Chapter 8: Harsh Reality, Part 1

Chapter 8: Harsh Reality, Part 1

No problems in life. Oh, how wonderful this dream was. However, reality had a completely different plan for Erik.

Pain. Lots and lots of pain. That's what he felt when he woke up. Sore back, a painful neck, and a headache were what woke him up. The sun just rose from behind the mountains and with the first rays of light, the village woke up. Animals and people started producing sounds that irritated the ears.

Unwillingly he got up from the smelly, uncomfortable bed and stretched his body. He took a few big breaths of air and slowly remembered the events from the previous day. His already ugly expression became even uglier while he murmured a few curses. He almost wanted to stay in this room instead of going out and interacting with other people.

In his normal daily life he usually just drank a cup of coffee in the morning and ate his first meal at lunchtime, because he didn't feel hungry earlier. Today was different. His stomach was already rumbling as it was aggressively asking for food. Erik cursed again while complaining to himself about this unpleasant situation.

He left the room and went down to the bar. At the tables were a few sleepy men drinking beer, trying to wake up. The bartender was a middle-aged woman, probably the wife of the old man from last night.

Erik returned the key and asked for breakfast. He got a bowl of porridge and a mug of beer. He sat at the table and stared at the food. Immediately he wanted to curse at the bartender for such a low-quality meal.

The porridge was bland with many unground grains and the beer had a weird smell and tasted like muddy water. If it was a few days ago and someone would try to give him this to eat, he would probably throw the bowl in his face.

Well, not really, but the sentiment was there.

However now, he didn't really have much of a choice. He was out of money, so he couldn't buy any other food anyway. He also didn't plan on staying in this village even a second more than necessary.

From what Grim told him, he needed about a day to reach the next closest city. He needed the energy, that's why he somehow managed to force the food down his throat a washed it down with the muddy water.

Soon after he felt like puking so he quickly left the Inn and stepped outside to get some fresh air. Somehow he managed to keep his stomach from expelling the food he had just eaten.

Erik took a few breaths of air to calm his mind and then observed his surroundings.

The village was filthy and it looked like the houses were never repaired since the day they were built. But even worse than the smell of decay that was present everywhere, were the eyes of the people. A bunch of adult males were staring at him with unkind and suspicious gazes like he was the worst criminal in the world.

The unpleasant feeling gave him even more reasons to leave this godforsaken place as soon as possible. He pulled his head between his shoulders and stuffed his hands deep inside his pockets.

That's when he remembered he collected two Ether crystals a day before. When he tried to sense the Mana inside, he discovered that it was barely noticeable. It was such a big difference from the black crystal.

Erik sighed. It was too bad that the black crystal broke after he got transported here. It could have been of great assistance in his magic spells. Now he only had these two puny crystals. It felt like going from a fully loaded machinegun to a butter knife. New novel chapters are published on

In the shade of the buildings, it was quite cold. And if there was one thing Erik hated the most, it was feeling cold. He looked around and soon he found a building that was in a bit better shape than the rest. On the sign on the wall, it was written: 'Bloodhorn General Store'.

He sighed at the name and slowly entered.

He noticed that he was standing out a lot. With his long hair, torn shirt, jeans, and sneakers, he stood out like a sore thumb. He was basically just inviting trouble. That's why he bought a leather shirt and a pouch. So he could at least partially disguise himself and wouldn't attract so much attention.

He stopped by the side of the road and took off his shirt. Then he took out his knife and cut off his hair, making it just a few centimeters long. Next, he smeared a bit of dirt and dust on his jeans and sneakers, covering mostly the clean white parts that stood out too much.

Lastly, he put on a leather shirt. It was made of low-quality leather and it even had a few hairs left. It was rough and uncomfortable, but it was better than wearing a torn rag.

He stored his knife and torn shirt in the pouch that he fixed on his right side. He then took a stone and blunted the sword's edge near the handle and hung it on his belt. After that, he continued walking on the road to the west, towards the city of Geldern.

After a few hours of walking, he finally came out of the forest. Sun was shining on the massive grasslands before him. A warm breeze enveloped his body making him feel refreshed.

He stopped with a smile and let the sun warm up his face. But his peaceful moment soon got disrupted by a loud voice from the forest behind him.

"Help! Please help! Someone!"

Erik turned his head and saw a young girl around his age madly running out of the forest. Soon after, three men came chasing after her. One of them had a crossbow and the two behind him had swords. They all had crazy and lustful expressions on their faces. They were clearly enjoying the chase.

The girl was a little faster than them, even more so after they came out of the thick forest. They realized that just running after her won't work. The one with the crossbow stopped, took aim, and fired his weapon.

"Aaagh!" The crossbow bolt pierced deep into the girl's thigh. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground not far from Erik. She quickly tried to get back up when he saw Erik. With tears in her eyes, she screamed with a hoarse voice, "Please, help me! They killed my companions. Please!"

Erik frowned and cursed. It seemed like trouble was finding him constantly.

Without even thinking he ran towards the girl and helped her get up. He then gathered his thoughts and extended his hand to the crossbow guy, that was standing still and loading his next bolt.

"Earth spike! " After his shout, the earth trembled under the villain and a hard earth spike burst out of the ground stabbing him between his legs, crushing his pelvis, and lifting him up. The guy screamed in pain and fell on his back. Erik saw that his first spell wasn't enough to kill him, so he used it again.

Another earth spike burst out of the ground and impaled the crossbow guy through his chest. He coughed, shook in pain, and then finally died with eyes wide open and a face contorted in pain.

The closest thug got engaged after he saw his teammate's brutal death. "I'm going to chop you in a thousand pieced you little shit! Haaaah," he roared while madly swinging his sword above his head. He was quickly sprinting towards them.

Erik grabbed his sword and prepared for the incoming impact.

Back on Earth, he did train swordsmanship for a while. But since it had no actual practical application other than in competitions, he soon dropped it and went to pursue other hobbies.

Never did he think there would actually come a day when his life would depend on this old-fashioned and outdated combat skill.