Phoenix had managed to find a few wild berries during her excursion through the mountainous woods, silently praying to whatever gods this world might have that they weren’t poisonous. Thankfully, she felt fine after eating them, but it looked like they wouldn’t count towards her quest’s bonus objective since she hadn’t actually cooked them.

  After another hour of fighting off little monsters that didn’t seem afraid of her big stick, getting plenty of additional cuts and bites, and searching for a suitable pce to camp, she was about to give up since it was almost too dark to see now. It was becoming dangerous enough that she was worried about falling off a cliff or down a hole if she kept stumbling around.

  During her trek, while touching and smelling everything she came across, she also practiced more with using her dimensional storage by picking up any sticks or branches she deemed suitable for firewood in the sense that they seemed dry and sent them into her collection for ter.

  Finally, she noticed a rocky outcropping that seemed to have enough clear space below it to suit her purposes. She kept her eyes open as wide as she could, searching the area for any more monster threats before making her way to it.

  Phoenix cleared away some of the dried leaves, not wanting to set the whole forest on fire. She moved them into a small pile and surrounded them with some of the bigger rocks she found next to the stone ledge. Then, she set some of the wood she collected on top of the leaves, just like in the movies. Now, she just needed a spark, right?

  With a sigh, she tried striking two of the rocks together, but she quickly figured out that she was neither strong enough to cause a spark nor did she have the right kind of stones to easily generate one. She stared at the would-be campfire for a long moment, thinking through possible solutions.

  She closed her eyes and mentally went through her collection of random loot her aura had collected thus far, mostly from the small furry bunny monsters she had beaten to death, and realized that the packages of meat were literally packages. She conjured one into her hand and raised an eyebrow at the waxy green paper and twine wrapping the meat.

  “How is there packaging? Is this actually a video game?” she asked aloud, and her trusty book reappeared to give her a message.

  Note: Loot is generated from a combination of ambient magic, the remnant magic within the looted target, and your own reserves given form by the looting power.

  “Huh,” she said contemptively, “So basically, magic made it what I subconsciously wanted or expected? I wonder if I can want myself a matchbook off the next demon bunny I find... or maybe a lighter?”

  She’d have to ponder that a bit more and see if she could game the loot system eventually. For now, however, she retrieved the twine off the packages and two of her sticks. One stick she used to make a little bow with twine tied on either end and the other one to entangle in the bow’s string and began moving it back and forth to cause the second stick to spin faster than she could have done with her hands alone.

  Phoenix hoped that she hadn’t forgotten a step from that interesting little survival crash course series of videos she had found online a couple of years ago after Jin mentioned going camping before being readmitted to the hospital.

  The Wayfarer tried a few different things and a few different types of kindling before finally succeeding. Setting the small bundle of wood and leaves afme, Phoenix gave out another whoop of excitement at her success. As she added a few more pieces of firewood, she took out one of the thinner sticks she found earlier to use as a skewer, put some of the rabbit meat from the package onto it, and attempted her very first campfire barbeque.

  It was terrible. The meat turned out chewy and unevenly cooked, and she wasn’t positive that she wasn’t going to end up poisoned after eating it. She did, however, get credit for her quest’s bonus objective and was happy to no longer be going commando.

  Phoenix was accustomed to not wearing underwear all the time since she hadn’t really needed any when her usual outfit was an open-backed hospital gown, but it was nice to at least attempt to feel like an average person for a change.

  She let the fire die down to only embers before curling up against the rocky ledge and attempting to get some sleep. The tiny bundle of pelts she had collected acted as a makeshift pillow, and she found herself wishing for her bed instead of this cold, hard dirt.

  It was a fitful sleep, with every noise the forest made jerking her awake in a mild panic that another killer rabbit was going to sneak up and try to eat her. Despite her exhaustion, she found her mind continually wandering and keeping her from falling back to sleep properly.

  Thinking of the world she left behind, she knew that nobody was left back on Earth who depended on her or truly even loved her. There was no reason for her to even attempt going back, and she already knew she didn’t want to. She was in a new world, and this felt like a new start for her, even with the monsters.

  She was literally a different person now. That caused a smile to come to her face as a feeling she had never experienced before began to well up inside her: the feeling of limitless potential.

  Phoenix was shaken from her drowsy thoughts by a loud roar that seemed to echo throughout the mountains just as the moonlight began to fill the sky, which she couldn’t even see through the thick foliage. She couldn’t make out any stars either, not knowing if they would be different from the ones she knew of.

  Another roar, this time from a different direction, shook her from her starry musings. She sat up slowly, pulling her legs up against her chest and tucking her little glowing nightlight between them, suddenly feeling very exposed in the dark forest. She was pretty sure that she wasn’t going to be able to sleep at all tonight now, guessing there were bigger monsters out there in the night… hungry monsters.

  A low growl came from above her, and she froze, not daring to breathe and hoping that whatever creature was prowling on the outcropping of rock shielding her had ckluster perception skills.

  She heard a loud sniff as the predator scented the air, and she knew she wasn’t lucky enough not to be noticed. It gave another loud roar that caused her to reactively cover her ears before it jumped down to sniff at the remnants of her campfire a few meters away.

  Phoenix wasn’t exactly sure how or why, but her aura could sense the danger that the creature had exuded. She instinctively knew from it that this monster was stronger than her, faster than her, and more powerful than her in every way.

  The Wayfarer wondered what kind of creature it was and almost yelped when her book appeared with the information. Her very glowy book. Shining with light in the very dark forest. The beast turned towards the light and hissed before pouncing towards it.

  Phoenix ran… again.

  Not stopping to look back towards her poor book that was currently being mauled by the shadowy panther-like creature. Not stopping when she heard other strange and unfamiliar sounds nearby. Not stopping even when she tripped and fell, tearing up her dress and palms. She ran as fast as her legs could go and then used her portal to run further.

  While she had come across the occasional monster during the day, mostly of the devil rabbit variety, the night was worse.

  So much worse.

  Creatures from every storybook nightmare she had ever heard of seemed to inhabit the forest at night. She even stumbled upon an evil tree that attempted to snatch her up with its prehensile branches.

  She counted herself extremely lucky when she managed to stumble into a non-magical tree, and instead of smearing herself along its bark, she fell through a rge crack. She discovered that it was a hollowed-out trunk that apparently belonged to a monster or some forest animal that had left long ago.

  Phoenix just huddled into a ball and quietly shivered in the cold night. She prayed to anyone or anything that might be listening to keep the monsters away. She had never really been a religious person, and neither was her mom. It was difficult to believe that some divine being was listening in all the time. Even if they had been, she thought they must have been either cruel or simply indifferent to ignore her while she suffered all her life. One prayer had finally been answered, though; she was healed now. Remade as a whole person.

  Perhaps Morgan was magical enough to know her prayers, or some god had sent her. Either way, she found herself hoping for some kind of divine intervention, even if it only came in the form of Lady Luck helping to keep her hidden.

  The Wayfarer faded in and out of consciousness as the hours passed, not able to track the passing of time at all. She wondered if time was even measured the same here. Were there even the same kind of seasons? It had been February 2nd –the day before her birthday– when Morgan showed up, but was it still that equivalent day here? It was winter where she had lived; was that true here? It felt cold enough to be, but she couldn’t be sure since she had barely spent any time outside in recent years.

  The forest seemed to begin to lighten a bit, and she was informed that the night had finished when her book magically shimmered into existence in front of her once more. Apparently, it didn’t matter if a monster tried to eat it since she could just conjure it again.

  Quest: In Darkest Night

  Objective Complete: Survived a night.

  Objective Reward:

  [Dark Aspect] has been added to your collection.

  Completion Reward:

  10 [Mana Bits] have been added to your collection.

  Another Aspect down and only two more until she became a Caster, whatever that really meant. The book had mentioned getting a Css, so maybe it indicated some sort of change to her status, and she could truly begin pying the game as a full-fledged magical character.

  She put the tangent thought aside for now, assuming she’d figure it out as she went, and instead asked the book, “What was that monster from before? The one that tried to eat you.”

  Species: Shanther (Monster)

  A shadowy predator with an aptitude for Dark magic that likes to startle its prey with its terrifying roar before pouncing for the kill.

  Caste: Crystal

  “Huh,” she said to no one, then conjured and lifted up her newest quest reward, “Well, that’s different,” she added, slightly disturbed by the giant bck sphere her hand seemed to have become. It was like a dark cloud, a bck mist covering her fist despite the fact that she could grasp the patch of darkness made manifest. Her eyes were sending signals of wrongness to her mind for holding something that looked insubstantial, so she tore her gaze from it to ask her book, “And is this the same as the other one?”

  Item: Dark Aspect

  A magical aspect of darkness.

  Caste: Crystal.

  Avaibility: Uncommon.

  Type: Consumable, ingredient.

  Requirements: Less than four unlocked aspects.

  Effect: Unlocks an aspect of one’s soul, granting one passive and one cultivating ability.

  You are able to absorb the [Dark Aspect].

  Do you wish to unlock the Dark aspect of your soul?

  “So basically, it’s the same. Good to know,” she muttered, pondering the item for a moment longer, still unnerved by the dark cloud and fully expecting the searing pain again. Then she remembered the monsters of the previous night and admitted to herself, “More magic is more powers, and I can’t rely on luck every night if I’m going to survive in this monster-infested reality.”

  She gave a weary sigh and braced for the pain as she said, “Unlock the Dark Aspect.”

  The pain came and, unfortunately, was just as bad as the first time but with a slightly different fvor. Instead of fire crawling over her, it was like someone had turned off her sight, and the shadows themselves had come alive to tear her apart. She couldn’t see anything. Not even the dead of night had been this pitch bck when the stars would shine down.

  Phoenix could still move, though, writhing against the rough wall of her hollowed-out tree as the darkness attempted to hollow out her soul, drowning her in the infinite unknown.

  You have unlocked the Dark aspect of your soul.

  [Dark Aspect] has bonded to your Agility attribute, increasing the Caste of your Agility to Crystal 1.

  You have unlocked the Aura passive ability: Embrace of Shadows.

  You have unlocked the cultivating ability: Night Bde.

  That was the message she had read upon awakening, gd she hadn’t left the safety of her little hollow yet.

  When she was finally coherent again, she muttered, “I’m starting to get really tired of passing out from pain. I know I should be used to it by now, but it’s definitely not something I enjoy.”

  Then she gnced back at her book as it seemed to wait patiently for her prompt this time, and she rolled her eyes at it, “Alright, what do my new abilities actually do?”

  Passive Ability: Embrace of Shadows

  Type: Aura (stealth, magical, dark)

  Current Caste: Crystal 1

  Crystal Effect: Allies within your aura are obscured by shadows, making attacks against them less likely to hit. The effectiveness of the shadows scales up with the level of darkness of the surrounding environment.

  Phoenix became distracted from her reading by the sensation of her aura being greatly expanded and gaining an odd yered effect, which seemed to strengthen and reinforce it.

  It was strange to be able to feel the creatures that were within it as they scurried away from the sensation, and she wondered if normal creatures and people could instinctively sense auras but simply weren’t conscious of it. She’d have to ponder that some more, maybe actually find some civilization where she could get more questions answered.

  When her attention reoriented itself on her book, and she realized she had gone off on another mental tangent, she tried to refocus on the words and read about her next ability, uncertain about what she found.

  Ability: Night Bde

  Type: Utility (construct, magical, dark)

  Cost: Low mana.

  Cooldown: None.

  Current Caste: Crystal 1 (0%)

  Crystal Effect: Constructs a magical dagger that inflicts additional Dark damage and an instance of [Mana Siphon].

  Mana Siphon (bane, drain, magical, arcane, stacking): Drains a low amount of mana over time.

  “Huh,” she said absently to the air again, then focused and conjured the dagger to her hand much the same way she called items from her collection. The weapon was a long stiletto bde about eight inches long and seemingly made of glossy onyx. It fit perfectly in her grip, but she wasn’t very knowledgeable about wielding a weapon of any kind, even a dagger. She didn’t need to defend herself in a hospital… usually.

  Phoenix felt slightly disappointed at getting a melee weapon like this as her ability, but she had to admit that it would have come in handy earlier when fighting the demon bunnies. However, a magic missile spell would have been equally useful, if not more so. She sighed, knowing that magic missile from the Dark aspect was probably absurd, but maybe it could have been some sort of dark bolt or something.

  “Well, at least it’s better than a stick.”