Thus, my second day of walking through the wilderness began.
I try my best to remain attentive to my surroundings, but more often than not, the daydreaming gets the better of me.
When I notice I've already been off for some time, then I snap back to reality and get very wary of my surroundings for some time...
Until my mind wanders again.
Yeah, I need to ramp up my survivalist skills. If I keep like this, any ambush predator I meet will be my bane.
I won't have a third chance in life, so I need to do better in this one.
The problem is that thinking of ways to make my mind conscious of my surroundings... also sets it to wander off.
So I try to focus on looking at the scenery around me and asking myself questions about the plants and ecology.
That might be better?
Not that there are that many plants... and animals are even fewer.
Sometimes I spot a locust or another bug. Very rarely, some small rodent scuttles from under a bush as I approach.
It's all brown and yellowish-green around me. But I see a mountain range in the far west.
Those should be the Dragon Mountains. As the name suggests, they are inhabited by dragons.
There's a big war in the south between dragonkind and humans. Dragonkind are the humanlike descendants of the dragons of old.
I mean, 'war' is the word humans use to describe it. But, from what I've heard, the Geneva Convention would have another word for it.
The dragonkind doesn't stand a chance. Not when they are excluded from the adventuring system. That one that told me I'd leveled up last time, from which I'm also excluded.
At least I receive the level-up notification, a perk of being a human. All other races are completely locked out.
Because the system was created by the goddess of this world, and she strongly favors the humans.
I don't really get it, and Lillian, my mother, didn't know much about the subject. Still, she knows a lot more than the average person, so she told me a little secret.
The dragons are the original inhabitants of this world. The Goddess is someone who was summoned by some magic a long time ago and got godly powers and remodeled the world to her preference.
So maybe she was someone like me? Does that mean that I can also become someone like her? And reshape this world into a more egalitarian one?
I wonder if she was originally from Earth as well... that would explain how game-like that adventuring system is—a system that is said to have been created as soon as she rose to godhood.
She told me that before that, there were no gods. It was the Dragon Sovereigns who oversaw and governed the world.
Now they are no more, and the adventuring system gives the humans—and only the humans—powers through leveling, skills, and titles.
That's why the dragonkind has no chance of defending themselves against the humans. The stat boost the system gives is too big an advantage.
My mother had a lot of dangerous knowledge. I wonder how she is still alive despite all of that. One would think that, being caught with all of that, she would've been executed on the spot.
Unless the Duke had other reasons for capturing her, that has nothing to do with that knowledge. If that's the case, he probably doesn't even know about it all.
There are still too many unknown things. I feel that I'll have a lot of digging to do if I want to keep my mother safe after I rescue her.
One thing I need to learn is if she is a target of the Church, for example.
And if there are any heretic cabals that she might have been part of.
I need to better understand how strong that church is as well. They might become a thorn in my side in the long term.
Worst-case scenario, if it turns out like the European Middle Ages' Church, I might even be coerced to participate in the masses every Sunday, or something. I would very much hate that.
Though I could go once, just to see how it is. As an anthropological exercise. I might even learn something useful.
A sudden commotion snaps me back again.
Argh, I spaced out AGAIN, didn't I?
:::
Some small rodents are rushing through the plains.
They look like the koa'ty that Mimby described to me. The ones who make those burrows that I use to spend the night in.
They spot me and change course, quickly scattering away before I can get my bearings and react.
If they were a predator, I would already be dead. Yeah, curse my wandering mind.
It still feels like a loss; I couldn't let such tasty snacks go. I bet that rodent meat tastes way better than hyena meat.
Hehe... I'll have a nice dinner tonight.
:::
I quickly go through the aria of the new lightning bolt, but the little things had already escaped the scene.
And I quickly learn why they were fleeing in the first place.
A giant serpent appears from behind a small hill.
A fucking serpent whose mouth could fit me inside easily. And it has arms.
It's scuttling around, chasing the little guys. It probably found their burrow while hunting.
I start walking backwards, looking around as I try to find a place to hide. If that thing spots me, I'm dead.
I cast the strengthening aria and start running towards a small hill in the hopes of hiding behind it.
It's too late; the big guy noticed me. It completely abandoned the rodents and came in my direction instead.
Why are you coming to me? Those guys taste better, I promise! I'm a predator, and predator meat is not good!
That thing is too fast for its size, and it probably thinks that I'm a better option for dinner than the fast rodents.
I don't want to be food!!!!