As soon as that thought echoed through his head, he remembered the grimacing pain he had experienced at his first birthday. And the voice, which had echoed in his head, giving him a new power.
He could steal blessings from others by killing them. He had never thought about it, but monsters also held blessings. So far, he had killed one, a wolf who could jump on air. He couldn't ask for a better power to be given in this situation, but there was one problem.
How the hell do I use this blessing?!
He hadn't utilized his second blessing at all in the past two years, never having killed anyone or anything. The only advantage he had was that his training for creating clones had taught him that desire and imagination were the key components of utilizing blessings.
Thankfully his second blessing wouldn't use mana, something he had none left of. Otherwise, spawning a clone and using it as bait would've been a perfect plan.
With the catlike creature closing in, his desire to run away kept growing. He began to imagine the air hardening under his feet.
And kicked off.
Now the slippery grass was no longer slowing him down, and every one of his footholds was perfect. The air seemed to obey him, as wherever he jumped, the air hardened there. The catlike creature had no chance of keeping up. Its speed had already begun to drop; after all, every creature has some sort of stamina.
Perhaps this was why Roland was now so much further ahead as a human; this was his greatest advantage.
Roland kept running; at some point the creature wasn't visible, but he kept running. The adrenaline had long perished, and his mental capacity wasn't strong enough to maintain the blessing, but he still had legs.
At some point he wasn't even running, merely jogging.
In the end, the only thing that managed to stop him was a rock, which made him stumble and fall.
He survived and was alive.
With that thought, he lost all consciousness and fell into a deep sleep.
***
When he woke up, it was morning; Roland judged it to be around 4am.
"Damn, everything hurts," he muttered while waving his no longer bloody stump. "I gotta regrow this thing now."
First, he erected a small tent. Which was enclosed on all sides. Just so he wouldn't be attacked out of nowhere by another creature.
Sitting in the butterfly position, he closed his eyes and focused on the warm mana in his heart. Feeling it heat up, he focused it out of his heart and to his left shoulder.
His arm began to heal immediately; however, the healing was slow, since this time every part of his arm had to be restored.
Roland chose not to look directly at it and instead kept his eyes closed. Knowing that looking at it would make him throw up.
Indeed, the process was quite disgusting to look at, not to mention painful. Since he had technically opened a wound and was rebuilding everything in his arm.
Still, he didn't emit a scream, too scared to spawn yet another creature capable of devouring him in seconds.
Maybe an hour—it was hard to tell; his arm was back. But mana was gone once again.
"Yeah, I really have to work on my efficiency—unless I want to be eaten by something. More importantly, I need water."
Maybe if I walk a little bit I'll find some.
Dispelling the tent and regaining a bit of mana. He began to walk, this time not knowing where he came from; he just listened to his intuition. Hoping it would lead him to a source of water.
Walking around the lush forest, the greenery calmed his eyes. Suddenly, he was at peace witnessing the slight light shining through the tall trees. The brown stems and the colors all blessing his eyes.
All of this reminded him of his passion for hiking and how it was taken away by the world. By the war.
But all so suddenly he was forced out of his reverie.
In front of him was a light blue pond.