"Ouch!"
She'd fallen before, but this time felt distinctly different. Her chest had clearly taken the brunt of the impact.
Cipher quickly scrambled to her feet, grimacing as she rubbed her chest. "Hiss... That didn't... didn't hurt as much as I expected?"
It felt like being gently tapped by a fist. Not entirely painless, but far from painful.
Could it be that the thick frontal armor actually cushioned the blow?
No, no, no, that's scientifically impossible. The more logical explanation had to be the sheer physical strength of this body.
Cipher reached out with her left hand and pinched her right bicep. Even through her sleeve, she could tell there were no defined muscle lines. Yet she knew with certainty that if her current self punched her former self, she could probably kill her with a single blow.
"So this is what it feels like to be a two-dimensional superhero?"
Still marveling at her transformation, Cipher stood up again. She glanced back at her tail, which swayed from side to side, extending from the base of her spine. This area, known as the tailbone, is even present in humans—a vestigial structure believed to be a remnant of our evolutionary past when we had tails.
Cipher's tail was predominantly white, transitioning to brown and black at the tip, resembling the tail of a calico cat. Estimating its length at nearly a meter, she slightly furrowed her delicate eyebrows, trying to control this entirely new appendage that had suddenly become part of her body.
It felt as if her tail had switched from automatic to manual control. The once freely swaying appendage abruptly stiffened, transforming from soft silk into a frozen popsicle.
Well... it's my first time having a tail. It's normal to be a little clumsy, right? she muttered to herself.
She awkwardly swung her stiff tail from side to side until she found a rhythm. Then, cautiously stepping forward with her right leg, she swung her left arm, her tail flicking to the left in coordination.
"Right, left, left!"
"Left, right, right!"
With each step, she muttered softly to herself, the scene strikingly reminiscent of a baby taking its first steps.
Rare footage of the first Catgirl taming her tail in ancient times.jpg
After some practice, Cipher finally managed to walk normally, albeit stiffly. At least she no longer had to endure the humiliation of tripping on flat ground.
Only then did she have the presence of mind to observe her surroundings. She appeared to be in a forest, bathed in the faint light of dawn. The temperature was slightly chilly, but Cipher felt no cold.
Having no idea where she was, she began to stroll casually through the woods. Before long, as her attention gradually shifted from her tail, it predictably reverted to "automatic mode."
This time, however, her tail seemed to have adapted to her walking rhythm. Even in automatic mode, it no longer swung awkwardly out of sync with her steps. The only thing still making her uncomfortable was the pair of high heels she was wearing.
Cipher glanced down at the mountain path, strewn with fallen leaves and loose stones. She couldn't possibly take off her shoes and walk barefoot over this terrain while carrying them, could she? That would be absurd.
Left with no other choice, she resolved to get used to it.
At first, Cipher had found the pristine, verdant wilderness around her novel and refreshing. But after walking for nearly an hour through the same unchanging scenery, a sense of boredom began to creep in.
"Normally, when you're reincarnated into another world and start in a forest, shouldn't there be a wolf that breathes wind blades or a rabbit that shoots ice spikes? Or maybe bandits ambushing an Imperial Princess? Why is there nothing happening?"
Muttering to herself, Cipher quickened her pace into a light jog. The first sensation she felt was one of effortless ease—an almost unnatural lightness. With minimal effort, she could leap several meters at a time. Though she had only intended to jog casually, she found herself involuntarily accelerating, eager to test the limits of her newfound speed.
With barely a moment to accelerate, Cipher decided to sprint, and in the next instant, she shot forward with a whoosh. The trees on either side blurred into streaks as they raced past. Had anyone been present, they wouldn't have been able to follow her movements with the naked eye, barely catching fleeting afterimages of her high-speed trajectory.
"So fast!" Cipher exclaimed, her eyes widening in astonishment. And this wasn't even her full speed—she felt she could go even faster!
As she ran, faint golden sparks crackled around her. Just as she prepared to accelerate further, a momentary lapse in concentration led her to step on a particularly slick stone. In an instant, she lost her balance and went airborne.
"!?"
"Uh-oh..."
It suddenly dawned on her: she had only learned to walk less than an hour ago. Running this fast was practically begging for a fall.
Meanwhile, deeper in the forest, a woman and two men were hurrying through the trees. The taller of the men suddenly stiffened, his face tightening with alertness. "Be careful," he warned. "Something is approaching us rapidly..."
Before the man could finish speaking, a figure flashed past them, crashing into a nearby tree with a resounding thud. None of them had time to react.
Instantly, the man broke into a cold sweat. If that blow had landed squarely on him instead of missing, he would have been lucky to escape with his life. He quickly gripped the weapon slung across his back and hissed, "Enemy attack!"
Unlike the wary man, his two teammates reacted differently. The team's sole young girl wore an expression of curiosity, pointing at the battered tree. "I can't imagine anyone would attack like this, right?"
Following her gaze, they spotted an adorable Catgirl sprawled dizzily on the ground, her eyes swirling in spirals like mosquito coils. A clear, deep indentation marked the tree beside her, nearly snapping it in half.