I... Remember

Wait a minute…

…is this…

…the Arten Raid?

[…yes,]

But…

This can't be right.

...At least, not according to the game I remember.

If I'm not mistaken, the first Arten Raid was supposed to happen in a dungeon.

Yes, that's it.

That's where Silver retrieved the [Chronos Lock].

But…

…this place…?

Wait…

How did I even get here in the first place…?

And where are those elven bastards?!

[Scattered throughout this realm]

Huh…

Alright...

...Wait.

Yes… I think…

...I think something like this happened in the game—

Oh!

I remember!

I remember when this happened!

But…

...no, it can't be.

...this shouldn't even be possible…

The only time the protagonist ever got stranded in a forest like this—separated from the heroines and his loyal sidekicks alike—was during…

"!"

...the second act of the game, somewhere in the third arc.

[Arten's Raid]

Yes.

This was a main arc, and it was no joke. It happened right after that arc where—

'Wait a minute.'

No…

...I remember now.

The main arc of Arten's Raid only started after Amael…

...disappeared.

Yes!

He just...vanished from the academy after the Festival of Light, without a trace.

But…

...he didn't reappear until a few arcs later, after he'd transformed from a minor villain to a major one.

"Stem," I said aloud, realizing something.

[Yes?]

"This… this is an ancient world, right?" I asked, a strange edge creeping into my voice as I scanned the thick, shadowed forest around me.

[…Yes]

"Then… is there a Legacy here?"

[…Yes]

Legacies, as the legends go, are fragments of historical power left behind by celestial beings, remnants from the days when gods faced their extinction. They say that gods, on the brink of death, crafted hidden realms to preserve a part of themselves—their legacies, protecting their power from vanishing entirely with time.

And those Legacies when inherited becomes blessings, but that only happens if one could survive the trials set by the gods themselves.

"So, what's the connection between Amael and this Legacy?" I asked, piecing it together even as the memory from the game sharpened.

In the game, the only time this particular Legacy revealed itself was when Amael disappeared…

…which makes me think…

...it has something to do with why this Legacy emerges later in the Arten Raid arc.

[Do you wish to exchange 200 LP for information?]

The voice sliced through my thoughts, jolting me with a brutal reminder.

I had barely two days left to live.

"Sigh," I muttered.

Yeah…

...fuck you too.

[…]

Alright, let's assess my situation here.

So I'm currently stranded in some ancient world with zero mana, zero combat ability, and zero weapons.

Oh… wait, scratch that.

I do have this…

[Defensive tool?]

...uh, maybe?

"Sigh…" I shook my head, disappointed as I tossed away the huge branch I'd briefly considered wielding. It might've looked promising, but only for a second.

Then I noticed where it fell from.

"Hey, Stem."

[What?]

"Can I buy a weapon from the shop?" I asked, rubbing my chin as I mulled over my options.

[Well, yes… but it'll cost affection points, mind you.]

"Yeah… that affection points nonsense." I grumbled, remembering the various characters I'd encountered—some where just side characters, and others.... well, let's not talk about them. "How many of those do I even have?"

[User's current AFP: +30/-4999]

"Uh…" I muttered, eyebrows raising at the absurd count of negative AFP.

I could guess where most of that came from, though.

Ellie, the racist villainess, would probably have wanted to kill me half a dozen times over if I wasn't still of some use to her. She was quick to scorn anyone who wasn't elven, and her only exception had been…

...well, yeah…

...the protagonist.

Our harem lord of a protagonist with that dense black-hole mentality and naivety that, for some reason, seemed irresistible to the heroines.

So she fell for him…

…then became obsessed…

… then… well, there was no then as you can probably guess what happened next.

[Can you stop talking to yourself like a psycho and tell me what you want to buy?]

"...Just… show me the shop," I muttered, biting back a retort.

[Ding!]

[Weapons]

[Tap for details]

[1. Blazing Sun Disks of the Ancient One]

[2. Sword of Ragnar]

[3. Claymore of Ention]

[4. Fiery Whip of Mass Destruction]

[5. Nameless Katana]

[6. Bloodied Axe of the War God]

[7. Spear of the Lost One]

Ugh. This is going to take a while.

"Oh… before I get into that, I want you to do something for me," I said, recalling a small advantage.

[What?]

"You said I can generate quests to earn LP, right?"

[...Yes.]

"Good. Then generate a quest," I said, already planning my next steps. I needed all the LP I could get.

If this didn't work…

...I was screwed.