Fortunately, Lady Luck was embracing their destiny. Although wolf howls could be heard echoing from a distance throughout that night, not a single wolf reached Alioth and Claire's location.
That night was passed safely, although at a high price, their eyes were always open because they couldn't sleep. How could they sleep when the chance of never waking up was so great?
When the sun began to climb high, the two of them could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"It seems our situation is quite safe," Claire said with a trembling voice and a slightly pale face.
"But this is strange," the young man replied. "Why didn't any monsters pass through here at all? This is a wilderness forest. Could it be because of this lake?"
The girl looked at the small lake in front of them. The clear water, which had been dark black and full of stars last night, was now as clear as glass.
Suddenly, Claire exclaimed, clapping her hands. "Ah, I just remembered!"
Alioth was naturally interested. "About what?"
Claire tapped her own chin with her index finger as she tried to recall the details in her mind. "If I remember correctly, Father once told me there is a small lake in this forest that is hated by all the forest-dwelling monsters. As I recall, the reason is because this lake is poisonous...." And her face became even paler. "It's lucky we didn't touch the lake water last night."
However, unexpectedly, Alioth's face looked brighter. "That's good news!" he said. "That means we will be safe here."
Claire also seemed to have just thought of that and could see the good in the current situation. However, a moment later, she became gloomy again. "What's the use of being safe here if we can't get out?"
Alioth was stunned. "Uh... that's right."
***
Because Claire was lost, she didn't even remember which direction Roven Village, where she came from, was. She didn't know where east, south, west, or north was. She said she just ran straight into the forest.
Alioth did not give up, with a confident look, he said, "It doesn't matter if you have no sense of direction and don't know north and south. Just tell me if you went toward the sun or away from it? In the morning or afternoon?"
Claire's eyes looked up to the right. "I ran away from home yesterday morning, but I don't remember if it was towards the sun or away from it."
"We're dead!"
Claire's eyes widened. Without hesitation, she bowed her head deeply. "I'm s-s-sorry!"
The young man rolled his eyes lazily, he never expected someone to have no sense of direction in this world. He could understand someone with poor navigation skills, but in this current world, shouldn't everyone know where north, south, east, and west are? Isn't there no technology called GPS yet? If a person doesn't know the direction, will they continuously depend on others when traveling?
"Hmph, never mind, don't think about it." Alioth shook his head while exhaling slowly. At least he knew where he was going, which was Florin City, even if he didn't know if the city was in the same direction as Claire's village or not. "The important thing is we have to eat and drink first. Did you bring anything when you came here?"
Suddenly Alioth felt stupid asking that question.
However, Claire answered anyway. "Nothing at all."
"We're dead!"
"I'm s-sorry!"
***
After a tussle with a fairly large deer monster, Alioth finally managed to destroy it with Shadow Slash. He and Claire skinned the deer to be cooked and eaten.
For this one thing, Alioth was truly amazed by the agility of Claire's hands using a small knife to skin the deer. Alioth's hands, which had never done anything like this, moved awkwardly, and he was scolded by the girl several times.
"You, don't cut too deep or the meat will be wasted!" Then the next moment. "You're good at hunting but not good at processing your game?!" And soon after. "Can't you do it?!"
"If you had brought something to eat, I wouldn't have to hunt and become the subject of your nagging."
The girl's head instantly drooped in shame. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry!"
During the meal, Alioth was grateful that Claire had gotten lost.
It wasn't that he was a cruel man, but he imagined that if Claire hadn't gotten lost and hadn't met him, he might have been forced to eat deer meat with its skin.
Although the meat tasted bland because no spices were sprinkled on it, Alioth was still happy because his stomach was full and his energy was restored.
"If you don't know the way home, then what?" Alioth asked as he carelessly threw away a deer bone and accidentally touched the water at the edge of the lake. Instantly, the bone became brittle and shattered into a fine powder.
Alioth shuddered at the sight.
Claire looked gloomy hearing the question. "I don't know either."
"Actually, how far is the depth of this forest from your village?"
Claire looked around carefully before finally answering. "I think it's quite far, even very far. I remember the forest near the village didn't have giant trees at all. Father said that if we went into the forest and saw giant trees, we had to quickly turn around because that was a sign that we had gone too far."
"And now as far as the eye can see, there are only giant trees," Alioth complained with a loud enough murmur. "Well... that's not a problem. I have a plan, which is to go to Florin City. I know the direction to that city, to the east from here. Do you want to come along? Maybe during the trip, you'll remember the way and can return to your village."
Of course, even without being asked, Claire had no choice but to follow. Her face instantly brightened; she held Alioth's right hand with her soft fingers.
"I'll come, I'll come! That helps me a lot. I remember the way home from Florin City. Although it's a bit far, it's not a problem compared to being lost in this forest."
The young man's cheeks flushed because he was being held by a beautiful girl like Claire. He forcibly pulled his hand away and spontaneously moved his sitting position slightly further away.
Just like an isekai story. However, he said, "We'll leave now. If my calculations aren't wrong, it should take two days to reach Florin City. But before that, I want to ask you something."
Claire tilted her head.
Alioth took out the monster core crystal he had just hunted and showed it to Claire. "How do I absorb this monster core crystal?"
The girl's eyes sparkled seeing the crystals. "You collected these all by yourself from the forest?" Her expression changed to an annoying one, her smile was slightly crooked, and her eyes narrowed. "You collected them but don't know their purpose?"
"Ugh, just answer quickly!"
Claire laughed briefly. "You just need to crush it. Then the benefit of the crystal will seep into the body of the person who crushes it."
"Huh, that easy?"
Claire nodded.
Alioth tried Claire's suggestion. He channeled a little Mana into his palm to strengthen his grip. As soon as the crystal shattered, stars seemed to scatter and enter his body, and Alioth felt his Mana increase.
He didn't expect it to be this easy.
After sharing a few crystals with Claire and cleaning up their food scraps, the two immediately headed east toward Florin City.
In his heart, Alioth wondered what his next step should be after this.
Should I complete the main quest? he pondered doubtfully.
The first main quest was very easy and not too related to the main storyline. The player was only told to go to a designated point, which was in a cave, and the player would meet a party. The mission was to find an item from the cave and rescue some members of the party who had not returned after a long time because they had entered the cave. After completing the mission, the player would receive a reward of coins and a low-level skill. Then the player would go with the party to Lark Village for the next main quest.
Well... even if it was a low-level skill, there was no harm in getting it early on.
So he had decided to complete that quest after arriving at Florin City. Coincidentally, the location of the first main quest was not too far from the city.
"Provided that the main quest actually exists like in the game." Alioth just remembered that this was now the real world, his new world.
"Game? Main quest? What are those?"
"Ah, forget it."