"Thanks for the food," I said as I walked away from the table. "I'm going to the library," I said to Maa, and she nodded in agreement.

With that said and being acknowledged, I went upstairs to the library direction.

I entered the library, went to the secret room, and returned with a seemingly light leather backpack, but the thud the bag made when I placed it on the table suggested that it was much heavier than it appeared.

I got this backpack earlier this week. I ordered this backpack from the merchant about two weeks ago. Since Maa was present, when I ordered this, I was ,naturally bombarded with questions about why I needed a backpack.

My response was straightforward.

I don't really need a backpack; I just want one.

It was a half-truth, half-lie.

After all, I do really need this backpack, but I could’ve done without it.

I then proceed to inspect the contents of my backpack to ensure that I haven't forgotten anything.

"All right, now that everything is in place, the operation can officially begin."

I'm finally ready to go to the forest today.

After lunch, I decided to go there. I'll give it a shot when Matilda and the others are eating lunch.

Finally, I chose the afternoon because I had more free time in the afternoon and because the people at the manor were less active in the evening, and I could even use the evening twilight as a cover when I returned to the manor.

So here I am, ready for my first expedition outside the manor domain, whether or not I can pass through the barrier.

I put on my backpack and went to the library's door, which I slowly opened.

I peered through the gap and saw that no one was there. I moved like a ghost to the adjacent room, the living room.

I obviously couldn't use the doors or windows on the ground floor because I'd risk crossing paths with someone. So, in order to leave the manor, I had to take an unusual route: the windows in the living room.

I walked into the living room and went straight to the windows. I opened them and looked through them.

As there were no windows in the library, I had no choice but to use the windows in the living room.

The living room windows overlooked the backyard of the mansion.

"Yep, as expected, this is quite high."

Because this room is on the second floor, it makes sense. Theoretically, as long as I fortify my le-no entire body with aina, I should be fine.

Right?

Aaah

I am completely confident in my ability to use aina, but this is the first time I will willingly expose my body to danger in order to avoid having my elbow dislocated again.

It's difficult to predict how much damage my aina-fortified body can withstand in the library.

There were various weapons in the secret room, but no matter how curious I was, I wasn't stupid enough to intentionally inflict self-harm just to see how much damage my enhanced body could withstand.

Aaaaah~~~~

Let's get started.

"Come on, big boy, it's only a small jump. What are you scared of?"

I went to the opposite corner of the room, leaving the window open.

I began to use aina to enhance every part of my body.

My body was completely enhanced. I was prepared to take the big leap.

A man must do what a man must do.

I dashed forward at full speed and took my leap.

Why did I flee? Isn't it possible that I could have just jumped out the window?

The answer was obvious: if you're going to break your legs, you might as well do it in style.

I felt like I was running through the air (well, it was technically what I was doing.) But it didn't take long for gravity to notice that an extremely attractive mammal was imitating birds.

Obviously, I fell like any normal object bound to the law of gravity.

However, I landed like a total badass.

It seems that my worries were for nothing.

When I realized I wasn't unharmed, I wasted no time and dashed toward the fence at full speed.

This was essentially the first time I ran with my body fully enhanced, so it was extremely fast and quite effortless, if a little clumsy.

I was getting closer and closer to the fence in no time, and having seen what my enhanced body could handle, I didn't slow down. When I got to a five-meter distance, I jumped over the wall and landed perfectly on the other side.

My face gradually developed a smirk.

The first part of the plan went perfectly.

I'm only left with the second part of the plan.

Hehe, just kidding.

There is no more plan; from here, everything is up to luck.

It all depends on how the barrier works to determine whether or not I will be able to pass through it.

I didn't have a belt-like Syrus used to have when he was still in the legion.

I basically came here betting everything on the possibility that no special items would be required for nobles to pass through the barrier.

I took a deep breath of inspiration and gazed out over the forest.

There were no tall trees where I stood because this wasn't yet considered a part of the forest, but not far away, around 100m away, I could see giant trees towering in the sky.

I dashed toward the forest, not wanting to waste any more of my valuable time.

After a while, I arrived at what could only be the outskirts of the forest.

Only a few meters separated my location from the forest, and it was within these few meters that the famous barrier was located.

From the manor, I couldn't see the barrier, but from where I stood, I could see what the barrier looked like.

Syrus described the barrier as transparent, but it appeared to be more like a water-like wall, spreading all along the forest outskirts and becoming completely invisible after a certain distance. I could see the surface weakly oscillating from time to time.

I threw a rock at the barrier to see how it worked, and the rock bounced off it like it would on a stone wall.

The rock did not appear to have been damaged in any way.

"Better to be safe than sorry."

I reached over the barrier with my left hand. My entire arm was engulfed by the watery surface just as my hand was about to reach the barrier's surface.

As I was taken aback by what had happened, I immediately withdrew my arm, and as soon as I removed my hand from the barrier, it resumed its previous appearance.

When I looked over at my arm, I saw that it was completely uninjured.

"I suppose it's a go then."

Now convinced that the barrier was completely harmless, I went headfirst into the barrier and my body was completely engulfed. It only lasted a moment, but my body was invaded by a strange sensation, like being underwater but not drowning, so my eyes instinctively shut.

It just stopped before I could be bothered by the strange sensation.

When I opened the door, I was no longer inside the barrier, but rather on the other side.

In a nutshell, I've left the human continent and am now on the monster continent.

"So this is the most dangerous place on earth, huh? From now on, this will be my play, cough cough, training ground. "