I check my backpack once again.
Algebra, History, Geometry, English, Literature, Physics, IT. Everything was in place.
"Welp, I'm off mom!"
I shout towards my mom who was sitting at the computer.
"Be careful, it rained a lot last night, so there's bound to be a lot of ice."
"I will!"
Before I walk out, I take one last look at the cat collar hanging by the wall.
Then, as if repeating a ritual, I say―
"Thank you once again, Ashna."
With that, I exit the flat.
I press the button to call for an elevator and check up on some idle and clicker apps on my phone while I wait.
The door opens and I enter the elevator, making sure to get my eyes off the phone before I take the step.
I open my favourite translation site for web novels ― which is run by only one person ― and look at the new chapter that was posted.
"Posting every single day, this guy's a monster."
I would never ever dream of having such commitment towards something, if we don't count my life and cats, that is.
Before I can even finish the chapter, the door of the elevator opens and I walk out after putting my phone in my pocket.
'No extra stops for floors today, lucky.'
As soon as I get out of the building, the chilly air hits my face, making me slightly squeeze my eyes.
I walk to school, feeling my legs slide almost every step I take.
"The ice is no joke today, huh?"
If I let my mind wonder for more than a second, I would definitely slip.
"Oh well, this is nothing new."
I casually wipe my nose with my sleeve and keep walking like normal.
After a bit of nothing happening, I could feel a sneeze on the way.
I make sure to stand on some non-slippery ground before I sneeze, I didn't want to risk falling.
"Achoo!"
I scratch my nose and keep going ―is what I would like to say, but I could feel a second sneeze on the way.
"A...A...Achoo! Damn, what's with the sneezes today?"
I scratch my nose and open my eyes.
I freeze up.
I stand there, completely dazed.
I pinch myself, I could clearly feel the pain.
After a couple of minutes of standing there wide-eyed, I sigh.
"...Really? That was really unceremonious, you know? I get transported to a different world all because of a sneeze?"
Instead of the snow-filled landscape I was expecting, a lush green forest was all I could see.
There was no need to even think about what happened.
I had clearly been summoned to another world.
***
I could feel my entire body shaking. I wasn't sure whether it was because of excitement or fear.
'Calm down, calm down.'
I sit on the ground and clear my emotions.
First things first, I had to take off my winter clothes. It was way too hot.
The sun was burning bright, and even though most of the light was being blocked by the leaves of trees, some of it was still passing through.
I put the clothes in my backpack and starting thinking on what I should do next.
'Well, there's not much to do besides walking, is there?'
No matter how much I looked around, trees were all I could see.
The best I could do was pick a direction and start walking.
Despite my reluctance, I stood up and dusted off the dirt on my pants.
I noticed that my hands were shaking.
'Yeah, of course they would be.'
After all... I had been summoned to another world! It was exhilarating just thinking about what adventures awaited me!
And as if answering that exhilaration, I could feel my body lighten and my muscles tighten.
I looked towards a random tree.
Then, acting upon the excitement in my head, I punched it with all my might.
"ACK! SHI―!"
It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt!
I rolled on the ground, trying my best to lessen the pain.
'Why the hell did I just punch a tree?! What's wrong with me?!'
I could understand exactly what was wrong with me, as when I looked at the tree I had hit, there was a small gash in it.
I had punched a crater into a tree with my bare hands. A small one, but much bigger than a nerd like me should be able to do.
'I knew it! After being transported, I had become stronger!'
This was a classic of Isekai. Being transported = power.
Though, in my case, the power boost seemed stupidly low.
Anyway, after thrashing around with my hand in pain for a bit, I finally calmed down.
And when I did, I layed down on the grass and looked at the sky through the leaves of the trees.
I smiled, but the smile was crooked and wrong.
'Ah, is this how Yui felt?'
Leaving that thought aside, it seemed like the pain had cleared my head. And with a clear head, I grasped my situation to a frightening degree.
First of all, I was in a forest. And not just any forest, but an Isekai forest.
The chances of me stumbling into some kind of monster were high, so I had a high chance of dying.
Second, I had just shouted. My shout was loud, and it had most likely already attracted monsters.
Third, run.
There was no more time for thoughts. The longer I spent there laying on the ground, the bigger the chances something would kill me.
When I started running, I was fast. So fast in fact, that I tripped on a random tree root.
'Ouch.'
This was to be expected. I had gotten stronger out of nowhere, so my body hadn't quite adapted to my new physical capabilities.
'No matter.'
I could just stand up and run again.
Fortunately, I didn't stumble again. Instead, I ran out of breath.
'This... should be fine, right?'
I wasn't sure for how long I had ran, but I was pretty far away from where I started.
If there were any monsters attracted to my shout, I was far enough away for them not to notice me.
I was fine to rest.
'That kind of thinking is what gets you killed!'
By all accounts I was far enough, I should be taking a break, but instead I decided on walking.
I could still regain my breath that way, and gaining more distance was never a bad decision.
I had read way too many stories where everything goes to shit the moment the main character lowers their guard, I wasn't going to do the same.
'Come to think of it...'
I look around myself once again. Nothing but trees and some bushes.
After staring for a bit, I sigh and resume moving forward.
'Yeah, no way, right?'
***
I just kept walking and walking, no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel.
I wasn't sure how long I had been walking, but my guess was around 3 hours. The sun moved about that amount after all.
'Though the sun might be completely different here.'
And not only the sun, but also the day itself could be different. Who says that a day has to last 24 hours in a fantasy world, after all?
'Dammit, I know too little.'
Information. I needed information.
Without information I was nothing more than a sitting duck.
I didn't know how much time had passed. I didn't know how far away I was from civilization.
Hell, I didn't know whether civilization existed in the first place! Who says I couldn't get transported to dinosaur times?!
I sighed and sighed and sighed. Throughout this walk I had sighed more times than I could count on my fingers and toes.
'Well, not actually but that doesn't matter.'
The fact that I could count up to 1023 on my fingers alone didn't matter.
The fact of the matter was, I could do nothing but hope for something good. And hope was something I hated.
'It gets crushed like a bug after all.'
Or... that was how it was in my old world. Perhaps, in this world... hope was something I could have and not despair afterwards.
'...Pathetic.'
Since when did I get so soft? Did getting transported mess with my brain?
Hope was nothing to me. To others it could be the reason for strength and perseverance, but for me it was useless.
All that mattered were my actions, something tangible, not the fleeting embers of hope.
I continued walking, stopping every so often to listen for sounds of water. Water was the most important resource after all.
'...Still nothing.'
My legs were burning, but I was somewhat used to pain in my legs, so I could continue walking fine. Maybe the fact that I was stronger now made that possible too.
I fully stop. Not because I was too tired or something like that, but because of something else.
I had finally found a rock.
That might seem like something stupid, but a rock was indispensable to me right now.
The rock was around the size of my palm and it was pretty circular, making it easy to hold.
'Sharp too. How lucky.'
Without any hesitation, I walked up to a tree and started hacking one of its branches off with the rock.
It took a bit of work, but after some time I finally had a walking stick.
Surprisingly, I hadn't found even a single branch lying on the ground this entire time. And it was pretty easy to guess why.
Even though I had been walking defenselessly for around... 6 hours? No creature had attacked me. Not only that, the trees themselves seemed to be stronger than ones on earth.
All in all, there were no creatures around to break the branches, not even considering their more rigid structure that could withstand even the strongest of winds.
Anyway, this wasn't even the main reason why the rock was so useful. I could finally mark the trees.
'For all I know, this could be an illusionary forest that tricks my mind into going in circles. By marking trees, I eliminate that problem.'
I had also marked the dirt underneath me randomly, but that wasn't nearly as reassuring as a mark on a tree. Marks on dirt were easy to erase after all, but on trees... not so much.
I kept walking, marking the trees as I went by, and suddenly stopped.
I had finally found my first creature in this world.
It was... a cat. A normal black cat.
I looked at it and it looked back.
We stared at each other for a bit. It was then that I noticed the first weird thing about this cat.
The cat had crescent-shaped pupils. Not round, crescent-shaped.
Another weird thing was that the cats eyes seemed to glow with a silver light.
Its eyes were silver ― that was normal ― but they also seemed to illuminate everything around them.
'...Run!'
My mind was telling me to run. The logical thing to do was to run.
Even if the creature looked like a cat, it was most likely something much more dangerous. It wouldn't be surprising if when it unhinged its jaw, it turned out to be able to swallow me whole.
'Run! Run! Run!'
I should've ran... but my heart refused to. Instead of running, all I could do was tremble in place.
The cat... it looked very similar to a cat that I previously had. So similar in fact, that the only differences were the unnatural characteristics of it, like the glowing eyes and crescent pupils. Not only that... the collar on its neck was also exactly the same, apart from the name written on it.
'That's not your cat, dumbass! You cat is dead! Hell, this could be an illusion made by some creature that tricks the mind! Don't be stupid and RUN!'
My body finally started to move. After casting one last glance at the cat, I started running with all my might.
I ran even harder than I had when I first arrived here.
By the end of it, I was huffing and puffing for a minute straight.
After regaining my breath and calmness, I remembered the interaction with the cat that I had.
'That... was weird.'
I mean, it didn't even try to attack me, only looking me in the eyes.
I couldn't deny it casting some kind of spell on my mind, but I didn't feel my mind being tampered with at all.
Actually, if that same situation happened again, I would act exactly the same.
'It looks so similar after all...'
I shake my head. There was no time to think about stupid things like that.
I had to think about how to survive.
I had a small bottle of water in my backpack ― which I had previously used to satiate my thirst ― but now all of that was gone, and after running, I wanted to drink really, really badly.
'I might be familiar with the sensation of not eating for a couple of days, but drinking is a whole different beast.'
I had read how it felt to have severe dehydration, and I didn't want to be in the same situation in the slightest.
But no matter how much I thought, there was nothing I could do but hope to find a river or some people.
'Hope... what a pity.'
If only it was someone else, maybe this hope wouldn't be useless...
After marking another tree, I continued walking.
My legs... to say that they were burning would be an understatement. Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to lay down and take a break.
And I most likely should've, but... No, wait, I actually should.
'This is not even a matter of weak willpower, I should honestly stop walking. If a monster attacks me right now, I wouldn't be able to resist properly. I'd say... eight minutes of rest.'
When I finally sat down, all the pain and exhaustion hit me at once. This is what I expected to happen, but the scale of pain was on a whole different level than I imagined it would be.
"Fu-Dammit!"
Almost every muscle in my body exploded with pain.
The arm I used to mark the trees, the arm I used the walking stick™ with, the legs I walked with, the back which carried the stupidly heavy backpack.
'This is... fine! Totally... fine! I've been through worse!'
I gritted my teeth until they felt like breaking, but that didn't help much. Only thing I could do was agonize until all the pain went away.
"Kh!"
It only took three minutes, but it felt like an hour. An hour of nothing but torture.
'Well, that's exaggerating it a bit.'
In the end, I ended up laying for about 15 minutes instead of the 8 I was planning to.
It was a deviation from my calculations, but nothing too serious.
I started pushing myself up. My arms and legs screamed at me, but I ignored the pain and continued walking.
My pace was now considerably slower, which made me realize something.
'Maybe I should throw away some textbooks...'
I was a bit reluctant to do that. After all, they held knowledge and theories that might be useful, but at the same time, they were nothing but extra weight to me right now.
In the long-term, keeping them was better. In the short-term, getting rid of them was better.
'Well, not all of them will be useful. Geography and History are definitely useless subjects in my situation. IT and English too.'
It was decided, I was going to throw away those four subjects. I wanted to throw away Literature too, but perhaps the way people talked in books would be useful in this new world. After all, I had no idea how to talk to Royals, which this world had a high chance of having.
By the way, I was keeping all the notebooks, no matter which subject.
Normally in Isekai the times are medieval, so it was likely that paper was scarce, and I was going to need a lot of paper.
'Haaaa, what a pain. I bet I'm going to miss a lot of commodities from my old world while I'm here.'
Unless I found some miraculous way to recharge my phone, I wouldn't have access to even that.
Depressing thoughts aside, I continued walking.
I closed my eyes and concentrated on my ears. I was searching for the sound of water.
Well, just like the past dozen times, I couldn't hear anythi―
'Is that water?!'
Contrary to my expectations, I could finally hear water.
Without even thinking about it, my body naturally started running in the direction of the sound.
Water! I had finally found water!
But no matter how excited I was, I made sure to keep a clear mind.
After all, what if this sound was made by a monster to lure prey? What if dozens of monsters were near the river, drinking from it, leaving no way for me to safely satiate my thirst?
I was excited, yes, but I made sure not to get my hopes up.
While I was thinking all of that, I was getting closer and closer to the river. The sound of it getting more and more intense.
And when I finally got to the clearing――
"It's black."
The water was black. Not even green from toxins or red from blood, but black.
But even though the water was black, it moved just like water and sounded just like water.
'Perhaps it also tastes just like water and is safe to drink just like water...'
But no matter how thirsty I was, I wasn't willing to take that risk. I mean, it was black for god's sake! Black is never a good color! At least red has strawberries, but black is never associated with something good!
I sighed, but continued walking in my previous direction, which was actually parallel to the river.
My mood became slightly worse, but it wasn't too bad. Since I didn't have any hope in the first place, all I felt was a short ping of sadness.
'This is why you don't hope for anything, kids.'
Anyway, after a bit of walking, I decided to check the properties of the water.
I first lowered my walking stick™ into it. It became a bit soaked, but nothing bad happened to it. After moving it around a bit, I had confirmed that the water behaved just like normal water. It wasn't viscous or anything like that.
After that I lowered my finger in it. It felt a bit tingly, but it didn't seem harmful.
I decided to fill my bottle with this black water. If I didn't find any other source of water in the next couple of days, this was my best bet.
The thought of drinking something like this invigorated my willpower, making me go a bit faster than I did previously.
After walking for about 15 minutes, the river suddenly curved, going to my right.
I had to somehow get over it to continue walking.
It was too big to just jump over. I could most likely swim through it, but not only did I not know whether there were monsters beneath the water, I also didn't want to make my things wet, especially my notebooks.
So I either had to find a bridge... or make one.
I sighed. This was going to take a long time.
"Damn it all."
***
The tree trembled, sending shivers through the ground beneath me.
It tilted to one side, after which it started to rapidly fall down.
It hit the ground with a loud thud, making me get goosebumps.
"Well, I finally have a bridge. After... two hours."
I grimace. Taking two hours to make a bridge was way too long. How many more rivers would I come across, after all?
'Well, the next one is going to take less time.'
In these two hours, chopping down the tree wasn't the only thing I did. I also had to make an axe to chop the tree.
Luckily for me though, I had already anticipated something like this happening, so I picked up a sizeable rock on my walk, along with some vines.
That doesn't mean it was easy though. The vines had broken or untied numerous times due to me not knowing how to make a proper axe.
Tying the rock to a branch wasn't easy. Even if it seemed stable, it would go flying after a couple of hits.
Nevertheless, throughout numerous failed attempts, I had finally made something ― relatively ― stable and was finally able to bring the tree down.
"I also have somewhat of a weapon now. Sure, it took two hours to make a bridge, but they weren't wasted."
I wasn't sure whether that was me coping or not.
Anyway, I carefully crossed the river with the help of the tree and continued walking.
The sun was... scarily close to setting now. I wasn't confident in moving around in the dark and I also had to sleep, so it would be a good idea to start thinking of shelter.
―Or at least, those were my thoughts before I heard a low growl behind me.
I freeze in place with fear gripping my heart. But I don't let the fear cloud my judgement.
'That's a wolf, right? That was the same sound dogs make, so it has to be a wolf, right?'
Before I could think further, my body acted on its own.
I started running. Faster than when I first came here, faster than when I ran away from the cat.
This time around, the danger was much more real and much more tangible.
But before I could run even remotely far, three more wolves appeared right in front of me.
'They have me surrounded! And why three?!'
If it was just one wolf maybe I could've ran straight through it, I had my axe after all, but that was impossible with three.
I was forced to stop dead in my tracks. I didn't even try running left or right, there were definitely more wolves there.
'Okay, don't panic. Think. How can you get out of this situation?'
Considering the three in front of me, the one behind and... I'd say three― no, four more hidden, there were most likely about eight wolves surrounding me. There might be more, might be less, but I'll go with that number for now.
'No matter what I do, I won't be able to escape their encirclement unscathed. Which means that I have to give something up.'
I didn't even have to think on what I had to sacrifice, the answer was too obvious.
'First―!'
I take all of my small stones out of my pockets and throw them as fast as I can at the three wolves in front of me.
They don't even flinch.
'Figures. Then―!'
I immediately turn back. Just like at the front, three wolves greet me.
I jump at them. I had to be the one initiating the attack, otherwise, I would die.
All of the three wolves jump too, all of them perfectly synchronized.
'But that just makes it easier for me!'
I raise my axe with my right hand and bring it down on the right-most wolf with all my might. It dodges out of the way with swift movement.
Then, I raise my left hand.
The two other wolves bite into it.
―Pain.
Pain. Pain. Pain.
My brain goes numb. All my senses are compromised. The pain completely paralyzes me.
―Is what would've happened to a normal human.
"I'VE BEEN THROUGH WORSE YOU BASTAAAAARDS!!"
I let go of the axe and shove my fingers into the wolves' eyes.
They couldn't dodge and both of them became blind. They let go of my arm due to the sudden attack.
Not losing my chance, I start running again. Now with adrenaline coursing through my veins, I was running much faster than before.
Though, it seemed luck still wasn't on my side.
Another wolf appeared in front of me, but I thought of that possibility too.
I grabbed my bottle from the side-pocket of my backpack and hurled it at the wolf with my full might.
This time around, the wolf couldn't dodge in time. The bottle hit it squarely in the face, exploding with the black water.
'Now that it's blinded―!'
I run past it, not sparing it even another thought. All I cared about was running.
'Run! Run! Run!'
I kept running and running, running and running.
There was no end to it. No matter how much I ran and how fast I ran, I could still hear the wolves not too far behind me.
It didn't even feel like I was gaining distance, in fact, it felt like the opposite!
'What the hell is this trashy Isekaiiiii?!'
A forest with no humans in sight. Cats with mind tricks. And now wolves?!
Where is my power?! Why am I not OP?! Why the hell do I not feel like a main protagoniiiist?!
'Ah, dammit! I'll still live! I've been through worse! I've survived through worse! Something of this level―!'
"There's no way I'd die!"
But even though I shouted that out, it wasn't like I was gonna get a boost out of it.
The wolves were still getting closer and my adrenaline was seemingly going away too.
'No matter! I'm finally here!'
Right in front of me was the river I had crossed, along with the tree-bridge.
After I cross the tree-bridge, I start pushing it. It slowly starts to roll.
One of the wolves tried to cross the tree-bridge, but couldn't balance on it and fell into the water.
There, it was picked up by the current and started unwillingly swimming away.
After that, the wolves stopped trying to cross it.
I rolled the tree some more, until it itself fell into the water and floated away.
Me and the wolves looked at each other from opposite ends of the river.
I raise my left arm ― which hurt a lot ― and showed them the middle finger.
In response, the one that had a scar on its face and looked a bit stronger than the rest growled at me with hate.
"Touche."
I smirked triumphantly. I had lived in a ― I counted the wolves I could see ― ten against one situation.
'Ten, huh. That should've been certain death. Did they lower their guard because I looked like easy prey?'
I wasn't sure whether to feel happy that I lived or to feel angry because they looked down on me.
'Well, I'm alive, that's all that matters.'
I stop caring about the wolves and start gathering some leaves from the trees.
After gathering enough, I put them on the wounds on my left hand and tie all of it with some vines.
I also ripped some pages out of the textbooks ― the ones that I already knew the contents of ― and used them to improve the quality of my DIY bandage
"I don't know anything about first aid, but this is better than nothing, right?"
It looked like it was better, at least. I wasn't losing as much blood as I used to.
I sigh from exhaustion.
"What a shitty Isekai..."
I didn't have a bridge anymore. I was bleeding, effectively putting me on a timer. My left arm was completely unusable. My situation was hopeless... but that was fine.
"Welp, let's act."
I help myself get up with my right hand and start thinking.
The things I could do in this situation... were not much, but not nothing either.
I look at the sun in the sky. The sky now looked a little bit yellower.
"Shelter it is."
...But how do you make shelter?
***
"This looks... laughably bad."
To call this a tent would be to call a dog-house a mansion.
Nevertheless, it was already night and I was completely spent. I didn't have time to improve my... house.
Honestly... I was scared. Worried, even.
I mean, I was going to sleep with no protection, just praying that no monsters were going to attack me.
Relying on prayers was stupid, just like hope, but I honestly didn't have anything better.
I was too tired to think. Too tired to move. Too tired to make traps and alarms.
I yawn, the exhaustion was definitely catching up to me now.
"Even if I die, it's not like anyone will care."
To everyone in my old world, it didn't matter whether I lived or died as I was already 'missing'. And I haven't found even a single person in this new world, not to mention making a bond with someone so that they would care about me.
"I won't be caught dying without struggling though. I don't want to die after all."
With a parched throat and a steady resolve, I closed my eyes and slowly drifted into sleep.