Matthew and Rose ran according to the direction that the woman pointed. Eventually, they reached a campsite under a cliffhanger just as Yuki mentioned.
"That must be it." Matthew said.
The campfire was still lit at the time, providing a much brighter lighting than the moon.
Matthew and Rose sat on a log that was placed near the campfire.
"Let me have a look."
"Ow! Damn that hurts." Matthew flinched when Rose pulled his arm.
"That's pretty bad. We need to stop the bleeding." Rose pulled her hands away and started taking off her jacket.
“Are you sure about using your jacket?” Matthew asked.
“It’s fine. It can be washed later.”
“Ow!”
Rose was not hesitant at all and pulled Matthew’s arm closer and started wrapping the jacket around his arm. She seemed really focused on doing so too.
“Done.” Rose said after she was done with the procedure.
Matthew checked his arm around that was wrapped in the cloth. “You’re pretty good.”
“I learned basic first-aid. It’s the most I can do.” Rose said with a soft smile on her face as if proud of herself.
“I see. Good thing you do then, thank you.” Matthew smiled brightly at her.
Rose seemed surprised and her face grew red a bit. “It’s… It’s fine.”
RUSTLE! RUSTLE!
They both suddenly heard a rustle coming from the forest. In an instant, Matthew and Rose shot up from their seat and backed away.
From the depths of the forest, the same large wolf-like beast emerged from the darkness. It growled viciously as it once again exchanged glares with Matthew.
“Rose stay back.” Matthew held out his right arm in front of Rose.
“But you’re injured!”
“I won’t lose as much as you would in that case.”
“But-”
“Grooaarr!” Before Rose could retort, the beast roared loudly.
After it roared, it lifted its head high. Crackles of electricity appeared around the beast’s horns. A humming sound verberated.
VMMMM!
Then with a puff, the beast fired a large energy ball from its mouth.
“It can fire an energy ball?!” Matthew was very surprised by this.
“UWAAHH!!” Both of them screamed as they were pushed away by the force of the blast when the ball of energy hit the ground.
The campfire and the log were all pushed away too.
Matthew hit his back against the wall. “Ark! Uhuk! Uhuk!” He coughed and gasped for air.
“Didn’t expect that.”
“Aah!”
“Huh?” Matthew heard Rose’s scream. He looked around for her.
“!!” Through the cloud of dust, Matthew could see her laying on the ground with something big pinning her down.
“Please help…” Fear was visible in her voice.
“No!”
The beast opened its jaw and was about to chomp down on Rose, but before that could happen, something changed in Matthew. The beast flinched and slowly turned its head over to Matthew, Rose also sensed the change in the air.
Matthew had a different air around him. His eyes were different.
…..
Meanwhile at the woman’s location.
“Rawr-”
SHIEK!
Another arrow struck into a beast and brought it down.
“Phew~” The woman whistled softly after finishing off the beasts.
“Let’s see now… One, two, three, four… Eight. That’s quite a lot in this pack. Wait a minute.” The woman glanced over all the corpses, and she noticed something.
“No striped horns, the alpha is not here.”
“Aah!”
The woman’s high perceptive ability picked up on the scream.
“Damn it!” She broke into a sprint straight towards the source of the scream, her camp.
‘The alpha is much more dangerous than the normal ones. I need to hurry!’
“[Greater Speed]!” A yellow light covered her and instantly, her speed increased greatly.
In a few seconds, she reached the edge of the forest and saw the alpha beast along with the two people. The woman pulled out her bow and slid an arrow into it. She pulled the string back and took aim. However, something stopped her from firing.
She sensed something powerful. “What is this astra? It’s so strong! From him?” The woman turned towards Matthew. She saw something that was invisible to the naked eye.
Blazing red aura surrounded Matthew. His right eye changed colour from light blue to golden yellow and his pupil, into a vertical slit.
The woman felt very intimidated by such aura. “This guy... “
Matthew glared in anger at the beast while the beast glared back in fear. Its body shivered before the immense pressure it was sensing from the human.
It charged up another energy ball. Electricity curled up its horns again and it blasted one right at Matthew. The ball exploded upon contact with Matthew’s body, black smoke filled the area.
“A direct hit!” The woman almost shouted. What she saw next was unbelievable. “He’s unscathed?”
Matthew emerged from the smoke, dashing towards the beast. Before long, Matthew had closed the distance.
Matthew chucked back his right fist, then thrusted it right to the side of the beast’s head.
“Haaghh!” Matthew yelled as his fist pushed the back.
A crunch came from the beast’s skull along with a broken horn. It was launched back a few metres and skidded a bit before laying dead on the ground. Blood poured out from its mouth and created a small pool under it.
“Such power!” The woman exclaimed in shock.
Matthew stayed in his just-after-punching position, stupefied.
“Wait… Did I just… What happened?” By how he was reacting, he had no idea what just happened.
He stared at his right hand that still had remnants of fire around it.
“Matt?”
“Ah, Rose.” Matthew immediately reacted to her call.
Matthew bent down on his knee and helped Rose to sit up. “Are you okay?”
“Uhh yes. How did you…” Rose’s question did not arrive as she took another look at the corpse.
But it was not hard to guess what she wanted to ask. “I don’t know either. Before I realise it, well, that happened.”
“Well, it looks like you didn’t need my help after all.” A voice came from behind them.
“Oh, it’s you.” Matthew said once he had a look of the owner of the voice. “Thank you for saving us.”
“No no, you pretty much could have handled it yourself. I saw what happened.”
“You were here the whole time?”
“No, I just got here. Why did you hide your power?” The woman asked.
“Eh? Hide? I didn’t hide anything, I don't know how I did it... But I did.”
“Huh? Impossible. You just mustered up a lot of astra back there. You beat that thing with only one hit!” The woman even acted out her words.
“Well… Yeah, I don’t know how that happened.”
“Then… Are you two from Solheim?”
“Huh?” Both of them said at once.
“... Okay, tell me from the start.”
…..
The campfire was relit and small logs were placed around it. A piece of meat was also being slowly roasted over the fire. The sounds of crickets slightly overlapped the sound of fire crackling, snapping the firewood bit by bit.
“So that’s how it is... “
“What do you think, Yuki?” Matthew asked the woman sitting across the fire in front of him.
“To be honest, it’s not really something out of the ordinary for someone to undergo a dimension transfer. Although… From a game? That’s a first.” Yuki placed her thumb on her chin.
“You mean it’s normal for these things to occur?” Rose asked.
“No, it’s not normal. World transfer occurs by supernatural causes. To have done so with a device… There can only be on.” Yuki had a very serious expression.
“What is it?” Matthew drew closer to her.
“I am not sure of it myself, but my opinion is that there’s someone behind this.” Yuki lifted a finger.
“Someone? Who?” Rose asked.
“I do not have any clue on who, but I definitely have a hunch that someone is behind this.” Yuki said.
“I see. Then what can we do? How do we get back?” Rose asked again.
“I do not know either. Maybe you could wait for a miracle to happen?”
“But how long would that take?”
“Who knows? It’s a supernatural phenomenon. It could be months, years or even tomorrow. There’s no telling really.”
“Then… What do we do? Just wait around?”
“I don’t know. Decide yourself.”
“That’s…” Rose fell quiet.
Now it was Matthew’s turn to ask. “What do you do Yuki? Are you working or something?”
“Oh, that. Actually, yeah, I am working a full time job.” Yuki seemed very laid back.
“Ho! What do you work as?”
“A Hunter.”
“Hunter? Like hunting down bears and deers?”
“Ahahaha!” Yuki laughed loudly. “Not exactly. We use the term ‘Hunter’ for those who venture about and do quests.”
“Oh, like an adventurer?”
“Yes, we used to use that term but for some reason, it was changed. So now we adventurers are called Hunters.”
“Whoa~ So cool!” Matthew seemed really interested in this. Well, as someone who had played a bunch of video games, of course he would.
“So can you use magic and all that wack?” Matthew asked enthusiastically.
“Ehh in a way, yes.”
“Whoa it must be so cool! Say, can I learn magic too perhaps?”
“Eh, you…?” Yuki’s eye (since one was covered behind her hair) moved up and down as if scanning Matthew before saying, “Yeah, you could try.”
“Alright! Can you show me sometime soon?”
“I can show you tomorrow after we get your arm treated.”
“Alright!” Matthew was so happy about it. Even Yuki was all smiles seeing him like that.
However, there was one person that didn’t like what was going on.
Dawn arrived on the three people. Matthew and Rose helped Yuki pack up and soon, they were on their way.The sunlight only slightly pierced through the leaves of the forest canopy, granting the three protection. Tweets of birds, buzzing of insects and the rustle of leaves as wind blew by accompanied them.Matthew seemed to have been more aware of his surroundings since now he knew he was in a different world and so, he was lagging a bit behind the group.Rose took this chance and got closer to Yuki.“Hey, Yuki.” She started.“Hm?” Yuki glanced at Rose.“I have a few questions to ask you.”“What is it?”“What are you planning?”That question made Yuki flinch a bit. “What do you mean?”“Why did you sug
“Here you go.” Yuki handed a note of currency to the driver that lent them a ride.“Thank you.” The middle aged man replied.“Safe travels.” Yuki said lastly before the man sped away with his carriage pulled by a dinosaur looking creature.“Even the carriages are pulled by raptors…” Matthew muttered by himself.“Matt, are you really sure about this?” Rose asked him in a whisper.“Yes, don’t you understand how cool it would be to throw fire or water out of your hand?” Matthew said.“I understand, but do ‘you’ understand how dangerous it is?”“Of course I do. I don’t just throw myself anywhere without thinking, you know?” Matthew proudly pointed at himself with his thumb.“I am doubting th
A few days later, in the bustling city of the Northern Omni Kingdom. Matthew, Rose and Yuki stood before a massive structure that was… “The Omni Hunter Academy.” Matthew read aloud the name of the place that was in front of them. The academy ground was huge. There was a vast field to the left and another one to the right. There were also quite a few buildings with signs of different facilities. People of all races can be seen present walking, chatting, playing and training. Both Matthew and Rose were astonished by this scene and almost stopped breathing. “Hello there.” A soft female voice came from behind them. They all turned around to meet who the voice belonged to. “Are you perhaps new here? I’ve never seen you before.” The woman glanced between Matthew and Rose. “Eh ah no, we’re not new, nor are we
Ten months later…The Omni Hunter Academy secondary field. Almost all students were gathered here for a very specific event today.“Attention! Attention students!” The principal, Grandmaster Algernon, spoke on the megaphone to get their attention.The students slowly died down into a silence. The principal cleared his throat before continuing.“Now, I believe all of you have been informed of what you are gathered here today.”“YEEAAHHH!!!” The students yelled in unison.“Today is a special event that we conduct every year, the Annual Quest Completion. About half a year before the annual Hunter exam. It may not be a requirement,however, we will evaluate your skills and abilities and decide whether you are eligible for the exam. This is, of course, for your safety.” The principal said.
The leaves rustled as the wind blew softly. Only a tiny bit of sunlight was allowed to pass through the canopy of leaves as Matthew and Rose quietly moved under it. Their footsteps moved in the same direction as the footprints left behind by the zombies of last night.“In the end, we followed them the next day…” Matthew muttered.“Sh-shut up! It’s your fault for sleeping last night!” Rose strongly retorted.“Yeah yeah, I wonder just who knocked me out last night hmm?” Matthew glanced at her with an unhappy expression.“I already said I’m sorry!” Rose clenched her hands beside her and shouted.“Well, at least they left footprints behind.” Matthew returned his focus to the quest at hand. “By how they were moving, these guys are definitely under someone’s control.”M
Rose stared at the zombie that had a sword stuck in its head.“I can beat this guy no problem.” Rose extended her hand out and casted a spell. “[Greater Fireball]!”A much larger version of the previous fireballs flew out and exploded in the face of the undead.“!!”To her surprise, the zombie was not even scratched.“That was a mediocre level spell. How?” Rose glanced over at the mysterious figure at the furthest back. “Must be his doing. We need to take him out. How is Matt doing…!!”When Rose glanced over at Matthew, she was surprised to see. Matthew was confronting the big zombie along with the smaller ones at the same time. However, the small ones were definitely faster than before and the big one was also definitely stronger. But Matthew was holding his own against all that. 
Matthew opened his eyes to a world of flames. Around him was just simply an endless sea of fire without anything else in sight. "This dream again…" Matthew did move and only stood there idly. Even though he was surrounded by fire, he did not feel pain at all. One would think that this was definitely just a dream if not a nightmare, but for Matthew who had seen this many times already, it was something different. He could not explain what it was. He just sensed that there was something else about this dream that he had. In the far distance, he saw a gigantic figure of a lizard of some sort. Its eyes were glowing bright yellow in the darkness above the fire. "That thing again… What does it want with me?" Matthew asked himself. RINGGGG!! Matthew's head was suddenly ringing. It caused pain inside his temple that it forced him to
Matthew and Rose walked around the area for a bit since the exam hasn’t started yet. Both of them were ready to go. Though they were both not wearing any heavy armour, it was the setup that best suited them.Matthew wore a normal looking blue shirt with a red short sleeved jacket and standard pants. Though these clothing seem normal, they were made out of specially made mana strings which its durability and strength is partly imbued with the user’s. Other than that, he also wore a pair of gauntlets on his forearm. He carried a sword on his back which had a fiery design to it. He also had a badge with the number 3 on his chest.Meanwhile Rose was wearing a dark blue one piece dress with little decorations of red on the skirt and her abdomen. She also wore a short cape on her shoulders and her usual red rose hair pin. She also had a badge with the number 2 as well.“There sure are a lot of people here.&rd