After going through my Status Screen I can confidently say that I'm not on Earth anymore.

I'm also pretty sure I died on Earth and then got a second chance here, so I don't think I can go back. Even if I can, I don't know how and it would take time to find a solution and it's not like I have anything to go back to.

Like I said before, I'm an orphan and spent most of my twenties and thirties in military, so no family to speak of.

Yeah, I may miss some of my friends but I don't know what my condition would be if I return to Earth.

Would I be healthy?

Or

Would I go back to being bedridden, suffering from cancer?

Rather to than going back, I would like to spend this new life doing whatever I like, which I couldn't do in my last life.

In this new life, I would like to explore what a fantasy world looks like in reality.

Are there Elfs, Dwarfs, and other races like I've read about?

Is magic really that versatile?

What kind of wonders can I find in this world?

I would like to explore it as long as I'm able. I plan to enjoy this life to its fullest.

Well I think, that's more than enough introspection for day one, I do have a magical world to explore.

First, I need to get out of this auditorium and check the surrounding area to figure out where I am, then I can decide what to do next.

I look around the auditorium once more and see that there is only one opening. I move towards the large opening at the front of the building.

Looking at the rotten wooden remains stuck to the metal frame embedded into the wall, I assume there was a door here before, looks like it was decomposed.

When I look outside from the opening, I'm astonished at what I see.

Beautiful nature. A world dominated by green. That is what I see.

I'm in someplace that has a lot of trees, I mean a lot, the whole area is filled with it and these aren't the normal ones I've seen in the forests back home, these are huge.

If I compare the size of the trees on my homeworld to humans, these trees are the size of the primordial titans from myths. Like I said, huge trees and the whole place is covered with them.

Although I do admire such a beautiful view, I have enough experience with the forests back home to know that such dense tree coverage usually means I can expect some kind of wildlife.

So, I crouch down and move around slowly and quietly to conceal myself in the dense foliage from anything that lives around here.

I don't know what kind of wildlife lives around here. I need to get some bearings first and find some kind of weapon before I can confront anything living around here.

I look around for a bit.

I'm in some kind of ruin where nature already claimed most of it. Except for a few solid structures that look to be in usable condition here and there, the rest of the place is occupied by nature. I'll explore those structures later when I have enough information.

Until I have sufficient information, I don't want to wander far and recklessly risk my life. I still don't know if there are any predators out there.

I stay at the opening of the auditorium and try to use the new skill I got, Appraisal on the nearby trees.

Yimmon

Type : Tree

Grade : Uncommon

A tree native to the core area of the Forest of Illusions.

Well, how about that.

I got two important points from appraising a single tree.

First, I'm in a forest and it has a name, Forest of Illusions.

Second, the description says that these trees are native to the core area of the forest. Then these trees must grow in the core area of the forest. Right now I'm looking at a tree that is supposed to grow in the core area of the forest.

Doesn't that mean I'm in the core area as well?

The same core area where the more powerful wildlife normally live in?

Damn!

Just to confirm that this place is in the core area and I'm not lucky enough to find a single rare tree at the outskirts of the forest, I appraised a few more trees.

Averich

Type : Tree

Grade : Common

A common pine tree that grows all over the continent of Ahera. Known for its durable wood.

Eogus

Type : Tree

Grade : Common

A common fruit tree that grows all over the continent of Ahera. Known for its edible fruit.

Among the ten I appraised, three were Yimmon. The rest were pine trees I would normally find in any forest. The only difference is these trees are very big and look very old. The pine tree's name is Averich and the fruit tree is Eogus. That confirms that this place is somewhere in the core area of the forest.

I also learned the continent's name, Ahera.

Hmm.

I may be living in a dangerous area so first I need to find shelter to protect myself from the dangers of this place. And then find some food and water.

For shelter, I can use the auditorium. It does have a large opening but I can collect the broken tree branches that I can see everywhere on the ground and make a makeshift barricade. That should hold for a while.

Food won't be an issue with these strange fruits called Eogus, which look like a mix of strawberry and banana. According to the description, these fruits are edible. I got one by repeatedly pelting it with stones I found on the ground. Its shape is similar to a banana, just a little fatter, pink in color with small bulbs covering the surface.

I took a bite believing in the description, it was juicy while tasting both sour and sweet at the same time. Its taste is as strange as it looks but that doesn't matter. I think I can sate my appetite with these fruits for the time being.

The food problem is solved for now. I would need another source of food sooner or later but most importantly I need to find water. Before searching for water, I scout my immediate surroundings for any wild beasts living around but I don't find any.

Strange.

If the description given by the system is right, then right now I'm at the core of the forest. But I don't see any large tracks or hear any roars in the surrounding area which might correspond to any predators. I only found a few small tracks of rabbits, squirrels, and such normal critters one may find in any forest.

Does this mean there are no predators in the area?

Would that even be possible?

Maybe it is, what with magic being common but that isn't normal.

Just to confirm this hypothesis, I circle the auditorium looking for any tracks that may lead to the presence of any predators. Not to mention tracks, the leaves settled on the ground around the building look untouched. They form a few layers so I can at least confirm that nothing has been around this building for a while.

I don't know the reason but it's a bit worrying. I need to find the reason soon.

The good thing is, it looks like I don't need to make a barricade to block the entrance of the auditorium.

As for water, there must be some sort of water body nearby somewhere in this forest.

Or where would these critters get their water from?

I should search for it as early as possible if I don't want to die of thirst.

First, I should snoop around the auditorium's surrounding area to check if there is any water body nearby. Maybe I'll get lucky.

When I'm ready to make another round around the building, I hear another chime. I promptly check my notifications to find out what it is.

Skill Unlocked : Stealth

Stealth huh, should be very useful in the situation I'm in.

I already know how to do add the skill to my list. I mentally think about adding it and accept the notification to add the skill to my skill list. And now the skill slots are down to eight. I need to be more careful with what I add to the list next.

Stealth

Grade : Common

Mastery : Beginner

Level : 1

This skill governs the ability to move undetected. Chances of detection decrease with an increase in level.

Effect :

Reduces the visibility and noise by 0.5 % per level.

Cost : 5 Stamina / Sec

Ohh.

It costs stamina to maintain it. And here I thought I could just go around scouting while in Stealth. As this is an active skill that costs stamina to maintain, I need to be careful about when and how I use it.

I move around the auditorium in a bigger circle than the one I did before. I finish surveying but don't find a water source nearby.

Even as I'm moving around the auditorium, I observe the building to see if I can get any clues as to which type of architecture it is. But most of the building is covered with all manner of vines, leaves, and a few layers of dirt. I need to clean it before I can find anything.

I don't want to take any risks until I get my bearings and am ready to wander further. I can adjust with the fruits for now. Although I didn't find a water source, I can at least confirm that there are no hostile beings nearby.

While I'm doing all of this, I kept using Appraisal whenever I have mana, on everything I can find like leaves, rocks, insects, plants, etc. And it was during this venture I found that lowering my mana points to zero gets me a killer headache.

I had to rest for quite a while to get over that.

I did found some useful things and the ones I thought would be the most useful of them are five plants. The rest can wait until I have something to carry them in. These are those five plants.

Frary

Type : Plant

Grade : Common

A common plant that grows all around the continent of Ahera. Known for its sweet taste and lingering cool sensation.

Atulica

Type : Plant

Grade : Common

A common plant that grows in places of sufficient ambient mana, all around the continent of Ahera. Its leaves have health regeneration properties.

Gloil

Type : Plant

Grade : Common

A common plant that grows in places of sufficient ambient mana, all around the continent of Ahera. Its leaves have mana regeneration properties.

Yaire

Type : Plant

Grade : Common

A common plant that grows in places of sufficient ambient mana, all around the continent of Ahera. Its leaves have stamina regeneration properties.

Hedge Ivy

Type : Plant

Grade : Uncommon

A poisonous plant that grows absorbing poisonous corpses.

I pocketed a few leaves of all five plants. I don't have to worry about them mixing up as I can identify them with the Appraisal before using any of them.

To recap, I have a safe place to stay, fruits to substitute for food and water for a while, three types of leaves for health, mana, and stamina regeneration. Of the other two, one for my hygiene and the other for poisoning anything dangerous.

I would say that necessities have been satisfied for now.

What should I do next?

Hmm.

First, I have an advantage over others in terms of gaining skills and their corresponding levels.

I should abuse that as much as I can but as I only have limited skill slots I need to think hard before adding them to my skill list.

Second, I should try to learn more about how this system works.

Third, I should check the surrounding areas for water and then explore the other buildings, giving priority to my safety first.

Fourth, find a way to get to civilization safely.

That's all I can think of.

I spent the rest of the day trying to unlock different skills I can think of.

I unlocked Running from well, running. Throwing Weapons Mastery and Improvised Weapons Mastery by throwing stones at the trees. Meditation took a while to get. With my experience, I thought it would be easy to calm my mind and get the skill. But it was very hard to empty my mind given my situation.

After unlocking these four, I took a risk by ingesting a very small piece of Hedge Ivy leaf to try and unlock Poison Resistance. That was a big risk as the poison was too potent, I had to eat three whole leaves of the Atulica plant to overcome the health that was lost over the minute and it took a few more tries to get that skill.

Skills Unlocked : Running, Throwing Weapons Mastery, Improvised Weapons Mastery, Meditation, Poison Resistance.

Of those, I added Meditation to my list as it helps calm my mind and also because it helps recover both my stamina and mana faster.

Meditation

Grade : Common

Mastery : Beginner

Level : 1

Ability to clear your mind of any thoughts. Stamina and mana recovery increases along with its level.

Effect :

Improves stamina and mana regeneration by 100%

I also found one more thing about Appraisal. Even though it's of Uncommon grade, it gives a more detailed description of Common grade items compared to Uncommon grade ones.

Just by looking at the words Common and Uncommon beside the grade tag, I can safely say that these grades must be a type of ranking system. Looks like my previous assumption was right.

Looking up in the night sky to see three different colored moons confirms that I'm not on Earth.

I unlocked all the skills I can think of, I'll gain the rest as I explore this place.

I start cleaning the auditorium as I plan to stay here for quite a while. It takes a few hours to clean just part of the floor. That's a lot of dirt.

I push it towards the part of the floor that I didn't clean. Yet. After cleaning the whole place, I would have to throw all that dirt away from the building.

Skill Unlocked : Cleaning

While I was cleaning the auditorium, I found a set of stairs going down to some kind of basement at the back. It's at the exact opposite position of where the statue is. I must have missed that during my quick search in the morning, I'll check it tomorrow.

I'm tired. I'll rest for the day. I can think about the rest of the problems tomorrow.

When I think about how there is magic and a system that seems to have control over everything, I should count myself lucky that my grandson introduced me to fantasy before my death. If it wasn't for that, I would be bumbling around without knowing anything about what the system is and what it represents. I won't be able to deal with my situation as clearly as I do now.

The only regret I have is that I wish I had at least one picture of my family to remember them whenever I feel sentimental like this. I'll just have to make do with my memories.

I move towards the statue, use my jacket as a pillow, and lay down at its feet to sleep.

Normally I would be a light sleeper who will wake up at even the slightest disturbance of any kind due to my training. But that was before I became too old to fight and retired. And it would take a few weeks or months to get back those habits from the past. Until then I hope nothing will kill me in my sleep.

Name : Janus Arthridge

Race : Human

Level : 0

Bloodline : N / A

Class : N / A

Level : 0

Health : 100 / 100

Stamina : 100 / 100

Mana : 100 / 100

Attributes

Strength : 10

Dexterity : 10

Vitality : 10

Endurance : 10

Resilience : 10

Perception : 10

Intelligence : 10

Wisdom : 10

Willpower : 10

Attribute Points : 0

Skills

Appraisal Lv.1

Stealth Lv.1

Meditation Lv.1

Skill Slots : 7

Perks

Otherworlder

Summoned Being