Saki lay down on the ground inside her tent, her body was covered with more bandages than before.
It's her fourth morning in this world.
She has already reached Level 9.
She now possesses more skills and has become stronger.
It's good. Everything worked out as she had intended.
Saki turned toward her bag.
However, she had already run out of all her rations. Her medkit box is also beginning to demand that she buy new ointments and medicines.
So, today, she decided that it was the right time for her return.
She checked her status as she stood up and began putting down her tent.
___
•Name: Midori Saki/Saki Midori.
•Race: Human.
•Age: 16 years old.
•Gender: Female.
•Level: 9
•Strength: 53
•Endurance: 29
•Dexterity: 42
•Intelligence: 30
•Magic: 8
—Point: 2
[Normal Skill:]
1. Pain Resistance°2.
2.Recovery°1.
3. Knife expertise°1.
[Magic Skill:]
1. Mana Blade°1.
[Title:]
—Earthling.
___
Other than her rising stats, she also took a new skill. It was a rather expensive Magic Skill that cost her 4 points. Her first offensive Skill, the one that would enable her to coat her knives with Mana, making them sharper and deadlier. And maybe because she was always trying to endure her pain, her Pain Resistance had risen to Tier 2 very quickly.
She also has a new Normal skill, though this one showed up by itself and not because she had bought it. Knife Expertise, a skill that makes it easier for her to wield her knives.
The mouse was no longer a threat to her current self. She had already started to target bigger and stronger monsters.
After Saki finished rolling her tent and attached it back to the top of her backpack, she immediately closed her status panel and brought her bag toward the Gate. She stepped into the Gate, entering it.
The moment she stepped onto the floor of her basement, she immediately lost strength in her knees. All the constant self-suggestions she had continuously fed herself were broken, leaving only her young, bare, vulnerable side.
Her body had already become so much stronger than before, but now, even the weight of the bag was too much for her.
These three days felt instantaneous but infinite for her. Like a glimpse of a nightmare that would continue to haunt you for the rest of your life.
Tears began flowing down her dirty, bruised face.
"It's hurt..."
Suppressed sobs began echoing through the dim basement.
"It's scary... I thought I would die... There's so much blood..."
'Mother, Father... I miss you...'
She almost let herself break down out of pain and fear, but she cupped her fists before that. She doesn't want to let the sadness and despair swallow her anymore, not now after she had done her first try quite well.
She doesn't want to be a girl who can only cry over the deaths of her parents. She wants to become a girl whom her parents could confidently call a genius.
That's why, she would become it. The genius girl that her parents saw in her.
Saki pushed her body up. She stood straight, slowly regaining her resolve.
Her priority now was to immediately cleanse her body from all the dirt, dried blood, and dried sweat that had piled up on her body, so she headed toward her bathroom to take a shower after she stored her backpack back in its place inside the basement.
Saki takes her time under the shower, scrubbing every part of her body, making sure that she cleanses her body to the best.
When she stepped her right foot into the bath, Saki caught a glimpse of her own figure in the mirror. She stopped and turned her head toward the mirror.
There, she found a girl with bruises and wounds covering most of her body, mostly on her hands and legs, but there were also wounds on her face and core body area. There's nothing left of her youthful and pretty self in the girl. Her eyes were also already beginning to lose their innocent light, leaving only sharp, trained, pained eyes.
A sigh leaves her lips.
That's it.
That was her new self.
...
With a click, Saki pressed the switch and turned the light in her living room on.
Wearing only a plain shirt and short pants, with the towel curled on her head to dry her hair faster, she sat down on the sofa in front of the TV.
After she took up the remote control and turned on the TV using it, her eyes widened the moment she looked at what was being displayed on the screen.
It was a Dragon.
It was flying over the sea, and a massive Gate opened behind it.
The female reporter frantically reports the current situation at the location of the occurrence while sitting inside a helicopter.
"As you could see with your own eyes, a 20-meter-tall, 45-meter-long Dragon was spotted at the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii Island!"
"... What?" Even if she had already experienced beforehand what the world beyond the Gates looked like, Saki was still shocked when she heard it.
She did not expect to find this kind of crisis the moment she turned on the TV before.
"There are already tens of Battleships surrounding the Dragon, but it managed to blast them away with a single flap of its wings. For now, there aren't any casualties from our side since the evacuation was already done the moment the radar detected the appearance of a Gate near this area, however..." The restless feeling the reporter felt at the moment couldn't be concealed no matter how she suppressed herself.
True to what the reporter said, there were battleships on the screen forming a circle 200 meters away from the Dragon and the massive Gate. There were even several more helicopters flying over them, while continuing to stay away from being too close to them could be seen vaguely on the screen.
"...The situation is currently still unclear. The Dragon itself hasn't shown any hostile attitude towards us for now, but who would know whether its passive acts would—
Saki leaned forward and seriously listened to the news—
Only to be interrupted by a sudden knocking sound coming from the direction of the front door.
She couldn't help but have to went toward it to open the door. She was a little rushed since she didn't want to miss out on what would happen to the Dragon later, so she didn't check the identity of who had knocked on her door and simply reached out and opened the door.
"Yes—"
The moment she looked up towards the ones who were standing there, she froze.
The one who was standing right before her in a familiar white-blue uniform raised his badge and showed the emblem of the Security Department toward her.
"Hello, Miss Midori. Currently, there are several missing cases near this area. May I ask your cooperation in answering some questions we have to check whether you know a clue about these cases?"