Chapter 8: 7. Self-Introduction

7. Self-Introduction

The so-called destined heroine, no matter how one looked at it, was just a curious child from a remote place.

Li Ang was not good at dealing with children, but looking at her red eyes filled with clear curiosity and her cautious demeanor, he couldn't bring himself to tell her to go away.

He shook his head: "If you want to chat with someone, introduce yourself first."

Although Li Ang had known the girl's name from the interface for a long time, it only counted as a true mutual acquaintance if she said it herself.

"Ah, I forgot, I'm usually by myself, so..."

The young girl suddenly realized, as if she had learned some new knowledge.

Then, she bit her lip, and after a great deal of effort, she stammered to organize her words.

"I, I'm Zoe, 15 years old, 155 centimeters tall, weigh 42 kilograms, like to eat wild berries, and roasted rabbit, but I haven't been able to catch any rabbits lately. My hobbies are, are, are picking up small stones, reading storybooks, bathing in the mountains, and also..."

"There's no need to be that detailed... for a self-introduction, just stating your ideals or something is fine."

"Oh, my ideal is to wait for my mom and dad to come back. This is what they told me to do, and even though the time has passed, I will still wait obediently."

Is that so...

Li Ang knew absolutely nothing about the background of those parents because the game design document didn't write it at all, but now that he was in the real world, those two people must exist.

According to the girl, her parents were originally supposed to return, but they didn't fulfill their promise, not knowing what kind of situation they had encountered.

Li Ang introduced himself: "My name is Li Ang. Li is the surname, Ang is the given name, but they have to be read together, which is different from the cultural habits in most parts of this world."

The antiquity and diversity of Newbis meant Li Ang didn't even have to change his name to one understandable in another world; there existed ethnic groups here whose appearance and culture were similar to his.

"Surname? I don't know..." Zoe blinked.

It seemed she was still young when her parents left and had no concept of that.

"Then let's not talk about that."

With Zoe around, there was no time to upgrade his Warrior profession to the second tier.

Li Ang set off, walking toward the mining spot he had originally planned to go to yesterday. Zoe skipped along behind him.

"What about your ideal? You didn't introduce it," the young girl asked.

"My ideal is to build a powerful Sky Knight Order and reach the pinnacle of adventurers."

"Adventurer, Sky Knight, I know those!"

"You know them?"

Zoe knew nothing about many common things, yet she knew this; Li Ang was slightly surprised.

"I have a storybook my mom left behind, 'The Sword King's Adventure'."

Li Ang knew this book, because some of the partners he had teamed up with in the past had families, and this book was a classic fairy tale published by the Sky Knight Guild that they would buy for their children to read.

Zoe lowered her head slightly, her chestnut hair obscuring half her face, her eyes glancing at Li Ang from time to time through the gaps in her hair.

She hesitated for a moment, then asked: "Are adventures outside the island really as interesting as in the books?"

Li Ang recalled the content of the fairy tale "The Sword King's Adventure" roughly; since it was adapted from the true story of an ancient adventurer who was one of the guild's founders, he could remember some of it.

The man with the title of Sword King and his partners defeated the evil dragon entrenched in the kingdom, thwarted the conspiracy of the remnants of a sinful civilization, wiped out the demons from the Scarlet Land, and finally brought happiness and joy to the people of the Holy Capital, Vitask.

"Some parts are similar, but you have to become a strong person to encounter them. Most of the time, however, it's all sorts of troublesome trifles."

The story was, of course, refined.

"Li Ang, you want to build a powerful Sky Knight Order, does that mean you've experienced such adventures?"

"Yes."

Li Ang recalled the King of the Dark Ancient City he had fought not long ago.

It was precisely because of its appearance that Moon Night Island, where the Dark Ancient City was located, continuously generated undead creatures. The miasma they emitted polluted the nearby airspace, causing losses to the production of many islands and triggering monster riots, so the guild issued an SSS-rank crusade commission.

The King of the Ancient City was a super monster that coiled like a worm among mold-covered brick walls, formed by the condensation of ancient, decaying corpses and wailing vengeful spirits.

Its breath was a deadly poison that corrupted everything, and as its body crawled, filthy blood flowed wantonly, blooming into gorgeous yet lethal black blood flowers.

When the team was at their wit's end, Li Ang racked his brains to formulate a strategy, eventually discovering that although the ancient city's rune devices had long since failed, activating the internal spirituality could still enable them, and only then did he find a chance for victory.

He talked about the battle at the Dark Ancient City, and Zoe listened with rapt attention.

After he finished explaining how they won, she immediately asked: "Then you must have good partners. The book says that partners are the key to a successful adventure."

"That's right, but I don't have them anymore. They kicked me out."

When Li Ang was kicked out by Soul Apex, one of his great grievances was—if it weren't for me, let alone whether the commission could be completed, you would all be dead, yet you were so matter-of-fact when kicking me out?

The Dark Ancient City was very likely a game dungeon, and perhaps the Curse Master was a mandatory profession for this dungeon, but after using him, Soul Apex chose to discard the donkey once it had finished grinding the grain.

Li Ang's words made Zoe fall into silence instantly; as they walked forward, there was only the rustling sound of the two of them stepping on the meadow.

"It, it's okay..."

It was Zoe who spoke first.

"The people in the village don't like me either. I'm small and not as strong as them. They think it's bad for me to run around, and my mom and dad left me here because they didn't want me, but I tell myself every time to be obedient and practice my sword well, so they won't be disappointed when they come back."

"If you are good to them and they aren't good to you, then they are the bad ones; you shouldn't pay them any mind."

Li Ang touched his own face; Zoe's clumsy comfort made him reveal the first genuine smile he had had in days without realizing it.

He pulled the corners of his mouth back to their original position and asked:

"Why do you come to find me every day?"

"There are no outsiders on the island, and I don't like playing with the people in the village. I want to see what people from the outside are like."

"But you said before it was for the house."

"!"

A red flush climbed onto Zoe's small face, and she hurriedly waved her hands.

"No, no, that's not it, that's not it, of course it's because of that, but I... ah, right, today I originally wanted to come..."

The young girl's little leather boots stomped on the ground.

"Yesterday's duel, it wasn't fair."

So she hadn't forgotten about yesterday, she had just forgotten it for a moment.

"How was it unfair?"

"I use a sword, you use magic, I didn't know how to fight at all. You have to use a sword too, let's compete again."

"Following your logic, I could also say that I use magic, so why do you use a sword? You should use magic to compete with me."

As soon as Li Ang finished speaking, Zoe froze completely.

The expression on her face seemed to have "I've never considered this question" written all over it.

This person really was a fool.

But a cute and kind-hearted fool.

Li Ang didn't stop his feet, and after crossing a few undulating small hills, he could see the edge of the island. There, the sprawling meadow degraded into sandy ground with sparse weeds, finally turning into rocky mountainous terrain.

Among the mountain rocks, some shadows were crawling about.

They were monsters.