C2: Half-Elf

Jamie stepped out of the waterfall and came outside, with the loot he had collected from within the [Cave of Lorak].

Jamie had a few things on his body already. The old clothes looked like they were a thousand years old and the scabbard on his back appeared to be fitting his [Old Eden Sword] really well. From what was written in the [Legacy], he guessed that he was a reincarnation of a Demon King. It did say that he was the 2200th Demon King though.

'How many goddamn demon kings had lived here?'

Outside of the waterfall, was a simple forest.

The forest was filled with large pines, oaks, and old kinds of trees. However, the forest gave off a kind of eerie look as he stepped out. It was a bit murky and damp.

'Hmmm… are we close to a swamp?' Jamie guessed, gazing at the dark trees. However, the quite tall waterfall did not seem to be a stream flowing from a dark swamp, because the water was gorgeously fresh.

Jamie ventured further into the forest after drinking a handful of water and getting his face washed from the clean and refreshing water.

<Energy: 4/5>

----->

<Energy: 5/5>

It made Jamie's energy increase from one point.

After walking a few miles into the forest, encountering a few dead animals on the way, he finally saw something that made him feel satisfied. "A smoke!"

Yes, a smoke. That meant there were others nearby!

"God… finally," Jamie let out an exhausted sigh, hurrying towards the smoke rising from the forest. The forest was safe for a while, and there wasn't much to be scared of, for now at least. However, Jamie had a quite strange feeling about the smoke he was running to.

///

In a small cottage on the east side of the Downwood forest, a young witch was brewing the latest potion she had been asked to brew. In her gloved hands were the last of its ingredients, a large eye, and another blue potion. It was [Morgana's Tears].

Whistling, she poured the ingredients into the cauldron, letting out all the smoke rising from her cauldron through the chimney of her small kitchen.

Ding!

A notification appeared on her mobile phone.

She peeked into the phone as she slowly stewed the potion with a long wooden spoon. "Ha…" she breathed in the wonderful smell the potion was giving off and read the message.

[Sis, come pick me up in the evening, ok? And please feed Crowley!]

It was a message from her little sister. "Oh dear… of course I'll feed our little kitten, I'm not a demon to leave the lil kitten hungry all day long," she said to herself. She sent a blushy emoji and replied, [OK!]

Just a few days ago, their 200-year-old grandma 'Proxy the Witch' had passed away, and ever since, Meloni and her little sister Claire were living alone in this old cottage of their grandma. It had been sitting there for ages, and their potion brewing legacy had been passed down to Claire and Meloni.

"Crowley, come here will you…" The witch called out to the cat. "Oh... by the way, if you push any of my potions or books down from the shelves, I'll put you on the next [Mouse Killer Potion] I'm gonna make… ok, sweetie?"

"Raaawwwh!"

The cat who was already hiding under the table from the witch ran away to the living room upon hearing these monstrous words.

Meloni kept stewing the potion as if nothing happened.

She pushed up the round glasses on the bridge of her nose and reached to grab the next potion she needed from the shelves, but her attention was taken away by something else. Well, actually, 'Someone.'

He was a strong young man with white hair and blue eyes that made him look like a werewolf!

Right outside her window, a man was walking here and there on the lawn as if he had come from a totally different world. However, what really fascinated her was this man's appearance and the question of how he entered through the illusion field she had put up only a few miles from the cottage.

'Hmm… how the hell did he enter through the [Illusion wall spell]. Only Claire and I could enter this!'

////

Jamie finally reached the source of the smoke and it was coming from a chimney of a small cottage. 'No shit, a stereotypical fantasy cottage… must be a witch living in there,' he thought.

He looked around to see if there were any magical guard dogs of any kind, but there wasn't anything in sight, except the very old cottage and a wooden fence even a child could hop over.

<Analysing…>

<You have arrived at the Lorkey's Cottage of Spells!>

A notification popped up once again. That was quite fascinating. The system even identified houses.

He looked around the cottage to see if there was any sort of 'NPC' to talk to. And that's when he spotted a girl with two round glasses through the window of her kitchen. He didn't keep staring at the girl for too long because that'd totally make him a pervert.

Jamie went to the door and knocked on it to see if the woman would help him.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

The door opened and a gorgeous girl with round glasses and long blond hair stood before him. Her body was flawless and she was fairly tall, almost like Jamie's new body, which was quite tall.

"Um –" Jamie opened his mouth to speak but soon was disturbed by a question.

"How did you get past the barrier?" The woman asked, out of nowhere.

"What?" Jamie was confused. "What barrier?" he asked her with an awkward smile.

She pushed her glasses a bit higher up the bridge of her nose and looked at Jamie's face to see what level he was.

<Level 1 - Human>

"Umm… what the hell?" She asked upon seeing this guy's level. "What is wrong with your level? Are you hiding your level so I wouldn't suspect you for breaking my [Illusion Wall Spell]? Cause if you are, it's not working! Now… How did you get past the barrier? And… surely, you're not human. They don't have enough intelligence to overcome an illusion spell!"

Jamie was suspecting the woman to be crazy, but, suddenly, some words appeared above her head too. It was like in a game, but he guessed the reason for this message to pop out.

It must've been the [Identification skill].

<Level 24 - Half Elf>

"Woah, you're on another level!" Jamie exclaimed.

The witch smiled bitterly at him and asked, "Have you been cursed to lose all that level progress? And how are you still standing if you are; you make no sense!"

Jamie gulped. He was sweating now since she was forcing answers from him for questions he didn't even know the answers to. Jamie quickly thought of something he could tell in these kinds of situations. Plus, he couldn't just tell her that he's reborn to destroy her world!

"I… I think I have lost my memories. I woke up in a cave or…"

"A cave?" The half-elf repeated. "What cave… as far as I know, there are no caves around in Downwood, not anything that enormous to be called a 'cave' at least."

"So… you're saying that I should actually trust you? Cause even our grandma told that men come to these parts, saying that they lost their memories, so when the women took them in for a cup of tea, they can force their sexual desires on them."

Jamie gulped once again, this time because the girl was getting aggressive. He couldn't choose clearly. 'God… I should just ask my way out of these woods and just get the hell out of here, cause this woman has anger issues.'

"Well… just tell me how to get back to town."

"Hmmm… tell me how you got past the barrier, friend," she said once more.

"So I'm a friend now? And once again… woman, I don't know about your barrier!" Jamie said, irritatedly.

'Search for lies,' Meloni, the half-elf commanded from her mind to activate the lie-detecting spell she just activated from her potions only moments before she opened the door to greet the traveler. Yes… of course, she had it all planned.

<Detecting….>

<That was not a lie!>

She stepped back and breathed calmly. She was finally patient, now that she had detected whether he was lying or not. "So, memory loss huh?"