Chapter 86: Survival Basics

Time passed. Then, finally, "Rest" leveled up.

The notification appeared with that familiar simplicity, but the effect was immediate.

A wave of gentle coolness swept through her body from head to toe, as though every ounce of fatigue accumulated over the past several days had suddenly slid out of her. Her muscles relaxed all at once. The tension lodged in her neck and shoulders vanished almost instantly, replaced by an incredibly pleasant sense of lightness.

She unlocked a bonus skill: status alteration, which cleaned her every time she used it.

Blanche blinked.

Then looked at her hands.

The dust, the traces of training, the thin layer of sweat left behind by hours of effort... all of it had disappeared. Her skin felt perfectly clean and fresh, as though she had just stepped out of a long hot shower.

Even her hair.

It now fell neatly around her face with absurd softness, free of knots or sweat.

Her mind clear, her mood lighter...

The effect didn't stop at the physical level.

Something inside her head had loosened as well. The mental fog caused by exhaustion, the intrusive thoughts, that diffuse irritation that builds up after days that drag on too long... everything had been wiped away with almost alarming efficiency.

Like after a massage and a good shower.

No.

Even better.

As though both her body and mind had been reset for a few precious minutes. A deep feeling of comfort spread slowly through her, so pleasant that she stayed motionless for several seconds just to enjoy it fully.

And honestly...

...this was probably one of the most underestimated powers she possessed now.

Hygiene would never be a problem again.

That thought immediately drew a smile from her.

Because between Derek's training sessions, the blizzards, the fights, the endless flying, and the constant trips between worlds, she had rarely gone through a period where she felt so consistently dirty, exhausted, or disheveled.

Now?

One simple activation was enough.

No more sprinting toward the showers after every training session.

No more enduring the smell of blood, sweat, or smoke soaked into her clothes and skin after certain missions.

It was ridiculously convenient.

And deeply dangerous.

Because she could already feel the trap slowly closing around her: the more her abilities improved her daily life, the easier it became to forget how little of this was still human.

She also learned from Phoenix how to prepare a rabbit.

Well... "prepare" was probably an optimistic word considering the circumstances.

The demon seemed disturbingly competent on the subject, which worried Blanche for several reasons she preferred not to examine too closely. Sitting beside her with the bored expression of a professor forced to teach a particularly slow student, Phoenix explained in a perfectly serious tone how to properly clean the animal, which parts to keep, which to avoid, and above all how not to waste the meat.

Blanche tried very hard not to think about the fact that he spoke with far too much experience.

The small body rested silently in the damp grass before them.

And despite the hunger twisting painfully in her stomach, she still felt a pang in her chest.

If Phoenix hadn't killed it...

...she would have released it.

Immediately.

Without hesitation.

She loved those little fluffballs far too much.

Their constantly twitching noses.

Their enormous ears.

The ridiculous way they bounced everywhere like creatures fundamentally incapable of understanding the concept of dignity.

Just the idea of eating one almost made her want to personally apologize to every rabbit in the universe.

Phoenix, meanwhile, observed her expression with visible exhaustion.

You're staring at a future stew like it just died tragically in a romantic melodrama.

— It's cute, Blanche protested weakly.

It was cute.

Even dead, unfortunately.

Its fur remained unbelievably soft beneath her fingers as she awkwardly handled it, which absolutely did not improve her emotional state. Briefly, she wondered whether surviving in the Otherworld inevitably required developing a psychologically unstable relationship with food.

But her stomach screamed with hunger...

And her body, now subjected to Derek's monstrous training, her abilities, and constant physical exertion, demanded absurd amounts of energy every single day.

Hunger was no longer just an unpleasant sensation.

At times, it bordered on painful.

So despite her guilt, despite her sincere love for adorable animals, Blanche eventually sighed and rolled up her sleeves in resignation.

Phoenix nodded approvingly.

Welcome to the food chain, little mouse.

She'd had an easier time with birds...

Her improvised camping trip lasted less time than she would have thought. No longer having to remain constantly on guard was... restful. And killing was becoming—unfortunately—childishly easy.

She tried to overcome her phobia and entered the tunnels. Ten goblins at once, no problem. Phoenix helped her. She came back out once her fear reached its peak. Barely fifteen minutes. Then she went back in every hour.

The night was cold, curled up against Phoenix, punctuated by goblin attacks and repeated trips into the cave.

At dawn, her quest finally ended.

The last system message faded slowly before her eyes while the first pale light of morning began tearing through the horizon of the Otherworld. The entire night seemed to have been swallowed by combat, movement, and that constant concentration that had kept her going without truly giving her time to think.

Around her, the world gradually regained its colors.

The dark blue-black sky slowly brightened above the silent plains, tinted with pale, icy shades. A thin mist still crept between the rocks and tall grass, brushing against her boots as she stood motionless for a few seconds, finally breathing something other than adrenaline.

More than thirty hours without sleep.

The number felt absurd.

Once upon a time, she would already have looked like a corpse functioning solely on caffeine and despair. Her body would have protested at every movement, her thoughts would have turned sluggish, her mood unbearable.

And yet...

She felt fresh as a daisy.

Not merely awake.

Genuinely good.

Her muscles responded perfectly. Her mind remained clear, sharp, unbelievably steady despite the endless hours spent fighting and surviving. Even mental exhaustion seemed to slide off her without ever truly reaching her.

Her abilities were genuinely beginning to transform her body.

The thought crossed her mind with a mixture of fascination and unease.

Because no normal human being should be capable of functioning like this.

The cold dawn wind swept through her hair as she slowly lifted her gaze toward the paling sky. For one brief moment, everything felt strangely calm.

Then she sensed that familiar presence behind her.