An unfamiliar sight awaits when I open my eyes. There are clusters of tall trees everywhere around me. The ground is covered by grass, bushes and other plants. It looks like a forest, but even with the darkness I can tell it’s not the place I was aiming for. The teleport failed. I sigh from the bottom of my soul.

Well, let’s look at the positive side. I’m still in one piece. All my limbs are attached, I’m not in excruciating pain and even my bag of supplies arrived safely. If this was an ordinary experiment, it could be considered a success. On the other hand, more than half of my total mana supply was consumed. From this we can deduce that I missed the target by quite a lot. The mana spent for a teleport is proportional to the distance travelled. This is also true for the prototype version that was just used. Since it consumed one mana crystal plus roughly half of my own mana, I’m probably way outside of the capital city right now. This area should still be within the borders of Amisos kingdom, but it’s hard to know for certain until I explore a bit. At the very least, I should be far enough away that I won’t be found by my pursuers. I can finally relax a bit. With this thought, my exhaustion takes over. That’s right, I did not sleep much today and my body is still recovering from the fight with the hydra.

“This area looks safe enough… I will sleep here. Repel Creature. Shadow Boundary.”

Any worries about being seen are meaningless now; therefore I use dark magic without hesitation. ‘Repel Creature’ emits an aura that keeps me safe from wild animals, insects and other creatures that could cause problems. ‘Shadow Boundary’ creates an invisible barrier that will alert me when it is crossed by something dangerous like a strong mana source. I set the range to 400 meters. This will allow me to escape without being seen even if another mage detects the barrier as he enters it.

Without another moment to spare, I lie on the ground and fall into deep slumber. This time, there are no nightmares.

The next day, I set out to find food and water. My body is not in good condition. My leg wound is improving, but I’m dehydrated and running still requires too much effort. The forest itself is big. There is no end in sight. Searching randomly would be a terrible idea at this time.

“If I remember correctly, the humidity should be higher near bodies of water such as rivers or lakes.”

I start probing the air using water magic. A good way to do this is by walking around while emitting waves of concentrated mana that reacts with the water in the atmosphere. My eyes are sensitive enough to see this reaction, thus revealing the humidity levels. The maximum range is only a few meters, but it’s enough. I find a medium-sized river less than 2 km away from my starting point. Luck is on my side for once.

Food is a much simpler task. I wander near the riverbank, searching for any edible-looking animals that come to take a drink. There are probably fish in the river as well, but the current is a bit too strong and I don’t have a good method for catching them.

My first prey turns out to be an unlucky deer. I use a lightning bolt to stun it and then finish it off using lethal dark magic.

“Let’s see… how am I supposed to eat this again?”

Standing next to the dead deer, I realize I’ve never had to prepare food out of raw materials like this. After all, the prince of a country has no need to dirty his hands with such a crude task. The Delos marketplace sold food ready to be cooked and, if I wanted, servants would take care of all menial chores. I rarely took advantage of this though. Even inside the academy, I tried my best to be independent. I’m not the naïve city boy that many people think. My knowledge goes beyond magic and natural science.

The first step should be… skinning the animal and removing non-edible parts. Yes, that must be it. Then I just create a fire and cook it; no problem. I take out my dagger, plunge it into the animal and start dragging. Warm blood gushes onto my face and clothes. The smell is nauseating.

“Ugh, disgusting. I should have taken my clothes off first.”

Skinning my first animal turned out to be a lot more difficult than expected. It required a lot of strength and finesse. At one point, I tried applying ‘Wind Blade’ to the dagger. It cut more easily, but it also sprayed me with a lot of blood because of the spell’s nature. I had to take a quick bath in the cold river after finishing the job. Fire magic was enough for the cooking and thus my first day in the wilderness came to an end.

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16 days have passed since my hermit life began and I’m finally getting used to it. Sleeping and eating outdoors is not easy for someone who is used to city life and warm, soft beds. Magic is incredibly useful but there are limits to what it can do. One of the things it can’t do is cure food poisoning. On the 5th day I ended up misidentifying some plants which seemed edible. They were not. I spent the next two days with severe stomach pains. It’s discouraging but it won’t keep me down. One cannot learn without making mistakes. This was true for magic and it’s also true here.

My days are spent practicing magic and exploring the forest near the river. Human settlements need fresh water more than anything, so it’s common sense to build them near water sources. If I keep following the river, eventually I should find some civilization. The only question is, how long will it be? Some forests inside Amisos are hundreds of kilometers across. If my luck is bad, this could take a while…

Yesterday, I figured out how to swim safely inside the river, so I decided to cross it and see what’s on the other side. After running in a straight line for a few kilometers, I happen upon a dirt road that looks to be cutting through the forest. There are tracks made by wheels and shoes still visible in the dried-up mud.

“This is good. Civilization may be closer than I expected.”

Following the road is much better than following the river. The two are almost parallel to each other, so finding food and water won’t be a problem. Maybe a caravan will pass by.

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25 days have now passed. I’ve been travelling on the road for about 8 days. My pace is quite fast thanks to training every day and being assisted by magic. No caravans or human beings of any description have been sighted so far. However, near the end of the 25th day, I finally reach my first goal. The forest surrounding the road thins out and a village appears in the distance.

“Ah, my life in the wilderness is at an end. It almost feels disappointing. I can’t make progress if I don’t find out where I am though…”

When I approach the village, a wooden sign informs me that the place is called Olous. It’s a name I don’t recognize, probably because it’s a small village in the middle of nowhere. A number of farm fields surround the area. On the way here, I also noticed some small logging activities along the edge of the forest. There are no defensive walls and no sign of anything military-related. It’s just a small, peaceful farming village the likes of which you could find in any country in the world. There’s no need for me to be worried, but I will at least hide my identity for now.

Not surprisingly, I am attracting stares inside the village. My appearance is as worn and dirty as theirs, so I don’t think that has anything to do with it. Most likely it’s the fact that small communities like this one know all of their members and a stranger like me stands out simply for being here. Let’s see, how should I approach them…

“Hello there, stranger. Can I help you with anything?”

A woman calls out to me while I am lost in thought. She is wearing what looks like brown leather armor and tight clothes underneath, along with a short sword attached to the hip. She has shoulder-length red hair and full, red lips. Light brown eyes are staring suspiciously at me. Smooth, lean muscles can be seen on the exposed parts of her arms and legs. Combined with the gear she’s wearing, this is definitely the appearance of a warrior. I hesitate to respond. I certainly don’t know this person, but for some reason she seems familiar. Call it a gut feeling. She doesn’t recognize me either though, so maybe I’m just confusing her with someone else.

“Ah, yes. My name is Dion and I’m a traveller. If you could give me some directions, I would be very grateful.”

The alias ‘Dion’ will be my name from now on. My identity as Prince Rigel Artemia must remain buried until I discover who attacked me and why.