A couple of days later,
Everything started to turn for the better since Aldo manage to become an Ego Fighter.
Aldo went back to the woods every single day to hunt some Flaming Breath Komodo, he also kill some basic lower-tier beasts that he occasionally met inside the woods.
Money is the most important thing currently, but even so, he still needs to be careful.
He once heard the villagers talk about a mysterious animal that resides in the woods, some say that this animal has dark furs and is also as strong as a peak middle-tier beast.
If he was about to encounter such a beast, he will die instantly.
Knowing that such a beast still roams the wood, Aldo sticks to the place where the Flaming Breath Komodo usually lies, it should be relatively safe since their nests are near the villages.
The village he's currently in is called Pendle Village, while the neighboring village is called Arkney village.
Just like in Pendle Village, Arkney village also has Ego Fighter of their own but they have way more Ego Fighter and some of them are way more powerful than Ego Fighters in his village.
At the beginning of each month, these Ego Fighters conduct Beast Sweeping.
Basically at the beginning of each month, about twenty or so experienced Ego Fighters are sent scouting the woods around the village to check the population of the beasts inside the forest and also kill some of the troublesome beasts.
Pendle Village contributes too but their targets are not as strong as those from Arkney Village.
Ego Fighters from Pendle Village are tasked to kill peak lower-tier to basic middle-tier beasts while Ego Fighters from Arkney Village hunt higher-tiered beasts.
This is why there are hardly any beasts higher than mesial lower-tier beasts,
Mesial lower-tier beasts might sound weak but they are very hard to kill without the help of an Ego Fighter, even Aldo who can kill Flaming Breath Komodo might not be able to as easily hunt other mesial lower-tier beasts just like he did with the Flaming Breath Komodo.
Aldo is only confident in hunting Flaming Breath Komodo,
The reason being is that he already knows their behavior and the snowy weather is a disadvantage for them, it's relatively easy to deal with them in this kind of weather.
If he were to fight other mesial lower-tier beasts, he might find himself in a difficult position.
One of the notorious flying animals in this woods are the Man-Eating White Bat, most of them are only basic lower-tier beast but they hunt in a swarm, and some of the older ones are even mesial lower-tier beasts.
Meeting them will be a huge problem, but thankfully nothing of that sort happened.
"Brother! This is way bigger and spacious than our house!", Laziah exclaimed as she looks the room she was in, her eyes shone brightly while looking around.
Both of them are currently staying at an inn,
It's one of the famous inns in Pendle Village, the room here is quite big and has two beds and even a separate room for bathing purposes.
They only need to take water from the well and heat it to take a nice warm bath.
Looking at the excited look on Laziah's face brought a smile onto Aldo's face, he puts down their things before he also looks around the room, "This is quite nice..."
"I can't believe we can even afford to rent a room here", he utters.
Out of nowhere, Laziah who had just gone to check the bathroom got back and grabs Aldo's hands with excited eyes, "How long are we going to be here?"
"Probably about a week, just until our house is finished", Aldo replied.
With the money he collected these past days, Aldo already paid the debt he owed to his uncle and he even manage to gather enough silver to renovate his small house.
Hearing this, Laziah jumped excitedly to the bed and buried her head there.
Seeing this, Aldo chuckles lightly but their fun was interrupted when the door to the room was knocked, he glanced at the door before he got up and open the door.
Upon opening the door, a man came into the vision that seems to not be older than himself.
The man has long dark brown hair that is split in the middle, his eyes are grizzly brown and tender with a messy beard that is still dripping with water, one will say that this man is quite friendly and handsome if they're judging by his looks alone.
"Daley?", Aldo mutters while looking at the man.
The man that is called Daley scratches the back of his head shyly, "Hello brother, I've visited your house but I find that it's under renovation. I've heard the news and I'm here to congratulate you for becoming an Ego Fighter"
"Thank you, Daley. Now don't be shy, Laziah is inside", Aldo replied before tapping Daley's back.
Hearing the name Daley being uttered, Laziah immediately gets off the bed.
She tidies her messy hair hurriedly while looking at Daley who is standing by the door with rosy cheeks, the two gave off an aura of two love birds.
"Daley... you're here", Laziah said softly while playing with her hair.
Aldo gave Daley another slap on the back seeing that he was still hesitating, under the slap, Daley saw Aldo giving him a confirmation nod which makes his heart flutter.
He then looks back at Laziah who averted her gaze after locking gazes with Daley for a second.
Aldo smiles lightly while looking at the two,
This man Daley is a friend of theirs for the longest time, he's a native of Pendle Village that comes from a slightly better family than Aldo, he has been a friend since Aldo and Laziah moved into Pendle Village a couple of years ago.
Just like Aldo, Daley is also a hunter living with his parents.
Every hunter has their own target to hunt just like Aldo who decided that he will hunt Flaming Breath Komodo, this is because they need to learn the behavior of the beasts.
Some hunters tried to hunt recklessly and died because of it,
Because of that accident where many hunters got mauled by the beasts inside the woods, the village has even started selling a book called Beast Encyclopedia which has information about the beasts inside the woods written by many experienced hunters.
Hunters are required to have knowledge about their target beast before hunting.
Daley has a scrawny figure just the same as Aldo since they both have a hard time putting plates on the table, but Daley takes the easier route by hunting fish.
But he's not using a fishing rod or any of that sort, but he used a trap he made himself.
After some time has passed, Daley and Laziah develop feelings for each other,
Knowing Daley for so long and also seeing how his sister fancied Daley, Aldo didn't mind them getting along and even developing feelings for each other.
As long as Laziah is happy, he's also happy.
Because of this, he protects Laziah's choice by hiding it from Ivor who also fancies her.
Ivor has kept pestering Laziah for quite some time asking her to marry him, but every time Laziah declines his proposal as she's already in love with Daley.
Even if she didn't have anyone, she probably wouldn't want to be Ivor's woman.
With the situation with Ivor escalating as he kept getting declined by Laziah, Aldo finally told the two to meet in secret, this will protect the two because if known by Ivor that Daley is close with Laziah then things will be bad.
Now that Aldo is an Ego Fighter, he stands a chance to get rid of Ivor.
But that is easier said than done since Ivor has a middle-tier Ego Beast while he only had a peak lower-tier Ego Beast, their power is separated just from this alone.
"Oh I forgot, I need to do something", Aldo said while looking at Laizah.
He gave Laziah a wink which makes her face blush, this makes him laugh before he gave a teasing smile to Daley before he finally left the room to give them some space.
It's rare for them to meet because of Ivor, so this much is okay.
'Of course, if you do anything inappropriate with Laziah, I'll smash your head Daley', Aldo thought, but the genuine smile is still on his face.
Another day passed,
The news of Aldo becoming an Ego Fighter reaches Ivor's ears, he was shocked and confused at the same time since this news came so suddenly.
It's only a couple of days ago since Aldo is beaten up by him and his friends, Aldo has never agreed to help Ivor to win Laziah's heart and this irritates Ivor but now Aldo has become an Ego Fighter, bullying him is out of the option now.
At some point during the day, Aldo meets Ivor in the woods.
Both of them only stare at each other with tension before Ivor scoffed and left, this meeting sparked Aldo's confidence knowing that he will not be easily picked on starting today.
This is possible because he's an Ego Fighter now,
'Maybe the gap between middle-tier Ego Beast and lower-tier is not that wide after all'
After thinking that, Aldo resumes his hunting.
When he was about to leap in the direction of another Flaming Breath Komodo nest, Aldo suddenly groan in pain as he falls to his knees coughing.
He coughed a couple of times as the same pain appears again,
Splat!
Blood is also evident amongst his coughs, the blood stains the snowy ground just the same as before which makes Aldo frown, 'I didn't even exert myself that much today'
'Why is this keep happening? Am I sick?', he thought in confusion.
Aldo then shakes his head knowing that an Ego Fighter can hardly get sick but his body says otherwise, 'Maybe I should visit the Cleric again, something is definitely wrong'
Two days have passed again,
Winter snow becomes even fiercer today for some reason and Aldo is currently inside the bathroom having severe coughing, his condition is deteriorating.
But every time he's like this, Aldo makes sure Laziah is not around.
She will be worried if she knows that Aldo is in this state,
Their lives are slowly rising upwards so Aldo doesn't want to cause any worry for her especially since she has suffered enough, he doesn't want to trouble Laziah anymore.
Cough! Cough!
Veins on Aldo's neck started popping as he cough a mouthful of blood,
Early in the morning, Aldo saw that his blood turns black which is very bizarre, that is why he wanted to leave for Arkney Village to meet the Cleric again today.
'I feel weak... Please god, don't let this be a severe sickness', Aldo thought.
A couple of minutes later,
Aldo got out of the bathroom after cleaning himself off of the blood and also changing into decent clothes, he was about to leave the room but was surprised when he saw Laziah was just about to get into the room.
"Brother?", Laziah mutters in surprise.
But her expression soon turns into a frown when she saw Aldo, "Why do you look so pale, are you sick, brother?", she asks in concern.
"What are you saying, I'm strong as a rock!", Aldo replied while flexing his skinny arm.
Looking at this, Laziah chuckles but she still feels something is off from the way Aldo looks.
Aldo didn't let her inspect him further, he was holding back the pain he was currently feeling while putting on a fake smile, "I'm going to the woods again, I'll be back soon"
"Oh, O-Okay", Laziah replied as Aldo walk past her hurriedly.
Laziah looks at Aldo's back that is heading toward the stairs in confusion, she becomes even sure that Aldo is hiding something from her.
Right after Aldo descends the Inn stairs, he coughs a couple of times.
He was forced to hold onto his coughs when he met with Laziah before, and it's very painful in his throat and also chest, he then hurriedly exits the inn under everyone's weird gazes.
Just like before, Aldo went to the Arkney village via sleigh.
But this time the one that drives the sleigh is not him but another man instead, the blizzard is starting to get heavy but he still needs to visit the Cleric.
Aldo feels weak and he's sure that he can't go to Arkney village alone.
This is why he asks help for one of the workers in the bar to drive him to Arkney village and back for a silver coin, and the worker agreed.
"Didn't you just go to the Cleric not too long ago?", the man asks.
Since they're in very bad weather, the man needs to shout when he asks this, "Yes! I've become an Ego Fighter after going through the Ego Awakening", Aldo replied.
"Then why are you going to the Cleric again?", the man asks again.
But when Aldo was about to answer the man, he coughs blood a couple of times which surprises the man as he instantly realizes that Aldo is sick since he's coughing blood.
With that, the man whipped the horses in a hurry.
The time of the day can't be seen since the sky is covered by thick snow, but it should be around noon when they arrived at the Cleric's house.
Knock! Knock!
Upon arriving at the Cleric's house, the man knocks on the door a couple of times.
Aldo is already very weak and he can't even stand up without the support of the man, all of his body is withered and weak as if something is eating his life force away.
In just a second, the Cleric opens the door before she widens her eyes in surprise.
"Bring him inside!", she instructed upon seeing Aldo's condition.
Hearing this, the man then help Aldo and brought him inside the Cleric's house.
The man then lays Aldo on the ground gently after entering the house, the Cleric then looks at Aldo who is coughing weakly before she looks at the man, "What happened to him?"
"I don't know, but he's definitely very sick", the man replied.
Aldo heard the two are having a conversation about him but his hearing starts to be dung, and his vision started to get blurry alongside the increasing burning pain in his chest and throat.
It's like someone lights a fire inside his body and forgets to put it out,
With quite a bit of difficulty, Aldo tries to reach for the pouch on his waist to give the Cleric money, but his body is too weak that the pouch falls to the ground the second he holds it.
Looking at this, the Cleric is troubled as she stands up to take something.
But Aldo despite trying his hardest to stay awake can't fight the pain and dizziness he's feeling from the loss of blood, and before he knows it he passed out.
A moment later,
"Hah!!", Aldo jolted his eyes awake and saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
The sound of fire crackling on the side can be heard as he glanced to his right slowly, he finds the Cleric sitting by the fire before turning back to look at him.
Seeing him already awake, "You're awake...", she mutters.
Hearing this, Aldo tries to wake up but was instantly stopped by the Cleric, "Don't move, your body is still recovering so please refrain from moving too much"
Aldo nodded his head before he laid back on the bed in a daze,
After about ten minutes or so, Aldo then glances again at the Cleric and asks, "Am I sick?"
"Yes...", the Cleric replied.
The news from the Cleric makes Aldo's heart tighten and even skipped a beat, he then glances back at the ceiling with a blank gaze before he asks again, "I'm going to die am I?"
"You must think positivel-"
Before the Cleric can finish, Aldo intervenes, "Just give it to me straight, Am I going to die?"
"I'm afraid so... you won't survive for long"