Chapter 3: Magical Skipping, Magic Test, Sneak Attack

Ray noticed that the village children would always head in the same direction after breakfast, and then return to their homes in groups around two or three in the afternoon.

Ray had a vague feeling that it was a school, and he decided to try to trick Neil.

"Neil, I haven't seen you going to school lately."

Neil paused, clearly not expecting Ray to ask that. He blushed, lowered his head, and murmured softly.

"I did read books."

I was just reading at home.

"Hmm? You should understand what I mean."

Ray pretended to be angry, and Neil began to panic, fidgeting with his fingertips on his sleeve.

"Brother, I was wrong, please don't be angry."

His eyelashes trembled, and his eyes filled with tears, which fell before Ray could say another word. He quickly wiped them away with his hand.

As expected, Ray was right; Neil skipped school.

He sighed, crouched down, and looked directly at Neil.

“Neil, I don’t mean to blame you. I know you’ve been taking care of me all this time, but you also have your own things to do, don’t you?”

"I hope you can learn and play with the children in the village, instead of always staying by my side."

Neil frowned, wanting to retort, but was silenced by Ray's words.

"I also have things I want to do. I didn't finish my studies, but I hope you can continue to study hard."

Neil's expression shifted, as if he had thought of something.

His older brother had been studying away from home since he could remember. He could have had a better future, but that happened, and he was the one who dragged his brother down.

Lei continued his efforts.

"I'm an adult now, I can take care of myself. The injury last time was just an accident. From now on, I'll stick with other people and I won't get hurt again. Trust me, okay?"

"I trust my brother the most! But what if he gets hurt again?"

"If you're by my side, won't he get hurt? And if you're with me, I'll have to take care of you, which makes me more vulnerable to injury, doesn't it?"

Neil was stunned by what Ray said and didn't know how to refute it for a moment.

"Brother, I will try my best to become stronger to protect you."

"Neil is such a good boy. How about we go and learn some knowledge to build a foundation first?"

Neil hesitated before nodding.

The silly child was clearly fooled, and Ray successfully achieved his goal.

Neil's hair was blocking his eyes, so Ray found a pair of scissors and cut his hair.

Unfortunately, my skills are really not good. It took me two hours, and the result was still somewhat uneven.

After asking him what he thought, I simply cut his hair into a buzz cut.

With the school arrangements finalized, Neil prepared his things and tidied up the living room as well.

He is truly a diligent and good child.

Without natural gas, firewood is needed for cooking every day.

But collecting firewood every day was too much trouble, so Ray and Neil chopped down two withered saplings. They spent several hours chopping them into neat pieces and arranging them in the small storage shed on the side of the house.

The next day, Ray and Neil went to school.

They had already paid their tuition for the first half of the year, and after not attending school for more than two months, Neil unsurprisingly dropped a grade.

Fortunately, in the next two semesters, he can choose to replace the main courses he has already taken with special courses, so it won't take up too much time.

The villagers usually only eat two meals a day, morning and evening, except during busy farming seasons when they eat three meals a day. Even so, Ray still slipped a piece of bread into Neil's bag, worried that he might go hungry at noon.

After seeing Neil off, Ray finally had some time to be alone.

He carried a woven basket and a small hoe on his back, with a dagger tucked into his waistband, and took the bow and arrows that Victor used to use for hunting as he went into the woods.

This forest is more than 500 meters away from the village.

The forest is very large, and villagers often come to the forest to hunt, improve their family meals, and have a treat.

Large animals were almost nowhere to be seen on the outskirts of the forest, and even the more appealing berries had nearly disappeared. But this wasn't Rye's destination.

He followed the path trodden by the villagers, walking until it reached its end without stopping. Seeing no one nearby, he quickly disappeared deeper into the woods.

After walking a few hundred meters, the trees became increasingly taller, and trees that were as thick as several people could hug were everywhere.

There is no industrial pollution or over-logging here. Humans and nature coexist in a healthy way.

The trees stood tall, their branches intertwined, and the light gradually dimmed.

Lei took a deep breath; it smelled of damp earth—a light rain had fallen a few days earlier.

There was no putrid smell of corpses, nor any strange burnt smells.

Lei's recent period of depression has finally been relieved.

He could not forget everything he experienced in the apocalypse.

At night, when he closes his eyes, that scene always comes to mind. He is even afraid that he might unconsciously treat Neil as a zombie.

He was accompanied by post-traumatic stress disorder.

After carefully observing his surroundings and confirming that there was no danger, Lei raised his hand and tried to recall the feeling of using his powers in the past.

Gather the power in your body into your hands, then concentrate it into a single point.

......

He failed.

There is not a trace of power within this body.

Indeed, being able to be reborn is already lucky enough; what more could he ask for? Now that he's here, he should try his best to live on!

Lei sighed, but quickly felt relieved and secretly cheered himself up.

We've come this far; we can't go back empty-handed.

There were many mushrooms and wild vegetables in the woods, and occasionally bright red berries could be seen amidst the greenery. Lai took a bite and found them very sweet.

While keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings, he placed any edible plants he could find into his basket.

Birds chirped and twittered in the trees, and the occasional sounds of small animals passing by created a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.

Suddenly, a rustling sound broke the silence.

Ray gently put down his hoe, drew his bow and arrow, and aimed at the low bushes that were making the noise.

The bushes were still moving, but the thing inside hadn't come out.

As Lai kicked the stone at his feet toward that direction, a gray shadow rushed toward him unexpectedly.

Ray missed his first arrow, so he immediately nocked another wooden arrow and shot it at Gray Shadow.

This time he successfully shot the gray shadow in the hind leg.

It struggled and dragged itself for another dozen meters before being caught up by Lai and killed with a single blow. It turned out that the gray shadow was a long-toothed beast.

The long-toothed beast shares similar habits with rabbits, both possessing two prominent teeth. However, it is twice the size of a rabbit and is a very common mammal in this area.

After draining the blood from the long-toothed beast, Lai wrapped it in several layers of large leaves he had picked and placed it at the bottom of his basket.

He didn't want to get blood on himself.

This unexpected find sparked Ray's interest in hunting. He took his bow and arrows and walked several hundred meters around the location of the hare, successfully shooting down two wild red rockbirds.

Good results.

Lai started walking back.

The forest was quiet, save for the incessant chirping of unknown birds. The animals had ceased their activity, and even the wind seemed to carry an air of danger.

It was too quiet around him, and Ray's sixth sense told him that something was wrong.

He carefully gripped the dagger at his waist.

Sure enough, a powerful force struck his back.

Fortunately, he had his basket as a shield, so he decisively dropped it and rolled away to avoid the next attack.

It was a gray wolf that was nearly two meters long and had lost an eye.

Its fur was matted and tangled, its belly was sunken, and its body was thin and covered in wounds.

The head injury was particularly severe.

The gray wolf stared fiercely at Lai, its eyes reflecting the incoming light with a green glow, and thick saliva dripped from its slightly open mouth.

After failing to strike twice, the gray wolf snorted impatiently and paced back and forth, observing Lai's weaknesses.

Ray adopted a defensive stance to protect himself, while also keeping a close eye on the gray wolf's movements.

The wolf was already at its last gasp. At this point, the beast was always extremely ferocious, and he only had a dagger in his hand, with no one else around.

The gray wolf charged at Ray again with its hind legs, attempting to bite through his throat, but Ray blocked it with his arm.

The gray wolf grew increasingly violent and began to attack Ray frantically.

He used the trees as cover to protect his back from being attacked, but the gray wolf seemed to be consciously driving him to a place with less cover.

The man and the wolf faced off for more than twenty minutes.

The gray wolf was panting heavily; its attack power was extremely strong.

Ray narrowly escaped several fatal attacks, but inevitably suffered injuries and gradually began to tire.

The gray wolf's wound began to bleed, perhaps knowing that continuing the stalemate would only lead to its death. It leaped high into the air and delivered a fatal blow.

Ray was knocked to the ground by it, the stench of the wolf's mouth pressed against his face. He had no choice but to grab the wolf's mouth, and in his haste, he forcefully plunged the dagger into the wolf's neck.

The pain drove it mad, and it attacked Ray recklessly.

If at first it only wanted to attack humans and steal its prey, now it wants this human dead!

Ray tried with great effort but couldn't pull the dagger out; it seemed to be stuck in the gray wolf's bones, and he had lost his only weapon.

After a long battle, Ray was also fighting hard, his eyes slightly bloodshot. He picked up a tree branch and plunged it into the gray wolf's wound, launching a reckless and frenzied attack.

A man and a wolf rolled and fought on the ground.

Lay had no suitable weapon, while the fangs and claws of wild beasts were their best protection, and the gray wolf was clearly superior.

But he didn't want to give up; even living for just one more second was a gain.

He mustered all his strength to face the beast, raising the blood-stained branch high to stab the gray wolf. He exerted so much force that his handsome face began to contort.

A faint green light clung to the branches, which were deeply embedded in the gray wolf's eye sockets.

With a loud crash, the massive body collapsed.

Ray successfully killed the beast.

Blood splattered all around, and the stench of blood and wild animal odor was overwhelming.

Such a strong smell of blood would surely attract more wild beasts. After catching his breath, Lai picked up his basket and left, his right hand trembling slightly.

Fortunately, his house was very close to the woods, and he made his way around the crowd, so no one saw that he was covered in blood.

When Ray got home, Neil was still in class.

His clothes and trousers were tattered and covered in blood and dirt. After he finished bathing, he simply threw them into the fireplace and burned them to ashes.

The familiar environment gave Lai a sense of security, and after relaxing, all that remained was soreness.

After treating the wound briefly, Lei sat down in a chair and began to review the incident.

Wolves are social animals, and that gray wolf shouldn't have been there.

The village has a self-organized self-defense force that occasionally goes deep into the forest to hunt more dangerous wild animals.

Lai thought that the gray wolf must have been abandoned by the pack.

It was badly injured and could not survive in the deep forest, so it went to the outer areas.

Unfortunately, I encountered it.

He needs a Chinese almanac, if he has one.

Ray raised his right hand and examined it carefully.

He remembered seeing what appeared to be a green light amidst the chaos.

He recalled the scene at that time.

As he gathered his strength, something seemed to surge into his body, and then he wrapped it around the tree branch with his right hand.

This mysterious feeling is like touching the air...

Gradually, it seemed like Ray had grasped something.

Various colored specks of light seemed to be twinkling in the air, and he tentatively guided them toward himself.

Sure enough, the green light spots were converging on him, while the other light spots remained motionless.

The light spots gathered in greater and greater quantities, and Lai began to absorb them spontaneously. He felt the changes within his body, a sense of abundant energy.

By channeling the energy into your hand, a small green ball of light appears in the center of your palm.

Lai pushed the ball of light toward a half-dead little plant on the balcony.

As the light disappeared, the small plant regained its vitality, its leaves trembling slightly, looking quite happy.

Ray was stunned. He actually saw joy in the plants! Had he gone mad?

After a brief moment of bewilderment came joy and relief; he really did possess magic.

Life on this magical continent now has an extra layer of security, and things seem to be getting more interesting.

A note from the author:

----------------------

"After the main god perished, her power was the last gift left to all races. It split into five magical particles of different attributes, filling the entire continent. Even the humblest insects have the right to use them."

Ah! Praise be to the Lord God, praise her selfless soul, praise her pure heart, praise her…”

—Excerpt from a church morning service

Remark:

Some church factions believe that the form of God is female.