Edward slowly stood up, determined to become stronger, and not only survive in this world but thrive in it. He vowed to become strong enough to be able to be independent, roam freely into the wilds, and avenge Adrien.

Once I become stronger, I will come back to avenge you, I will slay every single one of those damn beasts, I swear it to you, Adrien. I may have barely escaped this time but I will grow and come back to kill them, just you wait. The most important thing, for now, is to survive and become stronger.

Edward looked around him, he was situated in the same kind of room as in the previous ruins, there was a mural behind him depicting a forest, with the name Oshle Tirion above it. In front of him, above the entrance of a corridor was the name Shele Nalore.

The mural is describing the destination you are teleported to, and once you are teleported the name above the corridor indicates the place you reached. My hypothesis was right, though I don’t know what happened in that fight with those beasts, I had something like an illumination, the time stopped around me. If this is because of that blade it could come into handy for the next fights.

Edward walked in the corridor, the same green lines providing the lighting, he walked slowly, being particularly careful of the symbols on the walls. There had been traps in the ruins he come from, there was no reason there wouldn’t be any traps in this place.

The corridor was a lot shorter than the one in Oshle Tirion, Edward was already seeing stairs going up while he hadn't walked that much. Before the stairs, two doors were facing each other, one on each side of the corridor. Those two doors had the same symbol above them, it represented a button mushroom. Edward opened one of the doors, and in that room laid four trays full of white button-like mushrooms. He checked the other door, in that room, it wasn’t only four trays of mushrooms, but outright full racks along the walls, in total there was a good dozen trays of mushrooms.

If this is what I think it is, I guess it solves my food problems. With that many mushrooms, I should be able to last quite some time, though I will probably end up hating them if I have to eat the same thing every single day.

Edward left those rooms, the doors closing by themselves, before climbing up the stairs. He reached a circular area, the stairs continuing to climb up after that room. In that area, four doors were available to him. One of them drew his attention, there was a book symbol above it.

A book? Is that another library? Do they have a library on each of their sites?

He quickly opened the door, but instead of a huge and magnificent library, what was waiting for him were only two rows of books.

It’s still better than nothing I guess, although I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. Let’s see what we have here. An aura guide for beginners, Elementary aura techniques… Jeez, that’s exactly what I need. I should stay in this area until I can control my aura and use basic techniques. If that is what Marc was using to project sword energy or simply to absorb the beast's blood, I found a gold mine.

Edward ignored the other books for now and picked the ‘Aura guide for beginners’ to glance at its content. The book was written in the same weird cuneiform script, but it wasn’t bothering Edward who was now able to read the Damkinan's language.

‘Every living being possess an aura, an aura can change in shape and strength, but it has a signature specific to each individual, hence an aura can be used as a proof of identity to identify someone. Please note that some magical beasts have the capacity to track you through it after having registered your aura. The strength of an aura depends greatly on the vitality, the mana, and the will of an individual. The stronger and greater they are, the more impressive the aura will be. Auras can also be imbued into inert objects, but that requires more advanced techniques that won’t be detailed in this manual.’

Well, that’s great but that doesn’t help me much. That tracking aura thing is creepy thought, if I have to flee from a powerful beast the last thing I want is for it to be able to track me.

Edward skimmed through the book, however, most of the book was devoted to explaining what exactly an aura was, and translating it into some magical terminologies that weren’t making any sense at all for Edward. It is not because he understood the language that he was able to understand references to concepts he had never heard of before.

Great, I think that’s it for this one. Let’s see if the other books have more applied knowledge.

He picked up the book about the elementary aura techniques. ‘The first step to any aura technique is to be able to sense your aura. The first part of this manual will focus on meditation techniques to help you achieve this step. Once you are able to sense your aura, you can then try to control it, either to increase it, to pressurize an enemy for example, or to decrease it, to hide and take an enemy by surprise. Please note, that more advanced aura techniques exist, this manual is simply presenting the basics necessary before attempting any more advanced aura control.’

Ok, this one look better. Right now, I don’t need any advanced theory about what an aura is, but rather applied knowledge to increase my power. Hiding my aura is a must too, I don’t know what is waiting for me out there, but I would much prefer being able to see it without being seen instead of the reverse. I will need to read this book in detail, but for now, I should first continue to explore the surrounding. I can’t focus on meditation if there are possible enemies nearby. Edward closed the manual and put it back into place before leaving the room. Let’s see what the other rooms have to offer.

The next room he entered looked like a meeting room, a round table was in the center with seven chairs around it. Spread on the whole table was a map, probably of the surrounding area. Edward came closer to take a look at it.

How old is this map? I don’t think it will be still relevant. By now the surroundings must be unrecognizable.

The map was depicting a vast forest, several paths crossing through it, some areas were colored in black with the mention ‘contaminated’. At the bottom of the map, the forest was replaced by mountains instead. Starting from the mountains, some rivers were flowing into the forest.

Contaminated? By what? Anyway, whatever happened over there, the situation should be tackled by now. I should still avoid those areas for a time as a precaution just in case. For now, I should focus on securing this area and on learning those auras techniques. I need to find a drinkable source of water too, it would be good if I can find that mountain, I hope the rivers will be still here.

Edward went to the next room, but it was just a dormitory with nothing interesting in it. Contrary to the previous ruins, the dormitory wasn’t separated into single rooms, here all the beds were in the same room. He quickly left this area that was quite frugal to explore the last room. When he opened it, a small cloud of dust came out, and Edward took a step back. The floor of the room was covered in a thick layer of dust, there were racks against the walls but they were empty apart from the dust. Whatever had been inside that room hadn’t lasted the passage of time. Edward wasn’t able to see properly as there were no green lines in that room, the only light was coming from outside the door.

Okay, nothing to see here, cough. God, how much dust is in there? I don’t know what was in that room, but it is long past its expiration date. There are no green lines there either, do those lines have something to do with preserving what is inside? It’s the first room I see with content that is deteriorated like that. Edward shook his head before leaving the room, the door closing by itself and separating him from all the dust. Now that I have checked all the rooms, it’s time to see where those stairs are leading.

Edward used the stairs to climb up, contrary to the first ones, this time the climb lasted several minutes before he saw an opening with blue sky in it. Have I reached outside? I didn’t expect to be so happy simply by seeing the sky again. Those ruins are much smaller than the other ones, there weren’t any trap symbols either, it must be something like an outpost.

Edward finished climbing the last stairs, getting out into a mountainous area, the entrance to the ruins was hidden behind a large rock. He was on a rocky slope, not many plants growing there, his footing was treacherous, the pebbles unstable under his weight. The mountain behind him was still rising, some snowy peaks visible in the distance. In front of him, another forest was visible, first came a tree similar to pines, with very small leaves, then further below came trees with larger leaves. From where he was Edward couldn’t see the end of the forest.

And another forest, is this world covered in forest or what? But that is fine by me. There is nobody to bother me, I don’t have to hide from assholes stronger than me, I can just get stronger quietly. First, let’s check if there is one of those supposed rivers nearby.

Edward made a mental note to avoid losing the entrance to his temporary refuge. With nothing of distinction, it was easy to get lost if you weren’t paying attention. Then, instead of climbing the mountain to find a river, he walked on a horizontal line, neither climbing nor descending.

If there is a river, it should go from the top of the mountain where the snow and ice form, to the forest. I should be able to find one if I just walk straight, I could climb to the summit of the mountain but it seems quite far.

After walking for roughly half an hour Edward found a small river. Its clear water was flowing peacefully with slight splashing noises. He appreciated the scenery for a moment before quenching his thirst. The waster was slightly cold, but it was more refreshing than uncomfortable.

Food checked, drinkable water checked. Good, now I just have to come back to my hideout and learn those auras techniques.