Chapter 2

Mercedes had no teacher in combat.

Her mother and grandmother were vampires, but they were not the type to fight, and besides, she trained in secret in the nearby mountains, hidden from them. It was impossible for her to ask them to teach her how to fight.

In her previous life, she had never experienced any serious combat, and it was fair to say that she had no combat experience at all.

For Mercedes, who had vowed to become strong in this world, this was by no means a trivial problem.

This was not the peaceful Earth of Japan. Although she had not yet ventured into town, she had enough information from books to understand that this was a world where killing and being killed were the norm.

She sought power, yet she did not know how to use it. This was a matter of life and death.

But fortunately for Mercedes, she had the knowledge from her previous life.

The vast number of stories slumbering within her were, after all, nothing more than fiction—unrealistic stories born from human imagination and fantasy.

But then again, this world was also sufficiently fictional.

So Mercedes decided to try out the various training methods from the fiction she knew.

She knew it was absurd. Frankly, it was ridiculous, and she thought she was foolish.

She couldn't deny that she would be seen as someone with a regrettable mind, confusing reality with manga.

But she had nothing else to rely on.

And just because what she relied on was ridiculous, she had no intention of stagnating.

She would keep moving forward... she would not stop. That was her decision.

So she concluded that it was fine to determine it was ridiculous only after actually trying it.

First year.

She started by moving her body with weights attached.

She would wake up early every night and continue training until morning.

Vampires were primarily active at night, so her active hours were the opposite of when she was human.

In her previous life, she would wake up around seven in the morning and go to bed around midnight, but now it was different.

She would wake up at seven at night and go to bed at noon the next day.

In her previous life, three in the afternoon was snack time, but now that she was a vampire, three in the morning was snack time.

So Mercedes trained in the middle of the night. To an outsider, it might look like a horror scene.

But once she got used to it, the strangeness disappeared.

Before long, she no longer questioned her nocturnal activities. She attached stones to her limbs and increased their size as she got used to them, and eventually carried rocks on her back while running up the mountain.

She repeatedly practiced punches and kicks with her unrefined martial arts, doing them hundreds and thousands of times every day.

She kicked trees, jabbed at falling leaves, and trained herself to knock down all the leaves falling from the surrounding trees before they hit the ground.

Push-ups became effortless after doing over a thousand, so she switched to handstand push-ups. When even those became easy, she did them with one hand... and eventually with one finger.

She occasionally injured herself due to overexertion, but as a vampire, most wounds healed by the next day, so her body was quite resilient.

While training, she read books at home, searching for anything that could benefit her.

Languages, history, common sense, society, culture... and magic.

She read every book in the mansion and transformed them into her own knowledge. For Mercedes, who had the soft brain of a child and the understanding of an adult, studying was not difficult.

This was a time for laying the foundation. She believed that anything she could accumulate would be useful, and that it would be impossible to know if it was wasted until later.

The higher a tower can be built, the more stable its base. So now was the time to build that foundation.

"Magic is composed of four basic attributes and four derived attributes... Magic is a power that anyone can use, but its ability is determined by one's aptitude..."

In the study, Mercedes memorized every word written in the book.

It seemed that magic, a truly fantastical power, actually existed in this world.

At least, it should exist unless this book was actually a light novel-like entertainment in this world.

According to the book, there were four basic attributes of magic.

These attributes were fire, water, earth, and wind. Quite typical.

There were also derived attributes, which were light, ice, iron, and lightning.

Fire could be intensified to become light. Water could be frozen to become ice. Earth could be strengthened to become iron. Wind could be mastered to become lightning.

These eight attributes seemed to be all the magic in this world. There were no attributes like darkness or non-attribute.

And an individual could master only four attributes, regardless of whether they were a commoner or a genius.

Vampires and monsters always had a first and second attribute, and together with the derived attributes, they had a total of four. This was the limit for living beings, according to the book.

"To awaken one's magical talent, it is best to meditate in a place suitable for one's attribute and feel the 'aura.'

The method to determine one's attribute... hmm, 'go to an appraisal office to check.' It seems I have to rely on my own intuition to find it."

For now, she decided to meditate in the usual mountain. There was a spring nearby, and of course, there was earth, so if she had a water or earth attribute, she should be able to sense something.

The wind always blew around there, so it was not a bad option either.

Fire... where should she meditate for fire? Maybe near a campfire?

Well, it's fine. She would try it. Nothing would start if she didn't try.

Second year.

At six years old, Mercedes continued to meditate every day, but she did not feel anything awakening.

She still imposed on herself the kind of training that made her wonder if it was really okay.

One day, while training, she noticed that a wound on her arm, which had been caught on a tree branch, had healed.

(...Previously, it took a day for such a wound to heal.)

Mercedes often got injured.

In fact, she got injured quite frequently and healed thanks to the regenerative abilities of a vampire.

But the speed of healing was clearly faster than before.

(The regenerative ability of a vampire, huh.)

Mercedes thought.

In her memory, there were many stories about vampires.

In those stories, there were vampires who could calmly revive even if their hearts were pierced or their heads cut off.

When she thought of vampires, the first thing that came to mind was their immortality.

However, so far, Mercedes was far from immortal. She was confident that if her head were cut off, she would die.

Moreover, in this world, vampires who became Seekers often died, so it was safe to assume that they were not immortal as undead.

But here, Mercedes had a leap in her thinking.

(Maybe if I keep regenerating, my body will get used to injuries and the regeneration speed will increase.)

It was a foolish idea.

In essence, she thought, "Sure, I'll just get more injured."

Normally, one would pause at this point, but she did not.

She would regret it later. For now, she would just keep moving forward.

With that conclusion, she began to injure herself from that day on.

Fortunately, vampires seemed to have a dull sense of pain, so she hardly felt any.

Pain was the body's alarm for danger.

Then, it was not surprising that the alarm from a vampire's regenerative body was small.

Third year.

This world seemed to be surprisingly kind to fools.

Her self-injury, which was almost a whim, unexpectedly bore fruit.

The more she injured herself, the more her body developed resistance.

The speed of healing gradually increased, and the deeper the injury, the faster her body learned and regenerated.

Now, most wounds healed in just a second.

Once, she went too far and injured herself to the bone, but it healed in about five seconds. It was painful, though, so she did not want to do it again.

The year of continued meditation also seemed to be worthwhile.

Mercedes could now feel the power of the planet she lived on when she meditated.

She could feel the breath of the earth beneath her feet.

It seemed that her attribute was 'earth.' In stories, it was often the most unremarkable attribute, rarely taking center stage.

Now that she knew her attribute, she needed to learn magic.

However, from the books in the study, she learned that the earth attribute was indeed unfortunate.

Raising the earth, throwing rocks, and causing the ground to sink—these were the typical earth attribute magic, but none of them were flashy.

The books also mentioned that the earth attribute was inferior to other attributes in terms of offensive power.

On the other hand, it was evaluated as a supportive attribute because it could create walls to protect allies and create openings by destabilizing the enemy's footing.

While reading books in the study, Mercedes thought.

Was there anything that could effectively utilize the power of the earth?

For example... how about gravity?

This was also the power of the earth... no, the planet.

Rather, she wondered why there was no gravity manipulation magic for the earth attribute.

But if it did not exist, she could create it.

She did not think it was impossible. The magic in this world must have been created by someone at some point.

For example, the Stone Edge spell in the book... it was a spell that threw rocks to attack the enemy, but the usage and name were not there from the beginning. Someone must have thought of it and popularized it.

So she would create it. She could create it.

Mercedes decided to start training to manipulate gravity from that day on.

Fourth year.

Mercedes' physical abilities had reached an astonishing level.

A single punch could shatter a large rock, and she could run through the forest at the speed of the wind.

Minor injuries healed instantly, and she could leap over tall trees with ease.

But what was even more rewarding for her was that she had finally completed the gravity magic.

Anything was possible if you tried it.

Every day, she meditated and felt the power of the planet, imagining that gravity was strongly affecting her.

At first, nothing happened, but by the third month, she felt a slight heaviness. By the sixth month, she felt a clear weight.

Continuing this, by the end of the year, she could create a gravitational field so strong that even she, the caster, could not move.

For now, she could only make a very small area heavy, but this was a completed magic spell in its own right.

And if it was, she wanted to give it a name.

"...Alright, I'll name it Drock."

It might seem a bit too simple and straightforward, but it was her first magic, so this was fine.

Mercedes started training by casting Drock on herself from the day she learned the original magic.

A certain national hero also became stronger through gravity training. It must be effective.

And then, the fifth year... Mercedes Grünwald at ten years old.

At this age, her story would begin.

For now, she would train in her own way, laying the foundation.

She had no one to teach her, so she was feeling her way through.

But doing something was better than doing nothing.