I woke up thanks the morning sun. As usual, it never fails to make my skin tingle. I stretched my body while enduring the feeling of weakness taking over it. It didn’t get any easier since I was little, but I got used to it.

After eating the leftovers of last night’s dinner, I grabbed my pickaxe and then moved to the end of the cave and then began to look for some ores. A year and a half had passed since I escaped the labyrinth. After recovering the remains of the crew, I fulfilled my promise and burying them in their homeland.

I was no longer hiding my face, but I was still hiding. That wasn’t my intention. I just needed some time for myself after everything that happened in the labyrinth. Those fifty days had been too intense, after all.

Just doing nothing would be a waste of time, so I looked for a place where I could stay alone and do any kind of work. I found some mountains near where I buried the crew and then decided to become a hermit for a while and gather materials.

I also used this time to check my condition and my thirst for blood… It was annoying, but it only came at night and I didn’t have to worry too much if I slept through it and I kept myself well fed and hydrated. At least that was how it worked until now, by myself.

‘I guess this is mine is almost empty…’

I didn’t get many ores after a long day of work. I didn’t even have the mining or a blacksmithing class, so the ores had been stacking from the very beginning. I decided to make sure to obtain it for the first chance. My skills in the labyrinth made us clear the place, but they weren’t polished enough. I had to cover my bases when it comes to that aspect too, even if it will spread too much of my crafting skills.

When the sun was setting, I sat near the entrance of the mine and then watched the land around. The land of the orcs was a bit different from I had read about it. It was a lot more calm with a lot of green fields in all directions… probably because the orcs, goblins and ogres mainly worked as warriors and pirates. I could watch the sea for several hours and enjoy the peace… occasionally, I would see a pirate ship, but that was that.

While I was thinking about those things, I saw a bird flying nearby and then I shot it to have dinner. That was my routine for the past eighteen months. More or less, I did some research on making the organic magic circles that worked with the Mana cores. The best materials were indeed bones… when the spell written on them was compatible, they could use ten mana cores before showing any signs of degradation. When I used common animal leather, it would eventually become useless after five mana cores.

‘I suppose if I forge a plate with a magical metal, it can last for thousands of uses. For that, I will have to take the blacksmithing class.’

I began to cook my dinner, wondering what I should do… I have been doing that for a while. Living for over a year in isolation never had been within my plans, but I honestly didn’t care much about them lately since things keep happening and putting them out of order.

Following the rules and getting screwed like that every time was tiresome, too. Besides, I was planning to live like Zyra told me to leave and just see what happens. I stuck up too much to my plans before and only worked for so long, and it also limited some things.

‘Putting that aside, it is weird that just moving West made me leave that cold area. This doesn’t make much sense. It snows here in some parts of the year, but not that much.’

I didn’t have much information about the location of things in the Great Sea, but I knew that the Skarnash Tribelands were like a small continent south of the Elven coast. The influence of other countries and races here was weak, so it was a good chance for me to do some exploration and learn some new things.

Shadow Mark Lv 09: Mark a target with shadow energy, increasing the damage they take from all sources by a percentage for a limited time. This effect can stack with multiple uses. Cost: 50 Mana.

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Arcane Trap Lv 08: Place a magical trap at a location that triggers an arcane explosion when an enemy approaches, dealing elemental damage based on your magic power and dexterity. This explosion can apply status effects such as burning, freezing, or stunning based on the chosen element. Cost: 100 Mana.

Phantom Slash Lv 13: Unleash a swift, multi-hit combo in quick succession, dealing rapid attacks based on your attack speed and dexterity. Each hit has a chance to critically strike, and if used from stealth, the first strike is guaranteed to crit. Cost: 40 Stamina.

TEMPERED BODY LV 18: TEMPORARILY HARDEN YOUR BODY TO WITHSTAND ATTACKS, REDUCING INCOMING DAMAGE BY 30% FOR 10 SECONDS. THIS SKILL IS PARTICULARLY EFFECTIVE AGAINST PHYSICAL STRIKES, ALLOWING YOU TO ENDURE HEAVY HITS AND STAY ON THE FRONT LINE. COST: 100 STAMINA.

PERFECT FORM LV 12: ENTER A STATE OF FLAWLESS MOVEMENT, INCREASING DODGE RATE AND ATTACK ACCURACY BY 25% FOR 10 SECONDS. EACH SUCCESSFUL DODGE DURING PERFECT FORM RESTORES A SMALL AMOUNT OF STAMINA AND HAS A CHANCE TO GIVE YOU A TEMPORARY SPEED BOOST. COST: 70 STAMINA.

I also spent the last eighteen months training those skills that I believed would help me escape annoying situations and I sharpened my basic skills, too. It was indeed time to move on with my life.

I didn’t have many things to pack, but I cleaned up the cave as soon as possible and then decided to leave the next morning. It was a bit surprising that I decided such a thing all of a sudden, but given the lack of information that I had, I couldn’t overthink things and then try to make things as efficient as possible.

In any case, I decided to head north since it was in that direction that I saw the ships heading and approaching the coast as well. Along the way, I stopped for a bit at a clearing in front of the sea. There, I found the graves of ten people.

“It is time to say goodbye for real, guys. I probably won’t return here ever again, but that is probably for the best, right? No more moping around. This area should be safe enough for no one to bother you. Then again, I don’t like your customs when it comes to this kind of stuff.”

It was a bit awkward, but at least I said what I wanted. That area was rarely visited by other orcs and I noticed that some of them found the graves, but did nothing. It was fine to let them rest there.

“Well… thanks for the journey.”

I began to head north for real this time and I didn’t turn back even once. It has been a while since I used that, but I used Shadow Step whenever possible to level up the skill. Using that for traveling was almost nonsensical, but I considered that was training, so it was fine.

I tried to make some amulets with that spell, but controlling them was quite hard since it wasn’t an attack spell that you just had to aim. Once you attack the mana core, the amulet would make the user move until the energy was completely spent. So, one needed to know a clear path in mind or make split-second decisions.

I gained half of the normal experience I would usually earn when using the spells myself and since I didn’t care about my adventurer card rank anymore, it was a good way for grinding.

‘The human currency is the same in the Elven and Dwarf realms. Even the realm of mixed races, Talimor, uses the same fired currency, but things are different here. My rank in the guild should be useless here if they have their own guild system.’

Still, I should be fine if I trade my magic implements for whatever I want. I made a lot of magic bags in the last year to try to increase the rarity rank of the effect, and I once pulled off an Adept rank magic storage. I felt a terrible headache for the next three days, though.

‘The headache is a clear effect of breaking my limits… while that makes me stronger, it also weakens me a bit. I have to keep increasing my parameters for the results to come more naturally.’

In the end, it took me three days to see any signs of civilization, but when I saw the orc’s version of a port, it made me think that I might have missed some villages or towns along the way.

The first orc port looked like a half abandoned and half destroyed port town. It was too old and damaged. It looked like they were attacked pretty often, but they didn’t care about respiring it. Everything was made of wood, and since it was close to sea, the sea breeze was relentless against the buildings.

They couldn’t be different from the Elves, so there were plenty of signs of trees that had been chopped down over the years and used by them, but at least there are signs of new ones sprouting.

It didn’t take long for me to see some orcs ahead chopping down trees. As soon as they took notice of me, they stopped their work and then looked at me with expressions of astonishment. They froze mid swing to cut down a tree. I just passed by them and then nodded like nothing had happened.

I found more and more orcs along the way and then some goblins as well. They all reacted the same way at me… like I was a rare non-violent animal. Still, it was weird… the goblins were very different from the one I faced before. They were taller and a lot more humanoid and without deformations. I could tell why now they weren’t considered monsters when they weren’t inside dungeons. Regardless, I eventually entered the first town in the Skarnash Tribelands.