Starting as Cipher-The Flame-Chaser Identity System(Honkai Star Rail)

Drawn by the sound of their conversation, Aria approached after finishing setting up the tent. Casually wiping a few beads of sweat from her forehead, she asked, "Is there something wrong with the water here?"

As she spoke, she walked straight to the spot Douglas had just vacated, bent down, cupped her hands, and took a sip. Aria smacked her lips thoughtfully. "It tastes pretty good," she remarked, puzzled.

Watching this, Cipher, who was still soaking her feet in the water, froze. She quietly pulled her feet out of the stream, wrapped her arms around her knees, and wondered if Aria hadn't noticed her feet in the water, or simply didn't care.

Come to think of it, when the tomb had collapsed and they had fallen into the underground river earlier, Aria's first reaction upon swimming ashore had been to comment on the water's taste. Does this girl really drink anything and everything?

Douglas, who had also witnessed the scene, stood frozen in place, suddenly plagued by self-doubt. Could it really be his own problem?

In the end, Douglas still went upstream on the River for a drink. It was just a minor detour, and after dinner, Cipher and Aria returned to their tent to rest.

Aria still occasionally squeezed closer, but since the tent had been enlarged, Cipher no longer felt as uncomfortable. Time slipped by, and a week passed in the blink of an eye.

On the morning of the eighth day, according to their map, the group had only covered half their journey. However, that day, they stumbled upon another team of adventurers locked in combat with an Owlbear.

An Owlbear was essentially a bear, but stronger than an ordinary one, with an owl-like head and feathered forelimbs. It couldn't fly, but these rudimentary wings allowed it to leap farther or glide.

Adult Owlbears could weigh over 600 kilograms, their bodies packed with massive muscle groups. If one of these creatures pounced on you from above and pinned you to the ground, even multiple lives wouldn't be enough to survive.

Cipher and her companions had just arrived when they witnessed the massive Owlbear relentlessly pursuing three fleeing figures. To call what those three were doing a "battle" would be a gross exaggeration.

"How is that thing so fast?!" one of the fleeing figures yelled.

"Save me!" another cried.

As the trio ran, they spotted Cipher's group. Waving frantically, they shouted, "Run! Get out of here!"

Clearly panicked and disoriented, they didn't seem to care whether they were deliberately leading the Owlbear toward the group. They were solely focused on escape. Behind them, the Owlbear charged like a living tank, its eyes glowing crimson, screeching as it plowed through the forest, uprooting every tree in its path.

The red glow in its eyes wasn't just a figure of speech; they were genuinely luminous. This was one of the Owlbear's abilities—when enraged, its physical capabilities were amplified to terrifying levels.

"Let's go help them!" Aria declared without hesitation. Cipher, Feidric, and Douglas exchanged knowing glances, as if to say, "Just as we expected." But with Aria already rushing forward, sword in hand, they naturally followed.

Douglas cast the Divine Magic spell "Bear's Endurance" on himself. Charging forward, he shouted, "Little Aria, don't engage it head-on! Focus on dodging!"

Truthfully, even with his enhanced strength, Douglas couldn't be certain he could overpower the enraged monster.

The three adventurers ahead stared in bewilderment as the group of four rushing toward them showed no signs of fleeing. Instead, they charged straight at the Owlbear. In that moment of confusion, the slowest of the three—a red-haired young girl—was overtaken by the beast.

As the bear-sized paw loomed overhead, poised to strike, terror flooded the red-haired girl's face. But in the next instant, an unfamiliar figure swept her into a princess carry. The trees blurred past, and the wind roared in her ears.

Looking up, she gazed at the breathtakingly beautiful face above her, framed by slightly twitching cat ears. Stunned into silence, she could only stammer, "S-so... so beautiful..."

Without a doubt, Cipher had saved the girl just in the nick of time. After running a safe distance, she gently set her down, clapped her hands with a carefree air, and her cat tail swayed cheerfully behind her. "Thank you for the compliment~"

Meanwhile, Douglas had already engaged the Owlbear head-on. Seeing its claw strike hurtling toward him, he braced his Great Axe horizontally across his chest.

Thud!

The dull impact reverberated through the air. Despite bracing for the blow, Douglas was shoved backward several meters, his feet carving deep furrows into the ground. He felt a slight numbness in his wrists, and his expression grew more serious.

Just then, Aria appeared at the Owlbear's flank. Her Divine Smite tore a gruesome wound into its side, eliciting a piercing shriek from the beast.

Simultaneously, Feidric's support arrived just in time. A Haste spell doubled Douglas's speed, transforming the two-meter-tall warrior in heavy armor into a blur of motion. The sight of this heavily armored figure moving with such astonishing agility was nothing short of visually stunning.

Douglas charged back toward the owlbear, and before it could retaliate against Aria, his great axe crashed down, tearing a massive gash across its forelimb. The force of the blow nearly matched the power of Aria's earlier Divine Smite.

The owlbear's attention (and hatred) shifted back to Douglas. This time, he effortlessly dodged its claw swipe with a slight sidestep. He even had enough time to circle half the creature, repositioning himself to its flank, where he unleashed another devastating axe strike, its arc leaving behind a lingering afterimage.

This demonstrated the true power of magic. In the right circumstances, a well-placed spell could completely turn the tide of battle. Douglas had buffed himself, and Feidric had granted him Haste. At this point, Douglas could have single-handedly defeated the owlbear, let alone with Aria, who was equally agile and periodically striking the beast's flanks with Divine Smites.

The entire battle concluded in less than a minute. The owlbear, covered in over twenty wounds and nearly drenched in its own blood, finally collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

"Amazing... absolutely incredible!" The three adventurers who had witnessed the entire battle couldn't hide their awe. A young man with a short sword at his waist and a shield on his back, another with a longbow slung across his shoulders, and the red-haired young girl Cipher had just rescued—all three bowed deeply in unison. "Thank you, senior adventurers, for saving our lives!"

After the battle, Feidric canceled the Haste spell. Douglas staggered briefly, then pressed a hand to his forehead and leaned against a nearby tree to rest.

Douglas's constitution was remarkably strong; he had stubbornly resisted the side effects of Haste. Compared to Aria, who had been unconscious for hours, the difference was striking.

Meanwhile, Cipher struck up a conversation with the three adventurers. Perhaps because she had saved their lives, they answered all her questions without hesitation, revealing everything.

The two young men introduced themselves as Callum, a Warrior Class Holder, and Alvin, a Ranger Class Holder. The red-haired young girl's name was Yuna, and she was a Sorcerer Class Holder.

The Sorcerer is a truly remarkable class. Like Wizards, they are spellcasters, but the differences between them are vast. Wizards master magic through relentless study, while Sorcerers need do nothing at all. They might simply fall asleep and wake up the next day inexplicably knowing a new spell.

A Sorcerer's magic originates from their own bloodline. Perhaps one of their ancestors was a Great Mage? Or perhaps a ruthless forebear fell in love with a dragon and bore a child.

For reasons varied and unknown, dormant magical power lies within a Sorcerer's bloodline. As they age, they may exhibit signs of Atavism, spontaneously learning spells seemingly out of thin air. The sole drawback is their inability to control which spells they acquire or when they might learn the next.

One Sorcerer might suddenly master the "Firebolt" spell upon reaching adulthood and never learn another for the rest of their life, making their magical progression highly unpredictable.

Most wizards view sorcerers as nouveau riche, treating them with disdain. Yet secretly, these wizards are deeply envious. After all, sorcerers can effortlessly learn magic that wizards spend years studying to master—who wouldn't be jealous?

Moreover, sorcerers bypass the traditional spellcasting methods of hand gestures and incantations. Their magic feels more like an innate superpower; they don't even understand how it works—they simply think of a spell, and it manifests.

This means sorcerers can cast spells instantly, silently, and even warp their effects to produce unexpected outcomes, feats beyond a wizard's reach.

In essence, being a sorcerer is a pure gamble on luck, with wildly variable potential and severe limitations.

Cipher asked curiously, "So, what spells do you know?"

Yuna puffed out her chest and proudly declared, "Fireball!"

Cipher waited silently for her to continue. But after a long pause, Yuna remained frozen in the same pose. Cipher hesitated, then cautiously inquired, "That's it?"

Yuna stated plainly, "That's it. Just this one spell!"

Fireball, a Third-Level spell from the Evocation School, was one of the most renowned and devastating spells. Yet, relying solely on this single spell seemed rather limiting.

Cipher glanced at Feidric, the almost "omnipotent" male caregiver, and silently mused, "In that case, a wizard who can learn anything they want is far more formidable."

Cipher then asked the trio why the owlbear had been chasing them. Unsurprisingly, it was a quest.

Alvin, the Ranger Class Holder, retrieved a round egg, nearly half a meter long, from his backpack. The three were novices with less than two years of adventuring experience, currently ranked as Bronze Adventurers. They had spotted a quest in a nearby city offering a substantial reward for stealing an owlbear egg. The high pay and lack of direct confrontation with the creature had led them to accept after careful consideration.

The rest was as Cipher and the others had witnessed. No wonder the owlbear was so enraged—its egg had been stolen, and Douglas and Aria had killed it while passing by. One couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for the creature.

But it was only a slight relief. After all, the owlbear was undeniably a monster—a carnivore that would attack humans on sight, leaving no room for moral qualms.

Alvin said, "It seems we overestimated our abilities. If you esteemed seniors hadn't happened to be nearby, we might all be dead."

With that, Alvin handed the owlbear egg directly to Cipher and bowed deeply. "This owlbear egg is our gift to you all!"

He couldn't let Cipher and her companions' assistance go unrewarded. A life-saving favor couldn't be repaid with mere thanks. The owlbear's corpse wasn't particularly valuable in this world, so after careful consideration, the egg seemed like the only fitting token of gratitude.

To put it mildly, this egg could easily fetch at least five hundred Gold Dragons in any city. There would be no shortage of wealthy buyers, eager to flaunt their wealth and prestige—it was akin to rich people in Cipher's previous life keeping tigers as pets, a symbol of ostentation and power.

Cipher took the egg, surprised by its weight. It was nearly as wide as her waist as she cradled it in her arms. Since it was a gift of gratitude, she had no reason to refuse. "Thank you! I'll gladly accept it~!"

Yuna turned to Cipher, her eyes sparkling with admiration. "So, Senior, are you a Gold-rank adventurer? You were so cool when you saved me!"

Cipher averted her gaze, slightly embarrassed by Yuna's starry-eyed gaze. Gold-rank adventurer? No, no, no... I'm actually the newest of newbies here, far less experienced than you two, who've been adventuring for two years.

Aria happened to walk over at that moment and seamlessly joined the conversation. "Right? Right! Sister Cipher is amazing!"

Douglas and Feidric arrived last. Feidric glanced at the egg in Cipher's arms and quickly looked away, a subtle blush coloring his cheeks. Cipher herself was oblivious to the fact that the lower curve of her breast was pressing against the egg, creating an unintentionally suggestive pose.

Feidric announced, "Let's pack up. We need to move on."