As the night went on, the woods within the fire too disappeared.
With the heat gone, the cold embraced Raven's body, forcing him to stand up to grab some wood to throw into the fire.
Raven looked at his surroundings.
Just like the first few times he had done this, the sight was still the same — empty, dark, with no sign of life anywhere he looked, and only the two moons shining above him.
After ensuring there was nothing else within the area that could attack him, Raven threw two pieces of wood into the fire as he murmured:
"This place is too cold," complaining about not having a blanket to use.
Lying back down to sleep once again, he suddenly felt a gust of wind nearing him.
Preparing himself, he raised his hand to guard against it.
As the wind brushed against his body, he shivered from the cold.
From this, he decided to throw two more pieces of wood into the fire to fight back against the cold air.
Every two hours, he had to wake up to make sure his campfire wouldn't go out completely, so he wouldn't have to start it again using the flint and steel he got.
As time went on, Raven felt the fire already dying down, indicating he had to throw more fuel into it. Slowly, he opened his tired eyes.....
"Ba dump..... ba dump..... ba dump.....!"
Raven could hear his own heart pumping.
Looking up at the sudden figure standing in front of him, he found himself staring at another man's face.
Still lying down on his bed, he questioned who this figure could be — when suddenly the figure said,
"This smell and those bones....." the figure said, looking toward the bones of the sacrificial lamb Raven had eaten for his dinner.
Turning back to Raven, the figure continued, "You're..... you're a hero, right.....?" with a giant smile on his face.
Hearing the figure's words, Raven continued to pretend he was still sleeping, not sure what he should do in this moment.
At this very moment, Raven was making a decision on which of the two options to pick.
One — attack the figure.
Two — run away from this place.
Both options were simple, but both were dangerous.
If he chose the first one, could he win?
If he chose the second option, could he really run away from him?
The fact that the figure before him appeared without him knowing meant this figure was stronger than Raven himself, so he decided to take the third option.
That was to use his Appraisal skill to check the figure's level.
Slowly, Raven opened his eyes just enough to make it seem like they were still closed.
With the figure's toes in front of him, Raven slowly prepared to murmur his Appraisal skill.
Before he could even move his tongue, the figure said,
"Here's my status window..."
Showing Raven his full status window made him open his eyes wide, finally stopping his act of pretending to sleep.
"Oh, finally," the man said, looking at Raven wide awake.
"Now then, hero, let's talk, shall we?" the figure said, crouching near Raven.
---
Sitting beside the campfire, Raven examined the man before him.
A moment ago, after the man showed his status window to Raven, he quickly asked if Raven had any leftovers of the sacrificial lamb meat.
Since he had repeated the Tutorial quest over and over again, Raven had more than 69 pieces of it.
Not wanting to make the man mad, he gave one of them to him.
Because of this, Raven could only watch the man eat the meat he had given him, using the moment to examine the man's appearance.
'Silver hair, blue eyes, around 6'4", with a slender build fit for a model. No wrinkles or anything like that, with a face that could be considered the most handsome man of this era.'
Looking at the man eating, Raven felt uncomfortable. 'The problem is this guy..... is too powerful,' he thought, looking at the man's status window once again.
[— • — • — • Status Window • — • — • —]
Name: ??? ???
Level: 521. EXP: 93%
Class: Necromancer
Unique Title: ???
Unique Skill: ???
Titles: EX-Hero, 371 more.
[— • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • — • —]
Looking at the same status window again, Raven questioned who this person could be.
From his observation earlier that morning, the status window he summoned to check his own stats was different from the status window shown by his Appraisal skill.
The Appraisal skill window was a simple blue panel that only gave the information he needed.
Meanwhile, his own status window was gold, with a top that looked like a crown and the words [Status Window] written above it.
Yet this man had the same type as his — the color, the design, the fact that he had a Unique Skill and Unique Title, and most of all, the title [EX-Hero].
Raven wanted to ask all kinds of questions, yet he couldn't find the right moment.
He could only watch the man eat the rabbit meat he had given him.
After a while, the man licked his fingers, washed them using water magic, and looked at Raven.
"I'm the same as you," the man said abruptly, making Raven tense up.
"Just like how your world was chosen by the voice to kill the self-proclaimed followers of the strongest Demon Lord, I — along with 999 other heroes — was in the same situation you guys are in right now."
Raven wanted to say something but stayed silent, letting the man talk.
"As thanks for giving me a sacrificial lamb, I'll tell you everything you need to know about this golden status window of ours."
From that moment on, the man told Raven all kinds of information he would never have known on his own.
The secret of the sacrificial lamb.
Why the 1000 of them were chosen out of billions.
What the power stone does.
What the Title: Hero does.
Why they have quests and the ability to gather them in numbers.
Why this entire thing was being shown to their original world.
What would happen if the number of heroes reached a certain amount.
During the man's explanation, Raven occasionally summoned his [Channel Window] to check if anyone was watching.
The window appeared, showing 0 viewers, telling him that the secrets he was hearing right now were known only to him.
As the man continued, Raven questioned whether he should tell the other heroes.
Would giving them this information be a good thing or not?
'I don't know.....' he thought.
Finally, the man stopped and said to Raven:
"I want to die....."
Hearing this, Raven looked up.
"Because I'm a necromancer, I can continue to live for hundreds of years using the collected souls and life force of the creatures I've killed." The man spread his hands and looked at them with disdain.
"I don't understand how I got into this world, but maybe it was fate — no, maybe it was simply the system saying, you're free to go now."
The man took a long pause before continuing.
"I'll give you two of my main skills, and maybe after losing them, the system will finally free me from this life of mine."
The man spread his hands towards Raven, waiting for him to do something.
Without hesitation, Raven stretched out his hand.
Grabbing each other's hands, the man smiled and said:
"Adam."
His body turned into balls of light and finally disappeared before Raven's eyes.
The moment was so sudden that Raven couldn't even build up any emotion about what had just happened.
He didn't say a word, only placed more fuel into the campfire.
He looked at the remains of the rabbit meat he had given the man before going back to sleep.
***
The very next morning, Raven hurried to the flower field, looking for more monsters to kill.
With his level already close to reaching Level 5, he knew it wouldn't take long.
After exploring the land, Raven spotted hornets attacking worker bees again.
Looking at them, Raven laughed for a moment.
To think the same thing happened again, as he laughed, a window appeared.
[The Unique Title: Repeater — has activated.]
[System Quest:
Instant Quest: Kill the hornet attacking the worker bee.
Rewards: EXP, 10% of a quest.]
He smiled at the panel that tormented him yesterday before sneaking behind the hornet.
Just like before, Raven killed the hornet without any problem.
[Congratulations! You have completed the quest.
You have leveled up!
You have obtained 10% of a quest.]