Everything felt like a breeze, from my own movement to the way I could cut through enemies. Of course, they were some small, ugly creatures, not as dangerous as other things might wind up being, yet for a no-experience like me, it was a huge victory.

The items I kept finding were decent too. Things like that were new to me because they didn't exist in the world I came from—well, they might have existed in some ways, but nothing like a ring increasing your speed. Among my findings, a knife caught my eye like the sun does in the morning. Upon touching it, my mind was flushed with a few sentences: Increases user’s mana by a maximum of three points; Increases user’s damage by a maximum of five points; and the one that made my mind go south was this: Temporarily turns the user invisible by applying a low-tier spell. Well, they weren’t worded like that, but that’s the best way to understand it.

My progress had slowed at one point as things to hunt became scarcer and scarcer, leaving me sweating and alone in the middle of the forest.

"Just how deep did I go?"

Trees appeared to be closing in on me; what little light managed to pierce through the tree’s tops became dimmer and dimmer, almost leaving me in darkness.

"I guess night is just around the corner. Better hurry up and go baaa-"

I froze, stunned by my own idiocy: How could I have been such a moron? In my frenzy, thrilled by the hunt and riches, I’ve forgotten about marking my way back. Great.

"I’m pretty sure I came from..."

I kept spinning around, knowing damn well that I had little to no chance of guessing where I came from. Picking at random, my legs took me on a walk. Being tired was no problem, since at this point my fingers were covered in rings with various buffs, while my neck could barely carry all the neckleces I had on. I wonder why they never abuse stacking items in anime; it’s just way too good.

Light became a distant memory, as did my thrill and sense of invincibility.Everything was dark; shadows swirled and turned in ways that made them seem alive, sounds were distorted, and I was cowering in fear. One of my rings allowed me to cast a bubble of light around, so that was the only thing "brightening" my situation.

Aimless walking led to aimless running, which led to a full sprint in whatever direction my body felt was the safest. Fear had taken over, and I couldn’t have cared less about it —my survival came first.

Howling noises, screeching, thuds, twigs breaking and steps following me around. My brain was a jumbled mess at this point, mush, thing did in order to prevent a heart attack of sorts. To this day, I’m sure no sane man, no matter how brave, would not be able to go through what I did without feeling the least bit of fear. Things were already bad, even before I stumbled upon a little something.

Running around when you can barely see is as bad as it sounds, but when you’re doing it in a place you don’t know and you fall into the remnants of something ancient is even worse. I fell directly in some ruins, head first. I only saw what they were when my head met the floor.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Pain woke me up, pain and one of those random assholes that creep around the forest, which was trying to chew my hand. I sprung up, ready to kill it, only to notice a little ball of fur cowering in fear, frozen in place. I literally mean it, the thing was a little ball of fur with two little eyes that screamed out not to hurt it. Remembering my human side, I picked the little fellow up, bringing it to eye level. It was still trembling in my hand, staring at me with what appeared to be tears in its eyes.

"I think I’ll name you Rocky."

I placed Rocky in my pocket, which fit him perfectly. It didn’t even try to run when the chance arose, choosing to make the place comfortable. I decided to pick up my things and try to get out, seeing as the only thing down there was a pile of rubble, a cave-in of sorts.

Checking around for a way out proved how wrong I was about there being nothing worth exploring. A staircase carved in stone, leading upwards.

"Perhaps they lead to the surface, where the entrance to this place was supposed to be."

Checking for Rocky in my pocket, I wind up taking the stairs. A long, dark corridor with little to no spider webs. Something felt off, my gut knew that, yet I pushed forward. A sword wouldn’t have worked there, yet I had my knife out, just in case something popped out.

A dark room the size of a football field. My jaw fell, leaving an expression filled with awe on my face. Right as I stepped in, hundreds of stones lit up in the ceiling, pointing out to the beautifully carved models and the antique art on the walls. For such a big room, it was hollow, littered with rubble from place to place.

Going my way proved to be a bit of a challenge, with a little something blocking my way. The little something was another creature, this time a ferocious one. A body similar to that of a lion, with the head of a spider. Needless to say, my urge to burn the fucker was beyond human, and so was my fear. The thing was almost as tall as the room, which was at least a good three meters.

A clawed paw the size of my head made haste for the very thing I compared it with. Dodging was crucial, since even with three rings boosting my speed, the thing could still match it, and perhaps move even faster. Unsheathing my sword, I tried parrying the next hit, only to be sent flying. Whirling around, I avoided hitting my head more than I should, hurling myself in its direction. I got a cut, dodged a blow, then landed another one in response. It seemed to be going quite well for me, a chance of victory was actually smiling my way.

That was before it started launching webs at me. Why were there no spider webs when I came in? Because no sane spider would dare enter this thing’s territory. I snapped my fingers, using the friction between two fire type rings to light up the web. It burned to ashes in seconds. The creature tried to launch itself at me, only to end up hitting the ceiling.

Minutes passed, and I was there, still trying to kill the thing. Tiredness became heavier and heavier on my body, my swings became even more sluggish. I felt hopeless, already viewing myself as food for that thing.

"No, I won’t."

I hurled forward, twisting around a paw and dodging a web, aiming right for the creature’s heart. A loud scream threw me off guard, allowing for a split second—just enough time—before the thing hit me harder than a truck. My body flew on the cold stone floor, awaiting death, which was soon to be delivered by a monster.

"No use in trying to get up."

An ominous shadow covered my blurry sight, rising some razor sharp claws. I gripped my sword harder, thinking I might at least take it with me. Just as the hit was about to come, a small noise made itself heard, followed by a clatter of steps. Rocky tried to grab the creature’s attention, even if only for a second. The poor thing was whimpering, eyeing me, then looking back at our enemy. We were cornered.