The alpha deer carefully removed the baby deer from its back, then Edwin approached it.

The boy saw that the little deer was only sleeping, which made him heave a sigh of relief. However, he sensed that it was currently weak.

"Don't worry about this little guy, he's dormant right now after he was exposed in the Magic Frostbite for too long.", the alpha deer said.

After a pause, the herd leader added, "Come with me, human."

Edwin nodded, but then he remembered that the smart beast might kill him. He started to hesitate whether to follow or not.

'Well, I won't be able to escape even if I wanted to anymore.', Edwin made up his mind and decided to come with the beast.

After he saw the true power of the alpha deer when they were escaping from the Magic Frostbite, he felt that even if he used Flicker to run away, he won't be able to maintain a long distance from it, just the destructive beam of light from its antlers would be enough if the herd leader got serious!

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The both of them walked away from the herd, on the way, many animals looked with innocent curiosity towards Edwin, like it was their first time seeing a human.

But when Edwin looked back at them, they would stop looking at him and ignore him.

In addition, he also noticed that the animals were making way for them, no... rather, they were making way for the alpha deer.

The alpha deer could be compared to a celebrity.

A very dangerous celebrity.

This scene made Edwin curious about what kind of deer was in front of him right now.

When they got to a certain location where it was far away from the nearest animals, the alpha deer stopped walking and introduced himself, "My name is Rein, the alpha of the Highborn Emperor Deer herd."

'Rein? Catchy name.', Edwin thought, but he didn't dare say it out loud in front of the powerful beast.

"So, what brings a human like you in the depths of the Monarch Forest?", Rein asked, his tone was now the exact contrary to the time that he tried to kill Edwin earlier.

The boy thought at first if he should answer honestly or not, and in the end, he chose to tell the truth, "I came here to kill the demonic bear."

Rein made a curious gaze and asked, "Are you kidding me, right?"

"Well...", Edwin scratched the back of his head. Now that he thought about it, it was ridiculous to try to kill the demonic bear, he even had a hard time escaping from the demonic crocodile.

"You'll never be able to kill it, because you're doubting yourself.", Rein added.

"Eh?", Edwin was surprised by the reply of Rein.

"No I'm not, it's just that it's probably too powerful for me after I encountered a demonic crocodile.", Edwin said truthfully.

"And you escaped that giant lizard, without getting hurt?", Rein asked.

"Yes."

"Like I said, you're really doubting yourself too much."

"How powerful is that demonic bear then?", Edwin asked.

"As powerful as your humans' Mid-stage mage.", Rein answered.

Edwin's eyes widened, "What?! How could I battle something as powerful as that?!"

'Does Allen even knows how powerful that demonic bear is? He still sent me here to battle that monster!'

"And you just escaped from the demonic crocodile which is as powerful as a Late-stage mage.", Rein added.

The last sentence made Edwin stunned again, "But the level of my strength is only comparable to the Mage Apprentice level when I came here!"

"How could somebody as strong as that survive in the inner region of the Monarch Forest?"

"Umm..."

Now that he thought about it, it was really foolish that somebody with the same strength at the Mage Apprentice level would survive in this location.

'Why would Allen even send me here then?'

Questions kept increasing in his mind, if not for the fact that he suddenly got an increase in strength without his notice, he really would have died long ago.

"So, are you still going to battle that demonic bear then?", Rein asked.

"Now that I'm already here, then I will still fight it.", Edwin nodded.

"Then suit yourself, I still need to take care of my herd.", Rein was about to leave when Edwin asked, "Wait, do you know where to get Soul Shards?"

"Hmm, Soul Shards? What are those? I don't know any kind of object called like that.", Rein replied.

Edwin was dismayed by the answer of Rein, if the herd leader, who has been living in the inner region doesn't even know about it, then the said object should most likely be at the deep region.

Edwin: 'Maybe it has another name to them?'

"Can you point me to the direction where is the demonic bear's lair?", Edwin asked a different question.

Rein turned his head to a certain direction and said, "If you follow this direction where I am looking, you will get to that demonic furball by a few days."

"Thank you.", Edwin said.

"You are welcome. I guess this is where we part ways, see you again, human.", Rein said.

"My name's Edwin, and goodbye.", Edwin introduced himself along with his farewell.

"You know Edwin, your aura is a bit familiar.", after Rein said that sentence, he didn't stay any longer and ran back towards the herd.

"Huh?", Edwin was confused by what Rein said.

However, Edwin immediately stopped thinking about what Rein said and followed the direction that it pointed its head to earlier, "I still have a bear to kill."

While walking, he pa.s.sed his time by contemplating how could have he become stronger in a few days. From having a strength the same of a mage apprentice to being equivalent of the Mid-stage Mage level.

Edwin looked at the faint glowing mark on his palm which he got from the codex. Not only did that book gave him this mark of unknown meaning, but also bits of information.

Those bits of information were already shocking to him. Every time that he remembered them, he couldn't help but be wary and feel fear.

"If I fail, am I going to die in such a horrible way? Why was I even chosen? I wanted to increase my strength in a fast way, but the price is too big.", he murmured as he walked about without taking note of anything.

After a while, he noticed something from far away which piqued his interest.

He narrowed his eyes to get a better look and saw that it was white-robed figure with a bow and arrows on its back.

It was none other than the person who got him into a predicament with the Highborn Emperor Deers earlier!

When Edwin saw the figure, his blood boiled in anger but he still managed to keep his calm with a very deep gulp and a smile.

He checked the aura of the figure, and saw that it was only as powerful as an Early-stage mage, which was somewhat of a surprise considering that somebody with that kind of strength was still alive in the inner region until now.

He also noticed the bow on its back. The bow has faint engravings on it, which was what made its strike so powerful when the arrow was launched based on his a.s.sumptions.

'I will make you repay for what you did.', Edwin snorted angrily within his mind.

***

A few hours earlier in Eastern Horizon City...

Allen and Anna were relaxing inside the warm shop, when the former suddenly looked towards a certain direction.

"What's wrong Alchemist Morgan?", Anna asked.

It has been more than a month since she came to this city to avail Allen's services in alchemy so that she could speed up the process of cleaning her pathways of mana from the chaotic mana.

However, after that time that she touched James, a bone-chilling feeling entered her body which forced her to use up most of her mana, surprisingly, the chaotic mana was also flushed out or gone along with that freezing feeling.

In fact, it was she doesn't even need that Adept Mana Stabilizing Pill anymore, but she still kept waiting for it as a sign of respect to Allen.

"Nothing, it's just that the Magic Frostbite started to expand.", Allen answered.

"Oh.", Anna replied, she doesn't even know how dangerous was this Magic Frostbite compared to the other ones, because she doesn't have any knowledge and didn't experience it too long by herself.

"Didn't you send Edwin to the Monarch Forest? I hope he'll be alright.", Anna said.

Allen didn't answer and continued reading the book about alchemy.

The girl suddenly felt a chill on her back, it was as if the mood changed from warmness to coldness.

"Oh, I think there's a plant going amok." Allen stood up from his position. But as soon as he did so, he heard a sound of chomping, followed by swallowing.

He sat back down and continued reading.