Chapter 4: Hanging by a Thread

"God, I'm such an idiot. I was so focused on my talent I didn't check if any survived."

From the little he could gather of Jayce's status, likely due to the level disparity between them, Sol noticed that Jayce was hanging on by a thread.

'I don't even have any way to heal him. If only I had some potions...'

'Ah, wait!' He remembered that there were other adventurers nearby.

Sol immediately got up and ran to the bodies of the other dead party members, hoping one of them stocked up on potions.

"Sorry, but it's to save a life."

He then quickly started rummaging through their belongings, in their bags and pockets, for anything to help Jayce. The two swordsmen did have potions, it seemed, but all that was left were empty bottles, probably consumed during the fight.

He then moved on to the wizard, but he only had mana potions which would not help right now. Finally moving on to the huntress, Sol found a single health potion in her bag.

'I don't know if it's lucky or unlucky that you died before you could even use it, but thank you.'

He headed back to Jayce and poured the contents of the vial into his mouth. Once done, Sol checked his status with [Analysis].

Name: Jayce

Race: Human

Talents: [Iron Wall], [Robust]

Level: ???

HP: 59/???

He watched as his health slowly rose out of danger and sighed in relief.

"I gotta get him back to town."

Sol then lifted up Jayce and realized the man was too big and heavy with his armor. Sol didn't know how to remove the armor nor did he want to take the time to find out and instead used his available stats to increase his strength by 25 and his vitality by 10. Giving him a boost enough to carry Jayce all the way to the town.

Twenty minutes later, Sol finally saw the town walls and waved to catch the guards' attention. The guards sent 2 people to meet him halfway and helped him take Jayce back to the town to receive medical attention.

'Hopefully, there is a priest available that can quickly heal him.' Sol thought as he waited in the guardhouse.

Sol was told to wait as he needed to answer a few questions over the events that occurred.

"Good Evening, Sol. My name is Phillip, guard captain of the western gate. I know we haven't met before, but I have heard of you before."

"You have?"

"Yes, multiple times, in fact. From the leveling ceremony and your daily outings over the past 4 years. If it wasn't for the guildmaster asking me to let you pass, I wouldn't have let you outside the gate even if you have that silly excuse for a quest."

Sol chuckled nervously, "Haha, guess it wasn't just a loophole in the rules."

Phillip smiled back and shook his head.

"Though today I hear of you about another matter, so please do tell me why you were in the Direwood forest?"

"I was trying to unlock my talent," Sol stated, as there was no point in covering up such an obvious lie.

Phillip stared at him for a bit then shook his head, "I would reprimand you, but after doing this for 4 years, I don't think it would dissuade you from continuing."

"So besides your dangerous outings, please explain what happened to Jayce and his party."

Sol recounted all the events that took place from him climbing up a tree to hide and witnessing the entire fight against the Thunder Wolf King.

"Jayce and his party managed to slay the Thunder Wolf King in the end?"

"...Yes."

Sol contemplated saying that he finished the monster in the end but decided not to because all he did was finish it off by pure luck. He also felt it wasn't right to take credit and reward for that quest.

"You are a terrible liar, did you know that?"

Hearing Phillip call out his lie made Sol freeze on the spot and look back at him nervously.

"Relax, kid, you got lucky, right?"

Sol nodded rapidly.

Nodding his head back, Phillip said, "It's okay. I will send men to collect the bodies and bring them back to town. I will also make sure the quest reward is given to their family."

"Thank you, Phillip."

"Don't thank me; if it weren't for you, Jayce would have died out there along with his party members, and we wouldn't know until much later. Now get out of here; it's getting late, and I want to clock out."

Sol was then quickly kicked out of the guardhouse by Phillip. With the sun setting soon, Sol was left thinking about how much had happened today.

He then made his way into town and towards his home, planning to visit Annabel at the guild tomorrow. Stopping on the way to buy some food to eat at home, he arrived just as the sun finally set.

His house located in the southern part of town could barely be considered a house. It was only a single room that was 4x4 meters. While small, it had all his basic necessities, a bed in the corner, a shelf for his tools, a small closet, and a small table with one chair. Spending most of his time outside either in the guild or in the forest, it was more appropriate to call it a place where he eats and sleeps.

Sol put the food he bought on the table and quickly ate it in silence. The moment he was done, he went to his bed and instantly fell asleep.