The elf giggled again. I swear she was making fun of me at this point!

She laid her palm open on the table next to me, and I stepped on it as soon as I was ready. I had done everything I could do regarding choosing my skills and such.

When I stepped on her palm, I had a good comparison for how much I’d grown during my last evolution. Before, I was the size of her thumb. Now, I was the size of her palm, which was about double, I think.

Cellestra stood up and walked through the door. Beyond it, was a small hallway with another door to the left and a door in front of us. She opened the door in front of us and stepped outside. The elf then knelt to put me down in the short grass.

I was finally taller than the grass and waved at her as she stood back up to her towering height.

She waved with her fingers, and I was off.

It was time to find out how strong this fireball was. Before doing that, however, I cast the all-too-familiar physical barrier magic. This magic would create an invisible shield around me that would block incoming damage and projectiles as long as they were not magic-based.

After casting it, I found out I could maintain it without a low, steady supply of magic.

That was new to me.

That was not how this barrier worked in my old life.

Elysa, is there any reason that this barrier works differently?

Your previous memories have increased this spell’s effectiveness.

Well, now I was just left cursing at myself for not learning any more spells in my old life. I had this one, a minor magic enchantment for my weapon, and a magic barrier.

I could completely forget about using a weapon in my current state, and the magic barrier hasn’t shown up, at least not yet.

I was hoping it would at some point.

I shoved the thought aside. I would first have to evolve again before new skill options would show up. For that, I would need to find new prey.

I left Cellestra behind and skittered across the grassy fields that surrounded her small home. I was going to need to find some cover from birds first.

Though, I guess small birds shouldn’t be too hard to take on at this point.

I’d rather not risk another fall like that, though. I got out of that relatively unscathed last time, but I was quite a bit heavier now.

My purple color didn’t really work with me either. It would be easy to spot me on the dirt ground that was present throughout this forest.

I took one last look at Cellestra, just as she was heading back inside, before I focused on my mission. I was quite far away from the cave in which I was born anew and I wondered what kinds of animals I’d be able to find in this area of the forest.

I was surprised to run into one of the beetles that had caused me a lot of pain when I tried to kill one.

This time, however, I had a ranged attack!

I slowly skittered closer and waited until the creature stood still before I raised my pedipalps and let the mana flow the way my mind told me. A fireball twice the size of the insect formed within an instant and shot toward it.

It impacted… and the beetle exploded into a shower of bits and pieces.

I had the feeling that wasn’t the power of the fireball alone…

You have killed a Forest Bombardier beetle: EXP+70

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 2!

You have been awarded 8 EP.

Learning magic certainly had made this quite a bit easier. I feared this attack would drain me too much, but it appeared my mana regeneration skill did wonders. I could already feel the spent mana reforming in my core.

That attack seemed quite powerful in itself, even if the explosion was presumably caused by the liquid that was sprayed at me last time.

I was happy to find out they still gave full experience too!

I was excited about this spell. It seemed to be powerful enough to take on even stronger creatures. It would be risky, but it could certainly pay off in huge experience gains, perhaps even some achievements.

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I imagined I could exploit my versatility when it came to climbing certain things and the ability to cast from range in a safe spot to do just that.

For now, I was happy to take out anything I could get my hands… well, pedipalps, I guess, on.

I went from tree to tree, searching for insects and other small animals that could be found around them. I found another stag beetle which was easily taken out after I jumped on it.

You have killed a Forest Stag Beetle: EXP+10

Out here in the forest, they still seemed to give a bit of experience.

It wasn’t much, but anything would do.

When I looked up at one of the tree trunks, I saw a familiar hole. I waited for a bit, and it didn’t take long for the creature that lived inside to come out.

A squirrel, about twice my size, came out and ran down the trunk. I had already prepared my fireball spell and as soon as it stood still, I fired.

I hit it right in the middle of its body, causing its fur to burn as the creature didn’t know what happened to it. I simply waited as it died from the impact and resulting blaze.

You have killed a Forest Squirrel: EXP+130

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 3!

You have been awarded 7 EP.

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 4!

You have been awarded 8 EP.

This magic was awesome!

I could take out creatures that were larger than me without too much effort.

To think this was considered a ‘weak’ fireball.

Even though I felt my mana regenerating, there was no doubt I couldn’t use this spell recklessly. Using this too often would still drain me, no matter what. My mana regeneration wasn’t high enough to make up for it.

It made me wonder if higher-tier spells would require more mana, or whether they were simply more powerful.

In my old world, it was both.

I would have to look into it later, when I had the next rank of the fireball spell.

Whenever that was going to be…

I checked the hole in the tree, wondering if there were any more squirrels inside, but found it empty of life. The only thing inside was a stash of acorns.

I’m not sure what I expected…

I was about to go outside when another squirrel’s face appeared in the opening. The moment it saw me, it attacked.

It tried biting me, but my physical damage barrier absorbed the attack while I cast another fireball.

I fired it from point-blank range and caused quite a bit of backlash because of the confined area I found myself in. I easily killed the squirrel, but was blown back by the impact so close to me. The resulting explosion also forced the animal back out of the hole.

Ouch.

You have killed a Forest Squirrel: EXP+133

Level Up!

Kealyna has reached level 5!

You have been awarded 7 EP.

Lesson learned. Be careful when entering someone else’s house uninvited. Their inhabitants may show up and try to kill you.

Sure, the experience was welcome, but I’d hurt myself in the process. It wasn’t too bad, but I decided to wait here for a bit and let my regeneration do its job.

After an hour or so, I felt like the mostly superficial damage had healed enough for me to continue my hunt.

I went about from tree to tree again and eventually found another burrow like the one I’d found earlier. I quietly skittered inside, hoping that its occupants were sleeping. Once I arrived in the dark main room, I found another group of mice snugly sleeping together.

I felt a pang of guilt at killing something that would otherwise be considered cute, but I wanted to live too.

I was going to have to make this one fireball do a lot of damage.

I decided to walk back into the tunnel to level up my spider thread skill once, just to have a bit more combat power in case things went wrong. After selecting it, I felt a warmth flow to my behind, where my spinnerets were located. When the moment passed, I walked back into the main room and used my now stronger silk to cover the exit.

I then prepared my fireball cast from a safe distance and aimed at the middle of the sleeping mice.

Then, I threw it.