Chapter 33: Beyond the darkness

Humans all have something they fear. No matter the individual, there was no exception to this.

It is almost an absolute law.

Some people feared closed spaces, while others couldn’t stand heights. There was almost an endless amount of phobias infecting the human mind.

Despite this, the fear of the dark was one of the most common and strongest fears existing.

This fear was currently clutching my heart tightly with its strong grasp. I couldn’t calm down, my breathing was harsh and my senses in disarray.

Each noise around me became threatening as my eyes moved furiously despite not perceiving light anymore.

It had only been a few minutes since the moment I became blind, but it felt like an eternity.

After several minutes of intense panic, I forced my mind to calm down and stretched my senses as far as I could.

As soon as I entered the world of mana, my mind calmed down a little because I saw that there was nothing around me that could attack me. However, after my painful experience in the cave, I understood that I couldn’t sense every lifeform around me. As a result, I didn’t dare to let my guard down.

With a slightly calmer mind, I began to analyze my situation.

I was blind, alone in the wilderness without any food or shelter.

Certainly, the situation didn’t look too good. In fact, it became truly hopeless. Without even talking about the future fights without sight, just walking without falling would be quite a challenge.

I won’t be able to continue my journey like this… Is this how I will die? 

Without having accomplished anything.

Alone in the dark.

I quickly shook my head to drive these thoughts out of my mind because I knew that the moment I succumbed to my fear would be the moment of my death.

I didn’t totally give up because I still had a faint hope that my situation was only temporary.

With this distant hope, I began to organize my thought.

I pondered for a while before creating a long stick made from earth magic. I tested it and tried to take a few steps while waving it in front of me to discern the obstacles. I stumbled a little at first but finally succeeded.

With that, I could avoid the obstacles but it wasn’t practical at all. I knew that with this method it would take me an enormous amount of time to reach a human settlement.

Therefore, I wanted it to be only a temporary solution.

I hoped I could rely more on my other senses than on this stick. Of course, I could focus on my hearing, but I could also use the mana around me to guide me. In any case, it wasn't possible to use only this method as I wasn't yet proficient enough in it.

However, I couldn’t wait here and train, so after making sure I couldn’t sense any animals nearby, I resumed my journey.

Fortunately, I remembered the direction I wanted to go before losing my sight. It was obvious that I would slowly diverge from my path, but it couldn’t be helped.

My steps were slow, but as I grew slightly accustomed, my pace became faster. My steps became more assured.

After a couple of hours, I felt the air around me turning colder. I knew even without seeing that the radiance of the sun was slowly disappearing from the sky, only leaving progressively the coldness of the night.

However, for the first time since the beginning of my journey, I didn’t stop.

There was no point doing this because day and night became the same for me. Moreover, my pace became really slow so if I wanted to leave this place sooner I had to walk for a longer period.

I spent the night carefully scanning my surroundings while making my way on the rough ground.

I didn’t encounter any animals on my way.

I was truly alone in the dark.

When the sun rose in the sky, I was still walking. The heat of the sun coming from the east helped me adjust my trajectory.

I was exhausted and the pain coming from my stomach was becoming difficultly bearable, but I steadied my will and continued to walk. If not for the drops of potion I took at regular intervals, I would have already collapsed without a doubt.

The only good news was that I was sure not to starve. My stomach was still furiously growling while sending me regular waves of pain, but I ate a single fruit in three days, and despite that, my condition didn’t get much worse.

Of course, I could still be wrong, but I suspected that the potion acted on my hunger in the same way that water magic acted on my thirst. They gave me the necessary elements to survive but didn’t satisfy me. Therefore, I was thirsty and hungry but I probably would not die from it.

Well, this would only be the case as long as I had some potion to drink. As my consumption skyrocketed, I wasn’t going to hold like that much longer.

“Shit!”

My foot hit a small rock that made me stumble a little. I managed not to fall, but it was already impossible to tell how many times I fell because of that. It was really an unpleasant feeling.

I focused my senses on the small rock that was almost detached from the ground after the impact. I remained motionless for a few seconds to reflect on something.

I extended my hand to completely pull the piece of rock off the ground. As I held it in my hand, I turned my entire focus to it.

The mana of this rock was different from when it was among the earth.

It didn’t make any sense to me, whether in the ground or in the air, it was still the same rock. However, after a full day of walking, relying only on observing the mana around me, I was confident in myself.

The mana of this rock became different.

Sensing the mana didn’t actually allow me to see the shapes around me. If this was the case, I wouldn’t need a stick to walk. Therefore, I couldn’t discern the shape of the rock in my hand. However, the moment I took the rock out of the ground, the mana became different.

The pace of the particles became faster.

Suddenly I understood.

The mana of the rock didn’t change.

It was what surrounded the rock that changed.

When it was among the earth, it belonged to a cohesive whole but as I held it in my hand it was different. The small rock has become totally surrounded by the atmosphere, by the wind circling around.

I felt that the mana from the rock had become faster, but that wasn’t the case. Just like molecules held together and forming something solid, the particles of mana from the rock didn’t move. No, they did move but the movements were much smaller and too difficult for me to detect at the moment.

The particles in my hand were moving faster, it was true but it did not come from the earth.

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It came from the wind around the rock.

I now understood why I wasn’t able to discern the earth around me and why I had to rely on a stick to walk. It was because the mana from the wind was everywhere. Its movements were unpredictable and hindered my perception of the mana from the earth.

Then I just had to ignore the particles of mana moving.

It was easier said than done because something moving was always attracting attention. I stayed immobile for nearly an hour until I felt some progress.

It was far from perfect, but I was finally able to sense the particles of mana that didn't move much. It was quite tiring to fix my attention on thousands of tiny almost immobile particles as millions around moved fiercely.

After this small success, I tried to walk without using my stick. My steps were cautious because I expected to hit a rock at any moment.

However, I didn’t fall.

I slowly walked while avoiding obstacles in front of me and on the ground. After a few seconds, I finally stopped in my tracks with a satisfied expression on my face.

Maintaining such concentration was difficult, but with it, I was able to roughly discern the ground around me.

It was quite a strange feeling. I couldn’t see my surroundings, nevertheless, I could tell where I was walking.

With this newfound ability, I was able to accelerate my pace. I couldn’t help but feel my heart calm down at every step.

As I rushed to the end of this desolate land, my mind was completely focused on the world of mana. It was exhausting but I didn’t let my will waver.

Hope finally appeared in front of me, I wasn’t going to let it pass.

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In the blink of an eye, two days passed.

It was probably the most tiring period of my two lives. As I remembered the harsh training with the old hyena in my previous world, I couldn’t help but sigh a little.

I never thought I'd do something more tiring than this.

By using my senses and this new ability, my journey became faster. I still relied on my stick, from time to time, to rest my mind a little. However, as I continued to walk, I felt that it became easier to locate and differentiate the particles of mana forming the earth from the rest.

Fortunately, I was right. The potion was enough to allow me to survive despite not eating anything. It could restore my strength to a certain extent, but the pain was enough to make me growl or even scream sometimes.

I didn’t care much about that but, there was something else I was worried about.

I could feel my strength gradually fading despite the potion.

Each movement became harder to do and my pace also became slower.

I had no idea if the potion was losing its effect on me or if it wasn’t enough to sustain my strength anymore, but I was sure of something.

I was reaching my limit.

If I couldn’t find something to eat soon then my fate was sealed.

However, shortly after this terrible realization, something marvelous happened.

I began to recover my sight.

Everything was still blurry around me, but it was still much better than being in total darkness.

I didn’t know why I suddenly recovered.

Maybe it was because of the potion I was taking regularly or simply because the poison only lasted a few days. It could also be because the Durnïel that attacked me was too small and didn’t develop a potent enough poison.

I wondered about that for a while, but I clearly didn’t care enough to think too much about it.

What was important was that I was no longer blind.

Despite this, I kept my eyes closed. I still didn't see well enough to rely entirely on my sight, and by keeping my eyes closed, I could continue to train while walking.

As I was walking along the rough ground, I suddenly stopped.

Something was different. I didn't know what, but I knew something had changed. I slowly opened my eyes to look around. Everything was blurry and I had troubles just discerning my surroundings.

I squatted and grabbed a handful of earth.

Then, I approached it near my eyes to examine it.

Even with my defective sight, I could tell that the color of the earth was different. It wasn’t red anymore. A more classical brown color has replaced it.

I excitedly ran a few meters ahead to look at another handful of earth, but the result was the same.

"I finally left that desolate place."

An indescribable joy surfaced in me. I thought I would never leave this forsaken place where life seemed to have disappeared.

I looked at these hills to sense the mana in that direction. The different nature of the mana caught my attention and made me open my eyes a moment ago. I didn’t know what was special about this place, but since the only creature I found was a Durnïel, it was obviously not somewhere where humans should go.

I closed my eyes and continued to get away from it.

After a couple of minutes, the mana around me became more difficult to analyze. I opened my eyes and, after a few seconds of inspection, I noticed that I was near a forest.

These red hills were really bad news, but since there was no vegetation, it was easier to only feel the mana coming from the earth.

I sighed a little before increasing my focus to adapt to my new environment. After ten minutes, the surroundings became clearer in my mind, which allowed me to walk again.

Suddenly, a ball of light appeared in front of me.

I couldn’t help but have a smile on my face as my stomach began to growl with impatience. It was the first animal I saw in several days and it would also be my first meal.

Just sensing the mana didn’t allow me to know what creature I was facing so I opened my eyes. However, I could barely discern its figure from where I was standing.

It was a four-legged black creature that was about three feet tall.

With so few information, I wasn’t able to know which species it was but I didn’t care. I was too hungry for that. As long as it wasn’t a deviant, I wouldn’t back down this time.

“Earth bullet”

My magic left my right hand and headed directly toward the source of light. I was sure of my victory, but to my surprise, the light didn’t disappear and instead, headed in my direction. The creature clearly avoided my surprise attack.

I was a little surprised, but after so many fights against animals, I didn’t lose my calm and quickly took a few steps back.

Seeing my retreat, the creature began to accelerate and leaped toward me. However, as soon as I sensed the movements of its body change, I activated my wind magic to propel myself into the sky above the creature.

I rotated my body and landed a furious axe kick to the animal under me. The earth covering my leg made the blow quite strong.

It was too heavy for this creature still in midair.

With a piercing shriek, it fell to the ground. As the light didn’t disappear, I used several earth bullets to pierce its body and end the fight.

This time there was no doubt.

The light I was seeing in the world of mana slowly faded away. The particles of mana quickly dispersed around me signaling the end of its life.

I sat on the ground and began to remove the thick fur of the creature with the knife Hirillë gifted me. No matter how many times I did that, I didn't get any better. Since I was almost blind and in a hurry to eat something, I didn’t bother trying to do a good job either.

I quickly removed a piece of meat and gathered some wood before starting a fire to cook.

I endured with difficulty the hunger as the piece of meat was slowly cooking. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I was able to stuff my mouth with the juicy meat. In a few seconds, I swallowed it.

The meat clearly needed more time to be ready. However, I ignored the taste of blood in my mouth and continued to furiously devour my first meal in almost a week.

If someone looked at me eating like a madman this piece of half-cooked meat dripping with blood, they would think that I was nothing more than an animal.

Maybe this would have bothered me before, but after experiencing true hunger I couldn’t care less.

Feeling your guts burning with pain and your stomach rumbling as if a furious beast was eating you from the inside wasn’t something I could easily forget.

I knew that this experience changed me for the rest of my life.

When I felt that my stomach was full, I finally stopped eating. I wasn’t a good cook and the meat was poorly prepared, but I was sure that I never ate something as good as this. After that, I cooked several other pieces of meat but with more care this time. Then, I put them in my backpack with a large leaf carefully wrapped around.

I wanted to resume my journey but after my meal, tiredness began to assail me. My eyelids became heavy as I felt my body numb. I wanted to rest a bit.

"Just a few seconds..."

The comfortable feeling of the grass against my cheek made me almost completely succumb to a deep slumber. With a last effort, I forced my eyes open and drank several drops of potion.

I recovered some strength almost instantly.

It was enough to stand up and resist the urge to sleep.

"Even when I was wandering China, I didn’t take any drugs but it seems like I still became an addict in the end." I helplessly muttered.

I knew that I had to stop drinking this potion to regain my strength now that I was out of the range of the red hills. It would be no joke if I was injured without any potion left.

However, I couldn't sleep in this defenseless place. I silently promised myself that in the future I would take the potion only after an injury.

I left but didn't even make ten meters when I heard a growling sound behind me. I quickly turned my head and stretched my senses. Another animal was standing near the fur of the animal I ate. I opened my eyes which allowed me to see a similar figure to the one I just fought.

"Very well, more meat for me."

I didn’t know what species it belonged to but it was clearly not my match.

“Earth b…”

I stopped mid-sentence as I noticed another light on my left side.

Two against one seemed more like a challenge.

I was still confident in dealing with them, but after a few seconds, several other lights began to appear around me. Some were still far, around a hundred feet away, but the number kept increasing.

Twenty…Thirty…Forty…

These numbers made my face turn pale and my will waver. After a few seconds, I focused and sharpened my senses waiting for the beginning of the fight.

Blood was ready to flow and I knew that this time I couldn’t make any mistakes.