Chapter 1: "The Amazing Isekai Adventure"
In an unknown forest, a young man around 17-18 years old slowly opened his eyes in the wilderness.
At that moment, an unbelievable event happened!
The young man's original appearance — 175 cm tall, lean but skinny body, light brown hair, and dark brown eyes — along with his clothes, suddenly changed all at once.
It was such a change that the young man didn't even realize he was changing.
The original appearance was replaced by someone 180 cm tall with black hair and a much better physique. The most striking feature was his eyes — onyx black.
He also gained a much more handsome look.
Anyway, let's get back to the story.
"Where am I?"
"Unknown hands, unknown hair color; unknown environment, unknown clothes…"
"What kind of situation is this?"
First, the young man analyzed his situation; his surprisingly calm mind remained logical.
Maybe he was in shock, or maybe it was for another reason — he was quite calm.
The young man slowly examined his surroundings.
The sun seemed to warm people's souls, birds chirped harmoniously, and the sound of water coming from afar made the atmosphere even more beautiful. He had never been in a forest before, and even the scent of this forest was different. A voice inside told him to relax in this beautiful environment…
Of course, if there wasn't a carrion-eating cat-like creature a few meters away.
Tsss
The young man sharply breathed out, his eyes widened.
"Wow!"
All the numbness in his mind disappeared after seeing that.
"Where the hell am I?"
"Judging by the environment, I'm in some kind of forest. I've never been in a forest before, but this doesn't seem like a normal one either… So how did I get here? Who brought me? What was their purpose? What do they want from me?"
He took a deep breath.
"Get yourself together."
"For now, those things don't matter. I should check if there's anything useful."
The young man stopped thinking about questions he couldn't get answers to.
First, he started searching his own body.
Although he had no items on him, his clothes had changed too.
Now, he was wearing a long coat, a black shirt, black fabric pants, and leather shoes.
What surprised him the most was the quality of the clothes. Someone like him, unemployed, didn't even know such quality clothes existed. If he had gone to graduation in these clothes, he would have attracted more attention.
After a brief admiration, he lost interest in the clothes, even felt a little sad. Normally, fancy clothes could be good, but he wasn't in a normal situation; damn, he was in a forest!
Luckily, the clothes were flexible enough and didn't affect his mobility.
Back to the main point
He had no useful items on him, and there was nothing useful around.
He tapped his leg rhythmically with his fingers — something he usually did when nervous.
"There's nothing useful on me, and nothing useful around either. Entering the forest like this would be asking for death. The most logical move is probably to follow the sound of water. If the water is clean, I can drink it, maybe find something to eat nearby, and it'd be good to find something to defend myself with."
After making his plan, the only thing left was to execute it.
As the young man moved toward the direction of the water sound, he observed his surroundings.
The forest, which seemed peaceful at first, turned into the source of his unease. The sun that once warmed his soul now seemed unable to reach the coldness of the forest. The bird sounds that once seemed like music no longer felt innocent, as if they were discussing how long he could last.
Actually, this paranoia was normal. This was the wild, where the weak die. Such a place could easily affect a person's mental state.
After walking about 5-10 minutes on a rough path, he saw a river.
Swishhh
The water flowing in the river was very clear; the scent of water and soil was unexpectedly refreshing, and the pebbles shone like stars under the sun.
Just as he was about to lean against a tree to rest, he stopped when he saw ants climbing the tree.
The sooner he could get out of this forest, the better.
Not to mention spending the night here — even after just half an hour, his nerves were already tense.
After standing and calming his breath, he thought about what to do next.
He faced a big choice: should he go toward the direction the river was flowing, or follow the water upstream?
"Damn it, I wish I had paid attention in geography class! Do people use the end of the river or the start?"
"Rivers don't flow for no reason. Most likely they flow because the water comes from a higher place. Do people settle on high ground?"
In the end, he decided to follow the direction of the flow.
Going down rather than climbing up would save more energy, at least that's what he thought.
1 minute
2 minutes
4 minutes
8 minutes
10 minutes
After 30 minutes, he finally reached the end of the damn river.
Haah haah haah
Not only was the 30-minute uphill walk tough, even walking on flat ground for 30 minutes would have been difficult. His ability to walk here without resting showed how much he wanted to get out of this forest.
After catching his breath a bit, he noticed something strange. He hadn't sweated a single drop. He hadn't realized it while walking because his mind was elsewhere, but he didn't feel hot — just tired. It was as if something was balancing the temperature in his body.
While he was thinking about this, he saw something approaching from afar.
It was a human!