Rydel felt refreshed. Drinking a cup of firehoney wine had made him expel some of the impurities of his body. The first time that he experienced this process, the impurities that he expelled were from his muscles and bones. Now, it was the turn for his organs and blood vessels.

 

The circulation of spiritual energy flowed much smoother. Before, he struggled with the intermediate level of the training cube, now he stood a chance to resolve it. This also allowed him to last longer while fighting. All in all, it was worth the suffering.

 

***

 

The next three years happened in a flash. During this time, Rydel went to school, learned about interesting subjects, and had mock combats. He also trained in the forest, sometimes with Galather, sometimes with his father.

 

He socialized with his classmates and tried to spend time in the main plaza at least once a week, he learned more about the different elves that lived there. He was the first to learn the juicy gossips too.

 

Who spent time with who, the budding romances, best friends that argued but later realized that they were stupid and hugged each other with tears. That last one happened at least once every odd month. Elves were drama queens, in a good way.

 

He was a bit of a drama queen himself, maybe that’s why he reincarnated in this specific race. He had to say that he had a good affinity with forest elves in general. He liked the ambiance of camaraderie and how they were there for each other.

 

He could go without the traditional and sometimes rigid aspect, but everyone had to have their little mannerisms. How boring a world would be if everyone were clones of each other.

 

A couple of months after turning 10, he was presented with a decision.

 

“You had a strong and solid foundation. You have learned everything that you could, reached high attribute points for an F-class being and practiced your techniques and control to a satisfactory level.

 

There is only one step left to reach the First Trial with your best self. You lack real combat experience where your life is in danger.” Galather said. “The goal in your mission would be to survive in the Leoheim Forest for the next two years. You need to gather the hearts of 150 beasts in this period and then come back to the village. To facilitate this task, we’ll give you an empty spatial ring to keep your loot. You may only deposit the bare minimum in the ring to prepare for your journey. Do you accept it?” Galather said.

It was a lot of time and Rydel had never been alone in his new life. He always had company, it wasn’t just the difficulty of the mission, the mental stress was an important factor.

 

However, he had always known that spending time alone would be the norm when he decided to travel. The new world where he reincarnated was giant, just the Afrein Peninsula was bigger than Earth. He didn’t know what lay beyond the Mountains of Desolation either.

 

This world may be tens of times bigger than Earth, and the population was less concentrated. Without means of transportation, he could spend months in the wilderness without contact with civilization.

 

In the end, Rydel wanted to prove himself that he was capable of achieving what he desired.

 

“I want to survive on my own for two years too. I think that this task is the perfect opportunity for me.” Rydel said.

 

“Good, then prepare and in 3 days, I will come and take you to a faraway region.” Galather said.

 

Rydel chilled out with his family the next three days. On the last day, he spent a cozy night with his parents, they shared funny stories and teased each other.

 

It was both a happy and a sad night. Rydel understood that he had to pave his future and he couldn’t stay fixed in his past. However, that didn’t mean that he wouldn't feel the longing for his home. Even then, he was excited for the next part of his journey.

 

Rydel looked even further and thought about his past life. He had lived here for almost half the time that on Earth. He reflected back about the people that he left behind and didn’t feel any remorse.

 

True, he had some friends there but he had been drifting apart from them in his later years on Earth, he saw them once every couple of months, and he spent the rest of his time in his room alone.

 

His parents were worried about him, and Rydel considered them good people. But in the end, it was a toxic place. His parents accused him of wasting his time, that he would depend on them in the future if he continued that path, and so on. That everyone around Rydel was doing better than him and why is he not the same.

 

It was all true, but it hurt the same. He had depression and anxiety problems, and everything that he did to try to improve was met with failure, that affected his fragile mental state even more. He didn’t blame them, but being allowed a second opportunity was a gift from the heavens themselves.

 

Now, he had a community that he could depend on, loving and caring parents. A teacher that while strict did his everything so that he could improve and have the best chance at life. And above all, a new chance to redeem himself.

 

***

 

The next day, Rydel and Galather went to the border of the wild zone. Galather covered Rydel’s body in spiritual energy and sprinted.

 

Rydel looked at his surroundings and only saw a blur. The first hour was funny and fascinating.

 

After four hours, it wasn’t so funny. And after four more, he was begging Galather to stop. He felt hungry and tired, of course, Galather ignored him. They rested for twenty minutes before continued their journey.

The next two weeks were the worst that Rydel had ever experienced.

 

He didn’t think that it was possible to develop motion sickness with his current stats until now. Every resting time, he gazed at the food with disgust and forced himself to eat. He spent the traveling time bouncing and trying not to puke.

 

His willpower had to triple at the very least in this journey. If someone had asked him between ending his misery or spending a single more hour in Galather’s “gentle care” at that time, he’d have serious doubts about his decision.

 

They finally stopped in a cave that was next to a river. It didn’t have any beasts in the proximity.

 

“This is good enough. The Elphyra’s Clan is north of this place, the rest is on you.” Galather said.

 

“Ryder, you are strong, you can accomplish whatever you want. Good luck.” Galather looked at his eyes and left him alone with those parting words.

 

Rydel gazed at Galather’s departing figure. The next two years would test himself. He breathed out and calmed himself, he was nervous but it wasn’t time for that. His first step was to create a base.

 

There were a couple of hours left of the sun, so he decided to scout the terrain and see how his would-to-be-home was.

 

The river was small, the width was a couple of meters and it was shallow. The trees were big, as were the rest in the Leoheim Forest, about 100m tall. They were dense but the distance between each tree was enough that it let light pass through. Rydel decided to see if the cave was occupied.

 

He went to the entrance and looked for footprints or any clues. There weren’t any, but he didn’t immediately dismiss that no beast was inside. There could be flying beasts, or if it was intelligent enough it could remove its tracks.

 

He carefully advanced while minimizing the noises that he made. The cave was a long straight tunnel for 50m that diverged in two paths. After studying both paths for a bit, he chose the left first. At the end, there were carcasses leftovers.

 

It was a storage room, there were a good amount of fresh carcasses.

 

Rydel then explored the right path, he stopped breathing and exchanged it with injecting spiritual energy on his lungs. It was a stop-gap measure that would allow him to go without air for 10 minutes or so. He walked on his tiptoes for the last stretch.

 

He saw three small raccoons sleeping in a nest.

 

Rydel was conflicted, on the one hand, any killed beast was good for his mission. On the other hand, he didn’t like to murder in cold blood young beasts.

 

He knew that the law of the jungle was merciless and might make right. If it wasn’t him but another beast that stumbled on this, the small raccoons would be already dead. He had to consider about their parents too, they would be enraged if they came and discovered their dead children.

 

Rydel was at a crossroads and needed to decide. His eyes turned cold. It wasn’t night-time so he couldn’t use the Mantle of Night, he decided to end this fast.

 

Rydel stood at 4m from his objective, he charged a spiritual slash at max capacity and decapitated the first raccoon. The other two noticed something was wrong and tried to react, but it was too late. Rydel charged another spiritual slash and killed the second beast.

 

The last one was already awake and turned to him, it went backwards and snarled. Rydel didn’t flinch and ended his life with a normal slash. He immediately stored their corpses on his spatial ring and went to the left tunnel.

 

It wasn’t his first-time killing a beast, so it wasn’t a big deal after he decided about his moral standpoint. At least when it comes to non-sapient beings, he wouldn't hesitate if it’s a necessity.

 

Rydel waited for three hours until he saw a female raccoon that was coming from the entrance. It was climbing the walls as to not leave any footprints behind.

 

Rydel camouflaged with the environment, he had rubbed a little bit of carcass’ blood on himself and rubbed dirt on his clothes and face. When the raccoon had advanced enough to have its back turned from him, Rydel attacked.

 

This raccoon was a more experienced fighter that Rydel thought and reacted to him an instant, Rydel took a step back to defend himself with his sword. The raccoon’s claw hit metal, but it didn’t deter it.

She swiped her claws thrice in a second. It was fast for the current Rydel but he had his training to rely on, he parried each attack and kicked the Raccoon.

 

The raccoon dodged and bit him. It hurt like hell. The raccoon punished his momentary distraction with another claw swipe that drew blood.

 

Rydel took a couple of steps back and made a vertical slash that made the raccoon pull back. She went under the slash and clawed at him, she left a serious gash that reached the bones.

 

Rydel saw red and stabbed the sword under him, he made spirit tendrils that grasped the raccoon’s leg. It didn’t prevent her from moving, but it made the movement more difficult.

 

The raccoon tried to move back, but her response was delayed and she received the stab anyways. It wasn’t deep enough to become lethal, but it hurt. Rydel took advantage of this and kicked the beast in her snot. She snarled in pain.

 

The raccoon tried to bite him, but Rydel conjured a spirit platform in the air, he jumped on it reducing the speed of his falling. The raccoon went under him and Rydel stabbed her in the newly created wound once more. This time, the raccoon’s response became slower.

 

Rydel didn’t relent and kept stabbing in the same area again and again. When he regained his senses, there was only the mangled corpse of the raccoon next to him.