Night comes quickly, but a bit of sunlight still lets me see, for a brief moment, the brown trees tinged with purple and the dense, towering bushes that block any path. Nearly every leaf bears purple spots; almost nothing here is free from the color, whether in isolated patches or mixed with the dead green of the vegetation.

  The ground is mostly covered by purple, poisonous waters that bubble lightly and release a toxic vapor capable of polluting the entire environment.

  In the muddy lands, a fly the size of a palm heads toward a black orchid clinging to a tree trunk. As it lands, a tongue tipped with thorns suddenly pierces its body.

  A dark green frog swallows the fly and moves away, but as it jumps, about to return to the water, it gets caught in a spiderweb. It struggles, trying to free itself, but it’s useless. From the vibrations in the web, the spider senses its prey, wastes no time, and approaches, injecting a strong toxin. The frog’s body darkens, turning almost black. It trembles for a few moments before dying.

  Almost at the same time, walking through the poisonous waters, I pass near the spider without even noticing it.

  I stop for a moment to analyze.

  A swamp… seems like a poisonous one.

  I’d better have a more camouflaged appearance.

  I look at my own red hair.

  Good time to change color.

  I focus for a few moments, and my hair shifts from red to black.

  "Much better."

  I keep walking, my feet sinking into the toxic water. With every step, my body sinks a little more, almost reaching my knees. The strong smell in the air confirms my suspicions that this is an extremely poisonous swamp.

  Still, that doesn’t stop me from continuing to train my Skill. In my right hand, I summon water, shaping it into a sphere that soon solidifies, turning into ice.

  I watch with approval.

  Very good.

  I’m just testing. During the fights where I relied on the help of the green tigers, I realized I could cool the water I summoned. That’s when I thought I might be able to turn it into ice. Since that day, I’ve been practicing to master this use.

  During the fight against that ogre, with the green cats’ help, I demonstrated some control over the water’s temperature, keeping it liquid even against the ogre’s intense flames. Since then, I’ve practiced further, and now I can even make it boil without using fire. Ever since, I’ve been working to perfect this control.

  Realizing my own performance, I try to smile, but I feel only my lips move, forming a forced, horrible, and empty smile. In the last few days, I’ve barely been able to express any emotions. I suspect I’m still a little sad from having parted with the tigers. They were my only companions here.

  But it doesn’t affect me for long. When I reach the Silver Mountains, I’m sure I’ll find a way out of here.

  I look again at the ice in my right hand.

  But also, I managed to do something else.

  I focus a little more, and the ice sphere quickly condenses, turning into vapor. The wave of steam spreads forcefully, pushing the leaves of the trees above.

  I force a smile.

  I don’t need fire to heat my water. But if I use my Fire Skill together with the water, I can create this concentration of steam.

  Even after practicing tirelessly, this is the most I can do. A pressure strong enough to push the leaves.

  I dissolve the ice and create new spheres. In each palm, I summon an Skill. I create fire in my right hand and water in my left. I begin shaping them, giving both the perfect form of a sphere.

  I use the Source as energy. I summon my Skills more and more, sending them through my arms to my hands. I immediately compress the Skills, preventing the spheres from growing larger. The amount of fire and water is violent and continuous, but I don’t lose control.

  The spheres grow, becoming larger than my hands. My body tenses, my arms tremble slightly from the pressure of keeping two Skills active at the same time. Even so, my regeneration helps me withstand the physical and mental fatigue, allowing me to continue.

  In my right hand, the fire sphere becomes so dense it lights up everything around me. In my left, the compressed water takes on a dark blue hue, reminiscent of the depths of the sea. Both spheres start to tremble and deform, on the verge of exploding.

  This is my current limit, where I can constantly feed and compress my Skills. I stop feeding them and focus only on stabilizing them until they return to the perfect spherical shape. Then, I make them shrink until they reach the size of a fist.

  But it’s not enough.

  I want them smaller.

  I widen my eyes and demand that they compress. They shrink slowly, but soon stall. It’s not enough. I push my control even further, clenching my hands tightly. When I realize I can’t compress them any more, I stop the process and open my hands to look. Two marbles rest in my palms, one intense red, the other dark blue.

  I feel satisfied. After days of intense practice, I can say I’ve perfected my Skills. I admit I feel proud of it. My control is visibly more advanced. I can even manipulate them with just my mind, although this level of control is extremely exhausting and, for now, impractical in combat.

  The two marbles in my hands start to tremble slightly. Realizing I can’t lose focus, I close my hands to maintain control. My happiness, however, diminishes a little. Now I have two serious problems in my hands, literally.

  "What do I do with these marbles?"

  "It’ll take too long to dissolve them carefully without causing a disaster."

  I look around for a safe place. Even at night, I can see a little better in the darkness. Constantly walking and fighting in the dark must have helped me develop this ability.

  As I search for a suitable spot to start releasing them, I notice a monster appearing in front of me, blocking my path. In the darkness, I can’t make out its shape. I open my right hand for a moment, releasing the glow of the fire marble, illuminating the creature.

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  It’s roughly my height. Long purple hair covers its body, but through the gaps, I see a blue, gelatinous mass. It has no arms, only two legs. It seems that under the hair, that’s all there is.

  A slime?

  If it is, it’s the first one I’ve ever seen.

  The creature really does seem like a humanoid slime. As expected, those I imagined as cute and round don’t exist here. Only strange beings, like this one.

  The monster moves with crooked steps, its body swaying like jelly, almost comical. But as it nears, I watch it closely.

  With my fists clenched, I keep my guard high.

  "..."

  When it gets close enough, its awkward walk disappears. It starts running with precise steps, almost like a ninja. I react immediately and dodge, getting out of the way, but its hair moves so fast that it strikes me. I cross my arms just in time, but I’m still thrown back. I spin in the air and land on my feet in the poisonous waters.

  My arms take damage; the bones have surely cracked. I make my regeneration restore them. I see several strands of hair coming toward me, I get out of the way and advance.

  A large strand appears in front of me. I crouch in a swift movement and roll underneath. The hair hits the tree beside me, and I watch the trunk crumble as the leaves wither, turning the entire tree into a bubbling paste that dissolves in the water. The smell of poison intensifies.

  I look at the slime in disbelief.

  Wow… if the sleeves of my cloak weren’t so long, I would have suffered severe poisoning.

  Without hesitation, I advance. I run closer, but the monster swings its hair with even more force and speed. The strands fly toward me, but I manage to follow its movements. There’s so much hair that one strand scrapes my face.

  The area it hits starts turning purple.

  This may be hair, but it cuts like a knife.

  I feel the effects immediately. Part of my face must be rotting, but I focus so that my regeneration can handle it. Flames wrap around my legs. I kick the air, launching a fire attack. The creature’s hair gathers, forming a wall that blocks the blow.

  But I don’t stop attacking. I advance, kicking the air multiple times. Each kick is loaded like fire bullets; the flames collide with the creature’s hair but don’t break through its defense. I decide to attack harder. I leap, concentrate a massive amount of flames in my right leg, and kick the air.

  The kick fires like a blast. The hair wall shatters in an explosion, throwing the slime away and tearing off much of its hair. Its body burns with flames; it writhes in pain, but the poisonous water surrounds it, extinguishing the fire on its body.

  The trees and bushes around catch fire. Smoke rises in thick plumes. The monster gets up and forces its way through the flames. The poisonous water is already high, almost covering its body, slowing its movements.

  As soon as the slime crosses the fire, it notices something. It’s lost its target.

  A bad feeling rises. It looks down and sees a red glow emerging rapidly. There’s no time to react. A fire-wrapped kick strikes the monster, burning it violently.

  The instant it lost sight of me, I took advantage of the water’s height to swim forward unnoticed, preparing this surprise strike.

  The water makes movement difficult, but I manage to reach the slime. Desperate, the monster swings its hair, but it’s too late; my foot carries intense fire. The poisonous water around it boils and evaporates.

  When the tangled hair is right in front of me, I launch a devastating kick that sweeps everything in my path. The slime is engulfed in flames and thrown far away by the force of the blow, disappearing from sight.

  The waters split for a moment, revealing a path of fire. I watch the flames consume everything before fading out. I turn to continue my journey.

  But then, I sense multiple presences above me.

  An attack comes from above. I dodge to the right and dive, swimming to escape. More strikes try to pierce me, but I manage to avoid being hit. I increase my swimming speed, but hair emerges from all directions. I surface from the water and see that I’m surrounded by a sea of hair.

  I open my right hand, releasing the glow of the fire marble. The light reveals dozens of slime-like creatures, with blue bodies, purple hair, and walking on two legs. They’re scattered across the trees, even on the ones that were burned.

  Wherever I look, there are hairy monsters.

  They seem to have been attracted by the noise and the light of the fire.

  I notice their cleverness. It’s no coincidence. They’ve really formed a circle, with me in the center, to trap me.

  If I have to face them all, and if each one has the same level of poison as the first hairy slime, I’ll hardly make it out alive. The monsters approach; there’s no time to lose. An idea comes to mind as I look at my hands. In my right, the fire marble. I open my left hand, revealing the water marble.

  I smile slightly.

  I wanted to handle this calmly… but I have no choice.

  I’ll have to change my plan.

  Without ceremony, I throw both marbles into the air and release control.

  The night is suddenly lit by an intense red flash. The devastating explosion sweeps through the swamp and nearby areas. My water merges with the poisonous water, and driven by the force of the blast, it flows across the land, spreading toxins and poisoning everything in its path.

  ***

  The blue sky, the bright sun, the clouds, and the giant birds make me smile.

  I fly at high speed, my body partially broken, but I keep smiling.

  Soon I lose altitude and collide with trees and rocks, leaving a trail of destruction.

  When I hit the ground, I stand up as my body regenerates, still dizzy and staggering.

  But this time, I don’t lean on a tree. I simply wait for the dizziness to pass.

  With my body healed, I resume the journey.

  "That damn rat."

  "It caught me by surprise."

  Explosive rats are truly the plague of this forest. I was moving calmly, fighting monsters and crossing biomes, when, after pushing aside some bushes, I came across a red-furred rat. It was already too late. Its tail sparked, and the explosion threw me far away.

  I remember it with disgust.

  "But it’s strange…"

  "The explosion it caused was powerful."

  "Too powerful."

  I watch the destroyed trees restore themselves almost instantly. The regeneration in this area is absurd, even compared to other biomes.

  I look at the dense forest ahead.

  The closer I get to the Silver Mountains, the stronger the forest becomes… and so do the monsters.

  ***

  The next morning, the sun gradually illuminates the forest.

  Ahead of me, I see a silver ground. Curious, I walk in that direction and realize that it’s not just a path, but an entire forest.

  I stop at the edge of the entrance and observe carefully. The forest is completely silver. Trunks, leaves, grass. Everything here is silver. I look back, comparing it with the regular forest, just to make sure I’m not imagining things.

  I crouch to get a better look at the silver grass.

  It doesn’t seem like I’m in an illusion. This forest is really silver.

  I touch one of the leaves on the ground. It’s rigid, harder than a normal leaf, but it’s not real silver.

  I stand and face the forest.

  Very unusual, I don’t want to enter.

  Better to go around it and find another route.

  I turn around, but in an instant, too fast to react, something hits me. A huge paw covered in silver scales strikes me squarely, throwing me into the forest.

  I disappear among the silver bushes and trees.