POV: Descal:

I wake up a couple hours before daybreak (I took a guess based on the placement of the moon) when my sensors go off as my field noticed an intruder at the bottom of the tree I was sleeping in. Once I strengthened the rod cells in my eye, I noticed that it was Blythe who came to wake me up. Before she started climbing, I jumped down and landed right next to her. She immediately jumped back and tried to kick me. Sadly, she was successful so I got sent flying and landed on a bush.

“Oh for fuck’s sake! You scared the living shit out of me!” (Blythe)

“Why you yell fuck? I yell fuck.” (Descal)

“You scared me first!” (Blythe)

“Fucking elves and their stubborn bullshit.” (Descal)

“Did you say something?” (Blythe)

“My ass hurts.” (Descal)

“*Sigh.* Whatever. It’s our watch now. Do you want to continue with your language lessons or sit there rubbing your ass?” (Blythe)

“Please” (Descal)

Les had an item that interfered with the travel of sound, so we could talk without fear of attracting something with our discussions. However, we would still be able to hear any sounds from outside the barrier. It turned out that the common language really wasn’t that hard. It seemed to put extreme emphasis on simplicity and efficiency. At this speed, I should be able to master the language in about a month.

“Wow. Descal. You are a really fast learner, aren’t you.” (Blythe)

“I super smart.” (Descal)

“Yeah. I can tell. By the way, how many languages do you know?” (Blythe)

“Too many.” (Descal)

“Did someone teach you the language?” (Blythe)

“…No? Kinda?” (Descal)

“So did someone teach you or not?” (Blythe)

“Both” (Descal)

“Whatever.” (Blythe)

“You good teacher.” (Descal)

“Well, I had some practice. When I found an elven city, I stayed as a language tutor to teach the common language to elves who want to leave their home and explore. Your speed at picking up the language is just astounding.” (Blythe)

“Thanks…. Blythe? Why become mercenary and join group?” (Descal)

“Why do you want to know?” (Blythe)

“Curious. Also learn more of this world and relations between people.” (Descal)

“Hahaha. Well, I guess you could say that my story is one way to learn about this world. Well, where should we start? I was born in a former elven village in the elven country of Umfalone. It was located in the northern forest near the former Trenem Kingdom. I say former because the lands have been conquered by the warped ones. The attack was horrifying. I still have nightmares about it.... My father was ripped to shreds by a troll, and my mother was shot with a poisoned arrow from a Kobold. I still see her choking on her... Sorry.. Hold on... I try not to think about it too much... But I... I... managed to get away through jumping through the rooftops of the trees. I managed to escape somehow. I ran and ran, and I collapsed near a hunter’s hut, Hanes. Hanes knew my family because he made negotiations through my father with the elvish village so that he could hunt in the forests for free. Hanes immediately understood what happened so he quickly rushed down to the human frontier village near the forests and woke everybody up. With the advanced warning, the villagers managed to get away with no casualties. We escaped to the Trinum Fortress City and tipped off the guards before heading to a certain noble’s land. It turned out that Hanes used to be a mercenary and had a good relationship with this noble so we managed to get some work in his fields. I lived with the villagers for… no I didn’t get bullied. In fact, the villagers were really nice to me. The villagers already had a relationship with the elves because the elves helped the villagers set up their homes in the past, and Hanes made up an elaborate lie that the elves sacrificed themselves to delay the warped ones and in return, the elves asked the human villagers to take care of me. They believed it and treated me quite nicely. Hanes brought me up just like I was his own daughter and taught me how to hunt and use the crossbow. But disaster struck once more. The Trenem Kingdom lost the war of attrition with the warped ones, and the kingdom collapsed due to political infighting, extreme inflation, and massive losses of troops. In the end, I was on the run again. I wandered around for a couple decades until I met Trevor and Adal. Turns out that Adal was exploring the world in order to reestablish the former technology and knowledge through exploring the ruins. In fact, Adal has a really good relationship with the alchemist guild because he discovered a really key paper from a ruin that described… Uhhh…. the periodic table of something… Anyway, it was a revelation within the entire field and resulted in the creation of all kinds of new theories and helped organize the mess of the information that the alchemist guild had trouble classifying. As for Trevor, Adal hired him to be his bodyguard after Trevor saved his ass from a bandit attack. Quite literally his ass cause the bandit leader was hell-bent on making him pay for the chase. And yeah. That’s my story. So uhh can you tell me more about… Hey, are you okay?”

Oh shit. My body reached the limit again. I coughed out something, and it was not blood. It was an indicator of something far worse. It was the second step of the transformation of my body so that my soul would be resynchronized with my body and return me to my previous physical form. I immediately dashed into the forest in the direction of the river while trying to think up something. Damn it! I didn’t even use magic, and it became like this. What the hell! I severely underestimated my soul’s ability to absorb mana. I have no choice, but to modify my body so that it consumes mana, trick my soul into believing that it has resynchronized. In other words, I will force my physical body to absorb the mana from my soul causing it to reach superhuman levels. As a result, I will be much stronger in any physical activity; heck, I could probably challenge a dragon to an arm-wrestle with the amount of mana I am forcing my body to consume and integrate. But I have to be careful or my body could literally combust from the amount of energy that it is forced to utilize. Damn it. I feel like I am melting. Holy shit! The river! I jumped into the river and let the water cool me down as my physical body strained to absorb the amount of mana that I was forcing it to consume.

POV: Blythe

“……..” (Les)

“Les! Are you okay? What’s wrong?” (Blythe)

“My senses went crazy. I felt a malicious atmosphere set over the entire forest! The last time I felt that was… Anyway, that’s not important! Something really bad is happening! Trevor and Adal are already up and setting up defensive positions. C’mon.” (Les)

“Wait. Descal just ran that way when he started to cough really badly. We need to warn him.” (Blythe)

“Not happening. I feel that the negative pressure is MUCH stronger that way. Please listen to me. I don’t want to lose you. We have to move! This is real bad! Besides, I am sure that Descal can handle himself. He’s very strong, and he ain’t stupid. Now let’s move!” (Les)

Les and I immediately run over to the rest of our group. Adal was already pouring spell after spell into our surroundings. Les told him to focus on stealth spells and speed.

“[Swift foot]. Alright, that should be the last of it. Man. Even I am starting to feel that intense mana pressure. Holy shit it’s strong. Where’s Descal? Damn Les. You aren’t looking too good. Here. Drink.” (Adal)

“Thanks. Anyway, stay on high alert guys. Look even the birds are flying away as fast as possible. As for Descal…” (Les)

“He started to cough violently and ran off into the direction of the river.” (Blythe)

“Oh, you got to be kidding me. Anyway, I think he could survive. If he can rescue Les and get that high grade of mana water, he is not your average guy.” (Adal)

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“We should get moving right?” (Trevor)

“Yes. As far away as possible.” (Les)

We immediately started moving away from the source of the radiating pressure staying close to cover as much as possible due to Les’ insistence. In fact, even I felt a foreboding sense after a while. It was really creepy. My heart felt like it was being crushed, and my mind was getting extremely heavy. I began to feel empty and hopeless. I have only felt this feeling once, and it was when the elven village burned down. The feeling of despair. I began to feel tears run down the sides of my cheeks. No. I promised I wouldn’t cry anymore. Death is natural. It’s just the cycle of life. No. Stop it. Stop it. Stop crying. Stop. I don’t want to feel that again… Just focus on crawling.

As we started continued to crawl away, we nearly got trampled by a couple of deer that were also fleeing the scene. But something really strange happened. After some time, the pressure suddenly disappeared. It was as if it never existed. After drying my tears, I whispered to Les if the pressure really was gone. I didn’t hear a reply, and I found Les in a fetal position crying. I rushed over to Les; I heard her whispering “Why?” over and over again. Adal and Trevor weren’t in much better condition. Adal also looked as if he cried, and he was clenching one of his rings. They were clearly rattled by what happened. We took a while to collect ourselves while staying hidden because we weren’t sure that the thing that was emitting that awful atmosphere was truly gone. Once dawn broke, we moved back to our camp to retrieve our stuff. If it was still there….

Then, we received the second surprise of the day. Once we returned to the camp, we saw Descal nonchalantly cooking eggs near the camp as if nothing happened. But Descal looked different... I can't pinpoint it, but... He looked over and asked if we wanted some eggs. Turns out that he raided some nests that the birds abandoned. But the interesting thing was that there was a pile of broken eggs covered with yolk near him. What a waste of food, but I don’t care right now. We wordlessly accepted the food as we watched the forest breathe a sigh of relief as the animals started to return. Once we finished eating the eggs, Les came over to Descal grasped his cheeks and looked him straight into the eye. She then looked away and muttered something about not feeling it from him.

But what happened with Descal? Did he feel it? Did he SEE the thing that was releasing that pressure? How could he just nonchalantly cook eggs right now? Why is he just becoming more mysterious as time goes by? I cannot stand this anymore. I am going to confront this guy and demand some answers.

“Alright. Enough of this bullshit Descal. Who are you really?” (Blythe)

“I am just…” (Descal)

“As if I will believe that nonsense after everything that has happened so far. First, you appeared out of nowhere and claimed to have teleported. Second, you rescue Les like it was nothing. Third, you look as if you have some type of curse on you. Finally, it does not look like the pressure affected you at all. Hell, it looks like you didn’t even feel the pressure! Spill the beans. Who ARE you?”

“…. Ok…. Traveled from different world.” (Descal)

“What?” (Blythe)

“True. Different world.” (Descal)

“Snort as if I will bel…i...e…v…e… You aren’t lying are you….”

“No.”

“I recall that in some of the old elven legends that it claimed that the hero was a descendant of another worlder. Did you come from the same world?”

“Don’t know. Maybe.”

“Who summoned you? Someone had to have summoned you.”

“Don’t know. Woke up in the capital of Primus Empire. Empty.”

“… Of course… the legend has stated that the Primus Empire was at the forefront of researching the magic and technology of space and dimensions…maybe the remnants of an old artifact?... Look. IF you are telling the truth, it would make sense.”

“Please tell no one. Very dangerous to me.”

“Hold on. My head hurts right now. SO was it you that sent out the pressure?”

“… Don’t know... Didn’t really have things like magic in the previous world so…”

“*narrow eyes* Fine. Les didn’t feel any malicious energy from you a few minutes ago so…”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me just yet. You are a massive pain in my ass right now.”

“Still. Thank you. Relief.”

“But I will still have to tell this to my team.”

“Only team please.”

“We’ll see.”

I turned toward my team members who eagerly leaned forward to learn what we just talked about. I sighed and dropped the bombshell on them. They all looked stunned and just stared at Descal. It was Adal who first broke the silence.

“Hey Trevor. Remember the very first ruins we explored together.” (Adal)

“Yes. I don’t think what the tablet said was a riddle nor a mistranslation.” (Trevor)

“It literally meant that the following message could be read by someone who knew Eennglesh, a language spoken from another world.” (Adal)

Immediately, Adal stood up and ran over to me and grasped me by the shoulders and begged me to translate for him. His scholarly composure was completely broken, and he even started to shake me as I tried to get him to calm down.

“Alright. Alright! Jeez! I’ll do it. Adal. Please calm down. This isn’t like you.” (Blythe)

“Oh… Sorry. But this is SUCH a HUGE discovery if what he says is true! If he did come from the same world, then he might be able to read this language! It might even bring me one step closer to my goal. SO PLEASE.” (Adal)

“I SAID I would do it. Jeez. What do you want me to tell him?” (Blythe)

“Ask him if he could translate this message.” (Adal)

He handed me a drawing with some strange symbols written on it. It definitely looked like some writing. I turned toward Descal with the paper in my hand.

“Give me. I’ll see if read.” (Descal)

“You could understand what we were talking about??!!” (Blythe)

“A quarter. Rest guess……. Yes. Can Read.” (Descal)

POV: Descal

I took the paper from Blythe’s hand and gave it a quick look. Yup, this was English. What was more interesting was what was written on it.

My name is John, and I was born in America on July 9th, 1990 C.E. I was working on my chemistry degree before I got summoned to this world of magic. You may have already figured this out, but this is a world where magic exists. I don’t know how the physics apply, but the laws of chemistry seem to have stayed constant from my experiments. Either way, the reason why I have carved this message in stone is that I am probably going to die tomorrow, and I want to impart a couple words of wisdom to a fellow person who came from the same world as me….

Then, John started to write about all of his experiences in this world and how he has adapted to it. He even gave some pointers on how to learn magic and some survival tips. Most of it was garbage to me because they were probably all outdated or I already knew about it, but I froze when it came to the last part of the message.

Now you are probably wondering why I said I will die tomorrow. I have been ordered to fight and seal the Emperor of Despair. The mages tell me that they can seal that monster, but I highly doubt it. Anyway, I don’t know what it is like in the future, but if you ever meet that monster, just run and hide. You’ll know the monster purely based on the pressure it emits. The pressure causes you to remember your worst moments of your life and tries to crush you with them. I am sure that the pressure gets worse as you get closer, but I have only seen this monster from 500 meters away so I don’t know what it would be like until tomorrow. Either way, don’t challenge this monster. I hope my message has helped you out. You aren’t the only one that has come to this world. Also, I have a child; his name is Finny Rin. If you ever meet him or his descendants, please give him or them my regards no matter how ridiculous this may sound.

It took me a minute for it to completely sink in, but I stopped myself from getting too sentimental about it. I turned toward Blythe and told her that the only way I would translate this was if Adal agreed to keep my existence a secret. Adal excitedly agreed, and I translated as best as I could into elvish except for the very last part. Blythe was surprised at much of the contents of the message because of how old the contents were. Many of the herbs that the writer recommended were extinct; many went extinct during the first calamity war. Adal was excited to learn about the contents of the message because it gave really deep insights into the past world and confirmed the existences of many extinct species and herbs. In the end, the group made up a story that I was a traveler who they found on their journey with all of his possessions robbed and suffering amnesia due to a nasty head wound. With that, we set off to the town of Shiville.

When we reached the gates, it was reaching sundown. It turns out that I didn’t really have to worry about my lack of any identification on me. The guards just let me through after talking with me a little bit about where I came from and my purpose as well as double checking all the wanted posters to make sure I wasn’t a wanted criminal. Blythe noticed my confusion so she stated that security was much higher in the cities when you tried to enter the noble’s area in the city because there were shops and property with much more valuable things. Also, the government of this land doesn’t want to deal with any potential forgeries nor the organization of all the information that would be needed to issue all its citizens identification papers. Once I went through, I was going to go straight to the branch building of the mercenary guild of this town, but Blythe put a hand on my shoulder and stopped me.

“Descal. Before you go, put this cloak on.” (Blythe)

“Why?” (Descal)

“You barely have any clothes left. It’s a pity cause those clothes looked really comfortable and pretty, but there is like nothing left. Have you looked at yourself?” (Blythe)

Oh yeah. I guess I don’t want to be labeled as a pervert by strutting around with these completely shredded pajamas. So the first order of business should be buying some clothes. I accepted the cloak, and Blythe told me that she would go with me to the marketplace to act as a translator. Trevor and Les were going to find book a room at the inn while Adal was going to the alchemist guild to report the translation of the tablet and turn in the mana water.

As we walked into the town center, I found a traveling peddler who was selling some clothes. Since bargaining still existed in this world, I had Blythe negotiate the prices. However, I paid for the clothes. Blythe was surprised that I even had money, but I reassured her that I found a lot in the abandoned capital. She didn’t really push me any further than that although I could tell she was curious of how much money I found in the ruin. Anyway, the clothing was not very comfortable. It felt very stiff, and since elastic bands weren’t invented yet, I didn’t have any proper comfortable socks. The boots were also pretty hard as well. The first thing I am going to do when I get to the city is buying going to a tailor and buying some quality clothing that is much more comfortable. I also have some nice spider silk from the cave as well so it should be good.

After putting on some decent clothes, I went around shopping for some other necessities such as a backpack (to put up an appearance that I don’t have space magic), food, rope, tents, and blankets. The grand total of my shopping spree ended up to be 4 gold coins. Blythe was simply astonished by the amount of money I was just pumping out and the extent of my spatial magic and started to mutter something about lucky bastards. By the way, I don’t have to worry about the food rotting in the spatial magic because I manipulated the space and velocity within my spatial storage so that time will run much slower in the dimension utilizing Einstein’s theory of special relativity. So 100 years in the outside world will barely constitute 1 millisecond in the storage which is awesome because I can store hot foods within my storage as well. All hail the awesome power of science combined with magic!

I made sure to buy Blythe some dinner from one of the food stalls as thanks for bargaining for me as we headed to the mercenary guild to meet up with the rest of our group. While the group was discussing their next course of action, I talked with the receptionist to see if I needed to sign up or anything like that. Since I already got a recommendation from Adal, a senior and experienced mercenary, I could skip the test and automatically received a magical card (it changed colors to reflect the average difficulty of requests I successfully completed) that simply had my name and my success rate on it. Since I didn’t do any requests yet, the card was a dull gray. Other than that, there really wasn’t anything else. I didn’t even need to sign any papers or anything like that. With that done, I went back to rejoin the group.

“So Descal. We decided to stay in the town for four weeks before we go to the city of Duran. Adal has received a report from the Duran’s branch that asks for his help in analyzing some artifacts that they received from some nearby ruins. The reason why we are leaving in four weeks is that we accepted an escort request from a caravan that is headed there to make some extra money while we are journeying there. However, there has been some issues with some bandits recently in this route so the caravan is going to wait a month for the local baron’s troops to clear them out before setting off.” (Blythe)

“Got it. Where weapon shop?” (Descal)

“Oh. Let’s wait till tomorrow. By the time, we get there he should be closing shop. He is quite the skilled blacksmith. I am surprised he isn’t working in one of the great cities.” (Blythe)

“Keep teaching at the inn?” (Descal)

“Sure. I also bought some paper to help with teaching you the common language. I am pretty good at drawing so I can teach you better.” (Blythe)

“Blythe! Descal! Hurry up! I’m hungry so let’s go!” (Adal)

With those words, we sped off toward Adal and Trevor who were making a mad dash to the inn that had a nice delicious smell wafting out of its doors.