Chapter 2-Adventurer Life

I have been walking for a while. It was a long walk through the forest and I was passing the time by thinking to myself. Alice was just flying around me. She then notices that I was thinking to yourself. She then floats down and lands on my left shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Just about what you said. If I get what you're saying, does this mean other people who have similar abilities as me? I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who played videogames and shut themselves from the outside world? Could there be others that were sent here with a similar power like mine?"

"Probably? But it doesn't mean much, since everyone in this world has stats."

"There's stats in this world?"

“Yeah, they found out to read a person's basic parameters as numerical values. You could see your stats on adventurer cards or on a scroll that could read your stats. Even if you're not an adventurer, you still have stats."

"So what does my ability even do? It didn't say anything about what it actually does?"

Alice just gave a little shrug.

"Xamera said that it would grow with you, that's all that I know about it?"

"Great...so when are we going to arrive in town?"

"It's right there."

The moment I leave the woods and arrive at a field of grass, I see a town in the distance.

"Welcome to the town of Brook!"

"Finally, my feet are killing me."

I make my way over to the town. After going through the town gate, I make my way down the streets. After looking around, I start to see similarities to video games and Isekai manga's. I see vendors selling food, accessories, and some rare items that they found during their travels. The streets are filled with farmers, merchants, and a few adventurers looking at the stalls.

"With how you explained this world and seeing how this place is, it really does feel like I'm inside a RPGMMO."

Alice flies over and lands on my shoulder.

"Yep! God made this world in a medieval fantasy setting. Since he believes that the less technology you people have, the less effect it has on the environment. But just in case, this world's mana helps restore the environment after it gets damaged."

I sort of felt embarrassed after remembering what humans are doing to our world.

"Yeah...so where is the guild building?"

"Probably the large building that says Brook Town Guildhall?"

Alice points over at the large building. The sign on the building was in a language that I don’t recognize. But thanks to Xamera’s gift, I’m able to understand it.

“Huh...makes sense. Wait, don't I need money to register?”

“Yeah, you're going to have to sell something.”

“Like what? All I have is my school uniform.”

Alice looks at me, then at my school uniform.

“How about you sell your school jacket? You look like a dork wearing a school uniform.”

“I was a high schooler before. So it was necessary for us to wear this. I didn't get much of a chance to change before I died. Also, what do you mean that I look like a dork?”

“In this world, kids don't leave school until they’re thirteen. Since you're seventeen, you look like a manchild talking to nothing.”

“What do you mean, I’m talking to you?”

“People can't see fairies. So they only see a weird guy talking to the air.”

I look around and see people staring and some girls are giggling. Embarrassed, I take off my school jacket and sell it to a merchant for seven silver. This left me wearing my school pants, a brown belt, red tennis shoes, and a white t-shirt. I then pocket the seven silver coins and make my way to the guild building. Once I enter inside the building and look around, my mind is blown.

“Woah!”

It really felt like I was inside one of my videogames. Looking around, I see adventurers looking at the quest board and people selling monster parts to the guild.

“Wow, this place is cool! It's just like I'm inside a video game!”

I walk over to the lady behind the counter. She has short brown hair, a light brown long sleeve shirt, a red vest, brown shorts, a black barrette hat, and brown boots. One thing that stuck out was her goat horns on the sides of her head. She was on a small ladder and putting away some documents on the shelf. When she finished, she climbed down and saw me waiting at the counter.

"Hello, how may I help you today?"

"Um...hi, I would like to become an adventurer, please?"

"Sure thing! The fee would cost five silver and fifty copper. Let me grab the contract."

She then went to the back and started looking for the contract, while I reached for my coins.

"I have six silver. Do you have change?"

"Of course, one second."

She takes the six silver and gives me fifty copper coins. She then hands me a form.

"Please fill this out and sign your signature on the bottom."

I started filling out the form. It was interesting that I could read and write in their language. It felt so natural, as if I've been using it for years.

As I was filling out the form, one part caught my eye.

"What does Class mean? Is it asking about if I'm a wizard or warrior?"

"Yes it does. That way, if anyone wishes to hire you, they would know what you're classified as!"

"What if I don't have a class?"

"That's fine, you could leave it blank if you want. Will that be all?"

"Yeah" Hands her the form.

She looks through it, making sure that everything's signed.

"Right, follow me."

Then the guild lady brought me to a room. It had a strange altar made out of iron. Behind it was a giant floating cube that was made out of eight cubes and had runic symbols all over it.

"Please remove your shirt and lay down on the altar. This is going to tell us your stats."

"Um...do I have to?"

"Yeah, it can't scan you with your shirt on. Don't worry, every adventurer had to do it too."

"...alright"

I felt embarrassed taking off my shirt in front of a girl. After taking my shirt off, I lay down on the cold metal altar. The cube started spinning slowly and all of the runes were glowing a bright blue. It then shined a rainbow light at me. I felt the light pass through my body and it made my body feel tingly. After the light was done scanning my body, the cube stopped spinning and the light dimed. Then the Guild Lady pulled out a small metal tablet out of the altar. She then started looking at the tablet.

"Alright, you could get off the altar and put your shirt back on."

I hopped off the altar and walked up to her, while putting on my shirt.

"What's my stats?"

The guild lady hands me the tablet. It looked similar to a touchscreen phone. But it didn't have any buttons and it had a hole in one of the corners. On the front, I could see that it displayed my name, level, and stats on it.

[Toshio Crozzo, Level: 1]

[Strength: 15, Intelligence: 60, Vitality: 20, Dexterity: 16, Agility: 13, Luck: 9, and Wisdom: 10]

Strangely, it didn’t say anything about my health or mana? My stats are looking good, except for my luck. That’s going to be the first thing that I’ll have to improve.

“This is your adventure card. Your name and stats will be seen on this card. Whenever your stats goes up, it would show on the card. With this, you're now registered as an Adventurer!

Then a notification popped up in front of me.

CONGRATS, YOU NOW MEET THE REQUIREMENTS FOR [MENU] AND OTHER FEATURES.

“Sweet!”

I then notice something that catches my eye. I looked at my abdomen and didn't see anything. I saw that I didn't have a belly button. Just smooth skin in the area where it's supposed to be. I have an average-slim figure. So not having a belly button, just looks weird with my body.

"Follow me back to the desk, please?"

I immediately pull down my shirt.

"R-Right!"

After leaving the room, the guild lady and I return to the desk. She then hands me a copper tag and some string.

"Here is your copper tag. Since you are a beginner, your rank will start off as copper. You could raise your rank by completing quests and earning points with the guild. High difficulty quests could earn you the most points, but it's recommended to complete those with other adventurers."

I tied the copper tag to the corner of my adventurer card, making it look more like a keychain on a cellphone.

"Thanks, um…"

“Oh right! Sorry, my name’s Claire.”

She got embarrassed and hugged her clipboard. She then gave me a shy smile and I gave her a smile back.

“Thanks Sara.”

After getting my stuff, I decide to head to one of the benches and take a seat. I leaned back and gave off a long sigh. Alice flew down and sat down on my shoulder.

“What’s wrong?”

“This may be exciting, but I'm starting to miss my family. They probably heard of my death by now and mourning? Even if they were strict, I just hope they're ok?”

“It’s just something that you’re going to have to live with. If it would help, just think of this as a job where you have to live away from them? Who knows, you might get to see them again someday in the future?”

“Thanks, it would be nice to see them again.”

Alice puffs her chest out in confidence.

“Your welcome!”

“Hey Alice, why don't I have a belly button?”

“That's because the body you have right now, is something that Xamera made as a replica of your old one. Your old one is still scattered around in the train tracks.”

I shiver at the thought of my limbs and guts scattered around the tracks.

“Sounds like a death in a horror movie.”

“Yeah...I could show you with my abilities if you want?”

“No thanks. I might throw up at the sight of my own dead body? Lets go look for a quest to do. But first, Menu!”

Then a menu screen opened up. But it wasn’t what you’d expect for a videogame power.

“You gotta be kidding me.”

Alice takes a look at the screen and tilts her head in confusion.

“What is this? It hurts my eyes to look at it.”

The menu isn't much. It only shows my stats, health, and it only has three slots of inventory. The worst part was it’s cheap 8-bit design.

“This isn't how video game powers were in most Isekai stories? All I got is a menu that looks like it came from the early Mario games. I can't even alter my stats and I only have three item slots.”

Alice flies off of my shoulder and floats in front of me.

“I did say that most of the powers or gifts get nerfed. But hey, it looks like you have something in two of your slots?”

“Wait, I thought you said that you couldn't see this?”

Alice gave a little shrug.

“I guess it changed after you got registered as an adventurer?”

I look at my inventory and see that inside one of the slots, was an icon of a necklace. The other icon showed a bag of gold and it had the number ten on the corner of it. I poked the necklace icon and a necklace appeared in my hand.

It had a metal chain and on the end, it had a coin on the end. The metal chain and the coin are made of a sky blue colored metal. The coin has the design of six wings surrounding a diamond eye in the center. Then a description appeared above it.

[NECKLACE OF XAMERA: This necklace is worn by those who wishes to gain the protection of Xamera. This necklace is a gift from Xamera, to the unfortunate Toshio Crozzo.]

“Wow, look at the description on that!”

I just sigh and put on the necklace.

“Lets just look for a quest or something?”

I head over to the quest board and see that there were many quests. On each quest flyer, they had letters from B to F. Guess that the letters might be their challenge rating, so I decided to look at three F quests. One was to help gather herbs for the town’s alchemists, another was to kill or scare away a pack of wolves from a village, and the third was goblin slaying.

“What quest will you pick? Goblin slaying pays well.”

I could picture myself running away from a group of goblins.

“Gathering herbs sounds safer and the best choice.”

“Why, you could get one gold coin per goblin you slay?”

“I'd rather collect herbs. Besides, I need a party to go after goblins. Speaking of which, I might need to look for a party later on?”

I decided to pick the gathering herb quest. After accepting the quest, I head into town and look for some gear. I take out the bag of ten gold, put the coins that I had into it, and check how much I had in total.

[10Gold/1Silver/50Copper]

“I should be able to get some good gear with this? Though I should be cheap about this first? Don't want to mess up and waste my money?”

I stopped by the blacksmith to buy myself a leather chestplate, a iron knife, and a leather strap to hold the knife on my waist. I then stop by a merchant stall and buy myself a large backpack for the herbs that I would be collecting. I then buy some rations for the trip, a waterskin, and a map of the area.

After buying all of the stuff, I check how much coins I have left.

(8Gold/ 30Copper)

“Alright, now I'm ready to explore!”

I store the bag of gold in one of my inventory slots. I wanted to keep the other two free for any other stuff I want to store later. I then head out of the town and follow the trail to the location on the map in Amber Woods. During the trip, Alice flies around and stops every once in a while on a beautiful flower, a berry bush to grab a berry, or sits on my shoulder. I had a talk with her for a while about this world, events that’s going on in the world, or about what kind of races live in this world. I learned that there are many kingdoms and some are even at war with one another. But so far things are rather peaceful. There are many different types of races out there and some races are looked down by the humans in this world. I then find out that the humans that are sent from my world are called Travelers. People summoned into this world with magical items or abilities, making the people of this world see them as a different race than humans.

After talking for a while, I eventually reached the area that I needed to be. It was a large clearing with a field of different herbs, mushrooms, moss, and flowers. I take a look at the quest paper and look at what types of herbs I needed to collect. It was from one of the town’s alchemists. He was requesting for someone to collect some heart-shaped herbs and a couple of strange cube-shaped blue mushrooms.

I had to search through the field for two hours collecting the required herbs. Before I noticed, it started to get dark. After storing the final blue mushroom into my bag, I take a seat on a tree stump and wipe the sweat from my forehead.

“Man that took long! I'd rather kill a goblin, than spend hours looking for a bunch of plants.”

“Hey, you're the one who picked the quest?”

“I know, but I didn't know that it would be this boring? Let's just head back and never go on another gathering quest again.”

I stored the herbs inside my bag and put the bag inside one of my inventory slots. After making my way back to the trail, Alice lands on my shoulder. She then sniffs the air and covers her nose.

“You smell awful!”

“What do you expect? I was gathering herbs in the hot sun.”

“I know that. But, please go find a river and wash yourself?!”

I look to my left and spot a nearby river. After taking my leather chestplate and shirt off, I open up my inventory and bring out my backpack. Reaching into the bag and pulling out a cloth, I then soaked it into the water. After squeezing out the water, I then started using it to wipe the sweat from my body. The water felt refreshing and cool, while the moonlight reflected off of it and lit up the area around you.

“This feels nice and peaceful.”

Then an arrow flew past my head and hit the tree behind me.

“......eh?”

Then from the other side of the river, a figure climbed out of a bush.

“Where did that arrow go?”

When the figure came into the moonlight, I noticed that it was an elf. She has smooth light skin that shined in the moonlight and long blonde hair that reached halfway down her shoulders. She was wearing green shorts, long brown boots that reached to her knees, leather gloves that reached up to her elbows, and a navy blue tunic.

Then the side of my face started to sting. I feel the side of my face and look at my hand. My body went cold, because I saw that there was blood on it. I then took a step back, but tripped over a rock and fell into the river. This caused the girl to ready an arrow and aim her bow at me.

“Who’s there?!”

“You almost killed me with that arrow!”

“And you are?”

“In great pain! Again, why did you almost shoot me?!”

She walked up to me and placed her hands on her hips.

“High in great pain, I'm Lura Sylkalyn. Now do you want me to heal you or not?”

“I guess? Not sure, since you made a dad joke there?”

Lura then crouched down and placed her hand over the cut. A slight green glow shined from her hand and I could feel the pain fading away, until I felt it disappear completely. She then walks over to the tree behind me and pulls her arrow free from it.

“Guessing that you're here gathering herbs?”

“Yeah, so what are you out here for?”

“I was tracking down a boar and I thought I saw it, so I fired an arrow at it.”

My body still had shivers from the near death experience. I really didn’t want to be unlucky enough to die on my first quest in this new life.

“Guess I’m lucky that it missed my head. But I thought elves were expert archers?”

Lura just frowned and looked offended at my comment.

“Oh, just because I'm an elf, I'm obviously a ranger? Cause you know, I'm a elf and my weapon just so happens to be a bow!”

“So, you aren't a ranger?”

“Of course I’m a ranger. So of course we’re trained in archery.”

“I honestly don’t know how to answer that? I’m Toshio Crozzo, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you Toshio. Now let's get going, we need to head back to the guild and turn in our quests.”

“R-Right!”

I gathered my things and traveled back to the town with Lura. I didn't have anything to talk about, so it was silent on the walk back to Brook. After turning in the quest, I looked for the cheapest Inn and slept like a log.

I woke up the next day in the room that I was staying at. After putting on my shirt and chestplate, I looked at my reflection in the room's mirror. I looked like a cosplaying dork. The only thing I had from this world was a leather chestplate and a dagger. But I was still wearing my school pants and a plain t-shirt. I didn't really look like an adventurer at all.

After washing my face, I then made my way downstairs to get breakfast. I ordered some of the Inn's quiche, some steamed green beans, and a mug of water. While I was eating, I was thinking about what I should do next. I then heard a yawn and saw Alice appear on my table.

"Morning Toshio."

"Hey Alice, where were you?"

Alice walked over, picked up one of the green beans, and started munching on it.

"I was sleeping in the fairy realm."

"Fairy Realm? Is that like your home?"

"Yep, it’s where all the fairies live. We could travel back and forth anytime we want.”

“That’s interesting. Any other abilities that you have?”

“Hmm...I don’t know? So what are you thinking about?”

"Just thinking about what to do next. Gathering those herbs only got me one gold piece. It costs twenty copper for bed and breakfast. So it would take a while until I could get some decent gear? But I’d have to go on some hunting quests soon, since gathering herbs doesn't look like it gives me any EXP."

I then took a swig of my water. Then a voice came from behind me.

“Hey Toshio, I was looking for you!”

She took me by surprise. I spat out some of the water and started coughing. It took me a few seconds to stop coughing, until I could clear my throat.

“Lura?”

“Yeah, Who else?”

“I didn't expect that you would be looking for me?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to join my friends and I, on a quest?

After hearing this, I was curious why she was asking for me to join her.

“What quest do you need me for?”

“Just to fill out the spot as the fourth member. My friends and I need another person to fill in the spot of the fourth party member, so the guild could let us go on the quest. So will you join?”

Any joy that I had, was replaced with disappointment. Now I was debating whether or not to accept the job? There’s gotta be at least something I could gain from this job?

“It depends on what kind of quest it is, since I just recently became an adventurer. So what do I get out of it?"

Then her ears pointed upwards, as her eyes almost sparkled.

"It's a kill quest for that boar I was tracking! I managed to spot it's route and its den. This morning, the guild put up a quest to hunt it for three hundred gold! If we kill it, our party has a chance to go up a rank! That's why we need to go on that quest! We will pay you two gold for joining and you don't have to worry about fighting it! Just sit back and let us kill it! We would also give you some of the profit too!

Sounds like a good deal right?!"

I thought about it for a while. I could either spend hours collecting herbs for one gold? Or sit back, kill one pig, and earn a few weeks pay? It wasn't much of a contest on which one to pick.

"I'm in!"

Lura then grabbed both of my hands and shook them in excitement.

"Great! Meet us at the city gate in an hour and make sure you're ready for the trip!"

Lura then ran off, leaving me there confused. I then looked at my hands. I still couldn't believe that I got to hold hands with an actual elf? I then looked at my gear and knew that I had to be prepared. Meanwhile, Alice was finishing up her green bean.

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I need to buy some gear!"

Alice then flies onto my shoulder. I then quickly finish my breakfast and run over to the blacksmith. Since boars mostly attack with their tusks, I knew that I needed to buy a chainmail vest to protect my stomach and torso. I then bought an iron shortsword and left to visit the market stalls.

At the market, I bought a slingshot, a bag of small stones, and two torches. After storing everything in my bag, I checked up on how much coins I had left.

[4Gold/ 20Silver/ 5Copper]

If I finish this quest, I should get paid more than enough to replace the amount that I spent. I put on the chainmail over my shirt, the leather chestplate over the chainmail, the knife on the back of my belt, the backpack on my back, and strapped the shortsword on the left side of my waist. After looking at myself, I started looking more like an adventurer.

I then made my way over to the city gate to meet up with the party. When I arrived, I saw Lura and two others. The moment Lura notices me, she starts waving me over.

"Hey, you arrived! Guys, this is Toshio. He's going to be the fourth member. Toshio, this is Tim and Felix."

"Hi guys, I'm Toshio Crozzo. Hope we get along.

The first guy was a tall muscular man. He has long black dreadlocks and a short trimmed beard. He was only wearing what looked like tribal pants, a bear pelt around his waist, thick leather boots, and holding a large battle axe on his back.

“Hey, I'm Tim and I'm the group's muscle, as well as the brain’s of the party.”

The second guy looked around my height. He has messy short red hair, with foxlike ears on the side of his head. He was wearing a green and red robe, silver bracelets, green pants, leather sandals, and holding onto an iron staff with a sapphire ball on the end.

“Name's Felix, the group's magic user. So what class are you?”

“I haven't registered under a class yet. So I guess that makes me the sword guy?"

Then Felix burst out laughing.

"Sword Guy! You're funny. I could tell we'll get along just fine."

Then Lura clapped her hands together.

“Great! Now that we all introduced ourselves, let's go hunt that boar!"

Tim walks past me.

"Let's go runt, we need to get there before it goes dark."

"Runt?"

Then Felix gives me a slight slap on my back.

"Don't mind him. He calls anyone weaker than him that. Let's hurry up before they run out of carriages to rent."

After renting a carriage, we made our way into the forest. Lura was driving, Felix was reading his spellbook, and Tim was sharpening his axe. I was just staring at everyone from the corner of the carriage, not knowing what to talk about? Luckily I didn't have to, because Lura started talking.

"Have you heard that Stormfront managed to kill the Lich of the Woods?"

Both Felix and Tim looked up surprised.

"Damn, already?"

"I thought that he was unkillable?"

"Yeah, apparently Zane had managed to kill him. Guess that really does make him the Chosen Hero?"

I didn't know what or who they were talking about, but it sounded important.

"I'm guessing that's good? So who's Zane?"

Felix looked at me confused.

"Zane...from the party Stormfront? You haven't heard of them?"

"I'm new to the area, so I never heard of them. I'm guessing he's famous around here?"

Lura turned around and leaned her head inside the carriage.

"Zane is a Traveler who came to our world and used his powerful ability to kill the most dangerous beasts, monsters, and other evil things with his party! His party is made of the best adventurers and they get to go on many amazing adventures!"

Then Felix whispers into my ear.

"Not to mention that he is a total babe magnet and chicks love him. The same reason why Lura wants to join his party one day.”

Lura picks up the pillow that she was sitting on and tosses it right into Felix’s face.

“As I was saying! He’s so well known everywhere, people started calling him the Hero Candidate. He might actually be able to slay the soon to resurrect demon lord? If you don't know, he is a being that can't truly die and when he is killed. He just comes back in a hundred years and every time he comes back, he's stronger and starts a war with everyone. We've lost to many fighting him and his army.”

“He's that bad?”

Lura waves her hands in a creepy way.

“What, does that scare you?”

Then Tim points at Lura.

“What’s scary right now, is the fact that you’re not watching the road.”

Then the carriage went over a bump, startling everyone. This made Lura worried.

“Oh my gosh, did I run over something?!”

Felix looks behind the carriage.

“You ran over a puppy.”

“What?!”

“Don’t worry, it was just a large rock in the road.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

“If Zane could kill a hard to kill monster like the Lich of the Woods, he might be able to kill the demon lord? Maybe even keep him gone for good?”

After hearing that this world already has a hero candidate, I started thinking about what other things I need to do in this world?

“We're here!”

Lura then stopped the carriage. She then grabbed her bag and hopped out of the carriage. I see that we stopped near a cliff. I hopped off the carriage and looked over the cliff. I could see that there was a river flowing about a mile down the cliff.

“Damn, we're pretty high up!”

Tim walks up next to me and points at something in the distance.

“Yeah, I could see Brook from here!”

I looked and I could see the town of Brook in the distance. Then Lura slapped both of our backs, making both of our hearts race.

“Don’t do that!” I shouted.

“That’s one way to make enemies!”

“Come on, let's go kill this thing and worry about who's buying the first round. It's Den is over here.

After Tim and I compose ourselves, we follow Lura and Felix past many trees and arrive at a small cave in the ground. We all could see the floor that led into the cave was steep wet dirt and looked like it could make you slip. Then Tim started stretching his legs, then started doing squats.

“Everyone warm up your legs. If we need to quickly run out of this cave, we don't want our legs to cramp while we're running uphill.”

Then Felix started stretching his legs as well.

“Good idea.”

Everyone started stretching their legs, as we were getting ready to go down. After everyone stretched their legs, we entered the cave with our weapons ready. Inside the cave was dark and the cave entrance was the only light source lighting part of the cave. Once we all arrived at the bottom, we saw that there were stalactites hanging from the ceiling and a foul smell in the air. There weren't any other entrances or tunnels, just pieces of rubble laying around. The back of the cave was too dark to see. Then Felix taps his staff on the ground a few times.

“Glowing Swarm!”

Then what looked like a swarm of fireflies came out of nowhere. They then started flying around the room and illuminating the cave, leaving me amazed.

“Woah, that was cool!”

Felix then stroked his jaw and smirked.

“At least someone appreciates a good cantrip when they see one?”

Lura didn’t look impressed, while she was inspecting the cave.

“Fifty gold for the spellbook isn't worth it. We could've used a torch and get the same result.”

“We shouldn’t let the boar know we're here. If it saw any light inside the cave, it would know something’s up.”

Felix then lowered his ears and Lura shyly scratched the back of her head.

“True.”

“It doesn't look like it's here though?”

Lura was inspecting a spot, where it looks like a large beast was sleeping on. She picked up some animal hair and inspected it.

"It was here, but it looks like it went out recently. If it's gone out to hunt, we might need to wait back at the carriage and come back to try ambushing it in its sleep?"

We all then made our way back to the carriage. Everyone failed to notice large scratches in the cave wall. They looked deep and were probably made by something big?

We all had to wait until it started getting dark. So while we were waiting, everyone was sitting around the carriage, without using any form of light and snacking on some dried goat meat, while Lura was eating some fruit. Then I grew a little bored and felt the cold of the night approach. It felt weird that we were taking many precautions. So I decided to ask Tim.

"So why aren't we lighting a fire or lanterns? Aren't we far away from the cave?"

"We don't want to let it know that we're here. If we light a fire or lantern, it would smell the smoke and know where we are. So we must stay hidden and wait."

"But I'm bored. What's even the plan for hunting this pig?"

"Here is the plan. Once when it falls asleep, I will toss this barrel of oil down the hole and Felix will fire a fireball at it. Lura, you will hide in the trees. Once it comes out of the cave, try to slow it down by shooting it's legs. After that, it should get weak enough for us to all gang up on it and finish it off?"

Both Lura and Felix agreed to this plan. But I still thought that this was too much, just to kill a boar. But it sounds nice to experience a real life hunt, so I decided to go with it.

"What about me? Where do I fit in this plan?"

"You need to stay by the carriage."

"What, why?"

"I don't want anything to go wrong, since you might get caught up in the explosion or in the way of Lura's arrows. So you'll have to stay here, understand?"

"Fine" while letting out a sigh.

While everyone was getting their stuff ready, Alice poked her head out of my pants pocket and yawned.

"Morning!"

"It's night time, Alice."

Alice flies out of the pocket and onto my shoulder.

"Huh, guess I overslept? So what are you guys doing?"

“I have to stay here while they go kill the boar.”

“I don't get it?”

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure I could help kill a simple pig?”

“That's not it. I'm confused because I sense the boar behind us?”

“What?!”

Tim heard my shout and turned around to see what I was shouting about. His eyes widened the moment he saw what was behind me.

“Toshio, behind you!”

I quickly turn around and see two large glowing eyes in the dark. Tim and Felix quickly light their torches and lets everyone have a clear view of it. It was a massive and more vicious looking boar. It wasn’t what I expected, since I pictured a simple hairy pig with tusks. But this thing was covered in thick brown fur, bone spikes along its back, and it was about the size of a small cottage. It also has two large tusks on the sides of its mouth and pointed forward with four sharp points, ready to pierce anything.

“That's a boar?!”

“What, never seen a boar before?”

“They aren't like this in my world!”

Then Felix looked at me, surprised.

“Wait, you're a Traveler?!”

“Everybody, focus!”

The boar squeals loudly and charges at everyone. We all jumped out of the way and the boar charged through a tree, shattering it into splinters. Tim then charged at it and swung his axe at it. The boar blocked it with one of its tusks and now they are both trying to overpower one another.

“Lura, the legs!”

Without hesitating, she started firing arrows at It's legs. But they weren't piercing it's fur. When one did pierced into its leg, it let out a squeal and started pushing Tim harder. Eventually it pushed Tim into a tree and sent him crashing through the tree, knocking him out. Felix then started casting fire magic at it. The flames started burning the fur, pissing it off.

Then it did something that surprised everyone. Its eyes and tusks turned black and some strange black smoke started coming out of the tusks. Then Lura shouted at everyone, while readying an arrow.

“That's no normal boar, look out!”

It was getting ready to charge at Felix. Before it charged at him, a rock hit its snout. It turns and sees me holding a slingshot.

“Well that was a mistake?”

It then started charging at me and I started running away into the woods. I kept trying to outrun it, but it kept catching up. I turned around to look and see it lunge one of its tusks at me. I raised my arm to block and screamed in pain as the boar's tusk pierced through my left arm. It then raised its head and started swinging its head around. I was being swung around as my arm was getting pulled by the tusk. I was screaming in pain as it was swinging me around like a sack of potatoes. Whatever the black stuff on the tusk is, it felt like it was burning through every nerve in my arm. With one more swing, it sent me flying off the tusk and into a tree. I then fell on the ground, with the wind knocked out of me, and bleeding from a cut on my forehead. As the boar started making its way to me, arrows and lighting was firing into the back of the creature. The boar turns around and sees Felix and Lura. Then Felix shouted at Lura.

“Go help Toshio, I'll keep it distracted!

“On it!”

Lura started sprinting around the beast, trying to reach me. While Felix kept firing small bolts of electricity at it to keep it distracted. The boar got pissed and used one of its tusks to scoop up a large rock and tossed it at Lura. It then charged at Felix with his head low to the ground. The rock hit Lura in the leg and caused her to fall forward, then rolling into a tree. Felix shot a gust of wind downward and launched himself over the beast. But the boar quickly stopped and raised its hind legs to kick Felix in the air. He was sent flying, hitting a branch and landing on the ground unconscious.

I was crawling on the ground in pain and wondering why was this happening? What kind of world is this and why does something like this exist? I then leaned my back behind a tree, trying not to be seen by the boar. I was holding onto my left arm, as the pain was still coming from the hole in my arm. I was trying to stop the bleeding with a piece of my shirt. Alice then floats down in front of me.

“We need to leave! I'm sensing something dark inside the boar and it’s making it too strong to face right now!”

I almost thought about running away. But then I heard Lura cry out in pain. I looked around the tree and saw Lura on the ground, holding onto her leg. It looked like the rock broke the shin on her right leg.

My mind was racing and thinking on what I should do. Do I run and live? Try to fight it and probably die? How could I save her? It felt like my whole body answered for me. I didn't know what was going on until I noticed that I was running at the boar. I see the boar slowly walk over to Lura, ready to finish her off. I search through the bag of rocks, but find out that it had a hole in it and the rocks spilled out. I quickly searched on what I could use as ammo. The boar got ready to charge and Lura was frozen in fear. But then something flew and stabbed into one of the boar's eyes, causing it to squeal in pain. Lura notices that it was an adventurer card. Both Lura and the boar looked and saw you panting, while holding the slingshot.

"Uh...your mother was a whore!"

I then dropped the slingshot and started running through the woods. The boar started chasing after me.

"Toshio, wait!"

Lura tried to chase after me. But she fell over, due to her injured leg. She then quickly started using healing magic on her leg. Meanwhile, I was still running away from the boar and Alice was flying beside me.

"Why did you do that?"

"I don't know?!"

Why did I do that? This wasn't something I would do before? Normally when I see others getting bullied, I'd just avoid putting myself in danger. So why did I put myself in danger, for people that I haven't known for long?

My left arm wasn't working anymore. After using it to help fire my adventurer card at the beast, my left arm gave out and went limp. So I had to run with a dangling left arm through the woods. Then Alice pointed to my left.

"Quick, this way!"

Alice then quickly turned at the direction of the carriage. I follow her and see that the barrel of oil was spilled on the stone ground. Knowing what to do next, I then pulled out my shortsword and got ready. The boar then burst through a tree and kept charging at me. I then side jumped out of the way. The boar tried to stop, but slipped on the oil and landed on its side. When it fell down, it cracked the side of the cliff. It kept trying to get up, but the oil kept making it slip and fall down again. I quickly swung my sword down onto the stone floor, near the oil. Then my blood went cold, since it didn't have enough force to create sparks. I kept trying over and over, but no luck. I then saw that the boar was starting to gain some balance on the oil.

Seeing that the cliff was behind it, I then quickly charged at it and threw my weight into shoving my sword into its bare belly. It caused the boar to lose its footing and fall over. The boar squealed in pain and was thrashing its legs around. Then the side of the cliff that we were on broke and caused both of us to fall down the cliff. The sounds of the boar squealing and my screams could be heard traveling down the cliff.

Then Lura ran out of the woods and over to the cliff, after hearing your scream. She looked down and couldn't see you or the boar, just the river. Without words, Lura fell to her hands and knees. She then slammed her fist onto the ground.

"damn it!"

The Cliffside was silent. The only sound that could be heard was the wind and the distant sound of the river.

Further down the river, the body of the boar surfaced out of the water. Then the flowing water turned its body onto its side and revealed the shortsword still in its gut. The boar's body kept floating down the river. Then my unconscious body surfaced out of the water. The water around both of us was red with both of our blood. The area on my arm where the boar stabbed me, started turning darker and black veins started spreading. It then stopped at my elbow and a dark mist came out of the hole, closing it. Then the mist traveled over my unconscious face and a faint voice could be heard.

"Find me."

Then another notification popped up.

[LEVEL UP]

{SYSTEM UPDATE}

Then the mist touched the notification and it started to glitch out.

Updating………..*#%ERROR*€#&……..Updated!

Then it went back to normal, as if nothing was wrong with it.