Chapter 5: Set

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: Set

Up in the sky, the sinister eyes watched as if they were scavengers waiting for corpses. Victor frowned, because he hadn’t expected the information from his System to be restricted by the sponsor in question.

"Why?"

He looked at the System window. The same answer was still there.

[The god who sponsored the Path has forbidden me from answering your question.]

"How ridiculous. How can I not know anything about the System I was given to survive in the first place? That doesn’t seem fair to me."

Victor frowned. Silently, he clenched his fist as he read the System’s response.

[Nothing is fair in this game, Victor.]

He didn’t know why, but he felt that this response wasn’t part of the System. There was something about these words that was stranger than everything else. While the previous responses seemed more like some kind of encyclopedia, this one in particular...

He stood up and cautiously looked at the sky again.

He remained there for a few seconds, as if judging the gods with his eyes, but he knew it was pointless. He was merely a mortal, dancing in the palm of the deities in this sinister game.

For now, all he could do was accept it and move forward in silence.

’I don’t know what kind of beings you are, but rest assured that I won’t be anyone’s show. Never again.’

Then, troubled, he sat down again, but noticed that his meat was slightly charred. He didn’t care and ate it because he couldn’t afford to waste food.

"I suppose it’s up to me to discover the secrets of this Path, right? Hmm... Sure, sure. It wouldn’t be fun if they just handed me everything like some spoiled child."

Come on, this was survival, so nothing was going to be easy from the start. That monster from earlier was proof of that.

Victor finished eating, and by the time the sun set, he put out the fire, scattered dry leaves across the ground, and climbed up one of the trees with his rope. Since there seemed to be heavy and terrifying land beasts around, it was better to stay up high.

However, tied by his waist and legs to the tree branch, Victor couldn’t sleep. Aside from being nearly fifteen feet above the ground, his sense of smell was becoming overwhelming.

’There are so many smells that they confuse me if I don’t concentrate.’

He breathed calmly and cleared his mind. Cold as ice, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to rest, but only a few minutes later, a faint scent, similar to oranges, approached him at incredible speed.

That woke him up.

’Something’s coming!’

He grabbed his knife and remained completely still, holding his breath, but that scent rushed past beneath the branches and disappeared into the distance.

’It’s gone.’

Victor looked down. The leaves scattered across the ground had barely moved.

’Judging by the position of the leaves and the sound of the footsteps, it could be a light bipedal creature. Could it have been another small person? How safe would I be if I encountered someone else?’

Not everyone was good, but neither was everyone evil. Victor was wary of that. If he encountered someone, they were his enemy, and he shouldn’t see them any other way until proven otherwise.

If he had to fight, he would, but he also preferred to avoid that possibility because it was too dangerous to fight someone whose abilities he didn’t know.

After a few minutes, certain that no one was around anymore, Victor went back to sleep. This time, until the sun came up.

△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽

Early in the morning, Victor was blessed with the light of the sun, but also with a free summon from his gacha system. He had barely opened his eyes; last night had certainly been rough, but he was still alive!

’If every night is going to be like this, they might as well have left me dead.’

He stretched his arms a little and let out a big yawn. He blinked a couple of times when he saw the gacha ready to be used.

[1 Summon Available]

[Cost: Free]

[Perform Summon?]

[ Yes ] [ No ]

"Please, give me a nice, hot cup of bitter coffee."

Following that statement, the sphere appeared, glowing and changing colors. It stopped on blue. That woke Victor up completely, and he grabbed onto the branch, watching expectantly.

[Congratulations!]

[You have obtained: Basic Bulletproof Vest]

[Rarity: R]

The sphere transformed into the classic black bulletproof vest commonly worn by police officers. The item dropped into his hands, heavy, to say the least, but impressive.

"It’s not a cup of coffee, but it’ll do. Although, now that I look at the design of this thing... It reminds me of..."

He took out his knife and placed it against the vest. Immediately, the System window showed him something very interesting.

[Hunter’s Knife]

[Rarity: R]

[Basic Bulletproof Vest]

[Rarity: R]

[Part of the "Action Hero" Set 2 / 6]

"A six-piece set? It’s like armor."

What other pieces were missing? Now he knew that this was a set and that four more pieces remained. In any case...

"It says ’Action Hero.’ I think I can imagine what the missing pieces will be."

[You have no Summons remaining.]

"With my luck, I’ve gotten two good things, but I don’t know how useful they’ll actually be. I’ll have to experiment with all of this, but I can’t stay here a second longer."

It was dangerous. With strange things lurking in the night, it was better to keep moving anyway. So he put on the vest and prepared his backpack. With his bottles filled with water and a fruit breakfast ready, it was time to move on.

"I have to find a way out of this forest as soon as possible."

Since the System couldn’t give him the answers he wanted and that giant monster was probably lurking nearby, he looked suspiciously at the eyes in the sky. It would be better to become stronger and faster.