《A Worryful New World》


 A Simple Sneeze

    I check my backpack once again.


    Algebra, History, Geometry, English, Literature, Physics, IT. Everything was in place.


    "Welp, I''m off mom!"


    I shout towards my mom who was sitting at the computer.


    "Be careful, it rained a lot last night, so there''s bound to be a lot of ice."


    "I will!"


    Before I walk out, I take one last look at the cat collar hanging by the wall.


    Then, as if repeating a ritual, I say¨D


    "Thank you once again, Ashna."


    With that, I exit the flat.


    I press the button to call for an elevator and check up on some idle and clicker apps on my phone while I wait.


    The door opens and I enter the elevator, making sure to get my eyes off the phone before I take the step.


    I open my favourite translation site for web novels ¨D which is run by only one person ¨D and look at the new chapter that was posted.


    "Posting every single day, this guy''s a monster."


    I would never ever dream of having such commitment towards something, if we don''t count my life and cats, that is.


    Before I can even finish the chapter, the door of the elevator opens and I walk out after putting my phone in my pocket.


    ''No extra stops for floors today, lucky.''


    As soon as I get out of the building, the chilly air hits my face, making me slightly squeeze my eyes.


    I walk to school, feeling my legs slide almost every step I take.


    "The ice is no joke today, huh?"


    If I let my mind wonder for more than a second, I would definitely slip.


    "Oh well, this is nothing new."


    I casually wipe my nose with my sleeve and keep walking like normal.


    After a bit of nothing happening, I could feel a sneeze on the way.


    I make sure to stand on some non-slippery ground before I sneeze, I didn''t want to risk falling.


    "Achoo!"


    I scratch my nose and keep going ¨Dis what I would like to say, but I could feel a second sneeze on the way.


    "A...A...Achoo! Damn, what''s with the sneezes today?"


    I scratch my nose and open my eyes.


    I freeze up.


    I stand there, completely dazed.


    I pinch myself, I could clearly feel the pain.


    After a couple of minutes of standing there wide-eyed, I sigh.


    "...Really? That was really unceremonious, you know? I get transported to a different world all because of a sneeze?"


    Instead of the snow-filled landscape I was expecting, a lush green forest was all I could see.


    There was no need to even think about what happened.


    I had clearly been summoned to another world.


    ***


    I could feel my entire body shaking. I wasn''t sure whether it was because of excitement or fear.


    ''Calm down, calm down.''


    I sit on the ground and clear my emotions.


    First things first, I had to take off my winter clothes. It was way too hot.


    The sun was burning bright, and even though most of the light was being blocked by the leaves of trees, some of it was still passing through.


    I put the clothes in my backpack and starting thinking on what I should do next.


    ''Well, there''s not much to do besides walking, is there?''


    No matter how much I looked around, trees were all I could see.


    The best I could do was pick a direction and start walking.


    Despite my reluctance, I stood up and dusted off the dirt on my pants.


    I noticed that my hands were shaking.


    ''Yeah, of course they would be.''


    After all... I had been summoned to another world! It was exhilarating just thinking about what adventures awaited me!


    And as if answering that exhilaration, I could feel my body lighten and my muscles tighten.


    I looked towards a random tree.


    Then, acting upon the excitement in my head, I punched it with all my might.


    "ACK! SHI¨D!"


    It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt!


    I rolled on the ground, trying my best to lessen the pain.


    ''Why the hell did I just punch a tree?! What''s wrong with me?!''


    I could understand exactly what was wrong with me, as when I looked at the tree I had hit, there was a small gash in it.


    I had punched a crater into a tree with my bare hands. A small one, but much bigger than a nerd like me should be able to do.


    ''I knew it! After being transported, I had become stronger!''


    This was a classic of Isekai. Being transported = power.


    Though, in my case, the power boost seemed stupidly low.


    Anyway, after thrashing around with my hand in pain for a bit, I finally calmed down.


    And when I did, I layed down on the grass and looked at the sky through the leaves of the trees.


    I smiled, but the smile was crooked and wrong.


    ''Ah, is this how Yui felt?''


    Leaving that thought aside, it seemed like the pain had cleared my head. And with a clear head, I grasped my situation to a frightening degree.


    First of all, I was in a forest. And not just any forest, but an Isekai forest.


    The chances of me stumbling into some kind of monster were high, so I had a high chance of dying.


    Second, I had just shouted. My shout was loud, and it had most likely already attracted monsters.


    Third, run.


    There was no more time for thoughts. The longer I spent there laying on the ground, the bigger the chances something would kill me.


    When I started running, I was fast. So fast in fact, that I tripped on a random tree root.


    ''Ouch.''


    This was to be expected. I had gotten stronger out of nowhere, so my body hadn''t quite adapted to my new physical capabilities.


    ''No matter.''


    I could just stand up and run again.


    Fortunately, I didn''t stumble again. Instead, I ran out of breath.


    ''This... should be fine, right?''


    I wasn''t sure for how long I had ran, but I was pretty far away from where I started.


    If there were any monsters attracted to my shout, I was far enough away for them not to notice me.


    I was fine to rest.


    ''That kind of thinking is what gets you killed!''


    By all accounts I was far enough, I should be taking a break, but instead I decided on walking.


    I could still regain my breath that way, and gaining more distance was never a bad decision.


    I had read way too many stories where everything goes to shit the moment the main character lowers their guard, I wasn''t going to do the same.


    ''Come to think of it...''


    I look around myself once again. Nothing but trees and some bushes.


    After staring for a bit, I sigh and resume moving forward.


    ''Yeah, no way, right?''


    ***


    I just kept walking and walking, no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel.


    I wasn''t sure how long I had been walking, but my guess was around 3 hours. The sun moved about that amount after all.


    ''Though the sun might be completely different here.''


    And not only the sun, but also the day itself could be different. Who says that a day has to last 24 hours in a fantasy world, after all?


    ''Dammit, I know too little.''


    Information. I needed information.


    Without information I was nothing more than a sitting duck.


    I didn''t know how much time had passed. I didn''t know how far away I was from civilization.


    Hell, I didn''t know whether civilization existed in the first place! Who says I couldn''t get transported to dinosaur times?!


    I sighed and sighed and sighed. Throughout this walk I had sighed more times than I could count on my fingers and toes.


    ''Well, not actually but that doesn''t matter.''


    The fact that I could count up to 1023 on my fingers alone didn''t matter.


    The fact of the matter was, I could do nothing but hope for something good. And hope was something I hated.


    ''It gets crushed like a bug after all.''


    Or... that was how it was in my old world. Perhaps, in this world... hope was something I could have and not despair afterwards.


    ''...Pathetic.''


    Since when did I get so soft? Did getting transported mess with my brain?


    Hope was nothing to me. To others it could be the reason for strength and perseverance, but for me it was useless.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    All that mattered were my actions, something tangible, not the fleeting embers of hope.


    I continued walking, stopping every so often to listen for sounds of water. Water was the most important resource after all.


    ''...Still nothing.''


    My legs were burning, but I was somewhat used to pain in my legs, so I could continue walking fine. Maybe the fact that I was stronger now made that possible too.


    I fully stop. Not because I was too tired or something like that, but because of something else.


    I had finally found a rock.


    That might seem like something stupid, but a rock was indispensable to me right now.


    The rock was around the size of my palm and it was pretty circular, making it easy to hold.


    ''Sharp too. How lucky.''


    Without any hesitation, I walked up to a tree and started hacking one of its branches off with the rock.


    It took a bit of work, but after some time I finally had a walking stick.


    Surprisingly, I hadn''t found even a single branch lying on the ground this entire time. And it was pretty easy to guess why.


    Even though I had been walking defenselessly for around... 6 hours? No creature had attacked me. Not only that, the trees themselves seemed to be stronger than ones on earth.


    All in all, there were no creatures around to break the branches, not even considering their more rigid structure that could withstand even the strongest of winds.


    Anyway, this wasn''t even the main reason why the rock was so useful. I could finally mark the trees.


    ''For all I know, this could be an illusionary forest that tricks my mind into going in circles. By marking trees, I eliminate that problem.''


    I had also marked the dirt underneath me randomly, but that wasn''t nearly as reassuring as a mark on a tree. Marks on dirt were easy to erase after all, but on trees... not so much.


    I kept walking, marking the trees as I went by, and suddenly stopped.


    I had finally found my first creature in this world.


    It was... a cat. A normal black cat.


    I looked at it and it looked back.


    We stared at each other for a bit. It was then that I noticed the first weird thing about this cat.


    The cat had crescent-shaped pupils. Not round, crescent-shaped.


    Another weird thing was that the cats eyes seemed to glow with a silver light.


    Its eyes were silver ¨D that was normal ¨D but they also seemed to illuminate everything around them.


    ''...Run!''


    My mind was telling me to run. The logical thing to do was to run.


    Even if the creature looked like a cat, it was most likely something much more dangerous. It wouldn''t be surprising if when it unhinged its jaw, it turned out to be able to swallow me whole.


    ''Run! Run! Run!''


    I should''ve ran... but my heart refused to. Instead of running, all I could do was tremble in place.


    The cat... it looked very similar to a cat that I previously had. So similar in fact, that the only differences were the unnatural characteristics of it, like the glowing eyes and crescent pupils. Not only that... the collar on its neck was also exactly the same, apart from the name written on it.


    ''That''s not your cat, dumbass! You cat is dead! Hell, this could be an illusion made by some creature that tricks the mind! Don''t be stupid and RUN!''


    My body finally started to move. After casting one last glance at the cat, I started running with all my might.


    I ran even harder than I had when I first arrived here.


    By the end of it, I was huffing and puffing for a minute straight.


    After regaining my breath and calmness, I remembered the interaction with the cat that I had.


    ''That... was weird.''


    I mean, it didn''t even try to attack me, only looking me in the eyes.


    I couldn''t deny it casting some kind of spell on my mind, but I didn''t feel my mind being tampered with at all.


    Actually, if that same situation happened again, I would act exactly the same.


    ''It looks so similar after all...''


    I shake my head. There was no time to think about stupid things like that.


    I had to think about how to survive.


    I had a small bottle of water in my backpack ¨D which I had previously used to satiate my thirst ¨D but now all of that was gone, and after running, I wanted to drink really, really badly.


    ''I might be familiar with the sensation of not eating for a couple of days, but drinking is a whole different beast.''


    I had read how it felt to have severe dehydration, and I didn''t want to be in the same situation in the slightest.


    But no matter how much I thought, there was nothing I could do but hope to find a river or some people.


    ''Hope... what a pity.''


    If only it was someone else, maybe this hope wouldn''t be useless...


    After marking another tree, I continued walking.


    My legs... to say that they were burning would be an understatement. Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to lay down and take a break.


    And I most likely should''ve, but... No, wait, I actually should.


    ''This is not even a matter of weak willpower, I should honestly stop walking. If a monster attacks me right now, I wouldn''t be able to resist properly. I''d say... eight minutes of rest.''


    When I finally sat down, all the pain and exhaustion hit me at once. This is what I expected to happen, but the scale of pain was on a whole different level than I imagined it would be.


    "Fu-Dammit!"


    Almost every muscle in my body exploded with pain.


    The arm I used to mark the trees, the arm I used the walking stick? with, the legs I walked with, the back which carried the stupidly heavy backpack.


    ''This is... fine! Totally... fine! I''ve been through worse!''


    I gritted my teeth until they felt like breaking, but that didn''t help much. Only thing I could do was agonize until all the pain went away.


    "Kh!"


    It only took three minutes, but it felt like an hour. An hour of nothing but torture.


    ''Well, that''s exaggerating it a bit.''


    In the end, I ended up laying for about 15 minutes instead of the 8 I was planning to.


    It was a deviation from my calculations, but nothing too serious.


    I started pushing myself up. My arms and legs screamed at me, but I ignored the pain and continued walking.


    My pace was now considerably slower, which made me realize something.


    ''Maybe I should throw away some textbooks...''


    I was a bit reluctant to do that. After all, they held knowledge and theories that might be useful, but at the same time, they were nothing but extra weight to me right now.


    In the long-term, keeping them was better. In the short-term, getting rid of them was better.


    ''Well, not all of them will be useful. Geography and History are definitely useless subjects in my situation. IT and English too.''


    It was decided, I was going to throw away those four subjects. I wanted to throw away Literature too, but perhaps the way people talked in books would be useful in this new world. After all, I had no idea how to talk to Royals, which this world had a high chance of having.


    By the way, I was keeping all the notebooks, no matter which subject.


    Normally in Isekai the times are medieval, so it was likely that paper was scarce, and I was going to need a lot of paper.


    ''Haaaa, what a pain. I bet I''m going to miss a lot of commodities from my old world while I''m here.''


    Unless I found some miraculous way to recharge my phone, I wouldn''t have access to even that.


    Depressing thoughts aside, I continued walking.


    I closed my eyes and concentrated on my ears. I was searching for the sound of water.


    Well, just like the past dozen times, I couldn''t hear anythi¨D


    ''Is that water?!''


    Contrary to my expectations, I could finally hear water.


    Without even thinking about it, my body naturally started running in the direction of the sound.


    Water! I had finally found water!


    But no matter how excited I was, I made sure to keep a clear mind.


    After all, what if this sound was made by a monster to lure prey? What if dozens of monsters were near the river, drinking from it, leaving no way for me to safely satiate my thirst?


    I was excited, yes, but I made sure not to get my hopes up.


    While I was thinking all of that, I was getting closer and closer to the river. The sound of it getting more and more intense.


    And when I finally got to the clearing¨D¨D


    "It''s black."


    The water was black. Not even green from toxins or red from blood, but black.


    But even though the water was black, it moved just like water and sounded just like water.


    ''Perhaps it also tastes just like water and is safe to drink just like water...''


    But no matter how thirsty I was, I wasn''t willing to take that risk. I mean, it was black for god''s sake! Black is never a good color! At least red has strawberries, but black is never associated with something good!


    I sighed, but continued walking in my previous direction, which was actually parallel to the river.


    My mood became slightly worse, but it wasn''t too bad. Since I didn''t have any hope in the first place, all I felt was a short ping of sadness.


    ''This is why you don''t hope for anything, kids.''


    Anyway, after a bit of walking, I decided to check the properties of the water.


    I first lowered my walking stick? into it. It became a bit soaked, but nothing bad happened to it. After moving it around a bit, I had confirmed that the water behaved just like normal water. It wasn''t viscous or anything like that.


    After that I lowered my finger in it. It felt a bit tingly, but it didn''t seem harmful.


    I decided to fill my bottle with this black water. If I didn''t find any other source of water in the next couple of days, this was my best bet.


    The thought of drinking something like this invigorated my willpower, making me go a bit faster than I did previously.


    After walking for about 15 minutes, the river suddenly curved, going to my right.


    I had to somehow get over it to continue walking.


    It was too big to just jump over. I could most likely swim through it, but not only did I not know whether there were monsters beneath the water, I also didn''t want to make my things wet, especially my notebooks.


    So I either had to find a bridge... or make one.


    I sighed. This was going to take a long time.


    "Damn it all."


    ***


    The tree trembled, sending shivers through the ground beneath me.


    It tilted to one side, after which it started to rapidly fall down.


    It hit the ground with a loud thud, making me get goosebumps.


    "Well, I finally have a bridge. After... two hours."


    I grimace. Taking two hours to make a bridge was way too long. How many more rivers would I come across, after all?


    ''Well, the next one is going to take less time.''


    In these two hours, chopping down the tree wasn''t the only thing I did. I also had to make an axe to chop the tree.


    Luckily for me though, I had already anticipated something like this happening, so I picked up a sizeable rock on my walk, along with some vines.


    That doesn''t mean it was easy though. The vines had broken or untied numerous times due to me not knowing how to make a proper axe.


    Tying the rock to a branch wasn''t easy. Even if it seemed stable, it would go flying after a couple of hits.


    Nevertheless, throughout numerous failed attempts, I had finally made something ¨D relatively ¨D stable and was finally able to bring the tree down.


    "I also have somewhat of a weapon now. Sure, it took two hours to make a bridge, but they weren''t wasted."


    I wasn''t sure whether that was me coping or not.


    Anyway, I carefully crossed the river with the help of the tree and continued walking.


    The sun was... scarily close to setting now. I wasn''t confident in moving around in the dark and I also had to sleep, so it would be a good idea to start thinking of shelter.


    ¨DOr at least, those were my thoughts before I heard a low growl behind me.


    I freeze in place with fear gripping my heart. But I don''t let the fear cloud my judgement.


    ''That''s a wolf, right? That was the same sound dogs make, so it has to be a wolf, right?''


    Before I could think further, my body acted on its own.


    I started running. Faster than when I first came here, faster than when I ran away from the cat.


    This time around, the danger was much more real and much more tangible.


    But before I could run even remotely far, three more wolves appeared right in front of me.


    ''They have me surrounded! And why three?!''


    If it was just one wolf maybe I could''ve ran straight through it, I had my axe after all, but that was impossible with three.


    I was forced to stop dead in my tracks. I didn''t even try running left or right, there were definitely more wolves there.


    ''Okay, don''t panic. Think. How can you get out of this situation?''


    Considering the three in front of me, the one behind and... I''d say three¨D no, four more hidden, there were most likely about eight wolves surrounding me. There might be more, might be less, but I''ll go with that number for now.


    ''No matter what I do, I won''t be able to escape their encirclement unscathed. Which means that I have to give something up.''


    I didn''t even have to think on what I had to sacrifice, the answer was too obvious.


    ''First¨D!''


    I take all of my small stones out of my pockets and throw them as fast as I can at the three wolves in front of me.


    They don''t even flinch.


    ''Figures. Then¨D!''


    I immediately turn back. Just like at the front, three wolves greet me.


    I jump at them. I had to be the one initiating the attack, otherwise, I would die.


    All of the three wolves jump too, all of them perfectly synchronized.


    ''But that just makes it easier for me!''


    I raise my axe with my right hand and bring it down on the right-most wolf with all my might. It dodges out of the way with swift movement.


    Then, I raise my left hand.


    The two other wolves bite into it.


    ¨DPain.


    Pain. Pain. Pain.


    My brain goes numb. All my senses are compromised. The pain completely paralyzes me.


    ¨DIs what would''ve happened to a normal human.


    "I''VE BEEN THROUGH WORSE YOU BASTAAAAARDS!!"


    I let go of the axe and shove my fingers into the wolves'' eyes.


    They couldn''t dodge and both of them became blind. They let go of my arm due to the sudden attack.


    Not losing my chance, I start running again. Now with adrenaline coursing through my veins, I was running much faster than before.


    Though, it seemed luck still wasn''t on my side.


    Another wolf appeared in front of me, but I thought of that possibility too.


    I grabbed my bottle from the side-pocket of my backpack and hurled it at the wolf with my full might.


    This time around, the wolf couldn''t dodge in time. The bottle hit it squarely in the face, exploding with the black water.


    ''Now that it''s blinded¨D!''


    I run past it, not sparing it even another thought. All I cared about was running.


    ''Run! Run! Run!''


    I kept running and running, running and running.


    There was no end to it. No matter how much I ran and how fast I ran, I could still hear the wolves not too far behind me.


    It didn''t even feel like I was gaining distance, in fact, it felt like the opposite!


    ''What the hell is this trashy Isekaiiiii?!''


    A forest with no humans in sight. Cats with mind tricks. And now wolves?!


    Where is my power?! Why am I not OP?! Why the hell do I not feel like a main protagoniiiist?!


    ''Ah, dammit! I''ll still live! I''ve been through worse! I''ve survived through worse! Something of this level¨D!''


    "There''s no way I''d die!"


    But even though I shouted that out, it wasn''t like I was gonna get a boost out of it.


    The wolves were still getting closer and my adrenaline was seemingly going away too.


    ''No matter! I''m finally here!''


    Right in front of me was the river I had crossed, along with the tree-bridge.


    After I cross the tree-bridge, I start pushing it. It slowly starts to roll.


    One of the wolves tried to cross the tree-bridge, but couldn''t balance on it and fell into the water.


    There, it was picked up by the current and started unwillingly swimming away.


    After that, the wolves stopped trying to cross it.


    I rolled the tree some more, until it itself fell into the water and floated away.


    Me and the wolves looked at each other from opposite ends of the river.


    I raise my left arm ¨D which hurt a lot ¨D and showed them the middle finger.


    In response, the one that had a scar on its face and looked a bit stronger than the rest growled at me with hate.


    "Touche."


    I smirked triumphantly. I had lived in a ¨D I counted the wolves I could see ¨D ten against one situation.


    ''Ten, huh. That should''ve been certain death. Did they lower their guard because I looked like easy prey?''


    I wasn''t sure whether to feel happy that I lived or to feel angry because they looked down on me.


    ''Well, I''m alive, that''s all that matters.''


    I stop caring about the wolves and start gathering some leaves from the trees.


    After gathering enough, I put them on the wounds on my left hand and tie all of it with some vines.


    I also ripped some pages out of the textbooks ¨D the ones that I already knew the contents of ¨D and used them to improve the quality of my DIY bandage


    "I don''t know anything about first aid, but this is better than nothing, right?"


    It looked like it was better, at least. I wasn''t losing as much blood as I used to.


    I sigh from exhaustion.


    "What a shitty Isekai..."


    I didn''t have a bridge anymore. I was bleeding, effectively putting me on a timer. My left arm was completely unusable. My situation was hopeless... but that was fine.


    "Welp, let''s act."


    I help myself get up with my right hand and start thinking.


    The things I could do in this situation... were not much, but not nothing either.


    I look at the sun in the sky. The sky now looked a little bit yellower.


    "Shelter it is."


    ...But how do you make shelter?


    ***


    "This looks... laughably bad."


    To call this a tent would be to call a dog-house a mansion.


    Nevertheless, it was already night and I was completely spent. I didn''t have time to improve my... house.


    Honestly... I was scared. Worried, even.


    I mean, I was going to sleep with no protection, just praying that no monsters were going to attack me.


    Relying on prayers was stupid, just like hope, but I honestly didn''t have anything better.


    I was too tired to think. Too tired to move. Too tired to make traps and alarms.


    I yawn, the exhaustion was definitely catching up to me now.


    "Even if I die, it''s not like anyone will care."


    To everyone in my old world, it didn''t matter whether I lived or died as I was already ''missing''. And I haven''t found even a single person in this new world, not to mention making a bond with someone so that they would care about me.


    "I won''t be caught dying without struggling though. I don''t want to die after all."


    With a parched throat and a steady resolve, I closed my eyes and slowly drifted into sleep.

 Why Is The Difficulty Curve Exponential?

    I open my eyes.


    I dreamt... of nothing. I didn''t dream at all, actually.


    I rub my eyes. I felt especially weak and lazy today.


    In fact, I could already feel myself dozing off¨D


    I bite my tongue.


    "Nope. No laziness today, my guy."


    I couldn''t afford to be lazy in a place where so many dangers were right around the corner.


    Speaking of dangers...


    ''It really hurts to talk, huh?''


    My throat was dying right now, which made sense. I hadn''t drank in a long time, and I also did some involuntary exercise yesterday.


    ''Damn those wolves.''


    Nevertheless, I had to act. Not acting would be the same thing as accepting death in my situation.


    So after bidding a farewell to my... shelter, I was off to search for a good rock. I still needed to cross the river, and for that I needed an axe.


    I walked along the shore of the river, killing two birds with one stone.


    ...Well, not literally, of course.


    You see, I needed to get away from the spot the wolves attacked me at. I was almost certain that if I crossed the river in that same spot, I would get mauled by them.


    So by walking along the shore of that river, I was both searching for a rock and walking away from the wolves!


    ''This is... really bad though.''


    Only after walking for a bit did I realize just how sorry of a state I was in.


    My arm was unusable, while constantly leaking blood. My makeshift bandages made of leaves and ripped textbook papers were helping, but not stopping it completely.


    Honestly, if it was just that, I would''ve probably been fine, but the problem was the fact that I had slept with these same injuries.


    Throughout the entire night, more and more blood had escaped my body, making me grow exceptionally weak. The pool of blood I had seen when I woke up confirmed that.


    The pain had not receded as well, making every second just that little bit more agonizing.


    ''...Yeah, this is probably the second worst situation I have ever been in.''


    The worst meaning the closest to death in this case.


    Anyway, I kept walking, not really doing much. I only had two things to do in the first place.


    But then, I stopped.


    ''Hold up. Let''s rethink my situation right now.''


    I didn''t have a functioning hand, I didn''t have a bridge to keep going, I didn''t have a weapon, I didn''t have food, I didn''t have water.


    Honestly, even a person like me was starting to lose his spirits here. I mean, it felt like I ended up in an end-game area as a level 1 noob.


    ''Alright, now, rethink it.''


    I... had nothing to lose right now. Not only that, I was on a timer. If I didn''t do anything soon, I would die of blood loss.


    Which meant that¨D


    ''It is time to take risks, huh? Even though I hate risks...''


    I walk to the edge of the river and take my backpack into my right hand.


    Then, I spin. I spin as fast as I can and let go of the backpack at the perfect moment.


    All the force of my spin converted into the speed of the backpack and it flew over the river... barely.


    I then threw over my walking stick?.


    ''Now the hard part.''


    I crouch right at the edge of the river... and dive right into it.


    Immense pain immediately radiates in my left arm. I wanted to scream, but I couldn''t, I was underwater.


    Not only that, I had to use the hand to swim.


    ''Why the hell does it hurt so much?!''


    It didn''t make sense, but I had no time for idle thoughts. I focused on swimming to the other edge of the river.


    After what felt like forever and at the same time a moment, I pulled myself up to the bank.


    When I looked around, I noticed that my backpack was now about 80 meters from me.


    ''The current was that¨D''


    I didn''t have time to finish my thought as my left arm radiated with pain once again.


    I groaned, this wasn''t normal pain. It felt like my wounds were being reopened with renewed vigor.


    ''Dammit! Was the river salty?!''


    No, that didn''t make sense. I knew how salt affected wounds, this was not the same. This was something much more painful... and deadly.


    ''Bad. This is bad.''


    It seems like I had underestimated the danger of the black water. Since it did nothing to my finger, I thought that swimming through it wouldn''t be a problem either.


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    I was wrong. Really goddamn wrong.


    In fact, after thinking about it for a bit, it was clear why the river was black now.


    It was full of poison.


    Or venom, if you''re that kind of guy.


    Anyway, what exactly it was didn''t matter. What mattered though, was that there was now poison inside my system.


    ''Poison. Poison. What do I know about poison? How can I get out of this situation?''


    First of all, I took off my bandages. Now that they were soaked, they were nothing more than sources of more poison.


    The second thing I could do was... try to suck the poison out.


    I didn''t know how to do that, yes, but I didn''t really have any choices here.


    I brought my mouth to one of the teeth marks and sucked.


    Eventually, I could feel something enter my mouth and it exploded with pain too.


    I spat it out as fast as I could, but the damage was done. My mouth was now completely numb.


    ''What the hell?! It even damages my mouth?! I can understand wounds, but my mouth?!''


    The situation had gone from bad to worse. More accurately, my attempts to make the situation better had instead made it worse.


    ''Whatever! Since I''m already on death''s door, I will just continue struggling! There''s no worse situation than death!''


    Even with my numb mouth, I continued to suck the poison out.


    At this point, I could feel some of the skin inside my mouth start to deteriorate.


    It was painful. It was dangerous. But I was still alive and I still continued struggling.


    After what felt like forever, I was sprawled on the ground. Completely exhausted and damaged beyond compare.


    ''Fricking... hell.''


    I tried to move my left arm, but it didn''t respond at all. My tongue was in the same situation.


    ''I can''t even move my tongue now. Jesus, what a perilous situation.''


    I chuckled a bit. I never thought I would use the word perilous in my entire life.


    ''Yeah, that''s right. Laughter dulls the pain. Let''s think about some funny stuff right now.''


    I thought about everything funny that I could remember and chuckled quite a bit. Each one of those chuckles cost me a bit of pain, but I felt like it was worth it.


    After lying there for who knows how long, I finally got up.


    "Kh!"


    I was hurting. Hurting a lot.


    The pain was dulling my mind and body. I could barely walk right now.


    ''Ah, if only dying was as sweet as it is in media.''


    I had already experienced once what it felt like to be on the verge of death.


    It wasn''t peaceful, it wasn''t serene. It was painful, scary, agonizing.


    I never wanted to feel like that again.


    That''s why I couldn''t give up on living. I was constantly running away from death, just like a coward.


    So even though everything hurt, I continued walking.


    I picked up my backpack, put it on, and walked away from the poisonous river.


    I wasn''t limping... yet, but my pace had slown considerably.


    Perhaps only now did I truly start to feel the fatigue of blood loss.


    ''Now that I think about it, I got rid of my bandages, right?''


    I looked at my left hand, expecting to see it leaking blood like a waterfall, but I didn''t see any blood.


    ''...Hm?''


    The wounds were still there, but the blood wasn''t leaking at all.


    ''Don''t tell me... the poison cauterized the wound?''


    This was... an unexpected boon. Even though I was now several times weaker, I was at least not on a timer anymore.


    This didn''t mean that my situation was good by any means, but it was at least better than I thought it would be.


    ''To think that I would be happy just because I''m not bleeding to death anymore. Happiness is such a weird thing.''


    With a pained but sincere smile, I continued walking forward.


    ***


    I walked and walked and walked.


    At ths point, my legs were so exhausted that I physically couldn''t walk without the support of my walking stick?.


    Nevertheless, I continued forward. I might not bleed out to death anymore, but I still had to find a source of water, and fast.


    With each passing minute, I could feel myself growing hungrier, thirstier, weaker.


    Now that I had somewhat gotten used to the pain of my left arm and mouth, a head-splitting headache along with a gut-wrenching stomachache replaced it.


    Aaah, everything hurt. Everything was painful, so painful that I wanted nothing more than to lie down in a ditch and just die.


    But I was scared of death. I was too scared of death to accept it, so I continued walking, continued struggling.


    "God...dammit!"


    I was getting frustrated. ¨DNay, that would be wrong.


    I had been frustrated long before this moment.


    Since the very moment I had found myself in this forest, I had silently been cursing whatever has sent me here.


    I was forcefully pulled from the safety embrace of Earth to the deadly wilderness of another world after all!


    Who wouldn''t be frustrated?! Who wouldn''t be angry?! Who wouldn''t be... sad?


    Every single step that I took, I had been lamenting my current situation.


    Every single breath that I took, my anger had risen just that little bit.


    And now, all that anger, all that sadness... it was catching up.


    Slowly, tears started streaming down my face. My fists were clenched in anger and only one word repeated itself over and over inside my head.


    ''...Why?''


    Why had I been summoned? Why was I being subjected to such torturous situations?


    All I wanted was a worry-free life! What the hell have I done to deserve all of this?!


    ...


    "Heh, I already know the answer, don''t I?"


    I haven''t. That was the answer.


    I haven''t done anything to deserve this.


    The world was cruel. The world was uncaring. The world wasn''t fair.


    Even if you only do good things, life will come around to kick you in the balls.


    I''m not saying that I only did good things in life, no, that''s not the case.


    I have done quite a lot of bad things and even some illegal ones, but I wouldn''t consider myself a bad person.


    ''Since that is the case, then why?!''


    I couldn''t understand why, and I most likely never would. All I could do, was keep struggling.


    With my breath ragged, my throat parched, my stomach empty, my left arm bitten and poisoned, my legs barely keeping me steady, and my back creaking under the weight of my backpack, I saw the first clear indication that I was in a fantasy world.


    ''An... orc.''


    Before this, it wasn''t clear that I was in a fantasy world. Hell, all the things I saw could still be just... Earth.


    But an orc wasn''t something that existed on Earth. In other words, I had finally confirmed that I was summoned to a different world.


    ''Haha... a monster in my condition? More struggling, I guess...''


    The orc was standing with its back turned to me, but the moment it turned around, it would see me.


    And the moment it would see me... you can figure out the rest yourself.


    After looking around for a solution to my situation, I spotted a huge tree.


    While making sure not to make any sound while moving, I carefully hide behind the tree and focus on my hearing.


    I could hear the orc growl and move around a bit. The sound of his footsteps was getting louder and louder.


    ''So he''s getting closer. Considering my state, the best thing I can do is hide around this tree. It''s going to be hard to perfectly guess where he is, but it should be possible.''


    Surprisingly, I wasn''t scared even a bit. Perhaps the pain had dulled my sense of danger, or perhaps it was just that my situation didn''t get that much worse.


    I mean, I was already as good as dead. How much worse is it when the chances of me dying go from 99.98% to 99.99%? The difference is beyond small.


    As I was thinking that, the orc was coming closer and closer.


    I listened to its footsteps and shifted my position around the tree accordingly.


    The orc just continued walking in the same direction, passing by my tree and going further away. So after I couldn''t hear it anymore, I started walking once again.


    I expected it to attack me from behind, but nothing like that happened.


    ''Well... that was underwhelming.''


    I was very happy that it was underwhelming though.


    ***


    ''Just keep walking. Just keep walking.''


    Fatigue. Exhaustion. Tiredness. However you want to call it, that doesn''t matter. The point is, I was so drained that keeping my eyes open was a challenge.


    My brain still kept going overdrive and thinking of anything I could do, but it was useless. All I could do was step and step and step.


    Eventually ¨D probably hours later ¨D my legs gave out.


    I crashed to the ground, completely unable to get up.


    ''This is... a dead end, right?''


    I kept struggling and struggling, but this new world had finally won.


    Even though I wasn''t hoping for anything, even though I didn''t expect anything, I couldn''t help but be heartbroken.


    I had tried over and over again. I had done everything I could to bump up my chances of living.


    But it wasn''t enough.


    ...Ah, but that didn''t mean I couldn''t continue struggling.


    I take a deep breath. It hurt. My parched throat hurt from the sudden pressure it was subjected to.


    Then, with all my leftover might, with all my leftover energy.


    I screamed.


    "HEEEEEELP MEEEEEEE!!"


    The next thing I saw was darkness. My body had given up on me completely.

 Out Of The Godforsaken Forest

    I opened my eyes.


    ''...Huh?!''


    I closed my eyes and opened them again.


    I stared in shock at the wooden ceiling above me.


    Then, before I knew it, I started crying.


    "I''m... alive. I''m... actually alive."


    I sobbed. Snot started running down my face. I tried my best to wipe away both my tears and snot, but they just kept coming.


    ''I lived. I LIVED!''


    I clenched the blanket that was on top of me. I covered my face with it.


    "Hick. I... I''m alive. Hick. I survived."


    I cried. I couldn''t stop crying. The relief I felt at that point wasn''t something that could be explained in words.


    It was so painful. It was so scary.


    But I had survived.


    "Ah, how pleasant it is... to be alive."


    ***


    I opened my eyes.


    It took me a bit to process the situation.


    ''Did I... fall asleep while crying?''


    Yes, that is exactly what happened.


    After taking a look at the bed, I could see that it was a mess. And not only that, some parts of it were wet and covered in snot.


    ''Oof. I''m sorry to whoever is going to have to clean this.''


    Anyway, after getting everything out of my system ¨D I probably cried for like 10 minutes straight ¨D it seemed like I could think properly again.


    First things first, I was in a wooden house.


    The bed I was sleeping in was semi-comfortable. Though, compared to what I had in the forest, it might as well be heaven.


    I looked out the window. The sun was just starting to rise and the sky was a pleasant orange.


    ''Pleasant, huh? Yeah, it is indeed pleasant.''


    I stared at the scene outside the window for a bit. Something about it just felt soothing to the heart.


    I could see multiple other wooden houses all around.


    ''Looks like a village.''


    I got up from the bed. It was only then that I noticed that I was completely naked. Like, not even boxers.


    After looking around for a bit, I noticed my clothes lying on a table.


    I put them on, surprisngly, they were completely fresh and dry.


    Now that I thought about it, I was completely clean too, along with my hand being healed.


    ''Magic?''


    There was no other explanation.


    My left sleeve was still torn apart though. It seemed like magic couldn''t fix that.


    I tried to move around my left hand, but it didn''t feel quite right.


    "Seems like, while it is fully healed, it still needs some time to adjust."


    ''Holy moly, I can talk now too!''


    And it didn''t hurt! My throat was healed too!


    I kneeled and bowed all the way to the floor.


    ''Oh, thank you to whoever healed me! May you be blessed!''


    I stayed like that for a bit. Talking and not being in pain felt so nice that I couldn''t not pray to the person who healed me.


    Anyway, I stood up and studied the room for a bit.


    It was nothing special. Just a table with a chair next to it, a bed, a window, some drawers and a closet.


    A regular room with nothing out of the ordinary.


    My backpack was on the floor, it seemed to be in fine condition.


    I walked through the door I neglected to mention.


    The room I found myself in looked like a kitchen.


    Right next to the door I just went through was another door, probably to another room similar to the one I just exited.


    The kitchen had another door, which lead outside.


    After walking through it, I was hit with the fresh, calming air.


    And also with the horrific sight of the forest.


    I shivered a bit, remembering everything that happened to me.


    I turned away from the forest, just looking at it was making me get goosebumps.


    I instead breathed in the fresh air, trying to calm myself down.


    ''Was air always this tasty?''


    For some reason, the air here felt especially fresh and nice. Perhaps it was because the air back in my old world was always full of pollution, so this one felt much better.


    I walked around the village a bit. Everyone was still sleeping, it seems.


    After walking to the edge of it, I sat down and looked at the rising sun.


    ''Hm... I lost my phone, huh?''


    It seemed like at some point in my journey, I had lost my phone. It wasn''t too bad though, there was no way it could be useful to me in any way. It had already lost all of its battery, and I didn''t know how to charge it in this medieval world in the first place.


    ''Or, I at least hope that this is a medieval world. Otherwise, losing my phone is a big problem.''


    Whatever, this wasn''t the time to be thinking about that. After all¨D


    ''I''m out of that godforsaken forest. Finally.''


    I breathed a sigh of relief. My struggling wasn''t for nothing.


    I had lived, and I was now safe. I wasn''t bleeding and I wasn''t hungry nor thirsty.


    Everything was fine now.


    ...But¨D


    ''I expected this, but not on this scale.''


    I felt empty. Beyond empty.


    I knew the reason for this, of course.


    ...I missed my old world.


    I missed my friends, my parents.


    Hell, I even missed my phone and my computer.


    I missed a lot of things about my old world.


    ''It''s... time to think about my direction going forward.''


    I had a couple of choices right now.


    1. I completely forget about my old world and start fully living in this one.


    2. I search for a way to return to my old world, completely disregarding this one.


    3. I try my best to live in this world, while at the same time searching for a way to go back to my old one.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    This was a hard choice. It wouldn''t be an exaggeration to say that my whole life would depend on this.


    ''...Option three it is.''


    I had decided my way of life.


    I would live in this world, try to make friends, make relationships and such, but at the same time I wouldn''t give up on going back to my old world, constantly searching for solutions.


    ''Heh, I''m so pathetic.''


    I couldn''t help but chuckle at how indicisive I was.


    After all, both options one and two required strong determination. The willpower to completely disregard one of the two worlds... that''s not something I had.


    So I went with the safest of the choices, number three.


    "Well, it''s fine to be pathetic, right?"


    With that remark, I got up, stretched, and walked back to the house I woke up in.


    I sat down on one of the chairs in the kitchen and started waiting.


    ''Well, let''s see the people this world has to offer, shall we?''


    I expectantly looked towards the only door I hadn''t opened yet.


    ***


    After waiting for quite a long time, the door finally opened.


    In walked a burly, muscular and mostly naked man.


    He looked sleepy, and only realized the situation he was in after a couple of seconds. His eyes opened in shock.


    He closed the door as fast as he could.


    ''...A naked burly man is my first impression of people in this world... What a comical situation.''


    Luckily, it wasn''t a naked woman. That would''ve been a disaster.


    ''...There''s almost no soundproofing in this house, huh?''


    I could hear every single movement from the other room. How the man was walking, how he was opening drawers and the closet.


    This meant that everything I did had to be very secretive. If I planned to live here, that is.


    ''Noted. No crying aloud anymore.''


    I didn''t even want to think about the embarrassment I would feel if someone heard me crying from another room.


    Like, crying right in front of people was fine, but hearing someone else cry from another room? That was way too weird.


    Anyway, after waiting for a while, the man opened the door once again, this time fully dressed.


    He sheepishly scratched his bald head.


    "Krugz, kilatunau."


    Suddenly, my brain exploded with pain.


    "Kha!"


    I fell from the chair straight to the floor.


    Suddenly, a pool of blood started spreading on the floor.


    I touched my nose and my hand came back bloodied.


    ''A nosebleed?!''


    My head hurt, and I could hear the burly man running around in surprise, but I couldn''t quite tell what was happening.


    I was on my knees, unable to do anything but stare at the bloody puddle beneath me.


    Eventually, the pain slowly started receding. Not only that, there was a soothing sensation around my head, almost as if someone was caressing it with love.


    After all the pain went away, the soothing sensation still continued.


    "I-I''m fine now. You can stop."


    The sensation stopped just as I said that.


    I looked up and saw the concerned face of a beautiful woman who looked like an angel. She had blonde hair and blue eyes.


    I slowly stood up.


    "Sorry for all that. I made a mess."


    A booming voice suddenly resounded in the room.


    "No worries, you can explain everything one by one. Why don''t we sit down?"


    It was the man. He was now sitting on one of the chairs, looking at me in worry.


    ''I can... understand him now?''


    I tried to hide my confusion as best as I could.


    "Yeah, I will answer any questions you have."


    I stood up ¨D glanced at the puddle of blood ¨D and sat down on the chair opposite to the man.


    The woman gracefully sat near the man.


    They both looked at me in confusion. It seemed they were just as lost as me in this situation.


    Suddenly, the man smiled from ear to ear.


    "Alright, first things first, introductions! I''m Jagon!"


    Jagon was a tall, big muscular man. He was bald, but had a beard that went all around his mouth. Strangely, his beard was green. His skin was also very tan, making it clear that he spent a lot of time under the sun.


    All in all, he was the definition of what you''d call a warrior.


    Then, the angel next to him smiled too.


    "My name is Angelica."


    Angelica ¨D as it was previously stated ¨D had blonde, almost golden, hair and blue eyes. Her skin was pale, but instead of giving off the feeling of sickness, it gave off the feeling of otherwordly beauty.


    Even though she looked like an angel, she had the aura of a... clumsy girl. That was the best way I could describe it.


    ''Now''s my turn to introduce myself...''


    I thought about it for a bit. The people in front of me were definitely kind people. Who else would save a dying kid from the woods?


    But even though they were kind, I couldn''t risk it. I couldn''t trust them completely... no, more accurately, I couldn''t trust this world yet.


    So I opened my mouth with a smile and said¨D


    "My name is Faun. It''s nice to meet you two."


    Faun ¨D me ¨D was a young boy with black hair and black eyes. I was pretty short for people my age, and I had a weird constitution where my adam''s apple wasn''t visible. Other than that, I was a completely normal boy.


    "Faun... that''s a pretty weird name."


    Jagon looked at me with interest.


    "Come on, don''t be like that. Jagon is one hell of a name too, you know?"


    I smirked.


    "Heh! That, you''re right about!"


    We both grinned at each other.


    ''He''s easy to talk to.''


    Anyway, now that I somewhat knew the personality of Jagon, there was one thing I had to do.


    I got off my chair, walked over to Angelica and kneeled in front of her while bowing all the way to the ground.


    "I sincerely thank you for healing me, Angelica. I will never forget what you have done for me."


    "Eh?!"


    "If there is anything troubling you, I will help you with it. I will never forget this gratitude."


    "I-I didn''t even do much! Please don''t bow to me!"


    I looked up at her.


    She looked just like an angel. I could even see a halo and white gorgeous wings behind her back.


    She was a true angel, one that had to be revered, one that could never do any bad.


    Just gazing upon her majestic being was hard for me, her holiness was too much.


    Even her name perfectly matched what she was. Ah, how lucky I was to reciece her healing.


    "So humble of you. Truly, your grace knows no bounds."


    "What are even talking about?! Why are you talking like I''m a¨D?!"


    Ah, sorry mom. I don''t think I will be able to remain christian anymore. I have someone else I must pray to.


    ***


    Eventually, Angelica and Jagon managed to calm me down.


    Well, more accurately, I decided to calm down. Their reactions stopped being funny after about 3 minutes, so there was no reason to continue. I was fully faking my attitude after all.


    That didn''t mean that I wasn''t thankful to Angelica, no, quite the opposite.


    I owed such a big debt to her, that I would probably never be able to repay it.


    ''Well, that''s fine. I''m not the type of guy to care about debts either way.''


    The only reason debts work is because there are threats behind those debts. If there is no threat, there''s no reason to repay the debt.


    Anyway, back to talking with Angelica and Jagon.


    "Sorry about that little performance of mine. Now, I''m sure you have questions for me. Just ask any you want."


    We were back to sitting at the table.


    Angelica had a troubled face, still not fully over what had just happened, while Jagon was regaining his breath from laughing too much.


    ''Laughing because your wife...girlfriend?... is troubled. What a personality.''


    Well, I could understand him. Angelica''s reaction was truly wheeze-worthy. I almost laughed myself.


    Jagon took one final deep breath and looked at me. His emotions made a complete 180 flip, he now looked beyond serious.


    It was almost jarring how fast his face changed.


    "Let me ask you first, then. How did you end up in Zelen?"


    "Um... What''s Zelen?"


    He raised his eyebrow at me. Looks like he didn''t expect me not to know this.


    "Zelen is the forest I found you in. You don''t even know the name of where you were?"


    I give him a wry smile.


    "Honestly, I don''t know anything about the world. I was raised quite... weirdly. To answer your question: one moment I closed my eyes, the next moment I found myself in a forest."


    He looked at me, suspiciously.


    "So you''re saying that you have no idea how you got here?"


    "That''s right."


    He stared at me for a bit. I could see his brows furrow a bit.


    "You... How easy of a life have you led?"


    ''That''s... an unexpected question.''


    I was pretty confused on what prompted him to ask that question, but I didn''t care much. I just continued to answer honestly.


    "Very easy. No danger, no life-threatening situations... almost. A dangerous-free life."


    "Just like I thought..."


    He stared at me for a bit. This time around, his eyes narrowed.


    We stayed in silence for an uncomfortable while. It seemed like Jagon was thinking up a question, but couldn''t find a correct one.


    While Jagon continued thinking, I glanced at Angelica. She wasn''t concentrated on the conversation at all. Instead, she was more focused on the puddle of blood that I had left. She was frowning, she clearly didn''t like what she was seeing.


    Noticing my gaze, she looked at me with the same serious expression.


    "We can ask you questions, right? Then can you please explain what made you have a nosebleed so suddenly?"


    "To that, even I have no idea."


    I shrugged. If I had to take a guess, I probably got that headache because the knowledge of this world''s language was forcibly inserted into my head.


    I mean, before that headache, what Jagon said sounded like complete gibberish. After it, I could perfectly understand what he was saying.


    ''Why so forcefully though? If a God gave me language comprehension, why did such a terrible headache have to accompany it?''


    I wanted to think further, but I understood that it was useless. I had too little information.


    I didn''t know who sent me to this world, nor why I was sent. What point thinking why knowledge acquisition was painful, if I didn''t even know the first step?


    Suddenly, a voice brought me back to reality.


    "I didn''t want to ask this question, but... where are your parents?"


    Jagon had a painful grimace on his face.


    "Ah, y''know... very, very far away. So far away, that I can only... hope... to meet them again."


    I didn''t know how much grief was shown on my face, but both Jagon and Angelica started looking at me with pity.


    ''Pity, what a funny thing it is. When was the last time pity was directed at me?''


    I couldn''t remember. It was way too long ago.


    I was pretty sure I was gonna have to get used to being pitied in this new world, though.


    Jagon sighed heavily. He was about to say something, but Angelica hit him in the chest while glaring. It didn''t look like she held back, but Jagon didn''t even flinch.


    They started staring into each other''s eyes. Angelica looked mad, while Jagon looked sad.


    ''Haaa, what a pain.''


    A family disagreement was the picture in front of me. If I had to guess, Jagon wanted me to go away, while Angelica wanted to take me under her care.


    They shared information with each other through their eyes, leaving me completely out of the loop.


    Eventually, Jagon started losing the staring contest, his expression was becoming uncertain.


    ''I don''t want to sit in this atmosphere for long. How ''bout I wrap it up?''


    "You are losing your point, Jagon. Just give up already. You can''t win against Angelica."


    Jagon got a bit startled by what I said. From his perspective, it must''ve looked like I read his mind.


    After his momentary confusion and shock passed, he sighed. He patted Angelica with a resigned expression.


    "Alright, fine. But I''m asking some more questions."


    He turned to me.


    "You don''t have anywhere to go, right, Faun?"


    "Mhm. Absolutely zero places. Unless you count the forest as one. It''d be pretty cruel to count it as I would die there in a couple of days, though."


    I was trying to act cool and nonchalant here, but even I could tell that my mask was slipping. My acting wasn''t good enough to hide all the turmoil I was facing right now.


    ''I''ll use their pity then.''


    If I couldn''t act, then I would just have to use my failed acting.


    I would allow my mask to slip more and more, making Jagon and Angelica pity me more and more. Thus, increasing the chances of them letting me stay with them.


    Jagon opened his mouth with a resigned expression.


    "Faun, we will take care of you for now."


    ''Jackpo¨D''


    "But! You will have to live by yourself in six months. We can''t take care of you after that."


    ''A timer, huh? Welp, nothing I can''t handle.''


    "Honestly, I''m thankful you''re letting me stay with you at all. If I was in your situation, I wasn''t sure how I''d act."


    Letting myself relax a bit, I smile.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll definitely be able to live by myself in six months. I''ll try my best to repay the debt I owe too, though I can''t promise that."


    Angelica''s face was full of... sadness and understanding. She probably wanted to take me under her care without a time limit, but she understood that what Jagon said was the right decision... for some reason.


    I didn''t know what was so important about six months, and it wasn''t my job to find out.


    All I cared about was making sure I had a stable life by the end of these six months.

 Living Conditions

    I was laying on my new bed in my new room.


    It was ¨D of course ¨D the one I had woken up in.


    ''I can finally take a break.''


    Even though I had slept not too long ago and for a long time at that, the exhaustion from the past two days was still not gone. Which wasn''t really surprising.


    After all, I had almost died back there, and multiple times at that.


    So I was resting right now. I was just laying in my bed, doing quite literally nothing.


    ''...Like hell I am.''


    I wasn''t resting at all. I was thinking about... pretty much everything.


    I mean, I was gonna have to live in a completely new world, with completely new people, and with nothing to rely on except myself.


    Sure, you could make a point that I could rely on Jagon and Angelica, but relying on them any more would hurt my conscience quite a bit. The only reason I''m alive and will be alive for the next six months is because of their generosity. Just thinking about asking them for help was making my stomach turn.


    Anyway, I was getting of topic. Case in point, I needed stability, and fast.


    In reality, I didn''t mind just learning some kind of skill ¨D like wood chopping ¨D and using it to live the rest of my life.


    I didn''t want to fight demon lords or gods, all I want is a life with no worries. Which is why a mundane life is fine for me.


    This makes it easier for me compared to most people who have a lot of greed.


    All I had to do, was find one skill that would be useful in this village, train it, and I''d be set for life.


    ''Yep, there''s no need to worry. I can easily see myself spending my entire life in this village.''


    ...Is what I would''ve said if I picked option one back then. Instead, I picked option three. Trying to find ways to my old world was a prerequisite.


    ''So not only do I need stability, I also need flexibility.''


    I doubted that dimensional travel was something I could easily learn about. I would probably have to travel to different parts of the world, study magic and maybe even traverse ancient ruins.


    And for all of that... I needed a lot of skills. Survival in the wild, combat, magic and cooking are the ones that come to mind first.


    I already knew how to cook, but this world probably had completely different ingridients, so I''d need to learn all of their characteristics.


    Everything else on the other hand... I had zero knowledge on them. The horrible... tent, I built back then showed just how little I knew about survival. My combat capabilities consisted of punch and kick, and magic was something that didn''t even exist in my old world, so there''s no way I could know anything about it.


    ''And there are boundless more skills I''ll need to learn.''


    Thinking about them was making my head hurt.


    "The next six months will be quite busy, huh?"


    Even though I was laying on my bed, I felt like I became even more exhausted.


    "Haaa, whatever."


    I shook my head. Thinking on a grand scale where years are taken into account was not my forte. Right now, I had to focus on just one or two things.


    ''Stability first.''


    I could learn all other skills later down the line, but first I had to learn something that would allow me to stay alive.


    I wasn''t quite sure what skill I should learn to keep me alive... so I was planning to figure that part out in the next week.


    ''It''d be best if my job ended up being something useful for my future needs, though.''


    Like a hunter, for example. That would allow me to both be stable and flexible at the same time.


    ''I''ll take whatever I can get though. I''m not picky.''


    As long as I have no worries, I''ll be satisfied.


    ''...I will always have at least one worry though. That''s just my nature.''


    With a thought like that, I scratched my head, lazily got up and headed to the kitchen.


    The reason? It was simple.


    I really fricking wanted to eat.


    It was actually surprising for how long my body had lasted without food. Without any signs of wanting it, I mean.


    ''Who knows. Maybe the ingridients in this world are not too different and I will be able to cook something up myself.''


    I frown.


    ''...Actually, there''s no way that''s happening. I need modern tools to cook, like a stove and other stuff.''


    Now that I thought about it, a lot of stuff I knew how to do in my old world would be useless here due to the lacking technology.


    Which meant that I had to learn a lot more skills than I first thought.


    ''Oh dear. I feel like the to-do list is just going to keep getting bigger.''


    With a non-existent headache, I entered the kitchen and noticed that Angelica was already cooking something up.


    I opened my mouth to ask a question, but a big hand covered it before I could utter a single word.


    "Shh. Don''t say anything. If you ask her something, her concentration will break, and this whole house might go up in flames."


    After I nodded, Jagon slowly lowered his hand.


    I turned around to look at him.


    "Is she the type of person to only be able to concentrate on one thing?"


    "That''s right. The moment she tries to do two things at the same time, fire appears."


    I was a bit confused at the expression fire appears, but it was probably just an idiom of this world. It most likely just meant trouble or a disaster of some sort.


    We both sat down at the table, making sure to not distract Angelica in any possible way.


    Since I had nothing to do, I decided to talk with Jagon. In whispers, of course.


    "Could you please tell me what I could do in this village to earn a living?"


    He looked at me, curious.


    "You''re already thinking about that? It hasn''t even been two hours since you woke up."


    "So what? The earlier the better."


    "And you don''t want to rest...?"


    "I can rest after I have stability. What if you die tomorrow? I will have no one to protect me and I will have no way to live on. The sooner I can get a stable life, the better."


    He grinned.


    "I like the way you think. So you want a job, huh? Well, I can think of a couple..."


    ***


    "Come on! Put more spirit into it!"


    "Even if you tell me that, I won''t just suddenly get stronger, you bastard!"


    I was running laps around the village, almost completely out of breath and really, really pissed.


    Jagon just kept making me run more and more, no matter how exhausted I was.


    ''For pancakes'' sake, just let me rest!''


    My mind was working slowly and I could barely think. This was a very annoying situation.


    So... how exactly did this happen again?


    Ah, right. I asked Jagon for a job, after which he mentioned a bunch of them and... I was somehow persuaded into choosing hunter?


    How did I get persuaded? I remember him telling me something about muscles... right, my muscles were abnormally strong. What else was it? He also... liked my spirit and tenacity? There was also a talk about my personality... he liked how cautious and thorough I was, right?


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    It was because of all of this that he decided I should be a hunter. I was kinda happy about that job, but I was also scared. I mean, wasn''t it dangerous?


    With that thought, I was forced to run laps to test my physical capabilities and endurance.


    Running like this was already making me regret my choice. Why did I choose this job? What happened to make me choose this job?


    So... how exactly did this happen again?


    ***


    "Water. I want water."


    My voice was hoarse from the lack of hydration.


    In the end, that bastard Jagon made me do a bunch more exercises. The worst of all of them was the plank.


    Due to the fact that I got stronger, my suffering lasted much longer than I expected it to. I mean, I held out for seven minutes! Seven minutes of a plank! Do you know how torturous that was?!


    It''s not like I could spare effort either. That bastard somehow perfectly knew when I wasn''t giving it my all, no matter how good I acted!


    Due to all that exercise, the moment Angelica gave me a cup of water, I gulped it down in less than a second.


    I banged the cup on the table.


    "Goddammit! I wanna be mad, but I can''t because I know Jagon is doing this for my sake. And that fact is making me even more mad!"


    In fact, it was actually surprising how much he was doing in order for me to become a hunter... or not. I mean, he probably wants to live alone with Angelica. The sooner I become independent, the better it will be for him.


    ''Now that I think about it, maybe I should actually rest.''


    I mean, not even half a day has gone by and I was already getting tested for a job.


    This seemed way too fast for normal standards.


    ''But then again, I need for it to be fast.''


    The faster I got a job the faster I would be able to do... basically everything. From starting to get money, all the way to learning dimensional travel.


    But then again again, speeding through everything wasn''t good either. I needed to make sure I was properly rested, and if I focused too much on the end goal, I wouldn''t be able to enjoy the journey, which went completely against the way of life that I chose.


    ''After all, I have to balance both this world and my world carefully. That is what option three entails.''


    Now that my thoughts went back to thinking about my future, my anger had ceased to exist, and I could look at my situation with a bit more clarity.


    I would be a hunter ¨D that was practically set in stone. Jagon said that my physical capabilities were better than even some adults, so after learning for about a week, he expected me to be in one of the important positions.


    Being a hunter would allow me to learn combat, so that skill was taken care of.


    Cooking I could learn from Angelica... or maybe not. If she tried to teach me and cook at the same time, it would probably be a disaster. I should ask whether Jagon can cook, and then go from there.


    Survival... that one was a bit tricky. I wasn''t sure if anyone in this village had knowledge of survival, but even if there was no one, I could probably train that skill on my own.


    Magic though... that was the worst part. I wasn''t sure how rare magic was in this world, but I was almost certain it was not easy.


    The only good news were that there was someone in this village who definitely knew magic. Otherwise, I wouldn''t be clean right now. Well, as clean as I could be after working out.


    Angelica also knew healing magic, but the problem was that healing magic and normal magic seemed to be different in this world. When I asked her whether she could use magic, she answered¨D


    "I can only use wind magic and very weakly at that."


    It seemed like healing wasn''t considered magic in this world. Which was a bit problematic, but manageable.


    ''Well, at least she can teach me wind magic.''


    For everything else, I''d probably need to find the person who washed my clothes and have him...her?... teach me.


    But that''s for later. I was once again focusing on too many things. I''m the type of person who eliminates my worries one by one, not all at once.


    I finish drinking my second cup of water and lean on the chair.


    I was still exhausted, but my muscles weren''t screaming as loud as I expected them to, and I wasn''t out of breath either. It seemed like the boost I got when coming to this world made my stamina recover faster in addition to making me stronger.


    Actually, now that I thought about it, how did the boost work exactly? Did my muscles get stronger? Was it some outside force? Maybe this world had a weaker gravitational pull, so I was only proportionally stronger, not actually stronger?


    I sighed.


    ''Too little damn information.''


    But then again, you don''t have to know something to use it. Even if I didn''t know how the boost worked, it was still immensely helpful. There was no need to waste thoughts on unnescessary things, especially in my situation.


    I finish my third cup just as Jagon enters the room.


    "Haha! You were really impressive back there, Faun!"


    The sound of his voice makes my irritation come back.


    "No matter how impressive I looked, why did you make me do all that stuff?! And in a row, at that! I didn''t get a single break between all those exercises!"


    "The wilderness won''t give you any breaks, will it? So I''m not giving you any either!"


    He laughed heartily. I got even angrier at that.


    "Shut up! Don''t you say such important things like they are jokes!"


    I grumble.


    ''This bastard...''


    Jagon seemed to have a bad quirk of saying important things in passing. I mean, who phrases real life lessons as jokes?!


    ''Why is the first person I met in this world so weird?''


    I sigh and scratch my head.


    "Whatever. Just tell me how well I did."


    His smile became even bigger, somehow.


    "You know, from the start I thought that you''d be strong, but you exceeded all of my expectations! You''re officially the strongest person in this village!"


    ...Eh?


    I study Jagon''s body once again. He was ¨D quite literally ¨D a walking mass of muscle. Not only that, but he towered over everyone else I had ever seen in my entire life.


    ''No, no. That must be a joke, right?''


    I couldn''t accept the fact that Jagon ¨D the massive beheamoth of muscle that he was ¨D was weaker than me. It made no sense!


    "I''m... stronger than you?"


    "That''s right! You''re really impressive! I think you''re the second strongest person in the world, actually!"


    The second strongest...? That made no sense. Were people that weak in this world?


    ''This is something to celebrate, but I don''t feel happy at all.''


    Instead, I was confused. I was summoned to a parallel world with magic, but people were that weak here? Wouldn''t that make magic a bit too overpowered?


    "Ah, but don''t get your hopes up. You may be strong, but only in terms of muscle. And I''m not talking about weight differences, either."


    ''There it is. There''s the caveat. My luck isn''t good enough to out of nowhere be the second strongest.''


    My luck was so bad that I almost died on my first two days here. There''s no way it''d just turn around like that.


    "What exactly do you mean by that? Aren''t muscles and weight the only things that matter in strength?"


    "Heh, you really are an ignorant kid, aren''t you?"


    ''Why''d he have to say it like that...?''


    Jagon coughs and puts on a serious look.


    "Yes, weight and muscles are very important to strength, but there''s one thing that''s even more important ¨D Body-Strengthening."


    ''Ah, the classic of Isekai.''


    I weakly smile. All the Isekai webnovels I read were surprisingly useful now.


    "Let me guess. Body-Strengthening uses mana to reinforce one''s body and make it stronger, right?"


    "That''s right. Now, let me ask you a question. Have you ever used Body-Strengthening before?"


    I couldn''t understand the purpose of that question. I didn''t even know what Body-Strengthening was, how could I use it without knowing it?


    "Of course no."


    He smirks.


    "Trick question. Every living being in the world uses Body-Strengthening, even if they don''t know about it."


    ...Okay. That''s some unexpected information.


    "Um... excuse me, but how does that make sense?"


    "It''s simple. You see, our bodies naturally use Body-Strengthening. It is what we call Natural Body-Strengthening. This process is on the same level as breathing for us, the only difference is that it takes mana."


    This talk was going in a good direction. I was learning quite an important piece of info right now.


    ''Let''s not stop here.''


    "If it''s a natural body process, then doesn''t everyone have the same level of it?"


    "You can control your breathing, can''t you? Not only that, the more you train your breathing, the better it will become, won''t it? Body-Strengthening works in the same way."


    Okay, more good information. I processed it as fast as I could and got a depressing conclusion from it.


    ''Ah, but if it takes time to get better, how does that affect me? Does that mean that¨D''


    it''s not like time stopped when I thought, and as such, Jagon wasn''t stopped either. He wasn''t quite done talking yet, so I was forced to put that thought on the back burner for now.


    "There are differences, of course. For example, you can''t take in more air when you filled your lungs, but Body-Strengthening doesn''t have that limitation. The only limitations it has is how much mana you have and how fast you can use that mana."


    That made sense. Otherwise, exploding feats of strength wouldn''t be possible. And an Isekai isn''t an Isekai without things like that.


    ''This is... a lot to take in though.''


    Honestly, with this new information, I had a lot to think about. There were some especially worrying things that I derived from Jagon''s explanation of Body-Strengthening.


    I wasn''t sure if I was going to have time to sleep today.


    Before I could frown, a bowl of soup was placed in front of me.


    "You worked hard, right? Here, eat until you''re full."


    Once again, Angelica was displaying perfect angel behavior.


    ''She seems more saint-like the more time passes. Why can''t Jagon be like that?''


    Crying inwardly at the difference between the pair, I graciously start eating the soup.


    ***


    "Come on! Run faster! Run like your life depends on it!"


    ''Shut up! I''m trying! For pancakes'' sake, my legs are not gonna let me hear the end of their complaints tomorrow!''


    I didn''t have the stamina left to shout, so I had no choice but to curse inwardly.


    Right after I finished eating the soup, it was back to testing my physical limits.


    While last time I was tested on how long I could run for, this time I was being tested on how fast I could run for, and how long I could keep going at full speed.


    It was not fun at all, especially since Jagon was right behind my back with an axe, ready to take a swing the moment I get in range.


    How do I know he would swing it? He already did! I even ended up with a scar on my arm!


    ''This guy is crazy! Crazy I say! What kind of spartan bullcrap is this?!''


    I knew that Angelica could heal me back up, but still! Wasn''t this a bit too much?!


    "Come on! Even faster!"


    He sped up even more, and I could hear him getting closer. I tried to up my pace too, but I couldn''t, I was already running at full speed.


    Each time I took a stride, I could hear the loud footsteps growing louder behind me.


    ''You...! I''m gonna get back at you, bastard!''


    I think back to my interactions with Jagon, especially the way he moved around with the axe.


    If I remembered correctly, when he ran, he had the axe perched atop his right shoulder, so the most logical way for him to attack was to swing it down or to swing diagonally.


    Considering that he didn''t want to kill me ¨D probably ¨D he would swing it downward for the least amount of area covered.


    ''And that''s where I''ll get him!''


    I start slowing down, making it look like exhaustion was taking over me. He ¨D of course ¨D easily saw through my bluff, but that''s what I wanted.


    "Speed up, boy!"


    Right before the moment I entered his attack range, I fully stopped and turned around.


    Just like I thought, an axe was descending to my left. If I didn''t do anything, it would graze my arm.


    So I did the logical thing and stepped left.


    "Hk?!"


    I could practically hear every muscle in Jagon''s body scream as he used all of his power to stop the swing that was already in motion.


    While he was doing that, I calmly took a step forward, raised my leg and kicked him in the stomach.


    He didn''t even flinch, but the kick was more for stress relief than anything else.


    After that turn of events, he slowly lowered his axe to the ground and looked at me.


    "You... have a nasty personality."


    "You could say so."


    He frowned while I smugly shrugged. Nasty felt like a compliment to me, anyway.


    "I mean, the way that you took advantage of me... I think that''s the first time anybody has gambled their entire attack on the fact that I wouldn''t kill them."


    "There''s a first time for everything."


    He looked at his stomach, looked at the scar on my arm and sighed.


    "Alright, I got the message. I''ll tone down it down a bit."


    ''Thank god.''


    Even though I didn''t risk my life, the fear I felt when that axe was right above me was real. This was a very scary move to pull off.


    But on the flip side, future days won''t be as grueling as this one was, so I''d say that this was a win.


    Before I could grin though, Jagon opened his mouth again.


    "Only a bit though."


    I blankly stare at Jagon as he turns around and starts walking away.


    ''...On second though, maybe this wasn''t worth it.''


    ***


    "Haa... finally. Some nice quality rest."


    The bed beneath my body felt so cozy and soft that every other bed in two worlds couldn''t compare.


    Of course, it wasn''t that the bed was that good, it was that I was in a very bad state.


    ''That bastard. He didn''t go through with his word!''


    Jagon''s test didn''t go down in intensity at all! It didn''t get any worse, sure, but only because it couldn''t get worse! It was already squeezing everything possible out of me!


    ''What a pain it was, and what a pain it will be!''


    Just thinking about how much my muscles will scream tomorrow was making my face twist into a grimace.


    I had a lot to think about, but honestly? I was way too tired for all that.


    I just... wanted to sleep right now.

 Slow Adjusting

    "Hk!"


    I shot up from my bed.


    "Hurts!"


    I clutch my stomach with all my might, it was bleeding really badly so I... wait, why isn''t my stomach bleeding?


    "Huh?"


    I look around me. Instead of the school interior that I was expecting, a normal wodden house was all I could see.


    "Ah, it''s... just another nightmare."


    I plop down on the bed and sigh in relief.


    ''It''s super realistic, just like always.''


    I check my condition. I was sweating all over and my heart rate was abnormaly fast, but nothing else was wrong.


    My bed was the one who took the brunt of my nightmare. Not only was it completely dishevelled, it was even ripped in some places.


    I frown as I look at the holes I had accidentally made.


    "I think the last time it was this bad was about 1 year ago, right?"


    I sigh in frustration. No matter how well I could fake my emotions and expressions, my mental state was truly in a state of peril, and this was my body''s way of showing me just how bad it was.


    "I thought I wouldn''t get two nightmares in one night, but life is always full of surprises. Pancakes..."


    I had actually woken up in the middle of the night due to a different nightmare. In that one, I was eaten by wolves.


    ''And right after that, I got an even worse nightmare... what a pain.''


    I lay in bed for a bit. After all the horrific stuff I saw in my dreams, I needed a factory reset.


    I clear my emotions and emptily look at the ceiling. I forcefully insert happy feelings into my mind and then once again clear my emotions. Now, the happy memories were making the bad ones blurry. I repeat the process until my mind completely forgets about how bad I truly felt.


    "All good now."


    It was a little trick I had come up with to deal with my nightmares. It unfortunately didn''t work on memories, only on dreams, so I couldn''t just forget all of my traumatizing experiences.


    ''Well, bad memories are important too.''


    I get off my bed and get dressed while wincing from muscle pain.


    I look at the sun in the window. It was already decently high up in the sky. It was roughly... ten o''clock, I''d say.


    It was pretty unusual for me to oversleep like this, so I''ll have to berate Jagon some more today.


    ''Thank God this world also uses 24 hours 60 minutes and 60 seconds though. That was a massive relief.''


    I stretch a bit and sit down on my bed.


    "Alright, time for the hard part."


    I smile. Then, I thouroughly search for any imperfections in the smile, and fix them. Honestly, doing this with a mirror would''ve been three times easier, but I didn''t have the luxury for that.


    Once I am satisfied with the result, I make a poker face, smile again and repeat the process.


    Why was I doing this? Well...


    I doubted that I was going to be physically strong in this world, and I definitely won''t be smart, but I still needed a way to be strong. After not a lot of thinking, I decided that my strength would be... my nasty personality.


    I have already taken advantage of Jagon yesterday, in a way that even a warrior like him didn''t expect. So its effectiveness was already proven.


    For my nasty personality to be more powerful, I needed to have a face befitting of a bastard. In other words, I needed a face that could have any emotion I wanted at any moment.


    I needed to be able to act sad with just a snap of a finger. I needed to look weak even while covered in painful wounds, so that my opponents would underestimate me. I needed to look carefree even while plotting something in my mind, so that my opponents would think I lowered my guard.


    If I wanted to truly be strong, I would have to be nasty both on the inside and on the outside.


    After molding my face for about 20 minutes, I stop and stand up. My stomach was asking for food.


    I enter the kitchen and see a lone food bowl on the table. After forcefully shoving the cold meal down, I start working on my face again.


    I get lost in making my expressions perfect, so I don''t notice how a kid enters the house and stares at me in confusion.


    Only after the kid walked up to me and started poking me did I notice him.


    I recover from my stupor and smile. My smile wasn''t perfect yet, but it was good enough to fool a child, at least.


    "What are you doing here, little guy?"


    The boy stares at me, completely ignoring my question.


    "Who are you?"


    "I''m Faun. I''m new around here. Who are you?"


    "I''m Kurt."


    Kurt was a little boy with brown hair and golden eyes. He looked to be around 8 years old.


    "And what are you doing in another person''s house, Kurt?"


    He smiled from ear to ear.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    "Adventuring!"


    ''Adventuring, huh? Does he want to become an adventurer or something?''


    "I see. But you shouldn''t adventure in other people''s houses, Kurt. It''s very rude to do that."


    "It''s rude?"


    "That''s right. I''m very kind, so I won''t do anything to you, but if you enter a bad person''s house, he might punch and kick you. Do you want to be punched and kicked?"


    Kurt frowns.


    "No..."


    "Then don''t go into other people''s houses without permission, okay?"


    "Okay..."


    "Good. Then exit this house and go play with the other kids."


    Kurt slowly leaves the house and I close the door behind him.


    ''Talking with children... is such a pain in the ass.''


    Kids as a whole are a pain in the ass. Everything about them is just annoying.


    ''I can''t understand how parents can tolerate them.''


    Well, that''s what makes parents great. Even though children are annoying, ruthless, unapologetic and completely chaotic, they still somehow deal with them.


    Well, not all parents are great, but I''m talking about the majority here.


    ''I got pretty lucky in that regard.''


    While I wouldn''t call my parents the best, they were definitely good parents. They cared about me and took care of me. They even supported me when I was at my lowest.


    ''Yeah, I definitely love my parents.''


    I sit back down and keep working on my expressions. I had nothing better to do, after all.


    ***


    ''No, but like, every ability has to have a cool name, right? That''s just necessary!''


    I was still sitting at the table even after two hours passed.


    Right now I was... coming up with a name for my ability to fake my emotions.


    After all, having a cool sounding ability is the dream of every Isekai enthusiast!


    Unfortunately... I was very bad at coming up with names.


    ''[Mask Of Lies]? The meaning is there, but it just doesn''t sound cool. Maybe [Mask Of Deceiving] then? It''s better, but a mask has the inherent properties of deceiving people. It feels like I''m just repeating the same thing twice.''


    I was always bad with names. Not just coming up with them, but also remembering them. Like, I wouldn''t be able to name you 50% of my classmates even if you tortured me.


    ''How about not a mask, then? [Face Of Lies]. That''s better, but I don''t like the lies part. The idea is not to constantly be lying, but for the person to never know what I''m thinking. [Face Of Undescerning]. That just sounds wrong. Now that I think about it, the idea is not for the person to not know what I''m thinking, but for them to have the wrong conclusion about me. So... [Face Of Misleading]. That sounds good... but it doesn''t feel good. It just doesn''t have the oopmf.''


    As I was thinking that, someone unceremoniously started ruffling my hair. I frown. Getting my hair ruffled hurt a bit.


    "Stop ruffling my hair, Jagon."


    "Why should I?"


    ''You asked for this.''


    I look him dead in the eyes.


    "What? Do you miss the feeling of having hair so much that you have to substitute it with mine?"


    His hand freezes in place. After a bit of painful silence, he slowly retracts it.


    "Ah, a nasty personality indeed."


    "Right? I''m very proud of it."


    "To be proud of something like that..."


    He nervously smiles and scratches his bald head.


    After chuckling for a bit, he shakes his head and puts on a serious expression.


    "Alright, so today, you''re gonna be learning how to use a knife."


    "A knife? Not a sword?"


    "A sword will take too long to learn. A knife is much simpler. I want you out of this house as fast as possible after all."


    "Ah. You went ahead and said it out loud."


    I was genuinely impressed by how brazen he was. I would''ve just... no, I would''ve done the same, but many people would''ve kept quiet about it. It''s us who were weird like that. Normal people would think twice before saying something rude.


    ''I can understand him too, so I''m not really mad.''


    I wouldn''t want to keep a random kid in my house for long either.


    "Let''s stop wasting time. Follow me outside."


    After a short walk, we ended up in a pretty open part of the village. Suddenly, he threw a knife at me.


    I instinctively reached for it, trying to catch it in mid-air, but stopped myself. After all, it was a knife. So I waited until it fell on the ground and only then did I pick it up.


    ''It would''ve been cool to catch it, but I like my fingers.''


    I looked at the knife. Actually, calling it a dagger would be more accurate. After all, both of it''s edges were sharp and they met in a pointed end.


    I had no idea why Jagon called it a knife in the first place.


    "Now try swinging that around."


    I nodded and started slashing the dagger around.


    I tried my best to use my hips and make the strikes as deadly as possible, but even I could tell that I looked amateurish right now.


    After a short while, Jagon stopped me.


    "Hm. Not bad for someone who has never held a weapon in his life, but that definitely won''t cut it."


    ''Was that a... joke right now?''


    As I raised my eyebrow in confusion, Jagon continued talking.


    "First of all, you didn''t make even single stabbing motion. Daggers are used for slashing, yes, but stabbing is one of their main strengths. To not use it would be, frankly, stupid."


    "What a roundabout way to say that I suck and that I''m dumb. Now please stop insulting me and help me improve."


    Jagon grinned. He seemed to like my straightforwardness.


    "Well if you put it like that..."


    He started instructing me on how to use a dagger.


    ***


    "What a fast day that was, huh?"


    I was already in my bed, the room being softly illuminated by the moonlight.


    The day had gone by in a blink, and because of that, I wasn''t particularly tired.


    Training to use a dagger didn''t take up much stamina, since I was just starting out. And since the only other thing I did was improving my fake expressions ¨D which wasn''t a physical activity ¨D I had ended up with a lot of energy left.


    And that meant that I couldn''t fall asleep.


    ''Well, this isn''t too bad.''


    I had a lot of things to think about, and since I fell asleep right away yesterday, today was going to be the so-called, thinking day.


    ''Or thinking night, in this case.''


    Anyway, it was time to stop letting my thoughts wander and make myself focus on the important stuff.


    ''For example... let''s tackle my forest trauma right now.''


    Right now, whenever I looked at the forest that I came from, I couldn''t help but get shivers.


    The visions of me barely surviving over there constantly flooded my mind, making my heart race and sweat start forming on my body.


    I... somehow had to get over that. Or at least, get over it to the point where it won''t interfere with my future work as a hunter.


    And honestly... if it weren''t for my other trauma, I don''t think I would''ve been able to do that.


    Yes, the forest was scary. Yes, my legs would probably start shaking the moment I entered it. Hell, I might faint the moment I see wolves.


    But you know what was scarier?


    Dying.


    Dying was so scary, that it couldn''t be explained in words. Maybe death itself wasn''t scary, but the process of death was way too heart-wrenching.


    And the problem was, if I didn''t get over my fear of the forest, I would die.


    Whether that be because I won''t be able to get a job. Or whether that be because I would be too stunned while standing in front of a hungry wolf.


    Case in point, it didn''t matter how I would die, just that the chances of me dying would shoot up drastically.


    And that thought alone was scary enough to make me fight my forest trauma and resist it to some capacity.


    ''Yeah. Because... I don''t wanna die.''


    I shifted my attention to my stomach. I raised my shirt and looked at the huge scar running across my belly.


    "Yeah. Because... I really don''t wanna die."


    I shivered. Just the mere thought of what happened back then was making all of my hairs stand on end.


    I shake my head vigorously. Thinking about it won''t do me any good.


    ''Alright, let''s get back on topic. I still have a lot of things to think about.''


    For example, I was pretty sure I was going to have a really big problem with Body-Strengthening in this world. And consquently, I was going to have a big problem with my physical strength.


    After all, when I thought back on it, Jagon said that you get better at Body-Strengthening with practice.


    What was so bad about that? Well... people in this world have been practicing Body-Strengthening their entire lives, right?


    Sure, it was Natural Body-Strengthening, but it still had to count. Jagon himself said that it was basically the same thing.


    Which meant that I was going to be severly weaker than other people.


    Sure, I would still be stronger than normal civilians due to my muscles, but when it came to people who could actually fight... yeah, I didn''t like my chances.


    ''This also means that I didn''t get any superpowers when coming to this world. The only reason I was stronger in the forest was due to Natural Body-Strengthening, something that everyone else also has.''


    The fantasy of being an MC in an Isekai novel was slowly becoming more and more distant.


    But that was fine for me.


    I was just going to have a normal peaceful life, while searching for ways to get back to my old world.


    I wasn''t going to rush. I wasn''t going to embark on a quest of epic proportions.


    After all, all I wanted, was a life with no worries.

 Peaceful Days

    "The topic of today: Body-Strengthening!"


    I silently curse and glare at Jagon.


    "I woke up literally ten seconds ago. Did you really have to shout?"


    My eye was twitching from anger. Sure, I could understand that Jagon wanted me to become independent as fast as possible, but... Waking me up at sunrise with heavy shaking and shouting at me as soon as I open my eyes had to be a bit much, no?


    I sigh. Even if I complained, nothing would change.


    ...That didn''t mean I wouldn''t complain though.


    "You''re a real pain in the arse, you know that?"


    "Well, I do get that sometimes. Now come on, we don''t wanna waste time!"


    Ah, this guy was so stupidly honest and straightforward, it was kind of a pity. Normally, I would be friends with someone like that, but our circumstances were making that difficult.


    ''Tis a shame, as some might say.


    "Alright, fine, I won''t complain any more due to your good personality. But please go away until I put my clothes on, at least."


    He heartily laughed while exiting the room. Why was he laughing? Don''t ask me.


    I thought about my course of action for today while I dressed up.


    ''I probably won''t have any time to work on my expressions today.''


    I sigh. I felt like I made great progress yesterday, and I wanted to keep that pace. Seems like life had other plans though.


    With some hesitance, I walk to the kitchen and eat the soup that was prepared.


    ''Right. I still haven''t learned cooking. Should work up on that sometime.''


    No, wait. What the hell was I even thinking? It was my third day here, and I was already thinking about cooking?!


    ''Oh dear. So much has happened that I feel like a week has passed. I''m not sure whether that''s a good sign or not.''


    Right. I have spent only 48 hours here. It was surprising considering the amount of things that I have thought about and things that have happened, but I have only been here for two days.


    ''Testing for a job. Begginer''s guide to dagger weilding. Working on my facial expressions. My realization of Body-Strengthening... RIght, all of that happened in a very short amount of time.''


    I look at the bowl of soup with empty eyes while that thought goes through my head.


    ''If I keep up this pace...''


    I look up at both Angelica and Jagon with the same empty eyes. More accurately, I look at the only two people I have somewhat gotten to know in this new world.


    ''...Right. I should be careful.''


    No matter how much I kept telling myself that everything was going at a normal pace, I was clearly rushing myself.


    I mean, I barely interacted with Angelica, and I only know Jagon from how he treats a potential new hunter.


    Even though I was living in the same house as them, I barely knew them.


    ''Not only that...''


    There was a whole village of people here, but the only one I actually interacted with was the random kid that entered the house. And I interacted so little with him, that I don''t even remember his name.


    This was a problem... right?


    ''...Argh, what the hell am I even worrying about?!''


    The fact that I had only been here for two days went both ways! Sure, I didn''t know anyone in the village, but it has only been two days!


    It wasn''t unreasonable to not start talking to people two days after I found the first traces of civilization!


    ''My mental state is in much worse shape than I expected.''


    I was worrying too much and about too many things. Well, I couldn''t blame myself. This new world was full worries, after all. The fact that I almost died on my first two days here just went to show that this was no place to take lightly.


    ''Alright, time to switch gears. Worrying too much is bad for the heart.''


    I quickly finish the soup and ¨D after another moment of Angelica acting like an angel ¨D I follow Jagon outside.


    Just like he shouted in the morning, today''s topic was Body-Strengthening. I wasn''t sure whether to feel excited or bummed out.


    Before I could adopt one of the two mindsets, Jagon started talking.


    "I said that today''s topic would be Body-Strengthening, but I lied."


    I stare at him, deadpan. I mean, you shouted at me ¨D while I was half awake ¨D that it was going to be Body-Strengthening, but now you change your mind?!


    ''Right. I almost forgot why I hated this guy. Thanks for the mind refresher.''


    "I hate you, you know that, right?"


    "Oh, come on. Don''t glare at me like that. I didn''t completely lie. After all, before we talk about Body-Strengthening, we need to talk about mana."


    ...Okay, I can see where he was coming from. It was still no reason to lie to me though!


    But no matter how angry I was, a deep sense of wonder couldn''t help but rise in my chest.


    I mean, who could blame me? I was going to learn about mana! Mana! The main staple of everything magic related! And consequently, everything Isekai related!


    ''I''m finally getting to the good part!''


    I clench my fists from anticipation.


    So what if my Body-Strengthening would be shitty? Doesn''t mean I couldn''t be excited for it!


    I look at Jagon with fire in my eyes. I was so pumped up that even he reeled back from my gaze.


    "It''s good to have such determination, but I suggest you pipe it down. If you keep being that excited, you''ll just get disappointed and nothing more."


    "Don''t think I can. Now get to the explaining part."


    Jagon sighed, exasperated.


    "Don''t tell me I didn''t warn you..."


    ***


    Luckily, Jagon was wrong. I wasn''t disappointed at all.


    Unluckily, the only reason I wasn''t disappointed, was because I didn''t have any hope in the first place.


    Now, let''s go over what Jagon taught me.


    First, before doing anything else, a person had to feel their own mana.


    ...That''s it. That''s all Jagon had taught me today.


    I had spent the entire day trying to feel my own mana. I didn''t do anything else, just meditation and eating.


    Sensing your own mana was a slow process. Jagon said that it would probably take me a month if I did nothing else, and three months if I also focused on other things.


    Honestly, I expected something like this, which was why I wasn''t disappointed. Sure, I was excited, but only because I was getting closer to casting magic.


    I wasn''t excited because I expected to immediately become stronger, no, those kinds of delusions disappeared from my mind on day one.


    Even if the progress was slow, it was still progress. And as such, I could be excited for it. It was as simple as that.


    Which was why it fine for me to not sense my mana even for a long time. I just had to¨D


    "Huh?"


    I furrowed my brows. It was night and I was about to go to sleep, but in my last meditation for the day, I noticed something strange.


    ''Um... What the hell is that?''


    There was something strange in my body. Something foreign. Something that neither I, nor my body recognized.


    Not only that, it was moving all around my body, and also constantly being spent and replenished at the same time.


    I shuddered.


    ''This feels... wrong.''


    This something felt wrong. It didn''t feel natural for me. In fact, it felt like an invasive virus.


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    ...But it was not a virus and it was not harmful. Maybe not immediately, but I understood what it was.


    It was mana.


    "But how does that make sense?"


    Jagon said it would take me a month ¨D at the least ¨D to sense my mana. And yet, here I was, only after a day of meditating.


    ''...Perhaps, it does make a lot of sense. I''m just looking from the wrong perspective.''


    Indeed, if I changed my point of view from what Jagon thought would happen, to what actually happened, I could pretty clearly see that everything made perfect sense.


    "Of course it does. After all, our body would naturally recognize an invasive substance."


    To people of this world, mana was just like air. They were familiar with it, and as such, it was much more elusive for them as well.


    But for me, mana was a completely foreign concept. With knowledge how my body functioned with mana and how it functioned without it, I could clearly see the inconsistencies in my body, and derive conclusions from them, which pointed to how and where mana was used.


    All of this led... to me sensing my own mana in less than a day.


    ''Huh... perhaps just being from another world is such a big boon, that I don''t even need any other powers to be protagonist level.''


    It was a weird thought to have, considering I had all but thrown away my delusions of ever being powerful. But perhaps, they were delusions no more...


    ''Ah, but that''s the kind of thinking that gets you killed, ain''t it?''


    Letting your guard down was lethal. And getting arrogant was the same thing with extra steps.


    I won''t be stupid. I won''t hope for something like plot armor.


    I will just keep steadily building up my power, always having extra measures for everything I could think of.


    ''And I can think of a lot of stuff.''


    Slightly excited for tomorrow, I get into bed and fall asleep.


    ***


    With a big smile on my face, I continued wolfing down the breakfast Angelica prepared. Every single meal she made tasted heavenly ¨D pun intended ¨D but today it was even more appetizing.


    But that wasn''t because she suddenly became a better cook, it was because I actually felt happy and excited for once.


    ''The human mind is simple, after all.''


    Even if you put people into the most harrowing experience of their life ¨D actually, more like because of it ¨D something small can very easily make them happy, which was exactly what was happening to me.


    Even though I had a lot of things to worry about, even though I had been almost dead no more than 96 hours ago, I couldn''t help but smile. I could already invision myself boasting to Jagon about my progress, and that alone was making my face curl into a grin.


    Of course, boasting wasn''t all the reason I was so happy. The fact that I was getting stronger and more knowledgeable ¨D even if only slightly ¨D was a positive development too.


    Jagon was staring at me like I was weirdo, but I didn''t mind.


    I very happily devoured breakfast.


    ***


    By the time I finished eating, I asked Jagon to go outside with me. He was confused since he expected me to focus on sensing my mana for now, but agreed nonetheless.


    When we stood on the already familiar grass-plot, it was finally time to boast.


    Jagon sighed with an exasperated and annoyed expression.


    "Well, what did you drag me all the way here for?"


    "Don''t worry, it''s for a good reason. I can sense mana!"


    I puffed my chest out and rose my chin to the point that I was looking at the sky.


    I couldn''t see Jagon''s expression, but the silence that followed... felt awkward.


    Eventually, the silence was broken by Jagon scoffing.


    "Stop lying. There''s no way you can already feel your mana. It even took me half a month of straight meditation to feel it. You doing that in a day? Impossible."


    I felt like there was a very deep distaste for me, hidden somewhere in his words, but I didn''t care much. He was wrong, after all.


    "Well, I did do it. I can feel my mana. It actually feels pretty weird, almost like I have a sixth sense now."


    "Oh, you sure? Prove it then."


    At that I got stumped for a bit. I mean, how was I supposed to prove it?


    ''No need to overthink it, just ask.''


    "How can I prove it?"


    "It''s very easy. Just make your Body-Strengthening stronger. Everyone who can sense mana can do that."


    "Alright."


    I gave him a smug smile and concentrated. After standing there for about a minute, I managed to feel my mana.


    And I...


    ''How do I make my Body-Strengthening stronger?''


    And I was stumped.


    I could feel my mana, yes, but I couldn''t control it. No matter how much I thought and what I did, it didn''t follow my wishes in the slightest.


    ''Ah, right. I got too excited. Just because I can feel mana, doesn''t mean I can control it.''


    At first, I wondered whether Jagon was playing a prank on me by telling me to control my mana. But after some consideration, I realized that he isn''t the type of person to do that.


    But then, how could this be possible? Jagon said that everyone who can sense mana can improve their Body-Strengthening, but I couldn''t.


    And there''s only one good reason why I was different.


    ''I am... from another world after all.''


    In hindsight, I should''ve expected this. This world never misses a chance to dunk on me, after all.


    Yes, for people of this world, since mana is so familiar to them, it''s harder for them to notice it''s existence. But that familiarity is something that is needed. Since they are familiar with mana, they instinctively know how to use it and how to control it.


    For me... that seemed to be different.


    ''Awesome. Just when I thought that I was special, turns out I''m "special" instead.''


    To be honest... this wasn''t too bad. It was mostly just a trade-off. People of this world can control mana, while I can sense it.


    It meant that the overall time we would spend on learning mana was the same... probably.


    ''Damn, I''m... gonna look so stupid in front of Jagon right now!''


    I went ahead and boasted, but now I was going to get laughed at.


    ''And the worst part ¨D it''s not even my fault! I told the truth!''


    Well, if you want to get technical, I could''ve not boasted about it, and then the embarrassment wouldn''t have been nearly as bad, but it was still not my fault! Not my fault, I say!


    I gritted my teeth and looked at Jagon.


    "I can''t do it..."


    Immediately, Jagon''s face curled into a grin.


    "Heh. Well, maybe don''t lie next time. I can see that you''re embarrassed, so there isn''t even a need to say anything. Come to boast when you can actually back up your claims."


    He started walking away. I wanted to shout that I can sense mana, but can''t control it, but Jagon would''ve just laughed that off anyway.


    He would''ve probably just said "Ha! Come up with a believable excuse, at least!"


    I clench my fists in anger.


    ''Ah... my hatred for this world never seems to die down.''


    I wasn''t angry at Jagon, he did nothing wrong. I was angry at the world... and at myself. I got a bit too excited, a bit too happy... In short, I got hopeful.


    ''Right. That''s how it always is.''


    With a thought like that, I plopped down on the grass, closed my eyes and focused on controlling my mana.


    ***


    This day was nothing special as well. I meditated until lunch, after which Jagon dragged me outside to practice dagger-wielding some more.


    I felt like I was doing well, but Jagon... he said that my talent was below average. That didn''t deter me... more accurately, I didn''t have the choice to be deterred.


    Even if I was going to be bad at it, I still needed to know how to do it. Otherwise, I would be completely useless if someone attacked me at close range.


    And besides, talent can be supplemented with hard work... or nastiness in my case. I probably wouldn''t spend a lot of time learning how to use a dagger, considering everything else I had to do.


    Just like that, another day went by. Another peaceful and normal day.


    ''Yeah, I feel nice right now. No danger, no wolves hungering to eat me. This is how my Isekai should''ve started.''


    After finishing my meditation, I got into bed and closed my eyes.


    ***


    I wake up, work on my expressions, do a bit of stretching, meditate, walk to the kitchen and eat breakfast.


    At this point, I was already getting used to the starts of my days. They were all the same, and that repitition gave me some peace of mind.


    But today I decided to change it up a bit. After breakfast, instead of going to my room and meditating, I decided to stay in the kitchen.


    Jagon left to do who knows what, but Angelica calmly sat on a chair and looked at me.


    "I presume you want to talk, considering you didn''t immediately go to your room."


    "That''s right, I wanted to talk. It''s nothing serious though. I just grew up pretty sheltered, so I wanted to ask about some things that I don''t know about."


    She smiled and nodded, prompting me to talk.


    "First things first... please tell me the name of this village."


    She blinked, stunned into silence by my question, which wasn''t surprising. I mean, I spent four full days here, but I never really knew or asked for the name.


    It just never occured to me, with everything progressing so fast.


    Angelica giggled.


    "The name of this village is Abut."


    "Right. The village is Abut and the forest is Zelen. What about the country''s name?"


    At that, Angelica visibly grimaced.


    ''Yikes. That''s a very suspicious question, so I''m not sure how she''s gonna react.''


    She stared at me with narrowed eyes for a bit, but eventually just sighed.


    "I''m not sure how you don''t even know the name of the strongest country on the continent, but... the name is Kemaito."


    "Kemaito..."


    That was a pretty weird name for a country, but hey, I wouldn''t judge. I myself sucked at naming.


    ''That sentence is loaded with information, huh? Okay, so there''re multiple countries, it''s not just one. It seems like people of this world are also aware that there are multiple continents in the world. And not only that, the country I''m in is the strongest one... on this continent, at least.''


    That was a whole lot of information I got just from one sentence. I was almost impressed with myself. Almost.


    I sat there in silence for a bit, processing all the information. After sorting everything out, I nodded.


    "So then... does an organization called an Adventurer Guild exist?"


    "Yes, it does. Me and Jagon used to be adventurers, actually."


    I raise my eyebrow.


    "Used to be adventurers? Not, are adventurers?"


    "Yes. After Jagon got a severe Mind Overload, he couldn''t continue fighting, so we left. He''s still recovering to this day."


    I waved my hands around in a futile attempt to collect my thoughts.


    "Wait, wait, wait. There was way too much stuff in what you just said. First of all, what is a Mind Overload?"


    Angelica smiled sweetly.


    "A Mind Overload is when a mage uses too powerful of a spell for their mind to handle. When a mage gets a Mind Overload, a percent of their calculative capabilities is taken away, so they are forced to cast lower tier spells. If you abuse your mind too much, you won''t even have the calculative capability to think, and at that point... you die."


    I sit there, completely stunned, not even blinking.


    The amount of information I just got was staggering.


    I shake my head and focus on getting more information first. I was going to put everything in its place later.


    "Alright, so let me get this straight. Jagon is a mage?"


    "Yes, he is. Even though he looks like a melee fighter, he is instead a mage, and a quite powerful one at that."


    "Okay, I got that. Next is... Jagon is still recovering from Mind Overload?"


    Angelica nods with a wistful expression.


    "Yes. I''ve been healing him every day for the past month, but it''s still not fully healed. That''s no surprise though, considering how much he pushed himself back then."


    I nodded, barely keeping up with the talk.


    "And the last one... If I''m getting this right, to cast spells, you have to calculate a lot of stuff, and think about a lot of stuff. But, if you think too much, you will get a Mind Overload, and you will get a penalty that will reduce your ability to think. And if you continue thinking too much, it gets to the point where even thinking normal thoughts is too much... and you die?"


    "That''s right. You''re absorbing information fast."


    I groaned. This was a lot to think about... but at the same time, not too much.


    ''But still... that muscle of a human is a mage, for pancakes'' sake?!''


    That was way too big of a shock. I considered myself a person who doesn''t judge by appearances, but imagining Jagon being a mage... felt wrong. My brain just refused to accept that fact.


    I stood up and swayed a bit. My head felt heavy from how much I absorbed from this talk.


    "Thank you for answering my questions. I''ll go to my room for now."


    Before I opened the door, I stopped and looked back at Angelica.


    "By the way, is there anything you want to ask me? I can''t be the only one to ask."


    Angelica widened her eyes in surprise, and then giggled.


    "Don''t worry, I don''t have any questions."


    "That''s a relief. Once again, thank you for answering mine."


    I entered my room and layed down on the bed.


    After about 2 minutes of blankly staring at the ceiling, I sit up.


    ''Okay, I think I understand all of it now.''


    I got into a comfortable position and start molding my face.


    Even though there was a lot of new information in my brain, it''s not like I could do anything with it... for now. So, I just went back to what I usually did.


    Since I was a little bit tired of meditating, I decided to work on my expressions instead. The progress here felt much more tangible compared to my attempts in controlling mana, so I could do this for much longer without getting bored.


    ''Another good start to the day.''


    ***


    The day went by in a blink. I wasn''t sure if that was good or bad... but I''ll say good, since I wanna try being optimistic for once.


    It was another day full of dagger-wielding lessons with Jagon, meditating and molding my face.


    As I thought about the last couple of days while laying in bed, for the first time since coming to this world... a small smile formed.


    This smile wasn''t fake, it wasn''t a spur of the moment smile like what happened when I was excited about sensing mana. This was... my truest smile. I felt content right now.


    ''...Khe...Hahaha! Really? Content?! CONTENT?!''


    But then, the smile immediately got replaced by another smile. A crooked and wrong smile that oozed madness.


    This one stayed for a long time, all the way until I fell asleep.


    ...


    ''I think I can understand Yui now, a bit.''

 Already Hunting Time

    ''What day is it now? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven... eight. My eighth day in this world, huh?''


    I have officially survived a week in this new world. Well, survived is a strong word, but I felt like it fit.


    I make a wry smile as that realization hits me. This week was so full of events that it felt like a month instead.


    ''But, well, that''s a prerequisite when you have almost died in that week, and slowly at that.''


    Without me noticing, my thoughts drifted off to my previous world. My expression turned sad, remembering everything that I left behind.


    ''Ah, how much I miss... our goddamn toilets! Showers too! There are no microwaves to heat up food, there are no fridges to keep it cold, it''s a nightmare! So many conveniences gone! So many things I have to relearn! It sucks!''


    I grit my teeth with an angry expression. It is normally omitted in Isekai, but living in a medieval world was completely different from a modern one.


    The toilets smell, the best alternative to showering is a bathtub that ends up dirty once you finish washing yourself. Water isn''t always readily available, so anything to do with it gets just that more annoying.


    But the worst one was¨D


    "I''m so freaking bored!"


    I couldn''t chat with friends, couldn''t watch videos, couldn''t play games, I couldn''t even listen to music!


    Sure, I had a lot of things to do... but I had to do them, not wanted to. I kept getting bored, and there was nothing to keep me constantly occupied.


    Throughout this week, I had numerous moments where I just stared at the wall in silence, not wanting to do anything. I basically resorted to watching paint dry! That''s how bad my boredom sometimes got!


    ''Sniff, sniff. I miss my old world so much.''


    I wipe away my nonexistent tears.


    ...As those silly little thoughts about convinience slowly disappeared from my mind, a big surge of emptiness followed.


    The emptiness was so vast, that I couldn''t help but... ignore it.


    I didn''t smile, but I didn''t frown either. I just ignored it, almost like it never existed.


    I would act normally, think normally, feel normally. I would still get angry, still get sad, still get happy and still get excited, but I would not allow the emptiness to impact my emotions.


    And just like that, with the emptiness hidden away in the darkest depths of my heart, I sat down on the bed.


    ''Welp, time to start another peaceful day.''


    I smiled... and then molded the smile to be better.


    ***


    "How about it, wanna go hunting?"


    I almost spit the water I was drinking at that completely out of nowhere question.


    Nevertheless, I manage to keep calm enough to swallow it and then turn to Jagon with a bewildered expression.


    "You''re kidding, right?"


    "Yes... and no."


    I stare at him, the stare slowly turning into a glare.


    "Don''t look at me like that, will ya? Yes, you are completely unprepared. Yes, you will be nothing more than dead weight. Yes, you will probably get hurt severly..."


    I waited for him to finish the sentence... but he never did.


    ''Really? That''s the oldest trick in the book, you bastard. You really think it''s gonna work on me?''


    The only reason he didn''t finish his sentence, was not because there was nothing good about joining the hunt, it was because... Jagon was Jagon.


    It was just in his character to be this mischievous big hulk of muscle.


    ''I still can''t grasp the fact that he''s a mage.''


    "What you want to say is that the best way to get experience is in the field itself, right? Even if you train me more, the best way to be a hunter is to hunt, training will not replace experience."


    Jagon nodded with a smirk.


    "Right. I knew you''d get it."


    I pondered it for a bit.


    On one hand... I didn''t feel like I was prepared enough. I had to learn how to use a dagger better, Jagon had not given me any tips on how to make traps yet, I couldn''t even make myself stronger with Body-Strengthening.


    On the other hand... so what? I was confident Jagon was not going to let me die, so it''s not like I was risking my life. Sure, I could get wounded, but Angelica would heal me. In the end... there were no risks to be worried about.


    ''Besides, there''s no other way to beat my trauma other than facing it.''


    Trauma was a vile thing. I had a lot of experience with it, and as such I had become familiar with how to fight it, but the process would not be easy, quite the opposite, actually.


    So no matter how I felt, the logical thing to do was to try and hunt.


    "Sure, I''ll do it. I''ll have to ask you to accompany me though, I''m not confident I can do it otherwise."


    "Of course. Angelica wouldn''t allow me not to accompany you, my personal opinion here doesn''t really hold weight."


    Angelica didn''t react to those words of his. I wasn''t really surprised, as I had already glimpsed into the character of the two of them.


    Their relationship seemed to be very weird. It felt like the authority figure in the house constantly changed, depending on the situation. It was unstable... but in a good way. Flexible would be the better way to say it, I guess.


    "When are we going then? I don''t really have anything to prepare... but my mind would at least like some time to recuperate."


    He rubbed his chin in thought.


    "I would like it to be as soon as possible, considering that the hunt should''ve actually been yesterday, instead. I wanted you to be that little bit more ready, so I gave you one more day than normal."


    ''You bastard. Making my guilty conscience awaken like this.''


    "Well, if I''m already holding everything back, then I can''t really ask for much time, can I? Give me... 15 minutes."


    He raised his eyebrows in surprise.


    "Then I guess you''ll have to wait for us instead. We''ll only be ready in about one hour. Gathering everyone is not a task to be done in a short amount of time, after all."


    My brow twitched in anger.


    ''This bastard... then why did he ask me in the first place?! I''m not a girl who gets ready for two hours straight! Wait... was that an overly complicated insult?''


    As I pondered the surprising complexity of that one sentence, I went back to my room. If I was going to hunt... I would need something to wipe my mouth.


    ***


    I was standing alongside Jagon, who in turn was standing opposite of a mob of people. Most of them were men, but there were a couple of women in there as well.


    ''So these are hunters... ain''t there a bit much of them?''


    This was probably about half of the village''s population, if not more. It was quite bizarre to see so many people in ordinary peasant clothing all getting ready to hunt dangerous beasts.


    If I had no context, I would''ve thought they were planning to hunt a witch, not monsters.


    ''Ah, but... who the hell is that guy?''


    There was one very normal man standing in the croud. He had a normal expression, normal clothes, a normal weapon. Everything about him was normal, and he didn''t stand out at all from the rest of the croud.


    But that was what anyone else besides me would''ve said. To me, this random guy was not normal at all. After all... he oozed madness.


    Madness was something I had become so close to, that I had come to recognize it. Of course, it''s not like I was mad ¨D yet, at least ¨D but I had brushed sides with madness, and as a result, have come to be able to distinguish it from everything else.


    Wherever there was madness, I could sense it, no matter how well hidden or what form it took. It was a weird quirk I had come to have. A superhuman quirk, an inhuman one, even.


    I could sense madness in humans, of course, but it was not limited to that. Objects, places... even words were not out of the question.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    So the fact that I could sense madness from a random person... left me disturbed. I didn''t show it, of course, but I made a mental note to keep my sights on this random man.


    ''Well, I can slowly sense madness emanating from myself, as well. It''s faint but it''s there. I say... give it four years and I''ll be completely mad.''


    Of course, that was only in the case that I continued to be in such a bad mental state, which was unlikely all things considered, but it was not impossible. That possibility had a chance of happening, and as such, I was worried about it and couldn''t ignore it completely.


    ''But I''m going off topic. Let''s refocus on the present for now.''


    I put away all of my previous thoughts and looked at Jagon. He was serious, for once, and his eyes had a certain glint to them. He... almost looked threatening right now.


    But then, suddenly, he smiled widely. The glint in his eyes stayed, and combined with the smile, he almost looked crazed right now.


    He raised his hand high.


    "Hunt!"


    The hunters raised their weapons with smiles on their faces.


    """HUNT! HUNT! HUNT!"""


    ''Uwawawa, it''s not just Jagon, all people in this village are crazy, crazy I say.''


    I uncosciously reeled back from the loud noise. I still mantained my calm expression and didn''t put my hands over my ears, even though I really wanted to.


    They continued chanting and after not too long, Jagon lowered his hand and pointed at the forest.


    "Hunt!"


    Immediately, the group of people stopped shouting and instead ran into the forest. By the time they actually entered it, they had somehow managed to split up into cohorts, with people in correct positions. Honestly, I was pretty surprised at their coordination. They looked and acted like brutes, but they were actually really well trained... and well experienced, of course.


    As soon as they disappeared from view, Jagon looked at me.


    "Well? What did you think?"


    I looked at him with a smile.


    "It hurts."


    At that, he laughed.


    "It does, doesn''t it? I might go deaf with enough time, actually. But it gets them pumped, so it''s worth it."


    Jagon had a small smile on his face as he looked into the forest. For the first time since I met him, I could see a pinch of sadness in his expression.


    That sadness disappeared very soon though. He slapped me on the back with an overexaggerated smile.


    "Now, come on! What are you waiting for? Don''t tell me you''re getting cold feet now of all times."


    I didn''t pay attention to his words and calmly started walking in the direction of the forest. With each step, I could feel my legs wavering and weakening.


    I stopped just in front of the forest.


    ''Now the hard part.''


    I took a deep breath and stepped foot on the forest''s turf. I took another step, and another, and then carefully sat down.


    Jagon raised his eyebrow, confused.


    "What are you doing? Why did you stop?"


    I looked at him, sweat slowly forming on my face. I tried to sound as calm as possible, but my voice still came out slightly shaky.


    "Did I not tell you? I have trauma of this forest. I almost died here for pancakes'' sake. Not only that, but I struggled for one and a half days, most of the time spent with severe wounds and no water. I could''ve probably taken another step, but then I would''ve just unceremoniously fallen down on my butt."


    He widened his eyes.


    "Right. I didn''t consider it much since you acted so normally, but the state I found you in was quite dire. Considering that your life before this was pretty tame, it''s no surprise this forest left such a gruesome impression on you."


    I nodded. It was nice talking to people who were quick to catch on.


    "Please wait a bit."


    I closed my eyes and focused on myself. I was... in a very bad state right now.


    Sweat was forming all over my body, my breathing was starting to become frantic, I could feel my heart beating wildly in my chest, and I could only barely control every single muscle in my body.


    I was feeling unparalleled fear, and I was being controlled by it. No emotion besides fear existed in my mind, and it was only becoming more and more intense.


    ''Welp, time to start.''


    Fear was a strong thing, but it was not almighty. Even if only temporarily, dealing with it was possible, and that was exactly what I was going to do.


    I took a deep breath... and allowed the emptiness I have hidden away deep inside my heart to swallow me whole.


    ¨DImmediately I could feel myself wanting to cry. I managed to stop myself from crying, but it took all of my willpower to do that.


    ''...Why? What did do? I don''t deserve this treatment, I have done nothing wrong. I have... tried so hard, I have done so much. My life was just starting to have colors again. ...Why? It makes no sense. ...It makes no Goddamn sense!''


    My hands curled into fists and I gritted my teeth. I could feel anger burning inside my soul.


    ''I finally beat my social anxiety! I finally started trusting people again! I started going to school! I started getting good grades! I started making friends! Life was just start to look up... and now THIS?! Being unfairly thrust into another world! Having everything taken away from me! In whose stupid mind is this fair?!''


    Anger turned into fury, and fury turned into wrath. The scorching wrath in my heart started burning away even the fear that was taking hold of it.


    ''Damn it! Damn all of it! I hate everything! I hate everyone! I will not allow something like this to happen again! NEVER! I will become strong! So strong that no one will be able to take away my happiness again! Nothing will stand in my way! Not this stupid forest, not the stupid wolves, not even the person who summoned me to this world! It doesn''t matter if it''s God or if it''s some eldritch horror, nothing will take away my happiness ever again!''


    I stood up with a calm expression and a calm demeanor. I have not been molding my face the past week for nothing, if a normal person looked at me right now, they wouldn''t see anything wrong with me.


    Jagon though... Jagon was different. That bastard could clearly see the burning anger I was hiding.


    He was looking at me with horror and pity in his eyes.


    "That... cannot be good for you."


    I shrugged.


    "Well, whether I like it or not, this is the only way for me to move forward. Now let''s go, my anger is not infinite, it will burn away with time."


    I was trying my best to supress my anger... but my fists were itching to punch something.


    ***


    I threw up on the ground, wiped my mouth with a handkerchief and looked at the sleeping bear I wanted to kill. Surprisingly, the bear looked like a normal bear, even though this was a different world.


    "Are you sure you''re fine? You''ve thrown up three times already."


    Jagon''s worried voice resounded from behind me. I didn''t look at him, keeping my full focus on the bear.


    "Don''t worry, this is just the side effect of ignoring my trauma. I can still do it. Or I will try, at least. If this guy is tougher than I expect him to be, then I''m going to fail."


    I wasn''t sure why the bear was sleeping out in the open, but I didn''t care much, all I cared was how I was going to take advantage of that.


    Unluckily, the bear was sleeping with paws over its neck. If the neck was exposed, it would''ve been a one hit kill. Still, I wasn''t going to complain.


    I tightly gripped the dagger in my hands and slowly started creeping up to the bear. I made sure to make as little noise as possible and go in the opposite direction of the wind. That way, the bear wouldn''t be able to notice my smell.


    As I got close enough for the bear to be in hands reach, it slowly started stirring awake. It noticed me.


    ''Sorry big guy. Too late.''


    I stabbed it in the eye. Unfortunately, I couldn''t pierce the bear''s tough skull, so the dagger didn''t go all the way to the brain. Still, this was within my expectations.


    Before the bear could even open its mouth to scream, I stabbed the second eye, making the bear blind.


    Then, a loud scream shook the world. I could feel myself slightly disoriented from how loud it was, but I quickly recovered and jumped back.


    The bear stood up onto its four legs and attacked the spot where I was just moments prior.


    Without letting the bear get any respite, I took a rock out of my pocket and threw it at the bear.


    It reacted and attacked the spot where the rock hit it, but I was already long gone from there.


    I circled around the bear, and attacked its neck from the opposite side.


    The bear was still distracted by the rock, so it was slow to react to the sound of my footsteps. Still, it managed to move just enough for my dagger to pierce its body and not its neck.


    ''Tch.''


    I jumped back, dodging the bear''s retaliating strike once again. I wanted to end the fight with that attack, but I failed.


    ''But that''s fine. I expected this.''


    Preparing for the worst was something I did constantly, so I wasn''t surprised that my attack didn''t kill it, only slightly annoyed.


    I took another rock out of my pocket and repeated the same attack. It failed again, but that was fine.


    I threw another rock and judged the bear''s reaction. It completely ignored it.


    By now, it seemed to ignore the rocks completely, only focusing on the sound of my footsteps.


    ''Footsteps, huh? Bad choice.''


    I bent my legs and prepared for a jump. I took multiple rocks out of my pocket... and threw them at the ground in quick succession.


    The bear reacted to the sound of footsteps and attacked. I was in the air in a completely different direction though, so I just calmly stabbed the bear''s neck.


    Another scream shook the world, and this time around, I was a bit too slow to fully dodge its claws. A huge chunk of flesh was ripped from my right arm. In fact, I was pretty sure I could see my bones in the wound.


    Nevertheless, after running away from the bear for a minute after that, it finally succumbed to its injuries.


    I applied pressure to my wound to loose as little blood as possible and plopped down on the ground.


    ''Haa... That was scary.''


    At this point, all my anger had ceased to exist and only fear remained. Well, two fears to be exact. The fear of the forest, and the fear of death. The only reason I was even able to finish the fight was because the fear of death suppressed the fear of the forest.


    I took a deep breath and didn''t even try to move. I allowed my limbs to grow weak and for my fear of death to recede.


    My pupils narrowed and my quick breathing became erratic. My heart was already beating hard in my chest and I was already drenched in sweat, so that didn''t change, but it was still painful.


    "For pancakes''... sake."


    I barely manage to shift my position enough to lay on my side, and then I threw up. I rolled away from the vomit to not get my hair drenched in it.


    Eventually, Jagon emerged from behind a tree.


    He looked down at me and clicked his tongue.


    "You''re pushing yourself too hard. What kind of person your age does this kind of stuff with such determination? While ignoring all the mental and physical scars along the way? At this point, I don''t know whether to laugh at you or be impressed by you."


    His words barely regestered in my mind though. I was too scared to hear him. This forest was full of scary things after all.


    There are wolves that will eat you whole. There are orcs that make you afraid just by looking at them. There are cats that use mind tricks to make you let down your guard. There are poisonous rivers that are painful beyond belief.


    And throughout all of that, there is no water to drink and no safety to be found.


    Scary. All of it was so scary. All of it... was making me worry.


    ***


    A soothing sensation spread throughout my arm, making the pain slowly go away.


    Angelica was healing me with an angry expression.


    "Seriously, you...! Why did you allow him to be so reckless, Jagon?!"


    Jagon raises his hands in a defeated gesture.


    "It wasn''t my fault! He was the one who told me not to interfere!"


    "And I''m telling you that you should''ve ignored him and interfered! Did you forget the reason you went with him in the first place?!"


    I put my left hand between Jagon and Angelica to stop their feud.


    "Please don''t yell at him, Angelica. This time around, it was solely my decision. If you want to yell at someone, yell at me."


    Angelica turned to me with an angry expression.


    "Why did you do that, then?! Do you not realize that getting hurt is not alright?! A healer won''t always be close by, you know?!"


    ''Oh, damn. Would you look at that, she actually started yelling at me. I really like her character.''


    I smiled at her.


    "But there was a healer close by, right? Trust me, I''m the type of person to always think thrice before doing something. If I do something, then I''m ready to bear the consequences."


    ''Heh, that''s a nice pun.''


    She looked at me, her anger nowhere near gone.


    Then, she said something that I didn''t expect at all.


    "I''m not healing you again, then."


    "Eh?"


    "Eh?"


    Both me and Jagon looked at her with dumbfounded expressions.


    She looked me straight in the eyes.


    "Well, if I''m always going to heal you, then you''re just going to keep getting hurt, right? But if I don''t, then you will be much more careful, since you know that injuries are something that you can''t take lightly."


    ...Tch, she was right. Indeed, if I always make my plans with the idea that a healer is close by, I won''t really care about injuries, as they would be able to be healed easily. But if I don''t have a healer, I''ll have to take extra precautions to not get hurt, since even a small cut would lower my body''s efficiency.


    ''She''s way too smart for my own good.''


    Ah yeah, all of that is bad, since my pace of getting stronger will inevitably become slower because of this, but... why is the floor on fire?


    Jagon seemed to notice the small flame as soon as I did, and immediately cast a spell that summoned a ball of water. It extinguished the fire.


    He sighed and rubbed his temples.


    "Yes, we understand, I''m sure Faun will take more care of himself now, but... Angelica, please don''t talk while healing next time."


    She covered her mouth with her hand in an "oops" gesture and focused on healing.


    ''...Huh. So that was not a figure of speech. Who would''ve thunk it?''

 Being Heard Is Nice

    I wake up... but I don''t really want to get out of bed. I close my eyes and flip my pillow to the cold side.


    ''Just... five more hours.''


    ***


    I wake up. I still don''t wanna get out of bed... but I knew that even if stayed in it, I wouldn''t be able to sleep anymore, so I just stood up.


    I stretched a bit to energize myself and then started on my usual morning.


    I blinked, and I was already back in bed, the moon shining high up in the sky.


    ''Huh... that was fast.''


    The day... why couldn''t I remember the day? My memory of what happened is all fuzzy, why is that?


    Oh yeah, that''s right, it''s because I''m asleep right now.


    ***


    I open my eyes. I groggily sit up and stare at the wall.


    ''How long has it been since I''ve had a lucid dream?''


    Probably a couple of months. It felt pretty weird to have one out of nowhere, actually.


    I pinched myself to make sure I''m not dreaming and to energize myself.


    Then, I go about my regular morning routine. The expression making, the meditating; the usual and repetitive shtick, you know?


    After that, I grasp the handle of the door to the kitchen.


    ''Let''s see what that bastard Jagon has for me today, shall we?''


    ***


    I finished my breakfast and was about to go to my room when Jagon asked for me to stay.


    He looked... worried. Well, no surprises there. I put on quite the show yesterday, after all.


    He might''ve even gotten a glimpse into the vast emptiness hidden inside my heart, and that might actually be problematic.


    "Sure, I can stay. What questions do you want me to answer?"


    I sat down with an impassive face.


    Angelica was the one to speak first.


    "I want to know... What exactly happened to you in the forest? From yesterday, it''s quite clear that you have severe trauma of it, and the wounds you had when we found you were also bad, but I want to know all the details. I want to help you heal your trauma."


    Ah, what an angelic goal, quite fitting for the angel in front of me.


    "Sure, I can tell you. I need some way to bump up the word count, so I have no reason not to answer."


    I coughed.


    "Alright, let''s start from the beginning. First, I woke up in a forest. I had no idea where I was or how I got there, so I decided that I had to find some people first. After walking for a little bit, I stumbled upon a cat."


    Jagon looked surprised.


    "You encountered a cat in the forest? I''m surprised that a harmless animal like that managed to stay alive back there."


    ''So cats exist in this world. That''s good.''


    "I was surprised too... until I noticed that the cat wasn''t normal. There were a lot of things weird about it, so I won''t tell you every single one, but just know that it was probably a monster that tricked the mind."


    Jagon raised his eyebrow at that.


    "As far as I remember, there are no monsters like that in Zelen. Did some new species pop up? Or did it come from another territory? If there really is a new monster, I''ll have to find out its characteristics, so that when..."


    He continued on mumbling to himself for quite a long while after that. I just ignored him and continued explaining the story to Angelica.


    "Right, so after I ran away from the cat, I stumbled upon a black river after hou¨D"


    ""Did you just say a black river?!""


    Jagon and Angelica both shouted out of nowhere. Jagon even seemed to completely forget about the cat that he spent the last minute mumbling about, all of his focus shifted to this new topic.


    "Yeah, I did. A black river. What about it?"


    They stared at me in shock and disbelief.


    "You... stumbled upon it."


    I nonchalantly nodded.


    "Yeah, I did."


    They looked me straight in the eyes.


    "And you... lived?"


    "No, I''m a walking and talking corpse. What answer did you expect to hear, exactly?"


    I waited until the both of them got back their bearings. This was the most shocked I had ever seen them, so it was a new sight.


    After about four minutes of awkward silence, Jagon sighed.


    "I guess we got really lucky, then."


    "What exactly do you mean by that?"


    Angelica was the one who answered my question.


    "We got really lucky that everyone came back from the last hunt, is what he meant. Considering it''s Kumorsh hunting period."


    I flapped my eyes. Was the black river something terrible? I mean, yeah, it was a poisonous river, but the poison didn''t seem too potent.


    Also, what''s up with the Kumorsh? What is that? Is it a monster? And... hunting period? What does a hunting period of a monster have to do with a poisonous river?


    I shook my head. It''s better to just ask instead of trying to guess.


    "Can I ask, what is a Kumorsh? And why does it matter that it''s Kumorsh hunting period?"


    Jagon nodded while looking at me.


    "Right, of course you wouldn''t know. Kumorsh... is the apex predator of Zelen. It has its own vast territory, that is surrounded by a somewhat-circular river that almost fully encompasses it. The Kumorsh is a twelve-legged spider that has a height of 9 meters. Most of the time, it is asleep peacefully at the center of its territory... but it cannot live without food, and that is where its existence becomes a big problem. You see, instead of going out to hunt by itself, it instead... spreads its poison throughout the river. It''s not a normal poison though, as it has addictive properties. And the worst part... some of the poison evaporates and turns into an invisible gas, which inherits those addictive qualities and spreads very far out. The moment anything breathes in the invisible gas ¨D no matter whether it''s a monster or a human ¨D they get brainwashed and just... plunge into the river of their own volition. The current then carries their dead bodies until they hit the web that Kumorsh makes in the river, and there Kumorsh gets its fill."


    I stare at him, deadpan.


    ''...Huh.''


    Yeah, how exactly am I alive? That sounds stupidly dangerous.


    ''I can''t tell whether I''m lucky because I lived, or unlucky because I ended up there in the first place.''


    I shook my head and decided to change the topic. This was important information, but it''s not like I could use it right this moment.


    "So... you want me to continue the story or no?"


    They both looked at me like I''m crazy. I sighed.


    "Listen, I know that you''re shocked, I am too, but the fact is; I''m here and I''m not dead. No point being surprised by it; it just is. So I''ll ask this again. Do you want me to continue the story or not? We can postpone this conversation if you really want to."


    They both stared at each other, the shock slowly disappearing from their faces. They sighed simultaneously, and looked at me with exasperation. Angelica looked a little bit relieved despite all of it though.


    "I just don''t think you realize just how astonishing what you did was."


    "Oh no, I''m pretty sure I do. I resisted the brainwashing qualities of the gas, I survived a full day in Kumorsh''s territory, and I survived being fully submerged into its poison AND having the poison inside my mouth and bloodstream. I fully understand just how crazy what I did was."


    They both looked at me with square eyes. I was almost afraid that their eyes would leave their sockets, that''s how bad it was.


    "Right, I haven''t gotten to those parts yet."


    I sheepishly scratched my head while laughing my ass off on the inside. I mean, I expected their reactions to be good, but it took all my effort to not laugh right in their faces.


    ''Hahaha! This is gonna be a gold memory, I can feel it!''


    I waved my hand in front of their faces, but they didn''t react at all. They were too shocked.


    I couldn''t help but smile and chuckle, no longer able to fully keep the laugh on the inside. The chuckle quickly escalated into full on laughter.


    "HA! Khe... just... Hahaha! Hhh! The looks¨D pft! The looks on your faces!"


    I laughed for a full two minutes right in their faces, with them barely moving a muscle. It was all just too comical.


    ''If only I could laugh like this all the time.''


    ***


    "What party poopers they are."


    I pursed my lips.


    They had decided to hold off the story for another time. I really wanted to see more of their surprised faces, so that was a bit of a let down.


    ''Oh well, I''ll still see their surprised faces, just later.''


    I smirked as I remembered their faces. That was the most hilarious expression I had seen them make.


    I shook my head. I had a lot of things to focus on, so I couldn''t afford to be idle.


    ''So... first of all, I now know why I survived the encounter with the wolves. Their minds were being affected by the gas, so they couldn''t fight at their full capabilities. It''s surprising that they were able to coordinate at all, considering how scared Jagon seems to be of Kumorsh. Were they starving so bad that they could resist the gas?''


    I think back to my experiences in the forest, now that I looked back on them, a lot of things made sense now.


    The reason why no one attacked me in my sleep. The reason why I encountered so little monsters. The reason why I was able to fool the orc so easily.


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    Of course, some things still didn''t make sense.


    How was I not brainwashed? Do I have some kind of resisance to poisons? Did I actually get some stuff when I got transported here? And... what the hell was up with that cat?


    ''Everything about that cat doesn''t make sense.''


    How did it survive in Kumorsh''s territory? Why did it not attack me? Why was it able to resist the gas? Why... did it look so similar to my cat?


    I scratch at my head, thinking. I had a lot of questions, but not a lot of answers.


    ''Maybe if I think some more, I''ll get answers?''


    I scratch my head in thought. If I considered everything that happened and all the facts I have...


    ''Don''t I just have a stupidly strong body?''


    Jagon said my muscles are the second best in the world, who says that all other functions of my body can''t be on the same level? Including my immune system?


    Doesn''t that explain me not getting brainwashed? Also swimming through the poison and ending up being fine? Well, relatively fine, is what I mean.


    ''Right, but the question is WHY my body is so strong?''


    Well... I actually had one theory. I didn''t have enough evidence to confirm it, though. I''d have to wait at least a month before I get results.


    ''Too early. I have to wait a bit more. I''ll get answers then. Perhaps even all of them.''


    Before I noticed it, a huge amount of hair was now on the ground and in my hands. I had scratched my head so hard and for so long that hair started to fall out. I looked back at my bed. It was still ripped in some places. In fact, there were some new rips there too.


    I blankly stared at the wall, momentarily walling off every single one of my emotions.


    ''This is bad. It was already bad, but this is worse. I should stop thinking about that cat, it reminds me of my world too much. I can feel the emptiness escaping every second.''


    Life returns to my eyes as I blink a couple of times.


    Without saying anything else and without having another thought, I sit on my bed and close my eyes in meditation. I needed to divert my attention until the image of the cat left my mind.


    ''...Perhaps four years was me being optimistic.''


    ***


    After that, the day was nothing special, and I welcomed that fact.


    The more stable my life felt, the more stable my mind felt too. Repetitiveness is good for the heart.


    ''I didn''t have a nightmare last night, so that''s a good sign.''


    I looked at the moon high up in the sky through the window.


    ''It''s a full moon today, huh.''


    My gaze involuntarily drifted off to a normal house. Well, it was normal apart from the fact that its resident oozed madness.


    I stared at it for a bit. I was expecting...fearing...to see a person leave the house.


    My mind went back to my memories of the normal man.


    He oozed madness, but he didn''t look mad... and that was the worst madness one can have.


    Not all mad people are the same, and not all of them are bad. Sometimes, having a little bit of madness is necessary, or makes a person have brilliant ideas.


    Hell, some mad people even contribute to society... but those type of people don''t hide their madness. After all, what do they have to hide? Their madness brings more good than bad, after all.


    It''s those that hide it that are the worst. They are scared of their madness being spotted, since it''s something that they will definitely get in trouble for.


    So the fact that the normal man oozed madness and didn''t show it... made me get goosebumps.


    I took a deep breath as I gave one last glance to the moon.


    ''Jesus, what am I even thinking about?''


    It was better to think about all of this after I have a stable life, and after I become at least a little bit stronger.


    Right now, my time was better spent meditating.


    I didn''t want to meditate right now though, so I just went to bed.


    ''Please no nightmares this time too.''


    I prayed to nobody in particular and drifted off to sleep.


    ***


    ''The prayers... didn''t work.''


    I really hoped that I could get two nights in a row without nightmares, but life was never that easy.


    Well, at least this one wasn''t a bad one. My bed didn''t get any more rips or tears.


    ''I''m such a hypocrite, aren''t I? I always say that I hate hoping, but I can''t help but do it. Well, no wonder. Just because I hate it doesn''t mean I can''t feel it.''


    My personality was a little bit more complicated than not hoping at all. I just did all I could, every possible thing, and only after that did I start hoping. I also hoped for things that I had no control over, since that was all I could do about them.


    I mean, there''s nothing I can do but hope that a meteorite doesn''t just fall exactly at my location. Sure, that''s hoping, but can you really blame me?


    I hate the kind of hoping that makes a person do nothing, only wishing that things became better, while they still have the capability to improve their situation.


    For example: if I just slumped down in the forest back then, hoping that somebody would find me. In fact, you probably couldn''t blame me from slumping down back there. I was exhausted both physically and mentally, while being hurt all over, with every breath being a chore.


    But I continued walking. When my legs weren''t enough to hold me, I used the walking stick? to keep me steady. Even though just breathing was painful and exhausting, I continued trying, struggling.


    Only after I fell on the ground, completely exhausted of all options, did I scream out for help... and hoped. Hoped for someone to find me.


    So yeah, it''s not like I was a monster incapable of feeling hope, it''s just that I hated hope. Because hope is not certain. Hope is not tangible. Hopes don''t make your life better. It''s actions that do.


    With a sigh, I made an arrogant face and molded it a bit. Then I made a sad face, a desperate face and an impassive face.


    ''Steady progress. This feels nice.''


    A little bit later on, I also plan to work on my body language too. I don''t only have to have a nasty face, but also a nasty body.


    ''That doesn''t quite roll off the tongue, does it? It makes it sound like my body will smell.''


    I didn''t really care about that. I had long given up on naming anything. My inability to come up with names even won against my passion of making a cool name for my ability to fake my emotions.


    ''I just suck too much at it.''


    I frowned and accidentally looked at the ripped out hair still laying on the floor.


    ''...I should learn how to fake laugh too.''


    ***


    "Come on, put all your strength into it!"


    "I... am!"


    I slashed at Jagon with all my might, but he dodged it effortlessly just like he always did. He retaliated with a strike that I was forced to parry, and subsequently threw me off balance.


    I jumped back, trying to buy some much needed time to recuperate, but Jagon was unrelenting.


    I barely had time to take one single breath before he was already upon me, not even mentioning getting into a proper stance.


    ''Dammit.''


    Since Angelica had stopped healing me entirely, these type of fights became much harder for me.


    I relied on tricking the opponent''s mind using my nastiness, but without the option to sacrifice my flesh, my bag of tricks was pretty shallow, especially when I''m fighting someone who knows me.


    If I was fighting a random person, I could''ve acted arrogantly to make them feel overconfident or I could''ve acted weak to make them underestimate me. I could even provoke someone into becoming angry.


    But Jagon? All of that was useless against him.


    He knew I wasn''t arrogant nor overconfident. His knowledge on how strong I was was only second to mine. And making him angry was out of the question. In fact, it was pretty hard to affect Jagon''s emotions in general. Making him be surprised was the most I could do.


    After not too long of an exchange, my dagger flew out of my hand.


    I slumped down on the ground immediately, I was completely drained.


    Before I could even regain my breath, Jagon sat down next to me with a distant look on his face. I was pretty surprised at that. More often than not, he''d just throw a snide remark and usher me to get up, knowing full well how exhausted I was and getting pleasure out of seeing me annoyed.


    So the weird ¨D almost melancholy ¨D atmosphere that surrounded Jagon made me a feel on edge a bit.


    This was a side of him that I hadn''t seen before, so I was naturally on guard.


    He didn''t notice my warriness as he started talking while looking into the distance.


    "Kid... how old are you?"


    I was actually surprised by that simple question.


    ''Right, they don''t know how old I am. I completely forgot about that...''


    I didn''t spend more than a second in thought.


    "Fifteen."


    He turned to me, his face serious and... worried.


    "I can''t help but ask... why are you pushing yourself so hard? I think I''ve seen only two people your age who pushed themselves beyond their physical limits, but unlike them, you don''t have any talent, nor do you seem to have any thoughts of revenge to fuel your determination."


    I didn''t really have to ponder his question for long. This was not a mood where carefully thinking about what I said was better, instead, I should just speak whatever''s on my mind.


    "Why? The answer''s easy, it''s because I''m a coward."


    He just raised his eyebrow in confusion, prompting me to continue.


    "Well, whether I like it or not, I got a reality check back in the forest. No matter what hopes I had or what ideas were sprouting in my mind, all of them got chewed by wolves, drained by dehydration and mercilessly dissolved by a poisonous river. And that imprinted a certain thought in my mind: the current me cannot survive in this world. And, well... I''m afraid of death, you know? So I just do anything to keep me as far away from it as possible. I''m just a coward running away from death."


    Now, somewhat recovered, I sat up and looked Jagon in the eyes.


    "Now, come on. Ask me the real question. You already knew the ''why''."


    He hesitated, mostly because he knew this topic was going to be painful, but still opened his mouth.


    "How?"


    I smiled. You can probably guess what kind of smile it was. A mad one.


    "Like this."


    I pointed at my eyes and stared at him blankly.


    A small silence descended upon us, with Jagon visibly grimacing and feeling uncomfortable. In fact, he looked away from my eyes not long after, not wanting to see them any more.


    ''Well, no wonder. He might only have pieces, but he still knows me well enough.''


    Even thought he didn''t know the details, I had given him enough information for him to understand that I recently lost not only parents, but everything I held dear. No home, no relatives, nothing.


    So the eyes that I showed him must''ve unnerved him a great deal, considering that most people would''ve been emotionally unstable in my situation... and that what I was doing was miles worse.


    He looked back at me after sighing.


    "I''m not like Angelica, so I''m not going to start telling you off, but... just know that if you need someone to talk to, we''re always here. What you''re doing is bad, but you know that, and I can''t really blame you or stop you."


    I cocked my head to the side.


    "I''m surprised you didn''t go on a lecture."


    He glared at me.


    "I''m not dumb and you know that. The fact that you wall off your emotions is your problem. No matter how much I''d like to ''fix'' you, your emotions are for you to deal with."


    My mad smile changed to a sad one.


    "I''m honestly thankful you''re so understanding and accepting of this."


    He looked up at the sky that was slowly gathering dark clouds.


    "So far, I am. In fact, I''m only a short sliver away from telling you off. I''ve seen a lot of disturbing things... but you brute forcing your way through trauma was perhaps the most unnerving one out of all of them. I don''t think I''ve seen somebody push their mental limits that much, and I hope I never will. And considering how young you are... that just made it that much worse. But... I really can''t blame you. The pain of loss must be unbearable, after all."


    A small chuckly couldn''t help but escape me.


    "Heh. So I''m basically super impressive?"


    He looked at me like I was a crazy person... oh wait, I actually was one.


    His look quickly changed though. It was subtle enough that everybody else would''ve missed it, but I could tell him becoming less serious.


    "You bastard, you think bottling up your emotions is impressive?! Psh. When I was your age, I was already hurling huge spells! That''s impressive! Now get off your butt, our sparring is still not over!"


    I sighed, but I was actually a little bit happy on the inside.


    As cliche as what he said was, just knowing that someone understood me relieved the burden on my heart somewhat.


    I still hated him though. He made me continue training even after it started raining, for pancakes'' sake!


    ***


    ''Damn, even after that heartfelt talk, he didn''t become any less ruthless.''


    Well, no wonder. Jagon''s unchanging presence of being a bastard was actually soothing in a weird way, and he knew that.


    I sat on my bed with a sigh while wiping my hair with a towel. I had no clothes apart form my normal ones, so I was mostly naked right now.


    Angelica had already started on sewing me new clothes ¨D that was apparently one of her hobbies ¨D but there''s a long time before they''ll be done, so no spare clothes for me.


    I stared at the wall with complicated emotions.


    "...Tch. Why can''t I just cry it all out? Why do I have to be so difficult?"


    I knew why, it was because I couldn''t be weak right now, and as such, I couldn''t appear weak.


    I''m not the kind of person to think that showing weakness is ''not manly'', I don''t care about that. It''s just that something inside of me refuses to appear weak in front of people I don''t fully trust. And I don''t quite fully trust Jagon and Angelica yet; I don''t know every facet of their character.


    That''s not even mentioning that I almost died because of my weakness a week ago, so showing it inevitably reminds me of death.


    I sigh.


    ''I have way too much baggage for a sixteen year old.''


    I rub my temples. There''s not really much I can do about that, so I decide I need a change of pace.


    I start meditating. I have been getting good progress lately, so I was actually pretty excited to do it. I couldn''t control mana quite yet, but I could... understand it. The way mana moved through my body was slowly starting to make sense.


    For example, it was pretty clear to me now that Body-Strengthening wasn''t just about making you stronger, it was about improving every function in your body.


    Hearing, sight, touch, smell. Hell, even taste.


    My heart was stronger, improving my blood flow. My lungs could take air in and out faster than before. My stomach was tougher, making even the worst foods easy to digest.


    There was one thing it couldn''t imporve though; the brain. My thoughts weren''t faster, the world wouldn''t look like slow motion to me no matter how good my Body-Strengthening was. That was a bit of a bummer, but oh well.


    ''I bet it even improves my immune system. I doubt I''ll ever get sick in this new world.''


    I smiled. Being sick never felt nice, and I was happy to always be healthy.


    ''It''s short and fleeting, but it''s still happiness. I should revel in this. I haven''t been happy for quite some time.''


    As I sat there with a stupid smile, the emotions slowly dissipated and I focused on meditating again.


    I sat there meditating, until my nose started to feel itchy.


    ''Damn, it''s messing with my concentration. But, this honestly isn''t bad, I''ve been meaning to test this for while now...''


    What did I want to test? It was whether I could keep meditating while still doing other things, of course.


    First, I tried to move my fingers. My concentration didn''t break, and I could still feel the mana within me, so this seemed to be a success.


    I then steadily increased the difficulty. All seemed to be going well. I could move my head, my hands, my legs, my body. I could even take a step.


    But then, I tried to open my eyes.


    Immediately, the flood of information from my sight distracted me from meditation, making me lose all concentration.


    ''Figures.''


    This already went much better than I expected it to. I honestly expected to be stuck trying to move my arms and legs, so knowing that sight was my roadblock... felt pretty nice, actually.


    I reveled in the short-lived sense of pride I had, and not long after tried to meditate with my eyes open.


    I succeeded... kinda.


    In truth, even though my eyes were open, it''s not like I could take in the visual information. You know one of those moments where your mind shuts off for couple of seconds and you only come to your senses once somebody calls out to you? That''s the best way I can explain what I felt.


    I know that my eyes were open, I know that I was looking somewhere, but my brain refused to process the information. It just completely slipped my mind.


    ''Right. Does that mean I should split my attention? Half on sight and half on mana?''


    I tried that, but it just ended up being a mess. I couldn''t properly divide my attention in half, and I instead went back and forth between my sight and meditation. It was like quickly switching channels on TV.


    It was disorienting, and not what I wanted at all.


    ''That was a bust.''


    I gave up for now. I just decided to practice walking while meditating at the same time... you know what? Calling it meditating all the time is dumb. I''m just gonna call it mana sensing from now on.


    Yeah, so I was just going to practice mana sensing at the same time as walking. I tried, and it was proving to be hard, but not impossible. I would have to get familiar with walking while mana sensing before I get to the more complicated stuff.


    ''Yep, mana sensing definitely sounds better.''


    I hummed to myself in approval. It still sounded wrong in some kind of way, but that''s par for the course with my naming sense.


    With that done, I got up, stretched, and went to eat lunch.

 Weird Differences

    I stretched and looked at the weather outside. It was raining; yesterday it was already bad, but now it was a whole flood.


    ''I wonder, did the rain continue throughout the night? Or did it stop and reemerge at some point?''


    ¨DWith a useless thought like that, I started my usual morning routine.


    *CRACK*


    I couldn''t help but jolt in surprise at the thunder. I furrowed my brows; the sudden sound completely messed up my concentration, so I couldn''t help but be a bit angry.


    ''I never liked lightning.''


    The worry of being hit by one was constantly on my mind when there was a storm, and as a person who doesn''t want to worry, that was most certainly a development I hated.


    Still, it was one of those worries I could do nothing about ¨D except for maybe staying indoors ¨D so I just shook my head and focused on my expressions once again.


    The thunder never stopped though, and my concentration kept being broken. At this point, I could feel myself becoming slightly annoyed.


    ''Alright, bring it on, weather.''


    My eyes turned blank and my perception narrowed. Anything that didn''t help me persue my goal was erased from my mind: hearing, smell, taste, vision, emotions. I only left my sense of touch to help guide my expressions, everything else unnecessary and dampened to the extreme.


    Nor the sudden flashes of lightning nor its loud sounds could affect me anymore.


    ¨DThis was my most efficient state. A level of focus so intense that, if I didn''t pay enough attention, I might even forget to breathe.


    As you could probably guess, this wasn''t a good state to be in. Not only was I bottling up my emotions, but I was also rejecting any kind of external stimuli, leaving me extremely vulnerable.


    As such, unlike what you might think, this wasn''t really a good state to be in during a fight, where you had to constantly be on your toes.


    This state was best used to think and nothing more.


    So after what felt like an appropriate amount time, I went back to my normal state.


    I sighed and allowed myself to relax. Of course, as soon as I did, I was almost blinded and deafened by a lightning strike that flashed only twenty meters away from my location.


    ''...They have something to make sure the house doesn''t get hit by lightning, right?''


    I looked around my wooden room, everything in it perfectly flammable.


    ''...right?''


    ***


    I calmly ate my lunch while looking at the weather outside.


    "It just keeps getting worse, huh?"


    I nodded at Jagon''s remark. The weather today has been unrelenting.


    In fact, it was so bad, that Angelica was banned from doing anything today, in fear of her being distracted by lightning and starting a fire.


    ''I want to say that that''s a bit too intense of a reaction, but...''


    *CRACK*


    The weather was truly bad. The wind was blowing at speeds so fast that they would knock a normal person off their feet. The rain was so thick and intense that a bucket filled only after a second of being outside. And don''t even get me started on the lightning.


    *CRACK*


    Luckily, they actually had countermeasures against lightning in this world.


    There was a certain monster appropriately called ''Lightning Catcher'' in this world. From what Jagon and Angelica told me, I could roughly guess that it looked like a black unicorn.


    The Lightning Catcher had a horn that attracted lightning. Normally it absorbed the power of the lightning that hit it and used it against opponents, but once cut off, the horn was nothing more than a glorified lightning rod.


    And that''s why¨D


    *CRACK*


    ¨DEven when that happened, I wasn''t too worried about the house burning down. It was still pretty scary though, as the horn was positioned not too far from Jagon''s house, so I usually jolted whenever lightning struck. Jolting was miles better than worrying though, so I didn''t care.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    I calmly finished lunch and stood up. I walked to the window in the kitchen and stared into it.


    Normally, you would see Zelen from the window, but now you could see nothing but rain. I wasn''t sure whether to feel pleased or scared.


    I tilted my head and studied the rain. Suddenly, a memory from way back then resurfaced in my mind. A memory of my cat¨D


    My eyes became empty. They were now dull and lifeless, tired and uncaring. They were dead.


    I quickly realized the situation, forced the memory out of my head and focused on the present. My eyes quickly regained their former liveliness.


    I turned away from the window and went back to my room with an impassive expression.


    I continued working on my expressions.


    ***


    Step after step after step. With each one, I could understand and feel my mana better. I was becoming familiar with it.


    It felt kinda weird, which was no surprise. I was analyzing a substance that was foreign to my body, and unlocking a whole new sense in the process.


    I could now feel how I was taking in the mana from the surroundings, and I could also feel how some of my mana was constantly leaking out. Not being used, but leaking.


    Mana was leaving my body for the sole reason that I didn''t have enough space for it.


    ''I see. It''s not as though I am incapable of absorbing more mana when I am at full capacity, it''s just that it gets shoved out.''


    Why does this matter? Well, if I could somehow forcefully keep the mana inside of me, I would be able to temporarily increase my mana capacity.


    ''Wonder if that''s a technique that already exists. Probably it is. I mean, I can''t possibly be the first person to figure this out.''


    I didn''t let that thought bother me and just continued walking and sensing my mana. It would only be useful once I actually learned how to control it after all.


    A small fleeting smile graced my face.


    I was making progress.


    ***


    *CRACK*


    I bolted out of bed.


    With a dazed mind, I looked around me, trying to understand what the hell woke me up.


    After about a minute, my mind sobered up.


    ''Damn lightning.''


    The bad weather was still going. It wasn''t getting any worse, but that was probably only because it couldn''t get any worse.


    The worst part? I couldn''t know whether it was morning or night. Should I go to sleep or not? ¨DThat was the question I had on my mind.


    I gritted my teeth in anger.


    "When will this weather let up? For pancakes'' sake..."


    I sighed to calm down and rubbed my eyes. Whether it was morning or not, I was pretty sure going back to sleep would be impossible for me. I barely managed to go to dreamland last night, I doubted I could repeat that feat.


    I started stretching my body when Jagon boldly entered my room. Even though I only had my boxers on, he didn''t care at all.


    "Damn, I was hoping to wake you up with a good morning."


    He clicked his tongue in distaste.


    "Right, I still haven''t payed you back for that time you shouted at me while I was still half-asleep. Thanks for reminding me."


    I smiled back at him and started putting on my clothes. In the meantime, my thoughts drifted to my relationship with Jagon.


    We had a pretty weird relationship, all things considered. Nomally, you would only exchange insults and the like with your best friend, but our bold (and somewhat uncaring) personalities made this stupidly easy. No need to be best friends, hell, no need to be close at all. We just naturally hit off each other.


    ''Yeah, we are weird like that.''


    Before I could even finish putting my clothes on, Jagon clicked his tongue in distaste again, this time he was looking at the window and not at me though.


    "Seems like we aren''t gonna be able to go hunting today. What a shame."


    "Don''t you go hunting once every week? Why do you want to go hunting only after four days passed?"


    I didn''t know why, but this village went hunting once every week. From my perspective, that was way too many outings. I mean, the meat we gathered last time would be able to feed the whole village for a month, but they keep hunting every week. There was probably a good reason for it, I just didn''t know about it yet.


    "Well, we usually go hunting every Monday, but remember when I said I gave you one extra day?"


    "Ah."


    He nodded at my exclamation.


    "That''s right, we ended up hunting on Tuesday instead of Monday. Which is why this time there were only three days of rest inbetween."


    I hummed in approval as I started putting on my shirt, but then I froze.


    ''...No wait, that still doesn''t make sense.''


    Even if he gave my one extra day, there still should''ve been five days of rest. Why were there only three? The math wasn''t mathing.


    My eyes widened in realization.


    ''No way.''


    I quickly finished putting on my shirt and tried to sound as unsuspicious as I could.


    "Yeah, because a week has five days and I made you lose one of them."


    He nodded.


    "That''s right."


    I looked calm right now, but on the inside, I was screaming.


    ''WHY, FOR THE SAKE OF ALL THE PANCAKES IN THE WORLD, DOES A WEEK ONLY HAVE FIVE DAYS?!?!''


    Everything before this was normal. Time was counted the same way, and all common sense was the same.


    But this was a reality check for me.


    ''Right, this is a different world after all.''


    I was lucky there was the idea of a week at all. For all I knew, a world could just rely on ''Tomorrow'' and ''The day after tomorrow'' for all its dates. That would''ve been miles worse.


    ''Wait, if a week is five days... then what about months? What about a year?''


    I had to find out before I could get into any misunderstandings.


    I called out to Jagon who was already leaving my room.


    "Hey, how many days in a month are there? And how many months in a year?"


    He looked back at me, confused, but still answered.


    "I don''t know why you''re asking that, but a month has six weeks, so exactly thirty days. And a year has twelve months."


    "Right, exactly as I remember it."


    Not even close to how I remember it, but I had to avoid suspicion where I could, so I could justify lying here.


    ''So every month has the same about of days, and every year is the same... it''s kind of nice actually. Everything is round and easy to count.''


    There were no weird months that gained a day every couple of years, there was no difference in length between any month or year.


    It was just... better. In every single way.


    ''There''s just one problem... what about the weekend?''


    Were Thursday and Friday the weekend now? Were they considered rest days?


    But having almost half of the days beeing free didn''t sound too good for productivity. So... what then? When did people rest in this world?


    I wanted to ask Jagon that, but he already left my room before I noticed it.


    "Oh well, I''ll just ask later. Because I will 100% definitely not forget about it."