The unexpected fight against the orcs blurred in the back of Rukiyo's mind.
The system offered a couple of features that will be incredibly useful in the future, which consisted of a map, inventory, and a starter pack.
Her gaze roams over the newly-updated interface, taking in a familiar layout of a map and inventory.
The inventory seemed pretty standard due to its usual slots for items, then without meaning to, her mind automatically started calculating what she can carry.
And then, she pulled up the map feature.
It's incredibly detailed— a fully-interactive, three-dimensional map of the surrounding area, and she noticed that the path she walked through earlier was highlighted.
The surrounding area of the cave was covered in dark clouds, like how it would look like in most video games.
She let out a sigh. With the map being covered in dark clouds, it only means one thing..
"I have to explore." She mumbled, before opening her inventory and deciding on pressing on the small starter pack she received from completing the tutorial battle mode.
The small pack has a toothbrush, toothpaste, a lemon scented soap, a shampoo, and conditioner.
She doesn't even know why she needed shampoo or conditioner, but she's thankful for the system for giving her one.
"The only problem is.." She mumbled and looked out of the cave, eyebrows furrowing. "How am I going to take a bath without anyone possibly seeing me flying to a lake or river?"
Maybe I shouldn't risk it and just walk? Rukiyo thought, forcing her gaze away from the cave's mouth and squinting her eyes a little.
It was dark inside the cave, but she could see everything with slight difficulty.
Since the day had already passed by quickly without her going out and with the sky turning midnight blue within a blink.. She didn't have to worry much about being seen by humans.
She let out a sigh again, her mind wondering back to her previous thought.
"If I walk.. How am I going to hide my wings? It's not like I can learn to do it right away." She grumbled, her hands fumbling on the hem of her clothing.
Worrying about hiding her wings is one thing, but worrying how she'll learn how to blend in among humans is more of a trouble than hiding from them.
Rukiyo groaned. Hopefully, no humans will wonder in here—
Rustle, rustle, thump, crunch, thump.
Her thought process was interrupted when she heard rustling of leaves and footsteps coming from the mouth of the cave, followed by the sound of breaking twigs, pained groans, and panting.
"S-Stop.." A masculine voice hissed.
Great. You just have to jinx yourself, Rukiyo. The woman groaned in her mind, cursing her out for putting herself in a pinch.
"Sorry, sorry.. Did I press on your wounds?" Another masculine voice cut through the silence of the night and successfully brought her out of her thoughts once more, but she noticed that this one sounded a little softer.
"Cut it off, will ya?! You're making matters worse!" The first person exclaimed, his voice echoing across the cave and bouncing off the walls, sending a chill down Rukiyo's spine.
"S-Sorry.." The second person mumbled, then was quickly followed by another series of footsteps, but it sounded like it was getting closer to the entrance.
"Sorry won't cut it, ya fool." The first person grumbled, making Rukiyo flinch.
This guy sounds so mean and derogatory. Rukiyo thought, feeling sympathetic towards the second guy for hearing such words.
"B-But I tried to stop you, didn't I..?" The second guy huffed, though his voice cracked a little.
"Ya were saying something? Ya looking for a fight? Is that it?" The first person hissed and this time, Rukiyo could see the silhouette of the two because they were literally standing right at the entrance of the cave.
The second guy, she assumed, was taller than the first one, but compared to the first one, he seemed like he wasn't hurt.
The first person was getting assisted by the taller person and the two of them are slowly inching their way inside the cave, albeit stopping every now and then to let the injured person take a breather.
"Crap, I can't go on any longer." The shorter of the two hissed and nudged his friend. "Just drop me off there and look for some herbs outside."
"O-Okay.." The big fella mumbled and scrambled to put his friend down on the ground, slowly and carefully, evidently doing his best to not jostle the injured person a little too much.
"I saw some leaves right at the corner." The first man grunted out and pointed towards the right side of the cave. "Get some and come back here."
Rukiyo blinked and stared at the injured person. Does this guy know how to do medicine?
She couldn't help, but squint her eyes to look closely at the guy's wounds— it's not much, but it seemed like the cut was deep enough to cause some heavy bleeding.
DING!
Rukiyo flinched, the sound of the system's ping echoing loudly in her head.
>> LEARNING A NEW SKILL! PLEASE WAIT A MOMENT. . .
Rukiyo's eyes went wide as she read the text on the interface. A new skill? At a time like this? Where she's alone with two strangers whose race she doesn't know?
>> LEARNING PROCESS COMPLETE!
I don't care! She hissed in her mind, her eyebrows furrowing into a menacing glare.
Shove that learning process somewhere else! I'm not about to get myself killed tonight, or anytime soon! She growled, making sure that her mind voice was steady and strong to scare off the system.
>> WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN THE SKILL [Dragon's Healing Balm]?
Yes, but not now! I'm pretty sure that you're going to give me a quest right after this—
DING!
>> LEARNING NEW SKILL. . .
"You sneaky little—" Rukiyo growled, unable to contain her annoyance.
"Who's there?!" The injured person howled from his spot, cutting off Rukiyo's sentence and just then, did she realize what she had just done.