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When Alex arrived at the Big Baldie's house, he saw Reynard's wife preparing for dinner.

He greeted her and asked not to be disturbed. Then he slowly made his way towards his room.

"You don't want to eat dinner?", Reynard's wife suddenly asked. She looked quite sad while asking.

"Ah, no. I'd be out by then." Alex actually planned on not eating, but he knew he had to fill his stomach with food. He was still slightly injured and they had just gone through a fight, plus he was starving.

He turned around once more and walked to his room.

Suddenly he remembered that Old Man Gil has magic and Reynard saying something about mages in the past.

"Mages aren't welcome here in Sherwood.", he copied the words and even the exaggerated the tone by a bit, that was said to him by Reynard when he first came to the tribe.

"What a bloody lie.", he grumbled.

"I'm going to ask him later for that. For now, let's get rid of the update in this system that I have barely used. Hopefully it's enough."

His eyes glimmered as he took out all four of the cores that he was able to stea— secured.

He held one of he cores and stared at it, waiting for his favourite sound.

*DING*

"Hehehehe." Alex laughed creepily like a madman when the familiar sound rang in his ears.

*Big Black Centipede beast core detected. Would you like to absorb? Y/N?*

'A black centipede? I think I indeed killed one of those earlier, so this isn't me stealing. It belongs to me. Yes! Absorb!'

A warm yet chaotic energy began coursing through his veins. The feeling didn't last long as it was only a normal beast core.

He looked at the update bar and noticed that it increased from 43% to 47%.

"That's to be expected. Four percent increase for a low leveled fierce beast core."

As he said that he took another core.

*DING*

*Armored Stag Beetle beast core detected. Would you like to absorb? Y/N?*

"Oh. I believe it was the child of that golden giant. This is mine too."

This time, it was increased by six percent making it 53%. He didn't waste any time and proceeded to absorb the other core. Which also gave him another five percent increase, bringing it the update to 58%.

"Finally. I saved the best for last." Alex took out the last core. It was the core of the Stick Insect, which was a Dire Beast.

*DING*

*Thousand Armed Stick Devil's beast core detected. Would you like to absorb? Y/N?*

"Woah. The name sure sounds terrifying. Wait. Based on its name alone, I think this beast is strong enough to destroy this entire village. Was there a need to deploy tens of thousands of insects and another Dire Beast like that mutated golden giant? Something's off. Yes."

This chaotic mana actually felt quite similar to his own mana. The similarity may have caused the absorption to hasten and be more potent.

It brought the update from 58% to 89%. That was a very huge leap. Considering that the strongest beast core that he absorbed prior to this was the Imp's half core.

Exhaling deeply, he sat cross legged and delved deep into his mind.

He only needed to absorb two or three more beast cores to finish the update. After that, he could attempt to go back to Azta and strengthen himself as he travel.

'I think I could try asking the Big Baldie if he has beast cores then—, no, I don't have money to exchange for it.'

Removing the thought in his mind, he started reimagining the scenes that occured earlier this day. Then his eyes started to water.

"That was my fault damn it." he could still remember the death of an ally due to his mistake.

"My mind is still very weak. I need to be strong be it mentally or physically. I even fell down to my knees in front of a mantis. How laughable." he scoffed.

He thought of the fight and thought of several things that he could've done much better than what he did.

Several possibilities and scenarios filled his head. His eyes continued to flicker rapidly as if he was reliving the fight once more. He tried to perfect every single scenario until a someone knocked on his door.

"Alex, dinner's ready. Mom wants you to come and eat with us." Rezhul's lazy voice echoed inside his room.

"Alright. Give me a minute.", Alex replied. "I can conclude that I have a weak mind or probably heart, and that is due to inexperience. I can work on that in the future. The main problem was that old scorpion. I barely got off with my precious life. Hmph. He's lucky he's not here."

Alex tidied his bed and went out of his room.

What greeted him was the scent of delicious food. Seeing that everyone were waiting for him, he immediately sat and said sorry.

"Sorry for being late. Thank you for the food."

As the only son of the family, Rezhul was asked to start a prayer before eating. He protested against yet was unable to win against the silent stare of his mom.

During their meal, Rezhul said to his father that he thinks that he has already left the other kids far behind in terms of physical strength.

"You're my son, of course you would be stronger than them."

"What I meant was, there was no one for me to fight anymore. When are you going to teach me the manual? I'd like to become a Squire quickly and protect the village."

"I'm glad that you asked. After eating I'll be giving you and Alex the Poda Tribe's Manual."

"What!?" Alex and Rezhul said at the same time.

"Yeah, Old Man Gil asked me about the favor and so I will be repaying him. The elders were also not against it, so there's no need to worry about it."

"But—"

"No buts. Eat.", Reynard cut off the words that was Rezhul was about to speak.

"What is that manual?", Alex was curious and voiced out his thoughts.

"It's a manual for the path of becoming a Warrior."

Alex was shocked. There was one thing on his mind right now, 'But I'm a mage?'

He cannot be found out that he was a mage. His brother, Arthur, said not to reveal his cards easily. Plus, there was something sketchy happening in this tribe.

'I don't want to be found out.' That was in his mind the whole dinner.

'I have to do something.'