Ahh, the feeling of walking through a clean forest was the best. Going into a local park in a city couldn’t compare. Not to mention how light on my feet I felt because of the not-true form. It felt like I was an actual fox running around nature, having fun.

Yes, I was distracting myself.

I had too many questions about myself, the world, the devs, Elyssa, and so on. But I couldn’t focus on everything, I had to take one step at a time. For now, I simply enjoyed the peace of the moment.

My destination was Redaghoul, the nearest city. The one where you initially start the quest to eventually gain access to the Golden Woods. A bit ironic that I would be going backward.

Naturally, to avoid attention, I stayed in the untraversable forest rather than traveling on the road like a normal person. But honestly, I didn’t mind it. I simply relaxed my mind and enjoyed the nature on the way.

With that said, the trip didn’t take long. Actually, the distance between cities and other settlements was minuscule compared to Earth. It didn’t make much sense. Especially considering you could even teleport between them. In the real world, traveling to a distant destination could take hours or even days, but here, you could get anywhere in the world within minutes.

It felt… designed. The devs didn’t want the players getting bored of having to travel for hours all the time, so they made traveling quick and simple.

…

Or maybe I was just overthinking it. This was a fantasy world, so perhaps this world’s culture was just different from Earth.

Coming out of the forest, I glanced at the eastern gate, the only entrance to the Golden Woods for players. Even though you might think of going around and entering the forest from another direction, everything was blocked by an invisible wall. But those didn’t affect me. I could just waltz past and ignore the city entirely.

Well, the announcement boards were only in cities, so if I wanted to enact my plan of contacting the devs, I had to enter one at some point. Not to mention, I just wanted to wander around a medieval fantasy city and have fun… But that would also mean risking a player randomly checking my status and freaking out like the trio from the forest.

I sighed.

For the time being, I decided to shelve the plans of entering the city and walked along the forest’s edge, where there was supposed to be the invisible wall. As expected, nothing blocked me, and I eventually managed to circle around to the southern gate of the city. Unlike the eastern one, there were a couple of players entering and exiting the city through here. Most of them probably didn’t have teleport items yet.

With that said, waltzing in from out of bounds was probably a bit too suspicious, so I decided to continue going along the edge of the woods. It led me exactly where I wanted to go anyway. A low-level area called Trevor’s Hillside.

A couple of hills, some bushes with collectible berries, and one hill bigger than the others with a stone formation resembling a face wedged into it. They called the face Trevor and this was his hillside, apparently.

Weird naming sense aside, this area was perfect for low-level players, since the ground here had restorative properties. You automatically regenerated health, and any damage you did to the environment would gradually revert. It was the perfect testing area for me.

I stayed behind a tree, peeking out to look for anyone wandering nearby, but when I didn’t see or hear anyone, I walked out into the Hillside. As soon as I stepped into it, I could feel myself relax thanks to the regen aura of the place.

“Alright!”

Finally, the highlight of the day. Using magic.

I lifted up the staff I had been dragging with me since the beginning and began to inspect it. Truth be told, I had no idea how to actually use it. In the game, everything was automatic once you equipped a magical item.

“So… how…”

I fiddled with it, cemented the image of a magic blast in my head, then tried jabbing it forward, slashing it in all directions, and otherwise waving it around, but nothing I did bore any results.

I felt like an idiot. I had been so excited to use magic and I couldn’t do it.

Then I remembered the dream I’d had yesterday. I had been using a katana in that dream, dashing around with incredible skill. And also, most notably, not using any magic whatsoever.

“Ugh…”

Was it impossible, after all? Had all my dreams been crushed already? Sure, the true form of my player character gutted my ability to use staves and bows in exchange for agility, and mastery of the sword. But even then, I could use staves if I wanted to. It just wasn’t very effective.

Well, I didn’t know if this form of mine was the same as the game’s, but…

…

I could always… transform back… and try it in my original form.

I took a deep breath and then exhaled.

“For magic. Yeah. Not a big deal.”

I turned back.

Discomfort immediately assaulted every atom of my body. Instincts screamed at me to turn back right this instant, but I endured it and gripped my staff again.

“Now, will you work?!”

I jabbed the thing forward, still thinking of a magical blast, and unlike last time, it actually worked. A glowing mass of magical energy fired off from the orb at the tip and flew in an awkward arc before smashing into a hill.

“Ooooh!” I smiled despite myself. “Okay, so…”

I swung the staff again, releasing another drunken magic bolt, impaling a nearby boulder. I did the same thing again and again, trying to get used to the feeling of using it. Several consecutive casts later, I noticed the orb on the staff dimming. The sign that the spell was on cooldown now.

“Alright. I think I got it,” I whispered to myself.

With that, I used the true form skill to transform myself into the not-true form again. I let out a sigh of relief once I was back. It truly felt better this way… even though it wasn’t my true true form. Part of me didn’t even want to care what my actual true form was like. I was content with this.

Putting that aside, I sat on the ground and waited for the staff to recharge. In the meantime, I checked my surroundings again to see… nobody. Not even monsters, now that I thought about it. Had I scared them away with my maniacal blasting? Probably.

I put down my bag and pulled out my water bottle. As I did that, I noticed the sheathed dagger I’d packed into it.

Well, the staff wouldn’t take too long to cool down, but since I was waiting, I might as well try my capabilities with melee weapons.

I hydrated myself, put the bottle back, pulled out the dagger, and put the bag on again. I didn’t really know how to tell whether I was now a master swordsman. Looking at the blade didn’t enlighten me or wake up some inner knowledge or anything. It was just a dagger. Nothing special about it.

I shrugged and grabbed the staff again, which had finished recharging at some point.

Just like before, I tried to replicate exactly what I’d done before. Focusing on the image, shoving the staff forward, and…!

A bolt fired off, immediately turned right, then jerked up, flew in a zig-zaggy arc, and returned straight to where I was.

“Aaaah?!”

I managed to dodge out of the way as it obliterated the grass I had just been standing on.

I stared at the result.

…

“Magic is dead.”

I decided to put off using magic for now.

BottledChaos

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