'Humph!'

'Argh!'

'Ah!'

On a snowy night, muffled grunts, agonized screams, and groans continuously pierced through the thick darkness, nailing into the tiny sheep pen.

Rosen crouched in the innermost corner of the pen, curling up tightly and covering his frail body with thick hay, hoping the nightmare would end soon.

He could not understand why the two youths had died, only knowing that the mountain village had suffered a sneak attack.

Without any power, the only thing he could do now was to minimize his presence, to avoid being targeted by this heartless sneak attacker.

Suddenly, a deafening roar sounded from the darkness.

"Ah~ I will kill you! I will kill you!"

It was the voice of Ironclaw Wolf, the chief of the mountain village.

"Come out! You come out!"

"If you have the guts, don't hide! Come out and fight me fair and square!"

Fury blazed in his voice, and even more so, helplessness.

"Hehehehe~" An icy laugh sounded from the darkness, this voice actually appeared near the sheep pen, startling Rosen and making his scalp tingle!

"Ironclaw Wolf Walde, wanted criminal. Baron Moray offers 10 gold crowns for your head. Now you understand?"

"It's you! You're that cursed sorcerer?!" There was astonishment in Ironclaw Wolf's voice.

"Ha~ I'm surprised you still remember my voice."

"Humph~ An arrogant high-and-mighty cursed sorcerer, actually resorting to the tricks of a bounty hunter. It seems you're not that big of a deal after all."

Amidst the surprise, the bandit chief's voice calmed down.

"We'll see how big of a deal I am soon enough."

It became quiet outside the sheep pen. Apart from the howling wind and snow, no other sound could be heard.

The suffocating silence lasted a full ten minutes. To Rosen, those ten minutes felt like a century.

"Humph!"

A muffled groan sounded right near the sheep pen.

Rosen's heart lurched. He curled up even tighter, cursing in his heart, "Go fight outside the village! Why come to the sheep pen!"

"Die!"

An explosive roar like thunder suddenly blasted open near the sheep pen, followed immediately by a shrill gust of wind whistling from afar, charging straight at the pen.

'Crash!'

The wooden walls of the pen were smashed apart, wood chips flying everywhere.

'Thud!'

The next moment, Rosen felt something heavily pierce into the mud behind him. Mud splashed onto his back, painfully piercing his skin.

He instinctively reached back and touched it. The object felt icy cold. It was a heavy iron chopping blade.

In a flash, Rosen understood many things.

'This slash was meant for me! I was likely mistaken for the sneak attacking sorcerer!'

'The sorcerer hid near the sheep pen, yet didn't kill me. It's likely not because he didn't notice me, but used me as bait to confuse his opponent's senses!'

Which meant, he had just been hovering on death's door!

Thinking of this, coldness instantly washed over him.

Soon after, a murky dark red sphere of light shot out from the remote corner near the sheep pen, striking the figure outside.

Not just one sphere, but two, no, three!

'Ding! Ding! Ding!'

Accompanied by a strange whistling sound like a whistle, the three spheres drew smooth arcs in the night, striking that figure in succession.

'Boom! Boom! Boom!'

Detonation-like explosions went off almost simultaneously.

"Ahhhhh~~"

A painful shriek came from outside the pen.

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And with the shriek, the extinguished torches lit up once more. The flickering firelight slightly dispersed the darkness of the snowy night.

Rosen lifted his head a little and looked outside through the hole in the wooden planks.

He saw the bandit chief Ironclaw Wolf sprawled less than 10 meters from the sheep pen, painfully groaning and writhing in the snow.

Both his arms were severed from the roots, his left leg knee down was also gone, leaving dark blood pouring from his wounds all around him, staining the snow black.

On the other side of the pen, less than 5 meters from Rosen, a man of medium height walked out from a remote corner.

This man wore a tall, wide-brimmed, half-worn pointed hat and a thick gray cloak covered in snowflakes. He leaned on a long wooden staff.

This matched Rosen's imagination of what a sorcerer looked like almost perfectly.

The man walked forward a few steps and stopped 5 meters away from the bandit chief. The firelight illuminated his face.

Squinting, Rosen saw the sorcerer looked to be in his forties. Very thin, with sunken cheeks, and wrinkles covering his forehead. He looked extremely weathered.

But his eyes were murky gray, flickering with eerie light in the darkness. Just one look made Rosen's heart turn cold, giving him the uneasy feeling of being stared at by a beast.

Several thoughts quickly flashed through his mind.

'This sorcerer is absolutely one who regards human life as grass. '

'Magic is so powerful. He destroyed an entire village alone... If I want to live properly, I'll most likely have to become a sorcerer too!'

Just then, the sorcerer spoke.

"Walde, you now have two paths before you. First, tell me where the village treasure is hidden, and I'll let you die swiftly. Second, I'll spend three days slowly prying open your mouth."

"Vile! Despicable! Bastard!"

"I won't say anything!"

"Don't think you'll get a single copper penny from me!"

Ironclaw Wolf Walde roared with all his might, but too weak, it lacked any intimidation.

The sorcerer shrugged. "What a pity then." He turned his head and looked toward the graveyard in the corner of the village. "I heard your son just died yesterday and is buried over there, right?"

As he spoke, a emerald green sphere of light materialized in the air beside him. Like a wisp of ghostfire, it wavered and floated toward the graveyard, sinking into the damp earth.

Suffocating silence lasted about 10 seconds.

'Thud!'

From the soft, wet earth, a pale, mud-coated hand reached out. Then two hands. Then, the hands forcefully clawed left and right, digging a hole in the earth.

Soon after, a young man sat up from the mud pit.

The youth wore a beast skin coat soaked through by muddy water. His skin was bluish, pupils white, with mud and snow piled on his head. His appearance was that of a corpse, but his movements no different than the living.

His hands gripped his own neck tightly as agonized moans squeezed out from his throat.

"Father~ Father~ I'm in such pain~ Such pain~ Save me~~ Save me~~"

The voice was hollow and lingering, like an echo from hell.

Watching this, Rosen only felt his hair stand on end all over.

Although he had seen similar 'living corpses' in various media in his past life, that was imagined. When it actually happened before his eyes, he felt a tremendous psychological impact.

This was just...too thrilling!

Subconsciously, he focused intensely, eyes wide open and unblinking as he watched it all.

Just then, he heard a 'click' in his mind, like the shutter of a camera. A stream of information flashed through his mind.

'Adventure log screenshot success. Screenshot image automatically saved to desktop.'

He stirred inwardly and immediately summoned the desktop.

Sure enough, a new image appeared on the desktop. The content was exactly the scene of the living corpse crawling out from the earth. The image quality was exceptionally high, every detail lifelike.

Rosen felt a tinge of joy. "So I can even take screenshots. At least I can be an exceptional realist painter."

Before he could examine it further, the sorcerer's voice sounded again.

"Walde, though your son is dead, his soul has yet to fully disperse. I can make him rise again to suffer all the torments of this world once more!"

"No! No~~~~~"

Walde instantly collapsed, yelling loudly, "I'll talk! I'll talk! Spare him, let him go! Let him rest in peace! I'm begging you!"

The sorcerer sighed softly, disappointment surfacing on his face. "Giving in so quickly? I thought you'd put up more of a fight."

As he spoke, the 'corpse' in the graveyard lost its vigor and slumped back into the grave.

He walked to Ironclaw Wolf's side. "Speak."

Ironclaw Wolf whispered a few sentences, revealing the treasure's location.

After listening, the sorcerer glanced at the sheep pen. The iron chopping blade sticking in the ground suddenly flew up, flying over ten-odd meters before beheading Ironclaw Wolf in one slash.

'Spurt~'

Ironclaw Wolf's body and head separated.

The sorcerer picked up Walde's head, wrapped it in cloth, then glanced at the sheep pen with a faint smile. He turned and walked toward the inner village.

Rosen watched the sorcerer leave, knowing he had likely gone to find the treasure chest.

His heart was in intense turmoil.

"This is a sorcerer with considerable skills. Should I take a gamble and try to apprentice under him?"

"But he's ruthless, readily taking lives. Judging from his looks, he's not the forgiving type either. If he's unwilling to take me as disciple, and I force myself on him... I'd likely end up dead."

"The mountain bandits seem to be all dead. With so many fierce beasts and poisonous bugs in the forest, staying here alone, I probably can't survive either."

"Whatever. Sooner or later I'll die anyway. Might as well take a gamble!"

After intense psychological struggle, Rosen gritted his teeth, crawled out from the hay, strode out of the pen in a few steps, and shouted at the sorcerer's back, "Sir, do you need an apprentice?"

The sorcerer did not stop or speak, acting as if Rosen didn't exist.

But because he didn't immediately reject Rosen, it gave him a thread of hope.

In business negotiations, as long as the client doesn't directly refuse you, there's still a chance, because they likely want to see your core bargaining chip.

What was his chip?

That's right, he could paint...and his skills were 'astonishing'.

He immediately yelled, "Sir, I can endure hardship and do any task. And I can paint, extremely well."

The sorcerer seemed moved. He stopped and half-turned to look at Rosen. "I killed two of your comrades, yet you don't hate me?"

"They weren't my comrades. I was forced to stay with them."

"I can control corpses, cast curses, command poisonous bugs. I'm an outright evil sorcerer. Aren't you afraid of me?"

"But you didn't kill me, did you?"

"Heh~~~ Interesting... Fine, I just happen to need a luggage-carrying assistant."

Having said that, he threw the cloth bag containing the head toward Rosen. "This filthy thing can be exchanged for money. Help me carry it."

Rosen secretly relaxed. He immediately ran toward the cloth bag. The instant his fingertips grasped the bag, he clearly felt that soft, warm sensation of the human head.

Thinking this was an actual severed head, one that belonged to someone familiar at that, his heart couldn't help but pound heavily.

'I really didn't expect to one day carry a dead man's head in my own hands.'

The psychological impact was immense.

He heard a 'click' in his mind. Another screenshot appeared on the desktop, capturing the scene of him holding the head.

Fortunately Rosen was worldly-wise, with a mentality far stronger than ordinary youths. After a brief recovery, he turned normal again.

With a exertion of strength, he flung the bag onto his back, and strode to catch up to the sorcerer.