I’d like to say I was proactive in how I handled the situation I had found myself in. I’d also be a liar if I said that.

I ended up sitting on my butt for a solid few minutes as I tried and failed to reboot multiple times. Each time I would get the mental version of a death spiral that would never go away and I would in vain start the rebooting process all over again. Usually, I liked to consider myself more gathered-minded than most people but apparently, this is how I would react to being transported to a new place without my consent. Like an open-mouthed idiot.

Good to know.

Eventually after five, six minutes tops, I pulled myself together and delicately worked my way to my feet. I was still sore and full of bruises from the fall and roll I had before but luckily it seemed like I didn’t have too much in the way of injuries. Other than a few small cuts and scratches on my hands and some new damage on my favorite trench coat I was fine.

Having assessed myself I once again looked around my new surroundings. The forest was rather lively with small birds flying through the trees and some insects here and there. I noted from the few glimpses of them that I didn’t recognize any of these animals. In fact, one of the birds I had gotten a good look at was completely different from any bird I had seen before.

It was a bit smaller than a hawk with varying different colors on its feathers that gave it an almost peacock look to it. The thing’s beak was odd too with a curve that went about 90 degrees downward. Its talons which were currently grappling a tree branch were a bit longer in length than I would expect for a bird of its size. The metaphorical cherry on top was the fact that it had a horn sticking out of its forehead like it was part unicorn.

The Rainbow Horn Bird, which was the name I had bestowed upon it, eventually let out a high-pitched caw before flying off after a smaller bird that I couldn’t get a good look at. As I stared at its disappearing form I took note of the autumn-like leaves that clung to the extending branches of the trees. That along with the cool not too warm but not too cold temperature led me to believe that it was the equivalent of Fall right now in the forest.

Besides that, I saw a few odd flowers that looked like they were slowly changing color. A mushroom that was about two feet in height and looked like just staring at it would poison me. An insect that looked like the love child of a butterfly and a snake. And to top it all off the rainbow horn bird had just come back with a smaller of its kind as was leading back to what looked like a nest full of anything colorful that it could find all the while having the bird equivalent of ‘fuck me eyes’ as it looked at the smaller bird.

I felt myself grit my teeth as I continued to take in everything. There was a part of me that secretly hoped that I was still on Earth and that I had just had a glitch in the matrix moment but the more I looked the more that part of me died. Nothing here screamed normal to me and I was quickly coming to an unfortunate conclusion that I was finding quite… unnerving.

I had somehow been isekai'd to another world.

Nope. I refused to believe that until I had absolute proof. Everything I was seeing could easily just be some weird nature stuff that I had never happened upon during my time on the internet. That or I was in a coma from the fall and this was one big fever dream. I truly did not know if I preferred the Isekai or the coma dream idea.

Either way just standing around doing nothing was getting me nowhere. With a few deep breaths to center myself, I started to walk in a random direction as I took stock of my current situation. At the moment the only things I had on me were my wallet which only had some bills and cards in it, a Swiss army knife that I had gotten for Christmas some years ago, and a pen.

Really wish I had found my phone.

I knew off the top of my head that my first priority would be finding drinkable water. A Human body could go about a month with no food but water was something you needed within three days or you were dead. The problem was that while I knew this much that was also where my knowledge of surviving in the wild ended. Never had been a fan of survival shows growing up which was currently coming back to bite me in my fine ass.

But with or without survival knowledge I still had to try. So with the knife part of the Swiss army knife pulled out and ready I moved forward in what I hoped was the right direction.

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I had, in fact, not gone in the right direction.

It had to have been a couple of hours since I had started walking. All that I had accomplished in that time was making my feet sore. Now I found myself resting on a tree stump as I looked at the rapidly darkening sky.

I still hadn’t made any progress on finding water and was very aware of how dry my mouth was at the moment. The only thing I had seen were a few more animals in the forest, most of which I had never seen before. There had been a deer-like creature that had horns instead of antlers and white fur that had given me a scare when it ran out in front of me and nearly hit me. Other than that I had seen a normal rabbit of all things which threw me off a little.

Now I needed to find some kind of shelter as the night came. I was tired from the long day I had and the trench coat I wore was slowly losing the battle of keeping me warm from the now cold air at dusk that seemed to only be getting colder by the minute. Idly I wondered if I’d die of frostbite before dehydration but dismissed it as I got back onto my feet.

As the sun was setting in the distance I could see the forest start to shift a little. The numerous birds that I had seen flying about were all but gone. The many different noises I had been hearing throughout my journey were fading away, being replaced by new and foreign ones. Even the plants seemed to be taking a more somber and dark hue like they were reacting to the damn vibe of the forest of something. It all was quickly setting me on edge.

Despite this, I still tried my best to look for some kind of shelter. Luck seemed to be on my side just as much as it had been for the quest to find drinking water. Just as I was starting to think of alternatives to my current route I walked over the top of a small hill to find a small pile of fallen trees in the same general location.

I paused as I got a better look at it. It didn’t look natural, more like a shockwave had lashed out of nowhere and forced all the trees to fall in the same area. But I found myself not questioning this as I looked through the brush created by the numerous tree branches and limbs mashing into each other. It wouldn’t do much for warmth but if I could get down into the brush and lay by one of the tree trunks then I could be relatively protected by the branches and even hidden by the leaves that stubbornly clung to the fallen trees.

Feeling a bit more of my determination flaring up again I walked into the brush and started to push into it. By no means was it a pleasant experience but as I inched forward I found my body slipping through the branches until I found the trunk itself. After a little more wiggling and positioning I was in a decently comfortable position covered by a barrier of branches, limbs, and leaves.

With a somewhat decent shelter acquired, I wiggled around with my trench coat. Slipping my arms from the sleeves so I could hug my body while still in the leather coat. The temperature had dropped a decent bit more but I didn’t find it as bad as it had been back at the college. Hopefully, I could get a decent night's sleep and then find some water tomorrow.

“At least I didn’t find myself in a god-forsaken desert,” I mumbled to myself as I stared through the branches and limbs to see small little windows into the sky above. The sky was now almost fully dark as the twilight lost its fight to extend eternally into the sky. I couldn't help but marvel as I saw an unending expanse of stars littering the void above the world. I had seen decently starry night skies before having lived in a rural country area before going to college but nothing like this.

The stars seemed to almost dance in the sky, twinkling in and out like a gentle strobing light that flickered in an ethereal dance with the other lights in the void. It almost seemed like the heavens themselves were being laid bare for all to gaze upon them. I found myself staring up into that sky for an eternity of seconds and minutes as my eyelids slowly but steadily crept closer and closer to each other.

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And just like that sleep had found me.

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I had been in the middle of a strange dream when I woke up. I had seen looking down at some unknown world from space but it had seemed like I had hundreds of eyes rather than the normal two. Glimpses of the lives of the people of that world flashed by, most of the time too quickly for me to even begin to comprehend what I was seeing. But a few I was able to make out and somewhat remember as my eyes flickered open and sleep fled me.

Some had obviously been human but I had seen other creatures as well. One looked like a minotaur fighting against dozens of giant spiders. Another was a strange tall pale thing with one eye gazing into an ocean from a stone lighthouse. Some humanoid lizard person was speaking to what looked like a lamia but the words were foreign to me. It was an odd female ice lady shooting a bow made of ice-like crystal that I found myself stopping the dream as a noise brought me to the waking world.

A deep low growl.

A canine-like growl.

Despite the cold surrounding me, I knew it wasn’t the reason for my body freezing up. That growl almost echoed in my mind. I had heard similar sounds in movies and tv shows but this growl had a…coldness to it. It was completely unnatural and felt like some foreign force was invading my body as whatever canine-like creature that was making it outside of my shelter finally stopped. It felt like ice itself was creeping along the threads of thoughts that made up my mind, my very mental being.

Even after the noise stopped the effect echoed in my mind for a second or two before it disappeared and left me once again in control of my body. That didn’t mean I untensed or anything, hell if anything I went even more rigid as I tried my best to quiet my almost panicked breathing. Something had made that growl and whatever it was was currently stalking outside and was near my shelter.

I could hear it as I strained my ears, the soft crunching of leaves and the occasional breaking of a small twig. It seemed to be walking around the mass of fallen trees. Why it was doing this I had no clue and I had no wish to figure it out as I continued to listen to the creature. I even moved my head a little to try and stare through the small gaps between the tree limbs and branches.

Despite being night it was decently bright which was the result of a full moon or at least I assumed it was a full moon, I had not checked. At first, I didn’t see anything as my eyes darted from gap to gap, barely getting a glimpse of what lay beyond before moving to the next. I could feel the lack of control driving my mind nuts, like a seeping poison that was rending my brain and forcing me to lose control of my logic.

Eventually, as the sound of near silent steps neared me, I finally saw a glimpse of what was stalking around in the night. I couldn’t make out much but some flashes of white fur but the general shape seemed to tell me that it was a wolf of some kind. That and it was decently big as well. Just as I was processing all this the thing abruptly stopped and the foreign force invaded my mind once more as it let out another growl.

The thing stopped after a second but as my body was once more recovering from the feeling of the mental ice as I heard it move around again. My heart almost stopped as I realized it was moving closer to my shelter and it damn near stopped when I heard it start sniffing around. A part of my mind whispered into the back of my head that it was tracking down prey. More specifically it was tracking me.

Against my better judgment, my eyes forced themselves closed, like I was a kid who assumed that if I didn’t see the monster then it couldn’t see me. I felt ridiculous but that didn’t stop my eyes from remaining closed as I listened to it sniff. Fear crept through me as I heard it get slowly but surely closer to my location. After a few seconds, the sound stopped and I finally convinced my eyelids to comply as they opened to the sight of the gaps through my shelter once more.

And into the incredibly cold light blue lupin eye that stared back at me.

For a second there was nothing else but me and this creature. That second stretched for far longer than it should have as I felt the shiver down my spine while my eyes almost refused to believe what they were seeing. Then that second ended as I once more heard the growl, as I once more felt that foreign force invading my body, as I once more felt myself lose control of my muscles. Then the monster struck.

It launched into the tree limbs as its claws slashed away at my shelter, though now it was feeling far more like a prison. The wolf’s powerful front legs dug into the wood and I was rapidly finding myself more and more exposed. I suddenly regained control of my body as I swiftly got up into a sitting position or as best I could surrounded by the tangling branches while I worked my arms back through my coat’s sleeves.

As I pressed my back into the trunk of the fallen tree I weighed my options. I desperately wanted to force my way through another side of the tree’s branches and run but there was no way I could outrun the creature. Leaving would free me sure but it would also leave me out in the open. I had to do something now while it was busy destroying the branches and limbs between me and it.

Gritting my teeth I reached into my pocket and pulled out my swiss army knife and fumbled a little with it as I pulled out the knife portion of it. I couldn’t help but notice how fragile it felt in my hands as I tightened my grip on it and turned my eyes once more to the white wolf. It was decently closer than before and I could better make out what it looked like now.

It appeared slightly larger than a normal wolf and still had its white fur but now I noticed that ice shards were formed all over said fur. Its claws looked like they were made out of some ice-like crystal, it was the same for its fangs as it bared them at me. I also noticed that the closer it got to me the colder it got as well. Like this thing was some kind of monster of winter.

I moved forward just as it was getting the last few wooden branches that separated me from it. Just before it could get rid of the last obstacle between it and me I rushed forward and tried to stab the knife into it. But, like it had sensed my intentions or something, it jumped back a little and glared at me. Just as I regained my balance from the poor thrust I heard the growl once more and like the other times my body froze unnaturally.

‘No no no!’ I mentally swore as the thing stopped its growling and almost seemed to give me a grin before launching itself into the last few branches. I could do nothing but struggle as the last thing between me and it was torn away and it lunged forward with a bite. Just as the fangs were about to sink into me I regained control of my body and almost threw myself to the tree limbs to my left to avoid the deadly attack.

I felt the stinging pain of the impact with the limbs which followed with even more pain as the ice wolf’s side hit me. I reacted without thinking as I gripped my knife and slammed myself into its side, pining it between me and the tree limbs on the other side, and I mustered up all the strength that I could to stab the monster in its side. I felt cold liquid spill onto my hand and blade as I heard the thing let out a pained-sounding yelp. I kept trying to cut and stab into the monster as it started to struggle against me but it was unable to get any traction to force myself off of it.

Despite that though I felt the claws on one of its paws awkwardly slash into my back. I did my best to ignore the pain and just kept pushing it into the opposite wall of branches and limbs while digging my swiss knife deeper into it. Just as I was starting to feel confident it let out a howl and I felt the mental ice rapidly encase my mind and body.

I felt true terror and I froze in place. But this seemed to work in my favor somewhat as I still had the ice wolf pinned and it seemed like even it could not move my body. But that didn’t stop it from twisting its head around enough to graze my right shoulder with its crystal ice-like teeth. The pain though seemed to melt the metaphorical ice from my mind as I felt both fear and anger fill my body in its place.

With a shout, I redoubled my effort and slammed into the damn thing sinking the knife even deeper. It let out more yelps of pain and I even felt it start to thrash less which only encouraged me to keep up my efforts. After a dozen or so seconds It seemed to stop completely and go limp. The aura of coldness seemed to leave it and I felt my body start to warm up. Despite the new warmth, I found myself freezing in place but this time of my own volition as I realized what had happened. I had done it.

I had killed it.

The thought echoed in my head as my adrenaline stopped pumping and the exhaustion I was feeling finally let itself be known in full force. I barely had the energy to pull the knife from the corpse’s body before I all but collapsed on it. I found myself panting for breath as the pain in my muscles worked its way through my entire body. Just as I was starting to regain my breath I felt something speak in my head as something flash into my mind.

Yenvkuhapuhien! chea pogopox am!

Mokjenup pg tuj veno wkequ pg1 -> pg2

I felt myself just staring dumbfounded at the words in my head which were from a language I did not know reverberated in my head from a monotone masculine voice. Then there was a pause as if the voice had just realized something was wrong before a sharp pain erupted from my head. Before I could even react to it though it was gone and the letters and voice were back only this time I could understand both.

Congratulations! You Leveled up!

Personal Lv has gone from Lv1 -> Lv2

I found myself once again staring with my mouth open as the voice finished what it was saying and the words vanished from my head. I continued to stare dumbfounded at nothing as the realization of what had just happened slowly crept into my mind. Even when it had completely finalized in my head I could do nothing but attract non-existent flies into my mouth, completely unsure about how to react to what had just happened.

In the end, I feel like my reaction was justified.

“WHAT THE FUCK!?!”

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(POV-Danny)

I couldn't keep my grin off my face as I all but ran along the small hills leading up to the Snowatch Forest. I still couldn’t believe that Ma and Pa had told me I could go train! I know that with the harvest from the farm done and they didn’t need my or any of my sibling's help but I still figured they try to get me to do some kind of barnwork. They still weren’t sure about my desire to become an Adventurer.

I still remember when I came back from the city of Dreshabour on my Class Day when I was 13 years old. They had been soooo mad that I had chosen the Mage class rather than Cultivator. But I just didn’t want to spend the rest of my life farming! I wanted to go out and explore all of the Kingdom of Valnus- No all of the Human Kingdom- NO all of Septima itself!

At least they eventually calmed down and decided to let me train a bit to be an Adventurer. They somewhat warmed up to the idea after 5 ish years of dealing with having a kid with the Mage Class. It helped that some of the spells I learned helped with the farming. But now it was time I got another Class Lv! Just one more and I’d be at lv7 just like my adventurer book recommended to be before going to join the Guild!

The outskirts of the Snowatch forest didn’t have much in the way of dangerous creatures so it would be a great place to train up on my spell work and find a live target or two to work on. Just the thought was sending giggles from my belly to my mouth. I almost fell over trying to stop them from escaping my lips.

The shining green grass rushed past me as the morning dew tried to cling to my work boots. It was still decently warm in the morning or at least it was for the Time of Air. It had been a long year so far and we still had a bunch of days before the Time of Darkness. I was still hoping that by the new year, my parents would finally let me head off to officially join up with the Guild.

Eventually, I skied to a stop just before the outer trees of the forest. I could already see the Love Birds flocking all about trying to do some last-minute mating before the season was done. I could see the markings on some of the trees left behind by the Whitehorns which was supposed to say this was their territory or something. I just saw that as a challenge!

With my usually happy grin on my face, a worn but muscled hand gripping the old mage staff I had been given for one of my birthdays, and the pointy mage hat that I had been given for a different birthday I stood up straight and took a deep breath.

“Come on ya forest! Give me what you got! I'm Danny Wheatmen the soon-to-be Great and I’ll take what y'all throw at me and dish it right back!”

With my awe-inspiring decree said I made my way into the woods.