A few days later, A few hunters were following a young hunter.

It seemed like they were following some traces and they came to a halt all of a sudden.

There was an enormous dead body of a monster in front of them.

The hunters soon surrounded the monster's body and started removing it's important and valuable body parts.

The leading youngman was an ordinary hunter and one at a very low level.

But one day when he went out to complete his mission he found the dead body of a wild beast left in the open.

He thought it might be some trap or bait, but after waiting for a long time and trying out different methods it didn't seem so.

He collected the valuable body parts and was going to go back when he found traces of someone that had left the body, out of curiosity he followed the tracks carefully and soon found another wild beast corpse.

He thought some high level monster might have passed by and killed these monsters that came in it's way.

The high level beast probably didn't like these low level meat so it left it like that, but this was a huge treasure for the novice hunter.

He soon gathered a team and started following the clue.

Of course many corpses were already taken over by other beasts before the group arrived, but they were still able to earn a huge profit through this endeavour.

This was the path that Sam took when he walked away.

The shackles of Maya had covered Sam's aura completely when he walked through the dangerous area, but Maya was an intelligent being it could detect the fact that Sam was very sad and it didn't know how to comfort him.

But it did find a way to take Sam's mind off his sadness by letting some of the weaker beasts detect him, which resulted in the massacre of many beasts.

.....

On an unknown mountain range, atop the highest mountain.

A young man was sitting on a rock but he was in no mood to enjoy the beautiful scenery that was laid before his eyes.

The view in front of his eyes was very similar to the view he was enjoying before he was teleported to this grand new world. He was just an ordinary philosophy student who was enjoying nature then.

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Now he seemed like just another lover boy who had a broken heart , this was a stark contrast with the cold blooded killer that he had become after many tribulations.

But the matters of the heart were always unfathomable.

Sam took out a bottle of Rum that was gifted to him by Levi.

It was some rare brand that cost a fortune.

Even Though Sam accepted the gift as a good gesture he never drank it as he was never a drinker.

He opened the bottle and started drinking, after four gulps he could feel his stomach getting heated up and brain going a little groggy. He thought of the words said by J.R.R. Tolkien

"Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I go

To heal my heart and drown my woe

Rain may fall, and wind may blow

And many miles be still to go

But under a tall tree will I lie

And let the clouds go sailing by"

he thought to himself " maybe this really is a magical medicine to heal sadness and pain..."

But as he was drinking he saw something from the peak, an old wolf was being attacked by some Hyenas. The wolf was old and was not faring well against this group of Hyenas and this was the territory of the Hyenas.

Sam didn't think much of it and used Maya to restrain the Hyenas, The wolf who was cornered got a way out and a chance to retaliate.

But for some reason it didn't retaliate but walked away in a certain direction.

When the wolf turned to walk away Sam saw the eyes of the wolf, It was old and the eyes had lost its vigour.

But there was still something hidden within those eyes, A will to survive.

Sam didn't think much and continued his drinking and got drunk.

He ended up sleeping on the rock.

In his sleep he had a dream, he saw the eyes of that wolf. He knew this was not the first time he had seen those eyes but he couldn't remember where it was.

He woke up still a little groggy, It has been close to day the sun was just rising up.

Then he suddenly remembered it was close to the Red and Black smoke that he had seen those similar eyes.

He once saw many old beasts that were closing to their death go towards the Red and Black smoke, Sam didn't care about it much then.

The direction that the wolf took was also the direction of the Red and Black smoke.

Sam started thinking and his mind started getting clearer, clearly all those beasts had not yet given up hope.

their will to survive was clearly shown in the depths of their eyes.

That meant that they were going to the Red and Black smoke to look for some opportunity.

Sam thought " No that might not be exactly the case, If someone has to extend their life then whether it be beasts or humans they need to attain a higher cultivation level. There is a high chance that they are going to the Red and Black smoke to attempt their breakthrough.

There must be something there that might help them. Is it the red and black smoke itself.

The beasts that survive inside the Red and Black smoke do absorb the smoke to improve their strength.... What about humans, can human beings also absorb the smoke to improve their cultivation.... Strength.. yes strength is what I need.

If I was strong enough I could have been with Jemin and dealt with anything... I couldn't voice out my opinion because I knew I was not even as strong as the Old doctor.... I need to become strong. Might is what makes right.... "

Sam spoke to himself with a renewed hope " Maybe I should drink more It really seems to be the magical medicine… I remember Charles Bukowski now ….

"Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling that drinking is a form of suicide where you're allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day. It's like killing yourself, and then you're reborn. I guess I've lived about ten or fifteen thousand lives now." …... "