The red barrier prevented Liz from seeing what was happening outside, not even her magic sense could bypass it. “This is so weird…” She said, analysing the spell.
She wasn’t travelling through space like she did in her old world, instead, she felt like she crossed several barriers without changing her position. “I didn’t expect that even space worked differently.”
Suddenly, she felt a huge amount of energy flooding the barrier, and it suddenly disappeared, letting her gaze at the outside world for a split second, before appearing in a dark cave.
“What, was, that?” She tried to sort her thoughts, it was completely different from everything she had seen before, yet it felt extremely similar to the “interzone” that some space spells created.
Notice:...
“Yes , yes, I know, I have entered the mainland…” She said.
Notice: You have been cursed.
“Huh?”
Error: An unknown entity is interfering with the curse.
Notice: The curse’s effect failed to manifest.
“Ok…?” She tried to understand what happened. “I guess I should be glad that the curse didn’t work in the end. Glow.”
She then realised that she lost focus during the teleportation and his mana orb disappeared, now its remains were scattered in the floor. “My mana orb…”
Her arms started to glow as a stream of mana flowed from her hands, condensing in a little floating mana orb. “Now, Glow.”
The newly formed orb started glowing with an intense blue light that illuminated most of the cave she was in. The floor was covered with the same engravings as the ones in the ruins. But the floor was broken in some parts, making the spell engraved on it unusable.
There were no mana orbs lying around the place, and she couldn’t feel any golem in the area. But just when she let her guard down, she discovered a pair of skeletons lying in a corner.
“Great, I have teleported to either a tomb or a monster lair, lovely.” Liz cursed her luck as she approached the big rock door that separated this space from the rest of the cave. “I think the first thing I should do is to secure this space.”
Just as she said that, three mana threads attached to the door and began pulling to close it. “Even if I’m proud of my magic sense, I am not stupid enough to assume I can detect everything, or be undetected forever…”
Once the door was closed, she began casting a spell. “Mana, I order you in my name. Make your presence invisible even to those blessed by the world.” Slowly, the threads, the mana orb and even the mana inside her body slowed down.
The mana particles that formed all her spells, and even the ones that were moving inside of her body and soul stopped vibrating like they always do.
“You might think you know how to mask your mana little girl, but you only know the result you want, not the method to achieve it.” Bel’s voice echoed in her mind. “Mana is formed by an infinite amount of small particles that, like anything in this world, vibrate. The stronger these vibrations, the easier they are to detect.”
Liz made the threads fuse back to the mana orb then she grabbed it with her hand. “I hate this spell, it's too hard to keep the focus.” She felt as if her brain was going to shatter. The balance required to maintain the shape of her spells while preventing the particles that formed them from vibrating was unbelievable.
She sat down with the mana orb between her hands, focused on the sligh vibrations of the mana. She remained there, minutes became hours and hours turned into days, until finally, something else grabbed her attention.
“There’s something outside.” She felt its mana on the other side of the door. “At least 3… 4, I doubt I can fight them all at once.”
Her nose started bleeding as she tried to use her magic sense as well as hiding her own mana. “They must be some kind of wolf-like monsters. The strongest is… oh no.” Her eyes opened wide, the 2 of the wolves were stronger than anything she had seen in the deadlands, and that included Kancor’s pets.
She continued stalking them even when they walked away from the door. “I guess I should follow them…”
Once the wolves were far away, she slowly stepped out of her hideout and made her mana orb shift into an axe. She followed them through the caves as she left an extremely thin mana thread behind.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Finally she got out of the cave, and was greeted by a forest of tall dark wood trees, the plants were green and so was the grass. She sighed in relief at the sight of something vaguely familiar, even if it was just a forest.
Then, something appeared inside her mana sense effective range. It didn’t enter, it was already inside of it. A giant snake attacked one of the two strongest wolves, biting it in the neck, probably killing it instantly. Two of the remaining wolves attacked the snake back, but the weakest one fled in Liz’s direction.
Liz rushed back into the cave before the wolf could see her, and hid behind a rock column. The wolf entered the cave moments later, just to finally realise he wasn’t being chased and turned his head back into the cave’s entrance.
Liz’s head poked out from behind the column as her pupils glowed purple. It is level 21, and it doesn’t seem to have noticed me yet. The wolf quickly turned back and began walking towards the depths of the cave, almost caughting Liz in the process.
It finally arrived at the entrance of Liz’s hideout, witch's door was still open. Curious, the wolf entered the room. Fck. I shouldn’t have left the door open. Liz thought about her options, she could try to fight the wolf, but that had several risks involved. On the other hand, the rest of the pack could come back to the cave, and that would certainly be her demise.
I guess it’s hunting time. Liz got closer to the door, her magic sense allowed her to know where the wolf was. Then, she mentally prepared her strategy. I must at least immobilise it quickly, and then close the door before anything detects my mana.
She took a deep breath, and 4 threads launched towards the wolf.
Even if it was taken off guard, the wolf managed to dodge three of the threads, but one of its front paws was captured. Liz’s lips curved in a dark grim, and the thread began pulling the wolf towards the ceiling.
Her threads attacked the helpless wolf as she began closing the door. The wolf began barking and trying to bite the threads, it even managed to break one, but two more had already attached to him.
“Nice try, but I won't let you escape that easily.” The wolf looked at her with anger, and mana started accumulating inside its mouth. “Fck”
Liz managed to dodge what seemed like a pure mana beam. She didn’t expect a wolf to have a ranged attack, so she was easily caught off guard. “I love my magic sense.”
The wolf began accumulating mana again, but this time Liz was prepared. “Liberate.” A needle exploded under the wolf’s mouth, forcing it to close it, then her threads tied it up.
“I didn’t have high hopes on that attack, but for you to come out mostly unscratched… I must train more my raw power” With the wolf now completely immobilised, Liz dispeled the threads that kept it hanging in the ceiling.
“Your defence seems to be weaker to the golem’s though, so I guess this should work.” Liz sat on the wolf’s back and a mana thread formed between her hands. “You see, I have never been a good physical combatant, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have a way to break through your defence.”
She passed the thread under its throat and began to pull. “I knew it wouldn’t work, but this is still quite sad.” She said after one minute of unsuccessfully trying to choke the wolf to death. “I guess that only leaves me one option. Vibrate.”
The thread started vibrating rapidly and after just a few seconds, red blood began dripping out of the wolf's throat. Liz placed her knee on top of the wolf's head and pulled as hard as she could, she was going to decapitate this monster, even if it took her hours.
Finally the wolf’s head fell to the floor, as Liz layed on her back and closed her eyes. “I told you… I had a way to… break your defence…” She tried to catch her breath, until a sound echoed in her mind.
Notice: You have killed a level 21 grey wolf. More experience is awarded for killing an enemy much stronger than you.
Notice: You have levelled up to level 9.
Notice: You have levelled up to level 10.
Notice: Your body isn’t able to contain your soul’s whole power.
Notice: Evolution available.
“Evolution?”
Notice: Once your soul has outgrown your body, you are given the chance to evolve, which means rebuilding your body to contain your soul's full power.
Notice: Your evolution options are determined by both, your current species and passed actions, as well as your skills and stat distribution.
Notice: You currently have 3 available evolutions. Do you want to inspect them?
“Ok, this is new.” Liz was surprised to say the least, in her last world there wasn’t such a thing as evolutions. “Yes?”
С̸̛̛̭͛͆͊͑л̷̹̫̳̺́̄̓е̷͓̃̍͆͜д̴͕̯͕͒̅͒ӧ̸̘́̇̈́̌̕п̸̛͚̞͈͓͗͑ы̸̘̊̎̌́̓т̴̬̩̊͋̀̚͝: Aditional information is not available.
н̴̧̙̰͕̆̇͂̿̒͜͠о̵̹̤̲͖̮͒ч̴̫̗͉̭̤̺̇̆͐̓̈́̚н̶̨͋͛ӧ̶̯͙̞̺̂̚͘͘͜й̴̧̗̄͋̓ ̶̰͈̦͒͗͊с̵̛̹͑̎͂͝т̴̡͔̖̼̟̍̒͋͘а̸͚̲͛͗͝л̴̧̺̓͋̀к̵̯̼͎͐͑̋͊͛͝е̷͉̼̟͎͑̎̈́р̵̡̨̠̭̜̱̀͒͘ Aditional information is not available.
Х̵̢̙̦̓̅и̷͍̙̔̎͌͆̀щ̵̝͓̮̱͇̐̆̒н̵̖͍̑̿̄и̶̞̝͈̦̣̤͝к̸̞͚͕̯̺̭͋̍̏͛̐͠ Aditional information is not available.
Liz blinked a couple times. “Of course…”
“How am I supposed to choose what to evolve to?”
Notice: I dunno.
“...”
Error: An unknown entity is interfering with your evolution.
“What!?”
Error: Two of your evolution options have been blocked.
Notice: This are your current evolution options:
С̸̛̛̭͛͆͊͑л̷̹̫̳̺́̄̓е̷͓̃̍͆͜д̴͕̯͕͒̅͒ӧ̸̘́̇̈́̌̕п̸̛͚̞͈͓͗͑ы̸̘̊̎̌́̓т̴̬̩̊͋̀̚͝: (Blocked)
н̴̧̙̰͕̆̇͂̿̒͜͠о̵̹̤̲͖̮͒ч̴̫̗͉̭̤̺̇̆͐̓̈́̚н̶̨͋͛ӧ̶̯͙̞̺̂̚͘͘͜й̴̧̗̄͋̓ ̶̰͈̦͒͗͊с̵̛̹͑̎͂͝т̴̡͔̖̼̟̍̒͋͘а̸͚̲͛͗͝л̴̧̺̓͋̀к̵̯̼͎͐͑̋͊͛͝е̷͉̼̟͎͑̎̈́р̵̡̨̠̭̜̱̀͒͘ (Blocked)
Х̵̢̙̦̓̅и̷͍̙̔̎͌͆̀щ̵̝͓̮̱͇̐̆̒н̵̖͍̑̿̄и̶̞̝͈̦̣̤͝к̸̞͚͕̯̺̭͋̍̏͛̐͠ Aditional information is not available.
“...” Liz was angry. “If war is what you want then war will be what you have.”
She wasn’t looking at anything in particular, but her anger had a clear target. “Whatever you are, I won’t evolve unless I get a description of my next form, and at least two options!”
Notice: If you don’t evolve, you won't be able to increase your stats or abilities.
“What side are you on!?”
Notice: I am not able to pick a side.
“...”
“...”
“I can remain hidden here for all eternity, I want my chances back”
Error: An unknown entity is interfering with your evolution.
Notice: you have unlocked one more evolution:
“Know we are talking!”
С̸̛̛̭͛͆͊͑л̷̹̫̳̺́̄̓е̷͓̃̍͆͜д̴͕̯͕͒̅͒ӧ̸̘́̇̈́̌̕п̸̛͚̞͈͓͗͑ы̸̘̊̎̌́̓т̴̬̩̊͋̀̚͝: (Blocked)
н̴̧̙̰͕̆̇͂̿̒͜͠о̵̹̤̲͖̮͒ч̴̫̗͉̭̤̺̇̆͐̓̈́̚н̶̨͋͛ӧ̶̯͙̞̺̂̚͘͘͜й̴̧̗̄͋̓ ̶̰͈̦͒͗͊с̵̛̹͑̎͂͝т̴̡͔̖̼̟̍̒͋͘а̸͚̲͛͗͝л̴̧̺̓͋̀к̵̯̼͎͐͑̋͊͛͝е̷͉̼̟͎͑̎̈́р̵̡̨̠̭̜̱̀͒͘ (Blocked)
Х̵̢̙̦̓̅и̷͍̙̔̎͌͆̀щ̵̝͓̮̱͇̐̆̒н̵̖͍̑̿̄и̶̞̝͈̦̣̤͝к̸̞͚͕̯̺̭͋̍̏͛̐͠ Aditional information is not available.
Slug: It is an option.
Liz’s eye was twitching, she ran out of patience long ago. “Fuck it! Have it your way then. Hey system, I want to evolve to the only option that doesn’t completely suck!”
Notice: You are evolving to Х̵̢̙̦̓̅и̷͍̙̔̎͌͆̀щ̵̝͓̮̱͇̐̆̒н̵̖͍̑̿̄и̶̞̝͈̦̣̤͝к̸̞͚͕̯̺̭͋̍̏͛̐͠.
Liz took a deep breath to try and relax, but a weird feeling runned through her arm. “What know…?” Suddenly, her left forearm was blown away, and a black liquid surged from under her skin. Then her world became black.