Aiden thought that once he returned to Pangea, he would regain everything he had lost during his stay in Solterra.
The love of his family, the admiration and respect of his friends, and the position that rightfully belonged to him by birth.
He was the eldest son of the Summers Family. His Father was the Field Marshal of the Central Government, while his Grandfather was the Grand Marshal and arguably the strongest Monarch in Pangea.
Because of this background, he had been free to do anything and everything he wanted in Pangea without worrying about the consequences.
He believed that, as long as he didn't commit a heavy crime, his family would clean up every mess he made.
Unfortunately, his prestige meant nothing in Solterra.
When he was eighteen, he embarked on a mission he thought would allow him to return to Pangea in less than a year.
But that all changed when he explored a ruin and unknowingly activated a trap.
This trap teleported him thousands of miles away from the nearest human cities where the Wanderers of Pangea thrived.
When he regained his consciousness, he found himself in the lands of the Highlanders.
A savage human tribe who lived following the law of the jungle.
Aiden did his best to befriend them, but the Highlanders didn't get along with any other people aside from their fellow Highlanders, who lived in the mountainous regions of the East of Solterra.
They were resilient mountain dwellers who specialized in survival and crafting. But in Aiden's point of view, they were merely savages.
People who didn't know anything aside from fighting and warring against the other tribes in their territory.
And yet, these same savages had treated him like a slave.
When he was with them, he was the lowest of the low. They made him feel like a chained dog who had lost its freedom.
The young man suffered humiliation like he never experienced in his life.
It made him realize that, in a place where his grandfather and the Central Government couldn't reach him, he was just an ordinary young man who had no choice but to lower his head and obey the orders of his superior.
Year after painful year, Aiden endured such treatment.
He had been starved, degraded, humiliated, and beaten up, over and over again, making him almost fall into depression.
But during his third year with the Highlanders, a war suddenly broke out with their neighboring tribe.
Aiden found an opportunity to escape and left the Highlands as his life depended on it.
He traveled across monster-infested terrain, doing his best to hide and survive.
His only wish was to return home, so he could escape from the nightmare.
But as if Fate had other plans for him, he met a group of Wanderers along the way.
Thinking that he was saved, he begged them to let him enter their group, hiding his true background from them.
Afraid that he would be humiliated and ridiculed, he didn't mention his family background.
He also feared they might use the situation to blackmail him and his family, so he used a different name and called himself Thomas.
Aiden had grown his hair and beard, making him unrecognizable to those who knew his original appearance. Because of this, no one suspected he was the Scion of the Summers Family, who held considerable power in Pangea.
In order to gain recognition from the group, he did his best to stand out. He contributed greatly to hunts and the missions the group was taking.
Aiden wasn't a Grandmaster at that time.
He was only an Initiate.
The weakest Initiate in the group of ten.
Because of this, he was treated like a baggage carrier and a servant.
After being enslaved by the Highlanders, he had long accepted the rule that Might makes Right.
Since the other people in his group were stronger than him, he had no choice but to obey or face their wrath.
This group was led by a twenty-four year old, who had stepped into the Master Rank.
Back then, Aiden was only twenty-one years old and was very skinny. There had been more than one occasion when the leader of the group had beaten him up because he was annoyed with the simplest of things.
Aiden endured and made a vow that the moment he managed to return to his family, he would make these Wanderers pay for everything they had done to him.
After many ups and downs, he finally found an opportunity to exact his revenge.
While tasked to scout if there were monsters in the surroundings, Aiden came across a Rank 6 Bear Overlord sleeping under the shade of a tree.
A Rank 6 Overlord was not something a Master Rank could defeat alone. However, there were eight more Initiates in their group aside from him.
With that many people, it was possible to defeat a Rank 6 Overlord if they worked together. So, Aiden hatched a plan.
During the years he had stayed in the Highlander Domain, he learned of certain plants that, when added to food or water, could cause paralysis and weakness.
Since he was treated as the slave of the group, tasked to do almost all the chores like cooking, scouting, and foraging for food, he had plenty of opportunities to poison his teammates.
The only reason why he didn't do it was due to the fact that the leader of the group has a skill that made him nearly immune to almost all kinds of poisons.
This made him hesitate to execute his plan even though he managed to come across a Numbroot, a type of gnarled root that could cause temporary paralysis when ingested.
He only made up his mind after he was beaten up once again after returning from his Scouting Mission, their leader citing that he took too long to scout.
The leader also wanted him to cook because he was hungry, which made Aiden decide to finally execute his plan.
He'd rather take the chance with the bear than be treated like a servant by the Wanderers who had no idea who he truly was!