Images of his past flashed by his eyes, starting from when he was cradled in Tia’s arms, crying out repeatedly as Tia and his father stared at each other helplessly, trying various means to pacify the young Alz.

However, whenever they looked down at Alz, the joy and endearment could not be concealed as this warm family scene buried in the depths of his subconsciousness played out. Then, as though in fast forward, he saw his entire life play out until the scene where he last saw his parents.

Suddenly, everything disappeared into the darkness where he alone stood. He felt something calling out to him from the front, but the voice was extremely muffled.

He blankly walked in the direction of the voice, hoping to hear it more clearly but he felt a light pain shoot up from above his chest and he subconsciously moved his hand there, grabbing onto the area there tightly.

When he looked up again, he saw a group of elves with his parents at their helm, facing him. Within the group of elves behind them, he spotted Caila, Link, Layla and many other elves he remembered seeing back in the fourth village.

Tia gently shook her head as she looked at Alz, reaching out to Alz and pushing him away. All the other elves in the group also did a pushing motion and Alz felt himself floating away.

Alz slowly opened his tightly shut eyes. He felt like he had just experienced a really long dream, an extremely important dream but he could no longer recall any part of it.

He shook his head to get rid of his drowsiness and looked down at his body, only to see that his left hand was tightly holding onto the pendant that Tia had given him after his first two weeks at the village.

Suddenly, he felt moisture at the sides of his face and moved his left hand up to wipe it but a new stream appeared. Tears started welling up in Alz’s eyes and flowed out uncontrollably as he felt a pain spreading from his left chest.

He started wailing loudly as he felt a mysterious sense of sadness and loss, urging him to let it all out. He looked down at the pendant within his left hand and moved his right hand over pressing it tightly towards his chest while clasping tightly on it with both hands.

This lasted several minutes before the sadness started fading away. He felt more refreshed than before and his emotions were no longer as negative although the sadness and loneliness had not diminished in the slightest.

He then arched his neck backwards and saw that the device had fallen off his head at some point in time. The last thing he remembered before passing out was the beginning of an extremely long beep, followed by a sharp pain in his head and then boom, he passed out.

Just as he was trying to recall the events in greater detail, a searing pain burst out in his head, paralysing all his thoughts.

It felt as though his entire head was soaked in tree sap and lit up in flames. His body curled up and he pressed both hands onto the sides of his head to apply pressure in an attempt to alleviate the pain he felt.

This episode went on for about fifteen minutes before the pain finally let up and was beginning to fade away. However, before he could even begin to feel any relief, he started to cough repeatedly and even started retching as streaks of blood exited his mouth.

Five minutes later, Alz lay flat on the ground looking up at the ceiling with half-open eyes. A small pool of blood could be seen on the floor beside him and there were two thin trails of blood which extended from his mouth down to his chest, staining some parts of his clothes.

The last 20 minutes was the most hellish period of time he had been through, leaving him thoroughly mentally exhausted as he lay flat on the ground.

His eyes soon closed fully, and his breathing became more even while his chest begun to rise and fall in rhythm with his breathing.

Just like this, a full day passed and Alz still lay flat on the ground, sleeping peacefully.

After a few minutes, his eyebrow suddenly creased, and he started groaning. He felt a pain being transmitted from his waist area, forcefully knocking him out of his peaceful slumber.

This time though, he recognised the feeling. It was a feeling he had experienced before, only, it had never been this bad.

His eyes snapped open and his mind quickly cleared. He sat up and his whole body suddenly trembled uncontrollably as he recalled his previous experience.

[Food…Water…]

A hoarse voice left his mouth as he instinctively looked around for food despite already knowing that there was no food in this area.

Yes, he was hungry, and terribly so too. His throat was also burning, desperately craving water.

After his escape, the extreme physical exertion had already left his body craving for nutrients, but his mind was too distracted by his emotions back then for him to realise it.

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Following that, he had gone without food and water for longer than a day. It was no wonder his gastric would be hurting so much that it woke him up.

He quickly opened his bag and grabbed a leather container, emptying the water into his mouth. However, the water was like a small puddle in the middle of a dry, hot desert, far from enough to curb his thirst.

Noticing this, he started wondering how long he had been asleep for his thirst and hunger to develop this much.

Although the water he just drank was not nearly enough, it slightly alleviated his thirst and he begun to think of solutions to the current problem.

Just then, he remembered about the wolf corpse that lay at the entrance outside and he quickly supported his body with left arm, standing up.

When he stood up, he realised that his leg muscles were no longer aching as much and the pain in his right arm had subsided substantially which made him feel better about his current plight.

Despite this, his body still felt extremely weak and he felt a mild stinging pain in his head from the previous ordeal.

Alz tried his best to steady himself as he walked out of the room slowly with an unsteady gait, headed off in the direction of where the wolf corpse was.

Fortunately, when Alz went back to the wolf, he saw that it was still intact as he the fang dagger from his waist and started cutting it apart, separating out the various parts of the wolf as he was used to.

“Still looks good.” He inwardly thought as he looked at the meat and saw that although it hardened slightly, the meat still looked fresh and edible.

Back in the village, he had been taught that meat was safe to eat as long as the meat was not left out for more than three days, after which the meat would start to break apart and smell bad.

He continued staring at the meat, thinking of the ways he could prepare it. A fire was the most natural choice and he knew how to start a fire but he did not have suitable wood at hand.

It was notoriously difficult to start a fire from wood directly chopped from trees and Alz was not confident he was able to do it in his current state.

The fires used for cooking back in the tribe were generally started using wood that had been chopped and hung for months, drying it out. Fresh wood was then used to feed the fire before they started cooking.

He could easily obtain wood from the nearby trees above, but he had no good way of starting a fire, which was a big problem for him now.

Suddenly, an idea sparked in his head and he thought of a solution to the fire problem.

He took a deep breath and lightly moved his limbs about to confirm his physical condition before climbing out of the path to the outside. He then walked towards the pathway out to the forest.

He came up with a solution for the issue of hunger, but his throat was desperately craving water, so he still had to find a water source to solve the problem of thirst.

A head slowly peeked out from a narrow hole in the middle of the forest. It had silver hair and yellow eyes, with a pair of pointed ears and was carefully looking around at its surroundings, as though prepared to dive right back in at any sign of danger.

This head was naturally Alz’s head. After a short check on his physical condition, he knew that he could not afford to engage in any form of combat now.

The bandages on his right arm were also losing gradually losing its effectiveness. He had enough herbs to rebandage it one more time but saw little point in doing so now as he wouldn’t be able to use his hand too much either way.

After looking around cautiously for two minutes, he quietly sucked in a breath and his body started rising from the hole. He made sure to do everything as quietly as possible and soon stood upright on the ground.

He now stood still, silently thinking of what he could do to find water. There were two main options available to him, tracing roots and digging or hoping for a lake nearby but he quickly realised that he only had one real option giving his body’s state.

He stopped hesitating and set off in a direction opposite from where he came from as he didn’t remember seeing any lakes on the way here, marking a nearby tree with his dagger after a set distance so he could find his way back.

Luckily for him, the goddess of luck had not forsaken him as he stopped abruptly in his tracks when he was about 300m away from the hole.

His eyes started sparkling brightly while his mouth slightly opened into a smile as the familiar scent of water drifted into his nose.

[It’s this way.]

He sniffed in a few directions with his nose and turned to look in one direction. He focuses his senses and begun to slowly progress in the direction which carried the scent of water.

After a short walk, his vision was no longer obstructed by the trees and he could finally see the lake about 30m ahead of him. Despite this, there was no joy or elation seen on his face as his expression hardened while looking at the lake.

[There was one afterall.]

He had been praying for there to be no wolves around the lake but he also knew that it was highly likely for wolves to be found around any water source, afterall they too needed water.

In fact, he could have already been said to be extremely lucky to find a lake so soon with only one wolf nearby.

Alz’s eyes sharpened and his ears twitched repeatedly as he surveyed the surroundings, heaving a sigh of relief after as he did not detect any other wolves in the area.

He then turned his gaze back to the wolf as a fierce glint lit in his eyes, his eyes burning with hatred and murderous intent.

The one thing he could not forgive more than himself lay before his eyes now, the primary cause of his sorrow and suffering. It was also alone and unguarded, there was no way Alz would let go of this chance.

He endured the stinging pain in his head which seemed to worsen the more he was thinking as his eyes darted around the surroundings, looking for things he could use but there was nothing he could find while the pain kept getting worse.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, waiting for the pain in his head to subside before letting out a bitter expression. At this rate, he would end up self-destructing before anything even happened.

He let out a sigh and walked to an area with a clear vantage point before sitting down silently.

He grabbed his bow and mounted it onto his feet, using them to hold the bow in place, using his feet to substitute for his injured right arm.

He then drew an arrow from his quiver and bent forward, latching it on the bowstring with his left arm. He took a few breaths and turned a frigid gaze towards the wolf. He silently bent backwards and pulled back on the bowstring with his left arm while taking aim.

He knew he only had one shot at this, so he aimed with utmost focus and precision before releasing the arrow.

However, just as he was releasing the arrow, his legs trembled slightly causing his shot to deviate slightly. Alz’s expression paled as he helplessly watched the arrow cut through the air.