Walking was surprisingly tiring.

Which was not a good sign.

~Ugh~

Hmm, I seem to groan an awful lot recently.

Anyway, after finally reaching the forest's edge, I laid down to rest for a bit. The ground was dry here, luckily. That probably had something to do with me having had to scale a slight incline to get here.

The trees were very pretty. The leaves had red edges that transitioned through purple into a dark teal. Their shape reminded me of the monstera plant only more...limb, I guess? They were also more the size of maple leaves. The tree's crowns were also very similar to those savannah trees, wide and flat.

I saw some other species but those seemed rare. The forest floor was covered in something I'd classify as giant moss and was littered with the shimmering bark of the trees. Apparently, they shed their skin.

Looking down, I watched as I dug my claws into the moss and—

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That's my skin.

~Ugh, I'm an idiot!~ Why had I tried to look at myself in a reflection, when I could just look.

Taking in a breath to settle my frustration, I began examining myself.

I immediately noticed that my skin was very translucent, to the point that I could see my muscles which had a very metallic gray sheen to them. I could also see the rather geometric net of my blood vessels. Or rather my flowing blood. They also looked rather metallic, but instead of a steely gray, they looked like liquid electrum. That means they looked like very pale gold. I also didn't seem to have a pulse.

Ok, that sounded weird. What I meant was that the flow looked completely continuous, regardless of where I looked.

I set my sight onto my chest and saw something like a gem, a pink ruby or diamond — I can't tell the difference —, where I would have expected a heart. Though I guess that's one and the same for me.

Huh.

Turning my head and neck to look over my back, I couldn't make any new observations. I was also rather worried.

This body... It looked too fragile.

This, my body wasn't one belonging to an elemental flying tank, but looked more like an ornamental fish!

I shuddered.

Why? Did I come out of my egg too early? Was I damaged?

Well, maybe I'm more durable than I look! I didn't really believe that.

I was pretty sure that anything and everything could hurt me.

What the heck?

I wasn't worried anymore.

I was scared.