It was after three hours of trekking that Alice began to heavily regret her hasty action. I should really have taken the food with me. If I die of hunger, I can’t blame anyone but me.

Alice stopped walking, taking the moment to rest her aching legs. The moment she was certain the leaves and branches covered her from her parent’s perspective, she’d burst into a full-out run. It was only when her heart felt like it was going to beat out of her chest and every inhalation was a dagger to her lungs did she stop.

Getting off the road, Alice went to a nearby tree and sat down on its gnarled roots, keeping an eye on the path. Losing sight of it was tantamount of getting lost.

Alice sighed, the exhaustion of walking nonstop beginning to wear down on her. She leaned against the trunk, closing her eyes and formulating a list of all the things she needed to do if she wished to survive. Finding food was at the top of the list, no doubt. She no longer had the luxury of trial and error. She had to learn how to hunt as soon as possible. Alice checked the sun; it wasn’t at its peak yet. She would begin hunting in the early afternoon, and hopefully find an untapped potential for hunting within herself.

Water was also important, but it should be easier to locate. The chances of this road being paved near a water source were relatively high, and Alice just needed to keep an ear open for the sound of running water.

Alice nodded, satisfied with her plans. There was only one problem. Her mother had been right about the capital being completely different from her village, or any village. Just getting into the capital would require certificates and proof she was either a resident or had permission to go through. Maybe if she was a merchant or an adventurer, but as a commoner village girl?

Alice wrinkled her nose when the train of thought led to a disturbing thought entering her mind. If Alice was correct in her assumption, then that Devil-creature was the only being in this world who knew she wasn’t a native. Stupid floating words. You didn’t need to tell my life story!

Alice groaned. Thinking about it just made her want to rip her hair out, recalling the numerous riddles it had spouted. That was even without recalling the. . .bloodier aspects of their conversation. Alice involuntarily shuddered, feeling cold even though the temperature hadn’t dipped a bit.

Now that I have time to think…I have magic, don’t I? Alice instantly perked up, staring at her hand. The mechanical voice had stated she’d gained Skills. If she remembered correctly, she had received three in total. Alice wracked her brain, trying to recall.

//Status Screen Opening

Alice

Race: [Human] (Wanderer)

Class: [Destroyer] Low-Tier

Level: 3

Manergy Core Quality: C Tier

Manergy Conversion Rate: C Tier

Manergy Capacity: C Tier

Skills:

* [Perseverance] Rank E, Level 5

* [Independence] Rank E, Level 6

* [Reveal] Rank E, Level 1

Techniques:

N/A

Alice narrowed her eyes while the voice recited the information shown. So these are my stats, huh? It was a strange sensation, seeing something pulled straight from a fairy tale and knowing that it was all too real. Alice couldn’t help the jittery feeling that coursed through her body when she saw herself progressing. Alice quickly wiped away the stat screen, resolving to only check it sparsely. She could definitely see herself becoming addicted to checking her growth.

Welp, that’s enough resting. Alice got up, brushing the pollen that had accumulated on her legs, and set off on the road again. She’d barely taken more than a few steps when an earth-shattering roar filled the air, almost knocking Alice off her feet. Even though she’d never heard it this close before, Alice instinctively knew what that sound was.

Monsters.

While none of them were visible per se, the constant roaring, screeching, and bellowing was more than enough to assure Alice that they were nearby. Alice stared around warily, pushing on.

The wheel tracks were getting a little hard to detect. If the tracks were fading already, how much longer did Alice have before she couldn’t see them anymore? For now, she increased her pace.

A nearby bush shook. Alice turned her head to look over at it with an almost lazy air. What was up with that bush?

The shrubbery exploded as something huge rushed out. Alice screamed and threw herself to the side of the road, feeling something narrowly skim her body. Slamming to the ground, the pain was easily masked by the heart-pounding fear in her veins right now. Scrambling back on her hands and feet, Alice shoved herself into a crevasse in a tree trunk. There, she was able to have a moment to breathe and see what the hell had happened.

It was a monster, that was clear. Its back was to her as it consumed a smaller animal, but even with its front out of sight, Alice could tell it was way out of her league. Situated at over twice her height and width even when it was on all fours, it was an absolute behemoth of a beast. A black coat, like somebody poured oil over its body, wrapped around the entire length of the creature. A tail the size of Alice’s arm was attached to its bottom, flailing wildly. Alice gulped when it hit a tree trunk, and with a loud crack, made a dent.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

A chill went through her body; what if that had been her?

Alice’s mind ran at a thousand miles per hour to formulate a plan of action before the monster turned around and spotted her. Alice risked poking her head out of the crevasses, examining the monster’s back.

It only had four legs, which were preoccupied with keeping the monster upright; no other appendages were visible. The tail might prove to be a problem, but it didn’t reach the back. So long as Alice was a decent amount on top, then the tail wouldn’t be able to hit her either.

The most dangerous thing that could happen was Alice getting bucked off. She examined her arms. They were mostly flesh and bone. If the monster tried bucking her off, it wasn’t going to be a contest of strength worth watching; she’d lose in an instant.

As Alice tried to come up with a different plan, she noticed an alarming fact.

Alice could no longer detect the sound of the monster eating. Her heart almost stopped, and her hands turned clammy. That could mean the monster was gone, or…

It was surreal, almost like an out-of-body experience. With an almost sluggish movement, Alice poked her head out of the crevasse.

The first thing that went through her head was, it’s a boar. And indeed it was; the monster in question was an overgrown boar, with beady red eyes, an elongated snout, and perhaps most importantly to her survival odds, two, incredibly long, ivory tusks that jutted out from its lower lips.

The second thought in her head was, if I’m seeing its front, that means. . . The monster was facing her, and it didn’t look up for friendly discussion. It pounded the ground with a heavy hoof, indenting the road. With a roar, it opened its mouth, showing Alice the lovely tusks that could tear into her fleshy body like butter. The muscles in the hind legs of the monster coiled, and that was the only warning Alice had before it pounced.

She practically launched herself from the tree, just as the monster rushed into it. The tree snapped in half under the assault, one half of it teetering down. Rolling out the way, Alice narrowly avoided the tree, which cratered into the ground next to her. Alice stared at the fallen tree with huge eyes; that could have been her under there.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have time to marvel at the fact she was alive, because the way things were looking, the monster was trying everything it had to rectify that.

Alice heard a growl coming from the other side of the collapsed tree and sprinted off the road. The monster burst through the tree, ran right through where she had been only seconds earlier, and skittered to a stop. Alice hid behind a bush, observing the monster from the shadows of the forest. The sunlight shone down on the monster, making its black coat shimmer. As Alice watched, the monster lowered its snout to the ground and started sniffing.

Alice cocked her head in confusion; maybe it’s eyesight was bad? If so, she could use that to her advantage. Making sure she didn’t leave the relative safety of the shade, Alice unsheathed her knife. The metal scraped against the wood of the sheath and although the noise was barely noticeable to Alice, the boar stopped smelling and stuck its head up. Alice froze, hand gripped so tightly on the hilt of her knife that it was turning white. The boar sniffed the air a couple of times before snorting and focusing on the road once more.

Alice exhaled as lightly as she dared before she thought about her next move. It was a matter of time before the monster caught scent of her. Alice rubbed her bruised legs. A battle of attrition was only going to make her lose strength. Taking the fight to the boar before it had time to react may be the best thing she could do.

The boar grunted, pawing at the ground. It would have been cute, if not for the gouges in the dirt it was creating with every motion. Alice caught a strangled gasp before it escaped her throat. Now isn’t the time to hesitate! Ignore the other ideas, aim for the legs!

With a plan in mind, Alice sprinted out of the shade, dropping to the ground and slashing wildly at the legs. Her knife hit the legs, she was certain, but instead of the blade sinking into the flesh, it bounced off. Alice grimaced when the backlash hit her, jolts of pain tingling down her arm and her knife clattering to the ground.

//First strike against your first monster! You have gained Skill Points!

[Independence] Rank E, Level 6->[Independence] Rank E, Level 7

Progress towards next Level: 96%

The sight of the ginormous killing machine bearing down on her was enough to make Alice move again despite the pain and distracting message, jumping out of the way. Alice rolled to a stop, weaponless and defenseless. The boar growled, warning her it was going to charge soon.

Welp, if it wants to remind me about magic so much, magic is all I have left! Alice concentrated. She had no clue what to do, and based her entire process off the various fairy tales she’d consumed. Alice imagined the faces of everybody she loved in this world—Charlotte, August, Ben, Mother, Father—so firmly that they couldn’t have been more realistic if it was real life. The love she felt for them, the determination to make a difference in the world, the desire to survive and meet Charlotte, the fear of dying—these were all powerful emotions, and they warped and twisted into an orb of power in Alice’s mind. She could feel the energy, just out of reach. Reaching out with her mind, Alice skimmed the energy and it surged through her body, filling her with life—

The time was now!

Alice stuck out her hands and screamed, a torrent of lightning streaking out of her palms and entering the boar, leaving a charred corpse in its wake. The force of the blow was enough to send the boar flying backwards, landing somewhere in the bushes.

Alice panted, smoke trailing from her palms. All the energy that had filled her seconds ago was drained, leaving a tired husk behind. Regardless of all that though, she was proud of herself. A weary smile slid onto her face. I did it. I actually used magic!

//Congratulations for killing the monster! You have gained Level Points!

Level up: You have reached Level 4!

Progress towards next level: 4%

[Further Skills available. Do you wish to see Skill slots?]

Alice bit her lips, her enthusiasm slightly curbed at the message. She had the option to unlock another Skill? Should she take it? It hadn’t even been 10 minutes since Alice said she’d regulate the time she spent obsessing on her stats, but not taking this opportunity was stupid at best.

“...fine. I’ll–” Alice paused mid sentence as she heard another set of footsteps. Her forehead furrowed in confusion, Alice turned around just in time to see another boar charging her down.

…ah. So there was more than one.

There was a creak, and everything went black.