The sun is shining brightly way above the sky like a glowing ball of fire, but even the slightest bit of warmth from the sun was zapped away by the icy fingers of nature.

Cold breezes of wind rock the trees like a whistle from the snow goddess.

White is the only color, everything is buried, shivering, and cold in this place surrounded by tall trees without any sight of civilization seen anywhere.

Hisss...

A reptile the size of an overgrown adult is hissing amidst the somber winter,

Its body is thick and filled with muscles, the scales that even block the coldness of the snow, it's bizarre to call it a reptile because of its huge body, and the glowing red lines on its neck make it hardly be called a komodo dragon.

This monster of a reptile is digging through the snow, sniffing...

With its huge claws that can even tear metal apart, it easily scratches the thick snow, it is digging at a rapid pace as if it was eager to find something buried in the snow.

Unknown to the reptilian monster, a figure stalks it from the back.

The figure wears only leather straps crossing his body creating an X letter on his chest, a shabby fur cape is covering his body holding a sharp blade in his hand.

His nose and ears are turning red from the coldness of the place,

This man that seems to be a full-grown adult can be seen stalking the reptilian monster, he clenched his jaw forcefully stopping his chattering teeth as the snow even make the sweat in his short black hair frozen and unmoving.

A fierce glint can be seen on the man's face while waiting patiently for the reptilian creature.

In this harsh winter, the man can't hold out any longer as his earlobes and even his sunken feet that are buried in the snow started to burn.

But just as he thought of leaving, the reptilian monster stopped while looking at something.

It slowly puts its mouth inside the hole it digs sniffing,

Upon seeing this, the man's eyes flash excitedly before he pulls a rope that is in his other hand powerfully making the reptilian monster stumbles back in surprise.

There's a wooden leash that suddenly burst from the snowy ground and wraps the reptilian monster's mouth inhibiting it to open its mouth.

"Yes!", the man celebrated before rushing to the reptilian monster.

Even though its mouth was leashed, the reptilian monster's mouth started to make a steaming sound as fire can be seen poking out trying to burn the leash on its mouth.

The man didn't sit idle as he instantly mounted the reptilian monster,

Clinging onto its neck with his arms like a koala, the man can feel his arms burning upon touching the reptilian monster's neck but he ignored it.

The reptilian monster started to wiggle around trying to knock the man off of its back.

But even after crashing into a couple of trees in the surroundings, the man kept his grip on the reptilian monster's neck while fixating his eyes on its neck.

His eyes glisten when he saw a bulge appear on its neck,

With a blade in his hand, the man stabbed its neck just when the leash almost got burnt off.

Stab!

Boom!

An explosion resounded as the reptilian monster's mouth exploded, the man stabbed right on the bulge on the reptilian monster's neck causing this explosion.

The man falls from the reptilian monster's neck before he quickly stands up.

Seeing the hole on the reptilian monster's neck because of the explosion, the man ignores his burnt hand before dashing vigorously intending to finish the reptilian monster off.

With its injured neck, the reptilian monster can only stumble around weakly.

Its power was reduced greatly from that injury, and the man take advantage of this intending to stab the gaping hole on its neck repeatedly but then suddenly,

Swoosh!

The man widened his eyes when he saw a tail is already beside him,

Even in its dying condition, the reptilian monster keeps fighting as it sends a tail whip that landed right on the man's chest directly, "Arggh!!"

Splash!

From just that one attack, the man got sent rolling through the snow a couple of times.

After the momentum stop, the man tries to stand up with a stinging pain in his chest, the tail whip from the reptilian monster left a nasty wound on his chest that even start to bleed.

His blood dripped to the snowy ground staining the white with red color,

"I need to finish this... this is my last leash", the man mutters before forcing himself to stand up.

The man gritted his teeth strongly fighting the pain from the wound on his chest, he then looks up again and finds the reptilian monster is also looking at him murderously.

But fighting the reptilian monster head-on is a suicide, the man knows that.

Not only does the reptilian monster triumph over him in terms of strength, but it also has a very strong skin that can't be penetrated easily.

While backing away slowly, the man looks to the side near the place he hid before.

Although half of it was buried by the snow, there is a crossbow there that he purposefully kept in case something like this happened.

Hisss!!

The reptilian monster hisses before charging like a mad bull,

Its movement is very fast for its huge body, and just after a couple of seconds, the reptilian monster has already reached the man.

Upon seeing this, the man tries to dodge it by rolling to his right.

But even his decisive movement is still too late to dodge the charging reptilian monster completely, his waist got hit sending his body spinning before falling to the ground.

"Rrrghh!", the man grunted feeling a stinging pain in his waist.

Even so, the man didn't give up as he kept crawling to the crossbow with blood flowing down the corner of his mouth.

The thick snowy ground makes it hard for him to crawl faster, especially with his wound, as if that was not enough, the newly fallen snow even clouded his vision.

Thud!

Hearing the sound, the man can feel the reptilian monster charging at him again.

Picking up his pace by putting every last bit of his strength into reaching the crossbow, the man manages to grab the crossbow before he turns his body and lies flat on the ground.

In front of his eyes, the reptilian monster is already opening its jaw widely.

The man hurriedly held the crossbow with two hands before he pulls the trigger as an arrow with the tip of it is covered with a white pouch flew from the crossbow into the reptilian monster's mouth.

Before the reptilian monster can take another step,

Boom!

Another explosion happened but this time the reptilian monster's mouth exploded before its body falls to the ground, the man sighs in relief as he lies on the snowy ground weakly.

"Hah... finally I manage to catch one", the man utters with a celebrating smile.

Even with the pain in his waist and chest, the man still smiling like a crazy person while the snow falls down from the sky beautifully.

It took about ten minutes for the man to collect himself,

Supporting his body up with his hands, the man manages to stand up before he looks at the dead reptilian monster with a smile.

The jaw of the reptilian creature is entangled making its face disfigured,

It probably dies from its brain exploding, "Even for a mesial low-tier beast that is even capable of breathing fire, an explosion to the mouth is still deadly", the man utters while shaking his head.

After muttering to himself, the man took his blade and started to dissect the reptilian monster.

Even with the sharp blade the man still needs about ten minutes just to open the reptilian monster's stomach, the man's eyes then widen excitedly when he saw a red orb.

It is located inside the reptilian monster, and it gives off warmth in the winter cold.

"Pretty big for a mesial low-tier beast orb, this should give me 2 silver!", the man exclaimed in joy while holding the red orb in his hand.

A smiling woman flashes by his head making the man smile even wider,

"Just with this alone sister and I wouldn't need to worry about food for a week or even more! I can't wait to bring her the news", the man said before putting the red orb inside a pouch.

The man gently put the red orb before even patting the pouch softly with a smile.

But his smile disappear when he suddenly heard a voice from his back, "What you got there Aldo? Your smile is as wide as ever"

Hearing this, Aldo turns around to only find three people behind him.

All three people wore thick leather clothes and were covered with a fur cape that looks way warmer and more fashionable than what Aldo is wearing right now.

One man with a distinctive three lines tattoo on his left forehead is leading the group,

Just from looking at this man alone, Aldo instantly recognizes the man that dims the excitement on his face, the only son of the Yilf Family, Ivor.

"You manage to kill a mesial lower-tier beast? I'm impressed", Ivor said while walking closer.

A guy beside Ivor then added, "For an Egoless person, you're quite resourceful"

The mocking remarks make Aldo's expression tighten as he holds the pouch strapped on his waist in reflex, but this, in turn, sparks Ivor's curiosity.

With a mocking smile, Ivor then asks, "What do you have there? Is that a Beast Orb?"

The two people beside Ivor also smile mockingly before they try to take the pouch, they tease Aldo by pretending to take the pouch while laughing heartily.

"Please Ivor, it's for my sister...", Aldo pleaded with a couple of groans amidst his sentence.

Hearing this, Ivor raises one of his brows before he said, "If your sister just accepts my proposal, then she'll be freed from this low-life that sticks to you"

"If you would just help me win your sister's heart, then I will definitely help you back"

"I never intend to meddle with whom my sister wants as her partner, everything is up to herself to decide", Aldo replied sternly but this somehow makes Ivor angry.

Ivor then signals to his friends to take the Beast Orb from Aldo,

Aldo tries to flee but his body is currently very weak, the wound in his chest and the pain in his waist refrain him from running faster.

His struggle stop when a punch landed on his stomach,

Bam!

The punch sent Aldo crouching on the ground while holding his stomach, but it didn't take long before a kick land on his face breaking his nose in the process.

Thud!

Aldo lies on the ground weakly as his nose started bleeding profusely,

Without even a hint of empathy, the two guys approach Aldo before one of them reaches for the pouch strapped on Aldo's waist but as he tries to take the pouch,

Slash!

"Fuck!", the guy cursed before glaring at Aldo.

Out of nowhere, Aldo uses the blade he had before slashing the guy wanting to take his pouch giving a clean red cut on the guy's cheek.

Seeing this, the guy started breathing roughly wanting to hurt Aldo.

But before he can do that, Ivor stopped him by grabbing him by the shoulder, "Always fighting even until this state, you're really tenacious", Ivor remarks.

Ivor then lean his body forward intending to take Aldo's pouch,

He saw Aldo is still holding the blade but it seems he didn't care, and even Aldo who is lying on the ground didn't do anything more aside from gazing at Ivor coldly.

It's not that Aldo is scared of Ivor, but he knows his limits.

Just as Aldo intends to slash Ivor before, he saw Ivor's body emitting a blue aura that halts his intention to attack or even prevent Ivor from taking his pouch.

Everybody knows what that blue aura is,

'Ego fighter... Ivor who is even younger than me already becomes an Ego fighter', Aldo mutters in his head, the blue aura shows that Ivor is not a normal human before.

In this part of the place, everybody thrives to become an Ego Fighter.

Ego Fighter is a superhuman that has already merged with an Ego Beast, the process to become an Ego Fighter is quite simple, they need to pass a ritual called Ego Awakening.

But sadly for Aldo, this ritual needs money.

A person that went through the ritual will be chosen by an Ego beast,

Ego beast is classified as low-tier, middle-tier, high-tier, and supreme-tier, and what Ego beast an Ego Fighter candidate will be chosen by is purely based on their talent.

Ivor is an Ego fighter and based on what Aldo heard it seems he got a middle-tier Ego Beast.

'Going back empty-handed will be better than going back without a hand', Aldo thought while looking at the blue aura and also the huge ax strapped on Ivor's back.

The pouch was taken before Ivor turns around to leave,

One of the guys that got cut doesn't forget to spit at Aldo before following behind Ivor, they left Aldo on the snow with wounds all over his body.

"What am I going to do now...", Aldo mutters helplessly.

A moment later,

Aldo stopped on his track while looking at a village in front of him,

Since his body is weak and wounded, he can't bring the carcass of the reptilian monster before that can be sold at a market which will help him financially.

Because of that, he has no choice but to leave the carcass behind,

In front of him lies a humble village that is only surrounded by wooden fences, the village probably only fits a few thousand people and most of the land is for farming.

Many of the villagers are hunters just like Aldo,

They do so in order to minimalize the beast population in the surrounding woods, and in the harsh winter, many of the farmers also turn into a hunter as the farm will not yield much in this kind of weather.

With slow and steady steps, Aldo enters the village under everyone's gaze.

His feet sunk into the snow making walking even harder,

Not only does he walks very slowly because of the wounds on his body, but the dripping blood from the wounds can be clearly seen thanks to the pure white snow.

In about ten minutes, Aldo arrives in front of a shabby house.

Although it's actually a house, it resembles a hut more than a house because of how small it is.

Just after arriving near the house,

A woman with long jet-black hair comes out of the hut, her hazel eyes widen in surprise before her expression turns into concern upon looking at Aldo's condition.

"B-Brother?!", the woman shouted before rushing to help Aldo.

Supporting Aldo to get inside the hut, the woman then helps Aldo lies on the bed before she quickly goes outside and comes back with a bucket of water in her hands.

After taking the bucket of water, the woman helped Aldo takes off his clothes.

The woman looks at the nasty wound on Aldo's chest while covering her mouth in shock, she even gets teary while looking at the wound her brother suffered from hunting.

But the woman quickly shakes her head,

She then dips a piece of cloth into the water before she gently rubs the wounds.

"Why are you so careless... I know things have been hard but I don't want you suffering like this"

"It's true that we don't have a way to survive the winter with no money, but we'll definitely manage so don't be reckless like this. I don't want you to die...", the woman said softly while trying her best to remain calm.

But her voice began to break, "If...If you die then... I wouldn't know what t-"

"I'm okay, I won't die so you don't have to worry. I'm sorry if I made you worry", Aldo intervenes before she can finish her sentence, his heart is pained seeing his sister like this.

All of this happened since they lost their parents,

Their father died after meeting a top lower-tier beast during hunting, and a couple of years later their mother died after getting a weird sickness that even the physicians doesn't know what kind of sickness that can gnaw their mother's condition in just a couple of days.

It's the dark times in their lives as they both lost their parents,

Even though his sister, Laziah prohibits him from being a hunter and told him to just sticks to his job as a wood-cutter, Aldo is eventually forced by the condition to become a hunter.

Times are hard and a year ago Aldo decided to become a hunter.

But even through a year of dedication,

Aldo has never caught a beast higher than the basic low-tier beast until today, but his loot was taken away by Ivor who resents their family because Laziah declines his proof of love.

Wiping her tears, Laziah then lifts up her head and said, "I'm going to get some medicine"

"Can we even afford some? Where did you get the money from?", Aldo asks in concern.

Hearing this, Laziah shakes her head before she said, "I'll ask Aunt Liv, I'm sure she will help us just to buy the necessary medicine"

Before Aldo can stop her, Laziah already left the house.

Aldo laid back his head on the bed while looking at the ceiling, he's tired of living like this and seeing his sister suffer from his incapability of gaining money.

A moment of silence passed as Aldo lay on the bed,

Then suddenly, a glint of determination glowed in Aldo's eyes.

With all of his remaining strength, Aldo woke up from the bed ignoring the pain around his body before he takes clothes randomly, wore them, and left the house.

This village Aldo lives in is on the outskirts of Hammara Kingdom,

Since the village is not as developed as other bigger villages, during winter they didn't receive any help from the Hammara Kingdom resulting in the people here starving throughout the winter as the prices of food rises.

Only a handful that can hunt beasts or rich can go through the winter easily,

As for people like Aldo and Laziah, they will be lucky to even survive half of the winter.

A moment later, Aldo stop a few meters away from a well-made house.

Laziah got out of the well-made house accompanied by a middle-aged woman, she was holding a couple of silver coins in her hands.

She then thanked the middle-aged woman and immediately rushes away.

Just after Laziah rushes away probably going to buy some medicine, Aldo came out of his hiding before going to the same house.

He knocks on the door a couple of times,

But instead of the middle-aged woman, a middle-aged man in his forties opens the door, he looks at Aldo in confusion, "Aldo? Your sister just left, what are you doing here?"

"Uncle... Lend me money for the Ego Awakening"