Chapter 04: Shadow is born from the first light

Adam made his way through the city. But he felt bad for leaving Amy behind. He didn't know how long it will take for him to be strong. But he had to keep the promise. After completing the system mission, he had to come back for Amy's birthday in four months.

Travelling through the city was a painful process for him. Many people are travelling in the streets but for his luck, many people didn't even get close to him due to his appearance. Even so, the city of West coast is not small at all. by the time he reached the north gate through the market district he saw the sun located it the sky in front of him. 'couple more hours before sunsets ' he thought.

'How do I get to the east' he looked at the mountain range stretching far and wide. But the road he got out lead the way straight toward the north. Both sides are farmlands. Although he didn't know clearly Adam believed most of these farmlands belongs to nobles or the royal family.

There were many people going in and out of the city. As he walked out, he realized if he came back in his shabby clothes, he might not be able to enter the city again. Because of the increasing number of refugees, guards stopped all who were in shabby clothes and if they had no business in the city it was very hard to pass by them.

Adam walked along the road for about an hour before traffic got thinner. Many who can travel fast left him on the dust and many who can't find a place to settle down in the city or around it. Not long after Adam came to a bridge and the river is flowing peacefully from east to west and both sides of the river was a small wood separating endless farmlands from the river. Adam smelled his own clothes and he felt like his stomach rolling.

He hasn’t had a shower in weeks, last time he to a quick dive in the sea near the port with Amy but the saltiness made him reluctant to do it more often. He slowly made his way into the woods. and once he is confirmed that he can't see the road or the bridge anymore he didn't hesitate to strip naked and get into the water It was a pleasant sensation for his body that felt battered and painful.

As he enjoyed the peaceful bath the metallic sound of the system appeared in his brain. 'shit’ every time this sound comes it had something to tell him. As expected, a new set of lines appeared in the blue background.

-Host is out of the reach from prying eyes.

-Host is advised to change into the system designated clothes.

Adam couldn't help but complain ' road is ling and dusty. if I wear something else it will get dirty, wait' suddenly he read it again. It is not asking him to wear the clothes given to him by Mr. Han, 'system designated clothes? how am I supposed to find those?'

Then he noticed the new green blinking word in the system, Storage. He wondered what is in there as he checked he saw another thing inside.

- Believer’s Clothes - Clothes of a true believer of the wolf god.

special effect 01-Follower of a true god charm - There is something special about a man who has trust in divinity. People will feel a small strand of divine presence in you.

special effect 02 -Durable - Will be cleaned and repaired by the system

'How do I get this out' He wished to get it out especially because of the second option in the clothes and next moment strange set of neatly folded black clothes appeared on the patch of grass near him.

................

About half an hour later new looking Adam appeared out of the woods. He wore a pair of black pants and a black shirt along with a matching black long mantel with a hood and on the chest area of the mantle joined to form a colourful head of a wolf. His face is covered by a piece of cloth that came with the dress. Now, only part of his forehead and clear blue eyes are exposed in his face giving him an air of mystery.

Adam was happy his hands are finally free. system storage allowed him to store his own things and according to system it currently had nine cubic meters of space and as his mental strength grow it will expand allowing him to store more things And what made him happier was at the current level it allowed him to store food in fresh condition for six months. Food is something he was always worried about and now Adam felt safe.

Still, his body is a bad condition and he can only walk slowly keeping his energy saved. However now few people passing by giving special attention to him, as his thin body is now concealed the slow walk gave a completely different impression. Like he is a man of power.

With mysteries clothes and dignified walk, some suspected that he was a powerful magician. But what diverted Adam from magicians was that they rarely walked.

Adam, however, was oblivious to these things as the sky is getting darker, he is planning on finishing his dinner early and resting to regain some energy. By now farmlands covered both sides of the road are gone. And the growth of trees is increasing, alarming Adam to rest and continue tomorrow.

Months of travelling from the Black Dragon empire as a kid has given him many memories about travelling. Adam finally saw few wagons stopped by the side of the road and large bonfire on the field with at least twenty or more people in the surrounding. He didn't have any mind to join them.

He passed their location silently and found a place bit far from the group to settle himself. It didn't take him long to build his own fire. And not long after he ate a bit of food from taken from the storage. Although now he can keep food for a long time that also made him greedy too. Because the amount of food will only decrease with time

Finally, Adam had the time to think how his life has changed over one night and still he had no idea if he could reach the Westwood within one week but he has to try, for himself and Amy.

He sat on the ground with his back against a large tree and face toward the fire, as usual, he will be in half-awake through the night, he can’t remember the last time he had a peaceful sleep but as long as safety was not guaranteed he will not sleep like an idiot.

…………………

While Adam was resting, not far away from him one of the adventurers started to notice the small fire through the trees.

“Ms. Karina, there is someone camping nearby” Dean was acceding to classifications 5^th tire Hunter who is very good at tracking, therefore Karina, their party leader didn’t have any doubts about his observation.

But there is no reason to be alarmed if the other party is openly camping that means there is very little chance that they were hostile, still she wondered what alerted this man.

“Well there is no problem to it right?” she was curious about why Dean is worried.

“There is only one person”

Karina’s eyes opened wide not only her but all the people listening also got alert, this road which leads from West Coast city leads to many places, but there are very few villages between them and it was rare to see someone travelling alone.

Either a person is a mad man or a man with power, ‘A magician’ she thought, then discarded the possibility, Magicians even the low level once who had money and they hired adventurers like them to protect themselves or travelled by simply joining a group of adventurers, because even for a lower tire magician this road might carry too many surprises.

If it was a higher tire magician the might fly over the area and reach one of the cities within a day, ‘can it be a powerful magic warrior? No even if he was, he will still fly over this place’. Even though this road is under the protection of the Crimson empire and bandits and robbers had no guts to stay around still animal attack and disappearances are not very rare here.

“Let’s go and check” she finally made the decision. Others are also interested in looking into this mysterious person and few got up to follow them.

Hen they started moving through the trees automatically everyone became careful with their steps and started moving to make fewer sounds. They started to see the dark figure sitting cross-legged against a tree.

However, moment Karina step into the open area Adam who was half awake immediately opened his eyes making everyone feel alert and for some reason, Karina felt a bit worried by the mysterious blue eyes looking at them.

Adam however, who lived a past year of his life in alert heard them from far but he was too tired to react immediately and the moment they came to his camping ground he opened his eyes.

“We mean no ill will sir” Karina who felt that they shouldn’t offend this man first made the move to show goodwill.

But Adam is observing them carefully thinking about what he should do and he had no mind to answer their greeting.

“I am Karina, I am the leader of our party sir, may I know your name?” Karina felt she made the wrong move the moment other parties stay in silence. Even others usually stubborn adventurers felt the air around man make the impossible to look at him directly

“Adam” he simply replied, it’s not like he could introduce himself as a refugee, right?

Suddenly the system appeared,

-Host is a follower of the Wolf God please have some dignity, and host can introduce himself as such.

-Follower of the wolf god are the executioners of evil who carry the wrath of dawn and shadow.

‘What’s with the dawn and shadow? I thought Wolf god is the god of Shadows’ Adam completely ignored others as he felt like this system making him confused.

-Wolf God is born with dawn and as a follower, you’re also bound to protect dawn, Shadow is born from the first light