He started to take shape.
His brain was formed.
His heart emerged from nothingness.
His internal organs appeared.
His skin grew, and the structure of his teeth took shape.
His arms and legs developed, and Caren came into existence.
No, he existed before his body took shape.
After all, he was matter.
All those thoughts disappeared from his mind, leaving him confused and alone.
Caren’s eyes widened.
He looked around.
“Uh, it’s like the Start.”
He was on a hill.
The hill was covered in grass and…
nothing but grass.
“Where are the others?”
He looked down.
Was it safe to walk down the hill?
Maybe there was an unknown creature or an Upside Downer?
He sat on the ground and looked at himself.
“Where did it come from?!”
He hesitantly touched himself.
He was wearing a white T-shirt and pants.
But…
how?
He didn’t have any white clothes.
“Something is wrong.”
Caren made the Texts appear and read them.
Nothing had changed.
Everything was the same.
He focused and summoned Dead Guide.
His pet appeared from nothing and sat next to him.
“At least I’m not alone.”
His pet looked at him, which was kind of strange because it didn’t have eyes.
“So it’s the Water Core!”
Then why was there no water?
Caren stood up and began to walk.
The slope of the hill was quite steep, so he carefully made his way down, making sure he didn’t slip.
Then he moved faster until he was no longer on the hill.
“Oh, crap!”
Everywhere was covered in grass.
The only thing Caren could see was grass.
Nothing more, nothing less.
He looked at his pet.
“Can you smell?
Of course not.
It overtook Caren and stopped a little ahead of him.
“Heant, heant.”
Caren raised his eyebrows.
“You want me to follow you?”
Dead Guide nodded.
“Heant.”
Caren smiled weakly.
“Seems you can be useful sometimes.”
Dead Guide’s mouth formed a smile and then it started walking.
Caren followed it.
“Are you sure you know the way?”
“Heant, heant”
Caren let out a sigh.
“Can you learn how to speak?”
Dead Guide didn’t answer immediately.
Then it opened its mouth to say something.
“Heant.”
Caren sneered and looked down.
“Yeah, keep trying.
You will achieve your goal one day.”
Dead Guide’s smile, or whatever it was, disappeared.
“Heant.”
Caren smirked.
“Don’t worry.
At least you can understand what I tell you.
That’s enough.”
Dead Guide turned its head toward Caren and smiled again.
“Heant.”
He noticed that the invisible creature wasn’t around.
That meant it couldn’t come to the Water Core?
But why?
Was it because that creature wasn’t an Upside Downer?
It didn’t have atoms, so Caren couldn’t even guess what it was.
The only thing he could do was ignore it.
Like it didn’t exist.
Caren looked ahead.
There was still nothing to see.
Just grass.
“It’s boring.
I’m walking somewhere just because my stupid pet wants me to go there, and I don’t even know how long this path is.”
Dead Guide turned to Caren.
“Heant.”
Caren looked at it.
“What?”
Dead Guide suddenly started running.
Caren stared at it and growled.
“Slow down, you moron.”
Caren tried to run even faster, pushing himself to his limit.
Strangely, his speed had increased after becoming a Starter.
A distance that used to take him several seconds to cover now took less than a second.
Even with all that increase in speed, Dead Guide was still much faster than Caren.
It was almost as if it could run at half of Rey’s speed, which was amazing for a Belittled creature.
If it were possible, he would definitely ride that strange little creature.
But it was far too small for that.
Maybe he could try something?
Caren closed his eyes and focused on his Chosen Name.
Suddenly, he felt lighter, as if he were a feather.
He tried to ignore the headache caused by processing countless things and moved atoms to shape them and change them.
A small ball of air formed in his hands.
It had a faint color, but it was completely solid.
Caren let the air release itself, pushing him slightly forward.
Then he formed another ball of compressed air in his other hand and pushed himself forward again.
He repeated this several times.
Then his aura suddenly disappeared, leaving him with no extra strength.
“How far is this, you stupid pet?”
Dead Guide didn’t stop.
“Heant.”
Then it stopped, and Caren could finally reach it.
“So, what is here?”
He frowned slightly.
A stone statue stood a little farther away.
It was about the same height as Caren and had a youthful face.
It depicted a man wearing armor like that of a royal guard, covering his entire body except for his eyes.
The armor was smooth and plain, with no details that made it stand out.
He held no weapon and simply stood there, perfectly still.
What was interesting was that the statue was completely intact, as if it had only been made a short while ago.
“Why is this here?
Was there a city here or something like that?
So where are the people who lived here?”
Caren placed his hand on the statue’s shoulder.
The stone felt hard beneath his fingers, yet smooth enough that his fingers could glide across its surface without leaving even the slightest scratch.
Caren raised his eyebrows.
“I haven’t seen anything in this area.
Isn’t it strange that there’s nothing but grass here?”
Well, he hadn’t seen any trees or rivers.
How was this grass still alive?
What could make it this green?
Did anyone know about this place?
Obviously not.
There was no one here except him.
He hadn’t seen any Upside Downers along the way.
“Am I alone again?”
Caren looked around, and then a smile appeared on his face.
“Guess this pet isn’t that stupid!”