The forest was like any normal forest that could be found on Earth, but what lay behind was what truly represented the fantasy world. The residents of this world, like the goblins or dragons, and Kain, who couldn't believe he was here, kept touching the tree or any small creature he caught.
Kain looked at the leaf in his skeletal hands. He saw an image of the paper in it, then tore with determination and shook his head.
"This is life... For the one, you work for the sake of others, say goodbye to school and my old life, and hello to freedom." Kain spread his arms as the light of the sun shone on him.
Even though he said that there was still unwillingness and sadness in his heart, of course, the Earth was his home. It was there where he lived, grew, and met many people. He couldn't just brush the word "old home" even if he was in a "new home" now.
"Sigh... hmm, what's that?" Kain caught a bizarre creature in his right-side vision.
It was a small creature with pointy ears and a white beard, with an arrow in his hands. It looked like a child but at the same time... a middle-aged man, making Kain speechless.
He didn't even guess what kind of creature it was, as Kain immediately ordered, pointing his bony finger at it, "Catch it!"
The creature rode on a small pig as the pig was standing on the branch overlooking them.
It panicked seeing Kain notice it and began muttering words in a hurry, "Run, run, run!"
"Don't let it get away!" The skeleton boar chases it right away, with Kain riding on it.
The skeleton boar's speed was faster than the three skeletons with just two feet, so it quickly left them behind.
However, given the size of two, the creature was small, so it could enter any gap that could fit its size in the tree or any cave. While the boar's size was half the size of the tree, and they were in a narrow space, the creature swiftly left them behind.
"Damn..."
Kain looked at the creature that had vanished. He knew he couldn't catch it because the creature was on the branch, so he needed to climb up before catching it, and given its speed, it was impossible to catch it.
The reason Kain needed to catch it was that the system reacted.
[The scream of the soul's agony reaches your ears; the souls reach out their hands to you, screaming for help.]
"Is it evil?" Kain guessed.
To make the soul seek Kain's help, who was a skeleton, was not a good guy. It must be an evil entity. But that's an assumption. After all, this was a fantasy world; perhaps the souls were the evil ones.
The fantasy world was much darker than the Earth. Kain, who was a novel addict, could list what kinds of things made this world darker.
Another reason Kain needed to catch it was that with those souls, he could summon more servants, not just skeletons, but Death Knights or something.
"I wonder what kind of creature it was, a dwarf? Gnome? This world hides so many mysteries that even my thousand years of knowledge... oops!" Kain whiffed his head in embarrassment because his hidden self was about to show up.
A chuunibyuo!
Kain looked at the place where the creature had disappeared for a second before deciding to meet his siblings.
---
After a while,
Kain encountered many monsters and unknown creatures, but they only hid, not daring to show up. Perhaps they were intimidated by the skeleton boar or Kain with his buddies.
"Finally! A river!"
Kain quickly jumped off the boar as he ran to the river.
A naked skeleton with violet flames floating on its eye socket was reflected in the river as Kain stared at it.
"I am a skeleton... but why don't I feel anything...?"
That's right, Kain felt nothing during his little journey, even though a normal human should have been terrified alone in the dangerous forest or with the three terrifying skeletons accompanying him. He even had the courage to capture the strange creature before, despite not knowing what kind of entity it was or how strong it was.
He didn't feel fear.
"I slowly losing my humanity…? If I don't feel fear, what kind of emotion will disappear next? Damn... why is it so fast? I just transmigrated! At least, made it disappear when I'm strong enough!" Kain grumbled.
"Is there any switch to turn off or on my emotions?"
Kain sighed, seeing the system didn't respond.
"I guess that's it. It's not like I will care about it when I lose all my emotions."
Kain then looked at the river. As for the 'lost his humanity' part, he threw it out in his mind.
"How do I gain skills?" Kain asked the system.
Kain decided to become a mage while his servant was in front.
Being a mage was one of his dreams when he was just a normal student. He wanted a magic that could solve math problems easily or stop time so he could steal a bank, and a mage was more powerful than a melee, so Kain didn't hesitate to become a mage.
And, in most cases, magic was superior to using a sword.
Seeing the system didn't respond, Kain tried it himself.
"Rasengan!"
"Shidori!"
"Gomu-gomu no! Pistol!"
"Za Warudo!"
"Fire ball!"
Suddenly, a small fireball appeared on his palm. Kain immediately threw it toward the tree, creating a small crack in the tree that was then accompanied by a notification from the system.
[New skill! Fireball (T-10)]
[Fireball: Hurls a small fireball toward the target, dealing small damage when hit.]
Seeing this, Kain became happy.
"System, but why does only this fireball work?" Kain asked with curiosity.
This time the system responded.
[Your magic is currently at a low level.]
[The magic in your status was determined by your mana capacity, meaning your level 1 magic was equal to 10 mana points...]
"So complicated… why don't you just put mana points instead of levels?"
[The system is upgradable...]
"Really? How?" Kain's face lit up.
[Find one of Death's remnants.]
"Death remnant? Who is that? An embodiment of death or something..."
[Yes.]
"Sigh... I expect nothing." Kain shook his head in disappointment.
Death, who is that? Of course, it's none other than the end of everything, the destination after life, the one who governed the concept of death, and now finding its remnant was as difficult as finding a needle in the universe.
And, if it's a death remnant, there should be others trying to find it.
"Well… it's not too bad to try. What is an adventure if you are afraid of risk?"
An adventure was boring if you only wanted to kill a slime. A true adventure was when you encountered many friends and enemies as you explored every part of the world. That's what Kain believed.
In his past life, Kain had a boring life; waking up early in the morning and coming back home from school to study and sleep. It was so repetitive that he even questioned what he was living for. He was once even jealous of the main character in a piece of fiction; their world was full of color.
And now Kain, who transmigrated to another world, was going to enjoy every bit of happiness before losing his humanity...
[The Death remnant has been located!]
[190m north of here!]
"Oh… I don't think it could be easy…"
Kain immediately rode the boar and ordered.
"To the north!"
---
"So, this is it?"
Kain stood in front of the large stone gate. He opened it to see what was inside.
With the help of his buddies, surprisingly, even though they were skeletons, the large stone gate easily opened.
Thud!
The long passage with the torches attached to the wall was surprisingly clean as if someone had taken care of it.
When he put his foot inside, the system popped up.
[You enter the dungeon!]
[At the end of the passage, a king wearing the death robe sat on the throne.]
[The unknown king notices you!]
Boom!
Suddenly, some kind of force pulled him in helplessly as the large stone gate shut closed.
"GURARARA! Another challenger?! What do you desire, my throne or this death robe?!"
A pressure that Kain felt as if he was standing before the ruler of hell, and a scream of the agony of souls ringing in his ears as the hands of the ruler of hell were grasping his throat.
"Huff… huff!" Kain gasped as he panted.
"What kind of pressure is that?! This is a trap! Why didn't you tell me there was a strong one living here? You threw me off a cliff!" Kain cursed the system in his mind. Of course, he knew what kind of danger the Death remnant would bring, but he trusted the system. But he never thought the system would bring him here, even though he was currently weak.
The system didn't seem to hear him, as it chose not to respond.
"L-let's go…"
Kain decided to leave. However, when he turned behind, he saw only the skeleton boar, who was lying weakly and forcing itself to stand while the green flames in its eyes were getting dimmer and dimmer, and beside it was a pile of bones.
"Hey, hey, tell me what happened? What happens to my boar!?"
Kain asked in concern, but he couldn't conceal the anger in his voice as he tried to help the boar stand up.
[The pressure from the unknown king was accompanied by a soul spell.]
[You are unaffected because of the system's protection, while the skeleton boar survived because of the will that kept him awake.]
---
"Lupi!"
"Saba!"
"Pace!"
A group of people was shouting in the forest, while concern was written on their faces.