"Damn, it's huge."
Amidst the beginning rain, Finlay muttered, looking at the huge monster hog on his shoulder.
Shifting his gaze to the entrance of his house, which wasn't even half as big as the hog, he sighed.
"It's really too much for my humble home."
At this point, the rain intensified, leaving him no choice but to leave it right there.
Thud!
Placing the monster hog next to the entrance, he entered the house.
As soon as he did so, Finlay felt a squelching sound under his feet.
"Ah, I still can't get used to this..."
He muttered, looking down at his muddy feet. Then he looked around.
His dwelling, devoid of all light, met him with quiet darkness. It was a picture that had lately become very familiar to him.
"How long have I been here?"
A moment later he answered his own question.
"I think it was a little over a week ago now...?"
About a week had passed since he realized he had been kidnapped to another world.
And now he was sure. This world was the world of that damn game.
[TRY]
Going back to his past life, it wasn't a particularly popular game.
It didn't break tops, it didn't consume the hearts of every person it met, but despite that, it had its own fans willing to kill for it and players willing to defend it to their last breath.
Of course, he himself was not among them. Moreover, he had never even played [TRY], let alone felt anything for it.
And still now he was here.
The last thing he remembered from his world was the noise of the wheels and the roar of the engine, as well as the sight of the truck hitting him.
"Damn, this is crazy."
His eye still twitched every time he remembered it.
All because he was at home at that moment, sitting in front of his computer in his favorite chair!
The truck just came out of nowhere, smashed through some walls of his house and hit him!
"...At the very least I should commend him for his perseverance."
Who knew that the first one to ever pursue him so zealously in his life would be a 3-ton truck?
Finlay grinned, stretching his shoulders, which were stiff from the heavy burden. The weight of that huge boar was no joke.
"I don't think I'm going to die today."
Even as he said this, hunger was consuming his mind, preventing him from thinking properly.
Starving for over a week, all his thoughts were about food, and all he wanted to do right now was roast and sink his teeth into the sweet meat of this hog.
Although it looked intimidating with its monstrous tusks, sharp fangs, and stiff black fur, he didn't care.
Today, even if the world itself collapses, he will eat it.
Grrrrrrrrrrr!
His stomach rumbled as if agreeing with him, though it was more like a death rattle.
And yet...
"Sorry, friend, but we'll have to wait."
Without looking back at the appetizing hog outside the door, Finlay made his way over and lay down on the bed.
Despite all his desire to eat, all he could do now was wait.
Now was a special time of day when monsters became especially violent and aggressive, mindlessly devouring everything in their path, including their kin.
He had learned this from experience, having once nearly lost his life during this rampage.
The fire could attract them, so he had no choice but to wait.
The monotonous sound of rain slightly drowned out the howls of the monsters, calming the atmosphere.
"Hell, I'm really going to die."
Of course, even knowing all this, the hunger didn't go anywhere.
Trying to distract himself from his hunger, Finlay reopened in his mind the list of Not-very-useful-but-maybe-get-lucky routines he'd done every day since entering this world.
First on the list was to check this body's memories.
Strangely enough, even after he moved into this body, the memories of the past owner remained in it.
The problem was... they were unreadable. Whatever had happened to the past owner, faces, voices, places and events were jumbled beyond recognition in his memories, rendering them virtually useless.
Beyond that, there were only a few names that stood out clearly and vividly from the rest of the memories.
Were they important to the past owner of the body?
Among them was his own name, Finlay.
As always having spent time on this and finding nothing else useful, he moved on to the next task on the list and tried to remember everything he knew about [TRY].
Though he didn't play it himself, he had a best friend – the same bastard who'd invited him to play it – who often shared stories from the game with him.
Closing his eyes, a series of memories flashed through his mind.
"Did you know? The main heroine only wears black underwear. Can you believe it? Yeah, I was shocked when I found out about it too. Black... why black exactly? There are so many other beautiful colors... Perhaps it's some kind of Hidden Event?"
"Yeah! I finally found a way to quickly restart the game and start from the beginning! All you need to do is kill yourself using..."
"Felix is just a mid game boss?! Bullshit! She just wiped the floor with my late game team! If I have to start over again because of her again, I'll file a complaint with the developers, I promise. By the way, can I use your account for this...?"
Finally opening his eyes, he realized it.
"I should choose my friends better."
Next on his list of Not-very-useful-but-maybe-get-lucky routines was spells.
Since this was the world of 'Sword and Magic' the existence of spells was as natural as air.
"Ice spike! Fireball! Wingardium Leviosa! Reverse transmigration-kidnapping spell!"
Still lying on the bed Finlay pronounced each one clearly, accompanying it with an appropriately ridiculous hand motion.
Did he feel shame?
All his shame had died back on the first day along with his stomach, so now he was doing it without any emotion.
When he was done with the most popular spells, everything returned to an eerie silence.
And as usual, all of this produced nothing but a thudding pain in the area of his heart.
Could there have been a problem with it?
Without letting him think about it further, the pain in his hungry stomach reached its peak, shifting all his thoughts towards the sweet hog outside his door...
"Should I just eat it right now?"
That thought threatened to completely consume himself for a moment, but Finlay soon shook his head.
"No."
As appetizing as it looked, a monster was a monster, so eating it raw without ill consequences could be forgotten. At the very least, severe poisoning was assured.
In this difficult moment, he remembered that someone had once advised him that in difficult moments, you should try to think about positive things as much as possible.
"I'm going to die soon."
Oddly enough, even positive words didn't help. That advice was probably a lie.
To distract himself in some way, Finlay once again surveyed the surroundings of the place he was proud to call home.
In fact, contrary to his first impression, it was a luxurious place.
What seemed like a pile of rags and trash a week ago turned out to be his beautiful bed.
And what he called a dirty stable after entering this world turned out to be his cozy home.
And a pretty elite one at that!
A roof with only a few large holes that offered views of the night sky, windows designed in a unique 'just a hole in the wall' style and a floor that was a mud bath.
How could he not have noticed these amazing things before?
"If I close my eyes, I could easily imagine that I'm at a resort right now..."
Soon, however, the desperate howling of monsters in the distance distracted him from his fantasies.
"Although their choice of musical accompaniment is still lacking."
Clicking his tongue, Finlay closed his eyes again.
"What else should a resort have? Stew... baked fish... ham and cheese sandwiches..."
Ding! Ding! Ding!
At that moment a distinct mechanical sound, that could not belong to this world, broke the flow of his thoughts.
Along with that, a gentle blue light illuminated his face in the darkness.
[System Setup Complete]
[System bound to host #27063705-E]
[The process of merging the host with the current body has begun]