Radiant Plains was a region for beginners who were Level 5 or under.
There was no danger as long as he remained here as it served as a neutral zone where monsters would not enter. However, staying here wasn't going to resolve anything. Different from the game which merely required one's HP to stay above zero, it was common sense for humans to require food and water for sustenance.
He'd have to find those as his priority.
Before him was a thicket of extended branches and greenery, Forest A. White thought of the shrubberies inside which could solve that immediate concern. As it was made for beginners, the forest allowed one to self-sustain easily as long as they opened their eyes to scavenge for edible resources.
There was another incentive which pushed White towards entering this place. If it was the same as before, he should be able to find a place inside it that could greatly benefit him now.
Further ahead, he recalled that the game had a small settlement of NPCs that resided within Forest A. Those residents of the forest were hospitable to the players and would often let them stay there as guests. In exchange for doing a very simple quest for them, they would even give the player the Passive Skill:「Experience Boost」LV1. While the thought of talking to a stranger made him oddly nervous, he felt that he should at least try to make an effort not to be.
How could he pass up a skill that could hasten his growth speed? Skills that increased experience gain was quintissential for the player! Since it was a quest reward, White could also confirm the existence of several other game elements in this world just by going there. How did NPCs work now? Were they living normally like players, or were they static and one-dimensional like before?
But most importantly... the NPCs were elves.
That's right, White simply held the insatiable desire to see elves in person. The mystical characters with long and slender ears and beautiful, androgynous faces---- Of course an avid reader of the fantasy genre would hope to see one in person! How would real elves look like? Do they really speak Elven? How about magic? ...
White made up his mind and quickly step foot into the forest.
[Forest Slimes] or [Hysteric Apes] would attack him only if he approached their aggro range. Fortunately, signs of habitation by the apes were clearly shown in the form of [Girant Trees] unique to them. As long as he avoided those purple-colored trees, he should be generally safe from them. However, Forest Slimes were a separate case entirely. While they were usually docile in nature, Forest Slimes spawned randomly within the forest and was usually hard to notice until they were right beneath your feet. It was surely hard to avoid them when slimes were widely known to multiply quickly in forests like this one.
Resolving himself to tread carefully, White continued deeper into the forest, following a visual map in his head as he went towards the direction where the settlement was.
There should be some time left before it gets dark, but White did not relax himself at all. As it was already past afternoon, it wasn't clever to travel in the forest for an unnecessarily long amount of time. However, the settlement still wasn't in sight at all. Despite feeling that he was already very close to it, he was still unable to find it.
White had a feeling that he had only been walking around in circles. Perhaps it was too naive of him to think that his memory of the game would be 100% accurate. In real life, the forest seemed to dissuade him of such.
Navigating through memory alone was simply stupid after all. For him to see the true wilderness with his own eyes in such high detail than in virtual reality, White felt his shut-in lifestyle pulling his feet down like deadweights. Even though he was physically more adept now, it didn't help that his coordination with his once weaker constitution did not keep up consistently. Clearly, White had undermined the idea of hiking for extended periods of time.
The young man eventually gave up on his initial destination and decided to find a water source. His throat had become rather parched from all the walking. His feet felt sore and painful too. It was disappointing that he couldn't see the elves, but there was no other way around it. He didn't want to spend more time looking for it and risk an inability to find someplace to sleep for tonight.
White did not feel any ire nor rejection about the thought of camping outside. After all, he used to travel under strenous conditions like this one at a time before he had become a shut-in. It had taken him a bit of time to adjust at the start, but White was able to pick up his pace with his new body which didn't seem to tire as easily.
Even then, the insects were an different matter entirely. Centipedes and spiders hanged around trees and the greenery much to the rancid disgust of the young man. He felt like the novels had conveniently glossed over such irksome detail.
But as if his efforts had not been all for nothing, the vines and branches that were constantly obstructing his path finally began to open up. As he approached the heart of the forest, the space would become even wider which made it easier to move his body around. The greenery also became a lush green, and there were no signs of the purple trees either.
White found a random log nearby and sat down for a quick break. He had been walking for over a few hours now after all. Compared to the him in the past, he would have collapsed just after a few minutes. But even his new body had its limits, he didn't want to ruin it just to walk an extra mile when he could pace himself properly instead.
When White had taken in the surroundings with a more discerning eye, he felt his mouth drop in awe.
From large mushrooms and blue vines hanging on trees and large ferns with zig-zag patterns that looked more like paper cut outs, the heart of the forest finally had something he could recognize from around here. Although admittedly, he was curious why nothing else seemed to coincide with his memory of the Forest A in the game.
There were a few fruits that he saw that could be eaten, and he plucked one off its branches. A pebble-sized fruit, that was something called the [Pletuplant].
〚 Pletuplant ♦ Common Grade ✠ Consumable: Recovers 0.5 Stamina over 5 seconds.〛
White crushed the berry in his mouth and immediately, a burst of flavors hit him. A strangely sour taste like a mix of star anise and apples filled his mouth.
He was a little hesitant on eating them, but it turned out to be a nice surprise. Enjoying a few more of those, his food problem was resolved temporarily.
White also found some leaves and turned it into a makeshift bag. Since he wasn't going to stay here, White wanted to collect a few days' worth of the berries. Using some leaves and twigs, the small leaf-bag was created.
Surprisingly, something happened as he finished making it.
[!] Skill updated.
◤NEW◢ ♦ Passive Skill:「Nature Crafting」obtained.
⑆「Nature Crafting」▣ Lv 1 ▣ Ability to craft simple items made with nature. ⑆
Nature Crafting. He had learnt a skill just from a quick handiwork. White thought briefly at why this skill had been acquired and connected the dots.
Did his internet knowledge just convert into a skill?
(So that was the case...)
Besides the game methods which provides skills through level ups, quests or simply finding them in treasure chests, perhaps he could also learn them as long as he had existing 'knowledge' on something while performing a related action. It was true that a few isekai novels utilized such a concept, which meant acquiring skills was fairly simple.
「Nature Crafting」was considered an E-grade skill, so that might have also been the case as skills with higher grades became harder to acquire. White didn't think he had time to experiment with learning skills that weren't even certain now, so he didn't think to apply that knowledge to anything else for now.
In any case, the skill had changed his perception of his surroundings a little differently with this skill. Some plants and objects were glowing faintly as long as he focused on them. Like in the game, his vision would be 'highlighted' of materials nearby so he wasn't very surprised.
He found leaves that improved natural recovery, treating his blisters conveniently. Within a few minutes, it seemed to have healed to a considerable degree. If everything else was this convenient, White mused that this was a fairly easy world to live in.
After resting up, White decided to start looking for some place to settle down safely before night fell.
As he wandered around looking for places that appeared safe, White picked up on a foul stench.
The path he was walking on made it impossible to avoid it. Thus as White walked forward with his nose covered, the horrendous sight soon came into view. The young man fell back against a tree unsteadily and resisted the urge to gag.
—A corpse revealing most of its skeleton, rotting with worms squirming around its once-was eye sockets laid on the ground.
One look and he could tell that a long time had already passed from the time of this person's death. Their skin was drained to the point of being unrecognizable, as if it was mummified. From the looks of that mangled, dried-up corpse, a monster must have been the culprit. But how was a monster monkey capable of doing this? He didn't think a slime would burn someone that bad either. The Forest Slimes were actually pretty weak if you were prepared for them.
No matter how this person had died, it was still a grueling sight.
White furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to swallow his vomit again. It had been a little too much, but with time he began to calm himself down.
As he became more used to the smell, the young man observed the corpse more carefully. There were actually some things that appeared valuable to him!
Simply put, it was the equipment the person had before they died. Nothing seems to be looted, and everything was still intact on his body, although it showed some signs of tear. They were not exactly the best stuff he could find, but it was something.
The appearance of a typical set of fantasy, light armor. —A rough leather hide that covered the once-been owner's chest, gloves, a belt and a bundle of [Ignition Stones] in a pouch tied with a string.
He recognized them.
〚 Ignition Stone ♦ Uncommon Grade ✠ Material 〛
⤷ A highly flammable piece of rock. Disintegrates during combustion.
⤷ A highly flammable piece of rock. Disintegrates during combustion.
These red stones would commonly be used to create a 'campfire' where the player could create a safe zone in a monster-filled region. Naturally, that function wouldn't be available anymore. Instead, they felt more like grenades.
The red stones emitted a mild warmness, reminding him that this thing was actually quite dangerous. Realizing that he shouldn't keep the pouch open for too long, White quickly tied the knot back onto the pouch again.
What else was there...
There was also a bronze sheath with some rust on it, but that sword appears to be missing.
Some of the things here were valuable things for him as a Level 1.
Naturally, what White was doing was rather unethical in a sense, but taking into account that he had been exposed to a dead man just moments before, his previous sense of ethics had also dulled considerably.
He surely needed it for survival.
... ... ... ...
White placed his hands together again to pray for the deceased when he was done. The process had been dreadfully tedious because he was 'peeling' the equipment off the skin of a rotten body.
Naturally, White would flinch and turn his eyes away whenever that happened. Although it might be worth something, White still left the sword sheath alone as it was quite heavy. He had also left his clothes alone as it was already tattered.
"Please rest in peace."
After doing a simple burial, the young man looked for moist soil nearby, leading him to a river with fresh water. He washed the guts off the pocketed equipment, then wiped them dry. After scrutinizing every nook and cranny of the armor, it finally looked presentable. There were still some bloodstains that had soaked into the leather, but he wouldn't complain about something he had gotten for free. The armor happened to fit his chest perfectly as he wore the new equipment over his current set of clothes.
◤NEW◢ ♦ 〚 Chest Leather Armor ❙❙ ♦ Lesser Rare Grade ✠ Equipment - Top ♦ 34 Defense 〛
◤NEW◢ ♦ 〚 Leather Gloves ❙❙❙❙ ♦ Uncommon Grade ✠ Equipment - Gloves ♦ 23 Defense 〛
◤NEW◢ ♦ 〚 Leather Belt ❙❙ ♦ Uncommon Grade ✠ Equipment - Belt ♦ 16 Defense 〛
In the game, the rarity system contained seven colors up to Orange: [Legendary Grade], and now it was the first time he had gotten an [Uncommon Grade] item in this world.
White took a drink from the river and washed his face while he was at it. He thought that there wasn't enough time to clean his clothes now, and decided to set up camp first. White followed the river and fortunately enough, he was able to find a small cave behind a waterfall that was there in the game. There was a protruding rock above his head that acted as a roof and it seemed like a place where the sounds of water would drown out any signs that he was here.
After leaning against the cave wall, White narrowed his eyes from lethargy as he recalled the things that had happened in a single day. The tension earlier from understanding that he had traversed to a new world and learning new things had faded away, and he quickly succumbed to his built-up fatigue.
White decided not to hold any more lingering attachments to his previous world, and instead pour his effort into a new one. Taking the mask off for the night, he relished in those fleeting thoughts...With his sinking consciousness, White's eyelids turned heavier by the second— Soon he fell asleep.