Now that Xander finally had a moment where he wasn't completely focused on something and he was no longer in pain, having mostly healed from his wound with it clotting up and scabbing over, he finally had time to feel the change in his body.
He noticed something odd with his body. He could feel deep inside of him a small ball of death energy the size of a small marble.
'This must be where my first 'trait core' is?' Xander assumed. He wasn't even really sure if that was a thing, but he figured this is the death energy that his death charge was referring to.
'This must be the energy that will bring me back to life after I die,' Xander hoped that he would never have to use this ability, but he was also very curious to how it worked.
Now that his qi was filled and there was no immediate danger, he restarted his trek to get out of the valley and this dangerous jungle that he imagined to be filled with beasts.
He continued his way through the jungle, every hour or so stopping to climb a tree and readjust his path.
After another run-in with a group of quadramons and a couple more miles through the jungle, it was finally too dark to safely move through the jungle.
'Well, this looks like as good a place as any,' Xander said as he started to set up camp, which was just him marking a tree, then walking in a circle of about 50 meters around the tree to make sure there were no predators around.
After checking that, he climbed halfway up the tree, tied himself to the tree with a vine so he wouldn't accidentally fall off, then finally got some much-needed sleep.
It wasn't the best sleep in the world, with the jungle's nightlife being extremely loud, but it was enough for a nice reset.
***
An unknown amount of hours later, Xander was woken up by the sparse amount of sunlight that managed to make its way through the jungle canopy.
"Phew." Xander let out a breath with a shake of his head, trying to get rid of the grogginess.
Xander looked around to make sure there was no predator within sight, then climbed back down the tree and began his way toward the mountains once again.
***
Half a day later, he finally managed to reach the end of the jungle and the beginning of the rough, rocky terrain of the mountain.
He looked up at the tall mountain that had a greyish tint mixed with the heavy fog that covered the mountains.
'That doesn't look ominous at all,' Xander thought to himself with a self-deprecating laugh.
Knowing there was no time like the present, Xander began his new journey up the mountain, using his spear as a tool to help him climb the mountain every once in a while when the terrain got too tough.
***
Xander had finally made it to a good stopping point and managed to find a small stream that ran through the mountain.
After getting a drink, he laid on his back and shut his eyes for a small rest. He wasn't asleep, just relaxing for a small moment.
"GRRRAAAA!!!"
"Swoosh!!"
"Ahhh!!"
"Splat!"
Xander was abruptly interrupted when all of a sudden a beast jumped on him.
It had been nice and quiet, with Xander just relaxing and focusing just enough on his mirage realm so that he thought he would catch any movement, but he had to learn the hard way that his plan wasn't foolproof.
"Dammit!" Xander yelled in pain and frustration as he started to wrestle the unknown beast on the ground. Its claws plunged into his sides, his shoulder being gnawed on by its sharp teeth, and something sharp pressed deep into his thigh that now gave him an odd feeling.
His vision was starting to blur due to blood getting in his eyes, and the smell of the beast was almost unbearable. At this moment, it was the smell of death, but in reality, it was just a heavy and thick smell of blood and rotten meat.
'Is this where I die?' Xander began to wonder.
[Rare Grimclaw - G-rank - Entry]
"F***, a rare grimclaw," this was Xander's first time fighting a beast above Elite.
The good news was Xander now knew what that sharp pain was in his thigh. The bad news was it was the stinger on the end of the grimclaw's tail that he assumed to have some sort of venom.
He continued to wrestle the massive and extremely strong grimclaw, whose body resembled that of a large mountain lion, on the ground, rolling around with him clearly on the losing side.
'Wait, my knife,' Xander then remembered his sacrificial knife he started his first trial with.
He quickly summoned the knife from his spatial ring and began to plunge it deep into the side of the rare grimclaw over and over and over again, its teeth finally letting go as it howled in pain.
This continued for about 15 seconds before it finally lost its strength and died.
"Phew!"
"F***!"
"Dammit!"
Xander pushed the grimclaw off his body and just laid there in pain, bleeding all over, his head starting to feel the venom taking effect.
"Is this where I die?" he wondered, not sure how deadly the venom was.
He quickly thought to check his death charge, even though he knew it wasn't full.
[First Trait: Reaper's Revival] - [Death Charge: 26%]
"Daaaaamit!" Xander yelled, not sure what his fate would be.
'But hey, the rare grimclaw gave me a percent and a half instead of just 1%. Stop, stop, shut the f*** up! This isn't the time!' Xander yelled at himself internally.
"Think!! Think!! Think!!" he repeated as he finally thought to chug down some water.
He crawled over as fast as he could, finding his entire body plunged in the icy cold stream, the rapid movement of the water not only washing the blood off of him but helping close up his wounds as he dunked his head in the water and began to drink until his stomach couldn't take anymore.
After filling his stomach, he rolled out of the stream, not wanting to pass out, and accidentally drown in the one-foot-deep water.
Xander laid there as his pain slowly got worse, his head beginning to throb more and more, it starting to sync with his heartbeat that was now beating through the roof. Then, just as the pain was starting to be intolerable, he blacked out.