Jade was watching the dry charred twigs slowly being consumed by the crackling fire, the energy they gathered over the years was gradually burning, fading into the air.
The dismal rain had yet to show any signs letting up any time soon. The howling wind evoked a sense of chillness to anyone who heard it.
Jade was not really the type of person who enjoyed contemplating while looking at the horizon for an extended period of time. She was more keen on moving her body and honing her skills through fights.
She started searching for a suitable stick to use as a practice sword. Furthermore, she had to take in consideration the weight, the length, and the grip, before deciding. Finally, she settled for a straight piece of a vine's main bough.
Even in her state, she continuously swung the wooden sword in her hands for more than three hours without stopping at all. From time to time, she would switch from her right to her left. Jade was trying hard to adapt to her new body.
In a fight, every detail counts, and every mistake, no matter how minor it was, may be lethal. So, Jade wasn't trying to get stronger, a person can never run before they could walk. She was assessing her control over her body, coordination, reaction speed, and so on.
In those three hours, Jade managed to understand her body better, this was the first step towards success. Inhabiting a new body was not easy; hence, Jade was prone to unconsciously make wrong calculations, due to her judging the situation through the standard of her former body.
By then, her clothes were already dry, and the sky lighted up as well. She placed her garments in the [Inventory] , and extinguished the fire.
Jade took a deep breath, then immediately plunged into the water stream directly leading to the waterfall with her feet clenched together facing down. She tightly wrapped her head with her hands, and shut off her nose with her elbows.
The cave was around 70 ft (ca. 21 meters) high, it was dangerous, but at least not as much as the way she used earlier. Once she dived she immediately swam away underwater.
She surfaced near the shore, and examined the nearby area, before finally going back to land.
After drying herself a little, Jade put on her underwear, then she wore her slinky tank top tucked in tight high-waisted corduroy shorts.
Once she had all her garments on, she started heading back to the town before the sun set. The journey was smoother than the one before.
When she reached the gates, Jade smeared a bit of mud on her face and exposed skin, then walked past the guards.
"Put your hand on the stone tablet, and be careful not to infect it" one guard shouted, while the others burst out laughing.
A sudden chill emitted from Jade's icy eyes, but she calmed down, and memorized their faces.
She pretended to be embarrassed, and followed the procedure quietly.
Since there was no reaction from the identification tablet, Jade was allowed inside without much trouble.
'The air seems a bit different from the game' she thought while heading towards the slum area.
She was studying the change in atmosphere from when she was a player.
'Well this is more lively and less tense than inside the game!' it was already post-chaotic when the [Lost Continent] was released.
'However, the people still don't know anything, so their pride and arrogance are still there.'
When disaster falls, people would become lawless and all their inner evil would come out to light. But, when the damage is too great, a racial instinct of unity would be born, an instinct to prevent extinction.
In other words, people were still living leisurely, they still had not experienced the despair and hardships one had to pass through just to survive
While she was lost in her train of thought, her feet kept moving, until she reached her destination.
Jade stood in front of a dilapidated decaying house. Looking at it, it was apparent that time had eaten at it; Walls were packed with fissures spread from top to bottom, and the wooden door was almost out of its hinges, barely standing as it was.
The slums were destitute, but this house was one of the few that stood out for being overly tattered.
When Jade entered, she was greeted by a woman wearing an out of color linen ankle length gown. She was in her late thirties, but her skin was smooth, with her well-endowed figure, she could have been one of the most beautiful ladies in town.
Unfortunately, to protect her chastity when she was a maiden, she disfigured her face.
Later on, she got married to a soldier, they had a son together, but the man eventually died to a monster's attack, which left her with no other choice but to move to the slums, and resort to prostitution to feed her baby.
When the woman saw Jade, she pounced on her, hugging her as if there were no tomorrow.
Jade's heart shook considerably, the previous owner's emotions were stirred upon seeing that Grace was fine. This was the only person who helped her ever since she was born.
Jade didn't need the influence of the original to vow to herself to protect the lady in front of her.
After spending some time with Grace, Jade asked her for a few silvers, the latter was overjoyed and wanted to give the young woman most of her savings, but Jade only took 8 silvers.
"Also, please prepare to quit in a few days, we are going for an adventure!" Jade smiled and winked at the mature woman.
"Cheeky girl… you are even teasing me now! … Are you sure it's not because you are ashamed of me working as a prostitute?" Grace mumbled nervously.
"Of course not! Who do you think I am?"
"Well… even Ruth disowned me because of it…" she murmured even lower.
"Don't worry! Even if you were to become a frog, I would still care for you!"
"You are the frog!… Hahaha" Grace let out a cheerful laugh at the end, but pouted at the end, even the most uninterested woman would hate being called a frog.
"What are you acting cute for? You are way past that age!" Jade retorted giggling.
"Shut up…!" Grace said with a bright motherly smile, in contrast to her words.
To anyone else, Grace was a mother figure, only in front of Jade, she became like a little child.
They met around the time Jade was chased out. At the time, Grace was just abandoned by her son after he learned of her profession, failing to see how many hardships his mother went through trying to raise him.
Therefore, they were very close.
Jade sat down in a corner thinking to herself 'There are two… no three important things to do first'
She wanted to get the basic Swordsman class, that was the priority. Next, she had to secure an item 'If I remember correctly, there should be one somewhere near this town.' she thought, to Jade, the blindfold was inconvenient, there were too many variables to consider while wearing it.
She waited until night before going out. She bought a jar of fine wine for 5 Silver, and two wooden swords for 3 Copper each, and a leather belt for 10 Copper.
Jade then went to a backwater alley, and searched for a black sleeping bag, it didn't take long for her to find it, it was in the corner at the very end of the valley.
She brought out her bait, the wine's aroma attracted the beggars like how blood does for leeches.
However, once they saw the sleeping bag moving, they immediately crawled back to their nests.
The appearance of the person who had come out of the sleeping surprised Jade a lot.