As before, mana was stronger inside. What didn’t change was the humidity of the air. Nestra looked around. Under a heavy cobalt sky, the portal world extended in front of her in a dry snake path between mangrove trees. White lightning sometimes flashed silently in the distance. She looked up to rolling waves marked by pinpoint dots of light. The forest extended on a kilometers wide strip while to her left, a lake extended until it merged and faded with the horizon. A deep fog covered the land to her right, masking it from sight. She knew it was much smaller than it appeared on an intellectual level. Walking to the edges of the world, one would soon be stopped by a space anomaly that simply prevented people from advancing, no matter how fast they could fly, and yet the sensation of infinity grasped at Nestra’s mind like a inebriating dream. This was a new world, another planet bound by different rules. It had long since finished drinking in the mana to trascend itself. She frowned. Where did that thought come from? There were theories but they were just those, theories. No one knew why or how the incursion happened. Unfortunately, she knew what it meant. Nestra made absolutely sure her armor set was airtight, double-checking indicators for a third time. She also pulled the monster compendium to cross reference ‘mangrove’ and ‘D-class’. Sometimes, new creatures made their appearance. It paid to be prepared. Not this time though, and with a last sigh, she set her rifle to burst fire and left. Nestra’s boots sunk in the mud. A part of her wanted to remove the armor to feel the wet, warm soil between her toes. Not worth it. The land around her was mostly quiet except for a distant rush and the calls of unknown creatures. It would not last. Large insects with strange, circular bodies flew in flashes of ephemeral lights. The trees themselves were gnarled and bulbous, though not grotesquely so. Their trunk split into many limbs as they touched the water while heavy branches provided a thick cover. Growing fruits hung heavy, their white flesh turning green and red at the tip. It was spring here as well. The cut part still slammed into her chest, making her lose her balance. She jumped over another strike. The next one fell short now that one of the two branches was damaged. In answer, a bulbous extension rotated on the trunk with a sickly groan and a new branch appeared from the back, ready to strike. This one went up, then down. Nestra easily sidestepped, then she ran to the back of the tree. The water barely slowed her down. She felt too giddy. Another strike aimed at her midriff but it came from the shortened branch. She stopped behind the main trunk while all three branches were on the opposite side. The legs were still a concern so she lunged and planted the blade deep into the tree’s bark. Nothing much happened beyond some more groaning. She pressed the button. There was some steam, some more groaning, and nothing else. Hard to say if she was actually doing something. Just then, the branches traveled over the surface of the trunk towards her. Sticking close, Nestra smirked as she ran around her slow opponent. The ent was strong and against a formation, they could be a problem but she was alone and quick on her feet. Even a sudden gap in the clearing’s mud failed to make her fall. It was, she realized, where the tree had been planted. She circled the ent and hacked at each branch in turn until they were nothing but kindling. A gap in the trunk where the bullets had landed bled sap, so she stabbed there and waited. The heavy, glistening liquid fell in great goops until, finally, the ent collapsed. Nestra felt it die. Shortly after, she felt… more solid somehow while a portal opened near the altar. She saluted the fallen and immediately felt silly about it. That wiped the smile off her face. Right. This was a low D-class monster and it was not sentient. She would save the theatrics for larger targets. She collected as much of the sap as she could in vials, then hacked for fifteen minutes to reveal the ent’s heart wood. Heart wood was a single, pale, pear-shaped mass at the center of an ent. Intact, it could be used to make mana instruments. This one would be a low end tool but that meant there would be buyers. She managed to cut a piece of the trunk that definitely contained what she wanted and left it at that, unwilling to endanger her prize. Nestra passed through the opening, walking over the supine form of the sanitation staff who was now sleeping on his side, head resting over a folded jumpsuit. He was snoring softly. A box waited by his side with ‘For little Nezhra’ written on it in that sharp, weird script. She opened it. The box contained a message and a book, and by book, she was being generous. I hope you are having fun. Congratulations on getting stronger! As a reward, I have remembered something that will be of use to you: the first movement of the Stalk of the Scornful Crescent! Enjoy. Next coordinates below, tomorrow. Make sure you keep your mana close and coated. So… infuriating! Whoever wrote that treated her like she was a little girl, not an adult in her twenties. Well, it was fun and they were helping but still! She wanted more, like knowing what the fuck she was and possibly also finding out if she had people like her, someone who could relate? Anyone? “I wish you’d just come out and talk it out!” “I know you’re here somewhere!” “I… I just want someone to tell me what I am. I don’t want to be alone anymore. It’s so tiring,” she continued, voice lowering to a whisper. “Just someone to show me where I belong. It’s fine if it’s just one person. Like you, whoever you are. That would be fine. Just one person explaining to me what the fuck is going on. It’s not much, is it?” The sanitation employee started to snore. There would be no answer here, at least not tonight. And no kero nuts to dull the pain. Nestra grumbled and checked the book since it was supposed to be some prize. It was clearly not a real book. It was a notebook bought from vintage paper mill company, she even recognized the logo from a past fad when it had become fashionable to send letters again. It did look well handled, its back a little wrinkled. Come to think of it, all her prizes were wrinkled. She opened the first page. A demon woman, advancing under a storm over a basalt landscape pitted by impacts. Great stone shapes animated by blue energy reached for her but she cut them away with contempt. Her movements were slow compared to the haphazard assault of the stone beings. She cut them down with efficient, merciless strikes. Each of her cuts was perfection given form, just enough damage to take down the creature at just the right depth with just enough strength before she struck again, not a single instant wasted. Every attack was countered as it wound up. She was overwhelming them with a fraction of the movements they performed without really trying. Nestra knew the woman could go faster. She just elected not to. The demon woman continued into the storm at a sedate pace until the torrential rains obscured her shape, leaving behind shattered remains. She— Nestra slammed the book close. Holy Riel that was some strong stuff. Her memory searched the image of the blade master and found diagrams, examples, exercises. It was the beginning of a book. Interestingly, most techniques integrated what she already knew, what her father had taught her on the fencing piste back when she’d still hoped… Nestra’s mood plummeted. Whatever. She grabbed the book and made for her car with the heavy bag on her back reminding her that her little excursion ended with a success. The trip home was annoying but, eventually, she made it back safely. She decided to have the lizard right away because hunger gnawed at her. She prepared it herself with a guide she found on the net, all of the tail which was in theory enough to feed six. Despite that, she still felt like it wasn’t… the best food despite the pleasant taste and the rejuvenating feeling it left on her after she was done. Not what her teeth were meant to bite. She really hoped it wouldn’t be people. Riel, she really did. Note to self, forks do not taste good. At least it was another item off the list of the things her teeth were designed to eat. At around 5 AM, she crashed hard and went to sleep.