Chapter 1 - 2, The first fight

Saphire still proceeded with caution, grateful to have been able to escape from the pack of monsters. The silence of the woods, as the woods again grew quiet, gave her a respite, and turned her thoughts toward the tasks at hand: shelter and water. Yet there lingered at the back of her skull a troubling feeling that would not be dispelled no matter how hard she tried.

"They should be long gone by now. No signs of them following me…" She assured herself. Yet her instincts, honed by years of experience, told her something was amiss. The silence was just too heavy, and she could not shake the sensation of being watched.

Unbeknownst to her, the pack of animals had not truly passed. Wild predators, having doubled back, closing in all directions upon Saphire with sneaky, methodical movements. Glaring at her with their bright, bloodshot eyes from the concealment of the woods, they waited for the optimal attack.

Saphire quickened her pace somewhat, realizing this wasn't as safe as she'd thought. As she turned around to find a new path, there came movement swiftly from the rear. She felt the rush of air and the low, deadly growling.

Without warning, the creature came from under cover, striking from the rear with jaws wide open, ready to shred her with its fatal fangs. It arrived with the power of a wild animal, the assault quick and vicious, the kind no ordinary human would be able to evade.

But at the same instant, the unthinkable occurred. Time moved at a glacial speed for Saphire. In her mind, words came through with crystal precision: [Passive Skill Activated: Light Reflexes].

Before she could fully process what was going on, her body reacted of its own accord. In the matter of a split second, Saphire moved aside, avoiding the deadly blow with amazing precision. Her sapphire blue eyes glinted with determination as her thoughts grappled with the events just past. "Light Reflexes? What is this.?" she considered, but there wasn't any time to question more.

The creature emitted a frustrated snarl as its attack whizzed by its target. Saphire, who was standing low with her sword poised, knew the fight was inevitable. Her veins coursed with the rush of adrenaline as she understood the fight wasn't a drill or a regular fight—her life was on the line.

Saphire looked around, seeing that the other pack monsters had appeared, moving in on her with slow, deliberate steps. They snarled low in their throats, their bright red eyes gleaming with greed and ill will. Yet this time, Saphire was not caught off guard. She knew the importance of defending herself—and surviving.

In a graceful yet lethal motion, Saphire raised her katana, instilling all her strength into the battle. She felt a new strength and courage she had never witnessed before. Her right hand gripped the hilt of the katana firmly, her sapphire-colored eyes burning with resolve.

The first monster lashed at her again, more vicious this second time. But Saphire expected. With quickness and agility beyond her appearance, she dodged the attack with no problem, twirling her body and slashing her katana across the throat of the monster. Black blood flew as the head came free from the body, crashing hard onto the pavement.

However, the other pack members were not idle. They all came at her at the same instant, with their sheer numbers and brute power. But with her new awakened Light Reflexes, Saphire moved like light. She evaded their attack with the dexterity of a dancer. She sliced down her enemies with precision. Each movement was a deadly ballet, beautiful but ghastly.

In a swift movement, Saphire stabbed her katana through the chest of a single monster, turned aside from the claws of the other that brushed past her back. She did not pause, never lingered, never gave herself any opening.

Sweat began dripping from her forehead, but Saphire wasn't tired. Adrenaline coursed through her veins non-stop, and her body moved as if she'd been training her entire life. In the matter of a few minutes, all the animals in the pack lay at her feet, their lifeless bodies.

Saphire stood among the corpses, her chest heaving but her vision as keen as ever. "I can. live. This world is strange, but I won't let them beat me quite so easily. If they want to keep me here, they'll have to contend with the resistance."

She flicked the blood from her blade before sliding the sword home. An oppressive silence filled the woods anew, but with a touch of confidence. These Light Reflexes would be the blessing which would keep her going in this new world. More deadly threats surely lay in store.

Saphire breathed deeply, trying to calm her pounding heart after the brutal fight. She was standing in the middle of the now-silent forest, with the bodies of the creatures around her. For a moment, there was relief, but then a weird sensation engulfed her.

Just like before, the words came through in her thoughts:

[Level Up is 20]

[You Have Been Rewarded 40 Stat Points

Saphire was startled but quickly identified this as being the new reality she was in—a fight for life and death where every step had physical consequences. She felt new strength flowing through her, as if she had been upgraded in a matter of seconds.

Then, new options came before her mind:

[STR: Strength]

[AGI: Agility]

[VIT: Vitality]

[INT: Intelligence]

[DEX: Dexterity]

[LUK: Luck]

Saphire immediately recognized the fact that she could spend the points she acquired in the process of upgrading her body attributes. In no time, she decided to allocate them according to her current needs:

STR (Strength): 10 points for her body's heightened power, which makes her deliver more forceful punches.

AGI (Agility): 10 points to upgrade her agility level, which makes her harder to capture as well as more proficient at evading.

VIT (Vitality): 5 points to increase her resilience and her capacity to endure through attack and fatigue.

DEX (Dexterity): 10 points in order to have more precision and control when attacking with her katana.

LUK (Luck): 5 points of extra luck, which can be utilized at any point of uncertainty.

After allocating the points, Saphire felt the new power running through her. Her body lightened, accelerated, and became more powerful as if having been under rigorous training for months in the matter of seconds.

But that wasn't the end of the surprises. More words came into her mind:

[You Have Learned 3 Swordsmanship Skills]: [Passive Skill: Increased Perception

[Passive Skill: Speedmaster

[Active Skill: Wind Slash

Saphire felt the presence of these new abilities become a natural part of her thoughts as if they belonged there from the beginning:

Heightened Senses: Power that causes Saphire to enhance all her senses.

Speedmaster : This passive would be invaluable when dealing with multiple opponents. Against more than three opponents, her speed would be doubled, with her being able to run more quickly and attack more forcefully.

Wind Slash: A deadly active skill. With a single sweep of her sword, Saphire would be able to slay foes as far as ten meters away with the wind as her sword's extension.

Saphire felt these new talents growing within her but also recognized the great responsibility that came with them. "It is quite a different world. like a game, but with lives at stake. I have to be wise with these gifts," she contemplated, seeking to grasp the implications of all that happened.

She scanned her new world again, her senses heightened, her movements more quick. The woods, which her experience with the faeries had rendered her terrified of before, no longer filled her with horror. But Saphire saw this as just the tip of the iceberg. This world would have even more dangers, but no more would she be helpless or small.

Saphire decided to press on, with determination as well as new-found vigor.

"This world can push me all it can, but defeat is not written in the stars. I am Saphire Yukiko Volkov, and I'm going to live regardless." With her katana at her belt and new power pumping through her veins, Saphire marched onward, ready to meet the mysteries of this world.

Saphire walked rapidly through the woods, knowing the woods no longer belonged to her. Having repelled the pack of creatures, she also recognized the commotion would invite even more dangerous creatures. She needed to exit the woods before the next attack came.

The woods, formerly a living trap, were now a battlefield demanding the single attention of Saphire. She monitored her surroundings with every movement, searching for the shortest and safest path. But at the sudden onset of a strange feeling, she halted.

Enhanced Senses activated.

All of her senses awakened at the same moment. Saphire felt the heavy footsteps approaching from far off, along with the labored, raspy breathing. Something—a big, dangerous something—was coming her way.

Quickly, Saphire turned her attention around. But before she could move more, there came a large shadow from beyond the woods, moving at surprising speed given how large the thing was. It was a large figure, manlike but much more muscular, with the body of a bull. Its eye burned with malignant rage, and in its large fists, there clung a large axe which would have been impossible for anyone else to have lifted but swung with no exertion.

Saphire's instincts screamed danger, but before she could move, the monster attacked. With a brutal swing, the axe hurtled toward Saphire, aiming for her blind spot.

At that stage, the Light Reflexes returned.

Saphire's body moved involuntarily, springing upward with unmatched swiftness. Within the span of a second, she perched on the limb of a high tree, having narrowly escaped the deadly blow. The axe crashed into the ground with the strength required to shatter stone and earth and created a small crater in the spot where Saphire herself had stood seconds before.

Saphire glanced down at the view. The enormous monster, quite evidently a Minotaur, glared upwards at her with rage-filled eyes, raising its axe again with the aim of destroying. Though having evaded the attack, Saphire recognized the battle would be no easy matter.

She could sense her energy waning. The battle with the pack had drained her quite a bit, and here she found herself going up against much larger and much more powerful prey. "I'm in trouble. my energy's dwindling. I have to put this down soon before I run out of energy," she whispered, trying to think about her next move.

The Minotaur would give her no time. It let out a deafening roar as it swung the axe upwards, attempting to strike her from the branch. Saphire leapt from the branch, dodging the attack, and landed gently onto the earth. She saw that she would have to rely upon her quickness as well as her intelligence in order to defeat the creature. Saphire decided no more time would be lost. She activated Wind Slash, a new ability. In a swift motion, she swung her katana at the Minotaur. A sword of air passed through the air, cutting the Minotaur's chest. It emitted a howl of pain as a wide gash opened, but the Minotaur stood firmly, its resistance impressive. Saphire knew the single attack would be unable to kill the large foe. But the Minotaur, filled with rage, swung the axe again with even more force. Because of the statistics she improved upon earlier, the body of Saphire moved lighter and more rapidly. She dodged each blow with agility, jumping and dodging through the fatal blows. Saphire knew there would be a weak point somewhere, and when the Minotaur swung with a wild, hard blow, she saw her opening. In the instant of the passage of the blow, she dashed toward the Minotaur, striking her sword home just under the Minotaur's ribcage. Her blade passed through the thick skin, striking a vital organ. A last, animal howl came from the Minotaur before the creature crashed onto the earth with a resounding crash. Saphire stood tall upon the Minotaur's body, catching her breath. Battle drained the last of her energy from her body, but the victory was her. She glared at the body for a second before the air from her body. "I need to get out of the woods. because there is a creature like this here, there have to be even more dangerous creatures hiding in ambush," she considered grimly, drawing her sword. Not hesitating any more, Saphire just proceeded, determined to find her way through the deadly woods. One thing was certain—threats surrounded her in this world, and she would have to be ready at all times if she intended to live. But as she went on, she found herself growing more powerful, more capable of dealing with whatever came her way. But the question grew bigger: Why here? And why all this? These questions lacked answers, but at least Saphire knew this: She would have to continue going, no matter.