Chapter 77: Encounter

At night, I secretly headed to the storage area and worked hard with my regular independent training. As usual, I wrapped the wool around my limbs with the threads to assist my muscles in running and jumping. It also kept my body warm from the coldness of the night which is very pleasant.

I’ve finally gotten used to reinforcing my threads so I won’t be making the same mistakes again as I did on my first try. That doesn’t mean that I have reached the peak of thread reinforcement though.

My Gift, Thread Manipulation is able to exert the same strength as my current muscle strength per thread.

The thread could be manipulated as long as it’s in contact with my body, that’s why if I concentrate and manipulate the threads with all of my fingers with each having the strength of one arm, I would be able to exert up to ten times my current muscle strength.

However, what happens in reality is not that simple. First of all, with my current magic capacity, I could only reinforce the thread for three minutes. In other words, my enhanced action can only last up to 3 minutes.

Adding to that is my weak constitution which makes me want to cry. Even if I try to enhance myself to the limit, my joints would creak and my muscle fibers would feel like they are being torn apart.

Fortunately, everything ended well on the first day because I didn’t go all out, but if I had gotten carried away and decided to use five threads at once, they’d have found a dissected corpse of a young girl scattered in the lumberyard.

Judging from that experience, I feel like I could reasonably hold out for 3 minutes if I doubled my strength. If I triple it, I won’t even last for a minute. At four times…… my joints would start rupturing within ten seconds.

Moreover, even if I say that I could improve my muscle strength, it would still be equivalent to the strength of a weak young girl. Five times the muscle strength of that still couldn’t hold a candle to adults. Having a lighter body meant it had a better utility value, but the fact remained that I couldn’t go overboard.

In the dead of night, I kicked off one piece of lumber and jumped over to another. Since I was originally good at night combat, I could easily move around without hesitation. My silver hair reflected a little bit of the moonlight which faintly illuminated my surroundings. I didn’t have to worry where I planted my steps.

“Fuuuh!”

While exhaling a little, I leaped and released a piano thread to wrap around another tree, forcibly changing my direction mid-jump. I had thick gloves prepared for using these threads, but using them this way wasn’t bad either. They were meant to greatly reduce the burden on my hands, but they also allowed me to execute delicate movements.

I altered course perpendicularly midswing by kicking off the ground and launching myself into the air. As I flew in the air, I did a flip and landed on top of a box. This kind of maneuver was something that I could easily do in my previous life and if I could master this movement with reinforced muscle strength, it would greatly increase my combat strength.

I sat down on the box to take a short break while the night breeze seeped through my long hair, slowly draining my body temperature. I raised the muffler around my neck and slightly shivered. This scarf also hides my face and does an especially good job of hiding my eye-catching hair.

I’m wearing spats and a tight-fitting shirt, the muffler I mentioned earlier, and lastly, a big leather jacket to cover myself. From the outside, I would look like a suspicious person. In the case of a little girl like me……the suspicious element is doubled.

“I could certainly increase my strength and agility like this… But is it enough? Will this be enough for me to become the strongest I wonder? That god, how did she expect me to improve using this ability?”

At most, I would only be able to maximize my mobility with this method. My attack power is not growing at all. Well, given that it’s much easier for me to attack someone from behind, it won’t be an exaggeration to say that my combat potential increased, but not what I’m really aiming for. While still pondering if there were any other uses for this skill, that was when I heard a faint cry riding the night breeze.

“Hmm? Someone’s crying… And seems to be a kid?”

Hearing that young voice, I started to question myself. That voice was too unnatural to be coming from an empty lumberyard in the dead of night.

“I mean, I’m one to talk, but still.”

When it came to a kid being in an empty place, the same could be said about me now, but leaving that aside I couldn’t leave a kid here. I surveyed the surroundings from the rooftop and spotted a kid crouching behind the lumber. It seems I was too preoccupied with my thoughts and didn’t notice him approaching.

“That was too sloppy of me, seriously…”

Before I called out to him, I first needed to hide my hair and eyes or my identity would be outed instantly. My silver hair and heterochromatic eyes are too conspicuous. I wrapped my muffler around my head almost like a turban and then covered my right eye.

My right eye alone is already very conspicuous because it resembled Maria’s crimson eyes. As for my left eye, while I inherited Lyell’s beautiful blue eyes, it’s still a more common color than my right. After hiding my conspicuous features, I jumped down with the threads supporting my body and got in front of the boy.

“Why are you crying lad?”

Although my gender couldn’t be discerned from my current figure, I still tried changing my voice to sound like a man. However, no matter how much I tried to lower my tone, it still sounded like the voice of a beautiful girl.

“Ugh…” “A……girl?”

The kid lifted his head in response to my groan. He was wearing ragged clothes and his skin was pale. His black hair looked like the fur of an untreated dog.

Despite that though, he looked like a beautiful boy with slender limbs and a well-organized appearance. It made me feel that he had enough potential to be one of those hateful beautiful men. And above everything else, there was something sticking out of his forehead……it’s a horn.

“A Half Demon?” “Ah!? This is――”

The boy was surprised and immediately covered his forehead in a panic. Half Demons were usually a race that was discriminated against by everyone. However, to me who was also a former Half Demon, he’s not someone that I would try to avoid. Or rather, it instead made me feel linked as if he was a part of my family.

“You don’t have to be scared. I may not be a Half Demon, but I don’t discriminate based on your race.” “Eh?”

The boy showed me a surprised expression but I wasn’t offended by that. I ignored his reaction and sat down beside him. After taking a sip from the water bottle hanging on my waist, I passed it over to the boy.

“Want a drink? I bet you’re thirsty from crying.” “Eh……Um?”

The boy timidly took it. And so I encountered someone from the same race as my former self.