《Second Chance》


 Volume 1: Chapter 1 – Transfer

    Javato, a small artificial island in South Pacific, 24 December 2291 AD


    I looked at the strange coffin-like device in front of me with mixed feeling. Fear? Surely I felt it. How couldn¡¯t I? Nobody could tell for sure what it did. Excitement? Yeah, I felt it too. How couldn¡¯t I? This device might be the only thing that could let me escape from death¡¯s grip.


    Anyway, my name is Mikael Tosa, a 37 year-old second-rate scientist, majoring in biotechnology, a common person in the UN research lab here. I was also a person recently diagnosed suffering Zephyro, a non-contagious yet deadly disease caused by mutated bio-weapon virus we developed here, Zephyr. I looked pretty healthy now, but I knew that I would not last for more than three more months. And expecting a cure for this disease to be discovered within three months was, I knew, completely delusional. This device in front of me, the SC-capsule, might be my only chance.


    I looked around. It was quite dark and completely silent. Nobody but I was here. Who wanted to stay in this laboratory on Christmas Eve? And furthermore, this place was in the forgotten zone, where, at least in the last decade, none but the maintenance drones entered.


    I turned on the strange device¡­ strengthening my determination, before entering the coffin-like machine. It was a gamble, but one I was pretty sure I wouldn¡¯t regret. I had no direct family nor close friends, not anymore. I surprisingly, in this not-so-old age, outlived anyone I had ever cared of. If the device worked as I had deducted¡­ it would be great. If it didn¡¯t¡­ well I would die, but¡­ I would still die soon anyway.


    The SC-Capsule¡­ My mind quickly replayed the information I knew about it as I entered the machine. This device was created twenty years ago by the greatest mind of the twenty third century, one of the few people I really looked up to, Windell Fremde. As it looked similar to the Virtual Reality Capsules he had created before, people assumed that it was a further advanced console for virtual reality games.


    At that time nobody knew how wrong they were. A thousand two hundred beta testers of the capsules all over the world, including Fremde, disappeared without a trace when they test-drove the devices for the first time. I could still remember vaguely how the incident became an extremely hot issue in any kind of media for several months.


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    Since then, as far as I knew, a lot of researches had been done to the machines¡­ without any meaningful result. Not even one, out of the hundreds of top scientists in the world, knew where the energy source for the devices came from and how the devices actually worked. And worse yet, when the researchers in New York City tried to disassemble one of the machines, it triggered a nuclear-like explosion which destroyed almost a quarter of the city.


    Since then, the governments of various countries had seized the capsules and sealed them in many secure places. This UN laboratory here was one of such places. Within the forgotten zone I was in now, there were about two hundred SC-Capsules arranged haphazardly. For years, no living person touched these machines.


    I would never touch this machine either if not for the fact that several years ago I incidentally discovered an incomplete scientific journal written by Windell Fremde in Greek about the device. Well, actually it was my department head who acquired the journal through¡­ whatever auction, and showed it to all of his subordinates to... well, just show off I guessed.


    The journal mentioned a lot of, what-seemed-to-me, incomprehensible nonsense on how the device worked and how it was built. However, there was one thing that attracted my attention on the journal at that time. It was the original name of the device: the Metens¨¢rkosi K¨¢psoula¡­ the Reincarnation Capsule.


    The Second Chance Capsule, if my deduction was correct, would transfer the user¡¯s consciousness to another person and replace the person¡¯s consciousness, which simply meant that the user would live in another person¡¯s body. That was my rough¡­ very rough deduction, which I personally was not even sure of.


    Taking over other people¡¯s body was definitely immoral, I knew that. I would never do it if I were not this desperate. I would probably suffer a guilty conscience forever because of this¡­ but, well¡­ I didn¡¯t want to die.


    ¡°Sigh¡­! Let¡¯s do it.¡± I braced myself, lay inside the coffin-like capsule, closed the lid, and waited.


    ¡­


    For a couple of second, nothing happened. Then, I heard a hissing sound. Dark gas was pumped inside the coffin from who-know-where. I knew it was to be expected, but I, against my own judgment, was panicked and tried desperately to push the lid of the device. Yet, I had no power to open the lid. Quickly, I lost the ability to control my body. And¡­ my consciousness¡­ slowly¡­ faded¡­ away¡­

 Volume 1: Chapter 2 – Configuration

    I woke up in the darkness, floating in complete darkness, not knowing which one is up or down. I couldn¡¯t see anything for several seconds¡­ But before I got plunged into panic again, a glowing figure appeared in front of me.


    I quickly recognized the figure¡­ the messy blonde hair and beard, the strange goggle-like glasses, the hooked big nose¡­ It was Fremde¡­ Windell Fremde, the genius creator of this SC-Capsule.


    ¡°Hello, Stranger!¡± the figure greeted in a lazy tone. ¡°Don¡¯t need to answer that. I am just the memory record anyway, the memory record of Windell Fremde, the one who set this Gate of Rebirth.¡±


    Gate of Rebirth? What the hell! Wasn¡¯t this device called Second Chance Capsule, or Reincarnation Capsule? Why the hell did you need touse so many names for this?


    ¡°This gate will let you reborn in a different world, a world of magic and monsters, of swords and sorcery,¡± the figure continued talking. ¡°And if you think that it would simply be a visual reality game¡­ well, whatever, you can think so. You wouldn¡¯t believe if I told you that this is real anyway.¡±


    Different world? What wasI getting into? Should I believe him? Should I¡­ A barrage of questions assaulted my mind. This¡­ the best I could do was probably assuming that this was real, that being reborn in another world could really happen. But¡­


    While I was hesitating, the figure of Windell Fremde waved his hand and a holographic sphere of light, in a size of a soccer ball, appeared. ¡°This will help you adjust with your new life. It basically let you set some preferences which might affect your life-style in the new world. Just touch it¡­ and please use the points wisely. Farewell, Stanger!¡± With those parting words, he gradually disappeared, while the glowing sphere slowly floated to my direction.


    Use the points wisely¡­ I felt chill creeping all over my body when I heard those words. Fremde was a well known scientist and inventor. But, not many people knew that he was also the main game maker of three ¡°worst¡± games of the century, which became cult hits only for certain hardcore gamer society. Those games were: the insanely hard real time strategy game ¡°Chess World Pawns¡±, the crazy virtual reality fighting game ¡°Fists of Wisdom¡±, and the frustrating virtual reality MMORPG ¡°Forbidden Knowledge¡±.


    One of the common features of those three games, which made the game insanely hard, was the use of points at the start to configure the character of the player. One small ¡°unwise¡± choice of the configuration could make the game a hell to play. The words ¡°use your points wisely¡± were the well-known sayings related to those games. Then, if I could assume that I would be sent to a reality based on such games¡­


    I groaned. I had played those games that Fremde created when I was younger, but not very much. I had to restart over and over because of what seemed harmless choice in the configuration at the start of the game. I gave up rather quickly in all three of them. Restarting was possible for those games. But this time, wouldit be possible? I definitely wouldnever die on purpose just to check whether resurrecting was possible.


    Those missing gamers¡­ Twelve hundred of them¡­ Twenty years had passed and none of them returned. I should not forget that. I needed to assume that this would be real¡­ that this wouldbe my second chance to live, and that there wouldn¡¯t be a third chance.


    I focused my mind and directed my right hand to the sphere of light. Right when my fingers touched it, the sphere suddenly turned into a medium sized holographic screen. I could read CHARACTER CONFIGURATION at the top of the screen.


    Let¡¯s see... There were several choices: Legendary Skills, Great Artifacts, General Appearance, Basic Stats, and Miscellaneous Setting. At the bottom of the screen, there were¡­ 1000 points and the button-like rectangle with a word ¡°FINALIZE¡± in it. It probably meant that I had1000 unused points to configure my character and that I needed to press the finalize button when I finished configuring.


    I started browsing. The first tab, legendary skills, was probably useless¡­ Phoenix¡¯s Immortality (-1000 pts)... Dragon¡¯s Breath (-980 pts)¡­ As I¡¯dthought, they were extremely expensive. The cheapest skill was Imp¡¯s Dance (-480 pts). What the hell was Imp¡¯s Dance anyway?


    I hadno hope for legendary skills from the start. Although I hadn¡¯t played that much in Fremde¡¯s games, I played enough to know that in all those games, taking legendary skills during the starting configuration phase was never the same as gaining cheat power. In the contrary, if you took it, you were digging your own grave. The logic was: why would you waste points to take a skill in the early game that you could never use until your level was high enough, which was most likely happened at the end of the game?


    I hadno expectation either with the Great Artifacts¡­ but I still browsed them a little. From Dragonsoul Blade (-990 pts), Hell Angel Armor (-960 pts), to¡­ Recovery Ring (-320 pts). There were many interesting items. But this, I wassure, was another trap. If I chose any of them, I would probably get robbed and would lose the item before I got strong enough to protect it. I wouldn¡¯t pick any of these artifacts.


    Next wouldbe¡­ appearance, huh? I browsed the choices under the General Appearance tab thoroughly. Race¡­ what the heck? Choosing a specific race was so expensive. There were many races, but¡­ Human (-600 pts), Orc (-560 pts), Dragon (-900 pts)¡­ It was such a waste of points. I hadonly a thousand points, dammit!


    After what probably hours of contemplating, I finally chose Race: Random Humanoid (-50 points). I sincerely wished it wouldn¡¯t turn me into a Goblin, a Dwarf, or any version of Undead. I didn¡¯t mind playing a game as any character of those races, but to live a real life as one of them¡­ heck, no!


    Still in General Appearance tab, I configured some other choices. The default for any choice here was random. If I ignored this, it would be possible that I would turn into a kind of short fat pink haired female orc. That wouldbe terrible. Like I¡¯d be willing to spend my second life as that kind of monstrosity¡­


    I spent some time configuring this part. My configuration was approximately, let¡¯s see¡­ Gender: Male (-10 pts); Hair-color: Random (0 pts); Skin Tone: Random (0 pts); Optimal Body-built: Muscular (-5 pts); Optimal Height: Tall (-5 pts)¡­


    I definitely wanted to be a male. Gender-bender was really not my taste. About hair color or skin tone, I didn¡¯t really care. I wouldn¡¯t spend any point for those two. I spent some points in body-shape and height though. I hadsome small expectation that this couldmake me avoid being turned into goblin or dwarf or living skeleton¡­ well, hopefully. I didn¡¯t want to be any of those races. I couldactually choose hulk-like, gigantic, very tall, or extremely tall here, but it cost more, and it mightslow me down significantly, so...


    Anyway, for all other choices in this tab I chose medium (0 pts), which was actually not very different from random (0 pts) in term of costs, but much¡­ much safer.


    I hadspent 70 points for appearance. There were 930 points left. Iplannedto spend most of them for this next tab, Basic Stats. But, as I was about to open the Basic Stats tab, I got a strange feeling that I had to check the Miscellaneous Setting tab first. Was this¡­ instinct? Whatever! It might not be a bad idea to check this misc. tab first. Save the best for the last, or something like that.


    Under the Miscellaneous tab, there were several choices: Sanctuary, Pet, Production Skill Knowledge, Initial Wealth, Blessing, and Language. It was pretty much similar to the starting configuration in ¡°Forbidden Knowledge¡± VRMMORPG. I knew that I needed to spend some points here.


    Sanctuary [Self] (-70 pts) was a must¡­ I guessed. If I wasnot mistaken, it basically gave immortality protection for beginners up to twelve days in the game. It wouldprobably be the same here. Damn¡­ I wished there was a help function here. I couldsee that there was Sanctuary [Household] (-300 pts). This one mightbe better in term of safety, but I wanted to save as many points as possible here¡­ Well, whatever. Self Sanctuary was good enough I hoped.


    The next one¡­ Pet? Well, it mightbe interesting, but it was not really vital for me. So, I guessed I would have toskip that.


    Then¡­ Production Skill Knowledge. Hmm¡­ blacksmithing, alchemy, and the likes. It was knowledge, not skills. So, it was most likely just the theory. I couldprobably acquire it by being an apprentice to some masters. It was not really important for now. Skip.


    Wealth and Blessing were nice, but they were really expensive. Damn, even normal initial wealth needed 200 points and the cheapest blessing, Dream God¡¯s Blessing, cost 700 points. I guessed I wouldhave to leave initial wealth at random (0 pts) and skip the blessing.


    The next one¡­ Language, huh? Well it wouldbe problematic if I couldnot use the new world¡¯s language. I checked the language choice. Damn. There were so many languages. And they were quite pricey.


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    I sighed and chose two languages that sounded most useful, while setting them in the most basic aptitude: Language: Common [Basic] (-20 pts), and Language: Elven [Basic] (-20 pts). Common seemed like the universal language of the realm, while Elven wouldprobably be useful for learning magic. Basic aptitude probably meant that I could understand only high frequency words and the simplest grammar, but it should be enough for the beginning. Alright, with this I wasdone with the miscellaneous part.


    I had820 points left. I hoped they were enough for this last yet most important section, Basic Stats. I took a deep breath and carefully accessed the tab. A single mistake here wouldbe very¡­ troublesome.


    Underneath the Basic Stats tab, there were three categories: Spirit, Mind, and Body. I accessed the first category, Spirit.


    There were several other choices: Charisma, Ki, Growth Rate, and Lifespan.


    I quickly accessed the most important one¡­ Lifespan, which predictably had the default set to random. There were several choices there, from Extremely Short (+600 pts) to Immortal (-900 pts). I guess it meant that I wouldget 600 points if I chose extremely short lifespan. But, who wanted to choose it? Really?!


    I knew I couldn¡¯t afford Immortal (-900 pts), but I really wanted Extremely Long Lifespan (-700 pts), or at least Very Long Lifespan (-450 pts). Yet, I knew that, considering many other basic stats choices I needed to configure, choosing either of the two wouldprobably be unwise.


    Should I choose Random Lifespan? It didn¡¯t need any point, and if I were lucky, I might get immortality. But, if I were unlucky, I might get extremely short lifespan¡­ without getting the bonus points.


    Dammit! I couldn¡¯t afford to gamble here. After some time agonizing over the choices, I sighed and picked the Long Lifespan (-200 pts).


    I set Charisma at Average (0 pts). I didn¡¯t want to become an idol or a politician anyway. But, I didn¡¯t want to be a dull follower either. So, average was pretty good choice here.


    Then, under Ki, there were Ki-Capacity, Ki-Type: Enhancement, Ki-Type: Projection, and Ki-Type: Manipulation. I set them all at Average (0 pts) too. I wanted to set them higher, but the price was too much.


    For the next choice, Growth Rate, I set Physical Growth Rate, Magical Growth Rate, and Spiritual Growth Rate at Above Average (-50 pts) each. A little faster growth woulddefinitely be useful. I spent 350 points in total only for Spirit tab. I might run out of points if this tendency continued.


    Feeling a little bit depressed, I moved to the next tab, Mind. There were two categories here: Mental Faculty and Magic. I accessed mental faculty first. It seemed that this one was related to normal, non-magical, mind power.


    Memory, Mental Acuity, Emotional Control, and Sanity¡­ Those four were listed under mental faculty category.


    The last part¡­ Sanity¡­ I really had a bad feeling about it, so I quickly accessed it. I wasright. It was set atrandom (0 pts). With only two other choices: sane and insane, this gaveme 50 percent chances to be reborn as an insane character. Like hell I would want that. Who wanted to be insane if choosing sane only cost 10 points? I quickly set this one into Sanity: Sane (-10 pts).


    I checked the next one, memory. Shouldn¡¯t this be a part of mental acuity? Let¡¯s see¡­ The choices here were: reborn with fresh memory (0 pts), and reborn with past-life memory intact (-40 pts). The default was easily predicted, the first choice.


    I sighed, no longer spirited enough to swear and curse, even when it was just in my mind. This was worse than the sanity one. How wouldI even know that this device worked if I didn¡¯t change the setting? I warily set it to Memory: Reborn with Past-Life Memory Intact (-40 pts).


    Next was mental acuity¡­ I guessed it was a generalized version of cognition, concentration, memory, and intelligence. I wanted to set it as high as possible since it woulddefinitely help in learning things. However, I still needed to configure other things. I hadlimited number of points after all. So, I reluctantly set it to Mental Acuity: High (-100 pts).


    Similarly, after that, I set Emotional Control to Emotional Control: High (-100 pts). My reason to dump some points here was because I waspretty sure that this section woulddetermine a lot of things, especially in troublesome things like combat or debate or research. Frozen from fear during combat, getting furious during debate, or succumbing into impatience during research couldobviously make me end in harmful situation.


    With mental faculty section done, I moved to the next category, magic. There were many things to configure here¡­ starting manna capacity, elemental affinity¡­ Gosh! There were a lot of elements. They were more than thirty. There were some normal clich¨¦ ones like fire, wind, water¡­ to some weird ones like: mud, rubber, blood¡­


    Hell, I mindlessly set everything at normal (0 pts). Increasing each of them cost respectively 50 or 100 points for above average or high quality. It was too expensive. I could set some low and some high to even the points, but it meant that I gave myself some weaknesses in exchange for some strengths. I wouldbe in a lot of trouble if I set, for example, water affinity low and this reincarnation machine sentme to places where water-element monsters lived. I might be paranoid here, but¡­


    Anyway, the only points I spent in magic category was Magic: Capable (-10 pts). In a world where magic existed, it wouldbe very pathetic if I couldn¡¯t use it.


    I made a quick calculation and realized that I only spent 260 points for mind configuration. It meant that I still had210 points left. Wouldit be enough for configuring the last section?


    Physical Strength, Psychomotor Ability, Sensory Ability, Stamina, and Health¡­ Those were the choices under Body section.


    The first thing I accessed here was obviously the most important thing, health. After experiencing the lifespan, sanity, and memory things previously, I hadbecome familiar enough with the ridiculous trap set in this starting configuration. I wasnot surprised at all seeing health set to random, even though healthy cost only 10 points. The choices better than healthy were really expensive though¡­ very healthy (-300 pts) and extremely healthy (-600 pts). I picked Health: Healthy (-10 pts) because I didn¡¯t want random choice landed me to either¡­ unhealthy, sickly, or dying.


    After that, I set physical strength and stamina to normal (0 pts). In any game I hadever played, I never played as a ¡°brute¡± character which depended on strength and stamina. I¡¯d rather choose agility or magic type, so Iplannedto dump some points in psychomotor ability. I waspretty sure that psychomotor skill was related to the ability to control body movement. It was probably the combination of dexterity, agility, and speed, so I set it to Psychomotor Ability: High (-100 points).


    The last 100 points¡­ I used them to set sensory ability to Sensory Ability: High (-100 points). I guessed this was related to how sensitive my senses wouldbe, so it was quite a necessary investment to survive.


    I wasa bit surprised to see that I couldempty the configuration points without leaving any extra. It was a good thing, wasn¡¯t it?


    I checked all my choices once more. Well, that was good enough I guessed¡­ I wasquite satisfied with my choices. It wouldnot make me very great or anything, but at least it wouldbe¡­ safe.


    I wasnot really worried with some stats that I left at normal or medium. I waspretty sure that almost all of the choices in the basic stats couldbe trained and upgraded. The preferred categories that I set to be higher than normal were those that either were the harder-to-increase ones or the ones that helped better to improve my overall ability. Yeah¡­ I wasquite satisfied.


    I touched the ¡°FINALIZE¡± button at the bottom of the holographic screen, and¡­ my consciousness faded away¡­ again.

 Volume 1: Chapter 3 – Name

    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 47 Gearro 3982


    Twelve years hadalready passed since I was reborn in this world. Many things happened in these years.


    I wasnow a twelve-year-old boy of an elven race, aneinjafaeth, a dusk elf. For me, that was a heck lucky roll of dice.


    Dusk elves were the most human-like elven sub-race in appearance. It meant that they couldbe skinny, fat, muscular, tall, short, bearded, bald, blonde¡­ Simply speaking, in term of appearance, body-shape, skin complexion, hair color, and the likes, this sub-race of elves had almost as many varieties as what humans had.


    Unlikeleamfaeth(night elves) who were all dark-skinned and slim, orsyanfaeth(day elves) who were all beardless and fair-skinned, orjaarfaeth(dawn elves) who all hadcurly hair and were as short as dwarves; dusk elves, from the appearance, couldonly be identified from their long pointed ears.


    Different from other types of elves too, dusk elves prefered to live in towns and cities. They still in a way loved nature, but they didn¡¯t really reject technology, nor behave as detached as other elves. This meant that dusk elves, compared to other elves, got along much better with other races.


    Anyway, as a dusk elf, I hadraven-black hair and light brown complexion. I had a somewhat masculine facial musculature, which was not really prominent yet, since it was hidden by my still childish fat. I knew that this childish feature of mine woulddisappear in about two to three years, but it was¡­ really annoying actually. (Sigh!) I hadnever imagined that being a child was a really hard thing to do.


    Oh well, at least I knew that I wouldhave a really-reallylong young adult period of time. Dusk elf had a general lifespan of 300 years, in which almost ninety percent of it wouldbe spent in young-adult period of time. It meant that I couldstay twenty for more than two hundred years. Cool, huh? But, that was assuming that I did not fall into accident, get killed, or get inflicted by deadly diseases.


    Speaking of deadly diseases, my parents and elder brother were victims to those¡­ (Sigh!) They were great family members. I could have had a wonderful, peaceful life surrounded by loving family members¡­ the one thing that I yearned much in my previous life. I knew I should have chosenSanctuary [Household]in the starting configuration, before I was reborn here. If only I¡­ Argh! Damnit! I knew that regretting what had happened wouldnot change anything but¡­ I couldn¡¯t help it. Stupid me!


    Seven years ago, a deadly magical plague broke out and killed more than three hundred people in this town. My parents and elder brother were three of those victims¡­ I could survive, completely unharmed, probably because of the effect ofSanctuary [Self]I had chosen in the starting configuration. I couldsomehow know that I hadbeen protected from harm. It had expired though. Ifelt that the effect disappeared once I turned twelve.


    Well, for most races in this world, people were considered of age when they turn twelve. For dusk elves, it was even more significant, since children couldonly acquire a name after they turned twelve.


    It was an interesting part of their culture actually. The concept was that children under twelve couldnot be held responsible for anything they did. Instead, their parents or guardians should be the one that tookthe responsibility. So, they were still named after their parents or guardians. Once they passed twelve of age, they picked their own name and were then considered responsible for whatever they would do.


    When my parents were still alive, I was called thesecond-son-of-Ginkhar-and-Smiuna.Ginkhar, which in elven language meant Wind Claw, was my father¡¯s name.Smiuna, which meant Blooming Flower, was my mother¡¯s name.


    After my parents and elder brother passed away, I wascalled thenephew-of-Kerbruan.Kerbruan, or Grim Bear, was my uncle¡¯s name. He tookcare of me after the death of my parents.


    My uncle was a blacksmith. In appearance, he truly represented his name¡­ huge, muscular, hairy, and gloomy. He was not a very loving¡­ ideal uncle, but he was decent enough. He treated me like a landlord treated his tenant. As long as I paid the rent (like by cleaning my own room, washing the dishes, taking out trashes, and helping in his workshop during the rush hour) and followed the rules (such as: not damaging precious objects, stealing, or fighting weaker children), I wasfree to do whatever I liked.


    I didn¡¯t really mind being treated like that. It was fair enough. Besides, I knew my forever-bachelor uncle was not very good in interpersonal communication. He treated everyone the same, in his weird grumpy way. It was alright though. I waspretty sure that it would be really creepy if he started to behave like a nice, loving uncle.


    Anyway, today was the day I couldacquire a name. And that was what I wasabout to do. That was the reason I came here.


    I carefully looked at the small temple in front of me, thejaarquilk, the Temple of Dawn. This was where I couldgain a name.


    At first, I assumed that I needed to go toeinjaquilk, the Temple of Dusk, since I wasa dusk elf, but that was wrong. Any elf wouldneed to go to the Temple of Dawn to celebrate birth and acquire a name; to the Temple of Day to acquire magic specialization, obtain a class and get married; to the Temple of Dusk to retire and attend funeral ceremony; and to the Temple of Night to pay respect to the dead relatives.


    After hesitating for a few seconds, I entered the temple. There was only a small room with beautifully carved wooden altar within this temple, and there was only one other person inside, the priest. He was sitting in a relaxed manner behind the altar.


    ¡°Welcome, Child! I suppose you want to earn your name, don¡¯t you?¡± The priest stood up and greeted me in his warm, patient voice.


    I nodded wordlessly while observing him quickly. He looked like an old man in his eighties, so his real age was probably close to three hundred years old. He was wearing a necklace of sun. He was probably the follower of the Sun God,Asorya. It was quite reasonable, since I knew that theBlessing of the Sunwas very beneficial for priests.


    The religious belief of the elves was actually pretty¡­ complicated. Basically, elves believed in one almighty God, whom they calledEowa, the Source. However, there were also deities, a hundred and twenty eight gods and goddesses with small letter ¡°g¡±. Elves didn¡¯t actually worship the deities, but they followed them¡­ er¡­ kind of prayed to the Source through them and acted in accordance to their teaching.


    It seemed that the deities were somehow empowered by the prayers that wentthrough them and the supportive actions of their followers within their domain, so in return they granted blessings to their followers. Each deity had his or her own domain though, so the advantage of the blessing given was different depending on the chosen deity.


    Every elf couldfreely choose a single deity to follow in their life. It was possible, and very likely, that in a family, each member had different deity to follow. The choice couldbe done anytime, anywhere. However, once they chose a deity to follow, they couldnot choose a different one. Elves couldabandon or be abandoned by their chosen deity though. It could happen once they wentagainst the principle of the deity¡¯s domain.


    Well, in my case¡­ I hadn¡¯t chosen my deity yet. I might choose one later when I acquired a permanent class, like how my uncle chose to followVolkane, the God of Craft, after he acquired his blacksmith class to receive theBlessing of the Forgewhich was very beneficial to his blacksmithing trade.


    ¡°Move closer and put your hands on the altar, Child.¡± The old priest urged me to come to the altar.


    I obediently moved closer and placed my hands on the wooden altar.


    The priest smiled warmly and placed his right hand close to my forehead, almost touching it. I knew it was a kind of required ceremony, but I still felt a little uncomfortable.


    ¡°A pure prayer to the Almighty Source,


    by dynamic movement of natural force,


    from the path taken by his internal flame,


    grant this blooming child a fitting name!¡±


    Light shone from the priest¡¯s hand as he ended the chant, and my consciousness wastransported to¡­ whatever it was. Everything around me was black, completely black, as if I was teleported to a deep pit where light could not penetrate.


    Then, tiny lights started appearing around me, moving around in undetermined paths, just like wandering fireflies. I knew what they were. I heard my mom told my elder brother about this when he was about to choose his name. These lights were thecoonange, the name wisps, which were generated from my memories. I wassupposed to pick one of the names contained within these lights as my name.


    I touched one of the lights. "Dunaklana."¡¯A soft voice, which was very similar to my mother¡¯s voice, rang in my mind.Dunaklana, the other world traveler eh? It must have been taken from my past life. It was a nice name. But I couldnot choose it. There would be endless questions asked by many elves should I choose it.


    I touched another light. ¡°Learplaon.¡±Learplaon? The wild runner? This must have come from my daily physical exercise. Well, since three years ago, I hadbeen doing a kind of parkour, free-running, around a part ofthe town everyday, early in the morning and right before sunset. It was challenging enough since this town was an elven town, which meant that there were lots of natural obstacles within it, such as huge trees, great boulders, rocky paths, and wild thorny bushes.


    There was actually an informal society of dusk elves who didthese free-running things in which I wasone of the members. And no, I wasnot the youngest nor the best. I waspretty capable, just a little below average¡­ rank 36 out of 61 members.


    I knew that meant that I still needed a lot of practice, but I wasstill twelve, still very young. It was quite an accomplishment for me to get to the position I wasin right now.


    In my past life, I preferred exercising my mind rather than my body. But in this second life, I wasdetermined to be stronger in both mind and physique since I realized that this world was not safe, not safe at all. So, it was not really surprising that I haddone a lot of physical practice ever since I could move my body.


    I''dspent almost all my free time doing things to get stronger in mind, spirit, and body. I didn''treally interact much with other children. I wasadult inside after all.


    Anyway,Laerplaonwas too un-cool name for me. I touched another one. ¡®Wayjackena.¡¯ What the heck?Wayjackena? Wisdom? How in the hell did I manage to earn that name?Was it because I spent much of my time inside the town¡¯s library when I was not exercising my body? But, shouldn¡¯t reading increase my intelligence instead of wisdom?


    Oh, whatever. That name was not really a choice for me. It might be ironic but it was pretty much obvious. No wise person wouldcall himself, or herself, wise. That was obviously unwise.


    I spent several minutes checking the other name wisps. There were several silly names which only those with poor aesthetic sense wouldchoose. There were also several cool names but they were much too attention-grabbing.


    I waslooking for a simple name which was cool enough but not too eye-catching, or¡­ er¡­ ear-catching, since I strictly followed three laws of survival I¡¯dcreated myself: keep getting stronger, be vigilant at all time, and avoid unnecessary exposure.


    In the end, the name I chose for myself was ¡®Khael¡¯ which, depending on the context, couldeither mean thorn or tusk. I absolutely hadno idea how I managed to get this name. I hadsometimes been prickled by thorns of wild bushes during my practice and I hadan excellent knife made of unknown monster tusk, a birth gift from my father¡­ But somehow, I didn¡¯t think that those things were the reasons I earned the name.


    Well¡­ Why would I even think about it? The name was cool but not too fancy¡­ and it was close enough to my past name, Mikael. And it was close enough to the name of the great superhero from twentieth century fictions, Kal-El, the great Superman whose fame never expired even up to the twenty third century where I used to live. I wondered how many movies and games about him I hadever seen and played¡­ I knew that there were three hundred at the very least. Oh, well¡­


    ¡°Khael,¡± I said¡­ in a loud enough voice to be heard by anyone within five meter radius. And the moment I said that, the darkness around me disappeared. My consciousness returned to the small room inside the Temple of Dawn.


    ¡°Khael eh? Interesting,¡± said the old priest with curious smile. ¡°Bear it a little bit more, Khael. The name will be branded in your mind, spirit, and body. It is rather painful, but it won¡¯t be long. Ready?¡±


    I nodded wordlessly.


    The priest smiled warmly and started his magical chant again¡­


    ¡°A pure prayer to the Almighty Source,


    by dynamic movement of natural force,


    the name has been chosen,


    responsibility will be taken,


    for the name will echo loudly,


    within the mind, spirit, and body!¡±


    Right after the priest¡¯s chant ended, a soaring pain exploded all over my body. And it seemed that the pain was extended into my mind and my soul¡­


    I bit my lips tightly in an attempt to stop screaming. But it was¡­ so¡­ damn¡­ painful¡­


    Fortunately, the pain lasted not more than ten seconds. It ended right before I could not stop myself from screaming.


    I breathed heavily, as if I was just finishing a long arduous physical practice.


    ¡°Khael¡­ Your name has been branded within your mind, all over your spirit, and on your body,¡± the old priest pointed at my chest. ¡°Now you take responsibility of whatever you do, my dear Khael.¡±


    Even without opening my clothes and looking at the mirror, I knew that I acquired a magical tattoo in my chest. It was the elven rune of my name, Khael (?), which was pretty similar to a fancy version of capital letter ¡°J¡±. Every adult elf had this name tattoo. Mine was pretty simple. Others might be very complicated, depending on their choice of name.


    Luckily, magical name tattoo was not mere decoration. The tattoo greatly enhanced the physical balance of the owner. That was one of the reasons why adult elves were well known for their acrobatic movement.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    The tattoo also signified the ownership of a name, which wouldautomatically lock the option of other unnamed elves to choose the same name, until the death of the tattoo owner. So, unlike other races, there wouldnever be two living elves with the same name. And anyway, elves did not have family names, so it wouldbe quite a headache for outsiders to know the family relationship of adult elves.

 Volume 1: Chapter 4 – Terror

    Warning: Heavy swearing!!


    =====================================================


    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 47 Gearro 3982


    I came out of the Temple of Dawn after placing a couple of silver coins inside the donation box. My business in this place is done.


    I stretched my body leisurely. I had received my name. Should I go to the Temple of Day right now for mywaernei?Waernei¡­ if translated literally it meant: coloring. It was another cultural thing for elves. It was basically choosing magic specialization. The reason it was called coloring is because¡­ well, magic specialization changes the color of an elf¡¯s pupils.


    The color of my eyes was grey right now, a sign of an unspecialized mage. Mage here was simply a term for magic user, not a class. Every elf, in certain degrees, couldsense and usemanna¡­ magic, so all elves were pretty much magic users¡­ mages. Not many of the elves chose real ¡°Mage¡± as their class though. It was because without the right specialization, elf¡¯s magic was actually quite¡­ weak.


    Anyway, Idecided that I wouldget my color today. There was no benefit of postponing it. Besides, I¡¯dhad at least six years of extensive study related to these magic colors and I¡¯dhad already planned many different power-up strategies depending on what color I wouldget. I wasready, whatever random specialization I wouldacquire.


    I walked slowly to the town center, where the Temple of Day is located. It was about an hour walk from the Temple of Dawn, which was close to the northern gate. It was a pretty long walk, with lots of natural objects and few artificial dwellings.


    Well, this town, Awarang, was an elven town, which meant that other than the surrounding town walls and the rather dense business district in the town center, the other parts of the town looked really natural and more village-like. There were lots of huge trees, open fields, a large variety of shrubs, well tended orchards, natural rocks, clean springs, rapid rivers, and secluded wooden houses. Many of those houses were even located on trees.


    Awarang looked exactly like a fantasy elven villages in movies or games. That was if the each of the villages in those movies or games had an area of more than two hundredsquare kilometersand a population of a little less than thirty thousand sentient inhabitants, which included the huge percentage of elves (dusk elves and half-elves mostly), as well as a tiny percentage of dwarves, dryads, fairies, ogres, goblins, were-beasts, half-beasts, and humans.


    I kept walking on the unpaved road while reviewing my plans within my mind. However, when I wasclose enough to the town center¡­


    BANG¡­!! An explosive sound pierced my ears, followed quickly by many panic-stricken cries and terrifying roars. What the hell was happening?


    Right when I was still being bewildered by¡­ whatever had happened, a shadowy figure suddenly appeared in front of me, just about ten steps away from me. A black¡­ huge crooked wolf-like thing with ugly scales, razor-sharp teeth, and jagged claws. It was¡­ a¡­ damned¡­ MONSTER!


    ¡°Gyaaahh¡­!¡± The few people around this place screamed loudly and quickly ran away. Wise move! That was what I wouldbe doing as well.


    Quickly I turned around and sprinted away as fast as I could. That was a monster, damn it! And I wasjust a twelve-year-old boy.


    A deafening roar, followed by rapid sound of claws piercing the ground, reverberated behind me. Oh, shit! Shit! Shit! Even without looking back, I knew it. The damned monster choseme as its prey¡­ It chose me, the smallest and weakest creature here¡­


    Then¡­ feeling my survival instinct blared extremely loudly within my mind, screaming the word DANGER at full volume, I put logic away and threw my body sideways, rolling on the grassy ground until my backside hit a big tree. Damn! It hurt¡­ a lot¡­


    But following my instinct blindly turned out to be the right choice. A loud crash destroyed the place where I would have been, had I not changed the direction of my movement. The damned monster tackled it with what seemed to be all of its might. I wasso glad that I chose high sensory ability before I was reborn and that my race was an elf, a race that has much purer survival instinct outdoors compared to humans or dwarves.


    Shit! It was not the time to relax yet¡­


    I quickly jumped up and sprinted away again¡­ leaving the normal street, jumping over who-know-who¡¯s garden fences, sharp turning sideways whenever I could, sliding or rolling under low tree branches to pass through, zigzagging across or somersaulting over wild bushes to escape from the chase¡­ In short, I started utilizing all parkour skills I have with really¡­ really scary improvement.


    And¡­ that damned monster was still right behind me, crashing the obstacles away as if they were made of frail potato crackers. Shit! Shit! Shit!


    I kept running and running¡­


    While the freaking monster kept chasing and chasing¡­


    Damn it! My extreme hard work of exercising everyday¡­ It seemed that they were not enough. The monster was getting closer and closer. But it was once more a great luck for me that I chose high psychomotor ability and high emotional control before I was reborn. I couldrely a bit on my high speed to escape and my tense yet strangely still pretty much composed mind to make a sensible plan.


    If I were running without any direction, sooner or later I would become the prey of this stupid monstrous beast. But, I did not just run without any plan. I knew exactly how I couldescape from this stupid game of cat and mouse. I needed to find someone who couldtake care of that crazy monster. And that someone was of course¡­ an elven guard, anyone of the town guards.


    Over there! Just after that huge jadewood tree... I just needed to turn left, and¡­


    Damn! Nobody was here. How the hell could this happen? This was a damn training ground for the guards, dammit! This should never be empty during the daylight. Shit! Shit! Shit!


    A loud crash and furious roar behind me kept me from stopping my legs. I couldnot stop here. My life was on the line. Eventhough the muscles on my legs started to ache badly,I kept running ... aimlessly this time.


    Where were the guards?


    The barrack? Perhaps. But, it was too far from here. So, ¡­


    My survival instinct blared again¡­ extremely loudly, screaming another DANGER at full volume. I instinctively threw my body to the right, breaking through thorny bushes.


    That was the right choice¡­ again. A loud crash destroyed the place where I would have been. That damned monster used its old trick of tackling again.


    I dashed away once more, ignoring the pain of hundred small cuts all over my body caused by the thorny bushes.


    Where should I go? One of the town gates? Too far¡­


    I jumped over a small ditch, and then quickly rolled under a low branch. The nasty sound of the chasing monster was still resonating behind me.


    Should I¡­ return to the town center? Perhaps the guards were there. It was the place where the chaos started after all.


    I made an acrobatic climb and jumped over a big blocking rock. Wow! I didn¡¯t know I could do that. But¡­ this wouldn¡¯t be enough to stop that monster.


    I jumped down to the other side of the rock and continued running. The damned monster was still chasing behind me.


    Alright! I wouldreturn to the town center. First, I just needed to turn left after that small meadow over¡­ What the hell was that thing over there? Shit! Another monster!


    The damned other monster I saw on the edge of the meadow noticed me and crouched down, ready to pounce upon me. Like I¡¯d let that happen¡­


    I turned sharply to the left and broke through some other thorny bushes. Dammit! It hurt¡­ a lot. My ankles ached badly due to the sharp turn, and my whole body was pricked by uncountable thorns. It hurt! But I couldnot stop¡­


    I jumped over another narrow ditch and jumped again over a large tree root. Two nasty monsters followed close behind me¡­ too close¡­


    That tree over there¡­ I might be able to climb it quickly.


    I dashed as fast as I could and jumped with arms stretched¡­ I managed to grab the lowest branch of my target tree, swing myself in what must be an ugly arc, and somehow¡­ perch on the branch of another tree. How in the hell did I manage to do that?


    Just when I was about to take a deep breath to calm myself, the tree I was on shook violently. What the¡­! I had to clutch the branch I was perching on tightly to avoid falling down.


    Below, the two ugly monsters viciously destroyed the tree trunk with their teeth and claws. Holy mother of all cows! They wouldn¡¯t let me rest for a bit, wouldthey?


    Strengthening my determination to live on, I hopped onto another branch of the same tree I was on now, and then jumped with all my might to a rather far away branch of another tree.


    Yes! I managed to grab the branch I aimed at, but¡­ It was too weak. The branch was too weak and¡­ broke down.


    I fell down with a shock¡­ without having a chance to think even a single thought of screaming. My hands grasped wildly around¡­ and managed to hold another one for a fraction of a second, before it broke down too¡­


    My butt hit the ground loudly. It was a painful and embarrassing fall, but I didn¡¯t even have time to wallow in embarrassment, since I knew danger was coming really close. I couldalready feel it.


    I rolled sideways and jumped up. A snap of muzzle filled with sharp teeth clang a few centimeters to the right of my face.Damn! It was too close¡­


    I dashed away wildly¡­ and my body hit a huge tree trunk, which made me bounce uncontrollably to the side. Damn my rotten luck!


    Fearing the monsters taking advantage of my unbalanced form, I quickly jumped and rolled away through thorny bushes¡­ again. What the hell was going on with these thorny bushes and me today!?


    But this was¡­ great! I knew this place. This place was not very far from the town center. I just needed to¡­


    My danger sense was blasting the word DANGER inside my head again. I quickly used my last drop of stamina to sprint over my normal speed limit and made a dive jump over a thick hedge of medium height in front of me.


    I landed with a roll on the main pathway not far from the town center. At the same time, a loud crash destroyed the thick hedge behind me completely. I escaped from the clutches of death once more¡­ but I wasrunning out of stamina.


    ¡°Over here, Kid!¡± A loud shout made me turn my head to the right.


    Great! Three elven guards were running to my direction with their weapons drawn. But the monsters were closer to me than the guards. I couldn¡¯t rest yet.


    I forced myself to stand up and run to their direction. I didn¡¯t know how¡­ but I managed to run faster than what I usually did, even though my stamina was supposed to be empty. This must have been the adrenaline rush people talked about.


    Everything around me seemed to slow down as I wasgetting closer to the guards¡­


    I saw the front-most guard raising his sword in slow motion, followed closely by his two companions. I knew they were aiming at the monster instead of me, but I couldn¡¯t help feeling intimidated.


    I slid down the earth, in what I assumed a cool style, forthe last few meters separating the guards and me. Damn! I did it in slow motion too. If I could move like normal while others were in slow motion, facing enemies would be a real piece of cake. Oh, well¡­ Getting overpowered was not that easy I guessed¡­


    The front-most guard jumped over my sliding body and crashed into something behind me, which should be one of the monsters. I turned my head and saw the two monsters behind me were slain easily by the guards with few slashes and thrusts of their weapons. What the heck?! Were these nasty two monsters chasing me just low leveled mobs?


    Come to think of it, now that I couldsee them clearly¡­ those slain monsters were justSragallae, a low leveled scaled wolf. Great! I ran away frantically just from low leveled monsters. That was really a great start for a legendary adventurer I wasaspiring to be¡­ Damn!


    ¡°Running daily keeps your life intact, doesn¡¯t it, Kid?¡± One of the guards said casually with wide grin in his face. I knew this half-elf guy. He was Laertreon,one of the members of the unnamed parkour club.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ I wish I¡¯d been practicing harder. Anyway, thanks for the help, but¡­ what the hell is actually happening here, Laertreon-ka? I almost died there,¡± I replied with heavy breath. The suffix -ka is an elven polite term for refer to someone respected, or someone older.


    ¡°You know this kid, Treon?¡± Another guard, the guard leader if seen from his uniform, asked.


    ¡°Yeah. He is Kerbruan¡¯s nephew, a runner likeMaikaand me,¡± answered Laertreon.


    ¡°I¡¯ve got a name now, you know. It¡¯s Khael.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re twelve already? Khael, huh? Looking at your skin and clothes, that is indeed a fitting name,¡± said Laertreon with wider grin.


    ¡°What do you¡­ oh, right¡­ I probably¡­ should have chosen another name,¡± I said, realizing what this jolly guard meant. Khael couldmean thorn, and¡­ well, my tattered clothes and bloody body showed how ¡®connected¡¯ I waswith thorns today.


    ¡°You should stay here for a while, Khael,¡± said the guard leader. ¡°We¡¯ve slain most enemies terrorizing the town, but it might take a little bit more time to completely annihilate them.¡±


    ¡°What happened, Guard Leader-ka? I thought monsters could not penetrate the enchanted town walls.¡±


    The guard leader showed a tired face. ¡°It¡¯s that crazy group,Bhalafaeth.¡±


    I winced hearing the name mentioned by the guard leader. It was quite an infamous name.


    I guessed in any era, any place; there were always people who stood against the established society. They might havecalled themselves patriots, or saviors, or liberators, or heroes, or whatever else. But, people in general knew them by another name, a simple name¡­ terrorists. Here, in this world, in elven community, that was the ugly role taken by Bhalafaeth, whose nameactually meantthe Protector of the Elves.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

 Volume 1: Chapter 5 – Color

    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 47 Gearro 3982


    It was not morning anymore. Noon had already passed.I was sitting on the ground, leaning my back on the outer wall of the grocery store in the town centre, trying to ease the pain that still tortured almost every part ofmy body, when two other dusk elves in guard uniform, a male and a female, approached us.


    I knew both of them. The female dusk elf with long braided brown hair was called Maika, a free runner like Laertreon and me. I didn¡¯t know the other guard personally, but he was kind of¡­ famous in Awarang.


    He was Rudevall, the one which many would say¡­ the coolest guard in Awarang. He was well known not just for his handsome face, fair skin, and blonde hair, but also for his powerful skills in magic. Unlike Maika, Laertreon, and the guard leader whose eye color was brown, this Rudevall had silver eyes.


    Brown eyes were the sign of the most common and mediocre magic specialization for elves, signifying the owner¡¯s ability to be able to learn all kinds of magic, but only up to the mid-level ones. Worse yet, for this specialization, the spell power and capacity only increased for about twenty to thirty percent compared to uncolored elves. Thus, most elves with brown eyes preferred to focus on improving their physical ability while putting their spells as mere supports.


    Silver color for the eyes, on the other hand, was a rare thing. It was not as amazing as the super rare golden one, but it was still considered special, since it was a sign of a specialization in which the owner would beable to learn almost all types of magic for all levels, except only for a few unique spells. The increase for spell power and capacity was also great, about a hundred to a hundred and fifty percent. Thus, the owner of this specialization would pretty much be a¡­ celebrity.


    ¡°How is it?¡± The guard leader asked in a curt manner. Many other elven guards that were here grimly looked at the two newcomers, paying full attention. This place had unexpectedly been the gathering site of the guards during this monster outbreak crisis.


    ¡°The south western section is clear, Captain,¡± answered Maika. That was the last section reported to be clear.


    ¡°Casualties?¡±


    ¡°Twelve died¡­ ten civilians, two guards. Nineteen badly injured¡­ fourteen civilians, five guards. The injuries were mostly caused by unfortunately¡­ necessary friendly fire.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s very¡­ bad.¡± The grim face of the guard captain darkened. Yeah, it was truly bad. Those were the worst report I¡¯d heard so far¡­ much worse.


    ¡°It couldn¡¯t be helped,¡± said Maika. ¡°There were fifteen sragallae, six ziragallae, and two nagogallae. If Rudevall didn¡¯t use [Frozen Field], there would be much morevictims.¡±


    I turned pale listening to Maika¡¯s report. Six ziragallae were bad enough. But, two nagogallae? I was very, very lucky I didn¡¯t encounter any of them.


    Sragalla, the scaled wolf, if it were in a game, would be only slightly better than a low level critter like a slime or a rat. Its mutation, however, was definitely not in the same level.


    Ziragalla, the armored wolf, was pretty much an elite monster which was about three times as strong as a sragalla.


    Nagogalla, the dragon scaled wolf, was even worse, much worse. Its strength was fundamentally in the whole different level, comparable to a mid level BOSS in RPG games.


    Had I been chased by ziragallae, I might still have been able to survive, since their speed was actually slightly lower than the sragallae. But if it had been a nagogalla¡­, I definitely wouldn¡¯t have been able to survive. I was really, really grateful for not encountering them. It seemed that Lady Luck had not completely abandoned me¡­


    ¡°So, in total¡­ nineteen died, thirty four injured. This is a real disaster. That damned Bhalatoyol!¡± Laertreon cursed, using the derogatory name Bhalatoyol, the protector of the imps, to refer to the terrorist group responsible for this mess.


    ¡°It could have been worse if we hadn¡¯t acted quickly,¡± said Maika defensively.


    ¡°That won¡¯t help our position in front of the Town Council. Those silly, senile old men will definitely chew me to pieces after I submit the report,¡± said the Guard Leader in depressed tone.


    ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be that bad, Captain. We did our best. It should count for something, shouldn¡¯t it?¡± Rudevall tried to soothe him.


    ¡°For normal people probably,¡± the Guard Leader sighed. ¡°Those old men in the Town Council are politicians through and through¡­ bad, corrupt, nasty politicians. You know it yourself.For years, they¡¯ve tried to put their good for nothing thugs inside our group and cut down our salary. (Sigh!) I¡¯m afraid now they have more reasons to do that. I wish those idiotic terrorists targeted them, instead of these innocent civilians.¡±


    I grinned. That was not a bad wish. I knew enough of the politics of this country. And I couldn¡¯t really say I was impressed. The corruption in the bureaucracy seemed to be very deep. High taxes, low public spending, bad public service, underpaid low-rank town officials, extensive bribery, rampant slavery among poor citizens¡­


    This town was actually much better off compared to the other towns and cities in Gretharea Kingdom, due to the still relatively ¡®untainted¡¯ elven guards, and the existence of the powerful Crafts-master Union. Those two pillars so far had been barely able to suppress the widespread of corruption and maintain enough decency within the town. But after this incident, well¡­ the future of the town didn¡¯t look very promising.


    ¡°Alright! Rudevall, you come and help me deal with the report to the Council. The others will do the clean-up and partextraction of the monsters,¡± said the Guard Leader, dividing jobs in a simple way. ¡°And if any of you is willing to swap tasks with me, I will gladly accept. Anyone?¡±


    No one responded. Those guards were simple, but not stupid people. They knew that doing the report was much worse compared to the tedious clean-up.


    ¡°Why do I need to accompany you, Captain? Can I just do the clean-up with the others?¡± complained Rudevall.


    ¡°No! I won¡¯t endure the nasty words of those senile old men alone. And, you are the only guard they will give face to. So, you must come with me.¡±


    ¡°But, Captain¡­¡±


    ¡°That is an order,¡± said the captain simply. ¡°Alright everyone¡­ Move! Move!¡±


    The guards quickly split up into several groups and left the place. The guard captain, without waiting, also moved away, dragging the reluctant Rudevall with him.


    ¡°Need a help to take you home, Kid?¡± Someone said from my left. I turned my head. It was just Laertreon.


    ¡°Nah!¡± I said. ¡°I was just about to get my waernei, when this mess happened. I think it will be a waste if I return home without getting it.The Temple of Day is just a few minutes from here.¡±


    ¡°Well, good luck with your waernei then.¡± Laertreon grinned. ¡°And, be careful with thorns....¡±


    I sighed while Laertreon left, whistling without seeming to have any worry.


    I stood up slowly. My wounds were still aching. They were shallow wounds, but I might still need to take a bath with [purifying water] later on at home. It would be bad if any of them turned into a nasty infection. Oh, well¡­ I needed to go to the Temple of Day now.


    A few minutes later, I entered the temple. It was a much bigger place, compared to the Temple of Dawn. With rows of wooden benches and tall ceilings, this temple was closely similar to a traditional church of my past life.


    ¡°Welcome to the Temple of Day, Child!¡± A cheerful feminine voice came from behind me. I quickly turned around and saw a very beautiful elven lady coming after me into the temple. The elven woman was wearing a priestess outfit, but surprisingly was also holding a pair of bloody battle axes in her hands.


    I stared at those bloody axes, dumbfounded.


    ¡°Ah! These axes?¡± The priestess seemed to understand my surprise. ¡°I¡¯ve just helped the guards take care of a few sragallae. I am a follower of Arze after all. I couldn¡¯t just do nothing when there was a hot battle outside, could I?¡±


    I was thoroughly surprised. This beautiful dusk elf was actually a follower of Arze, the barbaric god of war. I thought the followers of Arze were only muscular combat loving maniacs. And this priestess¡¯ choice of weapons¡­ it was truly unexpected.


    The elven priestess seemed to take a deep breath, and then¡­


    ¡°Anyway, what service do you need from this temple? It can¡¯t be marriage, can it? So it must be either class choice or waernei? Those two are the only logical choices. But then, you need to have taken waernei for at least six months before choosing a class. I don¡¯t think you have taken your waernei. I¡¯ve been stationed here for about three years and I¡¯ve never seen you in this temple. So, it is very unlikely that you come here to choose a class. This means that you must be here for your waernei. Right! You must be here for your waernei. It¡¯s a great deduction, right? How is my deduction? I am right, aren¡¯t I? Come on. Tell me that I am right.¡±


    Wow! That was another surprise. This gorgeous brunette priestess spoke those many words very quickly and in only one single breath. That was¡­ interesting and annoying at the same time.


    ¡°Err¡­ yeah. I am here for¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­ your waernei, right? That is fine. Don¡¯t worry about that. It can be done easily. And, it doesn¡¯t hurt at all, unlike the branding of name. You have branded your name, have you? Of course you have. You cannot get your waernei without a name. It would be pointless to come here if you hadn¡¯t earned a name. Come to the altar. Come on! Don¡¯t worry. It would be fine. Just go to the altar. Come on¡­¡±


    I awkwardly walked to the altar, accompanied by the ¡®unstoppable¡¯ priestess who seemed to mis-install a machine gun for her speech processing device.


    ¡°Alright¡­ Just stand there, Child! Please tell me what name you have chosen,¡± said the priestess while carelessly tossing her battle axes somewhere behind the altar.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    ¡°It¡¯s Khael¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah, Khael, isn¡¯t it? Good taste you have, Child. It is a simple yet profound name. We seem to be similar in that matter. My name is Veyra. Yes, it simply means blood, one of the most vital essences needed by creatures like us to live. It is a good name, isn¡¯t it? But many people think I am weird for choosing that name, as if blood is evil or creepy thing. How can they think it is evil or creepy? Blood is the sign of life. Without blood, most living beings will die. Well, of course plants can live without blood. But even so, it¡­¡±


    Oh, god! How in the hell could this woman be able to speak that much without stopping to take a single breath?


    ¡°Ah, anyway¡­ I asked you your name because it is needed for the ceremony, although your name and your color do not necessarily have to match. Just take a look at the color of my eyes. Although my name means blood, but the color of my eyes is not red at all. The color of my eyes is cyan, isn¡¯t it? Do you know that people with cyan eyes like me are called Healers, even though healing is not the only thing we do? Well, healers¡¯ magic specialization is restoration, so we could heal and our healing is considered the best. So, it is quite reasonable for people to call us Healers, but ¡­¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ can we start the ceremony now?¡± I finally interrupted her.


    ¡°Ah yes! Sorry for getting distracted for a few seconds there. Let¡¯s see¡­ it should be started by¡­¡±


    The priestess placed her right hand close to my forehead, almost touching it.


    ¡°A pure prayer to the Almighty Source,


    by dynamic movement of natural force,


    from the image drawn by his latent nature,


    grant this young child the color of his future!¡±


    Light shone from the priestess¡¯ hand as she ended the chant, and my consciousness transported back to the black place I visited during my name choosing ceremony.


    This time, it was not the name wisps that accompanied me, but three glowing, gigantic eyeballs with three different colors.


    Three? This was great. I got a chance to choose after all. I seemed to have a quite nice luck. The majority of the elves had only one choice. Less than a quarter had two choices. Only one tenth of the population got three choices, if I remembered correctly.


    But that was not the limit. There were few people who were lucky enough to get four or five choices. I was pretty sure that Rudevall, the silver eyed guard, got five choices. That was if the story Maika told me was the truth.


    I looked at the three enormous floating eyeballs more carefully and was struck speechless for a few seconds. This¡­ Oh, shit¡­! Did this freaking thing really happen to me?!


    The colors of the three floating eyeballs in this empty space were¡­ both a blessing and a curse for me. They were all extremely rare¡­ golden, pure black, and dark purple.


    Goddamn it! The goddess of luck really played her nasty trick on me here, since whatever choice I made here, one thing was sure¡­ I could no longer live in peace.


    I took a deep breath¡­ three times. It could not completely stop the turmoil in my mind, but at least I was less frantic and could use my judgment a little better now. Thus, I closed my eyes to think about my choices, and searched for the information about the specialization within my memory.


    Golden eyes were considered the most powerful magic specialization. The people with this kind of eyes were pretty much an Archmage. If I chose this, I could learn any magic from any level and any attribute. The specialization would also make all of my spells¡¯ magic power increased for more than two hundred percent. Simply speaking, my spell power would be at least three times as strong as uncolored mage¡¯s. This is obviously the path that would be takenby overpowered protagonist.


    For the magic capacity, if I were to accept golden eye specialization, I would be able to learn up tothirty three different kinds of Aez and receive up tothirty three different kinds of Zea. Aez was basically active magic such as [Fireball], or [Heal] in games. Zea, on the other hand, could either be temporary magical buffs and debuffs, like [Protected] or [Berserk]; or passive magical ability such as [Low Fire Resistance] or [Poison Immunity].


    Those were the overwhelming advantages. The disadvantages were unfortunately also overwhelming, since this was basically the path that should only be taken by an extremely lucky hero. If I took it, it would be impossible for me to hide my specialization. It meant that I would be on the spotlight and would become the target of assassination of many factions within the country or from abroad. It was mentioned in all history books that I had read¡­ seven out of ten elves with golden eyes died young due to assassination.


    It was a simple mindset of people who played in politics, the game of power. An elf with golden eyes would be seen as a high threat low prospect candidate to be the loyal peon of any existing power. So, it was not really strange that people tried to eliminate him or her as soon as possible.


    So, the question here would be¡­ ¡®Do I have what it takes to walk on this path of a hero?¡¯


    Another choice I could take here was the specialization of pure black eyes. This was pure black, not the more common charcoal color.


    Charcoal eyes signified the path of a necromancer, the controller of the undead. It was not really appreciated in elven community, but it could still be barely accepted.


    Pure black color, on the other hand, indicated the path of a warlock, the one who manipulated infernal realm, danced with devils, and partied with demons. It was the path shunned by most society. It was the path designed for a¡­ villain.


    If I took this path, however, my spell power would rise even higher than if I took the golden color. The spell power increase of a warlock was about three hundred percent. It was four times as strong as the spell done by an uncolored person.


    Of course, there would be a drawback. Should I take this color, I would no longer be able to use any magic other than infernal magic. And the increase in magic capacity within my mind would not be very good either. It would be about seventeen different slots of aez and fifteen different slots of zea.


    However, the biggest problem with this choice did not lie with the ability. The main problem here was relationship. Would I be willing to live as an outcast for the rest of my life?


    The last choice I had here was the purple colored eyes. This one was the most extreme magic specialization that I knew of. It was fundamentally different since the possessor of purple eyes would not be able to use any kind of spell-casting, which meant that he or she could not learn magic from spell transfers, books, or teachers.


    Instead, if I were to pick this specialization, I would automatically learn a magic power called [Monster Magic Mimicry], which would allow me to learn magic by observing monsters¡¯ aez. Yeah, it was practically the Blue Mage of the legendary games in nineteenth or twentieth century in my old world.


    The spell power increase of this specialization was not bad, pretty much on par with golden eye specialization. However, the biggest problem here was the imbalance of magic capacity.


    If I took this specialization, I could receive up to ninety nine different kinds of zea. But, as compensation, the capacity of aez that was allowed in this specialization was merely three. That meant that I could only learn and use two active magic from monsters, since one slot was permanently used by the [Monster Magic Mimicry]. What made it worse, this [Monster Magic Mimicry] could not be used to learn zea, so the ninety nine free slots of zea were essentially pointless.


    As far as I knew, almost all of those who got these purple eyes completely abandoned magic and focused on martial and physical skills. Most of them turned out mediocre in life, but there was this purple eyed guy called Sobatta who, in the legend, was told to be able to pummel a fire dragon into a pulp just by using his fists. It was said that he could do it because eleven of his friends used eighty two different grandmaster level magic to buff him up before the fight.


    I sighed dejectedly.


    This purple eyed specialization, despite its rarity, was the most inconspicuous among the three. It would not make me stand out too much, which meant that it probably had the highest rate of survival in short term. But in the long term, well¡­ unless I could somehow earn loyal and powerful friends who would be willing to buff me up, it would be likely that I would end up very badly.


    But, relying too much to outside elements, like friends, did not fit very well with me. It was not that I had a problem with social skills. I was no social butterfly, but I could still make friends and keep them¡­


    (Sigh!) Who am I deceiving? Myself?


    I must admit it. I had a problem with trust. Casual friendship was fine for me. Getting true friends, best friends, however, was another matter. The fact that, in my past life, a person I thought was my best friend had a love affair with my wife behind my back might be the main psychological cause of this. Well, when I knew about that, soon they both ended up in ¡®traffic accidents¡¯. However, it didn¡¯t seem that their death could remove my cynical view of trust and friendship.


    Anyway, Sobatta¡¯s approach for making a good use of this spec¡¯s slots of zea was interesting, but definitely was not for me. I had designed a different approach to make the full use of this specialization, but it was very risky and involved a lot of research and much more hard work compared to the plans for my other choices of specialization. Would I be willing to submerge myself once more in risky work and research in this life, as I did in my past life?


    Wait! I could also mix the choices here. In my former world, there was something called Heterochromia. In this world, there was something like that too¡­ which was called dual specializations. Historically, there were a few powerful mages with dual specializations. Golden left eye and pure black right eye sounded cool, didn¡¯t they? I would be both¡­ a hero and a villain.


    By mixing specialization, I could end up very powerful. But it had a chance of failure. If I were extremely unlucky, there was a good chance that I became magically crippled. Could I really gamble here?


    I contemplated my choices for what seemed to me a very long time. Then, finally I made a decision. The color I would choose would be¡­

 Volume 1: Chapter 6 – Mind

    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 47 Gearro 3982


    Finally I made a decision. The specialization I would choose would be the dual one, golden and dark purple for each of my eyes. I knew that this would not be the safest or the most powerful choice. But this would definitely be really¡­ interesting, if it worked.


    On one side, I would get the ability to learn every type of magic spells. On the other side, I would not be able to learn any single magic spell, but I could learn monsters¡¯ magic. If this worked, it would be possible for me to use both normal magic spell and monsters¡¯ magic. It would be ridiculously easy to get overpowered.


    Damn! I knew I probably should not do this, but I could not resist the temptation. I would try it. I would definitely try it.


    I stretched both of my hands. My left hand touched the floating golden eyeball, while the right one touched the dark purple eyeball simultaneously.


    It started alright. Both gigantic floating eyeballs started to glow brighter at the same time. But then¡­


    ¡°Argh!¡± A shocking pain jolted what seemed to be my whole body and soul. What the¡­ This should not happen¡­ It should not be painful¡­ Did I make a bad mistake? But¡­


    The two gigantic floating eyeballs that I touched glowed brighter¡­ and brighter, before finally¡­


    Splash! The golden one burst out like a balloon pierced by a needle and disappeared as it turned into thin dark mist. The dark purple one, on the other hand, glowed even brighter¡­ and was finally disintegrated into countless particles of light that were quickly absorbed by my body.


    And when the last particle disappeared within my body, the darkness around me disappeared. My consciousness returned to the hall of the Temple of Day.


    ¡°Oh, gosh! Purple eyes? Incredible!¡± The excited voice of Veyra, the priestess, greeted me at a top speed. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it. You¡¯ve got purple eyes. It is the first time for me seeing this color on someone¡¯s eyes. I know about this color of course, since a person of this kind of specialization was not unheard of. But it is so rare that I have never seen one before. I don¡¯t think that anyone alive today, other than you, has this kind of specialization. You know that people with your kind of specialization are often called Beastmages, don¡¯t you? Ah, probably you don¡¯t, but¡­¡±


    I sighed. It failed, huh? My attempt for dual specializing golden and purple colors didn¡¯t work. And surprisingly, it was the golden one that was eliminated. Oh, well¡­ at least I was lucky enough not to be magically crippled by the failure.


    ¡°Ah, Little Khael! Are you disappointed with your color?¡± asked the priestess. ¡°Don¡¯t be that dejected. You know, there is a legend of a purple-eyed elf called Sobatta, who lived about a thousand years ago. He was able to fight a fire dragon equally without any weapon. A fire dragon, did you hear that? It was a dragon, not just a wyvern or a wyrm. You can be like him if you work really hard. You should not be disappointed, you know. Every specialization is special. As long as you accept it and make a good use of it, the special power of your color will definitely be able to bring you to the top.¡±


    ¡°Thank you, Veyra-ka. I¡¯m not really¡­¡±


    ¡°Ah! You remember my name. That is incredible. Nowadays, not many people will remember the name of people who work in public service like us. You are really something, aren¡¯t you, Little Khael? With that kind of attitude, I am very sure that you will be a great person in the future. You know¡­ Wait! Now that I see it more clearly, your clothes are ruined and¡­ Is that blood on your body? Ah! I know. I know. You were also fighting those nasty sragallae, weren¡¯t you? Fighting monsters in this young age? Amazing! As I¡¯ve thought, you are really a promising young man. I know that you will¡­¡±


    ¡°Er¡­ I have to leave now. It¡¯s getting really late. Thank you very much for everything, Veyra-ka.¡± I quickly ran away from the overly enthusiastic priestess. Gosh! She was really something¡­ to just now realize my ruined clothes and bloody body.


    I tossed two silver coins into the donation box outside the temple without stopping my running legs. I had spent too much time choosing my color. It would be very late now. Uncle would definitely¡­ Wait!


    I stopped my run and looked up to see the position of the sun which didn¡¯t seem to be that different from the time I entered the Temple of Day. Oh, shit! I forgot about that¡­ time dilation. The time I spent to choose my color, just like the time I spent to choose my name¡­ was essentially different from real time. What took hours of contemplation in that pitch dark realm would be nearly instantaneous in real time.How could I forget that? How could I become such a dumbass?


    I groaned. It seemed that disappointment in my heart had clouded my judgment. This was¡­ ridiculous. Was I that disappointed?


    While my mind entered a kind of self-reflection, my legs started moving again, not in a rapid running movement, but in a slow walk.


    After several moments reflecting what I experienced and felt, I had finally reached a pretty much obvious conclusion. I was disappointed. I must admit that. I was disappointed because there were missing opportunities that I could have acquired, but were now disappeared into a mere dream.


    Choices! Even though previously I was convinced that I would be alright no matter whatever color I would acquire, I got unexpectedly shaken just by a few available choices with their tempting potentials.


    I had prepared well-developed plans for each color, including this purple one I had with me now. I should not have been so disappointed that I turned into a silly scatterbrain. Yet, those unattained choices left me this upset inside.


    I should have known about this. I had experienced disappointment before. Well, I knew pretty much nothing about complex theory of psychology. But, this situation did not really involve too complicated psychological understanding. It was a simple, reasonable, emotional state of mind. I should have known about it.


    After a little more contemplation, I grinned. This was actually great. This disappointment caused by disappearing chances which manifested as distracted mind¡­ I was pretty sure that this was more or less universal. Therefore, I could use this concept as a psychological weapon against most of my future opponents. I would need to design some practical uses of this simple psychological knowledge later on.


    Once I cleared up the mess of my emotion, I realized that my legs had subconsciously brought me to the bank of a natural river with clean water and rapid current. I knew this place quite well. If I crossed this river, my uncle¡¯s house would just be about ten minutes leisure walks from there.


    It was still early afternoon though. Nobody would be at home. My uncle would still be in his smithy¡­ not that I wanted to see him that badly. Should I go somewhere first and return later just before the sun set?


    I made a quick calculation and shook my head gloomily. No. I needed a safe place to understand more of this specialization of mine and this magic that I now had, this [Monster Magic Mimicry]. And my uncle¡¯s house should be the safest spot for me now. It was guarded by plenty of enchantments after all.


    I walked a little bit alongside the river, and then, at the part I knew quite well, I crossed it. I jumped from rock to rock to the other side without any difficulty. After all, crossing this river was one of the common routines I had done while doing my free run.


    After I crossed the river, instead of walking, I ran home¡­ as if being chased by a pair of monsters previously was not enough. Ugh¡­ now that I could think of it better, I couldn¡¯t believe I decided to do that. What the hell was I thinking of?


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Anyway, on the way to my uncle¡¯s house, I passed the backyard of my uncle¡¯s smithy. I heard loud clanging noises from that sturdy iron-clad wooden workshop. The door and windows are closed but there was smoke coming out of the chimney. My uncle seemed to still be working there, completing special requests if seen from the closed doors and windows. And it seemed that he was oblivious to anything that had happened within the town.


    Geez! This place wasn¡¯t even that far from the town center. Did he even know that there was a terrorist attack?


    I sighed and continued my run home. In a few minutes I reached the place my uncle and I lived.


    Unlike the sturdy workshop which was firmly placed on the ground, my uncle¡¯s house was¡­ well, a tree house. It was a small cozy wooden house located on a huge blackwood tree, a typical elven dwelling in this town.


    I quickly climbed the tree and pushed the door open. It was an enchanted door by the way. It would not open for anyone other than my uncle or me. Well, truly dedicated burglars might still be able to find their way in, and really strong people could still break it down, but it was not like we had precious things inside.


    Inside, I quickly entered my room. Er, there were only three rooms here¡­ mine, my uncle¡¯s, and one that functioned as the living room, kitchen, and dining room altogether. Bathroom was outside, on the ground.


    As I entered and lay down on my bed, the gears of my mind started to work again¡­ This time I attempted to dive deep within my sub-consciousness. It would leave me vulnerable, but it was necessary. Besides, this room should be the safest place for me for now.


    Within a few seconds I had submerged completely, deep inside my mind¡­ into a personal place shaped like the inside of a library. I had entered this place for many times during my meditation practice, but this place¡­ had significantly changed.


    Before, my subconscious mind was shaped like a small library room with a volley-ball size floating transparent crystal at the center, and few shelves, in which many were filled with books. Those were the manifestation of my magic and memories.


    Now, however, this personal space within my mind was significantly much larger, with ridiculously huge size of book shelves covering the walls. A large part of the shelves was empty though. The number of books I had filling the shelves didn¡¯t seem to be that much different.


    The one that completely changed was the floating crystal at the center of the room. What had previously been transparent was now dark purple. And the size of the crystal was at least three times larger.


    Surrounding the huge crystal, there was a great number of revolving marble-sized spheres... about a hundred of them. Each sphere had different orbit and direction, and surprisingly, none of them ever seemed to crash against another. All of these marble-sized orbs were pretty much purple in color, but compared to the central huge crystal, three seemed to be of the darker shade while the others were lighter. Among the three darker ones, one seemed to be glowing eerily as it revolved around the crystal in a slow pace.


    The huge crystal seemed to be the manifestation of my magic specialization. And then, the smaller orbs would seem to be the manifestation of the available slots for my aez and zea. The three darker ones would be my aez, and the others would be my zea.


    I concentrated on the central crystal and information of my magic specialization flooded my cognition. After a few minutes digesting the details of the information, I understood, for the most part, what made my magic different from others.


    If I should explain in simple manner, normal magic users used magic force, willpower, and words. They gathered magic force, commonly known here as surprisingly¡­ mana, similar to the term used in many games. Until now I couldn¡¯t help wondering why it would be so similar¡­


    Ah, anyway¡­ Normal magic users gathered mana, shaped it with willpower, and unleashed it with words¡­ And, taraa..!! We got magic. That was why normal magic, or sorcery some might say, was often described simply as the¡­ will and words.


    In my case, it would be quite similar, except well¡­ words. My magic specialization forced me to be similar to the majority of monsters which unleashed magic through will only, without words. Simply speaking, the minuscule ability to unleash magic through words which I previously had was severed by my specialization. That was the reason I could no longer use ¡®normal¡¯ magic.


    This ¡®no-chant¡¯ thing for my magic was not as useful as it seemed, since in normal case words were not just used to unleash magic. Well, that was their main function, but words had at least two more important functions. One, it was used to help the users be more focused, especially in more complicated spells. Two, it was used to limit the ¡®over the limit¡¯ usage of spell related to the existing mana.


    I had no problem with the first additional function of words for spell-casting. Concentrating without using words was not that difficult for me.


    The second one was what made me worry. When a normal person with insufficient mana casted a spell; the worse thing that could happen was that the spell failed to materialize. When I used a magic with insufficient mana, the best thing that could happen to me was¡­ I fainted. The worst¡­ I died, since the magic would try to replace my lacking mana with my life force, and I didn¡¯t have the normal mages¡¯ word-filter.


    I knew it simply meant that I had to pay a careful attention to my mana. The problem was that this was not a game, where you could easily see mana points. There was no such convenient thing as interface or status page here. How would I know how much mana I had left?


    ¡­


    I sighed, and turned my attention to another important part of my specialization, my [Monster Magic Mimicry] ability. I concentrated on the revolving marble sized orb, the glowing one. And, another torrent of information appeared, to be digested quickly by my cognition.


    I let out another helpless sigh. The description of this magic skill I had previously read was as expected¡­ very accurate, which was quite disappointing. I had this tiny sliver of hope that the one who wrote the description of this magic was mistaken, that this magic was more useful than what I had read. My hope was unfulfilled.


    Just like what I had known, this [Monster Magic Mimicry] magic used a tiny amount of mana to observe the magical action of a monster. It let me learn the active magic observed from the monster.


    The problem was that it took many, many uses of the magic skill to learn a single active magic. And what I meant many here was that¡­ many. The simplest common level of active magic required me to observe, with my magic skill on, a monster using its active magic for at least thirty times.


    Well, there goes my plan of getting the super powerful dragon¡¯s [Fire Breath] by observing a dragon use it. To observe one dragon using its fire-breath for more than thirty times¡­ How often would a dragon need to use its fire breath anyway? How many decades would it take for me to complete that? And that was assuming that I didn¡¯t get obliterated by the fire.


    Oh, well¡­ I didn¡¯t put that much hope on this fire-breath plan anyway. I had a simpler plan, with much better prospects. This plan of mine was not a big plan. It was just a small one, but it didn¡¯t mean it was a bad one. Bigger was not always better after all.

 Volume 1: Chapter 7 – Plan

    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 47 Gearro 3982


    My plan was actually very simple. It was strongly related to the use of my remaining two active magic slots. Most beastmages normally used their aez slots for either attack magic, recovery magic, or buff magic. Well, it made some sense since we, beastmages, had very limited slots for active magic. Not many would choose non-combat ones when they were restricted by only two possible spaces.


    Several beastmages that I knew of, from stories I had read, actually tried learning a lot of different active magic skills to find what type of magic would be suitable for their combat style. It was not very effective but it could be done¡­ by overwriting the magic skill that had previously been learned. Well, it meant that the previous aez they learned disappeared from their mind and could only be relearned through similar tedious work they had done before.


    Different from those ¡®normal¡¯ beastmages, I planned to use the two remaining slots of aez in my mind for non-combat magic skills. My simple plan was to fill both of them with utility magic skills, which, even though, would not directly help me in battle, but would play a great role for powering me up.


    The first of the aez I would try to get was [Matjiwa], a beast magic skill which, in RPG games, functioned pretty much like [Identify] or [Appraisal], a skill to identify items, monsters, and the likes. Here, in this world, the normal identify spell, although it was not that hard to get, was actually included in a master level of alteration magic. So, not that many people could use this spell.


    For beastmages¡­ well, no beastmage I knew of learned this active spell. Yet, I knew it was possible for me to learn it, since many high level monsters like black dragons, gryphons, giant three-eyed owls, and nightmare serpents, could use it. Of course, my plan would not involve those deadly monsters. I did not make a plan to commit suicide.


    What I aimed was the less risky choice, even though unfortunately, was also less certain¡­ the insects, not the gigantic-monstrosity ones, but the tiny normal-sized ones.


    In Raea, what the elves called for this world, almost all living creatures were exposed to the world¡¯s magic essence, mana. Simply speaking, most creatures possessed magic power within them. This basically meant that it was much more difficult to find a non-magical creature rather than the magical one. Even the ¡®magic-less¡¯ humans, dwarves, barbarians, and gnomes actually possessed magic within them. Most of them were simply unable to manipulate this magic power due to their low sensitivity to perceive mana.


    In my previous world, up to the twenty third century where I used to live, there were already more than a million discovered species of insects, in which many of them possessed unique specialties. I was pretty much sure that this world was similar. My hypothesis was that most of the insects in this world would possess magic power, and that some would definitely possess the magic skill I wanted to have, the [Matjiwa].


    This idea of mine to make a good use of insects actually came from many books of nature I read, especially the one entitled ¡°The Tiny Lives¡± written by someone with a pen name ofGreen Druid. I assumed this writerwas an elf with nature magic specialization, green eyes. As far as I knew, those with green eyes were the only mages who were willing to spend their time studying nature, plants, and animals.


    As far as I knew too, no beastmage did any research on insects. Well, it didn¡¯t mean that there was a hundred percent certainty that no one else with purple eyes had had the same line of thought with mine. There were probably some beastmages who carried out the same plan like I did but they didn¡¯t publish it or let others know about it. That was a logical move actually. That was what I would do if I were them.


    Anyway, I was pretty sure that most beastmages in the past would not have learned magic from insects, since insects¡¯ power were generally considered either extremely weak or plain useless. That was a wrong line of thought though, since I was sure that, at least for beast mages, magic power was scaled to the amount and quality of mana used, other than the quality of magic skill itself.


    There were many factual proofs of that, like, for example, how a beastmage¡¯s [Heal] learned from a unicorn was significantly weaker from the original unicorn¡¯s [Heal], or how a beastmage¡¯s [Fireball] learned from a faerie imp was much stronger than the original. That meant that the magic from tiny creatures like insects, assuming that they did have magic, could be extremely powerful if it was scaled to ¡®human size¡¯.


    However, I had a feeling that looking for high level restoration or destruction active magic from insects would be a very big mistake. Most magical insects depended on their body structures to survive after all, so their healing power was mostly related to their passive magic, their zea, not aez. And, well, the only way insects could cause large scale destruction was by relying on numbers. Several millions of locusts could destroy a very large area, but a single locust¡­ well, not so much.


    Yeah, destruction or restoration was not the right choice here. But buff or utility magic¡­ that was a different case. And in my case, I already made a list of twenty two potential insects which might have [Matjiwa]. Among them, I had the greatest expectation for the wayjasmott (wise ant), matrog (beholder bug), and zarpod (jade mantis shrimp).


    Why would I want to learn this [Matjiwa] identify-appraisal thing? Well, it was for three main reasons.


    First, I could use it to check myself, especially¡­ my left-over mana, so that I wouldn¡¯t incidentally kill myself through the overuse of mana. Here, I also hoped that it could function like a character or status page in a game, which could be very useful in measuring my improvement.


    Second, I could use it to check well¡­ items, surrounding, monsters and the likes for dangerous things that could easily kill me, like poisons, diseases, or curses. After I managed to escape from the death caused by advanced biochemical virus, survive from the magical plague that killed my family¡­ it would definitely be really frustrating and embarrassing to die just because I accidentally picked a cursed item or something silly like that. Although¡­ I would probably not feel frustrated or embarrassed, since yeah¡­ I would be dead already.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    And, the last and the most important reason I needed to get the magic skill was so that I could find an insect, or any other harmless monster, which possessed [Glook] or something similar to that. This [Glook] was an active magic skill which let the user to devour, absorb, and learned its weakened enemy¡¯s power, both the aez and zea. There was only one single monster species known to possess this terrible ability¡­ glookalk, which was also known as the devourer, the harbinger of chaos, the pinnacle of predation, and the emperorof the underworld.


    I had no intention to search for any glookalk. Nope, no way! This creature was even stronger and more dangerous than a dragon. I definitely didn''t want to meet it. However, I refused to believe that no other creature could take the passive magic skills from other creatures. Perhaps there was indeed no other creature that possessed a cheat-like power at the magnitude of [Glook]. But, there must be other creatures out there that had an active magic skill to learn passive magic skill. An aez to learn a zea¡­ that was my aim for the last slot of my active magic.


    Similar to the one with identify-appraisal thing, I had already made a list of insects with the potential of possessing that kind of magic skill. The problem was that there were currently only three species of insects included in the list, the skreylang (greed locust), orxaliba (skull tarantula), and embasrog (doppelganger bug). Oh well, once I got the [Matjiwa], I could just analyze any creature I would encounter. I might get lucky that way.


    I still had many things to consider, but I guessed it was time to return to the real world. My time inside my mind here was not dilated after all. I wished I could get an ability to make my time here a thousand times faster than the outside world¡­


    ......


    I snapped out of my contemplation. My consciousness returned back to my room.


    Stretching lazily, I stood up, and then I got out of my room. Nobody else was in the house. It seemed that my uncle hadn¡¯t returned yet. What should I do now?


    Oh yeah, I needed to sterilize these wounds all over my body. Ugh! Taking a bath with [purifying water]¡­ that was not fun at all. The smell¡­ the pain¡­ I wished I could use [Heal]. Should I go to the Healers¡¯ Hut? It was not too far away from here, but their price was quite expensive.


    Oh, damn! That priestess in the Temple of Day was a healer, wasn¡¯t she? Why didn¡¯t I ask her to cast [Heal] on my wounds? Stupid me! Should I return back there? But what if she charged the same as the other healers? It was a damn waste of money¡­


    I sighed and opened oneparticular drawer in the living room where my uncle put his health emergency kits. Resigned to my fate, I took a jar of [purifying powder], grabbed a set of clothes and a towel, and then moved down, out of the tree house¡­ into our small bathroom on the ground.


    ¡­¡­


    Well, in short, I took a bath to sterilize my wounds. It was not entertaining¡­ at all, but at least I could stop myself from screaming out loud, and the smell now was not as bad as the time Ifirst mixed the water and the[purifying powder].


    Anyway, my uncle still hadn¡¯t come home yet, even though the sun had almost completely set, so I decided to spend my time enjoying the beautiful view of the sunset.


    I looked at the sky, taking in the beauty of the serene scenery. Up there, on the clear cloudless sky, on which the western part had turned reddish, two of Raea¡¯s four moons could be seen already, decorating the boundless sky. Some stars could also be noticed with naked eyes, even though the sky hadn¡¯t turned dark yet. I had seen this view plenty of times, but it still felt magnificent yet strangely alien.


    Looking at that sky, my eyes could not help but be captivated by one of the two moons above, the one that was... probably almost three times as large as the Earth¡¯s moon, crystal-like in appearance, and pale yellow in color, Gearro. That moon was simply¡­ breathtakingly beautiful. It was as if a gigantic round yellow diamond floated majestically on the sky. The other moons were also interesting sights to see, but since they were not as big as Gearro, their beauty was not that imposing.


    The four moons in Raea somehow signified something like seasons¡­ the divisions of time. Well, the time measurement in this world was quite different than that of my old world. One cycle of a day and night here was about thirty hours, which meant that this world either was bigger or rotated slower than the Earth where I used to live.


    Here, there was nothing like month or week. There were four museeme though, which were pretty similar to seasons; each consisted of ninety six days. They were named after the moons¡­ Gearro, Ageny, Silph, and Veruna. Those names themselves simply meant earth, fire, wind, and water¡­ the clich¨¦ elements.


    Gearro, the season of earth¡­ not the planet but earth the ground-land-dirt-rock thing, was similar to spring, a season when flowers bloomed and animals mated, well¡­ at least that was here in the northern continent, in the southern continent it was probably different.


    Ageny, the season of fire, here was the equivalent of summer, the time when the power of the sun blanketed the world in its warm passion. Ageny the moon was the smallest among the four. It had reddish glow which was beautiful yet spooky at times.


    Silph, the season of wind, was pretty much the same as autumn, the time when the wind led the fallen leaves in a wild dance of glory. Its moon was probably about the same size of the earth¡¯s moon. Depending on the time during the year, its color ranged from pale green to deep turquoise. It was probably the weirdest moon, seen from its range of color.


    And Veruna, the season of water, was easily comparable to winter, the time when cold snow covered the night of tranquility. Its bluish moon was just a little smaller than Silph, but other than its hue, it was the most normal one among the other moons.


    About the smaller part of time measurement¡­ it could be said that, in this world, time was much simpler. There was no such thing like minutes or hours. Time of the day was only divided in just eight parts which were equal to¡­ dawn, morning, noon, afternoon, dusk, evening, midnight, night. Simple!


    Still talking about measurement, well¡­ I was really glad that most cultures in this world adopted base-ten numeral system, just like what was common in my old world. I would really hate it if the one used here was hexadecimal or binary or unary or any other strange numeral system.


    I stopped musing about this random thought in my mind when I heard heavy footsteps.


    When I looked at the direction of where the footsteps were coming, I could see my uncle, a very tall elf who looked more like a bear with his impressive muscles, messy long dark hair and imposing beard. This bear-like elf carrieda barrel which seemed to be full of weapons on his shoulder.


    He walked straight to my direction with rushed footsteps and heavy scowl, worse than the usual, on his face. Oh, gosh! He was in a bad mood. Did he somehow know that I almost died earlier today? This was bad¡­ very bad.


    When he was just a few steps away from me, my uncle opened his mouth. And the first thing he said was¡­

 Volume 1: Chapter 8 – Curse

    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 47 Gearro 3982


    When he was just a few steps away from me, my uncle opened his mouth. And the first thing he said was¡­


    ¡°KHAEL?!¡±


    Huh? How had he known my name already? And why did he say it in that angry tone?


    ¡°Er¡­ yeah. That¡¯s the name I chose. How¡­¡±


    ¡°Why?¡± interrupted my uncle, in his usual short grumpy way of talking, yet in surprisingly scary tone which I had never heard from him.


    ¡°Why? Er¡­ do you mean why¡­ why I chose the name? Well, uh¡­ because it¡¯s cool¡­ also er¡­ short, and simple enough? Um¡­ how do you know that I picked that name, Uncle?¡± I said awkwardly. I was always bad in having conversation with this uncle of mine, but today¡­ it was much worse.


    He snorted and simply answered in one word, ¡°Laertreon.¡±


    Great! I should have known that it was that silly talkative guard. ¡°Uh¡­ is there anything wrong with my name, Uncle?¡±


    ¡°Fool!¡±


    ¡°Huh? Fool? Me? I am a fool¡­ er¡­ because I chose the name? Why?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s CURSED!¡± My uncle roared angrily.


    ¡°Wait, what?! My name is cursed? Really?!¡± I said in a shock.


    I knew that elves believed in many things that people of my old world would call superstitions. One of those beliefs was that some names were cursed. In my old world, I would simply laugh at that silly nonsense. But here, in the world where magic and curse really existed, of course I wouldn¡¯t ignore that.


    My uncle snorted again. ¡°Come!¡± He said and moved quickly to his tree-house. Even when he carried a big heavy barrel full of weapons, he easily climbed up to the house. I quickly followed him.


    My uncle dropped the barrel he carried randomly on the table in the living room. He then did a quick search to one of the two medium sized bookshelves there. Soon, he took out a book from the bookshelf and flipped the pages quickly.


    I could see the title of the book, ¡®Blessings and Curses¡¯. I had read that book. In fact, I had read all the books in those two bookshelves. Did I really miss some information there? I was pretty sure that I had memorized all the cursed names.


    ¡°Here!¡± My uncle shoved me the book.


    I took the opened book and quickly read the title of the page, ¡®Blessed yet Cursed Names¡¯. Wait¡­ blessed and cursed at the same time? I didn¡¯t remember there was something like that. Did I really miss this? There were only a few names written here, and¡­ Damn! There it was my name down there¡­ How could I miss something like this?


    Khael (thorn or tusk) - the name was blessed with unexpected luck in acquiring power by Neira, the Goddess of Wild Life, but, at the same time, was also cursed by Arze, the God of War, with ill-fated destiny of always attracting stronger opponents .


    What the heck was this?! Luck in acquiring power? So that was why I got three extremely rare choices in magic specialization. But¡­ this¡­ always attracting stronger opponents? How the hell could my luck be useful then?! What good was it to get strong power when the enemy was always stronger? Did I have to always run away from my enemies?


    I frantically flipped the pages further to find any information on how to break the curse of chosen names. I knew I had read something like that before. And, here it was¡­


    Curses on names and titles could not be cleansed by normal means such as dispelling magic or purifying rituals. The only way they are broken is when the possessor of the cursed titles reach the pinnacle of mortal power in the domain related to the titles; and when the possessor of the cursed names reach the pinnacles of mortal power in all three domains.


    I felt weak immediately, as if the whole power in me disappeared from every single cell of my body. This was ridiculous. Reaching the pinnacles of mortal power in all three domains¡­ Shit!


    I tried to calm myself down. I needed to think about this carefully. The good news was that the curse on my name could be purged. The bad news was¡­ it would probably take me more than a hundred years to do it. That was if I were extremely lucky.


    Reaching the pinnacle of mortal power meant that I needed to reach level 100¡­ whereas I was now still in level 1. And, worse yet, I needed to reach level 100 in all three domains: soul, mind, and body. Well, it was indeed in line with the first stage of my existing plan since at that stage I wanted to level all domains equally, but still¡­ reaching level a hundred in all three domains of power would be¡­ really hard. In my original plan, I wanted to hit fifty in all domains before focusing in one domain only, mind. That was because leveling up in the upper level was much¡­ much harder. But looking at my current situation, it seemed that I had to change the plan.


    Level, in this world, was not exactly the same as the normal ¡®level¡¯ thing introduced by the classic RPG games. In fact, here, it was closer to power rank in Chinese stories. Increasing a level here was not acquired through killing monsters or completing quests. It was acquired through practice and intentional effort to break through the layer of power within one¡¯s soul, mind, or body.


    In Raea, there were fundamentally three domains of power which could increase in levels.


    The first domain, soul or spirit, would increase in level when the quality of inner spiritual power was improved well enough to break each spiritual layer within. The elves called this inner spiritual power, which was in a way a little similar to ki, rokh. The only way to increase the quantity and improve the quality of rokh was by practicing breathing techniques while circulating inner energy through spiritual channel deep inside the soul core. It was not too different from Eastern¡¯s power cultivation concept in my old world, with its meridian and diantian things.


    The second domain, mind, was basically related to mind quality, like concentration, memory capacity, thought processing speed, and the most prominent of all¡­ magic power. It would increase in level every time an acceptable portion of one¡¯s mana was refined to become better in quality. The only known way to refine mana was through mana-refining meditation, which basically was a concept of absorbing mana from the environment and filtering out its impurities within one¡¯s mind by focusing willpower inward.


    The last domain, body, was the hardest to increase for elves like me. Exercising or training muscles in regular manner would not make me increase in body level. Body domain involved dyaan, which was akin to stamina-vigor-resilience thing. And it also involved every single cell of my body, including bones, skins, flesh, joints, nerves, blood, internal organs, and even hair.


    There were only two known methods for leveling up this domain. The first was through life and death battle against stronger or equal opponents, which I would like to avoid if possible. The second was through body-tempering routine, which basically stimulated, and shivered, every single cell of the body through a tai-chi-like movement. However, unlike the tai-chi movement in my own world, the body-tempering movement here was¡­ extremely painful.


    Breaking to the next level in each of those three domains produced similar result, about twenty percent increase in the quality and quantity of rokh, mana, or dyaan, as well as about ten percent increase in the general quality of the domain. This percent-based improvement simply meant that those who were willing to spend more time enhancing their power¡¯s quality and capacity through practice before breaking through the next level would get more benefits.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    This actually created some kind of dilemma. Let¡¯s say that I passed the minimum requirement to break through the next level. Should I break through right away? Or should I spend more time to strengthen myself further before breaking through the next level? If I picked the first choice, I would get less improvement, but I would be stronger earlier. If I picked the second choice, I would get more improvement, but it would take more time to be stronger. Which one should I choose?


    The second choice seemed to be more attractive in the long term. But again, this world was not very safe. Who could guarantee that no stronger enemy would attack me when I was trying to strengthen myself? In the case of unexpected earlier attack like that; earlier breakthrough would give me more chances of surviving. But, if the enemy attacked much later in the future, when I was already at the peak of my power, later breakthrough would be much more advantageous. This was the damned dilemma everybody in this world had to face.


    My current situation of still being in the first level was actually the case of me choosing the second choice. I had already passed the minimum requirement for breaking through to level two in ¡®mind¡¯ domain since about seven years ago and in the other two domains since five years ago. Yet, I decided to postpone the breakthrough to gain more benefits. It seemed that it was time for me to stop postponing and start leveling up.


    Alright, my short-term target should be¡­ let¡¯s see¡­ to hit level five in thirty days should be reasonable. Okay, I would do that. With the success of my experiment, it should be an easy thing to do.


    My experiment¡­ well, it was strongly related to my practice in three domains of power. As a normal civilian of elven society, I had the simplest, most elementary access for training soul and body¡­ the [Basic Body Tempering Routine] for body, and the [Universal Foundation Cultivation Technique] for soul. For training mind, on the other hand, I had an access to my father¡¯s technique which was somehow higher in quality compared to the basic one. This mind training technique was called the [Blue Sky Meditation].


    Outside my regular training practice, for these five years, I had tried to combine all three practicing methods. It was a slow going¡­ and painful process. I had almost given up many times. Trying to stimulate every cell in the body while, at the same time, controlling rokh to circulate in specific order was hard enough. Adding inward focused mind to that mix was like pouring oil in already blazing fire¡­ disastrous.


    However, it was good that I didn¡¯t give up. Last Veruna, season of water, I did reach an acceptable degree of success in the experiment for the first time. Now, I had almost perfected the mixed up training technique, which I simply called [Trinity Training Technique]. I should have no problem in reaching up to level thirty using this technique. It might take some time to get to that level, three years at the very least, but I should not face any bottleneck situations yet. Over level thirty though¡­ that would be a very different problem.


    Well, level thirty should be comparable to the elven guards. Laertreon once, less than a year ago, told me that he was level thirty three in soul domain, and twelve in mind domain. He said he didn¡¯t even bother increasing his level in body domain, so he was probably level one or two at it. So, assuming that he didn¡¯t lie, I could safely conclude that the average level of the elven guards would be early thirties, since Laertreon¡¯s rank was just a little above average within the guards.


    Anyway, what Laertreon did, increasing mostly one dominant domain while abandoning another one, was a normal thing to do, since most people would just choose one main domain to improve and probably just one other for support. Leveling all three would be too time-consuming. Besides, when one¡¯s level was measured, usually for job application requirement, by an [Identify] spell or the gnomish gadget [Appraisal Goggle], only the highest level would appear. Yeah, those without the spell or the gadget would have no way of measuring someone¡¯s level.


    Wait¡­ why did I even think about this random info? Damn it! I needed to focus. My problem was not these things. My problem was this damned silly curse on my name. How should I deal with this ¡®always-attracting-stronger-opponent¡¯ annoyance?


    Breaking the curse would be the ideal things, of course. But it would take years, or even centuries, for me to get to the condition where the curse could be broken. What should I do to deal with this curse meanwhile? Should I isolate myself until I reached the peak of mortal power?


    Nope. That was not the answer. Where would I even do that isolation thing? Within a ¡®safe¡¯ town?! I was almost die, being chased by monsters in this ¡®safe¡¯ town just right after I chose my name. Within a ¡®safe¡¯ wilderness?! What was I thinking? There was no such thing like that¡­


    Okay, isolation was not the answer¡­


    I had to survive against stronger opponents, didn¡¯t I? Should I focus on my escaping skill mastery? That would not be so bad, wouldn¡¯t it? I could keep doing my parkour, learn¡­ stealth, hide, teleport. That would be interesting. I could be a¡­ ninja or something like that.


    ¡­¡­


    Nope. That was just partially correct answer. I wouldn¡¯t mind learning ninja-like skills, but I should not completely rely on run-away mindset. Escapism would really deter my growth, both in power and in personality. Besides, I remembered that in most RPG games and fantasy stories, there was this kind of events where the protagonist was unable to escape from a fight.


    Well, I didn¡¯t think that I was a protagonist and this definitely was not a game, but that was not the problem. The problem was¡­ I knew there were at least seven master level magic spells, three special soul skills, and two expensive gnomish gadgets that locked an enemy within one area. If any of those was used on me, it would simply be the ¡®BOSS event¡¯ inescapable battle. Therefore, for me, relying completely on escaping skills was obviously¡­ not going to happen.


    Damn! This curse was really troublesome. Stronger opponent¡­ stronger¡­ I knew the stronger would not always be the winner. So, how could the weaker win against the stronger?


    Numbers! That was the first answer that came to my mind. A party of adventurers defeating a BOSS monster was what I imagined related to this. That meant that I needed to get allies, huh? This could work, but it was definitely not going to be in my top priority list. I had already said that I had a problem with trust, hadn¡¯t I?


    Another way that the weaker could win against the stronger was through¡­ equipment. If I could somehow get a single quantum gun from my old world, or even the weaker version¡­ the photon rifle that those people in twenty second century used, I would simply blast these silly ¡®stronger opponents¡¯ of mine to dust.


    Unfortunately, in my past life I simply was a biologist, not a gun or mechanical maniac. I had no idea how to build gadgets, except the plain-simple-archaic ones. Well here, I could probably get enchanted weapons or something¡­ But, that would be much later, since those kinds of powerful equipment were definitely not cheap. And I had pretty limited fund at the moment.


    For now, I would have to rely on simple iron weapons. I had given a pair of weapon designs to my uncle. Er¡­ he said he would make them for me when he had spare time. Anyway, I designed those custom-made weapons for practicality, not power. So, I could not really depend on them to overpower my stronger enemies.


    I had to find another way to anticipate my damned curse. What else would let the weaker win against the stronger?


    Poison¡­? Nah, it was too dangerous, not just for the enemies, but also for me.


    Alchemy and enchanting¡­? Nope! Too expensive!


    Wait¡­ there was that thing¡­ Martial Art!


    Yeah¡­ martial art! Some types of martial arts in my past life were designed to make use of the enemies¡¯ strength to defeat them. Yup, that was right. Judo, jujitsu, some types of wrestling, some styles of kung-fu¡­ yeah, that kind of martial art¡­


    Here, in this world, there were also many different styles of martial arts. Currently, I was learning two of them, the [Tappa], a kind of bare handed martial art which was a little similar to Thai kickboxing, since it utilized fist, elbows, legs, and knees liberally; and the [Loweld], a martial art which specialized in dual-wielding short weapons.


    The problem was¡­ these two martial arts I was learning focused on refining and improving my own fighting techniques. In short it was focusing to make me stronger, faster, and more experienced. It had¡­ ¡®when I was better than my opponent, I win¡¯¡­ that kind of mindset. Well, there was normally nothing wrong with that. Many martial arts in my old world did that too, like boxing, karate, or sumo. It was the¡­ manly martial art. It was definitely more appealing to me that those kinds of ¡®dance-like¡¯ martial arts that focused on the ¡®beautiful¡¯ movement. The problem was again¡­ my stupid curse.


    I rummaged my memories, searching for martial art styles that were closer to what I needed. And very soon, I found it.


    [Ealong]¡­ That would be the martial art that I needed. The dojo was not that far from here. It was actually even closer to this place compared to the dojos of [Tappa] and [Loweld] I was attending. The only reason I didn¡¯t attend the [Ealong] dojo previously was because¡­ well, the students there were mostly girls and the short weak-looking dawn elves. Yeah... It seemed that I had been stupid enough to judge people from their outer appearance.


    Alright, I had decided. I would prioritize learning [Ealong] now, although I might need to end my practice in either [Tappa], or [Loweld], or both of them.


    Of course, I would still need to practice my free-run. It had saved my life previously. And I needed to spend some time trying to learn [Matjiwa]. Also, I should prepare some time for my level-up, and probably increase the amount of time I would spend for my [Trinity Training Technique] afterward. Wait¡­ I still had some books in the library that I had to read because it might be crucial for my future survival. And I would need more money, so I had to spend some time helping in my uncle¡¯s workshop to earn it.


    Gosh! This schedule¡­ Would I even have time for a break?

 Volume 1: Chapter 9 – Weapons

    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 47 Gearro 3982


    I let out a long relieved breath. I had made an acceptable adjustment to my survival plan. It should be good enough for now.


    ¡°Done?¡± I heard my uncle asked.


    I looked at the source of the voice. My uncle was sitting comfortably on his usual great chair. A huge loaf of bread was in his hand and a big cup of hot coffee was on the wooden table in front of him. Well, I said coffee¡­ but it was not really the same with my old world¡¯s coffee. The smell and the look were similar, but the taste was closer to ginger drink¡­ more spicy hot rather than bitter. In Elven, it was called javey¡­ a favorite drink of many elves¡­ not me, though.


    ¡°Yeah, I have designed a pretty much reasonable plan to cover this stupid mistake I did,¡± I said.


    ¡°Plan?¡±


    ¡°Martial art basically¡­ It seems that I have to switch from [Tappa] and [Loweld] to [Ealong]. Of course, I will also need to work harder in my run and magic.¡±


    My uncle nodded. His expression was still like usual, grim without any smile. ¡°Beastmage?¡± He asked while pointing to my eyes.


    ¡°Yeah, this is what I got. The result of the blessing it seems.¡±


    ¡°Same plan?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± I simply said. My uncle knew my plans. Not because I told him willingly, but because he read the power-up plans within my diary. Yeah, I did write a diary in unencrypted rune-letters. I was stupid. I knew that.


    Here, in elven society, there was no such concept of a diary being a private object. Anything that was written down was for anyone¡¯s consumption. That was the concept of book and anything written here. If people wanted nobody but only certain people understood what was written, they needed to use personally encrypted rune-letters, of which only those certain people know. I was stupid, I knew. But, that plan of mine was written five years ago, before I understood the concept of encrypted writing and before I could access the library within my mind.


    Anyway, the fact that my uncle knew my plan was actually quite a good thing, since I could see him in a different light.


    My uncle was not much of an uncle. He was a pretty bad teacher. As a guardian, he was even worse. I was lucky because I was basically adult inside, so his lack-of-interest, no-affection, and free-reign policies did not really affect me much. But, I could imagine if I were a real child, I would definitely be either a depressed kid or an unruly one. I was really glad I was not a real child.


    For my uncle¡¯s occupation¡­ well, he was certainly capable in blacksmithing, but he was not really special. There were about six or seven other blacksmiths in this town who were better than him. The power of his magic specialty, enchanting, which was signified by his magenta eyes, was not bad¡­ but not good either, quite average. His physical power was quite high, but he was pretty slow and not very accurate. So, he could not be considered a great fighter either.


    Looking from those facts, my uncle seemed to be an ordinary run-of-the-mill blacksmith. Yet, after he found out my plan and had a discussion with me¡­ well, in his frustrating-few-words way of speaking, I found out that he was extremely intelligent¡­ in a weird way though.


    Surprisingly, my uncle¡¯s comprehension ability was exceptionally high, and so was his memory. I even had some suspicion that he possessed eidetic memory. Also, using those high level comprehension and memory I assumed, he could easily make a correct deduction from the provided facts, find loopholes in any plan, and give accurate prediction of what would happen. Yet, the strange thing was that he couldn¡¯t seem to be able to make any innovation or design anything new.


    It was as if my uncle were an AI-less computer of my old world¡¯s twentieth century¡­ or a generic super assistant with lack of initiative.


    This was, of course, really good for me. I used my uncle as a kind of proof reader for all my power-up plans. I didn¡¯t even need to worry about him spreading my ¡®secret¡¯ power-up plans. He was probably the epitome of passiveness and introversion in this town after all.


    The only weak point of him being my super assistant was that, other than the time right after he read my notes, he never provided non-requested assistance. Well, telling me about the curse on my name today was the second time he volunteered information without being asked.


    ¡°Four,¡± my uncle said, while throwing half a loaf of bread at me.


    ¡°Huh?¡± I asked in confusion while my right hand automatically caught the bread.


    ¡°Four years.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean four years, Uncle? I planned to stay here for another year only, remember?¡± I said, biting a small piece of the bread and slowly munching it to completely absorb the nutrition. The elven bread, Gemmus, was not very delicious, but it had nice smell and was full of useful substances.


    My uncle shook his head. ¡°After that,¡± he said.


    ¡°Um¡­ my plan was to go to Stellios Forest for at least seven years. You said it yourself that it is the most optimal choice, Uncle.¡±


    I did plan leaving the town next year. I needed to temper myself in wilderness, outside the safety of this town¡¯s magic walls. Combat experiences, survival skills, sharpened senses, and links to wilder nature¡­ those were what I wanted to get.


    Going out to wilderness for several years was a common thing to do for young elves that focused on fighting skills or combat magic. Most elves did it in their late teens and in a group though. I wanted to start earlier and alone. But the location I chose, Stellios Forest was not that dangerous. It was just a low-level forest with few types of hostile monsters, the weak ones. I would someday move to the more dangerous areas, but from the complex calculation I had made, and my uncle had agreed, it would be the most effective and safest for me to stay in that low level area for at least seven years.


    ¡°Change it. Four.¡±


    ¡°You want me to move to Relogan Swamp after four years, Uncle? Isn¡¯t it too dangerous?¡±


    ¡°No. Here.¡±


    ¡°You want me to return here after fouryears. Why?¡±


    ¡°War,¡± my uncle said simply.


    I was speechless for a few seconds. War? How could my uncle predict¡­ Wait, is that¡­


    ¡°Gretha-Mord Treaty?¡± I asked in unsure voice. I didn¡¯t care much about politics, but I still knew enough about important political things which could affect my life.


    Gretha-Mord Treaty was basically a magical no-aggression treaty made by our kingdom,Gretharea, and our neighboring empire, Mordeon, to stop any hostility against each other. I knew that the treaty would expire in fiveyears, but it didn¡¯t mean that the treaty could not be extended. It should be the best interest for each country that they extended the treaty, shouldn¡¯t it?The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    My uncle just grunted unpleasantly and pointed at the wall, or more accurately, at a framed canvas on the wall.


    The canvas here was not for displaying picture. Rather it functioned like a¡­ well, newspaper or announcement projection. A nation-wide information agency, Breytar, projected important news in magical short messages on that canvas. The subscription fee for this service was quite high, but my uncle seemed to think that it was a necessary service to have. Well, I had to agree with him on this. I was from a world where information and technology were easily accessible after all.


    Anyway, the content of the message in the canvas was a simple one sentence announcement¡­ Mordeon Empire declared war against Owanna Kingdom.


    What the hell was happening today? The terrorists¡¯ attack¡­ and now this ridiculous announcement of war¡­ Although the one involved in the war was not my country, Gretharea, but still¡­


    But wait¡­ Owanna Kingdom? I quickly went to one of the bookshelves and took out one book in which I knew contained the most up to date map of the Northern Continent. Owanna Kingdom¡­ here it was. Then, Mordeon Empire, since it expanded its territory by conquering Trocana Queendom seven years ago and Joon Kingdom two years ago, it would be¡­ Oh, shit! Now, I knew why my uncle could predict that ''war''.


    Owanna was a small peaceful kingdom in the southeast of Gretharea. There would be little chance of the kingdom to be able to survive against Mordeon Empire¡¯s attack. And if Owanna were defeated, Gretharea would be completely surrounded by Mordeon in all sides, except the small part of northern coast. If that happened, would the Empire be willing to extend the treaty? No way.


    ¡°You are right, Uncle. War seems to be inevitable,¡± I said bleakly.


    This was bad. Compared to Gretharea, Mordeon Empire was almost twice as big. Since it constantly plunged itself to wars, and it kept winning, its soldiers would definitely be stronger. And with the corrupt government reigning in Gretharea, and its complacent lazy soldiers, winning the war would be really hard.


    I sighed in desperation. But, I hadn¡¯t lost hope yet. The government of this country was indeed mostly corrupt. But those people in the government were not stupid. They should already know what it meant for the Empire to declare war against Owanna. They should be preparing for war now. And with five years preparation, the chance of stopping the Empire¡¯s invasion would be much higher.


    Besides, unlike the small countries that were defeated by the empire, Gretharea sheltered many powerful beings, since this kingdom was located in the most strategic place for magic power acquisition. The strongest general in the Northern Continent, the ten legendary mages, the sentient white dragon, the mythical hermit, the council of demigods, the sleeping immortal giant¡­ If those insanely strong beings could be rallied as allies, the Mordeon Empire¡¯s invasion would definitely fail.


    The only problem would just be¡­ traitors. There were always those kinds of people who would prefer joining the stronger enemies rather than fighting against them. If any of the great beings opted to join the Empire, it would be¡­ very bad. And, that was not ungrounded fear.


    If I were the emperor of the Mordeon Empire, I would definitely prioritize on gaining the support of those beings, or at least ensuring that those overpowered creatures stay neutral during the war. Of course, I would also disrupt any effort of the government of this country to gain those beings¡¯ allegiance. There would be many ways to do that. I could redirect the focus of the government by planting spies and creating chaos. Wait, that was¡­


    ¡°Uncle, do you think the Empire is behind the Bhalafaeth¡¯s terror?¡± I quickly tried to confirm my suspicion.


    ¡°High chance,¡± he grunted. ¡°Others too.¡±


    ¡°Others? What do¡­ Wait! You mean the rampaging bandits in Tanera Town, the revolt in Gyoya City, the necromancers¡¯ outbreak in Jartan Town, the¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± My uncle cut my ramblings.


    So, that was it. This chaos all over the country was very likely backed by the Empire. Damn! That was a great strategy for the Empire, but it was very bad for this kingdom.


    The Empire seemed to have the upper hand here. It seemed to be very prepared to conquer this kingdom. This kingdom was in very bad situation. Then, would my return have any effect? I should probably just stay in Stellios Forest. It should be easier to survive there if I focused on stealth within these five years.


    But then, what about my uncle, and the other people in this city? I was not really close to any of them and me being here would not change that much, but could I just leave them to their fate here? Would I be willing to suffer guilty conscience for the rest of my life? Would I be willing to risk my life to avoid guilty conscience? What should I do?


    After long enough considering my choices¡­


    ¡°So?¡± asked my uncle.


    ¡°I will return here before the war erupts, Uncle.¡± I answered in a weak voice. Why had I chosen this path to tread on? I could not even say I knew the logical reason myself.


    My uncle just grunted as a response, stood up, and walked to the big barrel he dropped previously. He took several things covered with brown leather cloth from the barrel and placed them at the table.


    ¡°Yours,¡± he said, still in grumpy tone.


    I was speechless for a few seconds. Then, a wide grin started to appear on what previously was my gloomy face. Those were the special weapons I ordered. They were already completed. I didn¡¯t expect this soon, but¡­ this was great.


    I quickly checked the first item. I yanked the cloth cover, and was immediately charmed with my first weapon... my main-hand weapon.


    It was not much of a weapon actually. It was closer to a tool rather than a weapon. This first weapon of mine was an [iron hammer axe]. With its strong arm-length handle, sharp fan-like cutting edge, and blunt hammer-shaped axe-butt, it was a decent enough weapon for me¡­ at least for now. It was pretty heavy for my current strength, but not bad enough to stop me from using it.


    With this weapon, I had access for two different types of physical attack¡­ slashing and bludgeoning. It meant that I could adjust my physical attack depending on my opponent¡¯s characteristic. If I had to face, for example, an armored enemy, bludgeoning attack would be my main source of damage. For non-armored enemies, on the other hand, I was sure that slashing or chopping with the axe cutting edge would generally be much more effective.


    The next item would be my long ranged as well as left-hand weapon. It was a [slingshot blade]. The blade was originally a birth-gift from my father, made of an unknown tusk. It was extraordinarily hard, sharp on its edges, and straight, not curved like most tusk-blades. Its shape was slim and had pointed tip like the blade of a rapier, although it was a little wider and shorter. It was obvious that this blade was very effective for piercing. That was another type of physical attack on my arsenal.


    Although I asked my uncle to modify it, the blade was actually unchanged at all. The hilt of the blade was, on the other hand, very different from the original. It was formed like a reversed letter ¡®Y¡¯. And with a pair of rubber-like bands connected to an ammunition holder¡­ there it was, a slingshot.


    In many places of my old world, decades before the digital era began; slingshot was treated like a child¡¯s toy rather than a weapon. But this thing I hold here¡­ it was definitely not a toy. The material used for the rubber-like bands was Corotta¡¯s tendon, a substance with toughness and elasticity rivaling the super synthetic rubber of my old world. The full-draw strength of the slingshot was not very different from the full-draw strength of a longbow. Both were powerful long range weapons in the hand of capable wielders, which meant... not me. I was capable, but I didn''t have enough strength yet to make a full draw on both weapons.


    Anyway, I chose a slingshot for my ranged weapon not because I could not use bows. I was accurate enough in archery for medium range. I was an elf after all. My problem with archery was simply¡­ the arrows. They took a lot of spaces and well¡­ they were hard to make. They¡­ oh alright, I would admit that. I was¡­ pathetic at fletching.


    Unlike arrows, the ammunitions for a slingshot saved a lot of spaces and were pretty easy to make, at least for me.


    Other things that were given by my uncle along with the weapons were some bars of ammunition ceramic molds. What I needed to do to make the ammunition was just calcining the molds, melting the metal used as the material, pouring it to the molds, waiting until it was cold enough, taking the results out, and¡­ done.


    It was simple, but well¡­ I needed access to the blacksmith¡¯s foundry to do it. But again, the great thing about slingshot was¡­ I could simply use rocks if I ran out of crafted ammunitions. They would not be as good, but they would do for emergency.


    About slingshot crafted ammunitions, well, normally slingshot users preferred spherical ammunitions. They were the easiest to use. But, in my case, I could use pointed, cone-like, arrow-head ammunitions. I was not very good yet here. Probably if I gave myself a score it would still be 6 out of 10. They were not easy to use, considering rotation, balance, and the likes. But once I got the knack on how to use them, I knew that when I used it, it would be as if I shot arrows without shafts¡­ as deadly, yet harder to detect. I just needed to practice more.


    I was suddenly frozen on my place. With these weapons, it meant that I needed to practice using each of them¡­ a lot. Damn! My schedule would get even nastier than before.

 Volume 1: Chapter 10 – Learning

    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 56 Gearro 3982


    It had already been nine days after the day I chose my name. Nothing really extraordinary happened during that period of time. I had essentially spent these nine days adjusting to my new hectic schedule, which was basically like this¡­


    I woke up right before dawn and started my free run, over different courses every day. Once I returned home, bath and breakfast were next on the menu, followed straight away by several sets of my [Trinity Training Technique] and ranged weapon practice. Then, I moved to [Loweld] dojo to practice dual wielding my melee weapons.


    After that, I went to the blacksmith workshop and helped my uncle with tedious physical work at the smithy until noon. I didn¡¯t have to but I needed the pay. To rest my sore muscles afterward, I had my lunch and went to the town library to read some books.


    And then, in mid afternoon, I did the next tedious work¡­ watching insects. Using [Monster Magic Mimicry] to watch insects was boring as hell, but I still needed to do it. Next, in late afternoon, I attended [Ealong] martial art practice, which in essence was the strange mixture of judo, jujitsu, anatomy, acupuncture, and gymnastics.


    Right after the sun sets, I did another free run through a different course before heading home. At home, what waited for me were several other sets of [Trinity Training Practice]. I could enjoy a warm bath and dinner after that.


    Taking care of my room, clothing, weapons, and other equipments was what I usually did after dinner. The evening was also the period of time where I discussed many things with my uncle¡­ if it could be said discussion, since it basically was¡­ like¡­ I asked detailed long questions, my uncle answered in merely one or two words. It was simple for him, frustrating for me¡­


    Back to my current schedule, I usually went to bed when it was close to midnight, after some other sets of [Trinity Training Practice] which were done differently than the morning and evening practice. This time, the practice was specifically aimed to level me up. So far, during those late training practices, I managed to break into two levels for each of the three domains. Now, I was level three in mind, soul, and body.


    Talking about level-ups, I didn¡¯t really have any problem with leveling-up in mind and soul, but that body thing¡­ urgh¡­ it was damned painful.


    ¡­


    Anyway, during these nine days, no other terror attack occurred in town. The elven guards were in serious trouble though. The town council put the blame of the many deaths during the incident on them. And there were even some attempts to reform the group. Last time I heard from Laertreon, the guard leader was sacked, and Rudevall, the silver eyed guy, was forced to be the new leader.


    ¡­


    Right now, I was in the town library, trying to push myself to keep reading some boring thick book about advanced knowledge of herbs and plants. I tried and tried, but it was useless. I could not get any motivation to continue reading.


    I sighed. I knew herbalism was important to survive. I had some decent information of basic and intermediate herbal knowledge from some other books which were not as dreary. This advanced herbalim book, however, was just somehow¡­ devoid of any interesting things. It was as if the writer of this book tried very hard to make nobody willing to read this book.


    I massaged my temples in irritation, frustrated at the content of the book, at round-about way the writer tried to give information, at the strange dictions, and the long complex grammars. I felt as if I were an elementary student trying to understand the words of a senile professor who wanted to show off his trivial knowledge¡­


    I gave up. This book was too boring. I closed the book and was about to stand up, ready to return it to the right shelf. It was time for me to do the tedious insect watching anyway.


    ¡°Khael-ka! Khael-ka!¡± A cheerful voice stopped me from standing up.


    ¡°Shush¡­ Don¡¯t you know not to shout in a library, girl?¡± I quickly shushed the familiar newcomer.


    ¡°I am not shouting,¡± said the newcomer with a pout.


    I took a quick glance at her. She was an elven girl of about nine or ten years old with fair skin and big round eyes. Her wavy dark brown hair was long and tied in a pony tail.


    I knew her quite well. We were not really close or anything, but she was one of the few noteworthy acquaintances of mine. She was the daughter of the librarian here. She was also attending [Ealong] dojo and a member of the unnamed free-running community, the youngest member even.


    ¡°You were talking loudly. It was very close to shouting, you know?¡±


    ¡°Ugh¡­ you sound like father,¡± grumbled the girl. She hadn¡¯t earned her name yet, so right now she was still called the daughter-of-Lashom-and-Maleina.


    ¡°So, what¡¯s up, girl?¡± I asked in low voice.


    ¡°Oh, yeah¡­ I need you to cast that magic again. Cast that beast magic skill again at me, Khael-ka! Come on! Do it once mo¡­¡±


    ¡°Is that how you ask someone to do something?¡± A familiar calm yet deep voice cut in from behind me. I didn¡¯t need to look back to know who said it. It was the voice of Lashom, the librarian, and also the girl¡¯s father.


    ¡°Ugh¡­ er¡­ Would you please kindly cast that extraordinarily wonderful beast magic skill at me, o great sir with generous heart?¡±


    I almost burst out laughing at those mouthful polite words coming from the little girl who showed no politeness at all in her expression and gestures. It sounded so¡­ out of place.


    I heard the familiar sigh from Lashom. ¡°I can guess already who taught you that silly way of asking favor. It was your uncle, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ Uncle Laertreon said that I should use it when I ask a stranger for help. But, Khael-ka is not a stranger, is he?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not the problem of stranger or not. Your mother and I have already told you many times the proper behavior for asking favor. It¡¯s¡­ oh, whatever¡­ Why you would prefer using whichever weird things your uncle teaches rather than what we teach was beyond my understanding. Sorry about her silly attitude, Khael.¡±


    ¡°No problem, Lashom-ka. She is still a little child after all,¡± I said, grinning widely because I knew what would come.


    ¡°Hey, I¡¯m not a little child!¡±


    Got her¡­ She was so easy to bait.


    ¡°Well, you look like a little child; you talk like a little child; you behave like a little child¡­ so, you must be a little child, right?¡± Lashom followed up quickly. This had almost become like a habit for us since it was the most effective combo to deal with the girl.


    The girl stomped her feet angrily. Normally, she would have run away in anger. But now, surprisingly, it was different. Instead of running away, she quickly grabbed my right arm and shook it violently.


    ¡°Please cast the magic! Please, please, please, please, please¡­¡±


    ¡°Okay, okay¡­ Don¡¯t shout and stop shaking my arm.¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡± She put a victory pose, and waited impatiently with sparkling eyes.


    I sighed. The magic she wanted me to cast was what I got from a wayjasmott¡­ the wise ant. I acquired it after four days of observation¡­ of over fifty times using [Monster Magic Mimicry] on the insect.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    It was basically a dud. Four days were wasted to gain a magic skill which was useless for anything other than entertainment. I knew I shouldn¡¯t have chosen any creature with the word wise in its name. Nothing really wise would ever appear from anything that had the word wise on its name¡­


    ¡°Come on! Hurry up!¡±


    ¡°You know I would definitely discard this magic when I found a better one, wouldn¡¯t you girl?¡± I said without much enthusiasm.


    ¡°I know, I know! That¡¯s why I ask you to do it now, before you throw it away. I¡¯m not stupid, you know?¡± responded the girl with another pout.


    ¡°Okay then, here you go¡­¡±


    Without any word or gesture, I focused my mana and shaped it with my will into the complicated pattern of magic I had learnt. The magic appeared as a single marble-sized ball of rainbow-colored light in front of me. With a simple order from my mind, the colorful ball shot as fast as a lightning to the girl¡¯s forehead¡­ and disappeared without a trace.


    The girl¡¯s eyes glowed white for about a second but then returned back to normal, although she seemed to be dazed at the moment.


    ¡°So?¡± I asked.


    She looked at my face for a second and then started giggling uncontrollably. She then aimed her sight to her father and giggled more uncontrollably.


    I let out a helpless sigh. The magic I had learnt didn¡¯t really have a name, so for now I simply called it [Silly Sight]. What it did was basically distorting someone¡¯s perception of color for a while. It meant that in the target¡¯s eyes¡­ grass could be blue, sky could be purple, cloud could be red... The color change in the target¡¯s eyes was completely random, so it could be unexpected and quite entertaining.


    I knew I could probably use this as a debuff magic. Changing the color of everything in the enemies¡¯ point of view might make them shocked and confused for a while. It would give enough chance for surprise attack or for running away.


    The problem was¡­ I had limited slots for active magic. If I had at least thirty spaces for aez, I would probably keep this magic skill for fun. But I didn¡¯t, so I would surely discard this magic skill as soon as I got a better one.


    ¡°You both look really funny,¡± said the girl, before she dashed away, giggling at everything she saw.


    ¡°That was a fun magic you have,¡± said Lashom. ¡°It would definitely be super popular if you cast it to people in the next Ageny Festival.¡±


    ¡°Ageny festival? I don¡¯t think I would hold on to this magic for that long,¡± I responded. It would take about forty more days before Ageny Festival, the celebration of the first day of summer, was going to be held.


    I stood up and walked to one of the book shelves to return the book I held to its place.


    ¡°It¡¯s a pity then. You could earn a lot if you charge, let¡¯s say, five silver coins for one cast,¡± said Lashom.


    I stopped dead on my track. Damn! I had never thought of commercializing this magic.


    I knew my business sense was bad, here in this world as well as in my past life. But to not realize that I could charge money from performing entertainment magic¡­ I hadn¡¯t realized that my business sense had become this pathetic.


    Should I keep this magic skill to earn money from the Ageny Festival?


    ¡­


    I would have to think more about that. For now, I would just need to focus on my current task, trying to learn [Matjiwa].


    After saying goodbye to Lashom, the librarian, I moved to the site I had always been going to for the last three days.


    It was a pretty secluded spring, with lots of rose-like plants around it. It was actually not really far from the library, but it was tough to get there, since I needed to go through a series of dense bushes. Fortunately, those bushes were not the ones with thorns.


    This secluded spring was the habitat of a matrog, a beholder bug¡­ the second species in my list which I suspected to possess [Matjiwa]. I was lucky that my uncle knew about this location. A secluded spring with a lot of mavaar plants, plants whose flowers were like roses but with glassy blue color, was the ideal habitat of matrog.


    Yet, still, the insect was very rare. Here, in a place with secluded spring and probably hundreds mavaar plants, I could only find one matrog. But at least I could find one. I had spent two unfruitful days searching in many other places before I could find this.


    Once I reached the location, I quickly scanned around to find where the matrog was. It took me a while to find it. It was a tiny, beetle-sized bug after all.


    The name matrog, when translated literally, actually meant sight bug. However, I preferred to call it a beholder bug, because¡­ well, it looked very similar to the classic monster, Beholder, from the popular D&D RPG games in my old world. Like the monster from the game, matrog looked like a floating eyeball with creepy tentacles. But, compared to the monster in the game, the beholder bug here was not really scary¡­ especially due to its minuscule size.


    I focused my mind and used my [Monster Magic Mimicry] skill to observe the insect. Nothing happened, since the bug simply stayed unmoving on its original place, floating a few centimeters above the leaf of a mavaar plant.


    I was prepared for that though. I had learned my lesson from the time I watched the wayjasmott: It was a waste of mana and time when I used my 3M magic skill to observe and the observed creature did nothing.


    The duration of my 3M magic was quite long, probably about ten minutes if I used the time measurement of my past life. However, there was no guarantee that the observed monster would use its magic during that period of time. I used to waste time like that when I observed the wise ant. Not anymore though¡­


    I had learned that impartial observation with no interference policy was not very effective in my case. The most effective way, mana-wise and time-wise, was: observing while making sure that the monster kept using the magic. To do that, I needed to find out what situation made the creature use the magic. And then, I just needed to recreate the situation myself.


    And, after a few days of observing, I could now deduct what made the matrog use its magic.


    With a twig, I took a grey caterpillar not far from where the bug was and dropped it in front of the beholder bug.


    The matrog shone dimly for a few seconds. I removed the caterpillar and grinned, full of satisfaction. It seemed that my deduction was right. It used its magic whenever new creature appeared in close proximity.


    I shoved another small creature in front of the bug. It was now a green ant. Nothing happened. Why? Ah, right¡­ it was probably the cool down of the skill. I let the ant wandered around the bug, only replacing it back near the bug when it wandered too far. After about two hundred seconds, the matrog shone. That was great.


    I kept shoving different creatures and object in the proximity of the bug, and reusing my 3M magic skill whenever the duration ended. And it kept using its magic until¡­ after probably the thirtieth time it used its magic, it dropped down on the leaf, no longer floating.


    Damn! Did it run out of mana? Shit! I hoped it didn¡¯t die. I hadn¡¯t managed to learn its magic. And, it would be really pain in the ass for me to find another matrog.


    Anyway, why hadn¡¯t I learned the magic already? Today, I had observed the magic for about thirty times. When I combined it with what I did yesterday and the day before that, I should have observed for more than sixty times. But, the magic still eluded me. Why?


    Many possible reasons quickly appeared in my mind. Perhaps, this magic skill was an exception to beast magic, a skill that could not be learned by elves like me. Perhaps, it was a high level skill that needed much more observation. Perhaps I did something wrong with my observation. Perhaps, using stimulation to force a creature to use its magic restricted me from acquiring the skill. Perhaps¡­


    While contemplating for those many reasons, I waited. I waited and hoped that the matrog was still alive. And my wish was in some way¡­ fulfilled.


    After some time lying unmoving on the mavaar wide leaf, the matrog moved. It started floating again, still unsteadily but it was still great¡­ I didn¡¯t have to find another beholder bug. But I probably should not force it to use its magic again.


    Oh well¡­ I guessed I had to finish early here today. From my estimation, it was not the time yet for my [Ealong] practice. Should I do some physical exercises somewhere else?


    I stood up and started to walk away, ready to go through the thick bushes, when suddenly something unexpected entered my line of sight. There on the mavaar leaf on the furthermost of the spring¡­


    It was a matrog.


    It was another damned freaking matrog!


    This was¡­ ridiculously great. I could continue my 3M observation. Yeah! It was probably due to the luck in obtaining power which came from the great blessing of my name. Probably I should have prepared myself for a great bad luck to come to me after this. My name was also cursed after all.


    But, that was for later. Now, there was this great opportunity in front of me. It would be incredibly stupid not to use this.


    I quickly focused my mind once more, casting another [Monster Magic Mimicry] to myself. Then using the same trick like what I had done to the first matrog, I started to observe this second bug.


    After the seventh time the bug used its magic, a complicated pattern of magic started to appear in my mind. It was the sign that the instinctual knowledge of the magic was beginning to form in my mind. After a few more observation, I would completely master the magic¡­ or so I wished.


    It turned out that I needed the matrog to do seventeen more uses of its magic skill to completely understand the magic.


    But when my mind was finally able to digest the full information of the magic, I laughed out loud and excitedly jumped around and started to do what must have been a completely grotesque dance of glee.


    I totally forgot about my pride and dignity. It was lucky that nobody was here to see that ridiculously embarrassing moment of my life.


    However, my uncontrolled burst of joy was somewhat justifiable¡­ I guessed. It was because the skill that I got from the matrog was the skill that I had aimed at the outset. It was¡­ the [Matjiwa].

 Volume 1: Chapter 11 – Horror

    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 56 Gearro 3982


    I stopped my silly wild dance and took a deep breath. Alright, that was enough for celebration. I finished learning [Matjiwa] and understood the basic information of the skill, but I still needed to learn more about its detail.


    The way my [Monster Magic Mimicry] worked was pretty much similar to the way people in my old world acquired data from the quantum-network. It was basically separatedinto three stages: browsing, downloading and decrypting. When I used my 3M magic to observe a monster¡¯s magic at first; what I did was mainly browsing.


    After doing that for many times, a magical pattern would appear in my mind, which meant that I would basically enter the stage of downloading. Only when I finished downloading did I get the basic minimum knowledge of the ¡®downloaded¡¯ skill.


    To completely understand the features of the skill, I needed to enter the third stage: decrypting. The only way I could do that for now was by submerging my mind into deep contemplation.


    Alright! Now, I had better check this [Matjiwa] magic skill that I acquired. I quickly focused my will and instantly entered the library-like personal space within my mind.


    I looked at the newly acquired skill which manifested itself in the form of a glowing dark-purple orb. This orb, along with two other glowing orbs and many more non-glowing ones, revolved around the big purple crystal in the center of the room.


    I exerted my will and the new marble-sized glowing orb raced into my open right hand. Once the orb touched my hand, more detailed information about the skill entered my conscious mind.


    [Matjiwa] was in essence very similar to an [Identify] skill from RPG games. However, unlike the skill in the game, which conveniently transferred the knowledge into tables, texts, and numbers which could be read by the player, [Matjiwa] didn¡¯t work like that.


    With this skill, it was like... well, let¡¯s say¡­ I looked at a strange plant and knew nothing about it without the skill. After I used the skill, I would somehow know whether the plant was poisonous or not, how rare it was, how it would taste as a cooking ingredient, what effect it would have as an alchemy material, where it could normally grow, and so on. The information would not appear in front of me as a blue screen with text or anything like that, but I would just¡­ in some unexplainable way, know about it.


    This [Matjiwa] I had here would only let me identify the internal attribute, quality, and possible functions of the object appraised. So, assuming at first I didn¡¯t know the name of the plant I identified, after I used the skill I would still not know about the name.


    It was the same thing with when I used it on people or monsters. I would be able to know in general about the level of their strength, the estimated amount of their health, the nature of its skills, the weakness if there was any, and other internal qualities of the target. Yet, I would not be able to know their names, their titles, or the names of their skills.


    That was because names were simply additional attribute, and they were strongly dependant on languages. What was called ¡®x¡¯ in one language could be called ¡®y¡¯ in another. Even I wouldn¡¯t have known that this skill was called [Matjiwa], if I hadn¡¯t learned its name from the book I¡¯d read before.


    Anyway, this [Matjiwa] skill I had was quite efficient in term of mana usage. It only used a tiny amount of mana, probably less than one percent of my current mana. Unfortunately, I could not really abuse it since its cool-down was a little problematic. For the beholder bug, the cool-down was only about 200 seconds. In my case though, it would be tripled. I could only use this skill once in ten minutes. It was not bad, but not really good either.


    Done with inspecting the skill, I quickly retracted my consciousness back to the real world. Alright! Now, it would be time to test this skill¡­


    But before I could do that, a loud rustling sound interrupted me. It was the sound of something quite big moving through the bushes¡­ into this place.


    I quickly drew my hammer-axe from its sheath on my waist¡­ I knew that I was still a blundering amateur in wielding this weapon. What could a merely nine-day training do? But, it was still much better than being bare-handed facing the unknown threat.


    Suddenly, the bushes in front of me were split apart as a short burly creature dashed out into the clearing.


    I lowered my weapon, and returned it to its sheath. It was not a monster¡­ just a dwarf. And I knew this dwarf. He was Wal¡¯gon, a miner from the western district, the supplier of metal ores to my uncle¡¯s smithy.


    Ignoring me, the dwarf dashed to the spring and drank the water directly from it.


    I observed the dwarf. He was short, yet had a thickset body build. With pickaxe on his waist, as well as long curly hair and thick beard, both black in color¡­ he simply looked like a classic dwarf from my old world¡¯s stories.


    However, there were few features of the dwarves in this world that were not really in the description of dwarves in my old world¡¯s stories. Here, the gearrone, the dwarves, had huge hands and feet¡­ probably twice as big as the biggest size of adult human¡¯s hands and feet. They were so big that they looked really weird at first time I saw them.


    Other than that, dwarves always wore sun-goggles outside their underground caves, especially during the day, since their eyes were extremely sensitive against strong light. Their preference to live in the dark underground caves made them able to see well in the darkness. But, as a consequence, they were helpless in bright places without their goggles.


    After drinking the spring water for a while, Wal¡¯gon, the dwarf, let out a satisfied belch and turned around, ready to dash out again when his sight found me.


    ¡°You¡­ Kerbruan¡¯s kid¡­ Damn it! What the hell are you doing here, Kid?¡±


    ¡°Um¡­ taking a break?¡± I asked back in confusion. What was wrong with him today? He was usually so laid back and cheerful. ¡°Why are you here, Wal¡¯gon-ka? Er¡­ other than drinking the spring water, I mean¡­¡±


    ¡°Goddammit, Kid! This place is not safe. Those crazy corpse lovers will¡­¡±


    The dwarf stopped his words as the atmosphere around us suddenly turned sinister. The sky turned dark in an instant despite the fact that it should still be mid afternoon; the temperature dropped significantly that I felt chill all over my body; the dogs howled creepily from the distance¡­ Shit! Why would everything turn into something from a horror movie now?


    ¡°Damn! Damn, damn damn! It had started already. I thought I still got more time,¡± Wal¡¯gon cursed vehemently. ¡°Run to the library, Kid! Run as fast as you can. With Lashom there, it should be safe.¡±


    ¡°Wait¡­ what is actually happening?¡±


    ¡°Damn it Kid! It was not the time to ask question. Run! Follow me!¡±


    Since the dwarf dashed away once he said that, I had no other choice but to follow him. Both of us went through the bushes as fast as we could. Our direction was clear¡­ eastward, to the library.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Our destination was not that far, we could probably reached it in less than fifteen minutes, or ten if we kept running all the way there.


    But when we reached a wide meadow on the way there¡­


    ¡°No! No no no no no¡­!¡± Wal¡¯gon suddenly swore in panicked voice and rushed faster forward.


    Looking at the sight in front of us, I could not help but feel cold shiver down my spine. There, in a fair distance in front of us, was a sight worse than my worst nightmare. It was a sight of a group of children surrounded by grotesque undead monsters.


    Wal¡¯gon and I dashed forward as fast as we could. But we were too far away.


    I could only see hopelessly¡­ an undead wolf bit the head of a little boy off. The spurt of blood¡­ the scream¡­ the horror¡­


    ¡°Goddamnit!¡± Wal¡¯gon screamed in frustration and dashed forward even faster.


    I roared something incomprehensible while rushing behind him as fast as I could.


    Meanwhile, other victims kept falling. A tiny girl was overwhelmed by humanoid zombies¡­ leaving her helpless cries as a final farewell to the living¡­ Another girl was decapitated by a sword wielding skeleton. Her head, with contorted face full of fear, flew away form her body¡­ A screaming boy was torn apart by many gigantic undead rats¡­ leaving the mess of torn flesh, blood, and bones¡­


    My left hand gripped my slingshot blade tightly and took it out, while my legs did not stop running. Those damn shitty things¡­ Fear, frustration, and rage battled furiously within me. And rage just won¡­


    Without stopping my run, I took a piece of ammunition, drew my slingshot, and shot at a zombie trying to attack another girl. And it was¡­ a miss. The bullet flew a few centimeters away from the zombie¡¯s head. Damn!


    In front of me, Wal¡¯gon hacked the head of the zombie that tried to stop us with his pickaxe. He did that while still running forward. Without stopping, he dragged along the zombie whose head was stuck in his pickaxe.


    I took another shot with my slingshot. This time it hit the temple of the zombie which was trying to bite the girl with great impact, bashing its head¡­ foiling its effort. Wait¡­ that girl was¡­ Lashom¡¯s daughter.


    But, while I could save one, another became a victim. A tiny elven girl, who could not be more than six-year old, was torn apart by a pair of undead wolves, screaming helplessly as she disappeared into chunks of bloody meat. Damn it!


    ¡°Die, you damned stinking corpses! DIE!¡± Wal¡¯gon shouted furiously, crashing his zombie-latched pickaxe into one of the wolves. He had managed to reach them, while I still had quite a distance to get there.


    I used my slingshot blade again. This time, the bullet pierced the skull of a sword wielding skeleton which tried to attack Wal¡¯gon from his right side. The shot dropped it down into a pile of useless bones.


    But suddenly, my survival instinct blared loudly inside my head. Yet, before I could do anything about it a nasty thing tackled me from the side, sending both of us down to the ground.


    It was an undead sragalla. Looking at the nasty sight of a rotten wolf head trying to bite my head off on top of me, I got panicked and reacted reflexively¡­ stabbing the blade part of my slingshot blade in my left hand to the right eye of the wolf¡­ while screaming as loud as I could.


    Once my blade pierced the monster¡¯s eye, straight to its brain, the monster crumpled lifelessly. Yet, I kept stabbing my blade to its head in frenzy¡­ of rage and fear.


    A piercing feminine scream woke me up from my berserk state. I quickly pushed the carcass of the dead monster on top of me away and stood up. The repulsive look of the decaying corpse¡­ the nasty smell of the rotten dead body¡­ That was¡­ disgusting¡­ and scary¡­ I would never want to experience it again.


    Yet, it was not time to complain about such thing.


    I drew my hammer axe from its sheath. I saw my hands and feet trembled a little from fear. But I gritted my teeth, tried to ignore the fear, and rushed to help Wal¡¯gon who was now attacked from almost every angle by many undead monsters.


    As I shouted an incomprehensible war cry while charging ahead, I noticed that the number of living children was now less than five. Some other kids seemed to have become victims when I was down. And although the number of the monsters decreased significantly due to Wal¡¯gon¡¯s mad attack, there were still many of them left.


    Damn it! All of us were probably going to die here. I should have run away instead of charging in like an idiot.


    Despite that depressing thought in my mind, I kept charging at the enemies and swung my hammer axe at full power, without any technique. Shit! Where was the result of my martial art training?


    The axe part of my right hand weapon hit the neck-shoulder intersection of an elven zombie from behind and continued splitting down to its chest. And it was stuck there¡­


    ¡°DAMN IT!¡± I screamed in frustration. I had no other choice but to release that weapon and stab the reversed blade in my left hand to the back side of the zombie¡¯s head. It dropped down immediately once its brain was pierced by my weapon. I didn¡¯t need to use my [Matjiwa] skill to know that brain was the weakness of these walking dead monsters.


    ¡°Move kids! Don¡¯t just stay there like idiots! Do you want to die? Run away, dammit! Run to the library!¡± Wal¡¯gon shouted, again in frustration, while he kept whacking the undead monsters around him with his pickaxe.


    I ducked, evading a wild swing of a living skeleton¡­ and swept its bony legs with low kick.


    ¡°Ouch! Shit!¡± I swore in pain. The skeleton was still standing. The legs were surprisingly hard as rock and strong as hell. How in the heck could they be that strong? Undead bones were supposed to be brittle.


    The skeleton raised his sword, ready to cleave me into pieces, when a pickaxe pierced its skull... causing it to drop down in a pile of bones. Wal¡¯gon helped me. Although I was pretty sure I could evade that cleave, it was still a great thing¡­


    ¡°You¡­ Kerbruan¡¯s kid! Lead them to the library!¡± Wal¡¯gon shouted. ¡°It¡¯s damn hard fighting with them here.¡±


    ¡°Right!¡± I agreed immediately.


    I took the sword dropped by the skeleton and hacked a cat-sized undead rat which tried to attack me. The sword easily cleaved the rat in two pieces.


    I looked at the remaining kids¡­ an elven boy and three girls. The daughter of the librarian was one of the girls. The other two girls were smaller, about six or seven years old. I knew them by sight only. The boy¡­ I knew of him, not that much, but he was one of the students in [Loweld] dojo.


    I threw the sword I held to the boy and the slingshot blade to Lashom¡¯s daughter. ¡°Use that!¡±


    Without waiting for their response, I grabbed the handle of my hammer-axe, which was still stuck in the zombie¡¯s body, with both hands and pulled out as strong as I could. With a great effort, I managed to take my hammer-axe back.


    Another undead rat rushed to my direction. I swung my hammer-axe like a batter in the baseball field¡­ and hit the rat right at its head with the hammer head. That was¡­ satisfying.


    ¡°Goddamnit Kid! Stop wasting time! Go!¡± Wal¡¯gon screamed as he evaded the tackle of a wolf and, at the same time, hacked the head of an elven zombie with a great axe. Where in the hell did he get that axe?


    Ah, I didn¡¯t have spare time to wonder about that¡­


    ¡°Four of you¡­ follow me!¡± I barked an order and dashed away to the library without waiting for any answer, smashing another rat¡¯s head on the way. Damn! I wished all the monsters were as easy as these rats.


    I ran without looking back, constantly reminding myself not to go at full speed. I knew that the four kids were following me because I could hear their footsteps and rough breath. The younger ones would not be able to keep up if I ran in full speed. Besides, it was definitely not wise to waste stamina in this situation.


    ¡°All of the monsters were attacking the dwarf. Will he be okay?¡± The boy asked me¡­ surprisingly in steady voice, as if he had completely recovered from shock and fear.


    ¡°He is a dwarven miner,¡± I said, still not stopping my run. ¡°He will be fine.¡±


    I didn¡¯t need to explain any further. Only a tiny fraction of gearrone, the dwarves of this world, could sense magic and not many were patient enough to cultivate soul technique. But, despite those disadvantages, these short guys were tough people. Most of them tempered their bodies thoroughly. And with their ¡®gemstone-implant¡¯ technology, they could fight on par with elven mages or were-beast soul fighters.


    Their culture even made them much more formidable in fights. Unlike some games in my old world where dwarves could be fighters or warriors, there was no warrior or fighter class for dwarves here. There was no such term as dwarven fighters or dwarven warriors either. That was simply not needed because¡­ every single one of them was a fighter, a warrior,¡­ yes, every single one, including children, women, and the elderly people.


    Fighting was an integral part of dwarven society. They fought each other at work, in training, in their bar, in wedding parties, in religious celebrations, and in many other occasions. Simply speaking, they were a tough fighting race. And among them, the toughest fighters were surprisingly¡­ the miners.


    ¡°Hey, he¡­ hey! Wha¡­ what is that? Ar¡­ are they mo¡­ monsters a¡­ gain?¡± One of the girls I didn¡¯t really know of suddenly shouted stuttered words in fearful voice.


    I looked at the direction the girl pointing her finger too. Since the sky turned dark, I could only see that there were shadowy figures coming closer to us. I gritted my teeth and gripped the handle of my hammer axe tightly. Were they enemies?

 Volume 1: Chapter 12 – Chaos

    Awarang, a small elven town in Gretharea Kingdom, 56 Gearro 3982


    Were they enemies?


    I realized that I had stopped my run once I saw those obscure figures. The four children behind me had done the same thing. Should we continue our run?


    ¡°They are the elven guards,¡± the librarian¡¯s daughter said excitedly. ¡°They are here to protect us. We are safe!¡±


    She was right. Now that they were closer, I could see that these figures were the elven guards from their uniformed armor, seven of them. I still could not see their face clearly, but they were the elven guards alright. I let out a relieved sigh.


    ¡°Watch out!¡± The front most elven guard shouted while he pointed to my right side.


    I turned my head and saw an undead wolf dashed to our location¡­ probably a straggler from the battle against Wal¡¯gon.


    ¡°DIE!¡± I shouted as I swung my hammer-axe diagonally to the monster. And¡­ it missed. Damn!


    The wolf dodged my attack, but¡­ a sword pierced its side, halting its movement. The boy, to whom I gave the sword, managed to stab it from the side. Obviously, I would not waste this opportunity.


    I swung my weapon again, vertically this time, from the top. And the axe part of my weapon cleaved the head of the undead monster¡­ killing it instantly, although well, it was an undead¡­ it had died already before.


    My hammer-axe was stuck again. I had to use two hands and considerable effort to take it out from the monster¡¯s head. I¡¯d better not use the axe-side for now. We were lucky that there was only one straggler. If there were many and my weapon got stuck¡­ I would be in really bad trouble.


    ¡°Are you okay, Kids?¡± One of the elven guard shouted that question when they came closer. The voice was quite familiar¡­


    ¡°Yeah¡­ We are fine now, Maika-ka,¡± I responded.


    ¡°Khael? Is that you?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s me alright,¡± I said. ¡°We are alright. But, there were many victims behind us¡­ children. These four are the only kids that survived that damn attack from the damned undeads.¡±


    My face turned dark when I remembered that merciless assault to the helpless kids. If only we got there a little bit earlier.


    ¡°No¡­ how¡­ how many died?¡± Maika asked with pale face. ¡°My sister? Is my sister alright?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I shook my head. And then, turning my head to the kids I asked, ¡°What about you, kids?¡±


    The librarian¡¯s daughter said to the guards with pale face, ¡°We were fourteen before the attack¡­ but, but¡­ now we¡­¡± She sobbed and could not continue her answer.


    ¡°My sister?¡±


    ¡°She was not with us,¡± said the boy beside me. ¡°She went earlier with a pair of dawn elf twins. They said they wanted to practice [Ealong] earlier.¡±


    ¡°Oh, thank God. She should be safe in that dojo,¡± said Maika. ¡°But ten children¡­ these casualties¡­¡±


    ¡°¡­ were very bad,¡± said another guard. ¡°Damn that dwarven oracle! Why couldn¡¯t she predict this catastrophe earlier?¡±


    ¡°We can¡¯t do anything about that. It is lucky enough we have one oracle here in the town,¡± said another guard.


    ¡°Is it true¡­ an oracle told you about the attack?¡± I asked curiously. I knew from the history books that there were some people who had the strange ability of precognition, a magic-like ability that could not be learned or trained. Those people were called pramualle¡­ oracles. But, I didn¡¯t know that there was an oracle in this town.


    ¡°A dwarven oracle,¡± said Maika. ¡°Her precognition ability is not very strong. She only knew about the attack this mid afternoon, not very long before it happened. And when we also count the time it takes for her dwarven messengers to tell us¡­¡±


    ¡°There was a dwarf there¡­ still fighting the monsters when we left,¡± the boy beside me cut her words in worried tone, pointing at where we were before.


    ¡°Ah yeah,¡± I responded, not that worried about the dwarf¡¯s struggle. He was a dwarven miner after all.


    ¡°Tell us about it,¡± said Maika.


    ¡°He was talking about a dwarven miner called Wal¡¯gon. He was with me when we saw the monsters attack the children. We tried to help but¡­ we could save only these four. He stayed behind, fighting against the undead monsters.¡±


    ¡°Chelva, Olyo, Hifrant¡­ You three go there and help the dwarf. Also, try to recover and protect the remains of the fallen children.¡± Maika quickly gave order. Three of the guards immediately dashed away from the group once they heard that¡­ moving to the direction we left the dwarf.


    ¡°Where did these undeads come from, Maika-ka?¡± I asked the question that had been disturbing me since I saw those monsters.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Maika. ¡°If they were just elven undeads, I would say some necromancers broke into the town graveyard, took the corpses, and revived the dead bodies. But the undead monsters we encountered on the way, although they were just low level ones¡­ It was hard to believe that they were gathered from inside the town walls¡­¡±


    ¡°But it¡¯s impossible to smuggle the dead bodies of those monsters into the town. The gates are tightly guarded,¡± said another guard.


    ¡°These undead monsters are here, inside the town,¡± said Maika. ¡°And since it is unlikely that they were originally from inside the town, there must be a way to bring them inside.¡±


    ¡°How did the Bhalafaeth bring the monsters inside the town nine days ago?¡± I asked. ¡°Perhaps they are now using the same¡­¡±


    ¡°Nope. Definitely not,¡± cut Maika confidently. ¡°The monsters outbreak at that time was a simple attack on the Tamer¡¯s Association, which were holding a special trade inside the town. Those bastard terrorists simply poisoned the association¡¯s guard and let out the monsters.¡±


    Another guard said, ¡°Hey, come to think of it. The oracle¡¯s messenger said that the troubled zones for today are the outer south district and here, the inner north-west district. Does that mean¡­¡±


    ¡°Damn! The graveyard is in the outer south,¡± said Maika. ¡°So that is¡­¡±


    ¡°And the postal-service is in this district,¡± I said with pale face. ¡°That was really clever¡­¡±


    ¡°What do you mean?¡± asked Maika.


    ¡°Postal-service! They sent the monsters from outside the town using spatial delivery window!¡± said a guard who seemed to have the same idea with me.


    ¡°The spatial delivery window cannot¡­ Oh damn it!¡± As she was about to argued against the idea, Maika seemed to suddenly see the light.


    The magic window in the postal-service could not be used to transfer living creature. But in this case, the enemies did not need to transfer living monsters. Instead, they only needed to transfer dead monsters. And the necromancers here could simply reanimate them.


    Maika gritted her teeth and quickly made a decision. ¡°Jereo, Kunyanera¡­ You two escort these kids to the library. It should be safe there. Balkirey¡­ You go with me to the postal-service.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Ma¡¯am!¡± said one of the guards assigned as our escorts¡­ a female dusk elf carrying a scary halberd. ¡°Follow us, Kids!¡±


    We ran again, following the two guards running in front of us. The library was not very far now. I could even see the roof of the library already. But¡­


    ¡°Enemies!¡± said the female guard. ¡°Get ready for battle, Jereo!¡±


    Many undead monsters suddenly appeared around us¡­ from behind trees and bushes. It was an ambush.


    ¡°Don¡¯t stop here, Nera!¡± responded the other guard, a male half elf carrying sword and shield. ¡°Keep moving forward. These are just weak cannon fodders.¡±


    ¡°Right!¡± said Nera, swinging her halberd to decapitate an elven zombie while doing so. ¡°Keep following us kids!¡±


    The two elven guards were in front of us, dispatching the enemies easily as we kept moving forward. The enemies that attacked this time were pretty much similar to the one we faced previously: slow moving zombies, the awkward skeletons, vicious undead sragallae, and the cat-sized undead rats.


    Without saying anything, the boy and I took the role of protecting the sides. The boy moved to the left side of the group, while I moved to the right. Not that we had many things to do¡­ the only enemies I faced so far were a few numbers of undead rats which was really easy to handle.


    ¡°Watch out!¡± Jereo, the guard, suddenly shouted to Nera.


    Something that moved really fast blitzed to the female guard, attacking her with great ferocity. Nera attempted to dodge the attack. But her attempt was not really successful. A sword pierced her left shoulder, penetrating her metal armor as if it were made of soft wood.


    ¡°Damn Bhalatoyol!¡± Nera shouted and swung her halberd with one hand, forcing the attacker to jump back.


    The attacker, a shadowy figure with black outfit with tree-like white symbols on the chest part, let out ugly laugh and jumped away, disappearing in the darkness.


    ¡°Don¡¯t chase!¡± Jereo warned, while his sword pierced the head of a zombie which tried to attack Nera.


    ¡°I know,¡± said Nera, gritting her teeth and slashing the undead monsters around her ferociously to release her anger. Her wounded shoulder didn¡¯t seem to weaken her at all.


    ¡°The Bhalafaeth is behind all of this?¡± I asked as we moved forward once more.


    ¡°Who else?¡± replied Jereo. He bashed a skeleton¡¯s head with his shield as he was saying that.


    ¡°Nobody¡­,¡± added Nera, hacking an undead wolf with her halberd. ¡°¡­ but crazy people¡­¡± She kicked a zombie head violently. ¡°¡­ like those damned terrorists¡­¡± She shoved the butt of her halberd up another zombie¡¯s mouth. ¡°¡­ will do stupid things¡­¡± She cleaved an undead rat into two pieces with one handed slash. ¡°¡­ like this.¡±


    Note to myself¡­ I wouldn¡¯t want to offend this female guard.


    Soon, we reached the courtyard of the library. But this place was¡­ a strange battle-zone. A man stood alone in front of the library¡¯s front door against a great number of undead monsters. He was decimating any undead coming at him with magical icy arrows which unerringly always pierced the enemies¡¯ heads.


    ¡°Father!¡± shouted the librarian¡¯s daughter when she saw him.


    ¡°Don¡¯t rush!¡± Jereo stopped the girl as she was about to dash to her father side. ¡°We¡¯ll get there, but not recklessly. Nera!¡±


    ¡°Yeah! I understand,¡± said Nera. ¡°LASHOM! We are going there! Cover us!¡±


    As she said that, she moved forward, forcefully opening a path by destroying the moving corpses separating us to the library¡¯s front door. Jereo followed her closely, in no less destructive force against the undead enemies.


    I hesitated for a moment. Wouldn¡¯t it better if we moved someplace else? Why would these undead monsters attack this place anyway?


    ¡°Khael-ka¡­¡± the boy¡¯s call took my hesitation out. I didn¡¯t have time to contemplate about it now.


    I rushed behind the guards, swinging my hammer-axe at the enemies they missed, staying true to my role¡­ protecting the right side. I glanced at the other kids. The three girls were between me and the boy. They were fine, probably not mentally, but physically¡­ they were fine. The boy, who was guarding the left side, was also alright. Surprisingly he wielded a pair of swords now¡­ He probably took another sword from a fallen enemy.Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    It was surprisingly easy for us to get to the front door of the library. The two elven guards¡¯ reliable charge surely was the main reason of that ease. However, Lashom¡¯s accurate icy arrows should not be overlooked either. Many undead monsters which tried to attack from the sides were stopped by those infallible arrows.


    When we got close to the front door of the library¡­


    ¡°Father!¡± The librarian¡¯s daughter flew and hugged her father¡¯s waist, crying uncontrollably.


    ¡°Good lord, guys! Sezbeiku pana! Thanks for escorting my daughter. Sezbeiku pana!¡± said Lashom, without stopping his chant for sending magic arrows to the horde of undeads. ¡°What happened to the other kids? As I recall, sezbeiku pana, lots of them were planning to play together in the nearby meadow. Sezbeiku pana! I was about to go and get them when these abominations attacked.¡±


    ¡°These four were the survivors,¡± I simply said with grim face. The gruesome sight of massacred flashed back in my mind.


    ¡°No¡­ don¡¯t tell me those children¡­ Damn! How many?¡±


    ¡°Ten children!¡± said Nera in a restrained yet furious tone. Her halberd decapitated a zombie as she said that.


    ¡°Ten? Ten children? And my daughter could have been one of them?! Bastard Corpse Lovers! SEZBEIKU BADAE!¡± Lashom screamed a magical chant furiously. His dark red eyes glowed eerily and countless ice arrows appeared around us¡­ blitzing to the undead enemies in a barrage of great destruction¡­ wreaking havoc among the multitudes of moving corpses.


    Many of the monsters dropped down instantly once the magic arrows pierced their body. That was¡­ awesome. Yet, I noticed that the accuracy and effectiveness of the attack significantly decreased. One arrow one victim¡­ that was what Lashom did previously. But in this raging magic attack¡­ in average each victim was pierced by two or three arrows. It was less efficient¡­ but it was a flashy and incredible to see.


    ¡°Calm down, Lashom! You were wasting your mana,¡± said Jereo as he did a shield bash to a charging undead wolf. He seemed to notice the same thing as I did. ¡°Why would these abominations attack this library by the way?¡± Great! That was what I wanted to know too.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± said Lashom, trying to control his rage.


    ¡°Is there anything special that was kept here?¡± I asked as I kicked an undead rat away. Right now, we were all in front of the library¡¯s front door. Lashom, Jereo, and Nera were protecting us. And together with the boy and me, we made a kind of half circular formation where the girls were guarded inside.


    ¡°Sezbeiku pana! Nothing that would attract necromancers,¡± answered the librarian, casting another ice arrow as he did so.


    ¡°What about the sealed section underground? You always forbid me to enter there.¡± I asked another question.


    ¡°It contained a grimoire, sezbeiku pana, which would be useless, sezbeiku pana, yet extremely dangerous for anyone, sezbeiku pana, but a warlock, or an evil archmage,¡± he said. Magic arrows kept coming from this red-eyed librarian. How much mana did he have?


    ¡°An infernal grimoire?¡± I asked in surprise. Damn! If I had known about it before, I would have surely chosen a different magic specialization.


    ¡°Sezbeiku pana! It was sealed with an advanced architecture magic. Sezbeiku pana! Nobody could take it unless the library was demolished completely. Sezbeiku pana!¡±


    ¡°Wait! If these damned undead monsters are sent to attack here¡­ doesn¡¯t it mean that there is a warlock or an archmage in their side?¡± Jereo suddenly said something that brought a horrible idea in my mind.


    ¡°Warlock? In their side? Shit! Shit, shit, shit!¡± I furiously swore. ¡°I had thought that it was strange they kept sending weak enemies like these monsters rather than a few strong ones.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°If there is a warlock involved, this must be for a demon rising ritual. These corpses were for demon rising ritual,¡± I bleakly told them my deduction.


    As if to confirm my suspicion, six ghastly figures appeared behind the mass of the undead monsters. All of them wore something like dark overcoats or robes with white tree-like symbols on their chest. Four held skull-tipped staffs, one equipped a sword, and the other one carried a demonic looking rod.


    ¡°Damned Bhalatoyol!¡± Nera spontaneously cursed those people.


    ¡°That is¡­ Damn it! How can¡¯t I see that?¡± Lashom groaned. ¡°Get inside, Kids!¡±


    The two younger girls pushed open the front door of the library and moved inside immediately, followed directly by the boy and Lashom¡¯s daughter.


    ¡°Girl! My blade!¡± I said to the librarian¡¯s daughter, who immediately gave the slingshot blade at me before entering the building. I did not have any plan to go inside the library. Nope. Getting enclosed inside a building when there were enemies trying to break in from the outside was not my idea of being safe. The image of people trapped inside a burning building came to my mind when I thought about it. If worse came worse, I could play dead outside¡­


    ¡°It¡¯s dangerous, Khael!¡± Lashom warned me.


    ¡°Yeah¡­ It would not that much different inside, if you three died out here,¡± I replied, as I dropped my hammer axe, took a bullet, and prepared to shoot with my slingshot.


    Meanwhile, the four necromancers of the enemies¡¯ side chanted something incomprehensible from my standing place. And surprisingly, the fallen undead monsters started to rise again.


    I shot a nearby rising zombie. My bullet penetrated its forehead but it did not stop the monster.


    ¡°Damn!¡± I swore. These rising undeads were directly controlled by the necromancers. They were much slower and weaker, but brain was no longer their weakness. They would keep moving even after I cut their heads and chopped their bodies to many parts.


    ¡°Kill the necromancers! Sezbeiku pana, sezbeiku pana, sezbeiku pana¡­,¡± said Lashom, sending three ice arrows to three of the necromancers.


    Surprisingly, the sword wielding enemy moved in front of the necromancers and blocked the arrows with his thin sword. That was an amazing swordsmanship¡­ which was spoiled by the man¡¯s infuriating laugh.


    ¡°That annoying bastard!¡± Nera roared and dashed heatedly to the direction of that sword wielding person. Her halberd wreaked havoc against the undead monster standing between her and her target.


    I took an aim at one of the necromancers and shot my bullet¡­ and it failed to hit him. The enemy swordsman cut it too with great accuracy. How could he do that in a dim light like this?


    ¡°Move aside, Nera! Sezbeiku bwala!¡± Lashom shouted¡­ and a spiky ball of ice as big as a bowling ball appeared in front of him. When he pointed his fingers to the necromancers¡¯ direction, the spiky ice ball blitzed in a great speed and rotation, literally blowing away anything in contact with it.


    It was lucky that Nera jumped aside when she heard Lashom¡¯s warning, or else she would be blown away too by the incredible impact of the magic spear.


    The spear failed to damage the necromancers though. The swordsman managed to destroy it with the slash of his blade, even if he was thrown away by the impact.


    I didn¡¯t miss that small chance. My next bullet zoomed to the necromancer I was aiming previously before the swordsman could recover from the impact.


    Smack¡­! A loud voice was heard when my bullet directly hit the head of the necromancer, forcing the corpse controller to drop down instantly¡­ either unconscious or died. Well, who cared about that bastard? The image of the children¡¯s death was still fresh in my memory.


    As the necromancer collapsed, some of the controlled undeads dropped down too. Great, now three more¡­ nope, two more¡­


    Right after my bullet hit the necromancer¡¯s head, an ice arrow from Lashom¡¯s magic pierced the forehead of another one. That was simply¡­ incredible, to send an arrow straight after hurling such a strong spell¡­ How powerful was this librarian? Should I use my [Matjiwa] to check him?


    No. It was not the time. There were still enemies there. I quickly took an aim at another necromancer, but something unexpected happened.


    The dead bodies of the undead enemies suddenly emitted dark smoke-like substance which gathered at one point in front of the one carrying demonic rod. Damn! That must have been the warlock. I should have taken care of that person first.


    I quickly changed my aim and shot the warlock. My bullet and an ice arrow flew straight at the warlock¡¯s head. It seemed that Lashom had the same way of thinking.


    But our attack failed. Both my bullet and Lashom¡¯s magic arrow seemed to hit an invisible wall. That warlock set a damned barrier around his body. Shit! Barrier was supposed to belong to restoration magic, not infernal. Did he use an enchanted item? But they are very expensive¡­


    A loud clang distracted my attention¡­ and irritation. Nera¡¯s halberd met with the swordsman¡¯s weapon. She managed to reach him and forced him into a melee battle. Wait¡­ that impossibly quick movement, and the way the swordsman was thrown back¡­ how strong was that female guard? She was much¡­ much stronger than what she had shown previously. And she was already strong before that.


    ¡°Damn it, Nera! To enter berserk mode at such time¡­¡± Jereo cursed to see her like that. Berserk mode¡­ that was what happened when an elf ignored everything including pain, safety, and even life to bring down the enemy. Shit! That was¡­ amazing.


    ¡°Watch out!¡± Two voices suddenly shouted at Nera¡­ from both Lashom and Jereo.


    A monstrous clawed arm appeared from the gathering smoke in front of the warlock and pierced Nera¡¯s ribs. And before she could do anything, another monstrous clawed arm appeared, gripped her neck, and broke it as if it were just a thin twig.


    ¡°NO!¡± The scream came from Lashom, Jereo, and me.


    A barrage of bullets and ice arrows flew to the hideous figure which appeared following its two deadly arms. Those ammunitions bounced away harmlessly when they hit the creature¡¯s body. Were we doomed?


    No! I refused to believe that.


    I needed to concentrate. That orc-like face and tusks, the excessively large all-black eyes, the stubby horns, the huge muscular body, the disproportionate limbs, the granite-like skin¡­ I had read about this. This revolting monster was just a low ranked demon, a Bhuto. I knew that even the lowest rank, if it were a demon, it would still be too much for me¡­ for us. But still, there must be a way to defeat this demon.


    The bhuto charged forward in a shambling, unsteady gait.


    Jereo charged forward to meet it. His shield protected him from its powerful arm swing. But he was still thrown back, losing in power¡­ and size. The monster was more than twice as large as him after all.


    ¡°Sezbeiku tomba!¡± Lashom shouted. A magical ice lance zoomed and crashed against the monster¡¯s face, stopping it for a moment.


    I used that instant to cast [Matjiwa] at the demon. I felt a throbbing headache and great strain over my eyes. Fortunately it lasted just for one or two seconds. Better still, I managed to acquire a great amount of information about the demonic monster.


    ¡°DIE!¡± Jereo shouted as he jumped and swung his sword with great power at the still-stunned monster¡¯s neck.


    There was a loud clang¡­ the sword bounced and the demon¡¯s neck was fine. I knew it would be pointless. From the information I acquired, I knew that the demon bhuto was idiotic and violent. The problem was¡­ it was also highly resistant to physical and magical attack of most elements, except light and fire.


    The demonic monster had recovered from its condition and slapped Jereo¡¯s body hard, slamming it into the ground. As it was about to stomp the guard¡¯s body¡­


    ¡°Sezbeiku bwala!¡± A rotating spiky ball of ice hit the demon¡¯s stomach, hurling it back and sending it down on its back.


    But it didn¡¯t save Jereo¡¯s life. The enemy¡¯s swordsman appeared suddenly and stabbed Jereo¡¯s heart. His sword penetrated the guard¡¯s armor as if it was nothing.


    ¡°NO! SEZBEIKU TOMBA!¡± Lashom screamed in anger. A great ice lance zoomed to the swordsman¡¯s direction. But with annoying laugh, he easily somersaulted sideways to evade the attack.


    The demon sat up groggily and was hit by the evaded ice lance right at its chest. It roared in anger, but it didn¡¯t seem to be hurt at all. I was not surprised. I knew its sense of pain was almost zero. In fact, I knew most of its senses were bad. The sensitivity of its sense of smell, hearing, taste, and touch was really bad. Its sight was also not very good. It mostly depended on its eyes¡¯ ability to see aura to detect its prey.


    It was pointless for me to attack the demon right now. But that swordsman¡­ I sent my last two bullets at the swordsman but he easily blocked them with his sword. Damn! Now, I was running out of ammunition.


    Wait! The swordsman was in the range of attack of the demon, but why did the demon seem to ignore him? Why wasn¡¯t he afraid of the demon?


    Once the question appeared in my mind, the answer immediately appeared too. It was because the swordsman was in a party with the warlock. Since the demon was a low ranked one, the summoner could in some way protect himself, and his party, by disguising their aura. Their aura! That was it!


    I quickly used my [Silly Sight] magic. I hoped this would work. A colorful ball of light flew in extremely fast speed to the demon which was trying to stand up.


    As the ball hit it, the monster¡¯s eyes flashed white for a second. Nothing else seemed to happen.


    ¡°Kekekeke¡­ AKHH¡­!¡± The swordsman, who was letting out his annoying laugh, suddenly stopped laughing¡­ as the demon grabbed his head and squeezed it till it burst.


    ¡°Lashom-ka! Send the demon to the warlock!¡± I quickly said. My skill had changed the colors in the monster¡¯s eyes. However, the change was random. It was very likely that it changed the aura color of the terrorists into non-friendly color in the demon¡¯s eyes. But, I needed to be extremely lucky if it changed our auras¡¯ color into the friendly one.


    ¡°Nice job, Khael! Sezbeiku bwala!¡± Another rotating spiky ball of ice zoomed and crashed against the demonic monster¡¯s body, sending it to the remaining group of warlock-necromancers. The demon¡¯s body collided with the two necromancers, sending all three of them down to the ground.


    The frustrated demon roared as it and grabbed one of the necromancers. Painful scream echoed loudly as the demon¡¯s arms violently tore apart the necromancer¡¯s body.


    The other necromancer and warlock scrambled away in fear. But the demon managed to grab the necromancer¡¯s legs.


    What happened next was a brutal way of murder. The demon swung the grabbed leg and slammed the necromancer¡¯s body to the ground¡­ again and again, until it didn¡¯t look like a humanoid creature anymore.


    I heard a murmured, incomprehensible chant. It was coming from the warlock.


    The monster stopped its raging assault and looked at the warlock, ready to charge. But then smoke appeared from all over the demon¡¯s body¡­ And as it roared its defiance, the monster quickly disappeared into dark formless smoke. It was¡­ un-summoned.


    As I was still dumbfounded, trying to take in the anticlimax ending of the demon, I could hear another murmured chant from the warlock.


    ¡°Sezbeiku tomba!¡± Lashom sent a large ice lance which crashed against and finally broke the warlock¡¯s magic barrier.


    ¡°Yeah!¡± I shouted in satisfaction.


    But, the warlock didn¡¯t stop his long incantation. And, a whirling black hole appeared not far from the warlock.


    ¡°Sezbeiku pana!¡± Lashom casted a magic arrow, but¡­ the spell fizzled. ¡°Damn! I¡¯m running out of mana. Stop him with your slingshot, Khael! He tried to open infernal gate.¡±


    I tried to take out ammunition from my ammo pouch. But it was empty. I remembered sending the last two bullets to the swordsman. Damn!


    ¡°I ran out of ammo.¡±


    Lashom paled. ¡°Damn it!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll stop him!¡± I said, dashing straight to the warlock. I would definitely stop him. I didn¡¯t want to face another demon. Once was more than enough.


    As I was close to the warlock, I sent out another [Silly Sight], hoping that it could distract him. The rainbow colored ball of light hit him straight at his face, lighting his eyes for a second. The whirling black hole changed into a dark blue one. Great! It was no longer infernal gate. But it would be better if there was no whirling hole at all.


    I didn¡¯t stop my run. In fact, I even accelerated it into my fastest sprint¡­ and tackled the warlock. My body collided with his¡­ sending both of us rolling on the ground.


    ¡°Genglaph dorona!¡± The warlock shouted.


    A great force threw my body away, made me flying¡­ straight to the whirling blue hole. Damn!


    The last thing I did before I was sucked into the hole was throwing my slingshot blade to the warlock. I noticed with great satisfaction that my blade pierced his chest¡­ for a second.


    As I was sucked into the whirling hole, I realized a terrible thing. Here I was, thrown into the unknown¡­ without any weapon¡­

 Volume 1: Chapter 13 – Stranded

    An Unknown Place, 56 Gearro 3982


    The whirling hole which absorbed me suddenly disappeared without any trace. I fell down from a ridiculous height¡­


    ¡°Son of a¡­¡± I automatically let out a panicked shout.


    Splash! I fell down with a great splash into a large body of water, like a big rock dropped into a deep pond. For a few seconds, surrounded by water, I lost my bearing¡­ could not understand which was up and which was down. Fortunately, it lasted only for a few seconds. The feeling of lost and panicked quickly disappeared as I managed to control my sense of sight underwater.


    Once I could differentiate the shades of water, separating them into brighter and darker part, I could deduct where I should go. I immediately swam to the brighter part¡­ the surface.


    ¡°Bwooh!¡± I spurted water out of my mouth, relieved that my head was finally out of the water. I took a deep breath, glad that I was still alive.


    Yet, once I had looked around¡­ the relieved feeling quickly disappeared. In the contrary, the great sense of dread started to appear in my mind.


    ¡°Damn it! How unlucky can I be?¡± I swore furiously.


    I was teleported to one of the worst places that I could imagine. I was in¡­ an open sea. Everything around me was water, water, and water. Anywhere I looked¡­ it was water, stretching up to the horizon in all sides.


    My shitty luck! I was not a fish, damn it!


    Sensing fear and helplessness crept all over my skin; I quickly took a deep breath and tried to relax¡­ using a unique method taught by my mother when she was still alive.


    Calm down¡­ I needed to calm down. I needed to think of the good sides of this situation. There must be at least one thing that could have been worse here¡­ One good thing¡­ I needed to think just one good thing¡­


    Alright¡­ alright¡­! Here was one good thing¡­ I could swim. That should be a plus point, shouldn¡¯t it? It would have been much, much worse for me if I could not swim. In fact, I definitely would have died, had I not possessed this swimming ability.


    Yeah, there too¡­ the weather was great. It was sunny and warm¡­ and the sky was cloudless. Those were also good news, weren¡¯t they? What would have happened to me, had I been teleported here in the mid of winter¡¯s snowstorm. I would have frozen to death. I should be grateful this was not that bad. Good. That would mean that my luck was not too bad¡­


    Wait, come to think of it, the position of the sun didn¡¯t seem to be that much different from the time right before I was sent here. Well, that was assuming that my sense of direction was not warped by the transfer. From the position of the sun, now, it could either be mid afternoon or mid morning.


    Personally, I was quite sure that it should be mid-afternoon, but I could not confirm that unless I waited for some time for the sun¡¯s movement to be noticeable. I hoped it would be mid afternoon though, since that would mean that I was not teleported too far from my hometown. I would hate it if I were sent to the other side of the world.


    Wait a minute¡­


    I dived down underwater and looked around with eyes open. Water, water, and¡­ ah there were some fish there, small sea fish, not sharks or sea monsters. Good! Wait! Those white-scaled fish¡­ They were taraykane, common north-sea fish. This was great!


    I returned back to the surface. At least, now I knew that this place most likely was the Northern Sea. Great! I had much higher chance to survive here. I would be doomed if this was the Sea of Monsters in the east.


    Right¡­ what should I do now?


    I looked around. Nothing but water was around me. That was not good. Floating on sea water did not take too much stamina, but it would be impossible for me to keep doing this indefinitely. Sooner or later, I would sink. Not to mention¡­ I needed food and fresh water too. This was bad¡­ really bad¡­


    I closed my eyes and tried to calm down my worry, again. I needed to look more carefully. There must be something out there that could give me hope. Alright! I would look around more carefully.


    I opened my eyes and looked around once more¡­ slowly this time, and more carefully. There! There was a tiny dark shape over there. It was so tiny that I almost missed it again. It could be an island¡­ or a monster, but¡­ Whatever! Taking a risk would be better than just staying here, floating aimlessly.


    I swam to the tiny shade I saw¡­ not in a hurry. I preferred a slow and steady movement. I needed to save my stamina in case something troublesome happened on the way.


    ¡­


    It was not a short distance. The sun was almost completely set but the distance to the dark shape was still considerably far. I could see the shape more clearly now though. It was an island¡­ a tiny island, without any sign of civilization. No ship, boat, or smoke could I see. But this was great! At least it was not a sea monster.


    This distance¡­ I would probably need, if I used the time measurement from my old word, two or three more hours to get there with my current speed. That was bad. The sun was about to set. It would be hard to maintain the direction when it got dark.


    I quickened my pace, swimming faster to the island. While swimming my head was full of questions. That island was tiny. How could I see it from that far away? Was it even possible for me to see something this far?


    ¡­


    The sun had completely set. I hadn¡¯t reached the island yet. The great thing was¡­ the half gearro moon up in the sky was bright enough to let me see the silhouette of the island I was swimming to.


    ¡­


    I finally reached the sandy beach of the island. My feet finally touched the soft sands. I walked unsteadily for several steps before I succumbed to the straining fatigue¡­ all over my body¡­ and my mind¡­ I could¡­ no longer¡­ stay¡­ conscious¡­


    The Unknown Island, 57 Gearro 3982


    I opened up my eyes. My head was still fuzzy. I was woken up by¡­ I didn¡¯t know what actually. When I managed to collect myself together, what I realized was¡­ I was lying on the soft white sand while the piercing heat of the morning sunlight bathed my aching body.


    I sat up quickly. Where was this? Oh, yeah! I remembered now. This was the tiny island that saved my life yesterday. Had I not found this island, I would have died pathetically¡­ sunk to the bottom of the sea.


    I let out a relieved sigh. I escaped from death again. Great! They said that what didn¡¯t kill you would only make you stronger, didn¡¯t they?


    Wait! This was not the time for contemplation. I needed to explore the island and scouted it for dangers and resources. But, that could wait for later. Now, I needed¡­ food and water. My throat was parched and my stomach was already grumbling.


    I looked around, searching for something to quench my thirst and fill my stomach. And I quickly found that something, many things actually¡­ coconut-like trees, with greenish trunk, greener leaves, and more importantly¡­ inviting reddish coconut-like fruits. I had never known there were trees like that. Was the fruit edible?If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    I quickly used my [Matjiwa] magic skill to analyze one of the trees. Once I used it, I instantly knew much about the tree, and its fruits. The inner flesh of the fruits was edible, and like coconut, there was also liquid inside this fruit. I needed to find a way to open it though.


    Wait! I needed to get the fruit first before trying to pry it open.


    I quickly stood up and looked for some fist-sized rocks. After finding some, I tried to make the fruits drop by throwing the rocks to the fruit.


    Three of my first throws didn¡¯t even hit any of the fruits. Damn! My hunger and thirst decreased my accuracy a lot.


    I concentrated harder and threw the next rock. It hit one of the fruits, but it was not strong enough to make the fruit fall. I threw it again¡­ and after three more throws, one fruit finally fell down. Great! Now, I needed to break it open.


    I searched for another rock. This time, I was looking for something that was sharp enough to pierce the external layers of the reddish coconut-like fruit. Once I found a sharp enough stone. I started hacking and piercing the fruit. Damn! It was hard to do it without proper tools. I shouldn¡¯t have thrown my slingshot blade to that warlock.


    After considerable time hacking and piercing, I finally managed to make it open, only to spill most liquid inside the fruit. So unlucky!


    I drank the remaining liquid inside. It tasted more like fresh, more diluted, cow¡¯s milk, rather than coconut water. But it was still great, especially to a thirsty person like me.


    After wetting my throat with the liquid, I tried to taste the pale yellow fruit¡¯s flesh. It tasted like a raw slimy bland jelly. I would rather take real coconut flesh anytime than this one. But since beggars cannot be picky, I guessed this one had to be enough.


    I used some rocks to drop two other similar fruits, pry them open, and consume both the liquid and flesh inside. It took me a considerably less time to do it, compared to the first time I did it. It seemed that I started to get used to doing this.


    While having my wild breakfast, I began to think of what had happened to my home town. Despite some of the unpredictable variables that had happened, those necromancers¡¯ attacks were well planned. If the attacks were not limited only to the library, if they had more than just one warlock, if there were some other hidden agenda behind the attack¡­ Damn! Bhalafaeth seemed to be much more dangerous than what I had previously thought. I wondered what was happening in town after I got teleported here.


    Enough! Whatever would happen there would happen. Thinking about it would not change the outcome. I needed to think about my situation here first. I would need to explore the island, scout for any possible danger, plan suitable survival methods, think of a way to leave, take inventories of what I could use¡­ Damn! I had a lot of things to do.


    After I had finished consuming the fruits, I started exploring the island.


    ¡­


    It didn¡¯t take me very long to finish my exploration. The island was very small. Most of the eastern, western, and southern parts of it were sandy beaches with lots of the coconut-like trees. The northern coast and some of the eastern part were characterized by dangerous looking rocky cliffs. It was lucky I did not hit that place yesterday.


    The central part of the island was a small-sized hill with lots of trees¡­ a small sized forest hill would probably describe it well. There was a basketball-court-sized clearing with pretty large fresh water spring near the top of the hill.


    There was nothing threatening in this island... no monster, no vicious beast. The problem was¡­ except for sea birds and insects, there was no animal either here. That meant that if I wanted to eat meat, I needed to start learning how to take down the birds, without scaring the other birds.


    Well, I would have to learn how to catch fish without fishing pole too. It should not be too hard. I could probably create and use a simple wooden spear by sharpening a tree branch with sharp rock. But then, I didn¡¯t want to eat raw meat or fish. I needed to be able to make fire too. Damn! I wished I brought my flint and blade.


    I sighed. How could my life story turn into this Robinson-Crusoe-like development? And Crusoe was much better off than me. At least he could salvage some tools from the shipwreck. Oh well, at least, unlike Crusoe, I didn¡¯t need to build a house. I had found a cave on the hill side where I could comfortably rest in case of bad weather. It was not much of a cave, but it could at least shelter me from rain¡­ and wind if I could build some kind of door to cover the opening.


    I started listing my survival necessities. Food and water¡­ for now, there was no problem with that. The spring water would provide me enough water to drink. I could use the sea for bath. For food, before I could get meat or fish, I could eat fruits or leaves. My [Matjiwa] skill should help a lot here. I should not be stingy in using it for this matter. I didn¡¯t want to die because of silly food poisoning.


    Next¡­ for shelter, there was no problem either. I had the cave. However, unless I faced bad weather, I would probably just sleep outdoors, on the grass, under the open sky.


    For clothing? That was when trouble started to come. I had no idea at all how I could make clothing without any tool. And making the tools was also out of questions since I had no idea how to do it either. Besides, what materials could I use here? Fish scales? Bird feathers? How would I use them?


    God damn it! And I was still in my growing stage. Soon, this clothing I wore would not fit me anymore. I guessed I didn¡¯t have any choice. By the time my clothing could not fit me anymore; I would have to go into Tarzan-mode, and modified that useless clothing to cover only my vital part.


    I should just forget about this clothing problem for now. I needed to go to the next concern¡­ fire. How would I make a fire without tools? Hand drills or bow drills would be the logical choice here. I had never done any of those techniques but I knew the theory. Oh well, I just needed to apply the theory into practice and try to somehow make it work.


    My next concern would be the development of my power. I needed to get stronger. It meant that I had to continue and even intensify my daily practice. For the power of my body and soul, I needed to remember that I had no one to teach me new martial art techniques here, so I had better focus on raw power and mastering the techniques I had already learnt.


    For magic, well¡­ there were many insects here. Most of them were from species that I had never seen and learned about. Using my [Matjiwa] on them should be logical. My first priority should still be the same, finding a zea-learning skill to replace the [Silly Sight] magic skill.


    Alright! I needed to start working.


    ¡­


    The Unknown Island, 69 Gearro 3982


    Twelve days had passed. I had started to adapt to my life here in the island.


    There was no lack of edible and nutritious materials from the plants here. Fruits, roots, leaves, flowers¡­ many of those were all safe to eat and nourishing for my body. The only problem was that none of these edible parts of the plants, at least those that I had consumed, tasted delicious. They were either bland or a little bitter. I had washed them with seawater several times just to give them a little salty flavor.


    I had managed to catch a fish just a few days ago, using sharpened stick. That was no easy feat. Swimming to a fish and then thrusting the sharp point of the stick to the fish was an easy thing to do. Hitting the fish was a different matter. After one lucky hit a few days ago, I had never hit any other fish.


    Different from my unsuccessful endeavor in fishing, I could now easily make fire, with a simple bow drill technique. The bow drill I used was crudely made out of tree branch and vines.


    For my physical development, I focused my training on movement ability in natural obstacles, bare-handed shadow fighting, and throwing skills using rocks with different shapes and sizes. All of them were not up to minimum standard that I set myself yet, but they were progressing quite nicely.


    So far, I had managed to hit level eight in the domain of mind and soul, and level seven in body. I was planning to level up in body domain tonight. That was not something that I looked forward to though. It was more like¡­ I needed to force myself to break through the level eighth layer because I had to, not because I wanted to. The pain¡­ I sincerely wished I hadn¡¯t had to go through that annoying pain to level up my body.


    Anyway, one thing that I took special note in these twelve days was that the [Matjiwa] skill I possessed was truly convenient. Not only did it give me thorough information about edible plants, it also led me to the greatest excitement that I had ever experienced. It was¡­ the discovery of an insect with zea-learning magic skill.


    The ability that nearly brought me to tears of happiness belonged to a thumb-sized spider with black glossy color. I had never seen nor read about this kind of spider, so I simply called it a shadow spider. The magic skill appeared as strands of black threads that covered the target in a dark-colored cocoon. After about a thousand seconds, one of the target¡¯s passive magic skills would be learnt by the spider. Since I never heard of that kind of magic, I simply called the spider¡¯s magic skill [Empathic Cocoon].


    Obviously, I tried as hard as I could to learn that magic skill. But, learning the skill was not easy, not easy at all. That was because one spider could only use that magic three times due to the limit of zea slots in it. And it seemed that unlike my [Monster Magic Mimicry], the [Empathic Cocoon] could not be used to overwrite learned skill. Worse yet, the spiders were not that common. I could only find six after three days searching all over the island.


    To continue learning the magic, there was no other choice for me. I had to breed the spiders.


    I said ¡®breed¡¯ but what I actually did was simply transporting all the shadow spiders I discovered to a single safe place, my cave. I provided them with other insects for their foods and hoped for the best. Luckily, it worked. There were about a hundred egg sacs scattered in my cave now. Once the baby spiders broke out of their sacs, the [Empathic Cocoon] would soon replace my [Silly Sight]. I sincerely hoped nothing bad would happen before I acquired that magic skill.


    ¡­