Chapter 17 - Fuck That Novel!
"Show me your ID."
The man sitting inside the checkpoint didn’t even look up from his terminal.
I stepped forward and held out my smartwatch.
"Here."
A blue hologram expanded between us, displaying my citizen profile.
He scanned it with a handheld device before glancing at me properly for the first time.
His eyebrows rose slightly.
"Are you an Aspiring Hero?"
"Yes."
"First hunt?"
"Yeah."
He sighed.
"So, what’s your goal?"
"I’ll be taking the Nexus Academy entrance examination."
This time, he looked at me for a few seconds longer.
"Nexus, huh."
He leaned back in his chair.
"A lot of kids come through this checkpoint saying the same thing every year."
His voice carried an odd bitterness.
"But most of them never make it there."
For a brief moment, I wondered if he’d once been one of them.
He looked thirty, well, old enough to have given up and young enough to remember exactly when he gave up.
"I’m not saying don’t dream."
He pointed toward the forest.
"I’m saying don’t die chasing one."
His finger traced a rough map on the holographic display.
"The outer region is relatively safe so stay there until you become a Bronze Rank Hero."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"And don’t stay after sunset."
I nodded seriously.
"Good luck."
I thanked him before walking through the reinforced steel gate and into Emberwood Forest.
The atmosphere changed almost immediately.
Outside the checkpoint, there had been conversation.
But here it was mostly silence with the leaves rustling gently.
Most Heroes were already returning from today’s hunt.
Small groups passed me carrying bloodstained weapons or dragging monster corpses behind them.
Meanwhile, I was the only idiot walking deeper into the forest this late in the afternoon.
"This is how horror movies start."
Once the checkpoint disappeared behind the trees, I stopped walking and drew my sword.
Shing.
The familiar weight settled comfortably into my hand.
I closed my eyes as the sounds of the forest faded in one breath.
And when I opened my eyes again.
Only focus remained.
"Much better."
Mira had drilled this routine into me.
And after awakening, my mind was incomparably sharp.
I continued forward.
The deeper I walked, the thicker the trees became.
Sunlight filtered through leaves, painting shifting patterns across the forest floor.
Every few minutes, I found signs of monster activity.
Deep claw marks on tree trunks, broken branches or large footprints pressed into damp soil.
Rustle.
I immediately stopped.
The sound had come from my left.
Another rustle answered soon.
"..."
I tightened my grip on my sword.
Two pairs of glowing yellow eyes emerged from the bushes.
They had dark gray fur, lean bodies and long fangs protruding from powerful jaws.
Inferior Wargs.
The weakest monsters present here.
Individually, they weren’t much stronger.
But in packs, they became dangerous.
The first Warg lowered its body before suddenly lunging.
It was fast.
But not faster than yesterday’s masked man.
My body also moved way better than I imagined after my awakening.
One step sideways and the creature flew past me.
My sword flashed.
Slash.
Its head separated cleanly from its neck.
The corpse skidded across the dirt before coming to a stop.
The second Warg hesitated for the briefest instant which was a mistake.
I closed the distance first.
My blade pierced through its throat before it could retreat.
The beast let out a pitiful whine before collapsing.
"..."
I exhaled slowly.
Two clean kills with no wasted movement.
Then, low growls echoed from every direction.
The bushes surrounding the clearing shook violently as more Inferior Wargs stepped into view.
Their yellow eyes remained fixed on me.
At their center stood one nearly twice the size of the others.
And unlike the others, it wasn’t growling.
It was watching.
"I kill two and the mini boss comes out."
The Wargs let out a thunderous howl and the entire pack charged as one.
***
The clearing gradually fell silent.
Inferior Warg corpses lay scattered across the forest floor, their dark blood soaking into the earth.
At my feet rested the Larger Warg.
My sword was still buried deep in its chest, right through the heart.
I grabbed the hilt and pulled.
Schlk.
The corpse collapsed with a heavy thud.
"That went better than expected."
The fight went surprisingly smooth.
The pack had relied on numbers.
Once I cut down several of the smaller Wargs, the larger Warg tried to ambush me from my blind spot.
Fortunately, I had been expecting exactly that.
A pack leader rarely risked itself unless it believed victory was certain.
The moment it lunged, I abandoned the weaker Wargs altogether.
One exchange.
And one thrust through the heart.
The remaining Wargs had immediately broken formation and fled in every direction.
I watched the last of them disappear into the trees before finally relaxing my shoulders.
"I should have brought storage equipment."
Looking around at the corpses, I couldn’t help but sigh.
Inferior Wargs weren’t especially valuable, but their hides, claws, and fangs, still, fetched decent prices.
Leaving everything behind felt like throwing money into the forest.
"What a waste."
Then again, dragging half a dozen wolf corpses through the woods wasn’t exactly realistic.
I would have to solve my money problem another way.
"That might work."
An idea quietly surfaced in my mind.
One that could potentially earn far more than a few Warg.
"I’ll think about it later."
I wiped the blood from my blade before sheathing it.
Then I headed east.
According to my memories, the clue was frustratingly vague.
On the eastern side of Emberwood Forest, where a solitary tree grows.
That was it.
Just one sentence.
I walked for nearly half an hour mostly avoiding battles.
The forest grew quieter the farther east I traveled.
Then suddenly, I stopped.
"There it is."
Standing alone in a small clearing was a tree unlike any around it.
It was short and almost completely branchless.
Its pale gray trunk looked sickly compared to the towering trees nearby.
It didn’t belong here.
I approached that tree cautiously.
For a moment, I wondered if there was some hidden mechanism or an ambush here.
Then I remembered various novels in which demonic trees exist.
’Better safe than sorry.’
I drew my sword.
Thunk.
The blade sank into the trunk and nothing happened.
At least I hadn’t triggered some death trap.
Using the tree as a marker, I began digging beside it.
The soil was surprisingly hard.
Five minutes passed.
Sweat began dripping down my forehead.
I was digging like a grave robber in the middle of a monster-infested forest.
Just as I was about to change the digging location.
Clank
Something touched the shovel which I had bought with me for digging.
My eyes widened.
I hurriedly cleared away the remaining dirt.
A monster crystal emerged from beneath the earth.
My heartbeat quickened.
"This is it..."
The hidden opportunity.
The treasure that had been buried for decades.
I brushed away the dirt before looking at it.
"..."
My smile slowly disappeared.
That wasn’t the precious Monster Crystal I was hoping for.
It was clearly orange and not black.
My alternate self had been scammed.
"FUCK THAT NOVEL!"