Zoe couldn’t sleep.

She should have been exhausted after the hours of sparring, throughout which she was continuously humiliated. She had been able to land a flew blows on both of them, of course, but overwhelmingly she found herself on the losing side.

Nevertheless, it was good practice. She had leveled up {Kinetic Strike}, {Kinetic Manipulation}, {Kinetic Enhancement}, {Meditation}, and even {Manasight}. She had used the last one to try to predict the other two’s movements, though it was more useful against Lily than against Andric.

Finally, she learned a new ability: {Knife Fighting}. Both of them had encouraged her to try a variety of weapons, and knives were the simplest thing they had available. Zoe didn’t really like it — she found punching more natural and fun — but she couldn’t deny that an actual ability to use knives might be pretty useful.

One interesting result was that it worked in conjunction with {Kinetic Strike}. For some reason, Zoe had assumed that the ability would be limited to her own body, but it turned out it extended to melee weapons as well. She learned this when she accidentally cut through part of the bedframe, causing the wood to splinter and Andric’s knife to blunt.

Sighing, she turned over in her bunk. She was pretty sure the others were both sleeping. Yeah, I think this confirms that it’s something to do with being a demon. Lily and Andric were both higher leveled than her, but they still needed rest. And food. Zoe still wasn’t actually hungry.

Did she need mana to survive? Or could she keep going on nothing at all? She had asked, of course, but neither actually knew much about demons. Or at least, not the questions she had wanted answered.

She did learn plenty of useful information. There were no nations in this world, or at least not in the same way as nations on Earth. There were just sects and guilds of differing power. The difference between the two was that sects were all-encompassing, constraining all aspects of life. You couldn’t belong to two different sects, at least not openly.

Guilds, on the other hand, were a bit more specific in their scope, and it was perfectly ordinary to belong to multiple, including also being part of a sect. Both types of organizations ranged from extremely small to extremely large, and most land was divided up between them.

Finally, while there weren’t any formal nations, there were plenty of strong, long standing alliances between different sects and guilds.

Sitting up, Zoe stared down at the landscape passing below them. She couldn’t see much in the darkness except for the slightly darker areas where there were trees compared to the lighter areas of flat snow.

She sighed. She was growing bored quickly, and staring at vague shapes in the darkness wasn’t particularly stimulating. So with nothing better to do, Zoe closed her eyes and began to use her {Meditation}.

Her mana was already fully topped off, but again, she had nothing else to do, so practicing couldn’t hurt. She also began using {Introspection}, and her core space lit up around her.

As Zoe’s mind floated through the web of crimson, black, and gold, she studied the way her channels twisted and knotted around each other. Some of the connections looked reasonable, orderly — as if they were meant to be there. Many others looked like useless, irritating tangles.

She would have to sort that out.

For the first time in a while, she noticed the deep purple halo again. It was faint and ephemeral, darting out of her vision as soon as she tried to focus on it. But if she thought hard about it, she could always see it dancing around the edges of her eyes.

The crimson was demonic mana. The gold was related to the system — or the Grand Design, as the other two called it. The black was probably demonic too, but Zoe wasn’t sure. What was the purple?

She could probably ask them when they woke up. Andric seemed pretty smart and knowledgeable, and Lily was a mage.

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Tearing her mind back to the structure of her core space, Zoe began gently feeling her way around the rigging of it. It was like a puzzle. She had a strong feeling that figuring it out would help her progress in some way.

So with that though, and with nothing better to do, Zoe got to work.

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{Meditation has leveled up! Meditation is now level 12!}

{Introspection has leveled up! Introspection is now level 14!}

She had gained quite a few more levels. {Introspection was now only two levels away from joining {Cold Resistance} has her highest leveled ability. Satisfied, Zoe stretched and got up. Briefly diving back into her core space, she zoomed out.

The levels weren’t the only thing she had accomplished. She had undone about half of the knots, and it was looking much more orderly. As for what that would actually do, she wasn’t quite certain. But either way, she felt satisfied.

Unfortunately, it had probably taken only a few hours. There was likely quite a long time until sunrise. So instead of waiting around in her room, Zoe decided to see if there was anything interesting going on in the dining area.

Quietly, she slipped out of her bunk and then out of the door. It closed behind her with a soft click, and only then did she realize she forgot to take the key that Lily had given her. Groaning, she leaned back against it. Looks like I’m stuck out here until morning.

The tables were empty, but there was one worker dozing off inside the central bar. Ignoring him for now, Zoe walked over to the edge and took a seat by the large windows. Things still pretty much looked the same, although she could get a better view of the sky through this one.

So many stars. She had never had much of a chance to see the night sky without any light pollution. Or at least, probably far less than any but the most remote locations on Earth.

The ‘encircling star’ drifted by overhead. Zoe stared at it, tracking its motion south as it arced through the sea of stars. She wondered what it actually was. It would be obvious on Earth, but in a world with magic flying ice swords, videogame mechanics, and actual literal demons, it could probably be anything.

Once it disappeared, she stood up and took a seat back at the bar. She chose her seat right in front of the woman who had fallen asleep on her own stool on the other side of the counter. Zoe studied her. It was a little weird, peering at a stranger this close, but — well, boredom did strange things to a person.

A single eye cracked open, followed by the woman jumping awake and gasping. Zoe flinched back on instinct.

“Oh my god,” the woman exclaimed, “sorry, but you just scared the shit out of me.”

Zoe ran a hand through her hair. “Sorry.”

“Nah, I’m supposed to be on station anyway.” Calming down, the bartender straightened her apron. “Can I get you anything?”

Zoe glanced at the various bottles behind her. “Uh, do you have…” trailing off, she realized it wasn’t coming to her. The language ability isn’t working? Does it not exist here? “I forgot the word. Something like fermented sugar that’s been distilled?”

The bartender gave her a suspicious side-eye. “Rum? No, we don’t have any of that. Please don’t tell me you’re a pirate or something.”

Zoe blinked. So first, they did have it here, and second, it was even more strongly associated with sailing and pirates than on Earth. To an almost cartoonish degree, it seemed. Also, why hadn’t the word come to her? It was the first time she hadn’t been able to say exactly what she meant in the native language. Weird.

Anyway, the woman was still staring at her, so Zoe faked a laugh. Let’s see. I’m a demon, a healer, a knight — of the kinetic variety — a killer, a cannibal…

“No, I’m not a pirate,” she said. “Not yet.”

After all, it had only been like two days. At this pace, Zoe was willing to leave pretty much anything open.

A loud crash rocked the ferry.

The bartender cursed, and Zoe leapt to her feet. The ground was swaying back and forth, making her stomach lurch. It suddenly felt like she was on a ship on the ocean.

One of the windows exploded inwards.

The bartender ducked under the bar, and Zoe dove for a table. Crawling between the chairs, she made her way into a dark corner where several crates of glasses and dishware were stacked up.

Two figures hopped down from the window ledge.

Zoe analyzed them.

{Gunslinger - 30}

{Fencer - 46}

Shit.

The door on the opposite end from the guest rooms flew open. The gunslinger fired, and a body thumped to the floor, followed by curses behind it. The fencer withdrew his sword.

“Hey now, hey now, take it easy,” she drawled. “We’re not here to hurt anybody.”

Ignoring the guy your friend just shot, Zoe thought.

A moment later, a gruff voice called back. “Alright then, let’s get this over with. Vault’s this way.”

“Oh, we’re not interested in your vault. Well, we are now that you mention it.”

The gunslinger poked his head over the counter and dragged up the bartender.

“We’re actually looking for somebody.”

Zoe froze. She had been about to creep closer to the bar, but now her blood ran cold. What was it with all these people after her? Why her? Why couldn’t they just leave her alone.

“Nope, that’s not him,” the fencer said as she peered over the shivering bartender. “Stay here with the staff. I’ll check the rooms.”

Zoe breathed a sigh of relief. She said ‘him.’ They’re not looking for me! All she had to do was keep her head low and stay quiet. How hard could that be?