The first thing Astra registered was the smell. It was a thick, living tapestry of scents: damp earth, rotting leaves, and the cloying sweetness of alien flowers. The second thing was the pain. Every muscle screamed in protest as she pushed herself up from the fern-covered ground, her head spinning.
Where...?
Her last memory was of a blinding light while hiking, a bizarre electrical storm that came out of nowhere. Now, she was here. Wherever "here" was. The trees were too tall, their bark a strange, iridescent purple, and the air hummed with an energy that felt fundamentally wrong.
DING!
The sound was so loud and artificial it felt like a physical blow to her temples.
[System Initialization Complete!]
[Welcome to the Beastworld, User Astra! We hope your inevitable panic is brief and your survival is... statistically significant.]
A translucent blue screen materialized in front of her eyes. Astra blinked, swatting at it. Her hand passed right through.
"Oh, great," she muttered, her voice hoarse. "I've finally cracked. Concussion-induced psychosis. Fantastic."
[Diagnostic Scan Complete: User is 100% sane (debatable). This is your Sarcastic Survival & Harem System, or S.S.H.S. for short. Your personal guide to not being eaten, dismembered, or used as a chew toy.]
"A what system?" Astra whispered, but her question was cut short by a low, guttural growl that vibrated through the soles of her boots.
She froze. Slowly, she turned her head.
Emerging from behind a thicket of glowing mushrooms was a creature that defied all logic. It had the bulky, furry body of a massive grizzly bear, but its head was the chitinous, pincer-equipped nightmare of a scorpion. A segmented tail, tipped with a dripping, venomous stinger the size of her arm, arched over its back.
["Scorpio-Ursa" detected. Threat Level: High. Suggested Course of Action: Run. Very, very fast.]
"No kidding," Astra breathed.
The Scorpio-Ursa charged. It was deceptively fast for its size, its claws tearing up clods of earth. Adrenaline burned through the last of Astra's confusion. She spun on her heel and ran, diving between thick tree trunks, her heart hammering against her ribs. Branches whipped at her face and arms. The beast's enraged roars and the sickening crunch of its pursuit were right behind her.
[Sprinting form is adequate. Motivation is excellent.]
"Shut up and help me!" she yelled, vaulting over a fallen log.
[Deploying Novice Survival Package... Granted: [Keen Sight (Temporary)], [Basic Terrain Assessment]. Good luck!]
Her vision sharpened unnaturally. She could see the subtle weaknesses in the undergrowth, the best paths to take. She spotted a narrow gap between two rock formations and dove for it, just as the Scorpio-Ursa's claw smashed into the stone where her head had been.
She scrambled through the gap, finding herself in a rocky clearing. And straight into another nightmare.
Two groups of men were locked in a vicious battle. But they weren't just men. One group had wolflike ears, fangs, and claws, their movements a blur of feral strength. The other group was larger, bulkier, with boar-like tusks and thick hides.
She had crashed right into a war zone.
For a split second, everything stopped. Wolves and boar-men alike stared at the disheveled human woman who had just tumbled into their midst.
The moment shattered as the Scorpio-Ursa, enraged, began tearing at the rock gap, widening it.
A massive, tusked beastman near her sniffed the air, his beady eyes locking onto her. "A soft-skin intruder!" he roared, raising a spiked club.
This was it. She was dead.
[Emergency Protocol Activated! Unlocking Skill: [Novice Tamer]. Please make physical contact with the most dominant lifeform nearby.]
The system's words were a desperate lifeline. The most dominant? Her eyes swept the chaos and landed on him. A wolf-man, taller and broader than the others, with silver-streaked black hair and furious, ice-blue eyes. He was currently driving back two boar-men with a ferocity that was both terrifying and mesmerizing. Power radiated from him.
The boar-man's club was descending. There was no time for thought.
Astra lunged. Not away from the fight, but into it. She dodged a swinging arm, slipped on the blood-slicked grass, and slammed directly into the back of the silver-haired wolf leader.
Her hands, splayed against the hard muscle of his back, began to glow with a soft, golden light.
The world exploded.