Thwack!
[KEUUUK—!]
"This -huff- Is so -huff- Stupid…"
Stomp
He stomped on the goblin's stomach to gain some leverage, pulled the rusted dagger from the corpse and looked around.
"Huff… huff…"
He felt like shit.
He was drenched from head to toe in sweat, dirt and gore.
His throat burned every time he breathed.
Drip drip
[Kekeke!]
[Kerueurrk–!]
[Kieeeek!]
'There's at least 10 left and that's not even mentioning that bastard…'
"This sucks…"
'How did things turn out like this?'
[Kekekeke]
His crimson eyes, full of venom, glared at the creature laughing before him.
"I will -huff- Kill you."
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Turning back the clock to earlier that day…
"Thank god they gave me permission."
When Soren found out that entering Rena Forest required a permit, he had initially panicked, thinking he wouldn't be allowed, considering the fact that he was a first-year, but luckily, it was a useless worry.
'Let's check equipment.'
"Magic map, check… canteen, check… Looks like everything's here."
After checking over his equipment for the final time, he set off towards the forest's entrance.
Thanks to the permit he had acquired earlier, he was let in without any issues.
"Make sure you're back before the sun starts setting."
"Alright, thanks."
And with that, Soren began his trek towards the first hidden piece.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"FUCK THIS–!"
Sprawled out onto a large rock, Soren couldn't help but shout.
He had expected things to be different now that ❰The Knight of Stellaris❱ was reality, but…
'This is too much.'
After walking for close to 2 hours, he had thought that he would be relatively close by now, but after checking the magic map, he had brought it turned out he wasn't even halfway to the cave yet.
He had packed a small amount of food and water, thinking that it would only take a few hours for a return trip, but he couldn't have been more wrong.
'It only took 10 minutes in the game…'
Soren wasn't stupid; he had expected to some extent that the trip would be difficult, but he didn't expect it to be this bad.
"「Status」"
.
.
[Status Window]
Name: Soren Arden (1★)
◈ Stats
[Stamina - 0.2 (F)]
.
.
A stamina stat of 0.2.
F rank stamina.
Before today, Soren had never thought about his low stamina stat since he was able to keep up with classes and do his regular daily routine without issue, but now he was realising that was simply because he was in class F.
The terrain of the forest alone made it difficult to navigate easily, being completely untouched by human hands, and then add to that Soren's miserable stamina stat, and it made the entire thing nauseatingly tedious.
Normally, it would have only been a slight nuisance to tire quickly since Soren could just rest whenever he needed to, but in Rena Forest, he hardly had the ability to do that.
During the day, Rena Forest is almost entirely safe, with almost zero monster or demon appearances; by all metrics, it's essentially just a normal forest during daylight hours.
But at night it changes.
Thanks to the vast majority of monsters and demons being nocturnal, this forest completely changes when night falls.
Now, it's not hugely dangerous, Rena Forest is located right next to Stellaris Academy after all, but for a first-year class F student like Soren?
It may as well be a death sentence.
The clear blue sky above him indicated that Soren still had quite a bit of time left until nightfall, but there was a small part of him that was starting to feel anxious.
According to the magic map he had brought with him, it would still take a few hours to reach the cave, and that wouldn't even be the end of it, since he still needed to make his way back as well.
Soren fought the urge to say 'fuck it' and turn back around to the best of his ability.
He needed the hidden piece.
It was unlikely that he would have another opportunity like today for a while, and unlike in the game, where characters all have predetermined schedules and never stray, reality was different.
Because of that, even if it was infinitesimally small, there was still a chance that someone could randomly stumble upon the cave containing the hidden piece.
"Sigh, I guess I'd better keep moving then."
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
A couple more hours had passed since then, and Soren was now nearing his destination.
'After this, I will never step foot in Rena Forest ever again if I can help it.'
This entire experience was miserable for someone as unfit as Soren.
Constantly tripping over tree roots, stumbling because of the awful terrain, hardly being able to see more than a few steps ahead, thanks to the branches and shrubbery, and that wasn't even mentioning the mud.
That wasn't even the worst of it, though.
The worst part was the fact that he had to constantly be on edge; every time a twig snapped or a bush rustled, he had to stop and wait just in case an enemy appeared.
That factor alone probably cost Soren at least 30 minutes of his travel time.
Whilst Rena Forest was relatively safe during the day, it wasn't entirely.
It would be stupid to expect every living thing to be asleep during the day, after all.
'I wasted too much time. Let's just get this over with.'
"Still, though, it's lucky that I haven't encountered anything yet."
Rustle rustle
"..."
'I just had to raise a flag, didn't I?'
He crouched down low to the ground and started forming a magic circle in his hand.
If he were lucky, whatever was out there would just pass by like all of the previous times…
Rustle rustle
…But unfortunately for him, he wasn't so lucky this time.
A long green nose poked out of the bush.
The moment the demon had appeared, Soren cast his spell without hesitation.
"「Aqua!」"
A ball of water appeared before Soren's eyes.
Using the things he had learned since transmigrating, he manipulated the water towards the goblin that had appeared and trapped its head inside of it.
This use of [Aqua] was something Soren had personally discovered when messing around.
At first, he was ecstatic, thinking he had just discovered an amazing way to use such a basic spell, but that illusion wore off fast.
Unlike its appearance, using [Aqua] to suffocate an opponent like this was by no means strong; if anything, something like this would only work against the weakest of the weak, but at this current moment, that was all Soren needed.
The moment the goblin's head was trapped in the water, it began panicking.
[Gurgle gurgle!]
It flailed its limbs wildly, hoping to escape its watery demise.
As Soren continued concentrating on infusing mana into the magic circle so that it wouldn't break, time passed.
10 seconds.
30 seconds.
1 minute.
3 minutes.
Then finally.
Thud!
The goblin collapsed onto the floor.
[+1P]
"Whew…"
The time it took to kill a single goblin?
3 minutes and 20 seconds.
'I already knew it was bad, but that was worse than expected.'
Just from drowning a single goblin, roughly a third of Soren's total mana had vanished, and if he had made a single mistake and broken his concentration, it would have all been for nought.
It would have been fine if he could have at least dodged or positioned himself better during the process of drowning the goblin, but if he took so much as a single spell, the concentration he was so desperately holding would have disappeared, shattering the magic circle.
Even just now, the goblin had almost hit him during its manic flailing.
'I'll have to figure something else out.'
At least one good thing had come from killing the goblin; Soren now knew he was able to gain points from killing demons.
He crouched down next to the corpse in front of him and pinched his nose in disgust.
"Ugh, the smell."
Then he reluctantly started rummaging through the body to see if there was anything useful, but as to be expected of a shit-tier mob such as this, there was nothing.
The only item Soren had found was a rusted dagger.
He contemplated whether it was worth taking or not before finally picking it up and attaching it to the belt on his waist after remembering the fight he had just gone through.
With everything done, he looked up at the still blue sky and set off once again.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"Finally."
Soren felt like celebrating at the sight in front of him.
After walking for about 4 hours, he had finally reached his destination.
What stood before him was a cave, a completely normal cave.
Because of that, Soren felt a tinge of disappointment.
'I thought it would look at least a little special.'
The reason he had that idea was that it was a cave holding a hidden piece.
But alas, that was not the case.
Or at least that's what he had thought until he took a step inside.
Whoosh!
The moment he stepped into the entrance, a warm wave of wind blew past him.
"...?"
'It feels like a sauna in here.'
He took off his cloak and stored it inside his bag before continuing his walk through the cave.
Step step
The further he got into the cave, the warmer it got.
As he neared the end, a light came into vision.
Seeing that Soren broke out into a sprint, completely losing any sense of danger.
"There it is."
The walls widened around him, and there it stood.
In the centre stood a small hill of grass.
Perched upon that grass was a small purple tree, glowing with a single apple attached to its branch.
The warmth felt in this area made the entrance feel like winter.
Sweat dripped down Soren's face, but he didn't care.
He reached out and plucked the apple, then, without so much as a second thought, bit into it.
Ting ♪
.
.
▶ Item [Stella's Apple] [5★] Consumed! ◀
[Stella's Apple]
[All stats increased by +0.3]
.
▶ Title [Stella's Secrets] Obtained! ◀
[Stella's Secrets]
To you who found the first secret of Stella, the world grants you strength.
[+200% Mana and Health recovery rate!]
.
.
The heat dissipated, and Soren sat down, leaning against the small tree.
"Hehe.. heh."
Soren couldn't stop himself from giggling; the emotion he felt now that he had finally improved his garbage body, even if not by much, was immense.
In all the time since transmigrating, he had only raised a single stat by a single point; now, with one afternoon walk through the forest, he had quintupled that progress.
"「Status」"
.
.
[Status Window]
Name: Soren Arden (1★)
Age: 18
◈ Titles
- Transmigrator (Year 1)
- Stella's Secrets
◈ Stats
Stamina - 0.5 (F+) [Increased by 0.3]
Strength - 0.6 (F+) [Increased by 0.3]
Agility - 0.7 (F+) [Increased by 0.3]
Mana - 0.7 (F+) [Increased by 0.3]
Divine Power - 0.3 (F) [Increased by 0.3]
Charm - 8.7 (S-) [Increased by 0.3]
.
.
Now, all but one of his stats had passed into the F+ rank, and his charm stat had passed into the absurd S- rank.
Soren felt slightly annoyed seeing that, however.
'If even half of those charm stat points could go to any other stat, I'd actually have a decent status window.'
The worst part was the fact that he had struggled to properly complain about his charm stat ever since seeing his face.
Swish
He then swiped away the status window and turned to his side, opening the bag.
From the bag, he pulled out some bread and his canteen that he had brought with him.
He brought the canteen to his mouth and went to take a sip, but…
'Empty..'
Thankfully, there was an easy solution for this problem, though.
"「Aqua」"
He carefully filled the canteen until it was brimming with water and brought it to his lips.
"Hahhhh, Magic is the best."
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"Shit…"
Once Soren had sufficiently rested, he exited the cave only to notice the colour of the sky.
Orange as far as the eye could see.
Soren's face filled with anxiety at that sight.
He wanted to scream at his past self for wasting so much time, but he didn't even have the time to do that right now.
'I need to hurry back.'
He started his trek through Rena Forest towards the academy with hurried steps, praying he wouldn't run into any trouble.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
About an hour has passed since leaving the cave, and night has fallen.
During the day, Rena Forest was already treacherous, but it was nothing compared to at night.
Thanks to Soren's lacklustre preparations, thinking this trip would only take an afternoon, he lacked any of the items needed for travelling at night.
He didn't even have a source of light.
Of course, even if he did, it would likely get him killed anyway.
If there was a single saving grace, it was the fact that now that night had fallen, the guard would have informed the academy of the fact that Soren had not returned from Rena Forest, and because of that, they would send someone to find him.
So all Soren had to do right now was to slowly and carefully make his way towards the academy, and he would eventually be discovered.
He desperately wanted to rest.
His entire body was aching, and he could feel that he was scraping the bottom of the barrel of his stamina, but he couldn't stop.
He knew the academy would eventually find him, but he also knew that the further away he was, the longer it would take; therefore, the more dangerous it would be for him.
Because of this, even if he was only able to get slightly closer, it would increase his odds of survival.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
He didn't know how much time had passed since he had begun his return trip, but he was starting to worry.
The rustling was getting more and more frequent, and torches kept appearing in the distance.
At this point, Soren had completely given up on speed, crouch-walking towards the academy, slowing his pace drastically.
"Huff… huff…"
He wanted to stop.
His body was begging for him to stop.
His breathing was unsteady, and it felt like he would pass out if he stayed still for even a few moments.
But he couldn't give up.
'How stupid would it be to get transmigrated into your favourite game only to die before the first act had even ended?'
Step… step… step…
Slowly but surely, he was getting closer and closer to the academy.
'I'm fine.'
'I'll make it.'
He repeated these words to himself in an effort to remain calm.
Snap!
'Shit.'
But as if laughing at his attempts to hold on to his composure, everything began to fall apart the moment that twig snapped.
[Keuuurk?]
Rustle rustle
[Keraak?]
Sniff sniff
He dropped to the floor, completely prone, not caring about how messy he would become.
Holding his breath, he hoped that they would just pass by.
"..."
"..."
"..."
He waited for what felt like an eternity, and the sounds slowly quieted down.
He raised his body to look at his surroundings…
…Then made eye contact with something.
"..."
[...Keuk?]
He froze momentarily before snapping out of it and forming a magic circle, but the second he did that, he realised he had made a mistake.
Wooooonggg–
The brown magic circle glowed, bringing light to the pitch black forest.
He desperately shattered the magic circle, but it was already too late.
[Keuurk!!]
Rustle
Step step
Rustle rustle
Stomp stomp stomp
[Kekurk.]
He turned to run when a familiar sound grabbed his attention.
Ting-♪
.
.
▶ Quest Received! ◀
————「❤︎」————