3 A Troubled Exploration

I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping as the sun spilled into the cave where I had made our temporary home. As I go up, I felt a small pang in my neck and quickly held it, moaning a bit to myself. I had, for lack of a better term, become a mid-night snack for the vampire girl who I rescued yesterday, and was snacked upon quite a few times while I slept.

I looked around to see where the lady of the night had run off to, only to see that she wasn't anywhere around me in the cave. I stood up, still rubbing my neck where the bite mark was located and walked out of the cave. She wasn't anywhere here either.

'Where did she run off to?' I wondered before deciding to drop the matter. 'If she comes back then that's fine, but for now, I need to focus more on refining my Skills.

I was super sloppy yesterday, I could have done a lot better during both the rescue and when trying to infiltrate the village. Veldora said that this is a world where the strong rule and the weak die, so I have to rethink my strategy.

There is a good chance, now that I think about it, that those people won't have taken me in, or worse, sold me into slavery. I guess I lucked out by saving the vampire and avoiding the situation.

I need to change my personality and outlook on the world, at least for a while, because if I don't then I'll end up being taken advantage of, killed, or worse.' I think while I walk over to the riverbank and begin stripping.

I dip my foot into the water before immediately retreating. "COLD!" I yell out before slowly stepping back into the water.

'I'm all sweaty from the night and the cave was filled with dust and dirt, might as well wash myself up quickly.' I think as I use a bit of [Creation Magic] on my shirt to remove all the dirt, dust, debris, etc, making it nice and clean. I then use the now clean rags to wipe down my body and clean myself.

While I am washing myself, I see my reflection in the water. I look rather handsome for what looks like a 12-year-old. I have short, shabby black hair and violet eyes. It's the first time I've seen something like natural violet eyes in my life, but I'm guessing it's due to the fantasy aspects of the world.

After about twenty minutes, my little wash is over and I dry my clothes with more magic. I then sit on a nearby log and begin thinking up my strategy.

'I need to find out where I am. I also shouldn't discredit the idea that I am a few months or even years away from Rimuru's rebirth, so I need to build my own power up for now. It's a good thing I'm still human now that I think about it.

Humans have a strange evolution path. They start out as normal people but can become Enlightened/Human Sages before becoming Saints. Hinata, as an Enlightened, was able to keep up with Rimuru before his Demon Lord Evolution and completely overpower him. She even fought equal to him physically after his awakening as a True Demon Lord, though if he was fighting with intent to kill, she would have died.

At the time of both, she was just barely pre-Saint evolution. Saints are spiritual beings and don't get tired, but Hinata was unable to keep up with Rimuru in a battle of attrition once he awakened due to her limited stamina when compared to Rimuru's limitless stamina.

Long story short, I should try to aim for becoming a Saint as soon as possible. I could also try to awaken as a True Hero after that to further increase my power but I'll have to be careful. I don't want to evolve into a True Hero before that because it'll limit my ability to become a Saint...'

I sigh to myself 'That's a long way off in the future. For now, I need to solve my low magicule problem and find a teacher for combat and gather information. I'll have to wait until [World Sage] finishes establishing itself to begin trying anything riskier' I think as I stand up.

I begin walking down the riverbank and looking for any possible settlements or monsters nearby. I'll only scout out for now and come back here. I need more information.

...

After an hour or so of walking, I find a small waterfall where the river plummets down several stories from a cliff. The roaring of the waterfall is defending and I have to cover my ears as I look over the edge to get a better view of my surroundings.

At the bottom of the cliff, there is a waterwheel and, what I can only describe as a three-story house connected to that waterwheel, probably to provide some sort of mechanical motion to whatever machinery is in the house. It looks so fantasy-esk that I can only think that there is some old hermit wizard or potion maker or something living there.

I smirk to myself and run away from the edge of the cliff just to get the loud noise out of my head and give me room to hear myself think.

'I'll give it a day and wait for the vampire lady to come back. If she doesn't, then I'll go tomorrow and see what's up. I'll try to catch some food for me on my way back too' I think while walking back.

Suddenly, I feel like I am being watched and have a strong urge to duck. I follow my instincts and jump forwards and roll on the floor. After a second, I turn to see a tall and handsome young man wearing a dark black Victorian Era aristocracy-like suit. He is holding a simple silver dagger dripping with an unknown green liquid.

"My... it seems the child has some good reflexes," He says before smiling a wide smile, bearing his sharp vampiric teeth and laughing lowly to himself.

I feel an immediate sense of fear and I am almost paralyzed by it. I can't think logically and my only thought is to escape this crazy vampire guy.

Without skipping a beat, I get up and run towards the treeline and jump to the left behind a tree, butting it in between me and the creature. Just as I do so I hear a loud cracking sound and see that the bark just to my left had been spit open. I look ahead and see that the knife had penetrated the tree ahead of me and sunk into it all the way to the handle.

'Did he through that so hard and so fast it went through this tree and into the other one? If he had been a few inches to the left...'

"Oh man, and here I thought that I would hit." He said as he rounded the tree.

I'm not sure what came over me, but I immediately grabbed a branch, and with adrenaline fueling me, ripped it from the tree. I quickly spun around and struck at the man, who simply blocked my attack with his arm, not taking the slightest bit of damage.

"Ah yes... keep struggling. I'm loving that look on your face!" He said as he opened his palm towards me and quickly shoved it into my small chest.

"Bleah!" I spit up blood and was sent hurling further into the forest. I landed hard and rolled for a few more meters.

I can't tell how many bones were broken by that attack, but I can tell it wasn't few. I struggled to stand up and used a bit of [Restoration Magic] to heal my injuries while I looked at the Vampire slowly approaching me.

This wasn't a hunt or a fight, to him it was a game, and that enraged me. 'I'm not so weak that I'll let this asshole be the death of me!' I think while standing up.

'I need a weapon. No, that won't work, there aren't any weapons near here other than sticks, and he has already proven he can block my attacks with ease due to the difference in physical strength.' I look around my surroundings again and spot a small trench nearby.

'Worth a shot' I think as I run over to it.

I turn my head after a few steps to see the man has begun lightly jogging towards me, a sinister grin on his face. I turn back and dive into the trench, not caring how deep it may or may not be.

Thankfully, it is only a few meters deep and I hit the rough stone floor hard. I get the wind knocked out of me but manage to drag my body up due to adrenaline. I look around to see the trench is actually the entrance to a gorge. A few dozen more meters down is a small stream of rapids.

'Great now I've trapped myself!' I think. It was already a miracle that I landed on this ledge and didn't fall into the water. Even if I'd survive the fall, I'd definitely hit my head on some rock in the rapids and drown. I look up just in time to see the man has made his way to the ledge.

His amused face is showing still and I am filled with even more rage. 'Damn it! I need more time!' I think hard as I see him jumping down towards me.

Then something amazing happens. The man begins to fall in slow motion.

'What is going on?' I think before realizing something. 'Thought Acceleration? It must be since I don't have any other ability to slow time! I thought [World Sage] would take longer to settle so I didn't even consider that some of the sub-abilities would still work!'

I feel ashamed of myself as I watch the man very slowly land on the ground in front of me. I reach my hand forward and see his face very slowly contort into one of surprise but before he can even open his mouth...

"{Dissassembly}" I say as I use the rest of my magicules on the use of [Metamorphosis Magic].

The vampire male looks surprised for a split second before looking panicked as his chest bulges his eyes bleed and then he explodes into a puddle of blood and guts. I remembered how Doctor Manhattan killed Rorschach in the movie and tried to achieve the same effect by controlling all the organic matter in the vampire and causing it to explosively expand outwards.

As it turns out, my plan was a success, though I doubt it will work on beings who possess any form of higher regeneration or a certain level of magic resistance.

After my brief thought, time begins to move faster again and returns to normal speed. His head rolls over to my feet as I look down at it with horror. My shaking legs buckle and I fall on my ass breathing heavily.

[Skill: [Fear Resistance] acquired]

I heard as I calmed down. Now that my fear and panic have subsided, I take some time to digest what just happened.

'First, I was randomly attacked by a vampire while exploring the woods by myself.

Second, I rescued a vampire who was caged up and persecuted by the villagers nearby.

Third, He was attempting to kill me?' I thought while confused.

'Why would he poison his dagger then? I was just a random kid so perhaps he wasn't after me but decided to kill me when he saw me? But why?' I thought for a bit.

I was feeling sluggish since I had used all my magicules up, but I continued walking through the gorge on the ledge I found myself in. I was too weak to use [Creation Magic] to make myself some stairs but I wasn't confident in climbing back up where I came from. There was a good chance this guy wasn't alone.

I paused for a minute before rushing back to the site where I killed him. I quickly picked up his head and looked towards the bloody mess that was what remained of his body. I grabbed his clothes and, after wringing them out for a while to get out as much blood as possible, throw the remaining body parts down the gorge and into the water.

I keep the head, as it could be useful, then continue finding my way out of here and back to my campsite. I've got questions for a certain vampire girl.

...

It took a while, but I was able to get out of the gorge and return to the stream. I followed it back to the campsite where I saw a certain young blonde-haired crimson-eyed beauty pacing back and forth.

After a few moments, she looks up and notices me. At first, she looks happy, then she is horrified at the copious amounts of blood on my body. It doesn't help that my shaky walking due to my low magicules makes me look like I'm injured.

"Kid!" She yells as she runs over to me and tackles me. "Oh my goodness! WHAT HAPPENED!?!" She yelled as she looked me over.

I drop the bundle of clothing containing the head of the vampire and cough a few times. "I'm *cough* fine..."

"No, you're not! Look how much you're bleeding!" She says as she looks at me with tears in her eyes.

"It's not my blood"

"Hu?" She looks at me confused.

I point to the bundle of clothes and she gets up off me and unravels he head. I look at her and see her eyes open wide in shock before she looks over to me in disbelief.

"How?" She asks.

"I'm just that good, now I have some questions, and you are going to answer them!" I say in a stern tone.

She looks at me with tears in her eyes and leaps at me. Hugging me tightly and crying more.

"Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." She says repeatedly while crying.

I sigh before returning her hug. 'I guess I'll have to wait on those answers.' I think while comforting the crying girl.