Chapter 4: The Dumb Host Celebrates Too Early

"Don’t call me dumb while I’m thinking."

The same fire mage began gathering another spell. Zishan deliberately changed direction and ran toward a group of pursuing soldiers.

Several of them noticed what he was doing.

Their expressions changed.

"Wait!"

"Don’t come this way!"

Zishan grinned. "COME ON! YOU WANTED ME SO BADLY FIVE SECONDS AGO, RIGHT?! NOW, I’M COMING FOR YOU, GUYS!"

"GET AWAY FROM US!"

The fireball came.

Zishan activated Rift Steps.

He vanished.

The spell struck directly behind him.

Another explosion erupted among the pursuing soldiers.

"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"

Zishan reappeared beside a wagon and kept running while laughing. "THAT WASN’T EVEN ME!"

"You led it here!"

[You seemed to be enjoying this so much, Dumb Host. Wait until a very strong person from the enemy camp captures you.]

Zishan ignored the system and continued pushing forward.

Several arrows came from the other direction, forcing him to activate Rift Steps again. Two arrows missed him and struck men from the opposing group instead, and the shouting immediately became worse.

One side accused the other of deliberately attacking them. The other side demanded that everyone stop firing long enough to kill Zishan first. But nobody actually stopped firing.

"WHY IS EVERYONE INTENT ON KILLING ME ANYWAY?! CAN’T YOU SEE I’M JUST A KID?!"

Within less than a minute, what had started as dozens of soldiers chasing one confused young man had somehow turned into two groups attacking each other around him.

Zishan could not believe it.

[Quest Completion Possibility recalculating...]

A greenish panel appeared while he ducked beneath another sword.

[Previous Completion Possibility: 3.17%]

[Current Completion Possibility: 14.86%]

Zishan’s face immediately brightened. "HA! WELL, IF YOU LOOK AT THAT! I’M GOOD AT THIS!"

[Ha! The Dumb Host still possesses an 85.14% probability of failure.]

His smile vanished as he looked at the System panel. "Why are you like this?"

But the System offered him no reply.

Zishan just harrumphed.

He kept moving, and every use of Rift Steps became slightly cleaner than the last. The first activation had thrown him through a pile of crates. The second had barely kept him upright. Now he could at least choose a direction without feeling as though his legs had independently decided to abandon him.

The strange part was how the corrections remained with him.

Even when he was not actively thinking about the Perfected Glimpse, he remembered what a proper step was supposed to feel like. His body could not fully imitate that ideal movement yet, but the difference between right and wrong had become painfully obvious.

He knew exactly how terrible he was.

That was somehow encouraging.

"Left foot, Mana down, don’t release too early..." Zishan muttered while running.

[The Dumb Host is learning.]

"Was that a compliment?"

[Observation.]

Zishan rolled his eyes and begrudgingly replied, "I’ll take it."

He activated Rift Steps again and passed between two soldiers before either could swing.

One of them stared after him. "How is he getting better every time?!"

The other looked equally horrified. "He’s adapting in the middle of battle!"

Zishan heard them and raised a hand without turning around. "THANK YOU!"

"HE’S MOCKING US AGAIN!"

"WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP SAYING THAT?! I’M JUST HONESTLY GRATEFUL!"

A horn sounded somewhere beyond the camp.

The atmosphere immediately changed.

Soldiers who had been focused on Zishan began turning toward the far side of the battlefield, where another force was approaching. Metal flashed beyond the smoke, and several banners appeared in the distance.

Zishan’s eyes narrowed.

He recognized the uniforms.

They matched the ones he was currently wearing.

His mouth slowly fell open.

"... They’re wearing the same clothes as I am."

[The Dumb Host has not established personal allegiance to either faction.]

"I’m literally wearing their clothes!" Zishan was speechless.

[The Dumb Host woke up wearing their clothes.]

Zishan considered that for half a second. "Okay, that’s actually a fair point."

The approaching soldiers clearly did not share the same uncertainty. The moment they saw someone wearing their uniform trapped inside the enemy camp, several began shouting.

"One of ours is still inside!"

"Cover him!"

"Move!"

Zishan almost became emotional, his eyes watering. "MY PEOPLE!"

[The Dumb Host celebrates too early.]

"SHUT UP! THEY’RE MY PEOPLE NOW!"

Arrows began flying over the barricades as the two forces collided around the outer edge of the camp. Zishan immediately changed course and sprinted toward the soldiers wearing his uniform, only to discover that there were still far too many enemies standing between him and safety.

He gritted his teeth.

"Rift Steps."

Mana rushed through his leg.

He crossed several meters. Then, he did it again.

The second activation came faster than before.

His breathing remained steady, but the Mana inside him was beginning to feel noticeably thinner.

A warning appeared.

[Mana consumption increasing.]

"I know!"

[Current Mana: 31 / 60]

Zishan nearly stumbled. "THAT USED HALF?!"

[Repeated inefficient activation.]

"You couldn’t have mentioned that before?!"

[The Dumb Host was busy shouting.]

"I can multitask!"

[Evidence suggests otherwise.]

Zishan wanted to argue, but a swordsman blocked his path and forced him to twist away. His Bloodline responded immediately to the danger, sharpening his awareness enough that he noticed a narrow gap between two nearby soldiers.

He did not think. He just trusted the glimpse and used the Skill.

Then, he disappeared between them.

This time, the movement felt almost clean.

Zishan emerged several meters beyond the final line of enemy soldiers and saw open ground ahead.

The soldiers wearing his uniform were close now.

"He’s coming through!"

"Cover him!"

Zishan ran even harder as one arrow struck the ground behind him, followed closely by another. The enemies were still shouting for someone to stop him, but their voices were beginning to blur together beneath the chaos of the battlefield, and he barely noticed the growing emptiness inside him until another System notification appeared.

[Current Mana: 18 / 60]

"Just enough."

[That conclusion has not been verified, Dumb Host.]

"Do you ever support me?!"

[The System rewarded the Dumb Host before he earned it.]

"...Fine! Fine! That’s fair!"

Zishan activated Rift Steps one last time.

For the first time, there was no crash, no sideways landing, and no desperate attempt to regain his balance. His body followed the movement almost exactly as he intended, carrying him across the final stretch of the battlefield before his feet struck the mud on the other side.

Several soldiers wearing his uniform immediately surrounded him.

Zishan bent forward with both hands on his knees. "I’m alive."

The soldiers stared at him.

He lifted one finger.

"Give me... give me five seconds... before anyone asks me anything."

A greenish panel appeared directly in front of his face.

"Retreat! Retreat! Their commander is there!"

"Quick! Quick! We can’t defeat someone like him unless our commander steps up himself!"

[EMERGENCY QUEST COMPLETE]

[Survive the Fallen Front!]

[Objective fulfilled: Escape the battlefield alive.]

Zishan slowly straightened. "Wooooooh!"

[Settlement processing...]

His exhaustion disappeared beneath sudden excitement.

"Wait. Does this mean the stuff is mine now?"

[SETTLEMENT CONFIRMED]

[+10 VIT — PERMANENT]

[+10 AGI — PERMANENT]

[ASHEN BANNER BLOODLINE — PERMANENT]

[RIFT STEPS — PERMANENT]

Another panel followed.

[Rift Steps]

[Tier: Trace]

[Perfected Glimpse: Removed]

[True Mastery: Beginner]

[Residual Insight: Retained]

Zishan stared at the words for several seconds.

The strange, overwhelming understanding that had guided his use of Rift Steps during the Quest was gone. He could feel its absence almost immediately. The Skill no longer seemed impossibly clear in his mind, and many of the tiny corrections that had felt instinctive moments earlier now required actual thought.

However, they were not completely gone.

He still remembered.

He remembered how the Mana should move, how his foot should land, and how effortless the Skill could eventually become if he learned to perform it properly.

Zishan grinned. "So I get to keep what I learned?"

[Partially.]

"That’s fucking broken."

[The Dumb Host is advised not to celebrate prematurely.]

"Why? You always say that!"

The soldiers surrounding him had finally finished staring.

"..."

One of them slowly raised his spear.

Zishan’s smile faded.

Another soldier drew his sword.

Then, a tall man wearing heavier armor stepped forward and pointed directly at Zishan’s chest. "Identify yourself."

Zishan looked down at his unfamiliar uniform, then back at the armed men surrounding him.

Then Zishan remembered one very important problem. He had no idea who the hell he was supposed to be in this world.

"... Ah."

[The Dumb Host has encountered another problem.]

Zishan closed his eyes.

’Please shut the fuck up.’