Kaira waited until the Alpha wolf's towering silhouette vanished behind the curtain of vines covering the cave entrance.
Only when the last echo of his footsteps faded into the vast wilderness beyond did she finally let out the breath she didn't even realize she had been holding.
"Good riddance," she whispered. Then, more quietly, "Please don't come back early."
Her limbs trembled. The adrenaline was fading, leaving only exhaustion and a body that felt like it was stuffed with wet sand. She wiped the sweat from her brow... only to grimace at the thick layer of grime that came away on her fingers.
"You filthy swamp pig…" she muttered to herself, not as an insult but as a horrified diagnosis of the situation.
A new life in a new world, and THIS was the body she got. The universe had jokes.
Still shaky, she waddled toward the mouth of the cave. The vines parted easily as she lifted them aside... and the world outside greeted her with a breath-stealing intensity.
"Oh…" she whispered.
The air was crisp, clean, and cool, sliding over her skin like gentle silk. A half-moon hung low in the sky, painting silver over a vast canvas of stars. Not city stars. Not faint, polluted, half-visible smudges she remembered from the modern world.
These were brilliant, blazing lights scattered across the heavens like diamonds spilled across velvet.
She stared, her mouth slightly open. "I… wow."
In her past life as a scientist - one who often spent nights in labs - she barely remembered what a proper night sky looked like. She had never seen something this pure, this ancient, this breathtaking.
A soft night breeze brushed her face. The scent of greenery - wild, hearty, untouched by man - filled her lungs.
The land stretched around her in waves of tall grasses, some towering over even her oversized figure. Bushes clustered thickly, and enormous trees rose at the edges of her sight, their leaves rustling gently in the wind. The cave's mouth was half-hidden behind long ropes of vines thick enough to drape across her shoulders if she let them.
The original owner clearly had no sense of hygiene, beauty, or basic survival.
Kaira exhaled slowly. "If I'm going to live here," she muttered, "changes need to be made."
She touched the tip of her tangled, unwashed hair. Immediately regretted it.
"Starting with a bath," she decided grimly. "And also this cave. And my weight. Before I… collapse under it."
She turned back toward the dark hole she currently had to call home.
Inside, the cave was even worse than she remembered. The air smelled like damp mold mixed with something she was pretty sure had died a decade ago.
"I'm fumigating this whole place," she declared.
But first…
Her eyes narrowed.
"System."
Ding!
A cheerful little chime echoed in her mind.
[Yes, Host? Did you miss me?]
"No. Where's my starter reward?"
A guilty pause.
Then-
[Starter reward…?]
[Host, you haven't truly earned it yet!]
Kaira's left eye twitched. "Excuse me? I'm still alive, aren't I?"
[Temporarily!] the system chirped.
[The Alpha hasn't killed you yet. That's not permanent survival.]
She clenched her jaw. "You blackmailed me. I accepted your stupid mission. And I survived a murder-happy beastman. Give me. My. Reward."
The system hesitated again... she sensed the digital equivalent of a pout.
[But Host is still in a dangerous situation… and the reward is meant to help once Host proves her intentions to-]
"System," she said with deadly patience, "either give me the reward or I will personally find a way to uninstall you from my brain."
A beat.
[….]
Another beat.
[…Fine.]
She smirked victoriously.
[Host has unlocked the right to ASK for the Starter Reward at any time!]
Kaira's smiled. "A bath set would be nice. Or clothes. Or maybe actual food. Or a broom. Or a bed. Or-"
[Host must select carefully. You cannot change it later.]
Wonderful.
Absolutely wonderful.
She sighed. "Fine. I'll think about it and claim it in a while."
[Host is becoming wiser already!]
"Shut up."
She let out another deep sigh, squared her shoulders, and marched deeper into the cave.
Time to clean.
- - -
Cleaning was… hell.
Kaira discovered at least three levels of filth.
1. Normal dirt.
2. Original-owner dirt.
3. Crimes-against-nature dirt.
Everything she touched seemed sticky or slimy. Every bone she picked up made her question its origin. Every time she bent over, her back screamed like a dying goat.
The worst part?
Her own body fought her on everything.
She couldn't crouch properly... her knees protested.
She couldn't bend without wheezing.
And when she tried to lift something heavy, her arms trembled like noodles.
"This body," she gasped, dragging out a rotting animal pelt with both hands, "is a crime."
Still, she persevered... mostly because the smell was too awful to live with, and because she refused to sleep surrounded by trash belonging to the woman who had ruined her face, her reputation, her body, and her life.
Piece by piece, she threw everything out, forming a massive mountain of garbage outside the cave. She would burn or bury it tomorrow... after she survived tonight's curse-induced workout.
By the time she finished the first round of clearing, sweat drenched her clothes. Her hide outfit clung to her like an unpleasant second skin. Her hair stuck to her forehead. Her chest heaved.
"…I'm going to pass out," she muttered.
She pushed herself back to her feet. Every muscle screamed. "No. Not yet. The cave still looks like a haunted pantry."
She needed a broom.
Or something broom-like.
Too exhausted to argue with herself, she waddled out of the cave again, using the vines as handholds.
The night breeze greeted her again, blessedly cool against her overheated, overworked skin. She inhaled deeply, letting the freshness calm her racing heart.
Nearby, the grass swayed in gentle waves. Bugs hummed. Leaves rustled. The world felt alive, wild, massive.
She followed a vague memory from the original owner and spotted trees growing densely around the area. Their trunks were thick, their branches strong and low.
Perfect.
She shuffled toward one and snapped several thin branches and then used a vine to tie them together.
Her first tool.
Then she turned to make her way back to the cave when she spotted something glistening through the grass.
A stream.
A clear, sparkling stream just a minute from her cave.
She stared at it, hope blooming in her chest. "A bath," she whispered reverently. "A bath is possible."
The thought alone gave her the strength of ten buff bodybuilders.
She marched triumphantly back to the cave with her makeshift branch-broom and entered the darkness again, ready to sweep away the filth of the past.
She lifted the branch in both hands and shouted, "YOU! FILTH! YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED!"
Then she began sweeping. Hard.
Dust flew everywhere.
Her arms burned.
Her shoulders ached.
Her lungs rebelled.
But she kept going... because this was her first step in claiming her life here.
A fat body? She would fix it.
A filthy cave? She would conquer it.
A beastman who wanted her dead?
…She'd deal with him later.
For now, she swept with the fury of a woman who had inherited an absolute mess.
And the system watched silently, either impressed or horrified.
Probably the latter.