Chapter Eight: Returning from Impotence

The wind blew between the rocks... and the scent of ash lingered in the air.

Ashen slowly opened his eyes. He was still in the cave where he had discovered the Primordial Body Strengthening Technique. The wall on which the symbols were carved began to crack, as if the power stored within it for centuries had been drained all at once.

But his eyes weren't looking at the symbols—they were staring beyond them... at the mystery.

"Who carved this? And why did they help me?"

His question hung in the air, unanswered.

---

At dawn, he left the cave.

His steps grew heavier—not from exhaustion, but from the realization... that what awaited him wasn't just a struggle for survival, but a war against his own body.

He sat on the edge of a cliff and began to consider his next move. He reviewed the information etched in his mind by this technique:

"Rank 1: Bone Carving. Requires three Primordial Inscriptions. Blood from three beasts... volcanic or iron."

He smiled bitterly.

"Words are easy... but blood is hard."

He began wandering through the valleys. It wasn't long. After two hours of crawling among the scorched hills, he noticed smoke rising from a gray ridge.

He approached silently, creeping closer.

And there they were.

Three monsters, as massive as boulders, circled around each other in tense silence. Their bodies were covered in molten plates or dark iron scales. One exhaled heat that melted the earth beneath it, another had two glowing horns, and the third... the quietest, had blazing eyes filled with hostility.

Ashen didn't attack.

Instead, he backed away a few steps and began digging a simple trap in the ash, hiding hot embers and poisonous plants he'd gathered earlier.

Then came the hardest part: provoking them.

He picked up some stones and hurled them at the monsters. The first hit the horned beast. It raised its head and roared, a sound enough to crack bones.

The others responded in kind.

Within minutes... hell broke loose.

The three monsters clashed like old enemies.

Ashen watched from the hills above, counting every bite, every blow, every wound.

He waited. He waited like an old wolf who knew when to strike.

The horned monster died first, crushed by the volcanic monster's jaws. But the volcanic monster lost a leg, and the silent monster tore a rib.

In the end, only the silent monster remained... gasping... his body drenched in blood, bleeding from six places, his left eye blind.

"Now... it's my turn," Ashen said.

-

He descended the cliff like a shadow. He no longer felt fear, only calm... his blood boiling inside him.

He grasped a sharp stone in his right hand, and a piece of charred bone in his left.

The monster slowly got up, let out a final roar... and charged.

But it was slow.

Ashen slipped beneath its claws, slashing its leg tendon.

The monster stumbled, but it struck him with its massive side. He flew like a rag doll, crashing into a sand wall. He felt his ribs crack, and blood spurted from his mouth.

He stood up with an effort.

"I won't fall... not now."

He screamed and lunged, stabbing the stone in the monster's neck, then plunging the bone into its eye.

The monster screamed, convulsed, and then... fell.

Ashen fell with it, but he won.

--

Hours passed as he wrapped his wounds in burning wood, lit a small fire to cleanse them, and dragged the monster's body back to the cave.

He sat down and began dividing the blood into stone vials.

That was the first blood.

He took a deep breath and whispered to himself:

"One inscription... three bloods. This is my path now."

Then he took out the first vial of blood... and placed it in front of him, ready for the hardest part: engraving the inscriptions on his body.