The muffled roar of New Shinkotsu faded into a rhythmic hum as Nico approached the towering stone arch of the Western Gate, which was heavily fortified by a detachment of knights who stood like blue-and-gold sentinels.
Nico stepped toward a simple wooden table positioned in the cool shade of the left archway, where a helmetless knight sat reviewing paperwork.
The man looked up with tired eyes, taking the stack of documents Nico offered before scanning the permits with a practiced gaze, making Nico pour his mana into the Adventurer’s Card to ensure everything matched the records.
"Everything seems to be in order," the Knight said as he stacked the papers together.
"Good luck, kid," he added with a tone of genuine professional concern as he returned them after a stamp. "That’s quite the undertaking... soloing the Goblin’s Nest like that. Be careful out there."
Nico took the papers with a respectful nod before slipping them into the pocket of his Samue.
"I will," he replied simply before stepping past the heavy iron portcullis.
And the air outside the walls felt instantly different.
It lacked the stifling, humid mix of the New Shinkotsu as well as the cloying scent of pine incense and the expensive perfumes that saturated the Old Shinkotsu.
Instead, the breeze felt lighter and impossibly fresh, carrying a natural sweetness that made him want to keep inhaling deep breaths.
Nico glanced back at the massive walls, noting the stark contrast between this quiet western gate and the chaotic southern gate.
The Southern Gate was currently choking on a torrent of refugees flooding into the city to seek shelter from the upcoming Night of the Red Moon.
The area around this gate, however, was almost a ghost town.
Only a handful of adventurers and armored knights moved through the archway, for nothing but the border, magic beasts, accurseds, and monsters lay in this direction.
He turned his gaze forward to see the paved road cutting through a hundred meters of clear, open land before it was swallowed by the towering tree line.
The vast stretch of dense, forested land housed the Goblin Nest Dungeon before giving way to the Western Border.
Beyond that lay the untamed Magic Beast Territory and finally the nightmare known as the Jubokko Forest.
West was a direction reserved only for the brave.
Nico adjusted his collar against the crisp breeze as he began his trek across the clearing toward the sun-dappled woods down the paved path, not even bothering to stop the grin spreading across his face.
After all, this was it.
This was his first proper, classic isekai adventure.
[Okay... no more worrying about anything... I’m gonna finally have some fun!] Nico thought as he let the pure excitement wash over him.
He didn’t even bother to calm his pounding heart while the thrill of the unknown pumped through his veins like a drug.
He marched past the tree line before scanning the road behind him to ensure no prying eyes were watching from the gate, before dashing off the beaten path into the dense vegetation of the forest, stopping in a secluded pocket of ferns to address his interface.
[System... give me something appropriately tactical... make it black!]
-Ding!
{Purchase complete.
Items are stored in the inventory.
Price 23.
Credits remaining 64.}
"Hell yeah!" Nico cheered with a giddy laugh before pulling his new drip from the inventory.
He unfolded a black, full-sleeved V-neck t-shirt with an attached hood and reinforced elbow padding.
Then out came the matching black pants, made of a stretchy tactical fabric with integrated knee padding.
Next came the heavy black boots with steel plating on the front and back, before he finished out the set with a pair of form-fitting dark brown leather gloves.
Decking himself out in the new gear, with the blade on his waist and the shotgun slung on his back, Nico moved through the vegetation while testing the fit.
He dropped into deep squats and ’tried’ to throw a few high kicks, checking the range of motion.
[Comfy....] Nico thought, feeling the fabric move with him like a second skin.
A genuine sense of joy couldn’t help but bubble up in his chest.
Since Day One, he had been either fighting for his life or fooling dangerous people to survive.
But now, standing in a magical forest, decked out in fantasy-appropriate tactical clothes, a shotgun, a blade, and a cool assortment of magic, and a dungeon waiting ahead, he finally got to have that isekai fun he had always daydreamed about.
Nico stood in the center of the dense thicket with a wide grin splitting his face before he closed his eyes to focus on his core, seizing the floodgates on his mana before ripping it off the hinges with a violent mental command.
And the next moment, fifty-five points of raw mana surged from his core, crashing into his physiology like a glacial tidal wave.
The impact of Ice Reinforcement was instantaneous.
His heart rate dropped instantly into a slow rhythm while his cognition sharpened to a terrifying degree.
A roar of raw energy flooded his body as every muscle fiber in his body tightened with the explosive potential of a hydraulic press.
That surge of strength was so potent it made his skin crawl.
A fine mist of frost began curling off from his frame, while igniting his dark irises with an electric blue luminosity that pierced the forest like twin beacons.
But the most glaring change was-
Thick, jagged layers of translucent ice that rapidly crystallized over his new tactical boots before climbing up his shins to encase his legs in heavy, shimmering greaves.
The same phenomenon also crept up his arms, covering his hands and forearms with diamond-hard gauntlets of ice that fused seamlessly with his movements, ending at his elbows.
Nico looked down at his transformed limbs with wide, glowing eyes before clenching his fist.
And the elemental plating moved with him like a second skin. And it really was a second skin, for the ice fused with his skin even through the clothes.
He ran his frozen fingers over his chest to feel a thin layer of frost beneath his shirt, shielding his vitals, while a similar coating reinforced his outer thighs and his entire back.
"This is so cool!" A laugh bubbled up from his chest, feeling heavier yet faster, armored yet agile.
Nico bounced on the balls of his feet; the sheer lightness of his body made him feel like he was made of helium despite the weight of his reinforced armor.
He threw a few experimental jabs while watching his crystalline gauntlets cut through the air with a whistle that shouldn’t have been physically possible.
"Holy-!" he breathed, his eyes widening as he processed the feedback his nervous system was screaming at him.
Every micro-movement felt amplified and hyper-responsive while his body obeyed his commands before his brain even finished issuing them.
With a maniacal laugh, Nico dropped into a sprinter’s crouch, digging his fingers into the dirt from which frost spread from his gauntlets, crystallizing the soil beneath his hands.
[Okay... let’s GO!] He grinned before-
-Boom!
The ground detonated beneath his boots into a spray of frozen soil as the forest became a high-speed blur of green.