A Wild Man Has Entered the Academy

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 2

I can confidently say that I am just an ordinary person.

Born into an ordinary family like everyone else, I made ordinary friends, served in the military like everyone else, and enjoyed gaming like any other person.

If there’s one thing that sets me apart, it’s that I was so deeply immersed in a particular game that I became a veteran player.

Unless I was playing with friends, I would get completely absorbed in it alone.

[Soul World]

That’s the name of the game I used to enjoy.

At first glance, it seems like an utterly ordinary game, but once you get to know it, its depth is astounding.

Your choices determine the future, and the composition and harmony of the characters are excellent.

Although the story becomes so dark and desolate as it progresses that it’s downright depressing, the coherence of the narrative earned it praise.

However, there was one glaring flaw that overshadowed everything—the damn controls and combat style.

Nothing worked properly, and the keys often got stuck. I almost broke my keyboard several times out of frustration.

Because of this, even though the story was well-received, the other issues made it a game only for hardcore fans.

As for me, I was so immersed in the characters and story that I cleared it multiple times as a true veteran player.

But in reality, being a veteran player doesn’t mean anything. That damn squirrel, nicknamed ‘Porori,’ hit me once, and I felt like I was going to die.

‘One day, I’ll skin you alive.’

I grimaced as I pressed on my still-throbbing solar plexus. The stench of the rat’s urine and feces assaulted my nose.

That squirrel’s official name is Ratatoskr, but the fandom calls it Porori.

It’s a monster infamous for its infuriating behavior, from teabagging to every single annoying action it takes.

Usually, when you enter the Academy, you head into the nearby forest for training. If you venture deeper, you end up here.

And as soon as you enter, you encounter that damn Porori, and most people get taken out in one hit.

Thanks to the awful controls, dodging is nearly impossible, and even if you’re lucky enough to win, it plays dead and attacks again.

Porori is basically a collection of everything annoying.

‘Anyway······’

Leaning against a tree, I looked around.

It was daytime before I passed out, but now it had already grown dark.

This forest isn’t just home to Porori; it’s also inhabited by dangerous beasts and monsters.

In other words, unless I get out of here, there’s a 99% chance I’ll die.

I don’t want that.

“Ugh······”

I barely managed to get my aching body upright. Having taken a direct hit to the solar plexus, even breathing was difficult.

Honestly, the fact that I’m alive after being struck in a vital point by Porori is a miracle.

In the game, you usually die in one hit. Surviving is rare, and even then, it’s meaningless.

‘I’m lucky that rare chance happened now.’

I gathered some fallen leaves scattered nearby and rubbed them on my face.

At least this way, I could get rid of the damn stench of urine and feces.

You might ask, “What if there are poisonous insects mixed in?” Well, let them be. My life is already crap.

Step—step—

Even though this place is a mix of forest and jungle, it seems the sun sets quickly.

At least it’s fortunate that this forest stays warm year-round. For now, I need a place to hide.

‘If Porori is here, it means there aren’t any dangerous monsters nearby.’

In the wilderness, it’s survival of the fittest. That tiny Porori being the strongest in this area says it all.

Because of its disposition, it lets you live if you survive its attack. Instead, it leaves its mark by defecating on your face.

For those who know, leaving a mark is a warning. It’s a way of saying, “This is my territory, so stay away.”

Since I’ve been warned, if I intrude again, there will be no mercy.

‘But I’m so damn frustrated.’

I went to bed in my studio apartment, only to wake up here. It’s so unfair I feel like crying.

Still, thanks to the mark it left, monsters won’t approach me easily.

Beasts and monsters generally have a keen sense of smell, so they’ll likely avoid me.

“Grrrr······!”

But not all of them.

I found myself face-to-face with a wolf growling as it approached.

Judging by its appearance, it seemed to have been starving for days, with its ribs sticking out prominently.

It must have been cast out of its pack or lost a fight and ended up wandering.

‘Why is a hungry wolf here······’

This forest is home to beasts and monsters of all levels.

In other words, it’s not strange for a low-level creature like a hungry wolf to appear here.

In the game, it’s an easy foe to defeat, but its problem lies in its extreme aggressiveness.

To find food, it relentlessly hunts for weaker prey, attacking players with lower levels without exception.

If the game’s mechanics are accurately reflected here, that wolf must see me as weaker than itself.

‘How did it figure that out?’

Even with Porori’s scent on me, a beast is still a beast. I swallowed hard and took a step back.

I had just barely recovered from fainting, and I didn’t have a single weapon on me.

In the first place, I’ve lived a life far removed from the wilderness.

If I were Bear Grylls, I’d turn it into excellent protein.

“Grrr!”

Before I could think further, the wolf lunged at me like a bullet. Panicking, I instinctively raised my arms.

But I realized it was a poor decision when the wolf sank its teeth into my left arm.

Crunch!

“Aaaagh!!”

The wolf’s powerful jaws felt like they were going to crush my arm. Its sharp teeth tore into my flesh.

The indescribable agony made me scream involuntarily. My vision blacked out momentarily before returning.

The pain was so intense that I nearly passed out. Gritting my teeth, I glared at the wolf.

“Grrrr!!”

The wolf glared back, as if determined not to let go. If it didn’t kill me, it would die instead.

But I had no intention of dying either. I had to do something.

If ‘fear’ had consumed me earlier, now ‘instinct’ had taken over.

An overwhelming survival instinct that only emerges in extreme situations.

Crunch! Crunch!

“Ahhh! Argh!”

The wolf used all its strength to go for my throat as I fell to the ground. I blocked it with my left arm each time, but the pain only worsened.

Sacrificing that arm, I fumbled around with my good arm and found a stick of suitable size nearby.

Getting this thing off me was my top priority. I aimed the sharp end of the stick directly at its eye.

Thud!

A sickening sensation traveled up my hand. But my survival instinct overpowered any disgust.

First, I needed to survive. I couldn’t die here.

“Yelp! Yip! Yelp!”

The wolf leaped back, howling in pain as its eye was pierced. Holding my bleeding arm behind me, I stared at it.

The wolf rolled on the ground, disoriented by the stick lodged in its eye. It didn’t seem like it would recover anytime soon.

“Ugh······”

I looked at my left arm, which the wolf had bitten. At a glance, there were at least five puncture wounds.

Porori had struck my solar plexus, leaving no visible marks, but my arm was now drenched in blood.

On top of that, being bitten by a wolf meant I had to worry about rabies, and if not that, tetanus was a certainty.

The 99% chance of dying had just hit 100%. Gritting my teeth in frustration, I forced myself to stand.

‘No······ not yet······’

I can survive. As a veteran player of this game, I know everything about this place.

I know what to use to treat hemorrhages, what plants to use for bacterial infections, and what herbs to use for illnesses.

I know it all. Knowing all this, I can’t die in a place like this.

I can’t die until I figure out why I was brought here.

“Yelp! Yip!”

The wolf was still writhing in pain, unable to regain its composure.

I approached the beast without hesitation and stomped on its head with force.

Thud!

“Yelp!”

With just one stomp, it thrashed wildly. If I hadn’t pulled back quickly, my foot would’ve been bitten.

I need to finish it off before it regains its senses. Just then, the wooden stick lodged in its eye caught my attention.

Crunch!

I pinned the beast down with my body to prevent it from escaping.

Its large bulk made it shake violently just by struggling.

“Hrrgh!”

Squish!

Ignoring my injured arm, I gripped the wooden stick with both hands and pushed it in with all my strength.

The more I pushed, the louder it screamed and flailed, but I gritted my teeth and kept going.

Crack!

Eventually, the stick couldn’t withstand the pressure and snapped. It was the limit of the wood.

Fortunately, I had anticipated this. The reason I risked pinning it down with my body was simple.

If the wooden stick broke, I planned to use the sharp stone lying nearby to finish it off.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

At first, the sound of hitting something echoed.

Crunch! Crack! Smash! Snap!

Finally, its skull shattered, and even its brain was destroyed. The wolf trembled briefly before sticking out its tongue and dying.

I struck it a few more times, then gasped for air as I stared at the lifeless wolf.

I killed it. The beast that had threatened my life—I finally killed it.

Though I had lived a life far removed from killing, when faced with danger, I acted on instinct.

“Haa… Haa…”

Sweat poured down like rain, and my heart pounded as if it would burst.

I took a few steps back and collapsed onto the ground.

Even just falling on my backside sent a jolt of pain through my injured left arm.

[First Hunt Successful! Strength and Agility have slightly increased!]

I didn’t even care about the Status Window. I had just survived a life-threatening situation—what else mattered?

My mind felt blank. Despite having killed, I felt nothing.

It was as if my survival instinct was forcibly suppressing the nausea.

The adrenaline coursing through my body seemed to act as a kind of sedative, leaving me numb.

[Trait: Wild Instinct has been acquired!]

Wild Instinct?

At the sight of this unfamiliar Trait, I unconsciously shifted my gaze toward it.

[Wild Instinct: ???]

[In the Wilderness, it’s not the strong who survive, but the survivors who are strong.]

[All senses are heightened, and the longer you survive, the stronger you become.]

Normally, Traits have a grade, and that grade can be improved.

But Wild Instinct was filled with nothing but question marks. This was something I had never seen before.

What am I supposed to do with this? Even after acquiring the Trait, I felt nothing.

The situation was so surreal that my brain seemed unable to process it.

Throb!

The delayed pain in my left arm brought me back to reality. I frowned at the dull ache.

As the adrenaline that had served as both a sedative and painkiller wore off, the pain followed.

‘First, I need to treat this…’

I didn’t pay any attention to the wolf’s corpse. Treating my injury was the priority.

Fortunately, I remembered a plant that was good for hemorrhages. The Deep Forest made it easier to find plants.

‘I will survive… I will survive and…’

I’ll make sure to see the face of the bastard who threw me into this mess.

If it was some so-called god who did this, I’ll curse them to their face.

[You have blasphemed against a god. Faith Stat has decreased.]

Damn it.

As if I wasn’t already annoyed, this just made me even angrier.