Crackle.
The fire burned bright and steady, and I leaned into its warmth with a relief I hadn't felt in what seemed like forever. Getting it started had been a nightmare, and despite all the confidence I'd had going into it, the whole process had nearly broken me.
I'd thought my knowledge from Earth would be enough to manage something as basic as starting a fire, since I'd read about using stones to create sparks and figured it couldn't be that hard. It was that hard. I lost count of how many times I tried, my arm aching badly by the end of it, and for a long stretch I genuinely couldn't see a way out of it, but eventually it caught, and that was all that mattered, because without it the cold alone might have finished me off.
"Haah," I exhaled, smiling a little as the warmth settled over me.
I tossed in a few more sticks and watched the fire spit out tiny sparks, then turned my attention to the makeshift spit hanging over the flames, where the meat was sizzling and dripping and filling the air with a smell that made my stomach growl embarrassingly loud.
Then it occurred to me that I had no plates, no utensils, and no time to make anything resembling either.
"Whatever," I muttered, and grabbed one of the roasted limbs.
I pulled the small dagger from my spatial ring, which was the whole reason I'd been so desperate to find it back at the mansion, since the ring had an embedded mana function built into it, and if I remembered right it was a birthday gift from Christina when I turned eleven.
The dagger sliced through the meat cleanly, and I stabbed a piece with the blade and brought it to my mouth, and the moment I bit into it I stopped entirely.
"Damn."
How could meat taste like this?
[Um...]
Stem's voice came back, cutting into my thoughts, and I frowned and reached for another slice before responding.
"So you finally decided to show up again," I muttered.
[There's something I forgot to mention earlier,] it said, sounding completely unbothered about the timing.
"Of course there is. What now?"
[It's about the point system. You can increase your stats using Life Points.]
I nearly choked on my food.
"You can what?"
[Yes. You can improve your stats by sacrificing LP.]
I stared at the fire for a moment. "So I can trade days of my life for power."
[...Well, yes, that's one way to put it.]
"Just shut up, I'm not in the mood for this right now."
[You do realize you're eating in the middle of a forest full of mana beasts, right?]
I slowed my chewing, because that was the same thought I'd pushed to the back of my mind earlier while making the fire and had chosen not to think about.
"I know," I admitted.
And I still didn't regret it.
[Sigh. Whatever.]
Then I heard something.
I went completely still, my hand tightening around the dagger without thinking about it, because it was the closest thing I had to a real weapon right now.
"Did you hear that?" I whispered.
[The rustle?]
"Yeah," I said, scanning the dark trees around me carefully.
Rustle.
It came again, louder this time and closer, and I stood up with the dagger raised, trying to figure out which direction it was coming from, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere at once.
"Show yourself," I called out, and my voice only shook a little. I was quietly praying it was a person and not something with a mana core.
Then I saw it, a silhouette at the edge of the firelight.
"Can I have some?" a voice asked.
I spun toward it with the dagger up, and then I just stood there, because it was a girl, or at least something that looked like one.
"Who are you, what are you?" I demanded.
There was no way a human was outside the gates, that wasn't how this worked, which meant only one thing.
This girl wasn't a girl.
"I'm... Liliana," she said quietly, her voice soft and a little uncertain.
I couldn't move.
"Um, can I eat now?" she asked, her eyes drifting toward the meat on the spit.
I stared at her and said nothing.
Liliana.
You had to be kidding me.