Lost

Moving the body of the spirit wolf off to the side, Marcus found himself covered in blood. He was fortunately unhurt, looking at the body of the wolf he couldn't believe that he killed it. A few days back he was struggling to kill regular animals, let alone rank spirit beasts.

"Host, you should hurry up and carve the body. Also since you are already covered in blood smear yourself in its whole, its rich in energy try to absorb as much as possible until you find a stream to wash it off."

"There is something like that?!"

"Yes, but its only possible for people with high aptitude, others can only get small benefits from eating the flesh."

Marcus talked with Es while carving the body; the skin was much tougher than the dears skin. He also took some meat, and its fangs. Covering his body with blood he started to walk fast. The smell of blood would attract other beast so he had to be fast.

While walking, he felt energy entering from the blood through his skin and making his muscles stronger. This stopped after a few hours, and when evening was nearing, he was finally able to find a small stream. While washing himself off from all the blood, he checked his stats.

Name: Marcus

Age:15

Health: Good

Aptitude: MAX

Muscle strength: 1.4

Flexibility: 1.6

Speed: 1.5

Energy:5.4

His strength, flexibility, and speed all rose by 0.1! Just by having his body covered in blood, he was able to increase three of his four stats.

Having a much larger luggage at the moment, Marcus decided to stay in the area and make some preparations. First, he collected some branches, the dry ones he stashed somewhere close, with the rest he built a simple roof above a branch he would sleep on; he also built a simple construction where he hanged a leather on so it could dry in the sun for a few days. Walking for fifteen minutes, he found a place good away from his camp to start a fire.

In next five days, Marcus was busy with, many things. Every day he tried to hunt but was successful only two times. He also practiced and his energy increased further to 9.6. On the fourth day, the leather of the dear was dry, and he was able to make equipment with it after some processing. First, he made a backpack, with the design he got from Es, as well as two water bags, one for water and one to collect blood from spiritual beasts. On the fifth day, which was today the spirit wolf skin was dry enough to start processing it, and he used it to make a shirt. Not only would it help him stay warm, but also because it was extremely sturdy, it would also protect him to some degree when hunting spirit beasts.

Looking at the result of his hard work Marcus couldn't hep but notice that it honestly looked terrible but it was good enough, so he put it on. When all of his preparations were ready, Marcus checked if everything was in his backpack, and left the camp for the cooking site. There he started to prepare today's catch. While the meat was roasting, he continued his practice.

"Look someone is there."

A female voice woke him up from his deep focus, he quickly stood up and looked at the direction of where the voice was coming from. There he saw a group of five people, two males and three females, all of them looking at him. They were about twenty meters away, so running away was not the best idea as they could catch up fairly easily in a short time considering he had to carry his backpack. He could throw it away, but this was all he had. Nothing else.

What do I do now?!

"Stay calm Host. We still don't know if they are hostile."

That's right.

As they come, closer one of the girls started to wave at him. Looking at their clothes it was obvious that they are from rich families at the very least. When they got close enough that they could hear each other more clearly, Marcus spoke.

"What is it that you want?"

Surprised by Marcus's tone, or maybe just because he spoke, they stopped. Looking at him surprised one of the guys spoke up.

"We are just passing by. Don't worry we will leave now."

"Wait, we just want to talk."

One of the girls spoke up. The same one that noticed him.

"Hi, I'm Zhi Ruo. We are wondering if you know the way to the Hundred temples city?"

Hundred temples city? Es, do you know where it is?

"Yes, host it's directly south-west from here about five days on foot."

Es knowing the answer was not surprising for Marcus anymore, after few days with him he learned more than he had in his entire life.

"Its south-west from here, about five days on foot."

With no reason why not to answer Marcus replied truthfully. Zhi Rou eyes lit up hearing Marcus's answer, with a smile on her face she bowed her head and thanked Marcus.

"You are really saving us, we have been lost for a week now, and we had no idea which way we were supposed to go."

"We are also really thankful."

The rest of the group also bowed their heads and thanked Marcus. Seeing this Marcus relaxed and moved the energy from his hands back to his core. He knew that not all people in the world were bad. Giving a helping hand was not always easy, but Marcus believed he should help when it was in his power to do so.

"Can you tell us your name?"

Zhi Rou asked. Seeing her innocent face, Marcus completely lowered his guard. Without thinking he could only honestly reply.

"My name is Marcus; It's nice to meet you."

"It's also nice to meet you."

"Soo… which way is south-west?"

...