A guard stood before the massive town gates crafted from solid dark metal. He was clad in black armor and held a gigantic spear that stood beside him. The tip gleamed, its point reaching just above his shoulder. His long black hair cascaded down his spine and he had a face befitting a model with a perfect jawline and flawless skin.

  "It's been a while, you four!" he said excitedly, referring to Trey and his party members. A big smile decorated his face as he spoke.

  "Yeah, it's good to see you too, Jerry," Trey said casually. "Can you open the gates for us? We're on another quest and we'd appreciate it if you let us go quickly, buddy." Trey’s voice was friendly, which surprised Joe since he usually only displayed a rude personality. He and the guard must've been good friends.

  "Yeah, no problem, man..." Jerry's voice trailed off as his gaze shifted from Trey to meet Joe's. "I don't believe I've seen you before. Are you perhaps a new member of Trey's party?"

  Joe's lips parted as he prepared to respond, but before the words could leave his mouth, Trey decided to cut in and speak in his place. "Don't mind him, Jerry. He's just a manaless piece of trash."

  "Manaless?" Jerry raised an eyebrow in surprise. "That's unlucky. To be abandoned by the heavens must be disheartening."

  Joe didn't say anything, but someone telling him how terrible his situation was pissed him off. He already knew how unfortunate it was to be Unawakened. The reminder was unnecessary.

  "He's only serving as our porter today because those losers at the Guild were too scared to come with us once they found out we were heading to Evergreen Forest to slay the Lord of the Woods," Trey explained.

  "You're going after the Lord of the Woods? Are you insane, man!" Jerry looked at Trey with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. "That creature has already killed over thirty of Suveny's Adventurers. Fighting it is a death wish!"

  Trey smirked. "We have no intention of dying. We'll return alive because we'll win."

  "I like your confidence, but why do you have to take such a risky quest? I thought the Guild decided that no one should take the mission due to the excessive number of slaughtered adventurers associated with it. Weren't you supposed to wait for your sister's Shining Phoenix party to return and take on the beast themselves since they're by far this town's strongest party and the best candidates for slaying a creature as monstrous as the Lord of the Woods?"

  "We don't need that bitch's party for anything!" Trey shouted. "We can do this ourselves and we will!"

  Jerry sighed. "Man, why do you have to be so unreasonable when it comes to Eris?" He scratched the back of his head in resignation before saying, "Just don't get yourself killed out there." The guard turned around and opened the gates.

  Trey went first, followed by Lars and then Rina. Olivia and Joe were a few paces behind. The former was likely walking with him in fear that he'd collapse again, but unbeknownst to Olivia, Joe was feeling great. The bag he carried had significantly lightened and he didn't find himself as winded as before. This was evident in his much calmer breathing and minimal sweat after he'd returned to his feet.

  It wasn't like the bag had suddenly become weightless. Joe was still aware that something pressed against his spine, but the load was now much more manageable. He even walked at close to his usual pace. Joe didn't know why this was the case, but he was glad he wasn't in as much agony as he'd been a few minutes ago. Reaching Evergreen Forest would've been impossible.

  "Say, Olivia," Joe said, glancing at the green-haired girl beside him. "What exactly is the Lord of the Woods?”

  The question had been on his mind from the moment he'd heard about it at the Guild, and Jerry's reaction when he'd heard Trey was planning to hunt it down made him even more curious.

  Olivia seemed surprised at first that Joe was talking to her since he'd kept quiet from the second they'd left the Guild, only talking when Rina asked him a question. To her, Joe came across as a bit anti‐social, which was why she hadn't expected him to say anything. The girl quickly gathered her composure though before she answered. "I'm surprised you don't know about the Lord of the Woods. It's the only thing everyone in town is talking about. Not much is known about it since it has killed anyone unfortunate enough to come across it. Even the experienced scouts sent by the Guild were killed before they could return with any information. The beast began its mass killing a month ago and hasn't stopped since, slaying humans and other beasts alike. As a Grade 2, it's one of only three evolved creatures at Evergreen Forest. It's killed so many beasts that local hunters fear it's made the entire forest its territory, hence the name, Lord of the Woods."

  Joe's eyes widened when he heard that. Even though Olivia had a small and cute voice, the words she uttered were heavy enough for Joe to take all of them to heart. "So you're telling me there are two other creatures at that forest who are just as strong as this Lord of the Woods?" Joe didn't miss that she'd said the Lord of the Woods was one of three.

  "That's correct, but I wouldn't say the other two are just as strong as the Lord of the Woods. They're several times stronger than it."

  A chill ran down Joe's spine when he heard that. "Stronger than a beast that has killed thirty adventurers in the space of a month?" he asked, still in disbelief at what he'd heard.

  "Yes," Olivia answered plainly. "The other two have been around for much longer and have amassed more strength as a result. The main difference between them and the Lord of the Woods is that they occupy small sections of the forest and rarely ever travel beyond that. It's rare to come across them since the areas they occupy are well mapped by the Guild and they have stayed in these areas for a while, making them easier to avoid. They're unlike the Lord of the Woods, which is more chaotic in nature and wants the entire forest for itself. They're much more passive, which has led the Guild to leave them be for the time being since they're much more difficult to take down. Even Eris has commented that she doesn't think she could win even if her entire party confronted one. That's why it's so vital for the Lord of the Woods to be taken down. If it establishes its dominance in Evergreen, it may soon grow impossible to defeat and claim the whole forest for itself."

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  "Be honest with me. What are the chances that we'll survive this quest?"

  Olivia looked at him with a resigned expression as she said, "We'll most likely die.”

  Joe did not want to die.

  After discovering that he had no mana in a world ruled by magic, his despair was understandable. He questioned why he had been brought to this new reality only to be denied access to its most powerful force. The thought of ending his life before it had truly begun crossed his mind more than once. An existence without special abilities promised nothing but misery, a fact painfully reinforced when he lost all his hard earned money to a thug in a tavern.

  Joe doubted he would have beaten the man even back on Earth, especially in his later years when he had become little more than a shadow of himself. He was intimidating in appearance but lacked the fighting spirit to put his physique to use. If it had been his eleven year old self with his current body, he had no doubt he would have won. That boy had been filled with raw aggression and fire. He would have left the man bleeding at the very least. That version of Joe was brutal and would do anything to win, something his future self no longer possessed.

  That was assuming mana was removed from the equation. Even if it had been his violent younger self, facing a man capable of casting fire skills was impossible, especially when the bald man already had an arm wrapped around his shoulders. Victory was never an option. If the playing field had been leveled, if the man had been stripped of mana and Joe allowed to prepare himself, he was confident he could have made him regret ever approaching him.

  When it happened earlier that day, Joe had no mana and still carried the mindset of his abused teenage self. He had already lost the moment he was targeted. Even now, with some of his resolve returning, Joe knew he would still be beaten or even killed if the man truly wanted to. The gap between the Awakened and the ordinary was simply too vast. Even the weakest among the Awakened could overwhelm an army of normal people.

  That realization was a major reason his determination had crumbled when he learned he was not one of the chosen. Joe dreaded living in a world where he existed only as a punching bag for the powerful. He had already endured that kind of life back on Earth, but at least there people did not possess magical abilities. There, if his resolve was strong enough, he had a chance to defend himself. In this world, none of that mattered. No amount of fighting spirit could stop a blazing fireball hurtling toward him at full speed.

  Rina inviting him to join their party felt like a rope thrown down into the deep pit he had fallen into. It was not guaranteed that he would climb out. The rope could snap and send him plunging back into the darkness. Still, it gave him a chance. For the first time, someone needed his help. That alone was enough to keep him moving forward, enough to make him want to live a little longer.

  Maybe nothing would change after the quest. He would still be a manaless individual vulnerable to exploitation by those stronger than him. Even so, it gave him the drive to see what else he could accomplish in this world. Perhaps he could be useful to others. Maybe he was not as worthless as he believed.

  The assholes at the Guild only strengthened his desire to live. He wanted to prove that being Unawakened did not mean he deserved to be looked down on. That urge was fueled largely by pride, and he understood why adventurers treated him as a joke. To them, he was no different from an insect. Even so, Joe needed to prove his worth, not just to them, but to himself. He wanted to show that he could survive in this world despite the cruel hand he had been dealt.

  That was why he no longer wished to lose his life.

  Which made Olivia’s words about their chances against the Lord of the Woods deeply unsettling.

  He already knew the quest would be dangerous based on Jerry’s reaction to Trey’s plan. The fact that the creature had slaughtered thirty adventurers was another massive warning sign. Trey’s earlier words about him dying if he joined the quest now made even more sense. As an Unawakened, Joe’s odds of survival were even worse than those who had already perished.

  “If the chances of dying are that high, then why are you risking your lives to take this quest?” Joe asked after studying Olivia for a while.

  She had grown self conscious under his gaze and was staring at the ground.

  Olivia lifted her head as if she were about to respond, but before she could, Rina spoke instead.

  “That would be because of our glorious, stubborn leader,” Rina said dryly. She had slowed her pace so she could walk beside Joe and Olivia, while Trey and Lars were already some distance ahead.

  “Trey is obsessed with surpassing his sister and would do anything to get one over her. That includes risking his life,” she added, her eyes narrowing as she watched Trey continue forward.

  “So it is just sibling rivalry?” Joe asked. He had no siblings himself, but he had seen enough depictions to know competition was common.

  “It is more than that,” Rina replied quietly. “Trey is part of the prestigious Ember Family. Their Bloodline allows them to manipulate fire by increasing its temperature several times over, making their attacks devastating. It is a Lesser Bloodline compared to the Blaze Family’s True Fire Bloodline, but it is still remarkable.”

  Joe had encountered Bloodlines in some of the fantasy novels he read in his previous life, though rarely explored well. It was a concept he loved. Unfortunately, most stories tied Bloodlines to noble families, spreading their power across countless characters. Joe always preferred books with unique protagonists, characters who stood apart. They allowed him to escape reality, if only briefly.

  That illusion never lasted.

  Time and again, in both this life and the last, Joe was reminded that he was never meant to be the main character of anything.

  The existence of Bloodlines in this world fascinated him, even as it stung to know he would never possess one himself.

  “So what does his Bloodline have to do with anything?” Joe asked, breaking from his thoughts.

  “Trey was originally next in line to lead the Ember Family,” Rina explained. “He was born with the Bloodline, but his talent paled in comparison to his younger sister, Eris, who was four years younger than him. The elders chose her instead. Since then, Trey has despised her and has been desperate to prove himself worthy. But as an adventurer, he is nowhere near her level. Her talent shines too brightly. That is why Trey keeps taking greater risks, hoping to surpass her and prove he is better.”

  Joe was surprised. He had always assumed the Awakened lived easy lives. Like the novels he loved, reality proved far more complicated. Even those with power carried their own burdens.

  Trey was still an asshole, but Joe understood him better now.

  Everyone struggled in their own way. What mattered was not giving up. Only by continuing to stand could one uncover the hidden protagonist within.

  A small grin formed on Joe’s face.

  He would keep moving forward, even as the weakling he was, and carve his own path through this world.