CHAPTER SIX

"...997, 998...1000!"

Leila pushed herself upright and wiped the sweat off her forehead with the sleeve of her blouse.

The only freely and perfect for traveling clothes she could find were white long-sleeved ruffled collar blouses and black fitted pants which she wore right now while training. Apart from the laced heels to match the dresses, she was relieved when she found boots even though they are all knee-high and slightly heeled.

She stood alone in the large training grounds of the palace, which was littered with different sorts of weapons. Leila glanced at the human targets pierced with many arrows on every lethal part and sighed.

Ever since Leila discovered the armory of the palace, she began to follow a routine where she would train her body and familiarized herself with weapons she used to work with in the past at nights, and then read books for information in the mornings.

It's been at least two and a half months since she woke up from that strange dream and since then spent the duration learning everything that she could.

The fact that Leila died hasn't fully registered in her brain yet, but she had been consistently trying to keep herself busy. Thinking things like pondering and being depressed about the past won't keep her alive.

The past weeks were a blast, and there were many things she realized since coming to this world.

First of all, Leila now resides in the world of immortals, where humans were creatures known to be defective because of their short lifespan so they were reduced into nothing but slaves for breeding and labor.

Second, magic exists and is only used by a certain class of immortals. A typical factor since where she was right now is a legit fantasy world.

Third, mythical creatures, are well-known inhabitants alongside immortals. They become powerful man-eating monsters if possessed by evil spirits and can be only be healed by the possessor of holy power as said by legends of old.

Fourth, this place called the White Temple of Vermillion only lights up in the presence of its true owner. This gave Leila quite the shock when she read it in the manual, and it took her a while before the reality of it sinks in.

Lastly, remember when she mentioned magic is only possessed by a certain class? Turns out there is a hierarchy among the immortals.

Noble Class immortals are immortals able to use magic inherited from predecessors and only require blood to power up.

Next was non-fanged immortals without powers are called Common Class. They're like the NPCs of games and are usually used by nobles as knights, servants, or could remain as typical commoners.

The lowest of them all are humans who neither possess their trait of long-life span or regenerative abilities. Leila was beyond horrified and disgusted by the fact that they only function as slaves, toys to entertain the nobles with sick personality, prostitutes, and manual laborers.

They have no rights and only received food and water, sometimes neither, as their paycheck.

'Those sick motherfuckers.'

If she ever witnesses any of those immortals abuse a human in front of her, Leila was sure she wouldn't hesitate to slaughter them, and she's going to take it as long as possible to let them savor the pain.

Fortunately, thanks to her past memories of being addicted to anime shows and typical twenty-first-century logic and reasoning, it didn't take long for Leila to learn how to use her powers to her convenience.

Who would expect being a hardcore Otaku would be so convenient? 'Thank you, Japanese people. You truly are God's miracle.'

Leila glanced at the sky and gazed at the full moon. Thinking back, she hasn't stepped foot out of the palace to explore the whole place. It'll be pretty bad if she stays cooped up inside.

Leila still hasn't recovered her original state, but at the very least her skills are on par with professional assassins. Exploring the territory would be a good opportunity to test her immortal body, and she still has her powers so it wouldn't be a problem.

Leila grabbed her stuff and the dual swords, she used as a substitute. She'll have to find a blacksmith soon; she already misses her khopesh swords and maybe tweak it a little bit to match her current state.

With that in mind, she ran inside the palace to get a cloak out of her closet.

'Oooh, this is gonna be fun.'

***

"Finally! The gate-!"

Memorizing the whole layout was a piece of cake thanks to the hellish training Leila went through in her past life. She knew the place was big, but she had still underestimated the size.

It took her at least two hours to finally arrive at the main gates that separated her from the outside world. Since there were no other inhabitants except herself, there was no one who would buy horses or man the carriages, so Leila had no choice but to walk on foot.

She didn't bother bringing lamps because the whole place seemed to have a habit of automatically lighting up in her presence. Plus, even without light, Leila's eyesight works perfectly well in the dark. And the fact that being enveloped in darkness would just greatly heighten all her senses.

'I guess old habits really do die hard.'

Leila glanced around, every step creating a soft clacking sound on the stone pavement, courtesy of the heels. She wore the first cloak she could find when she opened the closet, a black hooded velvet cloak held together with a silver chain clasp.

Really summoning the inner Volturi there.

A cold wind blew past her, parting her cloak, Leila shivered.

She didn't expect the nights to be this chilly and it'll be too troublesome to go back for a thicker cloak.

After a few turns and an hour's worth of walking, Leila stopped in front of the gargantuan main gates.

Following the instructions of the palace manual, she raised a finger and pointed at the center of the lock where the seal in a form of a half-moon was engraved, and whispered, "Open."

The seal glowed and there were many sounds of things being unlocked, the gates slowly opened.

When Leila walked past it, her head immediately moved around to inspect the grounds. 'Hmm...nothing but trees and mist.'

There were no lamp posts or diamonds that emit light, so the rest of the path was engulfed in darkness.

Leila glanced towards the palace behind her and was amazed it suddenly disappeared. 'Looks like the illusion kicked in, as expected, the defense system is really awesome.'

She turned back to the eerie forest and ventured onward, unfazed by the sudden change of environment. Leila tried to familiarize herself with the kinds of trees and plants growing there while also searching for similar things found on Earth.

Thankfully, all seems to be the same. Sure, there were stranger trees and even stranger plants growing here and there, but Leila was sure it'll be all recorded in the books located in the library. She'll have time to read them later.

Just in case, Leila picked herself a few books about poisonous plants and healing herbs. Who knows when she would come across an immortal who could seal immortality or block regenerative abilities? It's always better to have many trump cards hidden anyways. The forest gave a very haunted and typical feeling of monsters dwelling on it. But it didn't bother Leila since the palace manual explained to her all about the palace defenses.

There were a lot of them.

The most effective defense barrier is made up of ancient powerful illusion magic, and that was the terrifying monster forest she's currently looking at.

Of course, as someone who always likes to satiate their curiosities even if it killed the cat, Leila took her time to observe in the fascination with how it could easily overpower one's senses.

The illusion felt so real and can be strongly felt with all senses. If she didn't know that it was all part of the defense system, Leila would've been fooled by it by now.

The owner is granted the power to manipulate the illusion spell to whatever they wanted, and it seemed like it has already been doing the job well of keeping this place away from monsters and power-hungry filth so Leila didn't bother changing it.

Considering the riches are still attached to the place.

Leila glanced at the illusion barrier and a thought occurred to her mind.

'Hmm...I wonder.'

She closed her eyes and willed her powers to try and hide her glowing immortal body, her dangerous captivating looks, and her bejeweled red eyes into an illusion of her human self.

When she opened her eyes, the glowing aura of her skin had disappeared. "That's dope."

Except for the soft insect sounds that pass once in a while; everything seems so quiet and kind of peaceful. It really drives one to reflect on themselves and whatever's happening.

There were many questions still left unanswered. Leila vaguely remembers the things that happened before she transmigrated, but she had the feeling she should keep it a secret, so there was no way of finding information regarding the matter. Leila knew people would be reincarnated when they die, it happened to her too, but why did she start at the age where she died and not as a baby?

All things considered; Leila still remains ignorant of the world where she was reincarnated to. The knowledge provided from the books was one thing, and she had no problem killing to defend herself-but in the end, she realized she was still a bit scared of this world where logic and reasoning she's familiar to don't apply.

One of the things that Leila assumed was that Lieselotte has yet to be born.

If she were reincarnated in the same world, it'll take a long time to search for her, considering she doesn't have her past memories, unlike Leila. Since she was reincarnated with the same face, Leila thought it was safe to assume Lieselotte would still look the same.

That reminds her---if the fact that being an immortal made her sex appeal explode to a massive degree, wouldn't that mean Liese would undergo the same transformation? If ever she's reincarnated in the same world as a fellow immortal.

If that's the case...Oh god.

With that face, Leila couldn't even imagine how many shitty guys would crash to her house to court her and pressure her parents for marriage.

Just the thought of it makes her want to slaughter every man in this world, so she wouldn't suffer being pestered by those wolves.

Well, assuming Leila would see her in the same place again.

Leila was in the middle of deciding how she would eradicate the existence of men when she suddenly picked up a presence of something inhuman.

All of her senses snapped alert. However much she wanted to turn around and confront whatever's emitting such an aura, her instincts were telling her not to. As if any sudden movements would trigger that creature to attack.

Leila strained her hearing. Behind the cover of mist, darkness, bushes, and thick bodies of the trees, Leila didn't fail to hear slithering sounds, followed by a smooth movement of something large crawling unto the ground.

When she heard such sounds, every hair on her body stood, causing her to flinch. If there was one thing that Leila would hate the most, it would be the creepy hairy crawlies that one would often find in the presence of plants.

The point that she was standing in the middle of thick grooves of trees was not a good omen. Thus, Leila had no choice but to rely on her luck and prayed to whoever was listening that she wouldn't be facing against a giant bug.

Leila's eyes widened as she suddenly saw a large shadow, slowly looming behind her. Holding her breath in, she turned her body with great caution behind her and inwardly gasped.

"Oh.My.God."