As Kumi finally finished sharpening a good stick, she took her knife and the stick and hid them under her clothes before running off.
Starting her exploration of the garden that was more akin to a forest, Kumi jumped from tree to tree while keeping an eye on her surroundings and any possible stalkers.
The garden was big.
She ended up passing by fallen trees covered in moss, boulders with sword slashes on them, tree stumps with worn paint and a few small grassy hills.
It was all very interesting. The place seemed to have a very long history.
As Kumi explored the place for hours and her mind was filled with thoughts about the history and location of the beautiful yet huge garden, she soon heard a rather loud shout.
The shout only had one name, it was her name.
Before she started to make way toward where the shout was coming from, she stopped at a small grassy hill and hid all her items near a lone tree that sat atop said hill.
The hill was small but if she stood on her toes while standing on the top of the hill, she would be able to see the tops of the surrounding trees and the house that stood far in the distance.
'I wonder who is searching for me?'
Kumi thought as she started to slowly make her way toward the location she had heard the shout from.
The shouting continued. Kumi, of course, was definitely not going to shout back.
After a minute of jumping from tree to tree, Kumi noticed that it would soon be noon.
'I should go get some food. I'm pretty hungry.'
She thought as she jumped from one tree to another, almost falling down in the process.
She did catch herself on one of the nearby branches and only ended up with very small scratches on her hand, knee and cheek.
'I hope I can increase my Endurance soon. These small scratches are annoying.'
She thought as she slowly climbed the branch she was hanging from with only her two weak hands.
After she fully climbed it, she got up from her sitting position and dusted herself off before continuing on her way.
'It would be a lot easier if my body was as big as my soul.'
She thought.
And as she finally reached the source of the voice through pure monkey, she saw a maid standing there in defeat.
Sitting down on one of the branches and slowly climbing down the tree, the rustling of the leaves and branches got the maid's attention.
'So this maid was searching for me. I wonder why?'
Before she could even reach the ground, the maid ran to her and started to dust her off.
"Oh, dear! You have no idea how troubled everyone was while searching for you! You are but a child, running around this huge garden all alone... Did you even eat anything this morning?!
Ah! Are those scratches? Oh dear, oh, dear."
The maid gently brushed a wet and cold napkin against the scratches on Kumi's body only to see them disappear.
'Ah. Right. I have that Regeneration Skill. It works by draining stamina and I guess it doesn't work while I'm using stamina myself. So it's a Passive that only works while I rest? Eh, that's mid.'
Kumi thought, after remembering that those scratches should have disappeared almost instantly if her Passive Skill were always active.
Though not wanting the maid, who looked a bit shocked, to find out about any of her Skills and report about them just in case it would bring some trouble, Kumi simply thanked her after the maid wiped her scratches away.
"Thank you."
With that, the maid kneeled there in shock for a moment, obviously flustered by the cute kid thanking her out of nowhere.
"No problem, Miss Kumi. Please don't play too roughly outside from now on."
"okay."
Kumi mumbled.
"Right. I will bring you to the kitchen so you can eat before we go to take a test. The Boss wanted you to take it before you start your training."
'Shit. What? Test? I am not even a year old you harlot!'
Kumi yelled in her mind.
As the maid stood up and started to slowly walk away, Kumi followed.
'I hope it isn't some test to make sure I don't have any Skills. Or some test about Mana that I barely know anything about.'
Kumi stressed as she followed the maid to the dining room and sat down.
The maid then asked.
"Would you like me to make your food or do you want to pick something from the menu?"
"Raymond has to make my food today."
Kumi said without looking at her.
The maid stood there in shock for a moment.
It was almost noon and there wasn't anyone besides Kumi and the maid in the room, thankfully.
If there were, the place would be in an uproar.
Before the maid could tell Kumi that the head chef can't make her any food, the door to the kitchen opened gently.
"Ah. There you are. Barely at the correct time too."
Raymond said as he neared the table.
"So. What would you like today?"
Raymond asked, ignoring the silent and shocked maid next to him.
Kumi let out a very low hum while looking at the table.
Looking toward Raymond, she raised both her hands.
"Number 4 and Number 1."
She muttered.
"Main and Drink?"
Raymond asked and received a nod in return.
"Be right out with it. Good job remembering the menu by the way."
"Thank you."
Kumi answered before Raymond reentered the kitchen.
'I only remember those two things from the menu since they sounded nice. I have no clue about the other stuff...
Next time I'll just ask for the recommendation. It would be less suspicious if I did that instead of asking for the same thing over and over.'
Kumi thought to herself.
The maid, who turned her immensely shocked face from the kitchen door back to Kumi was speechless.
Kumi on the other hand.
'It should be some kind of chicken dish and some apple juice. Just take the pl from the middle of apple away. I wonder what that juice will taste like?'
Kumi was just thinking about the food yet to be served to her, momentarily forgetting about her test.
As the food arrived, and Kumi dug in, the maid was again shocked that Raymond stood there himself as she ate.
A thought crossed the maid's mind.
'Does the head chef already regard her as his own daughter?!'
Raymond thought something different.
'**************************'
His head was full of white noise since Kumi showed no large reaction to his food.
As Kumi finished her meal, delicious by the way, she looked at Raymond and thanked him for the food before standing up and leaving with the shocked maid in tow.
Raymond took the dishes and entered the kitchen. Placing the dishes on the table next to him, he fell to his knees and swore at the sky.
At this moment, he swore to himself that he would get a reaction out of the girl by making the best dish on the planet.
The other chefs shared his determination and surprise for Kumi not even flinching.
At this time, it would become a large-scale competition to get a reaction from Kumi.
Not just the chefs participated but even some maids and guards since the rumour grew that Kumi showed no reaction no matter what you did.
...
Currently, however, Kumi followed the maid outside to a place covered in grey stone.
It was the place she had seen from the window when she first woke up in this place.
It was the training grounds.
A lot of weird and dangerous-looking people stood around the area.
Some maids, that one angry-looking guy that stopped Kumi from jumping out of the window, Hilde herself and quite a few others.
'I have stage fright though. And this time I'm not a seethrough ghost!'
Kumi slightly panicked, though that panic went unnoticed by everyone there.
Hilde called Kumi to her as the maid gave her a rather strong nudge.
Kumi stumbled a bit because of the nudge.
'I'm not scared of Hilde dumbass maid! I'm scared of fucking up in front of all these people you silly harlot!'
Kumi yelled in her mind while glancing at the maid coldly.
Who wouldn't have this type of reaction in their head?
Kumi reached Hilde and she started to talk to her.
"Hey, Kumi."
Kumi showed no reaction.
"I called you here for a test. It's really easy don't worry."
Hilde said as she gestured toward a ball of nothing that stood on a pedestal next to her.
'Eh? It's empty.'
Kumi thought as she looked back at Hilde.
"You just need to place your hand on it and wait a second. It will shine a little and tell us some things. You don't have to worry, after this you can go and continue playing for today."
Kumi nodded.
Hilde then walked behind Kumi and kneeled down.
"Just take this hand and reach out."
'This is such a flag. Death? Red? No clue. It can only end badly though.'
Kumi panicked silently.
As Hilde was gently holding her hand and showing her where to reach out to, she soon let go and took a small step back.
'Shit. Fuck it. Let's just hope it doesn't show my Attributes or anything.'
And so she closed her eyes and reached out her hand.
The item that stood on the pedestal was invisible to everyone who did not have a specific Mana Sensing Skill.
It was an orb to measure Potential and show the Element that the user could use in the future.
The shine would show Potential and the colour would show the Element.
As Kumi touched it, however, it shone for a millisecond.
Normally, it shone for a moment before changing colours and showing the possible Elements.
In Kumi's case, it shone just like it should but only for a moment since it shattered to dust a microsecond after it started shining.
The (very expensive and valuable) treasure broke right in front of their eyes.
In the past, similar items have only ever cracked slightly in legends that spoke of the First Hero and Demon Empress who are said to have had a Potential near SSS+.
Simply stated, this was a lot more than a simple shock for everyone who could see what happened.
Those being a single maid, Hilde, the Locks and a few guards.
For Kumi, it was different. She couldn't see the item but she could feel it for a fleeting moment. She could feel a strange flow inside and around it. But only for a moment, she soon after forgot the sensation as she opened her eyes.
A System bubble then popped up as she retracted her hand.
It was her Attribute bubble and it had some new stuff in it.
{Name: Kumi
Gender: Female
Race: Angelic Devil
Rank: Mortal
Level: 1
Titles: Dragon Slayer, Demon Slayer, Hero Slayer, Empress's Heir, Calamity Killer, Celestial Lotus Host, Potential Shatterer
Potential: Z±
Properties:
Vigour: F+ (100%)
Mana: F+ (100%)
Strength: F+
Agility: F+
Mind: F+
Endurance: F+
Arcane: F+
Elements: Lightning, Curse, Rot
Passive Skills:
High Regeneration Level Max;
Free Footwork Level Max;
Brutal Strength Level Max;
Dragon Heart Level Max;
Growth Acceleration Level Max;
Highest Holy Blessing Level Max;
Highest Demonic Blessing Level Max;
Heavenly Demonic Pressure Level Max;
Unknown Level 1;
Caution Level 1
Active Skills:
Empress's Soul Sword Level 1;
Slash Level 1;
Elemental Power Increase Level 1;
Unreadable Illusion Level 1;
Preparation Level 1;
Preparatory Item Creation Level 2
Personality:
{Potential Shatterer}
{Title}
{Title given to an individual who has shattered and broken through the restraints of the Law of Potential. All of the user's Properties are 1 Minor Grade Higher than shown on Attributes.}
{Secondary Effect: As the first to obtain this Title, your Arcane Property will be 1 Minor Grade higher than shown on Attributes.}
'Well... this seems... problematic.'