"If you're trying to look for artifacts in that place, don't bother, everyone already looted it."

Ulysses was perplexed by what Mia had said. Then a shocking realization pierced. his head

"What do you mean by 180 years ago? Did something happen?"

Mia got irritated by having to discuss a topic supposedly everyone is knowledgable of at a young age.

"I'm not good with history, but General Nyubis and the whole Ethial kingdom destroyed Crivaria and beheaded King Killian."

Ulysses is still processing everything and couldn't wrap his head around the conclusion he didn't want to accept.

Ulysses sat down and leaned his back against a tree with his head down.

(It makes sense, after all—species evolution. Wildgers weren't this big, and prodigies like Mia; the people would've treated her like a deity. Have I fallen into hibernation for 180 years?)

"What are you doing? It's simple history, and everyone knows it even me."

(I've fallen asleep for so many years. I have to find more evidence of this first.)

Mia grew curious about Ulysses. He was wearing old leather armor and asked weird questions.

"Where do you live? There aren't any cities or villages around here."

"I'm living in Cri-... in a small cabin in the woods. And yes, I traveled here to look for Crivaria's ruins, but I changed my mind from all the Wildgers in the area."

Ulysses made up an alibi to avoid and suspicion. He didn't want Mia to know he was 180 years old.

"That explains your crappy armor. Where are your parents? Still living in that cabin?"

(She's digging me hard. I'll try to knock her off her heels with this!)

"They got massacred by monsters. My parents sacrificed themselves so I could escape."

Mia was startled by what Ulysses said. She instantly got hit with guilt by what she asked.

"Oh, I didn't know, I'm sorry."

"No it's okay, I got past it."

(It worked! But I didn't expect to be so easy. Did I hit a soft spot for her?)

Both sat there in awkward silence.

Mia filled with guilt and shame. And Ulysses was figuring out what to do next.

Then Ulysses broke the silence with another question.

"So would you be willing to bring me to that city of yours?"

Ulysses didn't know what "City" meant, but he figured out it was where people reside.

Mia was still feeling a hint of guilt, but it didn't look like she was. She seemed to be thinking about what Ulysses had said and rubbed her chin.

She pulled out something from the pocket of her leather shorts.

It was a piece of paper that she folded neatly. She unfolded it and showed it to Ulysses.

It was a quest about investigating a magic source in a cave.

"The cave is near this forest, help me find it, then I'll help you."

Ulysses nodded, and Mia placed the quest paper in her pocket.

She unsheathed her sword that was on her waist and gave it to Ulysses.

"Be extremely careful with that sword. It's probably as powerful as a high-grade magical artifact."

Ulysses appraised the sword to check its stats.

Enchanted Saber

Durability: 70/70 (+50)

_______________

Weapon grants the wielder (+2.1) boost in Dexterity.

Ulysses' eyes visibly contracted as he read the contents.

+2.1 boost in Dexterity? That's too overpowered!

Mia scoffed at Ulysses' face and said,

"Yeah, it grants a boost in Dexterity. I guess you already know that with that look on your face."

(Magic these days are incredible! It's too bad that I probably won't learn any with my Intellect.)

"Let's go. We're not that far from here. Stay on guard though, Wildgers might pounce on you."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Ulysses got up and followed Mia, who was walking to the cave.

----------------------------------------

They walked through the forest with the sun almost setting. They were entirely on guard for the worst, but they had a peaceful journey with no encounters of beasts and monsters.

They stopped moving and came across a large hole in the ground.

Mia grabbed a stone and threw it in the hole to find out how deep it was. They found out it wasn't as deep as they expected.

"This is it. I can feel a strange, ominous aura in the hole."

Mia said to Ulysses while looking down in the hole.

"I can't feel anything. I guess it's my low Intellect."

Ulysses replied, but Mia didn't answer.

Mia hopped in the hole and cast a light spell to illuminate the dark cave.

Mia looked up at Ulysses and said,

"It's not that deep, stop being a pussy."

Ulysses scoffed at her sudden remark and jumped down with her.

Down in the cave, Ulysses saw a pathway that was leading in one direction.

The pathway was broad and tall, so it was hard to see ahead.

Ulysses felt his face freezing and got a chill down his spine and looked at Mia.

Mia was also looking at him. She was about to break down and laugh at his mortified face, but she quickly looked forward and walked.

Ulysses followed silently, treating Mia as his pathfinder, or else he might get lost.

The further they walked, the more lit it got because of glowing stones in the walls.

"About time, light stones showed up."

Mia didn't need to make a light source anymore, so it wilted away.

Then there was an ear-piercing roar that rang throughout the cave.

Ulysses got into a stance, and Mia started to cast a blue magic shield in front of her.

Sweat dripped and hit the ground as they waited and prepared to fight.

Then a giant Wildger hit Mia's shield at speed, similar to a bolt of lightning.

It blew her back and shattered the shield with ease, but she was still standing.

Ulysses, with no hesitation, ran to the enormous Wildger. It was still facing Mia, and Ulysses used that to his advantage.

When Ulysses got closer, a paw smashed Ulysses into the wall, sinking him deep in it. He coughed out blood as he fell to the ground. He couldn't move even a finger but was somehow still conscious.

His blood was running down his head and cold sweat accompanying it. He could feel fear again so clearly.

(It's faster than an eye blink.)

Ulysses thought to himself and appraised the beast.

Mutated Wildger

Age: 20

Strength: 38.5

_______________

Dexterity: 43.4

_______________

Constitution: 45.1

_______________

Unable to wield magic but has traces of mana in its body.

Ulysses didn't have enough energy to gloss over its stats. His vision turned blurry.

He could still see that Mia was looking at him and made another magic shield.

The Wildger destroyed it with ease and also blew Mia back to a wall knocking her out cold.

But Ulysses saw something strange standing before him.

Ulysses who it was but didn't know what it wanted. It was the one who Ulysses saw before he lost his powers.

(What is it doing here?)

Ulysses looked around him and saw that everything stopped moving and turned gray.

"I knew you couldn't do shit in this world without your powers."

The figure talked and was grinning at Ulysses.

Ulysses responded,

"What the fuck are you?"

The figure's grin grew bigger,

"Cid asked me to look over you. He's a good friend; you should thank him."

"But why did Cid- and why-"

"Let's not get into any more questions and answers here. I'm here to save you."

The figure cut Ulysses off and explained further.

"You're going to get a burst in speed to escape here. Don't do anything stupid this time. There will be some side-effects, of course, since its borrowing some of your old power.

Ulysses nodded and just accepted it since its better than getting mauled alive.

"I won't be returning for some time, which means if you're going to get yourself in the same situation, no more power boosts for you."

Ulysses was extremely curious to ask the figure what it was, but he didn't.

"Well, it was nice meeting you. Your Majesty."

Then the figure faded away with a bow.

Ulysses got creeped out by what the figure said. He also felt a surge of power soon after and inspected his stats.

Name: Ulysses _________

Age: __

Strength: 8

_______________

Intellect: 2

_______________

Dexterity: 33 (+20) (10s)

_______________

Constitution: 32

_______________

Unique Skill: Appraise

Can show the stats of the object appraised by the user.

Ulysses saw a massive boost in stats but only for ten short seconds.

Then the cave got its color back, and he could feel the timer going down.

He could now move his body and dashed towards Mia to pick her up and run out of the cave as fast as possible.

His eyes were glowing a bright yellow and were dimming fastly, indicating the timer.

His speed was something no one in history could match. Ulysses couldn't even think straight.

The Wildger tried to chase after them, but something stopped it from leaving the cave.

When they got out of the cave and onto the surface again, it was already nighttime.

(Holy shit, how fast was I?)

Ulysses panted hard and looked over at Mia's unconscious body.

(It's not the time to rest and relax right now. Wildgers are still out he-)

Ulysses started hurling up blood and fell to his knees. It felt like a sword was piercing him through his stomach. He knew that burst of power cost him a certain amount of his lifespan. He got up and wiped the blood that stained on his mouth.

Then droplets of water fell from the sky. Ulysses closed his eyes and felt the rain hitting his skin.

(Most beasts don't hunt or go out in the rain, so I'll use this chance. I still have to be careful, though.)

He carried Mia again, placing one arm on her back and one arm on her knees.

He was going to walk out of the forest with her. Ulysses needed Mia to go back to human civilization.

Ulysses was on guard all the time and didn't want to encounter any Wildgers.

As Ulysses was sneaking through the forest, he took a peek at Mia's face.

Ulysses hadn't inspected Mia like this before, so he was surprised by how beautiful she was.

She had long blue silky hair and pale white skin that almost seemed to glow.

She also had rosy cheeks and slender legs with a slim waistline.

(It's not the best time to be acting like a creep right now.)

Ulysses thought to himself and blushed.

Ulysses could see the end of the forest just up ahead and saw a long dirt path with long wooden lamps illuminating the road.

Then he could feel Mia was waking up. He still carried her and didn't want to drop her to the ground.

Mia was turning her head around and was recalling what happened.

"We're out now. Out of the forest."

Ulysses said to Mia, hoping to reassure her.

Mia remembered the events and facepalmed.

"You can put me down now."

Ulysses obliged and quickly put her down.

Mia rubbed her chin, and Ulysses thought it was a habit of hers now.

"The mutated Wildger was likely to be caused by that ominous aura down in the cave."

Ulysses thought about this and remembered that when he appraised the Wildger, he saw that it had traces of mana in its body.

"It's a bad idea to go down there again. I need stronger spells to beat it."

Mia grabbed two small pebbles from her pocket and gave on to Ulysses.

"Swallow it, and it'll teleport you back in the city."

Ulysses was astonished by the magic technology of the pebble. Only one person had cracked magic teleportation back then.

"Is this a valuable artifact?"

"It is, typically, only royalty can afford it. It's thanks for saving me back in the cave."

Ulysses wanted to find out the technology on the stone. Both Ulysses and Mia swallowed the stones.

Everything turned white, and Ulysses could hear a warping noise. The noise disappeared shortly, and Ulysses opened his eyes.

He was in a large building that looked like a cathedral. He also saw other adventurers warping into the building.

"Welcome to Olivia. Home to corrupt royalty and starving citizens alike."

Mia said in a disdainful tone.

The cathedral was at least 50 meters tall and had no windows. And there were marvelous and realistic paintings strang across the entire building.

But Ulysses saw a colossal statue of him at the farthest back of the cathedral.

He was about to pass out after glancing at the statue.

"Haven't heard of him? That's our god Cid."

(Cid? But that statue has my previous beautiful face!)

Ulysses slowly faced Mia and asked,

"C-can you tell me who this god is?"