It was suffocating.
He walked around, seeing nothing but darkness surround him.
He tried calling out, but nothing came.
Then, he saw a familiar face.
Mother?!
The figure of the person whom he'd called his mother could be seen from far away.
He called out to her, but the more he tried to run to her direction, the further she seemed to be.
Then he saw something.
On her head appeared a pair of horns.
He tried running faster.
And finally, he caught up.
But then.
Appeared before him then were a group of people.
"Go away!"
"You demon! You don't belong here!"
The group started insulting him and even threw stuff at him.
"Shut up!!" He closed his eyes as he yelled.
The group of people suddenly faded away into dust.
No longer hearing anyone, he opened his eyes.
To the view that had haunted him for years.
Blood.
The woman who he previously called his mother was currently lying on the floor, her body bleeding endlessly.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
"No..."
He kneeled down onto the floor.
"No...!"
"NO!!"
He started screaming.
Unknown place, inside a forest.
A boy was currently living on his own.
Suddenly, a scream could be heard throughout the forest.
He got up from his bed, sweating like mad.
He looked at his hand and didn't saw any red liquid on it.
Touching his face, he realized that he had cried.
His clothes were drenched in sweat and tears.
And a sharp pain could be felt from his head.
"Urgh..." He groaned.
That dream again.
Grabbing one of the bottles on the table beside the bed, he downed its content in one go.
"Blech...Its taste is still bad as usual... At least it would help me get over this headache."
He got out of bed and started undressing.
Taking a look at his topless body's reflection from the mirror, he could only sigh.
His body had hardened from many life and death situation he's been through.
And the evidence was the scars littering around it.
He then took out a set of clothes from the closet.
He looked at it for a few minutes before putting it on.
Grabbing the accessories on the bedside table, which consisted of a bracelet, a necklace with a flower pendant and a metal hair band.
He looked around the house one last time, trying to imprint the scene into his mind.
He had left his home to travel to farther land many times, each time he treated as the last time he could see his home again.
This time was no different.
After getting a good view of the house, he prepared the essentials such as his alchemic set, a bag full of monster cores, his trusty spear and a spare knife, he set out.
He had walked on this path many times, so much so that despite being the only inhabitant of this forest, a dirt path had formed from his own footprints.
A familiar feeling rushed into him, but also a new feeling.
Because today, he isn't going out treating and helping others.
Today, he's going to school.
----------------------------------------
His current destination was Poppi Town, a town just outside the forest that was built not too long ago.
He had traveled there on many occasion, either buying ingredients that he's run out, helping people with their illness or just chatting to fill his loneliness.
Years ago, before he started becoming a wandering alchemist, he had constantly killed the monsters inside the forest and took their cores, day by day.
He sold them to get money for his family's living income.
And everyday, after finishing the daily cores quota, he would go to the town's local library to search for a cure for his mother's illness.
Days after days, after endless experiments, he thought he would find a cure.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
But it was all futile.
Exactly this day 1 year ago, she succumbed to her illness and passed away.
That day, after he had finished his everyday no avail search for a cure, he arrived home to the scene of his mother peacefully sleeping on the bed.
Of course, that was what he thought at first before he noticed the letter and a strange bottle on the bedside table.
He initially tried to wake her up.
But there was no answer.
Second time, third time.
There was no response from her.
He proceeded to check her pulse to see none.
Of course, he was utterly shocked.
That moment, he suddenly coughed out blood and felt that all his strength had left him.
He didn't understand what happened but realized this symptom was the same as his mother back then.
Not giving up, he reached out to the piece of paper that his mother left for him and read it.
He had suspected he had caught the same sickness as his mother, but never really care about it because after that incident, he no longer really care about himself anymore.
And from the content of the letter, he was taken aback.
She had a cure for the sickness but never told him.
She knew he also had the same illness as she did, but never told him because, at that point, she no longer had the strength to speak.
With the bottle of potion in one hand and the letter now drenched in his own tears, he downed the content of the bottle, remembering the taste of the potion.
At that time, a new resolve burned within him.
He will recreate this cure, and one day will completely eradicate the sickness that had taken his mother's life from this world.
So he'd prepared himself and left for 2 years, becoming a wandering alchemist-physician.
And after that, he went back to his home, now with a newer resolve.
From his experience, in order to become the best alchemist in this country, he also had to have the strength and knowledge to back it up.
So, he decided to go to school.
And from his last patient's help, who was actually a teacher from the capital's school, he was allowed to study there without having to pay for school fees.
While walking toward Poppi Town, he was interrupted by a group of monsters.
It's been a long time since this last happened.
He put down his stuff, before grabbing his spear and readying his pose.
The years of experience he had with this spear were long.
And adding to the fact that he had faced them a lot, he no longer afraid of them.
The enemies were three blobs of goo called <
The three Slimes jumped at him at the same time, but with a swipe of his hand, all three of them were defeated.
A wolf decided to get a jump at him from the back, but he was quick to realize it as he held his spear backward.
The wolf couldn't change it trajectory midair so it ended up getting pierced by his spear.
The other wolf tried attacking him from the upfront but got itself sandwiched between his elbow and knee instead.
At this moment, two of the goblins started to come out, each with a club in hand.
He did a spin kick on the unconscious wolf into one of them, the corpse of the other wolf that was still on his spear followed the momentum and flew into the other goblin.
He quickly pierced them while they were trying to regain their stance.
After he's done, he looked around.
He no longer felt any monsters' presence nearby.
He then took out his knife and began dissecting the monsters.
In order not to dirty his new clothes, he rolled up his sleeves first.
Last week's monster harvests were: 79 slime cores, 38 wolf cores and 17 goblin cores.
After finishing, he then continued on his travel to Poppi Town.