The man got out of bed and immediately started coughing and wheezing. Darcy ran to the kitchen to get a cup of water.

“Drink this! Where is Astra!?” Darcy shoved the cup into the man’s hands.

The man took the cup and gulped down the water.

“…” The man looked at the cup of water in his hands.

“Please…Anything, tell us anything…” Darcy pleaded, tears in her eyes.

“Your son…saved me…He gave his life for mine.” The man mumbled.

“NO! You’re lying!” Darcy shrieked.

“I will go see…if I can recover his body…” The man got up and walked out of the house.

Darcy felt her legs shake. She collapsed onto the ground and started weeping.

The young boy was laying on top of burnt flesh. Luckily, Astra had collapsed on the ogre, allowing him to easily eat the ogre with only his mouth. Astra’s arms and legs were cramped up and the slightest movement would cause them to tremble violently.

Ironically, this ogre had kept him alive for the past two days.

Astra had questions. He did not know how the ogre died and why it was burnt.

As Astra kept on eating the ogre, he found a small white crystal.

He could feel that this white crystal had a huge amount of mana within it, way more than what he could gather by himself.

Astra wrapped his tongue around the white crystal and placed it in his mouth. Now then, how would he absorb the mana within this?

As Astra was thinking about this, the white crystal seemed to have sensed Astra’s intentions and immediately dissolved itself, transforming into numerous wisps of mana.

Astra could feel the mana circulating his body, accelerating his recovery. He never knew that he was starving for mana until he absorbed this crystal.

Suddenly, the bushes rustled.

Astra could feel the vibrations on the ground. Something was coming closer towards him.

Oh no, he thought, Astra had not finished recovering yet. Whatever was coming, he did not have the power to fight back.

“Unbelievable…You’re still alive!” Fausto gasped in shock. “Hold still, I’ll heal you.”

Fausto ran over to Astra and placed his hand over Astra’s chest. A green glow emanated from Fausto’s hand.

What was this warmth? Astra felt a warm, cool feeling spreading throughout, deflating his swollen body.

“Hm?” Fausto felt another type of energy inside Astra’s body. “This…You’ve absorbed the ogre’s mana crystal?! You’re insane!”

“For a kid like you to absorb a mana crystal of an ogre at the peak of white rank…If I weren’t here, you would’ve exploded!”

Astra was surprised. He did not feel like he was going to explode, in fact, he had wanted more.

Several hours later…

Astra was completely recovered, his internal bleeding had stopped and all his bones were mended back together. The fight had left him with numerous scars on his body. Astra saw this as a trophy of sorts, a testament for him to keep on growing stronger.

Fausto carried Astra on his back, “Hold on tight.”

“Wait, I don’t need you to car-“

WHOOSH.

It was unlike anything Astra had ever felt before. It was as if he was gliding through the air. In a matter of minutes, they had arrived at Astra’s home. It would’ve taken Astra nearly an hour to return home normally.

Astra opened the door.

Darcy was still weeping on the ground.

“Mother,” Astra whispered.

“A-Astra…? You’re alive!” Darcy got up and hugged Astra.

Darcy sobbed and sniffled, “A-Astra, t-that man said t-that, you were d-d-dead!”

Fausto stood next to Astra and said, “I never expected your son was strong enough to take down an ogre.”

Darcy wiped her tears and calmed herself down, “We need to tell Roussel to come back, he’s been searching fervently for you this past couple of days.”

“I’ll go look for him. You two need to have a moment.” Fausto stepped out and disappeared like the wind.

“Astra, what happened out there?” asked Darcy.

“Well, everything went down like this…”

Astra told his story.

...

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