“ WOAH. “, Anh Th?'s eyes sparkled in size as she stared at her mini guider with full attention and awed. “ I have powers? Like, like, magic powers? Like fighting powers? Li-”

  “ Yes, that. “

  “ Oh my god, do you mind telling me some? “, The brunette shuffled closer with excitement. If she had tails right now, it would be waving side to side aggressively.

  D??ng swim-float around her for a moment. “ You have many abilities, saintess, your main element is liquid. I’m only here to help you unlock your powers one by one. “, he placed two hands on his hips. Upon hearing her specialized element, it seemed to raise a sense of elation in the young girl, both of her cheeks heated up in response.

  The mini merman continued, “ Being a liquid master, you can bend any liquids to your will. You can form liquid into objects to your liking and you can even use your own blood to create weapons.” He opened an eye and as expected she was already looking at her own hand, wanting to test it out. “ Though, I do not recommend using your own blood unless it’s an emergency. “, Th? placed her hand down and pouted.

  His eyes looked at the saintess and sized her clothes up before shaking his head.

  “ This outfit does you no good. We need to get you a new one. “, D??ng said as he analyzed her build. Th? stood up to give him a better look, clearly trusting the male so much that she wasn’t arguing back. Her outfit was dirty after all and not to mention it was kinda ripped by ground’s impact earlier.

  After a moment of analyzing, he created a mirror out of his tiny hand and enlarged it.

  “ YOU CAN DO THAT TOO?! “, She squealed out in incredulity. Her reaction was valid for someone who has never seen real magic, Th? feared that she’ll get a heart attack from how fast it’s beating right now.

  With a flick of his tiny hand, D??ng transformed the lass outfit into something that suits her aura more.

  Her raggedy white clothes replaced itself with a thick, baby blue front garment and long skirt, the silver stitching on the fabric was delicately knitted to resemble the ocean wave. The waist was comfortably wrapped with navy blue cloths, ending it with a black see-through robe.

  Anh Th? touched the clothes and felt the expensive fabrics, trying to contain her astonishment. Who knows her guide would be so good at fashion and outfit designs? As expected, she was very impressed with her chosen outfit.

  She noticed a slight tug on her hair earlier and looked at the mirror. Her messy hair earlier was now neatly fixed and braided into a half hair tie. Th? smiled at the dark blue ribbon tying her hair in its place, D??ng was certainly attentive to very details!

  She felt like Cinderella.

  Satisfied with the result, D??ng swim-floated deeper into the cave, his light orbs following carefully. “ Let’s get out of here, saintess. There’s an exit on the other side. “, Anh Th? followed him with no hesitation.

  The cave they were in wasn’t like any other ones out there, there were words carved on the walls, ancient writings with drawings of people. Her hands gently brushed over it’s surface and she studied it. Th? was always interested in history and archeology. “Careful! “, She was so busy looking up at the walls that she almost stepped into water, if it wasn’t for D??ng’s warning.

  The girl stared at the exit from afar, it was clearly open but they had a problem, to escape there, you needed to find a way to cross the waters flooding the path.

  “ It’s just water...We can swim over right, saintess? “

  “ Yes, but there might be a creature down there. You can’t see the bottom of it either. It’s better to be safe than sorry “, she said cautiously. What could she do?

  At first she reached a hand over as a joke to see if the water would move to her command. The water bended itself over with loud rumbles, the droplets of water splashing everywhere, her face clearly frozen in shock.

  “ Looks like you unlocked a new ability! “, D??ng’s tone was awestruck.

  Th? experimentally called out to the void, not sure if it was gonna work, but she saw it in a movie once. “ Show me a path. “, her clear voice echoed across the cave and the water filled ground sliced itself apart, showing her a dry ground to walk over with a wall of water on either side.

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  Did she just cut through water? Holy shit, she’s fucking Moses!

  “ Oh well, thank you! “

  The brunette clumsily jumped down with D??ng trailing beside her. As she crossed the entrance, Th? took a closer look at the water walls. What she saw was far from beautiful. It was dark in color but the creatures inhabiting these depths could be seen swimming around, it’s red eyes watching her. Fucking terrifying, these little shits looked like piranhas but three times as big!

  Th? put a hand to her chest and calmed herself down.

  The merman hid behind her soft hair for security, the hungry gazes of his predators was unsettling, thank god the saintess made precautions beforehand. If they had been reckless and swimmed through the black water…

  They both shivered at the thought of it.

  She managed to cross the scary path and walked out the exit. Splashes and the sound of liquid resembling itself into a river once again. Good luck to the soldiers who found the entrance and decided to swim in it. Anh Th? stopped in her tracks causing the small merman to bump his head against hers. D??ng let out a small “ow”, his master panicked and gently rubbed his swollen spot.

  “ I’m sorry! Are you okay? “, she frantically asked and continued rubbing his wound. He seems to be leaning against her hand for some reason, like a kitten asking to be pat. Th? had to stop herself from grinning. Her adorable little guide seemed to realize what he’s doing and quickly floated away from her hand, clearing his throat. “ Why did you stop? Quit patting me, I’m fine! “

  “ Well, I was wondering if you could make me a mask. “

  “ A face mask? Why would you want it? “

  “ To hide my identity plus it’s sexy. “, she literally said that with all of her chest and proudly at that.

  “ I keep questioning you and your mind, saintess, what is going on in there? Do they not have those uh...treatment for the mentally ill? “

  “ Oh, you mean therapy. I’m broke, D??ng, that was a mean thing to say! “, Th? sulked as her guide sighed.

  “ Fine, fine..okay. I’ll make you a mask.. “

  Th? jumped a bit in excitement, “ You’re the best, as expected of my assigned guide!! “.

  And so he sculpted a fine quality mask to his master’s liking, a pale yellow with glittering golds intacting itself onto the mask, that wasn’t the most impressive part! She stared at it in amazement for the 5th time. The shape of the mask was the shape of two fishes merged together, one of them was facing upward and the other one facing downward, their heads curving and touching each other’s fins, the slight gap between their two bodies were spots for the eyes.

  Very satisfied, Th? put the mask on her face. It was surprisingly comfortable! As if she wasn’t wearing anything and just when she was about to continue her walking. The lass turned around to hold the tiny merman in her head, startling him, she quickly kissed his cheeks.

  “ You’ve been a great company. “

  “ ….O-oh.. “, D??ng placed a hand on his cheeks, completely red in color and stuttering for words. His master, not seeing this at all, turned her back again and started skipping, he hesitated for a second but quickly followed her step so he wouldn’t fall behind.

  “ So, where should we go? “

  “ Would you like to explore the main town, saintess? “

  We’re back at the town of Vinh Quang, yes, where she fell from the sky and dug a deep hole on the earth’s surface. Yes.

  The landscape of forests and the town was absolutely ethereal, she’s never seen so many colors in awhile. Th? took a deep breath and allowed it to purify her tired lungs, it was refreshing and full of clarity, unlike the many breaths she had before in her first life. This world was so much more pastel like as if a painter stroked his brushes over a canvas with many light shades he could think of.

  It was so much more different than her previous world.

  Modern technology, yes, but pollution was also one of the main causes why she never goes out a lot. She viewed her previous world as shades of grey and black.

  “ We’re here! “, D??ng flew past her and pointed at the town.

  Th? shook herself out of her thoughts.

  If she was honest, she has never seen a town before nor a village, she spent most of her life living in the city. And it wasn’t anything like she expected, Vinh Quang was a place full of food markets and fine quality products. Th? remembered the details from the novel, Linh ?a’s first appearance to her fame started here! The protagonist's healing ability saved the town people from a potential plague, she was also one of the first to find a cure, which surprised the town’s alchemists, a wealthy lady with low status was capable of saving an entire town within 2 days of her research.

  Well, the protagonist was the protagonist for a reason after all. I’m honestly not that surprised. Anh Th? took another deep breath before she finally entered the loud crowds.

  Her mouth watered at the sight of Vietnamese crispy rice, unlike the American’s one with marshmallow flavours, this was rather savoury and could be made with ingredients like dry pork, dry pork flakes, chili peppers. If made right, the snack could be both crispy on the outside but slightly tender as you bite through it, a great satisfaction for a slight craving but would not recommend eating without a drink.

  D??ng was in trance, he had never explored the man’s land, the merman was used to living in his oceanic habitat. They both stared at food stalls with watery mouths before Th? looked over to her tiny guide. “ Wanna go eat some ph? “.

  The tiny creature nodded despite not knowing what “ph?" even means, again, he was used to eating just seaweeds.

  Now my audiences, I’m sure you know the most popular Vietnamese dish is “ph?". A bowl you would usually see rice noodles, broths, any types of herbs, any types of meat. The broth is rich in flavours! People usually make it by boiling chicken, pig, or beef meat for a long period of time. It’s one of the dishes where you can put any toppings to your liking, don’t forget a side of chili peppers!

  Surprisingly, no one was startled at a masked person roaming the crowd. Yep, not suspicious at all! She expected at least some staring but everyone goes along with their business like it’s a normal day. Anh Th? ordered a bowl of pho and a small ramekin, she requested a private room so taking off her mask to eat was nothing to mind about. The lass poured a bit of broth on the ramekin and a strand of rich noodles, before placing it down in front of D??ng.

  “ Be careful, it’s hot. “, she gently warned him before giving him a pair of tiny chopsticks.

  His eyes widened. “ Where did you get this? “

  “ I made it out of the broth. “

  “ You’ve unlocked another ability! You’re a fast achiever, saintess. “, D??ng gleefully floated around his master before plopping himself down the table. And slurped on his noodles. “ HOT! “

  Th? quickly sat her chopsticks down and quickly helped the tiny guide slurp the cold drink with a straw. She let out a small “tsk” and softly lectured him, “ I told you, didn’t I? Be careful next time! “

  Her guide regretfully nodded for not heeding her words.

  And so the two peacefully slurp on their pho with no worries of the future. They sure as hell needed a lot of energy boost for the following events coming through.