New World, Old Body

"Aaaah..." I let out a sigh as I feel a headache coming on. Perhaps this is the side effect of soul transfer.

Looking around, it seems like I'm in a dense wilderness, a vast and dense forest. The tall and thick trees block out most of the sunlight, with only a few rays managing to penetrate through the gaps in the foliage. The sun's shape appears identical to that of Earth, but the trees and plants are unfamiliar to me. The vegetation is different from what I know.

"What's with this appearance... Isn't it really bad?" I mutter as I observe my entire body.

I stand up and examine every part of my body. First, my upper body is completely bare, with no clothes at all. It's fully exposed. As for the lower body, I'm only wearing tattered and torn pants that barely reach my knees.

I don't understand why this was given to me. Shouldn't the god have provided me with decent clothing?

Providing inappropriate attire and teleporting me into a potentially dangerous forest...

"Oh god... This is truly outrageous!" I shout out in frustration.

Although this may be partly my fault as well, since I didn't ask or inquire about the specifics of my reincarnation, I could have requested to be born as the child of a noble or a wealthy person. But still, this is incredibly annoying. The god should have given me suitable clothing.

"Oh... That's my sword."

Two swords, one black and one white, lie not far from where I'm standing.

"They feel quite light..."

I grip the white sword in my right hand and the black sword in my left. They fit well and feel comfortable in my hands. When I swing them, they don't feel heavy at all, despite their large size.

The swords are shiny and appear to be quite valuable. They have two blade edges on each side and taper to a point on the sides, rather than being centered like regular swords. They have a good visual appeal, and I'm grateful for them. However, I can't help but wonder why there is no sheath for them, and I have no idea what material they're made of. If it were a fictional metal, it might be something like mithril, adamantium, or orichalcum.

"Whatever, it's not important what they're made of. I can check later. Now, let's see my strength. I'll kill that god if she lied to me."

But how can I check my strength? In virtual reality games, usually a keyword like 'identity,' 'open,' or 'status' is used.

"Let's try one by one... Open!"

Useless. Nothing appears.

"Status..."

"Oh... this one works." Suddenly, a transparent panel appears in front of me.

Status

Name: Edvans Arshail

Age: 17

Level: 1

HP: 120

MP: 980

Attack: 110   

Agility: 180

Defense: 90

Dexterity: 100

Intelligence: 315

Skills: Magic elements manipulation, magical energy manipulation, Space-time magic, no spell magic, Sword technique, Dual sword technique, Telepathic, Regeneration, Perception, Prediction, Detection, Provocation, Identification, Intimidation, Psychological resistance, Poison resistance, Curse resistance, Appraisal disguise, Appraisal blocking, Language translation.

Titles: Reincarnator, Former Prince of Fostia, The One Blessed By God.

"Wow... This is incredibly overpowering for a level 1."

Judging from my statistics, it seems that I'm exceptionally strong for a beginner at level one. God truly understands what I need, providing me with vital skills that are crucially important.

However, when I look more closely at my status, there are a few things that feel off.

Firstly, my name. Why do I already have a name as if it was predetermined? It's different from my previous name, although it bears a slight resemblance. Then, comparing some of the statistics, it seems that I lean more towards being a mage, despite being equipped with swordsmanship abilities. Becoming a sword mage or magic swordsman does sound pretty cool.

The most peculiar thing, in my opinion, lies in my title. I understand the "Reincarnator" part, as it's obvious that I'm someone who has been reincarnated. However, the "former prince" title has no explanation whatsoever, and there's no menu or place to inquire about it like in a game.

"Aaaah... my head!"

Suddenly, something forcefully enters my mind, causing considerable pain, even with my psychological resistance.

"Damn it... What was that god thinking?" I complain, frustrated.

Now, I understand the meaning behind that title.

Giving a dead person's body and forcefully transplanting memories into a new soul. This is truly outrageous and horrifying.

"Ugh... cursed god. I will remember this humiliation."

"Now... where should I go?"

There are no indications whatsoever about the first direction I should choose. I start walking straight, searching for the most open location to observe the position of the sun.

I continue walking, holding the swords in both hands, swinging them a few times to clear the path, and pushing aside branches and bushes that obstruct my way. Using legendary swords for tasks like this might be considered disrespectful.

"I hope there are no dangerous beasts or monsters."

I still don't know how to use the abilities I possess, and it would be dangerous if a monster suddenly attacked me.

I finally reach a point where the sun is clearly visible without any obstructions. It appears slightly smaller than the sun on Earth, but it emits the same intensity of light. Judging from its position and shadow, it seems to be at an inclination of about thirty degrees. Using Earth's time reference, it's around 2 PM.

"Now, where to next? It seems like my journey in this world will be long."

I continue walking straight in my initial direction. There's no point in determining a specific direction since I have no knowledge of the nearest village's location.

I rely on intuition and a bit of perception, moving away from the most densely covered areas of the forest. According to the game formula, the deeper into the forest, the stronger the monsters become, and vice versa.

"Now, how can I test my abilities?"

In every fantasy story, the focus is the initial step to awakening one's power.

"Focus..."

"..."

"Success! I managed to feel it."

After a few moments of focusing and meditating, I finally sense something warm flowing through my entire body and nervous system.

I drive the black sword into the ground and grasp the white sword with both hands. Focusing on feeling the flow of magical energy throughout my body, I slowly channel it into my sword. I look at a nearby tree and make a diagonal slash toward it.

*Slash!

*Crash!

One medium-sized tree falls as my test subject.

"Now, it's time to test another skill."

I continue my journey while experimenting with the abilities I possess. The Detection skill allows me to sense the area within a radius of five hundred meters to around three kilometers. The process is similar to before, flowing magical energy throughout my body. It makes my brain function like a radar, visualizing the surroundings clearly.

"Ah, jackpot!"

About three hundred meters from my current location, I spot two silver-colored wolves.

I increase my speed, strengthening the magic in my legs and enhancing my movement acceleration with magic. Now, I am more accustomed to channeling magical energy and utilizing some of my abilities.

In no time, I reach the location where the two wolves are. Without waiting for them to notice my presence, I accelerate and swiftly close the distance, then cleanly strike at their vital points.

*Swoosh! *Slash!

*Slash!

"Thud... Thud..." Two wolf heads detach from their bodies, cut cleanly as if with a laser.

Now, both of my swords are stained with fresh blood, and a few droplets have splattered on my body.

I store the two wolf carcasses in my dimensional storage. I have learned how to use it. Simply by imagining the name of the skill in my mind, a transparent dimensional portal appears in front of me, as if I'm placing something into an empty space.

I run again, continuing my journey while activating several useful skills, especially keeping Detection active to check if there are more wolves or other types of monsters.

Without magical powers, I would have been exhausted and fainted by now. Magical strength makes a significant difference. I don't know how many kilometers I've traveled so far. The priority in my mind right now is to keep running until I find the nearest village or encounter someone.

Instead of finding people or a village, I stumble upon another pack of wolves. About three hundred meters ahead, I spot a pack.

Using a combination of Detection and heightened perception, I can estimate their numbers. It's around a hundred, quite a sizable group. They might be a colony. Through my identification ability, I can see that their levels range up to twenty, with the highest level being twenty.

I continue approaching to observe. It seems they are feasting on an animal that resembles a deer.

I haven't decided whether to engage with them or not. Considering their numbers, it seems too risky. However, it would be a waste not to kill them and miss the opportunity to level up with such a large number of monsters.

"Ah... whatever, I can escape if things get too troublesome."

At least I have the ability to teleport to another location instantly, a skill that can also be used to become a coward.

I activated all the abilities I needed and strengthened my body with magic, holding a sword in each hand. It would be more advantageous if I could already use elemental magic; I could deliver surprise attacks from a distance.

[Perception]

[Prediction]

*Whoosh...

I darted quickly towards the pack of wolves, swinging both swords diagonally and vertically. The first attack successfully killed four wolves at once.

"Grrr... Grrrr...."

"Grrr...."

All the wolves stared at me with intimidation, surrounding me from all directions, leaping and lunging toward me almost simultaneously.

Using a combination of perception and prediction, I stabbed the first wolf that leaped at me, thrusting, slashing, and executing spinning movements. With every form of swordplay skill at my disposal, I killed all the wolves that came at me.

[Intimidation]

I emitted an aura of intimidation to reduce the number of wolves that still had the desire to fight. Most of the wolves left the area, leaving behind about twenty intimidated ones. Around thirty wolves remained, completely unafraid of death.

"Ugh... This is really troublesome."

Though I didn't feel physically tired yet, I wanted to finish this fight quickly.

I increased the intensity of my attacks and accelerated my movements, repeating the same pattern of attacks. I stabbed and slashed with increasing brutality, occasionally evading the wolves' attacks and counterattacking from blind spots.

After several rounds of offense and defense, I finally managed to finish the fight, possibly raising my level in the process.

"Huuuh..." I sighed, feeling mentally exhausted. It was understandable since this was my first real battle against a pack of wolves. The sensation was clearly different from any virtual game, no matter how realistic the effects were.

I took a brief rest to restore my magical energy, lying down beside the carcasses of the wolves that I hadn't had a chance to store.

Looking at my current condition, both of my swords were covered in the blood of the battle, as was my entire body, with blood splatters in some areas. It was because I had been wearing worn-out knee-length shorts from the beginning, causing fresh blood to stick to different parts of my body during the fight. It felt sticky and repulsive, and from someone else's perspective, I might look like a sadistic blood-soaked killer.

"Kyaaaaa.... Help, help!" Suddenly, I heard a scream just as I was taking a break.