Chapter 5
"Adventurers."
"It's been a while since I came to this place."
A stranger on his back, he lifted his head and examined the area around him. It's been not that long since the last time he visited this place, but grinding every day, it feels like it's been months since he hunted here.
Well, considering the difficulty, it could be counted as wasting time if he grinds here. There's no reason for a level 29 adventurer like him to ever visit this place.
A forest consists of strange entities. Like slimes, living plants, gigantic bugs…?
It's kind of perplexing that the monsters could be gathered according to their strength. Like this forest, there are only monsters that level 1 adventurers could kill even if they used their bare hands. Except for the beings that occupied the middle of the forest, but still.
It was as if someone had planned this all… well, guess Axel was called the beginner's town not for nothing. Maybe it's all that goddess doing.
"Where is it again?"
"The border that separates the outer and the middle."
And fascinatingly, every area was divided into 3 parts. The outer, the middle, and the central. It was as if… as if…
It was as if someone had set it up. Absolutely unsettling yet intriguing.
He shook his head. Right now, he is too low-levelled. He didn't have any obligation to ponder such a thing.
No matter what the Goddess said, the fact that he's living in this 'game-like' world is still unnerving. This is real world, real life. He could feel his five senses, no, even the sixth one! And yet the way the nature works is so similar to what he had seen behind the computer screen.
Like, who could get used to that instantaneously?
Not him.
"I guess those intermediates attempted to hunt in the middle region."
"Right."
The girl nodded, her sole eye often drifting from right to left. The other one was covered by a shield-shaped eyepatch with a plus symbol on it. What an odd attachment.
Must be some trend here. He helplessly smiled. He really had to learn a few things about this world, whether it was the trend, the traditions, or the norms.
Who knows, in the future, he would run into something he never saw before and would carelessly comment on it. Offending someone and getting his ass kicked by the backing of that someone, or worse, that someone themselves!
Some people here are maniacs. Sometimes by just a few words, they would go to the extent of exterminating a family.
Tsk, psychopaths.
He leisurely walked through the forest, sometimes four-legged furred entities would pass by. A few would attack them, some just walked, while others would retreat. He's in no rush.
The girl would stare with sparkling eyes, looking at him relaxedly kicking wolves dreaded by most beginners. And they're even retreating.
She sighed in amazement, so this is what real advanced adventurers, huh?
"What advanced? I'm just a normal adventurer, there's no need to ponder such a thing."
He responded casually. Seems like she didn't manage to hide her thoughts.
She was startled, before regaining her composure and coughed.
"Well, those people who 'kidnapped' me couldn't be as relaxed as you here. Even though they're intermediates, they're still cautiously looking around them…"
"Maybe they weren't prepared enough."
"... if you don't mind, could you tell me what level you're currently at?"
"That came out of nowhere."
"Uhh…"
"And you do know that is a personal information, right?"
"Y-Yes, o-of course!"
She stammered, tipping her hat to hide her embarrassed face.
She might not show it often, but her intelligence could be considered high, even amongst her peers whose intelligence is way above the average. The attitude she just showed made her look spontaneous.
As a high-intelligence person, how could she show such a impulsive behaviour?
Asking questions like this is usually unlike her. Too prideful and think they aren't worthy of her attention, when joining some parties, she didn't even ask, she demanded.
And the result has shown itself.
She has to change her way of thinking and attitudes, she resolved mentally.
And adding the fact that she was saved by an advanced adventurer who could be counted as her senior in her academy...
From today onwards, she probably wouldn't even have the face to perform her previous attitudes.
She saw many adventurers, as she had travelled a lot. And she could bet on her coins that the younglings that have reached his current height couldn't be seen in remote places like the beginner's town. Maybe they're a couple of them in the capital, but that's only speculation.
Other than her peers, people probably could only reach an advanced level at the very least in their mid-twenties within the capital. Remote areas? Probably 1 out of 100. In their mid-forties.
After all, she's a Crimson Demon. A clan famous for its prodigal apprentice-mages. They're capable of reaching Advanced Level in their teenage years!
And she's above average even amongst them!
Who wouldn't feel prideful from this? Well, until she met this guy.
Becoming an Advanced Adventurer before even reaching twenties in this remote area… How dedicated was he?
Many aspects prevent adventurers from improving. From their guts, their tactics, their knowledge, their skills and finally, their class.
Also, their backgrounds, or bloodlines.
Even if one started at age 10, with the facilities in this remote area, it'd probably take 5 years before they could reach Advanced Adventurer's level. That, if those aspects were fulfilled. And hunting without a single moment of resting, in the span of 5 years.
How important were these aspects?
Well, guts were needed so one could hunt efficiently. Tactics were needed to avoid danger and kill a monster who was stronger than them, if they encountered one. Knowledge was needed to know what they were fighting and what their weaknesses were, and to know what habitats they arrived in. Skills, obviously, were to kill monsters.
And classes.
Classes were too many, their categorization is so vast, even she doubts that the library within the capital had recorded them all. It's because they're too random, sometimes even an Arch-Carpenter would appear.
It's just… bizarre!
Though there's one absolute class, and that is Adventurer.
It's a class all adventurers would have before they advanced to their selected classes. Rumours said that it could be advanced but the requirements are too absurd. Even she doubts that those Eastern Maniacs would even consider advancing this class.
Reaching level 25 without advancing class… who would do that?
People usually selected classes at level 1, and then they would upgrade it at level 20. That's the minimum requirement presented by the Adventurer Cards.
And what makes it more bizarre is the card itself. Countless researchers tried to figure out this card and how it was made. But nothing, absolutely nothing!
Even though countless individuals have this card in their possessions, it was only because of the device to create it was widely spread throughout the world. Where did it come from?
Oddly enough, Churches.
Many said that the devices were granted by the gods, and it's probably not too far from it. How could popes make these? So even though it started as rumours, 99,99% of people believed it.
And finally, Backgrounds, or bloodline.
Even if one didn't get an explanation beforehand, they would immediately understand what the statement means. Well, except idiots.
It's different from others, where they could get it with their own hands. Background and bloodline is something that requires luck from the moment one was born. It couldn't be changed nor exterminated. Unless someone forcefully goes through the wall that prevents them from changing their background or bloodline by doing some unorthodox acts or the omnipotent ones themselves change it themselves, it's basically impossible to remove the roots that had been planted within ourselves by fate, or parents since the moment we're born.
And unfortunately, this is actually the most impactful factor. Others are important but the effects could be counted as minor, sadly. Only when it trained to the extreme that it could be as impactful.
"...level 29."
"Huh?"
"Presently, I'm level 29."
"Wha-?"
Level 29…
How?
Every time adventurers went to advance their social ranks, it would be harder than the previous one. A year is what it takes to advance their social ranks to that of an intermediate. And afterwards, if they wanted to advance it even further, the difficulty increased tenfold!
That means it took approximately 10 years for an intermediate to raise their social ranks to an advanced one.
And an advanced one to a master one…
100 years!
One plus ten plus a hundred is a hundred and eleven.
111 years of being an adventurer are required to become a master one. But that's still way too far for her.
...if all the aspects were fulfilled, to make the matter even heart-clenching to be discussed.
Even in her clan, there are only a dozen masters!
She coughed in shock, trying to mask her surprise. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything. She's too inexperienced in this kind of thing, he couldn't help but think.
"H-How?"
"Don't tell this to anyone, alright? I only told you this because I excessively pity you right now."
"You-!"
"Kill monsters that are stronger than you."
With that, she couldn't maintain her masked face anymore. Her head moves backwards and it hangs lifelessly. Her crimson eyes blankly stared at the clear blue sky.
He couldn't help but chuckle, well, that's how he fulfilled his daily schedule. He's a teenager, too impatient to wait for improvement by fighting the monsters with approximately the same power as him.
After a day of becoming an adventurer, he unintendedly enters the Middle Region of the beginner's forest as a Novice Adventurer. And to make it worse, he didn't even realize it.
An occupant of the habitat spotted him. And he was screwed.
He didn't know if it was a coincidence but a hiltless blade was sticking into a log of a tree. He plucked it out and ran with all he got. The occupant, similar to a black northern wolf, was agile so it was extremely difficult to escape from its clutch.
The border was close, he could identify it by the transparent yet clear border that separates the regions. Why didn't he saw this before?
But he could feel that the wolf would catch up before he could even reach it.
What made it weird was the calmness he felt within his soul. He could clearly hear the ragged breath of his chaser getting closer, he could clearly feel that the growls and sneers from it were getting nearer. But nothing, other than the calmness of his heart and the clear head of his, there's nothing else.
Anxiety, fear, desperation, hope, despair. Nothing out of them or other emotions appeared. And with that, something came up.
He turned around and instantaneously jumped to the side, surprising the wolf. Because of the sudden moves, it couldn't control its speed and passed him. Momentum didn't side with it, and instead of protracting its claws from its paws and slowing down slowly, it immediately protracted them out and stabbed them into the ground out of shock and instinct, forcing its body to stop in a sudden manner.
Animals are instinctive, after all. Some intelligence are higher than the rest, but they'd still choose their instinct.
At that time as he inspected the still struggling wolf, he couldn't help but think 'Their claws are retractable?' [1]
It couldn't turn to its prey who's at the side at all.
Out of such a prosecution, the claws break under the pressure and the wolf immediately loses one of its lethal weapons. Considering the wolf could still be considered as a normal animal, it didn't have any abnormal traits and it's only normal for its claws to break for such a reason. Though it could still be a death threat for a normal human, such as Novice Adventurers who just started their journey.
But now that the claws break, the threatening aura it emitted was lessened, and he could clearly feel it. And by the moment it turned around, he took action.
His clear like translucent water mind indicated his body to kill it, and it did as it was told. Running with speed similar to an average human, he leapt with what his body could offer and by the time it turned around, the sharp, glinting razor of the blade stabbed into one of its eye sockets, and with that, blood spluttered out.
Reckoning that his life was threatened, he didn't have the time to show his surprise at the splattered blood and immediately pulled the blade out. His palm was grazed slightly and a small amount of blood seeped out from the graze.
But he didn't care, tightening the grip on the blade, the graze was deepened. He couldn't care about it and retreated swiftly.
The wolf roared in pain from the wound he gave. It shook its head furiously and it lifted its head to vent out its anger to the culprit, only to see a strangely calm human whose has the momentum at his side.
If it could talk, it would cursed at its instinct that indicated it to ducked by the pain it felt in its eyes.
Instantaneously, a blade was stabbed deep into its brain.
It's dead.
The wolf's dead.
He could clearly remember by the time it was over, he immediately ran into the border and passed it, leaving the blade deep into the wolf's head.
His palm had a deep graze on it, blood viciously dripping down through his arm, the scar was still on his palm. He collapsed onto a tree and leaned on it, breath ragged and eyes hazy.
Nothing but relief filled his guts. He felt very thankful that day. His arms and legs were like jelly, they couldn't be moved at all, only after resting for a while that he could moved them.
From thereon, he began to ponder on the accident, almost a calamity if someone asked him.
The calmness, the decisiveness, the clearness… where did they come from?
Three days later, a suspicion arose. Could it be, the wish…? He wasn't clear with the answer he got, if it was even an answer. But he couldn't think of anything else. So he just shrugged his shoulders.
A day after that, he came back to the guild from his recovery of the aftereffects he got and went out. He checked his card, and he was stunned.
He was clearly a level 3 adventurer. But why was the card shown that he was a level 5?
It might not sound that shocking, but he'd heard experiences of some adventurers and from level 1 to level 10, a year was required. By normal means.
From inexperienced to experienced. From gutless to brave. From witless to cunning. From careless to cautious. From fantasizing to realizing. From weak to strong.
The beginning was the hardest phase. They must change themselves to be qualified to keep pursuing the path of killing monsters. And that needed these qualities.
After pursuing the path, their lives will completely be changed, and that is inevitable. Whether they are warriors, mages, archers, tanks, or the branches of these basic classes.
In this phase, dreams shattered, hope crumbled, empathy dissipated. A mighty, heroic figure they wanted to become turned into something that counted as nothing more than a nonsensical blabbering.
Some crumbled, some rose, some traumatized, some changed. And it's unfortunately inevitable. Those with backgrounds aren't exceptions.
After knowing it, he felt like he's lucky. Now, he's convinced that the wish was the culprit.
And another thing, the level system is kind of mysterious. Some required them to kill 10 monsters in the Outer Region before they experienced they level up for the first time, but some required 9, some even 11. From those, people could make out a vague guess that level 1 Novice Adventurers need to kill 8 to 13 to level up to level 2.
And from thereon it multiplied by one-fold. Until they reach level 10.
To reach level 11, the difficulty arose by a hundred times! But of course, they too have to move from the Outer Region to the Inner one to efficiently level up.
And from there, it was like at the beginning. But the monsters are terrifying. Far more terrifying than the ones within the Outer Region. One of the reasons people took a lot of time to become an Advanced Adventurer. In social ranks of course.
Even after they tempered themselves, the monsters were still too terrifying. Few could brace themselves, and even fewer came out alive.
Become a real one? Gotta advance their class the third time, aka reach level 40. Too hard.
Kazuma was lucky to merely encounter a Black Northern Wolf within the Inner Region. If he met any other ones as a Novice, he wouldn't have any chance to survive.
He sighed in his heart, this is too familiar with a certain type of novel he sometimes read. But he could only smile helplessly.
"Aaahh…"
The girl's still in her state, isn't this reaction a bit exaggerating?
A brief moment, and the light, green fresh-looking leaves of the trees noticeably became darker as he went deeper. The sunlight seeping out between the leaves was lessened, and the chirping of birds started to slowly become silent. The small, almost harmless life forms or monsters(for him) gradually reduced. And a familiar border appeared within his sight of view.
His eyes lit up, he finally arrived.
Suddenly, a squeak brutally vibrated his eardrums, making him wince.
"T-That is I, Megumin, beloved staff!'
'Ah, so her name is Megumin-'
He slowly directed his gaze from her pointed arms to the direction it pointed to before he interrupted himself by letting out a groan.
Right there, around a cane with a curve with a red ball in the middle on its top sticking into the ground, are a bunch of four-legged lifeforms with brown furs. Their heads are like cats, but sharper, yellow eyes that seem like they could penetrate one's soul. And finally, the protracted claws, they are black, like charcoal, looking quite sharp.
They're similar to Rookie Killers, but it's false to call them by that name. Because these creatures are significantly powerful.
He groaned, while the girl on his back had her eyes lit up.
'New monsters!'
'Promotee Exterminators!'
He kind of regrets helping this girl now.
[1] ...Wolves' paws aren't retractable. So yes, I made that up. Just to clarify it.
Edit: Ehem, mistakes again. Apologize. Should've been 100x, not tenfolds...
Edit 2: Again! Two-fold supposed to be one-fold...