Chapter 3

A soft wind hummed across Aeris's cheek. He was sprawled across the forest floor, sleeping like a maiden with no care in the world.

The forest around him breathed with life; animals went about their ordinary routines, while plants bloomed. Even monsters came out of their dens, and the sun was starting to fall, which meant it was hunting time.

Aeris suddenly jolted upright from his dream-like state. "Whaaa, okay, I'm finally here! Wait, where am I?"

He was confused to find himself in a green forest, rather than the bustling city of Orario, with no one in sight.

"Looks like my start won't be right away inside Orario... Well, it could be good since I don't know the timeline I'm currently in, could be during the great feud..."

Aeris sighed and slowly stood to his feet. He looked over his new bare body, which was bronze-skinned. It felt rather lighter, much healthier, and unique compared to his previous one.

A breeze brushed over him, making his naked body shiver. Having nothing—not even clothes—in the wild fantasy forest wasn't a peaceful start.

But just as he wanted to move and use his knowledge in the best way, a chest appeared right before him.

POOF!

A chest made of pure gold appeared, and as he approached it, the chest opened by itself. Then a golden light emerged from inside it, blinding Aeris for a second until it faded away.

"Wha...what is this?" he murmured confusingly, just as he said that, a scroll flew out of the chest and hit him in the face.

thud

"Huh?" Aeris grabbed the scroll that fell on his lap and opened it slowly, expecting some boring and long tutorial.

But instead of a long text that served him nothing, the scroll shone, and the light began surging at his face. It happened in just three seconds; he wasn't aware until the light faded and the scroll disappeared.

He was a little dizzy from everything, but just as he regained his senses, a voice spoke inside his head.

"Welcome, Aeris Aetheris, into the world of Danmachi. I am your Guide System, designed to serve you and assist you in every way possible," a robotic feminine voice spoke to him, startling him for a second.

"A voice inside my head? So I've got a system, huh... okay, system, tell me where I am and the timeline I'm currently at." He quickly adjusted to the new reality; he had read so many fictions like these before.

After a second or two of silence, the system replied, "You are inside Seolo Forest, a forest located directly east of Orario at the base of the Alv Mountains. The timeline is set to be right two years before Bell comes to Orario."

It took a moment for him to think, and he nodded. "Alright, system, can I call you anything except 'system' since it sounds weird?"

The system, after a moment, replied with the same monotone robotic voice, "You may call me Siel. Now, to begin with the introduction to the user's powers. You may open your status by thinking, Status."

"Okay then, Status!" Aeris thought, and his eyes visualized a blue screen; no one but him could see it.

STATUS

Name: Aeris Aetheris

Level: 1

Power: 0I

Precision: 0I

Endurance: 0I

Magic:

Ghost Veil – Cloaks Aeris in a veil of shadow magic, suppressing sound, presence, and scent. Ideal for snipers lying in wait.

Skills:

Siel's Guidance – A divine-tier system skill that links Aeris to "Siel," an unseen higher intelligence that guides him through analysis, precision, and decision-making.

Deathline – Marks a single enemy and fires a shot that cannot miss, striking the exact center of their weakest point. Ignores all defense, terrain, and magical barriers.

Eclipse Fang – Aeris manifests Eclipse Fang, a sniper rifle bound to him. It evolves with him. It never breaks, never jams, and never runs out of ammo.

His jaw dropped onto the floor as he finished reading his status. He was a powerhouse in the world where strength mattered the most. Not only that, but he had the help of a system that would come in handy.

"Okay, Siel, mind telling me all the functions that you can provide me? Is there any way for me to have an inventory or anything that would help me get around?" he spoke internally with an excited tone to his voice.

Just the possibilities of his overpowering skills and that one stealth magic, he would thrive in the dungeon. In his past life, he never got a chance to eat proper food; mostly, it was some military crap that was given to him.

But he promised himself that after he earned his first money, he would go to a nice restaurant and eat some good food.

"Maybe Hostess of Fertility since it's known for its good food, but... that goddess Freya who is disguised as Syr will surely notice someone like me. Well, either way, I don't care."

Aeris knew that Freya Familia was the strongest, and his going to the Hostess would probably draw attention to him. But he could easily escape into the dungeon; either way, he could not hide forever.

"Yes indeed, Aeris, you have access to your status sheet anytime you want. It gets actively updated each time you gain XP, but that doesn't stop you from joining a familia, as I will hide my skills from the status sheet."

Siel paused for a moment, then continued, "You also have access to the inventory that lets you store items, but you can't store living things. In the inventory space, the stored items won't age, so you won't have to worry about food expiring. The third option that you can use is also a minimap, a detailed map of the land that you have visited and explored. With each of your explorations, the map expands, giving you full detail of everything."

Just as the minimap opened, Aeris saw a circle on his top right corner, just like the Journey Map mod from Minecraft.

"This thing is more useful than I thought. Here I can even see the dots, same as that mod from Minecraft, I can even see the creature names, and each of them has a different dot color..." Aeris murmured, intrigued, inspecting each corner of the 3D detailed map.

"Yes indeed, the creatures around you are displayed in dots, with each type having its own color. Green dots are friendly creatures that have no hostility, yellow dots are neutral creatures that are uncertain, and the red dots are fully hostile creatures that I advise you to stay away from."

Aeris nodded internally to Siel's guidance and spoke, "So can I use waypoints and mark points of interest?" He had hoped for it.

"Yes, Aeris, you may do that. You can mark each point of interest and have a proper path that leads to it each time you want to enable Pathfinder. This could be helpful inside the dungeon, where it can get hard to coordinate."

He was pleased with his powers. Having Siel by his side, Aeris would surely have it easy to find his way around.

When the system was first introduced to him, he thought it would be like any ordinary fictional system where he could buy crates and get some crap, hoping for a good power.

But this was different; this was an actual, helpful system that would assist him in his future endeavors. He had an assistant with countless pieces of knowledge, an inventory where he could store fresh-cooked meat and eat it after six months, still having it freshly cooked.

And he had a minimap that displayed dots of other creatures and their names on it; this way, it would be almost impossible to ambush or surprise him. Waypoints, too, would help him; perhaps he could find and mark the quickest dungeon pathways.

"Alright, Siel, scan the local area and find me a good spot for a temporary shelter. And what's the summoning word for my sniper?"

Siel began scanning the surrounding terrain, taking about ten seconds until it completed.

"Scanning complete. Nearest shelter from natural causes and creatures is 350 meters away. I've marked the path toward it. Also, the command for summoning your magical sniper is..."

"Fenrir."