Chapter 1: Isekai Man
"So this is it... The end of my story." Marco dazedly grumbles, with every passing moment closer to his death, he feels the world's whisper. He remembered his experiences from infantile to adulthood, and finally... Marco understood the essence of life and the world.
"All the ups and downs, all the worlds I travelled (stories he immersed in), only did I understood when I'm about to die... Talk about luck." Marco sighed to himself, but at that moment of enlightenment a bright light covered vision.
...
"Oohf" A groan echoed in a dark place. "What the... Where is this place?" Marco said but he could not even see his limbs. He could faintly sense his body, but has no control over it. Then at the next moment a huge pressure came upon him.
"Aargh!" Marco exclaimed, as he could now feel "alive", he could feel his heart beating, regulate his breathing, and control his extremities. "Sigh... Oh shit!" before he could recount his experiences, he noticed his body was small in size. "What the fuck... why?" Although the thought of being alive despite remembering his death was quite exciting, but to think he would be in a weak body with that of a child, he was filled with apprehension.
'Hmm... It's not that bad, this body's age should be approaching the double digits... At least I could fend of minor threats in this world... But wait what is this feeling..?' In the few moments of processing his situation, he felt something weird. 'This is... mana?' Although it felt foreign he immediately identifies the strange sensation.
Due to his enlightenment and experience in reading fictional worlds, identifying the strange sensation as mana just felt right. Marco was calm as he mulled over the existence of mana, but deep down he was exhilarated to the bones. Finding yourself in another world, along the existence of mana, that is well-known by cultured people, is a dream sought by people that also cultivate the Dao of reading.
"Well then... I guess it time get a lay of the land." Marco thought out loud as he wandered around the cave until he found the opening, and got out of it. What came upon his sights was a vibrant forest with large trees, and deep shrubs. While admiring nature Marco looked for a water source, when he suddenly heard the sound of flowing water, he immediately made a bee line toward the sound.
'Huff... Huff... Why is it so far away... And how did I hear it?' Realizing the distance he travelled he suddenly questioned the phenomena, but cut short when he came upon a creek. He saw the reflection of his face on the flowing water, he saw a pair of maroon eyes, short black hair, and a little baby fat. He was wearing a loose shirt, with shorts.
'Hmm... not bad. Not that I care about my looks anyways...' He then proceeded to wash off the sweat and dirt he had at the creek. After cleaning he heard the sound of indistinct chatter and immediately became alert. 'Oh? Finally some people, but I still can't determine the distance though...' Recalling his experience of a lapse in judgement resulting in him running for a long time, he calmed down. He walked toward the sound, in a few minutes he came upon a group of four people, sitting around their camp.
"Oh? A kid?" One of them noticed Marco, attracting the other three's attention. "What's a lil kid doin' out in the woods?" A guy with scar on his left cheek said. "I-I got lost..." Marco played his part as a lil kid well.
"That so? You can come with us then, don't worry we're not bad people, were just about to hunt some pigs out here."
"Okay..." From that interaction Marco already had ideas about the situation. 'That guy is probably the leader of the four, and judging from their hunting outfits, I'm guessing they're from a medieval society.'
After preparing for a few minutes they began looking for magic boars, they are boars that emit magic properties, commonly fire, and wind.
Suddenly Marco heard a snort near the vicinity "There's a boar nearby!".
"What?!" The four were startled, and became alert. A boar as tall as 2 meters, with flames on its body appeared.
"Hans get that pig!" The guy with the scar shouted. The bronze skinned hunter Hans, took out a brown book that suddenly glowed.
"Quagmire!" The moment Hans said that the ground below the magic boar liquefied sinking it below the ground. The boar shrieked as the flames on its body got larger.
"Chris your turn!" The other hunter took out a glowing blue book "Water Creation: Water Stream!" A stream of water hit the flaming boar, neutralizing the flames on its body.
Once the flames weakened the hunter with the scar rushed to it and struck it with a scythe on the head "Iron Creation: Scythe!".
The boar released a load shriek that shook the surroundings. Marco and the Hunters covered their ears. They then checked the status of the boar, and found it to be dead.
"Woooh! Success! let's go home lads!"
They then carried carcass back to the camp where, and put it on the cart. While going to their home, Marco was walking along them, though lost in his thoughts.
'Holy Shit!!! That was magic!!... and the glowing books they had, I'm assuming it's a tool or an instrument for using magic... Interesting...' A chuckle escaped from Marco as he looked forward learning more about the mystical arts.