Chapter 5: The Girl and This World

  The forest is still so beautiful and quiet. Various birds chirp and flowers bloom, full of vitality.

  But after experiencing a life-and-death struggle, Johnny didn't have the mood to appreciate the beauty of nature anymore.

  This journey has been agonizing for Johnny. First, there's the physical discomfort. Any mammal that gets its throat cut will spew out a lot of blood, and wolves are no exception.

  That stunning swing, the knife flashed by, and the fresh blood spouting from the wild wolf's neck was like the most beautiful fountain, displaying the last moment of life's magnificent beauty.

  That moment of beauty, Joanie didn't see it because he was worried about blood splashing into his eyes. The cost after the beauty, he bore it all without any compromise.

  The blood that had been dried on Johnny's clothes, skin, and the space between his clothes and skin. The blood clots on his face made Johnny's expression stiff, and when he wiped it with a cloth, the thick blood opened up and covered his entire face. After it dried, it became even stiffer all over. The blood on his body couldn't be dealt with, as it had already coagulated and stuck to him, making him feel extremely uncomfortable. The blood on his clothes had formed clots that kept rubbing against his skin, sticky and greasy.

  The worst part is that when the sweat flows down, those blood clots seem to have a tendency to liquefy.

  If you really want to compare, it's like not taking a bath for three days, sweating all over, squeezing out of the subway and returning home, only to find that there is no water at home, still unable to take a bath.

  And it's even worse.

  Apart from physical discomfort, Johnny's spirit was also exhausted from being on high alert for a long time.

  A rustling sound came from the grass behind, turned around with sword in hand, and found it was a small snake; a branch broke on the side, looked over with sword in hand, and it turned out to be a rabbit. A strong gust of wind blew over the top of the head, looked around with sword in hand, and finally found that it was indeed just the wind.

  It's like all trees and grasses are enemies, it's almost exactly this situation.

  As he walked, stopping occasionally, before he knew it, it was already noon. Since the wolf earlier, no other beasts or monsters had come to disturb Johnny, but he still felt very tired, as if he had just gone through a great battle. After carefully checking his surroundings, Johnny found a large tree and leaned against it to sit down. He took a few deep breaths, opened his backpack, pulled out some dried meat, and began to enjoy it.

  The forest was still filled with birdsong and insect calls, the air still thick with the scent of decaying leaves. After sitting down, Joanie relaxed completely, and after drinking her fill and eating her fill, all she wanted to do was sleep soundly and recharge her energy before doing anything else.

  "Can't sleep, can't sleep, one person can't sleep. Can't sleep, sleeping is dangerous, can't sleep...can't...no..."

  For beasts, those with weapons are opponents, and those who sleep are meat. If Joanie slept through this, the book would be over.

  "Clang——" The sound of metal striking shattered the tranquility under the lush greenery, also shattering Johnny's gradually forming dreams.

  "Who goes there?" Johnny scrambled to his feet, hand on the hilt of his sword, and looked around cautiously, his eyes gleaming with intensity.

  Seeing no danger around him, the fatigue he had been suppressing suddenly surged into his brain, making Johnny dizzy. Closing his eyes and holding his head, he took a deep breath, and then reopened them. Just as he was wondering what to do next, another metallic clanging sound came from afar. Following the sound with his gaze, all he saw was a thicket of bushes behind another thicket of bushes.

  Gathering his luggage, Johnny drew his sword in hand and walked cautiously in the direction of the sound. After passing through several bushes and circling around a few large trees, Johnny saw a person.

  Judging from her figure, she was a girl. Wearing tight-fitting leather armor, outlining healthy curves. The girl behind her back carried a bow, and in her hand, she was wielding a long sword, fighting against the goblins in front of her. There were two goblins, one lying on the ground. The two goblins held what should be iron swords, who knows where they had pulled them out from some poor bird brain.

  At this time, the battle was still going on. A goblin swung its sword to chop down, and the woman raised her sword to block it. Another goblin beside took advantage of the situation and handed over a sword, but the woman dodged sideways and counterattacked with one stroke, stabbing towards the first goblin. The goblin was no ordinary one, leaping backward just in time to avoid the blade.

  Joni saw that the woman's martial arts were mediocre, and she seemed to be in some danger, at least getting into trouble. He was hesitant about whether or not to play a hero saving a beauty. Suddenly, he saw the woman glance over at him, jump back, dodge a goblin's heavy blow, and let her long sword naturally insert itself into the ground. Then, she took an arrow from behind, drew it, aimed in Joni's direction, shot it out, and the entire action was smooth and uninterrupted. The goblin on that side had just wanted to pounce over and take advantage of the situation to attack, but the woman had already thrown aside her bow, pulled out her long sword from the ground, and blocked the goblin's slashing blow.

  Joni hesitated until the arrow had flown halfway, then reacted. Just as a hint of surprise appeared on his face, the arrow arrived in front of him, brushing past Joni's cheek and flying by.

  Then there was a sharp cry of "ah", extremely piercing.

  Joni turned around and saw a goblin with an arrow through its chest, thrashing about on the ground, but judging from its appearance, it was clearly beyond salvation.

  "Ah ah." Johnny snapped his mouth shut, "Let Mei Ge save him."

  Looking back at the battle on that side, it was still a stalemate. Although the girl shot excellent arrows, her close combat skills were not impressive, and even Joanie, a small warrior, shook her head. But just shaking her head wasn't enough, so Joanie drew her sword and charged forward.

  Those two goblins saw someone rushing over, got a fright, and their fierce offensive slowed down all at once. They cowered as if they wanted to escape. When Joanie rushed up to them, one of the goblins saw him knock open his companion's sword, then kicked his companion so that he couldn't stand steadily, and with another powerful slash, cut his companion who was struggling to keep balance into two segments. Instantly, their will to fight disappeared, and they no longer attacked, opening their legs to run away.

  The girl saw the situation, loosened her long sword, bent down to pick up her longbow, drew the bow and shot an arrow at the escaping goblin. The goblin was running forward when suddenly a strong force hit him from behind, sending him flying into the air. As he fell back down, the arrow had already pinned him to the ground.

  Instantly settling the battle, such a magnificent finale, it's worth striking a pose for the two of them to celebrate.

  Of course, that's just a scene in the game.

  "Thanks just now..." The two of them looked at each other and spoke simultaneously.

  "Huh? Hehe." They both spoke at the same time and were taken aback, then they both chuckled.

  Before, from a distance, all he could see was the woman's lithe figure and her poor swordsmanship as well as her exaggerated archery skills. Now that he had drawn closer, he discovered that she was actually a beauty. A head of clean black hair was simply tied up in a ponytail at the back of her head, giving off a lively impression. Her delicate face with a hint of wildness was matched with a pair of big eyes with black pupils. Good heavens, wasn't this exactly Joanie's favorite type from his past life?

  "Hey, what are you looking at? Wake up." The woman pushed Joni, who was staring at her.

  "Ah? Ah, cough, I... cough, nice to meet you, my name is Johnny Smith, 5th level warrior." He said, extending his hand.

  "Oh, I'm Astrid Hug, sixth-level forest ranger." She said, shaking hands with Johnny.

  Sixth level... Forest Ranger? Feeling the softness in his hand, Joanie couldn't help but smile wryly.

  How embarrassing!

  "Are you using a long sword?" Aisling asked, pointing at Jony's waist.

  Yes.

  "Where is your shield?"

  "Huh?"

  Astrid looked somewhat impatient: "Your shield! Isn't a longsword a one-handed weapon? One-handed weapons don't need shields, do they?"

  Seems like it.

  Think carefully, those guys who wore long swords at first seemed to have a shield on their backs.

  And what they taught me seems to be all one-handed moves.

  Jony was dazed, but Astrid suddenly remembered something: "You seemed to be holding a sword with both hands earlier? Who did you learn your swordsmanship from?"

  "This is self-taught."

  "Self-taught?!" The girl was surprised, and immediately looked Joni up and down, shaking her head. "Your physical quality is not bad, but your skills are too poor. You'd better find a teacher to learn from, otherwise it'll be hard for you to improve."

  His skills are too poor, his skills are too poor, his skills are too poor...... These four words kept echoing in Joanie's mind.

  "What about you? You don't have a shield either! Your skills aren't that great, are they?" It was as if I had returned to the days of verbal sparring online.

  Astrid stared at Jony in surprise, with a hint of disdain: "You're really a country bumpkin. I'm a Ranger, a Ranger! Don't you know the professional system? Haven't you heard the stories of traveling bards? I'm Astrid Hugues, who's going to become a Magic Archer. Archery is my specialty, and this broken sword is just for backup. If it weren't for those goblins ambushing me while I was resting, they wouldn't even have had a chance to get close! A shield? Find me a place to put a shield?"

  My goodness, this little girl - note Joni's spiritual age - is too impolite, isn't it just a slip of the tongue? Must it be like this? Besides.

  "Ranger? I know, rangers aren't archers, dual-wielding and ambidexterity aren't professional talents? Isn't Crichton..."

  Joni suddenly stopped talking.

  "What a mess! Just now I saved your life, you also saved mine once, we're even. Alright, I still have things to do, I'll leave first." Aisley was very dissatisfied with Johnny's inexplicable retort, and seeing that he was covered in blood and looked disheveled, she waved her hand and walked deeper into the forest, soon disappearing into the shadows and trees.

  Only Johnny was left, standing there in a daze.

  "It's not Ferran after all." His lips moved, muttering to himself.

  Just now, what burst out of Joanie's mouth was his own understanding of the setting of "Cruising Guest" and its representative character.

  These are all materials from previous DND settings.

  Judging from Astrid's reaction, it is clear that these settings are just the settings of another time and space.

  This world, is just this world. No matter how many places have similarities with the familiar settings of Johnny, it's not any of the fictional countries that I understand. Twenty years of life can't bring me any benefits. All knowledge about games, computers, texts, languages and history are just legends. Some may be verified, some will forever be stories.

  Before being verified, it is indeed completely without reference value.

  I was just a sixteen-year-old boy from an ironwork family, with a strong physique and poor martial arts skills. And I'm also illiterate.

  Jonny, who always laughed optimistically, was expressionless.

  The hope that had been quietly harbored for many years was shattered in the last few minutes. When there is hope, everything in this world is seen as a dream, an interesting adventure, and a meaningful experience. Even under the wolf's mouth, he never felt a thread of despair. He firmly believed that he was the protagonist who was being favored, and firmly believed that he had grasped the secret of this world - even if it seemed so content with the status quo.

  But this hope was shattered.

  Joni lowered his head, clenched his fists and remained silent for a long time, like a statue.

  After killing the goblin, the bloody smell that spread in the air finally attracted the first scavenger. A wild wolf looked at the battlefield from a distance. The person standing in the field seemed quite dangerous, and the wolf recognized the weapon hanging from his waist, having experienced its power before.

  But that person seems to be motionless.

  The wolf's suspicion is very heavy, but the goblin is a bit stupid.

  Three goblins followed the faint smell of blood in the air and found this place, saw the corpses of their kind, and saw Johnny standing still.

  In the eyes of these ignorant gregarious creatures, they are iron swords on earth and better iron swords floating in mid-air.

  What's there to hesitate about!

  Three guys crept up on Johnny, leaving behind a trail of "creaking" footsteps.

  It can be seen that those three were so sharp that they could even launch a sneak attack on a sixth-level Lin Ke!

  Closer, closer! Jony shouted loudly, drew his long sword, grasped it with both hands, took a few steps back, twisted his waist, and swung his arm down forcefully. One of the goblins was split in two, one half slowly falling to the ground, the other flying out.

  The other two goblins were scared, and being afraid of the strong and bullying the weak was a major standard for goblins to deal with the world. Afraid or not, fighting two against one was still worth trying. With this idea in mind, the two goblins swung their wooden clubs.

  How boring.

  Jonyi just made a big move, cutting open the goblin's body with great force. The goblin couldn't withstand the power and spun around in a circle, coincidentally cutting into one of the goblins' wooden clubs and sending it flying. At the same time, he was hit by another goblin.

  Feeling the pain, Joanie turned her head and glared at the goblin with one eye, kicking out with one foot, followed by a slash of her knife. The blade sank deep into the goblin's shoulder, and the goblin struggled futilely under the blade, letting out a miserable cry.

  This really scared them off, the surviving goblins dropped their wooden clubs and turned to flee. Jony wanted to chase after them, but his long sword seemed to be stuck in the bone, unable to pull it out for a moment, so he let go of his hand, pulled out the short blade from his thigh, and threw it at the direction where the goblin was running.

  A dagger cut through the air, like a white ribbon, and struck that goblin - the big tree beside its head.

  The goblin ran even faster and disappeared into the thicket in an instant.

  The depression in his chest seemed to have dissipated, Jony let out a sigh of relief, and a hint of a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

  Then let's start from scratch, he thought.

  With his long sword drawn, amidst the corpses and blood-soaked surroundings, Joni, a fifth-level small warrior, lowered his sword, like a war god, gazing down at everything around him after the great battle.

  The wolf watching from a distance quietly slipped away.