“So, what have you managed to bring down with that spear of yours?”

This woman seemed strangely fascinated with fighting monsters. I personally found it to be an unpleasant necessity I could do without. Nevertheless, if I wanted to make friends, this was a good opportunity.

After some of things I had faced, I was sure at least a few of my adventures would be to her liking. I searched for the words to describe the fierce and terrifying monsters I had faced with my spear.

“A big snake. A big bat. Another big bat.” I replied less eloquently than I would have liked.

“How big? ‘Monster’ big, or just ‘that’s a big critter’ big?”

“Monster.”

“You need to show me then.” She demanded enthusiastically.

Calling back up my interface, I willed it to display my battle on the cliff side with the winged serpent. When I tried to send it across the room, like the woman had with her interface, nothing happened.

I didn’t know why it wasn’t working until a message appeared on my interface.

System Updates Available:

Enhanced interface mobility

Extended Interface display range

With a sigh, I set the two new updates to integrate. I already had enough queued up that it was going to be a while before these two would be finished.

Rather than struggle fruitlessly with my interface for any longer, I got up and walked over to the other bed.

“What? Can’t figure out how to move your interface? Whatever, let’s just see what you have to show me. Have a seat.” The large woman said while patting a spot on the bed next to her.

As I drew near, I noticed that the woman had a set of four, parallel scars running down the side of her face, like something with claws had attacked her at some point.

Sitting down, I once again called up the memory of my battle on the cliff. I chose to begin a few moments before I spotted the serpent coming towards me.

“Yeah, that’s not a good spot to find yourself in a fight. Now where is the… Oh. You were right, that is a big snake.” She commented as the snake rose up from the canopy.

She watched as I frantically scrambled down the side of the cliff. As the serpent lashed out towards me, the woman leaned closer to my interface. Her eyes widened in surprise as the monster glanced off my invisible barrier.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“What just…? Are you a mage?” She asked.

I nodded in reply.

“That was a well placed shield. That snake never saw it com-.” She started before the serpent sprayed it’s vile breath attack at me, causing me to fall down to the lower ledge. “That’s just cheating.”

She watched my interface with rapt attention while I struggled against the magic that restrained me. A grin spread across her face as I fended off the serpent’s attacks and staggered back to my feet.

“I’ll admit that your magic is impressive, but the grip you have on your spear here is a little off.” She critiqued, still engrossed by the fight. “Your footwork could also use some work. You’re doing fairly well considering the fact that you don’t have much space to maneuver, but there is fair bit of room for improvement.”

The woman’s commentary continued throughout the rest of the fight. Even though she pointed out most of the things I did wrong, it sounded less like an insult and more like she was trying to show me how I could improve.

As I dealt the final blow, she let out a laugh. “Oh yeah, that was something. Looks like you cut it pretty close there, but I will admit defeat. You’ve killed the bigger monster. On the side of a cliff, no less.”

Despite her critiques, she sounded genuinely impressed.

“I never introduced myself, did I? Name’s Ophelia.” She said as she held out a hand toward me.

“My name is Kyo.” I said while mirroring her hand gesture.

Just like when Mark told me his name before, Ophelia grabbed my hand and shook it up and down. Evidently, this was some sort of traditional greeting.

“Always good to meet a fellow warrior, even if your form could use a little work.” She said with a smile. “If you ever want someone to show you how to properly use a spear, I’d be happy to teach you. I think you have the potential to be a fearsome spear master some day.”

“Thank you.” I replied. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a spear master, but figured that a few lessons would be well worth it if I needed to defend myself from monsters again. I just hoped that I wouldn’t have much need for my spear now that I had found my way back to civilization.

“Let’s grab some food and then you can show me some more of your fights.” Ophelia said as she stood up and headed towards the door.

I followed her to the kitchen that Maria had mentioned. It wasn’t terribly large, but it did have some very interesting things.

Set into the middle of a counter was a stone plate with runes etched into it. The back of the plate held a circle of runes that would all generate or move heat. The other runes led to a trio of circles that could control the amount of mana distributed to the heating runes.

Fascinating though this magical stove was, Ophelia pointed out an even more marvelous device to me.

Seated under some shelves was a wooden box with a door on the front. Inside were a few fruits and a pitcher of water that were remarkably cold. A closer look revealed runes carved into the sides of the wondrous box.

Ophelia laughed as I examined the magical appliances.

I showed her some more of the monsters I had faced while we snacked on dried meat, hard bread, and a strange substance called cheese.

Her expression grew more and more incredulous with each titan and demon that I showed her. The muscular woman nearly dropped her cheese when I showed her the titan’s wraith rising from its corpse.

“By the sun. I’m never complaining about the time it takes to drain the magic out of corpses again.” She remarked as she watched me frantically try to fend off the otherworldly horror. “I’ve heard of wraiths, but nobody told me they were anything like that. Consider me impressed. You’ll make for a monster of a warrior once I’ve had my way with you.”

I was glad that my new friend was excited, but I wasn’t sure if I liked the almost hungry glint in her eye.

Hopefully, I was just imagining things.