The craftsmanship of the ancestors truly must never be lost.
Shane sat on a rock, continuously rubbing the fresh tender branches he had just snapped off. He peeled strips of bark from them to use as rope, then began tying together several broad leaves in front of him.
He was making himself a simple set of "clothes."
Earlier, inside that [Treasure Vault], after he Extracted the magic attribute [One Against Three], the enormous magic circle on the floor erupted with a blinding white light and directly teleported him into this unfamiliar forest.
The beastly howls and strange bird cries echoing around him from ti to ti had left him extrely tense.
Still, things were not at their absolute worst.
At least he hadn't landed in the middle of a crowded marketplace. Dying was preferable to dying from embarrassnt.
Snort, snort.
Shane rubbed his face. 'What nonsense am I even thinking about? Pull yourself together and find a way out already.'
At the very least, he had to confirm whether he was still in Frieren's world. If he'd sohow gotten thrown into another isekai altogether, that would be way too chaotic.
He glanced at the position of the sun and started heading south.
Along the way, he passed by a stream. After noticing fish swimming inside—and rather large ones at that—he decisively changed direction and began following the stream downstream.
Rivers capable of supporting fish and shrimp were usually permanent waterways with stable water sources. That also ant there would almost certainly be towns or villages farther downstream.
"Ahhh—!"
As he walked, a girl's scream suddenly rang out ahead of him.
Soone was there!
Boom!
A loud magical explosion followed imdiately after.
Shane grabbed a nearby tree branch and sprinted toward the source of the sound.
Soone—and a mage at that! Was it Frieren or Fern? But... the voice didn't sound quite right...
"Damn it, you sneaky—!"
Very quickly, the owner of the voice appeared before him.
She was a short-haired girl dressed in a high-collared white long coat cinched at the waist, layered over a dark green knee-length dress, with a purple cloak draped over her shoulders.
Looking at her appearance, Shane vaguely felt like he had seen her sowhere before, but he couldn't rember where.
However, her opponents imdiately lit up his eyes.
Three [Gargoyles]!
The very [Gargoyles] that could drop weapons and equipnt after being killed—exactly what he needed right now!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the heat of battle, the girl turned the small stones floating around her into magic missiles, firing them at the charging Gargoyles. Her offensive was fierce and her technique refined; she was clearly an excellent mage.
Unfortunately, the [Gargoyles] possessed natural magic resistance. The projectiles hitting them barely did any damage at all.
"Ahhh—!"
The girl lost focus for a mont and was tackled to the ground by one of the [Gargoyles]. She desperately braced her staff in front of herself to block its sharp fangs.
The situation looked extrely bad.
Shane tightened his grip on the long branch in his hand and activated [Dual Blade Style · Shadow Kill], instantly appearing beside the girl.
Slash.
The long branch stabbed directly into the side of the [Gargoyle]. Shane twisted his arm and forcefully flipped it away.
At the sa ti, [Dual Blade Style · Ominous Change] activated. He chased after the [Gargoyle] with a barrage of piercing strikes, forcibly driving it back several ters. Due to the armor-piercing effect of [Ominous Change], the pierced [Gargoyle]'s magic resistance dropped drastically.
"Attack the one in front of !"
Shane didn't have ti to explain and quickly shouted a reminder to the girl behind him.
Without sword-related attributes supporting him, his damage output was lacking. Slowly stabbing a monster to death one hit at a ti took far too long and consud a lot of effort.
The girl was extrely clever. Before Shane had even finished speaking, her magic had already been cast.
A large pile of pebbles beneath her feet instantly floated into the air, streaking through the sky like teor showers as they shot toward the [Gargoyle] being suppressed by Shane.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The pebbles easily pierced through the [Gargoyle]'s skull and torso, riddling it with holes.
Crash!
The sieve-like [Gargoyle] shattered into a pile of stone fragnts. Without hesitation, Shane flicked the branch in his hand, activated [Shadow Kill], and charged toward the next one.
anwhile, those shattered stone fragnts conveniently beca fresh ammunition for the girl's next round of magic.
Just like that, through the cooperation between the two of them, all three [Gargoyles] were successively smashed apart.
Shane glanced around. No [junk] had dropped at all. Sigh, looks like these three [Gargoyles] were pretty "poor"...
What a sha.
"This... um, primitive man, thank you for your help," the girl politely said in gratitude.
Primitive man?
Shane was speechless.
But after looking at the neat and proper uniform she was wearing, then lowering his head to look at his grass skirt and giant leaf shirt... well...
"Hello, my na is Shane. I'm an adventurer. Due to... certain accidents, I had no choice but to dress like this."
"My na is Ehre. As you can see, I'm a mage." At this point, Ehre hesitated slightly. "If you don't mind, I do have a spare set of clothes here. Though they belonged to my grandfather, so the style is rather old-fashioned..."
"I don't mind at all!"
After changing into the spare clothes Ehre gave him, Shane finally felt a bit safer.
The outfit had a style sowhat similar to what Ehre herself wore. It belonged to the sa formal and uniform-like aesthetic, and was even a little handso.
Shane was very satisfied.
Afterward, the two traveled together and briefly exchanged information about their situations.
From Ehre, Shane learned that this forest lay on the outskirts of the Graf Granat's Domain.
"So you're here with an academy expedition team?"
"Mm. According to the records in 'History of Continental Magic,' there is an ancient ruin nearby—the remains of the very first magic academy in recorded history. It once offered more than a dozen cultivation systems, including mage, warrior, swordsman, thief, priest, sage, and others. It was the founder of the entire cultivation system across the continent for the following thousands of years, making it an incredibly aningful place to visit."
"Unfortunately, our expedition team has searched here for an entire month without finding the exact location."
"We're returning tomorrow, and I couldn't accept it, so I secretly snuck out to try one last ti. I never expected..."
Sages?
Shane imdiately caught the keyword.
Moreover, he glanced at the rubble left behind by the [Gargoyles]. The last ti he encountered this kind of monster, Frieren had ntioned that they loved staying in ruins like churches or underground chambers.
If they appeared here, then there had to be ruins nearby.
"Can you explain things in more detail? I'm actually pretty talented when it cos to [finding paths]."
Hearing Shane's words, Ehre pulled out a map from her waist, unfolded it, and handed it over.
Ehre's map was extrely detailed. Every fork in the road had been carefully and systematically marked.
Her handwriting was just like her personality—neat and elegant.
Shane gave it a rough look over. Following this map, even a complete beginner adventurer could reach the destination. However... the records in the history books were simply too ancient. Many of the landscapes had already changed.
The real difficulty of locating the place was extrely high.
Shane casually snapped off a forked branch from a nearby bush.
At tis like this, the power of knowledge naturally couldn't compare to the mysterious power of the East.
He walked to a fork in the road that differed from the one marked on the map, stopped, and tossed the little branch upward with force. The branch spun through the air several tis before smacking onto the ground.
The forked end pointed toward one particular direction.
"Let's go."
Shane waved for Ehre to follow.
"..."
Ehre stared at his actions with utter disbelief.
User Comments
0 comments from readers