Dian, of course, gladly accepted her offer.
He followed Maria as she led the way out of the forest. Meanwhile, Dian began checking his status. It seemed that he had leveled up, so he looked at what had changed.
Firstly, he now had 7 stat points and 3 skill points. He could use these to increase his stats and obtain additional skills.
For his stats, Dian realized the sheer power that Magic could deliver. He also recognized his own inexperience in combat. Therefore, he decided to focus on increasing his Magic and Intelligence stats, which were related to his Magic Damage, Mana Points, Magic Defense, and slightly affected his Crafting Capability. He allocated 5 points to Magic and 2 points to Intelligence. With a +25% bonus from his attribute, Time, his total stats were now 31.25 for Magic and 21.25 for Intelligence.
When it came to skill points, Dian checked the available options. However, since he couldn't find any worthwhile skill with only 3 skill points, he closed the menu and decided to wait until he had more skill points.
Lastly, he reviewed his coin reserve. After defeating five goblins, each of which granted him 2 Copper coins, and completing the Quest: Maria's Trouble, he had a total of 20 Copper coins.
Just like in any game, the money he earned from defeating monsters could be used to purchase items from the system market. However, Dian was not interested in shopping at that moment, so he closed the market menu.
While inspecting the uses of these coins, he discovered a Conversion feature that allowed him to exchange normal coins earned from monsters for special Copper coins called Lya, Tovin, or Darr, which seemed to be the standard currency used in this world.
What shocked him even more was the existence of a feature that allowed him to convert his Copper coins into U.S. Dollars, Yen, Yuan, and other currencies commonly used on Earth.
"C-could it be..."
His fingers trembled with hope as Dian quickly tapped the option to convert his Copper coins into dollars.
The conversion ratio between Copper coins and Dollars was 1:1, so after converting all of his coins, he received a total of 20 dollars.
[You have successfully converted 20 Copper coins to 20 Dollars! The money has already been transferred to your E-wallet account. Please check it later. Don't worry, this process is tax-free!]
Twenty dollars.
Just like that. So easy. So instant.
Dian began to question his life. That amount was equivalent to four hours of earnings from his part-time job at a family restaurant near his university.
Almost immediately, he considered logging off to check if he had truly received the money as the notification suggested. Fortunately, he remembered Maria was there.
Suppressing his anxiety and hope, Dian refrained from logging out at that moment and decided to wait until lunch with Maria and her family was finished. It would be rude to disappear, especially after noticing her efforts to repay his help.
After approximately an hour of walking, Maria and Dian finally reached the village, with its hay-roofed buildings coming into view. As they got closer, he could see the tall log fence that defended the village from any hostile creatures.
"So that's the village?" commented Dian from the side.
"Yes," replied Maria, nodding. "It's known as Grebir Village, and it is one of the closest villages to the Salad Kingdom's border with other territories. For example, if you went west beyond this Midnight Forest, you would arrive at Jula Town, which is under the jurisdiction of the Mallio Alliance."
"Well, as an adventurer, you probably know more than I do," Maria added with a giggle.
Unsure how to respond, Dian simply chuckled along with her.
Not long after, they reached the front gate of the village. A man clad in thick animal leather stood guarding the gate with a spear in his hand. He yawned but then noticed their presence and greeted them.
Maria reciprocated the greeting and introduced Dian. "This is Dian. He saved me from goblins when I was captured while gathering mushrooms earlier today," she said.
The man looked Dian up and down, seemingly gauging his strength.
"Hee~... So your name is Dian? Thank you for saving one of us," the man said with a casual grin.
"You can call me Roll! I'm the best hunter in this village. Nice to meet you!" he added.
Roll extended his hand, and Dian shook it in return, a sign of goodwill.
After bidding Roll goodbye, Maria led Dian into the village.
Once inside, Dian was finally able to see the village up close. There were over 20 houses, one farm, and two general storehouses. Overall, the village was larger than any ordinary one he had expected for a village in a world devoid of electricity—at least, that was his impression based on what he knew, which was limited only to what he could understand from RPG games.
When Maria rushed toward the door after hearing the cheerful voices of children playing inside, Dian was struck by the beauty of the natural surroundings. Standing in the center of the yard, he turned his head to the right and saw a somewhat large farm occupying about 30% of the village space. There were sheep, cows, and chickens being raised as livestock, which was a common business for the villagers. There were no crops in sight, perhaps because it was still early in the spring and the villagers hadn't started planting yet, or maybe they simply weren't focused on cultivating crops.
This seemingly is a natural and common sight in this world, which was already hardly found on Earth in the current era, especially in the city—where everything moved and changed so rapidly that you could easily trip if you didn't carefully watch your steps. In literal meaning, or in philosophical meaning.
Despite having been in this world for only a few hours, Dian already enjoyed it. For him, the peace and fresh air were everything he had ever dreamed of.
Suddenly, a thought about carrying out his plan to commit suicide crept into his mind.
"Hey, Dian! What are you doing, spacing out? Come in! I'll cook you some soup!"
Before he could dwell further on his dark thoughts, someone called him out of his daze.
It was Maria, who was hugging two young children at the entrance of the building. One of the children broke free from his mother's embrace as soon as he noticed Dian. The boy, who looked to be around six years old, approached him and paused just before Dian.
"Brother!" he called out, smiling, "Thanks for saving Mom!"
...
The clock's second hand clicked as it stopped at 3.
Dian opened his eyes.
He had logged off from the game—or whatever it was—after enjoying the simple yet comforting soup that Maria had prepared for their lunch. Of course, he hadn't just logged out right in her house. To avoid any unnecessary complications, Dian had made an excuse to leave, claiming he needed to investigate something in the forest before stepping back into the woods to tap the log-out button.
In his hands, he held not only his phone but also four $5 bills, totaling $20. It seemed that the copper coins he had converted in the game were directly transferred to him as real, physical money.
He began checking whether the money was real or fake. To his relief, he found that it was indeed legitimate currency.
The flow of time on Earth and in that world seemed to be reversed—while it was afternoon there, it was already well past midnight here.
His time to end his life had long passed.
But did he truly want to die? Even now, after discovering this new world?
No.
The answer was no.
There was hope.
There was a way.
He would try again.