“… So, I guess this is the start to my overpowered life in a new world, huh?” A creepy smile stretched his lips.

Transmigrating to a fantasy world, a meeting with a god-like figure, and the awakening to a cheat-like ability, Ellis was well on his way to living the sort of life that he had always read about. Now all he needed was to gain some capital, find a few girls, and maybe establish a territory for himself somewhere. A life lived to the max… such a thing did not sound so unrealistic anymore.

Ah, of course, before all that, he first needed to find some clothes.

Just as he was reveling in the moment, he suddenly remembered something.

“Those guys, they should have gotten their own cheats by now too, right?” He recalled back to the eight other lights. They were like him, departed souls stolen away by the white figure. Unlike Ellis, those eight were the actual heroes, the guys destined to walk down the orthodox path.

Without a doubt, they too possessed cheat like abilities gifted to them by God.

He couldn’t help but wonder, compared to the heroes, how did he stack up?

In truth, the old man did not really give him any powers. Ellis’s abilities stemmed solely from his new body. All the precious materials that Alma had pumped into this meat bag of his resulted in the monstrous strength from before.

Between a group of heroes and a son of the demon king, which one was stronger?

After giving it some thought, Ellis’s face contorted. He shook his head in disappointment. The answer was obvious.

He had gotten his abilities from an ex-god on his deathbed, while those guys got theirs from a genuine god at the peak of his power. Comparing the two was like comparing a lizard to a crocodile. The disparity was simply too great!

“As expected, orthodox stories result in the strongest types of protagonists…” Just imagining the sort of rule-breaking cheat-like abilities those ‘genuine’ heroes received… Ellis unconsciously shuddered.

“I have to somehow remain low key and fly underneath their radars.”

“It’s not that I’m afraid, just that, it’s always good to be cautious.”

“In the first place, I’m not the type to pick fights. Low key, the answer is to be low key.”

He continually muttered to himself. Ellis once again reaffirmed his resolution. He would do whatever the hell he pleased, as long as it didn’t attract any attention from those guys. The last thing he needed was to be hunted down by eight superpowered walking cheats!

This was not a concession, but rather, preparation for the future. In the first place, dealing with those guys was bound to be a hassle. Avoiding them was better than standing out and putting a giant target on his back.

Ellis shook his head. “Well, let’s forget about all that for now. First of all, what do I do with this thing?”

He stared at the rabbit-shaped corpse in front of him. It was the thing that he had accidentally killed with a single swat.

“Food? Or rather, can you even eat this thing anymore?” he furrowed his brow.

The corpse, various bodily fluids that weren’t exactly blood were gushing out from almost every orifice. Upon closer inspection, some of its organs had burst from the impact. The meat, fur, and practically everything else was contaminated with brownish colored liquid.

It looked completely unappetizing.

Taking a step back, even if it was still eatable, Ellis did not even know how to start a fire. Unless it was sushi, he wasn’t very interested in eating anything raw.

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In the end, he decided to just leave the corpse alone. He wasn’t really hungry yet, and even if he was, he would just hunt down something else. Ellis was certain that there were other creatures within this forest that were just as arrogant as the rabbit from before. If they walked up to him and picked a fight, then he would fight back. When that time comes, he’ll try to kill it without ruining any of the meat.

With that, he continued walking through the forest.

The deeper he ventured, the taller the trees seemed to get, and as the trees grew taller, the light gradually dimmed. Soon, a layer of shadows blanketed his surroundings.

He encountered a few monsters along the way. They were creatures significantly larger than the rabbit from before. Some were shaped oddly, with body proportions and head shapes that he had never seen before. Others resembled animals from his past life. A slender bear, a hulking cat, and chipmunks larger than mountain lions.

Unlike the rabbit, they were not so quick to start a fight. Maybe it was because they had more awareness as top predators of the forest, or maybe it was because they somehow sensed his strength, either way, Ellis had a relatively disturbance-free time strolling through the forest floor.

He wandered. He endlessly wandered.

At the three-hour mark, he stopped to take a quick break. Aside from the cautious creatures that occasionally followed him, he had yet to encounter anything else of significance.

He felt slightly bummed. He wasn’t tired yet, but he had grown somewhat bored of walking around. It reached a point where he even wished for combat. Unfortunately, whenever he tried approaching the various creatures, they would all break out into a sprint and escape with haste.

A few times, he gave chase. Unfortunately, after an extended period of time, the creatures would eventually run out of energy and give up. They would then collapse onto the ground and lie on their backs, seemingly waiting for death. They even went as far as to present their unguarded stomachs to him as a show of submission.

Whenever he saw such a scene, Ellis would always be at a loss. He wanted to test out his new-found abilities, but beating up a bunch of innocent and submissive animals to do so would leave a bad aftertaste. He wasn’t the type to take pleasure from animal cruelty.

Like that, he managed to avoid combat. Of course, he wasn’t happy about it.

“Hunting is a lot harder than I expected. Who told those damn things to look so pitiful…” He sighed. “I guess the only thing left is for me to find some sort of town or village.”

Still, that raised the question: when exactly would he be able to leave this forest?

Without a doubt, he was lost. This endless forest seemingly had no end in sight and there were no unique markers to set apart one section of the forest from the other. Not a single trace of civilization was present.

For now, he hasn’t experienced any hunger, thirst, or loss of strength yet, but that in itself was somewhat weird. Does a homunculus not get hungry? Do they not require water? That shouldn’t be the case. After all, homunculi, artificial as they may be, were still living beings nonetheless.

He was certain of this not only because of the information in his head but also because he had gone out of his way and personally checked.

When he purposely cut his skin, he bled. He possessed a beating heart, he could smell, hear, see, touch, he could do everything else that others could do and more. He even possessed his own little elephant, and as far as he was concerned, it worked perfectly fine.

A homunculus was life. They were not just meant to replicate life, they were meant to be life itself. This was a distinction that had been lost within the mainlands of Lull, but Ellis knew this clearly. No matter what, he still needed to eat, drink, piss, and shit.

After a while of fruitless thinking, he concluded that right now just wasn’t the proper time. His limit had not been reached yet. If humans could go four days without water, then his limit was probably longer than that. He did not know the exact estimates, but surely, he had one.

“Even now, isn’t my throat slightly parched?” He said to himself, although rather than complaining about it, he sounded somewhat hopeful.

With such thoughts floating through his head, Ellis stood back up and continued walking.

He walked and walked and walked. Eventually, seven more hours passed. If he had entered the forest in the morning, then now should be the time when the night begins to set in. Of course, that was going by Earth standards. He did not know how long the days were here on Lull.

Eventually, he finally noticed something unique.

Water. A tiny stream of water less than a finger’s width wide. Amidst the backdrop of the chaotic forest floor and with the dark shadows covering everything in sight, it was almost impossible to notice, but whether it was through luck or grit, Ellis’s bloodshot and desperate eyes had noticed.

He bottled in his excitement and carefully followed the stream. It led him even deeper into the forest. The stream gradually widened. Soon, it was about the width of a fist. After a while, it had grown to at least the width of a torso.

Eventually, he came to a stop.

The once silent forest had disappeared. In its place was the sound of crashing water.

After faithfully following the stream, he arrived at a small circular lagoon, and above the lagoon was a beautiful waterfall.