This world has such a thing as leveling from killing other beings.”

Kaltyr stopped stretching her face and peered into the shallow waters of the river in front of her, taking special notice of a flash of red that stood out among the schools of fish…particularly because it was bigger than and chomping on its brethren.

“I can’t trust that people in this world will show concern for me out of the goodness of their hearts when they could probably get stronger from killing me.”

She lightly kicked a rock into the river out of frustration, winced at the pulsating pain in her thigh, then began shuffling back to where she left her stuff.

“I might actually have to relocate sooner than I expected if there really are people somewhere upstream. I’ll investigate later if…when this damned wound heals.”

……

The skill Magic Sense leveled up.

Kaltyr silently celebrated as another skill increased in effectiveness, then staggered slightly as the amount of sensory information relayed by her Magic Sense suddenly increased. The girl quickly righted herself and adjusted her posture, not allowing any of the fish she carried in her arms fall to the ground. Then, she stopped to survey her surroundings again.

“All clear.”

Kaltyr was on her way back to the safe zone with all of her winnings in hand or in pocket, and was extra careful with watching out for predators. She was a veritable gold mine of food for any hungry carnivore or pescatarian and wanted to keep all the gold to herself. Just earlier, when she first stepped into the forest to head back, a seemingly regular bird swooped down at her and snatched a fish from her arms, leaving her with eight fish, not including the fish fillet in one of her cargo pants pockets. If a normal bird was capable of stealing from her, what could a higher-level beast do?

That being said…

“I can’t! I just can’t! I’m close to home base, but…”

The girl stopped in her tracks, then dropped everything. Fish flopped to the forest floor as Kaltyr brought her now free hands to her head and massaged her temples. Through squinted eyes, she looked around at the nearby plant life, focusing. On what, she wasn’t sure, but she was positive that something changed about the way she “saw” magical essence since leveling.

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“It’s more than just sensing farther…”

An uncomfortable tingling pierced her mind—almost like a headache, but subtler and without actual aching—as Kaltyr neglected her safety in favor of figuring out whatever the hell happened to her. Safety was nice, but comfort was paramount. She understood that something changed about her ability to sense the magical side of the world, as was quite obvious with how the change came immediately after the level-up and she could “see” magical essence a little farther away, but something specific was overloading her mind. Or rather than “overloading”, she was having a difficult time becoming accustomed to the new sensory input.

But what’s new about my Magic Sense?!

Since no prompts explaining the difference in her skill appeared, Kaltyr assumed that The System had left her to find the answer on her own, and frustration began simmering within her. She really didn’t like pop quizzes.

“Fine!” She growled under her breath. “I’ll figure it out by my damned self!”

Stubbornness and a sense of independence flaring, Kaltyr donned a harsh frown and opened her eyes as wide as she could, showing as much of the white outer layer—sclera—as possible. She turned her attention to the ground, scanning the fish corpses she dropped, various dead leaves, weeds, and mushrooms, and the dirt itself.

Nothing.

Not a single detail changed with her new perspective, as the countless blue sparkles, aquamarine slivers, azure wisps, and sapphire flickers continued to meander here and there as though carried by their own currents. Magical essence still floated along aimlessly or sat still within an object. Neither the “colors”, nor movement patterns, nor “shapes” of the various magical essence...particles, appeared any different from before Magic Sense reached level 3.

“But it’s there! I can feel it! It’s…deeper?”

Despite seeming the same in so many aspects, an unknown, fourth, variable had come to play in Kaltyr’s strange new sense.

“Not ‘deeper’ like ‘below’ me, but…but…”

The girl’s fingers pressed harder on her skull, attempting to stimulate her thoughts as she studied more flora in her vicinity. Her eyes swept the forest, glossing over many far-off bushes and nearby trees before locking onto a patch of light-orange flowers some steps ahead. She didn’t know what the mysterious fourth variable was just yet, but the strange sense screaming at her that there was a difference also said that the difference was clearer in that patch of flowers.

Immediately, an ominous feeling befell Kaltyr. Although a different color and in a different place, the orange flowers superficially reminded her of the purple patch that somehow—presumably with magic—nearly persuaded her into napping despite not being tired and standing within a dangerous forest. The beautiful plants reminded Kaltyr to raise her guard and practice more caution. Especially with all those fi—

The girl, against the wishes of her injury, quickly spun around to find that an animal had sneaked up on her treasures!

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEESH! Go away!”

Kaltyr kept her voice low in order to not attract any more unwanted attention, but still attempted to intimidate the would-be thief with a hiss and a stern command. The hole in her thigh still hurt like crazy and she didn’t intend to acquire any more like it through unnecessary conflict.

“Grrrrrraarr!”

But it seemed her new enemy took the warning as a challenge, because the gray long-haired cat dropped the two fish it had stuffed in its maw and replied with a very feisty tone.

“God damn it! I don’t have time for you!”

With the frustration reaching its boiling point, Kaltyr brought her arms back down from her head and readied herself for battle, left fist poised in front of her right one which already held the foldable knife.

“I gave you the chance to run, so you best not regret this…”

The girl gulped her saliva as she studied herself, her opponent, and her surroundings.

My thigh is wounded, making me less mobile, but I’m much bigger than this cat, giving me a weight advantage. We’re in a relatively clear area with no big rocks sticking outta the ground, no bushes and only a few trees, so unless the cat is squirrel-like with an ability to climb trees as though they were flat ground, I don’t have to fear that obstacles will hinder me. I feel mana and an aura emanating off it, but it’s not taking the offensive, so that’s a plus…

Suddenly, Kaltyr’s nape itched and a hole formed in her stomach, heat slowly escaping her and making room for a cold tenderness to settle in her belly.

It’s…on the defensive. It actually, uh, also doesn’t wanna fight? Huh…

Guilt struck suddenly as her mind began to think in overdrive.

This cat tried to steal my fish rather than just attack my unguarded back when it could. It isn’t like the starry-eyed beast or dogs that stalked me from outside the clearing, nor like the dino-goose and red fish that did attack me…

Alongside the guilt, discomfort crawled its way up Kaltyr’s back with a shiver.

I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all. There’s no need to fight here. This…this is a pointless battle I can walk away from and I…I need to make a decision.

Her hands shaking ever so slightly, the girl watched the growling cat as it arched its back and made its fur puff up in an attempt to make itself look bigger, planting all four of its legs and taking a stand in front of the eight fish strewn about the floor as though to say, “These are mine! Back off!”

T-that’s fine… Kaltyr thought in response to its unspoken message. Those are just regular fish that I can find more of in the river, right? They’re not special. Not nearly worth the trouble…

She nervously gulped again.

It’s not worth it. It really isn’t!

The girl slowly took in a deep breath, held it for a few moments, then released it. She more closely examined the beast, finding that it had long, sharp claws, pearly white fangs, and a fresh bloodstain around its mouth without any visible wounds anywhere. She figured it was healthy and had hunted other creatures recently, meaning that it didn’t need to take her food… But that didn’t matter! The beast was giving her a way out without combat—a means of escape without bloodshed. She knew she should take it.

But…

Steadily, the guilt and discomfort washed away as Kaltyr glanced down at the injury on her thigh and imagined herself being placed in the same situation again. What if more beasts attempted to mug her? Should she roll over and allow them to take what they wanted? What she had earned? What she needed?

I already gave it the chance to flee with what it had, but it rejected my offer and instead began threatening me.

Kaltyr shook off her hesitation and stomped one foot forward, causing the gray long-haired cat to jump in place before hissing again. The girl decided that to be her last act of leniency—the last chance for the cat to escape.

“I will not let the world walk all over me!”