Amber eyes opened slowly; there was no sleepiness in their gaze, but a certain enthusiasm.
Before her eyes appeared a thin, feminine hand with dark skin "No muscles..." A murmur escaped her lips as they scanned the forearm and biceps.
"But..." Her eyes then moved from her shoulder to two large, round mountains "At least I have big boobs!" Despite the low volume, the animation in her voice was noticeable.
The person looking at her own breasts with excitement is Nyra, a young woman who was bedridden and suffered from a lung disease. Well, at least that was the body's identity.
But that consciousness belonged to someone else, someone who had already lived more than one life.
Her first life was short; she was just a normal high school student when she had an accident and ended up dying. But as soon as her death came, she found herself in another body—her second life.
In her second life, she was in a world different from her old one; it was very similar, but it resembled a medieval fantasy, with kingdoms, castles, nobles, and most importantly, mana.
She wasn't born as a baby, but actually took the place of a girl who had just died after being beaten for shoplifting.
Her name was Hilda, a homeless girl with no family. Upon possessing the body, the injuries that caused the girl's death disappeared, but it did nothing to change her terrible social status.
As Hilda, while still very young, she joined a group of mercenaries who taught her the basics of mana, how to form its core, and how to use it to amplify her strength.
As she grew up amidst that bloody environment, she watched those who had taken her in die one by one, with each new mission they accepted.
Until there was no one left in that group she cared about. Noticing this situation, she left the group and became a solo mercenary. Protecting caravans, fighting bandits, or even assassinating targets, she did a little bit of everything.
Was it for profit? Yes, but not only for that. In that world, might was the law; if she was weak, anyone could trample her, so the solution was simple: be the strongest in the world.
That's why she continued practicing her mana, her fighting skills, and her combat experience; she was able to improve all of these by working as a mercenary.
There were safer methods, but the results would be far less significant; it would be impossible to achieve your goal by being cautious.
She lived as Hilda for 20 years, which left her body looking like she was just over 30, still quite young, but that's when her end came.
For a mercenary of no noble birth, she had reached a very high level; many wouldn't reach her level even after a lifetime of training, but that strength wasn't enough to save her.
On an escort mission, she was quite confident that everything would go well, but in the end she encountered a large group of very strong bandits.
None of them were stronger than her, but would bandits be noble enough to fight one-on-one? No, they surrounded her, took advantage of the situation, and attacked mercilessly.
Despite everything, Hilda died with a smile on her face, wondering if she would have another chance. It was at that moment that Nyra opened her eyes, now free of the illness that had afflicted her.
The truth was that she had died from asphyxiation caused by the disease, but the new consciousness in her body restored her life.
Nyra's life memories were already available to her new consciousness; she only needed to focus a little and she would know everything about her new body, but she had something more important than that.
Sitting up on the bed where she had been lying, she crossed her legs and closed her eyes. All the muscles and all the mana she had acquired in her former life were gone, but the experience remained.
For her, who had achieved a very high level of control and perception of mana, it was very easy for her to sense her new reality.
"The mana here is different, it's much denser, it must be much faster to evolve here..." She murmured thoughtfully.
The fact that there was mana was very good for her, since she could regain her former strength, and by combining her experience with the dense mana of this world, she could evolve much faster than in her previous life, but this also left her a little worried.
If the mana was denser, there would likely be even stronger individuals, which in turn would make their battles even more destructive.
She hadn't reached peak strength in her previous life, but she knew that battles between the strongest destroyed entire cities. If there was someone here who surpassed that level, how terrifying would their power be?
While Nyra swallowed hard, her amber eyes gleamed with a flame of enthusiasm.
Without interrupting her own thoughts, she began to slowly absorb mana from the environment into the center of her body, condensing that energy into a core.
This was the first step for anyone who wanted to use mana in their former world. In noble families, this was taught in childhood, and even a child would take less than a month to form the core.
The truth is that this month was meant for the child to learn to feel the mana, then to control it minimally, and finally to learn to condense their mana core.
So for someone like Nyra, who already knew how to do all of this, the process was infinitely easier; she just had to use her experience and the mana core would form at an extreme speed.
She had assumed she could do it in an hour, but was surprised when she had already formed the mana core in just a few minutes.
She stood there for a few seconds contemplating her inner self with awareness, until she finally convinced herself that she had indeed done it.
The mana core was like a vessel to store mana, so simply forming one wouldn't make you stronger, but it would allow you to start absorbing and storing mana. Therefore, she could begin to grow stronger now, even if she only absorbed mana through meditation; her strength would gradually increase.
With that done, she finally turned her attention to her new memories, trying to understand her new world and identity.
"How strange... From her memories, there don't seem to be people this powerful in this world, but how could there not be masters with mana being so dense?..." She murmured, confused, still exploring her memories.
She understood that this girl lived far from big cities, but that didn't justify her not knowing about the existence of such powerful people.
This world was more similar to her original one, the one in which she was actually born; it had modern technology such as cars, televisions, and various other electronic technologies, which did not exist in Hilda's world.
At the same time, it seemed to have some differences, such as the presence of dinosaurs, people with animal characteristics, and a few other things.
Still, it was a world that was quite easy to get used to; it would be much simpler than in his previous life.
"There are firearms here, could the existence of these weapons have made people stop training mana?..." She murmured thoughtfully, but soon shook her head "No, there are many benefits beyond strength, even if there were weapons of mass destruction, it wouldn't make sense to stop practicing"
She remained puzzled by the fact that there was no information about powerful people in the girl's memories.
Putting her doubts aside, she focused on the most personal memories.
Nyra was an orphan; she never knew anything about her father, and her mother died when she was a child from the same lung disease.
Since then she has lived with her aunt, a woman with whom she has no blood relation, but who was a good friend of her mother while she was alive.
Living in a small village, she had a simple life, helping with household chores and fieldwork. That was until the illness started to appear, leaving her with difficulty doing any physical activity.
Then she became less and less active, until she was bedridden and eventually died.
Compared to Hilda, Nyra had a less difficult life, but it still seemed quite tragic.
Nyra got out of bed, then walked to the light switch for the room, and turned on the light. Once the room was bright, she looked at one of the walls, where a mirror was hanging.
Looking at herself in the mirror, she raised her eyebrows in surprise, then smiled "Even though I'm so thin because of the illness, I can see that I'm fucking gorgeous!"
She admired herself in the mirror, seeing her face from various angles. She has shoulder-length wavy hair, almost white, but slightly violet, contrasting with her dark skin.
Her skin looked very soft, and although her thinness left some undesirable lines on her face, she still looked very beautiful.
Nyra lowered her amber eyes further down, while her hands moved up to grasp her breasts "They're much bigger than my old ones..." She bit her lip as she felt them.
Not that they were huge breasts, but they were enough to fill her hands.
Click~
Suddenly the sound of a doorknob turning rang out and the door opened "Nyra, are you awake?" A mature female voice called out.
Entering the room, a middle-aged woman stood with her dark hair tied back and dark circles under her eyes. A worried expression was etched on her face, which, despite revealing her age, still held a certain beauty.
The mature woman looked at Nyra, then saw the girl looking back, still holding her breasts in front of the mirror; this scene confused her.
"Ah... Hi, aunt, yes, I got up" Without rushing, she released her breasts and said naturally "I'm not feeling any more chest pain, I think it's a miracle"
The woman standing in the doorway had a confused expression, as if she were wondering about the connection between what the girl was saying and her actions.
Despite the confusion, she smiled "That's great news, but you should stay in bed for a while; your body is very fragile"
Nyra could feel the affectionate and protective tone in the woman's voice; for a moment she was silent, then smiled "Don't worry, Aunt, I'm feeling very well, I'm just a little hungry"
The girl raised her arm to show her biceps, but all that was revealed was her thin arm, with no apparent muscle.
Noticing once again the absence of her former muscles, she sighed 'I'll need some time to improve this body; it won't be as quick as forming a mana core'
Unaware of Nyra's thoughts, the woman gave a slight, warm smile "It's wonderful that you're so willing, but you should go back to bed; I'll bring you the food..."
As she was speaking, she noticed the girl coming towards her and suddenly giving her a hug, taking her by surprise.
Nyra was relatively taller than her aunt, so she bent down slightly so that her chin rested on the woman's shoulder.
"You haven't been sleeping well because of me, I'm sorry..." Nyra said sadly.
She had all of Nyra's memories; in them, she could see what the relationship between her and her aunt was like. Even without any blood relation, that woman treated her like a daughter.
And it wasn't hard to notice the lack of sleep in the woman's eyes; she had probably been neglecting sleep ever since Nyra became bedridden, which had been over a week ago.
The surprise made the woman hesitate for a moment before reacting, but without much delay she returned the hug, while a satisfied smile appeared on her face.
After a few seconds, Nyra released the hug and placed her hands on the woman's shoulders "I really don't feel any pain, so there's no need to worry. I can prepare my own food. You should try to rest a little"
"You're so sweet, Nyra, but it's noon, I can't go to sleep now, or I'll end up messing up my sleep schedule"
"Noon?" Nyra was confused; she was now standing before the open door, and she could see that the rest of the house was dark, the only light coming from her room.
The woman seemed thoughtful, as if she were preoccupied with explaining the reason for the darkness.
She sighed and chose to speak "It's that monster, Oolong, again. He appeared in the village yesterday and said he would return today at noon to get that girl. Everyone is hiding; we'd better stay hidden too"
Hearing that, Nyra accessed some of her bodily memories. Although she had never seen Oolong in person, she knew he was a monster that could transform into different forms and that he had been kidnapping girls from the village.
Three girls had already been taken by him and never returned; now he was coming after another one.
"Which girl?" Nyra asked with a serious expression.
"The village leader's daughter, Pocawatha..." The woman replied listlessly.
The village was small, with just over 50 people living there, so Nyra had at least a basic understanding of each person. Pocawatha was a cute 13-year-old girl who always wore a feather attached to her headband.
Nyra gritted her teeth "That son of a bitch wants to take another little girl?!" Her eyes were filled with incendiary fury.
Her aunt looked at the girl in astonishment; she seemed quite surprised by the girl's reaction.
'To change its appearance, this Oolong must at least have good mana control; it should be at least a rank 1. Facing it after I've just formed my mana core will be complicated...'
While she was lost in thought, a voice came from outside the house, probably a few houses away "Is anyone there?"
The voice came in very low and muffled, but it sounded like a boy's, one that Nyra had never heard before. She could deduce that this voice came from around the center of the village.
"Could it be Oolong?!" Her aunt whispered.
CRACK!~
A loud sound of breaking wood rang out.
"Damn it!" Nyra ran through the house, heading towards the door "Auntie, wait here!" She said before opening the door and leaving the house.
"Nyra, no!" The woman shouted, but the girl had already left.
As soon as she left the house, Nyra could see a dozen houses around her; in front of one of them was a pair: a boy with spiky black hair and a monkey tail, and a young girl with blue hair.
Without paying much attention to appearances, she noticed that the door to the village leader's house had been broken into, with a hole where the doorknob had been.
Then she focused on the boy; he looked about 12 years old, but she saw something beyond that 'No mana core, but even so... He must be comparable to a Rank 2!'
That was shocking; such a boy would never be seen again in his old world.
Despite this, she didn't stop running; if that boy was Oolong, she couldn't stand still, even if the difference in strength was extreme.
"Hey! Don't you dare touch Pocawatha!" Although the phrase is exactly what Nyra would say, that voice actually came from inside the house.
In the midst of her run, Nyra could see a metallic glint emerge, coming from the house and descending onto the head of the spiky-haired boy.
She then saw a lumberjack's axe, its blade striking the boy's forehead; an instant later, the axe shattered into pieces.
The boy grabbed his forehead with both hands "That hurt! Why did you do that?!"
"I'm so sorry! Please, Mr. Oolong, I only wanted to protect my daughter! I'll give you all my money, just don't take my little girl, I beg you!" A man in his fifties, bald, wearing glasses and a thick mustache, was kneeling on the ground at the door of the house.
"Who is Oolong? And why would I want to take his daughter?" The boy said, looking confused, while rubbing the bump on his forehead.
"So you're not Oolong?" The boy heard a voice behind him and as he turned around, he noticed a kick suspended in mid-air, just inches from the back of his neck.
Nyra had come in with everything she had, with a powerful kick, but she heard the conversation and managed to stop in time.