[WE WERE SAVED, HUUU] the system exhaled in relief.
"What do you mean saved? We're considered perverts now!" Alvar muttered.
[AND WE COULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED. THE GIRL IS PROBABLY A GEM IN THIS GUILD. THEY WOULD HAVE STOMPED US IF IT WEREN'T FOR VERONICA.]
"You're right on that one…" He slouched, wiping sweat from his face as he headed toward the inn.
"So what is the conclusion of your analysis in the guild ?" he asked as he walked through the streets trying to appear as normal as possible, since a voice is talking to him in his head, he can't appear to have any reactions when walking.
he added "are they, the corpses, the same one's I had left inside the dungeon ?"
[ANALYSIS: 60 PERCENT IT LOOKS LIKE YOUR DOING]
"That is a huge number, I didn't expect that much resemblance to be honest, to think there is more than a half chance the corpses are the same..."
[YEAH, BUT THERE SEEMS TO BE SOME TWEAKS OR MANIPULATION WHEN HANDLING THEM.]
"If that is the case, we need to research more about dungeons. For all we know, the dungeon that took me from Earth could reveal itself," he replied as he opened the inn's door.
He added, almost as a passing thought, "You don't really know how I got here, do you, System?"
[...]
"My guess is you have some memories of what caused all of this, and what that relic really is—but your memories haven't fully formed yet. After all, when I first used the System, you couldn't talk. Now you have various functions."
[YOU ARE RIGHT, ACTUALLY. I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW WE WERE ABLE TO USE AN ID FROM ANOTHER PERSON. IT JUST APPEARED TO ME AS AN INSTRUCTION.]
"I see… good to know," he muttered, rolling his eyes.
"But try being honest with me from now on, okay? It's better if I know what you're capable of—if we want to survive."
He entered his room and laid down on the bed. The rest he allowed himself for the day felt well-earned. Friday ended quietly, the day calmer than expected.
***
The following week was packed with intense magic training and hunting in the forest. Deer, boar, rabbits, and even large spiders became his daily catches—monsters he hunted down and sold to the guild. Each day pushed him further, strengthening both his body and his understanding of the wild.
But he didn't acquire any skills despite having hunted a lot of animals and the like.
Regardless right now, it is a good thing, as he can't risk taking in skills from everything he kills.
He had been a bit lazy, though; he still hadn't bought a new belt for his sword. Instead, he carried it in the small bag he'd purchased along with his boots. The same bag held a few snacks from town.A new belt was necessary—he kept reminding himself of that.
Over the week, he had gained a noticeable amount of weight, surpassing his previous form—but most of it was fat, since his focus had been more on magic than physical training. Still, his strength was returning nicely.
Alvar strode deeper into the forest, bags in hand. He stopped in a small clearing bordered by four evenly spaced trees—forming a natural square around him. Setting the bags down, he closed his eyes and sat cross-legged at the center, breathing slowly. The air was still, save for the rustling leaves.
Then he heard it.
A faint, rhythmic skittering.
Opening one eye, he spotted a wave of spiders approaching—tiny, finger-sized creatures, at least a hundred of them, crawling toward him like a writhing carpet.
Another wave followed, this time in a different color. Then a third, also in a different shade, converging from the opposite side. The final group—the middle wave—merged with the others, sandwiched between colors as they advanced.
Without hesitation, he raised a single finger toward the sky while keeping his body low in meditation posture.
"SHOCK DANCE!!!"
Lightning rippled outward from his body. His right hand shot a single current skyward, a focused thread of electricity extending in a perfect line. Through sheer willpower, he manipulated the thread, bending its trajectory and shaping its thickness with exact precision.
The lightning around his body remained confined to a thin radius—just a few inches off the ground—pulsing in sync with the skyward thread. In his mind, that thread acted as the conductor, guiding the storm.
Bolts spun outward in a tornado-like ring.
The swarm collided with the crackling field. Sparks leapt between spiders, frying them on impact. He finished striking the left side; the current vanished and reappeared instantly on the right—teleporting in blinding flashes as it shredded everything it touched.
When the lightning stopped, the forest fell silent.
Almost all the surviving spiders were the color of the middle wave—stunned, confused, panicked. In their disorientation, they turned on the others, tearing legs and crushing bodies until only the middle spider colony remained.
It froze, unsure.
Alvar sat at the center, breathing steadily, eyes calm as the last echoes of Shock Dance faded.
He inhaled deeply, lungs swelling as the faint clatter of thousands of spiders gathered—drawn toward the middle group.
He exhaled:
[PING! FIRE BREATH!!!]
Flame roared outward in a sweeping arc. Heat surged from the depths of his lungs, scorching everything in front of him. Fire hissed across the forest floor, racing in precise lines he controlled with his breath—burning webs, carcasses, and the entire merging swarm in brilliant orange light.
He inhaled again—by instinct—only to pull in smoke.
He choked violently and waved it away. "Khh—! Damn…"
[WE SHOULD LEAVE FAST. WE HAVE YET TO HUNT EELS FOR THE DAY.]
"Yeah… cough… let's go," he muttered.
He made his way to the lake and spent the rest of the day hunting eels. Afterward, he spent some time with the boy, showing him a few tricks while the adults weren't watching. They were forming a genuine, small bond.
"Bye! See you later!" the boy shouted as Alvar waved goodbye.
I really want someone to talk to about the modern world… share my knowledge, he thought.
[WHAT ABOUT ME?]
"I mean… you know everything I do. Kind of kills the fun. By the way—do you remember more than I do?"
[TO A CERTAIN EXTENT. BUT ABOUT ANYTHING YOU EXPERIENCE IN THIS WORLD, I REMEMBER A LOT.]
"How was the coffee this morning?"
[DON'T REMIND ME. IT WAS BITTER ENOUGH TO KILL A GOLEM.]
He chuckled, walking back toward town under the night sky. The day had been long—magic testing, forest training, and pushing himself harder than usual.
He reached the inn and fell asleep almost instantly.
Relief washed over him, along with a small satisfaction. He felt stronger—but still wondered:
How would I fare against a human?
Some celebrated.Others were crushed.For every person smiling, another felt the sting of failure.
Inside a dim, half-built room, five people stood in a tense circle.
"We've lost it."
"We hid it so well—even she didn't have a lead—but now… it's gone."
"I am so sor—"
A hand clamped around his throat, hoisting him into the air. "rrryyb—"He was hurled onto a wooden table, shattering it.
Beside the wreckage stood a very tall man, slumped against the mud-caked walls. He looked exhausted, sleep-deprived, and furious.
A robed man, standing at the room's center, trembled with rage. His face reddened, his fingers twitching.
"When did this happen?" he asked another subordinate.
"It… it happened two days ago, but we couldn't find you to te—"
He was grabbed and thrown like a stone straight toward the tall man.
The tall man clenched his fists instead of catching him, worsening the subordinate's injuries.
Still unsatisfied, the robed man glared at the tall man.
"What do you plan on doing if you fail to find it?"
"We will find it," the tall man replied.
The robed man snapped. He punched the air; compressed force slammed the tall man's head into the mud wall.
"I ASKED WHAT IF YOU FAIL, DIDN'T I!?"
The tall man, wiping his face with a cloth he tore from his subordinate on the ground, said, "I am willing to pay with my life if that happens"
The robed man was still not satisfied but seemed to have remembered something.
"Worthless runt thinks his life is worth something, I am the one at fault for giving such a mission to rats like you......"
He then glared at his eyes, "I will kill you gladly if you fail, Noble Thief Byorn!!!"
He stormed out.
Byorn grabbed his blood-stained apron and opened the door to return to his "work"—only to see the tortured security guard gone.
His only source of information… had escaped.
He had been played again.
"I WILL KILL YOU! JUST YOU WAIT!!!" he roared, kicking the last surviving guard across the room.
The next evening—
"Stand up! I've betted on you, Alvar Walter!!!"