A Whole New World

After giving in to panic for a few moments, Tanya heaved a long sigh to regain her composure and take stock of her situation.

She was in an entirely black space, so black that light could not hope to shine through it. In the absence of light that could have allowed her to find her bearings and orient herself, Tanya had to focus only on her other senses.

However, not a single foreign noise reached her ears, only the sound of her breathing becoming gasping and the beating of her heart.

She felt like she was completely empty, as if her body had been launched into space.

After a few moments, Tanya proceeded to inspect her body.

The explosion caused by that fanatic of Mary Sue must have left after-effects on her body, given the intensity of the latter.

After a quick check, nothing seemed to be missing. She was able to feel her two legs as well as her two arms. No wounds seemed to be observable, but without light, there was no way to be sure.

"Am I dead?" Tanya wondered, continuing her check-up. This new being, whom Tanya had renamed "Being Y" to avoid using the very pompous name of "Supreme Goddess," had made her understand that she was not done with her.

Decidedly, a nice bunch of liars and sore losers, Tanya thought as she finished her full examination. Nothing was missing, which was good news, but given the current state of things, it was still quite minimal.

"Hey oh!" Tanya shouted. "Being Y, can you hear me? Didn't you say you wanted a second round? Or have you finally recognized that I was right all along?"

Only silence answered her.

"You are a bunch of crooks, all of you!" Tanya shouted, giving free rein to her anger. She threw her fists all over the place, desperately trying to punch something to vent her frustration.

That's when she felt a sensation on her right hand—a little tickling, very light, but not unpleasant. Regaining her composure, Tanya tried to identify the material she was touching.

It was quite familiar but impossible to put a word to this strange material. After a moment of reflection and immersing herself in her memories, Tanya was finally able to identify it.

"Grass?" Tanya wondered, recalling her days spent under the tree at the military college, reading historical books from the previous world on her days off in her second life.

After a short time enjoying this "new" experience, Tanya felt a slight draft on her face, bringing familiar yet also unfamiliar scents to her nostrils.

"I'm slowly regaining my senses," Tanya thought to herself. "I might have them all back in a while. In the meantime, I should focus on calculating my spells to make sure they still work, just in case..."

Something easier said than done, as activating her spells was much more complicated. Activating her mage blade required a significant effort of concentration, whereas usually, she was able to produce these blades as easily as breathing and with surgical precision.

Seeking the origin of these disturbances, Tanya tapped with her left hand where her Elenium 95 Computing Jewel had originally been… Nothing! Tanya noted that her second jewel had also disappeared.

A vein began to appear on her forehead.

"I understand why it's a lot harder to cast spells…" Tanya thought to herself. "She took everything from me… Damn imposters! I deeply hate you and all Beings from A to Z!" Tanya shouted.

To her surprise, her own voice reached her ears. Other sounds were then added. She carefully tried to identify everything. She had to prepare for any situation and began to put up her magic shield, even if it was much weaker than when she was at the front.

"It's already better than nothing," Tanya thought. "At least I'm able to stop small-caliber bullets and possibly stab wounds."

Concentrating, Tanya recognized the sound of the wind, the song of the birds, as well as noises seemingly coming from human activities. These noises were cut by what seemed to be shouts from people quite far away. These were not cries of panic but rather of surprise, protest, and indignation. "At least I won't be alone," Tanya thought to herself, continuing to listen. At first glance, no immediate danger, but a very particular noise was continuous, as if bubbles were bursting...

After a few minutes, a bright light appeared in front of her eyes. A light so blinding that it felt like looking directly at the sun. By reflex, she put her hand in front of her eyes to try to reduce the intensity. Gradually, it became more and more bearable until she could finally see again.

She surveyed her surroundings in amazement. Everything seemed unreal. Tanya stood in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by gigantic trees.

It was the first time she had seen trees so tall that it looked like their tops were directly touching the heavens.

The weirdest thing was the numbers on them. Those numbers were far too conspicuous to be unimportant, Tanya noted, though their meaning still eluded her.

Scanning this new place with her gaze, she noticed that many bubbles were suspended in the air. They too were oversized, some almost as tall as Tanya.

This place makes no sense, Tanya thought as she followed a bubble with her gaze that rose toward the treetops. It followed the whims of the wind and rose high into the sky to such an extent that Tanya had to tilt her head back as far as possible to continue observing its ascent. Then, all of a sudden, a kind of flying fish passed over her head, bursting the bubble as it passed. Surprised by what she had just seen, Tanya followed the fish with her gaze and noticed two things. First, it looked like someone was riding this animal. Second, the latter was heading toward a town.

"Well, my next destination has been found. However, I should make sure of the means of protection at my disposal…"

With that thought, Tanya mentally searched the clearing for a target so she could test the powers still at her disposal. Even if, instinctively, she knew that without the orbs of calculation usually located at her chest, the exercise would be much more complicated.

Normally, when a spell had to be activated, all one had to do was think about it for it to be triggered. The calculation orb did the calculations itself: the amount of mana needed, the area to apply magic to, and many other things to consider...

Without these orbs, all these elements had to be taken into account by the mage's brain, which greatly reduced spell effectiveness and increased the risk of accidents.

Tanya then decided to test her abilities on a huge tree stump that towered over the clearing. The tree in question must have been felled recently because its last remnants still lay on the ground. It bore the number 27, though the meaning still didn't make sense.

After a moment of reflection, she decided to experiment with the mage blade, a concentration of magic applied directly to a part of the body. By resonating and vibrating the mana in a certain way, the blade was able to slice through anything and everything.

By concentrating on her right arm and imagining the process of creating this blade, Tanya was able to materialize it. Once the blade was stabilized, she began to make sweeping movements from left to right to ensure it would not disappear during handling.

Following this, she tackled the stump directly. A clean up-and-down shot, followed by a second left-and-right shot.

The cut was clean and precise, despite requiring more effort to maintain the blade.

"It's pretty exhausting to keep the blade going," Tanya noted. "I should use the spell a few seconds before impact to save mana."