LXXII

Part 3 of The Vicissitudes of Life Vol. 1

When I come to, I am at first overwhelmed with confusion. I glance around, and, not recognizing my surroundings at all from my position lying on my back, I jump to my feet. I look around and find myself in a rather dense forest, moonlight seeping down through the pine branches above.

[Was I not just passing out due to being overwhelmed with wrath?] My first concrete thought forms of my muddled mind. [And now, I am in a very different location, a land of coniferous trees, no longer deciduous. Or perhaps I merely passed out in an area in which both are common, possible enough in certain climates. Still, the point remains that I am not where I passed out. The easiest way to check my location would be to look for mountains, as they were stretched to the north last I saw, but this forest is too thick and it is too dark to do so.

[And no matter how far I may have moved, it is certain that I have moved, and that I retain no memory of it. My wrath core has nearly fully dissipated, only a slight burning remains in the center of my heart. From this, I can easily determine that something has occurred.

[So, then, what? Did I merely fall asleep as the wrath dissipated, get dragged by a monster, and wake up in a nearby forest? Or did something far more interesting occur?

[The idea that my wrath could have moved me to action while unconscious, holds strange appeal to me, and if that was the case, it would be more akin to a blackout than unconsciousness as my wrath propels me. Of course, that sounds more like fantasy than reality, but it would hardly be unique among fantasy. And is this world not fantasy?

[Best not to think that way, perhaps. No, this world is reality far more than it is some fanciful fairy tale, and I would be best to keep such a fact in mind lest I lose my life to it. Still, that I would have been animated by my wrath certainly doesn't sound impossible, but it would leave the question of why I don't remember it.

[I mean, surely if all my built up hatred for this world was unleashed, some bad things would have happened, right? I would be rather furious if they didn't, considering that that wrath represented the whole of my wretched experience on this world, if it just crumbled away without so much as a bang, I would be quite unhappy.

[Well, I'm sure I'll encounter some sign of it at some point, or at least I can hope that such will be the case. For now, all I can do is put it out of mind and focus on the present, and what I will do right now.

[Whatever the result of my wrath, I have no further obligations to anything. My time in the military was mercifully cut short before ever engaging in conflict, something that I honestly have no complaints about. I do not intend to return to Eroen, why would I? As for people, the last one I cared about to any degree at all was Reinhart, with his death at the hands of either a demon or some random and absurdly unfortunate monster attacks, there are no people with whom I am tied.

[Well, except for that scum, Lector. Any power I obtain will be his for the taking should he ever get off his butt and come take it. For that reason, I must return to my goal, becoming an adventurer to afford a name change and be free of this curse. Besides, I need money and power anyway, an adventurer seems like a good enough route to each. As I have nothing holding me back, why not begin pursuing such goals immediately?

[So, then, I will pick a nation to be an adventurer in, reaching the required skill levels and actual level along the way. That leaves only the question of which nation. Eroen is out, as is Aren, Eroen for obvious reasons and Aren for the fact that I'll likely be conscripted if I try to settle down there, to help them fight their multifront wars. The Holy Kingdom is too far away, and the Draconic Kingdom's adventuring scene is dominated by far more powerful dragons, it would be a bad choice if I desire fortune.

[The only option is the Holy Empire, then. A federation with a great deal of focus on power and a large amount of human-monster conflict to join in on for money. Yes, a good choice indeed.

[Though I do not know my exact location, even whether I am in the monster territory or not, the great advantage of the empire is that one only needs to travel east to encounter it. Unless I somehow ended up east of the empire while unconscious, which would be both ludicrous and easily verifiable if I encounter an ocean in the process of traveling due east. Unless I was on a peninsula, I suppose… bah! No point in worrying so much, I can always ask for a map if I encounter any location of human habitation.

[While I would very much like to depart immediately, I am currently unaware of which direction even is east, with the strange patterns of the moon on this world, I will have to wait until morning to depart.

[Wait, I just realized something! The sun here rises in the East and sets in the West, just like on earth! It seemed so natural, I never really noticed that before… at least, not that I remember, anyway. Heh. What a coincidence.]

Wanting to get a feel for my condition before doing anything, I open my stat menu, and what I see immediately induces my jaw to drop.

Name: Anetor

Level: 27

Race: Human

Class/Job: Unemployed

Skills: Moderate Pain Resistance Lvl. 4, Grandmaster Madness Lvl. 9, Lesser Sight Enhancement Lvl. 8, Lesser Hearing Enhancement Lvl. 7, Moderate Resistance Lvl. 2, Lesser Heat Resistance Lvl. 1, Lesser Cold Resistance Lvl. 2, Moderate Thirst Nullification Lvl. 2, Moderate Hunger Nullification Lvl. 4, Lesser Sleep Nullification Lvl. 2, Greater Swordsmanship Lvl. 9, Lesser Melee Magic Conduction Lvl. 5, Moderate Magic Sensory Lvl. 1, Moderate Elemental Manipulation Lvl. 3, Greater Chaos Lvl. 2, Lesser Analysis Lvl. 1, Greater Wrath Lvl. 9, Moderate Strength Lvl. 3, Lesser Speed Lvl. 7, Lesser Magical Exhaustion Resistance Lvl. 6, Master Madness Resistance Lvl. 3

While my skills are for the most part far lower than they were before Lector stole them, I seem to have re-acquired a great variety of skills, with levels not too shabby, not to mention my overall level somehow being so high as 27 despite having no leveling bonuses and having bee unconscious the whole time.

[Yeah, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that something significant happened while I was asleep. A great number of my resistances have been built back up to a rather impressive level considering my apparent lack of proficiencies, and my magic skills have recovered rather impressively, they are at least at a usable state again. Sure, with my previous leveling bonuses, if I had really set my mind to it I could have achieved such levels in only a few days of dedicated training, especially knowing what I do now about the best methods for each. Except for the swordsmanship, which appears to have returned to its former glory as I expected…]

Thinking such, my gaze cannot help but turn to my side, where Reinhart's sword has been strapped. I vaguely remember grabbing onto it as I fell unconscious, that it is with me now seems a blessing of truly miraculous quality. Considering that this blade is of legendary quality, with the incredibly useful effect of canceling out all magic around it, I am more than happy to have it. Sure, it may cancel out my own magic as well, but currently my swordsmanship is leagues above my magical skill levels, to be able to bring an enemy mage to my own field seems a great blessing. I do wish that my strength and speed skills were a bit higher in level, but I'll take what I can get without complaint when it is free.

By far the most interesting are my madness and madness resistance skills. Madness has broken deeply into grandmaster levels, while the resistance skill, which I had struggled so greatly in raising previously, is leaps and bounds above the level that it has held before Lector's theft.

[Huh. Perhaps that's why my thoughts seem a bit more clear than usual, though perhaps I am just imagining things. Well, however I obtained them, I seem to have a full suite of acceptably strong skills, at least on par with your average magic swordsman, though still well below what I previously possessed. Though it really does make me wonder, what happened while I was unconscious? I find it unlikely that I didn't take at least some actions that are outside my memory, considering my skills and level improvements. Did I wander the forest, perhaps, mindlessly taking out my rage on every lifeform which had the misfortune of encountering me? Did I destroy a whole town, massacring its entire population? I find that second one unlikely, considering my skill levels, but hey, it may be possible. I mean, I have no idea what my wrath skill is capable of, though it certainly felt capable of a lot as it overwhelmed my mind and stole my consciousness away in an instant.

[I do rather hope that, whatever my wrath was spent on, however my rage-infused body carried itself, this world suffered from it. A morbid hope, but my hope nonetheless. Though of course, that my body was animated by that emotion is only a working theory, perhaps something far stranger is at work here.

[Well, as already recognized, there isn't much I can do to answer my question at the moment, for now it would perhaps be best to start focusing on my training? This head start has been greatly beneficial, but it is hardly sufficient for the demands of this world.]

Thinking such, I begin to 'practice' with my magic, though practice is hardly the right word. Rather, I am trying to bring myself to a state of magical exhaustion as quickly as possible through whatever methods are available to me, as it is through being at magical exhaustion that one may most rapidly advance his skills. Where in my training with Lector my practice was on actual techniques, I have already long since obtained mastery over them. Now, my goal is only to level up this skill to increase my actual capability in regards to output power and finesse.

Once my magical energy has been mostly exhausted, I undergo about an hour of practice with my sword, by which point the sun begins to rise. While I would greatly like to again make use of DNTI, for now it is impossible as I cannot manipulate the lightning element, and even if I could, the degree of control over the elements that my relatively low-level skill gives is entirely inadequate for such a dangerous procedure, even considering the extent of practice that I have already had with it.

Once the sun rises, it is a simple matter to direct myself through the east. I only take a moment to note that I can see no mountaintops through the spiny branches above me, leaving me to feel rather certain that I am some distance from where I passed out.

Under the sun's light, I can make out many details of the forest as I begin to run to the East, moving with all the haste which I may muster. The trees are a vibrant, emerald green in regards to their branches, their trunks a rough surface of brown, looking as though it may be peeled off in large strips. Their roots coil upwards from the compract earth at my feet, fighting with the moderately sparse undergrowth and dead logs on the ground to trip me in my haste, twisting like a serpent rising and falling from a sea of earth. With nearly every one of my strength-enhanced steps, a crackle or crunch resounds as sticks and twigs are broken beneath my feet.

The air smells of pine, causing a slight tickle in my nose with every breath. Birds fill the cool morning air with their incessant singing, drowning out the much more relaxing sounds of the cool breeze whistling through the trees. Occasional sounds of flies and bees may occasionally be heard as I race by, employing the full might of my speed and strength skills of mysterious origin.

The ground is, ignoring the brush, rather flat, with no natural rise or fall worthy of being considered a hill or a valley. By being careful where my feet land after each bound, I am able to make quite quick progress. My skills have somehow ended up only marginally worse than the average soldier in my ill-fated group, to keep a pace faster than my sprinting on Earth is not particularly difficult, allowing for a great feeling of progress as I cut across the idyllic forest.

When compared to the hell of that swampy forest that I had the misfortune of having to escape not once but twice, this forest may be rightly considered a beauty, a prime example of the ability of nature, or the gods who shaped this world, I suppose, to create beauty with their power. Far more beautiful and natural than that twisted construct of a forest through which I was so cruelly forced to move.