'Where am I? Why does my body ache so much?' Himura Watanabe thought. 'Am I now in a forest? Where are Tanaka and the others?'
He looked around and can only see thick bushes and trees. He tried to stand up by holding on to the tree trunk he was leaning against while holding his head which was feeling dizzy. Unfortunately, he did not have the strength to stand up and sat back down on the ground.
Himura Watanabe was confused about what happened to him and tried to remember what the Goddess had said. 'If I remember correctly..., the Goddess said that we will be reincarnated according to our deeds while living in the previous world...'
Himura Watanabe recalls his dark days when he was in middle school to high school. He recalled the days when he beat up the thugs he met on the street with the excuse of disciplining them even though he only wanted to relieve his stress using them.
'I think the rice has turned to mush and this is what I got,' Himura Watanabe thought as he tried to stand up again. He tried to endure all the pain he felt, but it didn't work either and he sat back down on the ground. 'If I can't endure it, how about I let it go?'
Himura Watanabe tried to let the pain he felt run through his body even though the pain made the muscles in his body go limp and ache at the same time. He wanted so badly to scream to relieve the pain he was feeling, but he didn't because he thought it would attract the attention of wild beasts in the forest.
[You acquired a skill:
A white screen message engraved with golden text appeared in front of Himura Watanabe. As soon as that screen message appeared, the pain he felt was decreasing a bit.
'Why does a screen message appear in front of me out of nowhere?' Himura Watanabe thought as he tried to touch the screen message. However, the screen message disappeared just before he touched it. 'Am I hallucinating from feeling too much pain?'
Himura Watanabe tried to stand up again for the third time. This time, he managed to stand up even though he couldn't balance his body. He tried to look around and he found a lake only a few feet away from him.
'I guess I'll try to see if the water is drinkable or not,' Himura Watanabe thought. 'Maybe the pain that I felt will be relieved by drinking water.'
Unsteadily walking, Himura Watanabe arrived at the shores of the lake. He tried to look at the surface of the lake and saw the reflection of his face. He saw that his face is far different from the face he had.
He had the face of an eighteen-year-old with different colored eyes. His right eye is dark red with a slight black tint and his left eye is golden yellow with a slight white tint. His hair was pitch black with some of the strands on the right being crimson red, while some of the strands on the left were blonde.
'Is it me?' Himura Watanabe thought as he touched his face with a look of disbelief. 'A face like this will be in demand among the girls and can become a model or a high-class artist.'
Admiring his new look for a while, Himura Watanabe come back to his sense and returned to his original intention of coming to the shores of the lake. He took a small stone that was near his feet and soaked it for a while in the lake water.
Feeling that it had been long enough, Himura Watanabe took out the small stone and started observing it. He tries to ensure that the lake water is not corrosive or contains other harmful substances.
Finished using a small rock, Himura Watanabe pulled some leaves from the bushes and soaked them in the lake water. He did that to check whether the lake water was poisonous or not.
After carrying out several further tests while feeling unbearable pain, Himura Watanabe was finally able to confirm that the lake water was drinkable.
He immediately put his hands into the lake and took out some water for him to drink directly. Surprisingly, the taste of the lake water was quite refreshing in his throat.
However, the refreshing taste of the lake water turned into another unbearable pain that was ten times greater than the previous pain he felt. His blood felt like it was boiling, his internal organs felt like they were being squeezed by each other, and the veins in his body felt like they were being twisted.
Unable to endure the pain in his body any longer, Himura Watanabe screamed at the top of his lungs. His screams spread throughout the forest and were heard by its inhabitants. Several monsters and animals who heard Himura Watanabe's screams were frightened and chose to run away and several again choose to hide because they have low mobility.
Among those forest inhabitants, there was a beastkin race that dared to go to the source of the screams by herself. She did that not out of courage, but because she wanted to end her life.
'I have lost my home, my family, and my friends,' she thought. 'There is no other reason for me to live, I'd better just end it.'
Walking with a frightened body, she finally arrived behind a tree trunk and saw the appearance of Himura Watanabe who was screaming in agony. She observed him for a few moments as she swallowed her spit. 'I have made up my mind, let's do this.'
The beastkin jumped from behind the tree trunk and walked towards Himura Watanabe while closing her eyes. The fear of death which was the opposite of her determination made her stop for a moment. 'Wait..., do I have to do this? Isn't there another way? For example, looking for someone who can love me and live happily with him?'
As she thought like that, Himura Watanabe stopped screaming and looked at her. When he looked at her, her body trembling even harder and her legs went limp. She could no longer stand up and sat down on the ground as she started to shed tears.
"Hey, you over there," Himura Watanabe said. "Could you tell me what this place is? And why does the water in this lake hurt my body?"
The beastkin who heard Himura Watanabe's words were surprised because he could speak using the language of the beastkin race. She wanted to answer him, but her lips couldn't move because of the fear that had been ingrained in her body. 'Damn lips! Why can't you speak at such a crucial moment?'
Himura Watanabe started walking towards the beastkin while enduring the pain within his body. The beastkin who saw him walking towards her was shocked. She immediately turned around and crawled on the ground to get away from him.
However, Himura Watanabe walked faster than the beastkin that was crawling on the ground. He stood before her and then crouched down. "Why are you trying to run from me? Is there something wrong with me?"
Unable to answer Himura Watanabe's question, the beastkin chose to remain silent while continuing to crawl on the ground. She tried to ignore him and kept moving forward. 'Shit! Shit! Shit! I undo my plan to die today! This is too scary!'
'Why is she trying to run from me? Is it because I'm a human while she looks like a half-human and half-tiger?' Himura Watanabe thought as he stood up. 'Or perhaps..., she thought I would hurt her?'
Himura Watanabe walked and stood before the beastkin. He crouched down and sighed. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
Hearing Himura Watanabe's words, the beastkin misinterpreted them. 'He won't hurt me? So..., that means he wants to kill me painlessly?'
"Come on stand up, it feels impolite of me to talk to someone who is crawling on the ground," Himura Watanabe said as he reached out his hand to the beastkin. "Here, take my hand."
'What? He has some kind of etiquette when it comes to killing his victims?' the beastkin thought as she tried to move her lips again. Luckily, she was finally able to move her lips again. "Please do it fast so I don't even notice you've done it."
Hearing what the beastkin said to him, Himura Watanabe was confused. 'What does she mean by that?' Himura Watanabe thought.
[
Another white screen message engraved with golden text appeared in front of Himura Watanabe. As soon as that screen message appeared, the pain he felt was decreasing a lot.
'Oh, another message screen?' Himura Watanabe thought as he tried to touch the screen message in front of him. However, just before he touched it, the screen message disappeared.