“Earlier, you said you had a new attribute and skill, right? What are they good for?” Ayden asked Noah as the two of them finally continued walking through the forest, and Noah once more opened his status page, “Good question. I’ll just take a look, I guess.”

The first thing he focused on was the new attribute, ‘Heart’. When he did, a smaller window popped up in front of the larger one, showing the attribute’s description.

---

[Bonus Stat – Heart]

[Description - The Heart stat determines which parts of another’s Heart can be interacted with, as well as how many aspects one can steal]

---

Noah quickly conveyed this information to Ayden, who took a quick mental note of it.

“I see.” He muttered quietly to himself while Noah continued looking through his status page.

“Hm, so, I got a new skill. That ‘Heart Theft’ one. I think that’s why you could see the barrier thingy? I remember that it said I stole something from the boar. Wait, let me....”

---

[Heart Theft][Level – 1/10]

[Description – Gives the user the ability to steal a chosen aspect of another’s heart. They can then use that chosen aspect to their own advantage]

Stolen Aspects

[Giant Boar’s Protection]

---

Once more, Noah told Ayden about the information in front of him.

“So that glowing green thing was the ‘Giant Boar’s Protection’?” Ayden asked curiously. Noah immediately nodded his head since that was what he thought as well.

“Seems so, at least.” He responded, “Ah, and there’s a level-limit here. Right now, it’s 1 outta 10.”

“You can probably level it up if you keep using it. That’s how it usually works, right?” Ayden suggested. However, Noah wasn’t convinced, “I mean, I kinda fell unconscious not even half a minute after using it. I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep going...”

Ayden stopped for a moment, locking eyes with his friend, “What if it just takes a lot of mana to ‘steal’ something in the first place?”

“Eh, maybe?” Noah said, nervously scratching the small tattoo on his left wrist, “I don’t really wanna risk it, you know? Maybe if we can find a mage... They could explain some of this shit to us?”

Ayden simply shrugged in response, “That’s fair. I don’t really want to see you faint like that again... When people have ‘mana exhaustion’, their eye-color fades. It’s super creepy.”

“Huh... Why’d that happen?” Noah asked with a wry smile. It seemed like some rather random side-effect. Ayden thought about it for a moment and then came up with a hypothesis that seemed to make sense to him.

“Well... Your eyes are green, and they light up when you use your ability. The ‘protection’ thing you stole from the boar was the same color. And you said it was the same for your ‘windows’? My guess is that it’s just the color of our mana, then. It makes sense, right? Mana often has color in novels.” Ayden explained, “Yours is Emerald Green, mine is a Metallic Silver.”

“That... actually makes a lot of sense.” Noah replied, although he had a bit of an issue with that, “But wait, why is yours a metallic color and mine is just green?”

“It’s ‘emerald’ green, man. Gemstones are usually more special than metal, right?”

With a light, jealous grumble, Noah looked back at his friend, “Fine, I guess you’re right. But for real, dude... Do you think the color has any meaning?”

Ayden crossed his arms and thought about this idea for a second.

“Maybe. That’s just another question to ask a mage once we find one.”

“You are sure we will find one, right?” Noah asked nervously as the two friends slowly continued walking. Without hesitation, Ayden answered.

“Of course. You’re using magic already, and we’ve been in this world for what... two, maybe three days? Magic shouldn’t be too hard to find here. I hope.”

Noah grinned at his friend, bumping their shoulders together, “What, you excited to meet a hot, smart wizard who can sweep you off your feet with a bit of magic?”

“What, you think my main priority is to find a boyfriend right now?”

“I don’t mean that it’s a priority, but y’know... it might happen. And once you use your disgustingly handsome face and glistering caramel skin to find a boyfriend... Maybe he can introduce me to some of his cute female friends.” Noah suggested casually. Ayden awkwardly turned his head and locked eyes with his best friend before being unable to do anything but let out a deep groan.

“One, if you keep describing me that way, I’ll start thinking you’re gay as well. Two, I really don’t think this is the time to worry about getting laid.”

Noah’s smile soon disappeared. Rather than that, he now wore a somewhat bitter expression, “I guess you’re right. Sorry, dude.”

“Don’t worry abo-“

“I shouldn’t worry about getting laid. I should finally start looking for true love.” Noah added, interrupting his friend who just stopped in his track. Ayden rubbed the bridge of his nose, a little annoyed, but noticing Noah’s earnest expression, he couldn’t help himself but start laughing.

“Fine. We’ll find you a girlfriend sooner or later.” Ayden snickered. And although Noah was about to respond to him, he managed to spot something in the distance.

“Holy shit, seems like we’re in luck!” Noah exclaimed, and at a fast pace, proceeded to walk straight through the thicket, ignoring the path that the two friends had been following just now.

And just about a minute or so of fighting through the thick branches and vines, Noah and Ayden’s view was no longer blocked by trees and the leaves above their heads. They had reached the plains. In the distance, the peak of a mountain obscured by a layer of clouds peaked over the horizon. This was their destination.

“Fuck yes!” Noah grinned broadly before turning toward Ayden, “Yo, if we can see the mountain already, that means we can reach it in a day, right?”

Ayden thought about it for a moment before just wearing a wry smile on his face, “If this planet has the same circumference as earth, then the horizon is a bit over 3 miles away. If nothing happens, we could cross that in an hour. The issue is how tall the mountain is... If the clouds are like... 2 miles up, which is about average, I guess, then that mountain might as well be... 150 miles away if we’re unlucky? But well, to be fair... It does seem to be a pretty cloudy day, so the furthest it should be away is maybe 80 miles. But to me, it seems like... 50 miles, maybe?”

Noah’s mind went blank as he listened to the explanation, just staring at the peak of the mountain in the distance. Ayden sighed loudly as he looked to the side, “If it’s really 50 miles away and if we can walk at a regular pace of 3 to 4 miles per hour, we should be able to get there in a minimum of 12 hours. That is if we walk fast, and nothing is blocking our path. Like rivers, wild animals... Monsters, maybe. So... we’ll probably get there tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

“God fucking dammit...” Noah muttered, “And here I thought we’d get there super quickly now...”

“At least there’s a proper small town at the foot of the mountain, so we can relax at that point.” Ayden explained and started treading through the plains ahead of them. The grass was tall enough to reach his waist, and it kept sticking to his clothes. Bugs were crawling all around him. It was rather uncomfortable, to sum it up.

Noah pushed through the grass ahead of Ayden, moving it to the side with one of the tusks in case something was hiding out in here. For the same reason, Noah kept on activating his ability every once in a while. Maybe he would spot something that he usually wouldn’t. With actual monsters lurking around, the two friends had to be as careful as possible.

“Huh? Wait, Ayden, I can see something in the distance. It’s like... a tent, I think?” Noah squinted his eyes. He was confident in his sense of smell, sight, and hearing, but right now, he really doubted himself. After all, there was nothing around here: no buildings, roads, or any signs of civilization. But a random, run-down tent in the middle of nowhere? That didn’t make sense at all.

“I think you’re right. Let’s take a look. Maybe whoever it belongs to can help us out.” Ayden suggested. Carefully, the two of them continued forward until they stood in front of the tent. However, they were both unsure if they should open it up or not.

A rancid smell came from inside, and Ayden felt his heart nearly jump out of his chest with every step he took toward it.

The friends looked into each other’s eyes and slowly nodded. Noah stretched his hand out, grabbing part of the leather tent. Just through that minuscule touch, numerous flies came flooding out of the small gap. Noah jumped back and nearly pushed Ayden over in the process.

“Shit... That smells fucking disgusting...” Noah pressed his hand onto his face. Ayden slowly stepped past him. He had a rough idea of what was inside here, and he should be able to stomach it a bit more easily.

Ayden pulled the tent open, letting even more flies out. And then, Ayden saw it. A deep black abyss, although the sun was shining directly into it.

Flies were covering the inside of the tent, and the spots they didn’t cover were turned black by dried blood. In the center of the tent, nothing but a pile of black bones and flesh could be seen, maggots crawling all over it. There were more maggots than meat left at this point.

But either way, this was indeed a person and not just some animal. After all, Ayden could see the man’s spirit sitting on the other side of the tent, with its legs pulled to its chest. The spirit was clearly in shock and was unable to move on due to the brutal way this man died.

“Can you understand me?” Ayden asked. The spirit raised its head and locked eyes with the young man at the entrance of the tent, “G-G-Gob... Gob...”

“Are you saying ‘God’?”

The spirit shook its head without hesitation and slowly raised its shaking hand. It pointed at the outside of the tent at a patch of tall grass, “G-Gob...”

“I don’t understand what you mean. What is ‘Gob’?” Ayden replied, trying to get more information out of the spirit. But that wasn’t needed anymore. Noah tapped on Ayden’s shoulder, trying to get his attention.

“Erm... Could it maybe mean... ‘Goblin’?” Noah asked. Ayden turned around and spotted the solitary creature that was standing there. Horrifically ugly, snot-green skin. Just as tall as a small child.

It really was a Goblin.