A Melted Heart

The sword swung and the inferno followed. The spiders, which I'd only just noticed had snuck up on me, had instantly been reduced to a smoldering stain splattered across the cave wall. More surprising, was the fact I was still in one piece.

There wasn't a scratch on me. 

Not only had he spared me, but he'd just saved me. 

Again.

When did it get so hot in here? I wondered, tugging at my burlap sack gown, unable to take my eyes off my valiant Elven hero.

Wait, what did I just say?!

Hold on, wait—don't get the wrong idea! I just meant that he literally made the air hot with his fire magic.  

And valiant hero? It was just a technicality. If you'd open a dictionary, you'd see that my description was objective. He could have added me, an enemy player of the Fae Alliance, to the smoldering stain on the cave wall. Yet he not only deliberately avoided harming me with his attacks, but also saved me from a swarm of giant spiders!

That was all I meant. So just drop it, okay?

After fiercely gazing into my eyes for a long moment, he finally sheathed his sword.

He then took out some parchment from his satchel, scribbled something on it with his quill, rolled it up and sealed it, then handed it to me.

After a moment of me staring at it dumbstruck, he wiggled it impatiently until I took it. 

As my eyes continued drifting from him to the scroll, transfixed, he turned to the sky and whistled.

A moment later a great, mythical bird that looked like it was set aflame with white fire descended and gently picked him up by the shoulders. He gave me one final look while making a peculiar gesture, somewhere between a wave and a salute.

The white phoenix then took to the sky, and they were gone.

Leaving me there—smitten and mesmerized.

By the bird! And the overall situation! 

Not by his immaculate beauty and angelic aura...

Seriously, drop it already!

***

Level 2

I just realized there was a notification in my periphery, telling me I'd leveled up. Because I'd been engaged in combat with all those spiders, I'd gotten a share in the exp when the Elf annihilated them.

Now, to check my stats... 

I opened my Grimoire to my Character tab, then flipped to the Stats page.

Numbers in parenthesis denote the most recent changes.

HP: 29 (+3)

Intellect: 4 (+1)

Spirit: 3 (+1)

Strength: 0.5 (+0.25)

Swiftness: 2.5 (+0.5)

Resilience: 1.25 (+0.5)

Luck: 2 (+1)

Excellent! My intellect and spirit each went up by a full point, which will help me do more damage, while increasing my mana pool and regeneration rate, respectively. 

Swiftness was a key stat for all classes, so I was a bit disappointed that it only went up half a point. Not only did it increase your maximum movement speed, but also enabled you to cast spells and kraft items faster. 

Anyway, at least it went up more than my strength, which just increased physical attack power. Usually that was something Night Witches normally didn't have much use for, but if I kept getting pinned beneath spiders at the rate I'd been going, then that might well change...

Of course, I was thrilled to see my Luck go up by a full point—it was now double what it was before. That was my most substantial upgrade so far. 

Luck effected things like your chance to hit and crit enemies—as well as their chance to do the same to you. Hopefully now I wouldn't miss every Ice Shard that wasn't cast at point-blank range... That was why I had to rely on Moon Beam to hit enemies at a distance. It was a guaranteed hit, so long as we were beneath the open night sky.

Although the stats increased somewhat randomly (though still inclined toward the needs of your class) you would get a full point every five levels to assign to any stat you wished. It was going to be a tough one to decide between Luck and Swiftness (and Intellect, which was a solid choice, though nowhere near as fun...) But I didn't need to worry about it now—hopefully by then I'd have a better idea of which stat would be the most beneficial.

Leveling up wasn't the only good news, either. 

Looking around, I saw at least a dozen Intact Spider Legs that that Elf had serendipitously severed with his sword slashes and fire pillars. Whistling gaily, I collected them all, along with some Inkwebs, then promptly made my way back out of the cave before they could respawn.

***

I was surprised to find Leilei so easily. 

In fact, I saw her not far from the cave as I reemerged with all the quest materials. 

She had her hands over her eyes, with her big toe cautiously stretched out before her, as one does to test the water.

I couldn't help myself. I took one of the Intact Spider Legs out of my inventory and decided to give her a little tickle.

"Eeeeeeehhhhhhh!"

She nearly jumped out of her skin—her screams nearly bursted my eardrums.

"Oh, it's just you, Minori," she said as her eyes ripped wide open and realized it was me.

Huh? How did she know my name?! 

Oh yeah... she logged my character info in her Grimoire. So that was my name now, too? I guess I hadn't noticed before. Maybe that made it less weird that the face on the wall called me by my real name? Because that was apparently also my name in this life...

I guess being born into this world meant you just kept your old name, rather than choosing a new one. That was all fine and good with me, I'd rather not be addressed by "SlayQueen_09" every time I was greeted by a passerby.

"What the heck are you doing?!" I asked her.

"Well, they say the only way to conquer your fear is through exposure therapy, so I was just trying to get a little closer..."

I stared at her, incredulous. 

"Without even looking?! Those things aren't just scary, they're also extremely dangerous! Do you even know how many times I just died?! They could have easily killed you, or worse: paralyzed you then dragged you down into their lair to slowly feast upon your flesh—and unlike me, you would have provided a full course meal for the whole family!" I pointed at her jiggling breasts for emphasis. "Or was that what you had in mind when you decided to exercise your little exposure therapy?!" Even I was surprised at how upset I was with her.

Maybe my emotions were still in a flux from my little brush with Elven prince charming.

No, What?! No—No! Darn it, I don't like boys, and I don't care about relationships or romance in the slightest. I'm just a little girl who wants to be left alone to play with her dolls—for all eternity.

End of story.

Oh, but those crystalline, high borne Elven eyes! Oh, sweet prince, come rescue me from this savage land an stow me away in your tallest crystal tower!

Okay, clearly I needed to get my head examined, there must have been some kind of brain eating parasite that slipped into my ear when I wasn't paying attention... or maybe that evil face put some kind of wicked curse on me...

My expression must have disturbed Leilei, because she flinched backward and began to tremble. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, it's just... well, you were taking an awfully long time, and I couldn't just leave you in there alone... so..." she was pushing her fingers together again.

I felt like my heart was going to melt. She was seriously trying to go into that cave to rescue me—despite her mortal fear of spiders?! 

Did people like this really even exist? This was like how these fabled entities of legend called "friends" were supposed to act. But there was simply no such thing...

Take it from me, my experience with this so-called friendship culminated in my best friend stealing my crush out from under me. Ever since, I'd come to view friendship exactly as it was in reality: a sort of elegant, performative dance you undertake with your adversaries, exchanging hallow pleasantries while subtly manipulating them into dropping their guard, allowing you to move in for the attack...

That was the reality of friendship—not confronting your biggest fear while simultaneously risking your life in an effort to save your so-called friend...

Something must have gotten in my eye. 

I dropped my gaze toward the ground so she wouldn't notice. "I got your supplies..." I muttered, pulling them out of my inventory with my head still down.

"Oh, Minori, that's wonderful," she squealed with delight. "Aren't you just my brave, little Pixie heroine!" she scooped me up into her arms, lifted me off the ground and squeezed me against her cushiony bosom.

"Ouch!" she let go of me and started rubbing her chest. "What was that?"

Huh? Oh right! The amulet that the other quest giver gave me. With everything else going on, I'd forgotten all about that quest where I was supposed to petrify weakened spiders. Since it was a quest item, I had it equipped—I'd put it around my neck then completely forgotten about it. It must have poked her in the breast, being that that it was an angular, spider shaped amulet. 

I looked from the amulet, to the spider cave, then back at Leilei. I couldn't suppress my own wicked grin. "You were saying something about exposure therapy..."