Looking around the same trees felt boring, even for me. No, boring was the wrong word. It irked me. Born and raised in a rural area and being a soldier, I spent a lot of time in the woods, and this place didn't feel natural.

All the trees were the same length and thickness. They were also the same type of tree. Even the distance between them was the same! It felt so unnatural, so uncanny. There weren't any bushes, vines, and thorns blocking our path. While it allowed easy passage, it wasn't how normal forests functioned.

"Uncanny valley," I whispered to myself. Both Valeria and Rodrick implied that they weren't the ones directly creating their trials. If I understood it correctly, it was more like they had "qualities" decided by their subconscious. They couldn't change it consciously or give their approval from their accord.

For Rodrick, it was my willingness to go through pain for others and actually manage to endure the pain. For Valeria, it was combat capability. What did the First want from us, from me? Why this monotone forest? Were we doing something wrong?

It was easy to understand why Valeria's trial area was a colosseum. She liked fighting and had a ferocious personality, but what about the First? I really wished Valeria or Rodrick said something about him. The only things Valeria said were be yourself and that he would like me. The reason she said he would like me was my ability to analyze the battlefield effectively. Was First an intellectual type? Was this place a puzzle? Did we have to solve something?

"Poyraz, you are doing the overthinking face again."

"Hmm?" I turned to Lily not understanding what he meant. He knocked his hand to his head. "Be more like me. Head empty, no thoughts."

I turned back. "Yes Lily, I know that your head is empty from the first time we met." I hid my smile by walking faster. "Damn, you keep shooting me! What's up with you today?"

Lily tried to keep up with me, and I sped up to avoid my smile being smiled. It didn't last long when both Nocturna and Gökbörü turned in the same direction. It was kind of cute how their ears moved.

"What happened?"

I asked. "I think I am hearing something from that direction." Before I could say we should move towards it, Gökbörü started to sprint in that direction. I chased after him with others following me.

"You vile undead! Get away from me!" It wasn't long after we actually came to a human-made road. How come we haven't seen it before? In the middle of the road, an old man tried to defend himself and his cart from several skeletal creatures. I ran to the back of the creatures and swung my stick into their heads. My stick snapped into two with a loud crack and the creature stumbled to the side.

Being close to the creature I could see its form more clearly. It was humanoid enough to be mistaken for a human in dim light. However, its body was a desiccated and withered shell, its flesh drawn tight against its bones. Its skin was pallid and tinged with a cold grey hue, resembling a corpse. Veins and tendons stand out in stark relief, emphasizing the gaunt and skeletal nature of its frame. Tattered clothing covered most of its body.

The creature regained its balance and looked back at me. Its eyes were sunken deep into their sockets. Instead of eyes, a cold blue light greeted me. It looked relatively unfazed by my attack. I front-kicked it to send it stumbling back to other ones.

"Undead!" I shouted. It wasn't my first rodeo with undead creatures since the first floor of Wolf King's Tomb was filled with skeleton warriors. But these ones felt and looked different. I was also weaker and had no weapon. This undead looked weaker and had no weapon or armor so we were on equal terms.

I took a strong step forward and threw a palm strike with my front hand. It was followed by a right palm strike—a cross. Using the momentum of pulling my right hand back, I threw a roundhouse with my left leg, hitting the same place my stick hit before. Despite not having mana or stats boosts, my body felt light.

My kick caused the undead's skull to crack. Good. My leg fucking hurt from hitting its hard skull. Even though I was happy that I caused some damage, my kick shouldn't have done that much damage. Hmm. These creatures have less durability than a human.

Despite its skull being cracked, undead charged towards me. Guess you don't need to be very durable if you can just ignore the fatal damage. I dodged to its side and kicked its thigh, causing it to fall. I was about to stomp its skull, but Gökbörü was faster as he created a small ice dagger and pierced its skull, taking advantage of its damaged skull. It stopped moving.

"Their head! Destroy their skull!" I shouted at others. They were trying to fight against the remaining one. Lily was having an easy time as he dodged their slow attacks and thrust his stick into their skulls. Nocturna on the other hand just wildly swung her stick.

The old man we helped was... He ran to his horse's, no, it was a donkey. Donkey's side while whimpering and screaming. Donkey let out annoyed neighs as it kicked undead creatures. Well, at least he was safe.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

I ran beside Nocturna as Lily could handle himself. Since there were less than 10 creatures, we took care of them in 10 minutes or so.

"Huf, huf!" I breathed heavily as sweat dripped down my face. Damn, my stamina is shit. Was it because my Vitality decreased? Lily also looked tired.

"Those foul undead! Did you see how I took care of them!"

The old man came forward. He looked very old, probably in his seventies. I found that suspicious. Without modern medicine and monsters all around he lived this long? His long, gray hair cascaded down to his shoulders, framing a face etched with wrinkles. His right eye was covered with an eyepatch. He wore tattered and patched clothing, faded shades of browns and grays similar to us. He walked with the help of a simple staff.

"Hahaha! This old man still has it! Look at these muscles!" He pulled his sleeves to reveal skinny arms. Even that action seemed to tire him as he breathed heavily. His donkey neighed and for some reason, I sensed a mocking tone. I looked at the donkey. Its coat is a medley of earthy shades, ranging from muted browns to soft grays. Honestly, it looked most stereotypical donkey I have ever seen.

"Anyways! Thanks for the help younglings! I didn't need it but your parents must be proud of you for helping an old man like me!"

"We were just doing what's right." I came forward.

"Hahah! I wish every youngling was like you! Kids nowadays! They don't listen to their elders! They believe that they know the best!" The old man stopped to take a breath. "Oh, you guys sweated a lot! You will get sick if you stay like this! Come on, hop on the cart! I am sure my old friend can pull you guys too!"

He said while he slapped his donkey. The donkey reacted by slapping him with its head. Others looked at me for my approval. I nodded and hopped on the cart, others joining me. The donkey didn't move for several seconds. The old man poked him with his staff countless times before it moved with an annoyed neigh.

"What is your name, Mister?" I asked.

"They call me Bolverk. This stubborn beast is called Beltes. What is your names?"

"I am Poyraz, this is Gökbörü."

"Lily."

"I am called Nocturna."

"So lad, why are you traveling with two girls?"

I looked at Lily with a smug smile. "I am a boy actually."

Lily said. Bolverk looked at Lily for a minute.

"Well, you don't look like one."

I suppressed my laugh while Lily looked annoyed. "Let's say we are adventuring."

The old man scoffed. "I adventured back in my day too. Look what it cost me." He said while pointing to his eyepatch. "I suggest you quit while both of your eyes are intact." His gaze focused on my left eye, where my scar resided.

"You came very close to losing one, didn't you?"

"It didn't happen when I was adventuring. I was just stupid." Remembering how it happened disturbed me. Attacked by a villager I saved… And how I killed him. Looking back at it, was it necessary? Riots happened before. I was insulted, cursed, and thrown objects before by the people I protected. I never reacted by being violent. Could I just disarm him and move on? The guy lost his home and family and was in shock. I remembered it. I remembered slicing his throat slowly as I looked at his eyes.

That wasn't the right thing to do. Or what about the time I tortured and killed the cultist when I first came here? Now I knew that they were evil but at that time did I have the justification to torture and kill him in cold blood?

"Justifications. What a sorry excuse. So, you can kill anyone if you can find a justification for it?" A voice in the back of my head called out. Was I stupid? Shouldn't I be used to killing and death after all of this time? Or maybe I just couldn't run away from the burden of death and killing any further?

"Just a weak flame. A small wind. A small drop of water. Single bad day. You will finally fall to never get up." The voice called again.

"I had too many bad days, my guy. This flame is not going to easily fade away." I answered the voice.

"Stupidity, huh? We all have our stupid moments. A thing may feel smart at a moment and stupid at another moment. Does that moment feel stupid now?" Bolverk's voice awoke me from my thoughts.

"I am not sure." My voice shook a little. Bolverk poked Beltes before speaking:

"So it is one of those things. Sometimes things cannot be defined as stupid or smart. Sometimes things are just the things that happened. I suggest you move on. Thinking is like drinking. Good when done in moderation, bad when done in extreme."

Bolverk spat on the side loudly. "Shouldn't have talked about drinking. Now I crave some."

"You and me both, old man." Lily encouraged Bolverk from the back.

"Heh, can you even hold your drink?"

Bolverk playfully answered back. "Probably better than you!"

"Heh! You underestimate this old man!"

"Oh, you want to bet? First one to quit pays?"

"You are on it! We will reach the village at sundown anyway!" Before I could stop him Lily started a stupid bet. You dumbass, we don't have a single coin on us! I looked at Nocturna who looked as worried as I felt annoyed. If things go south, I am definitely grabbing her and ditching Lily. That dumbass could face the consequences of his actions.

"I have a question. What were those things? I am sure they were undead but they didn't look like skeletons or zombies." Bolverk stopped quarreling with Lily and looked at me.

"Oh, those? Those were draugrs. When a warrior dies a dishonorable death and doesn't get a proper burial, their grudge reawakens them from their eternal sleep. I would have felt bad for them if they didn't try to eat my face off!"

I raised an eyebrow. "You seem to know a lot about them." Bolverk chewed on a piece of jerky.

"Of course I do—You want a piece?" He offered us, and I accepted it. "Don't worry, they are not made from my previous donkey, hahah!"

None of us laughed at his joke. Lily and Nocturna didn't accept it, though I and Gökbörü ate it. It was a little bit too salty, though it tasted good.

"These lands are crawling with draugrs!" He continued his talking.

"Why? The requirements sound very specific." I asked. Bolverk spat out phlegm loudly, making Nocturna and Lily uncomfortable. I was used to that kind of stuff.

"It is. But several years ago, some prince started a war as soon as he got the throne. He wanted to make a name for himself or some other stupid reason. He was too young to lead men, too inexperienced to know logistics, and too proud to listen to his advisors. Countless men died pitiful, meaningless deaths all around here." He claimed while looking straight ahead.

"That's… Sad."

Nocturna spoke sorrowfully. Bolverk just shrugged his shoulders.

"Sad things happen all the time. We are here. Come on, jump off."