A New World

I have finally reached the end!

Seeing the end of the corridor, where a single door stood, Eric breathed a sigh of relief. The arrows had stopped raining down on him since he had crossed a red line earlier.

He threw the shield, which still had four arrows embedded in it, to the ground and leaned against the wall.

He was beyond exhausted, his battered body drenched in blood. It was truly a miracle that he still held on and didn't die of blood loss, maybe it had something to do with his vitality, which was twice that of normal humans.

He had two arrows embedded in his body that he hadn't pulled out yet, blood dripping from his wounds, slowly forming a puddle on the ground beneath him. It was all because he had become arrogant. As he continued to dodge arrows, his confidence grew, and he thought he would easily pass through the corridor now that he had figured out how it worked. But he was quickly humbled when the trap's mechanism changed. It fired several arrows from different angles, front, back, and side. He nearly died when an arrow passed by his neck, grazing it lightly. He could still feel the burning sting on his neck, bringing him back to reality and making him take every step with the utmost caution.

His head throbbed, burning from too much concentration and stress. Every movement sent waves of pain through his body, causing his legs to tremble, unable to hold him up.

Before he collapsed, he pulled out the two arrows in his leg and shoulder, took out the healing ointment, and applied it to his body. Blood pooled under his tongue, but he swallowed it back and continued to tend to his wounds.

Eric used all of the remaining ointment, covering every spot where he felt pain, causing a stinging sensation to envelop his entire body. He didn't stop until it was all used up. His vision spun around and an unpleasant, stuffy smell lingered in his mouth, but he still had a satisfied smile on his face. Both relieved that he was out of danger and satisfied that he had increased his stats. Plop. He collapsed to the ground without even noticing.

***

Did I fall asleep?

When he awoke from his slumber, Eric's whole body felt stiff. Even though he was exhausted, he just wanted to rest, not fall asleep. He still didn't know anything about this place. What if the traps didn't end and he was shot in his sleep? The thought alone made him break into a cold sweat. It would be a pitiful death after all he had been through.

I'll be more careful next time. But deep down, he hoped there wouldn't be a next time. Even though his attributes had increased slightly, he didn't want to cross this corridor again just for the sake of it. What sane person would want to endure such torture?

Eric used the wall to prop himself up, the joints cracking as he moved. After taking a deep breath, he checked his wounds and found that he wasn't bleeding anymore, and some minor scratches were starting to close. He didn't know if that was the effect of the medicine or if he had just been unconscious for a long time. As if to confirm his thoughts, his stomach growled.

After thoroughly checking his condition and making sure he was out of danger, he approached the door at the end of the corridor, raising an eyebrow at its condition. It was an old, weathered wooden door, and Eric even noticed a few holes where red ants kept crawling out.

He raised his hand and hesitated for a moment before a dagger materialized in his hand. He didn't know how the owner would react if he just walked in, so he decided to arm himself in case the man was aggressive. Even though this gesture could be misunderstood if the owner saw the dagger, Eric decided to be safe rather than sorry.

"Is anyone there?" he called, waiting for an answer, but was met with silence. He knocked twice and still received no answer.

Judging by the state of the door, I doubt anyone lives here anymore.

Without a handle to use, he pushed the door open. It made a long, agonizing creak as it gave way, before the door suddenly fell to the ground with a heavy thud, taking him by surprise.

Before taking a look inside, he was greeted by a cloud of stale air that caused him to break into a mild coughing fit.

Just how old is this place?

Waiting for the stale air to dissipate a bit, Eric stepped inside and found himself in a small room. The first thing that caught his attention was the faint blue light coming from a lamp. It was about half the size of an adult's head, with an inner layer of transparent glass and an outer layer of black metal.

The lamp was positioned to the right of a study desk. Unlike the weathered door, the desk seemed to be made of sturdy wood, as its brown paint still hadn't faded. In the center of the desk was an open notebook with rough, yellow pages. To the left of the notebook was a pile of neatly arranged books, about three of them.

Next to the lamp was a black ink bottle, surrounded by a pale red glow. Its embossed surface formed a blurry snake, coiling its tail.

In front of the ink bottle and to the right of the notebook was a white-colored quill pen with a completely circular body, and the tip seemed to be covered with a layer of dust.

Beneath the desk was a small wooden box.

Looking around, he began to assess the environment he was in. The room was not very large and was mostly made of stones. On the right side of the room, there was another door, but unlike the one he had entered through, this one was larger, a double door, and made of stones. On the left side of the room was a low wooden bed with dirty sheets.

Eric approached the desk, took a closer look at the book, and noticed that it was covered in a layer of dust. He blew gently over the pages and watched as the dust lifted into the air. He coughed and waved his hand to disperse the cloud of dust particles.

As the dust settled, Eric squinted through the lingering haze to examine the contents of the book but was surprised to find the page blank, with no writing whatsoever.

He was disappointed, as he had hoped to find some information that might help him identify where he was. Not willing to give up, he flipped through the blank pages, but the moment he touched the book, he heard the sound of notifications with windows appearing in front of him.

He wondered what was causing it since the window only appeared when he either killed a monster or to inform him about the change in his attributes.

He read the message.

[You have made contact with a knowledge book.]

[Do you want to absorb its contents?]

"Huh, book of knowledge... what is that?" He frowned in thought. This was the first time he had ever seen or heard of such a thing. Sure, all books contained some kind of knowledge, but the usual method to gain that knowledge was to read the book, not absorb it. But then again, he encountered many strange things today, so it wasn't too hard to accept that a book had to be absorbed to see its contents.

Shortly after he finished asking, another window appeared.

[The knowledge book is a type of book that contains some kind of information about certain things, whether it be skills, inherited martial arts, or even the memory of the person who imprinted it into the book...]

"I see." Eric narrowed his eyes after reading the contents of the new message. He didn't think about what kind of knowledge could be in the book but about something else.

"So this system, or whatever it is, can answer certain things that seem too confusing to me."

He scratched his chin as he considered the implications of this new information. His mind raced with all the possibilities he could think of.

"Doesn't that mean that this interface I see is... Intelligent."

Since the system hadn't explained anything before, he thought he'd have to explore it himself. But this time it explained what he wanted, as if it knew that he had no idea what a knowledge book was, which made him a little suspicious. Was it programmed to explain certain things, or was it just explaining what he didn't know? How could it tell what he knew and what he didn't know? Somehow he felt like he was being experimented on by someone with unknown motives.

Who is doing this to me?

Why me?

What are his motives? What does he want from me?

Countless similar questions ran through his mind, and for every theoretical answer he came up with, more questions followed.

"Huh," he took a deep breath to calm his pounding heart and relax his tense body before he let out a defeated sigh.

"It's no use thinking about such complicated and depressing thoughts. Whatever is happening to me will be revealed eventually, I just have to wait and see... And try not to die before that happens, hopefully."

He turned his attention back to the book, his eyes showing a hint of hesitation before turning to determination. He had made up his mind. If he wanted to know what was happening to him, there was no other choice but to bite the bullet and access the information contained in the book.

"Accept the knowledge." He said.

Eric couldn't hide the curiosity that slowly crept onto his face as he wondered how this system would allow him to access all the knowledge in the book.

The moment he accepted, a new window appeared.

[Proceed absorbing the book...]

"Agh!" There was no time for questions or doubts. As soon as the window appeared, waves of knowledge entered Eric's brain. The amount of information being forcibly installed into his brain was too much for him to handle. He grunted through clenched teeth and grabbed his head with both hands to ease the pain. For a moment, he regretted his impulsiveness. He didn't know if this was a common phenomenon every time someone absorbed a book or if this was a special case. He should have been more careful and not blindly trust what the window said.

At least tell me I'm going to get a massive and painful headache.

After what felt like hours had passed, the process finally ended, and no more knowledge appeared in his mind.

[You have completely absorbed the book]

[Mind Power increased by 2 points].

Eric staggered like he was drunk and sat on the ground. It was obvious that he would have fallen if he hadn't done that.

His eyes were spinning and his head felt like it was going to burst like a boiling kettle after receiving so much knowledge.

Damn, I need some pills from now on before I try this again. He muttered to himself as he pressed his throbbing temple. This was the first time he had ever had such a terrible headache. He could stand physical pain and injury, but this pain - he didn't want to experience it again. It felt like a thousand ants were crawling all over his head.

Eric felt dizzy, as if he had a high fever. It took him about 10 minutes to calm down.

Even though he hadn't expected the consequences of absorbing a book to be so painful, he still found it worthwhile.

Eric sat on the floor, recovering from the intense absorption process. The pain in his head eased, allowing him to review the flood of knowledge that had been forcibly implanted into his mind.

Closing his eyes, he took a moment to let the recently absorbed knowledge settle. He sifted through the information, trying to find anything that might explain what was happening to him, or any idea of what kind of place he was in.

After a while, Eric blinked, his eyebrows furrowed and his eyes reflected conflicting emotions.

"I see."

From the book, he managed to find out what kind of place he was in and was shocked for a few moments by what he found.

"A new world... a truly magical world... T-This is truly unbelievable!"

The world he was in was called Vanir, and it had many different races. The book contained a vast amount of knowledge about the continent he was currently on, and the numerous kingdoms that ruled the land. All these information didn't seem to be fictional.

Eric couldn't quite believe the information in the book, but after everything he had been through, from the strange system window to the carnivorous squirrels to the six-limbed wolf and the four-eyed bear, he couldn't deny that such an idea hadn't crossed his mind, but he quickly pushed it away, not wanting to even think about it or the possibility of it happening to him.

Looks like I was just deceiving myself into thinking I was still on Earth.

He didn't know what had caused it. Was it a natural phenomenon, or did someone summon him here?

He looked at the ceiling, closed his eyes, and clenched his fists. Countless emotions flowed through him. Anger, sadness, regret, loss... In the end, he could only let out a defeated sigh.

A picture materialized in his hand. It was a bit torn and dirty, but the figure of four people could still be seen. A man holding a little girl in his arms and a woman pinching a boy's cheek. All of them had big smiles on their faces and looked happy.

Sorry, it looks like I can't avenge you. Please forgive me!