Volume 1: The Down-and-Out Noble

Chapter 1: The Book of Truth (I)

In a clearing in the forest, Donald walked forward cautiously, holding an iron sword. In this dangerous forest, human senses paled in comparison to those of the naturally keen beasts, not to mention magical beasts with special abilities. If he wasn’t constantly on guard, a magical beast might suddenly appear and claim his life.

Looking down at the tear in his pant leg caused by thorns at his feet, Donald cursed inwardly, “Damn this forest! Damn these magical beasts!”

It was the only pair of pants he didn’t have any holes in. As a noble heir, appearing in front of others in patched clothes would mean losing all dignity—no matter how successful he became later, he could never shake off the shame of that day.

Although Donald was already in dire straits and didn’t take the noble rules seriously, his subconscious pride still played a role, making his desire for wealth and power even stronger.

He comforted himself, “As long as I succeed in obtaining a magical beast core this time, I’ll have everything. It’s just a pair of pants—after that, I can order the most magnificent dresses and hunting gear!”

With that thought, Donald continued to watch his surroundings, stepping deeper into the forest. After dispatching several groups of small animals coming out to forage, he finally spotted traces of a magical beast near a gully downstream of the stream.

Magical beasts were still beasts—they needed water and food. He couldn’t afford to confront carnivorous magical beasts for now, but if it was a herbivorous one with little offensive power, he had a good chance of capturing it!

“What good luck! To see antelopes here!”

On the other side of the stream, among the bushes, Donald, who had been observing the area, quickly noticed a group of moving figures. It seemed they were heading to the stream to drink, so he began to wait patiently, holding his breath.

Antelope beasts were among the most common herbivorous magical beasts in this world, though they usually lived in forest areas adjacent to grasslands. The Green Cloak Forest, as an extension of the Cloud Mountain Range, covered thousands of kilometers with no signs of grasslands at all. So encountering a herbivorous magical beast with limited offensive power on the outskirts of this forest was truly Donald’s good fortune. Compared to the agile and small magical beasts commonly found locally, the large antelopes were undoubtedly excellent targets.

In this world, herbivorous beasts called wild deer generally do not have horns. They have high reproductive rates and large populations, providing abundant food for various carnivorous wild beasts and lower-level magical creatures. Even humans keep a small number of them, though not as commonly as domestic animals like cattle and sheep.

This world is filled with elemental energy everywhere. Many lower-level magical creatures evolved from wild beasts over thousands or even tens of thousands of years, while more powerful intermediate and advanced magical creatures mostly inherit their traits through racial bloodlines. Given the large population of wild deer, the probability of them evolving into antlered deer, the lowest-level first-tier magical creature, is quite high. Thus, antlered deer have become one of the most common lower-level magical creatures.

Since they evolved from weak herbivorous beasts at the bottom of the food chain—wild deer with little combat ability that only know how to run away in danger—they possess no other form of attack beyond their seemingly ferocious antlers on their heads.

However, their antlers are merely for show. Due to their timid and cowardly nature, when faced with danger, they, like their close relative the wild deer, have no other choice but to flee. As lower-level magical creatures, they can control weak wind elements to help them run faster than unevolved wild deer.

Therefore, if one wants to hunt antlered deer, they need to be faster than them or rely on traps and tools. Experienced hunters most commonly use thrown spears and skilled archery.

The hardwood bow behind Donald was his trump card!

An hour passed, and still, nothing moved by the water’s edge, causing Donald to grow anxious. After all, he wasn’t an experienced hunter who had spent years in the forests; he lacked patience and was not a skilled ranger or archer. In terms of hunting, he was simply a mediocre novice.

This was Donald’s third time entering the Green Cloak Forest, with the goal of hunting lower-level magical creatures there to obtain their crystal cores. He urgently needed these crystal cores for an experiment due to certain circumstances. Unfortunately, having only received basic swordsmanship training and lacking a strong physique, he returned empty-handed on his first two attempts with just an inherited iron sword.

The last time, he didn’t encounter any magical creatures at all. The outer areas of the Green Cloak Forest were frequently visited by outside adventurers and local hunters, causing even the more intelligent magical creatures to gradually move deeper into the forest. So, encountering magical creatures in the outer areas required great luck.

Thus, Donald had to venture deeper into the dangerous forest. This time, he encountered magical beasts, but they were the long-tailed demon apes, which he was unable to deal with. Although they were low-level magical beasts, their level 3 strength made them among the most powerful among such creatures, and they were also social beings. As a result, not only did he gain nothing, but he almost fell into peril. If it weren’t for the fact that long-tailed demon apes mainly fed on wild fruits and tender leaves and had little interest in hunting large animals, playing around with Donald before returning to their lair, he would have lost his life in the forest.

This life-or-death chase, along with his experience of being resurrected after death, made Donald fully realize the danger level of this world.

At the time of the incident, due to financial difficulties, Donald, secretly leaving behind his butler who went out to work, entered the Green Cloak Forest intending to hunt some low-level magical beasts to earn money. However, with no hunting experience and only basic knight training from his youth, he recklessly ventured deep into the forest as soon as he entered.

At that moment, the Truth Book carrying his otherworldly soul landed in a forest on the edge of a mountain range on a vast continent of this world. By sheer coincidence, it killed an organism from this world. That organism was a mid-level magical beast, the Wind Wolf King, which had killed the young Donald of this world.

After being defeated by the new wolf king and driven out of the pack to become a lone wolf, it was forced to wander around the outskirts of the Green Cloak Forest, where low-level magical beasts lived. While hungry, it encountered a human boy who had come to hunt in the forest. As a former wolf king, how could it give up such a delicious meal? In just a few attacks, it severed the boy’s carotid artery. Just as the demonic wolf prepared to take its prey back to its temporary den to feast, a dim golden light descended from the sky and struck its wolf head.