A deep silence and the gentle breeze blowing around the place relaxed the body of a young man who sat alone under a large, leafy tree, surrounded by various items nearby. Suddenly, someone approached the spot where the young man lay, looking at him with confusion as he appeared completely unconscious and relaxed in the serene environment, with the breeze stirring the long strands of hair cascading around his head, while a few drops of blood gently fell from his head in that dangerous place, resembling an ancient guardian watching over the forest.
The stranger, upon seeing the drops of blood falling from the young man's head, moved closer to him.
***
After a while, the familiar surroundings began to help the young man regain his consciousness and senses slowly. First, he started to regain his sense of hearing, which allowed him to hear the various sounds of birds and animals around him, followed by his sense of smell, which began to pick up different scents. Among those scents, there was one that stood out clearly, helping the young man's body further in regaining consciousness, and he mumbled to himself as he slowly came to.
"What is this smell...?"
"It's pleasant and strong."
A few seconds later, his sense of sight began to work, and he slowly opened his eyes. At first, his vision was deeply foggy, but after several blinks, he could see clearly in front of him. The first thing he noticed was a beautiful face with a lovely pair of large, clear blue eyes and long, light brown hair.
"A girl."
For a moment, he confused the person in front of him with someone else he knew, but after a few moments and blinks, the differences became clear to him.
"Huh...?"
As the young man fully opened his eyes, he moved his hands, accidentally touching the thigh of the girl beside him, which startled him and left him in shock. In his fright, he quickly recoiled a bit, causing her to roll down from the edge of the tree and fall onto her back.
"....."
The young man was suddenly startled by the noise of the girl rolling down from the ledge.
He who moved his upper body slightly just seconds after the girl fell, trying to fix his body that had collapsed on the ground, accidentally dropped his glasses. He sat amidst the body on the ground and tried to pick them up as usual, attempting to return them to his eyes, which he could not see well without. The involuntary movement of his body to grab his glasses was the reason the young man accidentally touched the girl thigh.
The young man blinked his large gray eyes several times, then began searching for his glasses again as usual. After a few moments of movement, he found them nearby, and after he picked them up, he adjusted his body and sat up a bit. Then he put on his glasses, and when he did that, he could see his surroundings with a bit of difficulty, which made him shake his head in confusion, unlike the usual clarity he was accustomed to.
After he could not see clearly, he took them off and found he could see better without them. He wondered for a moment about the reason for this.
"What happened to my eyes...?"
But he could not understand the reason for what had happened to them, as he could now see clearly and distinctly without his glasses.
He set his glasses aside, then turned his head and directed his gaze downward toward the person who had rolled past him moments ago. The young man looked at the girl for a moment, who seemed to have rolled and collided with a large tree below, which had caused her to lose consciousness for a bit. He then shifted his gaze from her to the unique, strange surroundings he was trying to discover. It was a vast, giant forest, like a tapestry of vibrant colors, and every tree in it was a different hue of life.
The young man stared wide-eyed at the overwhelming sight of the giant forest, shocked and surprised by such a landscape, asking himself in astonishment.
"Where am I...?"
He did not know or understand where he was now, feeling disoriented, confused, and shocked by the strange surroundings.
After moments of confusion and disorientation, the young man attempted to rise to examine his surroundings further, but before he could move his body, he was suddenly overwhelmed by a loud ringing and a strong pressure in his head that forced him to sit back down. He held his head tightly due to the intensity of the ringing and muttered to himself.
"Ugh... my head hurts so much...?"
After a second of that pain, the young man began to hear the faint echo of a mysterious and enchanting woman voice in his head.
[System initialization for the user in progress]
[System initialization progress: 30]
[System initialization progress: 60]
[System initialization progress: 90]
[System initialization progress: 100]
[Notification!]
[System initialization complete: Displaying status window for the user]
[Status Window]
Name: Derek
Level: 0
[HP: 100/100]
[MP: 50/50]
Class: Assassin
Race: Human
Titles: None
[Statistics]
[Strength: 10] ** [Vitality: 10]
[Toughness: 10] ** [Mana: 10]
[Dexterity: 30] ** [Perception: 20]
[All Skills]
[Unknown: Level ???]
[Locked]
[Locked]
[Locked]
[Mysterious Language: Level 1]
[Locked]
[Locked]
[Quest Box: Locked]
[Inventory: Locked]
[Equipped Magical Items: None]
After a few seconds of hearing the beautiful voice of a woman echoing in his head, the status window appeared before him like a video game in shades of blue and green that he had seen before losing consciousness. However, this time it lasted longer than before, and he was overwhelmed by the numerous pieces of information and lists that astonished the young man, leaving him staring at them in surprise for a while.
After the status window appeared and the mysterious woman voice faded from his head, a severe pain in his head began to subside and weaken until it stopped.
Due to the sudden cessation of severe pain, the young man unconsciously moved his head and looked up towards the window, which seemed to float in the air. In a daze, his eyes widened more than the bluish-green window in front of him, which appeared to hover in the air, unaffected by the surrounding breeze. He stood still, calm like mountains that do not shake from their place, or so the young man imagined the window that floated before him at that moment.
He gazed at it silently after the momentary disappearance of the pain in his head that had troubled him just moments before. He continued to look at it, silently questioning himself.
"What is this thing...?"
he asked himself, staring at the window that floated in the air, reminiscent of the video game window he had played a little during his free time, although it had many differences from it. He continued to gaze at it, slightly moving his head left and right, when he felt someone approaching from behind. He turned his head and shifted his gaze towards her.
The girl, who had previously lost consciousness, approached him, watching the young man who was looking at the sky, focusing his gaze in a state of confusion and astonishment. After a while, she approached him slowly and asked in a soft, delicate voice that resembled the beautiful chirping of birds.
"*&*&*."
However, strangely, the young man could not understand her words; he could hear her voice but did not comprehend what she was saying, which surprised him and left him feeling puzzled. He then attempted to speak to the young girl to understand what she was trying to say, as he could not grasp any of her words.
"*&*&*."
When the girl heard the young man in front of her moving his mouth with strange words, she too could not understand and hesitated for a moment, feeling puzzled by the words she could not comprehend. She stared at him in confusion.
"*&*&*."
Thus, she tried to speak to him again with some words, but like before, the young man could not understand any of the sentences the girl was saying, despite the fact that he was fluent in five languages: English, Russian, French, Spanish, and Arabic.
Silence filled the space for a moment. A silence enveloped the moment between them, causing both individuals to look at each other in confusion and embarrassment for seconds, unable to communicate with words. Just then, before the young man could attempt to speak to the young girl again, he heard the echo of a beautiful and mysterious woman voice in his head once more.
[Skill - Mysterious Language Level 1: Activated]
[Effect: Speaking and understanding the mysterious or ancient language with the ability to learn, read, and memorize other languages]
The young man was once again surprised to hear the echo of the mysterious woman voice resonating softly in his head, which made him wonder where this voice was coming from.
"Are you... okay...?"
"Huh...?"
Despite the young man astonishment, after a few seconds of the beautiful woman voice fading from his mind, he realized he could hear and understand the words of the girl in front of him, who was looking at him silently for a moment.
He asked the girl again, who seemed to be looking at him in astonishment, and he felt genuine concern for her.
"Are you okay...?"
Then he heard her repeat the question, and he responded in a low and calm voice.
"Yes."
His calm voice was like a musical note from a gentle symphony, soothing the girl after hearing his tranquility, easing the worry she felt for him, especially since she had treated his facial injury some time ago, but even after the treatment, he had not awakened, which is why she had asked him several times before.
After that, the girl asked once more, sitting a little further away from him, looking at him. She was dressed in different clothes, consisting of a black t-shirt and a gray shirt with strange pants and a large shawl nearby, which was also black, but she did not know what it was, and it seemed strange to her as well.
"What is your name, stranger...?"
The young man was surprised when the girl referred to him as a stranger, but he did not show much astonishment on his face as he replied in a low voice.
"My name is Drake Green."
"Drake Green...?"
"Mr. Green, are you the son of a noble...?"
The girl asked again, feeling strange about the fact that the young man name included a family name, which she knew was only held by the wealthy families of nobles, lords, or kings.
Drake felt strange about the question and replied.
"No, why...?"
"Oh, because my grandmother told me that only the sons of nobles or lords or kings have family names after their names."
"Oh."
After she said that, Drake understood the reason for her question, and he also glanced at her for a moment from the corner of his eye, wiping away the expression from his innocent, delicate, and slightly pale face due to his body not being able to obtain an adequate amount of nourishing food to regain the sparkle in her clear, sparkling blue eyes like the clear blue sky, and her light brown hair flowing down her back like a calm and clear river in spring.
Despite the slight shadow on her wild and delicate face, her radiant white skin highlighted the beauty of a young girl in the prime of her youth, who appeared to be in her early twenties. She wore a long-sleeved white shirt beneath a light brown skirt, and when the young man saw her, it reminded him of the clothing from the old medieval era. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye after taking a moment to admire her; the girl beauty was stunning, captivating him instantly and causing his face to flush with embarrassment as he quickly lowered his gaze.
This reaction made the young girl feel a bit confused by his strange response of lowering his head and looking down after briefly meeting her gaze. She didn't understand the reason behind it. After a while of looking down, the young man shifted his eyes upward and looked around at the vast forest and the different trees he had never seen before. Then he asked.
"Miss...?"
At that moment, the young man realized he didn't know the name of the girl in front of him, which made him feel even more embarrassed. The confusion and embarrassment on his face made her smile slightly, and then he said in a pained voice.
"I'm sorry for not introducing myself. My name is Mary."
After she said that, the young man nodded to her and then asked once more.
"Miss Mary... where am I...?"
The young girl face flushed with embarrassment and she became flustered when he referred to her as "Miss," a title she had never been called before, especially in such a gentle and calm tone from him. After a moment, she replied,
"The far part of the western suburb in the eastern continent."
Derek listened to Miss Mary words intently, then muttered to himself.
"The western suburb in the eastern continent...? Where exactly is this place...?"
He wondered to himself, having never known or heard of this place in his life, as he looked around at the strange surroundings filled with enormous trees, flowers, and unusual grass he had never seen before. Then he lifted his head, letting his long hair fall, casting a dark shadow over his face.
Derek was silent for a while as he looked at the huge tree above him. Then he turned his head and asked Miss Mary, who was a little distance away from him.
"What is this huge tree...?"
"We call it the sacred tree."
"This ancient huge tree has been here since before our village, and my grandmother says it protects this village from the monsters in the forest."
Derek listened carefully to her, especially the last part of her words when she mentioned the monsters.
Then he asked Miss Mary, whose facial features were above average compared to him, handsome, especially when he turned his head towards her in silence, which made her feel a strange yet beautiful sensation in her heart.
Derek nodded to her, then the two young people talked for a long time, and Derek asked what she was doing there. Miss Mary recalled the reason for her coming to the big forest, and she exclaimed loudly,
"Oh, I came to the forest to gather some herbs to make medicine for my sick grandmother."
"Huh...?"
"Oh, I'm very late; my grandmother will scold me."
After that, the young girl stood up and began to gather the grass around the area. She had gone out without telling her grandmother to collect grass for her and return to the village quickly. Derek, who noticed the young girl distress, decided to help her and started gathering the grass as well. With their combined efforts, they managed to collect all the grass that Mary had gathered and that had fallen from her basket when she tumbled from the cliff earlier.
Once they finished collecting all the grass that had fallen, the young girl glanced at the young man beside her and sincerely thanked him for his help. Then she asked.
"Mr. Derek, do you have a place to stay?"
"The forest is a dangerous place, especially at night when many monsters and frightening ghosts appear."
he replied. Hearing this, the young girl felt a shiver run down her spine as she saw the fear in his delicate and pale face. After all, he was afraid of ghosts and all supernatural creatures. So he shook his head and responded to the young girl in front of him with a low voice that carried a hint of fear.
"No."
When the young girl heard that low voice and the slight tremor in it, she felt a sense of strangeness, but she didn't ask him about the reason for it. She had already noticed many odd things about this young man, so she mentally noted him as a peculiar person.
"Then come with me to my village... I live with my grandmother; you can stay with us at home today."
After Derek nodded to her to go with her to her village, he found it easy to trust people, but more than that, he trusted his instincts, which showed no ill intent or deceit in the young girl words. When he nodded to her, the two young people began to move to return to her village.