Chapter 1

Leo, Deer, and the Nameless Forest

“Ugh,” Leo grumbled as he slowly opened his eyes, surveying his surroundings. The headache was splintering--eight tequila shots will do that to you--but not so much as to distort the appearance of his lavish, envy-inducing, middle-of-Manhattan apartment. For starters, his bedroom didn’t have grass in it, nor did it have trees... nor did it have a deer licking his toe that was sticking out of an old sock. “AAAHH!!” he yelped out in terror, scaring the deer away. It swiftly bolted, leaving him aghast with the new reality. Reality that was quickly explained by the screen that appeared in front of him.

[Congratulations on dying a premature death and being transmigrated into the Val’hun World!]

[You have inhabited a body of a nobody, someone of no parental lineage, no special bloodline, no ties to the Immortals, no access to anything worthy of note! In fact, whatever you choose to call yourself, the world will believe you! Because that’s how worthless you are!]

[To kickstart your progress, your Spiritual Roots (which were abysmal) were repaired and increased from Abysmal to Low-Tier Damaged Mortal Roots. You may spend points to increase the tier of your roots! Remember: the lower the tier, to slower the cultivation! And the slower the cultivation, the higher the chance of dying!...again!]

[You are currently situated within the Nameless Forest where you have to survive and find a way back to the civilization! You are given three major quests:

--1-- Survive the forest’s ordeals

--2-- Ascend into Spirit Formation Realm before leaving the forest

--3-- Become apprenticed to a Sect or found one of your own]

[As a temporary boost, you will be given special statuses for 7 days:

--1-- You will become incapable of feeling Fear, Terror, Anxiety, Crippling Doubt, or any and all states of mind that may impede your progress

--2-- First strike against every enemy will deal 8x more damage if done from stealth

--3-- You will not need to consume any nourishment to sustain yourself

--4-- Your System XP gains will be increased by 200%]

[System XP: gain System XP by doing tasks such as--killing wild beasts or demonic monsters, harvesting unique herbs and plants, creating medicinal pastes, forging weapons and tools, building shelters, and anything that can be considered an achievement for your pathetic circumstances!]

[By leveling up the System, you unlock further functions that will ensure you don’t die young and stupid!...again!]

[You will be informed of further things on need-to-know basis! Good luck...ish!]

Leo stared rather absentmindedly at the floating blue screen in front of him. He wanted to cry, he really did, but couldn’t. He also wanted to scream out, very much so, but his body wouldn’t let him. All he could do was stare blankly at the deer who had come back and was peeking toward him from behind a bush. It looked like a weird voyeur, prompting Leo to finally laugh out loud at the thought.

“Ha ha ha--why the hell am I laughing?!!” he cursed at himself, grasping at his head. “No, no, no, just get me back home, man! I know I ain’t exactly pine of the forest and the glitter of the stars, but I got folk that’ll miss me! Plus, who’s gonna feed Mr. Fetching Kitten?! Aya, don’t force him to eat my corpse, man! That’s not cool!”

His grievances poured out like a rain but they were hollow--they were just words, and his emotional state came dangerously close to feeling ‘psychotic’. It was the loud, thunderous rumble of his stomach that woke him up ever so slightly to the reality of his current life. He wasn’t hungry--or thirsty, even--but was on the ‘cusp’ of it. Like that feeling midway between lunch and dinner, where you weren’t exactly ‘hungry’, but still reached for a bag of chips for some light snacking.

It was a rather annoying feeling, but it vanished quickly. Apparently, he wasn’t even allowed to feel irate.

Standing up, he dusted off his clothes and took a look at them for the first time--they were shabby, to say the least, tattered and torn and should have been tossed into the shredder some eight years ago, but they were rather warm. He had wooden sandals on his feet with a set of toenails that could be used as claws, and though the body wasn’t exactly brimming with muscles, it was in shape.

“Alright. First things first... shelter, right?” he looked around at the plentiful of trees and smiled faintly. He didn’t recognize them--they were rather thin and tall, with leafy canopies and no fruits that he could see. But it was moot, anyway, as he had no tools to make anything complex. In fact, his best bet was to make a mud hut, but to do that, he’d have to find water first. Until then, just the classic straw-roof-hut would have to suffice.

As such, he went around and started plucking leafs and picking up the ones that fell as well as breaking off quite a few branches. He saw quite a few berries and even a few mushrooms, but stayed well enough away from them. Even if he did recognize them (which he decidedly didn’t as they were all at least 4 times larger than the biggest ones he knew back on Earth), he would have still stayed away as this was a completely different world, and he was in no hurry. Well, seven days grace period wasn’t exactly a cause for a ‘no hurry mantra’, but he physically couldn’t feel any other way. And he couldn’t even feel frustrated about it. It was all very strange.

“Mhkay,” he mumbled after fashioning a straw hut. “That won’t keep away piss from the birds.” It collapsed soon after, what with the violently gentle breeze of the wind passing through at the remarkable 3 miles per hour. “Right. Why did I think I could even do it? I watched like 3 videos of other people doin’ it and suddenly I’m Mr. Bob, huh? Haah...”

Scratching his head, he began to wander around aimlessly, exploring his surroundings. He was still careful, though--after all, the ‘system’ confirmed that there were wild beasts about that weren’t all as curiously harmless as that voyeur deer, and it would do him no good to have his limbs divorced from his body this early on in his journey in another world.

The forest, through and through, was eerily similar; in fact, it may as well have been a maze. Leo hardly had any experience navigating anything past the city streets, so it wasn’t long before he was lost. Well, lost--as he didn’t have anywhere to return to, he, technically, wasn’t lost. He was simply journeying.

“Khm, the system even won’t allow me to have a bruised ego, khm...”

Eventually, he finally came across a body of water--it was a small, pool-size pond surrounded by glistening rocks and several smaller critters drinking from it. He recognized two--a rabbit and a hawk, though the second head on the rabbit and the six wings on the hawk played loose with the ‘recognized’ part--while the several others hardly had counterparts he could assign them to. They were just... animalistic shapes with heads and limbs as far as he could tell.

They all warily glanced at him but, luckily, didn’t immediately lounge for his throat. He also didn’t approach them, sitting down near the edge where no animals were present and scooping up a handful of water. He wasn’t thirsty, either, but just like with ‘hunger’ portion of feeling sated, it was the feeling of being on the cusp of it; had he been watching a movie, for example, he would not have gotten up to fetch a drink, but if it got any worse, he would have.

As the water drizzled down his throat, he suddenly felt his entire body alight with freshness--for some reason, he began to hear popping sounds throughout, and felt invisible threads of something ethereal rush from within the depths of his core.

[Congratulations on achieving Enlightenment!]

[With the help of Fresh Water, you have reached Sixth Stage of Qi Condensation Realm!]

[Fresh Water can no longer assist you in breaking stages, but can help you in refining the body!]

[Fresh Water: with an unknown source, it flows to the surface and sustains the entirety of the Nameless Forest. Can be used for cooking, medicine, or mud bricks]

[Unlocked a new building blueprint: Mud Hut!]

[Mud Hut: a primitive shelter used for those in desperate positions. Requires: 15 pounds of mud, 40 stalks of nameless grass, 15 pieces of vine grass, 6 stones, 20 branches of the nameless trees]

“H-huh?” Leo stumbled and muttered. “Did you just change your damn genre? Aah, whatever. Looks like I can pretend to be a jack-of-all-trades after all.”

Standing up, he felt extremely light. Not only that, he could see much better, at a much greater distance, and even hear things well beyond the normal scope. His entire body felt beyond refreshed and anew, prompting him to glance at the pond of water and look at it oddly.

“I... I didn’t stumble upon some divine source or something, right? Nah, no way. That ain’t how it goes. It must be that this body was just so bad that even a drop of remotely normal water made it better. Plus, I’m guessing there are like 56 realms and even newborns are all at least at Foundation Realm or something. Ho ho, you almost made me arrogant, system! Anyway, let’s collect stuff for the mud hut. I can make it at that small clearing I just passed. It will be close to fresh water. I wonder if it will just appear like magic when I collect the ingredients? Alright, a good grinding sesh needs a good motivating song...

“I’m a survivor, I’m not gon’ give up~~”