Sitting cross-legged on a large rock, Brand was thinking of the conversation he had with his guide angel, Seraphine. The conversation was still irking him, as there were many suspicious moments that didn't add up.
Seraphine had further explained the destiny he was supposed to fulfill.
"Nano-Machine was an elusive material with sentinel thought," Seraphine mentioned. "It will stay in each world for two years before space-jumping into another world."
Apparently, he was supposed to find this Nano-Machine, which was a God-ranked material. It was presumed to be manifested in this world, and his forced destiny would be to search for this material and bring it back to Seraphim.
When he asked Seraphine about why Seraphim couldn't come and search for it herself, she replied that Seraphim was a higher cosmic being.
Manifesting in this world would cause too much karma, and this world would not be able to withstand it. That's how he was taken into this mess.
He pressed his hand against his temple, massaging for comfort. This piled-up stress was hard to take in.
'During tough times, build your resilience.' He remembered his dad's word.
Now was not the time to stay still; he needed to keep moving. Seraphine mentioned a time limit. Two years. It seemed long, but he had no idea of how big this world would be and where to look for it. Even Seraphine didn't know this information. But she mentioned one crucial fact.
'Karma will guide him to the Nano-Machine.'
***
"Let's begin by searching for a civilized settlement!" Brand talked to Seraphine, putting priority on finding shelter. It would be unbearable if the night came and he was still wandering around the desert.
If it happened, forget about the nano-machine and destiny; he would be dead with the cold alone.
"GHOST has a thermoregulation function built in!" Seraphine replied enthusiastically. She seemed proud every time she mentioned functions or features of this 'GHOST.'
"That's great to hear, little angel," Brand replied. "But how about beasts?"
He could feel animals and creatures approaching from a far distance. Maybe this was one of the abilities he gained from the GHOST serum?
"Try calling out 'Map,'" Seraphine said. Giving another small tutorial every now and then.
When Brand followed her advice and called out the keyword, a holographic map began to surface in his vision. He could see a yellow dot at his location, which indicated him. But he couldn't see the same for Seraphine.
"As you see, an outline sketch of the region you're traveling would be displayed here." Seraphine started her explanation. "Try zooming out a bit by pinching it."
Brand lifted his hands to the holographic map and followed Seraphine's movement. The map began to zoom out, revealing a larger area of the terrain. He could see there was a human settlement nearest to his place, Emas Tribe Village.
"Besides that, there was also an indication that a lifeform was detected near your vicinity." She continued. "Green would be allies, red would be enemies, and grey would be neutral."
Just as they were speaking, he saw there were three red dots entering the map.
When he looked up, there were three wolves approaching him and circling around him.
[Sand Wolf - Level 3]
[Sand Wolf - Level 3]
[Sand Wolf - Level 4]
Holographic text, which showed their name and level, began to hover above them and faded after Brand recognized them.
Brand noticed they were at a much lower level than the Sand Dragon earlier. But they have the same prefix as the dragon earlier.
"Do most monsters in this desert have 'Sand' as a prefix?" He asked the little angel guide.
"Well, some worlds have their own rules of naming," Seraphine replied. "Who knows? Maybe the other monsters have the same naming format as well?"
The little angel was always like this, never giving him a definite answer, unless it was concerning the Nano-Machine.
"It's okay; it didn't change a thing for how they were named," Brand said bluntly and was ready for combat. "I'll just need to survive like always."
His earlier experience with the Sand Dragon made the wolves in front of him seem insignificant. He rushed forward to take the initiative.
"Debuff cubes." He manifested light cubes with debuff properties and threw them, kicking up the sand along with the path of the cubes.
He then side-stepped, grabbed some sand in his hand, and rolled forward. He grabs one of the sand wolves' heads and shoves sand in the sand wolf's eyes before punching it with strength enhancement applied.
"Might."
[Might increase STR by 25% for 3 minutes.]
Although he was still Level 1, his stat potential was that of a dragon. A level 3 Sand Wolf was nothing in front of him. As if to confirm this, the wolf went limp and struggled to stand back up.
With GHOST in his blood and the body reconstruction done to him earlier in the chamber, he felt his movement was far smoother than before. His reflexes also increased.
The other two wolves began leaping toward him, aiming their jaws at his neck. A normal human shouldn't be able to dodge them at such point-blank distance.
However, he could see their movements clearly. They couldn't even be compared to the Sand Dragon.
Without even needing Haste, he dodged them and returned punches to them.
"This body reconstruction didn't seem to restore my body alone?" "Brand?" asked Seraphine. He remembered there was a metallic sound within him when losing consciousness before being shoved into the rift.
While waiting for her reply, Brand grabs the wolf's neck and pushes it into the ground. He lifted both his hands and slammed them on the wolf with strong force, breaking its skull.
There was now only one wolf left. The wolf howls for a while and flees.
Clap… clap…
"Sorry, your fight was too mesmerizing to look at, so I forgot to reply to you," Seraphine exclaimed. "You're talented!"
"Well, I'm the only man in my family now; I need to be strong." He replied. "I must return to my world…"
"Don't be sad; you'll return to your world." Seraphine tried to cheer him. "Hmm, back to your question earlier."
"Your muscle fibers are as strong as steel; your bones have merged with titanium alloy," Seraphine started to list the changes in him. "Your blood now conducts mana better."
He was questioning what he heard. These were all due to the GHOST serum?
"These were too much!"
"Yes, Seraphim places all her bets on you." Seraphine cheered and pointed to the earliest wolf he knocked down.
He turned around, and words struggled to escape his mouth. Albeit enhanced with Might, the wolf has died from his single punch.