After walking for about a quarter of an hour along the stream's bank, Lucy encountered another slime. But this time the slime was no longer in the water, but on the grass a few meters from the shore.

'It seems to be a level 4 slime. I wonder if it's more dangerous? Anyway, it doesn't matter. I won't give it any chance. I'll attack it from a distance with stones. A true ninja always resorts to the most efficient way to eliminate their opponent...'

After Lucy annihilated the opponent, she received two notifications from the system. The first one informed her that she gained 10 experience points and 10 points for the ninja shop, while the second one indicated that her level had now reached 2.

"Yes! Finally!"

Jumping up and down with joy, Lucy clapped her hands without a care in the world, unconcerned if anyone could see her and make fun of her. She then opened the window with her status to see what changes had occurred.

[Status]

Name: Lucy Everlynn

Race: Catkin

Classes: Magic Powered Ninja

Level: 2 (5/50)

Parameters

Health: 100/100

Mana: 150/150

Stamina: 68/70

Attributes

Strength: 10

Defense: 5

Vitality: 8

Agility: 20

Dexterity: 20

Magic: 20

Intelligence: 12

Luck: 10

[You can allocate one point to an attribute]

Skills:

Ninja Shop (S)

Nekohoshime(S)

[You can select or create an E-rank skill]

'It seems that it now shows me how many experience points I need to reach the next level. Why didn't it show when I checked last time? Maybe because I didn't have any experience points at all? Anyway, it's good that it will show from now on. Okay, let's see which attribute I should increase its value...'

After pondering for a while, Lucy concluded that the initial point distribution was perfect for a Magic Powered Ninja. Despite having lower defense, considering her agility and dexterity, plus her ocular powers, she should be able to dodge most attacks, so she shouldn't attempt to raise it to the level of the others.

'After all, I think it would be best to add one point to each attribute in their listed order. This way, I can roughly maintain the way the points are allocated and create a fighting style that harmonizes perfectly with my attribute values. So, let's put the first point into the Strength attribute.'

After Lucy decided what to do with the point, the system automatically increased the value of the Strength attribute from 10 to 11, and she noticed that the limit of the Stamina parameter increased from 70 to 75. 'Hmmm. It seems that the Strength attribute has an influence on the Stamina parameter. But I don't think that's its main function. Probably, it's considered that a stronger body is more resistant to effort... Anyway, let's see which skill I'll choose...'

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Lucy opened the list of skills proposed by the system, but they didn't impress her much. 'I know these skills are of E-rank, but I think they should be a little more interesting... Most of them are passive skills that can increase the limit of certain parameters, such as Minor Health Improvement, or increase the value of an attribute by 20 percent. There are also a few offensive skills, but they consume a considerable amount of mana, and I believe that opponents could often evade them. Well, the system is competent enough to read my desires, but it seems to lack inspiration on its own. Don't worry, system, I have plenty of ideas. If you listen to me, I'm sure we can create skills together that will leave everyone amazed!'

[Affirmative]

'It's clear that you're just as excited as I am. So, let's get to work. What would be most useful to me right now is a skill that can help me attack the opponent by surprise, but also quickly evade any incoming attacks. Something like a movement technique or, better yet, a skill that can make me move almost instantaneously to the desired location. But can such a skill be categorized as E-level? Let's see, system, what can you create with these ideas?'

[Create skill for instantaneous movement... modify skill to be classified as an E-rank skill...]

After a few seconds, the skill created by the system according to Lucy's instructions appeared in front of her.

[Steps of Light (E): A movement skill that allows the user to move almost instantaneously up to a distance of 20 meters, with a speed close to that of light, provided there is an obstacle-free path between the original location and the target location that the user could traverse in a normal manner. This skill consumes 5 mana points and 2 stamina points. It has a cooldown period of 5 seconds.]

After reading the skill description, Lucy decided that it looked quite good and selected it without much hesitation. 'It's unfortunate that it consumes stamina points in addition to mana points, but it was probably necessary for it to have this weakness to be classified as an E-rank skill. Okay, that's done. Let's see what I can buy from the Ninja Shop with the points I obtained from those two slimes.'

After activating the Ninja Shop skill, an interface containing everything a ninja would need, such as weapons, clothing, and food, appeared in front of Lucy.

'It seems I only have 15 points. Let's see what I can buy. First and foremost, I need something to drink. I'm not an expert in survival techniques, but I guess it's not advisable to drink water directly from a stream. At least, that's how it was in the world I lived in.'

After accessing the beverages page and analyzing the prices of the products, Lucy decided to buy a half-liter bottle of orange juice, which cost 5 points. Immediately after Lucy selected the product and mentally pressed the buy button, the orange juice appeared floating in front of her.

'Not only will I quench my thirst, but I'll also get some calories. It's a very good choice. Let's see if we can buy a weapon as well.'

Since Lucy had only 10 points left, she had only two options to choose from: buying a soft iron kunai or two shuriken. 'Considering that I've never used a shuriken in reality, I think the best option right now is to buy a kunai.'

After purchasing the kunai, it appeared in front of her, floating just like the bottle of orange juice. 'This skill defies reality. It can create things out of nothing,' thought Lucy as she reached out to take the kunai.

After savoring the refreshing orange juice, Lucy began to perform some combat movements with the kunai in her hand, slashing and stabbing imaginary opponents. Once satisfied with her kunai handling techniques, Lucy decided to move away from the creek to find an opponent to test her new skill and weapon.

'I think I'll head towards the edge of the forest. I believe I'll have a better chance of finding a more suitable opponent than a slime...'

But Lucy didn't have to search for long, as a hyena-like creature started silently following her from a distance of about 50 meters, likely preparing to attack her by surprise. 'Luckily, I decided to activate my visual abilities to scan the area. Even though I would have noticed this creature when it lunged at me, it's better for me to take the initiative and strike first. I don't know what kind of animal it is, but my visual abilities tell me it's just a level 5. So, I believe I can defeat it easily. For now, I'll stay still and let the creature come closer, and when it enters the range of my movement skill, I'll try to eliminate it in one strike...'

Seeing that Lucy started studying the grass, the hyena-like creature stealthily approached her. After a few seconds, realizing that the catgirl in front of it hadn't noticed him, the creature decided to attack at full speed. But at the moment when he wanted to jump toward his prey:

"Slash."

'Huh, what's happening? Who cut me? Where did the prey in front of me go?' Those would probably be the questions the creature would ask itself as it fell to the ground with its throat slit by Lucy, who had instantly appeared behind it.

'That was easier than I thought. Considering that this ugly dog (or whatever this creature is) wanted to attack me, I felt no hesitation in raising the kunai to kill it. Yes. I can truly say that I have done justice. And justice cannot be considered a crime...'.