Chapter 1 - Where am I?

' ' - Thoughts ""- Dialogue

In a dimly lit room, a boy could be seen sitting in front of his computer on his desk. "Hp and Def again why is my artifact luck so bad." Mathis whispered. After painfully looking at the 0/160 resin on his screen for the last time he got off his chair and approached his bed and laid down ready to sleep for the night. He closed his eyes and he slowly fell asleep ignorant of what would come next.

"Ugh, why does my head hurt so much." Mathis groaned as he slowly opened his eyes beginning to look around he paused and scanned the area around him again staring blankly at the grass and trees around him." Where am I ?!" As he slowly got up different emotions and ideas flooded him. He began to guess what was going on maybe he had been kidnapped, abducted by aliens, or even isekai'd. As he looked down he noticed that he was wearing a whole new set of clothes. 'Although this is kind of freaking me out these clothes look pretty good. It's not just new clothes my body feels different my eyesight is great and I'm not even wearing my glasses, my hair has grown more as well. Some things haven't changed though I don't feel any taller or shorter so I guess I'm still 5'8.'

After a lot of deliberation he eventually picked a direction and head towards it. While walking he paid attention to his surroundings and started to appreciate how beautiful it was. He continued walking for a few minutes until he started to hear noises that sounded similar to grunts and groans. He couldn't hold back his curiosity and wanted to see for himself what was making the noise as well as if it would allow him to get a grasp of where he currently was. As he quietly crept through the trees the source of the noise came into view, and it was none other than a familiar group of short furry looking monsters wearing masks. 'Wait are those hilichurls if they are does that mean I'm in Genshin or more specifically Teyvat ?!' Mathis thought to himself excitedly. Although he was excited about this he was more afraid of what the five monsters with clubs could do to him but as he slowly backed away. "GRAAAAAA" the hilichurls yelled as they caught sight of him and began charging at him.

Mathis bolted towards the opposite direction as quickly as he could trying to outrun the hilichurls chasing after him. As time passed his speed started to decrease as he was getting tired and the hilichurls began to close the distance. Although this body was definitely more fit than his previous one he was still a normal untrained human compared to the hilichurls who didn't look tired at all. Panting as he ran through the forest he saw a clearing up ahead and while running towards it he began to think his only hope was that someone would save him or else he would be done for. As he exited the forest he saw a group of people standing on a dirt path which brought a smile to his face but after looking more closely it quickly disappeared all of them were wearing familiar black masks.

'Out of all people treasure hoarders, but between human treasure hoarders and hilichurls I'll pick treasure hoarders any day at least there's a chance they can be reasoned with.' Mathis thought as he ran towards the group. "Please help me!" He shouted as he ran behind the group. He considered running away while the hilichurls attacked the treasure hoarders but in the condition he was in he wouldn't get far. 'I can barely breathe, how long was I running for.' Mathis thought while panting heavily.

"Arley watch him we'll deal with him when we're done, the rest of you help me deal with the hilichurls" The bulky man ordered. "Yes boss" The rest of them responded. Two of the treasure hoarders in the back loaded up their crossbows while another reached in a bag and pulled out a glass bottle with something red inside. The hilichurls charged at the two big guys in the front one of them being the boss and one with a shovel.

With a wide swing of the shovel the treasure hoarder smashed one of the hilichurls head knocking it away and onto the ground. To the side the boss was pounding another to the ground with his bare fists. Suddenly two arrow shot out from behind and hit one hilichurl straight in the head and another one on the shoulder. "What's wrong with your aim Wes you're supposed to finish it like Wyn did not just injure it, I guess I'll do it myself." The treasure hoarder with the bottle with red fluid threw it at the remaining two hilichurls and it exploded leaving heavy burn marks. " Sorry Reuben I guess I'm a little off today." Wes replied.

"Boss what do we do with this guy." Arley asked. As he said that the boss started walking over. ' What are they gonna do to me?' Mathis began to think. After watching them take care of the hilichurls so easily he began to get nervous as the boss approached and asked. "What's your name?" "My name is Mathis and I'm sorry about the hilichurls I hope you don't hold it against me." He responded hoping in his mind that he could find a way out of this situation. "Don't worry about it Mathis just pay us some compensation fees and you'll have be on your way." The boss responded with a smirk. Mathis knew that the boss of the treasure hoarders was essentially telling him to hand over all his money or he wasn't going anywhere. " I wish I could, but I don't have any mora on me I recently became an adventurer, but I'm not a very good one so while I was exploring I encountered a group of hilichurls, and I was chased down in the process I dropped my bag will all my items inside."

'I think that's a pretty believable story it's best I could think of at the very least.' The other 5 treasure hoarders looked at their boss as they waited for him to say something, but before he did Arley spoke up "Boss he looks like he's telling the truth I think we should just let him go." "There's no point in wasting more time here if you have nothing on you, get out of here before I change my mind." The boss said with visible annoyance. Mathis wasted no time and quickly picked a direction and followed the dirt path leaving the scene . 'This whole situation is a reminder to me this world is dangerous if that guy didn't speak up I wonder if they would have let me go and if I didn't meet those treasure hoarders those hilichurls probably would've ended me then and there." Mathis thought with a frown on his face.