Breathing loudly in and out, Luz felt unbearable pain coming from his mana core overwhelm him, which forced him onto his knees.

By now, Luz could no longer ignore the problem regarding his mana core.

If his guess was correct, his mana core was not simply strained but rather riddled with cracks and close to breaking point. And if that were to happen, his death would be nigh.

After taking a deep breath, Luz slowly rose up with bloody red eyes while pressing his left hand against the place where his mana core was supposed to be.

Luz groaned loudly in pain while grabbing the corpse by its neck. As he dragged the corpse with him, Luz reminded himself how he should continue moving forward. "I need to recuperate my mana reserves before I continue staying here. Otherwise, I'll die here before finding my siblings."

And so, he carried a corpse that was in his weight class up the tree while breathing erratic. Upon reaching a height of around ten meters above ground, Luz closed his eyes while resting.

During that rest, he realized a few things he had overlooked earlier. 'The spell I've used is an area spell, teleporting everything in its range away. Since I've survived the magic spell and ended up in god knows where, doesn't it mean the spell was successful, meaning that my siblings should be in a similar situation as I am right now?'

This realization made Luz laugh in glee, and he immediately began climbing the tree down with new motivation. "These four are probably expecting me to save them, so let's better go to work."

Thankfully, no creature dared to disturb Luz as he began preparing his meal and fire. It took him around 30 minutes, but in the end, Luz sat content in front of the fire, drooling at the sight of meat fizzling above the flames.

The sound, as well as the smell, made Luz's stomach growl like a beast. 'Spices… If only I had packed them with me. That shit will probably taste bland without them. Hopefully, I'm proven wrong.'

Unfortunally, he was proven right, and the meat was chewy and hard to rip into pieces. But it got worse. Due to his incompetence, the meat ended up well done, just like my book.

Nevertheless, he ate as much as he could before starting his journey through the forest. He chose to march towards the north in hopes of finding any signs of civilization there.

But not even an hour later, he was running through the forest for his life while a group of creatures resembling dogs were chasing after him.

Scared by the horde chasing him, Luz didn't even dare to look back while taking sudden turns and switching his direction constantly in hopes of escaping them. But no matter what he tried, the distance between the horde and him only got smaller over time.

His breath started coming in shorter gasps while his back was drenched with sweat, yet Luz forced his aching legs to keep running.

"Why am I so goddamn unlucky?" Luz cursed while maintaining his pace.

The chances of escaping grew slimmer with every passing second as he was losing his stamina exponentially while not even daring to look back. 'It seems that my fate is to be torn into a thousand pieces by a horde of wild dogs," went through Luz's head as he prepared to use his flame spell against the horde.

But that plan got immediately thrown out the window upon spotting a large river in the distance. 'It seems like the Gods are on my side today, offering me a chance of survival, heheheh.'

Luz smiled while giving his all, jumping into the 10-meter (americano: 32-feet) wide river.

Most of the dogs refused to throw themselves into the stream, but two of the pack didn't plan on giving him. Originally, Luz's plan was to exit the river through the other end of the ban. But he unfortunally underestimated the current and instead got pulled along. 'Change of plan, I guess.'

'Human civilizations are usually located near large rivers to exploit them for shipping. Hopefully, I'll get lucky, and the river will lead me to one.'

But before he could remain further lost in his thoughts, he was jolted awake by a bite on his calf. A sharp pain shot through his body.

'I swear, I will exterminate every animal of your race! Every female and every newborn, I'll r*pe them. Wait, that's bestiality. Nevertheless, I'll make the Cambrian extinction look like a fucking pacifist in front of me,' Luz cursed in his head.

Author note: the Cambrian extermination is now cannon. Questioning these revelations might result in a visit from your local mage officer for a mind wipe due to heretic thinking.

Furious by the creature's action, Luz placed his hand firmly against the dog's skull before casting a spell. "[Spatial distortion]"

The space in his palm deformed for a split second, shattering the animal's skull and killing it immediately.

Author note: That spell might sound OP at first glance, but it has major drawbacks. For example, it consumes all of your mana at once, and the chances of self-harm are enormous. Also, one should not forget that…

"Author, shut the fuck up and let me continue narrating this goddamn story," shouted the narrator.

Even though the animal died, its jaws were still tightly closed on his calf, infuriating Luz further. 'WHY AM I CURSED WITH BAD LUCK!?'

It cost Luz a lot of stamina to reach the other end of the stream while praying in his mind: 'Hopefully, I can soon grab onto a branch.'

God seemed to hear his prayer, and 10 minutes later, Luz crashed right into a rock in the stream. Groaning, Luz held onto it with all his strength before climbing on it. Upon seeing how the other dog got swept by the river, Luz chose to wave before sitting upright on the river, panting. "Thankfully, it's quite warm, or else I would definitely catch a cold."

It took him a few minutes to notice that the jaw of a certain creature was still firmly clamped on his legs. A smile formed on Luz's face as he thought: "You, my dear, will be my dinner tonight. I hope you're edible. Otherwise, I might have another problem besides my damn injured calf."

Luz left the rock in his soaked clothes while holding a dead dog that was missing most of his head and a bleeding bite wound on his leg.

Grinding his teeth, Luz marched through the forest, scaring any creature with his fire spells, till he found a place comfortable enough for a night camp.

It was on a hill with a giant tree, which Luz planned to sleep on during the night. After reaching that place, Luz tossed the corpse aside before glancing toward the sky, where he saw a bloody sun setting down. "Time to make a fire and get my shit dry."

It didn't take long for Luz to make a campfire next to which he sat nacked while his clothes and leather armor dried. But he didn't sit idle since he busied himself with taking care of the dog.

The fire may have kept him warm, but sitting there naked, made Luz uncomfortable and gave him a sense of vulnerability.

In the hope that the wound on his calf would not become infected, Luz briefly pressed fire on it while groaning: "That better be more than enough till I end up amongst humans."

However, Luz ignored something crucial. A campfire in the middle of the woods is metaphorical, like a lighthouse that reveals its location to everyone nearby. Perhaps he was aware of this, and maybe Luz even intended on luring fellow humans to his fireplace.

Time passed, and the sun almost vanished from the night sky completely.

Meanwhile, Luz sat dressed in his clothes while enjoying the warmth of the campfire until he heard a rustling coming from the bushes.

Gripping his knife tightly, Luz slowly arose, preparing to attack at any given moment.

An alien female voice announced from the bushes in a foreign language, "Ich komme in Frieden."

Luz, who didn't understand what she stated, readied himself to escape at any given time before shouting: "Speak, Raneian. Also, show yourself before I attack you, you goddamn weirdo."

A female slowly appeared from the bushes holding an ax tightly before stating in a language familiar to him: "I come in peace."

Upon understanding her words, a smile formed on Luz's face before he nodded in contentment. "That's better."

For Luz, it felt as if he found light in the godforsaken forest. But if he only knew how wrong his assumption really was.