| Crisis (1)|

[A few days later]

Somewhere in the same dense forest,

A boy with an auburn hair popped out of a dimensional rift which invoked him a peculiar sensation. Like getting himself trapped in the middle of a fast forwarded movie scene. His surroundings were whizzing by in an indistinct blur of colors as he sat on his butt, staring blankly off in the distance with a blank expression as if he just lost something.

The ground he landed on cushioned his fall with a pile of leaves and vines.

He remained in the same, seated position. Not even bothering himself to take in the surroundings.

But then he started heaving out dry sobs...Not for long as his head perked up and looked around from hearing a familiar voice in his head. He instantly responded to the voice,

"Sylvia! I'm here! Can you hear..."

But to no avail as it was just a recording that Sylvia integrated into his core.

After listening through the recording, he found out many things like Sylvia knew from the start that he was 'King Grey'.

That name and title was from his previous world.

She had known the entire time...

'Did she discover something in my mana core? Was she able to look into my memories? So many questions but the only one who could answer them was gone.' he thought.

He refused to move for a long time, staying in my cozy fetal position, deep in his own thought.

'Sylvia was right. She had said all of this knowing what my life back in my old world was like. I can't make the same mistake of living for the sake of solely pursuing strength. I wanted to be strong, but I also want to live my life without regret. I want to live a life that Sylvia would be proud of. I don't think she'd be happy even if I reached whatever stage was after white while living a life of only training. No, I needed to hurry and reach my family.'

Resolving himself, he came back to his sense...

"Where the hell am I? And where can I find the wolf head boy that Sylvia mentioned?"

.

.

[Arthur Leywin's PoV]

Looking around, trees that towered high over my head surrounded me. There was a dense fog that loomed thickly a couple centimeters off the ground, filling the air with nearly palpable moisture.

Trees and an unnaturally thick fog...

I sank back on my butt, crestfallen at what this could only mean.

I was in the Forest of Elshire.

A disheartened sigh escaped from my mouth as I picked myself up.

It seems like I won't be meeting my family anytime soon. It had been over four months since I had fallen off of the cliff. My family had most likely either gone back to Ashber or had maybe even decided to stay in Xyrus.

I didn't have any sort of provisions except for the clothes on my back and the strange stone that was wrapped in Sylvia's feather. This cursed fog limited my vision to about a few meters around me. While reinforcing my eyes with mana helped quite a bit, that didn't solve the even bigger problem of how to get out of this place.

I reinforced my body, enabling mana rotation that had become second nature to me by now. Right now, I could only absorb about roughly 20% of what I could do while just meditating, but I couldn't complain.

The only downside to mana rotation was that it wasn't a replacement for strengthening your mana core. In order for me to purify my mana core and get it to the next stages, I need to solely focus on gathering mana, from both my body and the surrounding atmosphere, and use that to get rid of the impurities little by little. One notable thing I felt was that after getting my mana core to dark red, the amount of mana I could store inside increased significantly. While the size doesn't increase, I'm guessing the purity allows more mana to be stored.

I climbed a few branches up the nearest tree and situated myself once I got high enough. I focused mana into only my eyes, enhancing my vision even further.

What I was looking for wasn't a way out but more so for any signs of humans. Sylvia had said that I would be teleported close to humans so I was hoping that there may be adventurers traveling through here that would direct me out, or even escort me.

After about ten minutes of searching, jumping from tree to tree, I found what I was looking for.

I hopped a few more trees, feeling quite proud of my primate nimbleness, stopping at a branch just a few meters away. Hiding myself behind the thick trunk, I observed the group of humans.

Something was off...

I hid myself completely behind the trunk and closed my eyes, imbuing mana into my ears.

"NOOO! HELP! SOMEONE PLEASE HELP! MOMMY! DADDY! NOOO I'M SCARED!!!"

"Someone shut her up! She's going to attract attention!"

>THUD<

"Quick. Put her in the back of the carriage. We're only a few days away from the mountain range. We'll be safer then. Don't relax and keep moving."

"Hey, Boss? How much do ya reckon she'll sell for? Elf girls go for a lot, don't they? Hehe, she's a child too so a virgin at that! I bet she'll fetch us a lot of money, huh! Maybe even more that...Monster"

'Slave traders!'

I carefully took a peek to spot the small-sized carriage, enough to tightly cram in about five or six adults. I turned back around just in time to see a middle-aged man with one broken arm hauling a little girl into the back of the carriage. She looked to be around six or seven, with a silvery hue in her hair and the trademark pointed ears that elves were known for.

"Deuce, it's your turn to open this carriage!"

"I'm busy! Just open it, nothing will happen!"

"Hey-!"

"Stop bickering and f**king open that damn thing!"

Is something in that carriage?

Anyways, what should I do? How were they even able to kidnap an elf in the first place? The Elshire Forest's magical fog was supposed to disorient the senses of even the most capable mage.

After a few more seconds of observing, I found my answer.

Attached to leashes were mana beasts that looked like a mix between a deer and a dog, with antlers that branched out, looking like a complicated satellite. They were mentioned briefly in the encyclopedia I had always carried with me. The forest hounds were native to the Forest of Elshire and could navigate even better than the elves could.

How those brutes acquired forest hounds, I had no idea but I needed to think of a plan.

Option one: Steal one of the forest hounds and have it lead me out of the forest.

Option two: Kidnap the kidnapped elf girl to have her lead me out of the forest.

Option three: Kill all of the slave traders and set the elf girl free, then take the forest hounds and have them lead me out of the forest.

Pondering for a couple of minutes, I'm faced with a dilemma. Option one would be easiest, but it didn't sit right with me to just leave the elf girl.

But then again, who knows...maybe she'll get bought by a kind old man who will free and take her back to her home.

...Fat chance...

Option two had the obvious flaw that, once I saved the elf, she wouldn't lead me out of the forest and just insist on going back home and the slave traders probably wouldn't take it too kindly. Option three had the best outcome, but was by far the most pain in the butt, considering that there were four of them and only one of me. Because of the fog, I couldn't sense if any of them were mages but it was safe to assume that at least one of them would be. Being able to capture an elf in the forest meant that they were either very lucky, or were professionals.

After letting out another deep breath, I couldn't help but notice how often I sighed these days. Option three it was.

After hours of observation, I had learned enough about them to make a move. I waited until nightfall to take my plan into action. Despite their rustic appearances, the slave traders were surprisingly vigilant; they never built a fire and always kept two people on guard at all times.

***