Primordial Sage: Plight of Immortality

Back in the present.

"Damn these slippery rocks…" Illyan was cursing to himself as he slowly climbed down the mountain.

It had already been fifteen minutes since his last rest, and his fingers were trembling as his grip was slowly weakening.

It was quite taxing even for him to hold himself on small rocks that were wet and loose. One bad move, and he could fall down.

The troll had it easier, as it could easily bore its fingers inside the mountain wall when needed without spending much stamina, but Illyan didn't do that.

It wasn't that he couldn't, but if he did, his stamina would deplete even faster. And considering he didn't know how long it would take him to get to the bottom, he wouldn't risk it.

"Grooooaaaaaar-Grooaaaar-Groaar!"

Suddenly, an echo resounded several times through the mountains as the troll he fought with finally woke up.

Without thinking much, he quickly swung his body to the side where there was thick vegetation and hid inside it.

He didn't know if the troll could see this far, but if it did, then it would definitely go after him, which would be a catastrophe.

Covertly moving his head upwards, he looked at the place where the cave was.

It was so high that normal people wouldn't see it.

There, he could see movement as the troll leaned its body over the edge of the cave, looking downwards, searching for him.

Its neck was covered in dried-up blood that probably came from the back of its head, and it seemed to be furious.

But in the end, when it didn't see anything for too long, it finally gave up with a snort and returned to the cave…

"Oof…" Illyan sighed in relief but still didn't move for some time.

Using some of the stronger plants to hang his body, he also used the opportunity to rest and waited for ten minutes before going down again.

'This is so annoying.' Illyan couldn't help but roll his eyes as he hurried down while at the same time checking every few seconds whether the troll would look in his direction again…

……..

One day later, in a certain valley hidden by the mountains.

At the edge of a small cliff, small but robust trees were growing out of it, their roots buried deep enough to withstand the harsh environment of the mountains.

Such trees could be seen growing out of the steep mountains in many places. However, this valley was special, as the unique arrangement of the mountains made the wind carry the seeds higher with huge velocity, allowing them to get stuck in high places.

At this very moment, the figure of Illyan could be seen on such a tree as he looked down.

"The depth of the snow… It should be enough. My hands are killing me. I don't want to climb the rest anymore." Illyan clicked his tongue as he calculated the pros and cons of jumping down.

He used his meditation technique to feel the surroundings and could sense that the snow was truly deep and that there wasn't some hidden boulder, but he still didn't know if his height was too great.

He guessed how far he was from the ground and made some calculations, but all of that was just estimation.

'Whatever, it's not like I'll die.' His laziness won over him as he let his body slump down from the branch, allowing free fall to carry him to the bottom.

Chilling winds caressed his cheeks as he fell headfirst. Feeling that it could be dangerous even for him, he turned his body midair until his head was up, as it normally would be.

His body began to speed up as he straightened, offering less air resistance.

In a few more seconds, the deep layers of snow below him exploded as his body buried itself inside them.

Only after he pierced through the third meter of snow did his body finally slow down.

His face was covered in snow, but he didn't feel gloomy. In fact, his mood was great, and his face adorned a small smirk.

He stayed still for a while before exhaling white mist from his mouth.

'I should get going… How should I get out?' Illyan pondered as he felt the snow embracing him from all sides.

He thought about surging his blood energy or aura outward to blast off the snow around him, but that was far from efficient.

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In the end, he decided to do it the honest way as he slowly dug a tunnel through which he crawled to the surface.

"Krieyish?"

Just as he was almost at the surface of the snow, he heard some screeching above.

When his head finally poked out of the snow, he saw a small greenish humanoid figure standing in front of him, its eyes gleaming with curiosity.

'Is that… a gremlin?' Seemingly recognizing the creature vaguely, Illyan became intrigued.

The thing was small. It was even smaller than goblins, with its stature barely reaching up to a human's knees.

It had green and rough skin, big dirty yellow eyes with slits, and razor-sharp claws.

However, the most striking feature of these little mischievous beings was their long and wide pointy ears.

Each ear was as big as its head, which made its appearance look ridiculous. Some could even call it cute if not for its hideous expression.

After staring at it for a second, Illyan decided to ignore it. These things usually just annoyed the other wildlife around them without actually hurting them, but if one of them was harmed, an entire swarm would attack him.

Slowly, he raised his head through the layers of snow as he pushed his body above.

Normally, people in such a harsh environment who fell into such a deep layer of snow would freeze to death, especially since Illyan wore only a simple robe that covered his body.

But Illyan was completely fine. In fact, now with his newfound aura, he felt the coldness even more familiar.

The cold was not uncomfortable to him; rather, it felt refreshing, like bathing in cold water during the few summer days he had lived through.

Unfortunately, his nostalgic mood was interrupted by the screeches of the gremlin as it threw a stone at him.

The stone was aimed at Illyan's head, but he simply leaned his head slightly back and avoided it.

The gremlin's grin froze on its face as it stared at Illyan in dissatisfaction.

Illyan turned his head and looked into its eyes. For a moment, he felt his mind stir and his blood energy surge.

It was just a minuscule amount that would not achieve anything. It was merely an instinctual move he unconsciously made after such a weak creature dared to attack him.

However, the gremlin suddenly trembled as it stared into his eyes, its knees buckling.

"Kriesh?!" With a whimper, it started to crawl away from him and burrowed into the snow.

"..."

Illyan stared at the hole for a second as he pondered what had happened.

'Oh… Is it the killing intent?' Then, as realization struck him, Illyan's expression lit up with joy.

For him, feeling bloodlust was nothing new, as there were many times when his desire for blood overshadowed his rationality.

There were times when his wrath, warrior-like upbringing, and cruel nature merged together, making his mind overflow with negative thoughts.

However, he had never managed to form tangible killing intent.

For someone lacking the right techniques and powers, radiating real killing intent would require thousands of lives to be taken before one could even be qualified to form it.

Of course, Illyan hadn't killed many people or animals. What he did have, though, was the [Thirteen Layers of Blood Energy].

The scripture's sixth layer had a detailed description of Mind Power and how it could be fortified via Killing Intent.

Illyan was still stuck at the second layer of the scripture since he hadn't had time to perfect it after he fled Faruin City.

That was what made Illyan slightly confused. But as he thought for a minute, he realized what had happened.

Everything was interconnected in some way.

The reason killing intent was an ability he could condense through the scripture was because its fundamental origin was very close to blood energy.

Moreover, despite not reaching the sixth layer, he still circulated the blood energy through his body as per the instructions of the second layer.

This created great synergy within his body, which made him form a trace of killing intent.

Seeing that his efforts were slowly paying off, Illyan had the urge to grin as he slowly wandered through the valley.

'I already know the direction vaguely, so I just need to focus on walking…' Illyan mused as he adjusted his steps so that his feet didn't bury themselves in the very deep snow…

……..

Two days later at Galdur Mountain.

When Illyan finally saw Galdur Mountain from a distance, he sighed in relief. He had walked a very long distance to get here.

Unfortunately, he was still slower than Vanda, who had already sent several teams to look for him.

"Find him! Even some body parts will suffice! I am already tired of this shit!"

As he slowly sneaked up upon Galdur Mountain, he heard one of the team leaders standing there, yelling at his subordinates, who were running around.

"Fuck, why did we have to sacrifice even our horses? Walking through this shitty snow is killing me… How the heck do they expect us to return home?"

Just as he climbed the trees to sneak above the man who was supposedly their leader, he heard his mutter full of frustration.

Illyan just shook his head at the man's pathetic display as he jumped to the next tree.

The snow tracks were something he couldn't let others see at this point, so he was very careful.

'It should be around here… The weather is bad, so finding it will be difficult, which is perfect for me.' Illyan nodded with satisfaction as he jumped down onto a big boulder and leaned forward to look beyond it.

There, a small crevice hidden by the snow was barely big enough for humans to fit.

Illyan didn't hesitate as he crawled down through the crevice and entered the small cave where he barely fit his body.

However, the small space wasn't completely empty.

'There it is.' Inside, bones of eaten rabbits and other traces of human activity remained.

It was made by him and Aurelia beforehand, so this place looked legitimate. After several days, this place looked desolate, which was what they were after.

Illyan lay down on the fir-tree branches that served as a substitute for a bed and closed his eyes for a moment before retrieving a small utility knife from his robe.

What he wore at the moment was the physician's robe that he had worn during his stargazing mission. Everything else was left in a certain place where Aurelia would take it later on.

After all, the only thing he had on him during the fall from Galdur Mountain was his robe.

However, wearing it just as it was wouldn't make the situation too believable.

And so, he made several slashes in the robe and also rolled on the muddy ground.

He cut his long hair, which was also muddied, and threw it on the ground.

In the end, he also started to make small scratches on his arms and hands with the knife while suppressing his regenerative ability.

Soon, he was covered with wounds and filth.

But that wasn't all, as he sat in a meditative position and prepared for his ultimate trump card.

A few minutes later, his body was assaulted by heat as steam rose from his body while his veins shone brightly.

He activated the [Blood Feeding Technique] as his body started to shrink slowly.

As someone who knew firsthand how malnourished one could become after not eating proper meals and having to survive harsh environments, there was no way he would make the mistake of not making his body look weakened to the point of being pitiful.

As such, he used the ability with less reservation and let almost all of his body fat and muscles be devoured as his blood pulsed with joy…