Inside a humble-looking wooden cottage, a cozy fire crackled in the hearth.
In one of the rooms, a small candle flickered with a gentle flame. Its warm glow illuminated the pages of a worn book on the desk. The book had several medical symbols engraved on its cover.
The symbols represented ancient healing remedies and techniques.
The desk also had a stack of handwritten notes and a quill pen with dried ink stains. Then there were rock bowls with mashed herbs and powders.
Beside them was an open map showing the landscape of this mysterious land, and some were marked with red areas with the words “Red Zone” written on top of them.
One corner of the map was torn and crumpled, as if someone had taken a bite off it.
As the candle slowly burned down, casting flickering shadows on the walls, the door suddenly creaked open, and a shadowy figure stepped inside the room.
He approached the desk and replaced the candle with a new one before lighting it up with a matchstick.
“Ugh…” A groan came from the direction of the bed. There, an injured-looking young man lay, his face contorted in pain. He slowly opened his eyes; the purpleness on his sclera had faded away almost completely.
With a weak voice, he muttered. “Where…”
“You are in my home.” The shadowy figure pulled a chair and sat beside the bed with legs crossed.
“Ugh?” Ambrose moved his head to the side and saw the person. He had a smooth, hairless head and an unblemished face with a clean-shaven chin.
At first glance, he looked like some ordinary monk, but he had a pair of earrings that stretched his earlobes down, making his ears look way bigger than they actually were.
These earrings added an unexpected touch to his appearance.
“Who are you?” Ambrose asked and groaned in pain. The pain had greatly lessened; only a slight pain was left that occasionally caused a sharp pain in his midriff region.
“My name is Honorable Zhen.” The bald-headed man said and walked back to the desk before bringing a rock bowl with him. It let out a disgusting stench, which made Ambrose crease his brows.
“Drink this. It’s healing medicine.” Honorable Zhen said and put the rock bowl to Ambrose’s lips. The injured young man slowly opened his mouth and drank the disgusting medicine.
After the bowl was empty, Honorable Zhen put it aside and said. “You might feel some pain for a couple of hours before the rest of the medicine kicks in.”
“Thanks…” Ambrose didn’t know why he helped him, but he was thankful nonetheless. “But why did you help me? Where am I?”
“You stumbled upon our small village.” Honorable Zhen said. “I saw you lying unconscious near our entrance, and I took you here to heal you.”
Ambrose nodded, but frowned and asked. “Did you see any white-robed or brown-robed people?”
“No, I did not.” Honorable Zhen shook his head. “You were all alone.”
‘Why did they stop chasing after me? Was my hunch correct that this place has some very dangerous creatures, so they didn’t want to risk their lives?’
“It’s rare to see anyone with a soul injury.” Honorable Zhen said. “How did you end up in that state?”
“So, I did get an injury to my soul…” Ambrose clutched his chest and said. “Since you can heal soul injury, do you know about the slumbering soul?”
“Of course.” Honorable Zhen replied with a wise look in his eyes. “After the first gate is opened, you can wake up your soul and control it.”
“Yeah…” Ambrose sighed. “I planned to use my soul to find an escape path, but I did not know that others could also use their souls during that time. So, my soul got attacked, resulting in my injury.”
“That does make sense.” Honorable Zhen folded his arms and nodded. “You learned to open the First Gate alone, I assume. If you had a master, they would’ve told you about the dangers of the world of souls.”
“Yeah, I don’t know, but I somehow opened it.”
“You probably had a rare Luck Awakening.” Honorable Zhen said. “With Luck Awakening, it is possible to accidentally open the first gate. However, it won’t happen twice.”
“Won’t happen twice…” Ambrose creased his brows. “Are there more gates?”
“From what we know, three gates are known.” Honorable Zhen nodded. “The first gate is the easiest, while the second and third are extremely challenging. To open those, one would have to meditate for years to even get close.”
‘Damn…’ Ambrose inhaled a cold breath.
“There are rumors about the fourth gate existing, but no one has ever been able to find it or open it.” Honorable Zhen said. “The third gate is already at the peak of human potential. If a fourth gate exists, it would be beyond human capabilities.”
“I see…” Ambrose nodded, already feeling like he knew way more than he did yesterday.
“About the world of souls, the reason why others could join and injure your soul is because you left the gate open.” Honorable Zhen said. “When you awakened, you forgot to close the gate behind you, making your world vulnerable to outside influences.”
“Gate, what gate?” Ambrose didn’t understand one bit.
“It’s a mental gate in here.” Honorable Zhen tapped his head. “It takes a lot of practice to learn to close the gate. That’s why people who hadn’t even opened the first gate yet would learn to close it beforehand.
“That would help them greatly when they finally awaken.”
“I see…” Ambrose became thoughtful.
“Since you don’t know much, I assume you still have a soul scent on you.”
“Soul scent?” Ambrose looked at the bald-headed man.
Honorable Zhen nodded. “With your soul scent, one could track you all the way from the other end of the continent. The soul scent lingers on a place where you have visited for a week before disappearing.
“That might be how you got discovered by the person who injured your soul.”
“Huh!” Ambrose felt his heart beat against his chest. “How can I hide this soul scent?”
He realized that if he didn’t learn that, he would never be able to escape!
“It takes lots of time to practice it.” Honorable Zhen stood up and said. “You can stay here for the night, but tomorrow morning, I have to ask you to leave.
“This village is forbidden to outsiders, and I have already broken countless rules by taking you here. If anyone finds out, I will be in trouble.”
“Please, teach me!” Ambrose groaned in pain and sat up, ignoring the pain. “I will die outside within a day.”
“That is very unfortunate, but there is nothing I can do.” Honorable Zhen said with a sigh and approached the door.
“Why did you save me then? You could have left me for dead.”
Honorable Zhen stopped and turned around. “Because I am not a person without emotions. I knew you would die a miserable death if I left you there, so I decided to help you.
“However, I had no intention to let you stay here.”
“Please…” Ambrose struggled to stand up, his voice filled with desperation. “I’ll do… anything.”
“There is nothing I can do; I am sorry.” Honorable Zhen said. “If it helps, I can give you a map that shows a good escape route out of Nether Forest. Maybe that gives you a better chance at survival.” 𝑜𝒱xt.𝗰𝑶𝕞
“Please…” Ambrose limped towards the bald-headed man and crashed to the floor on his knees. He placed his forehead against the cold floor and shouted. “Tell me how to hide my soul scent!
“If I manage to do it successfully before tomorrow morning, let me meet the village chief. Please!”
‘Before tomorrow morning?’ Honorable Zhen’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘Did he not listen to me? It takes months of sleepless training to be able to do it successfully, and he thinks he can do it in one night’s time…
‘Where does this confidence come from?’
“Please!” Ambrose shouted.
“Very well.” Honorable Zhen agreed and rummaged through the desk’s drawer. He then took out a scroll and tossed it over to Ambrose. “This contains the instructions you’ll need. When bells chime across the village next morning, your time is up.”
“Thank you!” Ambrose nodded and watched as the bald-headed man left the room before closing the door.
Immediately, he realized that he had no time to waste and sat cross-legged on the hard floor.
‘One night, I need all the help I can get!’ Ambrose opened his interface and saw that he still had twenty stat points. ‘I need Intelligence!’
He put all twenty stats on the intelligence, and he then noticed that his Intelligence had reached 100!
[Int%4&&//&¤ Ad¤%&” Re”¤&”&]
The glitched message returned.