After an unknown amount of time passed, Aurora slowly opened her eyes, and the breathtaking sight of a sky full of stars welcomed her sight.
If it weren't for the fact that she had just escaped from the jaws of death, she really wanted to simply lie down for a little while longer, enjoying the scenery that she had never thought she would witness in her entire life.
After being able to stand on her own two feet after a decade of struggle on her deathbed, she finally realized she had missed a lot of beautiful things in this world. Now that she had finally been granted freedom, she didn't want it to be a short-lived journey. And in the end, it all boiled down to having more strength to survive in this world!
Although she believed that she had more knowledge about this world and the events in the future than anyone else in this world, she knew that she couldn't be complacent. Just like a few moments ago, she was on the verge of losing her new life due to her naivety and inability to deal with unexpected events like the appearance of Rat King and Queen King properly.
Had she been alone all this time, she without a doubt had already entered the next circle of reincarnation or maybe ended up in hell or heaven. That was, if such things existed. Did they, though?
All of a sudden, she became curious. If she hadn't been summoned here inexplicably, her death almost certainly would have come a week later. After she breathed her last breath, where would she go?
Would her soul ascend to heaven? It didn't seem possible. How could a useless, incompetent, selfish, worse than trash person like her be allowed into that kind of nice and happy place? Her parents had always told her that someone like her would never be truly happy. And Aurora sometimes agreed that it might be the truth.
She didn't even believe in God. If God existed, why did he or she let her suffer for such a long time? Was he or she, like everyone else around her, of the opinion that she wasn't worth the time?
Maybe, she'd end up in hell when she died. Or maybe she would simply become a lonely ghost. Who knew?
Aurora shook her head to dispel the random thoughts in her head. She wanted to struggle to stand up but found that she had no strength in her body.
Looking to the side, the carriage wreckage was all over the place. An unlucky mercenary was crushed to death by a horse not far from his position. The others were more fortunate. They laid down in a mess on the grass motionless, their slightly heaving chests proved that they were still alive.
And at a distance of less than ten meters from everyone, the group of woodrats stood there hissing, not daring to move forward, as if there was a transparent wall separating them.
Aurora breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed that they were safe for the time being.
Each monster had its own range of activities and basically wouldn't forcefully rush into other monsters' territory. After all, breaking into their territory without permission was undoubtedly a naked declaration of war.
Aurora didn't mind those guys hiding in the Twilight Forest rushing out to fight these woodrats. If there was a fight, it would be nice to have a small bench to sit on while watching the tigers fight. It would be even better if there was popcorn and a cold Coke to keep you company.
Alas, these woodrats bastards didn't give her this chance, and after waiting in place for more than ten minutes, they quickly retreated.
Looking at the leaving group of woodrats, Aurora's heart was relieved. This world was different from the one in the game. If you died in the game, you could return to the city to be resurrected, but if you were to die here... then you would really die.
But now that she had come to this different world that intersected with the game, she never wanted to experience some regrets, sorrows, or pains.
Aurora closed her eyes, and scenes were replayed in her mind.
In the starry sky under the full moon, a platinum-haired beastkin girl smiled lightly and used her life to activate a taboo magic and bury herself with those demons, just to protect the tribe behind her from being annihilated and to survive until reinforcements arrive.
The United States of Harmonia launched a war between the two countries for its own selfish desires. As the ruler of Brigitt City, that courageous girl, in order to protect her own people while they retreated, alone intercepted the attack of millions of enemy troops and demons, and finally exhausted herself and perished.
Players who lost their homes and witnessed this tragic story spontaneously formed powerful guilds, including him, and the player guild rushed into the United States of Harmonia and started this war.
However, even if the war initiators were slaughtered, their filthy lives couldn't be exchanged for the lives that have passed away. Their passing had also become a pain in the hearts of many players, and it was also the reason why Aurora had completely changed her attitude toward the game.
And now, she had returned to the very beginning, so she would cut these bastards in the cradle ahead of time!
"Um…"
Just as Aurora was immersed in memories, a moan not far away brought her back to reality, and Claudia was slowly sitting up while rubbing her eyes.
"Captain Gard! Everyone! Lady Aurora!"
Claudia took a gander at the mess around her and jumped up. She hurriedly ran to the fainted figures, and after checking that there was nothing serious, she relaxed a little.
When the mercenary died, a trace of sadness flashed in her eyes. She reached out and grabbed the horse's leg and pulled it out with all her strength for a while, but she still didn't move at all, and she finally had no choice but to give up.
After groping around the wrecked carriage for a while, Claudia found the medicines that could be used in good condition in the broken medicine box.
Finished collecting these medicines, she began to treat the mercenaries one by one and, at the same time, released the [Cure] spell to heal and stabilize the wounds on their bodies.
Not long after simple treatment and bandaging, everyone from Gard to the businessman slowly woke up.
"My Goddess! I survived!"
When the businessman saw that there were no scary woodrats around, only the tender grass swaying in the night wind, the joy of escaping made him cry uncontrollably. But it didn't take long for the joy on his face to collapse at a speed visible to the naked eye.
His goods were all gone, and he would have to pay a lot in liquidated damages when he returned this time. Maybe the chamber of commerce would face difficulties transferring funds within six months.
"Ah... If I had known this, I might as well be dead... No, no, I don't want to die!" The businessman sat alone on the grass and scratched his head, seemingly at loss.
Listening to his drivel, Aurora felt the itch to punch him in the face. Even in this kind of situation, he still only cared about himself and his wealth, reminding her of her heartless father. Fortunately, she could endure well and stopped paying attention to the fool.
The other mercenaries also seemed to act as if they didn't see him at all. They worked together to get the mercenary, who had been crushed to death by the horse, out and dug a small pit nearby to bury him well. After finishing these things, they collected the broken wood from the carriage and lit a small bonfire.
Then a lot of horse meat was taken from the dead horses, skewered with branches, and roasted by the campfire.
There was no time for them to grieve now; they needed to replenish their strength and rest as soon as possible.
"Young Lady, are you awake? How do you feel?"
Unknowingly, Gard had come to sit next to Aurora. He looked up at the stars in the night sky with a hint of sadness in his eyes, but he immediately concealed it again.
"You don't need to speak in such a manner to me, Captain. Just call me Aurora."
Gard simply smiled; it didn't seem that he was going to change his mind. Seeing this, Aurora shrugged her shoulders and decided to stop caring about such trivialities.
"To be honest, it's very bad." Aurora smiled bitterly and shook her head. "I don't even have the strength to sit down now."
In the previous battles, she had almost exhausted all her strength, and now she could not raise any strength after relaxing.
"But I know what you're thinking; it's still very safe here, and we have plenty of time to regain our physical strength..."
Aurora gave a side glance at the entrance of the dark forest not far away, which gave an impression of an entrance that led directly to the abyss of hell.
"At least they don't leave the forest to find prey, do they?"
For some reason, after hearing Aurora's words, Gard's concerns eased a lot. If the girl hadn't informed and stopped him accurately along the way, they would have been eaten up by wood rats now.
"By the way, can I have water?" asked Aurora as she felt her throat about to crack.
The sharp pain in her chest, the sense of loss of strength all over her body, and the draught almost drove her crazy. Fortunately, her strong willpower controlled her urge, and she did not show any abnormalities.
"Of course!" Gard quickly took a water bag from his waist, opened the lid, and said "Excuse me," before slowly helping Aurora take a few sips of water.
Although she didn't feel that comfortable when a man touched her, her thirst easily won over her discomfort.
Under the nourishment of the water, the throat that had been scorched and hot finally calmed down, and her body felt much better.
"You can rest here for a while, and when the horse meat is roasted, I will let Claudia bring it here."
Sensing that she was rather awkward around him, he thought it wasn't strange for a lady to feel awkward near a man that was basically a stranger to her, so he deliberately brought up Claudia's name.
Gard picked up the soft cushion that fell on the grass from the side, patted it on the back of Aurora's head, and left.
In this neutral position, Aurora closed her eyes and turned on the system to start allocating her skill points.
After killing the Rat King, she successfully upgraded to level five and gained two more skill points. To pass the Twilight Forest, she had to use these two skill points wisely.
Aurora, who was regarded as a full-time walking encyclopedia, had already made arrangements in her mind.
She opened the skill bar and used her mind to select one of the skills without hesitation.
[Elemental Control has been upgraded to level D, unlocked skills: Elemental Transformation - F, Elemental Affinity - F]
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Elemental Transformation: After an interval of five seconds, you can transform the elements in your body into other elements.
Elemental Affinity: Increases elemental damage by 2% and reduces the amount of magic power consumed when using elemental attacks by a small amount.
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[It has been detected that Elemental Control and Spirit Sword Art have been upgraded to D-level. The professional skill is unlocked: Sword Spirit Awakening]
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Sword Spirit Awakening: Awaken the soul in the sleeping sword and fight for the master!
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"Nice!"
Aurora was so excited when she saw the system prompt that she immediately used the Sword Spirit Awakening skill to wake up Flamberge Waltz.
[Awakening failed. No soul core detected]