Zephyr slept well that day. The days of exhaustion that piled on him disappeared quickly with sleep.

The next day, when the sky brightened, he woke to the sound of thunder and rain. The makeshift shelter he made was about to be blown away by the powerful winds.

'Fortunately, it didn't rain that heavily during the night.' He thought and sat up on the grass he used as bedding.

The grass was not exactly comfortable, and yet he slept peacefully lying over it. After abandoning life and death, those anxiety-inducing thoughts that had plagued him disappeared. Now, nothing could stop him from sleeping.

"It feels good to be alive." He muttered and stood up.

The roof he made with leaves, branches, and shrubs almost slammed onto his head as he tried to stretch. The wind also blew some dust and grass into his face when he touched the roof.

*Spat*

Zephyr spat out the few that got into his mouth and shook his head.

"Anyways, it's nice to be alive." He repeated before looking out at the sky.

The thunderclouds still covered the horizon with gloom. Slivers of sunlight were beaming onto the ground below through it.

The clouds were tumbling around in the sky, constantly changing their form as the winds blew them over to the hills in the east.

It was a great sight to watch. But at the same time, the dangerous glint of electricity it carries reminded Zephyr that all beautiful things in nature come with sharp thorns.

If he lets himself be enamored by their beauty and chase it, he will feel pain.

Like most people, Zephyr hated pain, and he wanted nothing to do with it. Thus, he quickly composed himself and looked towards the west.

The west was the mangrove forest he was familiar with. Beyond it was the land bridge connecting the mainland to the islands.

"I should have breakfast before grinding."

He had a collection of black mana cores in a small pouch tied to his waist. They were looted from the undead he slayed. Though they didn't have much use, it would still be worth some money if he could sell them to the tower.

Only by grinding—killing the undead creatures that roam the island could he grow his wealth.

"Ah. Sigh. I expected more from the undead. But from the weapons they use to the clothes they wear, everything was shabby. I couldn't find anything that's useful." Zephyr complained as he made his way to the bottom part of his shelter.

There was a circular bonfire with burning charcoal exuding heat. Zephyr walked over and took the crab shell placed nearby.

In it was the rainwater he collected.

The bonfire next to it had warmed the water to a nice temperature.

Zephyr picked it up and drank the water inside. Then he picked up the crab meat soup, which had been continuously heated throughout the night.

He used a tiny piece of crabshell that came from the pincers of the crab as a ladle to pour the soup onto another crab shell before drinking it with a smile.

The warm soup without any spices or even salt still tasted heavenly to his malnourished, semi-functional body.

For a second, he wished he could spend days like this without doing anything; just eating and sleeping. But, how could that be possible?

Would the world show that much kindness to him?

Zephyr didn't think so.

He was a paranoid soul who believed the world was set out to get him. Hence, he didn't think the temporary peace he had would last.

"Being dead is better than being a Chimera." He said to himself and decided to once again venture into the depths of the island.

From Gale's memory, Zephyr knew that the necromancer had an organisation backing him. The same nameless organisation might be the ones who want to turn him into a Chimera.

From what he knew from Gale, he was under their observation for months. So, they could have thought of him as a good specimen to conduct experiments on.

And the leader of the organisation was a 'voyeuristic psychopath' who loves to control people and make them do his bidding, and was most likely the one who ordered to capture him.

The necromancer and Gale were just pawns of his that made his wish come true.

However, now, Zephyr's body housed a new soul. It knew of its impending doom and was strong enough to survive Gale's attack.

This gave hope to Gale. Therefore, he stored these memories in the mask before he died so that he could transmit the information without their master knowing. He had also blocked him from temporarily viewing their battle. All just to let Zephyr know of their plans to unleash the godspawn.

"Through his death, Gale must have prevented his master from ordering my capture." Zephyr deduced.

"However, all that would have certainly aroused his suspicion. He will come for me some other day or will order someone else to capture me."

"I need to grow strong by then."

The only way to save himself was through strength. Zephyr realised it through the experience he had in the past few days.

It was clear to him that without strength, he was nothing in this world.

Thinking about it, the faces of the villagers flashed in his mind. Jack, begging him to help them, also came to him.

The villagers were weak and thus were captured by the necromancer. Jack was a little bit stronger and could escape.

'There was clearly a pattern here.'

'Without strength, you can neither be a villain nor a hero. Without strength, you would just be a pebble stepped on by everyone, forgotten by the world, moving without any control.'

'You would have no influence to change anything.'

Zephyr shook his head.

Thinking too deeply about it was unnecessary. Continuing to drink the soup was more worthwhile. So, he did just that.

With his current strength, Zephyr didn't know if he would even survive future hardships. But thinking about it was not going to change anything. Only the actions he takes could possibly change his future.

The only reason he was moving forward was to prove to himself that fate cannot stop him.

Because of his spiteful nature, he wanted to crush fate beneath his feet and laugh at the danger that it would throw at him.

Only by doing so could he satisfy his heart.

Although the pain from his left arm reduced with sleep, he noticed its absence every moment of the day.

The original Zephyr fate of losing an arm was still plaguing him. So, he believed that at some point in the coming day, they would capture him and take him away.

Running away could help him escape fate temporarily.

However, escaping like that was not what Zephyr wanted.

"Crush the fate and prove that I can do whatever the heck I want in this world."

His rebellious heart was the only driving force that remained within him.

He had run away from problems plenty of times in his previous life. But none of it made his life any easier. So, he decided to face it without covering.

Zephyr gulped down the soup quickly and stood up. The fatty meat of the large crab provided him with all the energy he needed to slay some undead.

"It's time for round five to start." He said and walked towards the west.

Suddenly, he paused, clutching his sword.

"Before that, let me take a dump."

He moved to the shadow of a large tree.

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