Chapter 4

I put the mana core in my mouth and tried to swallow it whole. However, I was having a hard time. As seconds ticked by with the core in my mouth, it suddenly dissolved into the air.

[System alert: Unknown energy attempting to infiltrate the body. Initiate expulsion protocol and reject the unknown energy?]

"No, that won't be necessary. Let it be." 

I declined and let the weird air flow into my body. It felt really cool, like I had just swallowed a sack of mint. In a matter of minutes, it was gone, and I didn't feel anything particularly different. 

If not for the update in my status bar, I wouldn't even know something was changing.

[Species: Ice Elf.]

[Strength: 7.01, Agility: 18.05, Dexterity: 15.03, Magic: 10.001.]

[Status: Healthy. Hungry.]

My stats increased! Well, ain't that convenient. Just as I was relishing the fact that becoming stronger only required swallowing these fist-sized marbles, I stopped my hand from putting the second mana core. 

I realized that I knew zero things about this mana core aside from its use by digesting it.

"Can you research anything about this mana core, AI?"

— That would be possible; however, it would take hundreds if not thousands of years to finish as I have no useful data to base it on.

It was the first time the AI said something like this, but I understood why. It was like I had ordered it to calculate the distance without having any base knowledge related to it. 

Even the mana in my body; the AI didn't know anything about it, aside from my ability to utilize it somehow. But it's not impossible to research. 

The AI is just telling me that it'll be a waste of time as of this moment. In the future, I might be able to do it, but now, this shouldn't be my concern.

"Okay, got it." 

I muttered as I threw the mana core into my mouth. The thing I should be focusing on is gathering data on what kind of world I got transported into. 

Strangely, I can't find anything relevant in the original elf's memory about the geography.

I'm not sure if only this guy is the reclusive creature or if all elves are, as all the memories regarding the world in the memories are composed only of the village and nearby hunting ground. 

No information about civilizations outside or anything of the sort, which I found really frustrating. I haven't been really good with geography, and now I'm doing this? 

Well, that goes for tomorrow. For now, what I need to do is fill my stomach with "real" food and rest. Tomorrow, the expedition begins.

— The meat is now cooked. 

Just in time, I felt my stomach grumble.

...

The next day, my face paled, and my brow furrowed as I stared in front of me. At first, no one could distinguish any weirdness from what I'm looking at. 

After all, it's just an entrance to a deep, gloomy, withered forest—totally normal. However, when I reached my hand forward, it was met with an invisible force that prevented me from passing through.

"The heck is this? An invisible wall? A barrier?" 

I shouldn't be this confused, considering that elves might be reclusive creatures, and they may have erected this to hide from society, right? 

But upon AI going through the memories, it did not find any evidence of the elves erecting such a barrier, not even a tale passed down from their ancestors. 

In fact, the most disturbing thing I learned is that they don't even know it exists! It's like they lived their life with a predetermined set of knowledge and an attitude to not go further beyond this place. 

They're like a bunch of programmed entities in an isolated space. Am I in a simulation? So this isn't a fantasy world? Is my isekai a lie?

"This is quite concerning. AI, do you have any idea what's happening?" 

Frankly, I can think of this myself, but I don't like the idea of having my time wasted, especially in times like this when I have no idea what is happening, and there's a better and faster way to do it.

— Information Synthesis: Based on gathered data (both your and the elf's memory), there is a 69% probability that this place is a dungeon.

"A what now?" 

Now that I think of it, that makes sense. All the things I've been experiencing greatly resemble happenings inside a dungeon from the novels I have read in the past—isolated space, monsters that drop mana cores, and many more. 

But that begs the question, if this is a dungeon, is it an entirely new one? Or is it from an existing place that I have seen before? I'm talking about me being transmigrated into a fictional verse. 

Although this is just an assumption, it wouldn't hurt to know if this was real or not.

"AI, do a deep scan on my memories and the elf's. Find similarities, especially entities, see if you can find one."

— Affirmative. 

[Analyzing your memories and the elf's for similarities, focusing on shared entities...] 

A loading screen appeared at the bottom of my vision. I wanted to rest after walking around for so long, and I found a stone covered in snow to sit down on. 

[Memory Deep Scan Complete: Noteworthy similarities detected.] 

[Result: Shared encounter with (2) elf creatures. Baruka and an unnamed elf.] 

Following the result, a blurry picture of an elf, similar-looking to mine but more menacing, was being compared to a picture of an elf from a manhwa I read before I died. 

'Bullshit...' 

I'm in Solo Leveling?!