Chapter 2: Into the Dark Forest

Song Ze’s words left everyone around him stunned.

Could someone be so shameless as to flatter to such an extent, and openly admit to being a completely useless waste? One had to wonder what his face was made of.

Yet his words carried a hint of provocation: if Aliel rejected him, it would be an admission of insufficient strength.

“Ha, this treacherous scoundrel. Does he think that by saying this, Lord Aliel will take him along?”

“That’s right. Lord Aliel is no ordinary man. How could he be fooled by a few sweet words? I bet he’s dead meat this time.”

“Last time, a noble transfer student tried to flatter Lord Aliel by offering ten thousand gold coins. He was thrown out, gold and all, and couldn’t get out of bed for half a year.”

“His Lordship’s pride is not something this spoiled brat can trample and mock.”

After a brief silence, the crowd discussed openly right in front of Song Ze, looking at him as if he were already dead.

“Quiet.” The senior beside Aliel barked.

As Aliel’s cold gaze fell on Song Ze, everyone shut their mouths and held their breath, gloating as they watched Song Ze.

“Song Ze?” Aliel’s voice was ice-cold, like snow on a peak, devoid of any warmth.

“Mm.” Called out by his future wife in public, Song Ze shyly lowered his head.

“Aren’t you going to follow?”

What?!

Just as everyone thought they were hallucinating, Aliel turned and walked away, and Song Ze eagerly trotted after her.

He had joined Aliel’s team.

Everyone knew how strict the requirements for Aliel’s team were. Every member could kill enemies three levels higher than themselves, approaching the strength of their teachers.

Never before had a same-year student joined Aliel’s team. No matter how talented, they were like dust before them.

Even if they didn’t beat Song Ze to a pulp, how could Aliel possibly accept him?

Damn it, this must be an illusion!

Ignoring the crowd’s uproar, Song Ze followed closely, trying to get next to his future wife. But the moment he touched Aliel’s cloak, a gust of magical wind pushed him away.

Aliel’s icy voice rang out again, “You’d better behave and not cause us trouble. If anything happens, I won’t save you. If you can’t manage that, leave immediately.”

“Y-yes,” Song Ze agreed weakly, but couldn’t help looking at Aliel with pleading eyes, “Then can I stay close to you?”

“Mm.” Aliel turned away.

****

Soon, everyone entered the Dark Forest.

The Dark Forest was a notoriously dangerous place on this continent. Deep within lived a large number of high-level magical beasts that only ate living creatures. It was said that on the other side, there was even a passage connecting to the demon realm.

The connection between the demon realm and this world had been severed for centuries. Many knew of its existence only through legends, and some even thought it was just a myth.

As the game’s protagonist, Song Ze knew that the legend was indeed true…!

Fortunately, their trial range was only the eastern outskirts of the forest.

Along the way, Song Ze stuck to Aliel like glue. Despite being scorned by all, he shamelessly insisted on staying by her side.

But… why had his wife become much taller than in the game? Had the game, upon becoming reality, automatically fixed the bug of the male disguise being too short? As an elf princess, Aliel must have mastered many height-changing potions.

Song Ze was lost in thought as he moved closer to Aliel. After all, he was only level ten—newbie village level! In this forest where monsters averaged level 30, he was very fragile. If separated, he wouldn’t last a minute.

Aliel’s other subordinates were astonished; they had never seen someone so shameless.

If anyone else had dared to do this, Aliel would have thrown them away long ago. But now, although her face was cold, she tolerated Song Ze’s chatter. All because—

“Aliel, you’re amazing! You can even take down such a monster so easily! Not to mention our warrior academy, even people from other magic academies are no match for you!” Song Ze’s cheeks flushed with excitement, a thin layer of sweat on his fair skin.

After Aliel killed another monster with a single sword stroke, Song Ze carefully jumped out from behind her, filled with admiration.

“How did you do that? The monster died so cleanly, without any pain. That’s Aliel’s gentleness.”

The beautiful youth’s eyes were brimming with worship, shining like the stars had fallen into them, but reflecting only Aliel’s figure.

“It’s so good to be by Aliel’s side!”

“Shut up.” Aliel finally couldn’t help it, a faint blush appearing on her frosty face.

Her voice was as merciless as ever, “One more word, and you’ll go to the back of the line.”

Under the astonished gazes of the others, Song Ze braved Aliel’s intimidating aura and moved closer until there was only an inch between them, “But I can’t help worshipping you, liking you.”

Aliel’s aura grew even colder. The team members shivered and moved farther away, watching the courageous Song Ze with admiration.

But Song Ze thought it was nothing. After all, Aliel was this awesome! Others didn’t know, but he knew that Aliel was level 99! A max-level badass from the start! In the original game, the protagonist often relied on the heroine to level up.

Most importantly, he knew…

[Aliel’s affection increased by 5. Current affection: 2] The system prompt sounded.

See, affection increased again. Through his efforts, he had raised it from negative to positive. These bystanders didn’t understand the charm of a tsundere girl—the whole ‘mouth says no but body says yes’ thing was just too adorable! Also… they didn’t even know Aliel was a girl. A girl who liked to protect her lover, not be protected. This satisfied the passive psychology of socially awkward, physically weak otaku.

Moreover, because he was closest to Aliel, Song Ze’s experience bar was rising rapidly. Since entering the Dark Forest, he hadn’t even touched a sword, yet he was already level twelve!

[If this continues, the host will definitely complete the task smoothly and return to reality.] The system praised.

Song Ze: “…” Return my ass! It’s great here! He wasn’t going back after completing the task. Could he get a girlfriend back there? No…

“Oh? A man-eating vine.” Song Ze thought in surprise. “It’s time, system. Let’s play something exciting.” He stepped precisely on an innocuous-looking vine.

In an instant, the vine changed color, coming to life as it tightly wrapped around Song Ze’s ankle and pulled him to the ground.

The vine’s reaction was extremely fast. Before Song Ze could struggle to his feet, demonic energy spread, and countless thorns emerged, binding him tightly, leaving him unable to move.

[Host, are you crazy?]

Everyone around was startled by the change. Man-eating vines were a troublesome existence. Though not extremely lethal, once they bound someone, they never let go until the corrosive liquid dissolved all flesh, leaving only bones. But the process was very slow. Even a beginner in combat qi could break the vine by concentrating all their qi.

The truly terrifying thing was that man-eating vines were companions of high-level magical beasts, which were definitely not something students like them could handle.

“Lord Aliel, we must leave here immediately,” a team member suggested.

“Retreat, my lord,” another member, who had been skinning a dead magical beast, stood up immediately, abandoning the easy-to-get mid-level core and requesting withdrawal.

No one cared about Song Ze. After all, it had been agreed from the start that they wouldn’t save him if anything happened. If he got into trouble, it was his own fault.

By now, Song Ze was tightly bound from ankle to waist by the vine. The corrosive juice had begun to secrete, the milky liquid giving his already fair skin an abnormal flush.

Song Ze looked at Aliel in despair, his blue eyes filled with fearful tears. “Aliel, save me.” He was pitiful to the extreme.

“You can’t even handle such a low-level vine?” Aliel’s cold gaze swept over him.

“I… I,” Song Ze’s voice trembled with fear. “I bribed the examiner in the entrance exam. My combat qi is only beginner level, not even intermediate.”

“…” Aliel’s gaze grew colder. “And you still dared to wander around?”

“But…” Song Ze bit his lower lip, like a frightened rabbit, tears hanging on his eyelashes, his blue eyes full of devotion. “You were there. You were there.”

“Please, Aliel…”

His plea seemed to take all his strength. Of course, for Song Ze, he really had exhausted himself! He could barely breathe from the vine’s grip!

The next moment, a few flashes of blinding light passed, leaving everyone slightly stunned.

The vine that had been binding Song Ze scattered into pieces, turning to ash as it hit the ground. Song Ze collapsed to the ground, gasping for air, looking like he had narrowly escaped death.

Lord Aliel had actually bothered to save him! The others were shocked. In all their time following Aliel, she had never paid any attention to such weak ants. She hadn’t even saved the empire’s princess. She was extremely arrogant.

Song Ze propped himself up, a shy smile appearing on his slightly pale face, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Aliel. “Thank you!”

Aliel glanced at him, then turned away coldly. “Stop your nonsense. Let’s go. There won’t be a next time.”

[Affection +20. Current affection: 22.] The system’s excited voice rang out.

The others dared not delay and set off again, but they couldn’t help reassessing Song Ze.

After all, it was already afternoon when they set out. Soon it would be dark. They found a relatively open area to set up camp and skillfully cast the light magic taught at the academy around the perimeter to prevent nighttime monster attacks.

Only someone out of their mind would travel in the Dark Forest at night.

Once a fire was lit, many relaxed and took out their dry rations.

Song Ze eagerly offered food to Aliel, who of course coldly refused and ate her own. But the system told him affection had increased by another point.

Song Ze had spent so much time on this that he knew Aliel’s personality inside out. There was no way he couldn’t win her over!

Among everyone, Aliel was the easiest to romance. Though she had a terrible temper, she was actually quite simple. The only problem was the breakup part—if you broke up with her, it was extremely easy to trigger a darkening plot, leading to all kinds of horrible things.

But Song Ze thought, how could that be? Who would be crazy enough to break up with Aliel? Who could refuse such a beautiful girl with such high combat power?

System: […]

Song Ze happily ate his dry rations. When it was time to rest, he pestered Aliel to sleep together.

“If I sleep alone, I might encounter danger,” Song Ze said weakly. “With my strength, I can’t even fight a beginner monster. I might die before I can call for help… and the smell of human flesh will surely attract high-level monsters.”

His reasoning was so sound that no one could find a point to refute. After all, the light magic around could block some small monsters, but if a truly powerful monster appeared, it would be useless.

“As long as you’re here, no monster would dare come near you, even if you’re asleep,” Song Ze said pitifully, holding his blanket. “I’ll be very good. I’ll just lay my bedding next to yours. I won’t roll over and disturb you.”

Aliel gave him a cold look but said nothing in refusal, clearly acquiescing.

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