Survival in the forest sucked.
Not in the romantic, "look at me becoming one with nature" way— more like, "congratulations, every step is like stepping barefoot on weaponized Lego."
The ground was littered with sharp stones, thorny roots, and probably the shattered dreams of every idiot who died here before me. And I had no shoes.
Well… I had no shoes. Past tense.
'Thank god for Direwolf hides.'
With the scraps I'd collected, I cobbled together the world's saddest pair of sandals: two strips of hide tied with vines.
Ugly? Definitely. Comfortable? Not even close. But at least I wasn't reenacting Die Hard on steroids anymore.
The mana-wood fragments helped too. They were hard as steel but sharp enough to double as a box cutter, letting me hack the hides into makeshift patches of clothing.
'Walking around naked in murder-forest? Would have been a hard pass. This wasn't that kind of isekai.'
I was trying to get out of the forest quickly, however, so I could not run around with the heavy pieces of hide on my body.
Even though it wasn't easy, I kept my underwear and almost destroyed clothes on, running with my feet covered by the small strap of hide and vines.
Thirst burning my throat, I ran, and ran, and ran until I could see brighter light beyond the canopy of the forest.
It was perhaps my own fortune and instincts that I avoided most of the creatures that crossed my path.
'A spiky boar the size of a truck barreled across my path once, tusks glowing faint blue. I saw a rainbow-colored snake coiled around a branch like some tropical fever dream, its scales glittering with an unknown energy. A family of bucks with antlers sharp enough to hang clothes on would have trampled me flat as well.'
I was able to sense their presence beforehand and could hide away right when they were approaching, which ultimately saved my life from these creatures.
But, they were just a fraction of the danger actually present in this forest.
'How do I know that? Well, it's all thanks to my special skill.'
[Innate Skill: Mana affinity (F).]
• You are some of the few individuals in the world who possess an affinity for Mana, the energy of nature that also stands as the most common unique energy in the world.
• This is a scaling skill. As your understanding and familiarity with the energy increases, the rank of the skill also increases.
• Possessing affinity with any of the unique energies in this world grants the opportunity to learn skills that are unique to the possessors of the class corresponding to that skill.
• Known as the energy of nature, Mana is the foundation of any kind of magical phenomenon. Classes like Mages, summoners, tamers, and such use this natural power to create what is known as Magic.
• Affinity with Mana grants you the ability to perceive Mana at a corresponding level to the skill. Perceiving beings possessing Mana, heightened senses to magical phenomena, and access to the Mana in nature becomes available.
"…So basically, I'm like a Wi-Fi-router in this world, rare but necessary."
That's what it felt like, at least. Mana wasn't sight or sound—it was presence. A hum. A buzz at the edge of my nerves. Every time a creature with mana wandered close, my brain pinged like someone had just connected to my hotspot.
'While I don't know anything about magic, I can pretty much tell when there are dangerous creatures around me.'
The reason I could not detect the ones I encountered must be because they have some different kind of energy. And since there are around a dozen different energies in this world, it shouldn't be surprising running into creatures like those.
A comforting thought, right? 'Oh hey, I can sense some death routes… just not all of them.'
But thanks to that, I avoided enough death flags to keep going.
'Router-sama saves the day.'
Thirst still burning my throat, hunger churning my stomach, my body which had lost a few Kg of weight, the sore muscles and joints all over the body almost killing me each passing second… but finally, as I crossed the final barricade of nature, I found myself atop a green hill.
[A quest has been completed.] Chapters first released on novelꜰire.net
[You have obtained Architect EXP: (+20).]
[You have obtained: (+100) coins.]
[You have obtained: (+1) CU.]
[As an additional reward for killing enemies of a high level and commendable survival skills, you have obtained: (+1) CU.]
The blue screens did not matter to my eyes who were looking at an endless horizon before them.
From this hillside, the flatland before me seemed as clear as a RPG cutscene.
The setting sun on the horizon that had painted the sky orange, the beautiful flocks of otherworldly birds going back to their home, the town that was as vibrant as anything you would imagine from an isekai scene… yes, there was a town just ahead, a place where people lived.
"Hell yeah… I made it…" The adrenaline in my body that had been pushing to survive at all costs before another nightfall had finally run out.
My body fell to the ground, and my legs, which had been running a marathon for the last nine hours, finally broke down.
My mind, which had been hazy but alert till now, awake enough to survive the monsters which most certainly had made me their midday snack, also started shutting down.
"I… still have to… go…" My voice croaked, pathetic. But my legs didn't care. They were done.
I didn't eat thinking I'd find a safer place, I could not find clear water in that dry as fuck forest, and, yeah. The last bit of energy in my body was leaving me now.
Darkness was covering my eyes once again, however, before the darkness overwhelmed my vision, I saw something… strange.
From the highest peak of the walls surrounding the town in the front, something flew up. Like, literally flew up.
In a matter of seconds as my eyes were taking their final flew blinks, I saw a dark, humanoid outline standing before me.
'No man… I'm not wearing those… hide clothes I made…'
They were ugly but they at least covered what was important. I was practically naked right now!
And, from the looks of it, whoever, or whatever had flown all the way here, was carrying me in my tattered clothes, with the winds that crashed against my almost unconscious body clearly indicating that I was, right now, flying…
I didn't want to be saved by someone right after surviving all those adversities. I wanted to do it on my own… I needed to do it on my own…
But, the supposedly OP protagonist was being princess carried right now? For real?
The guide clearly mentioned there were many special skills in this world but skills that allowed flights, skills of different classes, unique ones, or even skills of special origin were very rare.
Whoever this person saving my life was, they were no ordinary individual.
They seemed like a good person.
I wonder if it's a Noble lady knight or perhaps, a cute, powerful mage.