The 25th day of Summer, 256 (Soralday) 

Early in the morning, as the sun was rising in the sky, it slowly illuminated the Lemor Hill and brought warmth to its forest. It was especially hot in a certain tent, in which the humid air made a sleeping boy wake up from his dreams.

Zan lazily opened his eyes, and after he looked around his sleeping place, he immediately became frightened because no matter where his gaze landed, he couldn't find his mother. Realizing that his mom could only be outside of the tent, he quickly pushed his head out of their sleeping place.

After seeing his mother sitting on the log near the campfire, he immediately felt relieved. His fear quickly disappeared, and his heart once again beat at a normal pace. Knowing that she was safe and that no beast was near them, he got out of the tent and sat down on the trunk next to her.

After a short greeting and a few words, the leftover rabbit from yesterday had already warmed up, and soon they began to eat their breakfast. Although the meat was not as good as last night, yet to a hungry mouth, it didn't matter.

"Right now, we are on the southeastern side of the hill." Arilia began after they finished their breakfast. "However, the starflowers grow in a clearing on its northern side, about seven to eight miles in that direction," she pointed her finger toward the north. "The starflower is about fifteen inches tall and has six to eight white petals with yellow stripes. They grow close to each other in large quantities, so when you go, take your sack with you to collect as many as you can."

"Aren't you coming?" Zan asked with a surprised expression.

"No," Arilia said with a stern voice. "You want to become stronger, and the first step to becoming powerful is to learn how to be self-reliant. You need to know how to hunt alone, how to fight alone, and even how to sleep alone." she smiled a little, then she took out a dagger from her pouch. "But luckily for you, you do not need to fight barehanded because I am giving you this titanir dagger. Since titanir is one of the toughest alloys on Imana, the blade is unbreakable, very light, and it is also an exceptionally sharp weapon."

After Zan received the dagger from his mother, he immediately drew it out from its sheath. The weapon's blade was 12 inches long, almost entirely black except for its sharp, silver-colored edges and the three engraved ancient characters on its side, which glowed in dark blue when the sun shone on them.

"What does this mean?" Zan asked as he pointed his finger at the weapon's inscription.

"It means 'to freeze' in the ancient language. However, you will only be able to use this ability after you reach the flame stage. Then not only could you cut through the oak trees like a hot knife through butter but could even freeze a beast that you stab with it. But to do so, you will have to make your mana flow into the inscription on its blade." Arilia said and took the dagger from her son. She then pushed the blade into the log they were sitting on, and before Zan knew it, the brown bark and the green moss of the tree became icy and white in color. After twisting the blade, the frozen pieces of the log shattered, and soon she gave the dagger back to her son.

Seeing his mother making a small hole in the oak trunk, Zan at first was stunned, then felt incredibly happy and immediately tied the weapon to his belt. In his amazement, he couldn't really say any meaningful words and could only smile at her.

"Should you not be going now?" Arilia woke him up from his stupor.

"Y-Yes," Zan stuttered and stood up from his seat, then went into their tent. After emptying his sack, only leaving his gourd inside of it, he said goodbye to his mom and left the camp. With a little fear but even more excitement in his heart, he was ready for his adventure.

...

As there were no paths in the forest, Zan walked leisurely, almost step by step, but thanks to this slow pace, he was able to take a closer look at the beauty of the landscape. In addition to dense bushes, dangling vines, and huge trees, he also saw many eye-catching plants. Some of them had red, others had blue leaves, and several of them had small golden colored petals. Since he couldn't recognize any of these plants, he picked up a few of each of them, so that later he could ask his mother what they are good for.

It was around noon when Zan arrived at the edge of the clearing, which his mother mentioned to him. This area, apart from a large oak, which stood on a small mound, had no other trees or bushes decorating its open space.

Not far from him, he saw some flowers that were a bit taller than the grass and which white and yellow striped petals were dancing in the wind. 'This is what I am looking for,' he thought to himself, then he began to collect them.

In a short time, he picked up six starflowers from the ground; however, there wasn't a smile or any sign of joy on his face; instead, he had a disappointed look. His mother said that the starflowers grew close to one another in large quantities, but he could barely found a few of them.

After a little pondering and a closer look, he noticed that among the grass, several plants had the same spear-like leaves as the starflowers, but each of them only had a bare stem. 'Someone must have been here before me and cut off the flowers,' he thought to himself. 'Or maybe something...'

*ROAR*

Suddenly a beast's ear-splitting cry broke the silence and scared Zan almost out of his wits. Although he knew that the roar came from behind him, yet he didn't dare to turn around to look into the monster's eyes. He quickly grabbed his sack and wanted to run for his life, but he couldn't. His fear overwhelmed him, and his legs had no strength to stand up.

While Zan was kneeling on the ground, he heard the beast's getting closer to him, and with each of its thumping steps, his heart skipped a beat. Although he couldn't stand up, yet he still didn't want to die, so he expanded his mana around his entire body and created his aura.

After a short few breaths, the beast was already behind Zan, and without even waiting for a second to take a closer look at him, it hit him so hard that he flew 18 feet in the air until he finally landed in a bush at the edge of the clearing.

Even though the pain was almost unbearable, Zan was fortunate that the monster struck him at his right upper arm and not caused him a deadly wound. Although his arm broke, he wasn't too sad about it as an injured limb was still better than a headless body. Nevertheless, the pain was not comfortable at all, but he had no time to think about his feelings, as he knew that if he didn't escape soon, he wouldn't be able to survive. He was also well aware that if the beast would hit him again, he would undoubtedly lose his life.

*growl*

The sudden noise made Zan quickly sit up and look at the source of the sound.

The growl was coming from a four-legged, black-furred wildling that was not too far from Zan, and was about as tall as him standing on his feet. As the wildling was slowly approaching him, it lifted its three long, bushy tails in the air, and showed its pointy teeth. Its dark red eyes gave off the feeling of a hunter looking at his pray, and it was clear that it was hungry for Zan's blood.

Zan was once again overwhelmed by fear; however, fortunately, this time, it didn't paralyze him but motivated him to take action. He quickly got up on his feet, and after grabbing his sack, he turned around and ran with all his might. He didn't care about his aching arm or his trembling body and only concentrated on getting away from the beast as quickly and as far as possible. He didn't even take a glance back as he was afraid that the moment he would turn around would be the last of his life.

He sprinted for more than half a mile when suddenly he stumbled over a root and fell on his face. 'This is the end!' he thought to himself, but being unable to accept his fate, he quickly pulled out his dagger from its sheath and shouted, "But if I die, you will come with me!"

The black beast, however, was nowhere to be seen, nor was there any other wildling nearby. Only Zan was there alone, sitting on the ground with his fears.

For a few breaths, he couldn't understand what exactly happened, and after the situation became clear to him, he fell back to the ground. His weapon dropped out of his left hand, and he covered his eyes with his forearm. Soon tears flowed on his muddy face, and he trembled with his whole body from the fright.

A good quarter of an hour had to pass before Zan could calm down and stand up. Then he picked up his dagger and his sack, then headed straight toward the camp. He was no longer interested in the beauty of the landscape or the unique plants and was only concerned about getting to his mother as soon as possible.