CHAPTER 88: THE NATURE OF THE WORLD.

Nero woke up to the sound of some insect buzzing.

His eyes snapped open and he sat up with a groan.

He looked around, calmly taking in the weight of his surroundings.

Everywhere was quiet. The others were strewn out on the ground around him, with just Geor missing.

His gaze traveled to where he had kept his spear and sword the night before.

They were both still intact.

He frowned slightly.

’I thought he’d try something...’

While Nero did prefer seeing the best in others, he was not delusional, nor was he an idealist. If anything, he was quite the opposite.

He knew exactly was greed and desires could do to a man. He absolutely was not a naive child.

He had gone in, knowing the risks. And as such, had taken adequate preparations.

He knew there was absolutely no way he could trust these people he had just met. Both Gungnir and the Silver Blade were coated with a layer of the poisonous sap of the Purple Evergrowth trees.

While the sap was generally non-lethal so long as it wasn’t ingested, it had a strange property of entering the bloodstream of it got onto flesh.

If this happened, it became a non-lethal neurotoxin that could lead to paralysis. This was another way those damned trees got their sustenance. The wounds of injured Abominations rubbing against the bruised bark.

With the sap acting as a neurotoxin, it would quickly shut them down and render them motionless.

After a few hours, the forest would do its job and the Abomination would be gone overnight.

Nero had found this out through first-hand experience.

However, it sap wasn’t very absorbent with fabric, so a simple glove would have done the trick. However, whoever wanted to steal from him would not take precautions since they didn’t know what he had in store for them.

However, seeing his luggage still intact, brought him a sense of relief.

However, he was also suspicious.

Could it be that he had misjudged their intent? In any case, since nothing has happened, it was best he put it behind him.

Wrapping his arms in a strip of dirty cloth, he wrapped his spear and fastened it behind him.

Then he grabbed the Silver Blade and refastened its holster to his hip.

Dusting himself down, he let out a sigh.

The sound of footsteps approaching quickly caught his attention.

From the treeline came Geor, a bundle of firewood on his shoulder.

Nero walked towards him, "Do you need some help with that?"

Geor flashed him a smile,

"No. That won’t be necessary."

Nero nodded. He remained silent as Geor put the twigs down. Then he asked a question all of a sudden,

"You said you were a farmer?"

Geor turned to him and chuckled,

"Yes, I was."

Nero frowned, "What happened?"

He had heard of farmers. Although there weren’t any farmers in Gor due to a lack of arable land, he knew they did exist in the empire x even though they were not abundant."

Geor’s smile darkened a bit.

He shook his head,

"I was more of a farm help than anything. With me around, the farmer had no use for oxen, you see. So I was kept around longer than others and was trusted by the Master. I was even given a wife and an ox."

Nero frowned, "What happened?"

Geor’s lips trembled,

"Unfortunately, the farmer’s family was wiped out in a single night by a group of assassins. His estate was set ablaze. I had to run to save my wife and I."

Nero’s eyes widened, "A group of assassins? You mean... humans?"

Geor smiled grimly, "When you are as wealthy as the Master had been, you make a lot of enemies who want to take everything you have from you."

He turned to Nero, this time, his gaze directly squarely at him,

"The more someone wants what you have, the more evil, insane things they will do to get it."

Nero trembled.

Geor chuckled nervously and scratched his head, cutting the tension.

"Of course, I’m just speaking out of turn. I really don’t know much of anything. I’m just a stupid farm help."

Nero laughed awkwardly as well,

"Oh. I see... It’s no worries."

In his mind, however, a thought had begun to take form.

’Even in a large City like Liedenstorm, such a thing is still prevalent.’ he sighed.

In the end, just having wealth was not enough. One needed to have the power to protect all that one had.

A few minutes later, everyone else was up.

After a quick, warm meal, they abandoned the campsite and began walking onwards.

The path ahead was rocky and filled with thorny bramble, so they had to be extra careful on the way.

Sometimes, a single nick from a thorny bush was all it took to deliver some strange rot or poison that would slowly and excruciatingly kill its victim.

Other times, the symptoms would be hidden for months. By then, it would have been too late, with the soul and body of the human becoming something entirely different and far, far more twisted.

Despite his body and proportions altered by the Ein Sof, his susceptibility to the elements and even more, corruption, didn’t change much.

In fact, it didn’t change at all, he realized with his observations.

It let him realize another strange aspect of the ever present energy;

It had two states, both of which existed concurrently, within the same energy. However, their forms were quite literally opposites.

There was no better way for him to explain it with his current understanding.

’It is like a stream of hot and cold converging towards a neutral source. Both are one and the same and yet, they carry contrasting properties.’

It was these contrasting properties that was the driving force of the Black Body Transformation and his normal, more human form.

He shook his head.

’No... There is nothing human about this form.’

He had realized it far too late.

This so-called human form of his was just another variation of the Black Body Transformation. In reality, the Oracle had not been a hundred percent truthful with him.