It was the thirteenth day since his arrival in 『Izumo』. The day of his first true test had finally come. With practiced movements, he started a fire and roasted some meat for breakfast. As he ate, he mentally reviewed his preparations one last time. After his meal, he took stock of the gear he would carry. He'd already ground the Kizugusa into a paste, using his water magic to freeze it into neat, ready-to-use packs. A little warmth and they’d be ready to apply to any injury. His primary weapon was a bamboo spear tipped with a knife, the joint where blade met shaft reinforced with a solid collar of ice. In truth, he was traveling light. His mission was simple: secure flint and find some Gedokusō. And if possible, he'd fight a weak monster. A slime would be ideal. He wouldn't venture far. If trouble found him, he needed to be able to retreat to the safety of the barrier in a hurry. He took a moment, closing his eyes to steady his breathing. “All right,” he murmured. “Time to go.” He set off to the southwest, the direction Amagi Hikaru (pseudonym) had said would lead to a beach some five hundred meters away. Kenji knew several types of rock could serve as flint, though he was no expert. The only one he could reliably identify as an amateur was quartz, a stone with a proven history as a fire-starter. While clear, transparent crystals existed, the more common opaque white quartz was what he was looking for, and it was usually easy to find. Riverbeds were the best place to search. And if there was a sea nearby, there had to be rivers flowing into it. He hoped he might stumble across one on the way. “Well, if this doesn’t work out, I can always try another direction next time,” Kenji mused aloud. “It’s an adventure, after all. You never know what’s going to happen.” As he stepped out of the barrier, Kenji felt a faint, shimmering resistance. “So that’s the edge.” The forest canopy was thick, keeping the visibility low. He moved slowly, his ears pricked for any unnatural sound, relying more on hearing than sight. In the distance, he heard the flutter of birds’ wings. After about a hundred meters, the trees abruptly gave way. Before him, a vast river, hundreds of meters across, flowed silently. But he was standing on the edge of a cliff, a sheer drop down to the water. It was a difficult spot from which to reach the riverbank and search for flint. I'll head upstream, he decided. The river flowed from east to west, so Kenji began to carefully follow the cliff’s edge eastward, against the current. “A river this massive, just a hundred meters from the house… It’s kind of breathtaking.” But Kenji couldn't afford to stand and admire the view. A short walk later, he found a manageable slope that led down to the riverbank. He found a piece of quartz almost immediately. He decided to test it right away. He struck the flat of the knife blade against the sharp edge of the quartz. “Yes, sparks!” A grin touched his lips. “With this, I won’t have to rely on the sun for fire.” With his first objective complete, there was no reason to linger. A river was a natural watering hole for all kinds of beasts. There was no telling what might appear. He quickly scrambled back up the slope and began heading northeast. If I go north from here, I’ll hit the southern edge of the barrier. Heading northeast should let me circle around it, keeping the house to my left, he reasoned. That way, if anything happened, he could make a straight dash for safety. As he had told himself many times, survival was his absolute priority. He had no real measure of how strong the monsters of 『Izumo』 were. He was confident he could handle a slime, but there was no guarantee a slime was all he would encounter. He'd found the flint with surprising ease, but the Gedokusō remained stubbornly elusive. He kept moving, always conscious of the barrier’s location, careful not to stray too far. “Well… this is proving difficult,” he muttered. “What now?” He mentally pictured the page for Gedokusō in the Shokubutsu Zukan, searching his memory for a hint about its habitat. His focus had drifted completely from his surroundings. That was when he looked up and saw it: a boar, staring right at him. “Shit,” he breathed. “A Ko-inoshishi.” Before he could react, the Ko-inoshishi charged. It was a Ko-inoshishi, and it was charging straight for him. His mind screamed at him to move, to do something, but his body was locked in place. It was the first time he had ever faced a monster's killing intent head-on. It was a raw, predatory hunger he had never experienced in his life, and it paralyzed him. He was a frog caught in a snake's gaze, completely frozen. “Shit, move, move, MOVE!” At the last possible second, his body responded, throwing itself to the left. It was less a jump and more of a desperate, stumbling fall. As he scrambled away, one of the boar's tusks scraped across his right foot, tearing through his shoe and drawing blood. But he couldn’t stay on the ground. The Ko-inoshishi skidded to a halt a short distance past him, its heavy body turning to fix its eyes on Kenji once more. Its eyes burned with raw, murderous intent, now mixed with fury that its prey had escaped. Telling himself to calm down was useless. His heart hammered against his ribs like an alarm bell. His mind was a storm of white noise, but not entirely blank. And still, his limbs refused to obey. The Ko-inoshishi lowered its head and charged again. Again, Kenji found himself unable to move. But even if his body was locked, he still had his magic. The water magic he had practiced over and over and over. His hard work would not fail him now. “Hyōdō!” In the space between Kenji and the charging Ko-inoshishi, a two-meter-wide sheet of slick ice instantly formed on the forest floor. The boar’s hooves found no purchase. Its momentum carried it forward, sending it sliding uncontrollably across the ice directly toward him. He couldn't launch Hyōsō-rensha through the air yet, but he could make them sprout from the Ice Hyōdō. He raised a picket line of deadly spears. Sixteen lances of ice erupted from the frozen path, angled thirty degrees towards the oncoming beast. With no way to stop or swerve, the Ko-inoshishi slammed headlong into the thicket of jagged ice. The skewered beast let out a piercing shriek of agony. The sound shattered the spell of fear that had bound Kenji. He could finally move. He scrambled to his feet, gripping his knife-tipped bamboo spear. Kenji had practiced kendo, but he knew nothing about spear fighting. Not that it mattered. He just had to stab. Face, neck, groin. He stabbed again and again. His body was moving, but his mind was far from calm. Driven by adrenaline and terror, he put all his strength into every thrust. Again, and again, and again… He must have stabbed it dozens of times. Only when his arms began to ache did Kenji realize the Ko-inoshishi had stopped moving. That day, for the first time, Kenji had killed a monster. “I have to get out of here,” he gasped. The scent of blood would draw scavengers, or worse. Kenji forced his trembling legs to hold him and stood up. The problem was the Ko-inoshishi's corpse. “How am I supposed to carry this thing?” Leaving it behind was not an option. This was his first real kill. Kenji was determined: he would be eating Ko-inoshishi meat tonight. The barrier wasn't far. A hundred meters, at most. Then his eyes fell on the Ice Hyōdō he’d created. “If I lay a path of ice… could I just drag it?” If he could extend the Ice Hyōdō all the way back to the barrier, it might not be so difficult to pull it on his own. With a bit of concentration, he slicked the ground beneath the corpse with a fresh layer of ice and gave it a tentative pull. “Whoa… this is surprisingly easy.” The Ko-inoshishi, which had to weigh nearly two hundred kilograms, slid forward with single-handed ease. He passed back through the shimmering barrier and finally came to a stop before his house. “Finally… home.” He stood there, a young man utterly spent, drained of both energy and willpower. He hadn't found the Gedokusō, but he had obtained flint, won his first battle, and claimed the corpse of a Ko-inoshishi. It was more than enough for one day.

Chapter 5: The First True Test