Reforged Chapter 3: Recovering Lost Integrity

"You don't need to thank me. I was just ridding the forest of a vile beast. Rest in peace now."

Knowing that their brief interaction had come to an end, Duke, in his ghostly form, placed his right hand on his left shoulder and bowed to Alleria.

Alleria nodded her head and vanished into the forest with a swift movement.

"Phew," Duke sighed.

Alright, it was time to recover his lost integrity.

Shaking his head, Duke dashed back to where his lifeless body lay. As expected, he saw the massive wild boar that had been felled. Two arrows had accurately struck its eyes, penetrating its brain, while a third arrow was lodged in its throat.

"Ugh," Duke gasped.

What terrifying archery!

Thankfully, he had been clever enough to avoid being the target of those arrows.

The voice of the system sprite spoke again, "You have found your lost integrity--or, rather, your body. Would you like to resurrect now?"

"Please, your jokes are not funny at all."

"Then... would you like to resurrect?"

"Obviously! Of course I want to resurrect!"

As he mentally clicked 'Yes' on the prompt, the scenery around him changed rapidly. Duke could clearly see his mutilated body, torn open by the wild boar, transform into a stream of light. Within seconds, it had completely disintegrated, leaving no trace of blood behind.

All the light converged onto Duke's spirit.

Duke could feel an overwhelming sense of fullness in his body. Most importantly, his once-fading moral values had returned.

Oh, oh, oh! His lost integrity had returned!

Gazing at the colorful world, listening to the birdsong, and smelling the earthy fragrance, Duke felt, for the first time in his life, that being alive was truly wonderful!

He wanted to laugh out loud, but seeing the 'Soul Power: 99' and 'Humanity: 99%' indicators in the system prompt, Duke's excitement waned.

"Alright, I'm back to life. My journey in this otherworld has officially begun, right? So, how can I become strong enough to defend myself before the Dark Portal event arrives?"

His goal was clear, but the path to it was uncertain.

"Uh, before becoming strong, is there some sort of newbie gift package?" Duke asked, feeling the discomfort of the coarse linen clothing on his body, unable to adapt to the primitive garments after being accustomed to modern industrial clothing.

While his dreams were grand, reality was harsh. Duke searched his pockets, only to find them empty.

Unconsciously, Duke's gaze fell upon the beast that had killed him.

"This massive wild boar must be worth something. I remember that in the game, you could sell its hide for gold, right?"

It didn't take long for Duke to find the problem.

"Damn, am I supposed to skin it with my bare hands?" With no choice, he gave up.

Duke walked away, somewhat disheartened. He aimlessly walked for about ten minutes when he suddenly heard the sound of a small river. Throughout history, where there was water, people often lived... That should be true, right?

Following the riverbank, Duke slipped, and to his dismay, fell into the water.

Unaware that as he reached the river, the agile and beautiful figure of Alleria appeared beside the dead boar.

For some reason, she instinctively felt something was amiss. She decided to retrace her steps and recover her arrow. Upon arrival at the scene, she immediately noticed something was off.

There was only the boar and her arrow; the scent of human blood was gone.

Looking at the signs of intense struggle on the ground, the Ranger-General was certain there had been a human victim here.

However, there was no body, no body fragments, not even any blood or traces of other creatures passing by.

"What in Azeroth was that?" Alleria buried a deep doubt in her heart, and then she smiled, a blossoming spring-like smile spread across her beautiful face.

Yes! She was intrigued.

On the planet Azeroth, where Duke had traveled to, there were two main continents: Kalimdor to the west and the Eastern Kingdoms to the east.

About 9,000 years ago, a group of high elves were exiled from Kalimdor to the Eastern Kingdoms by their people because they refused to give up their precious magic. They journeyed to the northern lands of Quel'Thalas and re-established their civilization there.

For thousands of years, Quel'Thalas was regarded as a nexus of magical power. A source of magic known as the "Sunwell" provided an inexhaustible supply of energy for every high elf, who used the forces of nature to gain immortality and power.

Thus, high elves were an immortal race, living for thousands of years without difficulty.

However, a long life had its advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage was having endless time to squander.

The disadvantage was that, having experienced so much, they understood almost everything, knew everything. This was undoubtedly a torment for the 'Windrunner,' who loved novelty and wandering.

If it were wartime, Alleria, the Ranger-General of the high elven kingdom of Quel'Thalas, would not be able to leave her post.

But she was on vacation, and her wanderings had brought her here.

"It seems... there's finally something interesting!" Alleria's exquisite face showed a wild excitement driven by curiosity.

As a ranger, she was an expert in guerrilla warfare, a child of the forest, and one of the most skilled trackers.

With a few agile leaps, Alleria reached the treetops and quickly found Duke's footprints.

"Oh? The first footprint is over forty yards away from where the body was?" Alleria's smile grew wider, the expression of someone who found a fun toy.

Leaping effortlessly from branch to branch, the agile Ranger-General sped through the trees, her speed akin to a phantom.

In no time, she arrived at the riverbank.

She lost track of Duke. The riverbank was covered in pebbles, and it was difficult to leave footprints on such a surface unless one deliberately stepped hard.

"Oh? He knows some counter-surveillance techniques."

Hardly leaving footprints didn't mean not leaving them at all. The weight of an adult pressed on the pebbles would still cause slight changes.

Alleria followed a few steps, only to find the footprints had disappeared.

"Did he really get carried away by the water?" The image quickly formed in Alleria's mind: a mysterious man, evading pursuit, pretends to head downstream but instead quickly steps into deeper water, going upstream.

Alleria truly misunderstood Duke. At that moment, in her heart, she elevated Duke's cunning many times over. The graceful figure of the high elf vanished from the riverbank, sprinting rapidly in the upstream direction.

Meanwhile, Duke was carried downstream by the river, unaware of Alleria's pursuit. As he struggled in the water, he managed to grab onto a protruding branch and pulled himself onto the shore, gasping for air.

Drenched and shivering, Duke continued his journey, unaware of the beautiful and skilled Ranger-General who had been on his trail. Little did he know that his encounter with Alleria Windrunner would change his life forever in the mystical world of Azeroth.