Awakening in an Alien Forest
"……."
The boy stared blankly into empty air, his eyes hollowed out by the crushing shock he had just endured.
"Hah?!"
Clarity slammed back into him all at once. He whipped his head around, frantically taking in his surroundings.
But only the dim, shadowed forest met his gaze—and with it, the memory of what had happened rose unbidden.
"Hic… kuh-hngh……. Mom… Sis……."
Freed at last from the terror of death, the boy began searching for the people who had loved him, tears streaming down his face. Even so, his mind had not completely broken; he clamped a hand over his mouth and forced the sobs back down.
Then something soft patted his cheek.
"Mingming……."
In this place, the only being who could protect him was the pet he had named Mingming. Mingming asked for nothing and guarded him without condition—a presence more precious to the boy than anything else in the world.
Remembering how Mingming had cut down those unknown beasts, he found his courage and pushed himself to his feet.
I don't know what planet this is, but if I can just reach a place where people live, there should be communication facilities.
After that, all he needed was to make contact somehow. That would be the end of it.
Get a grip. As long as I have Mingming, I can survive even in the middle of a battlefield.
Those were the very words his father—whom he both feared and respected—had spoken to him directly.
Jin Resili Caisent.
Bearing the great surname of his father and the name of his mother, the boy set out on a journey to find civilization, still unaware of the fate waiting for him.
Around the same time.
A woman stood in the forest with her arms crossed—black hair, sharp features, Eastern-style martial robes, dual swords at her waist. Her hair was a mess from whatever she had just been doing, but her eyes held the force of a ruler looking down on everything beneath her.
"Hmm……."
She kept tilting her head, finding something off.
I was circulating my cultivation technique in the clan's training formation. I finished and was about to step out… and my memory cuts off there.
When she came to again, she was in this unidentifiable forest.
The grain of the wood, the shape of the bark—this is clearly not from the Central Plains. The South? No. I wasn't there long, but I never saw trees this alien.
She kept turning over in her mind where exactly she could be.
Could this be the Dark Continent? If it's that place sealed completely from the outside world since the Founder's time, then an ecosystem like this might…
Then the rough killing intent unique to wild animals brushed against her senses.
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
Kki-kki-kki-kkeek!
With a light pulse of qi, she confirmed several beasts closing in on her.
The instant she grasped their numbers and positions, a few pebbles beneath her feet began to rise.
Puff-puff-puff-puff-puck!
She wrapped internal energy around the stones she had lifted through telekinesis and launched them as razor-sharp projectiles. The beasts that had drawn near were pierced from head to rump and collapsed without so much as a scream.
Remarkably fine, yet intense, control of qi. The woman treated it as nothing special. Her expression did not so much as flicker as she muttered to herself.
"Doesn't seem like the Dark Continent either."
According to the Founder's records, the beasts of the Dark Continent were not this strange. No matter how isolated a place might be, a four-legged creature with stone-like hide, six eyeballs, and a beak like a bird's went beyond any explanation of "a different direction of evolution."
This is getting interesting.
Born a direct descendant of the Jin Clan, the woman had always lamented being born too late.
Two hundred years.
If she had been born just two hundred years earlier, she would have fought those who refused to acknowledge the Jin Clan. Now even the resistance had vanished completely—there was nothing left that could be called an enemy.
No matter how strong she became, there was no one to use that power against. The world had been boring. To her, this situation was filled more with intrigue than irritation.
Then she sensed something racing toward her.
They caught the scent of blood.
Not knowing where she was, and unwilling to waste time or energy, she decided to leave the area for now.
She put distance between herself and the blood scent with rapid lightness skill, resolving that once she found a suitable spot she would climb a tree to its crown and survey the surroundings.
…Wait… some… sound……
Then, faintly, what sounded like fighting reached her from somewhere.
If there were people, things would move faster.
She turned toward the sound.
After some time, she reached its source.
There she found the same beasts that had attacked her earlier—and Westerners.
Westerners? Then is this Europe?
The heavily armed Westerners were gradually gaining the upper hand against a dozen or so beasts, so there was no real need to help. But she judged that putting them in her debt would make gathering information easier, so she drew her dual swords and charged out.
"Hup!"
Drawing a deep breath, the woman unleashed the secret sword techniques passed down through her bloodline and struck the beasts from behind.
As she performed dual swordsmanship focused on illusion and speed, long afterimages trailed her blades, and the thick-hided, rough-skinned beasts were silently carved into pieces.
"Kki-kki-kki-kki-kkeek!"
Watching several of its kin die in an instant, one beast scraped its beak and began a rapid retreat.
Having driven the beasts off, the woman approached those she had aided.
"You people……."
"I-It's an Otherworlder!"
"An Otherworlder has appeared!"
"Huh?"
A mysterious swordsman had appeared, so wariness was natural enough. Still, to be this guarded after she had helped them felt strange.
Wait. But their language—it's not any European tongue. How am I understanding them?
She soon realized their language was compatible with none of Europe's languages. Europe had countless tongues, but she knew they were all rooted in the language of Great Qin—Rome. Their language, however, belonged to an entirely different system.
Even more peculiar: though she was hearing it for the first time in her life, she could communicate with them.
"You dare point your blades at me?"
That was one matter; this was another.
Having never experienced such a situation outside her direct bloodline, the woman unleashed the killing intent she had been holding back.
"Kh!"
"Ugh!"
Unlike the soldiers in studded leather armor, the knights clad head to toe in iron plate were crushed by her killing intent, their faces turning white.
"Who is the master who rules you? To see this character and still not lower your weapons—I will go to your master myself and confirm how many lives they have."
On the shoulder of her martial robes, the character Jin was embroidered in golden-plated heavenly silkworm thread. Even if the clothes tore, the Jin character must never be damaged: that was the pride of her clan.
Never having seen anyone draw a sword against her after seeing this character, she resolved to pay their house a visit and deliver a "lesson."
"Kh……! This place… is not… your world… Otherworlder……!"
"What?"
Then one knight forced his mouth open with difficulty.
"This world was named Zelsdad by the gods!"
When the woman eased her killing intent, the knight quickly continued.
Hearing his words, her mind spun at high speed for a moment.
"Ha. Haha. Hahahahahahaha!"
At first she had wanted to reject the knight's words with everything she had. But the sudden change of environment. The forms of beasts that defied common sense. Being able to converse in a language she had never heard. And the clan secret that could tie all of it together.
"My apologies. If you're humans from another world, it makes sense you wouldn't know my clan."
She dropped her high-handed attitude from before and sheathed her dual swords.
"You believe our words?"
"Why? Were you lying?"
"No… it's just that you Otherworlders usually don't believe us even when we say things like this……."
Finding conversation easier than expected, the knight switched to a more respectful tone and carefully continued.
"There's a reason for that. But what does that word 'Otherworlder' mean?"
"It's what we call those who are not of our world."
"It's a bit offensive, but I'll let it slide for now."
Through conversation with the knight, the woman acquired various pieces of information.
This world, starting about a hundred and fifty years ago, had seen its dimensional walls weaken—then act strangely—causing countless things from countless worlds to flow in. The problem was that those things could be good or bad, and depending on what appeared nearby, countless kingdoms rose and fell in turn.
These men were members of a survey team from a nearby kingdom, dispatched to investigate an otherworldly forest that had appeared as if overlaid on ordinary hills.
"You seem quite strong. How about joining our kingdom?"
"I'll pass. Honestly, my first thought is that I want to travel this new world myself and learn about it."
But she had no intention of ignoring this connection.
"Still, since we can communicate, I'll help you for a while. Exchanging what each of us needs is cleaner, isn't it?"
"…I can't decide that on my own."
"Then I'd like you to arrange a conversation with your superior."
"Understood. Everyone, prepare to return."
The knights and soldiers quickly began preparing to head back. Their mission was to survey the area, so discovering an intelligent Otherworlder was more than enough reason to return.
"By the way, what is your name?"
"I am Jin Su-ah, direct descendant of the seventh generation of the Cheon Hye-un bloodline of the Jin Clan. The full title is longer, but you wouldn't understand it anyway, so this much is enough."
She knew that the Founder who established the Jin Clan had come from another world. And now she, too, had crossed into another world just like the Founder.
Sensing a powerful destiny in this situation, Jin Su-ah joined the survey team for the time being—to learn even a little about this world.