Ethereal Life, Chapter 12 Viridescent Nai

The life of a lone man living on a vast grassland with no one to find fault with is always simple.

Other than searching for and storing food, the next important thing to do after work is take a nap.

Enjoy the fresh breeze under the warm sun. This was indeed the life he wanted, free from the complexity of modern society. At the moment, the young man had a name sticker in his pocket.

As he looked at it with some melancholy. The name was blurred, and most parts of the sticker were lost. This object was an important item that recorded his identity.

Holding it in his hand, he was in deep thought. Staring intently as though he were seeking an answer to his undisclosed decision. A few minutes later, he looked as though he had finally let go of something heavy in his heart.

He made up his mind at this moment: "It's time to bid farewell to this name. I should have done this long ago.".

The young man stood up and dug a pit. Inside the pit, there was an opened wrapper. The name stickers he had were put inside. It was to let it continue to exist for a long time.

There's no meaning; it's just for nostalgic sake. After some time of staring at the pit dazedly, he returned the dug soil to where it came from.

When all the work was done. He now faces a new issue that needs to be solved. That is, his new identity. A name, to be more precise. "I need a new name in this new world. A new identity, a different me that will be living the way I want in this renewed life."

The young man fell into thought. He was having trouble coming up with his new name. Since he had a new name in this world. He can't just make an irresponsible one, right?

"Since I have been living in this place since the moment I was reborn, These vast grasslands, the magical healing pond where I appeared, and the picturesque scene every night that can't be described how it was made." He paused, then, as though he had come up with a very apt name for himself.

He said, "From now on, my family name will be Viridescent and my first name will be Nai."

Viridescent Nai was a good name, in his opinion. It wasn't long, but it has some classy attributes when called.

"Viridescent Nai, viridescent Nai." After silently muttering the new name he came up with. Nai stood up and picked a stone slab big enough to be called a Steele.

With his current muscle strength, it was easy for him to move the Steele near the pond before he planted it on its side.

After that, he took out the tool kit he had and found a small, heavy rock that was just big enough for his hand to grasp to act as his hammer.

What he was planning to do can already be inferred. He was going to carve on the stele!

The first thing he wrote was his name at the top center in capital letters.

[VIRIDESCENT NAI] 

After carving that, he stopped. Not because he was tired but because he hadn't thought of what to carve after that. He fell silent as he gazed at his lone name carved on the stele.

Seeing that the silent stele were not giving him any ideas on what to write on the stele, He decided that he should stop right now. It's better to leave the space below the stele empty for the good things.

"I miss Pancit Canton." Words can't describe the feeling he has now. The modern foods he could just buy in the past weren't even available in this place.

Nai felt that since he has nothing to do right now, he might as well have some barbecue. And he did what he was thinking.

He entered his shelter, and when he came out He was already holding a kilo's worth of meat from a cow he had hunted a day ago. Some herds from another area would sometimes pass by near his territory, so he took some time to hunt one of them to enrich the food available.

Then he started cleaning the meat with the water from the pond. Nai didn't need to worry about the water he had been drinking and bathing in getting filthy because he already knew that the water in the pond had some purifying properties aside from healing.

When he was done cleaning the meat, he started the fire. The meat was skewered with tough branches.

An hour later, the meat was already oozing out juicy golden oil that was sizzling with the heat. The aroma of barbecued meat wafted through the air.

Seeing that it was ready, Nai took it away from the ground near the fire before placing it on the stone slab, where he chopped it into pieces with his knife.

When he was all done, he took out five red fruits, like cherries, and smashed them until they looked like ketchup. Needless to say, that was the sauce for his barbecue.

He can only make do, because he was somewhat tired from all the barbecue he had for three years and the fruits with varying tastes.

He placed one piece of meat dipped in the sauce in his mouth as he started enjoying the bouncy and juicy deliciousness of the meat.

Nai closed his eyes in blessing. His face was literally saying that he was tasting something yummy. "Mmm."

Minutes passed while he was enjoying one of the few pleasures he has in this place.

A little farther away from his shelter. There was a group of ancient people wearing ancient capes made of wool traversing the vast grassland. They rode water buffalo as their means of transportation.

Further at the back was a cart with no wheels that held all kinds of items from ancient times, like pots, jars made from clay, bags of flour, corn, and other items such as wood and logs bound by vines and ropes.

There are five water buffalo, and two of them were used to pull the carts. The other three were being ridden by a total of six people.

Another two were at the back, walking along with them, for a total of eight people. The direction they were currently traveling coincidentally pointed in Nai's direction.

However, they seem to be unable to see it at their current distance. At this moment, the two people riding at the center, whose faces were hidden inside their capes, are talking.

"Are you sure this is the right direction? You know that we've been traveling for many weeks already, yet we still haven't seen anyone." The man at the back spoke tiredly. It was as though he was asking him to say that they had arrived or not.

"..Soon."  An old voice of a man in his twilight years replied monotonously.

The one who asked the question sighed in defeat after hearing that. He turned around and shook his head in the other water buffalo's direction.

Seeing that, the riders slumped their shoulders, depressed. "We're still traveling?" "Ah, I want to go home."

The two men walking along the cart full of goods looked at each other and suddenly felt much more tired than usual today. Only they know the pain of walking for a whole day under the sun while the others rode on the water buffalo's back.

"Soon... we're almost there," the old man under the cape murmured as he looked up at the direction in front deeply. His aged, wrinkled face can be seen under the illumination of the sun.

The man on the back seems to have heard the old man say something as he leaned forward and asked, "Did you say something, old man?".

However, he didn't receive an answer. But the man didn't get angry; he was just a little uncomfortable.

...

Inside the shelter.

It was currently 2-3 in the afternoon based on the height of the sun. Now was the time scheduled for Nai to take a nap.

He was currently lying on his favorite leather, partially covered mud bed, looking at the bright ceiling and thinking as usual about his future. "This won't do at all."

Nai didn't know where to find entertainment anymore. What else can he do in this place? It seems as though many things have changed during these three years, but in truth, all the things he has done can be counted with his two hands.

And Nai felt that he couldn't be satisfied by the lack of entertainment anymore. "It's time to leave this place." Entertainment or not, he just don't want to be die from boredom. He like to find at least some some star to guide his path.

He decided that three days later he would leave this place after preparing for his expected long journey. It was already decided that he would do that.

So he immediately stood up in his newfound motivation. He had to prepare all the things he needed before he could start his journey.

"The journey will be dangerous. I need to come up with proper measures later." Nai walked out of the shelter with renewed vigor.