Out of nowhere, the memory of the past flooded into his mind. The father he hated, the mother he missed... and the betrayal of the people he cared about.

Hate, fear, hurt… a bunch of different emotions crashed onto him at once.

"No... I don't need any of them! I'm fine on my own! To hell with everyone!"

Until Viktor once again awoke, covered in snow in the middle of the forest.

His head felt as if it was about to split. His cheek, waist, and shoulders all ached, making it hard for him to move, but fortunately, he could feel his energy gradually returning to him.

Viktor observed his surroundings.

"Djinn, how long was I out…?" he asked while massaging his temples.

28 minutes…

No wonder my head hurts so much!

Not only was his head previously hit really heavily by the mutated lynx, but it was even in the snow for almost half an hour!

But he was unconscious for a lot less than he initially thought. He felt that he was out for at least an hour, maybe even two.

Of course, Viktor was glad that he could wake up much faster than that. He could not imagine what would happen to him if a similar predator came to him while he was unconscious.

Feeling his headache ease up, Viktor asked the Djinn if there was any danger around.

Viktor still found it hard to trust the Djinn's words, and coupled with how casually the Djinn said it, he could not help but doubt. Even so, it was not as if he had any other choices.

He could only take the Djinn's word for it.

"Remember, Djinn, always warn me if anything crosses even a foot into your sensor."

Reminded of the short but extremely painful battle, Viktor dryly laughed.

"Yeah... it was no joke."

Viktor wanted to get going, but before that, he checked his stats.

[Strength - 19 (6)]

[Agility - 48 (16)]

[Endurance - 28 (9)]

[Battle Power - 32 (11)] ｂｅｄ𝚗ｏ𝚟𝚎𝚕.𝚌𝚘ｍ

[Spirit Force - 30]

[You are experiencing the drawback of the skill.]

[All stats will be restored in 2 hours and 26 minutes.]

Seeing these numbers, Viktor let out a deep sigh. He was now probably as weak as a little boy, but at least his agility was still above normal people. That was all he needed to survive the next two and a half hours.

After he got his stats back, with the newly added agility, he was sure that there would not be any other mutated animals that could surprise him in terms of speed.

Viktor was left with two options: to wait until the drawback duration ends or to walk back to safety now.

He thought about it for a while. Waiting seemed safer, but that was under the assumption that no other creatures would come while he waited.

If there's going to be danger either way, wouldn't it be better to just go?

"What do you think, Djinn? Do you reckon the way back to the hut will be safe?"