Blue sky. Warm sunlight. A gentle breeze.

It was a peaceful lakeside.

At that lakeside, a young girl stood blankly, gazing absentmindedly at her own reflection on the water's surface.

Small stature. Shimmering silver hair. Ruby red eyes. Pointed ears...

It was Ariel.

Ariel's face was expressionless, but inwardly she was quite flustered.

The moment she clicked the character creation complete button, she lost consciousness.

And when she opened her eyes again, she was on the shore of this lake.

As the character 'Ariel'.

It was a situation she could not accept as reality.

Therefore, Ariel did nothing but blankly gaze at the surface of the lake.

A long time passed like that.

If it was a dream, she thought she would wake up, but only the position of the clouds changed.

Finally, after a few hours, Ariel accepted reality. She admitted the fact that she was possessing a game character.

"Status window..."

Ariel muttered softly.

A dry and neutral tone of voice.

Not lively, but clearly a child's voice.

Ariel didn't care and checked the status window in front of her.

-

[Name]: Ariel

[Class]: Mage

[Skills]

: Magic Missile

: Shield 

[Stats]

Strength: 9999999...

Agility: 9999999...

Vitality: 9999999...

Intelligence: 9999999...

Attack: 9999999...

Defense: 9999999...

-

The stats were still bugged to infinity.

All stats infinite.

Inwardly, Ariel felt relieved.

If her stats had been feeble as well, she might have been devastated.

Since she was already possessing a game character, having infinite stats would be advantageous no matter what.

Perhaps because of that, Ariel felt her physical condition was different from before.

Her energy overflowed excessively. It felt like she could uproot and throw a huge boulder, or run all day without tiring.

It was only natural with infinite Strength and Vitality stats.

Next, Ariel examined her skills.

[Skills]

: Magic Missile

: Shield

There were only two skills. Just the basic skills given when creating a character.

Magic Missile was an attack skill, Shield was a defense skill.

Frankly, she could do without them.

With infinite Attack and Defense, did she really need to use skills?

In that sense, her job as a Mage was also meaningless.

Ariel waved her hand to dismiss the status window.

She was satisfied with her stats and skills for now.

It was time to check something else.

"Inventory."

At that moment, a virtual space unfolded in Ariel's consciousness.

An empty void space.

She could instinctively sense that she could store things here. The so-called inventory space in games.

As the inventory unfolded in her consciousness, its features and usage flowed into her mind.

The inventory was a natural system in games, but in reality it was much more useful.

First, since it was a space connected to her consciousness, there were no theft concerns. Instead of having to carry things directly, she could easily put items in and take them out whenever she wanted.

Thanks to her infinite Vitality stat, there were no weight or volume limits.

If she wanted, she could put an entire building inside.

However, living creatures could not be stored, because time did not flow inside the inventory.

The moment something entered the inventory, the flow of time stopped.

That was certainly an advantage. Food stored would never spoil, so she could pile up food like a mountain and take out fresh portions whenever she wanted.

After confirming the inventory, Ariel began walking.

It was still hard to believe she had become a game character, but there was no need to overthink it.

The goal of the game was adventure, after all.

If she had become a game character, she might as well go on adventures directly.

And so, Ariel's adventure began.

*

The first thing Ariel encountered while walking through the forest was a troll.

A ferocious monster with pink skin and a huge body. 

Ariel stared blankly at the troll. The feeling was completely different from seeing it on a game screen.

First, its sheer size was overwhelming.

It must have been about 5 meters tall. To look at the troll's face, she had to tilt her head back.

And the troll's face she saw was not particularly handsome. It looked dull and stupid.

The way it rolled its big eyes and grinned foolishly was almost comical.

Of course, the troll was a powerful monster at the top of the forest's food chain.

Wolves or bears, ordinary beasts would have their tails between their legs and run away the moment they encountered a troll.

The troll was overall muscular, and in its hand it held a club larger than Ariel's body.

Grooaarr!

The troll roared towards Ariel.

An enormous roar.

It seemed to shake the entire forest, and startled birds fluttered up from the surroundings.

However, Ariel did not move at all. She just stood there blankly, staring at the troll.

The troll did not like that.

An elven child it encountered in the forest reacting so calmly upon seeing it. Normally when it roared like that, they should be cowering on the ground, wetting themselves.

The troll approached Ariel. Her reaction was unsatisfactory, but she would likely taste good. Elven flesh was tender, a delicacy for trolls.

"Hey, elf brat! Don't just stand there stupidly, run away!"

Then a voice rang out.

Ariel turned her head around, looking puzzled.

"What are you looking around for! Run away right now if you don't want to get eaten!"

The voice was coming from the troll's direction.

Of course, it wasn't the troll speaking.

The troll's foolish face drooling over Ariel didn't seem intelligent enough to speak.

"Dodge it!"

Ariel's gaze fell on the troll's waist.

Hanging from the troll's waist was something like a birdcage, and inside that cage was a tiny human trapped.

Blue hair, with wings. Only as big as a finger.

"A fairy..."

Ariel said dryly.

According to the world setting she had skimmed before starting the game, this world had various races.

Among them, fairies were a fairy-type race, only finger-sized with wings on their backs and shimmering bodies.

Their personalities were said to be talkative, and they loved alcohol and flowers.

Fairies also had the ability to sprinkle shimmering powder with various effects like healing, flying, sleeping, and so on.

Thanks to this powder, fairies were prized. Which was why humans were desperate to catch them.

When caught, fairies would be kept in cages, but not ordinary cages.

Otherwise, they could sprinkle their flight powder and fly away with the cage.

So magic cages were used, which only the permitted person could open, and the fairy's powder had no effect on.

Both the fairies themselves and these magic cages were extremely expensive, but if one could continuously extract the fairy's powder, it was quite a profitable business.

Of course, as an active race, fairies couldn't survive long trapped in cages.

Still, humans often caught fairies to use as powder producers or keep as ornaments.

In any case, a magic cage was now hanging from this troll's waist.

The one shouting at Ariel to run was the fairy trapped inside.

For a mindless troll to have a magic cage hanging from its waist, there must have been some reason.

But Ariel couldn't continue her thoughts, as the troll had already approached and raised its club high.

"Idiot! Fool! Run away!"

The fairy desperately cried out from inside the magic cage, and the troll swung down its club.

Wham!

Dust billowed up as the shockwave rustled the grass and branches around.

A troll's brute force could snap a bear's spine with ease.

With that immense force behind its club swing, it was impossible by common sense for Ariel to still be alive.

"Haah..."

The fairy trapped in the magic cage let out a dejected sigh. It had thought Ariel would surely be crushed like a squashed tomato.

Now she would become the troll's next meal.

"She was still an immature young elf..."

Elves, like fairies, were forest dwellers.

Unlike greedy humans, they were pure beings who loved the forest like fairies.

Of course, the notion that fairies were pure was just fairies' own delusion.

Fairies were skilled liars who often deceived others, and even liked alcohol, so calling them pure was a bit of a stretch.

Still, fairies considered themselves pure beings like elves.

Someone might slyly suggest not trying to emulate such fairies, but there was no one here to do that. 

As the dust gradually settled, the spot where the troll had swung its club became visible.

The fairy closed his eyes.

It seemed better for his mental health not to see the gruesome sight of that cute elf's death.

"Kuwok?"

Then, the troll made a dumbfounded sound, causing the fairy to open his eyes.

"Huh?"

And the fairy could only make a dumbfounded sound like the troll.

At the spot where the troll had swung its club, where the young elf should have been miserably crushed, she was standing unharmed. Her expressionless face was the same, only her posture had changed.

From a standing posture, she had raised her arms in a blocking stance.

To think she intended to block the troll's descending club with those slender arms - the fairy thought she must be a little lacking somewhere.

But in reality, the young elf was completely unscathed, without a single wound.

"Y-You, what... Are you okay?"

The fairy asked. At that moment, the troll raised its club again, and the fairy urgently shouted,

"R-run away!"

The previous time was probably just luck.

The troll's club had luckily missed, or maybe a one-time defensive spell activated. But this time, it could really be dangerous.

Yet that young elf, seemingly lacking as usual, did not try to dodge even as the troll swung down its club.

Boom!!

Another thunderous boom rang out.