I managed to regain consciousness after that weird ray of light.

I looked around, it was definitely a forest. There were thick rows with hundreds of trees, I was sitting on the dirt beside one of them. The trees were all eerily thin, but their number was enough for the forest to seem very dense.

It was pretty dark as the trees were all unusually bushy at the tops.

Is there where I'm going to die for the second time?

Beside me were the sword and the book that the goddess had given me.

I might as well find out how to use this sword of mine...

I grabbed the thin book off the ground, shaking the dirt off, flipping it to the first page. The pages had gotten creased on the 'trip' here. As I opened it, I saw a sticky note on the first page.

[This sword is utter garbage, don't even try to use it, it's so worthless I couldn't even be bothered melting it back into its parts.]

This did not sound very good...

I looked further, deciding to read some of the actual contents.

[To use the techniques of this sword, first begin by making the movements and shouting the names of the forms, then gradually wean yourself until you can use the forms without the need to say the names]

The book showed that there were two types of techniques, basic and advanced. The main difference was that advanced moves were much more niche in their application and much more taxing on the user. The first four forms were basic forms and forms five to eight were advanced forms. From what I read, the techniques seemed quite useful, even powerful.

The aftereffects of the advanced forms seemed quite brutal, leaving about as much emotional and mental impact as physical but there seemed to be no drawbacks for the basic forms.

Hold on, can I even use this sword?

I flipped to the first technique in the book, there seemed to be quite a few techniques for the sword, which was somewhat promising.

I guess I'll try one, following the instructions in the book.

I lifted the sword perpendicular to myself and shouted.

"Universal Sword, First Form, Unstable Current!"

I swung it across my body, suddenly a stream of water appeared to be trailing the sword. As I reached the end of my swing, a shockwave of water exploded in front of me, causing dirt and bark to fly upwards.

Wait, is this sword actually useful?

As the dirt settled back onto the ground I looked in front of me. The water had made some of the dirt into mud

I just used magic?

The tree in front of me look as if it was on the verge of collapsing, a huge slice mark was in the middle of it. It was rather underwhelming but still impressive. The recoil was strong enough to push me to the ground.

Hold on a second, this isn't right... If this sword is actually useful then why was it thrown into the trash?

All of a sudden, the sword hit the ground with a damp thump.

I see now.

My arm had given up, I could hardly feel it. My arm just flopped there limp as a sack of dirt. I also felt a pensive but not intense pain all through my body. Suddenly, my eyes also began tearing up.

This was why it was useless.

I stuck the tiny instruction book into my pocket and picked up the sword with my left hand. It seemed that the book left out the aftereffects of using the sword.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to make do with what I have.

I better get going to find this princess... Where do I even start?

The weight of the sword pulling on my arm, however slight, still caused pain after the attack.

I began trekking through the forest in a random direction, if I just walked in a straight line, I'd eventually make it out of the forest and hopefully to a village or something where I can find out what in the world is going on.

The dirt under my feet shook with every step. My muscles were still quite sore.

I'd better be careful, if I twist my ankle out here I'm a goner.

I eventually traversed past quite a number of trees.

Wait a second, if this world has magic and stuff, does that also mean there are monsters here?

I glanced around, there didn't seem to be anything else around aside from birds and the occasional boar or squirrel. It was much more peaceful than I expected.

Step by step, I made my way through the forest, making sure I didn't trip on the vegetation and unstable ground. It wasn't all that difficult to traverse, the branches of the trees sometimes gave a pretty good ledge to hold onto. I was being careful because my body was still recovering from using the sword a few moments prior.

I wonder if the goddess is still watching me, maybe the other one is watching me? It was somewhat odd to think about.

As I slowly made my way through the forest, I could see a patch of light.

Finally, I'm almost out. I still have no idea where I am and what I'm supposed to do though...

I clenched my fist on my right hand. It still hurt a little but most of the pain was gone and I had enough grip strength to hold the sword again. I transferred the sword back from my left hand to my right. I was able to hold the sword but my entire body was still stiff like I'd just done a full-body workout.

A little trail seemed to have been carved out in the vegetation. Someone must have walked through here before.

"Help!"

Suddenly, I heard the scream of a little girl.

I did not like where this was going...

There were frantic footsteps approaching me. The rustling sound of the bushes and branches gradually increased in intensity.

"Help!"

Suddenly the girl ran up to me and clung to me like a sloth. Her grip accentuated the pensive pain already running through my muscles.

"There's someone chasing me!"

Hey... little girl... not only did you get yourself in strife, but you also decided to pull me into this with you...? I don't have much strength ability-wise so I'm likely not going to be able to fight off whatever is following you...

My muscles and arms were also quite sore.

I saw a figure appear in the distance.

"Get back here!"

I could see the silhouette of a robe or maybe a cape. The person was also holding a large stick that looked somewhat like a staff.

Nope, I'm getting out of here.

I wasn't going to stay for a fight I couldn't win. As gently as I could, I pulled the girl off of me and began scrambling to get out of the forest.

"Hey! Wait for me!" The girl shouted.

I admit it wasn't very gentleman-like of me to do that, but it was better for one of us to make it than neither of us... wait that didn't sound like a very nice thing to think either...

I noticed that the girl was running after me anyway, so it was pretty unlikely I was going to make it out of this situation unharmed, especially with the soreness stopping me from running as fast as I could.

Ugh.

I turned around to face the attacker. I managed to catch a glimpse of the little girl's crying face before she hid behind me. It was enough for even me to feel a little sympathy.

"Why are you challenging me?" The attacker asked in a deep tone of voice.

You've got it all wrong... if anything, this was self-defence.

"Why are you chasing this little girl?"

The figure walked closer to me, their entire body was covered by some sort of black cloth, however, their face was exposed. It was a middle-aged man. Up closer, I had a much better view of the staff he was holding, it kind of looked like a long wooden club covered by some moss with some metal, gem stuff attached near the top.

It's generally not a good sign when a middle-aged man is chasing a little girl.

"You answer my question with another question?"

I guess that was what I did...

He began taking steps backwards.

I didn't like where this was going.