I Found It!
I Found It!
Setting aside the fact that my body has become a voluptuous elf, what on earth is this Status Window?
"......."
Still, I can't guess its identity.
What's clear is that this thing has set a definite mission, and it doesn't intend to provide me with any information other than what's related to the mission.
It doesn't even suggest goals to boost my motivation.
System. Trade.
"If you accomplish the mission, I will tell you everything about the situation you are in."
...A Status Window like that doesn't pop up.
Rather, as if it read my thoughts, it doesn't say a word.
"Damn it."
Remaining distance, 1.8km.
I want to run, but my feet are heavy as lead.
The distance I'm walking naked under this scorching sun feels longer than the Great Wall of China I saw in the past.
Could it be that the units I know are wrong?
If anyone thinks that, I definitely want to throw them into this wasteland.
Hwi-i-i-ing!
They'd know if they tried marching naked and barefoot in a sandstorm sharp as a blade, under a scorching sun that must be well over 40 degrees.
Still.
"...Hah."
When I lift my head to look at the sky, it was so clear.
A sky without a single cloud.
Like before painting white clouds over a base of bright blue sky when doing an oil painting, the sky was so clear that it felt like just looking at it could slightly quench my thirst.
...A sky color so much deeper and more transparent than Earth's that it was actually creepy.
It's safe to say it's the color symbolizing a blue, pristine Earth where not a shred of pollution exists.
The texture was incomparable to the nostalgic sky I used to see in my uncle's neighborhood.
'Where on earth is this, really.'
I lower my head and look at the horizon.
It reminds me of a desolate scene from the American Wild West, where tumbleweeds roll by and flowers bloom on cacti.
That is, if you strip away the horses, sheriffs, cacti, and tumbleweeds that symbolize the Wild West and leave only the sand.
Furthermore....
"...Look at the shape of those rocks."
Looking at the bizarrely shaped rocky mountains visible far beyond the hill, I can only think that this place is not just not America, but not even Earth.
That thought was only reinforced whenever the wind blew, by the strange sensation of sharp sand grazing my long, pointed ears.
"Hey, Status Window. Where is this? No coordinates?"
[ SYSTEM: Geographic Information Scan ]
[ Result: ]
Coordinates cannot be confirmed (No satellite signal).
[ Estimate: ]
Ancient basin terrain, primarily sedimentary and sandstone.
[ Suggestion: ]
Please walk a little further.
There isn't much left ahead.
"...The way you talk is just like a boss who calls you to go hiking on the weekend. And I'm the poor employee dragged along without knowing it's a death trap."
[ SYSTEM: Job Title Correction ]
[ Notification: ]
You are not a boss, but a 'Leader'.
[ Current Status: ]
Naked Elf (perv? girl) at risk of heatstroke.
"......Hah."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Leader?
Setting aside being called an elf, my current state was no different from a primitive person wandering the wilderness.
But the mission given to me is the reconstruction of this land.
Not just 'surviving alone in the wilderness', but laying the foundation for a great civilization that will lead those who call me Leader.
Because the Status Window told me?
...No.
It's engraved in my mind.
The more I think about it, the more unpleasant it is, but it keeps coming to mind as if someone forcibly shoved the knowledge into my brain.
Reconstruction of civilization.
Reconstruction means it collapsed once before....
"Tsk."
Can't be helped.
If I don't do it, I die.
I don't know if this is reincarnation, a past life, or a dream.
Even if I wake up in a place like a hospital room after finishing all this, and the nurse next to me says, 'Doctor, this patient is smiling?', it doesn't matter.
'If I die here, it's a real pathetic death.'
I can't die like this.
The moment I took one more step.
Pajijik.
"?!"
Trembling legs.
I felt sand seeping between my eyelids, but I had no leisure to wipe it away.
The sand digging between my toes felt like it was burning my skin red, but I had no energy to care about that.
"Ah...."
It was strange.
The pain was clear, but a strange power kept surging from somewhere inside my body.
It felt like a backup battery forcibly connected from somewhere was supplying power even though my battery was drained.
[ SYSTEM: Magic Circuit Detected ]
[ Status: ]
Circuit activation in progress due to external stimulus.
[ Notification: ]
Pain is an excellent catalyst for refining mana.
System efficiency has increased by 2% in proportion to the Leader's pain level.
[ Guidance: ]
Your first 'Territory' has been detected beyond the hill.
It is the first settlement where the Leader's civilization will begin.
"......."
I have a lot to say.
About magic power or mana.
But what's important now is that the destination is beyond that hill, which looks like it's tens of meters high.
"Yeah, yeah. Civilization, is it?"
[ SYSTEM: Confirm. Civilization. ]
[ SYSTEM: Search. Civilization. ]
[ SYSTEM: Correction. Civilization. ]
Beep.
[ SYSTEM: Confirmed ]
[ Notification: ] It is a precious 1-tile that will become the birthplace of food, housing, and a great empire.
"......."
Gritting my teeth, I crawled up the hill.
Moving my feet, pushing through the sand, the moment I thought my lower body might be completely burning up buried in the scorching sand.
The moment I thought it would be better to be like Sisyphus, rolling a stone and moving toward a goal I could never reach in my lifetime.
"......Hah."
When I reached the top of the sand dune, I could see a small green dot that entered my field of vision.
"I came, I saw, I found."
My voice was already hoarse.
But the small energy of life visible in the distance restarted my dying heart.
[ SYSTEM: Final Destination Lock-on ]
[ Notification: ]
The Leader's great journey has reached the end point of stage 1.
[ Warning: ]
In case of a fall on the downhill, repair costs are at your own expense.
I staggered and threw my body toward the downhill.
The moment I laid my body sideways and rolled because it was hard to even walk, I could find myself moving quickly toward the destination.
It felt like I could hear the system's dry warning sound, but that didn't even enter my ears anymore.
That green dot ahead.
Because it was my only salvation.
...If that salvation were a mirage, I would follow it as all pilgrims who discovered desert mirages do, but-
"......."
Thud.
My body stopped, and the dot that had become close before my eyes was a clear reality.
"Jackpot."
It was one tree, a sprouted tree.
On the desert, one green dot.
At first, a laugh leaked out from despondency.
I thought there would be a great oasis to which I could attach grand words like the Leader's territory or the birthplace of human civilization.
Just one very small tree.
It was a lump of damp mud reaching up to my knees and one sapling like a chopstick stuck in the middle of it.
Exactly 15cm.
There were only two leaves, and even those were browning and burning at the tips.
"Ha, haha...."
But, a laugh came out on its own.
The damp energy felt where my hand reached out, the fact that it was mud, not a dry wilderness, and that it was the only green in that wasteland.
"Hey, Status Window. What is this? This is just a dried-up bonsai."
[ SYSTEM: Terrain Analysis ]
[ Name: ]
Unidentified Oasis (Near depletion)
[ Status: ]
Moisture retention 1.2% / Life retention 0.04%
[ Notification: ]
Leader, the history of an empire is originally meant to start weakly.
Rome also started in a hut on a hill at first.
"That's just a saying. Rome at least had a river nearby. This isn't a river, it's... ha."
I'm laughing, but I don't know how to laugh.
Could I have bipolar disorder?
It feels like a person who says there is half a glass of water and a person who says there is only half a glass of water are shouting from one body at the same time.
I quietly crawled into the mud pit.
Sticky yet dry mud.
As I pushed my fingers inside, heat hotter than boiling water soon began to soak my hands between my fingers.
'It sprouts in this kind of heat?'
It doesn't make sense.
But is this a situation that makes sense?
Just accepting the truth in front of me.
There is life.
Whether this is the middle of Mars or the last remaining place after humanity perished, there is clearly a 'ray of life' in front of me.
Very carefully, I reached out my hand toward the surroundings of that life.
Not to dig it up, but to cover it with surrounding soil.
To cover the parts that are drying up in between, even though they hold moisture, with mud.
The moment I placed my hand like that, something inside me exploded as if it were wriggling.
[ SYSTEM: Magic Synchronization Initiated ]
[ Warning: ]
The Leader's bio-energy is leaking abnormally.
[ Notification: ]
'Growth Acceleration' circuit is being forcibly activated.
What kind of incomprehensible nonsense-
Before I could even say that.
Hwa-aat-
"......!!"
My vision turned blue.