TLWD 17

Chapter : 17. The Hunt (2)

As usual, Kai headed to the Frost Training Grounds today.

His entire body felt like lead ever since that footrace with Adrian.
Even though a whole week had passed, the exhaustion still lingered.

Rest was a part of training too.
He should have taken a break, but staying still was impossible for him.

Adrian’s growth was becoming truly alarming.
Saying he was growing explosively was no exaggeration.

And there were only about two and a half months left until the royal decree arrived.

Once that time came, Kai would kill Adrian.
He had to.
But he had no idea how much stronger Adrian would become by then.

In just over ten days, the boy had changed completely.
Kai couldn’t even imagine what Adrian would become after seventy days.

So Kai couldn’t afford to sit still.
If he wanted to make sure he killed Adrian, Kai had to keep training relentlessly.

Dragging his heavy body, Kai hurried toward the Frost Training Grounds.

When he arrived, however, the atmosphere felt off.

Instead of being filled with the usual heat of intense training, the inside was cold and quiet.

The soldiers and instructors were all tense, standing rigid.

Kai glanced around the grounds and quickly realized the reason.

An unexpected figure was present.

A woman with dreamy, silver hair that seemed to glow with moonlight.

“Ah! Sir Kai!”

Serapia spotted Kai and hurried over to him.

Kai tilted his head in confusion.

“What brings you to the Frost Training Grounds?”
“Well… um…”

Serapia laughed awkwardly and then said,

“I wanted to try exercising a bit.”
“…What?”

Kai’s face and expression went blank in disbelief.

Serapia… exercising?

That was somehow more shocking than Adrian exercising.
If he exaggerated just a little, it was about as shocking as when Adrian devoured the heart of Dermexus.

Being born under the curse of frost and inherently frail was only part of it.

Serapia was handling most of the administrative duties of the entire countdom.

Technically, Bernard the chief steward was the acting lord,
but in reality, Serapia was managing everything like the lord herself.

In short, she had no time.

The dark circles under her tired eyes weren’t just for show.

“But… I honestly don’t know where to start…”

Serapia lowered her head slightly, nervously rubbing her left shoulder with her right hand as she glanced around.

Kai looked around too.

There were many soldiers training here every day, along with their instructors.

But right now, everyone was standing at attention, frozen in place.

No one dared approach Serapia.

Of course not—Serapia was the lord of Whitewolf County.

Though the royal decree hadn’t officially recognized her yet, it was just a matter of time.

For the soldiers, it felt like the supreme commander had come for an inspection.

That’s why everyone was so tense.

But Kai was Serapia’s sworn knight.

Even if the whole world turned away from her, Kai had vowed to remain by her side.

Kai turned back to her and spoke.

“I’ll teach you.”
“Ah! Really?”

Her ruby-like red eyes sparkled with joy.
With that bright smile, she looked like a genuine gemstone.

“Then… can I count on you?”
“You don’t even need to ask. Just give me the order.”

Kai calmly started moving.

He couldn’t ignore that expectant face.

He began clearing the scattered training equipment from the floor.

Since she was a complete beginner, she needed to start with light exercises.
Especially considering how frail she was, he had to be extra careful.

“Um… Sir Kai.”

He looked up at the sound of her voice.

Serapia was glancing around nervously, as if looking for someone.

Sure enough, she asked:

“Is my brother not here yet?”

Her gaze darted around again like a baby bird searching for its mother.

“I heard he trains here every day…”

Her face soon filled with disappointment.

Kai’s eyes drifted to the pale skin of her neck,
where the faint bruising in the shape of fingers still remained.

It had faded a lot, but the mark was still visible.

“He’ll be back soon.”

Kai kept his expression neutral.

Meanwhile…

A week had passed since the hunting began in the snowy mountains.

Only after that long, had he finally found the prey he’d been searching for.

A creature about two meters tall.
With massive, brutish eyes and bulging muscles.

An Ice Troll.

The moment it spotted him, the Ice Troll didn’t let out a threatening roar.

But the drool dripping from its mouth said everything.

It had recognized him as prey. Food.

An Ice Troll wasn’t the type to let a target go.

In fact, the concept of “gentleness” didn’t exist for monsters.

Its eyes lit up with hunger.

And that hunger quickly turned into violence.

In an instant, the Ice Troll charged at him.

His hand instinctively moved to draw his sword—but he stopped mid-action.

The Ice Troll’s weak spot was its heart.

Last time, aiming for the heart had been the surest way to kill one.

Unlike Dermexus, the troll’s skin wasn’t that tough.
Even without aura, he could pierce its hide and destroy the heart.

But…

“If I damage the heart…”

Just like before, if the heart was damaged, he’d get fewer genetic factors.

From a completely destroyed heart, he couldn’t extract anything.

Ice Trolls were rare monsters.

A variant species of troll, only found in the northern snow mountains.

Even after a week of searching, this was the only one he’d found.

He had no idea when he’d find another.

So this time, he couldn’t afford to damage the heart.

He had known that last time too—but back then, he had no choice.
If he hadn’t aimed for the heart, he would have died.

But now…

After ten days of training, his body had grown.

After seven days of hunting, his body had evolved.

The Ice Troll’s movements were clearly visible.

A massive fist came flying toward him.

Dodging would be the smart move.

But—

He didn’t dodge.

He countered.

CRASH!

His fist collided with the Ice Troll’s.

The first to break was his own hand.

His strength was much greater than before.

But compared to the Ice Troll, he was still lacking.

Still, it was enough to inflict damage.

CRACK!

There was a crunching sound from the Ice Troll’s fist.
Its steps faltered as it stumbled back.

Its face twisted in pain.

ROAR!!

The Ice Troll let out an enraged howl.

During the brief pause, its shattered fist had already healed.

Its regeneration was absurd.

Truly fitting for an Ice Troll.

But—
So was he.

◆ Skill: Regeneration [C+] activated.
◆ Consuming large amounts of calcium to regenerate broken bones.

Translucent messages appeared before his eyes.

His shattered fist quickly regenerated.

“Guh?!”

The Ice Troll’s face twisted in visible shock.

It was astonished that a human could regenerate like itself.

ROOOAAAR!!

Enraged, the Ice Troll charged again.

This time too—he didn’t back down.

Their fists collided again.

CRASH!

Once more, bones and flesh shattered.

His injuries were far worse.

His body’s calcium reserves depleted rapidly.

He pulled some monster meat from his inventory and started chewing.

Monster meat was rich in protein and fat.

Calcium? Not much.

But for him, that wasn’t a problem.

◆ Using calories to synthesize [Calcium].
◆ Surplus calories: 3,880 Kcal
◆ Would you like to activate the skill [Nutrient Synthesis] [C]?

Over the past week, he had hunted extra Alachrons.

Thanks to that, he had upgraded his [Nutrient Synthesis] from [C-] to [C].

Now, along with carbs, protein, fats, and water,
he could freely synthesize vitamins and calcium.

The conversion efficiency had improved too.

Flames surged inside his body as calories burned.

The consumed calories turned into calcium.

That calcium then fueled his Regeneration [C+] skill, restoring his shattered bones in an instant.

“Guh… Grawrk?!”

The Ice Troll jumped back in shock.

Its face, once only surprised, now showed horror.

He kept trading blows with the Ice Troll.

BAM! BAM! BOOM!

As time passed, the troll’s regeneration noticeably slowed.

Of course.

Regeneration required nutrients.

And the Ice Troll’s reserves were limited.

But he—he could keep replenishing his nutrients.

His inventory overflowed with monster meat from previous hunts.

And with [Nutrient Synthesis] [C], he could select and produce whatever nutrients he needed.

“Let’s see who lasts longer.”

It was a battle of who’d reach their regeneration limit first.

◆ Ice Troll defeated!
◆ You gained 120 combat experience!
◆ Level up!

Another translucent message appeared.

The Ice Troll’s massive body slumped and sank into the snow, unmoving.

“…Persistent bastard.”

The words escaped from his lips.

His entire inventory of meat was gone.

This troll was on a whole different level compared to the weakened one he’d fought before.

Still, he barely managed to win.

He stepped over and checked the corpse.

Though it wasn’t moving, it hardly looked dead.

But the system message confirmed the kill—no need for a coup de grâce.

He carefully drew his sword and cut open the troll’s chest.

Inside was a perfectly intact heart.

Not a single scratch.

Meaning its genetic material was untouched as well.

“Maybe… my regeneration ability will evolve another step.”

With that hopeful thought, he brought the heart to his lips.

Crunch.

The tough texture and metallic blood filled his mouth.

As expected, the madness surged again.

A red mist engulfed his mind, and his vision turned blood-red.

Right as he was about to lose consciousness—

◆ Player’s Will [EX] resists the encroaching madness!

The sudden system message snapped him back to reality.

The red mist cleared, and his vision returned to normal.

“So… it’s not complete immunity.”

The [Player’s Will] [EX] skill didn’t offer full immunity to madness.

The proper description was:

“Grants immunity to all effects (curses, illusions, brainwashing, hypnosis, suggestions, etc.) that exceed the player’s maximum mental endurance.”

In short, the skill only activated when something exceeded his limit.

As for his mental endurance cap?

“No idea what it actually is.”

But it couldn’t be that high.

In his previous life, he always lost control during predation.

Later, Ian had helped him manage it somewhat.

But honestly, Ian’s “help” wasn’t anything fancy.

“I can’t even remember how many times Ian beat me senseless.”

Whenever he succumbed to madness, Ian would beat him until he regained his senses.

Thinking back, he’d really been hit a lot.

And back then, he didn’t even have regeneration, so it was a real ordeal.

Well…
Either way, with [Player’s Will EX], he no longer needed to fear madness.

Crunch.

He shoved the last chunk of the Ice Troll’s heart into his mouth.

The [Predation S+] skill began analyzing and integrating the genetic material.

“Hm…”

He fell into thought.

“It’s been seventeen days.”

Seventeen days since he returned to the past.

Ian still hadn’t shown up.

Of course, seventeen days wasn’t an extremely long time.

But it wasn’t short either.

If it were Ian… he should’ve shown up by now.

Yet he hadn’t.

“Don’t tell me… I’m the only one who came back?”