Something wet and slimy landed on Agni's forehead with a disgusting splat.
His eyelids felt heavy, like someone had glued them shut, but he forced them open anyway. The sky swam into view—gray clouds, dim morning light, and a black shape flapping lazily above him.
He reached up, fingers dragging across his forehead.
Warm. Sticky.
He brought his hand down and stared at it.
"...Bird shit."
He blinked.
He slowly turned his head and glared up.
The culprit—a fat crow perched on a branch—tilted its head at him, as if asking, You gonna do something about it?
Agni pushed himself up on his elbows, wincing.
"Breakfast," he muttered. "You are so going to be breakfast."
He reached for a Flame Burst on pure reflex.
Mana sputtered.
Nothing happened.
The bird fluffed its wings, cawed once—like it was laughing at him—and flew off.
Agni sagged back down, suddenly aware of how weak he felt. His head throbbed. His limbs were heavy. His whole body felt hollow, like someone had scooped out his insides and forgotten to put them back.
He dragged his hand to his chest.
His clothes were stiff with dried blood, torn where the bullet had gone in. Underneath, his skin was smooth. The hole in his lung was gone. The shredded flesh had knitted itself back together completely.
Even stranger—
He lifted his right arm.
His right arm.
Whole. Fully attached. Fingers. Wrist. Forearm. Shoulder.
He turned his hand over, flexed his fingers, pressed his nails into his palm.
Real.
Definitely real.
"Huh," he breathed. "Strange."
The clearing looked like something out of a nightmare.
Corpses.
Three of them.
Walton, lying crumpled with no head.
Philip, slumped forward, also headless, his shirt soaked in dried blood from that deep chest gash.
Sasha was somewhere back where it all started—he could still see the dark shape of her body in his memory, even if he couldn't see it from here.
Flies were already starting to gather.
Agni grimaced.
Right. I did this.
He waited.
Listened.
Nothing.
No shouting. No clanking armor. No distant footsteps. No "Royal Guard, we're here to rescue you."
Just the low rush of the nearby river and the soft rustle of leaves.
Weird.
He got to his feet. His legs felt like wet noodles, but they held.
He glanced around one more time.
No one's come. All night. Either nobody knows, or nobody cares yet.
He blew out a long breath and turned toward where Big B had fallen.
Big B's corpse was exactly where he'd left it.
Or what was left of it.
He swallowed.
"Hey, big guy…"
His voice came out hoarse.
He crouched, ignoring the stench, and dug around in what remained of the saddle and bags. Most of the luggage was ruined—torn, soaked in blood, or just too heavy to drag around on his own.
But a few things survived.
The rolled-up terrain map in its oil-treated tube.
Most of the rations—those cursed Potato of Despair balls, still somehow perfectly intact, because of course they were.
A change of clothes, miraculously unstained at the bottom of a side pouch.
And the small velvet gift box from Eldric Valen, now splattered and smeared with dried blood.
Agni stared at it for a second.
The box looked worse than ever. If this was supposed to be a romantic engagement gift, the presentation was… not ideal.
He grabbed it anyway.
He slung what he could into a smaller travel bundle: map, food, some water, spare clothes, gift box. Everything else was dead weight.
Then he turned back to Big B.
He stood there for a few seconds, chewing the inside of his cheek.
"...Alright," he murmured. "I'm not just gonna leave you rotting here."
He raised his hand, gathered what little mana he could still coax out of his drained body, and cast the weakest Flame Burst of his life. Just enough.
The dry patches of blood-soaked grass caught first. Then the remnants of the saddle. Then flesh.
Soon, flames were dancing over what was left of Death Walker of the Crimson Prince.
It wasn't a grand funeral pyre. It wasn't even a good one.
But it was something.
"Thanks," Agni said softly, watching the flames work. "For carrying me. For not throwing me off. For… you know. Everything."
No one answered.
The ashes rose slowly, carried on the wind toward the river. A few blackened fragments tumbled down the bank and into the water, drifting away with the current.
Agni watched until the fire died down.
Nobody came.
No rescuers. No scouts. No random travelers.
Just him.
He sighed.
"Alright," he muttered. "Small setbacks don't stop a prince from getting a long comfortable life !!"
With that decided, he adjusted his bundle and headed back toward the forest.
"Great start on growth," he said to no one, forcing a hum into his voice as he walked. "Yup. Perfect coming-of-age story. Solo journey, got ambushed, killed people. Character development speedrun."
He tried to laugh at his own joke.
It came out as a cough.
A hard one.
The next second he doubled over, vomiting onto the ground.
Bile and leftover Potato of Despair hit the dirt with a wet splatter. His stomach cramped, his throat burned, and his whole body shook.
When it finally stopped, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, breathing hard.
"Okay," he rasped. "Apparently it will stop me."
His legs wobbled.
He staggered a few more steps, then just… gave up and sat down heavily on a patch of damp grass.
His head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. Repeatedly. His skull throbbed in rhythm with his heartbeat. Every pulse was like a crack running through bone.
His eyes were the worst, though.
They hurt.
But that got him thinking about something else—something that had been nagging at him since he'd regained consciousness.
"How did I do those spells anyway?" he wondered aloud. "I never learned Void Slash or that Void Burst. I just... made them up on the spot."
The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed. Magic wasn't supposed to work like that. You had to study spell formulas, practice the mana manipulation techniques, understand the theoretical framework behind each effect. You couldn't just invent new magic in the middle of a life-or-death fight.
Could you?
"It felt like being in a trance," he murmured, trying to recall the exact sensation. "Like everything around me turned into lines and patterns that just... made sense. Like I could see how reality was put together and figure out how to take it apart."
He closed his eyes, tried to recapture that moment of crystal-clear perception when the spells had felt as natural as breathing.
"Focus, focus..." he muttered.
His heartbeat slowly evening out.
Good. Just stay like this. Think. Sort it out. Figure out—
…
…
…zzzz…zzzzzz…zzzzzzzz…
Heavy rain pounding against his face woke him up several hours later, as if the weather gods were personally punishing him for his laziness.
"Ugh, seriously?" Agni groaned, scrambling to his feet as cold water immediately soaked through his clothes. "Can't a guy get some peaceful meditation time?"
The forest had transformed while he slept. Dark clouds blocked out most of the sunlight, and the rain was coming down in sheets that made it almost impossible to see more than a few feet in any direction. Thunder rumbled ominously overhead.
He needed shelter immediately, or he'd end up with pneumonia on top of everything else.
If I get sick on top of all this, I'm going to personally overthrow the weather gods.
After a few miserable minutes, he spotted the dark outline of a rock formation ahead.
A shallow shadow. A cut into the hillside.
A cave.
Agni almost cried.
"Great," he breathed. "Perfect. Finally something good—"
Then he froze.
That's when he noticed he wasn't the only one seeking shelter from the rain.
"Is that a fucking bear?" Agni stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the massive creature just inside the cave mouth.
It was huge—easily twice his height when standing on its hind legs, with dark brown fur and claws that looked like they could tear through steel. This wasn't just any bear, either. The size and distinctive markings identified it as a Kodros Bear, one of the most dangerous predators in this region.
But what made Agni's blood run cold wasn't the bear itself—it was what the creature was doing.
A smaller shape huddled near the bear's feet, obviously a cub. And in the cub's mouth, barely visible in the dim light, was what looked suspiciously like a human hand.
Agni squinted through the rain, his eyes sharpened again for a moment unwillingly or willingly with it, his enhanced vision confirmed his suspicions. The pale fingers and distinctive brown sleeve fabric belonged to Walton, the young assassin he'd killed hours earlier.
"Well, that's... cute," he said with black humor. "Junior's first taste of human. What a precious family moment."
"Ouch!."
He rubbed his eyes as if the cost of seeing well was pain….
But it only made him vulnerable in front of literally predator ..
The adult Kodros Bear's massive head swiveled toward him, small dark eyes fixing on him with predatory interest.
"Oh, shit."
The bear's claw slashed through the air where Agni's chest had been a split second before. Only his combat-sharpened reflexes saved him from being disemboweled on the spot.
"Sorry, sorry!" he shouted, already turning to run. "Didn't mean to interrupt dinner!"
The Kodros Bear roared—a sound like an avalanche mixed with a thunderstorm—and charged after him with surprising speed for something so massive.
"Fuck me!" Agni gasped, running through the forest as fast as his legs could carry him. The rain made everything treacherous, but the alternative to running was being eaten alive by a carnivorous parent protecting its cub.
He could hear the bear crashing through the undergrowth behind him, getting closer with every stride. In desperation, he spun around and tried his most reliable attack.
"Flame Burst!"
The fire magic erupted from his left hand—but the heavy rain killed it almost immediately, reducing his dramatic magical attack to a few pitiful sparks that disappeared in the downpour.
"Of course it doesn't work in the rain," he muttered. "Why would anything be easy?"
The bear's next swipe came close enough to tear through his shirt, leaving shallow claw marks across his back that burned like acid.
That's when Agni ran out of forest.
He skidded to a halt at the edge of a cliff that dropped away into darkness. Through the rain and mist, he could make out the opposite side maybe fifty feet away, with what looked like a steep but possibly survivable slope leading down into a valley.
Behind him, the Kodros Bear was approaching with predatory confidence, apparently realizing its prey had nowhere left to run.
"Well," Agni said, looking down at the drop. "This is either really stupid or really clever."
He jumped.
The fall was terrifying—a chaotic tumble through space with rain whipping at his face and rocks rushing up to meet him. He hit the slope hard, then rolled and slid down the muddy incline for what felt like miles, bouncing off trees and rocks until he finally came to rest in a heap at the bottom.
Above him, the Kodros Bear had stopped at the cliff edge, apparently deciding that chasing one skinny human wasn't worth risking a fall.
"Thank... god," Agni wheezed, checking to make sure all his remaining body parts were still attached. Everything hurt, but nothing seemed to be broken. His pack had survived the fall..
"Please, no more," he said to the universe in general. "Just... stop it. I've had enough adventure for one day."
He grabbed a low branch, pulled himself up, and slowly climbed until he reached a thick, sturdy limb that could hold his weight.
He straddled it, back against the trunk, legs dangling on either side.
He checked his bundle.
He dug inside and pulled out a familiar, soul-destroying object.
A Potato of Despair.
It looked exactly the same as before.
Brown.
Dense.
Ugly.
Eternally terrible.
He sighed.
"At least you're consistent."
He took a small bite.
It tasted like wet chalk and old disappointment.
"Truly made for 'sun or shit' times, huh…" he muttered. "Tastes the same no matter what.
He forced himself to chew and swallow, then leaned his head back against the trunk, staring out into the dim, rainy forest.
He took stock of what he had, lining things up on the branch in front of him as best as he could without dropping them.
"Alright, inventory time."
He pointed to each item in turn.
"About… thirty of these demonic potato balls." The Potato of Despair stared back at him, dead-eyed. "Great."
"Around five liters of water," he continued, tapping the canteen and spare water skins. "Realistically… three days if I'm careful. Less if I'm unlucky. More if I find streams that aren't poison."
He picked up the velvet gift box.
It was worse now.
Dried blood stained the fabric. The ribbon was half-unraveled. The whole thing carried this faint, iron smell that absolutely did not say "romantic engagement" and more "I found this in a murder scene."
He turned it over in his hands.
"The box is anything but pleasant," he sighed.
He rested it on his lap, staring at it.
"Let's hope Lyralei accepts it anyway," he murmured. "Or I might have to ditch this idea."
He imagined it for a second.
Him, standing in front of the most talented, ambitious knight of generations, holding out a bloodstained box with a sheepish smile.
"Hey, nice to meet you, future wife. Here's a present that survived three assassins, one horse explosion, massive blood loss, and a Kodros Bear. Romantic, right?"
He snorted.
"Or what, I explain the whole assassination thing and pretend I'm awesome?"
'Yeah, so three assassins tried to kill me on the road and I cut reality in half and blew their heads up, no big deal, please marry me and please don't kick me out of the palace'.
First impressions must be a good impression, right?
He groaned.
"Yeah, let's think about that later."
He unrolled the terrain map next.
The parchment glowed faintly—soft golden lines outlining mountains, rivers, and major landmarks. A tiny pulsing dot indicated his current position.
The line toward his destination—Aethermoor Academy, nestled in a distant valley—stretched a long way still.
"Magical tracking map," he muttered. "Nice. At least one good thing father prepared. Shows where I am, where I need to go. Also shows that I still have to cover, what… two-thirds of the journey?"
The dot blinked stubbornly far from the marked Academy Crest.
"In only a few remaining days of the week."
He let the map roll itself back up.
"What a pain."