Himiko sneezed as she exited her makeshift den, a dense fog permeating over the lake.
She idly extended a claw and scratched a line in the sand; another line in a series of markings she'd left. There were seven tallies in total, marking seven days since she'd awoken on the shore of Mirror Lake. She'd spent the past seven days practicing maneuvering in her new body, testing its capabilities and limits. If she wanted to get off of this island dungeon - or, to scale up the difficulty, complete it - she would need to become intimately familiar with it if she wanted any hope of being able to perform well.
She glanced up again at the sky while washing herself in the lake. This was the first time she'd seen such peculiar weather since awakening on the island. She looked around at the surrounding grasslands, noting the remarkably reduced visibility.
I can barely see 50 meters in front of me if I'm lucky. I was planning to go exploring the island today, and changing plans once I'm already all psyched up for it is kind of annoying… Her ears drooped as she sighed in contemplation. Screw it, anything that's waiting out there is going to have the same disadvantage as I will. The only thing that's worth worrying about is whether I'll be able to find my way back here later on.
Himiko recalled her Quality progress as she considered the risk.
----------------------------------------
Ethereal Body (Body) 29.32%
As a mythical race, your body is composed entirely of mana. Your Body is intrinsically tied to your Soul stat, and you will no longer age. Your facial and body features possess a mystical charm, and you can completely recover from most wounds given time.
Know Not Pain (Heart) 6.11%
As a being of mana, all incoming physical damage is reduced by 2%.
Mystical Grace (Finesse) 16.55%
Your actions possess an elegant feel to them, becoming more flowing; smoother.
Playful Gait (Agility) 8.12%
Dodging speed is increased by 10%.
Timid (Mind) 12.89%
Staying quiet will boost your processing and memorization abilities by 25%.
Sorcerer's Soul (Soul) 0.00%
Your soul is naturally inclined towards the Mana Arts.
----------------------------------------
During the past week, she'd made some considerable progress in increasing the development of most of the abilities listed. As she reviewed the progress for |Sorcerer's Soul|, she let another deep sigh. She hadn't been able to make any progress for it, no matter how hard she’d tried. She knew that being able to use magic would give her an edge to survival, but no amount of affinity would be enough if she couldn't figure out how to use it.
And yet, maybe that's another reason I should go out and explore. I can only experiment so much while stuck in this valley. Perhaps some change will do me well.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Her tail wagged as she made her decision. She turned back towards the shoreline, slowly wadding her way back to the sand. One way or another, it was time for her to find out what was out there.
--
There were three rivers fed by Mirror Lake; one to the west, one to the southwest, and one to the south. Initially, she had intended to roam the island, but for the sake of finding her way back towards the lake in the heavy mists, Himiko decided to stick to the banks of one of these rivers to reduce her chances of losing her way. If the river tapered off at some point while there was still daylight, she would head back to the lake and follow another one.
In the end, she decided on the west-most river as her guide for her first excursion. There was no particular reasoning behind the choice, but if someone asked her for such a thing, the most likely reason was, "I want to see the sunset."
Sunsets have a substantial effect on the sleep cycles of humans, or rather, you could say that humans base their entire lives off of the event. Whether it be sleep schedules, work schedules, or whatever, the consensus was that once the sun was down, it was time to relax. Even in beings like bacteria, metabolism is regulated by the wavelength of light they are exposed to. This is further reflected in the phenomenon in which being exposed to blue light before going to bed makes it harder to fall asleep or prevent sleeping at all. Such effects were a large part of the reason why so many social media sites had blue backgrounds; to utilize this effect.
It sufficed to say that, the science of it besides, Himiko had a strange respect for sunsets, and simply wanted to see one. Sure, the dense fog would probably prevent that at the moment, but hopefully, the unusual weather would clear up before the sun went down. If it didn't, she could just come back another day.
Himiko shortly arrived at the source of the river while occupying her thoughts with such idle thoughts. She watched as the river flowed through the grasslands and disappeared into the mists beyond. She wasn't even able to see the treeline from her current position, much less any possible monsters that could be lurking beyond.
It had occurred to her that she was wildly unprepared for what she might find out there. There were probably lots of things that would attack her on sight roaming the island, and her previous assertion that the fog would hinder them as much as it did her was wildly naive.
However, the deciding factor was simple; she was running out of food. On the second day after awakening, Himiko had found a single small berry bush on the border between the grasslands surrounding the lake, and the treeline beyond that. As the week had gone on, she’d noted that her new |Ethereal Body| required much less food than would usually be necessary, allowing her to subsist on three of these berries every day. Incredibly handy, and significantly boosted her chances of survival for as long as she was stuck here. But eventually, the bush would run out of berries, and she would be forced to leave the safe zone to forage for food. Before that happened, she’d instead search while she possessed a stash of backup food rather than scrummage in the bushes while starved.
With these thoughts in mind, Himiko wadded through the grasslands, following the river as it gradually snaked towards the treeline. The rocky banks of the stream were rougher on her paws than the soft sands of the lake, but the week she’d spent training was already showing its worth, the callouses on her paws shielding her from more potential pain.
As she approached the shadows of the trees, she spared one last look back at the valley she’d spent the previous seven days living and training. With a silent nod of thanks, she was swallowed by the treeline and entered an entirely new ecosystem.
The first the Himiko noticed was that the forest surrounding her was some kind of rainforest. Through the mists, she could see thick the thick canopies of densely growing trees intertwining. She nearly slipped on the rock she was walking on as dew slid down the surface, falling into the river adjacent to it. The silence of the forest was deafening; the only thing Himiko could ear being the swaying trees and the trickling of the stream.
Suddenly, a resounding splash rang throughout the forest, Himiko whipping around in place as the sound echoed in her ears. A fish downstream had launched itself from the water 8 meters into the air, snatching what Himiko thought to be fruit from the branch of the tree before falling back into the water with another loud splash.
Himiko took a deep breath. She’d seen fish in Mirror lake (which had so far eluded her grasp), but none as big as that one had been, and she was reasonably sure that typical fish couldn’t launch themselves so far out of the water. She critiqued herself as her heart rate returned to normal. I need to be more on guard. If I jump at every little thing, I’ll tire myself out quickly. Maybe I should take a short break before-
Her thoughts turned to panic as branches shot out from the tree canopy, plunging into the water the fish had fallen into, flailing wildly. Himiko threw herself behind the nearest rock, peering out behind it once it became apparent the attack wasn't intended for her. The branches were still submerged in water, rampaging throughout the river as the wooden joints overturned rocks in the stream until they found their target.
The branches went taut as the water exploded in a frenzy; three of the vine-like appendages wrapped around the fish that had escaped with fruit just moments ago. The unfortunate prey was jerked around like a dog toy through the air until being abruptly pulled into the trunk of the nearest tree.
As Himiko watched cautiously, a blue, shining crystal emerged from the trunk of the tree, piercing the fish’s body. The fish squirmed as the crystal began shining, and the smell of burnt flesh began wafting through the air as the fish slowly began deflating. Soon, only a deflated, dry husk of the fish was left. The corpse dropped to the ground, and the vines slowly retreated into the canopy.
The forest was silent once more.
Himiko kept a wary eye on the tree as she processed what she’d seen, and what passed for a wry smile could be seen on the fox’s face.
It would seem I’ve found my first predator.