Time passed. I didn't know how long. I was still holding his body. He was getting colder and colder.
My gaze was empty, my mind completely void. I just sat there in the dirt.
Then it started raining. Cold droplets hit my hands, washing over the dagger still clenched hard in my fist. The scent of blood from Liam and the Mistdeer began to slowly dilute. I sat there until I was soaked through. I sat there until the rain finally stopped.
I shifted my hand, brushing against his wound. I could still feel a trace of the remaining heat.
I pulled my hand back.
I can't let him die for nothing.
The thought pushed through the numbness. I looked over at the massive carcass of the Mistdeer, ready to harvest everything that could be harvested and try to buy materials to break through.
I moved to the beast. I had gotten a lot better at this since my first hunt. My cuts still weren't perfect, but they were clean enough. I carefully separated the blood, the meat, and the organs. The organs were the true prize—the core materials needed for high grade mortal pills. The meat had some minor benefits, and the blood could be refined into weaker supplements, but the organs were what mattered most. I would earn far more selling these separated parts than I ever would dragging the whole carcass back.
I stored everything tightly in my pack.
Then I turned back to Liam.
I couldn't take his body back to town. It was impossible. No merchant caravan would ever let a blood-soaked person with a human corpse into their wagons. But leaving him out here for the scavengers wasn't an option either.
I started to dig.
I used my dagger to break the dirt and my bare hands to scoop the mud. The rain had made the dirt heavy. Sharp rocks tore at my fingers, mixing my own blood with the soil, but I didn't care. I didn't stop. I just needed to give him that final rest.
It took a long time before the hole was deep enough.
When it was ready, I gently laid his body inside. I covered him with the dirt and mud i scooped earlier, packing it down tight so the beasts wouldn't find him. I found a heavy, flat stone nearby and dragged it over the mound. Using the edge of my dagger, I carved his name into the rock.
That was all I could give him.
The moment I finished, I took my backpack, walked to the closest town, and paid for a spot on a merchant caravan heading back home.
If I could even call it that anymore.
The journey was monotonous and hollow. It was the first time I had traveled like this alone. I had never stopped to think about what this isolation would actually feel like, and I never expected it to end this way. I always knew I would have to reset eventually.
But not like this.
Staring out at the road, I realized I didn't even know when our relationship had changed. Or maybe I just hadn't wanted to admit it. Going from finding him annoying to... becoming a true friend. I still didn't understand why he had wanted to follow me so badly in the first place.
Why couldn't he have just stayed with the Lin family? Even though they struggled for a year, they survived the crisis. He would have lived.
He would have lived, if only I had tried harder to make him stay.
...
If only.
By the time the caravan finally reached the destination, I was exhausted. The first thing I did was head straight to the guild to sell the materials. People gave me side-eyes as I walked through the hall. A lone, blood-soaked guy with destroyed clothes and wounds everywhere usually meant a wiped-out party. I didn't care. They could do whatever they wanted, even insult me from afar, as long as they didn't try to interact with me.
After cashing in the materials, I went straight to the market and bought the pills.
I bought three types to prepare the best I could. Healing pills, in case of internal injuries during the process. Cultivation pills, to make the energy flow smoother. And breakthrough pills, to force the bottleneck open.
I had everything ready.
With the remaining silver, I rented a room where the Qi density was highest and the noise was nonexistent.
Before starting, I took a quick bath. Not because I cared about being clean, but because the mud and blood were uncomfortable. Any physical distraction could impact my focus, and it was better to be absolutely safe for something this important.
I dried off, put on clean clothes, and sat on the center of the floor.
I started by ingesting the healing pills first to clear up any lingering internal injuries from the fight. I had bought multiple sets. Wasting a few didn't matter, as long as I successfully broke through.
Once I was sure my body was stable, I ingested a cultivation pill. The medicinal energy dissolved in my mouth, sending a gentle, warm flow of Qi slowly into my meridians.
At that moment, I swallowed the breakthrough pill too.
A sharp heat followed. My meridians softened under the effect. I guided the Qi to strike at the barriers, trying to use the perfect amount of force—enough to expand and harden them, but not enough to break them.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly.
But at the most critical moment, my focus slipped for a fraction of a second. It wasn't some mysterious heart demon. It was the memory of the rain. The smell of Liam's blood. The wet snap of the antler breaking through his stomach.
That single moment of grief broke my concentration, and the flow of Qi violently rebelled.
The gentle warmth turned into a searing, extreme pressure. I immediately spat a mouthful of blood. Without thinking, I swallowed another healing pill, desperately trying to stabilize the flow. But it was becoming more and more chaotic. The energy thrashed inside me like a trapped beast.
I panicked. I started taking more healing pills, swallowing them blindly. Before I realized it, the bottles were empty. I had consumed them all—the healing, the cultivation, the breakthrough pills.
It was a fatal mistake.
The sheer, overwhelming force of the mixed Qi slammed against my meridians. They strained under the impossible pressure, expanding further and further until—
Snap.
They burst.
I collapsed onto the floorboards, agonizing pain radiating through every nerve in my ruined body. The energy dissipated into nothing.
I had failed.
...
"In the end," I whispered to the empty room, tasting the blood in my mouth. "Your sacrifice was for nothing, wasn't it?"
...
System, reset.
The same feeling from that time came over me once again. It was exactly the same. At the beginning, everything drained of its color, becoming a dull gray. All light disappeared into complete darkness, and I lost consciousness.