“Ha…Haa..Haaa..HRMPH?!”
Mia came to an abrupt stop, falling to her knees as her stomach lurched “n-no, can’t stop…urp!” she vomited, releasing what little stomach contents she had. She had been running for hours, forcing herself to continue even as her body screamed for her to stop.
She stayed down, staring at the small puddle she had made on the ground, panting heavily. Her legs were exhausted, her arms shaking and her vision blurry “need… going…” she took a deep breath, which proved to be a mistake as her stomach lurched again, causing another fit of vomiting.
She plopped to the side, clutching her protesting stomach in an attempt to calm it, groaning pitifully.
[You pushed yourself too far.]
“Shut-“ Mia closed her mouth, fighting back another bout of stomach acid and managing to keep it at bay. She then shifted to her back, staring up at the canopy of leaves illuminated by orange light she breathed slowly.
She had wanted to get to the forest’s edge by nightfall, but it looked like that wouldn’t be possible. She sighed, questioning how big this forest even was and trying not to question if she was even going the right way…
[You are.]
“…” she carefully sat up, getting a bit dizzy at first “Ho-“ She paused, gulping and clearing her throat…horrible taste “how tell?”
{Log, If our directions are correct you are headed in the right direction.]
“Hm, how far?”
[Do not know. You have never gotten this far before. I am simply making an educated guess based on the map from log, the directions from Hii-]
“No!” Mia yelled “No name, not him.” This was something else she did not want to think about, too soon…
[…The directions from people, and the map shown to you by your aunt.]
Mia frowned, speaking of people she didn’t want to think about… she sighed, giving up, she decided to just be glad she wasn’t running around in circles. She attempted to stand but her legs gave out mid way, making her end up right back on the ground.
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“Great…” Well, she wasn’t doing that run again.
She saved, while she wasn’t in the best shape the distance traveled was, hopefully, worth it. She looked around, trying to find anything that could be used for shelter, food, or water. She’d need at least water and shelter, especially after vomiting so much….
She glanced towards the puddle, nope, not that desperate, would rather die.
Shelter would be easy at least. She dragged herself to the base of large tree, shambling threw the grass and bushes, not minding the scratches she was getting on her hands and legs. Arriving at the base she looked for a suitable spot where the roots were a bit concave and squeezed herself into that spot.
“….” She wasn’t hidden at all, or protected, she would have liked to dig a bit under the tree’s root but she was too exhausted, she couldn’t even bring herself to climb. She then got an idea, using her ice magic she formed a shelter around her, covering her completely in a thick layer of ice. By the time she was done with it she was in a tiny igloo with only 100 mana left to her name.
“mpmh” she nodded happily to herself, it probably stuck out like a sore thumb but it would have to do, it would get dark soon so it would stick out less…right? She’d hope so. It also had the side effect of cooling her, which felt extra nice on her exhausted body.
The only thing that would make this better would be some water. “…Ami, I wanna use water magic” She had wanted to use different types of magic and weapons for the permanent stat increases, and thanks to he who shall not be thought about, water magic seemed to be the most useful, especially now. She had thought she could get water from her ice magic, but as versatile as it was in making solid objects, she had given up on the idea.
[I cannot help you with that request.]
“hrm? Why?” Mia shifted, trying to find the best position in her little ice home.
[Lacking knowledge, the beastkin told you about affinity? You do not know what affinities you have besides ice. You also lack the knowledge on how to learn besides “trying your hardest” which will most likely be in vain if you lacked the affinity in the first place.]
“Bleh.” Mia frowned ‘be that way’ she then saved. She shakily raised her hand, pointing her finger up into the air and imagined a gently stream of water flowing out of it. She closed her eyes, focusing, imagining it in a similar fashion to how she blew a stream of icy mist, flowing from her finger in a steady stream. Carefully, very carefully she focused on her remaining mana, willing it to obey her, shape itself to her will, she was in control of it, the master of magic!
Feeling the magic flow threw her, she felt it, yes, this was it, she could feel it, affinities be damned!
She opened her eyes wide in amazement, only to see a steady stream of icy mist flowing from her finger tip, just like she imagined. “…” she stared at it for a solid minute before squeezing her hand, causing the stream to solidify into a solid stick of ice, grabbing it, and sticking one end into her mouth as she pouted.
Hungry and thirsty, she tried to go to sleep.