... ... ...
"Why are you here?"
an old man asked as if not understanding.
"Well, there's something I want to tell the current village chief."
"You mean about the kid who went missing and didn't come back five days ago, isn't that right, Carl?"
"Right."
The village gatekeeper named Carl nodded in response.
He looked at the old man whose identity was the current village head, with a worried and nervous look reflected in his eyes.
Feeling uncomfortable, disturbing the village head's rest, coming to his house in the middle of the night like this.
*GULP
"Huh... exactly what were you thinking about telling the situation about the problems that existed in Death Valley, right now?"
"Sorry."
Carl felt depressed and guilt overtook him.
In truth, he just wanted to befriend newcomers and tell fun stories.
However, he did not know this would turn out. He regretted being too outspoken about spreading rumors.
It felt like his heart was being torn apart by guilt.
The village head once again looked at him and said.
"Several times I tried to contact the mayor for help, but again they ignored him. I don't know what that stingy noble was thinking."
After several times with no response from the town, the village chief was forced to mobilize a guard troop to patrol the village walls.
He couldn't help but use the resources they had accumulated along the way, to hire mercenaries and the adventurer's guild.
It was for the sake of dealing with possible threats from the goblins that roamed the forbidden territory of the empire.
In addition, the problem of the disappearance of a traveler who was allegedly lost in Death Valley. Making his head throb in pain would be difficult to find a solution to.
He glanced at Carl who was biting his lip, and couldn't take it anymore, then gently tapped Carl's shoulder and once again reassured him.
"The past is the past. Think about the present and face tomorrow, we and the warriors in the village will try to find it."
"But what if he's in danger right now!?and...and..how did he die?"
Carl looked as if the world would perish sooner or later, even the way he stuttered made him look pathetic.
For a moment—
*SLAP!!
"Carl..! Get a grip, I know you're worried. But, if you keep on doing this then the problem will never be solved."
The village chief slapped Carl's cheek and made his cheeks blush.
He stared hard at Carl's face who had a shocked expression on his face.
The firmness of an older to educate the younger.
But on the other hand—
The village chief felt sorry to see the underling he was proud of, burdened with feelings of anxiety and extreme anxiety.
It couldn't be helped, he was forced to wake his up with brute force, even though he felt reluctant to do so.
Carl should know that too, as a man who has never seen the outside world and has always grown up in this remote area. The village head also wants this mistake to be a meaningful lesson for Carl.
Which is where a person's life is involved.
10 seconds passed...
Immediately, Carl realized his mistake and frantically lowered his head.
"I'm sorry, the village head. I was wrong, I won't do it again."
"Enough, now rest at home. I will call again if there is good news later."
"Yes."
Realizing there was nothing more to say, Carl turned around and headed for the exit.
He did not forget to bid farewell to the village head.
But-
"Wait a moment."
"Yes?"
Hearing the village chief's voice calling out to him, Carl stopped in his tracks and turned to look at him in confusion.
The village chief's brow twitched and his eyes moved left and right as if tracing something in his head.
However-
This wasn't the first time this had happened to see the village head act, on the contrary, it was a custom that the local villagers knew about.
Perhaps because of age, his memory is always getting worse and while talking, he always forgets what he wanted to talk about.
Regardless, what made Carl confused and curious, was what he wanted to ask.
Seeing the village head close his eyes and frown as if he was remembering something.
Carl patiently waited for his boss to finish sorting out his memories.
The village chief suddenly opened his eyes and blurted out an 'Ah' subconsciously, then looked at Carl with a fragile smile.
said the head of the village.
"Is there something I want to ask you?"
Carl quickly responded.
"What is it, village chief?"
Waiting for the next word to come out of the village head's mouth, made him nervous.
"Can you tell me the name of the lost traveler?"
"Ah."
For some reason, Carl was able to breathe a sigh of relief and fixed his expression.
Carl said with a bitter smile.
"Of course."
He thought for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth and answered.
"I don't know what an alias is, but he said his name was—"
—O'Connor.
He asks his to call him like that.
... ... ...
Drops of water slowly dripped and hit the nose of the unconscious youth.
*DRIP!
Slowly he opened his closed eyes.
"Keuk…"
Electric shocks and pain coursed through his body.
A sharp frown formed on his forehead, as did the tingling hand that was holding his head.
What O'Connor saw first was a dark space beyond words.
So he was forced to lift his upper body and lean against the wall.
As soon as he leaned against the wall, dust flew everywhere.
"Cough..cough..cough..damn."
Waving his hand and brushing away the dust covering his face, which revealed annoyance.
Resentment as if fed up with all this.
He felt that he was not welcomed by this world. In just a few days, something that seemed unlucky slowly started to happen to him.
The dimagelt times he had in his previous lifeemed to be repeating themselves.
O'Connor smoothed out wrinkles and patted the dust from his clothes that had turned to tatters.
As soon as he finished, he hurriedly searched for the [space bag] that was previously nearby.
Resisting the urge to curse as a stress reliever, he started to feel the ground around him.
*SREK. SREK. SREK.
"Found you."
Feeling the smooth texture of the leather and some traces of knitting, he slowly pulled to the side. And not long after, he opened it while checking the contents inside, one by one as a whole.
"The coins are there, the hard bread is still there, the map is still safe, the watch is not broken, and also I the potions are a little bit left.. Phew~ I feel relieved."
He let out a sigh of relief through the air. O'Connor finally breathed a sigh of relief again, knowing that her safety key had not been lost.
However, under any circumstances, O'Connor always relies on the equipment tucked away in this brown leather bag.
A few moments passed, O'Connor quietly surveyed his surroundings, and he knew he was on the porch of a place he didn't know very well.
The only way to know for sure is, his last memory before O'Connor lost consciousness, namely the moment he accidentally touched the lines of a pattern that was believed to be someone's fingerprints.
'Ah, by the way. I remember reading in a novel, that teleportation magic circles did exist back then.'
The existence of such spells was something of a wonder to modern Earthlings.
Because such magic has uses; move an object or subject to a coordinated, predetermined location.
Mixed feelings, joy and anger at the same time, welled up inside him. Thanks to this damn body that didn't have any special talents like handling magical energy, it felt like his anger was directed at the person who sent him to this world.
Back in reality, O'Connor shook his head in response.
He slowly pulled out the healing potion that was in the bag pocket.
Without hesitation, he poured it into his mouth.
*GULP... GULP... GULP...
"Hah, thank goodness I can breathe a sigh of relief. But...I feel like there's something else..."
After drinking the healing potion, O'Connor felt something strange about his body.
Feeling around his body and slowly stopping right at the chest.
O'Connor spontaneously clutched his chest and frowned.
"No matter I look, it feels like the strength in my body is decreasing."
Whether it was once or twice, he drank healing potions. In the end, it was only a temporary effect.
Then….
Something light crossed O'Connor's mind and hit him in the head.
"Ah, how could I forget. Wasn't that time, I used the skill in the ring... By the way, I forgot to check my stats earlier."
After regaining his sanity, O'Connor innocently muttered strange words.
"Status window."
________________
[Status]
—Name : O'Connor de Carpe
—Age : 16 years old
—Gender: Male
—Profession: None
—Title: Son of the Carpe Family
[Statistics]
[Strength : 4] [Agility : 7] [Vitality : 1] [Mana : 0]
—Stat points you have : 2
[ Traits and abilities ]
—Unique Ability : None
—Skill : [Eye Of Gluttony (SS)]
—Transient Skills : [Understand at a Glance(A+)] [Silk Wind(F)]
—Traits : [Calamity Grade Gluttony] [Coward] [Weak]
_____
A blue board stretched out right in front of O'Connor's eyes.
There was no reaction of surprise or worry, as if he was used to this.
"Wow...Agility has increased by two points, while Vitality has decreased by one point. It's as if the payout really matched the gain."
Looking at the one point remaining Vitality stat, made him smile bitterly.
The stress of depriving the body of flair, overtaxing it. He knew, he would have to experience countless battles to advance to 3-stage.
If there was a shortcut to getting stronger faster, then he would have gone down that path.
"Being strong is not the only means of survival, you can use brains or powers to prolong survival."
However it was the hardest thing for him to obtain such a luxury. If he knew what happened to this world in the future.
So O'Connor reluctantly declined the offer.
'What's the use after getting such pleasure? After knowing that the apocalypse will hit this world.'
O'Connor shook his head and returned to focusing on selecting one of the three stats that could be increased.
After thinking it over, O'Connor continued with his choice to increase Vitality, by investing two points.
[Your Vitality has increased +]
[Your Vitality has increased +]
The familiar feeling that O'Connor felt at that time, came back to him again.
He closed his eyes and opened them again, clenching his fists.
O'Connor said.
"It's time to leave this place."
Bending his knees while trying to hold back his trembling legs, to stand up.
O'Connor gritted his teeth silently as he took a deep breath.
"Phew~ I thought that wouldn't work."
Taking a teetering step, O'Connor stared straight down the dark corridor.
Because there was no light, he was forced to use a wall as a support.
The temperature of the passage was dark and cold. Like it or not he had to endure the cold that made his body shiver with cold.
"It wouldn't be funny if I got hypothermic for the current situation."
O'Connor grumbled at the thought of the symptoms that were bothering him.
Before long, he quickly stopped thinking and refocused again.
The minutes unconsciously ticked by, O'Connor walked down the hall to the fork in the lanes, once there, a faint light caught in his eyes.
He saw the torches hanging on the walls, as if indicating the way in.
Instantly his feet involuntarily reacted to a certain stimulus, after seeing the light in front of him.
He could feel his body slowly being enveloped in a sudden warmth.
He wanted to run there quickly, but—
As a result, because his legs were no longer strong enough to walk, he had to crawl to get there.
—|—
"Wow….what the heck is this place?"
After turning from the intersection and through the tunnel.
O'Connor is presented with a very classic view.
Marble floors and colorful lighting.
All O'Connor did was stare blankly and have a look of astonishment on his face.
"It's like a place accidentally set on fire by Roman General Julius Caesar…"
Location, room, and place where books are generally stored.
Library.
More precisely, an endless library filled with all kinds of books.
It weaved like a maze, but O'Connor made it through without a hitch.
'... my own instincts told me to walk without hesitation.'
Taking step by step, he moved forward.
He had even forgotten the pain in his feet, after a long while ago he was crawling.
*Step. Step. Step.
How long are you going to walk like that?
The quicker he got closer, the easier it was for him to measure the length and width of the library.
To be precise, towards the center that caught his attention more.
What O'Connor noticed most was not the interior and decorations of the library, but the large object directly in front of it.
However.
"Strange."
O'Connor said, tilting his head to the side.
The large object that O'Connor has identified so far, is an altar made of andesite stone and has a bit of shiny iron alloy, in between.
'We meet once again well…'
O'Connor caught a glimpse of something that looked familiar to him.
Once again. What was even more strange was that he saw the same sword pattern from the Giant Bear's crystal back then.
The carving of the hilt is very detailed, which makes him never once forget it.
But—
The difference here is that there are no adult fingerprints, but are replaced with book patterns or symbols, which are positioned wide open to point to the middle of the page.
In addition, O'Connor also saw a skeleton wearing a witch's robe, who was posing as a prayer. With his two leg bones touching down, as well as his two hands together and attached to his forehead.
"Surprisingly enough, it lasts."
Usually, the bones of the human skeleton over time will experience fragility. But not in front of him.
It was as if maggots and insects were purposely avoiding him.
"Are you giving offerings?"
O'Connor also finds a skirt under her robe, and learns that this skeletal corpse belongs to a woman.
A very strange strange feeling, made him frown, looked at the golden blonde hair that looked very clean without even a hint of loss, and just stood there on the fontanel bone.
The only comment O'Connor can have about this place is….
"Mysterious—no, wait a moment…"
He thought again after the words left his mouth.
"Back to the novel back then, according to my memory. ...I remember the description of a place that exudes a mysterious atmosphere and a strange feeling that the main character always feels. Oh my God…! How could I be so stupid…!"
He widened his eyes after slapping his forehead. And again shouted.
"Mysterious existence of the world, I found it! Puahahahaha…!"
Loud laughter filled all corners of the library room, to the crevices of the bookshelves.
Only, the culprit that had been the source of the laughter was laughing loudly like he was a madman, if anyone were to look at it.
It's heartbreaking.
It took about 15 minutes, he finally stopped laughing.
Wiping her tears with a big smile on his face.
O'Connor excitedly danced around the altar.
"Hohoho….hehehehe…..hahahahaha, wahahahaha you crazy bastard...!"
The greed he had been harboring, he finally poured out by rushing towards the center of the altar.
Once there, he stared at the pattern with an extremely intense gaze.
Then he scratched the back of his head, and sorted out his jumbled memories.
"According to what's written in the novel, the main character only needs to touch the strange pattern after finding the mysterious altar back then. ...Well, I think trying it is fine too."
In a frenzy, he brought his hand into contact with the engraved pattern representing the sword and book.
*TOUCH!
"Hmm? No reaction whatsoever—whoaa!!"
*KWOONG! KWOONG! CLANK—!!
O'Connor was surprised by his hands feeling a tingling sensation.
The entire pattern suddenly emitted an incomparably golden radiance, then flowed from top to bottom, and headed straight for his palm.
It felt like his vein was being stabbed and something liquid seeped through his veins until it slowly made its way to the brain.
O'Connor's expression hardened at what was happening to his body.
Suddenly-
"Uarggg...!! It hurts! It hurts! My head really hurts!!"
*THUD!
Pain right in the head. It felt like someone was messing with his brain.
His eyes were rolling white and blood was coming from his eyes, nose and ears.
His vision of change was unclear as it was obstructed by a red liquid like blood. Forced he threw himself onto the floor and writhed in pain.
And then.
One by one images of landscapes, unfamiliar faces to the appearance of hideous monsters appeared in his mind.
His lungs gradually pump oxygen quickly, so he doesn't run out of breath.
It looked like he was a patient undergoing medical surgery.
Because O'Connor couldn't stand the terrible pain. He let out his curses one by one, thanks to the pain he couldn't tolerate.
"Fuck! Who is she?! What's in my head!?!!! Uarrghhhhh….!! I don't want to pass out for the second time!!!"
After hours later, the pain slowly subsided.
Even so, O'Connor still can't keep his consciousness after escaping from the hellish crisis that befell him.
His eyelids suddenly became heavy, then his vision gradually turned black.
Saw O'Connor lying unconscious.
Suddenly, a blue screen appeared adding to the current gloomy atmosphere.
[You obtained…..]
[You…]
... ... ...