Chapter 1

The chirping of a bird snapped me away from my dreams. I opened my eyes and found a blue robin perched on my shoulder. It tilted its head and pecked me lightly on the ear. I rubbed underneath its beak with a finger while saying, “Hey, good morning to you too.”

It jumped off my pillow and landed on my dresser. I rolled my eyes and asked, “What’s the rush?”

It hopped up and down, indicating for me to get dressed quickly. I took the sheets off of me before jumping out of bed and stretching lightly. The robin chirped at me anxiously. I walked over to the dresser and picked out my clothes for the day. After putting them on, I asked it a question, “Where’s Xer? I don’t sense him in the house.”

The robin flew towards my window and chirped as it hopped up and down. I widened my eyes in surprise and asked, “He’s gone!? What do you mean?”

I rushed over to the robin and beckoned for it to speak, “Explain.”

The robin gestured with its head and flapped its wings. My eyes lit up as I confirmed what it said, “He left a note and isn’t coming back?!”

The robin nodded. I ran out of my room and entered the kitchen. Aha! On the table was a rune. I rushed up to the rune and activated it. The mana which formed the rune collapsed and formed words in the air above the table. I quickly read the message, growing more and more excited as I did.

“Dear Tristan,

Something important came up, something so important I couldn’t just ignore it. We haven’t finished your training, but I’m still confident in you. You’re on your own, punk. I’m writing this message instead of saying goodbye in person because I hate goodbyes. Too sappy. Although, as long as you walk your own road, we’ll meet again eventually. As for when, that’s up to you. The Fabled Islands are enormous and filled with danger, so take your time. Don’t rush it. Now time for some rules.

#1 Never tell people my name. Just say you were raised by your Grandpa, and that he passed away.

#2 Never show off your full power.

#3 Be cautious of humans.

#4 Don’t tell anybody my name.”

I quickly skimmed through the list of rules. When I reached the bottom, the message dispersed into thin air. Wait, what was rule seventeen again? Oh well, who cares. More importantly, I’m finally free! Yes, free! I no longer have to follow Xer’s stupid training regimens. I can finally advance to the next island! Yes, yes, yes, finally!

“Go gather everyone so that I can say goodbye,” I said to the robin. The robin chirped before flying out of the open window. I went back to my room and began to store all of my belongings into my inventory. After finishing that, I equipped my set of adventuring gear.

Crude

A linen jerkin fashioned for a young adult. Made by hand by an inexperienced tailor. Old, but well taken care of. Provides no stats, purely cosmetic.

Crude

Linen pants fashioned for a young adult. Made by hand by an inexperienced tailor. Old, but well taken care of. Provides no stats, purely cosmetic.

Crude

Leather belt with pockets attached for utility. Provides no stats, purely cosmetic.

Crude

Leather satchel. Stuffed inside are Roye herbs. When chewed and applied to a wound it will stifle bleeding.

Crude

Leather satchel. Stuffed inside are Ferl herbs. Will dull sense of touch slightly when rubbed on skin.

Attached to my belt were a variety of bags that might be useful when out adventuring. I always liked to keep them handy just in case of emergencies. I wore linen pants and a linen jerkin with a long sleeved shirt underneath. I had to make them myself because of Xe- Ahem, Grandpa’s unique perspective on wearing clothes. In the past, I entered a village naked only to be quickly chased out. I learned later that it was normal for humans to wear clothes. Anyway, I only made one set when I tried tailoring. I’ve used them for years now, and I’m quite proud of my creation. They’re a little worse for wear, but they get the job done.

I glanced around my room to make sure I got everything. Finding that I wasn’t missing anything, I waved goodbye and quickly exited the small wooden house. As I ran off the premises, I shouted backwards, “Farewell, small prison! Hello, big open world!”

Even though I knew everything there was to know about Pinewood Forest, everything seemed different. For years, I wasn’t allowed to move as I wished. Now, as I ran in the directions I chose, it was different. There was freedom. I decided to run around the forest one last time before leaving for good.

I was filled with excitement, so much excitement that I started to skip and hop through the forest. I even hummed a little tune. What am I going to do first? Spend some money? Visit a town? Or should I head straight to the gateway? No, wait, I forgot I have one last dungeon to do before leaving the Fertility Island.

A loud howl pierced through the forest, interrupting my train of thought. I stopped in place and perked my ears. Oh, isn’t that the howl of the boss of Pinewood Forest? Someone must be fighting him. I guess I’ll check it out. I ran towards the center of the forest. The boss of Pinewood Forest, Little Fang, never left his territory. Even if you hung a piece of meat just outside his territory, he wouldn’t leave.

I quickly reached the location of Little Fang. There was a lot of shrubbery surrounding his territory, so I climbed a nearby tree and stood on a branch to get a better view. Oh, a female. She’s wearing simple linen clothes like I am. She’s wielding an iron sword in her right hand and a triangular shield in her left. Hm, she’s alone? Let me inspect her.

You have cast the spell, 'Inspect'.

She didn’t have any warding against the spell, so it went off without a hitch. Her stats and abilities appeared in front of me via a transparent screen.

Name: Sophia

Title: None

Age: 17

Race: Human

Health: 20/20

Health Regeneration: .1/m

Stamina: 12/20

Stamina Regeneration: .1/m

Strength: 16

Vitality: 10

Agility: 14

Endurance: 10

Intelligence: 10

Skills

Sword Mastery

Novice - 8

Shield Mastery

Beginner - 4

Soul Manifestation

??

Oh, I didn't expect that. To have a skill in the novice stage at such a young age, this meant she was either a genius or had a good teacher. I can see she uses a shield, but her skill with it is an entire tier lower. Huh, I guess my inspect skill isn’t high enough to see her soul manifestation yet. She’s also the same age as me. With her stats and skills, she would easily be able to beat Little Fang. Although, I do wonder if she knows about Little Fang’s skill? Well, I’ll wait and see.

Little Fang’s appearance actually betrayed his name. He was a black wolf that reached as high as the average person’s waist. He was quite the big wolf. He was classified as a boss, but only Beginner grade. Even so, it was quite hard to kill him alone. Sophia was doing a good job at dodging his pounces. Little Fang would continuously jump backwards before pouncing in for the kill. As long as you dodged the pounce, you could get in a hit or two.

Sophia wasn’t bad, she was going to win as long as she dodged the only skill of the boss. She continued to whittle down the health of the boss, and it finally reached critical levels. Little Fang once again jumped back and prepared to pounce. This time, when his pounce failed, a miraculous effect occurred. The body of the wolf glowed white when it landed. The wolf seemed to move at the speed of light as its body recovered its posture immediately. Sophia was caught off guard as Little Fang pounced again. Yeah, see, she didn’t know about this skill.

Little Fang swiped its claw across Sophia’s chest. Her linen shirt offered no defense as it was torn apart. Deep, long gashes appeared on her chest. Yikes, she didn’t even use her shield properly there. Well, it makes sense, she only has beginner 4 shield mastery. She did one thing right, though. She pierced her sword through Little Fang’s chest when it pounced onto her. Little Fang’s body fell onto her and they both collapsed to the ground.

In a flash of light, Little Fang’s body disappeared. In its place was a bloody leather pelt, a few copper coins, and a stack of raw meat. I shook my head in disappointment, there was no fang drop. Little Fang had a low chance of dropping a sharp tooth which could be fashioned into a dagger. I made one of my own, but its old and cracked now. Anyway, perhaps I should check up on Sophia?

I pushed off the branch I was standing on and flew through the air. I landed not far from Sophia. Little Fang’s territory was an open clearing in the forest, so she snapped her head over to me and gave me a wary look. I paused and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not here to take your loot.”

“Then what do you want?” She said as she inspected my equipment.

“Well,” I said as I pointed at her chest, “I was watching you battle Little Fang, not bad by the way, and I couldn’t help but notice you weren’t aware of his skill. It only appears when he’s about to die.”

“What about it?” She snapped and continued to look at me warily.

I shrugged and gestured for her to look down. She followed my directions and let out a gasp. I nodded, “Yeah, it has a bleeding effect. You’re going to die of blood loss at this rate.”

The lacerations on her chest were pouring out blood. It wasn’t gushing out, but it wasn’t a small amount either. I took a step forward, “How about I-”

“Stay where you are!” She shouted. I stopped again. Well, I can understand where she’s coming from. She just killed a boss, the loot is sitting on the ground next to her, and she’s wounded. Then, a stranger appears just when she’s most vulnerable. She tore her sleeve off and ripped it into a long piece of linen. She tried wrapping it around her chest, but it wasn’t long enough and it was an awkward spot to use gauze.

I took another step forward, “Let me take a lo-”

“Damn it! I said don’t move!” She said harshly. She ignored her wound and picked up the loot next to her. She stored it in her inventory before standing up. Her body shook and wavered, but she successfully stood up. She turned to face me with her shield in front of her. She slowly backed up, leaving a trail of blood at the same time. I stood motionless and just watched her.

Just as she was about to leave the clearing, she stumbled and fell face first onto the ground. Shaking my head at her stubbornness, I walked up to her. This time she didn’t snap at me. Oh, I found the reason why. It’s not that she didn’t snap at me, it’s because she couldn’t snap at me. She fell unconscious from blood loss.

I grabbed her shoulder and rolled her onto her back. I opened a pouch on my waist and took out the leaves of a Roye herb. I put it into my mouth and chewed. It wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t recommend eating it. It tasted bitter. I tried putting it into a stew once, and it wasn’t half bad. Anyway, after grinding it up with my teeth, I spat it into my hand. I rolled up her torn linen shirt and applied the Roye herb to her wounds. I immediately noticed the bleeding stop. Just to make sure, I inspected her wound with my skill.

Multiple lacerations on skin. The wound was bleeding, but has been stopped by a herb. It is slowly healing.

I nodded in satisfaction before taking out gauze from my inventory and wrapping her wound. I noticed her torn shirt and immediately thought of the tailoring skill. Sighing, my hand disappeared into a different dimension and pulled out a thread and needle from my inventory. The inventory was a separate dimension bound to the individual. It could store all sorts of items, and you always knew what was inside of it. If you thought about the inventory, a list of everything would appear in your mind. You just had to reach out your hand and, voila, there it was.

It took me less than a minute to stitch her shirt. It didn’t even look like it was torn in the first place. As much as it pained me, I was slightly proud. I really didn’t like the tailoring skill. I picked her up and moved her out of Little Fang’s territory. I didn’t know how long she would be unconscious, but it would be best to move her somewhere a little safer. I found a nice nook between a root and a tree trunk and placed her there. I took a few steps back and sat on the large root. I summoned my soul book and flipped to an empty page. I looked closely at Sophia and began to sketch her.

Her eyes were blue and she had blonde hair that reached her chest. She was about 6ft tall, a few inches taller than me. She had some muscle definition, which meant she worked out or trained. That made sense considering her novice sword mastery. I lost track of time as I sketched her. A voice broke my concentration, “Thanks.”

I unsummoned my soul book and gave her a friendly smile, “No problem. My advice, bring some Roye herbs when you go out adventuring. Bleeding isn’t that common, but it happens once in a while.”

She used the tree trunk behind her to help her stand up. She glanced at my waist before saying, “Are you an alchemist?”

“Me?” I glanced at my waist full of pouches before continuing, “No, no. Picking a few herbs doesn’t make one an alchemist. In fact, it’s common for a Brave to have some herbs on them.”

“Oh,” Her eyes sparkled at the word Brave. She took a step closer, “Are you a Brave perchance?”

“Hehe,” I rubbed my nose and harrumphed, “Starting today I am!”

“Really? I just started today too!” She glanced at her sword and shield on the ground and stored them in her inventory.

I raised an eyebrow at her, “You went to fight a boss on your first day?”

“Well…” She glanced around awkwardly, “I suppose so…”

“Well, with your Novice 8 sword mastery, I don’t blame you for starting with a boss,” I said nonchalantly.

Her eyes snapped to me and she took up a guarded posture. Oops, I shouldn’t have said that. I forgot that it was taboo to inspect people without their permission. I scratched my check and apologized, “Sorry, I inspected you when you were unconscious. I had to know if the bleeding stopped.”

Hey, a little lie won’t hurt anyone, right? She thought about it for a moment before looking down at her chest. She noticed the fixed clothes and gauze. Her guard dropped and nodded, “Just don’t do it again.”

“Alright, I won’t,” I said while nodding exaggeratedly. Who am I kidding? I love inspecting people! It’s my favorite hobby. I just need to be a little more quiet about it, that’s all.

“My name is Sophia. What’s yours?” She asked.

“Tristan,” I replied with a grin.

“I’ve never seen someone with golden hair and eyes before,” She said while looking at my head.

“Hey, blonde hair and blue eyes is rare too,” I said in defence.

She shrugged, “I guess.”

At this time, the forest seemed to come to life. A flock of birds approached from every direction. Squirrels, deer, rabbits, foxes, every small critter came from all around. Sophia stumbled backwards in surprise and quickly took out her sword and shield. She looked around warily, “What’s happening?!”

I ignored her and opened my arms wide. I smiled widely and shouted, “Hello, everyone!”

A deer jumped into my embrace. It was so happy to see me that it mistakenly used too much power. I fell backwards while laughing, “Hey, now!”

I laid on the ground powerlessly as a horde of small critters rubbed their faces against my chest and face. The birds flew in circles around me while chirping happily. Sophia looked at me with bewilderment, “You… what did you do to them?”

“Nothing,” I said. Hey, what’s wrong with being friends with the creatures of the forest?

I glanced at her and smiled, “Want to pet them?”

She hesitated, but I saw her glance at a white rabbit out of the corner of her eye. I promptly raised my voice and shouted, “Everyone, that lady over there is my friend!”

The horde of critters froze and swiveled their heads towards Sophia. She gulped loudly and took a step back, “Now wait a second!”

I ignored her pleas and pointed at her, “Give her lots of love!”

The horde of critters rushed up to her. It looked like she was under attack, but I could hear her laughter underneath the critters.

A few minutes later, the horde of critters stood in a circle around me. My face was solemn as I said, “Everyone, I’ve known you for awhile now, but it's time to say goodbyes. I’m leaving Pinewood Forest and heading to the next island!”

Some critters dropped their heads in sadness, while others whined pitifully. Sophia sat next to me with a white bunny in her lap. She looked up at me in surprise and said, “You’re going through the gateway? But you look so young!”

“Ahem,” I glanced at her strangely, “We’re the same age, you know…”

She rolled her eyes, “That’s my point! You’re too young to go to the next island.”

Now I was intrigued. What made her think that? I sat down next to her and explained, “Going to the next island isn’t about age, it’s about strength. You already have a novice level skill, so that means you’re above average for those who head to the next island.”

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. She scrunched up her face and looked at me closely, “Are you speaking the truth?”

“Of course, this is common knowledge,” I responded. Huh, didn’t everybody know about the next island? This was basic level stuff for Braves. Information brokers didn’t even bother to sell this information, they just handed it out for free.

I pressed her for an answer, “What makes you think going to the next island is age dependant?”

She hesitated briefly before answering slowly, “My father said you have to be 25 to go to the next island…”

I looked at her with an understanding look. I understood immediately what was going on here. She saw my face and frowned, “What is it?”

“I’m sorry to tell you this, but your father didn’t want you to leave home,” I patted her shoulder and nodded knowingly. I continued, “This isn’t that uncommon actually. Fertility Island is the safest island of them all. Most parents don’t want their children to go to a dangerous place.”

“Ugh,” She buried her face into her hands. A moment later, she took the bunny off of her lap and stood up. She said, “Somehow, I can’t be mad at my father. I know he loves me dearly. He just wants to let me live a safe and happy life.”

I turned back towards the critters and shooed them away, “Go home now, we’ve said our goodbyes.”

The horde of critters dispersed, along with all of the birds. I spotted the blue robin and smiled as I saw it fly out of sight. I glanced at the sun and knew it was about midday. At this time, Sophia said with some hesitation, “Can… can I come with you?”

“Where? Through the gateway?” I looked her up and down.

“Yes!” She nodded fiercely. I could see the determination and resolve in her eyes. She was serious about going towards the next island.

“Hm,” I mused aloud, “We can tag along for a little bit.”

Having company wouldn’t be so bad, right? I kind of already feel lonely with Xe- Grandpa gone. I faced the exit of the forest and walked, “Let’s go.”

“Wait,” She said. What now? Having second thoughts?

She turned to face the exit of the forest, “I want to say goodbye to my family first.”

“Oh, okay. Lead the way,” I responded. It would be nice to stock up on some supplies at the nearby village. I have some things I need to buy.

She looked at the sun before picking a direction. I stood behind her and approved of her posture. She walked with purpose and confidence. Those were good traits for a Brave, perhaps we might make a good team. Though, she does need a bit of tempering.