“It must be the work of that damn Mourning Raven!”

  The vilgers were huddled around the town square early in the morning, discussing the possible forces behind Marie's disappearance. Having just woken up, Lucia watched the gathering while tirelessly rubbing her eyes.

  “That makes no sense, why would they kidnap one girl? She must have left on her own.”

  Another vilger chimed in with a slightly more reasonable expnation. Lucia was no fan of Mourning Raven, but she agreed that it was highly unlikely they were the culprits behind kidnapping Marie. Seeing the conversation move nowhere, Lucia volunteered to search for the missing child she had begun to grow fond of.

  “I will set out in less than an hour, let me just gather myself.”

  The announcement of her pn to the vilgers seemed to satisfy most of their worries; Lucia was their savior after all. She had already been pnning on staying for four more days, so the original timetable would still be feasible as long as she could find Marie and return her. As she continued to ponder, the mystery of where Marie went began weighing on Lucia's mind. Personally, Lucia subscribed to the theory that Marie left of her own accord, it seemed to be the most pusible expnation despite not understanding the reason behind her departure.

  While appearing calm on the outside, Lucia was actually quite worried for the young child. Something about the whole situation felt off. Her ck of sleep could have contributed to that feeling, though, so she compartmentalized it.

  Soon enough, the vilgers of Rena continued with their day as though nothing had happened. The scars of Mourning Raven's reign still loomed over the vilge, but the efficiency at which humans could resume their daily tasks was not to be underestimated. Marie's mother, however, was one of the few exceptions to this rule, as she was frantically searching for her missing daughter.

  Lucia had just finished wrapping up her preparations at Marie’s house when she was suddenly hit by an insatiable hunger. She had gone an entire day without eating anything, so her stomach was empty and quite noisy. Marie’s mother recommended a small journey to the vilge market, where the vilgers would be ecstatic to repay their savior.

  When Lucia reached the market, it was clear that the vilgers were indeed ecstatic over Rena's savior. Each one of Rena's residents attempted to pass on some sort of gift to Lucia, whether that be food, jewelry, or money. The purple-haired girl politely declined most of the gifts but hesitantly accepted some of the food.

  There was something else happening that Lucia had never experienced before: a rge portion of the vilge's male popution seemed entirely focused on her. She noticed men staring at her for more extended periods than they ever would in her old world. The cause for this change in attention was rather obvious: she was quite pretty. Lucia hadn't yet seen her own face, but she garnered that she was incredibly cute from the stares. Surprisingly, the attention Lucia was receiving did not bother her. Instead, the fawning vilgers warmed her heart.

  Maybe being a pretty girl is kinda nice. This attention is giving me a fluffy feeling in my heart. Wait, what am I thinking…

  She made a mental note to check her appearance in any nearby water or mirror when the chance presented itself. For now, though, she thought it best to quell her stomach before she colpsed from starvation.

  Many vilgers had presented her with Rena's specialty food, cupcakes. Unbeknownst to the vilgers, cupcakes were Lucia's favorite food, and to Lucia, this was a targeted attack. Most of the small cakes were fvored with vanil or chocote, but some even had more extravagant fvors of fruits not seen on Earth. One of the cupcakes had been seemingly baked in Lucia's likeness with purple frosting and white chocotes that resembled a cloak. Upon trying it, the purple frosting evoked a strawberry taste and complimented the white chocotes perfectly.

  I feel like I am in heaven! Cupcake heaven!

  Unsurprisingly, Lucia devoured all the desserts gifted to her and ignored the healthier foods. While a questionable decision for her overall health, she could feel the frosting satiating her soul. She tried to convince herself that she was simply rewarding herself after pying the hero, but even she knew that cupcakes were her one true weakness.

  After overcoming her famished stomach, the search for Marie commenced with urgency. Lucia reported her departure to the anxious mother and set off into the forest. The pn was retively simple: Spend the daylight searching for Marie, then return to the vilge at nightfall. Using this method, searching all cardinal directions over the next four days would be possible.

  First, she would be checking the north, or rather, what her status window assured her was north. While preparing in the morning, Lucia had been testing the knowledge she received from Sirius. Using her thoughts, she was able to dispy a transparent compass over her vision. The map functionality proved to be even more useful than the compass, as it showed an overview of the entire world with the ability to zoom in and out. With these tools, the likelihood of becoming lost became close to zero.

  After the map and compass had been conveniently positioned on her HUD, the search continued… on foot. Marie could not fly, and given her small stature, she could be easily missed from the sky above. The ck of flight would greatly slow the search, but missing an area could be the difference between safely finding Marie and forever losing her.

  Part of Lucia was filled with happiness after entering the forest again. The vilgers, while nice, left her feeling overwhelmed. She had seldom received the amount of affection the vilgers were showing her, and she was mystified as to how to reciprocate or even accept it.

  Trekking through the forest also presented an opportunity to admire the ethereal vegetation of FOO. An artificially created environment allowed abundant flowers and greenery to grow everywhere without ugly characteristics. In the real world, one would usually expect to find some sort of animal excrement or dead tree at some point. Of course, this forest may be an outlier in terms of how pristine it was; there were likely other pces that were purposefully sculpted in a less pristine manner. In fact, this forest's name was fittingly named "Pristine Greenwood," according to the map.

  While the trot through Pristine Greenwood continued, a bush caught Lucia's eye. Whatever was lying inside was rustling about, and it was likely the size of a child. As she approached it, a sliver of hope was born inside Lucia's heart. Suddenly, a figure popped out from within the bush and bestowed a kind greeting.

  “Oh hello, I didn’t see you there.”

  From the bush emerged a short Fairy with dark gray skin, red eyes, and silver hair styled in a bob. Their gray skin indicated they were one of the "Umbrals" Sirius mentioned. Her shirt had an abundance of extra flowing fabric, and the pants had clefs embroidered in them, a simple outfit at its base with an assortment of complexities to add fir. In addition, the Umbral had seemingly just woken up, as signaled by their copious yawning and constant adjustment of their gsses.

  “My name is Theresia, Theresia Thorn. Nice to meet you. Oh yeah, I’m a bard!”

  Theresia held up the harp at her side to further signal the point. Taken aback by the spontaneousness of the situation, Lucia took a moment to respond.

  "...I'm Lucia. What exactly are you doing out here? I'm currently in the middle of looking for someone, so I don't really have time to chat."

  She was anxious to continue the search for Marie but suspected that this girl may have been reted to her disappearance.

  “Ah, what a coincidence, I was also pursuing someone.”

  “Was the person you were pursuing a small girl by any chance?”

  "Yes, it was! She looked like she was in trouble, and I'm not one to let a child fall into the hands of a vilin!"

  “What happened to her? What vilin? Is she okay?”

  Lucia came off more aggressively than she intended to with her st series of questions, but her nerves were beginning to kick in.

  "I saw her being taken forcibly by a Wyrmkin man. He looked to be heading further north."

  "I need to get going! Thanks for the information!"

  "Hey, wait, let me come with you! Ahh, I forgot to mention that he also had no wings, so it's a Ferefolk culprit!"

  Although Lucia moved hurriedly, the Umbral woman caught up and began walking beside her.

  “Sooo, How long have you been in this world for?”

  “This is my second day here.”

  “Wow, but you must be pretty experienced given your level huh? I’m only a meager level 4!”

  "Uhh, to be honest, I'm not too sure about anything in this world. I lost all my memories of FOO when I spawned in."

  Theresia gave her a weird look before yawning and deciding to drop that whole line of questioning. Regardless, it seemed the Umbral genuinely desired to aid in the search, so Lucia welcomed her into the rescue mission. Theresia had already provided her with crucial information. The culprit was a Ferefolk, meaning that Mourning Raven could be completely ruled out of the equation.

  In her previous world, Lucia was known to most as a retively antisocial person who had small bursts of excitement and energy. She wasn't a shut-in per se, but a few too many hours were definitely spent locked inside her room. Therefore, her ability to hold a conversation was somewhat erratic, especially around strangers. Currently, the small talk that did occur between the two was quite awkward.

  On top of this, Theresia continued to yawn and rub her eyes throughout the journey. At first, Lucia took it as a slight against herself, but it seemed as if the Umbral just suffered from perpetual lethargy. It was either the case that she was extremely tired today or that her exhaustion was a "character trait," so to speak.

  Nevertheless, worse personality traits existed, so Lucia simply brushed it off. There was one thing, however, that Lucia could not brush off: The two had come to a clearing in the forest with a wall of rock blocking the path forward. On said wall, a rge bck door glimmered in the sunlight. Its composition seemed simir to that of a gemstone, and it was marked with various squiggles depicting a gust of wind. Theresia broke the silence first.

  “Hmm, what do you think that is?”

  “Have no clue!”

  Theresia approached the door, and as she did, her head immediately left her shoulders and her health bar emptied. On the other side of her, a Wyrmkin man appeared; he donned a rge white coat, baggy bck pants, sandals, a katana, and red hair that swept into one long sidelock. He had a distinctly gothic appearance, for ck of a better descriptor. Lucia had not noticed the man's presence or the attack he had defeated Theresia with until now. At one moment, he had simply just appeared, and now all that remained of her ally were crystals floating through the air.

  “Welcome, Lucia.”

  “...How do you know my name?”

  “I know the names of all the Candidates. That person there was Theresia, was it not.”

  “...Candidates?”

  "As, I have spoken too much. But don't fret! You will come to know the words I speak eventually. You or one of your kin shall eventually defeat me. Surely, your kin are not pathetic enough to perish before my master's power fully regenerates."

  His red sidelock tossed around in the wind after his monologue ended and he began attacking.

  Before Lucia could react, he was on top of her, bringing the full weight of his katana upon her. She attempted to dodge but was hit by the very edge of the bde. Her health bar dropped by about 5%. Lucia's significantly higher level allowed her to receive more hits from the man than Theresia. This gave her some peace of mind as she mounted a counteroffensive.

  Though her dodge failed, Lucia returned the favor with a swift stab and nded a direct hit in the stomach. His health bar depleted at a simir rate to Lucia's, suggesting they were evenly matched in level, but skill was an entirely different story. Lucia still hadn't experienced any sort of tutorial or formal introduction to FOO's combat system and was weak because of it. Most importantly, she cked the knowledge of skills, a fundamental aspect to combat in this world.

  The Wyrmkin continued his assault with a flurry of sshes from his katana and Lucia returned with her own series of strikes. For each successful hit Lucia nded, her foe nded an additional strike. This dance sted for a few moments before coming to a sudden end when Lucia questioned him.

  “Did you kidnap a young girl by any chance?”

  "I did indeed."

  “Why?”

  "Because I was told to do so. This girl is very dangerous to my master's pns, you see. Although, it seems my chances of successfully completing this mission are quite low."

  The horned man retreated into the sky, abruptly ending the conversation and preventing any further questioning.

  Keeping his distance, he began firing gigantic spears of ice. Despite their massive size, these spears traveled swiftly through the air. Lucia also took to the sky and attempted to maneuver around each and every one of them but was eventually struck. She ignored her health bar and further attempted to close the distance between them. More spears of ice unched through the sky, most of which missed their target and slowly lost velocity as they barreled to the horizon. However, Lucia could not dodge every single one of them; eventually, more of the frigid nces found their mark and inflicted massive amounts of damage to Lucia's health.

  Somehow, the purple-haired girl closed the gap and snuck in a few stabs. However, she had received too much bruising from the ice spears. The difference in health between the two combatants was simply too much to overcome at this point. Lucia knew she could only withstand one or two more hits before dying. Meanwhile, the gothic man's health bar remained comfortable at 70%.

  Both of the combatants continued to trade blows. Although there was an obvious skill differential, Lucia was able to nd her rapier a fair share of times before accidentally leaving herself open for a final blow. Unfortunately for her, the gothic man was eager to capitalize on her mistakes and took the opportunity to deliver a final message.

  “You have been defeated by Alfarr, a Spear of Aluber. Remember this name when your people one day defeat me in turn.”

  And with a final swing, Lucia died for the first time in this world.