Chapter 01

I can't see anything. No matter how many times I try to open my eyes I see darkness.

I can't feel anything. I can't even feel my body. Even if I try to move my limbs, I don't know if I can move them.

I can't even hear anything.

I can't even smell... No wait, I can!

I could faintly smell the smell of soil and grass.

I also started to feel my body. I could slightly move my body, but I could hardly do so. I could also feel the heat of the sun on my body, but my body also seemed to feel slightly wet.

My vision started returning and I kept my eyelids closed, even then I could see the brightness of the sun. I slowly opened my eyes and could see some trees close to me.

'Where am I' is what I wanted to say out loud, but my throat was too dry to even speak. In fact, it was dry to the point that it started to hurt.

Then my hearing started coming back to me. I could now hear water flowing from behind me. I could see a river. As quickly as I could I flipped my body around and started crawling in the direction of said river. Once I got there, I started drinking water hoping to quench my thirst.

After drinking the water I noticed myself in the reflection of the water.

This isn't my body. Not only are the facial features not mine, the age of the body isn't even close to my real age.

[Hello there.]

At the moment I started questioning my appearance a status window appeared. It lacked stats and the only thing that was written there were the words that were said. Not only were the words written, I could also hear the voice.

"Um, hello there."

I said to the status window as I bowed slightly.

Why does the voice on this status window sound kind of familiar. Whatever the case, I didn't have status windows where I came from so I can guess I am in another world. Yep, I definitely won't try to question that and I'll just roll with it.

"Excuse me?"

[Yes?]

"Do all the people in this world have status windows?"

[Yes they do.]

"Are the status windows able to speak like you?"

[No they cannot.]

"How do you know that they can't"

[I don't know how I know, I just know they can't.]

"Then is there something you would like to be called, because I'm not going to start calling you status window. That would be too inconvenient."

[...]

The status window seemed to be thinking of what I should call it. While it did so, I started to gain more control of my body and was able to stand up and walk around. I walked up to the river and saw my reflection once again. I had long, black hair and crimson eyes. I also had a handsome, but malnourished, face. I looked at my body and could see that I was wearing pretty worn out clothes, and underneath those clothes was my own body. Like my face it looked malnourished.

"Hey, what was the state of this child's body before I got here?"

[Hm? Oh that? I don't know, I just got here as well?]

"Then how did you know all that other information?"

[As I told you before, I don't know how I know.]

So much for trying to find out of the body's previous owner.

I decided to look around the place I had found myself in. I seemed to be stuck in the middle of a forest.

"Say, do you know where we are?"

[Yes, I do. We are in the middle of a forest. Commonly, it is known as just an unnamed forest.]

"You just said commonly, so does that mean it goes by another name?"

[Yes, it does]

"What is it called then?"

[It is also called, by I don't know who, the techno wolf forest.]

"What is a techno wolf?"

[It is an unknown creature that numbers few. They are pretty rare.]

"And what is it supposed to look like?"

[Like a wolf, but technological.]

"Wait, where are you getting this information from?"

[From the internet.]

"You can access this world's internet!?"

[Yes, I can.]

"Wait, then why is the techno wolf an unknown creature?"

[It is a sort of myth, and because it is a myth, nobody searches for them.]

"Then how come this place is labeled as the techno wolf forest?"

[I didn't get that information from the internet. I got it from my built in map.]

"Ah, yes, impressive. And you can't, you know, find this kids name?"

[I am unable to]

"Why?"

[I don't know.]

I sighed inwardly and kept going around the forest while staying close to the river. While searching through the forest, I discovered another feature the status window had. It told me which plants are poisonous and which are edible. It even told me what to cook and what to cook with the available ingredients.

"Are other status windows able to do this?"

[No they cannot. As that is a skill exclusive to me.]

"Skill?"

[Yes, a skill. Do you want me to explain what they are?]

"Later. Let's first get edible plants that we don't need to cook. There are recipes here, but we don't have any type of cooking utensils at the moment."

[Understood.]

"Oh, right. Where does the techno wolf reside in?"

[In a cave.]

"How far are we from said cave?"

[A couple of minutes]

"In which direction?"

[Where you are walking towards right this instant.]

I immediately stopped walking, turned around, and headed back towards the river.

Once I got back the sky was starting to turn dark. I was going to go get some firewood and then the status window decided to speak.

[Don't sleep on the floor, try to sleep on a tree.]

"I don't think I would be able to. I'm barely wearing any clothing and I don't know if it gets cold in the night. I think it would be better to start a fire."

[There are some monsters that lurk around at night in this forest.]

Now that is something new I didn't know of this world. I hadn't seen any during the day so I didn't know there were monsters in this place.

"What type of monsters?"

[Mainly goblins.]

"How cold does it get during the night?"

[Not that cold, but just in case get some big leaves to cover yourself with.]

I did as I was told and looked for some big leaves. Since my body was small, it was quite simple to find leaves bigger than me.

I was about to climb up the tree and the status window spoke up again.

[Wait. Cover yourself in dirt to mask your scent.]

"There's a river next to us, shouldn't I use that instead?"

[You could use the river, but you'll definitely be colder throughout the night because of that.]

I reluctantly did as I was told and climbed up the tree to go to sleep. I was about to fall asleep when I remembered something.

"Oh right, what should I call you?"

I was really sleepy when I asked the question.

[After thinking it for so long, I've finally decided. I'll use the name people previously called as. You can call me... Shadow.]

After he said that name, my eyes opened quite wide. It took me a couple of hours before I was finally able to fall asleep.