4 - Mountain

Time blurred inside the forest.

By Luna’s best estimate, several days had passed since she first stumbled out of the ruined church and into the woods.

Her inner sense of time was sharp enough—sleep, wake, hunger, fatigue—but without clocks or system notifications, the exact number of days escaped her. Three? Four? Maybe five. It didn’t matter.

What mattered was survival.

And survival, she found, was a tedious, fish-flavored nightmare.

On her second day, she began testing spells in earnest. Not just the usual techniques—Water Bullet, Ice Wall, Blizzard—but variations, experiments, ideas she’d once dreamed of while gaming but could never execute.

In Legends Leagues, the system always dictated the shape of her magic. A Water Bullet had a specific speed, diameter, and mana cost. A Blizzard always struck in a fixed radius. Her creativity only went as far as combining skills or timing them cleverly.

But here? Here, the only limit was her imagination.

She discovered it almost by accident. While conjuring a simple Water Bullet, she thought idly, What if it were faster? Denser?

The spell obeyed. The bullet condensed, compressed until it gleamed like polished glass, then shot forward with a crack like a whip. The tree it struck split clean in half, the trunk sheared as though by a blade.

Her eyes had gone wide. Then her lips curled into that familiar smug grin.

“Oh, this is dangerous,” she whispered.

From that moment, her experiments snowballed.

She made walls of ice in spirals instead of flats, jagged like crystal thorns.

She created fog that clung to the ground rather than drifting away.

She conjured a torrent of water shaped like a whip, snapping it against rocks until they cracked.

Every spell felt rawer, freer. No mana bars blinked overhead, no cooldown timers, no restrictions. She was no longer a player bound by mechanics. She was Luna Aqua, and magic bent to her will.

The realization made her giddy. But giddiness couldn’t fill her stomach.

She sat on a rock by the stream one evening, gnawing on yet another piece of boiled fish. Steam curled in the cool air, and her expression soured with every bite.

“Fish again,” she muttered. “Because what else do I eat? Oh, right. Nothing.”

She tossed the last chunk into her mouth, chewed half-heartedly, and sighed.

Her thoughts wandered to the animals she’d seen. The rabbits. The deer. Even the fox with its sharp eyes and russet coat. All of them edible. All of them adorable.

The memory of a rabbit twitching its nose at her flashed in her mind. She groaned, burying her face in her hands.

“I can’t do it. I’m not heartless enough to turn Fluffy into stew.”

Her hunger growled in protest. She flicked her forehead with a finger. “Shut up, stomach. You’ll take your fish and like it.”

Still, the monotony wore on her. She dreamed of bread, roasted meat, even the blandest ration bars from her old world. Anything but another scaly, slimy meal scraped together with ice knives and boiling bubbles.

She tried searching. She scoured bushes, dug under roots, sniffed around clearings like some desperate scavenger. But the forest mocked her with emptiness. No berries, no nuts, no mushrooms she recognized. Just endless green.

“It doesn’t make sense,” she complained aloud one afternoon, kicking at a root. “There are animals. Which means food sources. Which means plants. So where are the plants?!”

The forest didn’t answer.

She nearly broke her own rule once. A small deer had wandered into her path, its brown eyes wide and unafraid. She’d lifted her hand, magic pooling in her palm, the thought of roasted venison heavy in her mind.

Then the deer tilted its head, ears flicking.

Her hand dropped.

“Damn it,” she hissed. The deer bounded away, tail flashing white.

Another night of fish followed.

By the fourth day—or maybe the fifth—she grew restless. The forest’s boundaries had become familiar. She knew the bends of the stream, the dips in the ground, the clusters of moss-covered stones.

So when she stumbled upon the edge, she didn’t hesitate.

Before her loomed the base of the jagged mountain she’d glimpsed from the church window days ago. Its dark peaks knifed into the sky, their teeth cutting through drifting clouds. The slopes were barren rock and loose scree, scarred with deep gullies where old landslides had torn the earth.

Luna tilted her head back, eyes tracing the distant summit. Her lips curled into a grin.

“Well,” she said, hands on her hips. “That looks way more interesting than another fish dinner.”

Climbing should have been exhausting. The incline was steep, the rocks unstable, the air dry and thin. But Luna’s body moved like it was made for this.

Strength, Agility, Endurance—all her stats carried her upward with ease. Her legs pushed off stones as though gravity were weaker. Her hands gripped jagged edges with unshakable force. She scaled sections in minutes that would have taken a normal human hours.

But one thing stats couldn’t erase was discomfort.

The heat beat down on her from the sun, trapped by the bare rock. Sweat trickled down her neck, dampening her collar. Her cloak clung uncomfortably to her back.

She fanned herself with one hand, grumbling. “Why couldn’t it be snowing? I’d be great if it snows… Wait, couldn’t I just make it snow?”

The climb exhilarated her. Each ledge brought a new view, the forest shrinking below, the horizon stretching wider. She laughed once, loudly, the sound echoing off stone.

“This beats sitting in a safe zone any day.”

The sound came first, a low growl, rolling across the rocks. Luna froze, her ears twitching to catch the source.

From behind a boulder padded a massive shape—muscular, tawny, with eyes that gleamed yellow in the light. A mountain lion. Its shoulders rippled as it crouched, tail flicking.

Luna’s heart leapt. Not with fear, but with exhilaration.

Finally.

“About time,” she whispered, a grin splitting her face. Her pulse quickened, mana thrumming under her skin.

The lion bared its teeth and lunged.

Luna raised her hand. “Water Bullet!”

A sphere shot forward, sharp and fast. It struck the lion in the chest with a wet thunk.

The beast didn’t even finish its leap. It dropped midair, slamming into the rocks with a lifeless thud.

Silence.

Luna blinked. Lowered her hand.

“…That’s it?”

She walked closer, nudging the corpse with her boot. It didn’t move. Blood seeped between the stones.

Her grin faltered into a frown.

“Instant kill? Really? That’s boring.”

She crossed her arms, glaring at the dead monster as though it had cheated her.

“I wanted a fight, not a one-hit KO.”

The disappointment lingered as she resumed her climb. Strong as she was, overpowering enemies this easily felt… empty.

Still, she couldn’t shake the smile tugging at her lips. If this was just the first monster, maybe the mountain held stronger ones. Maybe.

She hoped.

The mountain lion’s corpse was still fresh in her mind when Luna pressed onward. Each step upward carried both eagerness and irritation—eagerness for new encounters, irritation at how trivial the last one had been.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she muttered, her boots crunching against loose stone. “I love being strong. It’s just… where’s the drama? Where’s the thrill?”

Her words echoed back down the mountain, thrown at her like mockery.

It didn’t take long before another growl rumbled across the path. Luna slowed, her grin tugging back into place.

“Round two,” she whispered.

This lion was larger, its muscles thick beneath its tawny coat. It prowled low, eyes locked on her with predatory intensity.

Luna stretched her arms, casual, almost bored. “Alright, kitty. Let’s make this interesting.”

The lion sprang. She let it come closer, savoring the rush of air, the power in its leap. At the last instant, she whispered,

“Ice Shards.”

A volley of crystalline spikes erupted before her, sharp and glistening. They impaled the lion midair, freezing its roar in its throat. Its body slammed against the ground, lifeless before it stopped sliding.

Luna sighed.

“Instant kill again. Ugh.” She nudged the body with her toe. “What’s the point of testing spells if everything’s tissue paper?”

But she moved on. There had to be something stronger. There had to be.

By the third day of climbing, the air grew thinner, her breaths coming shorter. Not that fatigue slowed her much—her Endurance carried her, her Stamina kept her legs pumping. But the change in climate weighed on her mood.

And then she found it.

The chimera prowled onto her path, a grotesque patchwork of predator, lion’s head, goat’s body, serpent’s tail. Its mismatched eyes gleamed with malice, and its roar shook dust from the cliffs.

Luna’s grin returned in full.

“Yes,” she breathed. “Finally, something ridiculous.”

The beast lunged, serpent tail lashing. She rolled aside, more for fun than necessity, and lifted her hand.

“Blizzard.”

The world howled. Shards of ice and snow erupted from her palms, spiraling outward in a storm that consumed the chimera. Frost coated its hide, freezing its movements mid-stride. Within seconds, the monster was a statue of ice, grotesque and unmoving.

The storm dissipated. Luna lowered her hand, waiting.

Cracks spiderwebbed across the frozen body. Then, with a shatter, the chimera collapsed into glittering shards.

Silence fell again.

“…Seriously?” she said. She kicked a frozen fragment, watching it clatter down the slope. “One spell. Just one.”

She blew a strand of hair from her face, annoyed. “At least it looked dramatic.”

Her stomach broke the silence, growling loud enough to echo. Luna groaned, clutching it.

“Not this again.”

She scanned the cliffsides, desperate for anything remotely edible. And then—finally—she spotted a cluster of bushes clinging stubbornly to the rock. Bright berries glistened among their leaves, red and ripe.

Without hesitation, she plucked one and popped it into her mouth. Sweet juice burst on her tongue. She moaned in relief.

“Finally, something that isn’t fish!”

She devoured handfuls, barely chewing, ignoring every voice in her head that whispered about poison.

“I don’t care,” she muttered between bites. “If these are poisonous, I’ll just heal it. Worth it.”

By some miracle, the berries sat fine in her stomach. She licked her fingers clean, satisfied for the first time in days.

“Fish and berries. Not gourmet, but I’ll take it.”

Another day passed before she found what she’d been craving.

The ground trembled before the monster appeared. Rocks slid, pebbles jumped, the air vibrated with each step. Luna’s pulse quickened. She stopped, eyes widening as the creature lumbered into view.

A golem. Towering six meters tall, its body was nothing but stone and moss, shaped into a crude humanoid form. Its eyes glowed faintly with molten light.

Luna’s grin split her face.

“Oh, yes. Now we’re talking.”

The golem raised a massive fist, swinging down. She darted aside, the impact cracking stone where she’d stood. Dust clouded the air.

“Finally, something with weight!” she shouted, laughing.

She raised her hand. A Water Bullet formed, dense and sharp. She launched it.

The projectile punched through the golem’s chest like a cannonball through glass. The creature froze, glowing eyes dimming. Its body crumbled, collapsing into rubble.

Luna’s laughter cut off.

“…Are you kidding me?” She threw her hands into the air. “One shot again?! That thing was at least six meters tall!”

She paced, ranting at the pile of rubble. “What’s the point? Where’s the challenge? What kind of golem dies to a Water Bullet?!”

Frustration burned in her chest. Then, slowly, her smirk returned.

“Fine. If they won’t last longer… I’ll just make it interesting.”

The next monster—a second golem—appeared higher on the slope. This time, Luna didn’t shoot immediately.

She conjured a sphere of water above it. Bigger. And bigger. Until a mass the size of a house hovered in the air, rippling and unstable.

The golem swung its arm, striking uselessly at the cliff. Luna smirked.

“Let’s try this.”

She froze the water solid. Instantly, the mass became a block of glittering ice. Gravity took over.

The ice fell, slamming onto the golem’s head with a sound like an avalanche. The creature shattered beneath the weight, crushed into dust.

Luna threw up her arms, triumphant. “Now that’s satisfying!”

Her grin widened. “Style points, ten out of ten.”

The climb stretched into days. She found more monsters—mountain lions, chimera, golems, even winged beasts that swooped from above. None survived longer than a single spell.

She began treating them less like threats and more like experiments. She froze rivers in midair, shaped water into spears, detonated storms of ice. She laughed through it all, exhilarated despite the lack of real danger.

Her meals consist of only berries. She stopped worrying about poison entirely, stuffing her mouth whenever hunger struck. By luck—or perhaps because her stats were absurd—she never fell ill.

Nights were cold, but she made do. Cloaks of ice kept predators away, while summoned fog blanketed her in warmth. She adapted. She thrived.

But always, her eyes stayed fixed on the peak.

At last, after days of climbing, she pulled herself onto the final ledge. Her boots scraped stone as she stood, brushing dust from her cloak. Her breath puffed in the thin air, but her grin was wide, triumphant.

She turned.

And froze.

The world stretched before her in a breathtaking expanse.

Rolling plains unfurled in waves of green and gold, rivers glinting like silver threads. Forests darker and denser than the one she’d left sprawled to the horizon. Cities shimmered faintly in the distance, their walls and spires gleaming in the sunlight. Mountains rose beyond, capped in snow, their peaks piercing the sky.

It wasn’t just vast. It was alive. A world waiting.

Luna’s smug grin faltered, replaced by awe.

“…Holy…” she whispered.

Her chest tightened. For the first time since awakening in this strange reality, she felt the weight of it—the sheer scale, the promise, the unknown.

Her lips curled upward again, slower this time, softer.

“Well then,” she murmured, silver eyes gleaming. “Guess the real game’s finally starting.”

The wind whipped around her, carrying her words into the endless horizon.

And Luna Aqua stood tall, ready to claim the world.