Scrape!
I scratched the surface of the large rock inside the tent using a smaller rock.
An additional line was carved into the stone.
'One… ten… thirty…'
There were a total of eighty or more scratches carved into the surface of the stone.
Each scratch marked one day that had passed.
If I count all the scratches, then… 'It's almost three months, huh?!'
The time I'd been waiting for was finally almost there.
Even though I knew the opportunity would come in three months, I didn't know exactly when it would arrive.
It could be today, tomorrow, or the day after.
It could be morning, afternoon, evening, or night.
'I don't have much time left.'
"Hey, fat pig! Come out quickly. Follow us as usual."
One of the kidnappers, already wearing full body armor, opened my tent and called me to come out.
I followed him from behind, keeping my head down as usual.
I didn't know if the kidnappers were aware of it or not, but they still saw me as a fat pig who was easy to use as a punching bag.
For the past three months, I'd been dedicating myself to training my physical body.
In the first month, I focused on getting used to it, or adapting.
In the second month, I focused on improving my stamina.
In the third month, I started adding extra exercises after mining activities, like push-ups and squats. I did them before bedtime.
Was it easy?
The answer was very difficult.
I often vomited and lost consciousness.
Additional beatings were a daily reward for me, as usual.
'No pain, no gain.'
The fat on my body has completely disappeared. My once-swollen body has now shrunk drastically.
On the way to the inside of the crystal cavern, I crossed paths with Livia, Dmitri, and Tumelo.
There was no greeting between us.
My eyes and Dmitri's met for just a few milliseconds before we ignored each other.
The incident where Dmitri tried to kill me occurred in the second month. So it's been almost a month since then.
[Name: Dmitri
Class: Sword Cultivator
Tier: Low-level Warrior.]
At that time, even though I had plot armor, I realized that my physical strength wouldn't be enough to fight Dmitri directly.
As you might expect from one of the male leads.
It's impossible for Livia's harem candidate to be an ordinary human without a solid foundation of strength.
The end of the conflict between Dmitri and me was that we made a temporary peace agreement.
I promised not to interact with Livia, while he promised not to bother me.
Luckily for me, Dmitri didn't use all his strength when he tried to kill me. Perhaps because he didn't know what powers I possessed—how I was able to dodge all his attacks—Dmitri was willing to back down.
Did I forgive him for the torture he inflicted on me?
No.
Every time I saw his face, my chest burned with anger. My anger toward Dmitri was even greater than toward the kidnappers.
Though the kidnappers had tortured me every day, they still hadn't attacked me with the intent to kill, unlike Livia's harem candidate.
'This isn't the time to think about that.'
I should be thinking about how to escape from this crystal cavern.
I was actually confident enough to escape from the crystal cavern.
By taking advantage of the commotion that was about to come, escaping from the cavern wouldn't be difficult... assuming I didn't get caught up in the chaos myself.
The real problem lay in Finsterer Forest.
Finsterer Forest had been famous for its illusion magic barrier.
Unless I were Livia, a user of dimensional magic, it would be impossible for me to leave Finsterer Forest.
If I didn't obtain a material called Cosnite, I would never be able to go to the outside world.
It was said that Wurm, the leader of the kidnappers, accidentally discovered Cosnite in this crystal cavern. Therefore, he was able to bring the kidnappers and abduct the slaves safely, moving in and out of the Finsterer Forest without issue.
Over the past three months, I had been trying to find Cosnite, especially when I was taken by the kidnappers on their routine demonic beast extermination missions.
Did I find it? Of course not.
Besides, Cosnite was the material that allowed the kidnappers to traverse the Finsterer Forest, so it's only natural that they would hide its existence.
***
As usual, I walked behind the kidnappers' group and slipped away from their surveillance when I got the chance.
'Lead me to where the valuable material is!'
Though I hadn't managed to find Cosnite yet, I was certain I was close to my destination.
I had been using my connection with insects to find Cosnite.
Sometimes I asked for help from scorpions.
Sometimes I asked for help from cave beetles, spiders, centipedes, and so on.
Different insects led me to different places.
Sometimes I was directed to their nests, their waste disposal sites, and other strange places.
This time, I asked for help from a firefly with a purple glow.
A crystal cavern with almost no ventilation like this wasn't a firefly's habitat, so it was possible that the firefly had been lost… or was it a special insect species of this world?
'Or is there another open area besides the small valley inside this crystal cavern?'
SKKRRTT!!
I suddenly stopped in my tracks, scraping the pebbles on the floor.
As I focused on following the firefly, I nearly fell into a hole.
"Do you want me to go in there?"
I couldn't communicate with the insects, including the firefly I was following, but somehow I knew the firefly wanted me to enter the hole.
The firefly I was following went in first and waited for me.
I dropped a pebble first to test the depth of the hole because all I could see from above was darkness.
"Deep enough…"
I made up my mind to go down even though I knew the hole was quite deep.
I descended slowly by crawling along the wall of the hole.
Thud!
My feet finally reached the bottom of the hole.
It took quite a long time until my hands went numb and I nearly fell several times while gripping the uneven rock protrusions, but I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled happily when I saw what was at the bottom of the hole.
'Who would have thought there was an open space beneath that narrow hole?'
Although the size of the field was very small, light from the sky was able to reach this place.
In the middle of the mini field were grasses and dense trees.
Meanwhile, in one corner of the small field…
'I finally found it!'