"Dug… What happened?" Geral asked weakly. His memories became a bit scrambled after nearly half of his Soul was destroyed. He couldn't be sure anymore if his brain still worked properly or if it sustained some damage.

He needed some answers.

"What happened? Well… To be honest, I don't really know," Dug scratched his head awkwardly. "All I know is that you suddenly shouted out of nowhere and then fainted before we could do anything."

"Yes, and you were unconscious for nearly three days," Gustav, who also came to see him, added.

"Here, you dropped this." Dug took a white orb out of his pouch and handed it to Gerald.

It was the same thing that led to this incident, so Gerald hesitated at the sight of the orb as it still carried significant weight in his heart. He carefully extended his hand to touch it.

There was no reaction from the orb whatsoever. He exhaled a nervous breath.

"Thank you," Gerald said and took the orb. He quickly stored it away in case it tried to connect with him again. He didn't want to die just by touching a spherical white crystal.

"What happened to you? I tried to figure it out, but you didn't seem to have sustained any injuries…"

"I honestly don't know myself…" Gerald answered. It was true, he had just a few guesses, and nothing was certain. He might have just imagined those weird things while unconscious.

"Well, just take some time to rest, you look awful," Dug told him and patted him on the back. "We should reach the Fiery Plateau in a few days, so you don't have to worry, just rest and recover."

Gerald took Dug's advice to heart and laid back down. In truth, he was really tired. He just wanted to sleep for a few days and not worry about anything.

Doing a small experiment, he realized that his magic was trapped inside his body, or contained just a few millimeters around it. Anything more and it would just collapse, so unstable was his Soul at the moment.

It was best if he didn't force himself, lest he sustains even worse injuries.

Luckily he could still access the Ring, so he had enough to eat or drink for weeks. And so, after having a bit of food and water, exhaustion came over him and he fell into a peaceful sleep.

When he woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. He reluctantly got up and made a few stretches to stimulate his muscles. He felt slightly better than the day before and could already move without major issues, though his strength was nowhere near his peak.

He was currently probably weaker than even before being transported into this world. The rapid change was painful, and it kinda sucked.

But he couldn't do much to help it. He could only wait and hope that his body would slowly fix itself over time.

The only thing he could do now to help was to meditate and Cultivate while trying to fix his Soul. If King Robart could repair himself, there was no reason Gerald couldn't do the same.

It was just that he was currently quite weak, and Cultivation required a lot of energy and concentration, something he was currently lacking. So at best he could slowly try to make things better, one tiny step at a time.

And so he did.

But now that his life wasn't in immediate danger, he was more careful when dealing with the topic of his Soul. He was also much gentler when moving it around as every movement was accompanied by a sharp pain. It was like a sensitive and inflamed open wound.

And yet he did it. Slowly moving the pieces here and there, while trying to mend them back together with Mana.

He didn't have much success though.

The compressed Mana required to fix the Soul required a Soul strong enough to compress it in the first place! He quickly realized he was stuck in a god damn loop! Leaving a Soul to recover naturally was so damn slow in comparison!

Maybe absorbing a few dead Souls could help him heal faster, but that way he would bring in more corruption as well. It was something he didn't want to do, especially after going through such a traumatic event that just cleared out most of it.

For proper Cultivation, the Soul had to be refined until pure, and corrupting it further would be counterproductive.

"Maaaaan… This is so hard!" Gerald complained loudly after returning his consciousness to the outside world. Only about an hour went by and he was already completely drained. Talk about a lack of stamina!

The air was warm, the sun was bright, and the land around them was so boring! Having nothing better to do, Gerald fell asleep again.

That's how he spent the next few days. He would cultivate for a little bit, eat, drink, sleep for a few hours, and repeat.

It was the peak of boredom, but also something he really needed at the moment. Just peace and rest for days on end.

That was, of course, until they finally saw their goal in the distance one day.

"Fiery Plateau! I can see it!" came an excited shout. After such a long road across the Great Desert, seeing the red rocky mountains rising above the sand in the distance gave the group of warriors renewed spirits.

"Woo-hoo! We've finally arrived! Finally!"

Excitement was contagious and quickly spread among the group. Morale was at an all-time high, and the boys were thirsty for blood.

Now they just had to find that damn bird, and bring it down!