Andrew was on his knees for a long time while sweating buckets, coughing black blood furiously. All his body was in pain, 'Damnit, I shouldn't have taken it here after all', says Andrew inwardly. But it was pretty too late to regret his decisions, as an action couldn't be taken back just because you wish to and you regretted it, you should just forge ahead and if such actions lead to your death, then it's your loss, but if it leads to something beautiful, it's your gain.
The explosion of the red ball in his body was no little issue as he had to pay for his hasty decisions by not being able to move, all his veins were visible in this state he was in, and he was using sheer willpower to resist falling unconscious. At this moment, the weakest beast in the forest could kill him with a single hit. After a while which seemed like years due to the pains, the effect of the red ball's explosiveness finally calmed down.
Andrew was able to tide through the process safely without falling unconscious, he slowly and steadily stood up as his bones creaked and cracked.
On getting up, Andrew felt like the earlier pains were nothing but an illusion as he felt free like he could do anything, the restriction which he had felt which was hindering him from accumulating power for a breakthrough had been removed and all the hidden injuries within his body which have not been healed formerly were now healed.
"If not for the fact that I can feel pain and know for a fact that all of this isn't a dream, I would have thought I was in a fantasy novel", Andrew says as he looks at his skin which looks refreshed.
Even the life-threatening scar he had formerly has been cleared, and at this moment, he resembles a child of the nobles in the capital. His skin which was fair and supple formerly seems, even more, fairer like a baby's skin, like he has always had the right amount of nutrients being injected into his body right from birth.
The red ball seem to have been something miraculous as it has done the impossible, which was clearing all the scars which he had thought he would have had to live with until his death, unclogging all his veins, nerves, and pathways, removing all the dregs in his system. He always thought that such things can only happen in fictional movies but it all happened to him right now.
He even seem to have broken through to the next realm and was just a little bit from the five senses realm. He was finally in the same realm as the now deceased Michael and could now have more confidence in carrying out his plans.
He laughs out at the joy of being able to attain this realm early on and seems like the red ball doesn't have any other after effect apart from a safe breakthrough and if not for the fact that part of the power from the red ball was used in unclogging his pathways, he was sure he would have broken through to the next realm.
He tests out his new power in this open ground and to his joy, he was way more powerful than he used to be, it just didn't add up like normal mathematics which was one plus one. If it could be described in a better way, it did be a river multiplied by another river and not just a river stacked on top of another river.
After trying out his new powers for a while, he calms down and grips his fist firmly as he says inwardly, 'I am still progressing. Nothing should be rushed. I aim to be at the top of the world and rushing things up with herbs would just make accomplishing such a dream unlikely. Although it's a great shortcut, there is nothing better than having something genuinely cause that lasts longer and if one were to lose it, through the experience of accumulating it, it would be easier to start all over as the foundation has already been laid. I shouldn't rely on these herbs too much, probably this is the only herb that a mutation occurs in and perhaps didn't leave any after effect'.
After a while to prep talking himself, he releases his grip and stares in the direction of where the herb formerly was, and to his shock, everything has withered and turned to dust. Apart from where was initially dug up by Michael while harvesting the first herb, there was no sign of there being another herb as every trace of it seems to have been wiped out clean.
Andrew doesn't think about this occurrence too much as that would be wasting his mental energy on something irrelevant.
He walks towards where Michael has initially kept the first herb which he had harvested and searched around for anything of relevance in Michael's and George's bags but apart from the herb and some equipment with normal necessities during hunting, there was nothing else of value.
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"Tch, so poor. Guess I did have to visit each of their homes to retrieve their possessions so it does not go to waste. Yes, they died and as a sign of final respect I should do them the great good of using their fortune which they just happened to stash up", Andrew says with a straight face, but he was still speaking to himself. If anyone were to see Andrew right now, they did think he has gone insane since there was no one to whom he was talking and he was replying to himself in the same manner.
At the next moment though, there was a roar that came from the inner part of the forest which reverberated around the forest and shook everywhere.
Although he had broken through, Andrew still felt chilled to his bones. The beast from which such roar came could probably kill Andrew with a single hit and such thought terrified Andrew the more, he decided it was time to leave the forest before the beasts come back to their territory or start their crazy hunting all over again.
But as he was about going, a cry sounded out from the same place which the roar came from initially, it wasn't like the cry that came from a beast who was only in pains but that you did actually hear from when a child was being given birth to which was what startled Andrew as how could such a cry be heard from a beast which was in the forest but didn't think about it too much as maybe it was normal in this world since there was not much he knew about this world after all, and was just about going but the sound of the cry hasn't totally vanished from the surrounding when the color of Andrew's eyes changed from its normal blue to bright golden while he spoke in an ancient language, "You must be fated to be with me", he pauses for a moment before continuing once again, "I would come back for you then, just wait patiently for me", he said all of these in some ancient language which couldn't be understood by him normally and a smile was plastered in his face while staring at the direction from which the cry came from.
While speaking in such a language, the sky roared in anger as thunder sounds could be heard reverberating. "Guess I shouldn't show myself too much before those idiots find me out", Andrew still speaks in the same ancient language while looking towards the sky this time around and his eyes slowly revert to his original blue colour.
"Huh", Andrew says at this moment not understanding the reason why he was staring at the sky after he had decided to leave the forest, but now he is still in the same position and hasn't taken a step since then and was instead staring at the sky which has already stopped thundering.
It seems like he doesn't remember anything which has occurred during the moment when his eye colour had that subtle change.
Not thinking much about the issue, he gathers everything he shouldn't be leaving behind in the forest and turns to look at the skull of Michael and with great speed appears before it and with his leg, he smashed the skull into broken pieces which then went deep into the ground.
After making such a nice action, he turns around and starts heading in the direction that would lead him out of the forest.
It was getting late after all and the day was getting dark, they have indeed spent a lot of time in the forest so it was normal that the time had gone this far.
Andrew picks up his pace and with the increased speed that he got from breaking through, he was able to get to the entrance of the forest in very little time.
About to leave the forest, he stomped on the floor and a worm which has its mouth open wide with razor-sharp teeth installed all through its mouth like a reaper's blade just happened to burst out of the ground, Andrew with a single slash of his cutlass was able to cut it down but due to using too much force from not still being accustomed to his new powers, he flew at a neck-breaking speed out of the forest.
"Tch Tch Tch. I guess am still not used to this power-up, I should try training a bit then before going to the capital", Andrew sighs and says while rubbing his head which he used to hit the floor and dust what little bit of a cloth he had.
He raised his head after the pain was soothed and the sight which greets him had him gobsmacked. He was after all gone for not even as long as a day so things shouldn't have reached this extent.
He couldn't say anything as he just stares in total shock at the scene which unfolds in front of his eyes, he stares at the village which had sheltered him since when he transmigrated into this world and had him until he was able to become the person he currently is and still couldn't imagine what could have led to it.
The village was all up in big bright red flames, like a fire play was on, although screams were still heard from inside the village, Andrew wasn't able to hear anything at this moment as memories of his past about this village flooded into his head.
Although he was such a person that wouldn't risk his life to save anyone or feel any guilt from seeing someone dying, this was after all the village that had watched him grow up, and he still had some kind of attachment to it after all that he couldn't just let go and his favourite tavern was present in it also.
On thinking about the wine which was being placed at risk of burning at this moment, Andrew stood up and rushed in the direction of the tavern. His decision at this moment shows how important the tavern was to him, even more than the lives of Annie and Marian whom he had made a promise to protect.