Akarui misses the peaceful life he had in his previous life.

No life-threatening dangers lurking every which corner. Food for days and enjoyment uncountable.

A generally peaceful society with their only gripe being bad bosses.

Be that as it may, Akarui is adjusting surprisingly well to the forest life.

Or not.

It has been two days since he slept and his mind can't take it anymore.

His body, enhanced with mana as it might be, can't take further abuse either. Limits the size of a toddler restrict him.

He's decided to solve the food problem with some fruits he's seen hanging from trees, and he's lucky he's not poisoned yet.

As for the water problem, he solved it by drinking from a few puddles of rainwater when it rained yesterday.

That seems a saving grace but when he thought about the germs and dangerous bacteria in the water he drank yesterday, he was afraid he would get some uncurable disease.

Which only added to the list of his ever-growing worries.

But he's a human after all. Or used to be. Now he's an elf or something, but that's digressing a bit.

He decided to make a shelter of sorts up the trees, where land-based predators would have a hard time hunting him, but it has taken him a long time to make the construct. He's not an architect and he never built a treehouse in his previous life.

Making do with the branches he broke from a few many trees, he made sure to hold the floor together with strong-looking climbing plants.

He's not sure what to do with the insect problem, but he's so very tired now and ignoring all else, he's made sleep his priority.

Because he needs to be on his best performance if he wishes to get a chance to escape the forest alive.

It has to be noted that the normal animals around the place are very foreign looking.

Or maybe not. God knows just how many times of animals there used to be on Earth.

Anyway, killing snakes has become a nice pass time of his, and eating insects is a light activity.

Anything to get the nutrients in him.

He's worried for his stomach, but it has shown surprisingly remarkable digestive ability and didn't go upset. Yet. Is that a racial trait or something? Because there is no way that's natural.

It took him till nightfall to finish building it.

Food. Water. Shelter. Akarui never used to get why so much emphasis was placed on them in the books he read growing up but now he does.

'The three basic needs. Oh, how I miss you guys.'

Giving a self-deprecating sigh at how low he's fallen, Akarui decided to stop thinking along that line. It's a rabbit hole, just like many other topics he's found himself thinking about.

And so he slept.

Only to be awoken in the middle of the night, gasping for breath and sweaty. A nightmare.

'Ugh, as if I don't have enough problems.'

Akarui decided just to ignore the loneliness and fear that crept up his spine. Sleep is important.

Then he remembered.

Predators of the night. They depend not on sight but on their other senses.

In other words, the night is a bad time to sleep.

Grumbling, Akarui decided to keep a half-awake alert state.

Of course, it's not because he's now afraid of the dark. Or creepy ghosts. Not at all.

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It has been a few days since Akarui found himself in the baffling embrace of forest life. And so far, it has been treating him well.

Loneliness is his companion, and existential crises are his breakfast.

Precisely because of his quick thinking, he started trying to figure out a way out of the forest. By any means possible.

Usually, in various fics, a forest is a very dangerous place where the protagonist gets a power-up before encountering an even greater danger.

So he was doing precisely that. Taking his circumstances as something that The Almighty Plot designed to give him a power-up, he started training earnestly.

It has to be noted that this forest is truly a magical place because when Akarui stumbled upon a method to sense the magic in plant life by placing his hand on them, he was astonished at how diverse this world was. Many compositions of colors greet his view whenever he uses that method to sense magic.

So he began searching for plants with the highest density of mana. And then moved away from them.

After all, civilization tends to destroy any precious natural treasures with extreme prejudice. Other than the elven civilization, perhaps, but he had not seen them either; the only other elf he had seen was his mother, and now he didn't even know how to go back. It's not like he knew her name. It never came up, and he didn't think it necessary for until he was old enough to ask. Which would now suck because he's sure his memories would start fading away as he grew older and when he is old enough to launch a search party or wealthy fund a search party, who knows what might happen?

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He knew not how many days it had been. Keeping tabs on the date drives him insane anyway, so he does not bother.

Until one day, his abysmal luck ran out, and decided to prank him for being such a good boy.

Normally when he wanders around, he comes across weak creatures such as normal animals which only take a few punches to go down, then there are magical creatures such as goblins, kobolds, magical snakes, and magical animals.

Nothing strong like Oni, Ogres, Minotaurs, and such.

But it seems my luck ran out.

A monster party of Trolls.

It was not me that found them. No, I was sleeping peacefully when I was rudely awakened by sensing the rapid approach of a particularly dense patch of mana.

As such, I prepared my temporary wooden-and-stone weapons and escaped.

But apparently, I was not fast enough. Well, I do have not enough experience with treading the forest path so my speed was several notches slower than it could be, but the distance was closing fast and I had no idea what to do so I did the only thing I could — Run, Akarui, Run.

Well, the thing that was chasing me? It was a Troll.

I saw its' image in one of the children's books my elf mother used to read me. Not enough to learn the written language, but it has enough pictures. And a Troll is one of them.

Apparently, more than 9 feet in height and has enough strength to punch boulders to smush. This is speaking bad things for me because even after enhancing my fists with magic power, I'm still nowhere strong enough to punch boulders. Maybe if I squeeze with enough strength I may have a small chance of breaking boulders.

So when the grey-colored giant came closer, I knew my chances of surviving this encounter were slim.

I was not its' match in speed. Nor its speed. And it has a ridiculous regeneration rate, so any damage I do inflict will be healed easily.

Basically, my death is all but confirmed.

So when it raised its' hand to punch me in all its' roaring fury, I decided to take a risk.

Condensing magic.

From all the fics I've read, I knew that condensing magic and releasing magic would have great results, but it is also much dependent on the control of the user, and it could backfire just as easily.

But I'm going to die if I don't do any damage, so I focused my magic to spread to the veins in my hand and decided to concentrate on the tips of my fingers.

A punch would be preferable but there are no mana outlets in the fist other than the fingertips so I'll make do with my improvised technique. And let's not forget my toddler body, so even if I do punch, it'll be like a pinprick for the massive Troll.

When I decided to 'release' the magic from my fingertips, a few things happened.

As expected, a backlash occurred.

It broke my whole hand. And then some part of my shoulder.

I saw it all in slow motion.

How, the moment when the magic was released, the surrounding mana seemed to be drawn to it and decided to interfere in my manipulation and control.

I don't know how or why, but the temporary technique I released became several notches stronger and destroyed the troll's hand.

Its' screaming was only dwarfed by my own.

Its' hand was gone, and my hand was injured beyond repair. Bones and all.

I'm surprised I haven't gone unconscious with all the pain it must've caused to my nervous system. Maybe it's the adrenaline.

But I just found a way to maybe survive this encounter and did not hesitate. I brandished my wooden spear and thrust it into the troll's left chest. Which did not go well because its' skin is damn thick and the wooden spear broke, alerting the enemy of its' prey.

Roaring with fury, it used its' other hand to punch at me with all its strength, and the tiny human that I am, I moved out of its way. By using my mana-enhanced strength, I ducked under the punch and dashed to its' backside from between its legs. I easily fit in the narrow space, given our size difference.

And then, quickly kicked at the backside of the knees of the troll.

It has to be noted that the backside of the knees is a weak point for maintaining balance when standing, and as predicted, the troll stumbled to the ground. I did not miss the opportunity though. I focused on the feeling I got from my first time and channeled my mana to my other hand — not as much as the first time, but a tiny portion. I'm banking on the outside mana rushing in the same way it happened the first time.

And my prediction turned out to be correct. But this time, I was prepared. I controlled the rushing mana and redirected it outward in a punch. Not. A finger tap. Because that's what it is. A tap of the fingers.

It has amazing results, because as soon as my fingers touched its' backside, it roared furiously and tumbled to the ground, losing the strength in its' knees.

Did I hit a bone or something? I knew nothing about fights, but I figured I was lucky to hit a sensitive nerve or bone or something.

So banking on the opportunity, I moved to its' destroyed right hand and approached its' head.

The troll was already getting up by then.

But it's too late.

My fingers were already approaching its' head, and with a squishing sound, its' head was smushed.

Blood and brain matter drenched my surroundings, and I was similarly covered in them.

But I did not stop. I tapped its head again. And again. And again. Until its' head was no more than some blood and disgusting organs.

The Troll stopped struggling.

'Isn't Troll blood said to have regenerative properties?', Akarui thought in a daze. He was still feeling pain, but it feels strangely muted. Maybe it is the body's natural painkillers?

It seemed his thoughts were difficult to form as easily, but Akarui didn't notice it. Still, in an adrenaline rush, he slowly drank the blood and even ate some of its brain stuff. After all, organs should have a higher regeneration rate, right?

After getting his stomach full, Akarui picked a direction and left. Blood attracts animals and monsters. And troll blood especially so.

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Akarui winced in pain and woke up from his slumber.

He took a good look at his surroundings and then remembered the last night's events.

And promptly panicked.

After all, eating raw bits of monsters is never any good.

So he quickly sensed his body, but he found no...

'Wait, my hand... is healed?'

Akarui was surprised. After all, even if Troll blood was said to have regenerative properties, it is generally only possible to bring out those healing properties after brewing that blood in a potion or an elixir.

He drank raw blood.

By now, he realized his digestive ability is not normal. He can survive eating barely edible foods and unknown animal parts cooked with flames. He knew not how to prepare the meat too. he just removes all internal organs and drops them in flames, hoping that they'd turn edible. Which usually turns them black, but that's not the point here.

'Is this some sort of innate ability or something?', wondered Akarui. After all, he knows that he is an elf. So maybe he inherited his digestion from his father? It's possible that his father may not be an elf. Or maybe he's overthinking and this is just his own ability.

Whatever it is, it opened up a lot of opportunities.

He knew his digestion is abnormal for a few days now, but he didn't give it much thought until now.

And now that an opportunity presented itself, he resolved to abuse it to solve his food problem.

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It has been a long time since Akarui saw traces of civilization.

Or rather, he only discovered a caravan moving through the forest.

Which is accompanied by scary-looking people holding medieval weapons. And horses.

He almost made the mistake of revealing his location, but then rethought his decision.

After all, he knew not the attitude these humans would show an elf like him.

Are elves considered normal? Or are they hunted and enslaved?

Now that he thought of it, his mother was living in a deserted part of the forest, and he only listened to his mother talk about the village every now and then.

But his musings were cut short by a thud to the back of his head. Because he always kept his mana enhancement active, the blow was not as strong as it could've been, but it's strong enough to black him out for a few seconds.

A few seconds which were apparently enough to get me trapped below a full-grown man holding me down.

I trashed, obviously, and maybe the man hadn't expected that because he was thrown off easily.

And then just when I turned around, an arrow grazed my shoulder and stuck to the ground just before me. I'm not ashamed to say that I froze.

When I turned around, I saw an archer loading another arrow and aiming at me.

So I did the only thing I could: ask for mercy.

But it seemed that I ran out of luck because I sensed another thud against my skull. This time far stronger than before.

And I passed out.