A few moments ago, I heard another word from The System. I was napping at that time, so the voice woke me up.

He — since it sounded like a male’s voice — told us that we can actually check the amount of our mana through our mind. And when I did that, I realized that my mana pool was damn huge…

It was 600.

Knowing that the maximum manacost (Very High) was around 190 - 250, it’s more than enough in my opinion. And let’s not forget that I still have the passive spell Siphon, which basically lets me steal mana from any mana-carrying object or creature upon touch.

Though, I thought it was strange.

Why didn’t he inform us about that info right after we arrived in this world?

Well luckily, an explanation about that matter was immediately followed.

He said it was necessary to not give us that information, not until it was the second day since we stepped in this world; It was a test to our efficiency and estimation skills. Furthermore, he also told us that there are indeed some left-out details in the description of our spells, which actually made sense.

So from earlier events, I can safely conclude that the spell Shapeshift reverts me back to my normal form whenever my shapeshifted form gets damaged, and that Spellsteal can nullify the ultimate spell’s effects from the owner when it gets stolen.

Interesting…

Well in any case, I should get going.

As I slowly got back on my feet, I swept off the grass sticking on my back, making me realize that my shirt was a hell of a mess. There was a lot of blood and rips on it, obviously because of my uncontrollable state earlier.

Ignoring that fact, I began looking around as I searched for the dirt path, but all I could see was no other than woods. It was unfortunate. I lost track of the path when I was still on a rampage.

It was my only hope to find a town…

I sighed in defeat and began walking in a straight direction. While I was on it, a sudden burning pain on the left area of my chest grabbed my attention.

Peeking through a hole on my shirt, I had found out that there was a quite severe wound on that same spot.

“Not good…” I muttered.

Despite that, I didn’t stop walking. Although it was actually quite painful, I was confident that I could handle it.

Remembering that I still had the spell Sprint mimicked from a deer, I decided to run and use it — which ended up backfiring on me.

“AAGH!” I clutched my knees.

Who would’ve thought that I also had wounds in there…

Frowning, I decided to take everything slow.

It’s better than risking my body condition after all. In fact, I still have plenty of time until sunrise, approximately 6 hours left.

I’ve calculated that based on what The System said.

If we go back to his statement earlier, the info regarding how we can check our mana will only be informed to us on the second day since our arrival here in this world. Which means, it was probably around 12:00 AM at that time.

The sun usually rises around 6 AM, so if we count from 12 AM to 6 AM in the clock, it will be 6 hours. However, since roughly 30 minutes have already passed since The System’s announcement, it should be more accurate to say that I have 5 hours and 30 minutes left.

Well, I like rounding it up in an hour format, that’s why I said approximately 6 hours. But who cares anyway?

To get into the point, the reason why I calculated that in the first place is because I want to find a town before it’s morning. I had a feeling that my plan to get past the guards (if they ever had one) will most likely fail if it’s performed while it’s not dark.

I don’t even know if this world actually follows the 24-hour-a-day law, so I might actually fail. But if possible, I want to succeed.

“This will be tough…” I sighed and began walking.

Several hours later, a miracle had happened.

I found a town without running into a single beast!

I don’t know if it’s because God had taken a pity at my current state, but this is a nice development of events. More importantly, the sun hasn’t risen yet.

The town seemed quite developed. And as I expected, it has guards and a closed wooden gate, about 50 meters away from my position.

I was currently hiding on a tree while peeking at them.

From what my eyes could make out from the distance, there are more than two guards in total. The two guards I’ve mentioned were standing separately on each corner of the gate, while the rest was waiting inside the guard post, not far away from the gate. I can only guess that they take turns periodically.

In any case, it’s time to execute the plan.

I took out the knife from my waist and aimed it at the wound on my chest. With my hands shaking, I pricked a skin near that spot to let out a little fresh blood, causing me to bite my lips from the pain. Then, I sheathed the knife and slowly laid down on my stomach.

It was perfect because there was a small rock near my chest.

And, with full strength…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHHH!” I screamed on top of my lungs.

As I look at the guards, it seems that they heard me. They looked at each other as a group of three began heading in my direction.

Just as they are about 20 meters away from me, I slowly rose up using my trembling hands, performing a struggling-to-get-up act.

“Is anyone in there!?” One of the guards shouted.

I decided not to answer.

It was a surprise that they speak in English.

Few seconds later, they finally found me. The same guard who shouted earlier immediately took action. He helped me get up and supported my body by put my right arm around his shoulder.

“Are you okay?” he asked. “Can you walk?”

“Yes… I’m fine…” I responded with an artificial hoarse voice, showing a pained expression on my face.

I hope it was convincing.

“Let’s move slowly,” he began walking.

I nodded and moved my feet as well, slightly dragging them against the ground.

“Vademus, send a healer to the guardhouse,” The guard supporting me told the other guard in front of him. Right away, he nodded and ran towards the town. “Faramond, take his other arm.”

That said, my left arm was now wrapped around the guard named Faramond. Because both of them were taller than me, I was slightly uplifted.

This is the plan that I was talking about awhile ago, the one that could bypass the guards. I knew that approaching them in the middle of the night would make them suspicious of me, so I chose the attacked-by-beast route instead. In fact, it’s the only way. Thanks to Leech, my body is a complete mess, which made it more convincing.

The reason why I also wanted to perform this plan while it’s still dark is because I believed that beasts naturally show themselves only in the dark. It was the conclusion I’ve made when hundreds of devilish cats had shown up outside of the abandoned house when the night had fallen. Additionally, night has some physiological effects on humans, but this is just optional.

Also, I know that wounding my chest earlier was a bit unnecessary, but its only purpose was to make the scene more convincing. After all, my made-up story is:

1. I’m a mage from a different country who suddenly found himself in the deep woods on waking up.

2. Later on, I got attacked by beasts.

3. I managed to beat them, but I got seriously injured.

4. I wandered around for hours and found this town.

5. I lastly got tripped by something, accidentally hit my wounded chest with a small rock, making it bleed again, and screamed loudly.

I’m sure they will ask me the name of my home country, but we’ll see about that.

Finally, we’re already at the gate. The same guard who took the lead earlier shouted something and the gate was finally opened. Slowly, we walked towards a large house on the right side. The door was already open, so we entered it immediately.

What’s awaiting us inside was a few more guards. They helped carrying me as they led me to a room. There was already an old man inside, sitting on a chair. Shortly after, I found myself lying down on a wooden bed beside him.

The old man was wearing a brown robe.

“Elder Kalleus,” Faramond said.

In response, the old man raised his left hand, palm open, and took out a stick from his robe with his right hand.

No, I think it was a wand.

Aiming the wand on me, the old man closed his eyes as the edge of the wand began glowing in golden green — chartreuse, to be accurate. Right after, I felt my body’s strength recovering.

So this is healing…

After a few seconds, the old man stopped casting the healing spell. My body was a lot better now, most wounds had already disappeared, but I didn’t feel perfectly recovered yet.

“Take a rest, child. I’ll leave the questioning later,” the same guard who took the lead in helping me earlier said.

“Thank you…” I replied.

I wonder what his name is.

At once, all the people inside left the room, leaving me nothing but an uncomfortable silence.

I know that celebrating too early is bad because I’m still going to be questioned later, but…

Operation ‘Bypass the Guards’, success! I shouted innately in triumph.