(Ice mirror)
A mirror of ice appeared on the ground and I looked down at myself.
My short golden-blond hair was now jet black and my eyes were now obsidian black.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I nodded with a bright smile.
This was perfect.
“I don’t feel it’s taking any concentration or Mana at all,” I said, looking at Celes, who was dancing before me.
[[ The master is strong! ]]
She cheerfully shouted and circled me.
“I’m not. You might have seen many more strong beasts in this jungle than me.
You know I’m nothing compared to them…”
Not being discouraged by my own words, I smiled as I said that.
It tickled my inside to hear that I was strong from her, but it was still true that I was nothing compared to mother snake, that eagle, or that son of a boar.
But she shook her wings in denial.
[[ No! Master is stronger than them, mentally! I know this is a simple use of the <Skill> but not even they can stay in a changed form much longer if they use my skill!
Master is amazing! ]]
She danced again and set on my head.
I looked into the mirror as I thought about how natural this new look felt.
“Let’s try something different,” I suggested, still looking at the mirror.
Taking a few steps back, I tried to become the spider I just killed.
I knew everything about it, so I just recalled its shape, structure, and features.
After a soft blue light, I opened my eyes.
,m [[ Master… amazing~. ]]
Looking at myself in the big mirror on the ground, I smirked in surprise.
“Seles look, I’m a spider now~.”
She chuckled and sat down before me.
I was now a spider.
Eight legs, green body, yellow eyes.
It was just like the spider’s body lying outside.
I was a spider, but it was just on the outside.
On the inside, I was the same person.
The body moved as I moved with my mind.
It was like I had a hologram around me.
It was so real that I thought it always was me, a real spider.
Experimenting with my new skill for a while, I tried to disguise all the beasts that I had seen until now.
It was fun but there were still many things I can’t copy.
I can’t be as big as that fire bore or mother snake or I can’t be as small as the white bunny.
A medium-small plant was the lower limit and a brown bunny or fire spider was the upper limit.
Staying in that form was also difficult for a long time.
On average, I could stay in beast’s disguise for around 15 minutes for now.
Bigger size was easier than smaller ones.
It was fun playing with Celes.
I was happy; I was laughing and… I missed my family.
It felt lonely all of a sudden.
Celes just came and sat down beside me.
This night seemed much shorter than I had previously experienced with someone’s company.
***
Crawling out of the new cave, I looked around.
As I knew, something has cleared the area already.
Not even stains of blood remained there.
This cave would be more temporary than the last one, as there was no safety measure here.
Though this area was at a corner and there weren’t many activities here, this area was not that safe.
I was going to do some training with my [Origin skill] and try to improve the stage of my [Mystic Eyes] if passable.
It was going to be easy and I could feel it.
But for now…
I walked up to the tree with banana-like fruit.
It was bright orange on the outside and its size was the same as an apple from the great Baniya tree.
Unlike normal bananas, which grew in a bunch, these bananas grew individually.
It was somewhat like a mango in the shape of a banana.
Taking out my bow from my storage device, I focused on some wind Mana particles.
This was a gigantic tree, but not like the great Baniya tree.
I was happy that there weren’t any bees for me to worry about on this tree.
The arrow shot forth, and it cut the banana from the joint.
Before it hit the ground, I slowed it with (Small wind).
Dragging it inside with some difficulty, I sat down before a small table filled with different things.
A salad of herbs and apple, some white rabbit jerky, a small stake of brown rabbit meat, and now the banana.
Using the concentration and willpower to play last night made me so hungry that I had to have this feast.
I knew the banana-like fruit was at least safe to eat from my heart and Celes, who had seen many beasts eating it.
I peeled the orange skin, and a juicy orange thing appeared before my eyes.
Taking a small spoon of it with anticipation and hope, I tasted it.
The juices from it were like lemon and the fruit itself was like mashed potato.
It was a strange thing.
I knew this wouldn’t suit my taste from that small spoon alone.
But… it would be better with different things.
Cutting out a sizeable piece, I chopped them into small pieces.
Squishing out all the juices in a pot, I put the mash in another bowl.
The orange, thick juice was good as juice or seasoning.
The mashed fruit had the perfect texture and taste to be called potato.
Mixing the mash with some herbs, I set up a fire and pot.
Putting some oil in it, I fried the small balls of dough.
Now… it was round potato fries.
Well, at least something similar.
My feast was now ready.
It was my first feast since coming into this hell and this felt great.
It was just… outstanding.
The light salad of healthy herbs, spicy rabbit jerky, the juicy meat from brown rabbit, and the cooled juice-like liquid from the banana.
The fried banana was adding more taste and if only there were tomatoes, this might have turned out to be a luxurious meal. 𝙚𝙙𝙣𝒐𝙫𝙚𝙡.𝙤𝙧𝒈
After finishing and cleaning up, I focused my attention on the left corner.
I had to check what this was or else it would be a big problem.
Some things that helped in the growth of beasts were common and safe, but some were a bit dangerous.
In books, it said that people use these things to improve the strength of their familiar or tamed beasts.
But some had very harmful side effects at higher intakes.
Some could even turn them into mindless beasts that attacked anything in their paths.
The leaking energy from these things could even be harmful to small beings like me.
Walking closer, I cut open the webs around the three rock-like things.