In front of the tent, Rayen was sitting with a campfire and some sticks, on which those small adorable rabbit-like animals were getting cooked to be eaten by him.
[420/500]
(All this campfire and stuff cost very heavy. But still I got the food.)
He picked up one of the sticks and bit into the body of the animal. The flavor of salt and spice that he bought from the Exchange Store filled his mouth. He didn't know such animals would taste that good. He ate one, then picked up another, and soon all the rabbit-like animals were gone.
[Ding! Ding!]
[The Order wants to honor you with a new honorific!]
[Rank 1 honorific, 'Cruel Eater' achieved!]
(First this thing tried to kill me and now it is mocking me. Is it really a system or a living person?)
Rayen didn't say anything out loud because he thought it wouldn't amount to anything. He turned off the campfire and put it back in his inventory, then looked up at the sky. It was already night, but he hadn't achieved anything at all. He didn't move ahead that day because all his time was wasted catching those animals.
He walked inside the tent and dropped down. "I haven't opened my stats even a single time, I want to see what my Nominee Degree is like."
He closed his mouth and thought of his Nominee Degree. Suddenly, a new window appeared in front of him.
[Nominee Degree]
[Name - Error #0]
[Age - Error #1]
[Role - Unidentified, Dreamer]
[Tier - Unawakened]
[Exp - 420/500]
[Honorifics - Cannot Show]
[Skills - Cannot Show]
[Unique Traits - Emotional Numbness, Amnesia]
After seeing his own stats, Rayen was deeply puzzled. He had questions like, why am I Error #0? Why is my age Error #1? Why is my role unidentified alongside Dreamer? Why can't I see my skills and honorifics? Most of these he didn't know anything about, but there was something he knew a bit about.
"Amnesia?" he asked himself.
(I remember I was in the orphanage since I was 10, and I don't remember anything about myself before that. The orphanage lady said a policeman she knew found me on a forest road and asked her to take me into the orphanage as they couldn't find my parents. They tried for years but couldn't find even a trace. I didn't know even my name, and not even a language. I learned speaking in the orphanage.)
He suddenly stood up and rubbed his hand on his chin. "Is my being an Error or not being an average human somehow related to my family? I never had much curiosity about my past, but if maybe it is related to all these bizarre things, then maybe I should find out about myself."
[Ding! Ding!]
[A personal Main Quest 'Self-Discovery' is assigned to Dreamer 'Error #0'!]
[It will be active after the current Sub Quest completes!]
(Self Discovery? Is the Order trying to help me? But why would it do that? First targeting me, then mocking me, and now helping me?)
Rayen sat down and continued to make theories on the matter. He thought for an hour but came to no conclusion, maybe because he didn't have enough knowledge on the matter.
"Is my family Error too?" he asked himself, but declined it. "No, if they were Error too then I wouldn't be Error #0. But maybe they are Error, and I'm the only one who entered Somnara? That can be, and that's why I'm the Beginning of Error here."
He went quiet for a moment, then said,
"But that's just a theory. If only I had something, even a small hint. I just need a small hint, and maybe I will come up with something that I can accept as truth."
He tried to remember everything he could since the time he gained consciousness. Many things came to his mind, but none were related to his family. There was nearly nothing in his memories related to his family.
"Do I remember nothing at all? Then how will I find out about myself and my family?"
"..."
"There has to be something." He closed his eyes again and got lost in his own memories.
***
That day, when I first opened my eyes, I saw the orphanage owner lady. She was wearing a normal outfit. She had the appearance of a middle-aged lady, but she was bright and beautiful.
And I was wearing casual clothes. I don't remember if it was something I was wearing before the police found me or if the police changed me into them.
Everything that day was bizarre, yet there was no hint regarding what I wanted to remember. That day I looked from head to toe at myself in the mirror. I was as average as a regular kid, and in my hand was a... wristband?
I opened my eyes and remembered. "Yes, that day I was wearing a wristband, but the next day I lost it and never found it." I nodded to myself in confirmation.
"And there was something written on it." I tried my best to remember the words I saw through the mirror.
"What I saw in the mirror was reversed, but it was something like... Ais?" I somehow managed to remember the word.
"But what does Ais mean? Ais... Ais... wait, Ais? It was reversed in the mirror, so the word would be reversed too. The reverse of Ais is... Sia."
I hit my fist on the palm of my other hand in confirmation. "Sia, it was Sia. But why is Sia's name on my wristband? Is Sia somehow related to me? But... it could be a coincidence too, as I never saw Sia before coming to Somnara. What if that Sia is someone else with the same name as Sia Zeliang?"
I leaned on the ground and looked up at the tent, then said, "Whether it is coincidence or not, I need Sia to confirm it. After completing this quest I need to find Sia. If she is somehow related to me, then maybe she will help me find my family."
[Exp: 450/500]
(I got Exp? For what? I didn't even fight. But either way it would be helpful in the future.)
I pulled the chain of the tent and looked out. It was already midnight.
"I should sleep." I closed the chain, then my eyes.
***
Cheep! Cheep!
Chirping of birds could be heard outside. Rayen's eyes opened and he looked out of the tent. It was another bright morning. The sun cast sunlight on his face and he walked out of the tent.
Rayen pulled out the campfire and started a fire in it. He walked inside the forest and found some bark of trees that were good enough to be bowls. He took them with him and picked snow in one of them.
After reaching the campfire, he put the bowl with snow on the fire. Slowly the snow turned into water. It was dirty with many dust particles.
Rayen pulled out his old shirt from his inventory and placed it on the bowl with water, then poured the water into another bowl through the shirt. All the big dust particles sat on the shirt and the water reached the bowl.
"Now it is good enough to drink." He first washed his face with the water, then drank the water that was left.
(It's not pure enough, but getting water here is a luxury.)
Rayen yawned and stretched his body, then he looked up at the mountains ahead of him. He was in a somewhat plain area on the mountain, but he needed to go ahead, maybe higher.
Rayen moved toward the tent and dismantled it, then he put it back in the inventory, along with the campfire. He held the support stick he found yesterday and started walking forward.
After walking for a while, he reached the end of the plain area, and in front of him was a mountain that he needed to climb. With zero climbing experience, he started climbing the mountain. The rocks there were aligned in a manner that made climbing easy for Rayen.
He held one rock, then another, with his foot on bigger and wider rocks. Even after climbing for nearly a minute, he couldn't see how much climbing was left.
That minute turned into minutes, and minutes turned into half an hour. He was still climbing. Though he got tired and sat down on a wider rock. His throat was burning with each gulp of saliva.
"Water… Maybe I should have brought some with me."
He tried to lean back on the mountain, but suddenly the rock he was sitting on made a sound. He didn't mind it, and suddenly the rock beneath him lowered, then dropped down along with him.
He instinctively tried to grab something. Because he was at such a great height, if he had hit the ground, that would be the end.
His hand grabbed something, but it also came loose, and he got pushed back with that something.
(Wait, I didn't fall?)
He opened his eyes and saw the thing he was grabbing wasn't a rock — it was the handle of a gate.
"Temple?"