Ace and Aliza both stood up, finalizing their partnership.

*growl*

Ace’s face grew red in reaction to the sudden stomach growl, ruining the moment they shared.

“Hahaha, you haven’t had breakfast yet? Me neither, let’s go get some.”

She said, hearing his stomach call out.

“But, before that...”

She pulled a sword out from underneath her robe and...

*RIP!*

She sliced a piece off her robe.

“Here, tie this around your head.”

He couldn’t get a full view of the sword, as she put it away just as fast as she took it out, but Ace could tell, it was beautiful.

“Thank you.”

Ace said as he wrapped the piece of cloth around the top of his head.

“Let’s go, I know a good place.”

Ace tilted his head after hearing that she was familiar with the village. She said that she was an adventurer, so he wasn’t expecting her to be familiar with the village.

“—? How long have you been at Furio Village for?”

“I like to stop at villages for at least a week, meeting all the different types of people, eating all the different types of food, just seeing how different each village and city is from each other.”

“That’s what it means to be an adventurer.”

“The meeting people part is a little tough in this village, but I made sure to do all the other stuff before I set out.”

“OK, I’ll trust your word on the breakfast.”

Aliza smiled and grabbed his hand pulling him towards the forest’s exit.

As Ace entered the village for the second time, he realized this time, he wasn’t dying and this time, he wasn’t alone.

He hasn’t felt too many moments of relief in this world but, this was one of the good ones.

Ace put on a small smile this time before entering the village. It couldn’t be seen though, because of his head posture and the hood covering his head.

He whispered really quiet under his breath...

“Thank you... really.”

“Huh? Did you say something.”

Ace looked at the girl in front of him and smiled once more, revealing it fully to her.

She looked back at him and blushed at the sight of him showing his pure happiness to her.

“Haha, nothing.”

Ace responded, brushing off his words of gratitude.

She quickly looked back ahead, Ace getting a quick glimpse of her sky-blue hair.

“You’re strange...”

“Whatever... let’s go before they stop serving breakfast.”

She pulled his arm for a few more minutes before reaching a small shop stand on the side of the street.

It was run by a male demihuman, one who had large arms and a rag on his head.

“Can we get two eggs with bacon?”

“Right up!”

Aliza ordered a dish that sounded all too familiar to Ace, the shop owner responding with a tone that was friendly with his customers as he started preparing the food.

“Thank you!”

“I’ll whip it up right away, sit tight for a few minutes.”

“No problem.. we’ll be sitting on the bench over there, call us over when it’s ready.”

“Will do!”

Ace was shocked at what was happening right in front of him but...

He had no time to think.

Aliza pulled Ace’s arm once again, sitting him on the bench next to her.

“What did I say? They’re completely different when they don’t know you’re human.”

“No way that’s the same species as the ones who left me for dead! No way they’re the same! They can’t be!”

After last night’s events, Ace envisioned all of the demihumans to just be a big ball of hatred, possessing no other emotions.

Once he saw how they normally acted, he couldn’t believe his eyes.

These were the same guys who looked at him like he didn’t deserve to exhale oxygen from his mouth.

One piece of cloth over his head and they become all friendly?

He hated the thought of it.

He knew that they had a war with the humans, but he still couldn’t feel any sympathy for them after how they treated him.

He wanted to get out of this city and never see another demihuman again.

He wanted to leave, he wanted to get ou--

“Mama! Can I get some eggs too!”

“You just ate breakfast.. No more for today.”

Ace saw two demihumans walk by him, a mom and her daughter, hand in hand, living a normal life.

He bit his lip and looked away.

He whispered under his breath.

“I’m scum.”

All these demihumans had families they wanted to return home to.

They all had siblings, friends, parents, grandparents, and kids they wanted to return home to.

Obviously they would hate the people that took away that opportunity from them.

But then, Ace remembered his parents, his friends, his school...

His world.

—I also want to return home!

—So why am I treated like this!

“AAAAAAHHHHHHH! FUCK! I can’t think straight.”

He got stares from all over, the mom from earlier covering her daughter’s ears.

He felt a shoulder jab at his waist, the same spot where he was injured.

It was Aliza, she whispered something to Ace, trying to not draw any more attention.

“What’s wrong with you? You know we’re supposed to be laying low.”

“Ow, ow... Sorry, I was thinking of things...”

“It’s fine, look, the owner is calling us over. Let’s get out of here before we draw any more attention.”

She stood up, pulling him over to the stand.

“Thank you! It looks delicious!”

“Brother, you okay there? Saw you go a little crazy on the bench.”

“Haha.. yeah, I’m fine.”

Ace nervously laughed in response to the shop owner, pointing his head even further down than earlier, not wanting to be seen.

Aliza pulled some money out of the pockets of her clothes underneath her robe.

“This should be enough.”

“Yeah, that’s good. Come again!”

“Haha, I’ll try!”

She said as she walked away from the shop, holding her plate and giving Ace his plate.

“Let’s go find somewhere to sit.”

After walking for a few minutes away from the place where Ace made a scene, they made their way to another bench on the street.

“Let’s sit here for now.”

They sat and Ace took one big bite out of his eggs.

“Delicious.”

“What did I tell you?”

They continued to eat, not talking much because of how hungry both of them were.

“Aaaahhh, that was good.”

He finished up his bacon and slid his body down the bench, stuffed from the food.

“Get up, might as well show you around for the rest of the day.”

“Oh, wait, before we go, where do you keep all your stuff?”

“I don’t carry too much. I only have a pouch for money, my sword, and the clothes I’m currently wearing.”

“I’ve always bought new clothes from every village I’ve visited and threw out the old ones, so I didn’t have to hold clothes.”

“What about a status plate? That has to be pretty hard to carry around.”

“Those are too big; I just check my status once I reach a new village. You can check your status at the nearest Adventurer’s guild whenever you need to. Furio is a smaller village but, they should have one somewhere around here.”

“Oh, ok. What about money, how do you get your money?”

“I’m moderately strong so I pick up a quest or two at every village I go to. You get quests from the guild.”

“Oh, ok... can we stop at the guild? I want to sign up.”

“—? But you already have a status plate so that means you are signed up.”

“Oh... ok... never mind. Last question before we leave...”

He hesitated before asking his final question, having a feeling that he was going to sound dumb.

“Do you know anything by the name of magic?”

“…”

“…”

“Hahahaha. Of course I do, you idiot. Who doesn’t know what magic is?”

—I guess this world does have magic...

“I remembered the word but forgot how to use it, how does the magical power work?”

“Hahaha, you really are dumb. Ok, I’ll explain quickly, so pay attention. Everyone has something called mana. Everyone has a different starting capacity of mana which can be levelled up through magic training or just regular physical training.”

“Whenever you go up a level on the status plate, your total mana capacity goes up.”

“If you ever use up all your mana, it will be fully restored in 2 hours from when you started using it.”

“Other ways of restoring it are through potions, which are quite expensive depending on the type.”

“I won’t go into the types right now, let’s talk more about mana itself.”

“Hmm... it’s hard to explain, but mana is really weird.”

“Whenever you use some, you can just feel the mana going down inside of yourself.”

“It’s like feeling an empty stomach without the growl, you just know you used it all.”

“Some species’ bodies rely on mana for survival. Others like humans, demihumans, and Shuna don’t rely on mana at all. For example, if you use all your mana, you’ll only feel the empty stomach, nothing will actually happen to your body.”

“Also, the same effect happens when your mana is refilled, instead of an empty stomach, you’ll feel a full sort of feeling.”

“That’s pretty much all you need to know about mana.”

“When it comes to magic itself... hmm… I won’t explain too much right now, but magic isn’t as dangerous as physical fights.”

“You can use all the different types of elements, but none of them are too strong unless you focus on one element with all your strength.”

“That’s all I’ll say about magic right now.”

He had a lot to take in after hearing that, but he made sure to thank Aliza for explaining something that should be common knowledge to people in this world.

“Thank you, that helps a lot.”

“No more questions?”

“No, that’s all, I think I got a basic understanding.”

“OK.. let’s go!”

She stood up and started to show Ace around the village for a few hours...

---

------

It really was beautiful.

It may look normal to everyone who lived in this world, but to Ace, this place was straight out of a game.

Shop stands, old bars, inns, guilds, these were all real now.

He got to see things that people would never even dream of seeing.

Sure, you could search it up online or put on a VR headset, but it’s just not the same.

He was really here.

He could smell new things, hear new things, touch new buildings, and stand on foreign ground because…

He was really here.

This was the equivalent of going to space, it was something only certain people could do and once you actually do it, you may never get another chance to.

His opinion of this world was changing slightly after experiencing things he would never dream of experiencing.

But... he’s still focused on going back.

Just because he’s started to acknowledge this world as something that’s extraordinary, doesn’t mean he’s going to throw away his goal like it never existed.

He was, and still is determined to go back.

Nothing would ever take away that finish line of his.

He clenched his fist, reconfirming his resolve and his slight hatred for the god who put him in this world.

He was going to get bac--

“Hey, what’s wrong, you’ve got a nasty look on your face.”

“—?!”

His resolve was interrupted by Aliza, who was still showing him around.

“Sorry, sorry, I drifted off for a second.”

“Haha, what the heck.”

“Haha, sorry, where were we?”

“We just made it to the blacksmith, I wanted to see how you liked longer swords. You can’t fight with that dagger forever.”

“Oh, yeah, that would definitely be helpful.”

“Come in, check some of them out. You can’t tell if a sword’s good until you actually hold it in your hands.”

They entered the blacksmith’s shop and there, was another demihuman standing behind a wooden counter.

He welcomed the two inside, their hoods remaining on their heads, Ace’s head lowered once again.

“Welcome! How can I help you?”

“Just looking. Where are your normal-sized swords?”

“In the back left corner, tell me if you like anything.”

“Will do! Thank you.”

Aliza grabbed Ace’s hand and pulled him over to the swords.

“Pick one up and see if you like it better than your dagger.”

Ace grabbed one of the swords and held it in his hands, surprised that it was lighter than he expected.

The sword itself was longer than his dagger, but not long enough that he needed two hands to wield it.

“Oh, yeah, this is much better but, I don’t have the money for it.”

“Don’t worry, these ones aren’t too expensive, I can buy one for you if you want.”

“No, don’t worry, I want to be the one to buy my first. For now, I’ll stick to the dagger.”

“No problem, but get one soon, because you need to start learning.”

“I’ll try.”

He swung the sword around a few times, continuing to admire the unexpected weight.

Ace put the sword back from where he got it and started to leave the shop.

Aliza, following him out...

“Thanks boss!”

“Come back anytime!”

After leaving the shop, Aliza showed Ace around for a few more hours, burning into the hours of the day.

“Aaannddd.. that’s everywhere.”

Finishing up her tour, Ace took one more look around him. He glanced at the houses, the shops, and the people.

“It really is a small village.”

“Told you... compared to the capital, this place is tiny! But... it still has a nice feel to it. The small area and the amount of people living here makes it feel more like one big house instead of a village.”

“That’s why I make sure to visit as many places as I can, to experience everything, everywhere I go.”

When they finished looking around, it looked to be around 5:00 P.M.

“Should we get started?”

“Started what?”

Ace was confused, having no idea what they could be starting on his first day here.

“What else? Your training.”

“Oh, I guess... let’s start.”

“You don’t seem too enthusiastic..”

“Haha, sorry, I’m tired and wasn’t expecting to start right on the first day.”

“First day? First day of what?”

“Haha... first day of meeting you.”

Ace realized that she didn’t know that he was transported to this world this morning.

—I’ll explain it to her tonight.

“Oh yeah, it feels like I’ve known you for a while, so I forgot we only met each other today.”

---

------

Her voice started to get a little nervous before saying what she said next.

“Do you think you can… umm.. handle going back into the forest?”

Ace smiled, feeling warm because of her consideration for him.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine, I got everything out earlier. I’ll be on my guard a little but you seem to be good with a sword, so I’ll be fine.”

“Ok but, if anything is bothering you, just tell me.”

“I’m not a kid, don’t worry.”

“You know I didn’t mean that... please, I’m being serious, tell me if something is wrong while we’re in the forest.”

“Ok ok, I’ll make sure to do that.”

“Ok, let’s go.”

They started to move towards the forest and once they reached the entrance...

“We’re going in now... are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine, but just wait one second.”

He didn’t check all day, so he wanted to confirm something.

He stopped in place and closed his eyes.

364 Days

6 Hours

24 Minutes

Map

Support

He opened his menu and focused on the word “map”.

Once he opened it... his theory was correct.

The whole village was now covered in green and brown.

Whenever he travelled somewhere, that place would be uncovered on his map.

It would also show all the relevant information regarding the place.

He zoomed in until he could only see his marker and Furio Village.

Once he zoomed in, some words disappeared, and new words appeared.

All the buildings were being shown on his map.

They didn’t have the actual shop names, but it said what type of shop it was.

The blacksmith he went to earlier was labelled, “blacksmith”, and the inn he stayed in this morning was labelled, “inn”.

That’s all he wanted to check.

He opened his eyes again and got ready to go into the forest.

“OK, let’s go.”

Aliza nodded her head and they moved into the forest.

They travelled for a little until they found a small field in the middle of the forest.

“This is perfect.”

She stopped and smiled at the perfect training grounds.

“…”

“Aliza.. could you... um... pick somewhere else?”

Aliza looked back at Ace, to see that he had his hand to his mouth.

He looked like he was about to vomit.

Once she looked back onto the field, she realized the grass in the middle was stained red, with what looked like blood.

She realized what this meant...

This was where he got attacked.

Ace puked underneath a tree and Aliza just stood there.

—Hurting him as soon as you enter the forest. You idiot Aliza!

Aliza thought to herself, feeling horrible for putting him through something before they even started training.

She went up to Ace and started patting his back.

“I’m sorry, I already messed up...”

“It’s fine, I’m fine, let’s just move somewhere else… please.”

Aliza nodded her head and they started to walk somewhere else.

“This looks like a good place to stop, are you sure you’re fine?”

“Yeah, just give me a few minutes and we’ll get started.”

Ace sat himself underneath a tree, recovering from his churned stomach and his traumatizing memories that returned to him.

“Sorry you had to see that. The memory is still pretty fresh.”

“No, I’m sorry, I only realized where I brought you once I saw you in that condition. Don’t push yourself too much today, you’re still recovering from last night.”

“No it’s fine, my body seems to recover pretty quickly so I’ll be fine.”

After a few minutes, Ace got up and was ready to start his training.

“Let’s start.”

Aliza gave a small, unenthusiastic nod. She couldn’t bring herself to be excited after what she just put him through.

Ace took the dagger out of his bag and rubbed his finger across the gold “Ace” written on the handle.

“Don’t make me use you too much.”

He whispered under his breath, asking his dagger to stay sheathed as much as possible in the next year.

Aliza also took out the sword from under her robe.

It seemed to be standing straight up on her back for her to be able to hide it so well.

Once she fully took it out, he remembered what he thought the first time she took it out...

It really was beautiful.

The blade was shining and matching her perfectly light blue hair.

The handle looked just as nice. There was a small, light blue gem placed on it, matching the one underneath her chin.

She got in a battle stance and said...

“Let’s start.”

Ace nodded his head and gulped at the intimidating sight.

He also got into, what he thought to be, a battle stance.

He bent his knees and got into a stance that felt comfortable.

His right hand holding the dagger was slightly in front of his left hand, and his body was slightly tilted to the side.

“Hahaha, what is that?”

“Shut up... I’ve never done this before.”

“Haha... It’s fine, just as long as it feels comfortable. OK, let’s start. Just start by coming at me and trying to get a hit in.”

Ace nodded his head and started to sweat at his nervousness, finally beginning his training.

He started to run towards Aliza, his dagger in front of him, ready to strike.

He raised his right arm all the way above his head and swung it down at the blue haired traveler.

Before he could fully swing down, his strike was blocked by her sword.

*CLANG*

The dagger got sent flying into a nearby tree.

“Don’t go for a match-deciding strike right off the bat, that’s how you die.”

Ace was standing there feeling defeated, only 30 seconds after starting his training.

“Ok, I got an understanding of your level of swordsmanship...”

“…”

“You seem to have no understanding at all.”

Ace sighed, feeling a slight feeling of disappointment at his powerlessness.

“*sigh* What have I been telling you?”

“I know, but I thought you would have some degree of skill.”

“Whatever, we’ll start with some dagger swings for about an hour. Go grab your dagger and start swinging like you’re attacking something. That’ll make your swings faster and more refined. I’ll give you pointers while you’re doing that.”

“Yes... ma’am.”

He said with his body slumped, going to retrieve the dagger.

---

------

He got the dagger and did what she said, swinging the dagger for about an hour while she coached him on what he was doing right and doing wrong.

“Now, try coming at me again.”

“Got it.”

Ace grabbed his dagger and got into his custom-made stance.

He rushed towards her for the second time...

This time, he didn’t start with a high swing, he went right to her blade to start a series of swings, remembering her advice from an hour ago.

Aliza was matching his dagger’s speed and accuracy, refining his skills even more.

She could’ve hit him at any time but that wouldn’t have helped his training at all.

They continued the swings until Ace got tired and couldn’t go on anymore.

“That’s enough for now, take a quick break.”

*Hahh... hah... Yes.. ma’am...”

He said, relieved that he could take a break.

“You weren’t lying when you said you have fast growth. Your attacks were definitely getting sharper with each swing.”

“But you’re still a newbie so you’re going to need to train your butt off.”

Ace looked at his dagger, thinking of all the possible different things he would need to use it for in the future.

He felt a surge of determination inside of him.

Ace stood back up.

“Let’s go another round.”

“Are you sure? You can rest for a little longer.”

“I’m feeling determined right now, don’t want to lose this feeling.”

“Ok... but don’t push yourself.”

Ace got back into his stance and charged at her.

He repeated the process from earlier, striking at her sword to get into a rally of clashes.

Right *CLANG*, left *CLANG*, bottom right *CLANG*, top left *CLANG*.

He continued to swing at her, improving his abilities with each swing.

A smile came on his face.

—This is fun!

He was genuinely enjoying himself.

You could lose your life in a sword fight, but he didn’t care about that right now, it felt more like a sport to Ace.

From his left leg *CLANG*, right shoulder *CLANG*, left waist *CLANG*, directly from below *CLANG*.

Ace was having the time of his life but... his body couldn’t keep up.

He got tired after a few more strikes.

“Let’s take a break, this is exhausting.”

“Already? Haha, it was starting to get fun.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll continue after a few minutes. I’ll definitely get a hit in, just wait.”

“Oh hoh, you’re going to put a scratch on my maiden body? You’re pretty brave, aren’t you?”

Ace gave a tired smile and sat himself on the ground.

After a few minutes of regaining his stamina...

“Let’s start back up.”

Ace grabbed his dagger and Aliza took back out her sword.

He charged at her once again, restarting the cycle.

They repeated this cycle over and over for a few hours, taking breaks every few minutes.

“Hah, hah... Almost had you there...”

Breathing heavy and sweat dripping from his forehead... Ace felt himself getting better at using his dagger.

“Hah, hah... Don’t get ahead of yourself...”

Also tired from returning his swings, Aliza wasn’t going to let him get a hit on her on the first day.

“You sure you don’t want to stop here? You’re looking kind of tired.”

Ace kept up the competitive mood, challenging Aliza’s stamina.

“Back at you... you’re practically dying.”

She returned the energy, not backing down from a challenge.

“Hah, hah... I’m fine, I could keep going for hou--”

He dropped to the floor.

“—?! Hey, are you okay?!”

“Hey!”

She ran over to him...

“—?!”

She saw the side of his clothes covered in red.

His wound opened back up.

“Why didn’t you tell me, you idiot!”

“Sorry... was focused on the training. Only just realized.”

Aliza slapped her forehead, punishing herself because she also didn’t notice.

She started to put her hands toward the wound, a small light illuminating the red on his clothes.

“What... is this?”

“Healing magic, I can’t use too much but it should be enough to close your wound.”

“Sorry, you even told me not to push myself.”

Ace realized that they had been training for a few hours.

He closed his eyes to check the time.

364 Days

2 Hours

9 Minutes

Map

Support

It was 9:51 PM.

“Return home, return home, return home.”

Ace wanted to make sure that he would go back home today, just in case he passed out and it passed midnight before he could say it.

“Aliza.. please. Wake me up about an hour before midnight.. I need to explain everything.”

Aliza nodded her head, focusing her hands on his wound.

And he passed out.

—

——

———

“A..!”

“Ac..!”

“Ace!”

His eyes shot open, and his body stood up into a sitting position with his legs stretched out.

“Ah!”

His wound stung him from the sudden movement.

It was Aliza.

He closed his eyes to check the time.

364 Days

1 Hours

4 Minutes

Map

Support

It was 10:56 PM.

“Thank you.”

“Get to explaining.”

Ace nodded his head and made his tone of voice a little more serious.

“I know this is going to sound crazy, but...”

Aliza was staring at him, giving him her full attention.

“I’m not from this world.”

Aliza widened her eyes at what he said but, after a few seconds, she responded with...

“…”

“…”

“Ok… continue.”

“—! That’s it?!”

“I’ve already told you this once. You have no reason to lie. You are serious so I will trust everything you are saying.”

“It does sound crazy, but everything else you’ve said has been crazy also, so I was expecting something like that.”

“Ok… I’ll continue…”

“I won’t go into detail about my world but... I’m from a planet called Earth.”

“Planet?”

“Just think of it as another word for world.”

“I won’t go into much detail about it but... it’s sort of one big world populated by only one main species... humans.”

“We don’t have Shuna or demihumans, or monsters like Toriel.”

“It’s just one big human world.”

Aliza just stared at him, taking in everything he was saying.

“I had a proper life there before coming here. I was just a regular boy who went to school every day and went home right after.”

“I had parents and a best friend, I liked spending time with them, I liked playing games, I liked eating sweets... just everything a boy would like to do.”

“Then one day, when I went to sleep, I was sent here.”

“I was confused, scared, and was crying like an idiot when I realized what happened.”

“Once I started crying, I closed my eyes.”

“When I closed my eyes, I could see words in my head.”

“These words told me the time, showed me a map of Felona when I requested it and, there was a word that said support.”

Before he could continue, Aliza spoke up.

“Can you still see these words... or is it only a one-time thing?”

“I see them every time I close my eyes.”

She nodded in response.

“Continuing on... when I focused on the word support, someone started talking directly into my head.”

“He called himself a god and said I could only talk to him for 2 minutes a day.”

“He said I was stuck here for one year and I would die if I didn’t beat the enemy within that time limit.”

“I asked him how I could get back home, and he said there was two options.”

“The two options are beating the enemy and... going back home for one day to say my goodbyes.”

“The latter is what I will be doing tonight.”

“I will go back home tonight for one day then come back here at midnight tomorrow.”

“You will be returning home?”

“Yes... so... if you could wait at Furio for one day and come back here... that would be really helpful.”

“Ok... I will wait... but are you sure you’ll be okay? Saying goodbye to them will be hard.”

“It’ll be hard but... I have to see them. I can’t leave my parents without saying anything.”

Ace gave a nervous smile to Aliza as he thought about saying goodbye and what came after.

“I’ll probably be crying a lot when I get back so... if you could just leave me alone for a few minutes when I get back, I would appreciate that.”

“Ok... I’ll let you cry your eyes out.”

“Thank you.”

After explaining everything, Ace checked the time once again.

364 Days

0 Hours

32 Minutes

Map

Support

It was 11:28.

“I’m still a little tired, I’m just going to lay here for a little.”

Aliza continued to heal him, and he laid down to save his energy.

---

------

After about 25 minutes, he sat back up.

364 Days

0 Hours

7 Minutes

Map

Support

It was now 11:53 PM.

“I just checked the time... I’ll be leaving in about 7 minutes.”

She kept her hands near his wound, emitting the blue light that signaled her healing.

“I’ll continue to heal you until you leave, just stay still for a little. You don’t want to see your parents with your body all beaten up.”

“Thank you.”

Ace lied back on the ground for the rest of the 7 minutes.

---

He confirmed the time once again.

364 Days

0 Hours

0 Minutes

Map

Support

“I’ll be leaving in about a minute.”

Aliza nodded in response.

After about 45 seconds, a robotic-sounding voice transferred into his head.

—10..

—9..

—8..

—7..

—6..

He matched the countdown and started counting down out loud to let Aliza know that he would be leaving.

“5..”

“4..”

“3..”

“2..”

“1..”

Aliza grabbed his hand...

“Stay strong...”

Ace put on a nervous smile and looked in her direction...”

“I’ll try...”

—

——

And his world was surrounded in white once again.