"Hey ! Hey wake up!"
Kassidy groaned, her eyelids fluttering open. The world around her shimmered with light—too much light. Warm sunlight filtered through the canopy of strange-looking trees, and birds chirped far too cheerfully for someone who just got flattened by a vending machine.
She sat up slowly, blinking at the sudden brightness and trying to figure out why the ground felt like grass instead of tile. Did she somehow end up in the school's soccer field or something?
"Wake up! Where on Sweet Serendale did you come from?" The voice was deep, refined, and annoyingly heroic.
Kassidy looked up and nearly forgot how to breathe.
Standing before her was a man who looked carved from stone. He wore battered silver armor streaked with dirt and blood and a weatherworn cloak slung over his shoulder. His dark blond hair was cropped and practical, his deep emerald eyes unreadable as they swept over her like one might assess a broken sword.
Kassidy blinked again. "Is there a cosplay event at school I didn't know about?"
The man frowned. "Cos-play? What are you muttering about?"
"No, I'm hallucinating. That vending machine definitely gave me a concussion," she muttered, looking around. The forest was far too dense to be there soccer field at school.
"Who are you? Are you running away from traffickers?" He raised an eye brow looking at her short skirt and tight blouse.
"I'm a Kassie, senior in high school with chronic caffeine dependence and no idea what the heck is going on. And you are?"
"Issac, Put this on." He tossed his cloak clearly feeling disturbed by Kassie's appearance. "High... school? Is that a type of monastery or is that your noble title. Though you don't look like a nun or a noble."
She glanced down at cloak this strange man has given her. Was he referring to her rumpled school uniform? Sure it was a little shorter that the standard dress code but that was only because this was her skirt since freshman year, her parents didn't have the money to buy her a new one each year so she had to make do.
Then she glanced up looking at the man's face. He looked oddly familiar. Kassidy then realized the man before him was Isaac the Warlord of Steel. She remembered this hero was one of the legendary hero in game. Having this Hero in your team was reserved for top world-rankers. Kassie as a casual gamer only ever saw his gameplay online on Diablo level servers.
"I think I might have isekai'd myself," she muttered.
The man looked at her starting to get annoyed at her unfamiliar words. "Ise...kai?"
She waved him off and pulled herself to her feet, wobbly but upright. "Never mind. Where am I, exactly? You said something about... Serendale?"
The man crossed his arms, unimpressed. "You're in Serendale's Whispering Forest. Not exactly the best place to take a nap there are wild animals and dungeon monster's lurking about"
Kassidy's jaw dropped. "Whispering Forest?! As in the Whispering Forest of the Splendor of Serendale game I play?!"
He ignored her bizarre question and turned away, already walking. "If you can walk, do it. If not, lie still and wait for the rootlings or slimes. They come out at dusk."
She stared at his retreating back. "Wait—what?!"
He didn't stop. "Follow if you want. I don't carry dead weight."
Kassidy staggered after him "Wow. Chivalry really is dead, huh?"
He glanced back just once, expression unreadable. "Chivalry gets you killed in these parts."
Kassidy muttered under her breath, brushing twigs from her uniform. "If I really did get isekai'd, shouldn't there have been, like... an encounter with a goddess or a magic circle summoning me to a castle? I was robbed."
Before she could spiral further into genre analysis, Isaac suddenly reached out and clamped a gloved hand over her mouth.
Kassidy froze, eyes wide.
Oh. My. Gosh. Is this one of those scenes?
Her heart skipped a beat.
Is this where the brooding warrior shows unexpected tenderness?
"Shh," he hissed, scanning the trees. "Something's coming."
A low rustle echoed through the underbrush, then a strange leathery flapping sound. From the treetops, a grotesque creature swooped down—massive and twitchy, with bat-like wings, pigeon talons, and a long, twitching rat tail. It let out a guttural screech that made Kassie's spine lock.
"Oh my god!" Kassie yelped. "Is that a Nyxwing?!"
Isaac didn't respond. He shoved her aside and drew his blade in one smooth motion, eyes locked on the creature.
The Nyxwing dove, claws outstretched.
Isaac met it mid-air with a slash of his sword. Metal rang against bone as feathers flew.
"Be quiet!" he barked at Kassie as soon as he landed, barely dodging another attack. "Do you want to get yourself killed?"
"It's a Nyxwing," she muttered, ducking behind a tree. "It can hear everything. Even a scurrying rat."
Isaac's eyes flicked toward her in surprise. "How do you know that?"
Kassidy blinked. Her brain was whirring.
Because that thing —is from the game. But it's not from the first stage. Her stomach dropped. The first stage was supposed to be a tutorial where a guild recruits you and trains you.
"That thing's basically blind," she said quickly. "It hunts by sound. Movement."
Her panicked voice attracted the Nyxwing it focused its ears at where she was. Isaac seeing how the creature positioned its body to change its target ran towards Kassie.
"Look out!" Isaac dove just in time to push Kassie to the ground. But the Nyxwing got hold of Isaac and he was lifted into the air.
Kassidy latched onto Isaac's arm with both hands, eyes wide as saucers. "Oh my gawd! Why is this thing so violent?! Isn't it suppose to be the non-attacker type?"
"Where have you seen a friendly Nyxwing!" Isaac growled.
In the Splendor of Serendale game, dummy! Kassidy screamed in her head, trying to make sense of the chaos. She'd seen this monster before—but never this aggressive. Then it clicked.Oh.My.GOODNESS.I'm on Diablo mode.
Of all the settings to get isekai'd into… why nightmare difficulty?!
"Let go of me or else you'll get dragged too!" Isaac was trying to pry her off.
"No I don't want to let you go!" Kassie used all her weight to keep them grounded. She realized if she was in a Diablo mode the only way she can survive is to keep the The Warlord of Steel by her side.
The Nyxwing shrieked from above, its massive wings kicking up a whirlwind. In one terrifying motion, it lifted them straight into the sky.
Kassidy screamed. "I take it back! I want to let go! Get me down! Get me down!"
Isaac twisted in the Nyxwing's grip, trying to strike it but he couldn't because Kassie was all over him. "Stop clinging to me!"
"Where do you want me to go! We're fifty feet in the air, you lunatic!" Kassidy cried, now wrapped around him like a terrified barnacle.
Isaac struggled against the creature's grip, muttering curses under his breath. "Great. Just great. First I find a half-dressed girl with a head injury, now I'm airborne babysitting."
The wind whipped through Kassie's hair as the the Nyxwing beat its massive, leathery wings, dragging them through a dark cave.
The Nyxwing screeched and flapped wildly, dropping them like sacks of potatoes into a massive nest the size of half basketball court. It was woven from jagged twigs, tree bark, bones, and what looked suspiciously like a broken sword hilt.
As they were free falling in the air Isaac grabbed Kassidy and positioned her above him bracing for impact they both landed with a thud— Isaac receiving the ground's impact and Kassie - landed breast first on his face.
There was a pause. A very awkward, very mortifying pause.
Isaac's muffled voice came from beneath her. "Do you mind... getting off me?"
Kassie yelped, scrambling off in a flurry of limbs and skirt. Her face burned hotter than a phoenixfirefly.
The moment he sat up, smack!—her hand connected with his cheek in a sharp, echoing slap.
"You perv!" she snapped.
Isaac looked at her his eyes twitching with indignation, "I should have left you in the forest"
But then, there was no time to say a witty comeback because the Nyxwing landed on the edge of the nest. Isaac pinned Kassie down keeping her low on the ground.
It flapped it's huge wings with victory.
And... began to dance.
Isaac propped himself up on one elbow, blinking. "What the heck is it doing?"
Kassidy feeling grateful for the human shield laid very still staring at the Nyxwing, anticpating its next move.
The Nyxwing flapped its wings in a rhythmic, jerky pattern, swaying from side to side while letting out a series of grating screeches that almost sounded... melodic.
Her eyes widened. "It's a mating call! She's trying to attract a female Nyxwing!"
Isaac stared, deadpan. "You've gotta be kidding me. There's more of them here?"
"It's literally doing a wiggle!"
"I think that's our cue to leave," he said, trying to move through the entanglements.
They barely managed to scramble over the twigs when a whoosh split the air—massive talons swooped down from above and snatched them mid-escape.
The Nyxwing let out a deafening screech—part banshee, part malfunctioning kettle. The sound rattled the twigs of the massive nest as though warning them not to escape.
Kassie coughed, tangled in Isaac's cloak. "Any other bright ideas? What kind of adventurer are you?"
Isaac sat up with a grimace, brushing twigs from his hair. "That thing's a B-Rank dungeon monster and I don't see you coming up with one."
Then it turned its back to them and back at pitch black ceiling of the cave. It started dancing again and... posed.
"Did it just do a peace sign?" Kassidy whispered, wide-eyed.
The Nyxwing lifted one clawed wing to its face, twisted it into a peace sign, and gave a cheeky tilt of its head—then launched into two more pose, its tail forming a heart, and then winked like some demented K-pop idol.
"Oh no," Isaac muttered. "It's doing the whole routine."
The bird leaped into the air, spun mid-twirl and the twigs rained down as it landed with a dramatic flair, fluffing its feathers like it expected applause.
The two stood in stunned silence.
"That was too agonizing to watch." Kassie dropped to her hands and knees, overwhelmed by secondhand embarrassment.
Suddenly, the pitch-black ceiling of the cave flickered—not with starlight, but with hundreds of cold, gleaming eyeballs. There were dozens… no, hundreds. Watching. Blinking in eerie unison.
"Above you—wait, isn't that—" Isaac's words caught off as female Nyxwings, one by one, stirred and woke from their slumber. Moving from their upside-down perches swooping down closer near the nest. They we're drawn by the mating call.
"Please tell me those are shooting stars," Kassie muttered hiding behind Isaac.
Isaac leaned in, voice low and urgent. "If you have any ideas, now's the time to share them."
"Think, Kassidy Kim Ylanes! Think!" she muttered, clutching her head. "I should have some sort of inventory! That's, like... rule number two in every adventure isekai'"
She threw her hands out in front of her dramatically.
"Open! Inventory! Status!"
Nothing.
"Hero Panel! Menu Screen!"
Still nothing.
"Ugh— Skills! Cheat Code Activate! Control Shift C TestingCheats On!"
Isaac blinked. "What are you on about?"
"Shhh! It works on a fun life-simulator game okay! I like playing it so stop judging me!" she snapped, then narrowed her eyes. "Okay, maybe it's not voice-activated. Maybe Mental command?"
She squeezed her eyes shut. Come on, RPG logic... don't fail me now.
SYSTEM! SYSTEM! SYSTEM!
A ding echoed in her mind, and suddenly a transparent screen popped up in front of her, glowing faintly.
"OH MY GAWD—it actually worked!"
Isaac looked at her not seeing what she was seeing, she was basically pointing midair, pressing invisible buttons, "What are you doing now?"
Kassie ignored him and urgently looked through the system window. Before her was a typical system game prompt.
Her main details on top Name: Kassidy Level: S-Rank Class: Lucky Mage
Four Menu tabs line together: Inventory, Quest, Stats, Familiars, Adventurer Vending Machine.
The first thing she opened was Inventory, in search of a weapon or a transportations scroll. It contained only one item. Gold coin stack with an infinite sign at the bottom right corner. She read the description:
USE TO PURCHASE VENDING MACHINE ITEMS OR OTHER WORLDLY ITEMS IN SERENDALE
"He's looking this way—quick, hide!" Isaac drew his sword and slashed a small gap in the thick nest. Without hesitation, he pushed Kassie through the opening and slipped in after her.
The Nyxwing lashed out with its talons, trying to dig them out of its nest. The female nyxwings once curious audience started flying back to their sleeping position.
The male nyxwing visibly panicked and dug more furiously. It was tearing into its own nest with screeches that rattled the cave. Feathers and broken twigs flew in his efforts.
Both Isaac and Kassi somehow managed to make there way into a cramped little nook nestled deep in the crevice of the nest's inner wall. The space was deep enough and large enough for two the two of them. It smelled faintly of damp moss, scorched fur, and something suspiciously sulfuric.
Around them, the massive twigs groaned under the weight of the Nyxwing's fury, but for now, the nook held—hidden, tight, and just quiet enough to breathe.
"Damn it that stupid bird!" Isaac held his sword pointed at the crazy bat-like pigeon anticipating an attack.
This momentarily safe space was just what Kassie needed. Now she had time to explore her system, she opened the Adventurer Vending Machine.
Adventurer Vending Machine – Level 1
"Convenience for the Clueless Adventurer!"
A tall, glowing vending machine shimmers into view with a mechanical ding!—crafted from smooth enchanted glass and burnished brass. Inside, neatly arranged behind a crystal-clear front panel, are rows of categorized essentials: healing potions in cute glass bottles, rolled-up parchment, dried rations sealed in colorful wrapping, starter weapons like wooden shields and chipped short swords, and even travel-sized soap bars.
Each item has a glowing price tag and one item caught her attention [Random Spell]. It was a scroll that contained a random spell.
"It only makes sense to get this right?" She said more to herself than to Isaac.
She shoved the coins into the slot, hands trembling with urgency—so much so that a few coins slipped from her fingers and clattered to the ground.
"Okay, is it a Firebolt spell? That's the one I used to clear the level last time," Kassie muttered, tapping the glowing screen and watching as the machine made a soft mechanical whirr, it lit up, and a small parchment scroll dropped into the tray with a muted plop.
She ripped it open eagerly—ready to light something on fire—and blinked.
"Verdant Bloom? What is this, a gardening simulator?"
The parchment shimmered with warm green light, earthy and soft, almost humming in her hands. The description glowed beneath it:
"Causes rapid plant growth in barren soil. Trees, vines, flowers—great for healing the land... or dramatic entrances."
Isaac grabbed her by the elbow. "Hey that things coming in any second we have to move!"
"Hold on! I can still do this!" She gripped her hands tight as if absorbing the spell scroll and boldly shouted. "RESTRAIN!"
A soft hum filled the nest as Kassie's magic surged through the air. Thick, glowing roots burst from the ground and curled around the Nyxwing's limbs, binding it fast. The creature gawked, thrashing wildly, but the enchanted roots held firm.
Above them, the female Nyxwings although stirred they silently retreated further into their dark corners, their eyes cold and disinterested, ignoring the male nyxwings furious struggles.
Isaac cut in sharply, "You're actually a mage! You should have done that earlier!"
Kassie blinked, stunned. "Did I just do that?"
"There's no time to praise yourself—let's get out of here."
They scrambled out of the tumultuous nest, branches cracking beneath them as they ran through the narrowing tunnel. The Nyxwing shrieked in frustration, still tangled, its wings unable to open.
Just as daylight began to bleed into the darkness ahead, Kassie skidded to a halt.
"Wait a minute—" Kassie turned around, eyes wide. "I dropped a few of my gold coins?!"
Isaac groaned mid-sprint. "Stop! Don't go back there!"
"Give me back my gold coin!" she shouted, fists clenched and stomping back toward the cave entrance.
"I swear," Isaac huffed, scooping her up and slinging her over his shoulder like a sack of rice, "if we die because you turned around for spare change—"
"But that was my gold coin!" Kassie wailed, pounding weakly at his back.