"Don't thank me. I just got rid of a vicious beast for the other animals in the forest. Go to heaven with peace of mind." Alleria's voice, now devoid of its earlier lethal edge, was cool and dismissive.
Duke, still a shimmering specter, understood. This was his cue. This brief, bewildering exchange was over. In his spirit state, he placed his right hand on his left shoulder, executing a bow that was probably more phantom-shrug than formal deference.
Alleria gave a curt nod, then, with the grace of a forest spirit, melted into the dense foliage, vanishing as quickly as she had appeared.
"Phew—" Duke exhaled a long, shuddering sigh he didn't technically need to take.
Right. Time to reclaim his lost integrity. And by integrity, he meant his body. The one that had been rudely introduced to a wild boar's digestive tract.
He shook his head, a gesture of disbelief at his own bizarre predicament, and drifted back to his corpse. There it lay, a gruesome, disemboweled mess, with the colossal boar slumped beside it. Two arrows, perfectly aimed, had pierced the beast's eyes, sinking deep into its brain. The third, a coup de grâce, had punched through its throat.
"Dang" Duke, despite his lack of physical lungs, managed a phantom gasp. What terrifying archery skills!
A cold sweat that wasn't there beaded on his spectral brow. Fortunately, I was smart enough to wave like a lunatic, otherwise, those three arrows wouldn't be decorating a dead pig right now.
The system AI's voice, flat and devoid of emotion, chimed in, perfectly timing its deadpan humor. "You have found your lost moral integrity. Oh, wait, it's just a corpse. Do you want to revive now?"
"Come on, your jokes are not funny," Duke grumbled, even as a tiny, hysterical giggle threatened to escape.
"Then… shall I initiate resurrection protocols?"
"Nonsense! Of course, I'll revive my body, you glorified calculator!"
As he mentally clicked "yes" on the pop-up window in his mind, the world around him spun. His own miserable body, ripped open and splayed, shimmered, then dissolved into a blinding ball of light. Within seconds, it was gone, leaving not a single trace of blood or gore.
All the light converged on Duke's soul, rushing into him like a tidal wave. He felt a profound sense of fullness, a physical presence returning. Most importantly, that vague, unsettling feeling of moral erosion, the sense of his values fading, receded.
Oh, oh, oh! My lost moral integrity is back! Take that, existential dread!
The world, once a depressing grayscale, now exploded into a riot of color. The bleak, howling winds were replaced by the cheerful chirping of unseen birds. The scent of damp earth and living foliage filled his nostrils, a symphony of aromas he hadn't realized he'd missed.
For the first time in his life, Duke felt an overwhelming, almost tearful joy. It was great to be alive! He wanted to throw his head back and unleash three hearty, booming laughs, a triumphant "HA-HA-HA!" that would shake the very trees.
But then, his eyes fell upon the system prompts: "Soul Power 99," and "Humanity 99%."
His joy deflated like a punctured balloon. Ninety-nine percent?! That means I lost one percent! One percent of my humanity… to a wild boar! The indignity was almost too much to bear.
"Well, now that I'm alive, my journey to another world has officially begun, right?" Duke muttered, pushing down the existential crisis. "Then, how do I become a strong person who can protect myself before the Dark Portal incident? Preferably without getting gored by another disgruntled pig? Or worse eaten by trolls!"
The goal was crystal clear, a shining beacon in the murky chaos of his new life. The process, however, was as clear as mud.
"Right. Before becoming a strong man, is there any… novice gift package?" He tugged at the coarse, scratchy linen tunic clinging to his skin. It was so tight it hurt, a stark contrast to the comfortable, breathable fabrics of his previous life. "Because these clothes are an insult to my dignity, and my skin feels like sandpaper."
Ideals were full, brimming with heroic aspirations. Reality, however, was painfully skinny. Duke patted his pockets. Empty. Completely, utterly empty. Naked, penniless, and dressed like a medieval peasant's bad dream.
Unconsciously, his gaze drifted back to the massive, deceased beast.
"A wild boar this big isn't just any stray cat or dog. I remember in the game, you could skin them and sell the hides for money, right?" His eyes gleamed with a spark of entrepreneurial spirit.
Then, he immediately discovered the problem.
"Damn it, are you asking me to skin it with my bare hands?!" The thought of tearing into that thick hide with his fingernails, covered in boar guts, made him gag. He shuddered, then gave up with a frustrated groan. Some things were just not worth the hypothetical gold.
Duke walked away, a little frustrated, a little aimless. He stumbled blindly for about ten minutes, his new, unaccustomed feet aching, when he suddenly heard the comforting gurgle of a stream. Throughout the ages, where there's water, there are often people living… That should be right, right? Or at least, less wild boars.
He took a few hopeful steps along the riverbank. And then, with the grace of a newborn giraffe, his foot slipped. Tragically, hilariously, he tumbled head over heels, splashing into the icy current.
Duke, now being unceremoniously washed downstream by the river, had no idea that just moments after he'd taken his impromptu bath, the agile and beautiful figure of Alleria Windrunner had reappeared next to the dead wild boar.
For some inexplicable reason, a prickle of unease had urged her back. After walking for a while, she'd instinctively decided to retrieve her arrows. Upon arriving at the scene, her sharp ranger senses immediately screamed that something was wrong.
There was only the wild boar and her arrows. The distinct, metallic tang of human blood she had smelled just moments ago was gone. Vanished.
Her eyes, keen as a hawk's, scanned the ground. The traces of a fierce struggle were undeniable, confirming a human had fallen here. Yet, there was no corpse, no body parts, not even a lingering drop of blood. And no signs of any other living creature having passed by.
"What in the Light's name… was that?" Alleria's brow furrowed in deep, intrigued suspicion. Then, a slow smile, like spring flowers blossoming on her beautiful face, spread across her features.
The planet Azeroth, the one Duke had so spectacularly transmigrated to, was primarily composed of two main massive continents: Kalimdor in the west and the Eastern Kingdoms(Azeroth) in the east.
Roughly 9,000 years ago, a stubborn faction of high elves,or rather highborne, unwilling to abandon their precious magic, had been exiled from Kalimdor to the Eastern Kingdoms. They journeyed to the northern reaches of the continent, to a place they named Quel'Thalas, and there, they rebuilt their magnificent civilization.
For millennia, Quel'Thalas had been a veritable nexus of arcane power. A magical fount known as the "Sunwell" provided an inexhaustible source of energy for every high elf, allowing them to harness the very essence of nature for a long life and immense power.
Thus, the high elves were a race blessed with immortality; living for tens of thousands of years was merely a Tuesday for them.
However, a long life had its advantages and its utterly soul-crushing disadvantages.
The advantage? Endless time to waste.
The downside? After experiencing so much, one knew almost everything. This was undoubtedly a special kind of torture for a Windrunner like Alleria, who thrived on novelty and the thrill of discovery.
If it were a state of war, as the Ranger-General of the high elven kingdom of Quel'Thalas, Alleria would never abandon her post. But she was on vacation. She had simply been strolling through these woods, enjoying the quiet.
"It seems… there's finally something interesting!" A flicker of pure ecstasy, dominated by insatiable curiosity, danced in Alleria's beautiful eyes.
A ranger, an expert in guerrilla warfare, a darling of the forest, and one of the strongest trackers in all of Azeroth.
Alleria leaped, a blur of motion, from treetop to treetop. It took her almost no effort to find Duke's clumsy, human footprints.
"Oh? The first footprint is more than forty yards away from the original location of the body?" Alleria's smile widened, transforming into the delighted expression of someone who had just found a truly fascinating new toy.
Almost without touching the ground, the agile Ranger-General ran on the branches of different sizes, her speed so breathtaking she was a mere phantom in the forest.
After a short while, she arrived at the river.
She lost Duke's trail. The riverside was a treacherous expanse of smooth pebbles, making it nearly impossible to leave distinct footprints unless one deliberately tried.
"Oh? You also possess some anti-reconnaissance skills, do you?" Alleria murmured, a glint of admiration in her eyes.
Just because it was difficult to leave footprints didn't mean no footprints would be left at all. The weight of an adult on the stone ground would still cause subtle changes, a displacement of pebbles, a faint indentation.
Alleria followed for a few steps, then paused, a look of shock crossing her face. The footprints had vanished.
"Could he be so stupid as to be washed away by the water?" A new, brilliant picture quickly formed in Alleria's mind. A cunning, mysterious man, feigning clumsiness, walking downstream to throw off a tracker, only to then step into deeper water and double back, running upstream in the opposite direction!
Alleria truly misunderstood Duke. At this moment, in her mind, Duke's cunningness and strategic brilliance immediately multiplied by many times. The high elf's graceful figure vanished from the riverside, and she began to run rapidly upstream, a delighted, determined glint in her eyes.