Even in summer, the nights in Dur Valley are always so cold.
The small house where Herag lived had several holes in the wall, and the cold wind was desperately trying to get in through them, making it impossible for him to sleep.
He got up in the dark, pulled some straw from the bed, and stuffed it into the holes, making the wind a bit less fierce.
After tidying up, Herag lay back on the bed, but found he still couldn't sleep.
Because he was hungry, and his stomach was growling noisily.
"How did I end up in this godforsaken place?" he sighed helplessly, touching his stomach.
At times like these, he longed for the days when there was water, electricity, and the internet.
When hungry, all it took was opening the phone, ordering takeout, and a delicious meal would arrive at the door shortly.
But here, there was only one meal a day, with a piece of black bread and a bowl of potato soup served at noon.
The black bread was hard, gnawing on it was as difficult as gnawing on a rock.
Only white bread was soft and chewy, but only the noble lords could enjoy it.
They, the servants of the castle, could only eat black bread.
Old Henry, who was in charge of tending the flowers, told Herag that soaking the black bread in potato soup would make it tastier.
After learning this trick, the black bread was finally somewhat less difficult to chew.
But at thirteen, his body was in a rapid growth phase, and a black bread and a bowl of potato soup each day clearly wasn't enough.
It was neither filling nor sufficiently nutritious.
But such conditions were already beyond many people, as he lived in the noble Baron Buck's castle, responsible for tending to the horses.
One meal a day was enough to keep him from starving, while outside the castle, many hovered on the brink of life and death without a home.
The castle was safe, with a stable food supply; as long as he didn't anger the noble ladies and gentlemen, his life wasn't in danger.
However, as someone who had received a modern higher education on Earth, Herag wasn't resigned to being a stable hand for a lifetime.
"Shenlan's chip self-repair is complete."
Herag was taken aback when he heard this familiar voice, doubting whether he was hallucinating.
Shenlan was the name of his genetic chip, which in his previous life everyone had, for analyzing, processing, and storing data, playing a significant supportive role in people's daily lives and work.
"Anomalous environment detected, performing localization compatibility."
"Localization compatibility complete, Shenlan is running normally."
The successive chip prompts echoed in his mind, and Herag confirmed he wasn't hallucinating.
"Shenlan, check current body status."
"Herag Merlin: Strength 0.4, Agility 0.5, Constitution 0.4, Spirit 1.2."
Looking at his body data, Herag was speechless.
This was a case of severe malnutrition.
Now with the genetic chip, he already had a rough plan in mind going forward.
Early the next morning, Herag was awake.
Before dawn, he took a lantern to the stables, placing horse feed into the troughs one by one.
The horses in the stable were awake and looking eagerly at Herag, snorting plumes of hot air.
The horse feed was composed of hay and some beans, better than what the servants ate.
Herag honestly refrained from stealing the horse feed, remembering that his predecessor was executed for often doing so.
After handling his chores, he went to the back garden, where Old Henry should be watering the flowers.
The back garden had many kinds of flowers, mostly species not seen in his previous life.
"Shenlan, begin recording all unknown flora and fauna information from now."
"Understood, task has been archived, beginning execution."
Herag knew the importance of data, they would come in handy one day.
Old Henry was an elder in the castle, who had been tending flowers all his life.
As usual, he carried a bucket, watering the flowers attentively and cleaning up the fallen leaves and debris in the flowerbeds.
"Kid, what are you doing here so early? Got something on your mind?" Old Henry noticed Herag, sneering at him from the corner of his eye.
"Just coming to chat with you," Herag said with a cheeky grin.
Old Henry scoffed, "Just spit out whatever you want to say. I don't have much time left on this Earth, can't help you too many times."
Old Henry's presence in the castle was quite low, having no children, only Herag would often come to chat.
In his heart, Herag was already like a grandson.
Understanding Herag too well, he knew Herag definitely needed something when he came so early.
Herag chuckled, "Old Henry, you still have that bow, right? Let me borrow it for some hunting, if I catch something, I'll share the meat with you."
"Bow?"
Old Henry glanced disdainfully at Herag's scrawny body, questioning, "Can you even draw the bow? And have you learned archery? Don't waste my arrows."
"Just lend it to me, I promise, when you're off to see the gods, I'll find a nice spot on the hill for you and erect a memorial stone," Herag promised earnestly.
If a servant died in the castle, they'd be casually buried somewhere, no tombstone.
Old Henry hesitated, wavering slightly, finally conceding, "The bow's hanging on the wall inside, go grab it, but don't break it."
"Thank you, Old Henry!" Herag shouted and ran inside at once, afraid Old Henry might change his mind.
Herag took the Longbow off the wall; the bow was spotless, showing Old Henry maintained it well.
He had heard Old Henry was a great archer, though now old, he hadn't seen him draw the bow again.
Herag with his skinny body carrying the bow looked a bit odd.
The quiver contained only seven arrows, but for Herag, that was enough.
"Herag, where are you off to?" asked the guard at the castle gate.
"Hunting!" Herag declared boldly.
The guard couldn't help but laugh, "Haha, you're not even taller than the bow, don't shoot yourself out."
The other guard laughed, "Bring me back a Red-vented Bulbul; they're delicious when roasted. If you catch one, I'll give you ten Copper Coins."
"You said it, prepare the Copper Coins." Herag replied earnestly.
"Hahaha!" The two guards found his serious expression amusing.
Herag left the castle carrying Old Henry's bow, heading down the long slope outside the gate, and passed above the winding Green Grass River. A drawbridge was down, with a carriage passing by.
From a distance, he recognized it as Baron Buck's carriage, uncertain of its destination.
Opposite the castle was a dense forest, which was Herag's target this trip.
The forest was said to harbor fierce beasts, challenging even for powerful Knights.
Herag dared only roam the forest's edges, not daring to venture deeper, as he was still too weak.
"Shenlan, activate detection, stay alert to surrounding movements, and watch for potential dangers."
"Environment detection activated."
A green light scanned across Herag's view, changing the forest in his eyes greatly.
Vegetation glowed green, and animals emitted a faint red glow, making it easy to discern lurking creatures.
A small circular map appeared in the upper right corner of his view, with red and green light dots scattered across it.
"Begin the hunt!"