My legs dug into the mud as water splashed up to my knees.
The creature's stump began to glow as we got close to each other. Its movements were… slow. It wasn't snail-paced, but just slow enough that I could track every motion.
"What the hell—"
I ducked it's punch. The thing reared back with its other arm while I raised mine. Our fists collided but my arm didn't break. It didn't even hurt. I stumbled back a step, blinking down at myself. My knuckles didn't sting, while the beast let out a grunt, like someone had just punched a truck into its ribs.
It bellowed, swinging low this time, but I was already inside its reach. I drove a fist straight into its chest.
The impact detonated with a thunderous boom.
My fist sank into its torso and in seconds, the monster was airborne. It flew back, crashing into the mud with a spray of filthy water. I stared at my hands.
"Holy crap. I'm strong. I'm actually strong."
I charged at it, splashing through puddles. The cow scrambled to its feet, one arm spitting fire like a torch. It flung fireballs at me one after another. The fireballs moved like they were swimming through water. My body reacted before my mind did, dodging through them with razor-sharp pivots.
"So this is bullet speed? Oh, this is sick!"
I closed the distance, dropped low, and drove a punch into its face.
Its jaw snapped sideways with a sharp crack. The monster's body flew backward, skipping through the mud before slamming into something unseen.
It was the edge of the Fluve Field.
"Guess we're locked in by you, huh?"
The creature groaned, half of its burned face peeling like molten wax. It let out a warped moo that was more horrific than normal sound. I bit my lip to stop from laughing, but then right in front of me, its missing arm began to fully regrow.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
The fire in its veins flared brighter. It lifted both arms, summoning flames that spun into a massive sphere, three times larger than before. Rain hissed into steam as the sphere swelled, swelling until it looked like a miniature sun had been born in its palms. The sphere collapsed into a single, burning point. A beam of concentrated fire tore across the field toward me.
My instincts screamed but something steadied me.
The strings reacted. They shot outward, weaving into a luminous green circular shield.
The beam struck.
The force nearly knocked me flat. My arms trembled. My fieet slid backward through the mud as my heels carved deep trenches. The shield shuddered from the blow. The heat didn't scorch, but the impact felt like I was trying to hold back a collapsing building. My muscles screamed. My chest strained. My teeth clenched so hard my jaw popped.
"Ughh—dammit!"
The beam kept pushing, shoving me back inch by inch. My strings blazed, feeding off my Flux, glowing with an intensity that made the rain flash emerald around me.
But through the pain, I grinned.
"You're… gonna have to do better than that, cow-face!"
The monster howled, its beam flaring hotter until my strings began to tremble on the verge of snapping. My legs slid back another meter, my whole body screaming in protest.
But I didn't give up. The mud splashed around my ankles. My strings thickened, reinforcing the shield with everything I had left.
"I WILL NOT DIE TODAY!"
And then, finally, the beam sputtered out. The flames vanished like a dying sun swallowed by rain. I stood there, my arms shaking with exhaustion as the shield faded to smoke. For a moment, the world was silent. The strings recoiled into me as I sprinted. My feet pounded through the mud. The cow's charred face twisted, barely managing a growl before I was already on top of it. The strings lashed out, coiling around its thic, biting into its flesh.
The creature bellowed so loud my eardrums throbbed.
"Shut the hell up already!"
With one last pull, the strings sliced clean through. The head toppled. The massive body hit the ground with a wet, final thud. Both pieces sank slowly into the puddles beside me.
I collapsed backward, gasping for air, staring at the storm-choked sky. Rain splashed into my open mouth as I coughed, half-laughing, half-crying.
"YESSSSS!"
I killed a two-meter-tall, fire-spewing humanoid cow that had tried to roast me alive. And I felt… good. Too good.
Why am I not horrified? Why wasn't I sick?
I sat up slowly, the mud squelching beneath me, staring at the severed head. It should have broken my mental state. Instead, it just felt… normal.
I wiped the rain from my face with shaking hands.
"What the hell am I turning into?"
Before the thought could spiral, a soft ding broke through the storm. A holographic window flickered into existence before me.
[Congratulations! You have defeated a Class 3 Humanoid Cow (Fluvium).]
[Reward: 1000 Pearlesia]
[Reward: 2000 Gold]
"Wait. What?"
A grin split my face again. A Class 3 on day one? That was a jackpot. That thing was supposed to be hard.
[Fluve Field will dissipate in 2 minutes.]
I groaned, pushing myself up. My body ached all over, my shirt was gone and my pants clung to my legs like wet rags. There was no way I could walk back into House Wing like this. Phaser Argemenes wasn't about to become campus gossip.
I closed my eyes and summoned my strings. Emerald light wrapped around my torso, threading into a makeshift bandage shirt. Not half bad. I caught my reflection in a puddle and wiped the blood and mud from my face with another flick of my strings.
Then I remembered. The Fluveheart.
When a Fluvium dies, its energy condenses into a rare, powerful crystal. And if this was real, I had to claim it myself. I knelt beside the corpse, shoved my hand into its chest, and took out a glowing emerald heart pulsing faintly in my palm. Lightning cracked overhead as I held it up, laughing breathlessly.
"Oh. A Class 3 Fluveheart on day one? I really am the protagonist."
The storm raged on, thunder booming across the field. But for the first time since waking in this world, I felt steady alive. Plot armor or not, this place was brutal. One slip, and I'd end up as another corpse in the mud. I tightened my grip on the Fluveheart, feeling its energy pulse into my skin. If I was going to live here then I needed to become stronger than Phaser ever was in the game.
Before I could take another breath, the world went dark.