The Knights body by the giant tree made me feel uneasy. I do not want to dead body but the possibility of getting something useful filled my heart with courage.
The moment I touched him a panel opened in my head. Knights' belongings floated in front of my eyes.
Brocken steel armor, damaged steel helmet, steel boots, steel gauntlets, and one hundred gold coins. With a single thought, gold coins were transferred into my inventory as the rest of the equipment, was too heavy for me. I reached my inventory limit of 10 kg.
"..."
I rubbed my forehead. No need to feel frustrated Noah, we got everything right! Just calm down.
Food supplies and water supplies were approximately 5 kg, an axe, and knife were 3 kg, and a furred veil and fire stones took the rest of the spots. Thankfully gold coins weren't considered in this weighting procedure.
My eyes fell on a short sword near the knight. The sword had a cold hilt, with blood on it.
[ Short steel sword (4.9 kgs) ]
"5 kg?" I picked up the short sword. It was heavy, but I needed this to survive...
[ Ding! Weapon equipped...]
[ Character. Skills. Inventory.
- Skills
- Normal ability
Swordsmanship: - ...
( 0 / 1000) Swings are required to reach the level of beginners. ]
Wait, what? I am not even a beginner... a thousand swings to reach that level huh? Well, at least it's not telling me to do something outrageous.
I gripped the hilt with two hands and tried to swing horizontally. I was trying to do a horizontal swing but ended up doing a half-circle. The so-called short sword was too heavy for me. What an embarrassment...
[ 1 / 1000 ]
Thankfully, this horrible swing counted. Seeing the one number I felt it wasn't useless if I spent enough time with this I could become a swordsman.
-
Walking on the same path where I had found the cave I dragged a sword with me. I couldn't put it inside the inventory so I had to carry it.
I felt relieved after getting my hands on gold coins of dead bodies. Hopefully, they will not curse me for that, will they?
[ 346 gold coins... ]
I'm rich.
The climate was worsening like the last time giving a boost to my feet. I had everything I needed to survive except for firewood.
I had to gather firewood so I could sleep peacefully inside that cave, I took that mental note before fastening my pace.
Finally, I found the cave along with a few fallen branches of tall trees. With the help of fire stones, I lit the fire before deciding to call it a day.
Hours passed as I began living peacefully inside the cave, eating apples and blueberries. Occasionally I had to make trips outside a few times to find more firewood and thankfully I found other consumable foods in the snow desert.
Living inside the cave wasn't soothing at all, I wanted to sleep on a soft bed but all I had at the moment was a thick veil to cover myself during the nighttime and the same food to eat along with the frozen water of a lake. What a fucking life!
I was waiting for pass-by wagons or at least people to find the human settlement and so far no luck in that task. Thankfully I progressed a lot in swordsmanship.
[ 266 / 1000 ]
Practicing with a short sword was exhausting but I had no alternative to pass the time. Was it three days or four? I'd be stuck here, of course willingly. But no signs of humans or any beasts, I hoped the beasts would avoid this place or I would be their food for sure.
The fire was warming me while I sat there with a bored look on my face. What if I began following the path, will I be able to find the human settlement? Or this environment will get me first? Only one way to find out!
I inhaled deeply before getting back on my feet. Before other things, this boredom will kill me. I left the cave while dragging my short sword.
Five hours of the journey ended when I found a manmade shelter a few meters away from the crossroad. A small wooden hut was enough to avoid snowfall and biting cold, smoke was surging from the windows giving a sign of human existence.
My shivering legs forward automatically to the hut. Finally, NPCs!
I thumped the wooden door carefully so it would not plummet. And soon enough old man opened it with a shocked expression on his face.
[ Name - Juriudu gearshift ( 12 Lvl )
Age - 68
Race - Human
- Who is this kid? What's he doing here? ]
Jagu gearshift? What kind of name is that? Wait what's with the old man's level? , Twelve! Are you kidding me?
"Boy, what are you doing in the Snow forest at this hour?" He spoke with a somewhat uneven voice.
I stared at his wizened face, he was shorter than me wearing a furred coat. Level twelve, this old man was level twelve? Then why am I level one?
"Come inside" He pulled me inside his hut and locked the door behind us. "where are your parents? Did you come here alone? Why are you here?"
" i...I" So many questions, how am I supposed to answer them? I had no idea where my parents are neither did I know why I was here.
I told him, my parents died at the hands of an ice monkey and I ran off trying to find help!.. I cannot possibly tell him that I am from a different world. In the end, he decided to look after me because I am not an adult according to the rules of this world.
One becomes an adult when he passes the age of fifteen. It was a reasonable choice for me to stick with this old man, I will be able to know more about this world and other things before I embark on my journey. In return, he requested me to help him around...
[ Ding! Daily mission unlocked...
• Help the old man ( collect food, herbs, and wood )
Reward - 10 exp
Accept. Decline. ]
The minute I agreed, the window popped in front of me. It's my best decision since I arrived in the world. I could be able to gain 10 exp every single day, that's awesome I found a way to level up.
"You should take a rest. I will cook something for you" He turned around to the fire pit where one pot was hanging above it.
He made herbal soup for both of us and after that prepared my bed on the ground beside himself. Without giving a second thought I jumped into the mattress and in a matter of seconds, I fluttered to sleep.
After waking up I rubbed my eyes. It was an amazingly peaceful and comfortable night.
I noticed he left me clothes, Boys' clothes to be specific. I changed my clothes feeling satisfied with the comfort and size, How did this old man have my size of clothing? And where was he now?
The hut was empty, but I could hear the noise as if someone was cutting the wood. I made my way outside only to see Oldman, who was chopping tree branches into small chunks to fit in the fire pit.
"Are you awake young man?" He didn't spare a glance at me and continued to cut the wood. I could tell from his swings, that his old bones still had strength in them. " Give me a few minutes, I will prepare something for us"
"Let me help you, sir" I offered. I had to start somewhere.
" ..."
He left the axe stuck inside the log before patting my back. " Call me Grandpa, Youngman"
He went inside and I picked up that axe. Time to start leveling up! With that, I began cutting those chunks. I knew my physical capacity was weak but didn't realize it was this weak. The next minute I was gasping for air as if I ran twenty miles straight.
I settle my heavy ass down on the snow floor wiping the sweat from my forehead. Damn! This is no joke Before I proceeded to curse my decision old man called out to me for breakfast.
He was a gatherer. A person who gathers herbs, food, and useful things around the forests and sells them in nearby villages. Quite an interesting job if you ask me. Working with him I didn't realize when the sky darkened and I began craving for sleep.
[ Ding! 10 exp received
( 10 / 500) ]
A week passed as I finally began to adjust to a new routine. Wake up, eat, gather things around the forest, and after lunch take a break and again start collecting food and wood. But I started using break periods to hone my sword skills.
[ Character. Skills. Inventory.
- Character
Name - Noah Stone
Level - 1 ( 70 / 500)
Age -14
Race - Human
Perk point - 0 ]
[ Character. Skills. Inventory.
- Skills
- Normal ability
Swordsmanship: - ...
( 554 / 1000 ) Swings are required to reach the level of beginners. ]
Even after practicing with the sword, for an odd reason, I was not getting used to it. But I could feel that I was progressing on the sword path, deliberately but absolutely.
I put a short sword inside the inventory to fill the vacant space. The old man gave me one storage ring so I could put my stuff inside but little did he know that it was completely useless to me. My dear system prohibited me from using that item, it was against its protocols... Fucking protocols!.
Still, I had to wear it to fool him or he would think I was possessed by the demons of Britania. Yes in these lands demons exist but no one saw them before... However, sometimes demons do possess humans. What I was anticipating, I was fucking trapped inside a video game so generally, the thing he was telling must be true.
[ Inventory. ( 3.9 kg left)
Short sword
Knife
Firestones ]
A water bag hung around my waist along with an Axe as I prepared to go out. Today I was a bit excited cause we were going to an unexplored area, a different location from our everyday day.
"Ready to go, young man" He rubbed his hands together with a gentle smile on his wrinkled face. "Don't forget your promise. You have to listen to my every command if I feel you are going back on your word we will instantly head back, No exploration and no discussions about it"
"Yeah, yeah I get it old man " I took a look at my face in the mirror. The body I possess had an attractive face but with a skinny build along with black short hair.
" Damn! I am so handsome don't you think old man"
"I told you many times already just call me Grandpa you brat "
"Jeez, old man you are so annoying. Let's go I want to see the world" I made my way out of the hut with vigorous expressions as the old man shook his head.