Behind the thick bushes, a pair of red eyes appeared. It looked at Ronald's action carefully, determining his strength and finding his weak spot.
After observing Ronald for a while, the owner of the pair of red eyes determined that the prey had no way to escape. So it planned to no longer wait and immediately took action.
Ronald, who was being happy for his real first successful hunt alone, felt a weird feeling as he started to feel shivers running down his spines.
Ronald looked around carefully and held his sword with both hands on his front.
He looked around until he noticed some small movements on a bush at a corner of his sight.
Ronald's nerves tightened as he watched the bush carefully and nervously. Then after a moment, a small shadow jumped out of the bush, but it didn't run towards him. Instead, it just ran past him. It was just a chicken, a normal chicken.
---
Chicken
lvl: 0
Hp: 41/50
Mp:0/0
---
Ronald sighed as he started to relax his nerves, but just as he was about to calm down, a huge shadow suddenly pounced at him, targeting his neck.
It was already too late to do a perfect dodge when he noticed the attack. Although he was taught and trained by his uncle to dodge unexpected attacks, theoretical knowledge, and normal training without real combat experience aren't enough in this bloody world.
Without time for dodging, Ronald, for the first time, felt fear, the fear of death.
As the shadow came closer and closer, Ronald's skill finally took effect and saw what it was.
---
Black Forest Wolf
Lvl: 1
Hp:1080/1080
Mp:736/736
---
It was a black forest wolf, one of the rulers in the outskirts of the Everlast forest.
They live in packs, but sometimes they hunted alone, especially when they deemed that its prey can be easily done alone.
At the last moment, Ronald forcefully moved his body to the side, but still, he didn't avoid those jaws full of sharp teeth. Instead of bitting his neck, the wolf ended up bitting his shoulder. Sadly, even if it wasn't his neck that was bitten, the damage done by the bite was enough to hang his life, a little bit more, and he'll instantly die.
The great pain he felt and the feeling of his life passing away, not only made Ronald awaken from his fear but also, strangely enough, made him calmer.
And then a strange event happened, time seemingly stopped, and everything became silent, but Ronald didn't notice this as he was in his own world of thoughts.
Many thoughts passed through Ronald's mind, such as thoughts about his mother, thoughts about his uncle, thoughts about his dream to be an outstanding warrior, and many other thoughts of such kind. But as time slowly passed by and seemingly wanted to move again, a final group of thoughts came to his mind.
'Am I really going to die here? Would I ever not see my mother again? Maybe, this is better...'
As Ronald had those thoughts, a huge hand seemingly slap his inner self, so hard that it felt like his soul would really leave him at that time. After that hard slap followed a very loud shout that could seemingly move a mountain but has a very warm and calming voice, appeared directly inside his mind.
"Is this all you got, kid? Are you really going to give up easily? This is not the Ronald I know. Did you forget what I have told you? Live your life, move forward, and reach the peak."
That loud shout shook Ronald out of his thoughts and made him unconsciously blurt out the name of someone close to him.
"Uncle Jack!"
But as Ronald woke up from his thoughts and time continued to move, a strange and weird scene happened again, a metallic sound suddenly appeared inside his head as a white spherical barrier formed outside his body, smoothly parting Ronald and the wolf.
The barrier that suddenly appeared didn't only separate him from the wolf but also let out a white light directed to his body that healed all his wounds, but Ronald's attention wasn't on the barrier, nor on the white light but on the floating blue screen that appeared in front of him.
*Ding
---
Do you long for strength?
---
Ronald looked at the question carefully, then looked at the wolf, which caused him to feel despair.
The wolf was still a level 1 beast, not yet a titled beast, but that level 1 beast nearly killed him, he can't even make a proper dodge. These facts let him see and feel how weak he really is, and how far from his reach, his dreams really were.
He really lacked strength, that is why he longed for it.
Without further ado, he replied loudly in his heart.
"Yes"
After answering the first question, the words in the floating blue screen was immediately replaced by another set of words.
---
Do you want to be stronger?
---
Without thinking further, Ronald uttered the same answer in his heart, but this time with a stronger conviction and determination, burning deep inside his heart.
"Yes," Ronald answered.
Ronald was in a strange state that he didn't even bother or care about the strangeness of what was going on.
---
Would you pay any price for it?
---
Seeing this question, Ronald thought a little before he answered loudly with a strong heart.
"Yes, as long as it wouldn't violate my conscience."
After that third question, the floating blue screen finally disappeared, but nothing happened after that.
An hour slowly passed by, but still, nothing strange happened.
Another hour passed, still, nothing strange happened.
Night came, and Ronald was still standing as if he was a statue. Although he hadn't eaten his lunch and dinner, and his body was craving for food, he still waited patiently.
Until the moon reached its peak position, something strange slowly happened.
The wind slowly blew across the area, as the leaves dance along with it. The river which Ronald couldn't see nor hear in his present position was now making a loud, calming, and rhythmic sound, tingling his ear to listen to it. The combination of the wind, the trees, the river, and the moonlight made a mesmerizing scene that can never be forgotten once seen.
The wolf, who thought that Ronald was at his final stretch of life, became stiff, then as if its body was controlled by something, its body slowly walked away. If Ronald didn't see the unfocused eyes of the wolf, then he would have thought that the wolf was just tired of waiting and decided to leave.
After the wolf's shadow left Ronald's vision, clear laughter of a mature woman was heard, this time not inside his head, but from his surroundings. Not only heard from one direction but from all directions and strangely enough, the laughter seemingly came from the trees, the river, the wind, and even from the moon.
"Haha, I didn't really pick the wrong host this time... You didn't disappoint me, kid... Now, without much further nonsense, let's start the ceremony."
Ronald wanted to ask something, but he didn't have enough time, as the voice immediately continued, "Receive the baptism of the universe."
The voice was so loud that it felt like it came from everything and everywhere around him, from small pebbles to big rocks, from small vines to big trees. The sound even felt like it came from the water. It was like the world was speaking to him.
"From light and darkness, order and chaos, everything came into being."
"From eternity past to eternity future, this life started to move and made progress..."
The chant continued for an indefinite amount of time, and Ronald was so indulged in it. Until the last part of the chant came, Ronald was forcefully brought out of his current state.
He then suddenly felt pain, and immediately after, a warm feeling came. The alternating and sometimes intertwining feeling put Ronald in a very strange state, then his surroundings suddenly change. It was as if he was inside an illusion that shows not only the creation of the world but also its destruction.
He can't do anything but only watch what was happening and listen to the chanting sound.
And finally, it came to the final chant.
"From the will of the universe, the will of Zeru, the will of eternal life, accept the baptism of the universe."
After the unknown voice chanted the last chant, a blue screen appeared before him.
-----
Accept? (Yes/No)
-----
Ronald didn't for a second and directly mentally clicked
After clicking, colorful lights coming from everywhere came into him and entered his body. Ronald's vision then spun around as he slowly lost his consciousness and fell into a deep sleep.