Seed of Titan-Chapter 126: Waking Up in a Cave

Drai opened his eyes.

A dimly lit ceiling entered his sight. He lay there in daze, staring blankly for a while before eventually sitting up. He immediately stretched because his entire body felt stiff.

Recalling the events before he passed out, Drai muttered, "So I was right—that ape really hit me with a powerful attack..."

Drai examined his body and was instantly relieved upon seeing that his injuries had completely healed up. He was topless, but he was somehow wearing a loincloth that covered his bottom parts.

"System, how much essence did I use for recovery?"

[Approximately a third of the amount you gathered.]

"That much? Wasn’t the alpha’s essence more than enough to heal me and reset my cooldown previously? Are you sure you weren’t being wasteful, System?"

[Yes, I am sure. Your injuries this time were significantly more severe, requiring much more essence to fully heal. In addition, the essence from the other apes is lower in quality compared to the alpha’s essence, resulting in their lower healing potential.]

Drai pursed his lips, deciding not to press the issue. He didn’t actually think that the System had miscalculated, but he couldn’t help but feel bad from losing three to four apes’ worth of precious essence.

’At least I survived...’ he thought before shifting his attention to his surroundings.

Upon touching the rather soft cushion under him, Drai realized he had been sleeping on a leaf mattress. He looked around and saw that he was inside some kind of cave, as the walls, ceiling, and floor were naturally formed rock. And the only lighting came from a dim ray shining through a long, wide crevice in the wall.

Drai stood up and walked around the space that wasn’t too large. He noticed that aside from the leaf bed, there was also a fire pit with a few crude utensils scattered around it. Several wooden hanging racks stood near the walls, with meat, leather, and fibers hanging from them. And there were various other stuff placed around the cave that were clearly man-made.

Sniffing one of the hanging meat cuts, Drai pondered aloud, "Does someone actually live in this jungle? And why did they bring me here?"

"Because you were dying," a gruff voice replied.

Drai quickly turned around. As the surroundings darkened, a man emerged from the crevice, stepping into the cave.

Drai looked at the newcomer from head to toe. The man that looked a bit old was taller than Drai by a head, and he also had a bulkier and wider frame. The man sported a messy long brown hair that reached his waist and an equally unkempt beard. He wore rags that were seemingly made of patches of animal leather and plant fibers sewn together. He was barefoot, his dirt-covered feet unusually bulky and wide, and a leather sack was slung over his back.

Despite his rough appearance, Drai found himself instinctively liking the man—not because he had saved him, but because his tan, scarred body was glistening with praiseworthy muscles.

"Hello, sir," Drai immediately greeted with a slight bow. "My name is Drai. You said I was dying, so thank you for saving me."

"Bah, I didn’t do shit," the man waved off the matter as he walked to a corner. There, he pulled out what seemed to be a dead rabbit from his leather sack and laid it on a flat stone. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Then, he pulled out a stone knife and sat down on the ground.

"You know you recovered all by yourself, right?" the man asked as he started hacking at the carcass.

Drai cautiously walked closer to the man, somewhat afraid that he would bother him. But the man didn’t seem to mind, so Drai ended up standing near him.

"Uh, I know. I have a healing skill that can trigger automatically," Drai admitted.

"Really? Hm, what a crazy skill you have there. It only took a few hours for you to fully recover from being a charred corpse. Life’s pretty unfair, isn’t it? I could’ve used such a powerful healing skill—it would’ve saved me months of being bedridden."

Drai didn’t know what to say about this. The man’s sentiment reminded him of Jian’s remarks regarding his leveling speed. But he didn’t deny the man’s statement, because he also agreed that his class and skills were overpowered, especially in comparison to his contemporaries.

Silence ensued. Drai’s gaze was glued to the bloodied carcass on the stone table. The man had just finished removing the skin and organs, and now he was chopping it into smaller pieces.

The man also didn’t say anything else and kept working quietly. After placing the chunks meat to the side, he pulled out another carcass. This time it was some kind of bird.

Time passed as Drai watched the butchering process in fascination. He learned a lot from this, such as the different method of handling a bird which involved plucking its feathers off and breaking its hip joints.

After a some time, the man was finally done processing another two carcasses. Drai quickly stepped away to make space for the man to deal with the piles of meat and bones, alongside other animal parts.

After he was finished sorting and storing the food and materials, the man opened a plug from a large wooden jar, releasing a stream of water with which he washed his stained hands.

Following this, he took some ingredients and water to the fire pit and poured them altogether into a metal pot before igniting the charcoal in the pit with his glowing hand and setting the pot on top of it. He then brought two stones and set them beside the fire pit.

Sitting down on one of the makeshift chairs, the man finally said, "Come sit here."

Drai nodded and quickly came over and took a seat.

The man grabbed a wooden ladle from the ground and blew off the dirt before dipping it straight into the simmering pot.

"So, tell me your story, Drai," the man said as he slowly stirred the pot.

"My story?" Drai asked.

"Yeah. How the hell did a young man like you end up stranded deep inside Siyeun Mountains?"

"What?! We’re in Siyeun Mountains?!" Drai exclaimed in shock.