Thwack!
[KEUUUK—!]
"This -huff- is so -huff- stupid…"
Stomp
Soren planted his boot into the goblin's stomach, prying the rusted dagger free from its corpse.
He stood there for a second, panting hard, his chest heaving with every shaky breath.
"Huff… huff…"
He felt like absolute shit.
Sweat plastered his shirt to his back.
His clothes were caked in dirt and dried blood.
Every exhale burned his throat raw.
Drip drip
[Kekeke!]
[Kerueurrk–!]
[Kieeeek!]
Soren glanced around the dim clearing, the sounds echoing from all sides.
'There's at least ten left… and that bastard too.'
"This sucks…"
He gritted his teeth.
'How did things turn out like this?'
[Kekekeke]
A snicker echoed ahead.
His crimson eyes narrowed, glaring through the shadows at the creature laughing at him.
"I will -huff- kill you."
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
Turning back the clock to earlier that day…
"Thank god they gave me permission."
When Soren first learned that entering Rena Forest required a permit, he had nearly panicked.
As a first-year, he thought he would never be allowed inside.
Luckily, the restriction was mostly for show; the guards hardly cared as long as you got a permit.
'Let's check everything again.'
He rummaged through his bag.
"Magic map, check. Canteen, check. Everything's here."
After a final check, he slung the bag over his shoulder and made his way toward the forest entrance.
The guard took his permit, gave a lazy wave.
"Make sure you're back before the sun starts setting."
"Yeah, thanks."
And just like that, Soren set off toward the first hidden piece.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"FUCK THIS—!"
The shout echoed through the trees.
Soren lay sprawled across a boulder, gasping for air.
Every muscle in his body screamed.
He had expected it to be difficult; this wasn't a game anymore, after all, but this was too much.
'Two hours of walking and I'm not even halfway there…'
He rechecked his magic map, hoping that he had misread it, but nope, he was still nowhere close to the cave.
He had packed light, some bread, a canteen of water, the bare essentials, thinking the trip would take two or three hours tops.
But reality had other ideas.
'It only took ten minutes in-game,' he thought bitterly.
He wasn't stupid.
He had known the forest wouldn't just be a flat zone like it was on a monitor, but he hadn't expected this nightmare.
"「Status」"
.
[Status Window]
Name: Soren Arden (1★)
◈ Stats
[Stamina - 0.2 (F)]
.
A stamina stat of 0.2.
F rank stamina. Practically nonexistent.
He had never realised how bad that was because day-to-day life at Stellaris didn't push his limits.
Classes, walking between buildings, even training sessions, all of it was manageable.
However, now he was realising that it was simply because he was in class F.
But the forest was something else entirely.
Roots twisted out of the ground like traps.
Every few steps he stumbled.
The air was damp and heavy, the earth uneven, and every slope felt like climbing a mountain.
Even resting wasn't easy.
During the day, Rena Forest was considered safe; no major monsters, barely any demons, but the moment the sun dipped below the horizon, everything changed.
Night in Rena Forest belonged to predators.
It wasn't the deadliest place in the world, but for a weak, low-ranked first-year?
It might as well have been suicide.
The clear blue sky above said he still had time before sundown, but the anxious pit in his stomach didn't agree.
He looked at his map again.
The cave was still hours away, and then he would have to walk back.
He wanted to turn around, call it quits. But…
'No. I need that hidden piece.'
He might not get another chance like this.
The forest was technically open to students, but time was limited, and professors didn't exactly encourage solo exploration.
Besides, this wasn't a game anymore; NPCs weren't stuck to scripts, and there was always a chance someone else could stumble upon it first.
He exhaled slowly.
"Sigh… guess I'd better keep moving."
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
A couple more hours had passed since then, and Soren was now nearing his destination.
'After this, I swear I'll never set foot in Rena Forest again.'
This entire experience had been miserable for someone as unfit as Soren.
Constantly tripping over tree roots, stumbling because of the awful terrain, hardly being able to see more than a few steps ahead thanks to the branches and shrubbery, not to mention the mud.
That wasn't even the worst of it, though.
The worst part was that he had to be on edge constantly; every time a twig snapped or a bush rustled, he had to stop and wait, just in case an enemy appeared.
That factor alone cost Soren at least 30 minutes of his travel time.
Whilst Rena Forest was relatively safe during the day, it wasn't entirely.
It would be stupid to expect every living thing to be asleep during the day, after all.
'I wasted too much time. Let's just get this over with.'
He trudged forward, trying to stay optimistic.
"Still, though, it's lucky that I haven't encountered anything yet."
Rustle rustle
"..."
He stopped mid-step.
'I just had to raise a flag, didn't I?'
Dropping into a crouch, he began forming a magic circle.
If he were lucky, whatever was out there would just pass by like all of the previous times…
Rustle rustle
…But unfortunately for him, he wasn't so lucky this time.
A long green nose poked out of the bush.
The moment the demon had appeared, Soren cast his spell without hesitation.
"「Aqua!」"
A small sphere of water formed before him.
He thrust it toward the goblin's head, trapping it inside.
This was one of his improvised techniques, using [Aqua] as a suffocation spell.
He had been thrilled when he first figured it out, but that excitement had faded fast.
It worked only on the weakest enemies.
Still, that was all he needed.
The goblin thrashed, clawing at its throat as bubbles streamed from its nose.
[Gurgle gurgle!]
It flailed its limbs wildly, hoping to escape its watery demise.
He tightened his focus, feeding mana into the magic circle.
Ten seconds.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Three.
And finally…
Thud!
The goblin hit the ground, limp.
[+1P]
Soren exhaled, shaking.
"Whew…"
The time it took to kill a single goblin?
Three minutes. Twenty seconds. For a single goblin.
'I already knew it was bad, but that was worse than expected.'
Just from drowning a single goblin, roughly a third of Soren's total mana had vanished, and if he had made a single mistake and broken his concentration, it would have all been for nought.
It would have been fine if he could have at least dodged or positioned himself better during the process of drowning the goblin, but that was impossible.
If he took so much as a single hit, the concentration he was so desperately holding would have disappeared, shattering the magic circle.
Even just now, the goblin had almost hit him during its manic flailing.
'I'll have to figure something else out.'
At least one good thing had come from killing the goblin; Soren now knew he was able to gain points from killing demons.
He crouched beside the corpse and immediately recoiled.
"Ugh, the smell…"
Holding his nose, he searched the body. As expected, there was nothing of value, just a rusted dagger.
He grimaced but took it anyway, tucking it into his belt.
After all, it had nearly killed him unarmed.
With that, he wiped his hands on the grass and glanced up at the sky. Still blue.
He stood, adjusted his bag, and continued on.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
"Finally."
The word came out half-laugh, half-sigh.
After almost four hours of hiking, he stood before a cave.
A perfectly ordinary cave.
He blinked.
"…Really?"
He'd expected something grander, a shimmer, a magical seal, something, but this was just a hole in a rock face.
'You'd think a hidden piece would at least look special…'
But that thought vanished the moment he stepped inside.
Whoosh.
A wave of heat washed over him.
"...?"
'It feels like a sauna in here.'
The air was warm, damp, almost soothing.
He shrugged off his cloak and stored it in his bag, moving deeper into the cave.
Step step
The further he got into the cave, the warmer it got.
As he neared the end, a light came into vision.
Seeing that Soren broke out into a sprint, completely losing any sense of danger.
"There it is."
The walls widened around him, and there it was.
In the centre stood a small hill of grass.
Perched upon that grass was a small purple tree, glowing with a single apple attached to its branch.
Soren's eyes widened.
"Found you."
The air here was almost unbearably warm, like the heart of summer.
Sweat trickled down his temple.
He didn't care.
He stepped forward, reached out, and plucked the apple.
Without hesitation, he bit into it.
Ting ♪
.
▶ Item [Stella's Apple] [5★] Consumed! ◀
[Stella's Apple]
[All stats increased by +0.3]
.
▶ Title [Stella's Secrets] Obtained! ◀
[Stella's Secrets]
To you who found the first secret of Stella, the world grants you strength.
[+200% Mana and Health recovery rate!]
.
The warmth around him faded.
Soren collapsed onto the grassy mound, leaning back against the little tree.
"Hehe.. heh."
He couldn't help it.
A laugh bubbled out of him, weak, tired, but real.
After weeks of struggling just to stay afloat, to finally gain something, even a small stat boost, felt incredible.
In all the time since transmigrating, he had only raised one stat by a single point; now, with one afternoon walk through the forest, he had achieved that progress and far more.
"「Status」"
.
[Status Window]
Name: Soren Arden (1★)
◈ Titles
- Transmigrator (Year 1)
- Stella's Secrets
◈ Stats
Stamina - 0.5 (F+) [Increased by 0.3]
Strength - 0.6 (F+) [Increased by 0.3]
Agility - 0.7 (F+) [Increased by 0.3]
Mana - 0.7 (F+) [Increased by 0.3]
Divine Power - 0.3 (F) [Increased by 0.3]
Charm - 8.7 (S-) [Increased by 0.3]
.
Now, all but one of his stats had passed into the F+ rank, and his charm stat had passed into the absurd S- rank.
Soren felt slightly annoyed seeing that, however.
'If even half of those charm stat points could go to any other stat, I'd actually have a decent build.'
Still, it was hard to stay annoyed when his reflection looked the way it did.
He swiped the status window away and rummaged through his bag.
From it, he pulled out some bread and his canteen that he had carried with him.
He brought the canteen to his mouth and went to take a sip, then frowned.
'Empty..'
Fortunately, there was an easy solution to this problem.
"「Aqua」"
A small stream of water filled the canteen.
He took a long drink and let out a blissful sigh.
"Hahhhh… magic really is the best."
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
By the time he left the cave, the sky was painted orange.
Soren froze.
"Shit…"
He wanted to yell at his past self for taking so long, for resting, for spacing out, but there was no time.
'I need to hurry back.'
He started his trek through Rena Forest towards the academy with hurried steps, praying he wouldn't run into any trouble.
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
An hour later, night had fallen.
Rena Forest had transformed.
The once tranquil woods were now alive with movement: whispers, rustles, the faint glint of eyes in the dark.
Thanks to Soren's lacklustre preparations, thinking this trip would only take an afternoon, he lacked any of the items needed for travelling at night.
He didn't even have a source of light.
Of course, even if he did, it would likely get him killed anyway.
His only consolation was that the guards would have reported his absence by now. The academy would send someone to search soon.
So all Soren had to do right now was to slowly and carefully make his way towards the academy, and he would eventually be discovered.
His body screamed for rest.
His legs trembled, his lungs ached, but he couldn't stop.
Even getting a little closer to the academy might make the difference between life and death.
'Just a bit further. I can rest when they find me.'
••✦ ♡ ✦•••
He didn't know how much time had passed since he had begun his return trip, but he was starting to worry.
The rustling was getting louder now, closer, and flickers of torchlight danced in the distance.
At this point, Soren had completely given up on speed, crouch-walking towards the academy, slowing his pace drastically.
"Huff… huff…"
He wanted to collapse.
Every muscle begged him to stop; his vision swam with exhaustion.
His breathing was unsteady, and it felt like he would pass out if he stayed still for even a few moments.
But he couldn't give up.
'How stupid would it be to get transmigrated into your favourite game only to die before the first act had even ended?'
Step… step… step…
Each step felt heavier than the last, but he kept going.
'I'm fine,' he told himself. 'I'll make it.'
He repeated these words to himself in an effort to remain calm.
Snap!
His blood ran cold.
'Shit.'
But as if mocking his attempts to hold on to his composure, everything began to fall apart the moment that twig snapped.
[Keuuurk?]
Rustle rustle
[Keraak?]
Sniff sniff
Soren dropped to the ground, pressing himself into the mud.
He didn't move, didn't breathe.
Silence.
Then… slow footsteps.
He waited for what felt like an eternity, and the sounds slowly quieted down.
He exhaled shakily and lifted his head just enough to glance around.
And locked eyes with something.
A pair of glowing yellow irises stared back at him from the darkness.
"..."
[...Keuk?]
He froze momentarily before snapping out of it and forming a magic circle, but the second he did that, he realised he had made a mistake.
Wooooonggg–
The brown magic circle glowed, casting light into the pitch-black forest.
He desperately shattered the magic circle, but it was already too late.
[Keuurk!!]
Rustle
Step step
Rustle rustle
Stomp stomp stomp
[Kekurk.]
He turned to run when a familiar sound grabbed his attention.
Ting-♪
.
▶ Quest Received! ◀
————「❤︎」————