Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 97: Freedom

Zac looked down at the slain beast, very satisfied with his new axe. The swing almost fully decapitated the monster, and he swiftly cut the last pieces off with another swing, bringing the progress in his class quest to 1. He realized that he didn’t really need to use Dao of Sharpness on an enemy of this level, his new axe alone was sharp enough on its own.

Since it was only an F-grade item he had been afraid it wouldn’t be too strong in the beginning even though it was a Spiritual Tool. But he quickly realized that he was worried about nothing. Its edge was far sharper compared to his old axes, and it had no problem accommodating his power.

As Zac looked down on the weapon he was surprised to see that the mink’s blood wasn’t dripping off the weapon, but rather got absorbed. He already knew from before that Spiritual Tools needed to absorb various materials to evolve, but he didn’t expect one of them to be blood. Unfortunately, the axe didn’t come with an instruction manual of what it wanted, and Zac could only try various things.

He already knew that it didn’t want Nexus Crystals, which was sort of a relief. After some hesitation he broke off an incisor from the animal and pushed them toward the teeth on the axe, but nothing happened. It looked like he wouldn’t have to go around ripping teeth out of his foes like some demented dentist to feed the Spiritual Tool.

Next Zac started looking around the area for anything that looked valuable since Ogras said that strong beasts sometimes built their nests close to some natural treasures, as living in its vicinity would help the beast grow faster. Since the beast was clearly stronger compared to other monsters in the area there should be something of value here.

As he looked around he was once again astounded by the amount of cosmic energy his body naturally absorbed now. It almost felt like a torrent entered his body to restore his missing energy. He would have to ask around later about whether that was due to reaching E-rank Race, or if it was due to something else.

Even after looking for an hour he couldn’t find any treasure, and he could only return with a frown. It appeared that his high Luck couldn’t help him out in every scenario. Zac was soon back at where he left the deer-human and found him still fretfully walking about, seemingly unable to decide whether he should follow or go back. As he saw Zac approach he sighed in relief and approached.

“My friend! It is good that you are okay. Luckily it seems the beast was awa-“ he said, but his words got stuck in his throat as Zac took out the carcass of the beast from his pouch and let it fall down on the ground with a deep thud. Next he took out the decapitated head and placed it to the side of the body.

“This should be the mink you were talking about,” Zac simply said.

The Ishiate hunter blankly stared at the carcass lying in front of him.

“You can take the head as evidence if you wish. Can you help me skin it?” The fur of the monster was extremely soft and luxurious, and it’d be a waste to leave it. But with his self-taught skills he was afraid he’d ruin it. Normally he’d want to take the meat as well, as the stronger the beast was the more delicious its meat would often be. However, it seemed that this monster had eaten quite a few humans and beastmen, so it felt pretty disgusting to eat its meat by now.

“Ah? Yes, certainly!” the hunter said and quickly got to work after grabbing a skinning knife from a pouch on his back.

“May I ask.. Is that a Cosmos Sack you’re using?” he tentatively asked as he glanced at Zac.

“Yes, why?” Zac asked. Selas shouldn’t have actually seen the pouch as it was fastened to his girdle beneath his cloak, but there obviously weren’t many ways that one could make a huge corpse appear from nowhere.

“Do you have any more? Winterleaf Village would love to buy one, we’d offer a competitive price.”

“I only have one with me at the moment. But I’ll see what I can do next time I pass by,” Zac answered, not wanting to commit. He did have a couple of them lying around at his camp since looting them from the demons, and there were quite a few of them waiting up on the mountain tops. But he wasn’t sure whether selling them was a good idea or not.

“What about the entrance token to the event?” Zac asked. He already received the map immediately after killing the beast, but there were still rewards to reap.

Selas once again reached into the sack on his back, and took out a smaller pouch. He opened and inside were two tokens. They appeared to be made out of stone and were almost as large as a palm. Zac immediately saw that these things were something made by the System, as the tell-tale fractals completely covered them.

Zac fiddled with his token a bit before he imbued it with cosmic energy and a stream of energy entered his mind. He could quickly discern that this was the real deal, and the only thing needed to enter this so-called treasure hunt was this badge. As long as it was in your possession when the event started you would be teleported there. There was no ownership or restrictions at all, making the item a hot potato.

He wasn’t worried for himself, as he felt that there were very few people who were able to snatch something out of his hands. But his eyes turned to Selas, who tensed up from the glare. But soon he resumed working his knife on the carcass.

“Please keep it a secret you got it from me. Very few people know itʼs in my possession and it needs to stay that way for the safety of Winterleaf Village.”

Zac simply nodded and said no more. Soon the beast was skinned, and Selas held up the large pelt.

“It’s done, but it needs to be properly treated as well,” the hunter said.

“Could you help me with that as well? I need to visit the human settlement before I head back to my hometown. I will be back to your village in a few days,”

“Of course. Their town is that way,” Selas answered and pointed east. “I would say be careful, but I feel that it is not you who’s in danger,” he added as he glanced at the large head next to him.

Zac wryly smiled and turned to leave.

“Oh and Zac? Thank you,” he heard from behind, and only answered with a wave. There were obviously multiple meanings to those two words.

As Zac walked he sighed slightly and shook his head. The hunter was clearly afraid that Zac would kill him to take the second token as well. And Zac knew that many might have done just that. Zac didn’t even consider it, as he had no real use for another token. Even if he quickly found his sister it wasn’t something that he would want her to possess.

Just owning it meant having a bullseye on one’s back. And even if you survived and went there, the competition would likely be extreme. The most powerful and ruthless people gathered at one spot, competing for great treasures? It would likely make the battle at the monkey mountain seem like a day at the spa.

He wasn’t too keen on going himself, and certainly wouldn’t send someone he loved there. Of course, he also knew that going there might be the best opportunity to get a real sense of the situation in the world and get some power-ups. If people from all over the world gathered, someone might even be from his hometown.

Becoming the strongest or whatever wasn’t really his goal, and he simply fought to survive so far. He hoped that his visit to the human settlement would give him some answers to what was going on. If not he would try again next month. He only had a few days to spare, after all, and needed to get back to Port Atwood sooner or later.

As he walked he took in a fresh breath of air. It finally felt like he had some control over his actions after months battling. He constantly found himself pushed into one situation after another, putting him in a constant reactive state. But now he had full freedom, at least for a few days. The fact that he would have to get back soon ruined the mood a bit for him, but at least for now he relished the feeling of just adventuring.

He took out a crystal from his pouch as he walked and imbued it with some energy. A window opened up with a rough map inside. It was black and white and didn’t contain a lot of detail, but it did cover a large area and marked the towns. He saw Winterleaf Village the closest, and he currently was heading toward Fort Roger.

Both of the towns had crystals next to the name, and after some confusion, he realized it meant that they probably possessed Nexus Nodes or Nexus Stations. Nexus Stations were lesser versions of the Nexus Node that gave access to the class system, but needed quests to unlock the town management systems.

Apparently there were differences between the nodes as well, where he got a throng of options, whereas most of the towns only got the bare essentials. Nexus Stations were extremely common though from what Alyn told him, which made sense as people needed to get their classes somehow. Alyn didn’t explain how they appeared, as they generally had been around for thousands upon thousands of years on their home planet.

That Winterleaf Village possessed a real Nexus Node was clear to Zac, but he doubted that anyone in the surrounding towns knew that. At least not for now. From his impression of the small village, he felt that they weren’t careful enough. They really lucked out that Zac, and not someone else, walked through that portal.

Zac hadn’t inspected anyone out of politeness, but he never felt any sense of danger from any one of them, meaning that they shouldn’t have been too strong. Of course, they were strong enough to both get a Nexus Node and gather enough money for a Teleportation Array, so they were no slouches either.

They were even open about possessing the entrance tokens before they even knew him, which seemed crazy to Zac. He had a feeling that unless they wisened up they’d end up in dire straits. Possessing too many valuables was a crime in troubled times after all. If it was the old him Zac wouldn’t have felt anything was wrong, but Ogras had started to rub off on him.

Zac kept walking, and out of habit started using [Axe Mastery]. It felt like the trajectories were slightly changed to accommodate for his new weapon, making Zac once again marvel over the skill. It was also the first time he properly used the skill since it reached Late mastery, and as he expected it better incorporated his Dao Seeds into the mix.

What surprised him was that it actually even incorporated the Dao of Trees. Until now that Dao Seed remained unused in battle, but the guidance system showed him its usage. Every now and then it told him to imbue his free hand with it as he used it for grabs or blocks. Zac wasn’t sure what the exact use was, perhaps except that it improved the resilience of his arm, enabling him almost to use it as a shield. However, he still felt that a low mastery seed was too weak for that kind of usage at the moment.

Zac kept moving throughout the day and the next, unceasingly using his skill. It was almost addicting to be able to once again use Nexus Crystals to restore his missing energy, especially now that it apparently only took a fifth of the time to absorb the energy contained in an F-Grade Crystal.

The hunter said that the town was four days away, but with Zac’s huge attributes and speed it went far quicker. Finally, he reached his destination, Fort Roger. And as he looked upon the ramshackle town with its weak fortifications he felt that the description of Selas didn’t do the town justice.

It was much worse.