Chapter Two: The Lost and the Wise

Corvac sighed as he lowered himself against a lone tree in a large empty plain. It was a bit off of the road, but it was out of the sun. His gear was dark and made for colder climates, not the more temperate and hotter climates of the day. He'd altered his sleeping schedule to sleep during the midday, well, more like a nap. He then stood up for as much as he could during the nights and stuck to the fringes of the roads he was following.

It slowed his travel time significantly, with him jumping at every noise that went off through the mountainous paths that he'd descended down from the village he'd woken up within. It'd been five days since he'd started his trek, and his goal wasn't determined.

He'd searched long and far within that town for a sort of map, but had come up dry. He'd not found a map of any sort within, and was left aimless in terms of direction. That left him following the road mostly.

The terrain and weather had been largely kind, although he did wish it was a bit cooler as he moved in a direction bringing him to more temperate climates. Ultimately, he'd been rather lucky in his opinion, his only combat encounter having been with a trio of goblins that scampered away when they'd seen him.

That'd left him anticipating an ambush of some kind further along the road, having taken them for scouts. That ambush never came, but it cost him a decent amount of sleep and raised his stress levels greatly. Traveling in a fantasy world was annoying, although with magical items it was rather fine.

He walked at a sedated pace, and he often took breaks, filling his spatially expanded canister with stream water for a few hours and using it to sponge bathe himself off of sweat. Taking breaks by kicking off his shoes and resting, taking in the sights and sounds of nature. He'd seen largely mundane animals and life, nothing that really alarmed him like a sudden dragon attack or massive direwolves. He'd seen normal wolves and mountain lions instead, of which none attacked him as animals were rather smart like that. Well, as long as they weren't starving. If not for the goblins, he'd think himself in a mundane world…

'Nah, the stars are all wrong. Too bright and multi-colored. The moon's far too big as well, thing's fucking massive.'

Yeah, he was in another world. It'd taken a bit to rationalize that and dear lord the amount of theories he came up with. From system apocalypse, to Lit-RPG, from the casual Isekai, maybe a CYOA prompt that he forgot about. It was a good time waster, especially after he'd read those two Grimoires, of which turned out to be scams.

The two books knocked him out when he read them and he went through this trippy conversation with himself. His mirror self asked him what kind of magic he wanted, and Corvac replied 'Give me something edgy and cool'.

Twice.

Psychedelic Corvac wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed apparently.

They were apparently duds, as trippy and psychedelic their effects were. He didn't suddenly know how to use any 'edgy and cool' magics, which was lame, but now he had two blank books which he casually drew doodles of the landscape within. The town had a few ink pots and some writing quills, which he used to draw detailed sketches of anatomy and artistic depictions of birds, trees and mountains.

His art was so detailed and amazing that he was left utterly stunned, having been a rather mediocre artist back home. Suddenly he was actually pretty decent, even by modern standards that used advanced equipment and had the ability to erase mistakes easily.

Speaking of ink, he'd taken the time to inspect his body. He was rather tatted up, after all, and he could without a doubt state that his tattoos were pretty damned cool. They were very 'arcane', although they also gave him some very prominent Demonology and Satanic vibes. He was never really into tattoos, but he figured they had some sort of magical effect, and Corvac was very much 'pro-magic' right now. Nearly infinite clean water from his flask, massive storage space from his bags, whatever his earrings and ring did; he was chilling.

Corvac stuck his tongue out as he inspected his recently finished drawing of his surroundings. A simple crooked tree drawn on a massive plain, a distant road off to the distance and a robed man leaning in the shade of the tree, staff resting in the crook of his arm and a book in his lap. He smiled at the art, before leaving it in the air to dry for a bit and stretching. He gazed out to the direction he needed to head, only to pause and blink as he spotted something approaching.

'A carriage?'

Indeed, far out in the distance was a carriage being drawn. It was a sole carriage, not shaded or protected by any cover, drawn by what he could tell was a horse or donkey and a single man. Its contents were a mystery.

Corvac stood up, but didn't move towards the carriage, instead letting it get closer to him. He waited until he was satisfied with the condition of the art within his book before picking it up and starting on his way. He intercepted the driver, an older man who waved at Corvac; Corvac doing the same.

"Hail, traveler." The old man greeted, a pipe in his lips. "Off to Orario?" The man asked.

Corvac furrowed his brow, the name…familiar. "I take it that is where this road leads?" Corvac asked, a smile spreading on his face as he talked with another person for the first time in a good week.

The old man chuckled, "A true wanderer, aye? Not even a direction in your head." The man tutted.

Corvac sighed, his smile washing away. "Fraid that's not by whimsical choice, old timer. Town up in the mountains, not sure of its name, was raided by goblins. My memories aren't as they used to be after I woke up in a cellar in the town." Corvac shrugged, "Scavenged the wreckage best I could and headed to somewhere that wasn't a desolate ghost town."

The older man sighed heavily, "That'd be Orevil, up in the Alf Mountains. Used to travel there for their hops and mountain meads." The old man shook his head, "Shame, that." The man sighed looking up to the distant mountains. "Well, you said your memories aren't as they used to be? Took a hit to the head, lad?"

Corvac shrugged, "Maybe, or some spirit or witch cast a spell on me. I know my name, at least, but the world's a fresh bounty at every turn. I'm lost in a lot of ways, more than just not knowing where I am, at the very least."

The old man chuckled, "Being lost in life, aye, not a new thing that is. If you're looking for some discovery, then I'd recommend following the largest road. It'll lead you to Orario, capital of the Gods and Dungeon City."

Corvac felt a sinking feeling as things started adding up.

The old man continued, "Nowhere else will a young man with a mage's look about him be welcome. You're no elf, but I'd assume that'd be a Grimore on yer' belt?"

Corvac glanced down and nodded, "Yeah, strange books those. Sent me into some strange dream when I read them."

The old man laughed, "Them?" He giggled and shook his head, "Two, or maybe more? Up in that town? Never thought it'd hold such riches."

Corvac raised his brow, "Rare, are they?"

The man grunted, "Hundreds of millions of vails for one of 'em, lad. And you've read two? Gods'll lust after ya' in Orario if ya tell 'em that. Magic's not common, usually only the elves in their forests have two or three spells. Most of us humans, we'd be lucky to get one." The man spat to the side. "Anyway lad, best stow that book there, markings on it give it away as a Grimoire to the wise kind. Head to Orario, make a life out of yer' self in the dungeon. Maybe you'll become first-rate!" The man belted out a laugh.

Corvac bowed his head, "Thank you for your wisdom, sir."

"Hehe. No problem, kiddo. What's your name, maybe one day I'll hear it."

"Corvac. Name's Corvac Forwitch."

The old man stroked his beard, "A man of witch's blood, huh. Interesting." He whipped the reins on his mule. "Off I go, lad. Time waits for no-one."

Corvac waved, "Once again, thank you."

The man grunted and he trotted off, Corvac watching him go. He turned back to the dusty trail and cracked his neck. "Off I go. To adventure, I guess." He mumbled to the wind. "Nothing better to do."

'Orario, huh.' Corvac thought as he started his travels. He stored his grimoire, taking heed of the old man's wisdom and fell into deliberation of his location.

'That was the setting of that one show. Bah, it had such a long and dumb sound name. Girls, Dungeon…something relating to romancing girls in a dungeon? Wrong…Is it wrong to…fuck this. There was some short nonsense abbreviation of the show, Dan something weebish.' Corvac groaned as he rubbed his forehead. 'Thing was a mid anime at best. Who was the MC again…Bell something. He had a western name, so at least I remember it.' Corvac sighed as he gazed up at the falling sun.

'There was that game stuff as well. That status board for adventurers, given by lie detecting gods. I hope I'm suddenly god-like at half-truths like my art, otherwise, I'm fucked. Ain't no way I'm telling anyone about Earth or any of this transmigration nonsense. Gotta create a workable backstory. Can't just show up outta-feckin nowhere.'

Corvac kicked a rock off the road as he thought.

"Name's Corvac Forwitch, I'm from Orevil. Place got destroyed, so I came to Orario, looking to become an Adventurer as I lucked out and found two Grimoires by looting the place like a rat bastard." Corvac started, mumbling out his backstory to the winds.

"Hmm, nah, how about, I'm Corvac Forwitch, fuck you, go suck a dick you nosy motherfucker." Corvac nodded with wry grin, "Truly, I am a sage without equal. Won't be making me any allies, but I really just need a God and I'm gucci." Corvac shrugged, "Eh, bullshittery and obtuse backstory obstruction will be the best. Now, who do I want to join?"

In Corvac's limited and foggy memories, he remembered a few plot and canonical related gods. He remembered that Freya was some sort of Yandere and had a super powerful adventurer. He remembered the main goddess, Hestia, who liked Bell. Then he remembered the flat-goddess, Loki, who did trickster stuff?

'Damn, these options kind of suck. I also remember that forge goddess, Hephaestus, which is kind of weird. Loki I could get, dude transformed into a mare and got fucked to give birth to Sleppnir. But deformed manly fire god? Really?' Corvac shook his head in exasperation at the writer's horny gender bending.

Corvac kind of remembered Hestia, and what he did remember wasn't endearing. He remembered something about her being a layabout goddess, mooching off Hephaestus, and then something about getting her family in debt by the millions. That and being a short stack bag of fan-service meant Corvac was a bit wary of jumping in on the Canonical goddess' ship. Corvac had his own tastes in women, and while there were a few short stacks that he'd admit to being attracted to in his life, he was more attracted to taller women. Not taller than he was, as it was rare to find one that was taller than six foot three, but still taller than the average of five foot six.

'Or was it five foot eight? Eh, average sized women are perfectly fine.' Corvac shrugged, utterly unrepentant that he was judging his future god based on abstract beauty standards.

The fact of the matter was that Corvac remembered, even if distantly, being rather annoyed by the goddess.

Corvac eventually decided he needed more information. There wasn't enough going around in his faded memories, and right now he was far away from Orario. 'Still sucks though. I'm not really remembering any Gods that I enjoyed. Maybe I'll try for something not mentioned in the source, or perhaps a sidelined God.' Corvac shrugged and continued along the path.