According to the extensive letter:

-- The fight against the Demor was pointless.

-- All human efforts are futile

-- The suffering of both nations is caused by the ego of their rulers.

-- King Demos II of the house of Demor and King Junius the Fair of the empire are entirely to blame.

-- The hut was a guard post in the middle of the cursed forest, full of monsters and half-humans.

-- Outside are two other soldiers who were killed in a fight against monsters.

-- He did not have much left as he was sick and badly wounded.

-- If anyone found the letter, let us give it to his wife and son.

-- That we give him a dignified burial alongside his comrades.

-- That the iron medal in his hand were his identifiers and that we have to take him to the empire.

-- Finally, there was a funeral prayer.

Hunt was the one who read the letters aloud, determinedly telling me that he wanted to fulfil his wish. In the hut we found tools of all kinds. Shovels, axes, picks, knives and a complete carpentry kit.

Shovel in hand, I set about digging a hole to give the gentleman a rest. Hunt meanwhile wrapped him in a cloak. Hunt read the prayer and we said goodbye to the knight.

We spent all day cleaning the house, removing debris and washing floors, windows and walls.

Neither of us spoke for a long time, we had a lot to process. We knew there were two realms, the half-humans and the monsters. Until we discovered the underground storerooms of the house. In them we could find several weapons like swords and spears. Three bows and about 50 arrows. A general map of the area with key points such as a mine and a river.

In a chest we found two well-protected books, one on magic and the other on military techniques.

Before nightfall we covered the windows and the door. Using my skill, I evaluated all the objects in the house. Despite bleeding a couple of times we could rest assured that there was nothing dangerous.

Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω Ω

Four years later we were still in that hut. We decided to give up. The search for civilisation was not working. We tried many times to get out of the forest, but we always met monsters that did not allow us to move forward.

We decided to stay in the hut. We renovated it, grew our own food and built walls to protect us from the monsters in the forest.

In these years both Hunt and I, we leveled up, both our skills and our attributes. Attributes are skills that all humans have, but of different values.

Exploring the forest I was able to evaluate many monsters, so many that my evaluation skill evolved to [ Analysis ]. This skill was not only a mere upgrade, but I was able to break down the abilities and attributes of the monsters.

We call them mutants instead of monsters, because although they looked like normal land animals, they were bigger, their fur had different colours, depending on their strength. Some of them had very hard scales.

Crimson bears, for example, are like normal bears, but about 10 metres long, and with scales on their back, because of these changes or mutations we call them mutants.

Almost every creature in the forest fell into one of these categories.

-- Group 1: Minors: Animal-like mutants, but with abilities.

Super speed, increased strength, poison, acid, intimidating howl... Levels 0 ~ 35.

-- Group 2: Medium: Similar to above, but with dyed coat and larger sizes. Levels 35 ~ 150 The colours varied according to their level. From the base colour, then followed by yellow, orange, red and white.

-- Group 3: Seniors: These are mutants with a glossy black coat. We call them crimson. Because they were covered with a scale armour. Levels 150 ~ 900.

-- Group 4: Noin: don’t try to fight them, they are gigantic mutants with many abilities and great intelligence. They are able to detect traps and possess great magical power. Levels +900.

To summarise, normally one mutant from group 2 can take out 10 mutants from group 1. A group of 3 can take out 5 mutants from group 2. Group 4 can fight hundreds of mutants from group 3.

If we may boast, Hunt and I can defeat a group 3 monster together, but individually we can’t defeat many group 2 mutants.

But it was because they were constantly attacking us that we were able to level up.

As soon as my unique ability evolved, we were able to learn how to use magic, copying the mutants. Thanks to the skill [ Magic Affinity ] I managed to copy some spells from the 4 types of magic. Fire, water, wind and earth. And learn some spells from the magic book, which we found in the hut.

(We had some guesses as to how the magic might work, but we didn’t know why it worked).

After getting a bit more fluent with magic, we set off in search of the cave on the map.

We left our house at dawn, the fresh air and the first rays of sunshine witnessed the start of another adventure.

The adventure began with a reminder of how alive the forest is. Ten wolves, with speed skills, from group 1. Their fury was overwhelming, their eyes red with hatred, their teeth sharp as knives and their speed was not something new in this forest.

Our speed allowed us to move like ghosts in the dark. Every leap, every movement, was a deadly dance, a frantic struggle against the fury of the wolves. With cunning and speed, we overcame these enemies, without having to rely on magic.

...

The moment we had dreamed of had arrived, the mine was actually a small iron quarry (we found iron!).

As we were going down the quarry, collecting some iron, we came across a mutant from group 3, an iron turtle. It stood like a mountain of metal, its rusty grey iron shell reflecting the sunlight. As for its size, a true beast, 2.5 metres tall, its red eyes glowed with a fury of its own. We approached it fearlessly, our swords almost blunt. Watching its movements and casting a few spells, we realised that its armour was stronger than it looked, but our experience in fighting other mutants in group 3 had given us the cunning we needed to defeat it.

The pace of his attacks was frantic, we were dodging his attacks with difficulty. Observing his attacks, we discovered his weak point. The swords, sliding with precision and speed, slashed into his neck. A roar echoed throughout the quarry, as the iron turtle writhed, fell into the void. The final blow, with a metallic sound that echoed off the walls, left us immobile with the sensation of having survived an incredible battle.

Determined to retrieve our swords, we went all the way down the hole. While Hunt was guarding the remains of the turtle, I found some stairs. They were almost invisible, covered in mud and stones.

As we descended the darkness intensified with every step. A draught of air blew through us, as if the earth were breathing. The cavern was a spectacle of horror and beauty at the same time. A great vault of carved rock.

Small, rudimentary huts contrasted the intensity of the cave. They were filled with worn tools and torn clothing.

A few metres away from the huts we find the remains of dozens of miners who have died, due to the same illness as the gentleman.

In the offices we find the records and accounts of the mining extraction. In the documents, a material called [ Magore ] was named, from which a bluish crystal called [ Magiston ] could be extracted, according to the manuscripts this crystal

was used in the clothes and weapons of the mages. They had to send an order of 500 mr, about 100 kg, to the empire. At the request of King Junius the Beautiful.

Further into the mine we found the warehouses where hundreds of kilograms of this material were stored.

●— You won’t believe this, but this, it’s like a battery or something, it’s got a lot of mana inside it. I said as I analysed the strange crystal.—

■— How can this be?—

●— I don’t know, I can’t analyse what kind of materials or what elements it is made of. —

The crystal never ceased to amaze us, but the final straw came when we pulled it out of the mine. The crystal absorbed a kind of particle that came from the sun and turned it into mana.

We did so much physical, mathematical and chemical analysis that Hunt’ [ Calculus ] ability evolved into [computer]. With this ability, Hunt could materialise translucent, translucent screens where both Hunt and I could interact.

When Hunt activated his ability, two boards appeared: one as a monitor and the other as a keyboard and mouse. The ability simulated an operating system, similar to computers on earth. In this system, we had predefined programs such as text, image, video and sound editors, as well as CAD design software and a code editor. We also had music and video players.

The true power of this ability was not limited to being a simple computer. Hunt’s eyes could function as cameras, his ears as microphones and his mouth as a speaker. He literally became a living computer.

It took Hunt several months to perfect his skill and create multiple users or multiple computers at the same time. One of the problems we had was that every time he deactivated his skill, all the stored content disappeared.

As Hunt is a genius he hated to lose projects or files. It took him almost 6 months to find a solution. He managed to fragment his ability into two.

--- The server, a portion of the ability that remained constantly active to store files. Hunt programmed this server so that its screens were invisible and intangible.

--- Computers, a fragment of the ability that allowed to activate or deactivate up to 4 computers.

We discovered that the sun of this world emitted a strange energy. We decided to call it phlogiston after a 17th century theory. The phlogiston was processed by plants, we called Ether, (according to a 19th century theory), particles that

plants emit when photosynthesising. These ether particles are absorbed by the forest mutants and through a process of internal metabolism are converted into manna. A liquid that is stored in the mitobomdria, a new organelle found in animal and plant cells.

Both mutants and ourselves can recover mana by eating the flesh of other mutants or by eating mana-rich plants. The amount of mana points a living being has is defined by the number of mitobomdria it has. Not every cell of a living thing has to have one of these organelles.

It took me several months to be able to analyse animal and plant cells. Every time I tried to see something smaller and smaller. My eyes stung and bled. But the pain and suffering was worth it to be able to see the cells with my eyes.

Mana is liquid energy that has mass, volume, has a pressure as a function of volume and a constant temperature.

It is very strange how phlogiston becomes ether and ether becomes mana.

Even though we had all the variables, we didn’t understand why we and the mutants were able to control ether and mana to create spells or magical phenomena.

We do not know how and why we are able to control it, but we have analysed the spells and can deduce several hypotheses for each of the elements.

We start from the idea, that conscious living beings, like mutants and us, can control ether particles at will. We assume it is through telekinesis or something like that.