CH 13 I Know I Asked For A Clue But Isn\’t This A Bit Too Suspicious?

Ren finished forming his third spell.

The Fire Bullet appeared directly inside the monster’s maw.

The Huntscale Viper felt the sudden heat and began reacting, but it was already too late. Ren cast a Wind Surge. The wind burst strengthened the Fire Bullet instantly. Then he shot it into its upper mouth from inside. The explosion occurred inside the Huntscale Viper’s skull. Blood and fragments of bone burst outward in every direction as the Huntscale Viper’s head was torn apart. The body went limp immediately.

[Level 14 Huntscale Viper killed]
[1467 days of lifespan gained.]
[2812 EXP gained.]

Ren did not have time to celebrate.

He hit a branch during his fall. Pain shot through his leg as his body spun wildly in the air. The impact slowed him slightly but also injured him.

Forty meters remained between him and the ground. If he didn’t die from hitting multiple branches and breaking his bones, the crash on the ground would kill him.

Below, Freya’s eyes widened as she saw what was happening. She ran forward instinctively, but even if she managed to catch him the impact would kill him.

Ren forced himself to think quickly. The earlier collision with the branch had spun his body around. Now he was falling on his back. That gave him an idea. He formed a Wind Bullet directly beneath the hammock bundle tied to his back. Then he fired it. The spell struck the bundle and exploded against it. The impact was heavily dampened by the equipment packed inside the hammock, and the Wind Bullet itself was only Level 1. Even so, the force slammed into his back like a hammer.

How did Freya tank something like this yesterday and shrug it off? he thought with gritted teeth.

The impact tore the hammock apart almost instantly. The cloth burst open under the force of the spell, and the items inside scattered in different directions as they fell through the air. At the same time, the force of the Wind Bullet pushed against Ren’s back and disrupted his fall. His body jerked violently upward for a brief moment before the energy of the spell faded.

The gravity reclaimed him.

He began falling again.

Earlier he had been dropping from around forty meters. Now, after the sudden interruption, he was falling from roughly thirty-five meters instead.

In other words, nothing meaningful had changed.

He was still going to die.

Ren forced himself to remain calm. The Wind Bullet had never been meant to save him. It was simply the fastest way he had to slow his fall and buy a moment of time.

That moment was all he needed.

Before his body could accelerate again, Ren quickly created an Earth Bullet. He aimed it at a specific branch. Then he grabbed it.

The instant the Earth Bullet launched, it dragged him along with it.

His entire body jerked violently as the spell pulled him upward. The sudden change in direction nearly tore his fingers apart as they struggled to hold on to the flying projectile. For a moment Ren felt as though his arms might dislocate. Fortunately, his fall had already been slowed by the Wind Bullet earlier. If he had still been falling at full speed, such a sudden reversal of momentum could have killed him instantly.

The Earth Bullet shot upward through the branches, carrying Ren with it. The spell lasted only a short time before its energy ran out. After traveling roughly ten meters, the stone projectile began to crumble and break apart.

Ren’s body continued upward for another five meters due to inertia. The moment the upward motion stopped, gravity tried to pull him down again. But Ren had already prepared for that. He reached out and grabbed the nearby branch. This was the branch he had aimed for. His hands closed around the thick wood just as his body began to fall again. The sudden stop caused his arms to strain painfully, but he managed to hold on.

Ren pulled himself onto the branch and lay there for a moment, breathing hard. His chest rose and fell rapidly as the adrenaline from the near-death experience flooded his body. Slowly, he turned his head and looked down.

Two headless body of the Huntscale Vipers were still wrapped around different branches. Their thick coils hung loosely while blood dripped slowly from the torn neck where their skull had exploded.

Below that, Freya stood on the forest floor staring up at him. Her eyes were wide. She looked completely stunned.

Ren looked at his own hands next. They were trembling slightly from the strain of the maneuver. For a few seconds he simply stared at them. His hands hurt, his back hurt, and so did his legs. But instead of wincing in pain, he had a wide smile.

That was awesome!

The adrenaline still surged through him, making his heart race. Just moments ago he had been certain he was going to die from the Huntscale Viper’s ambush, or from the fall. In that desperate instant his mind had somehow pieced together a completely insane plan and executed it perfectly.

This… This is what it means to be an awakener! The endless thrill of battles!

The feeling was intoxicating.

After a while Ren calmed himself and carefully climbed down toward the lower branches where the nearest Huntscale Viper’s body was hanging. He had to move slowly due to pain in his leg. He balanced himself beside the corpse and began cutting it open to extract the monster Core.

The monster’s scales were tough, but the blade eventually reached the Core hidden inside its body. Once the core was removed, Ren stored it away and dealt with the second corpse before he continued descending and reached the ground.

Freya rushed toward him immediately.

“How is your leg? I saw you hit it during the fall,” she asked.

Her voice carried concern, but Ren noticed something else in her expression. There was excitement in her eyes as well. From her perspective she had just watched him attempt a completely reckless stunt, and somehow survive.

“It’s fine,” Ren replied while shifting his weight slightly to test his leg. “I can’t move it properly, but it’s nothing serious. I should be back to normal in about an hour.”

Freya studied him carefully for a moment before nodding. “That’s good. For a moment I thought you had broken something.”

Ren’s gaze drifted toward the nearby supplies. Everything that had fallen when the hammock snapped earlier had already been collected. The bags, tools, and scattered items were now arranged neatly on the ground.

“You gathered everything already?” he asked.

“There wasn’t that much to pick up,” she said.

Ren nodded slowly before reaching into his pouch and pulling out the Cores he had. After thinking for a moment, he tossed them toward her. Freya caught them instinctively and stared down at the crystals resting in her palm.

“This… what are you doing?” she asked.

“You’re going to make a bow for me, right? Use those Cores, and take what is left after that for yourself. It’s not like I have another use for them.”

A bitter chuckle escaped him. If they were back at Base, these Cores would have been valuable items. He could sell them, trade them, or take them to a portioner or blacksmith to craft equipment. But none of that existed here. There was no Base. No shops. No craftsmen waiting to process monster materials. The best and the only Mechanic here was Freya, so she would have to do.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Freya looked at the cores again before nodding slowly.

Still, after a short discussion they decided Ren would keep the Cores for now. Freya was already carrying too much equipment. Two swords—one strapped across her back and one at her waist—her toolkit hung from her belt, and several pieces of armor rested nearby waiting to be worn. Adding more weight would only slow her down unnecessarily.

Ren divided his items into two satchels. In one satchel he placed the monster Cores, wrapping them carefully in cloth so they would not clatter together. In the other satchel he stored the diary and several other things he had taken from the Ironhide Goral’s hideout. While compressing everything to take up less space, Ren glanced toward Freya.

“Did you see the diary?” he asked.

Freya’s gaze flickered slightly before her expression grew more serious. She nodded.

“Yes. I read it.”

“And?”

“The diary belonged to a human, which proves my theory. Humans get summoned here regularly,” she said.

“…what?” Ren asked.

“I was summoned here two months ago. When I arrived, three other awakeners appeared with me. All four of us were summoned in the Salt Sea region. Last month another awakener appeared in the same area. And now this month… you,” she explained.

Ren’s brows slowly knitted together as he processed her words.

“I think everyone gets summoned into the Salt Sea region,” Freya concluded.

The idea felt wrong immediately. Awakener summons rarely happened inside Unexplored Regions. Even when they did, the location should have been random. The statistical probability that every summon point would land in the exact same region every single month was practically zero.

And yet that was exactly what Freya was describing.

Ren rubbed his forehead slowly as confusion settled in his mind. None of it made sense. Unless Freya was lying. The small seed of doubt that had been fading in Ren’s thoughts began to grow again. But if she was lying, then what exactly was the lie? That this wasn’t an Unexplored Region? That seemed unlikely. The strange monsters and unfamiliar plants alone were enough proof that they were somewhere humanity had never explored before.

A quiet sigh escaped Ren.