Alex slowly stepped out of the forest, dragging a severed head behind him.
The Frozen Lake Stag's antlers had lost all their color by now.
Obviously, Alex's masochistic and power-hungry side couldn't let go of so much Mana.
Alex slowly stepped towards the village, a couple hundred meters away. Right now, Alex could finally see the villagers doing their business. They were tending to some farms while others cooked on the streets for the entire village.
Alex watched the village from a distance.
'Everyone is working together. Some people are tending to the crops. Some are cooking for everyone. Some are out gathering Ice Wood.'
'I've never seen anything like that on Earth. Sure, I've seen scenes like that in documentaries and movies, but not in real life.'
Alex silently watched the village.
'It has a kind of purity and innocence to it.'
After a bit, a boy noticed Alex. After looking at Alex with wide eyes, he walked up to a grown woman and pointed at Alex while pulling on her skirt.
The woman looked at Alex, and her eyes widened.
'Great,' Alex thought. 'Guess the villagers will all leave again.'
However, surprisingly, the villagers didn't retreat. Instead, they all called each other and pointed towards Alex, or, more accurately, towards the head of the Frozen Lake Stag.
Alex could see some shock and surprise in their eyes.
'Well, at least they're not scared anymore,' Alex thought. 'Might as well give them a display.'
Alex lifted the head and held it above himself.
The villagers continued to look at Alex while talking in hushed voices.
After a couple of seconds, Alex felt a bit awkward and lowered the head.
'Weren't they supposed to break out into a cheer or something?' Alex thought awkwardly.
Alex released a sigh.
'Well, real life doesn't work like that, I guess. They're probably all just happy and surprised. Who would expect a huge group of adults to loudly break out into a cheer?'
Alex continued walking towards the village, and the villagers didn't retreat.
When Alex came close to them, some of them walked up to him.
"Well done, young man!" one of the men said with a bright smile. "That beast has been a problem for a long time!"
"Yes, thank you for taking care of it," another man said with a respectful nod.
Several villagers gave their thanks, and Alex nodded back with a smile.
"No problem," Alex answered. "Where's the Elder?"
"I'm right here," the Elder said as he pushed himself through the gathered crowd.
Alex nodded at the Elder. "As you've seen, the Frozen Lake Stag has been dealt with."
The Elder looked at the head and nodded. "Good job. I knew that the Frozen Lake Stag wouldn't be a problem for you. After all, you already took down a High-Grade Ice Spear Bear. The Ice Spear Bear has an equally powerful ranged attack, but it also isn't helpless as soon as you get close to it."
"However, I also have to say that I was a bit worried for you. I hadn't expected you to be on the hunt for over a day."
Alex smiled bitterly. "Well, something came up that I had to deal with," Alex explained. "However, the fight definitely wasn't easy. The Frozen Lake Stag had already reached the Peak-Grade."
The Elder's eyes widened in surprise.
Then, he looked at the head in Alex's hand and frowned.
"Then, why is there no white glow coming from its antlers?" he asked.
"That's the thing I had to take care of," Alex said. "My body accidentally absorbed the Ice Mana."
The Elder's eyes widened in horror.
Then, he quickly looked at the other villagers and pulled Alex away with his hand.
Alex had almost attacked the Elder out of instinct when he touched Alex, but Alex managed to restrain himself.
The Elder pulled Alex into his house and closed the door.
Then, he released a deep sigh.
"Young man, you can't just tell people your affinity," the Elder said in a hushed tone. "There are ways to take advantage of someone's affinity. If an enemy knows about your affinity, they can use various gadgets to influence your Mana to hurt you!"
Alex blinked in surprise, but the scene of the Frozen Lake Stag getting impaled by its own ability appeared in his mind.
What if someone shot a lot of pure Ice Mana at Alex?
His left arm would absorb all the Ice Mana and fill his body.
Sure, Alex would be able to quickly recover from any injury, but what if he wasn't injured?
Wouldn't the additional Mana force him to injure himself at this very moment?
What if the Frozen Lake Stag had filled Alex with Ice Mana while running away and not attacking?
The Frozen Lake Stag wouldn't injure Alex, which would force Alex to injure himself.
Yet, when Alex injured himself, the Frozen Lake Stag would have gotten a perfect opportunity to finish Alex. After all, Alex could recover from heavy injuries in such a state, but it wasn't instantaneous.
A half-dead Alex couldn't evade something like those Ice Spires.
What if a group of bandits threw some kind of bomb filled with Ice Mana at Alex?
Alex would either explode or need to hurt himself severely.
This would give them a perfect opportunity to finish him!
Alex immediately narrowed his eyes as he realized all of these things.
Many warriors and Mages wouldn't have come up with all of these scenarios in an instant, but Alex had gathered enough battle experience to come up with these schemes immediately.
Alex didn't know it yet, but his experience with battle was vastly superior to nearly every other warrior in the Soldier Stage.
"Thank you for telling me, Elder," Alex said with a thankful nod.
The Elder nodded solemnly. It was good that the young man realized the weight of his words.
The Elder had seen too many young geniuses die to their own inexperience.
"Now, tell me how you dealt with the surplus of Mana? A Mana Overload is usually a death sentence," the Elder said.
Alex looked at the Elder neutrally.
"I nearly killed myself several times," Alex said.
The Elder's eyes widened in shock.
For a while, the Elder didn't answer.
Then, the Elder released a deep sigh.
After Alex's words, the Elder's eyes had changed.
Before these words, the Elder had looked at Alex as a talented, friendly youngster. Alex was very talented in the Elder's mind, and the Elder knew that Alex would go far. Alex had also offered to help the villagers instead of just directly forcing them to hand their supplies over.
But now, the Elder realized how naïve he had been.
Why naïve?
Well, how did a genius become a genius?
Being a genius didn't only mean having a strong body, powerful techniques, or powerful equipment.
A genius also needed a stalwart mindset.
Their will had to be unbreakable.
A talented youngster that didn't work would only reach mediocrity.
Yet, a genius would go very far.
Why?
Because they had a solid mindset, an iron will, and discipline.
Where did these things come from?
Experiences.
Mostly bad ones.
Everyone knew how they could overcome a Mana Overload theoretically.
Yet, how many people could put that method into practice?
How many people had the determination to destroy their bones and organs?
Nearly no one.
Some of them could jump over their shadow once, but as soon as they recovered from their first experience, they would be petrified with terror.
The pain wasn't the bad thing about nearly dying.
It was the fear and terror.
So, while some of the powerful warriors managed to severely injure themselves once, only a select few would be able to do it a second time.
The second time was far harder to overcome than the first time.
This was why the Elder had realized that he had been naïve.
The Elder knew that this young man was a genius, but he had overlooked the reason for why this young man was a genius.
The eyes of the Elder changed to pity.
What had this young man gone through to create such determination?
He had done something which would make nearly all grown men cry in fear.
Even more, the way this young man had phrased it had been neutral.
It almost sounded it was only natural to do something like that.
Meanwhile, Alex felt a bit awkward.
The Elder was looking at him with these weird eyes and wasn't speaking.
Alex had no idea what the Elder was thinking about.