I Became a Spirit in Date A Live, but I Refuse to Date

"Could you explain why her danger rating is only B+? That's barely higher than Hermit's, isn't it?"

Ellen asked, puzzled. She couldn't understand why a spirit with such powerful abilities had such a low danger rating.

"Oh, that? According to the records, Element Make, the Element Maker, shows little inclination to attack. At most, she uses her abilities to destroy an enemy's equipment and protect herself. Of the units that have fought her, none suffered fatalities, and barely anyone was even injured. That's probably why her danger rating is so low."

Isaac explained with a relaxed smile.

"I see..."

"Well? If you ran into her, are you confident you could beat her?"

"Hmph, of course! I'm the world's strongest Wizard! If I meet her, I'll bring you her head!"

Ellen spoke with utter confidence. After all, as the world's strongest Wizard, she had yet to meet an opponent who could defeat her.

"Haha. I'll look forward to it."

Seeing how confident Ellen was, Isaac gave her a knowing smile.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the world, Lingmeng suddenly shivered for no apparent reason.

"What the hell? Why did I just feel a wave of killing intent? I haven't offended anyone, have I?"

Lingmeng glanced around, speaking with nervous suspicion.

What Lingmeng didn't know was that a certain strongest Wizard already had her in her sights...

I Want Meat!

Lingmeng was in a tropical rainforest in Brazil. Fortunately, perhaps because the area was so remote, no one from AST had come to hunt her down after the Spacequake she caused. That gave her a moment of peace.

I was probably imagining that killing intent earlier, right?

Sitting on a branch of a large tree, Lingmeng swung her long legs and gazed up at the blue sky, her feelings a tangled mess.

She was a spirit now, something like a human-shaped nuclear bomb. Whenever a spirit like her appeared in this world, several families could be torn apart. That was never her intention, but she was still the direct cause. So she often found herself pondering life's biggest questions—

Who am I? Where did I come from? Where should I go? Those three ultimate questions weighed on Lingmeng's mind.

"Grrr..."

A sound interrupted her thoughts.

"Oh, am I hungry?" Lingmeng looked down at her growling stomach. "So spirits need to eat too? I haven't eaten much in two weeks, so I thought I didn't have to. But I guess that makes sense. If something could survive without taking in energy, would it even be a living thing?"

Lingmeng chuckled, stood up, and leaped down from the tree with a push of her legs.

"This place looks pretty rich in resources. There should be plenty to eat, right?"

Sure enough, as Lingmeng was muttering to herself, she spotted a cluster of mushrooms beneath a nearby tree.

"Ohoho, lucky me!"

Lingmeng hurried over, beaming.

Their colors aren't very bright, so they probably aren't poisonous.

After a quick look, Lingmeng decided the mushrooms were safe to eat.

"Time to harvest!"

Then, one after another, the mushrooms were pulled out by Lingmeng, roots and all, and piled beneath the tree. Nothing was left standing wherever Lingmeng went.

Once she had what looked like enough mushrooms for a meal, Lingmeng finally stopped her wholesale harvesting.

“This should be enough, right?” Lingmeng said, dusting off her hands. “Ah, they'll fill me up, but if I had a choice, I'd rather have meat! ('△｀)”

After lamenting her lack of meat, Lingmeng was about to prepare the mushrooms when a roar suddenly rang out.

"Snort—snort!"

"What the hell was that?!"

The roar clearly startled Lingmeng, and she hurriedly looked around.

Before long, a huge wild boar with black fur and two tusks emerged from the trees beside Lingmeng.

"Oh, it's just you, Second Brother! I thought it was something else!"

Lingmeng wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and breathed a sigh of relief.

It probably heard me and came running, right?

Lingmeng watched the boar before her and thought it over.

"Wait! I can eat Second Brother..."

As if she had thought of something, Lingmeng's expression turned increasingly wicked.

The boar seemed to notice Lingmeng eyeing it. It grew wary and kept snorting at her.

It was as if it were saying, "What are you planning, you creep? You're after my body, you shameless pervert!"

Ignoring the boar's roars, Lingmeng advanced step by step, her expression growing even more sinister.

"Haha! Come on, Second Brother, let's get to know each other!"

With that, Lingmeng reached her wicked hands toward the boar...

This Doesn't Count as Eating Wild Game, Does It?

As Lingmeng drew closer, the boar charged at her with both tusks lowered, unleashing its ultimate move: Boar Rush! It had no intention of becoming someone else's dinner.

But a little trick like that could hardly trouble a spirit like Lingmeng. Just as Second Brother was about to hit her, she sprang lightly three meters into the air and dodged the attack.

“Stubborn little thing, aren't you?” Lingmeng smiled down at the boar. “Goodbye, Second Brother!”

As she fell, Lingmeng raised a fist and slammed it down on the boar from above.

BAM! Lingmeng's punch drove the boar into the dirt, snapping its spine and killing it on the spot.

(Boar: "I'm literally broken.")

Second Brother—deceased.

"Phew. After two weeks here, I finally get to eat some meat."

Lingmeng pulled the boar's carcass from the ground and rubbed her chin.

"How do I butcher this thing? Well, it can't be that different from dissecting a frog in biology class! ╮(￣▽￣)╭"

With that thought, Lingmeng used her ability to extract some metal from the soil and fashion a simple knife. Without another word, she started cutting into the boar.

Several dozen minutes later, Lingmeng set down the knife, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and spoke with relief.

"That's me for you! I did a... perfect job, right?"

Looking at the mangled meat before her, Lingmeng broke into a guilty cold sweat. The corners of her mouth twitched.

After enduring several dozen minutes of Lingmeng's handiwork, poor Brother Boar was unrecognizable. Uneven chunks of meat lay beside organs scattered across the ground, with fur and blood everywhere. The sight alone was nauseating.

"Uh... haha. I'm an amateur. It's only natural things would turn out like this when I try to do it myself, right?"

Lingmeng laughed awkwardly and talked to herself.

Sorry, Second Brother. I really didn't mean to leave you looking like this. ?_?

After apologizing to the boar in her mind, Lingmeng picked up a piece that still looked passably like pork and muttered under her breath.

"That was such a big boar, and after I butchered it, this is the only piece that looks edible. I'm a terrible butcher!"

Lingmeng found a fairly flat stone and built a stove beneath it out of other rocks. She tucked some branches inside and lit them with her ability.

Once the stone grew hot, Lingmeng placed the pork and mushrooms on top. An enticing aroma soon filled the forest.

"Haha. I may be a lousy butcher, but I'm pretty confident as a cook."

Lingmeng laughed as she turned the meat.

In her previous life, she had been an orphan and had usually taken care of her own food, clothing, and other daily needs. Cooking was one thing Lingmeng felt confident about.

"Finally, it's done!"

Lingmeng clapped her hands and looked at the grilled meat with satisfaction.

Come to think of it, wild boar doesn't count as wild game, does it?

Lingmeng seemed to remember the epidemic from her previous life, and hesitation crossed her face. After all, that epidemic had started because some idiot ate wild game. What if eating this boar gave her the same disease?

(Boar: "What the hell? You eat my meat and then complain I'm dirty? Don't eat me, then!")

"Well, I've already cooked it, and I'm a spirit now. I probably won't get sick that easily, right?"

After a moment's hesitation, Lingmeng decided to eat. She was far too hungry to hold back.

She used her ability to make a knife and fork, then copied the way anime characters ate: she pressed her hands together, said, "Thanks for the food," and dug in. She was adapting to local customs, in a way.

"Mmm! Who knew Second Brother's meat would taste this good? The mushrooms are so fresh, too. They're a perfect match!"

Lingmeng's eyes shone as she praised the food between bites. Before long, she had eaten all the meat.

"I'm full! Thanks for the meal!"

Lingmeng rubbed her belly, feeling more satisfied than she ever had before.

"Thanks, Second Brother! Your sacrifice filled my stomach. I guess that means you fulfilled your purpose!"

Lingmeng looked up at the sky and could almost see the boar saying to her:

"Don't thank me, you little shit. Thank you so damn much!"

"I think I saw a river while I was sitting in that tree. Perfect place to wash off this bloody smell."

With that in mind, Lingmeng stood and headed for the river.

A spirit's spiritual power usually kept dirt from getting on her body, but after more than twenty years as a human, Lingmeng still couldn't stand the thought of staying like this. If she had a chance to wash, why not take it?

Before long, Lingmeng reached the river. She removed her Astral Dress, leaving her body exposed to the open air.

Lingmeng looked at her reflection in the water and sighed. It still felt a little strange, but after two weeks, she had more or less grown used to her current body.

In a sense, it was a perk for Lingmeng, who had been single for more than twenty years. How often did a virgin like her get to see a beautiful girl naked? Even if that beautiful girl was Lingmeng herself...

Ah... Better wash up and leave.

Lingmeng eased into the water and quickly began washing herself.

No Money? Get Lost!

"Wow, there are a lot of people here!"

Lingmeng marveled at the crowds coming and going around her.

It had been exactly one month since Lingmeng arrived in this world. Her luck was good today: when she manifested, she appeared near a city. After dealing with the AST members who came to hunt her down, she entered it.

Lingmeng knew that, as a spirit, she should avoid crowded places whenever she could. But she just couldn't resist anymore!

For the past month, she had either fought AST and returned to the Neighboring World or hidden out in forests and mountains where there was plenty of cover.

In all her time here, the only humans Lingmeng had seen were AST members. After so long cut off from everyone else, she felt as though she were turning into a wild woman.

Unable to bear the loneliness any longer, Lingmeng used her ability to turn her overly "distinctive" Astral Dress into ordinary casual clothes and blended into the crowd.

As she wandered the streets, Lingmeng looked left and right with obvious excitement, curious about the city like someone visiting from the countryside for the first time.

Lingmeng remembered that the city was called Tengu City. It seemed to occupy what had been southern Tokyo and part of Kanagawa in the Japan of her previous life.

A Spacequake had once blasted a huge hole here, and people had later built Tengu City inside it.

After roaming the streets for most of the day, Lingmeng found plenty of shops that interested her. But whenever she was about to go in and buy something, she ran into one serious problem: she had no money at all?!

That was the plain truth. Lingmeng might be a spirit, but she was flat broke. How could she buy anything she wanted without money?