With the speed-sloth's claws neatly groomed, I went looking for Roundfur. But he was sleeping so soundly that I felt bad about waking him. Besides, he was still a cub, so his claws probably didn't need grooming yet.

'Now that I've done everything...'

I checked the time. It was four in the afternoon. Dinner would be coming up soon, so I could spend the time until then studying Sword Masta's posts. After some careful reading and practice, it would be time to eat.

'When will my fundamentals improve?'

The fight with the guardian had driven home just how much I depended on overpowered gear to stay alive. Without Heavenly Demon's sword, I could never have pierced its core.

I wasn't some swordsman out of a comic. I couldn't cut through rock with physical strength alone. But this was a fantasy world. Surely some people here could cut rock without mana, relying on their bodies alone? Curious, I posted on the forum.

Can you cut rock with a sword without mana?

Wild Grylls

Normally, you need mana to strengthen your body, right?

Does that mean without mana, everyone's basically an ordinary person?

An ordinary person can't cut rock or slice through metal with a sword, right?

└Heavenly Demon That depends on the circumstances. If your dantian is completely destroyed, you are no different from an ordinary person. As long as it remains intact, you can exert great strength even under normal conditions.

└Wild Grylls But you need the skill to go with it, right?

└Heavenly Demon Of course. Power without technique is bound to disperse. Technique helps you focus that power on a single point.

└Wild Grylls Does that mean you can do it, Heavenly Demon?

└Heavenly Demon Though I still have room to improve, I can cut an opponent with intent alone. This is called the mind sword.

└Sword Masta Ignore that martial-arts boomer's last remark. Anyway, beyond a certain level of mastery, your bare body is a weapon in itself, so it should be possible.

└Wild Grylls What's the threshold for that level?

└Sword Masta The stage where you can use an aura blade unconsciously? Mana affects your body to the point where even aging slows down.

└Wild Grylls Don't tell me that's swordmaster level?

└Sword Masta Not counting mass-produced swordmasters.

└What do you mean, mass-produced? lol A swordmaster's a swordmaster lmao

└This is all Ashe's fault. Because of that bastard, all the other swordmasters get called mass-produced lol

└People who shoulder an entire country's military might, called mass-produced lmao

└If they were mass-produced, every random nobody would've made it there...

└Wild Grylls Is it impossible with just the fundamentals?

└Heavenly Demon Given your talent, my honored friend, it is not impossible. But without a master to guide you, it will likely take time.

└Sword Masta Still, keep reading my posts and you'll be able to master the fundamentals. That I can guarantee.

└Wild Grylls So, in the end, getting stronger quickly is impossible.

└Heavenly Demon Not impossible. The more a martial artist fights, the stronger they become. You are in a land of death, my honored friend. Survive its perils, and you will reach that stage soon enough.

└Sword Masta Heavenly Demon, that sounds like you're telling him to die...

└Heavenly Demon A small change in wording makes all the difference. I have no doubt that my honored friend will survive to the very end.

└Wild Grylls Uh... I think you're cheering me on, so thank you.

└Don't Abandon the Hero There's another way to grow stronger quickly!

└Wild Grylls What's that?

└Don't Abandon the Hero Believe in the goddess! Aris, goddess of war and wisdom!

└Wild Grylls I don't like gods.

└Don't Abandon the Hero What?! Such blasphemy! Why do you dislike them?!

└Wild Grylls I was living a good life when my parents died in an accident. Then, while I was struggling tooth and nail to get by, I got dumped in the Forest of Four Seasons. Of course I want to curse them out.

└Go ahead and blaspheme, man...

└That's fucking sad. What kind of life is that lol

└Admin, are you a paladin by any chance?

└Don't Abandon the Hero Something like that! Though I was kicked out over a little misunderstanding!

Gods, huh. The admin's words sent me into thought. I didn't follow any particular religion, but that didn't make me an atheist. Even before I was abruptly dumped in the Forest of Four Seasons, I'd tended to believe gods existed.

That way, I could swear at them to my heart's content.

Better to hate a god than another person, wasn't it? And if they punished me for swearing? I'd curse them even more for being so petty.

'People bad-mouth their rulers when nobody's watching, too.'

I believed in gods so I could hate them. A bit ironic. Still, that attitude kept me fighting to get by, so it wasn't all bad.

'Is training my only option for now?'

My mana felt like it kept increasing, but I couldn't even get a feel for the aura blade. If anything, I had so much mana that it was difficult to manage. That was probably because I came from Earth. If my origins were different, shouldn't my training method be different too?

Sensing mana in the first place had been nothing short of a miracle.

'... This is going to take a long time.'

I needed to get stronger to escape the Forest of Four Seasons. To become strong enough, I would at least need to know how to use an aura blade. And learning to use one might take a long time.

That meant I had to prepare to live in the Forest of Four Seasons for quite a while.

'As long as I get out eventually.'

With that resolve, I closed the forum. The admin seemed to be going on at me about something, but I blithely ignored it. No blasphemy, no cursing the gods no matter how hard life got, and so on. Apparently a devout believer. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up.

'It's not like gods put food on my table.'

Besides, there were far more important things in the world to worry about than gods. Oh, not that I was disparaging religious people. Nobody impressed me more than genuinely devout believers. Why would I insult people who embodied self-sacrifice?

'It's not people I hate.'

My parents had been good people, and everyone helping me was a good person too. I'd run into the occasional bastard, but I wasn't the type to just take it lying down.

'When I think about it, this forum is pretty amazing too.'

I knew all too well how vile people could become under the cover of anonymity. Where I came from, people could kill with a pen instead of a weapon. By comparison, the forum might be teeming with desires, but there weren't many personal attacks.

The occasional bizarre dwarf lady picture did pop up, but the other races just scrolled past. Only the dwarves reacted. The same went for beastfolk. With tastes that radically different, you could only chalk it up to personal preference.

'I want to go home.'

I glanced at the cave wall. Tomorrow would already be day ten. Time had flown by, though it didn't feel like I'd accomplished much. I'd barely explored anything, and the occasional animal attack only added to the headache.

'Where should I go tomorrow?'

I looked to the side, where a rough map I'd drawn occupied a large sheet of white paper. The river that was practically my lifeline, the lake it fed into, the mature mandrake colony, the mushroom cave, the orichalcum cave, and so on.

Looking at it like this, I'd been to quite a few places. Though I'd stumbled on one while looking for Roundfur after he ran off.

'Following the river downstream just leads to the lake. I should establish a starting point.'

I studied the map, thinking. It was time to put more thought into my explorations. If I was going to be here a long time, I ought to explore thoroughly, putting up markers along the way so I wouldn't get lost.

Circling the lake was out of the question. If a giant crab popped up, I'd die.

'Or should I follow the river upstream?'

Not a bad option. There was no rule saying a river had to be a single channel. Even if this was its upper reaches, it might fork in two somewhere along the way. No, it could split into several branches.

'I should find out what's at each end of the river.'

Downstream was the lake, but I didn't know what lay upstream. Better to settle on a definite route than wander aimlessly.

After roughly planning out tomorrow, I checked the time. It was nearly five already. I should head to the river soon and see whether I'd caught any fish.

"I'll be back in a bit."

"..."

I told the speed-sloth and stepped outside the cave, putting up the iron fence just in case. Then, fully armed, I headed for the river. The otter pack had shown up just this lunchtime, so I needed to stay alert.

SPLASH! SPLASH!

"What? Three?"

When I checked the trap, I found no fewer than three fish inside. One golden fish and two red ones. How had it caught this many in such a short time?

'No reason to complain.'

The more food, the better. Humming, I hauled up the trap, keeping an eye on my surroundings in case something attacked. It hadn't been long since the otters died. Something might have followed the smell of blood here.

'Let's run back.'

Once I'd retrieved the trap, I hurried back to the cave. I even used mana, afraid something might chase me. Back home, I put the fish in the metal drum. With three of them, that alone filled it up.

'I can eat one for breakfast tomorrow.'

If only every day could be like this... No. What did I mean, every day? Getting out of here as soon as possible came first. No weird thoughts. I shook my head vigorously.

'Until I escape.'

Yes. That was the right attitude.

I went back up to the river to set the trap, then began preparing dinner. Roundfur, who'd been napping, crept out as though he'd realized dinnertime was approaching. Watching him approach with those sleepy eyes was adorable. Just seeing him soothed my soul.

SIZZLE!

I gave one cleaned fish to Roundfur and cooked the other as usual. A little salt, and a delicious fish dish was ready!

No matter how often I ate it, I never got tired of the taste. It felt more like eating premium beef than fish.

'Why does this taste better than the tiger meat?'

Maybe it was because I'd smoked the tiger meat.

With dinner out of the way, I practiced my cultivation method. I didn't forget to take Allfather's medicine, either.

"Who's a good boy? Roundfur, try catching this."

"Kyuuu! Kyuu!"

Once everything was done, I played with Roundfur. I simply tied some cloth to a stick and waved it around. I'd occasionally seen cat owners playing with their cats this way on YouTube. Roundfur wasn't a cat, but I'd heard it could help develop hunting skills.

THUD!

"Kyaa!"

"Oof!"

Well, we occasionally had little accidents where we bumped into each other, but I could handle it. He was still a small cub, after all. Bigger than when we'd first met, but a cub nonetheless.

"Kyuuu! Kyuu!"

"Heehee."

I hugged Roundfur and nuzzled him before gently letting him go. I was starting to understand why people kept pets. Doing this made the loneliness fade, if only a little.

'Wonder what the forum's up to.'

It was starting to get dark outside. I logged onto the forum. As always, it was overflowing with all sorts of shitposts. Nowhere else felt quite so full of people. There were a few oddballs, but I let that slide.

'What do these people do in real life?'

The question suddenly struck me, especially regarding the registered users I'd gotten to know. Most of them were anything but ordinary. Even Heavenly Demon, who got mocked as a martial-arts boomer, struck me as a proper elder. A very important one, at that.

'They're good people.'

Of course, I was only curious. I had no intention of prying. Their help alone was already a kindness I owed them for.

Day nine done!

Wild Grylls

(Photo of the campfire)

An especially rough day nine is over! Day ten starts tomorrow!

See you tomorrow!

└Heavenly Demon Rest well. I am always cheering you on.

└Sword Masta You had an especially hard time today. Hang in there.

└Starlight Lady You can do it! I hope you don't break my record!

└Pretty sure he's going to, though?

└No point counting. He's never getting out anyway lol

└Starlight Lady You people really are trash. ^^

└Let's Grow Trees Thank you for the core today! It's made my work so much easier!

└Wild Grylls Glad to hear it. I'm getting good use out of your gifts too, Let's Grow Trees.

└Let's Grow Trees What do you think of Alvenheim's pride and joy?

└Wild Grylls Do all elves smoke, by any chance?

└Let's Grow Trees Oh. Right.

└Lmaoooo

└What do you mean, oh right? lmao

└Must've forgotten about giving him tobacco lol

└Hey, knife-ear. Do you smoke too?

└Let's Grow Trees No! I use it as a scented candle.

└That's weird in its own way...

└Who the hell uses tobacco as a scented candle?

Let's Grow Trees was an odd one too. What on earth required that core? Still, it had been a good trade for me. I'd gotten rid of something I had no use for.

'Let's head upstream tomorrow.'

There was still some time before bed, so I practiced my cultivation method. Heavenly Demon had said she wanted to teach me the next formulas, but I needed to build up my foundations first. I wasn't sure what counted as a foundation, but she'd said it would take at least two weeks.

'I can start eating the inner cores then.'

About four days left. Quietly closing my eyes, I began circulating my qi and regulating my breathing. I could vividly feel the mana flowing through my body. Strangely, with each passing day, there seemed to be more of it, circulating faster.

'Is it because of the fish?'

Maybe it was because I ate fish containing inner cores every day. No, every meal. Still, I could control it. If I couldn't even do that, my body would have burst long ago.

Undisturbed by my surroundings, I sank into concentration little by little, ever so slowly.

And the next day.

SHHHHHHH!

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

I cursed at the torrential rain.