After washing myself off in the river and putting back on my Earth clothes, blue jeans, white t-shirt and sneakers, I begin formulating a plan. I'm still feeling a bit nauseous but it's definitely manageable. I'll have to ignore it and press forward.

  The first thing I need to do is raise my level. My assumption is that, with a higher mana cap, I can at least reduce or postpone that little issue. After I reduced my mana back down to a safe point, I noticed that the cap was already a little higher. 109 max mana points. There might be a sweet spot where I can take just enough extra mana to raise the cap without poisoning myself. I don't want to test that idea to find out though. It seems too tedious and dangerous right now, and I never want to be that sick again.

  I think I went about this whole thing all wrong. I learned the hard way that being ignorant in this world is potentially lethal. So, the second order of business is to find a town and educate myself. All those isekai light novels lied to me. You shouldn't start power leveling the second you reincarnate into another world. The first thing you should do is find a damn library and do some research.

  Oh well, better late than never, I suppose.

  I put everything I made for my temporary base into my Pocket Dimension. Except for the outhouse. I don't even want to look at that right now, I'll start having flashbacks. I'll just make another one.

  I need to have a look around so I create a bunch of barriers, parallel to the ground, and use them as steps. Once I get above the treetops, I look around for any hint of civilization. Among the trees and brush, there are a few clear paths that all link together at a certain point. They most likely lead to a town nearby, outside the woods. I'm pretty sure I should head that way. Something else catches my attention though.

  Along one of the paths to my right, there’s a river that passes in front of a cave at the bottom of a small plateau. Near that cave are lights flying in various directions. It looks like Fire Magic being launched by someone in a small clearing.

  Are people fighting over there? Hmm. If I run over there and join them I'll be able to fight some monsters and level up. Or they will want to fight me, these monsters always want to fight me so, I hope the humans don't. Come to think of it, that might be where the goblins live. I haven't seen that much after I killed that big one, so I figured they were gone.

  I decide that I want to help them out, assuming they're human, so I can level up a little and ask for directions. I make my way down from my vantage point and strap on my most important accessory.

  Buckethead, awaaaay!

  I start running full speed towards the cave, jumping over bushes and zigzagging through trees.

  Damn! I'm a lot faster and more agile than I was in my previous life. I don't think I'm as fast as a professional runner, but I'm way quicker than I ever was. I'm still a bit sick from the Mana Poisoning so I should be even faster when I'm not recovering.

  Once I'm about halfway there, I come across a small obstacle. A huge orc-like creature with a long head and snout like an alligator. I pull out a sword and set up some spells but I don't launch them right away. Not out of fear or anything. What stopped me was a pair of smaller creatures that look the same as the larger one. They're huddled together behind the bigger one, growling at me…and each other it seems.

  Huh? I might be seeing things but it looks like these orcs are fully dressed with fancy looking weapons and armor. It also looks like they're communicating with each other as well. I was going to hold off my attack until the big orc charged at me.

  “Grooooo!”

  Boom!

  I drop a boulder on all three of them at once. They die instantly so then I collect everything into my PD and take off.

  That was a bit weird, but ok. I got some exp and items from that.

  I make it to the clearing, but all the fighting that was taking place has already subsided. There are dozens of corpses of goblins, some larger than others, dotting the area. I put all the bodies into storage and step over the small holes in the ground that were made from the fight. I make my way over the river and inside the cave.

  Immediately, I hear fighting and spellcasting echoing from deeper in the cave. I use my newly learned Mana Sense, to get their approximate location, and head straight there. It's a bit tricky to navigate the winding paths in almost complete darkness. I don't use any fire magic to light the way though. In this darkness, that flash of light would probably blind me and make things worse. Instead, I'm relying on Mana Sense, while also waiting for my eyes to adjust.

  Eventually, I see a flickering light in the distance just before another turn in the path. When I get closer I see that it's a torch with someone lying right next to it. I quickly douse the fire and kneel down next to the person to get a better look. Even in this darkness I can see that it's a woman dressed in all white. She's wearing a weird pope-like pointy hat. A Priest? I use identify on her, while ignoring the clangs of battle just a bit further down.

  Name: Shiro Wakana. Level: 12. Class: E. Healer Priest.

  Health: 13/144. Mana: 8/276. Stamina: 27/120

  Strength: 15. Intelligence: 60. Speed: 30. Dexterity: 23

  Defense: 24. Magic Resistance: 36. Fire Resistance: 23. Poison Resistance: 20.

  *Status Effect: Poisoned* You've been poisoned. Your Health will slowly deplete until this Status Effect is removed or wears off. 312 seconds remain until poison wears off.

  *Status Effect: Bleeding* You have an open wound. Your Health will slowly deplete until the wound closes. 112 seconds remain until the wound closes.

  Phew. Looks like I made it in time to help her. Judging by the countdowns in her status effects, she wouldn't have made it. I remove the arrows sticking out of her and heal the poison first, using Detox, then I close her wounds using Reconstruction.

  I don't have a way to replace lost blood or strength so she'll have to recover that on her own. She's already starting to rouse awake, so I drop some food and mana potions next to her. I hop up and start running before she's aware enough to ask me any questions. If their Healer is in this bad of shape, the rest of the party might be even worse.

  I don't even make it that far before I spot 2 more people lying on the ground. I would've smiled if the situation wasn't so dire. A pink haired loli type being cradled by a dark haired kid. I say kid, but he probably looks younger than he is. He's awake and lighting up the area around him with a small torch in his hand. In his other hand is a vial. He's trying to force feed her a potion of some kind. He's so focused on the girl he didn't even notice me until I was right next to him.

  "Huh! Who.. who are you? W-when did you get here?"

  The poor guy is so flustered he almost dropped his potion.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Calm your tits bud, I'm here to help. Also, you might want to stop doing that. She could choke."

  "What? I don't have any... Uh. I can't stop, she's not going to make it if I stop!"

  He's shaking uncontrollably. Even his eyes are shaking as if there is only fear left inside of him. Fear and sadness.

  Oh, no. I kneel down to confirm my suspicion.

  Name: Mika Kyori. Level: 9. Class: E. Fire Mage

  Health: 0/131. Mana: 13/209. Stamina: 3/104

  Strength: 13. Intelligence: 67. Speed: 29. Dexterity: 27

  Defense: 18. Magic Resistance: 38 Fire Resistance: 59. Poison Resistance: 19

  *Status Effect: Dead*

  Fuck. This isn't good. There might not be anything I can do. I can still try though.

  I block out the sounds of fighting nearby, and the kid talking to me. I focus as hard as I can on moving the liquid from the healing potion down her esophagus and into her stomach. Good thing I can somewhat see the inside of her body with Mana Sense. I straighten her to lie flat on the ground despite protests from the kid.

  "Hey what.. What are you doing to her!?" He is shouting at me, now with tears welling up. I ignore him though, and press on.

  I'm not sure how resurrection works in this world so I can only really try methods from my world. Although, I should be able to spruce them up a little using magic. Detox and Reconstruction come first while I'm trying to figure out what else I can do.

  Luckily, I took Pre-med in school so I know the basics of what to do, at least, more than most. I do know that all those scenes in medical dramas are bullshit. Like the ones where the patient flatlines and a nurse grabs the paddles. Yeah. That wouldn't do anything. That's a defibrillator. It defibs. You can't really defib a stopped heart. What they need is something to restart the heart, not stop it. Unfortunately, that's also the problem I have right now. I'll have to wing it.

  So, I'll break this down into steps and work through them slowly and accurately. Let's see, I need vasopressors, vasodilators and stimulants while I circulate her blood. Then I can try to restart her heart. First I lift her legs, to push more blood into her chest, and then I move my head next to her abdomen. With Mana Sense I see the flow of her blood with Mana in it, weak as it may be from only being pulled by gravity at this point. This might work then.

  The cool thing about the Water Creation spell is that the water appears about two or three inches above my hand in mid air. It's like that in most other games and shows, actually. So theoretically, I should be able to create water directly inside her veins and arteries without damaging anything. I don't think she'll get an infection or be poisoned by it since it's magically created water. I got this idea earlier after my… uh.. incident.

  I don't think the spell gathers moisture from the air or water from nearby. I think back to the first time I used it and each subsequent use, and like I noted, it seems to just pop into existence. Maybe the only substance needed to produce it is the Mana inside me. If that is the case, this should work

  While I'm doing that, I'll also need to use Mana Manipulation to try and infuse the water with something to help recovery. If the water is Mana generated then this just be as simple as infusing more Mana into it. With one hand placed above her heart with its, I start the circulation of her blood. With my other hand I'm giving her magical vasopressors and mana stimulation.

  "Hey! What are you doing?"

  The kid is yelling at me, probably thinking I'm up to no good. I don't have time to be a creep though, this situation is too dire. I need to keep doing magical chest compressions, by circulating her blood, while I try to work the rest out. I'm not trying to be a perv kid, calm down.

  I keep imagining sending energy and stimulation (not that kind) through my palms in regular intervals. I'm also trying to manually restart her heart while I am circulating her blood with my other hand. After a bit of tentative blood pressing I got used to doing it. I'm able to generate Mana infused water with my left hand directly inside her veins, this makes it easier to move her blood around with my right due to the higher concentration of Mana.

  With some of her missing blood replaced with Mana infused water and circulating, that countdown clock in my head is no longer a concern. I can see her blood flowing easily with Mana sense because of everything I just put into her bloodstream. I’m starting to see some color return to her face. I keep pumping energy and strength into her body. She should be fine now. Perks of being in a magical world, I can circulate her blood with ease.

  Magical CPR is a go.

  Congratulations. You've learned new spells. Mana Infusion, Strengthen, Revitalize and Resuscitation, In the Magic Form: Recovery.

  Alright! It worked!

  "Huh?.. Mika! You're ok!" The light has returned to the kid's eyes. To both of their eyes.

  "Wowl. Howl lou do thalt."

  Huh? I turn around to see the priest lady crawling towards us with some homemade jerky hanging out of her mouth.

  Ah. Okay. Uh, I'm not going to tell her that's the goblins' jerky. I don't think she'll be too happy about that.

  I get up to leave before this moment has a chance to get awkward.

  "Thank you for saving her Mister... Uh"

  "It is Ai, Aiko!" Dammit. It got awkward.

  I make my way deeper into the cave, stepping over the bodies of more goblins. The fighting that was going on has stopped already, so I'm fearing the worst. I reach a large opening in the cave with several glowing blobs in the distance. It looks like there’s a dozen or so blobs, and they're all partially covered by something tall and pointy that they're hiding behind. Stalagmites? Stalactites? I forgot which is which.

  "Get over here. Don't stand out in the open." A soft voice with a lisp calls over to me from my left, near another stalag…pillar.

  "Close your eyes. It's gonna get bright in here." I say to her while I cover my own eyes. The creatures in the distance start snarling and making their way towards me the second they hear me speak. That won't matter though, I open up a portal to release a bunch of fire while launching my own fire spells in their direction.

  Boom!

  “Grrraahhh!”

  I got really hot, really fast. I stop the fire attacks, shrink the portal and move it closer to me to use it as a shield. Once I open my eyes again and look ahead, I see that all the small and medium sized goblins and hobgoblins are writhing on the ground on fire. They stop moving and screaming pretty quickly which leaves the big one, still growling in the background.

  A Goblin King.

  I ready myself to attack the lightly smoldering giant, but have to stop. Abruptly, blood begins to spray out of both sides of its neck, as though an invisible force stabbed it on either side all the way down to the bone.

  “Groooohh!”

  Slam!

  It drops to the ground, dead.

  "Uh, what?"

  "That was me." There's that lispy voice again.

  "Oh, ok. Are you with the adventurers back there in that passageway?"

  What a scary power. Can she turn invisible? Or is she hiding in the shadows with some kind of special magic?

  "Yes I am. Are they still alive?"

  In the glow of the burning bodies I see what looks like darkness itself taking shape. The shadows on the walls and floors morph and merge into one shape. What looks like a cloud of jet black dusk, swirls into a human-like creature as red glowing lights ignite from within. A small figure in a pure black cloak with a scarf hiding her face, finally forms.

  It looked beautiful but also terrifying, especially with those demonic looking red eyes.

  "Uh. Don't worry, they're fine. You know you just stole my thunder, right?"

  "I did no such thing. I don't have access to that Magic Form."

  Uh, well damn. She's either an idiot, or doesn't understand idioms. "Nevermind. How did you do that by the way?"

  "That was the spell, Shadow Form."

  Sweet. That means dark magic exists in this world. I mindlessly open up a portal to put the bodies in while we are talking. She walks towards me, her head lowered and face hidden completely in the dark.

  "You're Magic is very impressive. All I can do is hide in the shadows." She sounds impressed, but I can also hear a hint of sadness in her voice.

  "I think you're underestimating how good dark magic can be."

  In most of the games I've played stealth users can always multiply their damage output with sneak attacks. This may not be the case here but it should still be extremely useful nonetheless. She just took down a Goblin King with it.

  "I thought you looked pretty strong."

  "Don't flatter me."

  With that she walks past me into the passage where her party is. Hmm? I sense a bit of insecurity. I know the feeling girl, trust me, I know.

  "I'm not trying to flatter you, I'm being serious. You're extremely powerful."

  She shoots me a look of frustration for some reason, but also, underneath that frustration, I think I saw a smile and a fang. Then she shuffles off to rejoin her party without another word.