Before she even opened her eyes, a cacophony of restless sounds assaulted her ears, a muffled, thunderous rumbling that set her teeth on edge.
Beneath the dense, ancient trees of a primeval forest, a dark, emaciated figure lay curled up like a corpse. A closer look revealed it was an unconscious girl.
After an unknown amount of time, awakened by the cacophony, the "corpse" on the ground stirred. Bracing a hand against the rough trunk of a nearby tree, she struggled to her feet.
The sprawling bruises on her knees were a shocking sight.
The girl was dressed in a scanty animal-hide outfit that barely covered the essentials.
She was small and gaunt, standing about four-foot-eleven, and looked severely malnourished. Her face, already small-boned, was so thin that her cheekbones protruded, and her cheeks were sunken into shallow hollows.
Her tangled hair was completely unkempt, and her skin, a shade darker than tan, was coarse.
She was not a pretty sight, looking like a beggar from an age of famine. At a glance, it was hard to even tell she was a girl.
Her only redeeming feature was a pair of large, bright eyes. Perhaps because she was so thin, they seemed enormous—round and as dark as spilled ink.
It had rained in the jungle the night before, and the ground was dotted with small puddles.
The girl crouched, her brow furrowed as she stared intently at "her" reflection in a puddle. A flicker of disbelief crossed her dark eyes. Then she stood up, calmly turned away, and waved back at the puddle.
After confirming that this was, in fact, her,
the girl's pale, dry lips slowly formed two words. "So ugly."
She stared expressionlessly at the reflection in the puddle. Her small face scrunched up as she repeated, "I'm really... so ugly..."
'Compared to my past life, this is hideous.'
At this moment, An Jin was absolutely certain. She had transmigrated.
From the technologically advanced 23rd century of Blue Star to this utterly strange and primitive era.
In her past life, she had been the lead researcher in advanced spatial technology. But at the final, critical moment of an experiment, erroneous data from a team technician caused a dimensional expansion. The entire research facility was annihilated, and she died in the explosion...
...
She took a deep breath. When she looked up again, her dark eyes were perfectly calm.
The girl turned her head, her gaze drawn to the source of the noise that had woken her—
A Silver Wolf and a black-and-red snake were locked in combat. 'Are they fighting over food?' It was a brutal, bloody mess, with blood splattered on the ground and up the trees. But it had nothing to do with her. The girl watched for a couple of seconds, then looked away.
The two beasts were far away, and she figured they couldn't harm her, so she paid them no mind.
She straightened up, her small feet pressing into the rich, brown earth. Lifting her face, she began to seriously survey her new world.
'I'm surrounded by vast tracts of ancient trees, a wild and primitive sea of green. The growth rings on most suggest they're centuries old. It seems the inhabitants of this world have a very low impact on their environment.'
'The animal hide I'm wearing was crudely cut, nothing more. This world's level of civilization is indeed very low.'
As the girl focused on the world before her, she failed to notice the danger approaching from behind—
From within a patch of lush, man-high grass, a ferocious leopard suddenly sprang forth. It lunged at her with a powerful rush of air, the attack as fast as lightning—too quick for her brain to even process.
In the nick of time, she felt another, even more powerful gust of wind whip past her from behind, rustling her hide skirt.
When she turned, she saw the bleeding corpse of the leopard. Its skull had been shattered by some kind of sharp weapon.
Not far away, a muscular Silver Wolf, drenched in blood, strode forward with its head held high. A low growl rumbled in its throat. Its glowing green eyes were fixed on her as if she were the perfect meal.
Even someone as calm as An Jin couldn't help but swallow nervously. She had thought it was a blessing in disguise, but it turned out she'd just been delivered from the frying pan into the fire—or rather, into the wolf's jaws.
The massive, blood-stained wolf approached her step by elegant step. Its emerald eyes, which seemed to possess an unnerving intelligence, stared at her, flashing with a cold, sharp light that made one tremble in fear.
'This is the same wolf I saw fighting that Red Snake earlier,' she suddenly realized. 'It must have won. And it doesn't seem badly injured if it can still kill a powerful leopard in a single blow.'
'Am I going to be its dinner?'
Her dark eyes darted about until she caught sight of a river behind her. Her eyes lit up as a plan formed in her mind.
As the Silver Wolf approached, she began to back away slowly in the direction of the river. She kept her pace deliberately slow at first, human and wolf circling each other, as if testing one another's resolve.
The river drew closer.
'Now!'
Mustering all her strength, she broke into a sudden sprint. When she was just a couple of feet from the riverbank, she gritted her teeth, twisted around, and threw herself into the water—
"What are you doing?! Come back!"
The roar came from an unfamiliar man behind her, his voice harsh and cold. It was immediately followed by another splash.