Unraveling the Present

Watching the Dryad's life unfold before my eyes felt like observing a recording on a screen. I experienced her memories from her own perspective, reminiscent of the first time I woke up in 'this' Kuzan's body, absorbing his memories without understanding them.

Not only was this skill perhaps the greatest 'cheat' I had ever obtained, but it was also something more.

'A clue.'

Of course, I had always been curious about how my second chance came to be, but I had always dismissed my questions. As people say, you shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

'Why overthink when you can just have fun?' Still, I knew my approach to this topic was born less out of my 'choice' and more out of circumstance. Even if I wanted to find 'answers,' where was I supposed to begin?

'I'm far from a scientist, plus, it's not like the system can even be studied through science in the first place... wait.'

I had always assumed that the system was some piece of high-tech technology that I would never be able to fully grasp, but what if it was something else entirely? What if the reason it couldn't be studied on Earth was because it wasn't from Earth to begin with?

'Stupid Kuzan, stupid, stupid,' I wanted to facepalm at not having considered it sooner. 'Of course, a system user would appear in a fantasy world. Why didn't I consider it before?'

Although I was blown away by my incompetence, hopefully, the use of this skill would fill in my gaps of knowledge so I could make better conjectures in the future.

Although years had passed in the forest spirit's life on 'screen,' I could tell that only mere moments had passed in the material world. The girl was still there, unmoving, both shocked and scared as I continued to lay my hand on her head, reading it as if it were a book. One that I did not grow tired of reading.

'Damn,' unfortunately, the skill was a little less useful than I had hoped. Although I was able to learn the multitude of 'information' contained in her head, including her knowledge of spells and incantations, I was unable to 'copy' them just by sight.

It was like watching a martial artist perform a complex chokehold. Sure, a layman might be able to 'see' what's occurring, but seeing and understanding how to perform the move with the same skill are completely different things.

Thankfully, at the very least, the system was able to determine the more 'useful' information necessary for combat, 'helping' me memorize them on sight. Of course, having a demon's brain that was constantly hungry for power certainly helped as well.

'It's fine. Now that I've memorized the necessary foundational knowledge needed to cast 'spells,' all I need now is a little bit of practice, and I'll become proficient in no time.'

Unfortunately, although I now possessed the knowledge, I still did not have the necessary gene sequences needed to learn these skills.

'Regardless, I no longer have any use for my captive.'

I had entertained the spirit because the more time I spent with it, the more I could potentially learn from it. I was like a caveman in modern times; it would have surely taken me months if not years to fully grasp the 'common sense' of this world.

How people live, how they function, their drives, wants, needs, passions, what constitutes 'success' in the different cultures in this world, and how their society functions in general.

'At the very least, on Earth, everyone was human; here, we have anything from lizardmen to goblins.' 

Why was knowing all of this absolutely crucial for gaining ever more strength? It was elementary. For one, just look at Yujiro. How was he supposed to fight against tanks and whole armies if he was never aware of their existence in the first place? How was one supposed to pick their favorite flavor of ice cream at a store if they were never aware of the options to begin with?

Plus, I was still trying to figure out how to 'interact' with these new 'intelligent' species. Although I was a modern man, considering something akin to a plant to be human was still a bit far fetched. 

'Damn,' I felt a little regret at how 'badly' I had treated her, however at that time I considered her more of a 'monster' than anything else.

Looking back, she was more 'human' than me.

'Fuck.'

Still, you could only learn from your mistakes.

'I still need more information to make a plan for the future.' What I was looking for at this point was not mere 'common sense' but true intelligence into the workings of this world. 'A library would be a godsend.'

Now that I had fully 'squeezed' every last bit of intel out of this spirit, I was confident in being able to handle the ramifications of my subsequent decisions.

"You've fulfilled your end of the deal. We're even. Don't come looking for me," I whispered softly into the girl's ear before moving closer to her tied wrists.

I completely released the 'shackles' holding the spirit, ignoring her look of confusion as I continued. Then, with a precise karate chop to the back of her head, I rendered her unconscious once more and placed her in a safe location outside in the forest for her to sleep until she naturally woke up.

I had learned much from the girl's memories, including everything there was to know about the machinations of this forest, thus clearing away some of the confusion I had about my surroundings.

I had initially assumed that it would not lack in prey due to the bountiful surroundings. However, I had found in my time here just that.

There were barely any animals or 'creatures' in the forest worth my time, except for animals that looked similar to some deer and cheetahs, as well as the boar I had encountered.

Initially, from what the spirit's words had led me to believe, I had surmised that the Basilisk Queen was the reason for the mass exodus of prey, thus upsetting the balance of this forest, which humans apparently titled the Emeraldwood Forest.

Although she was partially correct, I could tell instinctively that she was holding something back from me.

'I wouldn't have minded letting her keep some of her secrets, but considering the magnitude of what she was hiding, I'm glad that I was so 'forceful' in my interrogation.'

Even with the Basilisk Queen's presence, it did not make sense for such an 'empty' forest. It should either be teeming with a variety of wildlife or slithering with snakes, at the very least not nothing.

I was especially annoyed at the spirit for holding something like this back, despite knowing its value, even to a 'demon' like myself. She had gone back on her word, and I was inclined to go back on mine; however, it was simply not worth it.

'It might ease my anger, but it has the potential to cause more harm in the long term.' It would be especially annoying to have to kill a whole bunch of forest spirits, especially when they're in their element. 'Why waste so much time when there's much bigger fish to fry?'

Thus, I simply abandoned the scene, sprinting to an area much farther away from the forest spirit's home.

There was no reason any longer to slowly gather information anymore after all that I had learned from the forest spirit's knowledge. Although it was severely lacking in knowledge about the 'human domain,' as one would expect, it knew the forest's inner workings like the back of its hand.

I no longer had to manually verify one by one the physical capabilities of any creature that I would come by to determine its usefulness and whether it was worthy of being 'devoured.'

I would have no doubt sampled some blood from the forest spirit as well if it had any to begin with, as it was apparently one of the few species of this planet that knew how to cast true 'magic.' Much to my surprise, magic was seen in a much different light and was far rarer than I had expected.

'Magic,' as I had seen the forest spirit use to control the elements, was apparently more of a racial ability for beasts rather than a field of study for humans.

For instance, the Dryad's ability to control water and earth, the 'evil eye' ability of a cockatrice, a dragon's ability to breathe fire and fly—all of them were considered in the same view as a snake's ability to spit venom.

It was somewhat viewed more as a rarity and as a niche for the upper class to study rather than as a symbol of 'respect' for the nobility, as regardless it was unable to be cast by the majority of the more 'human' species.

Instead, it was common for the so-called 'adventurers,' and those people affiliated with the adventurers' guild, to use their physical capabilities and skills to solve problems, especially when 'clearing' dungeons.

The only suspected people able to 'cast' magic without the use of artifacts were apparently the legendary elves who were said to be extinct.

'Only now do I understand the true value of my 'cheat' in this world.'

I had always been a little jealous of the abilities that Kaiou Retsu would have possessed after coming to this world.

'It might not have been mentioned outright but surely he possessed some type of 'invulnerability' seen from his ability to resist minor poisons and increase in durability.'

From what I could guess, every 'lost one' to have come to this world should possess a single 'cheat' ability for some reason. My 'system,' however, was completely unlike them in essence, as it contained not one 'ability' but several.

'The system's response to the other abilities, or as it said, 'under attack by a foreign influence,' at least gives me some assurance of protection against them.'

Considering how the system used them as 'energy' and considered it an 'attack,' I could also surmise that I would be unable to 'steal' these abilities in their original forms at least. 'Still, I'm sure it's worth it to kill some of those 'strugglers' and see what benefits the system can obtain.'

In my thoughts, I had already reached a suitable location to rest, where I would no longer be bothered. I once again found comfort in my solitude as I began planning my next move.

'I can probably just go clear the dungeon right now, but if what the forest spirit believes is accurate, I can't just go there unprepared.'

I was still somewhat in disbelief at her 'guess' for why the Basilisk Queen had made such an 'abandoned' part of the forest its home; however, even the possibility of it, no matter how low, was too much for me to act without a plan.

Thankfully, with the spirit's knowledge about the bounty of wildlife found in this forest, it would make my job of completing my preparations and increasing my power much easier.

'From what I can tell, there are four creatures in this forest worthy of becoming my prey...'

I paused, considering each one. They all seemed troublesome but manageable...except for one.

'That one...'

A chill ran down my spine as I narrowed my eyes.

'That one might actually kill me.'