Chapter 8: The Young Fox in Search of Itself

A master swordsman and four expert swordsmen—such adversaries should have appeared at the Silver Helm Outpost, so why were they here? Suddenly, Venigo realized he had forgotten something crucial: the world he was in was not a game. Wasn’t it a grave mistake to view this world through the lens of a game?

The distribution of monsters—or rather, enemies—the effects of various skills, the buildings in towns—this was not a game, but a world that was uncannily real.

Venigo turned and fled, dispelling his character manifestation as he ran.

Character reset, reconstruction beginning... Venigo reverted to his original body, running with ease.

Behind him, the armored men gave relentless chase. Fortunately, in this world, Venigo had grown up doing odd jobs in the pirates’ den, so his physical abilities were decent and he could run quite fast.

After a brief sprint, he was nearly at the cave entrance, and his manifestation ability was ready for use again.

Character selected, analysis complete... reconstruction beginning. Level one Meow-Meow, construction complete!

Scavenger trait. The coming battle would require little effort from Venigo.

He burst out of the cave mouth, shrieking, “One master swordsman, five expert swordsmen, fully armed!”

Though the four-person squad didn’t understand what “master swordsman” and “expert swordsman” meant, they knew these must be formidable swordsmen skilled in close combat. Merak was the first to step up, with Jemore at his side, small shield in hand, guarding his left. The two ladies silently followed behind, prepared for battle.

As the master swordsman charged from the cave, he was immediately met by Yarael’s blazing bolt spell.

Blazing bolt, also known as Thunderfire, was a stream of flame energy shot straight from the fingertips. It was swift and cost little mana—one of Yarael’s most frequently used spells.

Struck in the face, the master swordsman froze for a moment. At the same instant, Veranie’s long arrow struck his chest.

The arrow pierced his chainmail, burying halfway into his body, spraying blood. Before he could pull the arrow free, Venigo slipped in with a stealthy jolt of electric shock, leaving him paralyzed once more.

Skill: Electric Shock Wave—an unerring, low-power jolt!

Merak followed up swiftly, ramming him back with a shield and cleaving down hard with his sword.

The master swordsman crashed to the ground. Without a glance, Merak turned his attention to the others.

At that moment, Yarael’s explosive fireball landed precisely at the cave entrance, behind the five remaining swordsmen. Amid the deafening blast, the five men were thrown forward, and before they could rise, they were pelted by sword strikes, arrows, hammers, and bolts of electricity.

With the advantage of time to prepare and a prearranged formation, and with a slight edge in strength, Merak’s squad won with astonishing ease.

Venigo felt something odd.

When he killed the ratmen bandits earlier, he had gained a considerable amount of “experience,” quickly nearing a level up. Yet despite facing a high-level master swordsman, the “experience” his attacks earned was paltry.

Suppose the ratman was worth 200 experience and the master swordsman 5,000, but Venigo only received 1,000 for the latter.

“Did I just not contribute enough?” Venigo sighed.

Still, his abilities had risen another step. In simple terms, Venigo had reached level three.

“How is it inside?” Merak asked.

“More troublesome than I thought, but... it’s fine.” Venigo smiled slightly, though on Meow-Meow’s face, the smile looked a bit ridiculous.

He turned and strode into the cave ahead of the others.

Meow-Meow’s small size made it perfect for scouting. Venigo moved quickly, occasionally bending to collect treasures from enemy corpses or the shadows, stashing them in his magic pouch.

The scavenger trait was indeed useful.

Among the loot, there was a pendant imbued with a spell that granted Venigo a slow self-regeneration ability. Not only would it heal wounds, it could even regrow lost limbs—though the process was quite slow.

With Venigo leading and Merak’s team following, they soon reached the stone door again.

“The situation beyond the door is still unknown. Everyone, be careful,” Venigo cautioned, preparing to enter.

“Enough, let me go first,” Merak stopped him and took the lead through the stone doorway.

Venigo slapped his forehead, only just recalling that rangers possessed both insight and disarming skills.

Thinking it over, Venigo leaped onto Merak’s shoulder, squatting and scanning the surroundings. With Venigo’s help, Merak’s field of vision widened considerably.

Whenever an enemy approached, Venigo would hurl a shock wave, prompting Merak to be alert. If there were hidden traps, Merak would spot them in time.

There were many hidden secret rooms and chests; Merak found them all. For treasures hidden particularly well, Venigo would sense them even before Merak and direct him to their location.

However, Merak showed no intention of sharing these finds with Venigo.

Venigo didn’t mind much; he knew his own strength, and it was only natural to be overlooked. Thanks to Yarael’s fondness for him, he’d already received a large bottle of mercury—a stroke of luck—even though he’d also provided a flight scroll.

With anyone else, it would have been normal to simply seize both the flight scroll and the bottle of mercury.

This world was one of the strong preying on the weak. The scant warmth could not conceal its cruel nature.

Perhaps it was precisely such cruelty that had given rise to powerful beings. The ones who weren’t strong enough had mostly perished. Only humans preserved their weaker kin, but even so, those kin became objects of exploitation.

Even so-called heroes were not exempt from this rule.

As Venigo drifted in thought, he observed Merak’s swordplay.

He knew that no matter how much he learned, he could never wield any “skills that would make him stronger” in a human body. However, by studying swordsmanship, he could still raise his theoretical knowledge.

Thus, when he found himself among “existences” like Kress, this foundation would make his own swordplay more fluent.

Moreover, understanding swordsmanship would help him better predict the actions of sword-wielding foes.

Venigo the poacher distinguished himself in these unremarkable details, working harder than others. This was where his efforts lay, while his innate sensitivity to bugs was a gift.

Talent and effort—both indispensable, though perhaps talent mattered more...

“That chest over there... Seems to have something unusual,” Venigo suddenly pointed to a crude wooden chest in a corner. It looked like it contained nothing of value.

Merak was a bit surprised, but went over anyway. As he reached out, he drew back and motioned for Venigo to stand clear.

Jemore took a cautious half-step back, keeping a wary eye on the chest.

Merak reached out, carefully felt the lock, and gently lifted the lid.

Snap—a volley of short arrows shot out. Merak, prepared, ducked quickly, but the arrows were so fast that he couldn’t dodge them all.

He grunted as arrows struck his right shoulder and upper arm, swelling rapidly and blackening in an instant.

Poisoned...

Jemore promptly cast a cure poison prayer, neutralizing the toxin. But then Merak found another trap inside the chest—a surge of frigid air.

Ice mist, conjured by water magic.

Merak immediately stiffened. This time, Jemore was powerless, able only to cast a minor healing prayer in hopes of helping.

Venigo tilted his head, thought for a moment, and unleashed another electric shock wave—it seemed to have some effect, as Merak stirred slightly. Jemore quickly followed with another healing prayer, and Venigo added another shock wave for good measure.

After three rounds, Merak finally broke free of the ice. Shaking his head, he kicked the chest and turned to Venigo. “See what’s inside. You have better luck.”

Venigo peered inside, extended a paw, and carefully fished the treasures out.

Two scrolls, two gems, two rings—everything in pairs.

“What’s this, a lovers’ ring set?” Venigo tossed the rings to Yarael and Veranie.

“Venigo knows what ‘lovers’ means?” Yarael spat, slipping the ring onto her finger.

“Venigo really is lucky—mine’s a Flame Ring that enhances fire magic! What about Veranie’s?” Yarael exclaimed in delight.

Expressionless, Veranie tossed her ring to Yarael, who then remembered that she was the party’s most skilled at identifying magical items.

“Ring of Precision, greatly boosts accuracy. Venigo, you really are our lucky star!” Yarael laughed, pulling Venigo close and pinching his cat cheeks.

“Does the scavenger trait secretly increase treasure luck?” Venigo wondered.

He had studied his abilities, but still didn’t fully understand them. Venigo knew his power wasn’t as simple as it appeared. The ability to establish a wholly different set of laws within a world, so strong as to provoke the world’s rejection, could not possibly be simple.

So, he was full of anticipation... What kind of being would he become? Venigo licked his lips and gazed ahead.