It was within the dark that Ren awoke from his strange slumber. The numbness and warmth that had overtaken him had passed. His flesh and skin again felt normal, unburned, and healthy. He was cocooned under the earth surrounded by the thick roots of a tree.

  Reaching out he dug at some of the earth protruding between roots. He was able to dig a small shaft between two thick roots. A beam of light penetrated down into his dusky abode, it shone across half of his face as he peered into the daylight above.

  No dark hounds, nor any phantom hounds pawed at the spot he had dug. That was a good sign, but he still went forward with caution. Digging further at the small opening, Ren made enough room for his head to pop out.

  The problem was, that the roots blocked him from digging the hole any wider. Pulling free his knife, he began cutting strips from the roots. Slow work, but progress was made. Soon, he was able to get one shoulder out of the hole. Watching with care, Ren continued cutting away the inside edge of the roots. As he severed a piece, he had to toss it out of the hole. If he failed to do so, he would end up burying himself in layers of loose dirt and cut root shavings.

  When he had cut off several more large portions, he tried freeing himself. Pushing hard off the floor of the loose dirt, he wiggled his shoulders to get them free of his coffin. The pressure on his shoulders was tight, he even feared dislocating one. After nearly a minute of wiggling free, he finally made it out.

  Dusting himself off, Ren looked around himself. The forest was far from the dark and dreary nature it had taken previously. However, the state of the tree was that of death made manifest. It had grown forth from him as he lay dying, the light of the amber growing great in his time of weakness. With no mana left within him and his body withering, the amber had grown a protective tree around him. It was odd, but it worked.

  Underneath his feet, a thick layer of wood and bark covered a large area surrounding the tree. Inches deep, the wood had been torn away from the tree and its roots. Time after time, the tree had regenerated and the hounds had torn at it. By measure of how much material was scattered on the earth, the tree had to have been torn apart three times. For every inch of bark coating the littered ground, the tree had regenerated.

  Ren put a hand over his chest and focused on the amber. Its glow was damped to a point where its warm light felt all but dead. The only sensation he gained from the act was a sense of weakness. The amber slowly and gently pulled at his stamina, draining some of his energy to refill itself.

  Ren sighed. Another boon was taken away from him. Very quickly all of his powers had become useless. His eldritch touch, blast, and horror all became useless when the paladin had been able to track him. Using those abilities would only end in his eventual death. Now with the amber gone, Ren questioned if even his eldritch stealth was safe.

  The amber’s glow was dead, there was nothing to do about that. At least he was alive, and the amber might eventually regenerate enough by consuming his stamina. For now, he simply had to survive and get stronger.

  Having killed the two phantom hounds, a notification came to Ren’s mind. With the recent death and devastation, a sense of oddity came with the system notification. The early days of constant notifications felt so far away from where he was now.

  Congratulations Eldritch Rouge Lv 18

  +5 Dexterity +2 Willpower +2 Vitality +2 Intelligence +7 Free points

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  With his stamina slowly draining, he believed it to be wise to allot his free points into endurance. Ren pulled up his stats to see what progress he had made.

  Name: Ren Race: Human Alignment:C/N

  Class: Rouge level 17, Tier 2 Skill: Ritualism

  Marks: Gate-Walker

  HP:230/230 SP:219/220(260) MP:255/255

  Attributes:

  Str: 24

  Vit: 46

  End: 52

  Dex: 83

  Wil: 51

  Int: 40

  Free Points: 0

  Ren sighed at seeing his stamina temporarily reduced. Well, he hoped it was temporary at least. The amber needed to regenerate, and so energy was required. Unfortunately, he was already weak enough at the moment.

  Looking around he checked his surroundings before heading back off. A black ichor stained the tree and several spots on the ground. Moving to investigate the black substance, Ren paused and used analyze.

  Dark Hound Toxin (Rare)

  Ren smiled at having finally found another venom to use with his knife. The scorpion stingers that Cella had given him in the Underdark had yet to be used, nearly forgotten. Now with this toxin too, Ren knew it was time to go back to his roots.

  It was time for him to be a rogue, Ren took some of the toxin and stored it in his spatial storage. Making sure he had several extra bullets, and the toxins ready to be used if needed, he headed out into the wilds.

  The sun was low in the sky as his journey began, the early morning hours left dew across the grasses in the fields and meadows. His boots gained small streaks of water as he kicked through the dew. A thin chill was still slightly wafting through the air as the sun had only begun to warm the world.

  In his time spent within this new world, the one called Aethradin by Hollwin and the rest of humanity, Ren had yet to see the seasons change. He felt as though change was on the wind as the dew licked at his boots, and a slight chill continued to find him.

  Ren’s body was far from susceptible to a cold wind. He wouldn’t slowly die if the temperature went too low, his body was simply too highly ‘evolved.’ As the body becomes more like the soul, fundamental changes occur. One of these changes is that of warmth. The body no longer needs to function on a purely physical level. The energies of vitality and stamina were all that was needed to have a functioning body. A proper amount of fluids and flesh were needed of course. These factors though were only required when the body was lacking fluids and flesh. Ordinarily an ascendant being like Ren, at least one at the same level of ascendancy as him, only burns energy to survive.

  The source of Ren’s vitality and his stamina, he didn’t quite understand. If his body were to produce such things, would he not still require food and water? Energy cannot come into existence from nothing, and it would be reasonable to assume the same laws of physics apply to this world.

  This led him down a rabbit hole. On the long morning walk, Ren thought of a thousand questions he had yet to ask himself about this world. He meant to solve those problems posed by his questioning.

  Ren felt deeply within himself for the source of his stamina and vitality. The more he looked within himself, the more he slowed in his steps and focused inwards, the more he realized he truly had no idea.

  His stains flow through his muscles and their fibers. Some key points seemed to house more stamina than others. In his spine, and in large areas around his legs, arms, and chest cavity. He suspected these regions to possess a large amount of nerves. Though, as he was no doctor, he wasn’t quite sure.

  The vitality, the vital energy that kept his body alive and healed it, flowed through him in waves. It mirrored his heart, though did not go along with the pulsations of it. It was as though a second heart, one with no auditory pulse, or physical veins pushed the vitality through him. A lifeblood of sorts, it moved through him keeping his flesh from withering away.

  It wasn’t hard for him to realize it. He had a lot of things to learn, and a lot of skills to master. A thousand ways to fight, and a thousand more minute details about himself and the world to study so he can better prepare. It was both worrisome and a relief. He had no idea how to pursue the paladin. The man whose might was that of a meteor coming to strike down on the earth. Now there was somewhere for him to start. There was a path forward, and it began at the beginning.