Rupegia Ch. 01: First Day

Based on the position of the sun, it looks like it's still a few hours before noon.

Far away, near the horizon, I can see a grassland, and beyond that, just on the edge of my view, I see something that makes my heart stop: multiple black lines stand on top of another black line. It kind of looks like towers behind a stone wall. It's definitely man-made, and not a mountain or a weird tree.

Finally, I have a direction to go. After the bird comes back, I'll order it to fly towards that to investigate more. But wait, that doesn't look like anything modern; it reminds me of drawings of medieval fantasy towns... Just another piece of evidence I'm not in a normal situation.

Suddenly, the bird's view gets shaky and blurry, and a shadow blocks part of it. The bird got captured by the claws of a large, scaled animal.

I don't know what happens if it gets killed, and I fear that a painful feedback could be sent to me if it gets killed, just like it happens in some games.

I immediately "scratch" the itch inside my brain, and the vision of the bird instantly gets blurry, then it slowly goes black. My field of view goes to normal and the discomfort of double view goes away. It seems that I just "unsummoned" my familiar.

--

This hits me like a bucket of cold water. It shows again that this world is dangerous and I need to prepare.

So far, I only have 1 point into [Summoning Magic] and [Sword Use], I still have 9 unused points so I better prepare.

First, I want healing magic. I bite the bullet and put 10 points in [Light Magic]. I have a suspicion it uses "Piety," and since I have zero in that stat, it might be useless to me.

I go to my "Magic" tab, press [Heal]... and nothing happens.

I guess I was right. If zero "Piety" means that I can't cast it, then maybe it works like a multiplier. If I assume that "ten" is the normal value for the average person, then I might need at least that much "Piety" before it becomes cost-effective.

Well then, at least there's another healing spell I can use. I put five points in [Nature Magic], and it gives me two spells: [Constricting Vines] and [Regeneration]. Both seem very useful for someone like me that doesn't really want to fight. Then I put two in [Sense Presence] so I can detect enemies coming. I put one point in [Electric Magic] so I at least have one offensive spell: [Lightning Bolt]. I don't want to use [Fire Magic] in a forest since I'm not confident I won't start a forest fire. And the last point goes in [Sword Use] making it level 2.

Now, I have two more itches inside my head, with a total of four. Because of some sort of subconscious understanding, I can differentiate between these "itches." One is the "Menu," two are for the [Nature Magic] spells, one is the [Sense Presence] skill, and the last is the [Lightning Bolt] spell. With a little bit of familiarity, it seems that it'll be very easy to quickly use the one I want.

My mana is back to twenty, so I think I'll rest some more until it's back to full.

--

While I wait, I focus on calming my heart so I can do what I need to do. My "Sanity" goes up one point so it's now at eight. I assume that the average is also ten, so being at eight isn't necessarily bad, but I believe this means that I have to work harder on keeping calm.

This is possibly a medieval fantasy world with swords and magic, which means that it's different from my society. I need to be mindful of things such as respecting the nobility, avoiding triggering the superstitions of locals, understanding local laws, adapting to the food and etiquette, understanding the economy, understanding the common sense, and dozens of other small things.

If I fail with this first contact, then I don't know if I can survive until I reach the next town. I can't bring attention to myself, so I should avoid things like [Slavery Magic], [Bloodwork], and [Necromancy Magic], which sound dangerous and potentially illegal. [Summoning Magic] also seems advanced and exotic, and it's best that people don't ask where I learned it, so I should hide it, too. Also, the skill system seems abusive, I could turn from a swordsman, to a mage, to an assassin, to a craftsman, and to a negotiator, all in a small amount of time. It doesn't seem normal for people to be able to do what I did with this skill system. Even the menu and things like "Items" could be abnormal here, so I have to cautious of that, too.

Now I'm starting to accept this might really be another world. "God" may have sent me a message that I can't go back, but there's no evidence of that, it's just the words of a suspicious being that I have never seen before. Perhaps I can go back, or perhaps not, but first, I need to search for knowledge about this world, about teleportation, and about other worlds, then I can truly decide if it's possible or not.

Even if this is truly a game, I can still feel a lot of pain, I can feel the pleasure of the wind, I can feel the hunger in my stomach...

Now that I think about it, I feel like I should eat a piece of meat.

--

This "dried meat" is too salty for my taste, too hard to cut, and too rubbery to chew. I really want normal food now. I didn't even get to taste the buffet that I ordered for my wedding, and there were so many choices of chocolate candies that I never got to enjoy.

I slap my cheeks to get away from these idle thoughts.

Going back to the previous train of thought, I can feel the satisfaction of eating something, and everything that I should normally feel. For me, this is reality, not a game, so I don't want to live a poor and hard life. If I can basically do anything with this skill system, then maybe I can use it to my advantage and have a quiet, but fulfilling life while I search for knowledge about how to get back.

I sigh and lay back on the cold hard ground. I can see the sun on top of the canopies now, so I guess this is about noon. Also, my MP is now back to full; it took at least an hour of waiting.

I just wanted to hug you one more time, Lily...

--

I try to eat a piece of "rock bread", but it's really as hard as a rock. Well, I guess this is why it won't spoil easily. I try to wet it with my saliva and it easily turns into mush. Bland, wet, white bread, delicious.

I have to test [Lightning Bolt], too. It's best to know your tools, even if I'm going to waste the mana right now by firing it at nothing.

I scratch the "itch" of [Lightning Bolt], and at the point of my left finger, I feel something getting hot. I also feel the sensation of blood leaving my body again, so it must be charging by consuming my mana.

I look at my finger and see that it's shining faintly. I point it forward, and after two seconds of holding it still, a lightning bolt flashes from my finger towards a bush ahead.

After the flash and thunder, I see that the bush is completely carbonized and slightly burning.

I have no idea how to measure damage, but this spell feels dangerous. Maybe it could kill a person in one hit? But there's the status values and HP values, so maybe people can get resistance through "Endurance" or something.

I cast [Constricting Vines] on another bush. Where my finger is pointing at, green vines burst from the ground and wrap themselves around a bush. It takes a few seconds for them to wrap around it completely, so I don't think I can use this on an enemy that's moving.

These spells cost me around ¼ of my mana, so I only have four more uses or so of [Lighting Bolt].

I think I'll wait again until my mana is full. I also don't know what happens if I use all my mana. In some games, you can feel sick, faint, lose health, or even die, so I'm unwilling to test my mana to the limit.

Finally, after resting again, I get the motivation to move on. Now I need to walk into the direction of town and reach safety.

--

I walk with [Sense Presence] activated, but I realize it makes me very tense. I certainly would tire of keeping it on all the time. Maybe I will get used to it if I level up or put more points on it, or something like that.

I'm really tense, but I can still appreciate the environment. The trees are all ten to fifteen meters tall, with a girth that would require at least five people to make a human chain around it. The occasional huge root snaking around the trees, randomly going above or below the ground, makes me imagine if they're the roots of one huge tree.

There're also plenty of different bushes and small trees with fruits, mostly colorful berries and grapes. I try to put the fruits into "Items," but they all show a "??? fruit," so I'm not sure what they are or if they're even edible. They look quite appetizing, though.

Then, as I walk through a small patch of blue leaved trees with a white trunk, my [Sense Presence] picks up something different from the animals. Like a radar inside my mind, I feel something "red" a few meters away and to my right.

This skill creates a sort of small radar in my mind where I can "feel" small "dots." So far, I've only seen "white" dots, which are small animals, but this "red" dot feels like something "dangerous."

I suddenly feel a pain in my heart when I notice that the red dot is coming directly to me.

Did it notice me? Does it also have [Sense Presence]? I can't even see it because the bushes are on the way.

I hide behind a bush and crouch. If possible, I'd like to avoid combat. In games, killing monsters give experience, which will make me increase my "level," but I don't have confidence in my abilities, and I also don't even know what kind of "enemy" is coming.

The presence continues towards me. I notice the intercept route is a little off, so maybe it's just a coincidence that our paths would cross, but it'll still be very close. I can't afford to move and make a noise.

I put my hand on the hilt of my sword.

As I wait for the enemy to come closer, I start to hear footsteps. It seems that the red dot is a quadruped, so perhaps it's a dog? Then I hear the sound of someone sniffing the air. It's smelling me. There's no escape now that it caught my scent; it's going to come to me.

A bush in front starts to move, and out of it, a small wolf-like animal comes out. It has a long snout that gets thinner at the nose, fangs coming out of its closed mouth, and a round body with spines covered in moss. What's not covered in spines are covered in grey fur. It's certainly not an animal that I know.

I freeze for a moment, I'm still not used to the ridiculous things that happen to me, but that was a mistake.

The monster has noticed me, and it immediately bares his fangs, then lunges at me.

It's coming, it's gonna bite me, it wants to kill me, I'm going to die.

"AAAAAAAH," I scream in fear.

The fight or flight instinct kicks in, and this time, I decided to fight. When the monster gets close enough it jumps, aiming at my face.

While drawing my sword, I aim the blade at it, and it hits the monster on the side of its snout. This isn't a katana capable of Iaido, so I only manage to give it a mere scratch, but at least I deflected the tackle. It passes by my side and falls two meters away.

I turn immediately to face it, and the animal does a move that sends chills down my spine. It lifts the hind legs and lowers the front legs, then the spines move their pointy ends directly towards me and start to shake. In the next moment, they shoot out like arrows.

Through some incredible reflexes or luck, I lunge to the side, hiding behind the nearest tree, but it isn't a perfect dodge. The side of my legs are assaulted by a wave of pain as the mossy spines enter my skin.

I was already filled with adrenaline since a few seconds ago while anxiously waiting for the monster to come, so I manage to ignore the pain, but I'm still panicking, so decide to use my trump card, I start casting [Lightning Bolt].

I hear the footsteps of the monster rushing towards me. It has to go around the tree, so it doesn't reach me instantly, but its speed is still faster than I can cast.

I see it, and it jumps again, aiming towards my face, then the bolt flies.

The lightning roars and the animal screams. It tackles me, but it doesn't bite. I protect my face and manage to grab him by the snout. It isn't very heavy, so I manage to not fall back from the impact. Then I throw it to the ground.

Part of its fur is burned, smoke rises from its body, and its eyes are cloudy and possibly fried. It starts to convulse, but it's not dead yet.

Anger runs through my body and I pierce its head with my sword. It twitches for a few seconds, then it stops moving.

I killed something, I actually fucking killed something...but the feeling of my sword piercing through flesh is disgusting.

"You are now level two," says a female voice.

"W-what? Who's there?" I question and look around, but there's nobody around. After a while, I assume this voice is inside my head, like a video game announcer.

I stand still for some time, thinking about what just happened, but the adrenaline goes away and the pain of the spines piercing my skin starts to grow.

I quickly pull the spines out, but it just makes the pain worsen. Now, my skin trickles with blood and stains my clothes. I notice that four spines got stopped by the leather jacket.

I guess armor really is useful here.

I cast [Regeneration], and a ball of light appears, floating above my left palm. I touch my body with it and remain still for some time. I immediately start to feel calmer as the pain slowly subsides, and a slightly pleasurable feeling course through my body. It seems that this is a continuous spell.

It takes ten minutes, but the blood stops completely, then the wound starts closing, and the pain goes away completely. I guess this magic is not something you use during battle, but it remains in effect for a minute after I stop channeling it.

My mana is now at twenty. I guess I really need that [Mana Efficiency] skill.

--

While waiting for my mana to recharge, I look at my stats, but disappointingly, they didn't change. Perhaps, like "Sanity," stat values change based on training or other conditions instead of level.

So, now I look into my skills. I have four new points to spend. I use two for the [Mana Efficiency] skill and two for [Sword Use]. Even though I barely used the sword, it was because I made a mistake and kept it sheathed before the battle. The monster was fast and magic has a short delay to cast, so I need to defend myself with a weapon if I get into melee.

I know that there's a [Dismantling] skill, so the corpse of monsters might be valuable. Because of that, I put it into my "Items," and it shows as "Hedge-wolf? monster corpse." I don't understand why there's a "?" there. Maybe it's like the fruits and the naming is based on my knowledge, so it picked the most appropriate name I could think.

I also change my pants since the smell of blood could attract more monsters. The bloodied pants are put into "Items" and get named as "bloody black woolen pants."

I take out the "spare clothes bundle." It's a neat stack of clothes tied by a small cord. Maybe it needs to be like this so that it can "stack" and be considered as one item instead of each piece of clothing being separate. The bundle also has some linen underwear, which is the same as the one I'm wearing. It's loose-fitting and a little uncomfortable for me.

Now I start to think about this world. It's clear that there are monsters different from animals, and that they are hostile. Unfortunately, this one found me by smell, I believe, so even if I was completely silent, it wouldn't have helped. Maybe there's some magic that erases scent somewhere.

I need to fight and I need to kill what I fight, there's no other way to survive here.

--

After recharging my mana, I start moving again. Now I feel a little more confident since I calmed my heart, but I'm still feeling rather stressed. The [Sense Presence] skill is taking its toll on me.

After walking what seems like half an hour, I get another hit on my radar. The red dot feels "different" this time, and it's not coming directly towards me.

I hide behind a bush with a good vision ahead and wait until I can see it. After a minute or so, a bush moves and the monster comes out of it.

It's a skinny, little green man with an ugly, oversized bald head full of wrinkles, a large, pointy ear, and a curved nose. It's a goblin, a standard enemy of fantasy worlds. It's completely naked, and its disgusting genital is dangling around, waving as he moves. He's also wounded, and I can see bruises and cuts that are lightly bleeding. In his left hand, he is dragging a long, thin dagger, probably used for piercing.

This is a golden opportunity. A single Hedge-wolf gave me one hundred and ten experience points and let me level up, now I need two hundred points, but every single point counts.

Just a single level in [Electric Magic] was enough to be the difference between life and death, or at least life and a nasty bite on my face. If I want to survive, I need to kill this goblin. The chance of success on this is high unless I'm mistaking the strength of this little green thing. He's not even a meter tall, he should be weak.

Yes, that's it, I'm charging.

I draw my sword and dash towards him, holding it high above my head. The goblin barely has a chance to react before I'm into range, and I slash downwards.

The goblin has experience in fighting and tries to deflect my sword with his dagger, but it's not enough. He's not fast or strong enough to parry, but he still moves my sword sideways a bit. What was supposed to be a single hit kill by a chop to the head becomes a deadly wound as the tip of my sword sinks into his shoulder. It passes through flesh and bone, entering his chest, then it gets stuck.

"GYEEEEEH!" The goblin screams. A nasty scream so loud that it hurts my ears.

With this, the color drains from my face. He could be calling for allies. I believe I'm in trouble now.

With anger fueling my movements I free my sword from its body, then bring it back and chop horizontally. I decapitate him, and his head rolls away. This is an awfully sharp sword.

I don't have time to be stunned by the bloody scene. If a wounded goblin appeared, maybe there are others who just finished fighting. Even if they are wounded, I have no confidence in fighting more than one enemy, especially if they can just throw things at me, like spears.

I quickly add the goblin's body, head, and knife to my "Items," then I dash into a right angle from where the goblin came from to maximize my distance from where I killed it.

After a minute or so, I slow down and catch my breath. I look at the sword in my hand and realize I forgot to clean it. This is bad because other monsters could follow the smell of blood.

I pull the already bloodied pants from "Items" and use it to remove the blood, then I resume moving towards my destination.

This goblin gave me one hundred and eighty experience points, now I only need ten more for the next level. This is good progress.

Just two more points into [Sword Use] allowed me to properly swing the sword twice and get a kill, so, soon I'll be able to increase the skill some more. Though it was a surprise attack against a small monster armed only with a knife, so I hope I don't find anything worse.

But I do, find what that goblin had fought.

--

After another hour, I get another hit on my radar. This hit sends chills down my spine. I feel that this red rod is considerably larger than the previous ones, and I estimate that its body size is as big as me, but much longer and thick.

I immediately crouch behind a bush and hide in fear.

The monster is just going to pass nearby, and there's no risk of it getting too close. It's slowly strolling around, and it seems like it doesn't even have a fixed destination, so I assume that it's not searching for me, specifically.