Black Healer

*Reinforced slightly large unidentified common egg*

Seeing the information of the egg having changed, Evelyn was glad she had taken the time to put her life force into it.

The egg still looked the same, apart from the spots becoming a deeper shade of purple.

Putting the egg in her inventory, she made her way back up to the forest.

Seeing that the sun was still high in the sky, Evelyn started walking, continuing on the path she had originally walked when she stumbled on the root. As she walked while touching the vegetation around her, she activated her ability steal life, so that she would be able to continuing reinforcing the egg later.

"At some point, it would really be nice to find something other than vegetation. It takes to long to accumulate extra stats this way."

As she softly grumbled to herself, forgetting that she had marveled about how the ability felt cheat-like just days prior, she slowly made her way forward.

After having moved forward in this fashion for a while, she heard voices coming from behind her. She couldn't make out what they said, but she quickly looked for someplace to hide.

"Nothing good will come out of meeting strangers here in the middle of nowhere."

Squatting behind a large bush, Evelyn tried to make herself as small as possible. Though she had grown up sheltered, she knew the dangers that came with being a woman alone.

She had read far too many stories, both in novels and on the news, about the dangers women faced when they were alone. Especially in secluded places.

And the voice that was getting closer, it definitely belonged to a man.

As she held her hands over her mouth, trying to cover the sound of her own breathing, the voice came ever closer.

"Are you sure there is a monster here? We have been chasing its trail for over a day now!" The voice yelled, sounding booming and forbearing in Evelyn's ears.

'A monster?' Evelyn shivered. She looked behind her, still crouched down, making sure there was no monster there. 'If there are multiple people chasing it, it's probably not just a normal slime. Are there other monsters on the first floor?! I never read anything about this!'

She could now hear the footsteps of the man getting closer, jogging in her direction. As the steps came closer and closer, Evelyn tried to make herself even smaller behind the bush.

'Why is he coming towards me?!'

It was like a call from a reaper, closing in on her as the steps suddenly stopped.

"The monster can't be far away," the voice spoke. Right in front of her.

'He can't be more than a few meters away'. Evelyn felt a shiver run down her spine as she could foresee her impending doom. A few steps and he would find her.

'Please just walk away,' she prayed. 'There is nothing to find here, look somewhere else.'

As she was going down a spiral, already bracing herself for death or maybe worse, she heard a woman's voice followed by even more footsteps in her direction.

"David, did you find something?" the excited voice asked.

"I don't know, but the trail ends here. We should spread out and look." The man's voice, David, answered quietly.

 "Okay. Split up in the normal grouping?" the woman asked, as sounds of agreement from David and two other people sounded. 

'Thank god there are women in the group as well,' Evelyn thought, as she started to relax. 'If there are women in the group, they're probably not that dangerous, right?' Evelyn consoled herself, not even considering that female climbers could be just as dangerous as the male.

'Should I reveal myself? They might be able to point me in the direction of the hunting ground,' she mused, her body easing up.

"Then we'll go with the normal groupings, call out if you see anything!" The lady's voice called out, and they quickly left.

'I really should introduce myself. It's probably worse if they find me hiding behind the bush,' she quietly contemplated for herself. 'If I was out looking for a monster, and someone was watching me from behind a bush, I would probably freak out…'

'But how! It really didn't work out when I tried to introduce myself to Darius. What if I freeze up again? What if I say something wrong and they kill me? What if they aren't kind at all? What if one of the men find me while the women are looking somewhere else?'

'But it would still be worse if they find me hiding… and I can't fight off a monster by myself. I could probably survive against a slime, but what if it's something else? There were pictures of slime fighting both wolves and serpents on the murals. I stand no chance against one of those'

'Okay, that decides it, I should introduce myself. It's better to take my chances with humans than some unknown monster…'

'But how?!' Evelyn once again felt lost on these most basic interactions. She had never really had to introduce herself. Most of the time growing up, she had been at home where everyone knew who she was. And when her parents had brought her around to social events or to heal people after she awakened in her past life, she had always been introduced.

The only experience she had was when she tried to find a job when she lived by herself. And even then, she had searched it up on the internet and they all said to research the company and position, highlighting one's own experience and stating positive personal attributes. But that seemed somehow wrong for the situation.

'Thank you for inviting me to the interview?' No, definitely not that.

'I have three days of experience with climbing the tower!' Also no.

'My ability level is still low, but I can heal small wounds and scrapes.' Maybe.

'I should probably introduce myself as a healer, since healers are rare. But not as a Black Healer, because all the novels say you should hide special classes. But so much in the tower isn't like a novel, so should I say it after all?'

Frustrated over the lack of answers, Evelyn ran her hands through her hair, only to notice that it was full of dirt.

"How did I not notice this?" Aghast, she quickly tried to fix her hair, worried that her unkept appearance would make them look at her as someone even more suspicious.

As she was desperately trying to comb through her hair to get the dirt out, she forgot that she was hiding, unintentionally bumping her arms into the bush.

Having combed her hair to the best of her ability, she once again lowered her head as she tried to find the correct way to introduce herself.

'I should start with my name, then class and what I can contribute. And if they ask why I'm in the woods, I'll just say I'm exploring. Yes, that's-'

Before she could finish her plan, she was suddenly grabbed by the back of her shirt from above, before she was lifted into the air.