With the feeling in her arm and leg back Mia was now free to focus on the next task in front of her, the corpse of this lanky blood sucker. She shuffled up next to it, poking its shell a few times with her finger “hard…”

She raised her hand, forming an ice dagger to test against the bugs carapace. The icy blade slide right in with a bit of force, so she went to work.

Cutting the top open and revealing the white flesh underneath then peeling off the remaining hard shell to gain access, she cut a small section of the white flesh off, inspecting it.

It was white, gooey, and off putting. Giving it a few careful sniffs caused her body to recoil, her hair fluffing up in stark protest “…blech…” it smelled like a wet rag that had fallen between the cracks in the counter and left for a month, by no means should she ever eat this based on the smell alone.

But, a very big but, she needed food, and like tough times back in the village… she couldn’t afford to be picky. But she could still be cautious.

She saved, then with one hand she plugged her nose and stuffed the slab of meat into her mouth and started chewing.

“?!” Her eyes went wide, her face squished and twisted in pure disgust as her teeth crunched down on a soft, mooshy texture.

She loaded, shivering at the sight of the meat before flinging it off into a bush. “Like eating sponge…moldy, sponge.”

She made a small stick of ice and stuck it in her mouth, trying to fight the phantom taste left over from that, thing… she lifted herself up, deciding she would rather starve than taste that thing again.

Breathing a sigh, she decided to carry on, hoping to find something, anything to eat in this forest “berries…” would be nice… she took a few glances around “Ami, which way?” she had not heard anything from her all day, which in a sense was nice, but right now she needed her for directions.

[Straight ahead, if the log is accurate.]

Mia perked up, before shaking her head and nodded “OK” she jumped over the bug, spinning around and kicking it before heading off, keeping a decent pace.

As she walked she spun the ice dagger in her hands, pondering about her magic. Making that igloo was useful, the mana cost was steep for that small hut but she was thankful she could do it in the first place. That, and the wall of ice, her daggers…the ice stick in her mouth, she was wondering if that was something a normal user of ice magic could do or was it just thanks to her magic craftsmen skill.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

If she could use fire instead, could she make a fire igloo? “…would it be an igloo?” she mumbled, or could she make fire daggers? Thinking back to her only example, her aunt’s fire magic was impressive, the accuracy aside her making tornadoes was impressive, but she imagined she could not do anything that lasted…fire needed fuel…

If she didn’t fuel the fire during the night, it would be out by morning, if the same logic applied to fire magic, she couldn’t see her aunt carrying around a bunch of weaponry made of fire.

Jumping over a log she continued her train of thought. Her weapons were made of ice, and while she had a habit of discarding them, she was pretty sure they melted, eventually, otherwise the stick of ice she had in her mouth from last night would still be there…granted she didn’t check, but still, her ice still had lasting power, her igloo is testament to that.

Which, brings her to the point of this thought, she should level up her craftsmen skill because of how versatile it is, and for that she needed more mana. More mana equels more stuff she could make, and if her ice weapons counted as real weapons then she could use those to level up and attain more weapon skills, which, would mean more stat boosts.

“Simple” She nodded, spinning her dagger around as she started to steadily apply the remaining points she had into MND, noting killing the disgusting blood sucker did not get her a level, eventually bringing it up to a staggering 240, or 2400 points of mana.

While she waited on that she just walked through the forest, doing her best to stay as hidden as possible while moving through.

Eventually coming to the base of a large fallen log, staring at its base “mushrooms.” Her stomach gurgled at the sight, a small cluster of grey mushrooms. Saving, she knelt down and reached out towards one.

*ppppPSSSHHH-*

A cloud of spores blew up in her face, causing her to recoil back. She flailed her arms and wiped her face, coughing uncontrollably before eventually catching her breath “W-what was t-tha-t” she coughed out, glancing around she paled, she was surrounded by more delicious blood suckers. She quickly leaped back, forming two ice daggers and spraying ice everywhere as the bugs leaped.

She stabbed one of them, pushing it off to the side and freezing another one, locked in an endless battle as more and more kept coming, pouring out from every direction before eventually she was pinned and sucked dry.

…

She woke up, seeing the night sky in the reflection of a pond, her head pounding “urgh….” She groaned, rubbing her head “where…”

[Good afternoon Mia, I suggest loading before the pain sets in.]

“urgh…bleh…” Mia crawled over to the water, plunging her head into it and taking a deep gulp. She then rolled over to her side “Pain? What pain… how long was i…”

[2 days, that is not important, please load.]

“Two days?!!?” she shot up, how was she even alive?! What did those mushrooms do to her?! She tried to stand up but fell forward “huh?” she wiggled her legs, the felt surprisingly light “what is…”

[Last chance, it is best you load, don’t look, load.]

Mia froze, it finally clicking as the fog in her head lifted bit by bit, she didn’t remember how, but she knew, and a dull sensation that was quickly growing louder and louder was all the affirmation she needed. she loaded.

Staring face to face with the mushrooms again, she dashed backwards, falling onto her backside as she shuffled away from them, a sense of relief washing over her at seeing her legs “No.” She gulped, standing up on shaky legs and continued forward, giving the mushrooms ample personal space as she avoided them.

When she was in the clear, she shuddered “Ami, do I even want to know what happened?” she asked, her voice a bit unsteady.

[Not really.]

Mia nodded, agreeing completely.