Chapter 1

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Blue sky. Warm sunlight. A gentle breeze.

It was a peaceful lakeside.

At that lakeside, a girl stood still, blankly staring at her reflection on the water’s surface.

A small frame. Shimmering silver hair. Blood-red eyes. Pointy ears…

It was Ariel.

Ariel’s face was expressionless, but inside, she was quite flustered.

The moment she pressed the character creation complete button, her consciousness vanished.

And when she opened her eyes again, she was at this lakeside.

As the character ‘Ariel.’

It was a situation she couldn’t accept as reality.

So, Ariel did nothing but blankly stare at the lake’s surface.

This went on for quite a while.

If it were a dream, she thought she would wake up, but the only thing changing was the position of the clouds.

Finally, after several hours, Ariel accepted reality. She acknowledged that she had been possessed by a game character.

“Status window…”

Ariel muttered softly.

A dry, neutral tone.

Not lively, but clearly the voice of a child.

Ariel ignored it and checked the status window in front of her.

–

[Name]

: Ariel

[Class]

: Mage

[Skills]

: Magic Missile

: Shield

[Stats]

Strength: 9999999…

Agility: 9999999…

Stamina: 9999999…

Intelligence: 9999999…

Attack Power: 9999999…

Defense Power: 9999999…

–

The stats were still bugged.

All stats infinite.

Ariel felt relieved inside.

If her stats had been weak, she might have been devastated.

Since she was possessed by a game character, having infinite stats would be advantageous no matter what.

After checking her stats, Ariel felt that her body was different from before.

She felt overflowing energy. It seemed like she could pull out a giant rock and throw it, or run all day without getting tired.

With infinite strength and stamina stats, it was only natural.

Next, Ariel looked at her skills.

[Skills]

: Magic Missile

: Shield

There were only two skills. Just the basic skills given when creating a character.

Magic Missile was an offensive skill, Shield was a defensive skill.

Honestly, they were unnecessary.

With infinite attack and defense power, why bother using skills?

In that sense, being a mage was also meaningless.

Ariel waved her hand to dismiss the status window.

She was satisfied with her stats and skills for now.

Now it was time to check something else.

“Inventory.”

At that moment, a virtual space unfolded in Ariel’s consciousness.

An empty void.

She intuitively knew that she could store things here. It was the so-called inventory space from games.

As the inventory unfolded in her consciousness, its features and usage flowed into her mind.

The inventory was a common system in games, but in reality, it was much more useful.

Since it was connected to her consciousness, there was no worry of theft. She could easily store and retrieve items without the hassle of carrying them around.

Thanks to her infinite stamina stat, there were no limits to weight or volume.

If she wanted, she could even store an entire building.

However, living creatures couldn’t be stored. Time didn’t flow inside the inventory.

The moment something entered the inventory, time stopped for it.

That was a definite advantage. Food stored there would never spoil. She could pile up food like a mountain and take it out fresh whenever she wanted.

After checking her inventory, Ariel took a step forward.

It was still hard to believe she had become a game character, but there was no need to overthink it.

After all, the purpose of the game was adventure.

If she had become a game character, all she had to do was go on an adventure herself.

And so, Ariel’s adventure began.

*

While walking through the forest, the first thing Ariel encountered was a troll.

A ferocious monster with pink skin and a massive body.

Ariel stared blankly at the troll. It felt completely different from seeing it on a game screen.

First of all, its size was overwhelming.

It was about 5 meters tall. To look at the troll’s face, she had to tilt her head back.

The troll’s face wasn’t particularly handsome. It looked foolish and stupid.

Its large eyes rolled around, and its wide grin looked comical.

Of course, the troll was a powerful monster, a top predator in the forest.

Ordinary beasts like wolves or bears would flee with their tails between their legs the moment they encountered a troll.

The troll was muscular overall, and in its hand, it held a club larger than Ariel’s body.

Groooar!

The troll roared at Ariel.

A tremendous noise.

It felt like the entire forest shook, and startled birds flew up from the surroundings.

But Ariel didn’t budge. She just stood there, staring blankly at the troll.

This didn’t sit well with the troll.

A young elf encountering it in the forest and reacting so calmly? Normally, such a roar would make anyone wet themselves and collapse on the spot.

The troll approached Ariel. The reaction wasn’t satisfying, but the taste would be good. Elf flesh was tender, a delicacy for trolls.

“Hey, little elf! Don’t just stand there like an idiot, run away!”

Then, a voice was heard.

Ariel tilted her head and looked around.

“What are you looking around for? If you don’t want to get eaten, run away now!”

The voice was coming from the direction of the troll.

Of course, it wasn’t the troll speaking.

The troll’s drooling, foolish face didn’t seem capable of such speech.

“Get out of the way!”

Ariel’s gaze fell to the troll’s waist.

Hanging from the troll’s waist was a cage, and inside that cage was a tiny human.

Blue hair, with wings. The size of a finger.

“A fairy…”

Ariel muttered dryly.

According to the world setting she skimmed before starting the game, various races existed in this world.

Among them, fairies were a race of fairies, the size of a finger, with wings on their backs and a sparkling nature.

They were known to be talkative and loved alcohol and flowers.

Additionally, fairies had the ability to sprinkle sparkling powder, which had various effects.

Healing, flight, sleep, etc.

Because of this powder, fairies were rare. It was also why humans were desperate to capture them.

When fairies were caught, they were kept in cages, but ordinary cages wouldn’t do.

Fairies could use their flight powder to escape with the cage.

So, magic cages were used. Only authorized individuals could open them, and the magic prevented fairies from using their flight powder.

Both fairies and magic cages were expensive, but if you could continuously extract powder from a fairy, it was a profitable business.

Of course, fairies were active creatures and wouldn’t last long in a cage before dying.

Still, humans often captured fairies to use as powder factories or kept them as ornamental pets.

Anyway, now a magic cage was hanging from the troll’s waist.

The one shouting at Ariel to run away was the fairy trapped inside.

A troll with no intelligence carrying a magic cage on its waist—there must be some story behind it.

But Ariel couldn’t continue her thoughts.

The troll, now close to Ariel, raised its club high.

“Idiot! Fool! Run away!”

The fairy in the magic cage desperately shouted, and the troll swung its club down.

Thud!

Dust rose thickly, and the resulting wind shook the grass and branches as it passed.

The troll’s strength was powerful enough to break a bear’s back.

With such immense strength, the club swung down with full force, making Ariel’s survival impossible by common sense.

“Sigh…”

The fairy in the magic cage let out a despondent sigh. It was certain that Ariel had turned into a squashed tomato.

Now she would become the troll’s meal.

“She was just a young elf who hadn’t fully grown yet…”

Elves, like fairies, were forest-dwelling races.

Not as greedy as humans, they were pure beings who loved the forest like fairies.

Of course, the idea that fairies were pure was a fairy’s own delusion.

Fairies were skilled at lying and deceiving others, and they even loved alcohol, so calling them pure was a bit of a stretch.

Still, fairies considered themselves as pure as elves.

Someone might say not to subtly compare themselves like that, but there was no one around to say that now.

As the dust slowly settled, the spot where the troll had swung its club became visible.

The fairy closed its eyes.

It was better for mental health not to see the gruesome death of that cute elf.

“Guh?”

Then, the troll made a foolish sound, and the fairy opened its eyes.

“Huh?”

And the fairy couldn’t help but make a similarly foolish sound.

The spot where the troll had swung its club.

The young elf, who should have been crushed, was standing there unharmed. Her expressionless face was the same, and the only thing that had changed was her posture.

From standing still to raising her arm to block.

The fairy thought it was a bit lacking to try blocking the troll’s club with such a slender arm.

But the young elf was perfectly fine. Not a single scratch.

“You, you, what are you… Are you okay?”

The fairy asked. At that moment, the troll raised its club again, and the fairy urgently shouted.

“Ru, run away!”

It must have been a fluke earlier.

Maybe the troll’s club missed by luck, or a one-time defensive magic activated, but this time it might be really dangerous.

But that young elf, still a bit lacking, didn’t move even as the troll swung its club down.

Thud!!

Another loud noise echoed.