Getting his body on the plain grass, Elijah soon fell to the ground as he gasped for air coughing up water from his nostrils, as he quickly gained the ability to breathe.
Getting his body to lean on a tree, Elijah was about to assess the golden book again but quickly stopped himself as he was mentally drained and also remembered the repercussions he had suffered, although he had already absorbed some memories that could be deemed as enough knowledge to survive his current ordeal.
Elijah's brain capacity to absorb more was almost at its limit. He needs to filter the memories to find what he needs, which could be considered tiring, so he needs to be careful when assessing these memories, as this knowledge wasn't his in the first place. Moreover, him trying to assimilate more would be the same as guaranteeing death as Dietrich had already indirectly warned him of this.
Looking around for something that he could use to stop the bleeding, Elijah tore his shirt off as he began to tie them around his legs to prevent infections, while trying to circulate mana through his magic veins, he felt the warm presence circulating through his body, hoping that at least he could reduce the discomfort.
Knowing that he could not do anything with the current state of his body, and with his mind that had gone weak from mental exhaustion, Elijah forgoes the temptation of attempting to filter his memories to obtain what he needs would only put more strain on his already half-sustained body because he lacked the concentration to do so now.
Elijah chooses to just lay down with his back facing the tree and his hands wrapped around his legs as his eyes began to close shut.
For the first time since Elijah stepped into the underworld, he fell asleep, although not upon some comfortable looking bed as he had imagined or a secured cave with the cold hard ground to comfort him. Elijah quickly fell asleep with his back laid at the surface of a tree, praying to whatever god out there that all this was just a bad dream that he could just wake up from the next morning.
Although he knew they were just false hopes, at least having some false hope was better than possessing none at all.
........
*Chirp* *Chirp* *Chirp*
Elijah was woken up by the sounds of the birds as they flew from tree to tree tending to whatever tasks they were currently doing.
Elijah carefully loosened the clothes that were tied around his right leg, he looked at his leg and saw that it had only managed to barely recover, even though there were signs of his wounds closing up which had something to do with the concept of mana, and the fact that his body had gone far above normal human capabilities, thus boosting his immune system.
Although Elijah was prone to the fact that even with his boosted healing factors, the injuring still needed to be treated to avoid any infection, but he would also be severely limited in his movement.
''ARGGHHHHH"
Suddenly attacked by a pain that solely originated from his right leg, even though he managed to subdue some of the pains with the aid of mana, but still, that wasn't enough to alleviate the discomfort he felt.
Elijah's cries seemed to have caused some disturbance in the forest as the birds, each possessing a wingspan of roughly 28 inches looked at him with eyes tainted with curiosity, still, he noticed they didn't possess as much intelligence as the wolves that pursued him, but Elijah could see that they were currently staring at him as though checking if he was edible or not.
Elijah's lips twitched as he tried to ignore the sensation of being looked at like some tasty snack, while he hasn't even tasted any meat not to talk about getting his stomach filled up, however, he still looked around as he heightened his senses to stay alert.
Elijah didn't want to be attacked for the second time, but as time passed by slowly, he noticed that the birds didn't try to approach him, or more like they had lost interest from staring at him.
Elijah stood up carefully and looked around the surrounding area, he saw that they were densely packed with trees. If not for the rays of sunlight through the canopy, Elijah was sure that he couldn't have known how he got here if not for the raging waterfall behind him.
Getting a better view of the tree he spent the night on, Elijah couldn't find anything strange with it, though the noticeable difference he could decipher was that the tree was shorter than most trees, moreover, it was definitely among the smallest tree in the area ranging from a height of 13m to 18m tall.
Seeing that he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, Elijah chose to rest in this region of the forest, temporally halting his decision of finding an exit out of this forest, considering he was currently at the outskirts of the Deadly volcanic region if his assumptions were correct.
Choosing to suspend his journey since he couldn't move properly with an injured leg, Elijah was already thankful that he wasn't attacked the night he fell asleep, but by the looks of it, he wouldn't have been attacked even if he slept while taking a deep nap without a care for his life.
Elijah knew there was nothing like a mysterious blessing in real life, especially while in a forest where your life is always hanged by a thread, with shears that threaten to cut it down at any given moment. He would rather not take the risk as he kept his sense heightened for any hidden dangers.
Elijah understood that the only way out of this situation was for him to ascend in tiers, getting stronger considering he was in a forest where the weakest demonic beast is a tier 2 wild demonic beast, which is a rank higher than the primitive demonic beasts.
///NOTE///
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