The next morning Damon headed outside with Pythias. They didn’t wear their elegant clothes, but their new cheap, and rough tunics. Since the clothes they received from the system counted as magic skills, Damon could make them appear and disappear at will.

Outside, morning dew remained on the blades of grass, tree leaves, and burgeoning grapes. In the distance, Damon could see the nearby village and the farmers tending their fields. The pair decided not to head down to the village today but practise their mana manipulation. They found a small hill a few hundred metres from the church. They sat down against a tree and let the wind brush past their skin. The wind here felt heavier than on earth. Although the people of this world couldn’t identify this, they knew that everything possessed mana, whether dead, alive, or inanimate. To them, if something could control mana, they were alive. If they couldn’t, they were dead. As such many religions worshipped the planet, as they believed it to be the deity who created and released mana.

Damon and Pythias spent a week outdoors in meditation. In this time their telepathy skill reached lvl.2.

Since their experience points didn’t increase, they concluded that the practice of a skill wouldn’t affect their Exp gain. However, Damon didn’t know if the increase in Exp would affect their skill level gain.

“Hey, do you want to explore the forest?” asked Pythias. “The Nord and minotaur have killed a few beasts. Apparently even killing a rabbit gives you Exp. Ten to be precise, but it’s still something.

“We can, but we can’t even sense mana, let alone manipulate it to cast spells.”

“It’s fine. A sword and a shield are more than enough to deal with a rabbit. Down at the village there’s a weapon and armour smith. Since it’s a village their prices are quite low, although the quality is as well.”

“If one of either the Nord or Minotaur comes then I don’t mind,” said Damon.

“I’ve already asked them, guess what they said.”

“Yes.”

“Yes,” Replied Pythias. “Now let’s go get a weapon.”

In the village Damon didn’t find anything special. There were a few dozen wood houses, a tavern with red ceramic tiles for roofing, and hunter’s lodge. In the distance they heard the chirps of birds, and the ringing of a smithy being hammered. Inside the weapon smith’s shop there were a few swords, and three small round wooden shields up for sale. No prices weren’t stated, nor were there any clerks in sight.

Pythias went outside and called out to the weapon smith. He then asked what weapons were best for the beasts in the forest.

“Just a short sword and a shield will do,” said the weapon smith. “The most you’ll encounter are wolves, stray goblins, and if you’re lucky kobolds. Last time we got a bear must have been a year ago so you should be fine with the sword and shield.”

Damon picked up the closest short sword and shield. He turned it around in his hands, but he had no clue how to check the quality of medieval weapons. Well, nor did he know how to check guns or any other kind of armament.

“Five large silvers for the both of them,” said the weapon smith.

Pythias interjected, “how about Four large and 9 small silvers?”

“Sure, but if you catch anything give me some meat.”

Pythias nodded and the pair left with two short swords and two small shields.

At the entrance of the forest Damon saw a large minotaur, about two metres and a half tall who carried two hatchets in his hands. A brown mane covered his head, and his red fur reflected the sun’s rays.

“Oh, Sakura, you’re already here,” said Pythias.

“Sakura?” asked Damon, apparently, he was a she.

“Yes, new biology, no?”

Damon understood and accepted that he couldn’t assume anything when it came to people of other races. In this manner elves resembled humans to a high degree.

“Are you ready?” asked Sakura. Her breaths deep breaths and deep voice still confused Damon.

“Yep,” answered Pythias, who looked like a child next to the behemoth Sakura. Pythias took out his sword and held his sword in his right hand and equipped his shield. Pythias turned to Damon, “This is my dark elf friend Damon, although he’s weak, weaker than me in fact, please treat him kindly.”

“Since when you Japanese?”

“Today. When in Rome.”

“We aren’t in Rome.”

“Trust, remember, me charisma,” said Pythias who then smiled.

The group entered the forest soon after. Surprisingly enough Damon recognized a few plants, which he sometimes picked up when the others looked around for prey. These plants were mentioned in the black magic book under the section for cures to migraine curses. Damon also wanted to know if he could get new skills by doing random tasks even though he didn’t have much hope. The old priest told him that skills were acquired at birth till the age of fourteen. But Damon wasn’t born here. Perhaps in the eyes of the world his age showed up as zero.

An hour later they found four rabbits munching on grass. Pythias crouched behind tall grass and tried to sneak up on them; however, they ran away a few seconds later.

“Maybe I should have bought a bow,” said Pythias.

“Sure, but can you even pull the bow string back? I also doubt you can aim. At least you can swing a sword.” Answered Damon who stood at the sides of Sakura, she also gave out a deep and terrifying laugh at Pythias’s attempted ambush.

“I just got to practise.”

Damon followed Sakura; Pythias kicked stones not too far behind. However, they soon heard a growl.

“Ah, great,” said Pythias. He ran behind Sakura, “that weapon smith really had to talk.”

Sakura gripped her hatchets and went into a combat position.

“Hopefully, she knew martial,” said Pythias and prayed to the young god.

Damon readied his weapon and braced himself. Not too long after a black bear started running towards them in a frenzied state.

“Go in front, both of you,” screamed Sakura.

“What? So you can run,” said Pythias.

“No, dumbass, so you can use those shields of yours?”

Pythias looked down to his left hand and to the two hatchets in Sakura’s hands. Damon and Pythias promptly stood side by side and tried their best to interconnect their shields. The bear roared and crashed into Damon and Pythias who went flying. They landed on the hard forest floor. The bear kept coming and started to claw away at their shields.

“Sakura, hit its head now!”

The bear’s claws broke through the shield and continued into Damon’s chest. At the same time, he saw Sakura land a hit on the bear’s right eye with her first hatchet and the second one pierced through the bear’s skull.

Pythias got up and started to stab into the bears head until it became completely unrecognizable. He only stopped when he heard Sakura’s scream and remembered what had happened.

He turned and saw Damon under a few inches of weeds.

“I need to carry Damon to the church come with me; we don’t know if there are more of them,” yelled Sakura.

Pythias saw a deep claw mark across Damon’s chest. His blood bubbled out of his chest and flooded the forest floor red. The top of his ribs were exposed to the air, and passing bugs. Before Sakura started to run. Pythias yelled, “Wait.” He removed his tunic and wrapped it tightly across Damon’s wound. “Let’s go.”

Pythias tried to speak to Damon telepathically; however, he didn’t get a response.

Since they stayed near the edge of the forest, Sakura arrived at the church in fifteen minutes.

Although the old priest didn’t have the best opinion of the dark elf, his face went pale when he saw his condition. He rushed Sakura inside and started to apply holy magic on Damon’s wounds.

A few seconds later the wound started to coagulate; however, it didn’t fully heal. The priest applied a green ointment on his chest and bandaged him up. “Lay him to rest,” said the priest.

Pythias arrived fifteen minutes later, in a state not so dissimilar to that of Damon. The thickets and bushes lacerated his skin and the colour of his face had long disappeared. He went to see his and felt a great sense of relief when he saw that Damon’s condition had stabilized. Although blood still stained the new bandages, it didn’t seem life threatening. Since the old priest was still there, he asked, “is he going to be fine?” to make sure there weren’t any problems.

The priest did not move, “the wound could go bad, we’ll have to watch and see. I’ll prepare some ointments in case anything happens.”

Pythias looked up, “go bad? You mean an infection?”

The priest looked just as puzzled.

“Bring alcohol,” ordered Pythias, “now.”

Sakura pulled him back, “Stop, they probably only have wine or beer, there’s no way they have anything alcohol strong enough to disinfect a wound.” Sakura placed her hand on his shoulder, “you’re just distressed. There’s no way he’d die so soon after coming here, he’ll be fine. Now go take a bath and sleep, you look beat up. I’ll tell you if anything happens.”

Pythias looked at Damon still in a daze. He’d offered him to go hunting when they didn’t even know how to hold a sword nor use magic. If he died it would be on him.

Pythias decided to head to the library and see what potions and cures they had. No, he didn’t know a single thing about medicine. He went to the priest. “Please, tell me what plants or herbs you need, I’ll go get them.”

The priest looked him from head to toe. “Get washed then come back the alchemy lab, I have enough to get started so don’t worry.”

Pythias shook his head, “don’t worry I can go right now, I’m fine.”

“No, I won’t send you like that. They’ll think you’re a bandit and I’ll have two casualties to deal with. Now go.”

Pythias nodded and left to clean himself off.

The next day Pythias went back with the priest to check up on Damon. There they saw a dark elf bare chested breathing with great difficulty. His damp forehead and his wound which went from his mid pectoral muscle to the top abdominal muscle didn’t show promise. On the wounds new scar tissue and yellow puss had formed. Pythias gritted his teeth and turned to his only hope.

The priest shook his head, “it doesn’t look good. I’d give him a one in ten chances. Start by scrapping off the puss.”

Although Pythias had no clue if that was a proper procedure, he had no choice but to listen. If the priest said that he’d do bloodletting then he’d intervene, but anything else and he couldn’t intervene.

When he’d scrapped off all the puss blood started to flow from his wounds once more and the priest applied holy magic and a thin layer of cream on the newly exposed wound.

For three days this went on and Damon’s condition did not change. At least it’s not worsening. Thought Pythias. The times when Damon opened his eyes and came back to the world of the living Pythias fed him a bit of gruel and as much water as possible.