2 Work Together?
Aiden thought he was dead from a heart attack. But after he lost consciousness for an unknown period, he finally opened his eyes and found himself lying alone in the middle of a forest.
The trees towered above him, their branches stretching out like fingers, and the leaves rustled in the wind like whispers. His heart raced as he tried to make sense of his surroundings. He should have been in the hospital, but instead, he was in a place he did not recognize.
As he struggled to sit up, Aiden felt a sharp pain in his chest. He looked down and saw a strange symbol etched into his wrist. It glowed with a red light, and he knew that it was the source of his pain.
He took a deep breath and stood up, ready to face whatever lay ahead.
"Wait! A forest?"
Aiden stopped thinking about how he could end up in the forest. The immediate problem now was that he was alone in the forest at night. This was worse than stubbing his little toe on furniture for the umpteenth time.
"Dang it! Where the heck am I? I gotta figure out what's going on in this forest."
Aiden's mind was a whirlwind of confusion, but he knew that he had to keep his wits. Despite his occasional outbursts of anger, he was a quick thinker who knew how to suppress his emotions when necessary.
His survival instincts kicked in automatically, honed by years of experience dealing with life-threatening situations.
As he got up from the ground, he realized that something was off. He felt shorter, and his feet were small and dirty. He looked around, but everything was shrouded in darkness.
"Did someone slip me something?" he muttered, staring at his hands.
Suddenly, a glimmer of light appeared before Aiden. He closed his eyes briefly before opening them again to see a translucent gray screen floating in the air.
The screen was filled with strange symbols and characters that he could not understand. He reached out to touch it, but his hand passed right through the screen as if it was not even there.
It took a few seconds for his brain to process the unfamiliar symbols and translate them automatically into something he could understand.
[Congratulations! You have been chosen to take over the body of Griswalden Silverth!]
[Gris and Transmigrator's memories have been synchronized.]
"What...? Did someone really slip me something?"
As Aiden tried to make sense of his situation, his head began to throb with pain. Suddenly, memories that were not his own flooded his mind, and he felt as if he was drowning in a sea of information.
[First Event: <Traumatic Childhood>
Description: Gris is the son of Blayz Silverth, a mad alchemist. All of Blayz's children will take a test to determine which ones are qualified to carry on his legacy as the Doomsday Committee.
Mission: Escape from the Death Forest safely.
Reward: Early promotion to the Necromancer class.
Penalty: None.]
Aiden laughed like a madman as he read the information on the screen. His intelligence made him understand that he had transmigrated as Gris Silverth.
How could that happen? Aiden did not know.
But the prime suspect was clear. Before his death, the author had replied to his comment with a sentence implying that he would send him into a web novel world.
"Why'd you pull this on me? I finally got the life I wanted! But just because of that one little remark, you throw me into this mess? Hey, answer me, you damn author!"
Aiden thought the author might be a god and would respond to him through the system, as often happened in fantasy web novel scenes he had read. Unfortunately, he had only seen a one-way communication system.
Knowing this fact, Aiden felt depressed for a while. But such feelings disappeared when he recalled what the First Event meant.
"That author totally has a grudge against me," Aiden muttered, trying to recall Gris's past.
Rise of the Low-Class Hero is a gripping post-apocalyptic novel that takes place ten years after the apocalypse. The first-generation Doomsday Committee caused incredible chaos, killing many people and destroying various kingdoms.
Before the apocalypse, there were around three hundred kingdoms worldwide, but less than a hundred remained ten years later.
Blayz Silverth, a renowned alchemist in the Amarthia Empire, played an essential role in the post-apocalyptic recovery. His contributions were so significant that they surpassed those of the church.
However, his true identity was shrouded in mystery. He was a member of the Doomsday Committee, tasked with the mission of finding a way to destroy Amarthia, the largest empire in the world.
With his cunning and intelligence, Blayz was able to infiltrate the highest echelons of power in Amarthia.
He secretly "produced" children whom he would groom to become Doomsday Committee members. When they turned fifteen, he would test them all, regardless of their gender or condition.
"So, I legit just transmigrated or whatever into this wild moment in time?"
Aiden was furious, but he knew that his anger was pointless. The Death Forest was not named after any monsters or deadly plants but because Blayz's children would kill each other in this forest.
Blayz had a twisted way of selecting his heirs. Only five children were allowed to leave the Death Forest alive. The rest were left to die. To ensure that his children would fight to the death, he drugged thirty of them and threw various weapons into the forest.
The children did not want to kill each other, but circumstances forced them to. They would naturally end up killing each other to get a ticket out.
Aiden must survive to find a way back to the real world. That was all he could think about in this situation.
"I believe the test is already underway."
His ears caught the sound of broken branches on the ground from someone's footsteps. Possibly, his screams a while ago lured people to come.
He turned to the source of the sound and saw a girl standing there, holding a dagger in her trembling hand. She had stopped in her tracks, surprised to see Aiden.
In the Death Forest, Blayz scattered several weapons at random. The girl must have woken up first and secured a dagger before the other children found it. Or maybe she was genuinely strong. Aiden could not tell.
"I-I didn't come to harm you," the girl finally said something with a shaky voice. She paused before continuing, "Um, what if we work together?"
Aiden raised an eyebrow. The girl spoke a language he did not know, but he could understand, thanks to Gris's memory. He could also automatically speak the language spoken by people in Amarthia.
"I find your words intriguing. Continue."
The girl's face lit up with a happy smile, and her nervousness vanished.
"You should be aware that only five individuals are permitted to escape. I learned this information from individuals who successfully passed the Death Forest Test. Among them, three collaborated to overcome the remaining participants during the test."
Aiden quickly grasped the girl's intention. He gestured that he required some time to contemplate. However, he could not afford to take too long, as the other children were likely searching for the exit at that very moment.
Five minutes later, Aiden told the girl his decision. "I think working together as a pair is more effective than going alone."
"Ah, thank you!" The girl was happier than before. "But what should we do now?"
"Everyone's goal is the exit gate. Let's find that after we get strong weapons."
Aiden walked with the girl, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings. At this point, they might cross paths with other children, likely to trigger a fight.
"Hey, I see something over there!" The girl exclaimed, covering her mouth as she realized her voice was too loud. Then, she spoke in a hushed tone, "Look, there's a chest under that tree."
The girl pointed to the tree she was referring to. Aiden nodded in response and invited her to approach the mysterious chest.
"It's locked," the girl sighed in disappointment when she found the chest was padlocked.
Aiden glanced at the girl's dagger. "Try breaking the lock with your dagger. I might be stronger than you, but I don't want to take a weapon from my partner."
The girl felt reassured in her choice to choose Aiden as her partner. Not all of Blayz's children were crazy. She believed Aiden was one of the children who still had feelings like her.
"I will try my best," the girl said, starting to hit the lock with her dagger.
Her concentration on breaking the lock left her unaware of Aiden's presence. Only when she successfully opened the chest did she realize he was no longer within her sight range.
"This box contains poison!" would have escaped her lips had a sharp stone not struck her neck from behind.
Aiden tightly gripped the stone, immediately using it to strike the girl's neck repeatedly—second, third, and countless more times. The girl's screams were accompanied by the rhythmic percussion of rocks striking her neck.
