My Free Will System: Transmigrating Into My Favorite Immersion Game

"I still don't understand why you couldn't just teleport us to the Highlands if you can teleport. It's been two days and we haven't gotten there yet," Margo complained as she followed Elias closely behind

Elias shook his head in annoyance, Margo had been talking through the majority of their trip, "For the umpteenth time, I can not teleport to a place I haven't been to or seen before," He said, "If you keep whining, I'll fly away and leave you to walk," He added

Margo folded her hands and pouted, "Okay Birdman," She murmured to herself

"What was that? I didn't catch it?" Elias asked

"Hmph, I didn't say anything," Margo said

"I thought so," He said as he turned back to his map.

Elias was glad that maps in Eldoria weren't as primitive as the era they lived. The map was a magical one; all he had to do was choose his destination, pour in his mana, and it would register his location and create a path to his destination.
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It was almost like a modern day Earth's GPS, except it didn't give an estimate of the time of their arrival and it was a one time use item as well.

"Hmmm, If I'm correct and this map isn't broken, we should already be in the Highlands," Elias said, checking the map over and over

"Shouldn't the Highlands be filled with mountains, cliffs, and the like? But we are in a forest?" Margo observed

Elias scrunched his face, "Something is amiss," He said

Suddenly Margo stood on alert, "For the first time today, I agree with you. Something is not right," She concurred

"[Perception]"

Elias' eyes widened as he got the feedback from perception, "Get down, Margo!" He screamed

A hulking mass of stone jumped out of the covers of the trees, threatening to harm Margo. Luckily for her, she heeded Elias' warning and reacted in time to dodge the attack.

"A Rocklion?" Elias said as the beast in front of him circled Margo and himself.

The beast was like a lion, but not of flesh and fur—it was hewn from the very stone of the earth itself. Massive in stature, it towered over even the largest of its kind, standing easily twice the height of a normal lion, its shoulders broad and formidable.

Its body was a patchwork of jagged, broken rocks, each one seemingly cracked. The stones that made up its form were of varying sizes and shapes, some as small as a human hand, others as large as a head. They fit together imperfectly, leaving gaps through which the light of an inner, pulsing glow could be seen; the light of their core.

Every movement it made was accompanied by the grinding sound of stone on stone, a deep, resonant noise that echoed through the forest like the distant rumble of an earthquake. Its eyes were twin orbs of polished obsidian, cold and reflective with an unsettling intensity.

"I'll take care of it," Margo said as her hands charged up a warm golden glow

"I think we should be running instead," Elias advised, a nervous sweat forming on his cheek

"Why? I can take it," Margo said

"I don't doubt that, but there's more than just one. We should really start running now!" Elias pressed

Margo rolled her eyes, "More than one? Aren't Rocklions territorial? Why would there be more than one? Even so, I'm confident I can take more than one at once. How many are there? Like two?

Three?" She asked

Elias took a step back as another Rocklion stopped out of the cover of the forest, then another, "I wouldn't be so bothered if it were just two or three. I can count fifteen of them just by looking at their numbers, and there's still more incoming. So if you want to live, I suggest you listen to me and run!" Elias said

It would be unwise to fight that many Rocklions at once, unlike humans, these creatures were far from predictable during combat. Fighting that many of them could spell their doom, especially since some of these creatures had spells of their own, and in some rare cases, these spells could rival a Master mage and even rarer cases, they could pose a threat to an Archmage mage.

"F-Fifteen and counting?!" Margo was shocked, the Rocklions began to reveal themselves in their massive numbers. Margo could count at least two dozen of them. She didn't wait to count more before she followed Elias' instructions and ran

"This doesn't make sense, why are there so many of them? Is it a beast horde? But Rocklions hunt alone, this is strange," Imaya remarked as she ran, "Elias?" She called out to him after she didn't get any reply from him

She looked over to Elias and saw a stern expression on his face, he was deep in thought.

"Elias!" She shouted

Elias snapped out of his daze, "Yes?" He answered

"What are we going to do?" She asked

"The map says we are in the Highlands," Elias began

"That's clearly not true, there's so much forest here that it seems like Silverwood. So the map is defective" Margo said, interrupting Elias

"That is wrong; the map is, in fact, correct. The presence of the Rocklions alone proves that we are in the Highlands, Rocklions never migrate," Elias corrected

"But Rocklions are territorial and never hunt together, and yet, here we are. So we can't use the behavior of the Rocklions as a way to ascertain our location," Margo chipped in

Elias smiled, he liked the fact she was showcasing her smarts, "I thought of that too, but something I noticed about the Rocklions changed my mind; if you look closely, some of the Rocklions have collars and others have saddles," He said

Margo looked back at the storming horde of Rocklions, and she found truth in Elias' words. The creatures did have collars and saddles on them, she looked back at Elias and wondered how he was able to observe that in that short time frame.

"You've seen it too, right? That can only mean one thing, they are being controlled by people. It isn't a natural occurrence, but rather a man-made one. It also explains why we spent so much time seemingly lost in a forest when the Highlands have little to no forestry," Elias explained

Margo's eyes lit up as she understood the implications of Elias' words, "So you're saying we're in a trap?"

Elias smiled, "Correct, but to be more precise. We are trapped in an illusion, a very good one,"

"Illusion?" Margo asked and Elias nodded to affirm her question, "Now that you mention it, this forest's atmosphere seems a little bit dry,"

Elias suddenly stopped and turned around, he faced the Rocklion that took the forefront of the horde,

"What are you doing?!" Margo asked

Elias pulled out his sword from his inventory, and with a powerful lateral cleave, he cut down the creature into two clean equal parts. The other Rocklions immediately stopped in their tracks seeing how easily their kin fell to Elias' blade,

"I see," Elias said as he observed the horde, "Your jig is up, come out before I destroy everything in my sight,"

Margo stared at him in confusion, trying to figure out what the hell he was up to.

"You fooled me at first, I admit but now I know. There aren't nearly as many Rocklions here as you want us to think.

I just confirmed that now, the way most of them stopped in unison was odd. No matter how trained a creature is, it's impossible for it to be that synchronized in movement with the other.

This illusion not only changes our perspective of the surroundings but also increases the number of Rocklions by creating fake copies of them. Judging by the ones that were out of sync, I would say there are at most five Rocklions here," Elias explained,

"Now I'm warning you, take down this illusion and reveal yourself before I kill them all, it must have taken some serious effort and money to get such a creature. Trust me, I am very much capable of it. I am the Child of Light after all," He added

'Impressive! How did he manage to figure all that out that quickly? A feat truly befitting of the Child of Light,' Margo thought to herself

"Or I could just hand over the girl to you, she's good enough to be a sacrifice, right?" Elias added

"Die," Margo deadpanned

After a resounding silence as a reply, Elias smiled, "Fine, have it your way. Hurricane—,"

"Seven," A thick gruff voice cut Elias short. It sounded as if the voice was coming from everywhere all at once

"What?" Elias asked

"There are seven Real Rocklions and not five, but it's still impressive nonetheless how you were able to figure it out," The voice said

Elias frowned, "I take it that you are the one who set up this illusion?" He asked

"Heh…Something like that," The voice replied