Volume 1, Chapter 43 – Winterbloom

A beam of white light shone on her face. The calls of birds and beasts, along with the glow filtering through her eyelids, slowly roused Yisi from sleep. She found herself in a dense forest, where morning dew gathered on the leaves, filling the air with the scent of grass. Nearby, the remnants of a campfire smoldered, thin wisps of white smoke rising—it must have gone out not long ago.

“…Morning already?”

She hadn’t expected to sleep so well in the wild. Yisi couldn’t help but admire her own adaptability.

The status bar showed the time as 7:51 AM. She was lying on the ground—likely placed there on a blanket by Camilla when she got up. Feeling the soft fabric beneath her head, Yisi shifted her gaze. The Omniscient Map displayed Camilla’s location not far away.

“Ah-choo!”

Sneezing, Yisi sat up from the blanket and wiped her nose. It seemed she really had caught a cold.

“Not sure if healing magic can cure viral or bacterial colds. I remember hearing that temples can’t treat common illnesses, so probably not.”

Thinking over random thoughts, she stretched her stiff body. Sleeping on the ground was far from comfortable—not only had she caught a cold overnight, but her whole body ached now.

She focused on the Omniscient Map, zooming out its range like manipulating a digital screen until it displayed the distant city of Niru.

Perhaps because the weaker demon races no longer posed a threat to her, the number of lesser demons in the city had significantly decreased. Nearly half had withdrawn, lying in ambush in the outskirts instead. However, there was still no sign of high-ranking demons.

“Still no high-tier demons, huh?”

Even the highest-tier concealment magic couldn’t last more than a day—not due to insufficient mana, but because the spell’s duration simply didn’t allow it. Having already lost track of their target, Yisi doubted high-ranking demons would be cautious enough to cast concealment magic twice in a row. If they truly wanted her dead, they would have struck while she was still in the city, not waiting until now.

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“Well, given the current situation, I don’t think their levels are anything impressive anyway. Still, I’d rather not get involved with those types.”

With no intention of negotiating, Yisi stretched lazily. Her next task was to leave this place and return to the relative safety of Niru. Compared to the bland white porridge out here, she’d take the mediocre breakfast at the mansion any day.

But just as she packed the damp blanket into storage and extinguished the campfire completely with water magic, an unfamiliar stream of information suddenly surfaced in her mind—just like when she first transmigrated and inherited the memories of the Count’s eldest daughter. This new information, however, belonged neither to her nor to the original owner of this body.

Yisi paused, tilting her head in confusion.

This wasn’t so much a memory as it was an inheritance. The sudden knowledge wasn’t someone’s experience but a standalone skill.

[Second Form Awakening]

It could alter the user’s appearance, concealing their race and level.

Yisi even knew exactly what she’d look like after using it—the signature white hair of the Pescia lineage would become silver streaked with hints of deep blue, the vampire wings and fangs would vanish, and her displayed level could be freely adjusted. Of course, this was purely superficial. Even if she set her level to 1, she’d still retain all her Level 427 stats and abilities.

After a brief hesitation—driven by nine parts curiosity and one part apprehension—Yisi followed the instructions from the sudden memory and activated [Second Form Awakening].

Just as she’d foreseen, a flash of white light later, her vampire traits disappeared. Her hair took on a metallic silver sheen. Pulling a mirror from storage, she confirmed her facial features remained unchanged—still the cold, aristocratic beauty of the Count’s daughter.

“My height’s the same too… What about my level?”

Reopening her status window, she noticed the entries for Race and Name—originally Bloodkin and Loiswell Edith Pescia—had blurred, as if the ink had smudged over time. Meanwhile, beside her Level (427), a blinking cursor now appeared, seemingly urging her to modify it.

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Focusing her will, she changed 427 to 1, then glanced at her MP bar. Her maximum mana remained at 4270—her actual abilities hadn’t diminished.

“What if I do this?”

She adjusted the number again, this time to 999, the game’s level cap. Still no change.

“So it’s just a disguise skill. Ah! This solves my identity issues.”

It even compensated for her vampiric weaknesses.

Yisi imagined the taste of blood—and immediately felt saliva pooling in her mouth.

…Well, it seems more like an illusion. The bloodlust remains.

Disappointed yet relieved, she sighed. After savoring blood once, suddenly losing that craving would’ve been more bitter than sweet.

Experimenting further, she reverted to her original form. Maintaining [Second Form Awakening] drained 1 MP per second. With her natural regeneration of 100 MP per second, the cost was negligible—but Yisi disliked seeing her MP bar flicker. It felt like she was losing something, so she didn’t keep it active.

“Good, I can cancel it freely. An extra disguise skill. Next time I meet a high-tier demon, I’ll just switch to Level 999 and scare it off.”

Chuckling at her own joke, she shrugged. The only mystery now was the skill’s origin. Had she triggered something? Yesterday, aside from battling demons, the only new experience was camping outdoors—hardly skill-worthy. That left the demons as the likely source.

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But lesser demons were just beginner mobs. Even defeating ten at once shouldn’t grant a skill. A glance at her EXP bar confirmed it hadn’t budged by even 0.001%.

“Maybe I overlooked something.”

Dwelling on unsolvable mysteries was pointless. Yisi shelved the thought just as Camilla returned to the campsite.

She’d assumed Camilla was foraging, but that didn’t seem to be the case—the girl carried only a single flower resembling a small sunflower.

Noticing Yisi was awake, Camilla quickened her pace, stopping before her with her usual impassive expression.

“Good morning, Onee-sama.”

“Ah, morning. What were you doing, Camilla?”

“I intended to gather medicinal herbs, but along the way, I found this…” She presented the golden bloom to Yisi. “Winterbloom—a rare flower capable of neutralizing most poisons.”

“A flower named ‘bloom’ but called a grass?”

Yisi studied the Winterbloom curiously. Even at arm’s length, its fragrance was unmistakable.

“Not all Winterblooms are like this. Normally, they resemble ordinary grass. The one you see now is… special.”

“Special?”

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“Yes. Though this comes from bardic legends… It’s said Winterblooms flower only once every thousand years. The maiden who possesses one shall receive divine blessings and live happily ever after.”

It definitely sounded like folklore.

Yisi kept that thought to herself. She’d pegged Camilla as someone who wouldn’t pick flowers without reason, yet here they were.

But before she could finish that thought, Camilla extended the blossom toward her.

“If you consume it, Onee-sama’s cold will be cured.”

…So she hadn’t picked it for the legend.

Yisi nearly facepalmed. Instead, she laughed wryly and waved a hand.

“No, you should keep it, Camilla. A once-in-a-millennium bloom—who knows, the legend might be true. Maybe you’ll find happiness because of it.”

“…I see. Understood.” Storing the Winterbloom in her void-like spatial magic, Camilla asked, “Onee-sama, shall we visit the Bloodkin territories?”

“Let’s return to Niru. The commotion over [Holy Light Array] should’ve died down.”

“Very well.”

After Camilla’s nod, Yisi hesitated briefly—then took her hand and activated [Advanced Teleportation].