“…”

“…”

“Hahahaha. Of course I do, you idiot. Who doesn’t know what magic is?”

—I guess this world does have magic...

“I remembered the word but forgot how to use it, how does the magical power work?”

“Hahaha, you really are dumb. Ok, I’ll explain quickly, so pay attention. Everyone has something called mana. Everyone has a different starting capacity of mana which can be levelled up through magic training or just regular physical training.”

“Whenever you go up a level on the status plate, your total mana capacity goes up.”

“If you ever use up all your mana, it will be fully restored in 2 hours from when you started using it.”

“Other ways of restoring it are through potions, which are quite expensive depending on the type.”

“I won’t go into the types right now, let’s talk more about mana itself.”

“Hmm... it’s hard to explain, but mana is really weird.”

“Whenever you use some, you can just feel the mana going down inside of yourself.”

“It’s like feeling an empty stomach without the growl, you just know you used it all.”

“Some species’ bodies rely on mana for survival. Others like humans, demihumans, and Shuna don’t rely on mana at all. For example, if you use all your mana, you’ll only feel the empty stomach, nothing will actually happen to your body.”

“Also, the same effect happens when your mana is refilled, instead of an empty stomach, you’ll feel a full sort of feeling.”

“That’s pretty much all you need to know about mana.”

“When it comes to magic itself... hmm… I won’t explain too much right now, but magic isn’t as dangerous as physical fights.”

“You can use all the different types of elements, but none of them are too strong unless you focus on one element with all your strength.”

“That’s all I’ll say about magic right now.”

He had a lot to take in after hearing that, but he made sure to thank Aliza for explaining something that should be common knowledge to people in this world.

“Thank you, that helps a lot.”

“No more questions?”

“No, that’s all, I think I got a basic understanding.”

“OK.. let’s go!”

She stood up and started to show Ace around the village for a few hours...

---

------

It really was beautiful.

It may look normal to everyone who lived in this world, but to Ace, this place was straight out of a game.

Shop stands, old bars, inns, guilds, these were all real now.

He got to see things that people would never even dream of seeing.

Sure, you could search it up online or put on a VR headset, but it’s just not the same.

He was really here.

He could smell new things, hear new things, touch new buildings, and stand on foreign ground because…

He was really here.

This was the equivalent of going to space, it was something only certain people could do and once you actually do it, you may never get another chance to.

His opinion of this world was changing slightly after experiencing things he would never dream of experiencing.

But... he’s still focused on going back.

Just because he’s started to acknowledge this world as something that’s extraordinary, doesn’t mean he’s going to throw away his goal like it never existed.

He was, and still is determined to go back.

Nothing would ever take away that finish line of his.

He clenched his fist, reconfirming his resolve and his slight hatred for the god who put him in this world.

He was going to get bac--

“Hey, what’s wrong, you’ve got a nasty look on your face.”

“—?!”

His resolve was interrupted by Aliza, who was still showing him around.

“Sorry, sorry, I drifted off for a second.”

“Haha, what the heck.”

“Haha, sorry, where were we?”

“We just made it to the blacksmith, I wanted to see how you liked longer swords. You can’t fight with that dagger forever.”

“Oh, yeah, that would definitely be helpful.”

“Come in, check some of them out. You can’t tell if a sword’s good until you actually hold it in your hands.”

They entered the blacksmith’s shop and there, was another demihuman standing behind a wooden counter.

He welcomed the two inside, their hoods remaining on their heads, Ace’s head lowered once again.

“Welcome! How can I help you?”

“Just looking. Where are your normal-sized swords?”

“In the back left corner, tell me if you like anything.”

“Will do! Thank you.”

Aliza grabbed Ace’s hand and pulled him over to the swords.

“Pick one up and see if you like it better than your dagger.”

Ace grabbed one of the swords and held it in his hands, surprised that it was lighter than he expected.

The sword itself was longer than his dagger, but not long enough that he needed two hands to wield it.

“Oh, yeah, this is much better but, I don’t have the money for it.”

“Don’t worry, these ones aren’t too expensive, I can buy one for you if you want.”

“No, don’t worry, I want to be the one to buy my first. For now, I’ll stick to the dagger.”

“No problem, but get one soon, because you need to start learning.”

“I’ll try.”

He swung the sword around a few times, continuing to admire the unexpected weight.

Ace put the sword back from where he got it and started to leave the shop.

Aliza, following him out...

“Thanks boss!”

“Come back anytime!”

After leaving the shop, Aliza showed Ace around for a few more hours, burning into the hours of the day.

“Aaannddd.. that’s everywhere.”

Finishing up her tour, Ace took one more look around him. He glanced at the houses, the shops, and the people.

“It really is a small village.”

“Told you... compared to the capital, this place is tiny! But... it still has a nice feel to it. The small area and the amount of people living here makes it feel more like one big house instead of a village.”

“That’s why I make sure to visit as many places as I can, to experience everything, everywhere I go.”

When they finished looking around, it looked to be around 5:00 P.M.

“Should we get started?”

“Started what?”

Ace was confused, having no idea what they could be starting on his first day here.

“What else? Your training.”

“Oh, I guess... let’s start.”

“You don’t seem too enthusiastic..”

“Haha, sorry, I’m tired and wasn’t expecting to start right on the first day.”

“First day? First day of what?”

“Haha... first day of meeting you.”

Ace realized that she didn’t know that he was transported to this world this morning.

—I’ll explain it to her tonight.

“Oh yeah, it feels like I’ve known you for a while, so I forgot we only met each other today.”

---

------

Her voice started to get a little nervous before saying what she said next.

“Do you think you can… umm.. handle going back into the forest?”

Ace smiled, feeling warm because of her consideration for him.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine, I got everything out earlier. I’ll be on my guard a little but you seem to be good with a sword, so I’ll be fine.”

“Ok but, if anything is bothering you, just tell me.”

“I’m not a kid, don’t worry.”

“You know I didn’t mean that... please, I’m being serious, tell me if something is wrong while we’re in the forest.”

“Ok ok, I’ll make sure to do that.”

“Ok, let’s go.”

They started to move towards the forest and once they reached the entrance...

“We’re going in now... are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, but just wait one second.”

He didn’t check all day, so he wanted to confirm something.

He stopped in place and closed his eyes.

364 Days

6 Hours

24 Minutes

Map

Support

He opened his menu and focused on the word “map”.

Once he opened it... his theory was correct.

The whole village was now covered in green and brown.

Whenever he travelled somewhere, that place would be uncovered on his map.

It would also show all the relevant information regarding the place.

He zoomed in until he could only see his marker and Furio Village.

Once he zoomed in, some words disappeared, and new words appeared.

All the buildings were being shown on his map.

They didn’t have the actual shop names, but it said what type of shop it was.

The blacksmith he went to earlier was labelled, “blacksmith”, and the inn he stayed in this morning was labelled, “inn”.

That’s all he wanted to check.

He opened his eyes again and got ready to go into the forest.

“OK, let’s go.”

Aliza nodded her head and they moved into the forest.

They travelled for a little until they found a small field in the middle of the forest.

“This is perfect.”

She stopped and smiled at the perfect training grounds.

“…”

“Aliza.. could you... um... pick somewhere else?”

Aliza looked back at Ace, to see that he had his hand to his mouth.

He looked like he was about to vomit.

Once she looked back onto the field, she realized the grass in the middle was stained red, with what looked like blood.

She realized what this meant...

This was where he got attacked.