A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 131: Strength

Serena entered her subspace the moment they all settled down for the night, her mind still reeling over the fact that she had fallen asleep. She was upset with herself, but more than that she feared what it meant.

Liz almost jumped when she appeared, gazing at Serena’s glaring eyes. It watched from its spot on one of the baskets as Serena started pacing around the center of the room.

"What’s got you in a mess this time?" Liz muttered as it continued to watch Serena.

"Nothing..." Serena ran a hand through her hair for the umpteenth time. "I just realized I’ve been slacking on my training."

That had to be it. She just wasn’t doing her usual amount of training. That was why she had let her guard down. There was no other reason. There was no way she could’ve gotten so comfortable around Theo that she’d let him get that close.

It was a crazy thought.

"I think there’s something wrong with your brain." Liz declared, hopping down from the basket it was laying on. "You train almost every evening for two hours straight. I would know. I’ve kept count."

"You can track time?" Serena paused her pacing and looked over at the kitten.

"Yes, I can track ti-" Liz started only to stop and exclaimed, "Wait, that’s not the point! The point is you do way too much training considering all the physical labour you do during the day too. Are you trying to run my body to the ground?!"

Serena stiffened at the system’s words. She knew it had a point about overworking this body. It could only handle so much before it began to give out. Which was why she was training it up.

So, she could easily overcome those limitations.

"I’m not trying to destroy this body..." Serena sighed. "But I-I have to be stronger. I can’t let my guard down. Bad things will happen-"

"You need to learn to let other people in." Liz interrupted, shaking its head. "Honestly, what can you even protect if you don’t allow yourself to take breaks and lean on others."

Serena narrowed her eyes. "Last time I relied on someone, it got me killed. So sorry for not being trusting."

"I get that you have trust issues after everything that happened with the bastard who shall not be named-" Liz started.

"Just say Mark." Serena muttered. "You already know his name. No need to be dramatic about it."

Honestly, Serena was having second thoughts about telling Liz how she died among other things. She did it after her little breakdown, further cementing her need to get stronger.

She was letting too many people in lately...

"I want to be dramatic about it!" Liz snapped. It then placed a paw in front of its mouth. "Ahem... Anyway, not everyone is like that bastard. Honestly, he’s a bit of an outlier. Granted your world is a little crazy-"

"Can you get to the point please." Serena rubbed her forehead.

Liz sent her a glare before it continued, "My point is that you taking one nap with Theo by your side isn’t a bad thing. Your body was going to give out eventually and it was better here and you fainting in the forest..."

Serena knew Liz had a point there, but it didn’t make her feel any better. Rather it made her want to get stronger. This was all just a sigh that she was still too weak-

"You’re not weak." Liz suddenly stated. "In fact, you’re doing something few beastwomen ever do."

Serena pulled away from her thoughts and frowned at the kitten. "What are you going on about now?"

"You believe you are weak and need to get stronger... But that narrow-mindness is not allowing you to see your progress." Liz sighed. "Just look at what you’ve done in the time you’ve been here. You’ve taken a malnutritious body and turned it into an athletic one. You could probably get your first stripe within a year or two.

"But that being said, if you wear your body out trying to reach that stage, then you’ll die. I’m sure my memories have enough proof of what happens when someone pushes themselves too far and gains a stripe before their body can handle it..."

Serena did indeed know what would happen. The person would die, their body too worn out to deal with the power up. And sometimes even using a purple crystal couldn’t help matters.

Still, she was surprised to learn that beastwomen could gain stripes like beastmen could. After all, there were never any mentions of it happening in the book nor were any of them in Liz’s memories.

Speaking of which...

"Hey Liz...." Serena called out. "Can you explain something to me? There was this book in my world about this world. Set about twenty years into the future. Could you explain how it exists?"

"Probably the Beast God’s doing." Liz mused. "Could be anything from altered memories to him writing about this world and spreading the story in your world... But we’re going off topic here! Don’t think you can push this aside-"

"I’m not pushing this aside..." Serena retorted. "I got the message loud and clear. Don’t overwork this body anymore."

"And that it’s okay to take breaks and let others shoulder your burdens too." Liz added.

"Yip got it." Serena said, earning a pointed look from Liz. She ignored the system and instead asked, "Now is what you said about beastwomen gaining stripes really true?"

She had wondered about it before when she first came to this world, but hadn’t really thought about it much after that. Her mind was too busy juggling other things.

"Yes it’s possible. Gaining power isn’t only limited to beastmen." Liz stated. "But most don’t put in the effort required or simply don’t know about it and land up having to rely on beastmen for strength. Granted that’s probably the reason some tribes refuse to let beastwomen do anything physical. Don’t want them getting too independent because then the whole system comes crumbling down."

Liz let out a joking chuckle at that last part, but Serena couldn’t help but go never quiet at those words. Because it just opened up a huge issue that Serena didn’t want to deal with.

But now she had too. Just her luck...