After several minutes of just sitting down while waiting for the poison to recede as I attempted to contain it with my mana, which only ended up slowing the inevitable, but I didn't have any

other options unless I wished to die within a matter of a few hours. While I've come to accept my assured death, I still have a disciple to take care of; Alexander may have the intelligence of an adult, yet his knowledge of this world is minuscule, and if I were to die now, Alexander would have a tough life ahead of him; that is if he even manages to survive escaping this forest, as without my protection, I have no doubt the various beasts will claim this area as their territory.

"Ugh, that's right, Lavender, before you die, you must Educate Alexander of this world, at the very least. Even if you end up dying, Alexander is special; I'm sure that while his life will be difficult without me, with his luck, he'll somehow preserve." Said Lavender resolutely as she slowly stood up and exited her office.

Walking to the room in the distance to change my clothes as I've spilled some of my blood on them, I swiftly exit the room while feeling much better, which in turn damped my pessimistic attitude.

"Alright, Lavender, stop being so pessimistic; you may not have a long life to live, but because of that, I need to make these remaining years count." Muttered Lavender while lightly slapping herself for encouragement.

With an improved attitude, I leave the house and head toward the training area where Alexander is currently at.

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Having just left the tree house, I arrive at the edge of the clearing, only to leave its boundary and venture into the dangerous forest; however, while I say that, there usually aren't any dangerous creatures in the vicinity of the clearing; what happened with the Runebear and Direwolf was a rare occurrence, which probably won't happen again after Master remarked her territory.

While walking through the forest, I would greet nearly every beast I came across with a friendly smile, and although most beasts are blunt, as long as you don't anger them, they are pretty chill; well, that's only taking into account herbivores and omnivores. Every carnivore I've interacted with, which isn't many, have all been aggressive, though I can't really blame them; the only times I've encountered them is when they're hunting, so it only makes sense they are aggressive.

"Still, I would like to have a conversation with a carnivore, granted I'm not that proficient in their languages, but I won't improve without practice." Muttered Alexander as he suddenly stopped and looked around when he heard a cry for help.

As I walked through the forest, I heard several high-pitched chirps crying out for their parents; stopping, I observed the surrounding forest before noticing a baby bird, or a chick, lying on the ground while seemingly attempting to fly from how she was repeatedly flapping her featherless wings.

Not wanting to scare it needlessly, I made my presence known by calling out to her, causing her to suddenly snap her neck in my direction while shriveling up in fear when she noticed my large body.

"Don't worry, little child; I'm not going to hurt you; I only wish to help." Said Alexander softly as he slowly approached the chick to avoid spooking her.

Once I arrived before her, I slowly reached down and carefully scooped the little chick into my hands before bringing her up to eye level; when I did so, I noticed a substantial amount of her fear had disappeared. Lightly smiling, I released a few words while telling her to prepare for what I was about to do; looking up at the tree directly in front of me, I spot a nest straight above us, and with another chirp, I gained confirmation that it was her nest.

Seeing how high it was, I concluded it was roughly ten or so meters, pretty tall, but it wasn't anything I couldn't reach with a jump; infusing neutral mana into my legs, I suddenly jumped off the ground, causing me to shoot high into the sky, passing several meters above the nest. Now that I was high enough, I transformed my neutral mana to wind mana and summoned a large, dense gust of wind to surround me, causing my descent to slow down considerably, though; unfortunately, I wasn't proficient enough in wind mana to stay afloat.

As I was slowly floating down, the nest came back into view, and once we neared it, I quickly extended my arms before carefully setting the chick in the nest; once I finished, I grabbed the bottom of the branch.

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"Do be careful next time." Said Alexander with a soft smile as he gently petted the chick's head, causing her to release a high-pitch chirp full of happiness.

"Well, I've got to go, little one, but I don't mind paying you some visits; hopefully, you'll be soaring through the beautiful sky one day." Declared Alexander with a chuckle as he released the branch and dropped to the ground.

Hearing her chirp excitedly, I looked up at the nest, only to see her cute little head peeking over the edge as she eyed me, waving her goodbye; I continued walking toward my destination while the sound of her high-pitched chirping slowly faded in the distance.

While walking through the forest in a good mood, I decided to summon my status panel, yet when I did, my good mood swiftly vanished, and I was consumed by depression as I eyed my status panel.

There was nothing wrong with my status panel per se; in fact, Master has said it was pretty impressive, excluding the crazy traits, skills, and titles I was born with, of course. The reason why I was so depressed is that I haven't leveled up once; I hadn't even gained a single experience point over the three years, and I honestly felt pathetic; I was even somewhat worried that Master might be disappointed with me.

'But this doesn't make any sense, even if I haven't killed anything since that one time three years ago; I've done a few heroic deeds. I literally just did one a few minutes ago by helping that chick return to her nest, so why haven't I gained a single experience point!?' Pondered Alexander while leaning against a random tree and sighing to himself.

While leaning against the tree, I watched how several beasts of various sizes walked past me, some of them glancing at me and others completely ignoring my presence; each time a beast walked by, I stared at it and deeply contemplated whether to kill it for the experience. However, I just couldn't bring myself to inflict lethal harm on them for no reason, and it didn't matter that they were herbivores; even if they were carnivores, it wouldn't change my stance; unless they were actively trying to hunt me.

So with a sigh, I stood up and continued walking to my destination in a gloomy mood, which wasn't too far away; it only took another three minutes of walking before I arrived at a miniature mountain, or more appropriately, a hill.

The hill and the surrounding area were somewhat desolate and void of vegetation as it was mostly comprised of rocks, gravel, sand, and other minerals; however, that doesn't mean there are no creatures that can thrive in this type of environment, at least that is what Master said. If I consider the knowledge of Earth and how life adapts to its surrounding environment, then it's not surprising some creatures can survive here; granted, I've never seen such a creature yet.

Walking up the desolate hill until I arrive at its peak, I spot a massive transparent crystal, a size so large it reminds me of a house. Approaching the crystal, which happens to be a mana crystal, I sit down next to it and wait for Master while thinking back to the first time I discovered this.

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"Haa, Master, could you let go of me, please? I promise I won't try to run away again." Asked Alexander while Lavender dragged him by the leg through the forest.

Shortly after I said that, Master let go of my foot, allowing me freedom and the ability to walk on my own; standing up, I dusted my clothes off before quickly catching up with Master in the distance.

"So, where are we going, and what type of training is this?" Asked Alexander as he glanced at Lavender, who he was now walking beside.

"We're heading toward a hill not too far away from our territory, one that you'll be able to walk by yourself without worrying about possibly being attacked. The training I have planned for you is one that'll improve your mana control, though it will be very exhausting, to say the least." Replied Lavender lightly, her words intriguing Alexander.

I was pretty happy to hear that; I've just grasped the ability to manipulate and sense mana, so I need constant practice to improve my control. While wondering what kind of training Master had in store for me, I noticed the vegetation around us was quickly becoming scarce until, eventually, it was practically gone; only small patches of grass remained, and even then, they were rare.

"When you said hill, this isn't exactly what I had envisioned." Commented Alexander as he glanced at the desolate rocky hill before him.

Although the sight of the hill slightly surprised me, I quickly got used to it as it was just a bunch of rocks; walking up the hill, once we arrived at the top, my eyes instantly spotted a massive translucent crystal sitting atop the hill.

"That is a massive crystal!" Declared Alexander as he eyed the crystal the size of a house.

"That right there is a mana crystal, the same one you had just previously used, and that is also what you'll be using for your training." Stated Lavender as she approached the massive crystal that towered over her and tapped on it.

"To think a mana crystal could be so massive, although I'm curious, does the size of a mana crystal affect how much mana it can hold?" Asked Alexander curiously while also lightly touching the crystal, though the moment he did, he instantly felt weak.

Swiftly retracting my hand, I stumbled and fell on the ground while grabbing my rapidly beating heart as I had just felt nearly all of my mana get absorbed into the mana crystal in front of me.

"Fufu, not only does the size of the mana crystal affect how much it can hold, but it also affects its absorption ability. Your training is quite simple, Alexander; all you must do is stop the mana crystal from absorbing all of your mana." Said Lavender with a chuckle as she casually touched the crystal while eyeing Alexander.