Chapter 3

[ Episode 2 ]

** Part 1: Survival **

Tetsuya's cold expression slowly fade in.

He limped toward the vast lands, although it's beautiful — Tetsuya were not protected from these most well known untamed dangerous creatures and harsh weathers condition.

He limped and reached the small tree, then sat under it to rest.

'I changed my mind… I don't wanna die, not yet.'

Tetsuya found a stick on the ground, it looks strong enough to help him stand up properly so he grabbed it.

"This will help…"

'If I want to survive, I need to be strong.'

Tetsuya limped toward the small forest where he can set up his fire. At first, hunger gnawed at him mercilessly.

"Damn it, I'm hungry…"

With no experience in the wilderness, he scoured for berries and edible roots. Several times, he consumed toxic plants that left him writhing in pain.

'Ahh, my stomach is boiling in pain what the hell did I just ate?'

He sat near the huge rock to get some rest, and watched the birds, as he watch he also learned from the birds and animals, for clues on what was safe to eat.

"So that's how is it huh?"

Tetsuya saw a bird nest, since he nest is not too high up and instead it was almost the same height as Tetsuya. Tetsuya quickly snatched 3 eggs from the nest with effort.

"Alright… Now I just need to set up a fire, oh I forgot… I don't have any ability in me."

Tetsuya had no choice but to look for wild branches or sticks.

"If only didn't they target my leg and arm I can easily survive, but those jerks really wanted to kill me. Especially that woman."

Sigh..

After hours of looking, Tetsuya has gathered enough branches for to lit up a fire and build a small shelter.

"How do I make a fire?"

After minutes of trying to lit up a fire using two stones, or any kind of way to make fire, he did it.

"I finally did it.."

Making shelter is easy, and using the huge leaves he also found.

"How do I assemble this?"

Nevermind, building atleast a small shelter is a pain in the ass for him.

Finally after taking him only a few minutes he manage to actually build it, and it looks aesthetic.

"Now these eggs I have… How do I cook it, I can't waste it."

Tetsuya placed the eggs inside the shelter and looked for berries instead.

As he tried hunting for berries, he saw some kind of fruit and it's different than others, it's faintly glowing.

Tetsuya grabbd it then took a bite, suddenly he felt light instantly. He doesn't feel pain anymore, it healed his legs and arms, but the scar will never be healed.

"Woah… Why did I— What the… my legs, I can feel my crippled leg now, and it doesn't hurt, my arms too."

"What is this thing…?"

Tetsuya grabbed everything, but it's only 4 of it after eating the other one. The tree also seems different, but after grabbing the 4 edible healing-thing fruit, the tree began to withered.

"What the… strange, but glad I have this now for my survival."

Tetsuya came back to his camp and placed the fruits inside the shelter too.

"Sigh, what an exhausting day. But atleast I found something interesting."

Tetsuya decided to train his strength and agility so he would survive wilderness more often.

He started wandering around in the forest to find resources for his survival.

"I need to create a weapon first.."

Perfect encounter, there's a long branch lying on the ground.

"Oh nice, I'll use this…"

He ventured even deeper to find more materials, and luckily he found a rusted metal, it looks like part of a knife.

"This will help too."

After venturing and locating alot in fact, of materials, he returned home and the sun is starting to set.

Tetsuya dragged a log to his camp to sit on it.

"Alright, I've gathered: A long stick, rust iron, huge leaves, and a few berries."

Tetsuya used the rusted iron to sharpen the stick, it didn't take him a while to finish it and it's pretty sharp too.

"Perfect…"

The sky is completely dark and only the fire is his source of light, but he knew beasts lurking around is attracted to the light so he prepared.

After a brief moment, his Instinct was true and a single beast came rushing toward Tetsuya, and he dodged it.

"I knew it."

Luckily it didn't destroyed the shelter nor blew away the fire, Tetsuya raised the long stick. And ofcourse the beast is dumb so it even rushed toward Tetsuya.

Tetsuya rushed toward it too, pointing the stick toward and then…

"Phew, first kill on the wilderness."

Tetsuya stabbed the beast in the heart. Tetsuya started resting, and tommorow is the day he'll train his strength.

** Part 2: Foresight **

Next morning…

Tetsuya woke up early, and already doing push-ups and sit-ups, and even lifting heavy rocks.

"Having no ability is hard… But I'll do whatever it takes to be strong!"

Tetsuya has also made a pocket by assembling the leaves, it didn't took him minutes — heck it took him hours and he can finally store the magic fruits he obtained, and the eggs are kept inside the shelter, it might broke.

He glanced down at his sharpen stick and mutters:

"Maybe I need to improve this weapon."

Well there is a way…

"Oh right, the beast I killed last night has some pretty sharp claws, I can use it."

He start cutting off the dead beast's claws and roped it at the edge of the stick.

"This should do…"

Later, as he wandered deep into the forest to find lake, he encountered a bigger beast, 2x the size of him.

"What the…"

'This one is bigger than before. Well, time to test out my improvised weapon."

Tetsuya leaped towards it and pierced it through it's head but it didn't affect it, and the beast tackled Tetsuya but luckily he dodged it.

Tetsuya has the opportunity to stab it but as soon as he do so, it's skin is like a fridging metal.

'What kind of flesh does this thing have!?'

Tetsuya stepped back as the beast gazed at him like he's just a rabbit against it.

"Damn it…!"

Tetsuya rushed toward the beast and using all his strength, it only scratched it.

'What!?'

The beast attacked, and injured his arm.

"Gahh… This beast is way too strong for me to handle."

Tetsuya fleed, the beast is big and it can't run fast which means it's slow.

After Tetsuya reached his camp, he quickly covered his wounds using the leaf and wrapped it up to recover.

"Damn it, how do I fight that thing?"

But then, a voice above the tree branch what sounds like an old man's voice, saying:

"That's not how you fight it young man."

"Huh?… Who's there!?"

Tetsuya quickly looked everywhere, raising his weapon above.

"Where are you!?—"

"Why are you looking above, I'm right behind you."

The man unexpectedly went behind Tetsuya in a swift motion, and Tetsuya quickly stepped back.

"Ah!?… Huh? An Old man?"

It was indeed an old man.

"Do you think the only way to win is to aggressively fight it?"

"What do you want?"

Tetsuya kept his weapon pointed at him, he slowly gets angry not trusting him.

"What I'm trying to say it…"

The old man finally opened his eyes, and for a brief second, his eyes glowed a gray color.

"… That you need to find it's weakness."

"Huh—"

The old man poked Tetsuya somewhere in his back using only his pointy finger, that made Tetsuya paralyzed temporarily and collapsed on the ground.

"Ah! I can't move!"

"Don't worry, you will move again just wait a few seconds…"

Finally, Tetsuya raised his head while looking above the old man.

"What did you do to me?"

"That's your weakness am I right? Let's say, I can clearly see it."

"What? How can you possibly see someone's weakness, perhaps it's your ability."

"It's not my ability."

"What are you talking about. Is this some kind of joke?"

"You will find out soon. You're not worthy yet."

The old man stared at Tetsuya for a moment then he suddenly felt a strong chill down his spine and cause his heart to skip a beat.

The old man was left in awe and then walked away, disappearing in sight.

"What? He didn't even told me his name. And I'm not worthy?"

'He also told me to find it's weakness huh?'

Tetsuya returned back to the beast for a re-match.

"Shit, this is very risky."

The beast didn't react and quickly attacked Tetsuya, shattering the ground in it's each leap.

'Damn it..'

Tetsuya's weapon were easily broken in half against it's claws, it's hopeless but Tetsuya didn't give up, he quickly got up and stepped back trying to find it's weakness.

"Where is it!?"

But the beast rushed again, and this time the beast was fast.

Tesuya can't dodge it.

Tetsuya's left arm were pinned down by it's claws.

"GAKHH… Shit!"

Tetsuya tried moving out of the way but he can't move, because his arm were pierced through.

"I'm… Gonna die!"

The beast opened it's huge mouth showing off it's sharp bloody teeths and slowly reached Tetsuya.

But then something emerged.

"This is it, I'm dead…"

Tetsuya was in a brink of death until his eye suddenly glowed, a color of dark purple glowed through his eyes.

"W-What!? What is this… My vision… It's different!"

Tetsuya quickly realized that the beast might be very invulnerable, but it's weight is nothing!

Tetsuya pushed the beast away and broke free from it's claws.

"What is this?"

Tetsuya looked at the beast and then, there's something glowing on the beast's jaw.

Tetsuya gasped.

"It's his weakness!"

The beast started attacking, and Tetsuya leaned below. Now the beast is above him and Tetsuya grabbed the edge of his broken weapon and struck above the beast's jaw.

It worked.

"I did it!"

The beast started bleeding, and it's skin slowly shrank.

"Now's my opportunity!"

Tetsuya leaped above and in one last strike, he finally pierced through it's body and it collapsed, motionless.

And his glowing eyes started fading, his vision also returned back to normal.

"Finally… I killed this thing."

Tetsuya started staring down to the dead body of the beast and questioned himself.

"Just what the hell happened to me earlier…?"

** Part 3: New encounter **

At night, Tetsuya used the beast's claw to infuse it with his new stick, thicker than before and strong.

"Oh, this one is stronger than the other one… I'll use this from now on."

Next morning…

Tetsuya ventured through the forest again in search for the lake, again!

As he venture, he saw a girl carrying her own injured arm as she slowly approach Tetsuya, begging for help.

"H-Help…"

Then, she collapsed infront of him meanwhile a voice of mens suddenly warned Tetsuya's instinct and quickly grabbed the girl and hid behind the tree and the bushes.

"Did you find her?"

"She outran us."

"Damn it!"

"She escaped…?"

"Should we find her in the forest?"

"Hmm… No, she can't survive here alone. Let's just report to the Warden, that she fell down the cliff."

"Yeah, she's not useful anyway."

The mens left, it seems they are a knight since each step they made a sound of steel is flapping.

Luckily they were not seen, and Tetsuya looked at the girl who seem to hold something in her hand, like a pendant.

'What is in her hand? A pendant? Did she steal it?'

Tetsuya brought the girl to his camp then placed her down to his little shelter while putting the eggs outside.

"Sigh…"

As the sky darkened and the moon rose, the girl slowly woke up and her wounds is miraculously gone, and the pendant are next to her.

"Where… Am I?"

"My territory."

She looked around: A fire infront of her, a small shelter, and an edible roots and berries on the ground.

She gasped unexpectedly, saying:

"The knights, where are they?"

"They won't find us here."

"Oh… T-Thank you, are you… a slave too?"

Tetsuya's eye was snapped open and was caught of guard by her sudden words.

"A slave?"

"Wait….You're not a slave?"

"Why would I be a slave, and why are they chasing you?"

"I escaped… because, I'm a slave—"

"You expect me to believe that?"

"I- It's the truth—"

"Save your words."

The girl fell silence and unintentionally saw the scars on Tetsuya's neck, face, arms, and legs.

"What happened… to those scars?"

Tetsuya's heart beat incredibly fast, another memory of Dravenia's cruelty and torture flashed.

"D-Don't… Don't question me, about these."

The girl was curious but let it go, she already knew that he too endured such horrible torture.

"I'm… sorry."

'Damn it…'

** Part 4: Gaining trust **

Next morning, the girl woke up rubbing her eyes and Tetsuya stared at the egg still don't know what to do with it.

"Damn it, how do I even eat this?"

The girl noticed Tetsuya's problem and she slowly sat next to him and said:

"I… can help you with that."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes, hand it to me."

Tetsuya hesitated before handing it to her, who know she might run with it. As soon as he handed the egg to her, the girl grabbed a big stone then brushed off the top to clean the dirt then add another more stone but shorter ones then assemble it and light up the fire.

Tetsuya was flabbergasted, he don't know what she was doing, until she's done.

"There, now we cook it."

The girl broke the egg and it quickly fried through the burning stone.

"I, never thinked this through…"

The girl used a stick and cleaned it too, then used it to flip the egg. And after it's finished, she placed it above the clean leaf.

"Here you go, you can sat it now but be careful it's hot."

"T-Thank you."

Tetsuya thanked her and yet, he still won't trust her. But Tetsuya felt a little bad so he broke the egg in half and gave it to her.

"You should eat too."

The girl smiled and accept it.

Later, Tetsuya still tried finding the lake since he's only been drinking on a small water from the leaves.

Also, the girl followed him.

"You can stay back on the camp you know?"

"But, I wanna be safe."

"Fine… Since you've cooked the egg for me earlier."

As they walk, a beast suddenly approached them.

"W-W-What is that!?"

"Beast!"

The beast rushed aggressively toward them without defense.

Tetsuya dodged the attack then stab it on it's belly, collapsing on the ground.

"Wow…"

They continued to walk in search of the lake.

"Uhm, where are we going?"

"I'm looking for the lake."

"Lake?…"

The girl looked around for any clues that they might be closing in, until she saw a fog.

"Fog? That's it!… Follow the fog. That way we can reach the lake."

"Are you sure?"

Tetsuya still hesitated, it might be a trap. But he knew he's prepared so he followed the fog along with her.

And finally, what Tetsuya expected to be a trap is the opposite

They found a crystal clear lake, where protective and harmless clean animals lived in.

"A lake… Finally!"

"It's clear too, you can drink it!"

Tetsuya quickly rushed toward it, leaned down, and took a sip.

"It's fresh…"

The girl copied him and drank the water too.

Tetsuya pulled out his another well made storage, made out of leaf to carry the water.

Later, after making it back to the camp…

And without hesitation, Tetsuya tried cooking egg by himself since he's hungry, and he was about to fail until the girl helped him again.

"It's like this, if you break it too hard it will spill."

Together they cooked, and it's perfect. This time they cooked both eggs so they wouldn't eat half anymore.

"You… What's your name?"

"S-Suzuki… Hoshizora Suzuki."

Tetsuya, finally smiled for real this time. He had gained trust toward Suzuki.

"I'm Tetsuya… Thanks for helping me."

Suzuki also smiled.

"It's my pleasure! I wouldn't be here if you didn't save me!"

Then from now on, they both hunt beasts for food since Tetsuya had learn how to cook, first time literally.

And suddenly…

[ Power Level: 175 ]