“Yeah, it is. I’m pretty sure I’d know if I had been to another world before.” Kurushimi said in response to Atelier’s odd question. Being sent to another world definitely wasn’t just another Tuesday in her case.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought…” Atelier went back to looking down with a thinking expression. Kurushimi was very confused by the sudden strange question and Atelier’s behaviour. Just as she was about to ask, Atelier spoke up again and interrupted her, “It’s just that… The requirement for Dimensional magic should be having moved across dimensions. But, it needs to be dimension(s). Someone who has only experienced it once, shouldn’t fit the requirement.”

What Atelier said made sense. What she said implied that to be able to learn the skill, one had to be adept in dimension hopping. Basically, having crossed to different worlds multiple times beforehand. If that was the case, it indeed didn’t make sense and explained Atelier’s confusion.

“Well, if you can learn it then it doesn’t matter. Skills can have multiple requirements and lots of exceptions to what was previously known. So you may have found another way or an exception… But you should buy it with your last 1000 skill points. It’ll be very helpful to have two superior skills. Not many are able to get a single superior skill, let alone two.” In the end, what was happening was trivial according to Atelier. There were simply too many possible reasons for this to happen. What was important, was that a new superior skill was available.

[Would you like to learn the superior skill, ‘dimensional magic’, for 1000 skills points?] With the discussion ended, the system prompt to buy dimensional magic popped up. Kurushimi nodded in approval with a “Yep!” The system prompt changed after a short delay, [You have gained ‘dimensional magic Lvl. 1’. New skill point balance: 0]

“Now! Time to test out dimensional magic!” Having learnt the skill, Kurushimi shouted out enthusiastically. What exactly dimensional magic would be was a mystery. What would be the result in harnessing the power and manipulating dimensions? There was only one way to figure that out! Sticking her hand out and gathering mana, she cast dimensional magic for the first time-!

“...Nothing happened.” The silence was broken by Voice-san’s commentary. Despite the attempt to cast dimensional magic, nothing came out. Kurushimi stood there dumbly with her arm still outstretched and face frozen. As the wind calmly passed by, she slowly let her arm fall down.

“Am I not aiming at the right target?” Kurushimi asked, disappointed by the lack of results. Before, spectral magic didn’t work on the first attempt either. That was because she wasn’t using it on the right target or at the right time. But ‘dimension’ should be everything around her? In what other context was there to use it in?

“The problem is that you haven’t envisioned anything.” Atelier cut in and stood by Kurushimi, gesturing for her to take out her sword. “Magic and skills in general need a good understanding of what they are. With nothing in mind, nothing will happen. That’s why aimlessly trying to activate it didn’t work. Swing your sword and imagine cutting through the fabric of reality.” Listening to Atelier, Kurushimi stepped forward and swung, doing her best to imagine ‘cutting through reality’. Or whatever that was supposed to mean.

Reaching the end of her swing, she looked up at the space where her katana had traveled through. A tear floated in mid-air, as if she had cut through the air itself. Admiring it, Kurushimi asked, “What is that?”

“That is ‘dimension tear’, the foundation and starting ground of dimensional magic. This is where all beginner users of this skill will start.” Atelier explained the phenomenon in front of her, before continuing, “Now imagine the tear repairing.”

Kurushimi placed the katana back onto her waist and stood herself upright again. As Atelier had told her, she tried her best to imagine the tear she had created repairing. Upon casting dimensional magic again and expending mana, a loud bang resonated from the tear violently closing in on itself. To her surprise, nearby objects such as sticks and leaves from the ground had been pulled towards the space where it had been.

“As you level dimensional magic up, you’ll also be able to perform more feats such as ‘dimension open’. Where you can do things like open portals with varying ranges. Although, to find out more things dimensional magic can do, you will either have to find it yourself or learn from someone proficient in it.” Atelier explained.

“Open, huh?” Kurushimi pulled out her katana again and held it upfront. Using her katana helped her cast dimensional magic before so she thought that maybe, using it again could help this time as well. This time, she swung through the air with more precision and carefulness, imagining opening it this time rather than ripping it.

“You won’t be able to perform ‘open’ yet, since your dimensional magic is only Lvl-” Atelier tried to explain that it wouldn’t work but quickly fell silent as she saw the result of Kurushimi’s attempt. The space opened up and rather than ripping, making a tear like before, a more stable pocket was created.

[Dimensional magic Lvl. 1 has become Dimensional magic Lvl. 2]

“Eh-?” Atelier furrowed her brows, lost for words. On her second ever cast of dimensional magic, Kurushimi had already managed to open a portal and reached Lvl. 2. That was abnormally quick. Now that Atelier was thinking about it, she realised Kurushimi had been using ‘Sword aura’ when fighting the aberrations. ‘Sword aura’ was a very hard skill to get, that sword practitioners around the world would train for long periods to achieve. Yet, Kurushimi had achieved it in the ‘five days’ she had been here.

“What do I do, just go into it?” Kurushimi asked, pointing towards the portal.

Atelier shook her head a little to regain her composure and replied, “Yes, just go into it and you’ll be able to create an exit portal where you want to go. You will instantly arrive at your destination, although there will be a limited range for now.” Although Atelier said that, there was the faint thought in the back of her mind that she would also somehow surpass that and cover a larger distance than expected. However, after seeing Kurushimi go through the portal and pop out at the expected range, Atelier realised that thought was too absurd.

“With this kind of growth, where will you be in a few months I wonder?” Atelier mumbled to herself.

Kurushimi: “Did you say something, Atelier?”

“Ah, no. I didn’t say anything.” Atelier responding with that, Kurushimi paid it no mind and continued to search for the death-site of her second run.

. . .

‘KREEEEE EEE EE EEE EEEE-!’. The sound of shrieking had been prevalent for a while up to this point, but it was slowly getting more dense. It was evident there had to be a large amount of canisfangs ahead.

“Do you recognize the surroundings at all?” Voice-san asked Kurushimi. Since they were looking for a place they had been before, other than the canisfangs being a hint for finding the original location, recognizing the surroundings would contribute a lot to confirming whether or not this was it.

“No, not yet…” Kurushimi said as she made her way across the uneven terrain, stepping over the mix of foliage, stones and tree roots littering the ground. It was a hazy memory to base it off. But if she got there, Kurushimi knew she would be able to tell. Although currently, she was still far away from where the majority of the shrieking was coming from.

‘Kreeeeeee….!’ Kurushimi looked up after hearing the isolated, yet close growling. A singular canisfang glared at her and snarled its fangs intimidatingly. However, her response to meeting the angry monster was different than most. “Ooh! A target to test my dimensional magic on!” With a look on her face as if she had just found loose change on the street, she hurriedly made her way over to the canisfang.

As she got to about thirty metres away from the canisfang, she suddenly kicked off the ground making use of fleet footwork. After learning how to create a portal with dimensional magic, she first wanted to test out her new method for engaging the enemy. The jump off from the ground was immediately followed by a blink, accelerating her speed and launching her.

“Open!” She shouted out, striking the space in front of her with a vertical slash. As soon as the portal opened, she flew through it and re-appeared near the canisfang. Once again, she slashed with her katana. This time shouting, “Rip and repair!”

The space instantly tore and repaired itself, pulling the canisfang towards it. The canisfang yelped in confusion as it was helplessly punched in the face. Knocked away from the punch, it was then pulled back right away and kicked this time.

The canisfang yelped in pain, unable to understand what exactly was happening to it. Even as it tried to run away, the loud bang would accompany the drag back into being hit once again. “This is cool, it’s like ping pong!” Kurushimi laughed as she repeatedly ripped open the space, pulling the canisfang back to her over and over.

The two gods watched the scene with pity for the poor thing. No matter what you said, this was definitely bullying. She wasn’t even trying to kill it. She didn't use her sword, nor did she use any skills. She just hit it. Again and again. Sighing, Voice-san said, “This is why I call you a sadist.”

‘Smack-!, smack-!, smack-!’. “Canisfangs deserve it.” Even as she replied to Voice-san, Kurushimi still ruthlessly attacked the canisfang. By now, it had become a bloody mess. Finally, Kurushimi let the canisfang go. As it was allowed to remain in one position, it lifelessly laid on the ground. Looking over it, Kurushimi admitted, “Ah, maybe I did go too far this time…” With a quick cast of blood magic, she finished the canisfang off.

As Voice-san stood back, watching Kurushimi collect the stats from the canisfang, she noticed Atelier approach her and ask the question, “Why does she hate them so much?” Kurushimi had always had a grudge on the canisfangs, running for the majority of her time here. The reason for that was because they had given her her first deaths, ingraining a hatred for them from her. However, she couldn’t exactly say that to Atelier.

“She just doesn’t like them.” Voice-san gave a simple and vague answer. It was obvious that Atelier would know she was putting on airs, but that didn’t really matter. She had no reason to give a proper answer. Voice-san decided it would be best to see what happened the next time Kurushimi died. And who knows what one would see, when Atelier is under the belief Kurushimi can only die once?

“Hmm… I’m sure she has a good reason.” Atelier commented, before walking ahead to catch up with Kurushimi. Voice-san followed behind unhurriedly.

“I think this is a good place to set up camp.” Kurushimi said, looking around herself.

“Set up camp?” Voice-san asked, clueless on what she meant. Weren’t they going to the death-site? Why was she talking about ‘setting up camp’?

“Yeah, this is a good area to do it because it’s right on the outskirts of where the canisfangs are. I will go there and farm them. When I’m done, I shall return and rest here. This way, I can spend a good period of time here and get the stats efficiently.” Kurushimi explained her plan, to make this place her base of operations and head into the hunting ground, kill the canisfangs and steal their stats.

“Yes, but how are you going to do that?” Voice-san asked skeptically. In terms of shelter, there was no shelter. No cave, no abandoned buildings, nothing. Let alone resting, sleep would get interrupted by any passing monsters.

Kurushimi: “I don’t need to worry about the cold or anything because of salamander’s blood and I don’t mind sleeping outside. So the only problem is getting caught sleeping by roaming monsters. I can sleep in a tree to avoid the canisfangs but something that can reach me may come along, so that’s where you two will come in handy.”

“We will?” Both Atelier and Voice-san spoke at the same time, curious what Kurushimi meant by that.

Answering their question with another question, Kurushimi asked the two, “You two don’t have bodies, so you don’t need to sleep right?” Seeing the two nod their heads, confirming they didn’t need sleep, Kurushimi continued, “So, you two can keep watch while I’m asleep. That way, if a dangerous monster comes along or they start gathering around me, you can wake me up.”

“Mm, that should work.”, “Sounds like a good idea.” Both of the gods gave their approval of Kurushimi’s plan.

Kurushimi looked up towards the sky briefly, confirming it to be night at the moment. Although she had said to sleep at night, she was a vampire now. So it made more sense to hunt at night and sleep at day, considering the passive skill nightwalker gave her a stat boost when it was night. Making up her mind, Kurushimi said, looking back to the gods, “Then, let’s hunt shall we?”