Before she could poke at it to double-check if it was really alive, she felt something approach her.

Slap!

She instinctively slapped her own arm, lifting it to see the bloody smush of what had been a mosquito.

"Eww..."

She was disgusted with the mosquitos, and they looked very similar to the flying aliens, but then her mood brightened again.

She was excited because this meant that her space could take in living things!

Granted, these were bugs, and she did not assume bigger animals could get in, but these were exciting enough.

Everyone knew plants grew best with not just proper care, but also being within a healthy ecosystem.

The plants could grow somehow without sun inside the space, likely because it was connected to the outside world, like how the space appeared overlaid with the ’real world’. However, there were still some things that should be done within the space.

For one, these worms were useful to her! Hopefully, there were a number of them happily squiggling in that soil!

As for those damned mosquitos...they were useless. They existed literally because they were hardy and could survive various situations.

She closed her eyes and concentrated. She was still studying her space, so there were many things and functions that went by unnoticed. However, if she had a specific direction of study, she could discover more things.

For example, she could specifically look for living things.

Her eyes opened and sparkled when she realized that there were actually little things everywhere!

In her mind’s eye, they looked like tiny, tiny will-o’-the-wisps that were more circular in shape.

Another difference was that they were very translucent and faint. She could barely ’see’ them, like how the naked eye might not see the tiny bugs.

Each one seemed different too, but there were also similarities, likely due to species. For example, most of the dots on ground were similar in appearances and they were likely worms. The flying bugs also had a slightly different appearance.

She went over to take a look at some of them, confirming this. There were spiders, ladybugs, mosquitoes, a few cockroaches, ticks, and other things.

She concentrated on the pests like mosquitoes and ticks, and willed them gone.

Poof!

They were crushed to pulp. At least it was a painless death.

It took a bit of mental toll on her though, making her a little uncomfortable, but it wasn’t as intense as when she took in the bush and the soil underneath it.

As for the others, others might not be fond of them, but Naia wanted to preserve as much life if they had use for the ecosystem. She only got rid of the parasites, in this case, only the mosquito. The rest, she knew, had their use.

Okay, maybe the cockroaches were gone, too. They were not entirely useless, but there were plenty of bugs with the same function as them.

Sorry, not to be a speciesist, but they also looked a lot like those aliens. She would not be able to sleep with them inside her space.

She continued studying her space like this. Since she could crush the bugs to death as long as they were inside, she figured she could do a few more things to them that didn’t include taking their lives.

For example, she realized she could confine them in an area of her choice! This way, the bugs wouldn’t go to her precious stockpile.

How ironic would it be if she had stockpiled so many things inside the ’secure’ space, only to find them eaten up by bugs?

Speaking of the stockpiled food, the ’inanimate items’ section with the things she collected was bug-free, which was a relief but also odd.

It was impossible for all these boxes to be completely devoid of bugs when she took them, so this showed that the space did not have the capability to take in bugs before.

This meant that, in time, the space didn’t just expand, but also improved its functions.

Maybe humans could get inside, too.

This possibility alone made her body feel lighter, as if one of the many burdens on her shoulder was lifted up.

...

She put away her mind out of her space with a satisfied smile, looking around and saw that there was no one close by, taking in the planters back into her space.

One of the abilities she gained from the space was to have a feel of the surrounding area with one’s mind, provided she had a presence of mind at the time.

Basically, she had ’eyes’ in every part of her space, but she could also sense the surrounding reality, up to the distance equivalent to her space.

The space was a separate space overlaid in the real world. Wherever this overlay was, she had a feel for it.

While she did not have telekinesis abilities with it, she could at least detect where there were humans around her.

Since she confirmed that she could now take bugs in, she wanted to test out its limits. The first trial was a chick, for their size. She grabbed one into her palm.

Chirp! Chirp!

Naia concentrated and summoned her space. She willed the chick to stay with the garden, but when she put away her space, it was still ’outside’.

Frowning, Naia tried about a dozen more times with several other chicks.

In the end, she only confirmed that she could not place anything inside...yet.

For now, her limitation was bugs. She felt a little disappointed, but not too much. She was already so fortunate. If she dared act dissatisfied, she feared that everything would be taken away, that she’d wake up and she was back in the apocalypse again.

She had already seen how things ’could have’ been. She probably wouldn’t be able to adjust anymore if she really returned.

Cluck! Cluck!

Her attention was pulled back by the chickens and chicks around her. Flinching, she let go of the chick in her hand.

Interestingly, she saw Big C was trying to go after something.

Cluck! CLUCK!

Bzzzz

Naia curiously looked over to see Big C following a bee.

Bees?

.

.

.

HONEY!