A little earlier after Xuan Hao had already left behind the underground garden inside of the secret realm, a small shadow suddenly appeared in front of the gate leading out of the secret realm.
Whoosh~ Crash!
Only barely making it through as the gate on the other side was completely crushed beneath the underground gardens ceiling caving in above it.
"I made it! Now I just have to be careful that those wolves do not find me!" Cautiously glancing around the surrounding environment, the figure of the person who emerged from the gate was soon revealed.
Under the light of the crystals from above a child around the age of thirteen with a pair of green eyes and pitch-black hair could be seen standing in front of the gate as he cautious surveyed his surroundings.
Earlier on, he had watched as Xuan Hao had entered the gate and hoped that he would be able to deal with the wolves waiting on the other side and from the looks of things, there were no wolves in view around the gate!
Normally, a large pack of wolves would be sleeping in front of the gate, preventing him from leaving the secret realm. Luckily, it seemed like the person who went in before him had indeed driven them away! This time around they were nowhere to be seen!
Feeling a bit more confident, the boy looked around the area one last time before making his way towards the exit of the underground garden.
As he was walking through the underground garden, the young boy sighed to himself as he thought about how he had ended up in his current situation in the first place.
Originally, he was an orphan that was taken in when he was young and had been left in front of an orphanage that later ended up shutting down due to the city lord not seeing the use in spending money to keep it running in the first place.
At that time, he had just reached the age of eight and managed to become a student for a local elderly blacksmith that took pity on him and began to train him in the art of blacksmithing and even treated him like his own son.
The elderly blacksmith did not have any family left in the world, so being able to take in the young orphan helped cheer him up as he tried his best to train the young boy to become a great blacksmith in the future.
Like this, three years passed where the young boy trained under the old blacksmith. In the end he became an apprentice blacksmith at the tender age of 11.
But before he could share this great news with his teacher that he now viewed as a father figure, he was murdered…
Listing to the people loitering around the smithy, he had found out that a group of people had broken into the smithy that he was running and killed him in broad daylight before disappearing.
At that time, the young boy had been devastated and it was only after calming down that he remembered something that the elderly blacksmith had said to him the day before.
"Remember child, if anything were to happen to me. Look for the place under the tree where I first picked you up. Don't worry about anything and just try to get as far away from here as possible!"
Before he reached the apprentice blacksmith realm, his teacher had also weirdly told him to train in the forest instead of the normal spot just outside the smithy that he usually used…
At that time, he had not understood what he had meant but at the moment he suddenly understood that his teacher and father might have offended someone powerful in the past and did not want him to get involved in it.
After thinking about this, he wanted revenge for his teacher but had no idea who to take revenge against in the first place.
All he knew was that a group of people appeared in broad daylight and killed his teacher before leaving before anyone could even do anything…
"I was so hopeless back then…" Muttering this to himself as he thought about his past, the young boy clenched his small fists as a determined look appeared on his face.
The place beneath the tree had contained a box with all sorts of different blueprints made by his teacher and would be able to help him improve as a blacksmith in the future.
"Just you wait teacher! I will surely get revenge for you in the future! With those blueprints I will definitely be able-" Suddenly stopping where he was standing, the young boy suddenly looked around himself with a panicked expression on his face as he searched everywhere on himself.
"They are not there! Not there! Argh! I must have forgotten them when that guy suddenly appeared, and everything started shaking violently!" Remembering how shocked he had been when someone appeared while he was quietly studying his teacher's blacksmith blueprints inside the underground room. Drinking spring water and eating the different fruits in the underground garden whenever he grew hungry or grew thirsty over past few months he had been stuck in there.
"Maybe that guy took them with him when he passe through…?" Knowing that it might not be likely, the young boy still held onto hope as he thought about it.
After all, his teacher's blueprints were extremely beautiful to behold and even someone not proficient in blacksmithing would be able to see the value in them…
Nervously looking all back at the gate, the young boy bit his lower lip as he thought about a myriad of different outcomes before deciding to wait at the gate and see if the person who had suddenly appeared would show up once again.
The young boy knew that there was only one way out and it was extremely difficult to find under normal circumstance, so he was sure that the person would return to the gate and maybe look for clues to find the exit at some point.𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
With this, he should be able to meet the person who he had observed earlier inside the underground garden of the secret realm…
At the very least he seemed to be young and looked like a kind and reliable elder brother… But the young boy knew very well that looks could be deceiving and did not dare to let his guard down as he patiently waited in front of the now destroyed gate into the secret realm.
Rustle~
"Ah!"
Hearing the sound of a few nearby bushes suddenly moving, the young boy unintentionally let out a panicked scream as he turned over in the direction of the bush. Hoping to spot the person he had seen earlier inside the secret realm.
Growl~!
Things however did not always go as planned and an all too familiar growl could be heard from the bush as a slightly larger than normal wolf stepped out.
Growl!
Growl~
Bark!
Closely followed by another dozen or so wolves appeared as they all began growling threateningly in the direction of the young boy.
Ignoring one smaller 'wolf' among the pack letting out a not so wolf like sound, the young boy did not dare to wait around for the wolves to attack him and instead turned to run in the direction of the nearby lake.
Hoping that he would be able to make it into the water as the wolves had been afraid of it the last time, he had been chased by them.
At that time, he had just entered the underground garden before he was found by the pack of wolves and was forced to jump into the lake. After that, he swam to the other side before entering the gate and hiding away inside.
Following this, he had tried to leave on several occasions, but would always end up being found by the wolves and would soon be forced to run back into the gate that the wolves also seemed afraid to enter.
Climb a tree to escape the wolves?
He had already tried, but these wolves had just ended up jumping up after him and could easily just bring the tree down if needed…
Growl!
Coming to a sudden stop, the young boy looked helplessly as another wolf suddenly appeared in front of him to block his path forward.
It seemed like the wolves had already learned about his escape path from the last time and were prepared!
Roar!
A large wolf aggressively roared at him as it began moving closer, the young boy felt an enormous amount of fear as he saw the bloody mouth of the wolf slowly open as it approached him.
"Ah!" Letting out a scream of fear as he watched the wolf, the young boy did not know what to do as he suddenly thought about the person who he had seen earlier on inside the underground garden of the secret realm!
"Help!" Not knowing if the other party could hear him, the young boy desperately screamed for help as the large maw of the wolf slowly began approaching.
At this point in time, he did not know what else to do other than scream for help.
In all his life, the young boy had never been so close to death before, even when he was an orphan, or the time after the elderly blacksmith was murdered!