WebNovels

Chapter 5 - 2

The forest was large. Immense.

I had been walking through it for a long time, probably hours.

The sun was still as strong as ever, making me think that when I woke up the sun had just risen. So it was very, very early.

'This forest only has vegetation and no animals so far. Was I sent to an empty world?'

[From what I analyzed, you were sent to a specific spot in the forest that was completely empty. For whatever reason. But the world itself is full of living beings in general.]

'And do you, by any chance, know where they are?'

[No.]

I thought to myself.

All I could do was walk and walk…

'Is there a new task? After all, I completed Task 0.'

[Let me check for a moment.]

[…]

[Yes, a new task has been generated.]

[Task 1: Find another living being.]

[Reward: 1 Bronze Ticket.]

'Good. It may be the lowest rarity but at least it's some guidance for what to do, better than walking aimlessly.'

With a sigh, I kept walking.

I wasn't chopping down trees or trying to craft tools; I honestly had zero experience with that kind of thing.

What if I got injured? Cut myself on something filthy? Or worse, leave signs that I'd been here and end up in a super dangerous part of the forest?

Sure, wandering lost in a forest wasn't the best option, but it was definitely better than trying to make something here.

I didn't even have water nearby. If I were still human I'd probably have died of thirst.

Now that I think about it… it'd be great to have survival lessons.

'System, can I die from random filth getting into a wound? Has my bodily regeneration changed? I forgot to ask before—could my body change or something like that?'

[Yes, your body is capable of change. And no, you don't die from random dirt. At least I believe not. I only know a little about your species, because that's what I analyzed from you. All remaining information beyond the basics was properly protected by your own species, almost as if your race had awareness.]

[A strange event, but it is what it is. Your regeneration should be better than a human's, but I don't recommend testing it yet.]

Duly noted.

After what felt like hours of walking, almost tripping and getting bored, I finally heard something.

'!'

I crouched instinctively and hid behind one of the trees. The sound came from ahead, several meters away. My hearing, much better than a normal human's, was the reason I was able to pick up some basic information.

'I could just take a leap of faith and go right to where I heard the sound, but…'

My past experience refused to let me do that. I was a little paranoid.

So I used my enhanced hearing and vision to move as delicately as possible toward the sound.

I had some practice with this thanks to all the times I had to flee from aberrations during that apocalypse, so… point for me!

The closer I got, the more I could hear. It sounded like someone, or something, speaking. Or at least making noise.

Finally I saw what was making the noise, and that sight made me freeze immediately.

Not from fear, but caution. A lot of caution.

'What the hell is that?'

What I was seeing wasn't any animal I knew.

It was a yellow humanoid figure, turned away from me. In front of the figure there were several bodies, the grass soaked with blood and organs scattered around.

The yellow figure had slightly pointed ears, also covered in blood. In one hand it held a small string tied to a huge coin on the ground.

'Isn't that the Japanese coin? Yen?'

"Hip…"

"Delicious…"

A sound of satisfaction came from the creature's mouth as it crushed what I guessed was a bone, and judging by the bone's size… it didn't seem to be from an adult.

[Task 01 Completed.]

[Bronze Ticket reward generated successfully.]

[Task 02: Defeat or flee from the strange creature.]

[Reward: Gold Ticket (if defeated)/Silver Ticket (if fled), Information (if defeated).]

Information…

Fortunately the creature seemed too focused on its food to notice me.

'So you refuse to give me the information? Or is there something else behind this?'

[I don't have the information with me. It will be generated when you kill the creature, because I will use its soul to process the information and generate the reward. And before you say anything: you can refuse your rewards, such as information, if you think your target doesn't deserve their soul or anything else being done with them.]

'…Alright.' I nodded inwardly.

This thing had already killed; it had taken a life. It didn't seem remorseful at all; it moaned with pleasure and muttered praise about the taste of the meat.

It was not innocent. Regardless of whether it was eating a human or something else.

So it was simply the law of nature now: if you kill, prepare to be killed. There's no reason to hesitate or feel pity. Not with so little information and so much at stake.

'Spin the Bronze Ticket. Fast.'

[Bronze Ticket used.]

[Blue Moon]

[Type: Item]

[Rarity: Common]

[Universe: Terraria]

[A flail retrieved from a cursed dungeon. It is made of incredibly durable material and the chain can stretch up to 50 meters long.]

'Bad+Good Luck... excellent.'

I got a weapon, an enormous stroke of luck! The problem? I cannot use the weapon in the original way, so no damaging it with offensive attacks.

'In that case I'll improvise.'

I took a deep breath, planted my feet, and then sprinted toward the creature.

'My senses didn't tell me to flee, so it's not much stronger than me. At most, at the same level… or my senses disappeared. That would suck.'

I clenched my fists and punched the back of the yellow creature.

My fist sank into the creature's flesh considerably, pushing it forward.

"HyPnO!!??"

The creature roared in pain as it slid across the bloody ground, dropping a leg that I was now sure belonged to a child. Apparently human.

'Tch. A human-eating monster, excellent.'

PATPATPAT

The yellow creature got up and looked at me, slapping its own body to remove dirt, but blood remained all over it.

[…]

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the monster's ugly face.

A big nose, wide ears, black empty eyes. The mouth was crooked and slightly open, with no visible teeth—just darkness.

Its expression was twisted, as if angry. Which was fair, considering I had just punched it.

"You're ugly, buddy. Eating human flesh isn't good for your looks." I taunted, hoping it would understand human speech instead of just repeating it.

And…

"Y-oU!!"

It seemed to work. The monster responded with a distorted voice, stomping the ground and charging at me.

Definitely superhuman, a bit faster than me.

'What massive bad luck.'

I slid my foot on the bloody grass, taking advantage of the slippery terrain, and lowered my stance. I extended my hands and the Blue Moon appeared.

A blue flail, with a pretty appearance. I gripped the spiked ball with one hand and threw the handle—the part you normally hold—forward.

The yellow monster seemed surprised but dodged with a simple sideways leap as it reached me.

I moved past its leg, avoiding a clumsy kick. Its long yellow arms dug into the bloody ground.

As I passed the creature, I grabbed the base of the flail that was returning to me because the chain had stretched, and pulled the entire extended rope toward me.

The rope… metallic? Apparently it hit the feet of the monster, which was lifting its fist from the bloody ground, and came toward me, tripping the monster and knocking it to the ground.

"Its weight is distributed in the worst way possible, either it's inexperienced or a crazed creature. This body is literally built to crush things…"

I clenched my eyes as I ran to the fallen monster and holstered the flail. Then, bringing my hands together like a hammer, I smashed the creature's head into the ground.

CRACK

Its nose bent, making it cry out in pain as it tried to get up.

But I didn't let it. I put my weight on it, abusing its inexperience, while my legs circled its body.

'Please don't have anything ridiculous and just be a powerful little monster.'

While I prayed internally, I clenched my fist and punched the monster's head again.

And again. And again. And again.

I didn't stop soon, not even when the back of its head turned purple, or when its limbs began to tremble.

Then, after what I'm sure was more than thirty punches, the monster stopped moving.

'Finally.'

I breathed deeply, sat on the creature's dirty back, and stretched my torso back, picking up a bone from the ground. Now that I didn't have to focus 100 percent on keeping it down, I could finally grab something.

With that bone, I held it with both hands and kept bashing the monster's head.

I refused to believe it was down for good. Even if it was, it didn't hurt to make sure it wouldn't get up.

So I hit it again. And again….and again.

After what felt like several minutes, I took a deep breath and stood up. The back of its head was now a cracked skull with pieces of flesh scattered about.

"A terrible first impression this world gave me."

Grumpy, I stretched my back, cracking a few joints.

[You completed Task 02.]

[You acquired a Gold Ticket.]

[Processing the soul and converting it into information, please wait a moment.]

[…]

[Process complete. Would you like to view the information now?]

"Yes. Please."

I needed to know as soon as possible what I was dealing with.

[Information: The yellow creature you killed was called "HYPNO." It belongs to a species called "Pokémon." This world is originally a good world. Dangerous, but excellent. Humans and Pokémon, a monster species, live together in harmony, being used for battles, construction, purely friendship, leisure, etc.

This HYPNO is a small fraction of a larger HYPNO that fed and devoured hundreds, if not thousands, of souls, becoming a complete aberration. Apparently this world began to experience excessively violent and dangerous events out of nowhere.]

[With this information acquired, I have an idea of what happened to this world.]

And what happened? Because honestly… this piece of information helped, but it raised even more doubts.

[Pokémon is the predominant species of this planet, just like humans were on your planet. And just as humans can be black, white, brown, with many looks and tastes, Pokémon are varied species as well.]

[HYPNO is only one of the thousands of Pokémon species. This world is originally a franchise cartoon in various other alternate worlds of your original world.]

[It happens that like any other world, this one was affected by a kind of corruption. And the god of this world did not bother to stop it, for whatever reason.]

[Now, events from alternate and obscure versions of this Pokémon world will begin to occur everywhere. In other words: an event that in an alternate world was just a scary little story, or a story with questionable purposes, will start to appear and happen here.]

Your explanation was strange, but I think I understand.

"So it's similar to what people did with movies on my planet? There's the original story and then fan-made versions: fan games, fanfics, etc."

[Correct.]

You could've just said that, you know?

[You weren't someone who used to read fanfics or watch movies, so I wasn't sure you'd understand.]

Good point.

But now I have an idea of how things will go.

Breathing in, I clenched my fists as I looked at the blood on the grass, the pieces of humans and bones, and the dead Hypno's body.

"I'm going to need to get a lot stronger, right?"

[If you want to protect your stupid and dangerous ideal? Yes.]

Excellent. Then I have to start working as soon as possible.

The longer I wait, the higher the chances something goes wrong.

END

JOURNAL, DAY 01

Strange things happened; maybe I'm still in the same day? Or maybe not. Honestly, I'm confused.

I found out I'm in a positive, theoretically happy world, but that same world is being corrupted by something bad, due to actions of something I don't know. I don't even know what it could be.

And… well, I took this personally. I refuse to let this world become what my world became; I'll do my best to protect it. Now that I have the capacity to grow stronger, to prepare, maybe things will be different.

And I discovered I don't need to poop. What a relief :D

END

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