The Beginning Of The Ruler
Chapter 10: Keep Going

The journey through the dimensional gap gave rise to a very strange sensation. It felt as if I was stuck in the middle of an accelerated movie scene. My surroundings whizzed in an obscure blurred color as I sat on my butt, staring blankly in the distance with no more tears left to cry.

The ground I landed on covered my fall with piles of leaves and vines. That doesn't matter. Even if I land on the jagged rocks, I probably won't notice it.

I remained in the same sitting position during the trip, not even bothering to pay attention to my surroundings.

He has gone.

I'll never have a chance to see her again.

Those two thoughts triggered another wave of emotion as I let out a sobbing sob.

I began to recall the nearly four months we spent together; how much he cared about me, treating me like his own blood. I don't care that he has sent me home for so long that I will stay with him. During the short time I was with Silvana, she taught me so much and gave me the insight I lacked since coming to this world.

Relented to the faculty of my mind who wanted sleep to cope with the pain, I curled up into a ball where I landed when the burning pain sustained me back.

A burning sensation spread from the mana core all over my body until a voice echoed in my head.

"Ahem! Testing, testing .. Ah good! Hello Art, this is Silvana."

My heart was pounding as I immediately responded to that voice. "Silvanna! I'm right here! Can you hear …"

"If you're listening to this now, it means I've shown you who I really am …"

Ah, that's the kind of tape he put into me when he gouged that little hole into my mana core.

"… You're not ready now to know the whole truth. Knowing you, if I tell you who that figure in the sky is, you will bravely try and fight. Little White, you barely passed the age of four. When I saw your mana core, I realized that you have a rare talent because your mana core is already deep red. I will leave you with this: I have instilled my unique desire into you. This was something incomparable to the wishes of ordinary beasts. Your future progress as a magician depends on how well you can use my will embedded in your mana core…"

Is that why the purple in his eyes and the golden pattern disappeared?

"The moment your core reaches the level of passing through the white stage is when you will hear from me again. At that time, I'll explain everything and what you do from there is your choice."

Is there a stage of the white past?

"Last, Art.I know you may be grieving, but remember that you have a family to look after and a stone I entrust you with. My only hope is for you to embrace the joy and innocence of childhood, train hard, and make your parents and I proud. Do not chase the shadows in anger. Killing the people responsible for my death won't bring me back to life or make you feel better. There's a reason for everything and I don't regret what happened. With this, I say goodbye to you for now. Remember, protect your family and the stone, learn what I've left for you, and enjoy this life, King William."

"…"

That name and title came from my previous world.

He knew all the time …

Did he find something at my core? Can he see into my memory? So many questions but the only one who could answer them was gone.

I refused to move for a long time, staying in my comfortable fetal position, deep in thought.

Silvana's right. He had said all this because he knew what my life was like in my old world. I can't make the same mistake as living just for the sake of pursuing strength. I want to be strong, but I also want to live my life without regrets. I want to live a life that Silvana will be proud of. I don't think he would be happy even if I reached any stage after white while living life with just training. No, I should hurry up and contact my family.

But before that..Where the hell am I?

Looking around, the trees towering above my head surrounded me. There was a thick fog towering several centimeters thick from the ground, filling the air with an almost unnerved moisture.

Unnatural thick trees and fog…

I sank back, disappointed at what this meant.

I was in Elshira Forest.

******* desperate came out of my mouth when I got up.

I don't think I'll be seeing my family anytime soon. It's been more than four months since I fell off a cliff. My family has most likely returned to Ashber or perhaps even decided to stay in Cyrus.

I have nothing but clothes on my back and a strange stone wrapped in Silvana's fur. This cursed fog limited my gaze to about a few meters around me. While strengthening my eyes with mana helped a little, it did not solve the bigger problem of how to get out of this place.

I strengthened my body, allowing whichever rotation had become my habit now. Right now, I can only absorb about twenty percent of what I can do just by meditating, but I can't complain.

The only downside to mana rotation is that it is not a substitute for strengthening your mana core. In order for me to purify my mana core and take it to the next stage, I just need to focus on gathering mana, from my body and the surrounding atmosphere, and use it to get rid of the impurities bit by bit. One important thing I felt was that after making my mana core turn deep red, the amount of mana I could store in it increased significantly. Although the size did not increase, I guess the purity allowed more mana to be stored.

I climbed some branches onto a nearby tree and placed myself after I was tall enough. I focused the mana only into my eyes, improving my vision even further.

What I'm looking for is not a way out but more for human signs. Silvana had said that I would be teleported close to humans so I hoped that there might be adventurers traveling through here who would direct me out, or even escort me.

After about ten minutes of searching, jumping from tree to tree, I found what I was looking for.

I jumped over a few more trees, feeling quite proud of my primate agility, stopping at a branch just a few meters away. Hiding myself behind a thick trunk, I observed a group of humans.

Something's not right.

I hid myself completely behind the trunk and closed my eyes, putting mana into my ears.

"NO! HELP U! SOMEONE HELP ME! MAMA! DADDY'S! GRANDPA, I'M SCARED!!!"

"Someone silenced him! He'll attract attention!"

*THATBUCH*

"Quickly. Put him in the back of the train. We're just a few days away from the mountains. We'll be safer then. Don't relax and keep moving."

"Hey, Boss? How much do you think he's gonna sell it? Fairy elf girl profits a lot, doesn't she? Hehe, she is also a child so virgin in that! I'm sure he'll pick us up a lot of money, yeah!"

Slave trader!

I carefully peeked to see the small-sized carriage, enough to cram around five or six adults. I turned around just in time to see a middle-aged man carrying a little girl to the back of the carriage. She looked to be around six or seven years old, with a silvery hue in her hair and distinctive pointed ears known to elves.

What am I supposed to do? How could they kidnap one in the first place? The magical mist of the Elshira Forest was supposed to confound the senses of even the most capable magician.

After a few seconds of observing, I found my answer.

Attached to the dog necklace where a savage beast that looked like a mixture between a deer and a dog, with forked horns, looked like an elaborate satellite. They are mentioned briefly in the encyclopedia I always carry. The coyote is native to the Elshira Forest and can navigate better than the elves.

How the savages obtained the coyote, I don't know but I need to think of a plan.

Option one: Steal one of the coyotes and have him take me out of the woods.

Option two: Kidnap a kidnapped elf girl to have her take me out of the woods.

Option three: Kill all the slave traders and free the fairy girl, then grab the coyote and have them take me out of the forest.

Pondering for a few minutes, I was faced with a dilemma. Option one would be the easiest, but it wouldn't be suitable for me to just leave the elf girl for granted.

…Big opportunity…

Option two had a clear weakness that, once I saved that elf, it was, he wouldn't take me out of the woods and just insisted on returning home and the slave traders probably wouldn't take it well. Option three had the best results, but was by far the most painful, considering there were four of them and only one of me. Due to the fog, I could not sense whether any of them were witches but it was safe to assume that at least one of them was a witch. Being able to catch elves in the forest meant that they were extremely lucky, or professional.

After sighing deeply again, inevitably I noticed how often I was sighing lately. Option three that.

After hours of observing, I had learned enough about them to move. I waited until nightfall to execute my plan. Despite the appearance of their countryside, the slave traders were surprisingly vigilant; they never made a fire and always kept two people at all times.

After stirring the coyote with the carefully thrown stone, I moved as soon as one of the two guards went to the other side of the carriage to calm them down.

The one staying behind was sitting on a fallen log, playing something in his hand while the other two were sleeping inside the tent. Carefully, jumping onto the branch right on top of the carriage, I prepared for my attack.

My first target was the one who went to appease the coyote first.

I plopped down with a soft thud behind one of the slave traders. This man had a very thin body. While slender muscles were visible, he did not appear too strong and was only armed with a long blade.

Surprised by the soft thud, the skinny man turned around probably expecting a curious ferret or mouse. His face turned into a mixture of surprise and amusement when he saw me, a four-year-old boy in tattered clothes.

But before he could speak, I lunged upwards towards his neck. I put mana into my blade, turning it into a sharp tip. This was called a swordless art in my old world but here it would be more accurate to call it a wind attribute technique.

He jerked back reflexively, his hands trying to reach where his face was to keep the boy from shooting towards him.

Already late.

I took a quick sweep at the jugular, pulled out his vocal cords along with his carotid arteries. Streams of blood gushed out from his neck as soon as I landed behind him, supporting his lifeless body and gently lowering it to avoid making any noise. As expected, the coyote that Lanky had just calmed down jolted woke up from the smell of blood that caused them to howl and bark.

"Ey Pinky! Can't even calm the dog... What's the matter?!"

I've picked up Pinky's knife and waited for her in the back corner of the train.

While the attention of the other slave traders was directed at Pinky's corpse, which was currently being eaten by the coyote, I jumped out from behind and stabbed the side of her neck with a knife.

The dogs fell silent as they devoured the two corpses. As I headed to the tent to dispose of the remaining two in their sleep, a shrill cry shattered my plan.

"HELLLL! MAMA! SOMEBODY! WHOEVER! PLEASE!!"

That boy! … Why must it be now?

As a gesture, I heard the rustling of the tent when the two remaining slave traders had come out. "Pinky! The deuce! The boy woke up! What the fuck are you guys.." He barked, still half asleep.

I swallowed the inappropriate desire to laugh at the ridiculous name of the slave traders, and hid behind a tree next to the carriage and stuffed mana into Pinky's knife.

Sensing something was amiss, the two remaining slave traders carefully stepped to the other side of the carriage where their eyes glared as they watched their two former friends being eaten by coyotes.

Using this opportunity, I attacked the closest one as his gaze turned to me and directly swung his short sword at my face.

Dodging the slash, I plopped down and ran towards him, trying to reach the reach of my knife. I swung, strengthening more mana into the blade, landing a clean wound through the Achilles heel of his right foot.

"Ga!!" he howled in pain as he dived desperately beyond my reach before I could do any further damage.

"Danton, careful! I think this boy is a witch" cried the fighter whose tendon I had just cut.

I turned my attention to Danton as he pulled his sword from its sheath and lowered it into a defensive position.

"You've been seeing all sorts of crazy things lately! Looks like a big sack of gold just appeared in front of us, George! I'm sure she'll get us almost as much as that elf," she laughed out loud.

These bastards don't even care that I just killed their party members.

Danton's body shone faintly as he strengthened his body with mana. As she advanced towards me, her lips curved up forming a confident grin on her square face.

George is out of the fight with that lame leg, but this augmenter is going to be a problem.

An augmenter named Danton suddenly jumped on me, his right arm ready to punch. I can only guess that the only reason he didn't use his sword was to not damage his "Needle. Although I am usually offended, in this case, being overconfident makes me easier so I don't complain.

I jumped back in time to avoid a blow strong enough to leave a small indentation on the ground as I threw my knife at him. I used the same trick as I did with the sorcerer I dragged down from the cliff, but this witch was more careful. He broke the mana rope with his sword and grabbed my knife with his free hand.

Dirt. (English language)

I'm in a bad position right now. Danton is not tall but his range is still much longer than mine. He also had a sword, which he now deemed necessary to use, which further increased his range.

Without wasting any time, Danton ran towards me and threw back the knife I just threw at him. I was easily evasive, but not in time to react to the next step as she swiped my ankle with her scabbard. As I stumbled to regain balance, he used the opportunity to grab hold of my ankle and turn me over.

Her confident face was tangled as I punched the hand that was holding me as I concentrated mana. I used the fire attribute technique, releasing all the mana focused on my fist and aiming at the weak joint of his wrist.

A loud crack, followed by howls of profanity showed the attack was enough.

Her broken wrist released my ankle and I landed awkwardly on my back. Quickly jumping to my feet, I grabbed Pinky's knife and used the opportunity to attack the wounded Danton. While he was still preoccupied by the pain from his wrist, he angrily cursed, "You're DEAD now, you son of a bitch! I don't care if I can't sell you anymore!"

His left wrist was injured, leaving a gap in his defense. I wanted more mana to my feet and arrived within range, about to land a hard blow to his side, when I saw him furiously swing his sword down.

He fell for it!

I quickly spun with my left foot in place, turning to the right. Dodging the swing with the width of the hair, I got into the range of my knife to his right side, opened due to his last desperate swing.

He immediately tried to jump back but I put my right leg behind his leg making him lose his balance. In one quick push, I thrust my knife under his armpit, through the gap between his ribs and into his lungs.

He was easily finished off after his breath collapsed from his wound.

I'm now left with George who can't move.

I couldn't use Danton's sword because it was too big and heavy for my body, so I used Pinky's knife one last time and swiped George's neck. The poor fighter could not really fight or flee with his useless legs and died with an expression of disbelief. Just like his two companions, fed to dogs.

It seemed that the elf girl knew that there was a battle going on with a terrifying silence.

I climbed to the back of the train where he was locked and I saw him shivering in the corner with a dirty cloth covering his k3maluan. He watched me with surprise and hesitation, his eyes almost saying, "There's no way he's saving me, right?"

I untied her as she remained silent, her swollen turquoise eyes never leaving my face.

Tired and feeling dirty, I helped her up and just said, "You have to go home now."

"Hik .. hik …"

He might not know if I was an enemy or friend until now, but as soon as the word 'house' was spoken, a relieved expression was seen on his tense face and he cried.

"Hic! I'm so scared! They'll sell me! Hic! I thought I'd never see my family again! Hic! AAAAAA"

...----2.813 Word----...