I was currently debating with [Buddy] if it would be better to finish reading the books that I had available, or if I should continue in my attempt to create some sort of [Barrier].

It insisted that I could count on the [Guards] to protect me, for now, so I should take the opportunity to get the 'beginner’s books' out of the way (in the hope of getting something else of sweet from them).

My argument, instead, was that the option that would ensure my highest chance of safety should be the only option (so I was rooting for the shielding [Spell]).

Apparently [Luck] had her own plans, because at that point the carriage started to slow down.

"What’s happening?" I asked out loud, preoccupied.

How should I know? Ask one of the Guards.

And so I did, from still within the safety of my vehicle, by opening the little window on the upper half of the door.

And I was then surprised by the sight of a [Guard] with an extended arm towards me, like it was going to open the door I was propping myself out of.

We stared at each other a bit awkwardly, until I finally asked "I'm sorry, but why are we stopping?".

"Ah, yes, of course," the armored man responded, a bit too distractedly for a [Guard], "we have reached the halfway point, so we are stopping the convoy for lunch, to then restart our journey and reach the [central Adventuring Guild] of this [Isle] in the late evening. I was just about to knock on the door and warn you that we were using some [Monster Repellant] to allow everyone to stretch their legs a bit".

"Isn’t that nice? I guess that camping for a while won’t hurt."

I was expecting you to act more like a shut-in.

“Are you kidding!?” I mentally said, while opening the door to the carriage, and getting out of it, “one thing is being a shut-in in your own world, another is doing it in another one, with plenty of new, and fantastical, sights to see and experience!”.

Indeed there was a lot to see, mostly natural landscapes, but breathtaking nonetheless.

The sights during the voyage were passable, with the only thing visible being lush grass on one side and a river on the other, with sparse vegetation on both sides, but soon after we entered a lush forest, with majestic threes with brass-looking trunks and emeraldine glassy leaves, and now we're in a clearing inside said forest, that somehow combined the best of the previous sceneries.

The canopy was still thick enough to provide shade to the edges of the clearing, leaving the center of it, which was where the road passed, still completely illuminated by natural light.

I could see some of the [Guards] setting up long blue poles at the edges of the forest, that once planted in the ground started emitting white mana in a wave-like pattern.

"Those are probably the [Monster Repellants]."

Why guess it when you can [Inspect] it?

"You’re right."

Name:

Anti-Monster perimeter pole

Owner:

Still-waters guards corp

Type:

Enchanted item

Rank:

Uncommon

"Neat."

A further look at my surroundings located the small group of [Humans] that had come with me to the [Adventuring Guild]: 12 all in all, with 6 guys and 6 gals, and all on the 'stockier' side of the spectrum of people that got [Transferred].

Trying to not be a loner, I gathered my resolve and approached them, giving them my best attempt at a smile and a wave.

They responded in kind with smiles, as crooked as mine probably was, and a multitude of nods.

I sat at one end of the semi-circle they formed around the spot where a [Guard] was setting up a small cook-stove, and started with the pleasantries.

I would bet that if it wasn’t for [Fast Leaner] I wouldn’t have remembered even one of their names, but they were an alright sort, and they eventually got over the fact that they previously had been feeling uncomfortable around me ("Suck it [Pacify]!").

We were left alone with the stove, which apparently was an extra they had specifically to let us use to warm up our rations.

Nobody was insane enough to heat up the jerky, but we did put some of the hard bread in it, which ended up becoming not as hard as it first was.

Small talk was pleasant and made me discover that we were all here because we all thought that adventuring and [Dungeons] were the peak of fantasy.

"What do you have to say for yourself now!?"

That the Humans here present are the only batch of weird ones, and that is why they are so few.

"Always with a readied response, you brain-bug, uh?."

You are the mush-brain that is responsible for making me so.

"You are made from me, and I had no control over it! Also, every insult at my intelligence is also towards yourself!"

Not really.

"And why would that be?"

Because I said so.

"Very mature of you…"

And because I am part of the greatest artificial intelligence there will ever exist, making it so my mental faculties are not as restricted as yours.

"You are literally a bug of the [System] that gained life only after I allowed it to make a 'digital' copy of my brain, so shut the hell up!"

I am not letting an idiot shut me up!

>:(

"And I’m not listening to a parasite!"

Cretin.

"Insults to my intelligence are the only thing you’re capable of dishing out? How original."

Hikikomori.

"That’s completely out of left-field: I like the outdoors!"

But the presence of people normally displeases you.

"I’ll admit that I’m a bit antisocial-"

A bit!?

"Is this a serious argument we’re having? I thought we were bantering!"

"What are you doing?" Vanessa (one of the [Humans]) said, poking me on the arm.

"What? What do you mean?" I responded, once I was back from the mental sparring.

"You went through a multitude of facial expressions, none of which seemed… fit to have right now."

It was now clear that I couldn’t get too animated in my conversations with [Buddy], if I wanted to avoid making people think of me as an even bigger weirdo.

"Sorry I was… going through my… [Information], crossreferencing various contradicting stuff I read" I lamely responded.

"…Yeah, that bothered us for a while too, you just have to accept it as a thing that simply is like that" she amended, which was followed by 'yeahs' and nods, followed by a discussion of what about it bothered the most.

"It sounds like it bothers them as much as it does to me."

Yes, but you have me to correctly catalog things as true, partially true, and false.

"And I’ll forever be grateful for it."

Then start showing by being respectful in my regard.

"Wait, did our bantering actually upset you?"

Not the banter itself, but more the way in which you simply dismiss me at times.

"…Yeah, I’ve been a dick about it, at least a couple of times.

I’ll try to be more mindful of your opinions, from now on." And I tried to send it the image of a pinky promise.

I guess that will suffice, for now…

"Oh, come on! I apologized and promised to be better, can’t you throw me some kind of bone!?"

Bite me!

:3

"That’s what I told to you, where you consequentially told me that it would be impossible to do so!"

You are still welcome to try.

OwO

"Please, don’t you “OwO” me."

0w0

"That is not an acceptable alternative!"

UwU

"Please stop! I felt like I was close to my breaking point."

I will if you go through the remaining books, instead of re-starting your work on that [Barrier].

"Fine!"

I already had half a mind to get back to them, after all that debacle from before, so if it meant that [Buddy] would also stop using 'faces' that simply sealed the deal.

I adverted the others that I would seek some peace and quiet to read for a bit, and they just wished me some 'happy reading', which was a bit cheesy, but still nice of them.

I grabbed my leather bag, which I had brought with me from the carriage, and picked a spot far away from the ruckus of 'other people'; it ended up being at the base of a tree, very close to one of the 'repelling poles'.

I normally would be more titubant about getting that close to the edge of the safe area, and I would have been if it wasn’t for the [Guards] reassuring us that the area of effect extended for almost a kilometer outside of the circle (and I could actually see that it was true, evident by the [Mana] from the [Enchantment] going deeper into the forest).

Once seated I checked on which books I had left, making me immediately remember that I had read through everything that seemed interesting already, leaving me with encyclopedias, and various research papers (or the magical equivalent of them in [Grimoire]-form) about various topics.

The only ones that looked like they had remotely the chance to hold my attention long enough to gain anything from them were 'Encyclopedia of know Monster Archetypes', and 'list of the originally Transferred, and Pure-Blooded, Races of the Nexus' (which did already have [Humans] in it, somehow).

The first brick of an encyclopedia ended up being as bland as I feared, but it did accompany every [Archetype] with pictures of the most common version of that [Monsters], while it listed their strengths, weaknesses, abilities, modus operandi, den description, and more (with even some sporting addendums for registered [Unique Monsters], when they seemed to be related).

It also taught me that the cultural interpretation was taking delight in using the most obnoxious names it could for everything: From the already mentioned [Armored Bear] (when Bears should be one of our [Animals]), to fluffy leaches that were called [Ponpons] ("urgh")).

I was almost done with the encyclopedia, already 4/5ths through, when some rustling from behind me made me cease any type of movement.

"[Unavoidable Detection]!" I was very proud about reacting that way, but less so about remaining frozen once it highlighted what I found in the surroundings.

We were surrounded, including the entire contingency, the entire meadow was being surrounded by what my [Skill] detected as hostile.

Once the rustling started anew I threw another [Unavoidable Detection] around me, but this time it was augmented by [Mana].

The result didn’t make me feel any better:

42 hostile Monsters detected, of the Ratton variety.

"Gross, not rats!"

[Rattons], as the books said, had a natural tendency at having venomous bites, and small elemental attacks, but were generally physically weak, both in defense and direct attacks; what made them dangerous was that they were extremely quick, stealthy, and generally immune to mental compulsions (which unfortunately included repellants)

"Gross, gross, gro-"

What are you waiting for? Warn the others!

The enlarged window in front of my face snapped me out of it, and I decided to get up and look at just how close they were to the camp.

As soon as I rounded the three, to have a better look, I was crotch to face (my crotch, its face) with an unusually large rat, with “ratty” green fur, glowing red eyes, and a long, barbed, naked tail.

The [Ratton] seemed as surprised as me at suddenly having to face one another, so we both just stood there for a moment, or at least until the [Monster] remembered its original purpose, and lowered itself to the ground, ready to pounce.

RUN!!!

It didn’t need to tell me twice: I swiftly turned around, made for the nearest guard, and tripped.

I fucking tripped.

It was so sudden that I don’t even know if I had time to shout.

Fortunately, tripping was what saved me from a nasty gash, since I then saw the [Ratton] fly over my prone form.

But the [Monster] effortlessly reoriented itself mid-air, with some green swirls that helped him, and spun to face me once more before even touching the ground.

"Fucking [Inspect] it, I don’t know!?" I was left grasping at straws.

Name:

Forest Ratton Scout

Affinity:

Air; Nature

Danger:

Mild

Finally, the 'professionals' noticed my predicament, either by the sounds of a scuffle, or the screeches, and got into arms.

"[Monster] ambush! Form a defensive perimeter, protect the carriages and retrieve the civils!" a Nymph with a plume on its helm shouted, rousing the dispersed [Guards].

But I was in a fight, and the distraction almost cost me: by the time I looked back at it, the [Ratton] was already jumping towards me, with its claws raised and readied to strike.

I was left with only one option remaining: "AAAH, [LANTERN]!!!" I screamed in a panic, but it was apparently enough to activate the [Spell].

My [Magic Lantern of Mage-Light] (which really deserved a nickname) appeared between me and my enemy, who ended up slamming mouth-first into its mithril body, but since it was floating it also brought it down with it.

And when it hit the ground was the moment that the 'lantern' decided to 'flashbang' its surroundings, while I was not ready for it.

"AAAHH, my fucking eyes!" I shouted.

I was left momentarily blinded, and the only thing that I could do was stumble around, away from the noise of battle.

Then something tackled me to the ground.