Ch. 41..50
Chapter 41 - Plateau
Alex and the Elder walked to the entrance of the village.
When some of the gathered villagers saw Alex, their eyes opened in surprise.
Alex looked completely different from before!
Why?
Well, when Alex had finished talking with the Elder after an hour or so, he stood up from the chair. That's when he noticed that the chair he had been sitting on was coated in mud and grime.
Alex quickly realized that this had come from him, and he remembered that he hadn't washed in an eternity.
He wouldn't jump into icy water at such temperatures.
So, Alex had asked the Elder if he smelled.
The Elder had only awkwardly coughed into his hands.
After that, the Elder offered him a chance to properly wash and take care of his clothing.
Alex wanted to decline, but after some of the villagers had heard that their savior hadn't had an opportunity to wash in forever, they basically forced him.
They wouldn't want any other people outside the village to think that Coldew Village didn't take care of its visitors!
They had filled a big barrel with ice and snow and put it above a small campfire, and while Alex was taking his first bath in this world, his clothes were being washed by some of the older women in the village.
Alex wasn't sure how they had done it, but his coat looked nearly perfect. It was almost like it was new.
As for the clothes beneath Alex's coat, they had been thrown away.
Instead, Alex got a set of new clothing made out of animal hide.
In such a cold environment, cotton didn't grow. Because of that, the villagers mainly used the skin of their pigs and cows to fashion clothing.
When Alex came out of his bath, it was like he had become a new man.
The bath had felt divine!
Alex also thought that since he was already clean, he could also cut his hair and shave.
After everything was done, Alex put on his new clothes and old coat.
He no longer looked like someone living in the wild but like a suave young warrior from some village.
Then, Alex had spent the night in a free room in a random house.
This was the best sleep Alex had ever had since arriving in this world!
Alex only very rarely slept since his meditation could supplement sleep to some degree. Additionally, sleeping in the wilds was dangerous.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ After waking up, Alex felt refreshed and said that he wanted to leave.
The Elder brought him to the exit of the village, and all the villagers looked with shock at him.
He was so young!
When they had seen him previously, they had imagined him to be some 30-year-old man.
However, now, Alex barely looked like an adult!
He almost looked like a teenager!
Alex had grown a bit ever since arriving in this world, but he still had some growing to do. He barely reached 170 centimeters.
When Alex arrived at the exit of the village, he spotted a sled with some wheels at its side.
'That's surprisingly small,' Alex thought.
The sled wagon was barely one meter wide and two meters long.
Additionally, there wasn't even much wood on it. The wood barely reached a meter in height. Even more, the wood was very finely cut. It was like someone had taken a standard piece of cut wood and halved it two more times.
Sure, it was massive to some degree, but Alex was sure that he could pull more.
'It takes up about half of the sled wagon, so it should come to about one cubic meter of wood.'
Alex looked at the villagers and the smiling Elder and couldn't bring himself to ask for more.
'They already helped me plenty. I can always earn the remainder in Warrior's Paradise.'
Alex looked at the surroundings and saw that everything was still coated in snow. This meant that he didn't need to put the wheels on the sled car yet.
Alex turned to the villagers and nodded with a smile. "Thank you all," he said.
The villagers said that it was no problem, and the Elder gave him some last advice for his way.
Alex nodded and said his goodbyes.
All the villagers waved after him as Alex walked over to the sled wagon.
Alex grabbed the rope at the front and pulled.
And the sled wagon didn't move.
Alex looked with surprise at the sled wagon.
'Okay, maybe this is heavier than I thought.'
Alex pulled with more force, and the rope shook violently under the strain.
And finally, after putting a lot of force into it, Alex could move the sled.
Alex threw the villagers a shocked expression, and most of them only smiled back while some of them oh-ed in respect when they saw that he could move the sled wagon.
'That's definitely more than a ton!' Alex thought. 'I know the power of my new body, and one ton is not that heavy! That's more like 1.5 or 2 tones!'
Alex started to feel bad about wanting to ask for more.
The villagers had already given him more than he had asked for.
'However, the Ice Wood is truly massive,' Alex thought. 'Just a mere cubic meter is already closing in on two tons of weight! No wonder it's cut into such a small size. One of these small pieces is probably as heavy as an average-sized piece of wood.'
Alex waved thankfully at the villagers again and began pulling.
And with that, Alex began his journey to Warrior's Paradise.
He wasn't sure exactly how far away it was, but Storm Eagle Zone should be the next zone towards the southeast, according to what the Elder had said.
The area was very uneven, and Alex had to fight against slopes and rises of mountains.
Pulling the sled wagon up a mountain was incredibly difficult. Alex's feet constantly lost their grip, and he was basically running against the elevation as his feet continually slipped away beneath him.
He essentially moved forward like a car with summer tires on pure ice.
Every five rotations of the wheel would only move the car one rotation worth of distance.
It was incredibly tiresome.
Meanwhile, the slopes were not very tiresome.
Instead, they were very stressful.
Alex basically stood in front of the sled with his feet firmly on the ground. The sled was pushing him forwards, and Alex had to slow it down by continually grinding his feet against the ground.
His new shoes had already undergone a lifetime's worth of stress in just two hours.
However, the shoes remained in one piece, surprisingly.
Two hours later, after ascending another slope, Alex's eyes widened in wonder and shock.
'So that's what the Elder meant when he said that I would get a fun surprise on my way to the Storm Eagle Zone,' Alex thought.
Right now, Alex was on top of an absolutely gigantic slope.
Even more, Alex noticed that he was basically on top of a mountain!
When Alex looked to his side and behind him, he saw relatively even ground, but when he looked into the distance, everything was far below him in elevation.
Alex could see kilometers upon kilometers into the distance.
'This is actually a plateau?' Alex thought in shock.
'Even the Duke's garden is on this plateau!'
How huge was this plateau!?
Alex looked back at the plateau behind him, and he could still see many huge mountains.
At this moment, Alex also felt the movement of the Ice Mana.
Alex felt like all the Ice Mana of the plateau was flowing down the slope.
'Does this mean that the Ice Wyvern is somewhere on this plateau? Why else would so much Ice Mana flow down from here?' Alex thought.
Alex had thought that the resident godly beast was far away, but it had turned out that it had been closer than he had thought.
'Where does that river in the Duke's garden even come from?' Alex thought.
Many thoughts went through Alex's head, but he quickly got distracted by the land below him.
The area on the bottom of the gigantic slope was still filled with snow and ice, but the ground was far more even. Alex wouldn't have to deal with all these slopes anymore.
Then, Alex spotted a town on the horizon.
It was probably over ten kilometers away, but the path from here to there was only one long slope.
Alex guessed that he was about two kilometers higher in elevation than the town.
Alex looked at the town.
Then, he looked at the slope.
Then, he looked at the sled.
Alex got a terrible idea.
Chapter 42 - Stupid Idea
'That's a stupid idea, but I want to do it,' Alex thought. He felt nervous but also excited.
Alex went over to the sled wagon and pulled it over the slope's edge. The sled wagon started to slide down, and Alex jumped on top of it. There was enough space in front of the Ice Wood that he could sit down, and he did just that.
The initial acceleration was somewhat slow, but then it became faster and faster.
First, Alex felt nervous.
Then, as the sled wagon became faster, he became excited.
Then, he became nervous again.
And then, he became terrified.
After around 20 seconds, the sled wagon had accelerated to impressive speeds, and it only seemed to become even faster.
At first, the sled wagon had only brought a breeze to Alex's face, but the breeze had quickly transformed into a terrifying storm.
Alex felt the sled wagon below himself shake, and he was sure that he heard a crack at some point!
Alex's breathing and heart rate quickened as the sled wagon reached 150 kph in a matter of seconds.
Then, it reached 200 kph.
Then, 250 kph.
That was already a bit faster than terminal velocity for a falling human. The wind was as strong as the wind a skydiver would experience. However, skydivers had goggles on their eyes. Alex didn't.
Alex already started regretting that he had gone through with that stupid idea!
The slope would even out about a kilometer in front of the city, which would give Alex enough time to slow down the sled wagon with his feet, but he had quickly realized that he might have overlooked something.
'Can the sled wagon even stay in one piece?' Alex thought in fear. 'There's over a ton of Ice Wood on the sled wagon! Is this sled wagon even designed to resist something like 300kph or something? Seriously, I think I'm moving even faster than the hedgehog when it chased that octopus!'
If someone stood beside the passing sled wagon, they would only see a shadow pass by them, and after that, they would be assaulted by a terrifying storm.
Alex had already slid for nearly four kilometers when something happened.
Three people jumped out from behind a tree in the distance and walked to the slope.
Alex's mind nearly stopped working when he saw those three men.
Were they suicidal!?
Alex was sure that they had noticed him since they were looking at him at this very moment.
"That guy seems to come from Coldew Village! We've hit it big, boys!" one of the men said with a smirk.
One other guy laughed, while the third guy only looked solemnly at the approaching sled wagon.
"Hurry up! The guards have probably already seen us!" the third guy shouted.
"Yeah, yeah. Just chill for a second, okay? We got this," the first guy said with exasperation.
"Let's go!"
Then, the three guys charged towards the approaching sled wagon.
"Move!" Alex shouted with all of his power. Sadly, he was still too far away, making his voice very quiet.
"He said move," the second guy said with a snicker. "Does the guy not realize that we are bandits?" he asked.
"Plenty of villagers believe that they are uncatchable when they're sliding down the slope," the third guy explained. "They think that no one would be willing to stop their sled wagons."
The first guy looked with a smirk at the approaching sled wagon. "Sadly, they don't realize that we are all in the Mid-Soldier Stage! We can easily stop a mere sled wagon."
Meanwhile, Alex looked with terror at the people running at him from a distance.
'Are they insane!? Even I would be absolutely obliterated if I got hit by this sled! That sled wagon weighs over a ton and goes like 300 kph!' Alex thought.
"Move, or you will die!" Alex shouted.
In these couple of seconds, Alex had already moved several hundred meters, and he was only about 200 meters away from the three of them.
The three guys continued moving towards Alex, but they slowly came to a halt.
"Isn't that sled moving a bit too- oh shit!"
Ever seen anything speeding right at you from a distance?
It's difficult to see how fast something is going when it comes right at the viewer.
The bandits had thought that this was just some guy from some village who came to buy something. They had thought that he was probably here to buy medicine or something like that. After all, people from the villages rarely came to the city without a good reason. Dragging the sled wagon up the slope was just too tiring and too much of a hassle.
They had also been sure that Alex had had no major wares on his sled wagon.
Why?
First of all, Alex had been very far away.
Second, Alex's body was blocking a major part of the Ice Wood behind him.
Third, no merchant or delivery person would risk their cargo by sliding down this slope.
So, in the minds of the three bandits, this sled wagon had probably weighed something like 150 kg, including the person riding it, and it would also probably only go 100 kph, max.
Two people would have simply grabbed the sides of the sled wagon to stop it, while the third one would have threatened the rider.
Sadly, they had been off with their calculations.
Even more, they had only noticed something when Alex was 200 meters away.
How fast were 300kph?
Something moving at 300kph moved a bit less than 100 meters per second.
That was a kilometer of distance in a bit more than ten seconds.
It was ridiculously fast!
In short, after the bandits had become suspicious, they only had two seconds left to dodge.
The third guy of the group had immediately jumped to the side since he had been very careful the entire time. Thanks to that, he had just barely evaded the sled wagon.
The other two were not as lucky.
The first guy had managed to jump to the side, but his legs were still in the sled wagon's path.
As soon as the sled wagon hit the bandit's legs, an explosion of blood occurred. One leg was flung into the distance while the other one barely held on by some flesh and skin. The bandit's body started rotating at insane speeds, and he fell to the ground.
The second guy hadn't managed to jump very far.
The right side of the sled wagon hit him in the abdomen.
A shower of blood assaulted Alex, and a severed leg hit him in the chest, cracking several ribs.
However, Alex didn't care very much about his injury since his mind was preoccupied with processing what had just happened.
'Did I kill someone?' Alex thought in shock.
For some seconds, Alex's mind just wouldn't work, but the urgency of the situation quickly woke him up.
'The slope's angle is evening out! I have to stop the sled wagon!' Alex thought.
Alex put his legs to the ground, but he immediately pulled them back.
When he had just slightly touched the ground, his leg had nearly been torn off!
'I can't brake!'
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ For the first time in a long while, Alex was genuinely terrified.
'I'm going to hit the city walls!'
Chapter 43 - Aftermath
Alex was panicking.
The sled wagon was going way too fast for him. He couldn't even change its direction or brake!
After some seconds of panic, Alex reached the even ground, but the sled didn't seem to stop at all.
It just kept on going!
"Jump down!"
A powerful shout came from the city walls when Alex had still been over a kilometer away. Alex didn't even think about how loud that shout had been to be heard from such a long distance.
Alex looked to the side at the rapidly passing surroundings.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ How was he supposed to jump off something that's moving so fast?!
However, Alex's mind, which had gotten used to stressful situations, quickly came up with a solution.
Alex gritted his teeth. 'Let's hope this works!'
Alex put his left hand to the Ice Wood behind him for two seconds. In these two seconds, Alex absorbed a lot of Ice Mana, and the familiar feeling of bursting appeared.
Then, Alex took a deep breath and jumped to the side, protecting his head with his arms.
Everything seemingly moved in slow motion for Alex.
BANG!
Alex hit the ground, and his body was violently thrown around. Alex spun several times in the air, and he felt the centripetal force pulling his arms away.
BANG!
A second hit, and several of Alex's bones broke.
Alex completely lost his sense of direction, and he had no idea where he was going.
BANG!
Alex hit something, but after a brief moment of resistance, it gave way. He felt himself nearly puke at the force that hit his body just now.
BANG!
Alex hit the ground again, and his shoulder broke.
BANG!
He hit another thing, which quickly gave way beneath his force.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
After several more hits, Alex eventually stopped.
Alex lay on the ground, and he felt like he was dying. Yet, while everyone else would feel despair at being in such a state, Alex only looked with shock at the sky.
'I'm still alive!'
Alex knew that he would survive since he had gone through similar experiences. He knew that the Mana would heal his body.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Alex heard the sounds of something incredibly powerful hitting through something, and he knew that this could have only been the sled wagon.
'I'm in so much trouble.'
BANG! BANG! BANG!
More explosive sounds followed, and Alex didn't want to look at the damage he had caused.
After two more sounds, it stopped.
Alex only continued lying there.
'How am I supposed to pay for all that?' he thought. 'Would they take Ice Wood as payment?'
'How many people got injured?'
'Speaking of, I think I just killed one of those bandits.'
Silence.
Alex only looked at the sky as he tried to come to terms with what had just happened.
After about of minute of just lying around and thinking about what he had done, Alex slowly stood up.
Clank, clank, clank.
Alex heard the sound of approaching, armored footsteps, and he looked at his surroundings for the first time.
He was in the forest on the side of the road.
'So, the things I punched through were trees,' Alex realized as he saw several destroyed trees. 'If I still had a normal body, the first tree would have killed me.'
Alex had left behind a trail of destruction in the forest.
"Oh, you can move?" a gruff voice said with surprise and a bit of amusement.
Alex looked over, and he saw five men. One of them stood at the front, and he wore bright-silver armor. The four men behind him wore grey, iron armor.
"What damage did I cause?" Alex asked.
The leading man had anticipated the question, but he hadn't thought it would be the first one.
"Nothing," the man said with a smirk.
This immediately dumbfounded Alex.
For a while, Alex wasn't even sure if he had heard correctly.
"Nothing?" he asked for confirmation.
"Yes, nothing," the leading man answered with a rough chuckle.
"How?!" Alex shouted.
The four men behind the leading man were silent, but the leading man laughed loudly. "Earth Mages are very useful," he said. "Also, do you honestly believe something like this hasn't happened before? Merchants lose control over their sleds all the time."
"However, I have to say that your case was the most notable out of all of them. You had over a ton of Ice Wood on your sled wagon, and it took four Earth Apprentices to stop it. They even had to ingest some valuable pills to stop it. Of course, you have to pay for them."
Alex was still perplexed.
How did they stop something like that?!
"What about the three men that I ran over?" Alex asked.
"Oh, them? Don't worry about them. They've been a plague for a while," the man said. "There's even a bounty for them."
Alex had expected something like that, but he was still a bit surprised that the guard even laughed about the fate of the bandits. "Did they survive?"
"One of them died on impact, one of them got finished off by us, and the last one fled. We are currently chasing the last one," the guard said with delight. "You've done us a great service, but you also have to pay for our help. The pills the mages had to ingest were a bit more expensive than the reward, but I'm willing to cancel the debt out with your reward. These three guys have annoyed me for way too long."
Alex felt a pressure in his chest when he heard that he had killed someone.
Alex had killed plenty of beasts, but killing a human still felt different.
The guard noticed Alex's expression. "Oh, was that your first kill?" he asked.
Alex slowly nodded.
"Man, you're lucky," the guard said with a snort.
"Lucky?" Alex asked in shock.
What was lucky about that?!
"Yeah, lucky," the guard repeated. "Not only was your first kill an accident, but you also killed a bandit. That's way easier to come to terms with than killing another soldier or civilians. In comparison to your lucky ass, my first kill was an execution."
It was still difficult for Alex to come to terms with taking another human life.
"Oh, come on," the guard said as he stepped closer. "You'll get over it. This was actually a good thing for you. It will help you in the Warrior Academy."
Alex's eyes widened. "How did you know that I wanted to go there?" he asked. Alex was still a bit perplexed by everything that had happened.
"You're young, you have a very powerful body, judging by the fact that you are still alive after all of this, and you are traveling with a ton of Ice Wood toward the southeast. That Ice Wood is obviously for the special exam," the guard said with a smirk. "Also, you kind of feel like a student of the Warrior Academy."
"Come," the guard said, turning around and gesturing to the street with his head.
The guard passed his men and continued walking away.
After some seconds, Alex shook his head and followed.
Some seconds later, Alex saw the slope again, and his eyes widened.
Alex saw a figurative mountain of rubble strewn across the slope. The entire slope was covered with grey stones.
"Our Earth Apprentices created several walls made of stone," the guard explained while Alex looked at the aftermath. "Your sled wagon punched through seven of them before being stopped by the eighth. That's a new record! The old record had only managed to get through three. Quite impressive."
When Alex heard how the town had stopped his sled wagon, he was surprised.
If they had stopped it with walls of stone, how come Alex didn't see any pieces of wood anywhere?
"Come," the guard ordered again as he walked to the end of the slope.
Alex followed the guard, and eventually, the group arrived at a small wall made of grey stone. However, the wall wasn't straight but tilted.
"Oh?" the guard said with surprise. "Would you look at that. The last wall wasn't destroyed, but your sled wagon managed to break it off at the base. I think we can count it as having broken through eight walls then."
"Look," the guard said as he walked to the piece of wall.
BANG!
The guard lightly kicked the piece of wall, and the wall flew for over two meters.
Obviously, the kick hadn't been as light as it had seemed.
Alex looked over and saw the front of his sled wagon, and his eyes widened yet again.
The front was bent but still in one piece!
How?!
"How is it still in one piece?" Alex asked in shock.
The guard laughed and lightly kicked the sled wagon.
BANG!
An explosive sound resounded throughout the surroundings, but the sled wagon only turned to the side a bit.
It was still in one piece.
The guard turned to Alex with a smirk.
"Ice Wood is hard. To think that you would actually have a sled wagon made of Ice Wood. That's about one of the most extravagant things I have ever seen," the guard said with a laugh.
Chapter 44 - Dark Iron Ore
Ice Wood?
The sled wagon was made of Ice Wood?
Alex's mind immediately went to the friendly villagers. Not only had they given him so much Ice Wood, but they had also created a sled wagon out of Ice Wood. They sure had gone all out with their repayment.
However, after some seconds, Alex looked away from the sled wagon and turned his gaze towards the slope.
Alex could see blood on the slope, as well as two bodies. Some guards were currently pulling the bodies to the side of the slope, and after they got there, they simply threw the bodies into the forest.
Apparently, bandits didn't get a proper burial.
Such a scene seemed unimportant, but it gave Alex a feeling of disconnect.
On Earth, even mass murderers would get a burial. After one's death, everyone was the same on Earth.
But here, these bandits were simply thrown to the side of the road.
No one minded such a scene, but Alex felt like this scene was showing the differences between this world and Earth very well.
Life truly wasn't seen with as much importance here as on Earth.
'I killed one of them,' Alex thought with discomfort.
Alex felt some guilt appear in his chest, but it wasn't as overwhelming as he had thought.
Every human had thought about how it would feel to kill someone else at least once. Some edgy teenagers might think that they wouldn't feel anything, but the truth was always different.
Taking a human life woke a certain feeling of pressure and wrongness in one's chest.
Even if a person hated someone else, when that other person died suddenly, the first person would still feel some discomfort.
This feeling would be far stronger if one was responsible for their death.
Wishing someone else to die was normal, and it happened all the time, but when it actually happened, one would still feel uncomfortable.
However, Alex's feelings weren't as intense as he had imagined them to be. He definitely felt something, but it was still manageable.
'Is that normal?' Alex thought.
Silence.
'I don't know.'
"Hey! Get your sled wagon out from below the rubble. We need to clean the slope for other merchants," the guard said, pulling Alex out of his thoughts.
"Oh, right, sorry," Alex said absentmindedly.
Alex went over to his sled wagon and pushed the stones off the sled wagon. After a bit of cleaning up, Alex could see the entire sled wagon again.
The cage with all the Ice Wood was displaced since the rope broke, but it was still close to the sled wagon.
It took a lot of work, but Alex managed to put the cage with the Ice Wood back on top of the sled wagon.
And then, the sled wagon was ready to be moved again.
"Anyway, welcome to the Central Wild!" the guard said with a smirk.
"Is that the name of the town?" Alex asked.
The guard nodded. "Yep. You need to leave through the southern entrance if you want to get to the Storm Eagle Zone. However, I would suggest that you stay here for the night. The Southern Wild is about a day of travel away, and it's already afternoon."
Alex nodded. "Thanks," he said.
Then, Alex pulled the sled wagon towards the town.
The guard and his men started cleaning the slope as Alex went to the town.
After a bit of pulling, Alex arrived at the gate, and he was allowed to enter without any inspection. The guards had probably already inspected his sled wagon earlier.
Alex saw that the streets actually had no snow on them, but that wasn't an issue. Alex went to the side of his sled wagon and loosened the ropes around the wheels. The wheels were fixed to the sled wagon with beams made of Ice Wood, and they fell down and hit the ground.
After loosening all four wheels, Alex went to a corner of the sled wagon.
Crk!
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Alex lifted the corner and moved the wheel until the wood beam was straight. Then, Alex kept the beam straight and fastened the rope on the beam again.
After doing that for all four corners, Alex pulled the sled wagon into the town on its wheels.
He didn't need to put much force into the pull since pulling something with wheels was easier than pulling a sled through snow.
As Alex traveled through the town, many people watched him with interest. They had heard about the commotion in front of the northern gate, and they guessed that Alex was responsible for it.
However, none of the townspeople came up to start a conversation. They were more interested in watching.
The town wasn't really big. It probably was only a kilometer across.
Eventually, Alex passed through a marketplace, being careful that he didn't damage anything with his heavy sled wagon.
Suddenly, Alex felt his sword vibrate. Alex took out the sword and looked at it with interest.
An invisible force pulled Alex's attention to a stall at the side of the road. The stall was made of wood, and it was quite wide and deep. Alex saw stones, gems, and metals being displayed at the front, and he could see several different kinds of ore in the back of the stall.
Alex remembered that he could increase the power of his sword with ore, and he quickly realized that this was the reason why his sword was vibrating.
"Can I help you?" the salesman on the stall asked after realizing that Alex was eyeing his store.
Alex calmly took out his sword and put it on the counter. "Do you have something for weapons useful for warriors in the General Realm?" Alex asked.
Alex was in the First Realm, which was called the Soldier Realm for physical fighters. The General Realm was the Second Realm.
Alex knew that his weapon was probably useful for warriors in the Soldier Realm. So, if he wanted to increase its power with ore, he needed it to be of the second Realm.
When the salesman heard Alex's words, a bright smile appeared on his face. "We specialize in such ore. The Dark Iron Ore is the ore of choice for warriors in the General Realm," the man said.
Alex nodded. "How much to reforge this entire sword with Dark Iron Ore?" he asked.
"We don't do forging," the man said.
"I know. I meant how much for the required Dark Iron Ore to reforge the sword?" he asked.
The man looked at the sword on the table.
"40 gold," he said. "We get our Dark Iron Ore from a local mine, which is why it's so cheap. You would normally have to pay over 50 gold for something like this."
Alex's eyes widened.
"Oh, okay. Thanks. I'll be going then," he said.
The salesman deflated when he realized that Alex didn't buy anything. "Do come again," he said without any motivation.
"Seems like you have to wait," Alex said quietly to his sword.
Surprisingly, Alex felt like his sword vibrated a little.
Alex had already realized that his sword wasn't so simple, but he still wasn't quite sure about its abilities.
He probably had to wait until he had enough money to upgrade it to find out more.
After a while of pulling, Alex reached the southern gate, and he went through it.
The guard had said that Alex should spend the night here, but Alex didn't plan on doing that.
First of all, Alex didn't have any money, and he couldn't just pay in Ice Wood. There was no sense in spending the night in the town when he would sleep on the ground.
Second, it was still afternoon, and Alex could still get some hours of travel out of the day.
Third, Alex was used to sleeping in the wild.
So, Alex decided to directly continue to the Southern Wild.
Chapter 45 - Usage Of Mana
Alex left through the southern entrance and saw the southern area behind the Central Wild.
It didn't look much different from the other parts of this Zone, except for maybe it being a bit flatter. There were still some hills here and there, but it wasn't as exaggerated as the northern part of the town.
As Alex went past the southern entrance, he put the wheels of the sled wagon away again and transformed it back into a sled.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Then, Alex took a deep breath and continued pulling.
It was currently afternoon, and Alex still had enough daylight to travel.
Not much of note happened as Alex continued traveling to the southeast. It was just incredibly boring and tiresome.
Alex saw some big birds flying over the street occasionally, and Alex always stopped to look at them. He didn't want to be caught by surprise by some powerful bird swooping down from the sky.
These birds looked rather powerful, and Alex didn't trust that they didn't eat humans.
Alex even saw some of the bigger birds flying circles above him, but they all left after circling him for two times or so. He wasn't sure if they were evaluating his power or if they were just curious.
After a couple of hours, dusk arrived. Alex had probably traveled for around 25 to 30 kilometers in these couple of hours, which was way too slow for his liking. Sadly, the sled wagon was simply too heavy.
'Being a trader sucks,' Alex thought. 'The merchants that passed me in the last couple of hours all used horses and bulls to pull their cargo. Wonder how expensive these animals are in this world. I didn't see many of them in the town.'
Several traders had passed Alex during the last couple of hours. They were all driving way faster than him, and they all passed Alex easily. Most of them were driving carriages with trailers behind them, but that wasn't all.
The merchants also had bodyguards running alongside their small caravan. These bodyguards all threw Alex some confused looks, which was understandable. After all, Alex was pulling the sled wagon himself, and he was traveling alone.
Whenever a merchant passed Alex, he heard several greetings from the guards, and the merchants even told him their names and their specialties. They had seen the sled wagon Alex was pulling, and they knew that he would earn big money with all that Ice Wood. To the merchants, Alex was a potential client.
But all of that had stopped about an hour ago.
Starting from an hour ago, no more merchants passed Alex, which gave him some insight into the remaining distance to the southern wilds.
'There should be about half an hour of daylight left, and everyone stopped passing me about an hour ago. That means that their carriages can't travel the remaining distance in one and a half hours.'
'The carriages were traveling at around 40kph, which means that there should be about 50 to 60 kilometers left. I'm moving at around ten kph, which means that I probably have around five to six hours of travel left. Sure enough, in total, it should be about a day's worth of travel. The guard was right.'
'Anyway, I think it's time to pause for the night. I don't know what kind of creatures are living here since all the merchants are avoiding traveling through the night.'
Alex pulled the sled wagon to the side of the road, into the forest. It wasn't easy to find a gap big enough for the sled wagon to pass through, but after a bit of searching, Alex found one.
After putting the Sled Wagon partly into the forest, Alex left the sled wagon and stretched. 'Man, my muscles are all sore.'
After a bit of stretching, Alex took out his sword and began training. He never skipped a day of training.
By now, Alex was able to swing his sword with incredible speed, and whenever he unleashed a strike, one could basically only see an afterimage due to the strike's speed. Alex's different kinds of attacks also flowed more easily into each other, eliminating the awkwardness between strikes.
Alex hated awkwardness in his fighting style, and he tried his best to get rid of it.
After about an hour of swinging his sword, Alex was drenched in sweat, which was normal.
Alex jumped up a nearby tree and sat down on one of its thick branches. The trees around Alex were still mostly conifers, but he had long since gotten used to sitting on branches filled with small needles.
The reason why Alex was sleeping on the trees was that he wanted to be careful. He had no idea what kinds of creatures or beasts lived here, and if he had to fight one, he would rather have the initiative. If he stayed the night on the carriage, basically everything in the surroundings would notice him.
However, by staying on a tree, all the curious eyes would be drawn to the carriage first, allowing Alex to gather information on any newcomer.
Alex closed his eyes and started meditating. Meditation worked somewhat as a replacement for sleeping, but he still needed to sleep for about six hours every two days. Of course, Alex wasn't stupid enough to sleep in an unknown region.
Alex slowly lost himself to his meditation. All his muscles had already fully recovered in just a couple of minutes, but Alex continued meditating to bridge over the time he should be asleep.
Meditating without training wouldn't increase Alex's power, but it wasn't useless. Alex was pretty good at controlling Mana by now, but after every couple of sessions of meditation, his ability to control Mana became even better.
Alex's body wasn't without Mana. Yes, his Mana was mainly used to train his body, but Alex had noticed that he also had some Mana stored inside all his muscles. Right now, that stored Mana mainly acted as a storage used for regenerating injuries.
With Alex's higher control over Mana, he had noticed that the stored Mana was being used up during his training. That's when Alex had realized that the stored Mana worked similarly to the sugar stored in one's liver.
To move a body, one needed energy, which mainly came from the stored glucose in one's liver. At least, that's how it had been on Earth. When the glucose was used up, the body burned fat, but the burning of fat was way more complicated, and the process was quite elaborate.
By burning fat, the body couldn't reach the same explosive power as by burning glucose. As a former athlete, Alex had to know all of these things.
So, how did Mana differ?
From what Alex had seen, Mana worked like an upgraded version of sugar. By moving around, Alex's body was using up Mana. Of course, Alex's body also had a passive regeneration of Mana, which was strong enough to get him through an entire day of work.
The passive regeneration of Mana was strong enough to allow Alex to jog indefinitely, assuming he didn't need to sleep or eat. Yet, if Alex started running, sprinting, jumping, or slashing with his full power, he would use up far more Mana than he was regenerating. It became even crazier when he injured himself.
Apparently, healing an injury took a ridiculous amount of Mana. In the past, when Alex got injured, his passive Mana storage would be nearly entirely used up just by healing a cut, but now, Alex had enough control over his Mana to stop that from happening.
Obviously, the ability to continue jumping around and fighting was more important than healing a cut.
'The ability to control Mana is probably of imperative importance,' Alex thought while meditating. 'Mana is technically a very potent form of energy, and you can basically do anything with enough energy. I'm certain that I can use the Mana in my body for more than just jumping around and attacking. There have to be other kinds of uses.'
'Well, I should learn all these things after joining that academy. It's funny that I'm actually looking forward to going to school. I've always hated school.'
Crk.
Alex opened his eyes as he heard the sound of something stepping onto a twig.
Alex looked at the origin of the sound, and he saw a familiar beast.
'Oh hey, another Frozen Lake Stag,' Alex thought as he looked at the small stag. 'Its antlers are smaller, and they're not shining brightly. I can also not feel as much Mana coming from it. It's definitely weaker than the one I killed.'
The Frozen Lake Stag was carefully moving towards Alex's sled wagon.
There was a ton of Ice Wood on the sled wagon, and the Frozen Lake Stag loved Ice Wood.
One could say it was hungry.
However, it wasn't the only thing that felt hungry.
Alex looked at the Frozen Lake Stag greedily.
Chapter 46 - Silent Danger
Alex sat on the tree while a campfire was burning below him. Several skewers filled with meat were hanging near the fire, and Alex was eating one of those skewers right now. From time to time, Alex jumped down, retrieved another skewer, and went back to the tree. He still wasn't sure what kind of creatures lived in this area, so he tried to remain hidden.
Anything that came here would have its attention drawn to the fire and sled wagon, leaving Alex the initiative.
After eating quite a bit of meat, Alex pulled the remaining skewers from the fire, put some of his spare clothes around them, and put them on the sled wagon. He would eat them tomorrow while traveling.
A couple of hours passed, and it was now well into the night.
That's when Alex felt something approach.
Alex didn't hear or see the approaching creature, but he felt a lot of Ice Mana moving towards him.
Alex slowly stood up from the branch and silently moved to the next tree.
A feeling of nervousness appeared in Alex, but he forced himself to remain calm. 'Judging by the amount of Ice Mana being displaced, this is probably a creature of the Second Realm, and it's definitely not in the earlier stages.'
'I can't fight that.'
After moving two trees away from his makeshift camp, Alex closed his eyes to concentrate on feeling the Ice Mana in the atmosphere.
In Alex's mind, he saw a sizable, blue ball of Ice Mana moving towards his old camp. The blue ball of Mana was about two meters in diameter, which confused Alex a bit.
'It feels like the creature is about as long as it is wide. It's not as tall as it's wide or long, but it is still quite tall. I wonder what kind of creature that could be?'
Surprisingly, Alex heard absolutely nothing.
The forest was completely silent, which was a scary thought.
A creature of such a size should make some sort of noise. Sure, the Pest Cats were also silent creatures, but they had an Affinity for Darkness. Alex was pretty certain that the Darkness Affinity allowed the Pest Cats to remain silent.
Yet, the creature that had just entered Alex's camp obviously had an Ice Affinity.
'If I couldn't perceive Ice Mana, my survival would depend on luck. I would have remained on my branch, and I wouldn't even have noticed it. My survival would have completely hinged on it not seeing me on my branch.'
According to Alex's perception, the creature stopped before Alex's campfire, and then, Alex felt like it had gotten colder.
'Did it put out the fire? It probably doesn't like fire due to its Affinity.'
Then, Alex felt the creature going to his sled wagon. The sled wagon was made of Ice Wood, which had a lot of Ice Mana. Because of that, the sled wagon was also visible in Alex's perception.
'I hope it doesn't consume all the Ice Mana.'
The creature went to the sled wagon and stopped in front of it for a couple of seconds. After that, the ball symbolizing the creature went over the sled wagon.
Alex grew nervous. If that thing consumed all the Ice Mana in the Ice Wood, everything would have been for nothing.
Luckily, the creature only walked around the sled wagon. It climbed over it, circled it, and stopped beside it. Obviously, it was quite curious about the sled wagon.
The creature moved around a lot, but Alex had never heard any sound coming from it.
Some seconds later, the creature left the sled wagon without absorbing the Ice Mana.
Yet, Alex felt it coming towards him. It wasn't moving very fast, but it was definitely coming towards his tree.
Alex narrowed his eyes as he made a split-second decision.
Whoom!
Alex shot an Ice Blast to his front and quickly circled the tree.
In Alex's perception, the ball of Ice Mana shot towards the direction of Alex's Ice Blast with incredible speed.
Alex didn't hear any sound.
After that, Alex slowly and silently climbed down the tree and snuck towards his sled wagon.
'That thing has an Ice Affinity, and it can probably also feel Ice Mana. It probably felt a little bit of Ice Mana coming from my left arm.'
In Alex's perception, the blue ball of Ice Mana was rapidly moving around the forest. It was moving up trees, going down trees, and running around trees. It had suddenly felt a lot of Ice Mana, and it was searching for the origin.
Alex had to use all of his self-control to not sprint towards his sled wagon. He had to move slowly.
Eventually, the creature went back to the tree Alex had just been on. Alex felt how the creature climbed up the tree and moved all around it. If Alex had remained there, he would have been spotted.
Alex arrived at the sled wagon and slowly crawled beneath it. Then, he remained motionless and silent.
That thing had an Ice Affinity, and it could obviously feel Ice Mana. Alex's left arm was a dead giveaway, and he had to deal with it.
So, Alex decided to mask the Ice Mana in his arm with the Ice Mana of all the Ice Wood.
Alex hoped that the Ice Mana of the Ice Wood would outshine the little bit of Ice Mana on his left arm.
The creature inspected all the different trees in the surroundings, but it eventually went back to the sled wagon.
Then, it simply stopped at the spot where Alex's campfire had been.
Alex opened his eyes from below the sled wagon, and he could finally see the creature.
'No wonder it was so silent.'
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Eight long, blue icicles were fusing with the snow on the ground. It was like the snow and icicles were one and the same thing.
Whenever the creature moved its icicles, it would leave a tiny part of the icicles behind. If one didn't look for these parts, one wouldn't notice them. They were only some small, azure spots on the snow.
Alex also looked at the ground beneath him, and he saw the same azure spots. The creature had already been down here before.
Alex moved his head a bit forward to see the creature.
'Sure enough, it's a blue spider.'
The creature was one of those kinds of spiders with incredibly long, thin legs. Yet, its legs weren't actually legs but just long icicles. Only its actual body had flesh. Together with its legs, it was about two meters wide.
'It replaced its legs with pure ice?' Alex thought.
The spider only rarely moved around, and Alex guessed that it was probably trying to sense any vibrations.
The spider remained motionless for about a minute, which felt like an hour to Alex.
Then, the spider slowly walked away, leaving behind azure spots on the snow beneath it.
After a while, Alex couldn't see it anymore, and he closed his eyes to check the surroundings with his perception.
The spider continued traveling for a while at a slow pace, but then, it suddenly exploded to the side.
Alex felt the spider speed out of the range of his perception.
"Creee!"
Alex heard the painful screech of a beast.
Alex took a deep breath and released a deep sigh.
The spider found its prey, which meant that it would return to wherever it had come from.
'That was close,' Alex thought as he finally relaxed. 'Luckily, it had an Ice Affinity. I honestly need to be more careful in the future. Right now, I'm in the Ice Wyvern Zone, which is filled with Ice Mana. Nearly all the beasts in this Zone have an Ice Affinity, which gives me a way to perceive them before they reach me.'
'However, that won't always remain like that. The Storm Eagle Zone is probably full of beasts with a Wind Affinity, and I can't feel Wind Mana. I'm pretty strong, but there are still several creatures in the wild that are more powerful than me. I should avoid staying outside if it can be helped.'
'I've been too arrogant,' Alex thought with narrowed eyes.
Alex slowly left the sled wagon and went back to his tree. The sled wagon was still a major beacon for all the creatures with an Ice Affinity, and Alex had only gone below it earlier because the spider had already thoroughly investigated it.
Luckily, for the remainder of the night, nothing of note happened.
When Alex saw the first light of day, he took a deep breath.
'Time to continue.'
Chapter 47 - Warning
Alex started the next day by continuing to pull his sled wagon along the road.
As always, it was very exhausting and boring.
About two hours later, Alex saw the first merchants pass him again on their fancy carriages. The merchants introduced themselves, and the guards following the carriages also shot a short greeting to Alex.
Luckily, no major event took place for the next couple of hours, and Alex safely arrived in the Southern Wild.
As Alex saw the gates of the town, he rubbed the sweat off his forehead.
However, Alex quickly stopped as he noticed his own action.
'Sweat?' Alex thought as he looked at his left sleeve. 'It's been a while since I actually sweated from exertion. The surroundings are always cold enough that I didn't need to sweat.'
Alex pulled his right hand out of his cloak and felt the surroundings.
'It's getting warmer,' Alex thought. 'Even more, it almost feels too hot under my coat.'
'Seems like I'm close to leaving the Ice Wyvern Zone.'
Alex continued pulling the sled wagon towards the Southern Wild. The town didn't really look special. It was like a town after it had gotten warmer after a heavy snowfall.
In short, it looked muddy and dirty.
When Alex came to the northern gate, the guards stopped him and looked through his stack of Ice Wood for anything illegal. Their investigation was pretty thorough, taking nearly five minutes.
"Why do you want to enter the Southern Wild?" the guard captain asked with practiced ease.
"I'm just in transit. I'm selling this Ice Wood in Warrior's Paradise for my entrance exam," Alex answered. He had noticed that several people knew about the Warrior Academy and its entrance exams, which was why he didn't add anything to his explanation.
The guard captain looked with surprise at Alex's face and squinted his eyes.
"Huh, you looked way older at first glance," the guard captain said. "Alright, you can enter."
"I've got a question," Alex said.
"Sure," the guard captain said leisurely.
"Are there any dangers between here and Warrior's Paradise?" Alex asked. "I've spent the last night in the wilds between here and the Central Wild, and that was too close for comfort."
"Oh?" the guard captain uttered as Alex got his attention. "What did you encounter?"
"General Stage spider," Alex said, "and not the weak General Stage kind. It was azure and had eight icicles for legs. It moved very quietly through the night, and it nearly got me."
The guard captain's eyes narrowed. "You saw an Icy Grave Widow?" he asked.
"I don't know the name," Alex answered.
"Tch," the guard captain spat to the side. "Of course it had to be an Icy Grave Widow. We've been searching for the cause of the nightly disappearances for a while now, but no one saw anything. They either come back without having encountered anything too dangerous or don't return at all."
"I thought we eradicated that pest a couple of months ago, but apparently, we missed some of the young," the guard captain added. "Thanks for the intel. You've been a great help."
"No problem," Alex said.
"You said you were going to join the Warrior Academy, right? Are you interested in taking part in the hunt for the Icy Grave Widow? You seem pretty strong, and we could need someone like you," the guard captain said. "Of course, you will also be paid generously."
Alex was a bit surprised by the offer, but he immediately shook his head. "Sorry, I'm not suicidal. If that thing were in the earlier levels of the General Realm, I could accompany you, but it's definitely stronger."
"Listen, your survival would basically be guaranteed," the guard captain added. "We generally send several warriors in the General Realm to deal with Icy Grave Widows. It's not about if we get it or if we win the fight, but when."
"Sorry, I still have to decline," Alex answered. "I've lived in the wilds for a long time, and I'm still not very comfortable around other humans. The thought of putting my life into the hands of others is something that I'm not comfortable with."
After some seconds of silence, the guard captain only sighed. "Fine, it's your decision after all. Anyway, as a reward for telling us about the Icy Grave Widow, I'll give you some information for your future journey."
"Thanks," Alex said.
"After you leave through the southeastern gate, you will have to travel for about two days to reach the next town. The town is called Blizzard's Edge due to its proximity to both Zones."
"On the path to Blizzard's Edge, you don't really have to be careful of any powerful beasts. The Elemental Mana is weak in the atmosphere, and beasts don't like that. You will, at most, see some early or middle Soldier Stage beasts, and those shouldn't be a problem for you," the guard captain explained.
Alex nodded.
"However, the weak presence of beasts makes this place a haven for bandits. There's a known bandit camp located somewhere between here and Blizzard's Edge, but we haven't been able to find the camp yet."
"Their leader should be a Late Soldier Stage Warrior, but he only very rarely robs people himself. He has lackeys for that. The most powerful bandits you have a chance to meet should be a group of five led by a Middle Soldier Stage Warrior."
Alex's eyes narrowed while the guard captain continued.
"However, you will probably not come across such a group," the guard captain added. "The leaders of these squads are experienced, and they would quickly realize that you're not an easy target. The goal of the bandits is to make some easy money, not to fight someone to the death. You're not an easy target, and they will see that with one glance. Attacking you is too risky."
"So, if you meet any bandits, they will most likely be a group of newbies, and they won't be a danger to someone of your power."
Then, the guard captain's eyes narrowed.
"However, that may be even more dangerous for you than meeting an experienced group of bandits," the guard captain added.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Alex lifted an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Newbies have a certain aura of inexperience, fear, and nervousness on them," the guard captain explained. "To an experienced warrior, they seem more like a group of rascals than bandits."
"Many warriors can't bring themselves to kill these newbie bandits and will only heavily injure them or scare them. They will most likely also throw some life advice at them."
"However, people that have become bandits have already fallen to a level of poverty we can't even imagine. All the life advice we can throw at them is useless. They won't accept the life advice someone gives them but will only get angry at the person."
"The newbies will then inform their higher-ups about the target, and you will meet with more powerful bandits. Even more, they know about your power now, and the group that will meet you will be comprised of many Middle Soldier Stage warriors."
The eyes of the guard captain pierced into Alex.
"If you meet any bandits, you can't allow them to escape," the guard captain said with severity.
"If someone tries to rob you, you must kill them. Otherwise, you're playing needlessly with your own life."
"The danger of this road for you are not beasts or powerful bandits, but your own innocence."
"I hope you can come to terms with killing some people that you will perceive simply as a bunch of kids."
Chapter 48 - Bandits
Alex took a deep breath.
Killing a bunch of kids?
Alex's mind went back to the bandit he had run over on the way to the Central Wild. Alex still felt uncomfortable whenever he thought about that event.
However, he hadn't killed them on purpose, and even more, he couldn't even have stopped the sled wagon if he wanted to. They had essentially thrown their own lives away.
Yet, this time, it would be different. The lives of these newbie bandits would be in his hands.
"Thank you for the advice. I'll keep it in mind," Alex said.
The guard captain nodded. "No problem. You can't travel to Blizzard's Edge in one day anyway, which means that you have to camp on the way there. If some bandits decide to strike, it will be in the night."
"Thanks again," Alex added.
The guard captain motioned for Alex to enter the town with his head. "Don't make a mistake. It's your life or theirs."
Alex nodded again and entered the town.
There wasn't anything special in the town, and Alex simply passed through it in silence. Several merchants were asking him to buy stuff, but Alex ignored them.
A couple minutes later, Alex exited through the southern gate of the Southern Wild.
"Is it fine if I stay near the walls of the city for the night?" Alex asked the guard captain of this gate. "I don't have any money to stay in the town, and I don't want to stay two nights on the road from here to Blizzard's Edge."
The guard captain looked at Alex with a bored expression. "Sure. Bandits won't dare to come this close to the town. Just don't make too much noise."
Alex nodded. "Thanks, I won't."
The guard captain nodded back and went back to his job.
Alex pulled the sled wagon to the side of the road and stretched.
SHING!
Alex pulled out his sword and started his training.
After hours of training, Alex stopped when the sun went past the horizon.
Night had arrived, and Alex decided to sleep. Alex had already skipped a night of sleep on the way to the Southern Wild, and he didn't want to feel tired for the journey to Blizzard's Edge.
'I've traveled quite a bit in the last couple of days,' Alex thought. 'First, I went from Duke Whirlwind's garden to Coldew Village. Then, I went from Coldew Village to the Central Wild and from the Central Wild to the Southern Wild.'
'Tomorrow, I will start the two-day journey to Blizzard's Edge. After that, I should be pretty close to Warrior's Paradise.'
Alex's gaze traveled to the northwest.
He couldn't see any big mountains in that direction.
'I can't even see the plateau anymore.'
Then, Alex looked at the sled wagon behind him.
'No wonder people pay a lot for Ice Wood in Warrior's Paradise. I haven't seen Ice Wood Trees ever since exiting Coldew Village, and the journey from Coldew Village to Warrior's Paradise is dangerous and long.'
'Even a carriage pulled by horses will probably take two to three days to get to Warrior's Paradise from Coldew Village. Even more, the merchants have to hire guards if they want to save on travel time.'
'If they traveled through the night, a carriage would probably only need about 24 hours for the journey, but they would need guards to protect them.'
'Without guards, I think a carriage would leave Coldew Village at dawn and spend the night in the Southern Wild. After that, they would travel to Blizzard's Edge and spend the night there. Lastly, they would probably directly travel to Warrior's Paradise.'
'One day of journey with guards or three days without guards. I guess it depends on the goods if it's worth hiring guards or not.'
Alex's mind wandered to many places as he slowly succumbed to sleep.
This night, Alex slept on the ground while leaning his back on the sled wagon.
The night passed without any incidents.
Alex woke up when it was still dark, but his inner clock told him that dawn would arrive soon.
'Alright, let's go.'
And thus, another exhausting day of travel started for Alex.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ Alex pulled the sled wagon for over twelve hours.
Tens of carriages had already passed him, and Alex had also seen some camps of people traveling without carriages.
'It's a feast for bandits.'
By now, Alex could see no more snow or mud. There were even some trees with actual leaves on them. Alex had almost forgotten what they looked like since he had been around nothing but conifers for months.
The temperature was still a bit cold, but it wasn't freezing.
If Alex had to put a month to the current weather, he would say march.
The winter was at its end, but spring wasn't fully there yet.
When night arrived, Alex jumped onto his sled wagon and closed his eyes in meditation.
Alex didn't want to train right now since he had to be in his peak condition for any eventual attacks.
The entire day, Alex had felt uncomfortable, and it had only gotten worse the closer night came. Alex wasn't afraid of the bandits, but he was afraid of having to kill some kids.
Alex was in the body of a teenager, but he had actually been a young adult in his past life. Many teenagers thought of themselves as adults, but when they actually reached their twenties, they realized the difference between teenagers and actual adults.
There was a certain aura of confidence in adults that was nearly impossible for teenagers to emulate.
A slight wind blew through the surroundings, and Alex felt the gentle movement of his hair in the wind.
Everything was silent.
Hours passed.
Alex felt a bit hungry, but he could get through a day without eating.
Alex focused on gathering Mana in his meditation, and time passed rather quickly for him. It was like he was half-asleep and half-awake.
Suddenly, Alex opened his narrowed eyes.
He had heard the sound of movement in the distance.
Alex looked over, and he saw a shadow dart behind a tree.
The bandits had arrived!
Chapter 49 - Actions And Intentions
Alex looked towards the area where he had seen the shadow. He had been certain that the shadow had had the shape of a human.
'I really didn't want to do this,' Alex thought with narrowed eyes.
Nervousness crept into his heart as the thought of killing a couple of kids reared its ugly head.
SHING!
Alex took out his sword and held it beside himself.
The light of the moon slightly reflected off the black sword, making it just barely visible in the dark.
The forest returned to silence as Alex stood silently on top of the sled wagon, his head turned to the place where the bandits had just been.
The wind made Alex's coat wave in a rhythmic fashion, giving him the appearance of a creature ready to strike at any time.
Alex's appearance was essentially warning everything and everyone in the surroundings that they shouldn't attack him.
Alex knew how effective intimidation could be if someone didn't want to fight. He didn't need to appear aggressive like a bloodthirsty beast. He only had to look like something that wouldn't give up without a fight.
He hoped that the bandits would find an easier target.
Alex wasn't afraid for his life, but for their lives.
For nearly a full minute, only silence reigned in Alex's surroundings.
Then, two minutes passed.
Three minutes.
Five minutes.
After seven minutes, Alex put his sword away and sat down again to meditate.
The bandits were gone.
Alex took a deep breath and entered meditation again.
However, just 40 minutes after entering meditation, Alex heard several tiny noises.
'They returned, and there are more of them,' Alex thought with narrowed eyes.
Alex slowly stood up again and drew his sword.
Ten seconds of silence passed again.
"Go!"
A loud shout echoed through Alex's small clearing, and Alex narrowed his eyes.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
In an instant, over 15 people darted out of the trees as they ran towards Alex's sled wagon.
Yet, Alex gritted his teeth as he saw their appearances.
The bandits came from all walks of life. Alex could see some teenagers, but he could also see young adults, middle-aged men, and one older man.
They were all dirty, and they didn't wear any noteworthy armor. At most, some of them wore vests made of coarse leather and riddled with holes. The others wore raggy and old clothing.
However, the worst part was that none of them carried weapons.
They all charged out of the trees without weapons, and even more, they didn't even look at Alex.
They fully focused on the Ice Wood on the sled wagon.
They never intended to attack or injure Alex, and he knew that.
They only wanted the Ice Wood, and they wouldn't attack or hurt Alex while stealing from Alex's sled wagon.
Alex knew why they were doing this.
'They realized that I'm not comfortable with killing people. So, they came out without any weapons or armor and without any intention of attacking me.'
'They're banking on the fact that I'm unwilling to kill them.'
Alex made a split-second decision and jumped towards the closest bandit.
BANG!
Alex punched the chest of the bandit, throwing him at a tree behind him.
BANG!
The bandit hit the tree with a loud impact, and the sound of bones being broken reverberated throughout the small clearing.
Silence.
The bandits stopped moving as they looked at their colleague.
Alex looked at the other bandits with narrowed eyes, but his heart shook when he saw their eyes.
They weren't shocked, terrified, or angry.
No, their gazes were evaluating.
It was like they wanted to see what happened to their colleague.
The bandit that Alex had punched away coughed and took a deep breath.
He was still alive.
That was everything the bandits needed, and they immediately continued charging towards the sled wagon.
So what if they got injured? The others would share their loot with them, which would make all of this worth it.
As long as they didn't die, it would be worth it!
The first ones reached the sled wagon and began to tear at the cage holding the Ice Wood.
Alex's nervousness increased as he gritted his teeth even harder.
SHING!
"AAAHH!"
A bloody arm flew through the air.
Alex had cut off the arm of one of the bandits, who had just clawed on the cage.
The other bandits paused for a second to look at what had happened.
And then, they continued tearing with even more force.
CRK!
A part of the cage was torn off as the bandits greedily gathered the Ice Wood.
Meanwhile, the bandit with one arm grabbed his arm, put it under his other arm, and also continued clawing at the Ice Wood with his free hand.
Alex's eyes became bloodshot due to the stress and his inner conflict.
'I can't let them get away with the Ice Wood! I need that!'
'My goal is to become powerful! I want to reach heights that would have been impossible on Earth!'
The words of the guard captain shot through Alex's mind.
"It's your life or theirs."
SHING!
Silence.
The bandits looked over in shock as they paused.
A headless body fell to the ground.
Alex gripped his sword tightly.
'It was so easy.'
'My sword went through his body like butter.'
'I just ended a human life.'
Alex's arm shook as his nervousness and fear turned to rage.
These bandits had forced him to take a path of no return, and he hated them for it.
He had already killed one, and it didn't feel as bad as he had thought.
There was no immediate feeling of regret or terror.
No, it only felt like Alex had just lost something.
Killing didn't feel that hard right now, and his anger was all the reason Alex needed.
SHING!
Alex diagonally bisected the torso of another bandit.
His sword was so sharp that the torso might as well not have existed.
The eyes of the bandits reflected deep fear. They quickly grabbed any Ice Wood they could carry and ran away.
SHING!
Alex killed another bandit.
"Drop the Ice Wood, and you can remain alive," he said coldly.
None of them listened.
It was like the Ice Wood was more important than their lives.
Alex gritted his teeth.
SHING! SHING!
Alex killed two bandits before they could even move two meters away.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ These bandits were in the Early Stages of the Soldier Realm, at most. Some of them even had bodies on the same level as the humans on Earth.
"Drop it!" Alex shouted.
Some of the bandits looked back, and when they saw the additional corpses, they dropped the Ice Wood and continued running.
However, the three most distant bandits didn't drop the Ice Wood. They had the best chance of getting away.
BANG!
The ground below Alex nearly exploded as he charged forward with his full speed.
In less than a second, Alex arrived near the first bandit and killed him.
BANG!
Alex changed his trajectory to charge at the next bandit. They weren't all fleeing in the same direction.
Some of the bandits felt a powerful wind pass them as a black shadow darted in and out of their vision.
In just two seconds, the second bandit died.
Then, in another four seconds, the last bandit carrying Ice Wood died.
Only the sounds of hurried footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the forest.
Alex didn't move as he simply looked at the newest corpse in front of him.
The image of a headless body and a solitary head made Alex feel like this thing wasn't a human.
It was hard for Alex to accept that the head and the body had been a human once.
It was like these two things weren't related at all.
Alex looked into the terrified eyes of the head.
The head had belonged to a teenager.
After some seconds, Alex wordlessly bowed down and pushed the body to the side. Alex's hand moved forward, and he took the solitary piece of Ice Wood from the corpse.
Alex looked at the piece of Ice Wood for a while.
'Was it worth it to die for one piece of Ice Wood?' Alex thought, gazing at the piece of Ice Wood.
Then, Alex's gaze wandered to the head.
'Was he deserving of death for only stealing a single piece of Ice Wood?'
Silence.
Alex couldn't find an answer for a long time.
Yet, eventually, he received his answer.
CRACK!
Alex destroyed the piece of Ice Wood in his hand.
'It's not important what he stole.'
'Actions aren't important. Intentions are.'
Alex slowly stood up again and walked back to the sled wagon.
Alex jumped onto the sled wagon and closed his eyes.
The entire time, he ignored the pieces of former humans.
'It's my life or theirs.'
'Actions aren't important. Intentions are.'
Alex repeated these phrases several times in his head.
'I have done what I had to do.'
And thus, silence returned to the clearing.
Alex repeated these phrases in his head throughout the night.
Alex was the only living thing, and the area around his sled wagon was surrounded by the corpses of mortal men.
There were no weapons.
Chapter 50 - Reasons
An hour of silence passed.
Alex couldn't enter meditation.
pᴀɴdᴀ nᴏveʟ His body was tense and shaking in anger from time to time.
'I've done what I needed to do,' Alex kept repeating to himself in his mind.
He had already gotten used to the smell of blood, but Alex subconsciously breathed through his mouth to avoid smelling it.
A painful headache formed over the course of the hour.
Alex felt like his stomach was churning.
'I've done what I needed to do.'
Alex slowly opened his eyes and gazed at the body pieces surrounding his sled wagon.
He had done this a couple of times in the last hour.
It was like he was trying to confirm if all of this had really happened.
'This could have been me,' Alex thought as he looked at one of the corpses.
However, no matter how often Alex told himself these things, it was like something inside of him wasn't accepting his thoughts.
'I did the right thing.'
'If I had let them escape, they would have called stronger bandits.'
However, as Alex had that thought, he realized something.
'But then, why did I only kill the ones that carried Ice Wood?'
Alex's insides shuddered.
'I let the others escape.'
'Stronger bandits will come either way.'
'But then, why did I kill the others?'
'They were already all retreating.'
'Would some pieces of Ice Wood ruin my plan?'
Silence.
Alex looked at the pieces of Ice Wood that some corpses still held in their hands.
Alex knew the answer.
'Without killing at least one or two of them, the others wouldn't have retreated.'
'Killing no one would have ended in my entire sled wagon being stolen.'
Silence.
Alex looked at the corpses.
'Except for the first two, the other deaths were unnecessary.'
'Their deaths don't change the outcome.'
Silence.
'I should have killed all of them,' Alex thought after a while.
'If I had killed all of them, these deaths wouldn't have been worthless.'
'I've forgotten the very lesson I have learned in the wilds.'
'Either go all the way or retreat.'
'I tried to have both things. I wanted to keep my belongings and remain safe, but I also didn't want to kill anyone.'
'My indecisiveness has ended up with me getting neither of these two things. I've killed several people, and my safety isn't guaranteed.'
'I should have killed all of them.'
Silence.
As Alex arrived at that train of thought, his tense body slowly relaxed.
However, his headache worsened.
'I can't make that mistake again.'
Silence.
Suddenly, Alex's eyes shot open with a cold glint as he heard a very silent sound in the distance.
BANG!
The sled wagon shook as Alex shot into the distance with all of his speed.
"Wait-"
SHING!
Two halves of a body fell to the ground.
Alex looked at the corpse with narrowed eyes.
'Black clothing made of leather, daggers, a crossbow, a hood.'
'It's a bandit, but a stronger one. I felt a tinge of resistance from my sword.'
Alex looked at his surroundings warily, but he didn't hear, see, or feel anyone else.
'A scout.'
Alex narrowed his eyes.
'I can't commit the same mistake!'
Alex slowly pulled his sword back and hid it and his arm behind his cloak. After that, he silently but swiftly moved along the surroundings of his clearing.
Alex had stayed in the wild for a long time, and he had become excellent at moving silently.
Alex moved around his clearing in a wide circle, never leaving his sled wagon for too long. He had to keep an eye on it.
However, Alex didn't find a second bandit, even after searching for over five minutes.
Eventually, Alex returned to his sled wagon and sat down again.
He hoped that the night would be over soon.
The time passed in silence for Alex.
The only things keeping Alex company were his thoughts.
Meanwhile, at a camp a couple of kilometers away, a middle-aged man with an eyepatch was glaring at a young man with unkempt, brown hair.
"He's most likely dead. So what?" the man asked with an uncompromising tone.
"Ryan is our best scout!" the young man shouted as he glared at the man. "He went through worse things! I'm certain that he's still alive!"
"Then why hasn't he returned yet?" the man with the eyepatch asked with a solemn voice.
"I don't know!" the young man shouted. "However, I'm sure that he's still alive! That's why we have to check up on him!"
"Don't be stupid," the older man snorted. "You've been in my camp long enough. You should know how these things go. If he hasn't returned, he either left our group, or he's dead. Bandits don't get captured, and there are no powerful beasts around. Additionally, Ryan had no reason to leave us."
"He's dead. Get it through your head," the man with the eyepatch said with a serious tone.
The young man's fist shook violently in rage. "Then, we have to take revenge!"
The man with the eyepatch sneered at the young man. "Revenge? Are you sure you're a real bandit? Since when do we take revenge?"
"We're hoodlums!" the man with the eyepatch said with a huff. "We're criminals! We're traitors! All of us are only here to earn money for one reason or another. We're not a group of friends. We're not a family."
"We all have our own families, and we all need money. Some of us want it for our starving families, and some of us want it for ourselves. The reasons don't matter."
"We're only here for the money. That's it," the man with the eyepatch finished.
The young man gritted his teeth in anger. "Then, let's do it for the money! That guy is carrying over a ton of Ice Wood! Isn't that worth taking a risk?"
"Have your emotions blinded you to rationality?" the man with the eyepatch asked with a narrowed eye.
"The beggars tried to rat him, and he killed nearly half of them."
"That shows that he's not a stranger to killing humans."
"Then, he killed our best scout, while he only had the job to scout. I know Ryan, and I know that he would have only scouted. He wouldn't have tried anything on his own. He's smarter than that."
"Yet, Ryan is dead. That means that the perception of our supposed victim is beyond impressive. Additionally, he managed to kill Ryan. Ryan's orders were to retreat at the first sign of danger, and he has plenty of tricks when it comes to running away."
"Ryan could only have been killed by someone that's far more powerful than him."
"Such a person can only be in the Late Soldier Stage or the Peak Soldier Stage. Even if we all attack at once, several of us will still die in the fight."
"And then what? We will have lost a significant chunk of our most experienced members for some Ice Wood."
"It's not worth it," the man with the eyepatch finished.
However, the young man only grew angrier and more frustrated.
"Fine!" he shouted. "Then, I'll just do it myself!"
The man turned around to leave the camp.
Puchi!
However, his feet stopped as a sword came out of his neck.
"I can't risk you exposing our location," the man with the eyepatch said with determination.
SHING!
The bandit cut the head off and put his sword away.
An older person to the man's side only looked at the corpse with eyes filled with pity.
"Give Martha and Holly one gold each," the man said to the older man.
The older man nodded.
Martha was the wife of Ryan, the dead scout, and Holly was the wife of the dead man on the ground.
"Give the families of the dead beggars ten silver each," the man added.
The older man nodded again and slowly left the camp.
Now, the man with the eyepatch was left alone, and he released a deep breath.
"I can't risk the lives of our comrades," he silently said to himself.
"If we all die, all our families will starve."
"We can't take any risks."