Everything was blurry. His head ached so hard he couldn't even think properly. He had accidentally dropped on his broken left arm, and it was starting to burn with pain as well.
His green robe was died red in most parts. The most painful part was probably his chest. Most of his ribs were broken, and he was pretty sure some of them had punctured into his organs.
He was having a hard time breathing as well.
'Please, just let me die.' All he wanted now was to die. 'How was the cat able to keep staying alive for so long with so much wound. Only 3 wounds and I feel like dying.' He couldn't help but think.
He kept on wishing to die, but for some reason didn't. From time to time warm bursts of energy appeared from deep in his body, that kept him from even fainting. So he had to stay awake and endure the pain.
He heard multiple objects moving in the vicinity. 'Are these the monsters? Will, I finally die?' he thought. He tried to see what monster it was but his one open eye was too blurry to tell anything apart.
That was when he started hearing voices.
"What happened here?"
"Hey, there is a kid here."
"Ma Rong, this is a disciple from your sect."
He felt someone pick him up and place something in his mouth. He heard a lady say something,
"Young Man, if you can hear me then swallow this pill," he heard. Unquestioningly, he swallowed the pill.
The intense pain from his head, arms, and chest all disappeared as cool energy washed all over his body. He physically felt his ribs go back to normal and could feel his left arm moving again.
Once all the different feelings were gone, and he was back to normal, he opened his eyes.
There were multiple people in front of him, all high authority figures. He saw 3 sets of clothing in between these people. One was the green-robed figures from Hong Wu Sect, the second was the yellow-robed figures from the tiger sect, and the last ones were 2 people, a man and a woman both wearing purple robes.
One of the green robes-wearing figures was holding him up at the moment. It was a woman in her late 30s, but with no sign of aging. She was elegant yet authoritative.
"Are your okay, young man?" she asked. He tried to understand who she was, but couldn't. While she was wearing green robes, the linings looked yellow in the morning sunlight.
He didn't know anyone who wore yellow linings in the sect.
"Yes, I am alright. Thank you…uh, Elder" he said.
She snickered a little as her eyes turned crescent. A green robes elderly gentleman with long flowing white hair and beard walked up to him and said, "Disciple, this is the Sect Leader. Please, do not call her an elder. That is disrespectful."
Alex was shocked. 'The sect leader?' he immediately turned to the lady and saw something he had missed previously due to the morning light. Her robe did not have yellow linings. Her linings were golden.
Bronze linings in the sect belonged to the disciples. Silver linings belonged to the elders. So, accordingly, Gold linings must belong to the sect leader.
He immediately apologized, "I'm sorry, Sect leader. I only joined the sect a week ago, and know nothing about the important figures in the sect yet." He bowed down.
"See Great Elder, disciple here wasn't trying to be disrespectful. He just didn't know who we were." She said looking back at the elderly gentleman.
'Great Elder!! So he is the Great Elder of the sect.' He thought.
"You had enough of your talking, Ma Rong? We need to know what happened here. Let us ask your disciple some questions." A big, buff man in his 40s with not a single spot of white in his short hair or scruffy beard appeared behind him.
This man was wearing a yellow robe with golden linings as well. 'Sect Leader of the Tiger Sect?' he thought.
"So, is he alright?" the buff man from the Tiger sect spoke.
Ma Rong took one glance over his body and sighed as she said, "Yeah, he is alright. I would be shocked if he wasn't alright after eating a 'Body Restructuring Pill'. Okay, Disciple, let us ask you some questions."
"Tell us, What are you doing here? first of all?" she asked.
"The forest? I took a 3 day leave from the sect to come hunt in the forest." Alex answered.
"No, not the- What are you doing here in the crater, where an explosion occurred." She asked.
"Oh. I was nearby when the explosion occurred, so I ran to this place to check what it was. After seeing the parent and child monsters being attacked by a wolf, I came down to protect them. While fighting with the wolf I got injured and nearly died. That's when you found me." He said.
"Oh," everyone looked surprised. They all looked at the swift wolf corpse at the side with its limb and head cut off. Ma Rong turned around and asked him.
"So, you defeated the wolf. Then, what happened to the parent and child monsters?" Ma Rong asked. It was a question in everybody's mind.
"Hmm…I don't know where the little kitten went, but the mother cat is right the-" he looked around to see an empty spot in the middle of the crater. The little cat, as well as the corpse of the mother cat, had disappeared from the huge crater.