Chapter 10: Dreaming (2/2)

[Attempt 2/100]

"Everything hurts.'

I have been standing here for quite a long time now; according to my estimations, it must've been at least a full day now.

A full day has passed by while I've been standing here.

It snowed quite heavily today. Everything was turning white. 

My legs were on fire; it feels like they have been burned and melted into the ground.

My hands were shaking from applying pressure to the wound the entire time.

I had tried to use a bit less strength, but the wound instantly reopened, and blood started to flow out.

My entire hand was covered in blood; my eyes felt like they were being pressed down. I couldn't think of anything but keep trying to apply pressure.

It was like my mind was in a maze covered in fog. No matter how much I tried to think of other solutions, my mind would get lost again and again.

This body that I have been regressed in was incredibly weak. Even if I wanted to do something about this, the wounds created by the wolf were completely beyond me.

I was just a mortal; I couldn't compare anything to Old Man Riven or the wolf.

As I stood there, time seemed to have stopped. I couldn't even tell how long I have been here for; all I know is that it's been over a full day, and snow had started to fall once again.

But I knew I couldn't stop just yet; I still had some energy left in me.

The entire shack was in a mess.

Blood was everywhere, making it seem like a murder scene.

"You can let go now."

I suddenly heard a voice that completely shocked the life out of me.

"Old Man Riven!"

I was so ecstatic; finally, after so long, Riven had woken up!

"Old Man, how are the wounds?"

I tried asking him, but he suddenly shook his head.

"There's no use; today's the day I'm going to die."

"..."

"The damages caused by the wolf are going to kill me. I am only a Ranked 2 Water Path Master; I do not have any healing methods."

Old Man Riven kept speaking in a low voice.

"You should get out of here; next time when it snows, the wolves are going to come back; they can't simply let a comrade die. They will come back and kill us all; leave me here as bait and leave."

"But how could I just leave you here, Riven?"

My voice was shaking as I replied,

"It's not leaving; it's about surviving. Even though I'm thankful for you helping me survive, I still want you to live and survive.

Kid, do you know why I brought you here to this old shack of mine? 

I didn't reply, but Riven kept going, telling me everything.

"Originally I was going to die in a couple of months; I could feel it. My aptitude is only at E; I knew I couldn't go further; my lifespan was coming to an end.

My master is already long dead; everyone I know has already passed away. When I first saw you by the lake, I had thought it would be fun to do something worthwhile before I died.

Never had I thought it would turn out like this; it was like I was teaching a child; every single day I had to teach you again and again.

Yet at the same time, it felt like you weren't a child; every time I taught you something, you would instantly remember it.

It reminded me of the old days with me and my master, and because of you, my life held some meaning in the last couple of weeks."

Riven continued on,

"In my room underneath my bed, there's a small hatch leading to the ground. When you go inside, there will be a journal inside the room along with tools that will be very beneficial to you.

Suddenly howls could be heard in the distance, scream-piercing sounds resonating through the air.

Riven's face suddenly turned grave.

"You have to leave; there isn't any time left."

Riven shakily sat up, his face ashen, but had a gaze of determination.

"Leave; I'll hold them back for as long as I can. Inside the secret room there's a tunnel leading outside; you can escape with that."

My legs felt as if they were glued to the ground; I couldn't seem to move.

"Stop hesitating, Lorian; in this life there isn't a thing as hesitating. Hesitating will only lead to death."

I looked away from Riven. Even though I didn't want to, I made up my mind as I walked away from him, and tears streaked down my face as I did so.

Right before I had the time to leave the room, Riven called to me one more time.

"Lorian, I'm glad I met you in this life."

I finally exited the room; following Riven directions, I went pulled open the secret hatch on the floor and entered inside.

The room was empty, but there was an illuminated small lamp in the corner. In the room there were a few things: a dagger, a backpack, and a journal. 

I grabbed them as I found the entrance leading elsewhere. I ran as fast as I could to escape from this fate.

Eventually I left the tunnel; it led to an entrance underneath a rock. Pushing aside the rock, I found myself in the middle of nowhere.

At this point I didn't know what to do anymore—where to start, how to live—I didn't know what to do.

I suddenly remembered the journal that I had picked up; picking it up, it contained all the information that Riven had collected over the years.

Everything that Riven had learned over his years was being passed down to me.

On it, it also included an entire map of the forest. As I scanned the map, I found a couple of places marked with a sign.

Scared of the wolves, I quickly ran away as quick as I could. The sun slowly started to rise as I ran away.

Using the sun as a reference, I headed towards the marked spot.

"It should be around here..." I murmured to myself, according to the map, there should be something here.

I looked around as I explored the place; it was mostly covered in trees and vines.

I looked at it for a while before quickly seeing something. I pushed aside the vines on the wall and found an entrance to a cave.

I walked inside this cave; it was slightly cold, but compared to the outside, it was warm.

I couldn't see anything in the darkness, but soon I could see something in the distance. I ran towards it, hoping it was something important.

I soon arrived at a small pond, illuminated by a bunch of plants growing by the side.

It was a beautiful pond that was clear as the sly, dimly illuminated by the plants.

Suddenly I felt a wave of exhaustion drown me as I fell to the floor.

My entire body was bruised, and the sleepiness washed over me like a wave. 

"I'll make sure to kill you all.

Even though this sense of exhaustion was overtaking me, I still felt a sense of hatred for the wolves.

I wanted to get revenge. I had to get revenge. I would make sure that one day I would come back and kill them all.

My eyelids started to weigh heavier and heavier as time passed by. Eventually, I gave up trying and let myself be token within the realm of dreams.

.

.

Lorian woke up from his sleep; he had a clam look on his face as he got up.

His dreams were once again about his past life, but he wasn't fazed much by it.

He stood up and got ready as he prepared for the day; he had a lot on his plate today.

He walked down the stairs as he handed a bunch of leftover coins that he had to pay for the rooms.

Leaving the inn, Lorian quickly headed towards the city gate. As he walked up towards the city gate, he showed the two city guards his token as he quickly left the room. 

This time he had a different objective; he needed to gather some resources that he needed.

Heading inside the forest, Lorian looked around and started collecting materials.

It was quite the easy task for him to do; he had spent a lot of his time during his past lives collecting plants.

He had naturally memorized where they were and could also find them at a simple glance.

By collecting these plants that were very high in value, he could sell them to local Path Master shops or even trade these plants out for materials.

In particular, Lorian was looking for runic materials that contained some form of rune engraved within them.

Runic materials had a wide variety of uses, aside from creating artifacts, and one of the most used methods to absorb them.

If you were to come across runic material of the same rank and path, one of the options you had was to directly absorb them.

The runs on the materials could be refined by a Path Master to be used in increasing their path progress.

This method was also a very common way for Path Masters to increase their rank; expect there was one expectation to this.

It was that mortals could absorb Rank 1 runic material. There were multiple methods to becoming a Path Master; the two most common were to become a disciple or spend money and buy Runic materials to use.

The latter method was often used by low-aptitude mortals that didn't have a chance of becoming disciples.

But even then, it was an extremely costly price; runic materials were often only traded for other runic materials.

Buying Runic Materials with money is an extremely hard thing to do, and often times it would require an abundance amount of money.

This was also another reason why low-aptitude Path Masters were rarely seen in this world.

Apart from those 2 main methods, naturally there were multiple less known methods, such as Lorain's Nature Refinement Method.

Rank 1 Runic materials were quite useful in the city of Meryl; most Path Masters here were Rank 1.

If he were to sell it for money, he would make a lot of money that could be used later on.

Even though absorbing Runic Materials was a fast method, Lorian's Nature Refinement Method was still faster than absorbing Runic Materials up until he reached Rank 4.

Lorian had a low aptitude and could only generate a little bit of mana each day, which leads to him having to rely on external means to refine his path.

Not to mention that Time Path Runic Materials were quite rare and had special abilities. Using them as a way to progress your path would be a waste of them and the potential things they could be used for.

Time ticked on as Lorian collected the Runic materials, using his vast knowledge to find and locate them.