[ "You are keeping these things?" ]
"Miii~!"
[ "You think they are valuables that you can use later on? But you can just buy better things when you have gems." ]
"Me!"
[ "So you already understand the difference between the different kinds of gems, huh? Great. The child is learning." ]
"Miii~!"
The young furball continued gathering various resources that he had identified as something of value.
He had a magical storage space, an inventory, where he stored all the things that he was collecting.
He knew they weren't of great value when compared to the system rewards that he can grant by spending gems, but he also understood how there were different kinds of gems that they can use for different things.
"Me."
He collected some plants, some of the crystals on the ground, some flowers, and certain trees… yes, he unearthed entire trees using 'earth' element magic and stored them in his endless spatial pouch that opened up on top of his fingernails.
In addition to that, he also stored some of the small creatures like some snakes, bugs, and 'monsters' that he found in the forest in his inventory.
Since he now possessed the knowledge of elemental magic, in this forest, there was practically no being that could threaten him.
At the very least, he did not encounter anything too dangerous since he was in a relatively safer part of the forest.
At the end, after his 'curiosity' was quenched, he flew up.
It was already evening time by the time he was done so this time, he flew high enough to see the entire forest spread vastly all across him.
The tall trees were beneath him, and the sky that was previously unclear to him was clearly visible now.
[ "Yes. That seems to be a human settlement. You may find your protagonist there." ]
While they were working on the different things, the system voice taught the Dokkaebi the things that he could do through the system interface.
He taught him how the streaming worked, how he could access other streams happening on the vast network of the worlds, and he showed him the
The voice warned him of the things that he needed to be careful of. It taught him about the dangers of the world. And lastly, since this nature-born was a dokkaebi, the voice taught him how trusting his 'senses' would bring the best possible results to him.
"Miiiiii~!"
[ "Hey! Hey child! Why are you running like that! Slow down or you'll get tired quickly." ]
Only a guardian knew how difficult it is to raise a child that's inherently mischievous and a genius. The system voice was having a hard time containing this evergreen cheerful sunlight.
"Miiii~!"
Without stopping, he flew at a speed that scared some of the birds that were flying at the same distance as the Dokkaebi when he crossed the forest.
He would have been exhausted had he used only his physical abilities to fly through the sky, but he was no simple-minded being.
He had already mastered (1-star Magic).
From incantations that the humans used to cast elemental magic, to the Instinct incantation that the demons used, the small furball knew all these special knowledge thanks to his unique skill.
Just using it once had granted him knowledge from at least a hundred magic grimoires. He was now well versed in the field of Elementalism, even knowing things that came from the allied fields like 'Spirit Arts' and 'Summoning magic'.
He had the knowledge, however, even a being as unique as him was bound by the limits. He didn't have the stats to cast the kind of magic that he was capable of.
Anyways, even his current stats were enough to deal with most of the threats in this world. As his stream got famous, he was going to get stronger anyways.
"Meee…"
After flying with the wind magic to help him travel faster and by using water magic to make his body more aerodynamic, he was able to reach the city after only an hour.
He crossed the distance that takes someone at least a month on foot in an hour by flying over the deadly forest.
[ "Now that you have reached your destination, you should take some rest." ]
"Miii! Me!"
[ "You… your kind is called the Workoholics." ]
Shaking his head with a cute smile, he continued on towards the city.
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish.
The city that the young Dokkaebi now stood before was completely different from the survival and adaptation that the beasts of the forest experienced.
Right before him was a sprawling fortress born from the ashes of an old era.
A decade had passed since the Great Calamity shattered the modern world, forcing humanity to trade skyscrapers for siege walls and quantum computing for arcane defense.
The first, and most imposing, feature visible from the sky was the Circumvallation Magitech Barrier (CMB), a titanic, circular wall that swallowed the ruins of the pre-Calamity urban center.
It wasn't built of simple stone or concrete, but of Mana-infused compounds.
The wall was nearly a hundred meters tall, its surface covered in interlocking magical runes that pulsed with a faint, steady sapphire light.
This was the residual Mana energy of the constant defensive enchantments woven into its structure.
Modern watchtowers, not like the ancient ones of human history, rose every few hundred meters, topped not by battlements but by powerful, multi-barrelled Gun Cannons, designed to blast airborne monsters out of the sky.
"Miiiii…"
[ "Humans alone weren't so crafty. The Dwarves that came from the other world helped them rise to this level. They, along with Elves, and Beastmen, chose to co-exist with the human race." ]
Only a decade had passed since the calamity but the world had experienced a connection with a different world a century ago, a world-shift that changed most things about the world that the humans used to know.
Through the races that came to warn the world came a change that humans were not prepared for. And even as the calamity destroyed the world in the later years, the world became a new place fighting constantly against the monsters of the other realm.
"Meee?"
[ "That's their defense line." ]
Encircling the wall, and extending several kilometers outwards, was the 6-Star Defensive Barrier, a shimmering, almost invisible magical shield.
This was the city's lifeblood.
It wasn't a solid dome but a complex, layered energy field powered by massive Mana Crystal Cores housed deep beneath the city's central district.
When the Dokkaebi looked closely, he could see distortions in the air: these were moments where the field repelled dust and refracted the monstrous insects attempting to breach the airspace from all sides.
This shield was the reason this City had endured for so long, providing defense against both physical assaults and the virulent, corrupted atmosphere that often drifted in from the monster-infested wilderness.
"Miii. Meee!"
[ "If you think this is beautiful, you might just become speechless when you see the worlds that are built by the other world species on this land." ]
"Mee?"
[ "Really." ]
Below the defensive layers, the city itself was a chaotic mix of two eras.
The past of the humans and the present of the beings of a world from beyond… this was a dichotomy of harmony and chaos.
"Shrrrrrrrrrrrrr…"
"Zaaaaaa…"
"Mhaaaaaa…"
The ground level was a chaotic mix of neo-medieval construction and crumbling modern infrastructure.
Olden concrete skyscrapers stood like skeletal monuments in various outer parts, their lower floors now integrated into the city's defensive architecture, repurposed as barracks, granaries, or housing.
In their shadows, new buildings decorated the cityscape in sturdy, timber-framed houses with slate roofs, cobblestone streets, and bustling open-air marketplaces.
Trams and electric cars, relics of the old world, were rare nowadays but still present, often replaced by four-wheeled carriages pulled by magical work beasts, or by individuals on foot, clad in protective leather armor and carrying swords or wands.
The main high streets were illuminated not just by high-efficiency LED streetlights (still functioning in some areas thanks to localized mana generators) but also by ornate, gas-lit Magi Lamps whose gentle, amber glow promised to keep away minor nocturnal spirits.
Merchants traded salvaged high-tech components next to stalls selling freshly brewed potions and enchanted weaponry.
It was a world where a blacksmith could be seen hammering out plate armor a few feet from a technician attempting to repair a broken satellite uplink antenna: a necessary duality where the simplicity of medieval survival merged with the technological legacy they were fighting to preserve.
For those of this city and this word, this place was an everyday confirmation of their reality.
On the other hand, for the dokkaebi visitor, a newborn, this place was nothing less than the most interesting toy he had seen until now.
"Meeeeee~!"
[ "Someone seems excited, huh?" ]
He was happy to see such a fun place. But, in his happiness, he had not noticed a certain important notification.
[Viewer count: 3.]
The spectators had arrived even before the protagonist was chosen.