2 A Curious Boy

Arwin suddenly woke up and let out a pained groan. He struggled to sit up as a searing pain spread across his chest. He examined it and found a blood-soaked rag covering his wound. He looked around and examined his surroundings.

He was lying on a small hard bed on the edge of a small room. He seemed to be lying in a small shack with walls made from scrap metals and leftover wood boards. There was a fire burning in the corner in a makeshift fireplace made from stones with a chimney consisting of metal sheets.

Although it warmed the room somewhat, the cold wind still made its way into the shelter through numerous cracks in the walls. Beside him, a girl with snow-white hair was sleeping with her head laying on the side of the bed.

"How pretty", he thought.

Although he was thankful to be alive, Arwin had to curse his terrible luck. It was a week ago that he inexplicably woke up in a body that was not his after he fell asleep playing the mmorpg Lair of Souls Online with a couple of friends. He realized that he had inexplicably woke up in a world modeled after the game, and somehow ended up as the son of a merchant.

The first few days were hell for Arwin. He was immediately forced to conduct many business errands for his father. Even though Arwin retained the memories of his host and knew of the identities of his clients, being an introverted person, he had difficulty approaching many of them. He had been berated many times by his father for performing so poorly.

He was constantly plagued by severe anxiety and a longing for home. Although his circumstances would seem like a dream to him in the past, he realized that he had lost much more than he ever thought. He worried over how his family and friends would react to his disappearance. He worried that he would not be able to find a way to return. Even more so, he was worried about how he was going to live in this world.

Although he had a large amount of game knowledge, fighting in real life was vastly different than in the game. Arwin quickly realized this when he saw soldiers training in the military academy courtyard. Unlike in the game, death was real in this world.

Training and hunting monsters no longer just consisted of charging in and pressing hotkeys. Potions were no longer able to heal your body instantly. This was a huge dilemma for Arwin. The body he woke up in was that of a merchant's, meaning he had essentially received no combat training.

In order to become more powerful in this world, he would have to expose himself to harm, something he was not accustomed to in the previous world. Without becoming more powerful, his options of finding a way back were severely limited. Given his circumstances, he could only hope to gather more information in the time being.

On the seventh day of his arrival, Arwin finally decided to explore the outskirts of the city. He had already confirmed this city to be Divine City, as it had been essentially identical to its version in the game. The city was a decently high leveled area and was surrounded by high-level demi-humans. However, there was a little-known dungeon outside the city for beginners which was located directly east of the outer ring. Since this area only spawned small rodent-like monsters, it was generally safe.

Arwin was eager to go test out combat in the new world. He suspected that he likely didn't have a combat class. However, he figured he could probably defeat the monsters by emulating beginner skills like slash. Things took a turn for the worse when he had gotten robbed by some street thugs before he reached the city gate. They took his belongings, slashed his chest and ran, leaving him dying in the snow. He had soon lost consciousness. It seemed like the girl that was beside him now had saved him.

Arwin observed as the girl suddenly woke up as he was staring at her, quickly wiping away the drool that had pooled beneath her mouth.

"Ah! Sorry about the drool, this is really embarrassing" she exclaimed while wiping her mouth with her sleeve. There was a small potion in your coat pocket and I took the liberty of spreading It on your wound, so it should heal in a couple of days".

"She's pretty assertive," thought Arwin as he observed her behavior. "Uhm, that's great, thank you for saving me" he replied.

"My name is Isabella, what's yours?" asked the girl as she attempted to cover her blushing cheeks with her hands.

Isabella was soon rapid firing questions and Arwin had struggled to keep up. "Why did you travel to the slums?" she asked. You don't seem like the type to have business here".

"I was going to hunt some monsters on the outskirts of the city, but I was robbed on my way there" answered Arwin, explaining his situation. "But now, it seems I should probably head home and recover".

He was certainly disappointed that he would not get a chance to test combat, but at least he was alive.

He wasn't sure what would happen if he died, but he didn't want to take a risk. Luckily, the robbers had been too caught up with his bag to check his shabby coat, and the potion he carried came in handy.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted.

"Are you stupid?" shouted Isabella. "The city is surrounded by dangerous demi-humans, that's why the city walls are always guarded! Unless you're an experienced warrior, going outside is suicide!".

Unused to being berated like that, Arwin immediately apologized. He was unsure if he should reveal the information of his plans, but it seemed he would have to provide her with an explanation. He suspected that she wouldn't buy an excuse such as "I'm just really stupid". After some deliberation, Arwin decided to just reveal the truth and explain the details of his plans and the dungeon.

The Dungeon was an underground area with a hidden entrance, so it would most likely be unknown to most people. Back in the game, it had been a hidden dungeon implemented for new players in case they mistakenly used a teleport crystal to get into the Divine City. Since the city was a high-level region, the new players would not be able to leave without being killed and would be stuck there until they could buy another teleport crystal. Fighting there was a way for broke low-level players to make some money and avoid being locked into the city. If the dungeon was anything like the game, there would not be any demi-humans in the area.

Arwin looked up at Isabella, who seemed to be deep in thought. She seemed as if she'd made up her mind about something. "If this place exists, can you take me there?" she asked.