The wind blew gently over the still-warm ashes.
Sitting on a rock's edge, Lior remained silent.
His eyes bandaged, his body still marked with poorly healed cuts, he didn't move.
It had been three days since Dean left.
Three days without a word.
Three days without hearing his voice.
Three days… without him.
And even though Lior was no longer able to see, he could feel.
The absence, the emptiness… the cold.
All that remained were his power, his breath, and the slow beats of his own heart.
> "It's for your own good," Dean had said. "I must follow my own path."
But the good... it hurts.
YU, his daughter, was somewhere out there.
And he was blind, alone, lost in a forest ravaged by mist and hunger.
The goblins were gone. The werewolf was dead.
But the solitude… that remained.
---
Condition Tellurique, at level 2, allowed him to feel everything vibrating within a hundred meters around him.
But today, it sent nothing back.
No life. No hope.
Just the earth. And his own weight.
> "Who threw me into this world?" he thought for the hundredth time.
"Is this... a punishment? A test? A mistake?"
He had abandoned the cities. Too much noise. Too many voices. Too much pain.
He preferred to stay in this forest, even if each night, the cold seemed to steal a piece of his soul.
But then, as he was lost in his thoughts...
The system suddenly manifested in his head.
---
> [Universal Alert – Supreme Level]
An Ogre Weapon has been detected in the Silent Forest.
Class: Supreme Superior Monster
Size: 3.8 meters
Speed: Unknown
Estimated time to contact: 31 minutes.
Evacuation impossible. Prepare yourselves.
---
Lior's heart began to beat faster.
An ogre… here?
In this forest?
He felt the trees shiver, the earth tighten.
Even nature seemed to want to flee.
He slowly stood up, reaching for his bow.
His Illumination-ranked bow.
He traced the runes etched into the string with his fingertips.
He took a deep breath.
His legs trembled.
Not from fear.
But from excitement mixed with rage.
— I won't die here.
He focused his energy, activating each of his skills.
— I am Lior.
An invisible smile formed on his lips.
— And with my skills... I will survive.
And I will uncover the secrets of this world.