The next morning.
It was early. The sun casted an ethereal warm glow across the horizon creating a distinct line of termination between the block of blue emerald of the skies and the earth.
A lone figure adorned with simple clothes and a small frame of about 3 foot 9 inches could be seen walking out of the enormous gates. The tender, mellow currents flowed through his short black hair like a gentle wave.
Tied to his waist was a short silver dagger and a few leather pouches. As he strode forwards, he did not turn back as if he could not afford to be distracted.
This was naturally Elias.
Behind him lay Triplume City, surrounded by walls reaching into the skies with a dramatic height of 100 meters. There were ancient engravings outlined with magical essence blinking with faint light in the broad daylight. The entire walls which stretched a fair distance and air were coated with the same markings, forming a visible semi-transparent dome. This was a formation that protected Triplume City from external threats, placed down by the Ashthorne family. They were strong enough to block any normal attacks of Tier 4 and below.
'It's a shame I couldn't bring along Emily.'
Due to him losing his name as an Ashthorne, he no longer held ties with anyone within the family, this included his personal maid. He was forced to leave her at the estate. Emily will be fine due to strict family rules, however Elias didn't like her living there but there was nothing he could do.
It was a long set of complicated procedures if one wanted to leave the family. But he knew that the rules meant nothing in the face of strength. He would be back.
'Wait for me.' with a resolute gaze he looked ahead over the horizon.
Who was he telling to wait? Naturally, one of them was Emily, but that's not where it ended. He etched onto his heart the imagery of scorn and ridicule plastered over the faces of the Ashthorne family ever since his Essence Awakening.
Without him realising his mind bloomed into a new perspective and of dramatic change. One that he will hold on to for the remainder of his life and one that will carry him forward into a new world.
He realised only strength mattered in this world. His own brother, Maxwell cast him aside, along with the rest of his family all because of one simple fact causing his entire life to turn upside down.
He was far too weak.
His departure from Triplume City, the Ashthorne family, marked a new beginning.
No longer Elias Ashthorne, heir of the Ashthorne family.
He was now just Elias.
...
...
Triplume City was located in the far east reaches of Dawnflame Kingdom near the edge of the continent. Surrounding Triplume City there wasn't any nearby cities. The closest city to Triplume city was over 8000 miles away known as Skycloud City. It was basically a isolated corner in the continent people didn't pay much attention to. This was a large sized city housing hundreds of thousands of people and was near Dawnhaven City where Dawn Academy was.
Even with his above average build, it would take him over two months to travel such distances on foot.
The capital Dawnhaven City was located over 11000 miles away from Triplume City and a few thousand miles away from Skycloud City.
Elias wanted to first travel to Skycloud City before going to Dawnhaven City.
There was a little over 5 months left until the start of the first year at Dawn Academy.
It may seem like Elias had plenty of time to reach Dawnhaven City but the reality was completely opposite.
There was a reason why Triplume City was isolated and away from other cities. It was because surrounding the small sized Triplume City lies The Great Wilderness.
The Great Wilderness was an extremely expansive area of woodland that covered thousands of miles between Triplume City and Skycloud City. Despite many attempts of Awakened, the region remains unexplored. This was due to the fact that dangers lurked in every corner here and is referred to as a forbidden zone within Dawnflame Kingdom. Many people in the past had lost their lives here trying to explore the mysteries of the wilderness and so most people had given up, not willing to take the risks.
It would take far longer for Elias to cross the entire thousands of miles of The Great Wilderness on foot compared as he couldn't just travel in a straight line. He had to make detours He had to be careful or else he very may end up dying.
In the past a Tier 5 Awakened had ventured deep into The Great Wilderness to uncover its mysteries but unfortunately had perished. This shocked everyone around Dawnflame Kingdom because a Tier 5 powerhouse would be respected wherever they went. But alas they had fallen in such a remote region of the kingdom where not even their body would be found.
Someone like Elias, who wasn't even Tier 1 and was barely qualified as an Awakened would die very quickly if he wasn't careful. The only preparation he made for this journey was bringing map of The Great Wilderness made of delicate parchment paper. A lot of the map was empty signifying the undiscovered areas but there were also danger zones marked so he knew the places to avoid.
'I'll go through the outer areas where there aren't any major danger zones. It would be much safer than going deep into the center but I'll still need to be alert the entire time' I thought. He wasn't stupid to think that he would still be safe even if he avoided all the marked danger zones within the ever-changing ecosystem of The Great Wilderness.
This was Elias' first time being outside from the confines of Triplume City. Unfortunately, he had to venture it alone, but he wasn't scared.
....
A few hours later, a young boy around 12 years of age could be seen running through the maze like layout of The Great Wilderness. His rapid movement rustled the thick, dry shrubs as he ran past, interrupting the usual eerie stillness of the wilderness.
Currently, his heels were currently being chased by a large boar covered with thick, dark fur. Its bloodthirsty eyes shone a bright red as if it hadn't eaten for days. It was about double his size. It had two massive tusks protruding on either side of its head.
Elias kept running, changing directions every now and then in a criss-cross fashion. Every now and then he would let out a whistle to keep the boars attention. It seemed like he was purposely luring the boar towards him.
'It's around here.' I scanned around and moved towards an area where I lay a primitive trap.
I increased my speed and quickly climbed up one of the branches of the towering trees using my tough body.
I was glad I didn't neglect training my body. Otherwise I would have long ran out of energy, especially because I had a defect essence core.
His essence core was like a small cup with a large hole at the bottom that could never be filled no matter how much you poured into it.
Usually when a person became an Awakened, they could absorb essence from the surroundings, revitalizing their energy and increasing their internal essence at the same time, causing them to grow stronger. However, he couldn't do those those things since his essence core rejected all essences. He only could rely on his above average build.
I watched with anticipation as the boar charged towards me.
The boar felt frustrated. Every time it got close towards the child he would swiftly change directions and hide within the shrubs. It would whistle every now and then which only aggravated it even more. There was food right in front of it but it couldn't do anything. All the boar wanted to do pierce this pesky human with its tusks and consume him.
As if blinded by its frustrations, the boar didn't realise it had already accomplished the goal of the child.
Twang!
I watched as the boars two front legs became entangled within the rope I had set up. It couldn't break free. 'Finally!' I exclaimed. The boar let out pitiful squeals as it hung in the air struggling to escape.
I quickly dropped down and unsheathed the silver dagger from my waist and calmly ended the life of the boar. Fresh blood spurt out its neck and dripped onto the ground, forming a small red pool. It's bright red eyes slowly lost its light until eventually it no longer squirmed. It was dead.
This was my first successful hunt. My first kill.
This was a world where only the strongest could survive. I was constantly reminded of this reality, especially in the last few days.
If that was the rule then I would gladly follow it.
I quickly skinned and divided the boar I had just killed into pieces of meat. I couldn't carry all the meat, but I had enough to last at least a couple days.
Elias had learnt basic survival skills from the past dozen years despite not travelling outside. He would sometimes watch the family's butcher dissecting wild animals and read up on many books with information about the continent of Lumeria, including the different species of wild animals that existed.
"I can't do much in a direct confrontation against a wild animals" he reminded himself. Even with his strong body from birth, his body was too small and couldn't output near enough strength to overpower a wild animal in The Great Wilderness. He could only resort to underhanded tactics.
He knew that wild boars had increased sensitivity to sound so he used his voice as a kind of bait. He knew the boar saw him as a weaker being so would definitely fall for his provocation. Knowing this information led to his successful hunt.
If he were a Tier 1 Awakened then the wild boar he had just killed would be nothing in his eyes and he could kill one a million times over without breaking a sweat.
But alas he was an Awakened without the ability to gather essence in his essence core, never able to step into Tier 1.
He didn't stay for long and promptly left the scene because he knew there was one existence he had to be extremely vigilant of within The Great Wilderness. An existence much more terrifying than the wild animal he had just killed.
Essence beasts.