Chapter 1 Resurrection

Chapter 1 Resurrection

Sirius awoke on a small, stranded boat, with all his memories gone.

Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going?

Unfortunately, his mind was a complete blank, completely unable to answer these three questions.

If he still had his memories, he would have known, a few days later as he wandered through the mist, that he had been exiled to the Misty Forest, and what's more, as a corpse.

But he had no memories, so he didn't know.

Sirius sat up in the boat, and several withered petals fell from his body.

His body was covered in these withered bouquets. They must have been fresh not long ago. Fortunately, by the time he awoke, they had only faded to a light brown, without any bad smell.

This was a funeral rite from the Kingdom of Orlando. Only the Fire Priestess, who resided in the Sacred Tower, would perform such a ceremony for someone she deeply mourned.

Baffled, Sirius scooped all the flowers out of the boat, revealing a sword and a scroll of parchment.

He went for the parchment first. There was writing on it, just one sentence: "To our beloved Sirius, may your soul shine forever."

Sirius?

Was that him? Was that his name? He could actually read! He wasn't illiterate!

What was illiteracy again?

Sirius's mind raced.

This amnesia had a profound effect on him. Everything felt like a tail he could grasp but then slipped away—a faint sensation that ultimately left him with nothing.

He didn't have time to dwell on it, as another feeling seized him. He felt a vibration in his abdomen, making strange gurgling noises.

"Why is my stomach making noise?" he said to himself.

He was hungry. He answered himself a moment later.

Since he was hungry, he needed to find something to eat. Clueless but cheerful, Sirius left the boat, making sure not to forget the sword.

Sharp Sword +1.

He hopped lightly onto the shore and took a couple of steps before suddenly turning back. Huffing and puffing, he dragged the boat that had carried him here onto the shore.

Sirius wasn't sure why he did this, but his intuition told him the boat would be better off on land than in the water.

Then he cheerfully headed into the woods.

What was in the lush green forest? Trees, grass, low shrubs, little birds, mushrooms... Wait, mushrooms?

Sirius's eyes went wide.

A cluster of adorable mushrooms nestled docilely at the foot of a tree—red, yellow, blue, pink—brightly colored with plump, round caps. They looked especially delicious!

Eat the blue one first!

Sirius pounced, snatching up the little blue mushroom.

Little Blue Mushroom +1.

A chorus of tiny shrieks suddenly erupted. The little blue mushroom in his hand wriggled its chubby body, while the other mushrooms scattered, scampering away on their tiny feet. Yet, one by one, they popped their heads out from the bushes as if watching him.

"You can talk? Are you alive? Do mushrooms talk?" Sirius asked the wriggling mushroom, half in conversation, half to himself.

"Eek eek eek eek!" The little blue mushroom could only squeak.

"I'm so hungry. Can I have a bite of you?" Sirius used the politest tone to say the most terrifying thing.

"Eek eek eek eek eek!" The little mushroom thrashed even more fiercely.

The other few mushrooms that had been peeking from the bushes immediately retracted their caps, apparently scared off for good.

"I promise I'll only take a tiny bite. Even though you look delicious, I'll try my best to control myself and only take a very small bite." Sirius licked his lips.

"Eek!!!!!" The little blue mushroom let out a loud shriek before it went completely limp.

"Dead? So can I eat all of it now?!" Sirius couldn't contain his excitement and delight.

Just as he was about to take a bite of the mushroom cap, the bushes shook violently. The little mushrooms that had just run away came tumbling and scrambling toward him, their caps piled high with sweet, juicy berries.

Sirius pulled back, hesitating, watching to see what they intended to do.

The little mushrooms danced and squeaked around him, their heads holding up the small berries, as if he were some evil god taking form and they were offering him sacrifices.

"Are these for me?" Sirius asked.

"Eek eek eek eek!" The little mushrooms hopped, raising the berries on their heads even higher.

"You're so kind. You must be worried that eating only mushrooms would be too bland for me. Thank you!" Sirius said happily.

"Eek eek eek eek!!!!!" The little mushrooms' shrieks grew even louder. They shook off the berries from their heads and jumped up, trying to reach the limp little blue mushroom in his hand.

"You mean you want me to eat you too?" Sirius cocked his head at them. "What a strange request, but rest assured, I can accommodate you."

The little mushrooms fell into an eerie silence, unsure how to deal with this terrifying mushroom hunter with such bizarre logic.

After a moment, they began performing a skit. One mushroom grabbed another by the "neck," then a third mushroom held up a bunch of berries and offered them to the neck-grabber. After the neck-grabber nudged away the berries, it released the mushroom hostage.

Now Sirius fully understood. "You want to trade berries for it!"

The little mushrooms nodded in unison.

Sirius gathered all the berries and stuffed them into his pocket before handing over the little blue mushroom to them. Only what was in his hand was truly his!

Little Berries +25.

The little mushrooms lifted the little blue mushroom and scurried away in a flash. They probably wouldn't want to encounter the terrifying mushroom hunter a second time in their lives.

Delighted, Sirius sat down against a tree trunk, popping the plump little berries into his mouth one handful at a time.

The berries brought by the little mushrooms were both red and yellow. The red ones had thin skins, bursting with sweet and sour juice at the slightest bite. The yellow ones were thicker, tasting sweet with a hint of astringency.

Delicious, but too few.

Regretfully, Sirius licked his lips and glanced in the direction the little mushrooms had fled.

Should he go catch them and force them to find more berries for him? Or simply eat them outright?

No.

Such thoughts were instantly dismissed. Sirius scratched his head, confused, wondering why he couldn't just do that.

But he couldn't figure it out, so he had to press on in search of food.

Sirius walked for quite a while, but he didn’t stray too far from the riverbank, instead circling back and forth until he came across a rabbit.

Their eyes met. Sirius's gaze was blazing; the rabbit turned and fled.

“Don’t run! I’ll only eat one leg! No—half a leg!”

The rabbit ran even faster.

The ground was thick with low shrubs. The rabbit darted into them and vanished, leaving only the rustling sound of shaking leaves.

Sirius couldn’t run as fast as the rabbit and was on the verge of losing it!

Sword out!

A streak of sword light shot out. With a *swish*, it sliced through the shrubs and accurately pinned the rabbit’s hind leg to the ground.

Sirius jogged over, crouched down, and pulled out the sword: “If you don’t speak, that means you're okay with me eating all of you. If you speak, I’ll only eat one leg.”

Of course, the rabbit couldn’t speak, so he got a whole, squealing rabbit.

Rabbit +1.

Sirius wasn't one to torment his food. He cleanly snapped the rabbit’s neck, then carried it by the ears to the riverbank to gut it.

The smell of blood attracted aggressive fish in the river. Sirius, holding his still-dripping sword, speared quite a few in one go—bonus meal!

Fish +8.

With food secured, he still needed a shelter to spend the night.

Sirius was lucky. Before dark, he found a sturdy hollow tree.

Someone had arrived before him.

Sirius walked over politely: “Hello, may I rest here?”

No one could answer him, because he was talking to a skeleton.

A skeleton, white with a yellowish tinge, lay beside the hollow of the tree. Its clothes had mostly rotted away, but a sheepskin bag lying near the skeleton’s hand was remarkably well-preserved.

Sirius received no reply. Silence, in his mind, equaled consent, so he felt at ease and began inspecting the hollow tree.

Shelter +1.

No one knew how old this forest was, but this hollow tree must have been one of the earliest to take root here.

The entrance to the hollow was about waist-high. Sirius had to bend down to crawl inside. The interior of the hollow was

spacious—so much so that it felt a bit unbelievable, roughly the size of a living room plus a kitchen.

“This tree doesn’t seem this big from the outside, does it?” Sirius felt something was off and backed out of the hollow.

He began walking around the tree.

One step, two steps, three steps… ten steps in total. Then he stretched out his arms to wrap them around the hollow tree. When he returned to his starting point, it measured four and a half arm spans.

This was indeed a very sturdy tree, but the interior space was visibly much larger than the outside.

Sirius crawled back inside and measured the tree’s interior using the same method he had used outside.

From the inside, he took a total of 25 steps. Without even stretching his arms, he could clearly perceive the abnormality within this tree.

“This isn’t entirely a bad thing. At least I can sleep on the ground tonight,” Sirius muttered to himself.

There were some dried leaves inside the hollow. He gathered them together—this would be his bed for the night.

Crude Bed +1.

With shelter secured and a bed ready, and the sky about to darken, it was time to start a fire and cook.

Sirius crawled out of the hollow and, tilting his head, saw the skeleton lying quietly nearby.

He had almost forgotten about this friend and its sheepskin bag.

“Hello, if you don’t mind, I’d like to open your bag and take a look. If you don’t speak, that means you agree,” Sirius said.

The skeleton’s two empty eye sockets stared at him, unable to utter a word of refusal.

Sheepskin Bag +1.

Sirius happily picked up the sheepskin bag and opened it to see if it contained what he wanted.

The sheepskin bag wasn’t large, and its contents were few. From it, he pulled out a quill, a bottle of dried ink, a small notebook, and three small burlap pouches.

Sirius gave the pouches a sniff first before opening them.

The first pouch contained salt.

Coarse Salt +1.

It was unclear how long this salt had been stored here. It had clumped together in the pouch, its color slightly yellowed, but there was no unpleasant odor.

Sirius pinched a small amount and put it in his mouth. Hmm, the taste was salty to the point of bitterness. Even before clumping, it hadn’t been particularly fine salt.

But as long as it had a salty taste, tonight’s roasted rabbit would be much more delicious!

“Thank you,” Sirius said sincerely to the skeleton.

The skeleton remained as before, only able to stare blankly ahead with its empty eye sockets.

Sirius continued opening the pouches. From the other two pouches fell seeds.

Seeds +2.

It was unclear what kind of crop seeds they were, but one thing was certain—they emitted a stale smell, and it was unknown whether they could still sprout.

The quill and ink bottle were set aside for now; these items weren’t immediately useful.

Quill +1.

Dried Ink Bottle +1.

Sirius opened the last item—the small notebook.

The fragile pages were yellowed. He carefully turned to the first page.

"My name is Bob, and my dream is to have my own land and become an excellent farmer."

That's your dream?

Perfect. Now it's mine.

Author here:

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And we're off! This time, it has a bit of a wilderness survival vibe, though it's not purely about survival.

Now, let's check out what Sirius has got:

Sword × 1

Rabbit × 1

Fish × 8

Sheepskin bag × 1

Quill × 1

Empty ink bottle × 1

Coarse salt × 1

Mysterious seeds × 2

Newly built:

Makeshift bed × 1