Sitting in the sparse grass of the forest floor I tear off a piece of my shirt and wrap it around my bleeding hand as tight as I can.

“Ouch, Fuck!”

I am used to pain because of all the training my so-called parents put me through in this world, but I usually could count on a healer to fix me up right after. Sadly I don’t see any wild healers roaming this forest at the moment.

Turning towards my wildly unhelpful AI I grumble out my most important question.

“Hey, is there any way I can heal myself?”

Twirling her hair in her finger she looks down on me with an amused grin.

“As I said I am only here to provide assistance related to the system so if you are asking for the location of a flowing river filled with magical healing water, you are shit out of luck. However, if you are wondering how to acquire a skill that will heal you, I may be able to provide some guidance on that front.”

Mulling her words over I try to think of how to phrase my question in a way that can get the most assistance. As I start to ask my question, something different occurs to me and I can’t help but ask about it. After all she just said she couldn’t provide assistance unless it related to the system, but when I asked where I was Alice said I was in The Sea of Trees and more importantly told me that the wood here is stronger than enchanted steel. If she had not told me those things I would never have thought to use the stick I found to kill the goblin. When I ask her however she seems to avoid the question.

“Well, I only responded to your question with a random guess of our location based on the given information, and a bit of trivia about why your magic didn’t affect the tree. That can’t really be considered assistance, not that such things matter. You have more important things to worry about at the moment don’t you.”

And with that obvious technicality I had to refocus on my original question.

How do I learn a skill to keep myself from dying of blood loss, internal bleeding, or a horrible infection?

I know from the books I have read that self healing skills are difficult to acquire for most magic types, let alone Light magic and Golemancy which are both things I have never even heard of in this world before. Sure I have heard of them from fantasy novels back on earth but never once saw them mentioned here. My parents however seem to have heard of it, and they considered it so terrible they felt the need to kill me over it to avoid the shame or some shit like that.

I am not sure how having your only child suddenly die is less shameful than having a useless magic type, but my father has never been the most logical person, and my mother has always hated me regardless.

“So, I know that I can use magic outside of skills to learn new skills, however they always must be related to my magic type. I doubt golemancy will get me anywhere so light magic is my best bet. So miss mighty and all knowing AI villainess, How do I acquire a light magic based healing skill?”

The blond drill haired beauty begins to grin at me.

“While I can not provide you with a step by step guide I can give you a hint. The trees in this forest are not just durable, they regenerate from damage quite rapidly. And the basis of that regeneration is in light magic.”

“Huh.”

The trees can heal themselves, and if my highschool science classes still even partially apply to this world then it must be some weird combination of magic and photosynthesis. Now my biggest problem is that my cells do not contain chlorophyll so this may be more difficult for me to do than a plant. Let's just forget the fact that these trees are clearly stronger than me. I wonder if there are any living trees in this forest. And with that terrifying thought sending shivers down my spine I get to work.

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Looking up at the bits of sky making their way through the lush canopy I plop my broken body down in the biggest splotch of light I can find.

“[Light Beam]”

A thick arrow of light launches out of my hand into the ground beneath me. I learned my lesson and tried to fire it in a way that I would not attract attention, like I would shooting straight up.

Again I use my skill.

“[Light Beam]”

Feeling the new and renewed mana from my level ups move through my body I focus on the sensation of how it interacts with and generates the light. I feel a warm flow of energy run through my nerves, like downing a cup of hot chocolate and letting the warmth fill you on a cold day. It begins to morph and radiate more and more as it reaches my finger tip. Just before the beam fires from where it has formed I try and grab a hold of it, not with my hand, but with the rest of my mana. It stops, twitching for a second, and then bursts like a flash bang.

“Ah! Fuck!”

“Is the word ‘Fuck’ the extend of your vocabulary?”

“It is when you are getting injured or blinded every 5 seconds while stuck in a shitty murder forest after having just been killed by your own parents!”

“Teenagers are always so dramatic.”

A snide comment and an eye roll are all I get for my plight as my vision returns to me.

[You have learned the skill [Flash]!]

“Not what I was aiming for and likely to just get me killed but I will take it I guess. Any chance you can give me advice on how to not blow up the light and attract more unwanted attention?”

Once again rolling her eyes Alice sits down across from me, sitting straight up and seemingly taking this a bit more seriously.

“First of all trying to modify a skill like that right off the bat in the middle of the forest with nothing but a pointy stick to protect yourself with is stupid, I am glad you are finally realizing that.”

I snort at that while looking away with a bit of embarrassment. And a bit of pain considering the damage likely done to my lunges.

“Rather than try and grip the light from [Light Beam] you should aim for the light around you, which is what I had assumed was your plan considering your choice to sit in this particular sun beam. Try to hold it within your body and absorb it.”

“Look, I just got caught up in the moment of using the magic alright!”

“Just focus on learning to heal yourself before you bleed out already.”

“Urk.”

Unable to say anything else in response I try slowly getting the feel for moving my mana on its own without using a skill. The warmth and the sting as I do something I am not used to running through my veins. I reach out into the sky above me desperate to grasp something, anything. And after what feels like ages I finally begin to feel something, just a tiny little trickle, a tingling sensation different from touch, different from using my mana, a sense I have never felt before. I can touch the light with my mana, feel as it passes through in an endless wave crashing down on me. The sensation is incredibly faint but I do my best to guide it towards myself, though my body, trapping it within.

It is painful, trying to trap something as high energy as light within my body in high quantities, especially when I am already in excruciating pain to begin with. Finally, after the pain is starting to become unbearable, having trapped more and more light inside for so long, I get a notification appearing in my vision.

[You have learned the skill [Passive - Solar Regeneration]!]

Nice! Now I wont die!

Excited by my new skill I try to stand up and immediately regret my decision as pain washes over me from my wounds forcing me to sit back down.

“Uh… How long will this skill take to heal me?”

Getting no response but a disappointed glare I ask again.

“I know it was stupid to stand up like that, I was just excited. Can you answer my question?”

“Sigh. While I am impressed with your ability to learn a rare skill like that so quickly I am far less impressed with how impulsive you are. Clearly talent does not save one from stupidity.”

“Hey!”

Ignoring my complaints, the little villainess continues on.

“That skill of yours will not heal you immediately. In fact at its current level It will take you about a month to heal, and that is provided you are in direct sunlight for the entire day.”

“What?! Then it is fucking useless, I will bleed out and die of an infection before then!”

Once again little miss drills pretends I said nothing and finishes her speech.

“However because the skill is a passive regeneration skill, It should take care of at least replacing your blood and cleaning out infection just fast enough to keep you alive until you can level it up and the regeneration outpaces the loss.”

“Oh… And how do I level it up?”

“Stand in the sun and heal, dumbass.”

“Right. Well, now that I am not dying I should try and figure out how to protect myself.”

Getting a snort for my comment Alice turns to me and points out something I had forgotten about.

“You have Golemancy that you have not even touched yet, try using it. That pointy stick won’t protect you forever.”

Taking her advice I call out for my golemancy skill.

“[Create Golem]”

[Use of skill failed]

[Missing 1 Golem Core]

“Um, Alice-sensei… How do I get a golem core?”

The lovely AI projection just looks at me and sighs.