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Golden sunlight filtered through dense leaves, sprinkling down into the lush green forest.
Not thirty meters from the carriage lay a small pond, its surface covered with aquatic plants resembling lotus leaves, among which a few crimson flowers bloomed, resembling lotuses.
A lake-blue frog perched on a lotus leaf, seemingly sensing Char's gaze, and with a plop, leaped into the water and disappeared.
The breeze gnawed at the arteries of summer, presenting an overflowing green sea before Char's eyes.
Regrettably, behind this emerald dream-like forest scenery hid a thick murderous intent.
As the game's head designer, Char could not have been more aware of the many powerful Demon Beasts he had designed for this world, none of which a Level 1 minor character like himself could contend with.
There were far too many things in the forest that could end his life.
In the game, he could resurrect an infinite number of times.
But here, he did not have a second life.
However, that wasn't even the worst of it; the worst part was that this world didn't seem to be entirely the world he had designed.
Because he discovered that the panel for him and the Star Worm, was quite different from what his studio designed.
Challenge Level!
This was a concept that shouldn't exist.
In his design, the leveling system for player characters and Magic Pets were just normal "Levels", with the max Level being 120, and there was no such thing as "Challenge Level".
The concept of "Challenge Level" only appears in a well-known tabletop role-playing game—DND (Dungeons & Dragons).
In other words, this world had likely merged with the universe of DND!
No!
More precisely, it should be said that the DND universe had absorbed and integrated the universe he had designed!
Apart from the corroborating concept of "Challenge Level", there was another piece of evidence.
That was that he himself was a Half-Elf.
In the game he designed, Half-Elves did not exist.
In "Mobile Castle", apart from players, there were no other humanoid characters; there were only a variety of Pet Beasts, beautiful, cute, domineering, agile, or mysterious.
And the players?
When initially designing them, he didn't even specify a race.
Because it wasn't important!
Probably humans, right?
Definitely not Half-Elves.
With Challenge Levels and Half-Elves, this otherworldly place must be ninety-nine percent a DND world!
And the DND world? That's far too dangerous.
The mightiest Monster he designed for the Mobile Castle world was on par with an adult dragon in the DND world.
Although adult dragons were also very powerful, comparable to legendary warriors, and could easily exterminate a castle, there were many existences far more powerful and terrifying than adult dragons and legendary warriors in the DND world!
There were even Divine beings!
Divine beings who controlled various principles!
Under the DND universe, legends were barely scraping the threshold of power, ranking in the upper middle class of the entire strength hierarchy and certainly not at the top.
Such a world was far too dangerous, and a slight misstep could lead one to meet Death.
Even worse, even after death, souls could find no peace.
The fate of the faithless after death was nothing short of tragic.
Char let out a long sigh.
Today was already the third day since he had crossed over, and he had somewhat come to terms with his fate, accepting the reality; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to calm down this quickly.
On his first day after crossing over, he truly wished he could commit suicide on the spot—committing suicide might allow him to cross back, but falling into the hands of an Evil God or tumbling into Hell would have been truly regrettable.
Now nearing noon, the gradually warming sun steamed up the heat, causing drowsiness.
But hunger kept Char from falling asleep.
"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle!"
His stomach rumbled loudly, reminding him it had been a long time since he had last eaten.
Just then, the water came to a boil, so Char picked up the wooden bowl he had placed next to the simple stove earlier, and poured its contents into the boiling water.
These were chunky, white grubs.
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Scientific name "larva," the larva of golden beetle insects.
The golden beetle insects include a variety of rhinoceros beetles, among which the renowned rhinoceros beetle is one.
The larva has a large and plump body, is rich in protein, and survives in relatively clean environments. It can even be eaten raw when trying to survive in the wilderness and is known as the "happy worm of Bear Grylls."
The big, white larva turned once in the boiling water and quickly cooked through.
He fished out the insect and, not minding the scalding heat, removed the mouthpart before, overcoming his disgust, gulping it down whole and stuffing it into his mouth.
Before crossing over, he would never have imagined eating these big, white, meaty larvae, even though those who had tried them said they tasted good and were rich in nutrients.
Because they looked quite revolting, he couldn't overcome the mental hurdle.
But when "hunger" looms, what hurdle can one not overcome?
If you don't eat, you'll starve to death, so what choice is there but to eat?
Eating insects is surely better than gnawing on tree bark or eating clay, right?
Char, like a starving ghost reincarnate, quickly cleaned out the bowl of larvae. It wasn't that he was really that hungry, nor that he had bad manners, but because he had to save time.
For him now, each and every second of time was precious.
If he relaxed and wasted time, he would likely end up hungry.
This was similar to ancient farmers who worked from dawn to dusk all year round and just managed to keep their bellies full. A little slack, and they might go hungry.
No, he was even worse off than the ancient farmers.
At least the farmers had entered the agricultural era, while he was still in the gathering era!
Char quickly tidied up and then jumped down from the carriage.
First, he collected some dried branches and leaves, then climbed up to the top of the carriage and spread them out. After a few climbs up and down, he had covered the entire roof of the carriage with them.
Then, he had Old Ma pull the carriage to a sunny spot so that the dried branches and leaves on the roof could get fully sunbathed.
All of these were his "dry firewood" for making a fire. Although the forest was full of twigs and fallen leaves, the humidity was also high. If they were collected directly, they would be too damp to ignite, so sunbathing was essential.
After getting the next two days' "firewood" up on the roof, Char flipped nimbly back in front of the carriage.
This crossing over did have some benefits.
For Char, the biggest benefit was that he had obtained a healthy and agile body.
Before crossing over, long hours of desk work and overtime had taken a toll. Even though he maintained a habit of exercising, he still had minor health issues, with this and that hurting or feeling uncomfortable.
Now, he had crossed over into a young Half-Elf, and even though he had not inherited even half of the Skills, this was still a pleasant surprise.
Could he have ever climbed so effortlessly in the past?
Wouldn't he have needed a ladder?
Char walked into the carriage, which now served as his home.
Looking around, one could say he had bare walls.
The furnishings inside the carriage were sparse: only a simple wooden bed, a wooden cabinet, a bow, an Arrow Quiver with seven or eight arrows, and a wooden shrine that looked a bit like a shrine.
The walls pieced together from wooden planks showed signs of moss everywhere, and some moss even sprouted red and purple little mushrooms.
Walking into the carriage, a moldy smell of damp and rotting wood hit one squarely.
Sunlight streamed through the cracks, casting little golden spots inside the room.
This was after Char had done some repairs. When he first crossed over, the carriage was even more dilapidated, full of holes everywhere.
Char first approached the shrine and took a glance.
A slab of stone was enshrined within the shrine, the most exquisite and valuable item in the carriage, so out of place in the current environment that it seemed it shouldn't be there at all.
The stone slab was circular, as if forged from the finest inkstick, but it was only a similarity in color, both featuring an "ink color that appears lustrous and rich." However, the texture was entirely different—the slab in front of him appeared very hard.
The surface of the stone slab was inlaid with a Wish Bottle pattern in gold, from which wishful stars were bursting forth.
Above the stone slab, one could see several strands of golden light emitting a rainbow of colors, with a total of eight strands floating quietly above the slab, sacred and beautiful.
As Char focused his attention on this shrine, another set of data appeared before his eyes.
[Prayer House]
Praying Power: 8
Prayer Fragment: 0
Prayer Crystal: ——
Prayer Gem: ——
The columns for Praying Power and Prayer Fragment were lit up, while the latter two columns were dimmed.