Chapter 1: In Dire Straits

Scorching rays of sunlight filtered through the cloud cover and onto the treetops of the border forests of Aleisterre.

At the peak of summer, the sunlight was so intense that even the dense foliage of a forest of black oak was unable to block it all out. Despite the fact that the trees were tens of meters tall, the entire forest was fully illuminated down to the undergrowth.

Fresh blood speckled the bark of several trees, the ghastly evidence of a horrifying crime.

Corpses with unfocused, wide-open eyes were scattered about the base of the trees, their clothing tattered.

None of them were wearing any armor, or even a helmet. All they had were rough flaxen clothing around which a few lengths of rope had been coiled and tied for protection.

A few of the corpses had one or two pieces of metal armor with which they might be able to deflect lethal blows—but considering their current state, it was obvious these pieces of armor hadn't served their purpose.

Most of these people had been killed by a blade across the throat. An unlucky few had their heads split wide open.

The perpetrators behind this horrendous crime were a duo—knight and squire—now surrounded by a group of ferocious-looking bandits in the forest.

𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The old knight was wearing a full suit of armor and had a stern, stoic look on his weathered face.

His grizzled hair and beard looked like the silver-white fur of a wolf, lending him a dignified and stately air.

At the moment, while his squire provided him cover from the side, he was thrusting his gleaming longsword into the chest of a bandit attacking him from behind.

Blood sprayed, followed by a shrill scream that abruptly cut off.

The squire's upper body was bare, and he had cuts and abrasions all across his hulking muscles.

He held a shield with his left hand and a short axe in his right; his knees were slightly bent and he was poised to strike at any moment. Blood and smears of gray matter dripped down the head of his axe; there was no doubt who was responsible for the sorry state of the corpses all around them.

The black-haired, black-eyed squire and the silver-haired, blue-eyed knight made for an unlikely combination, but compared to the impossibility of transmigration into another world, it hardly seemed worth mentioning.

The squire's name was Wang Yu. On careful recollection, he would find that it had been over a year since he appeared in this strange new world.

He had woken up in a forest lush beyond imagination.

The strange, unfamiliar world left Wang Yu perplexed and confused.

The first surprise he came across was a starving wolf. As he sat upright and tried to determine what had happened to him, the wolf leapt straight for him.

Wang Yu, pinned down by the wolf's bulk, was forced to strain against the wolf's jaw to avoid it crunching down on his neck.

Man and wolf struggled against each other for an interminable period. In the end, before the wolf could kill an exhausted Wang Yu, an old knight, Reynard, had come across them both and ended the wolf's life with a swift cut.

By then, Wang Yu was bleeding all over. His palms and wrists were bleeding profusely where the wolf's canines had nicked him. Some of the wounds had even exposed bone.

The old knight thought that the unlucky fellow he had encountered would quickly die of blood loss, but as a wandering knight, he was honorbound to lend assistance to those in need. He bandaged up the foreign black-haired young man, strapped him to his horse, and left the forest with him in tow. The rest was up to fate.

Miraculously, despite the blood loss and unavoidable infection, the young man ultimately made it out alive.

The old knight Reynard was astounded by Wang Yu's stubborn determination not to die and casually chose to take him on as his squire. They had been on the road together ever since.

When he first arrived in the world, Wang Yu didn't even know the language that was spoken here.

He attempted to communicate with Reynard in Chinese, only to have the old knight look at him as if he were a barbarian from the snowy plains of the far north.

Fortunately, Wang Yu's appearance was clearly human in origin—he didn't have a demon's horns or an elf's ears or anything unusual of the sort.

When Reynard realized that he shared no common language with this stranger he had picked up, he began teaching Wang Yu his language with a commendable amount of patience.

Wang Yu had never been particularly intelligent or good at studying, and the process took him an incredible amount of effort.

Fortunately, if Wang Yu had any talents of his own, they lay in his dogged perseverance and will. After eight months of intense studying and forced assimilation, he was finally able to converse with others to some degree using the common language Reynard had taught him.

Before Wang Yu transmigrated, he was an ordinary man in his twenties, of middling appearance.

On a scale of 1 to 100, with an average passerby on the streets being a 50, Wang Yu might be, say, a 55.

He wasn't particularly intelligent, and had always been more or less average in most respects.

His strengths lay in his above-average constitution and willpower. Upon transmigration, he found that his body was like a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old's, with the aches and discomforts that came from his studies and work environment vanishing without a trace. Even his near-sightedness seemed to have been rectified.

This was the principal reason he hadn't died despite his sudden run-in with the emaciated wolf right upon his transmigration.

His body seemed to be absorbing some nutrient, some vital component, unique to this foreign world, endowing him with what might well have been termed a superpower back on Earth. Wang Yu's constitution was growing stronger bit by bit just from existing in this world.

Compared to Earth, the humans of this alternate world were far more developed physically; Wang Yu's physique, which would have been above average back on Earth, was below average here.

Over the past year, however, he had steadily grown stronger from passive environmental absorption, and was quickly trending toward the average. A side effect of the transmigration was that his regenerative abilities were exceptional—before his body stopped acclimating, at any rate. He had this to thank for surviving his initial encounter with the wolf.

In addition, it was of tremendous value as far as his knight training was concerned.

In just a year, Wang Yu's physique had grown by leaps and bounds.

By Earth standards, if an average person was roughly at 0.5x that of peak human strength, Wang Yu would be around 0.8x.

He termed this period of growth and adaptability a "growth spurt," and he expected it to continue for roughly another year.

Though he called himself a wandering knight, what he did on a daily basis was rather down-to-earth. He caught wild beasts, chased after convicts, protected merchant caravans—all sorts of odd jobs.

He had a little experience with everything, and his wilderness survival skills were top-notch.

Wang Yu once asked Reynard, who had been an advanced knight-in-training relative to the region, why he had chosen to become a wandering knight in the first place—but the old knight had only shaken his head instead of giving a proper answer.

Because of his superb regeneration, Wang Yu didn't really mind taking wounds.

He was more than happy to serve as Reynard's shield, blocking enemies' attacks in combat and providing a safe environment within which Reynard could fight.

The squire and knight had grown accustomed to fighting alongside each other over the course of a year, and had become akin to brothers-in-arms.

Over the course of the past year, Wang Yu and the old knight Reynard had accepted a large number of requests and accumulated considerable experience.

This time, they were taking on the duty of clearing out a group of bandits for a nearby village. To their shock, when they arrived at the village to accept the request, they found themselves waylaid by the villagers and bandits in tandem.

The villagers had posted a request to lure unsuspecting wanderers into the region, whereupon the bandits would kill them and steal their valuables.

He didn't know how the villagers and bandits split the loot, but the villagers must have earned quite a bit from their dishonorable actions.

The kind, lawful knight loathed such behavior and the reprehensible people behind it.

Once again, he raised his longsword up high and thrust it into the throat of a bandit rushing toward him in ragtag armor. The bandit fell to the ground, a huge spray of blood emerging from his throat.

The old knight wiped at the beads of sweat and blood on his face with the back of his hand, murmuring to Wang Yu, "Prepare to break out of the encirclement. The guild will deal with them later."

Wang Yu inclined his head by just a fraction. He tightened his grip around his axe and made to sprint forward.

With his shield, he struck and toppled the bandit right before him, then charged madly toward the villagers and bandits further afield, where there were fewer of them blocking his way.

Wang Yu was responsible for clearing a path, while the old knight would take on the responsibility of killing everyone who tried to stop them.

Advanced knights-in-training were almost twice as strong as what was physically possible on Earth. The difference in Reynard's physique relative to that of the ordinary villagers and bandits was palpable.

After Wang Yu's explosive charge, Reynard began to reap the bandits like wheat.

His sword danced through the air in silver arcs. Whenever it flashed by, the bandits would fall to the ground, clutching their throats and gurgling out blood.

"They're nothing more than rabble, after all. It's only natural they would be unable to stop a knight like Reynard," Wang Yu murmured to himself. He sent the blade of his axe straight into the chest of a bandit blocking his way.

From what he had seen during his travels over the past year, Reynard was supremely skilled relative to ordinary people in the area.

Although his physique wasn't especially honed by this world's standards, the experience and techniques he had accumulated over long years meant that the knight was overprepared for the vast majority of circumstances he would come across.

As a result, Wang Yu wasn't particularly perturbed to see Reynard take down these villagers and bandits so easily.

This was a world of magic and sorcery, after all—though those types of people tended to congregate in highly populated areas, like the capital and battlefields.

Reynard, who was like Don Quixote in many aspects, was content to roam the world with nothing more than spirit and a righteous heart, hoping to change the world with what strength he possessed.

That was why he had chosen to wander about villages. Allegedly, he had property and businesses around the capital, but he had abandoned them to lead a wandering life.

Wang Yu had heard these rumors at pubs and from Reynard's acquaintances, but he had been less proficient at the language then.Though he had been able to make out the majority of what he heard, his speech only came in fits and spurts.

He wasn't particularly nosy, at any rate; he would happily learn about Reynard's history through the chance tidbits that were offered, but he didn't intend to pry on his own.

In summation, superpowers were a rare thing indeed where they journeyed. Official knights were never seen, and even advanced knights-in-training like Reynard had been were hardly witnessed. Though magicians purportedly existed, Wang Yu had never met one in his year of traveling.

As such, their adventures hadn't been particularly dangerous to date.

As long as Wang Yu and Reynard were careful enough, their sharp blades and sturdy shields could get them through just about anything.

As the two men pushed forward, the villagers and bandits grew even less tightly packed around them.

They were about to make it out of the encirclement. Once they did, the guild would eradicate this vile village and its inhabitants.

The old knight's longsword flashed once again. Yet another unlucky fellow had perished to his blade.

The old knight wrenched the blade out of the corpse's chest. It had already been dyed blood-red from the carnage.

He huffed and puffed. Sweat had soaked his helmet and was dripping down his greaves.

He was growing old, he knew. Lethargy and exhaustion had already kicked in.

Swinging his sword, thrusting it, running in heavy armor—all those actions were draining Reynard's age-depleted stamina.

He took another deep breath. His arms ached and throbbed. If he were just ten years younger, he would never have felt so exhausted.

He had barely even felt capable of wrenching his sword out of the last bandit's corpse. Age was truly taking its toll.

Fortunately, they had survived this encounter. In the future, though, he might have to be more dependent on his squire.

Reynard smiled and sheathed his sword as he headed forward to catch up with his squire, who was clearing a path ahead of him.

There seemed to be no more enemies further ahead. Even the forest was growing sparser.

The enemies behind them were shouting out loud, realizing that they wouldn't be able to stop the knight duo once they emerged from the forest.

Just then, out of nowhere, a thin, almost skeletal, old man in a black robe leapt down from a nearby tree with a crazed expression on his face.

The black-robed magician stood before the old knight and Wang Yu right where the forest opened up into the plains, blocking their path forward.

Wang Yu was stunned by the sudden encounter. The experienced old knight Reynard's eyes widened as he rushed forward in fear.

He caught Wang Yu by the back of his neck and tried to pull him down, only to be caught off guard by a sudden spike of fatigue.

His actions were a beat slower than usual. The moment he had glimpsed the edge of the forest, he had dropped his guard—a deadly lapse.

The black-robed man clearly had been waiting in ambush for quite some time. Arcane tones came from his mouth as magic gathered around his staff.

With a dim flash, the third-tier magic Advanced Soulburst activated.

Translucent ripples spread throughout the air and sent an intense mental shock through the old knight Reynard and Wang Yu.

Reynard fell to the ground, his body spasming.

Everything before his eyes seemed frosted over. Sharp, throbbing, bright-red pain overwhelmed his senses and caused even an advanced knight-in-training like him to lose all ability to defend himself.

Wang Yu, on the other hand, didn't seem to react at all. The mental shock seemed to have been entirely and harmlessly absorbed.

He tried to help the old knight up, only to catch sight of a stealthy figure descending from yet another tree. Cold steel flashed in the corner of his eye.

The old knight was right underneath the tree. This figure clearly intended to target him.

Experienced as he was, Reynard could stave off even the incredible burst of mental shock to some extent.

He had fallen chest-first onto the ground. He turned his body around until he was facing upward. With a snarl and gritted teeth, he bit his lip until it drew blood, forcing the physical pain he was enduring to keep him anchored in reality.

He raised his hands and caught the sword-wielding wrist of the figure who had just leapt toward him.

Shockingly, that figure boasted as much strength as the old knight—or rather, after running about, killing so many villagers and bandits, and then suffering from acute mental shock, the old knight's strength had fallen to nearly half its original level.

The assailant's strength won out. In the end, the old knight was unable to resist the blow for long.

The assailant's longsword bit into the old knight's throat and fresh blood gushed out, dyeing the ground red. The old knight's hands fell limply to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the assailant had finished off the knight.

Wang Yu could tell that the assailant could hardly be as strong as Reynard, or he wouldn't have needed to skulk around for an opportunity. Even so, with the spellcaster's help, he had easily taken down the old knight.

In the year during which Wang Yu had trained with Reynard, Reynard had shown himself to be an experienced jack-of-all-trades who dabbled at and boasted surprising skill in just about everything.

Even so, he had been dramatically weakened by a spellcaster's magic.

Though his experience and willpower allowed him to defend himself even then, he was easily taken down and killed by an accomplice.

Wang Yu was in dire straits.

A damn spellcaster—what was a damn spellcaster doing in these remote lands where even a knight-in-training was a rare sighting?!

Not only that, the spellcaster boasted magic of sufficient power as to render even an advanced knight-in-training helpless.

It seemed that death had come for Wang Yu, after all—but he refused to let his fear get in the way.

Nothing could shake his will, not the spellcaster's Soulburst, nor death's impending arrival.

He didn't fear death. No, rather, he didn't mind death.

There was little he feared, in truth. Given the present circumstances, however, he couldn't allow himself to die so easily. At the very least, he had to kill this group of bastards first.

What should I do? This magician isn't weak, and Reynard's killer must be a knight-in-training as well. I'm only a mid-rank squire. How can I fight these two? I'll die if I try to take them on directly, so I suppose I have to count on their greed.

A plan unspooled in Wang Yu's head.

He would have to hand his life over to fate and count on others' poor judgment, but what other choice did he have?

The moment the old knight was killed, Wang Yu froze stiff and toppled to the ground face-first.

His nose struck a rock with a cringe-inducing snap.

Bright-red blood leaked down his face.

His shield was strapped to him, but his axe was sent flying due to the limpness of his grip.

"And here I thought this lad had some magic-resisting artifact!"

The magician cackled as he walked over, his sallow, sunken face filled with greed.

By the looks of it, however, Wang Yu had been rendered unconscious by the Soulburst. He seemed unaffected not because he was, but because he had frozen stiff. The magician's tone was tinged with disappointment.

"Use your head. What do you expect to find in a rundown place like this? There's no one else around except for a useless magician like you who focuses on mental attacks! A relic? Dream on! And as for this lad... After killing so many of my crew, do you think I'd let you die this easily?"

Reynard's assailant mocked the magician's naivete as he strode over to Wang Yu and kicked him right in the stomach with such force that his bones audibly broke.

Blood bubbled out of Wang Yu’s mouth as the assailant's smile widened. He seemed to have relieved a little of his anger.

"Take him back and treat him. We'll have him play with all the dogs in the village tomorrow. I don't want him to die with chunks of flesh still hanging onto his bones. This old knight, on the other hand—his armor isn't bad. To think he would wander around an area like this despite being so rich! Ha! It's a windfall for me. Drinks are on me tonight!"

He waved a hand, motioning for the bandits cheering at his words to haul up Wang Yu's body and bring him back to their lair. The bandits themselves seemed unperturbed by all the corpses of their brothers lying around them.

The unenviable task was passed to two raggedy and emaciated bandits, who grumbled about Wang Yu's surprisingly solid body even as they discussed the feast to be held that night.

No one noticed Wang Yu's closed eyes flutter open a little. A steady trickle of blood dripped from his lips, relieving him of what might otherwise have choked him to death.