"Caroline Miller, he's already dead." Katherine Miller glanced at the young man and spoke to Caroline Miller.

Caroline Miller was silent. In fact, the boy wasn't truly dead yet—anyone could see that. She thought for a moment and said, "So, are we going back to Lika Town? We still owe a hundred silver coins..."

"Caroline Miller, Edward Miller and Blake Miller have already sacrificed themselves. We need to make arrangements for them, ask the priest to lay their souls to rest, and take care of their families—all of which will cost a lot of money." Katherine Miller spoke with a tone of helplessness. "We don't have the money to pay back Lika Town right now. Luckily..."

"Luckily..." The rest of the words were left unsaid, but which of the three survivors didn't know what he meant?

This Robert Miller was a druid apprentice who wanted to earn money for further druid training. He was talked into borrowing the largest sum he could as a druid apprentice to join this adventure party, only to end up running into three groups of bear goblins and losing everything.

"Let's go. Cut off the bear goblins' ears. Even though it's not our mission, it's a long-standing guild task, and we can exchange them for some money." Katherine Miller paused for a moment, then pulled himself together. As the captain, he had many responsibilities to bear.

The three of them took out their knives, unafraid of filth and blood, and cut off the ears of each bear goblin—these would serve as proof.

A moment later, they tidied up the two corpses.

Caroline Miller knelt on the ground, looking at her two companions. Their faces were twisted, their eyes devoid of light, filled only with regret, pain, remorse, and unwillingness.

Caroline Miller was momentarily dazed, countless memories surfacing in her mind.

"Burn them. Bringing their ashes back to the priest is the same!" Katherine Miller's voice and body trembled slightly. He took a bottle of strong liquor from his pouch, poured it over the firewood around the corpses, and took a big swig himself.

Caroline Miller took out a flint, struck it, and sparks flew. Moments later, a fire was burning, its light illuminating a patch of forest.

The flames burned, and as the bodies gradually disappeared in the fire, Katherine Miller's voice sounded almost like a dream: "This time, we've completed the mission, and our guild record has always been good. Plus, I've already reached level five as a warrior. I think, if I spend some money and pull some strings, I can get the position of deputy captain of the town guard in Emberly Town. That way, we can all escape this kind of life."

Though saddened by their comrades' deaths, at these words, both Clifford Miller and Caroline Miller's eyes lit up.

For adventurers, earning a good reputation and record in the guild, then entering the service of a city or noble and becoming a stable official—this was the best way out. Besides, it was said that Katherine Miller was the illegitimate son of the baron of Emberly Town. Maybe in the future, he could even get a knight's title, and then everyone would have made it.

After ten years of hard struggle, so much hardship and danger, so many brushes with death—finally, there was an end in sight. At this thought, all three showed a bittersweet joy.

A moment later, Caroline Miller used two small bags to collect the ashes, and the three of them turned and left, never looking back at the unconscious boy Robert Miller lying on the ground.

The flames gradually died down, the forest grew dim, and far off in the distance came the howling of wolves.

Suddenly, a point of light fell, illuminating the shadowy branches. It was a small golden horn, with a layer of golden light swirling inside. It spun a few times in the air, then noticed the unconscious person on the ground, and immediately flew over, plunging into his body.

At once, the boy's body trembled, instinctively resisting, but the power of the golden horn was overwhelming. A mass of golden light tightly wrapped a small, white soul, devouring it bit by bit.

"Ahhh... God, are you messing with me? I refuse! Ahhhhh!" Moments later, the body suddenly jerked, letting out a tremendous roar, a wave of energy rapidly spreading outward.

If this hadn't been in the forest, if there had been anyone around, this shout in Chinese and the accompanying wave would have at least scared a few people, maybe even alarmed the temple.

The boy suddenly leapt up, flailing his arms. James Carter slowly regained consciousness, gasping for breath.

"Huh, I'm not dead?"

James Carter looked around in the dim light filtering through the leaves, seeing only a patch of ravaged ground, some embers still burning, and, farther away, a mess of corpses.

Seeing this, James Carter felt a wave of confusion and plopped down by the fire.

James Carter tried to raise his hand to rub his face, to clear his head, but when he looked at his hands, he froze. His hands—more precisely, the hands he had now—were clearly not the ones he was used to.

They were young but rough, bronze-skinned, with thick calluses and large, strong knuckles—very different from James Carter's original fair hands.

James Carter was instantly alarmed, frantically looking around. He spotted a small stream not far away, hurried over, and used the water as a mirror, peering at his reflection.

James Carter found that this wasn't his own face either. The young man with deep-set eyes and a high nose didn't even look Asian, but more like a European from Earth. Still, he looked very young and handsome—a boy's face.