Nolan was surprised to have obtained one of the rarest types of Scars, the Golden Scar, but he had no idea at the moment what ability the Golden Scar granted him.
Therefore, he focused on observing his other injuries. Besides the healed wound on his forehead, his fingers felt another scar, less than 2 centimeters long, below his scalp, a scar that originated from the blow he received when he left his house that morning, which had left him unconscious after being captured. But just like the scar on his forehead, the scar on his head was also small and should be white.
When Nolan bent down and brought the lamp close to his legs, he noticed one of his pants was torn near the left knee. The pants were made of fabric and had a leather reinforcement at the knee; it shouldn't have torn so easily, but it was still ripped, showing how hard the fall had been when he was thrown into the Crack after having his throat cut.
This time, beneath his torn pants lay another scar, one that was more than 4 centimeters long, and this one wasn't white; it had a dull bronze color that barely reflected the weak light of the lamp. Nolan quickly focused on the Bronze Scar, trying to understand its power, but he was out of luck again. Just like the Golden Scar on his neck, he couldn't sense its power...
Feeling his vision grow heavy, Nolan went to his parents' bathroom and took a quick shower to remove all the blood and dirt from his body before returning and lying down in his parents' room.
Due to the low light and the day's events, when Nolan undressed and showered, he didn't notice another scar on his body. It was on his left heel, and unlike the Golden Scar on his neck and the Bronze Scar on his left knee, this scar was Silver...
Before falling asleep, everything that had happened during the day began to flash through Nolan's mind. From his execution, his miraculous return to life, his wounds turning into miraculous Scars, and his desire for revenge, which for the moment would have to be suspended until he better understood his new powers. Soon his eyes closed, and he fell into a deep sleep…
"AHH"
The next day, Nolan woke up screaming and breathless, the sunlight already illuminating the room where he slept through the few cracks in the wooden window. He woke up screaming because he had a nightmare where he was being chased through a forest at night by someone…
The dream seemed very real, and he suspected it was a trauma related to the events of the previous day, along with the fear he always had of the dangerous The Viper; therefore, he didn't dwell too much on the details and began to prepare to leave Blackwood Village.
Yesterday, as he lay in bed, he had thought a lot about what he would do next, and reflected considerably on the means and consequences of trying to get revenge now… He couldn't kill Zack without also killing his father, and to get rid of his father, he needed to kill the dangerous The Viper, or at least escape him…
His plan now was to go to the closest big city, live a life he had never lived before, pursuing all his ambitions even if he had to die for them! He would first become an adventurer to learn to use the abilities of his Scars, and only then would he return to Blackwood Village to take revenge…
Since it was now daytime, Nolan feared that someone would see him leaving the Village and decided to cut his long, dark brown hair much shorter. After the cut, he put on his father's dark red scarf in a way that completely blocked the golden scar on his neck, as well as his mouth and nose. He felt a strange synergy between the scarf and the glove on his left hand, but ignored the feeling while putting on the rest of his items. These were a pair of well-padded shoes, reinforced trousers, and a long-sleeved linen shirt with some rough protectors that his father had helped him make; after all, the best way to avoid injury in this world was always to wear this kind of reinforced clothing, not leaving the body exposed in case of accidents.
After taking his mother's mirror, a few extra sets of clothes, and a good amount of food, which included a generous portion of the popular and inexpensive apanan fruit and dried meat, Nolan bid farewell to his home after one last visit to a stone grave in the backyard—the place where his mother had been buried.
After bowing several times before the grave and toward the Crack where his father was buried, he also opened the enclosure for the domestic animals they kept. At the moment, there were only a few small mammals and birds, but he still released them.
Nolan then finally set off on his journey. During his last walk through Blackwood Village, he saw some familiar faces, but ignored them all.
Deep in the forest, he began to reflect on the enhancements he had gained from the two white scars. They were the simplest and weakest scars among the Bronze, Silver, and Gold Scars, but they shouldn't be underestimated. After all, when white scars accumulated in large numbers, they could transform a normal human into a truly superior human of legends…
Nolan quickly realized which attributes he had gained, but also that, unfortunately, he hadn't gained the enhancement he wanted.
"A White Scar for mental enhancement, and a White Scar for internal enhancement… Not bad, but barely enough to begin my work as an adventurer and explorer of the dangerous Scars…"
Mental enhancement refers to improved intelligence, enhanced five senses, and greater mental resistance for the individual with such a scar, while internal enhancement could provide improvements to internal organs, giving greater cardiovascular capacity, stronger immunity to poisons, and other internal effects such as greater resistance to certain diseases.
"I wish I had received a White Scar to enhance resistance, strength, or speed… If I had one of those three, I could even exact my revenge right now…"
Nolan murmured the phrase in a playful tone, but he knew that wouldn't be enough…
Only by going to a big city and discovering what his Golden Scar and Bronze Scar could do would he finally aspire to seek the revenge he so desperately desired…
Nolan soon saw the end of the forest surrounding Blackwood Village; now, all he needed to do was continue westward for a few more weeks, and he would begin to find many large cities.
But as soon as Nolan emerged from the forest and found himself in an open field with tall yellow grass, he saw a beautiful woman with long red hair dressed in a full set of rusty black armor. She held a helmet in one hand and a slightly dented shield in the other. As soon as she saw Nolan, she ran towards him.
Nolan found the scene unusual, but soon heard her shout rude words and curses.
Due to his newfound mental enhancement thanks to the White Scars, Nolan's senses were sharper, and for a moment, he thought he hadn't heard the words correctly because of the distance. But as soon as the red-haired woman drew closer and he clearly heard her insults, he was surprised by a blow from her helmet to the stomach and fell to the ground, gasping for air.
"Damn, cowardly man!!!"
Still clutching his stomach from the surprise blow, Nolan couldn't understand why the woman was cursing him and attacking him. Wasn't she afraid he would get hurt and die? Worst of all, he didn't even know her!
Why did she harbor this hostility towards him?
How had he offended this wild beauty?
"DAMN COWARDLY DESERTER!"
With the last phrase shouted, Nolan saw a metal heel descend towards his head while he was still on the ground, and before he knew it, everything went dark…