Chapter 3

"Thank you, but there's no need. I was just removing a vicious beast for the other animals in the forest. You can rest in peace now."

With those words, Duke knew that this brief exchange should come to an end. In his spiritual form, he placed his right hand on his left shoulder and bowed to Aurelia.

Aurelia nodded, and with a flash, she nimbly disappeared into the woods.

"Phew—" Duke let out a long breath.

Alright, it's time to reclaim my lost integrity.

Shaking his head, Duke sprinted to the area near his corpse. Sure enough, he saw the huge wild boar that had fallen. Two arrows had accurately pierced the boar's eyes, bursting them and penetrating the brain, while the third arrow was lodged in the boar's throat.

"Whoa—" Duke drew in a sharp breath.

What terrifying archery skills!

Fortunately, I was smart enough just now; otherwise, those three arrows would have hit me instead of the boar.

The system spirit's voice sounded again: "You have found your lost integrity, oh, I mean your corpse. Do you want to resurrect now?"

"Please, your jokes are not funny at all."

"Then... do you want to resurrect?"

"Of course! What do you think?"

As he mentally clicked 'Yes' on the pop-up window, the surroundings rapidly changed. Duke could clearly see his gutted, miserable corpse immediately transform into a mass of light, disintegrating completely within seconds, leaving not even a trace of blood.

All the light began to converge on Duke's soul.

Duke could feel an overwhelming sense of fullness in his body. Most importantly, the moral values that seemed to have become diluted returned.

Oh, oh, oh! The lost integrity is back!

Looking at the world, now vibrant with color, listening to the birdsong around him, and smelling the earthy fragrance from the ground, Duke felt for the first time in his life—living is truly wonderful!

He really wanted to laugh out loud, but seeing the 'Soul Power 99' and 'Humanity 99%' labels in the system prompt, his joy faded.

"Alright, I'm alive again. My journey in this world is officially beginning, right? So, how do I become strong enough to protect myself before the [Gate of Darkness] event?"

The goal is clear, but the process is confusing.

"Um, is there a starter package or something before I become strong?" The rough burlap clothes on his body were chafing, and Duke, accustomed to modern industrial clothing, found it very uncomfortable.

Ideals are grand, but reality is harsh. Duke felt his pockets and found himself completely penniless, with nothing in his pockets.

Unconsciously, Duke's gaze fell on the beast that had killed him.

"Such a large wild boar, it's definitely not just any ordinary animal. I remember in the game, the skin can be sold for money, right?"

Duke immediately realized the problem.

"Damn, do I have to skin it with my bare hands?" He had no choice but to give up.

Duke walked away a bit dejectedly, wandering aimlessly for about ten minutes. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a river. Throughout history, places with water often have people living nearby... right?

Walking along the river for a few steps, Duke slipped and tragically fell into the river.

Unbeknownst to Duke, as he reached the river, Aurelia's agile and beautiful figure suddenly appeared beside the dead boar.

For some reason, she instinctively felt something was wrong. After walking for a while, she decided to turn back and check, and to retrieve her arrows. Upon arriving at the scene, she immediately noticed something amiss.

There was only the wild boar and her arrows; the human blood scent she had detected earlier was gone.

Looking at the intense struggle marks on the ground, the Ranger General could absolutely confirm that there had been a human victim here.

However, there was no corpse, no body parts, not even a trace of blood or any other creature passing by.

"What the hell is going on?" Aurelia was deeply puzzled, but then she smiled, a smile as beautiful as spring flowers blooming on her face.

Yes! She was intrigued.

On the planet Azeroth where Duke had been transported, it is primarily composed of two continents: Kalimdor to the west and the Eastern Kingdoms to the east.

About 9,000 years ago, a group of high elves were exiled from Kalimdor to the Eastern Kingdoms by their kin because they refused to give up their precious magic. They traveled to the northern part of the continent, Quel'Thalas, and re-established their civilization there.

For thousands of years, Quel'Thalas has been considered a place of magical convergence. The "Sunwell," a source of magic, provided an inexhaustible source of energy for each high elf, and these elves used the power of nature to gain immortality and strength.

Thus, high elves are an immortal race, living for thousands of years is not a problem.

However, a long life has its advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage is having endless time to spend.

The disadvantage is experiencing too much, knowing almost everything. For a 'Windrunner' who loves new things and enjoys wandering, this is undoubtedly a torment.

If it were wartime, as the Ranger General of the high elf kingdom of Quel'Thalas, Aurelia could not leave her post.

But she was on leave, and she had wandered here.

"It seems... there's finally something interesting!" Aurelia's beautiful face was filled with a wild joy driven by curiosity.

A Ranger, an expert in guerrilla warfare, a favorite of the forest, and one of the best trackers.

Aurelia leaped from tree to tree with agility, and it didn't take her long to find Duke's footprints.

"Oh? The first footprint is more than forty yards away from the original corpse's location?" Aurelia's smile grew even wider, the expression of someone who has found a fun toy.

Almost without touching the ground, the agile Ranger General sprinted on branches, her speed so fast that she was almost a shadow.

Before long, she reached the river.

She lost Duke's trail. The riverbank was covered with pebbles, and unless someone intentionally stepped on them, it was hard to leave footprints.

"Oh? You know a bit about counter-reconnaissance techniques."

It was hard to leave footprints, but not impossible. The weight of an adult would still leave some changes on the ground.

Aurelia followed a few steps but was surprised to find the footprints disappeared.

"Could he have been washed away by the water?" Aurelia quickly imagined another scenario: a mysterious man, to avoid being tracked, pretended to walk downstream but after a few steps quickly entered deeper water and walked upstream.

Aurelia genuinely misunderstood Duke. At that moment, she immediately considered Duke to be much more cunning. The graceful figure of the high elf disappeared from the riverbank, sprinting upstream.