Welcome to Isekai: No Guide Included

A... dream… It… was… a dream…

As if I was waking up from a long nap, those thoughts filled my mind. While slowly regaining consciousness, I started feeling the ground below me.

“Grass…” Indeed it is grass… been a while since I felt it.

When I opened my eyes, I was able to see the clear sky through the leaves above.

No status window. No goddess voice. Just… trees. Typical. Wait, what goddess? I was speaking with an old grandpa…

I sniffed the air, half-expecting it to smell fake, as if I could convince myself this was normal. Yes, I know it’s not normal. 

It took a bit to process all the sensations hitting me. I patted myself down, checking for injuries. Head - check; Arms and legs - check; Torso - check. I had another part of my body checked but it’s better not to talk about it right now. It is still there at least.

Only when I stood up did I realize.

“No pain, huh… I was expecting to feel at least something. And why would Grandpa send me in this world with the same clothes I had before I died?” At least in games you get some starter gear… even a tunic would’ve been fine.

I looked around hoping to find something… Anything… But it was clear. I was in a big and pretty dark forest. No, I am not scared of the dark. In the distance I was able to see what seemed to resemble a road. Not like in my previous world. A dirt road.

“Huh… Reincarnation really exists then.” I said, looking at my hands and feet again. “I really hope there isn’t anything dangerous around here.” Those, my friend, would be considered famous last words in my previous world.

Then I remembered something Grandpa said. “Parting gift… damned grandpa, at least could’ve told me what it was.” Or at least give me a tutorial here…

“Status check… Stats… Inventory… Settings…” I started shouting, trying to find this ‘parting gift’. If anyone were to see me, I think I would just burrow myself in the ground from embarrassment.

I guess it’s not so much as a game, is it now? Maybe magic?

I raised my hands, fingers spread like I’d seen in a hundred anime openings.

“Fireball!”

A leaf fell from a tree. That was it.

Yeah… figures…

I tried again, this time quieter, like the spell might be shy.

“Fire… ball?” Nothing. Not even a spark.

Okay, maybe it’s not verbal. Maybe it’s concentration.

I closed my eyes, furrowed my brow, pictured flames in my mind.

Come on… mana… flow… ignite…

A bird chirped mockingly overhead. I opened my eyes. Still nothing.

“If anyone saw this, I’d die of shame. Again.” I muttered to myself, cheeks burning even though I was alone.

In every isekai, the protagonist gets something right away. A sword. A skill. A cute companion. Me? I get a grandpa who forgets to include the manual.

I tried one more thing - pressed my palm against a tree trunk, like in that one manga where magic was drawn from nature. Please… anything… The bark was rough. That was all.

I slid down the tree and sat on the roots, knees pulled up. Now that I think about it, I have absolutely no idea what magic is in this world. The realization sank in deeper than before.

No spells. No system. No nothing. Just me, a hoodie, and a forest that probably wants to eat me. Maybe the gift was a joke. Or maybe I’m the joke.

I stared at my hands.

Fine… If there’s no magic, then there’s the road. I can’t just sit here feeling sorry for myself forever.

I stood up, gathering myself a little. I tugged my hoodie straight and patted my pockets again - empty, of course.

“I hoped I would find something inside but I guess anything other than the clothes I’m wearing would be considered an otherworldly item.” Not like I’m expecting my clothes to be normal in this world

To get to the road ahead it looked like about a forty minutes walk. The forest was dense, but surprisingly easy to walk through. I spotted a few bushes that had what seemed to be fruits growing on them.

It’s better not to eat anything that might be poisonous.

Walking through the forest, I felt a bit nostalgic. It felt just like the forests of my hometown, although somewhat different. Here were no flowerbeds, no bee’s nests in the trees. It felt a bit dead. The only life-form I noticed, other than the trees, were the birds chirping on top of them. Now, I do hope those are normal birds.

Eventually I reached something resembling a pond. The water shined when the sun touched it through the leaves covered sky of the forest.

“Water like this is not really good for drinking.” I said, remembering what I learned in the survival courses I’ve taken. “I wished it was a river, that would’ve been a good source of water.”

Regardless, I approached the pond to check it out.

“What… What is this?” I was stunned at my reflection. “Why… Why am I looking like I was at sixteen?”

There was no mistake. My body was no longer the same. I looked… young. Healthy. Like before everything went wrong. I felt a bit dizzy and dropped to my knees.

Is this part of that ‘parting gift’? Or is it because of the reincarnation?

“I have to move on.” I decided to disregard my new “old” look. “I have to reach that road. Maybe it leads to a village.” Or maybe an old bandit with a maul, riding a hog will jump at me. Heh, ironic.

I started walking towards the road again when…

“What was that?” I whispered to myself.

I heard some rustling. This was a big forest so it wasn’t abnormal to hear movements. Maybe the wind or maybe the birds above.

I need to be careful here. I can’t die stupidly again. I know grandpa said he made a mistake, but I don’t think he’d make two in a row.

I still had about thirty minutes to walk to the road. The sun was high in the sky, or so it looked through the sky of leaves above. Regardless, I wouldn’t want to be stuck in this forest during night. From all those survival courses I took back then I accumulated a bunch of useful skills, so I would be able to camp outside. The problem was that I knew nothing about the vegetation of this world. What fruits and mushrooms are poisonous or not? What about herbs? It is better to get out of this forest as fast as I can. Or so I thought…

Rustling… Running… A howl? And then, I saw it. The sudden lunge knocked the breath out of me. It was bigger than the big breeds of dogs I was used to. But this was no dog.

“A wolf? But it has a horn?” I was shaking. “This is bad.”

The wolf was staring at me with its blood-red eyes. Its fur was greyish-black with white spots around the neck. The horn was something you would expect to see at an Unicorn. Or at least that’s what they looked like in a game I played before.

Run… As fast as you can… You need to run!

Those were the thoughts that filled my mind as soon as I saw it. As much of a coward I am, somehow I managed to make my legs move. I never ran as fast as I did at this time. The forest was thick, but I wanted to survive. Unfortunately, I lost track of where the road was. I was too focused on running.

My heart was pounding in my chest. I never thought it was possible to hear it so loud.

Not even when I last confessed, was my heart pounding this hard. I never had my ways with words.

I didn’t even notice I was bleeding. Not by injuries caused by the wolf. It didn’t manage to get me, at least not yet. I was bleeding from my face. In the rush, I hadn’t noticed the branches scraping my face.

This is not good. Even if I lose the wolf now, it will know where I am by the smell of the blood.

I wiped my face frantically, smearing the blood on tree trunks in a zig-zag pattern. It didn’t help at all. It was like that damned wolf was in a trance. It was dead set on chasing me - probably tearing me to shreds.

The wolf didn’t even slow down. Of course it didn’t. Nothing in this world is going to make things easy for me.

My lungs are burning. I feel like I might pass out anytime now. I need to be careful not to trip on the roots. In my frantic state, I still tried to check if I can see the road anywhere. No luck. Of course

“Don’t look back. Keep moving. It’s over if I stop.” I said to myself, trying to keep my composure a bit. Mental note 1: speaking loudly while running for your life is a no-no

For a second I thought to run towards the pond. Maybe I could escape it in the water. But what if there were dangerous fish in that water. Well, not like it mattered. The pond was nowhere to be seen and for sure I was not able to find it like this. If I wasn’t chased by this damned demon of a wolf, it would’ve been easy to find it, I think.

It gets closer and closer every second. I can hear its growls almost like I hear my heart right now. I guess this is just like a game to it. Run around knowing it’ll be able to kill me eventually. But for me? This is no game to be played.

While running like a maniac, I noticed something. The forest really didn’t have any openings. It was very dense. And the biggest problem, if I managed to escape this wolf, was time. Night will come eventually, and right now I can’t even see the road anymore.

“Ughh…” I groaned.

I looked down. Somehow, a branch poke through my leg. It wasn’t deep, but it hurt like hell. And that just halted me to a still. The wolf was right behind me. I had to do something. I had to survive this.

“Please, be a good doggy and leave me alone.” I cried. Mental note 2: As if that would’ve ever happened. Pathetic.

It was obvious that the wolf won’t back down. It saw me as his dinner, maybe even breakfast for tomorrow. I had no choice here. I had to fight it.

I took out the branch poking in my leg. Some blood gushed out and the wolf seemed even more interested in me. I didn’t have time to attend to my wound so I think everyone knows what happened next.

“I won’t let you eat me!” I muttered, as if trying to hype myself up.

The wolf bared its teeth at me and with a swift move it got close, pinning me down. Somehow, I managed to wrestle it off of me and I swung the branch as hard as I could. It broke…

The wolf, angered by the hit that did no damage to it whatsoever, charged forward with its horn. I managed to dodge the charge. Or at least I thought I did. But it cut my other leg. I was helpless. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t fight. If only…

“I…don’t…want to die… Not here… Not like this…” I muttered, as if these were my last words. “I don’t want to be worthless again.”

As I said that the wolf jumped at me trying to bite my neck. But then, I felt something. A faint feeling, but it was there. A small light shining from my hand. It looked like… a dagger? Made out of light? I had no time to think about it. I pushed it as hard as I could in the wolf’s neck. Blood got all over my face and clothes. The wolf fell to the ground and remained motionless. Somehow… I managed to survive this. I looked for the dagger I just used but I was not able to find it anywhere. Then I saw it. In my palm, there was something like a tattoo. But it looked natural, as if it was part of me. Not something added to me. Could this be? The ‘Parting gift’ grandpa talked about? But what is it? Was that dagger part of it? Or was it Grandpa just trying to fix a ‘second mistake’? One thing I knew for sure is if I didn’t stop the bleeding, I will also die.

Grandpa… you really came through. Even if it took almost dying again.

Unfortunately, my hoodie became rags. I patched myself up as best as I could. It hurt like crazy, but after all that happened in the end, there was no chance I would let myself die from bleeding.

Those first aid courses really helped, but it’s way harder to apply it to yourself.

I got myself up and using a branch as a walking cane, I started looking for the road. At this point I sound like I am obsessed with this damned road.

I was closer than I thought. It didn’t even take me ten minutes to find it again.

“So I ran so much and still took more time than I anticipated.”

Of course, it was because I was chased by that damned wolf. Wait, why do I feel like I should’ve taken at least the horn of that beast?

The pain was all over my body. The adrenaline rush was fading so I was barely able to stand anymore. I managed three more steps onto the road before my legs gave out.

I’m loosing consciousness… This is… not good… am I really going to die again?

While fading out, I managed to hear some footsteps. And then some voices. They were approaching me. I was sure about that, at least. I didn’t know who they were. I couldn’t see anything.

Please, don’t be bandits… And before I knew it, I was out cold.