The Pathway Of Wisdom-Chapter 8: I want a gun!!!

Alex bit a piece of jerky as he rode on horseback.

He did not know how to do horse-riding, so Ethan was walking in front, leading the horse while holding its reins.

’Phew, thankfully, we are not that far from a town...’

They were now on a decently maintained dirt road, and Alex could even see some farms in the distance.

The sun was starting to rise, and the darkness of the night had started to fade away.

The headquarters of the church of the god of wisdom is located in the city of ’Ilma,’ the word means ’knowledge,’ and Alex felt that it was a fitting name for the church of wisdom to be located in such a city.

According to the map, it takes about half a day to reach the city of Ilma from the valley of sorrows, and there is a small town in between them.

Alex decided to stop by that small town, as he wanted some clean water and some other food for himself.

’That strange healing skill of Ethan did heal me... but I am still feeling very feverish and even my face is pale... it’s likely because I lost too much blood and might need to take some rest...’

Even while riding the horse, Alex felt sleepy; the warm morning sunlight was very comfortable, and the fresh air of the open grassland was also very nice.

"By the way... why is it that we took such a dangerous route to reach the church? Is there no other route aside from the ’Forest of Demonic Rifts’?"

The valley of sorrows is located very close to a massive forest; Alex saw the full map and figured out that most of those weird monsters came from that forest.

Ethan had also never seen that bizarre monster, and it was definitely something rare.

Alex had a memory of the ’Forest of Demonic Rifts’ in his newly acquired memories; apparently, that bizarre forest has ’spatial rifts’ that open at random places at random times, and they spew out bizarre monsters.

The original Alex heard that a battalion of well-trained knights got killed when they were on an expedition near the ’Forest of Demonic Rifts.’

It’s a very dangerous place where hundreds of monsters lurk, and most people avoid even talking about it, as they think that even mentioning its name might inflict you with a curse.

"It’s not that there are no other routes; it’s just that they are not available for the time being..."

"We would have to through a desert or a sea route if we wanted to choose another routes... compared to those places, this route was actually the most safest..."

"Monsters don’t usually come out of the forest of demonic rifts. I travelled all alone from the city of Ilma to the royal capital and I didn’t meet a single monster along the way..."

Ethan shook his head and spoke in his usual calm tone.

"I think our luck was very bad yesterday; usually, it’s near impossible to meet such powerful monsters so randomly..."

"I have fought monsters my entire life, your holiness. But even I have never seen such a powerful monster before..."

"The most surprising thing about that bizarre creature was not its strength but the fact that it was evolving and improving while in combat!"

Alex felt chills run down his spine every time he thought about how that bizarre creature became faster and stronger after it bathed in the blood of that horse back then.

It was a horrific sight and a mind-shattering experience; thankfully, he’s got the powerful mind of a genius scientist, or he would have been suffering from severe PTSD by now.

"Actually... I was very surprised by how calmly you handled the situation... Your holiness was magnificent in battle!"

"Even though it was your first time confronting such a powerful monster, you managed to keep yourself rational and even managed to trick those monsters! No wonder you are the chosen ’Saint’!"

Ethan’s words made Alex feel ashamed.

’Err... I am nothing special; if we are talking about being strong, a guy like you who can easily tank boulders being thrown at him is more abnormal...’

’My luck is really bad; how did I end up encountering such a hideous monster on my first day of transmigration?...’

Even if he hadn’t met the monster, the mercenaries were also not good people; they might have attacked Alex and Ethan perhaps.

Surviving in that scenario would have been more difficult.

’Dealing with mindless monsters and dealing with intelligent humans are two completely different things...’

That bizarre monster was indeed intelligent, but not to the extent of being completely self-conscious; if it had been that smart, survival would have been impossible.

If it was not present and Alex had to fight the mercenaries, first he would have had to make sure that he and Ethan had a safe escape route or a proper plan.

’I might have had to poison their food or use some other tactic to weaken them first so that Ethan could deal with them more easily...’

’But would a paladin like him have agreed to kill a human?... I am not sure if he would have even followed my plan of poisoning them...’

Alex had a lot of thoughts swirling in his mind at the moment; he was confused about his transmigration, he was confused about this new world, and there were a ton of other questions too.

But he could only sigh and stop himself from thinking too much for now.

’I am not in a good condition; overthinking might cause me to faint on the spot. I need to conserve my energy...’

’Ugh, this jerky tastes so bad...’

The jerky was the only food in the saddlebag, and Alex had no other choice but to make do with it.

’Talking about jerky... it seems that the church of the god of wisdom does not restricts its followers from eating meat...’

Back in Alex’s previous world, there were some religions that taught not to eat other animals, as those animals were also precious living beings.

Alex himself didn’t believe that much in religion, as he was a scientist, but now that he’s in this new world, he has no other choice but to learn everything from scratch.

’If they were restricting their followers from eating meat, this paladin Ethan would not have been carrying jerky around as emergency ration... it would have been dry fruits or something else...’

Food, clothing, societal structures, and beliefs are fundamental elements that teach you about a place’s culture and heritage.

By knowing what kind of food and clothes a region has, you can also know a lot about their local culture and heritage. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

’Aside from getting to know about this world more... I need to get stronger too; I need some kind of personal strength...’

Alex has already had a near-death encounter due to his lack of strength and his weak body. If he wants to survive in this monster-infested world where powerful beings roam around freely, he needs strength.

’I wonder if there are rifles or anything like that in this world...’

According to the memories of the original Alex, this world is not all that backward; the kingdom of Kreimhild is in the midst of the industrial revolution right now.

’If there is a rifle... even if it’s just a primitive version, I need to get it for my safety...’

’My physical capabilities will take a long time to grow... but with a gun I can do ’freedom-type Breathing technique’...’

’All in all, I want a gun!!!’