I'm not a prideful person, but that night felt different—like I wasn't myself. In my past life, I always silently endured the mocking and insults thrown my way, letting them slide without much resistance. But now, even after a whole month has passed, I still feel a lingering anger.Is this this body's personality?

"Ruby, stop dozing and help me prepare the equipment."

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to help Felis. Today, we were heading to the forest. Felis wanted to teach me about herbs and their uses, and he had already gotten permission from my parents. They both seemed confident in his skills.

There wasn't much to prepare—just basic first-aid supplies, a mana potion, a notebook, lunch, and a sanitary kit. I watched as Felis expertly packed everything into a small bag. It was impressive how he managed to fit it all in. I couldn't help but wonder, Did he work as a cashier in his youth or something?

We finally ventured into the forest, the sunlight filtering through the canopy above. I had snuck into the forest a few times before, but never too deep. Felis, on the other hand, seemed completely at ease as he pointed at various plants, explaining their uses.

I nodded along, but honestly, most of it went over my head. Alchemy clearly wasn't my thing. My attention drifted as he continued lecturing.

Usually, transmigrated people get appraisal skills or knowledge straight out of a novel, I thought bitterly. But me? All I got was an above-average mana pool and decent magic proficiency. Where's my cheat? You're the god of time, right? And all you gave me was this?

"Are you listening to me? Do you find my lesson boring?" Felis asked, his voice sharp with annoyance.

I snapped out of my thoughts, startled. "Ah! No! It's just... I can't seem to remember the shape of the herbs, and I can't keep track of their uses."

Felis raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had a good brain since you're so damn good with magic.

I shot back, "You can't even make bread! How can you make potions but not cook?

"They're completely different!" he huffed.

"Exactly. Same as magic and alch—"

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"Shhh!" Felis suddenly cut me off, his body tensing as he went into full alert mode

I froze, instinctively following his lead. An eerie presence crept through the air, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The bushes ahead rustled, and I saw pairs of shining eyes staring at us from the shadows. My heart skipped a beat as something leaped out—a group of rabbits, darting past us in a frenzy.

Then, we heard it—a deep, menacing roar.

Emerging from the bushes was a black panther, its claws glowing ominously. It walked toward us with slow, deliberate steps, exuding raw power. As soon as it raised its paw, I knew we were in trouble. With a swift motion, it slashed down, sending a massive wave of magic energy in the form of glowing claws racing toward us"

"Move!" Felis shouted, and we both dived in opposite directions, barely avoiding the deadly strike.

The panther roared again, and the ground beneath us started to shift. Spikes of earth shot up, flying toward us with frightening speed.

"What the hell?! Monsters can use magic?!" I gasped, struggling to dodge the oncoming barrage.

Felis cursed under his breath. "This is a Panther Shaman! A rare species of black panther that's evolved and gained intelligence. They can use three to four-cycle magic! We just need to keep dodging until it runs out of mana!"

After ten minutes of dodging the panther's magical attacks, it finally rushed at us like a regular animal. Felis acted fast, summoning his wand and stabbing the panther in the neck just as it lunged at me. I quickly covered myself with magic to avoid getting splattered by the blood.|

Felis pulled his wand out of the panther's corpse, wiping it clean with a cloth. Without wasting any time, he began dissecting the panther and eventually pulled out a crystal, tossing it to me. I caught it and, without thinking, bit into it.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing!?" Felis shouted, startled.

"What? Uh..." I immediately dropped the crystal, confused. Had I been eating monster crystals this whole time?

Felis looked at me with a mix of concern and disbelief before grabbing the crystal and pulling a candy from his bag. He held both up in front of me.

"This one's a clear monster crystal, and this," he pointed at the candy I usually ate, "is a sugar block mined from a sugar mine. They look similar, but they taste different."

I felt a wave of relief wash over me. The taste was different, but still... both were oddly delicious.

A loud flapping noise echoed above us, and a shadow loomed ominously over our heads. We looked up to see a dragon, larger than a house, soaring through the sky, its massive wings casting a dark shadow on the forest floor. Its mouth began to glow, and in an instant, a powerful blast shot down toward us.

We instinctively raised our magical shields, but the explosion was so fierce that our barriers shattered almost immediately.

Panic surged through me as I remembered my grandfather's warning: don't wander into the forest until he declared that the dragon was gone.

The crater left by the explosion was as wide as my bedroom, and I could only imagine what would have happened if we'd been caught directly in its blast.

Just half a year into this new life, and was I really going to die again?