The forest was filled with all manner of monsters. Using my skill Shadow Meld, I scouted ahead and helped guide Sylvanas away from the stronger looking creatures. Apparently the T-rex monster from before was a rather common variant in this part of the woods, seeing as I had run into five nests filled with the things inside an hour’s time.

Eventually, after much debate and searching, Sylvanas and I found the ideal prey: a small troupe of goblins only four strong. Together we moved into position. I hid myself among the shadows and Sylvanas quickly called forth her sword and shield and started banging them together in order to create noise. At the same time I felt that prickling sensation of mana surging from her body. The goblins, seemingly without much effort, were quickly lured by Sylvanas’s aggro strategy. They all charged.

With a smile I started earning my keep. Unveiling myself from the shadows with my blade at the ready, I lopped the head off the rearmost goblin. It took seven steps before it even noticed. My katana didn’t even have goblin blood on it, the kill was so clean.

While I was in a stupor over my one-shot kill, my cousin slayed the remaining three goblins with ease. Each stroke of her blade brought forth a bright light and that all-too-familiar tingling sensation. We met each other’s stares and simply nodded. Goblins were too low leveled to test us. We needed to hunt stronger prey.

It didn’t take me long to find our next quarry. A few groves over, near a hilltop dell, was a group of dog-like monsters. They had the scales of alligators on their bodies but the form of greyhounds. Perhaps they were a special breed of wolf? Either way, they looked stronger than the goblins from earlier and that was enough for me.

Repeating our strategy, Sylvanas and I quickly discovered that not even the Alligator Dogs could hold a candle to us. We were either very strong or we had picked very weak foes. The longer I moved my body, though, the less I comprehended. My own strength astounded me. I had assumed, from the light novels I’ve read, that when transported into a fantasy world one has to level up to get strong… But there is a very distinct lack of levels here. In fact, outside of my ‘Menu’ there are literally no game-like elements to be found. I read plenty of light novels back on Earth, and almost all of them involved levels, stats, and such. Why are there none here?

My skills felt almost second nature when I used them. Shadow Meld was, perhaps, my favorite. The tingling sensation of mana running through me was both wondrous and mysterious at the same time. It felt like a third arm. No one taught me how to use my arms, I just knew. It’s the same with mana. After using my skills I became able to sense it around me, even.

The mana in the environment felt filtered, or diluted. It didn’t seem to be nearly as pure as the energy I could feel pulsing in my own veins. Sylvanas’s was almost as pure as mine, but hers felt maybe a step lower.

With our attempts at hunting meeting remarkable success, Sylvanas and I decided to take a rest and investigate our Menu, skills, and inventory a bit. The first thing I noticed, of course, was that I had a new skill listed on my Character page.

Character Information

Race: Apostle Human

Class: Ninja

Traits: The Penetrator

Passive Skills: Silent Movement, Heightened Agility, Sneak, Mana Sensing

Active Skills: Backstab, Shadow Meld, Ground Shrink, Poison Creation, Critical Strike

I hadn’t had the skill ‘Mana Sensing’ before. It was new. It seems when we ‘discover’ a skill it will appear on our Character Information pages. Sylvanas, unfortunately, hadn’t been able to gain Mana Sensing yet. I could only guess that my race provided an advantage in the arcane.

I opened ‘Inventory’ next and was pleased with the contents.

Inventory:

-Blade of Keldias Shiek (Equipped)

-Garb of The Nightblade (Equipped)

-Blessed Shuriken X50

-Short Scythe

-50m Rope

-Ration Pack (Filled)

-Canteen (Filled)

-Smoke Ball

Gold: 500

“Oy, Sylvanas,” I called out, hoping to share my findings. “Have you checked your inventory yet?”

“No,” she replied, swinging her sword down on another unfortunate goblin. “My sword and shield materialize from a skill, so I hadn’t bothered looking into the inventory yet.”

“I have rations, water, gold, rope, and some shuriken in mine,” I said as I carefully stepped over the bloodied corpses of numerous monsters.

“Oh holy shit! We have food and water already?” Sylvanas asked, a smile crossing her face.

“It looks that way,” I replied with a grin. “Honestly, the sun is starting to get a bit low. We should set up camp.”

Sylvanas nodded at my suggestion and we started searching for a suitable spot to rest for the night. We passed up numerous flat clearings because they’d be too hard to defend in the case of an attack. The trees were thick and we considered resting among their higher branches. Unfortunately, both of us were very mobile sleepers. It’d be too easy for us to fall from a branch and potentially get hurt.

Eventually we settled on a spot behind a small rock wall. The rocky cliffside gave us a natural defense against both monsters and the cutting winds. Gnarled tree roots grew out the sides of the rocks and I used them as footholds while climbing down. The chilling wind whispered of autumn and potential snowfall. We’d need either a fire or to huddle together for warmth…

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I’d always been close with my cousin, but I wasn’t too sure how I felt about cuddling up to him, even if his new body was ten times more adorable than his old one. It would just be strange, really. I set about collecting small kindling and Sylvanas chipped some rocks off the cliffside to make a pit with. It didn’t take us long to get a small fire going. The air was cold, but the fire bared its teeth against the frost’s bite. The crackling fire soothed me, and helped calm me down.

I pulled out my ‘Rations’ from the inventory and was surprised when a small loaf of bread, a handful of jerky, and a small cup of fruit popped out. The item listed on my inventory changed from: Rations (Filled), to Rations (99/100). It was safe to say I had plenty of food. Apparently the God of our old world didn’t intend to let us starve to death. I mean, we could have hunted some of the monsters for meat… But neither of us knows anything about cleaning, gutting, or dismantling game. Caleb was well built from working out in the gym, but he wasn’t much of an outdoorsman. I, of course, never bothered with any of that stuff. Bah, working out hurt my already tiny muscles. Besides, it didn’t take much strength to use a keyboard and mouse.

With our bellies filled, Sylvanas and I began planning out our next move. We had tested our mettle against several weaker monsters today, but we learned very little from it. The monsters could have just been that weak or we could have just been that strong. We needed more information. I also wanted to experiment more with mana. The feeling mana leaves behind when I used a spell was so fresh in my mind, I couldn’t help but reach out to that tingling well just beneath my heart and pull on it.

Power flowed through me and I moved the tingling sensation throughout my body, letting it soak into every ounce of my being. It felt incredible. I experienced ecstasy.

“What are you doing?” Sylvanas asked, her back leaned up against the rocky cliffside.

“I’m controlling my mana,” I replied, my voice a gasp. “It’s incredible.”

“I can feel it,” Sylvanas replied, her eyes sharp but filled with wonder. “It’s like every hair on my body is standing on end. I feel like I’m sitting next to a massive generator or something. The air is charged with power.”

As I moved the mana within me, I started to notice something strange. My body felt clean. The sensation could only be described as taking a shower after being caked in mud… It was as if the impurities within me were expelled all at once. “Sylvanas,” I said, between ragged breaths, “You need to try to circulate your mana like I did. Something happened just now, and my body feels unreal.” I checked my status again.

Character Information

Race: Apostle Human

Class: Ninja

Traits: The Penetrator

Passive Skills: Silent Movement, Heightened Agility, Sneak, Mana Sensing

Active Skills: Backstab, Shadow Meld, Ground Shrink, Poison Creation, Critical Strike, Mana Manipulation, Bodily Purification

Two new skills stood out: Mana Manipulation and Bodily Purification. I put two and two together rather quickly. I learned to manipulate my mana almost intuitively, and by passing mana through my body I purified and strengthened it. I must have cleansed myself of impurities, much like some character in a wuxia novel when they break through in their cultivation…

I thought back to the feeling of my mana. If spell casting exists in this world, then wouldn’t it involve forcing the mana outside of your body?

I focused on my mana pool again and felt the strange sensation coursing through some hidden vein system inside me. I pooled the power into my hand and focused it onto my palm. Suddenly I was met with an incredible resistance, as if the world itself felt my command blasphemy. A strange tingling ran through me, and I found myself grunting. I felt my mana surge and it created a pulse of energy that bounced through my body and into my palm.

A small ball of blue light formed in my hand and blasted off into a nearby tree, instantly decimating everything in a small area. The ground shook from the explosion and I nearly lost my footing.

“Holy shit!” Sylvanas cried out while standing and running towards me. “What did you just do?”

“I just tried to force my mana outside my body,” I replied meekly. “There was a sudden surge of power from inside me and it created a pulse, like a vibration. That blue light was the vibration after I focused it into my hand…”

“Check your skill list, is there anything new there?” Sylvanas asked, almost too excited.

I quickly opened up my menu and checked again. Just as Sylvanas guessed, a new skill showed itself: ‘Mana Blast’. “Yes, I have a new skill called Mana Blast,” I replied curtly.

“Can you do it again?” Asked Sylvanas.

“Uh, sure,” I replied as I focused on my mana and tried to create another pulse. The time the process was much easier. It felt like a doldrum dropping just under my heart, and the reverb shot outwards as a blast of blue-colored energy.

“Kamehameha…” Sylvanas said in a quiet voice.

I wanted to facepalm. I spent the rest of the night trying to teach Sylvanas how to manipulate mana and use it, but she struggled immensely with the process. She managed to at least gain ‘Mana Sensing’ though, so we had that going for us.

Thus passed our first day in a new world.