The Spirit-sama’s power settled into her body. However, the right to control that body no longer belonged to the girl.
Now, the girl was watching her own head—with its hair color transformed—through her own eyes.
Originally, her hair had been a plain, dull brown, but now it was a pale blue-white like an autumn sky, shot through with vivid streaks of deep blue.
...No, she wasn't using her "eyes" to see it. To be more precise, she could "see" her body from the front without even moving. It was an expanded perception, a sensation that didn't belong to any of her existing body parts. The girl’s consciousness had become the Halo floating behind her head.
She had sight, and she had hearing. It was a surreal sensation, yet it brought back memories of the books her mother had read to her when she was a child.
A "Spirit-possessed"—a being that had surrendered its body, heart, and very will to a spirit, or perhaps had them stolen away.
They moved according to principles entirely different from those of humanity; if one valued their life, one was not supposed to get too involved with them.
It seemed she had become such an existence, the girl thought.
Furthermore, although her appearance had changed so much she looked like a different person, she could still clearly recognize that this was her own body.
The Spirit-sama stood before the rocks that had been crushing her limbs. They were massive stones, larger than she was even while standing. To think she had been pinned by four of them.
"Oh, I can control it. I’ll be in your care from here on, Tria-chan."
Tria. That seemed to be her new name. Her old name—perhaps because she had offered it to the Spirit—she could no longer remember. In the first place, she wasn't sure if she would ever have a reason to use her new name.
"First, let's check the surroundings."
As he spoke, her body began repeatedly kicking the rock that had pinned her arm. Or rather, it looked as though he was trying to walk forward but was being snagged by an obstacle.
"This path is blocked, so it's impassable... but I can go this way. Maybe I should test out attacking too? I didn't have enough SP for a weapon, though."
He began pounding on the rock. The feeling of "I am moving my body" and "my body is being moved" coexisted within her.
Her new arms looked sturdy, and even when he struck the stone, there was little pain. It seemed everything would be fine.
"Good, good. Oh, looks like I can roll with a flick input. ...But would this be easier to play if it wasn't a mobile device? Damn, I should check if it’s cross-platform later. Let’s see, what else..."
While the Spirit-sama was chanting strange incantations, her body began performing diving forward rolls toward the rock wall. He rolled again and again, yet remained in the same spot, his feet scuffing the ground as he ran in place. Then he would jump, or perform repeated side-steps. Squatting, then standing.
What kind of ritual was this? Or was it some minor miracle? There was no way for Tria, who had been a mere village girl, to understand what the Spirit-sama was thinking.
"Okay, I’ve confirmed the basic controls. Now then... what should I do?"
The Spirit-sama tilted his head in thought.
Even as he wondered, he continued to repeat the cycle of squatting, standing, and jumping. If it had been her former self, she would have been gasping for air after only five repetitions, but he did it dozens of times.
"Oh! My Strength just went up?! I see, it’s the type where Parameters rise even if you just repeat basic actions. No, wait, this might be an early bug—no, it might be a specification... Yeah, let’s keep this up for a bit and farm Parameters. The target will be 15 for Strength and Vitality each!"
No sooner had he said that than the speed of his movements increased.
She didn't understand even half of the Spirit-sama’s words, but guessing from terms like Strength, target, and Vitality, he was likely training her body. She didn't know his purpose, but it was better to be strong than weak.
If she had been strong, perhaps she wouldn't have been made a sacrifice. She might have been able to flee the village and live independently as an adventurer.
"Oops, it’s already this late. I think I’ll go take a bath. Logging out for a bit... Hm? 'Please set the action guidelines for while logged out'? Oh, so I can leave it on auto. Then I’ll have her do some Strength Training. I’m counting on you, Tria-chan."
When the Spirit-sama said that, her vision blurred with a heavy hum, and her consciousness was sucked back into her "body."
Her vision returned to her original eyes and her own eyeballs. It was the same as it had always been, yet compared to the sight she had as a Halo—where she could freely survey everything around her—it felt strangely inconvenient.
"...Ah, I can move my body."
Those words were spoken by Tria’s own will. She panicked for a moment, fearing the Spirit-sama had vanished, but when she looked up, she could see the Halo floating there. Feeling the Spirit-sama’s presence within it, she felt a wave of relief.
It seemed he was taking a rest and had entrusted her with control of the body.
"...Um, I should just continue what we were doing earlier, right?"
She didn't quite understand the term "Strength Training," but she understood that he had told her to keep going "just like this." Tria began to repeat the movements of squatting, standing, and jumping.
Strangely, she felt almost no hunger or fatigue. Her body moved with mechanical precision no matter how many times she repeated the cycle. Normally, her movements would have faltered from exhaustion, and she would have run out of breath long ago.
Tria truly felt the weight of the Spirit-sama’s power.
After continuing for about an hour, she felt the Spirit-sama’s presence grow stronger.
Immediately afterward, her consciousness was yanked from her body and pulled back into the Halo. The Spirit-sama must have finished his rest.
"I’m back. ...Oh, they’re going up, they’re going up. Strength has reached 15. Vitality is at 14 too; that should be enough. If I left this overnight, I wonder how far it... No, I should probably move forward soon. There might be a theory that Parameters go up faster if I just level up normally, and I have work tomorrow, so I want to be in bed by midnight."
She didn't understand it well, but it seemed she had performed the task the Spirit-sama desired.
She let out a sigh of relief—though, as a Halo, she had no chest to heave.
"Well then, let's start the Tutorial."
So saying, the Spirit-sama made Tria advance toward the Shrine. It was a moss-covered thing, looking as though it might collapse at any moment.
"In-ves-ti-gate!!!"
The next moment, he reached out and wrenched the Shrine from the ground, lifting it high before tossing it aside. Naturally, the Shrine shattered, its fragments scattering everywhere. A piece of green ore—which must have been the sacred object of worship—rolled out among the debris. An instant later, it floated into the air with a light ping and vanished.
She understood that the ore had been taken into the Spirit-sama’s domain.
"So I can investigate boxes that have a Pointer appearing on them like that. I’ll have to investigate everything aggressively."
Apparently, the mossy wooden Shrine... looked like "just a box" to the Spirit-sama.
Humanity’s arbitrary faith might be nothing more than that to a higher being like a Spirit who was the actual recipient of such devotion.
"What I got looks like a Sellable Item... a Tutorial souvenir? I’m torn on whether I should keep it. I want to complete my item collection, so I just want to know if I can get it again later..."
The feelings of mere villagers meant nothing to a Spirit. Even the sacred ore inside was nothing more than an offering to the Spirit-sama. It felt as if he were trampling over the villagers who had tried to sacrifice her, and Tria felt a quiet sense of satisfaction.