Chapter 1: Life Was Already So Hard, How Could Getting a Bargain Lead to Trouble?
by post_apiPrologue: File A225 – Outsider
Name: Rimi Loris
Gender: Female
Outsider Type: Hero
Summoning Location: A-71
Initial Strength Rating: D–
Current Strength Level: A+
Successful Dungeon Clears: 17
Status: Missing – Wanted
Death Records:
- Holy Year 7543, Month 16, Day 41: Abdomen torn open by a ghoul in D-class dungeon Kemos Cave, resulting in ruptured organs. Post-resurrection mental state; stabilized.
- Holy Year 7543, Month 16, Day 43: Legs bitten off and body shredded by wolves in D-class dungeon Kemos Cave. Post-resurrection mental state; mostly stable.
- Holy Year 7543, Month 16, Day 44: Crushed by a Rock Giant in D-class dungeon Kemos Cave. Post-resurrection mental state; unstable. Stabilized through calming procedures.
- Holy Year 7543, Month 16, Day 45: Fell into a spike trap in D-class dungeon Kemos Cave, bled to death. Post-resurrection mental state; severely unstable. Stabilized after death memory was erased.
… - Holy Year 7543, Month 17, Day 6: Dissolved by carnivorous plant digestive fluids in C-class dungeon Kails Delin. Post-resurrection mental breakdown. Memory erasure failed; stabilized only after full memory wipe and hypnosis.
- Holy Year 7543, Month 17, Day 9: Crushed by a rolling boulder trap in C-class dungeon Kails Delin. Post-resurrection mental state; mostly stable.
- Holy Year 7543, Month 17, Day 11: Head bitten off by a Gargoyle in C-class dungeon Kails Delin. Post-resurrection mental state; mostly stable.
- Holy Year 7543, Month 17, Day 14: Flesh consumed by an ant swarm in C-class dungeon Kails Delin. Post-resurrection mental state; severely unstable. Stabilized after death memory was erased.
… - Holy Year 7543, Month 19, Day 11: Body pierced by toxic slime in A-class dungeon Poison Dragon Valley, organs rotted. Post-resurrection mental breakdown. Memory erasure failed; stabilized after full memory wipe and hypnosis.
- Holy Year 7543, Month 19, Day 15: Pulverized by a rock wall trap in A-class dungeon Poison Dragon Valley. Post-resurrection mental breakdown. Stabilized through hypnosis after failed memory erasure.
- Holy Year 7543, Month 19, Day 17: Incinerated by Dragon Breath in A-class dungeon Poison Dragon Valley. Post-resurrection mental state unstable. Stabilized through calming procedures.
… - Holy Year 7543, Month 23, Day 9: Died in the depths of S-class dungeon Lovis Abyss, cause unknown. Post-resurrection mental breakdown. Deep hypnosis required after failed memory erasure; barely stabilized.
… - Holy Year 7544, Month 1, Day 3: Died in the depths of S-class dungeon Lovis Abyss, cause unknown. Post-resurrection mental breakdown. Went berserk during a memory ritual, slaughtered church puppets, escaped Holy Army pursuit, and fell into the Styrbo Rift. Revival failed, soul confirmed to have survived. Added to wanted list.
Application for S-Class Dungeon Lovis Abyss Reclassification
Due to the extreme danger causing controlled Outsiders to go mad in its depths, I propose elevating its classification to S+. Given the unprecedented impact compared to previous S-class dungeons, I recommend establishing a new SS-class designation.
Applicant: Holy Army High Priest Lysh Fenserv
Chapter 1: Life Was Already So Hard, How Could Getting a Bargain Lead to Trouble?
Noon.
The blazing sun scorched the earth mercilessly, its glare forcing people to lower their eyes.
Under normal circumstances, such intense light would bring unbearable heat.
But Rulin didn’t mind it at all. Shielding his forehead with one hand, he squinted upward, his face showing clear enjoyment.
On both sides, roughly a hundred meters away, rose two jagged cliffs towering hundreds of meters high.
This was the interior of a canyon. For most of the year, sunlight rarely reached the valley floor except during specific months. If he wanted to bask in the sun, noon was his only chance.
In Rulin’s hand hung a bucket of fish, caught using a trap he had set in the shallow waters of a nearby river.
These would be his meals for today and tomorrow.
Though fresh, the fish brought him little excitement.
The reason?
Poverty.
He owned nothing but a pinch of salt for seasoning.
His kitchen consisted of a single stone pot. To conserve salt, he avoided using it even on roasted fish. Day after day, he alternated between fish soup and fish porridge with a handful of rice; bland, fishy, and utterly monotonous. Anyone would grow sick of it.
In the distance stood his dwelling: a ramshackle wooden hut.
It had been in even worse condition before, abandoned and crumbling. After some basic repairs, it still leaked wind, but at least it provided shelter.
Approaching the hut, Rulin opened a large water storage jar. He dumped the fish meant for later meals inside, then fetched the stone pot. Setting it on the outdoor earthen stove, he added water, lit the fire, and began cooking.
Struggling to gut the fish with a dull, chipped blade, he sighed.
He missed the past. Back then, he used to complain about the flimsy free knife that came with his rice cooker, comparing it unfavorably to the sleek blades featured in cooking videos.
Yet even that “inferior” knife had been leagues sharper than the tool he used now.
Yes, Rulin was an outsider, this wasn’t his original world.
His understanding of this new realm remained limited.
His memories of crossing over were blurred at the edges: spinning vertigo, a beautiful nun’s scornful expression.
He vaguely remembered hearing phrases like “bad luck” and “parameter adjustments” before waking up in this valley.
It felt as if he had been dumped here, though he couldn’t fathom why.
At first, Rulin’s spirits had plummeted.
In his old life, he had been an average college student facing post-graduation unemployment. While he had accepted the idea of starting over through transmigration, this brutal wilderness survival scenario had crushed his hopes.
Everything changed when he discovered his golden finger—a simple quest menu embedded in his mind.
Upon awakening, three choices had appeared:
[The Path of the Sage]
[The Path of the Strategist]
[The Path of the Wise]
The information under each option was limited, with only slight differences in wording.
The Path of the Sage:
Difficulty: Easy
Attack: Weak
Defense: Weak
Logistics: Strong
Growth Potential: High
The Path of the Strategist:
Difficulty: Medium
Attack: Moderate
Defense: Moderate
Logistics: Extremely Strong
Growth Potential: Medium
The Path of the Wise:
Difficulty: Hard
Attack: Strong
Defense: Strong
Logistics: Strong
Growth Potential: High
This seemed to be a crucial choice that would determine his future. Rulin’s first instinct was to choose the path with the highest growth potential.
Both the Path of the Sage and the Path of the Wise offered high growth potential, so he immediately ruled out the average Path of the Strategist.
Comparing the remaining two…
The Sage’s path was easier but came with weak offense and defense. The Wise’s path was harder, but it promised strong combat capabilities. Though Rulin didn’t fully understand what “attack” and “defense” meant in this world, his experience reading web novels told him combat strength was crucial, even in urban stories, characters without fighting abilities often met tragic ends. And being stuck in the wilderness, survival skills were essential.
Naturally, Rulin selected the third option.
Regret soon followed.
He had underestimated the weight of “Hard” difficulty.
Once he chose, the other options disappeared from his mental interface, leaving behind a single task:
The Path of the Wise: Departure
Task Objective: Obtain one “Obsidian Alchemy Cauldron” (0/1)
Task Reward: Beginner Alchemist Ability
The task confirmed his suspicion. This “special ability” truly intended to make him an alchemist. While needing a cauldron made sense for alchemy, finding such equipment in the wild seemed impossible.
For days, Rulin balanced survival with searching for signs of civilization. Surprisingly, he found something.
Several kilometers from his shelter lay a cave that housed an underground town inhabited by “Earth Spirits.” These human-like beings stood a head shorter, with bluish-pale skin, smaller pupils, and larger noses. By human standards, they weren’t attractive, but not outright ugly either.
Initially worried about communication, Rulin soon realized he had somehow acquired the local language. With no barriers and the Earth Spirits’ friendly nature, he gradually learned about their world, a peculiar realm filled with diverse races and countless dungeons, blending traditional sword-and-magic themes with stranger, more arcane elements.
The Outside World sounded complicated, but unfamiliar terms prevented him from grasping the full picture.
Still, Rulin didn’t need to know too much about the Outside World, not yet.
He was focused on completing his task.
After asking around, he easily located the “Obsidian Alchemy Cauldron” mentioned in his quest at a local shop.
The clerk explained that it was a common high-end alchemy cauldron, not exactly rare, but still valuable.
Hearing the word “high-end”, Rulin immediately sensed trouble.
When he asked the price, the clerk casually quoted three gold coins.
At first, the number brought him relief.
Three gold coins didn’t sound like much.
But after just two days of living there, he realized the situation was far worse than he’d imagined.
In this world, one gold coin equaled 100 silver coins, and one silver coin equaled 100 copper coins.
Most daily transactions used silver and copper. Copper for pocket change, silver like hundred-unit bills, and gold as the equivalent of ten-thousand-unit sums.
Of course, comparing purchasing power across worlds made little sense.
The real question was: how much could he earn here?
From what he had gathered, daily labor paid around forty to fifty copper coins.
Treating three gold coins like thirty thousand dollars, Rulin’s fifty-copper income translated to about fifty dollars per day. Even if he saved every penny, it would take twenty months.
But reality demanded expenses—food alone cost ten copper coins daily, not to mention other living costs and rent. Even saving half his income would take forty months, over three years.
Time measurements in this world differed from his own, but that didn’t change the math.
Now Rulin understood, “hard” difficulty wasn’t just for show.
Regret served no purpose.
He needed solutions.
Remembering an abandoned cabin he’d passed earlier, Rulin decided to move in and live rent-free.
Renovations required funds. He sold his old-world clothing to an Earth Spirit merchant intrigued by the foreign fabric, keeping ten silver coins after purchasing cheap local garments.
He spent a few silver coins on tools and supplies and gradually transformed the derelict cabin into a modest, functional home.
Next, he searched for income beyond the city’s meager labor options—settling on herb foraging in the nearby dense forests.
Though unreliable, common herbs brought in dozens of copper coins daily, while rarer finds could earn him several silver coins.
He invested in basic foraging tools, a beginner’s guidebook, and later some fishing gear to cut down on food costs.
With the last of his clothing money spent, Rulin’s life in this new world had truly begun.
And it proved harsh.
To save for three gold coins, he rationed everything, just two outfits, minimal salt.
After a hundred days, he had only saved seventy silver coins. At this pace, several hundred more days awaited him.
Unthinkable hardship for someone supposedly blessed with a “special advantage.”
“Hah…”
Rulin gently blew on the fish soup, took a sip, and instinctively wiped his soup-stained beard with his sleeve.
He touched his tangled beard and sighed.
For over a hundred days, he hadn’t cut his hair or shaved. Too afraid of falling sick to bathe in the river, he had only wiped himself down with a hot towel. Now he resembled a wild man. At this rate, by the time he saved enough for the alchemy cauldron, he wouldn’t even recognize himself.
But what choice did he have? A man with no money, unable to hunt, cast magic, swing a sword, or even write in this world’s script, slow saving was his only path forward.
After devouring every scrap of fish and draining the last of the soup, Rulin let out a burp.
Though sick of the taste, hunger ruled him. The blandness didn’t stop him from stuffing himself.
Full at last, Rulin exhaled, stared blankly at the sky, then slapped his knees and stood up.
A full belly meant back to work.
He earned coins by foraging herbs. Nightfall made gathering impossible, so daylight was his only time. Today’s hot meal was a rare treat, he usually just gulped fish porridge while working.
But as Rulin reached for his gear, something upstream caught his eye, an object drifting down the river.
His pulse quickened.
A dead animal?
Even a dried pelt could fetch silver coins. A fresh carcass? That meant serious money.
Heart racing, he scrambled onto a rock for a better look.
“Not driftwood… that shape… wait. Is that a glint?”
The longer he stared, the deeper his frown grew.
Wrong. All wrong. That silhouette… A person?
“Damn, a human corpse?” His mind froze.
This complicates things.
After a brief hesitation, he sprinted upstream. If it held coins or valuables, who could blame him? Life was harsh.
“Don’t hate me,” he thought while running. “I’ll bury you properly, I swear!”
But when he dragged the “corpse” ashore, his assumptions shattered.
She was breathing.
A girl, her skin protected by a shimmering, bubble-like film that repelled river water. She hadn’t drowned, just barely clung to life.
Her once-fine light armor hung in tatters, and the body beneath was crisscrossed with wounds. A faint breath ghosted past Rulin’s checking finger.
A moment later and she would’ve died.
He’d found her just in time.
Yet…
Rulin wasn’t sure he wanted this “timely” discovery.
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