While I was talking to Elaris and, at the same time, lost in my own thoughts, my feet carried me on their own to the edge of the forest. My attention was caught by a small fishing boat pulled up onto the shore and covered with some kind of cloth. That was a good sign: it meant there were people somewhere nearby who fished here. Looking around, I noticed a narrow, barely visible path leading deeper into the woods.
The forest greeted me with the scent of pine and cool air. The trees looked almost the same as those on Earth, and nature itself was no different at all. Except for the air — it felt unbelievably pure, so much so that it made my head spin.
Despite the fact that I was barefoot, stepping on things that should have caused pain felt more like a light tickle. Probably another feature of this body. I didn't really understand it, but Elaris explained that my skin was now far denser than a human's, and that an ordinary branch or sharp stone couldn't harm me. Still, looking at my thin arms and graceful fingers, I wouldn't have guessed it. From the outside, I probably looked fragile — like a glass figurine.
*That's only an outward impression*
But visually, it really did seem that way.
*Only visually*
There was no point arguing — Elaris understood this far better than I did.
*That is correct*
Don't get cocky.
*…*
I kept walking until the sky above the treetops began to brighten. Night ended, and morning came. It would be really convenient to meet someone alive right about now…
And at that very moment, the silence was torn apart by a sharp, dry crack, like an electrical discharge.
I didn't even have time to turn my head. Just a bright flash to my left, the whistle of air being split — and a strange sensation of emptiness. I took another step on pure inertia before realizing that my left arm had… simply disappeared.
— Agh… what the hell?! — I shouted, more from shock than from pain.
Right in front of me, crouched low to the ground, stood something. It was as if it had emerged straight out of the air. A massive creature, with the muzzle of a fox and a long, crackling tail. Its fur stood on end, and real lightning leaped between its paws.
"When I said I wanted to meet someone alive, I didn't mean a gigantic thing that would rip my arm off. What the hell is that thing?!"
*It's a Thunder Fox*
A fox?! That thing only had a fox's muzzle and tail! It had to be at least three and a half meters tall. It could crush me without effort!
*You can defeat it with ease*
— Defeat what?! I don't even have an arm! — I snapped, watching the creature press itself to the ground as its fur crackled with electrical discharges. — What am I supposed to fight it with? Throw rocks at it? Poke it with a stick?
*No. Use magic*
At Elaris's words, it felt as if my body was pierced by electricity. Not the destructive lightning coming from the fox, but something different — internal, deep. As if thousands of invisible threads had pierced the space around me, and through them, pure, primal energy began to pour into me.
My mind practically exploded from the flood of knowledge. It wasn't like reading a textbook. It was more like suddenly remembering a long-forgotten dream. I began to "see" the world differently. The air was no longer empty — it was filled with countless tiny, glowing particles. And my body… it greedily absorbed them.
I looked at my left arm. No blood was flowing from the stump; instead, a silvery haze was dissolving into the air.
Somewhere deep inside myself, I felt a pull toward those particles drifting around me.
I closed my eyes for a second, focusing on the strange warmth pulsing in my chest. I simply wanted my arm to return. And the mana around me responded obediently.
The silvery sparks floating in the air suddenly rushed toward the wound, weaving together into thin, almost transparent threads.
I froze, unable to look away from my shoulder. One by one, shimmering lines began to stretch out from it, intertwining and forming the clear outline of an arm in empty space. It didn't hurt. On the contrary — I felt only a pleasant, enveloping warmth spreading downward from my shoulder to the place where there had just been nothing.
The threads layered over one another, strand by strand, and right before my eyes, muscles, joints, and skin emerged literally out of nothing. Everything happened incredibly fast and smoothly, as if some unseen hand was simply finishing my form in midair. First the elbow took shape, then the forearm, and finally a hand and slender fingers extended from the glowing weave.
When the last thread settled into place, the glow faded. I instinctively clenched my new hand into a fist — everything worked perfectly.
The Thunder Fox, sensing danger, roared. The ground beneath its paws blackened, and three branching bolts surged toward me at once.
But now, I could see how slowly that energy moved. I simply raised my new hand and took the attack head-on, subconsciously believing it would work.
[Recorded: interaction with anomaly
Analysis complete
New skill acquired: "Energy Absorption"
Reproduction capability confirmed]
For a brief moment, a strange sensation pricked me — as if Elaris had said something, but the source of those words was different, deeper, somewhere beyond. I noted it at the edge of my awareness, then dismissed it immediately. Now's not the time for questions.
Mana boiled inside me, forming a thin, almost transparent film in front of my hand. The lightning struck it and… was simply absorbed, causing me no harm. I felt the foreign power flood my veins, making my silvery hair crackle with static.
The energy absorbed into my palm now circulated through my body, gathering at my fingertips, as if searching for a way out.
The beast, which had attacked just moments ago, froze, staring at me with fury. Sparks burst from its eyes, its fur crackled with electricity — it was preparing another strike.
I didn't wait.
[Recorded: Energy successfully absorbed
Analysis complete
New skill acquired: "Thunder Discharge"
Reproduction capability confirmed]
This time, I wasn't surprised. So I was doing everything right. I'd have to ask Elaris about this later. But for now…
I raised two fingers toward it and mimed a shot.
In the same instant, all the accumulated energy compressed into a single stream and burst forward. It took the form of a thin, almost invisible needle — dense and silent — tearing through the space around it.
The impact was deafening. The air collapsed with a roar, like two cars colliding at full speed. Everything around was swallowed by a cloud of dust, through which residual electrical discharges flickered.
When the dust settled, the beast was gone.
In the place where it had stood, a crater yawned — about two meters across. At its bottom, amid the melted earth, lay a small sphere, dimly gleaming like a pearl.
*Incredible…*
Elaris said something, but I barely heard her. A faint ringing filled my head, and all my attention was fixed on what lay at the bottom of the crater. I took a step forward… and suddenly felt as if something inside me had been pulled away.
My legs weakened sharply, the world swayed before my eyes. Just a meter short of the crater, I lost my balance and collapsed to the ground, plunging into darkness from sudden exhaustion…