DEATH ZONE

Hamon poked Theo’s head. “So… what’s that?”

“Huh.” Theo was startled. “Something like the brain of those constructs, I guess? Don’t know for certain.” Theo played around with the baton. One more thing to test, they are piling up. I need to form a team fast to focus better.

“Ehh, so boring.” Hamon put his hands behind his head. “And you even destroyed the constructs. This is worthless, let’s go back.”

“Why the hurry, we sleep here tonight.” Theo unpacked his things and lay down.

They spent a week on the cursed lands after that, much to Hamon’s protests. Theo wouldn’t budge on getting Hamon to level four before they depart. It was a slow process in Theo’s perspective since after getting to level three, each skeletal ghoul was only giving Hamon two experience points. In any other perspective, it would seem like monstrous power leveling.

They had been hunting on the surroundings of the tomb and sleeping inside of it. Since the last few days, Hamon could already face skeletal ghouls one on one with no problems. There were bound to be some accidents during the hunt but, since Theo was there, nothing serious happened.

“Aha, look at those sweet attributes.” Hamon started dancing. “Check it out. Finally, level four.” He celebrated above a corpse.

Human Lv. 4

Blessings

Strong will

Manifold life

Unwavering defiance

Enhanced strength

Attributes

Physique: 279

Control: 50

Senses: 50

Mind: 10

Spirit: 11

“Nice, you didn’t neglect control or senses,” Theo observed Hamon’s attributes. “It’s just my impression, or did you upgrade mind?”

“Just a point.” Hamon shrugged. “I like the round numbers. Not caring about putting points in mind won’t make me dumb, right?”

“Nah.” Theo waved his concerns away. “It takes a lot of points into mind to start affecting things like intelligence or wisdom.”

“What about you?” Hamon stepped down from the corpse.

“Just dumped everything into mind.” Theo shrugged. “Something like 350 points into it.”

Hamon’s jaw dropped. “What? You told me to not do that, and you just did it? What you told me not to?”

“You can’t. I can.” Theo smirked. He had been doing focused upgrades with the life force he received. Mana control and reserves were a priority, but magical resistance and power weren’t neglected. If he didn’t have mana techniques to rely on, he definitely wouldn’t risk roaming the abyss with measly 16 physique. Aside from his memories, that was his strongest trait. No one would have as much experience with mana anytime soon. His low senses were worrying, however, that now had been fixed with the earring for the moment. Theo didn’t want to waste his potential on undeeded attributes.

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With all his enhancement mana related attributes, he didn’t think taking a level five opponent or even a level six on a fair brawl would be too far fetched. His method of enhancing his attributes was fitted for his battle style, making the most of each experience point he got. Those kinds of people were pretty much everywhere further on, he would definitely need every advantage he could get. If we count my rituals on the equation… Yeah, I’m prepared.

Hamon inspected the surroundings. “Looking back now, this place is a really good experience farm.”

“Your past self would beat your ass for saying that.” Theo laughed.

They started making their way back towards the village. At some point, sounds of battle echoed in the distance. Sharing an understanding nod, they ran over to investigate.

A group of five people was facing three skeletal ghouls at once. One of them was impaled on the right arm by the protruding ribs. Another was dividing his attention between the fight and looking for an escape route.

They didn’t waste time as they jointly immobilized and beheaded the monster, which had someone grappled. Each went for a single monster to help fend it off. The battle was going well, and the people from the group thought a miracle had come upon their lives. Theo, however, saw his fluffy warning turning from pink to dark from the left side.

“Run to the right, now!” Theo looked at Hamon as he bolted away.

One person from the group didn’t even hesitate as he bolted away, running was already on the top of his mind. Another also complied with the orders, he heard the tone, and that reminded him too well of the level of importance of such order.

Hamon also started running away but stopped midway to look back. “I need to save them.” His eyes got moist as he prepared to start running backward. One couldn’t run, having been impaled, and another was in a tight fight against the two skeletal ghouls as his friend stood still, looking back and forth, not knowing what to do.

Before he could apply force on his legs, he saw the two people he wanted to save, turning into dry black crisps in front of his eyes. Theo appeared at the moment and shoved him back, out of his frozen state. “Run! Didn’t you hear me? Run!” Theo yelled at him in anger.

Theo had covered his body the maximum he could with a mana barrier and took the dive just in time for Hamon to be able to flee. A second later, both of them were running, but that delayed second was enough for the cloud to catch up with him. Theo lowered the barrier’s strength on his arms to reinforce it elsewhere, he knew it wouldn’t be enough the way it was, and he needed the legs to run.

Hamon looked at Theo running by his side, arms black from corrosion, and flopping to his sides. “That… I…” Hamon wiped his tears away as he kept running.

“Shut up and run,” said Theo. The barrier left on his arms was just enough to save their internal structure but wasn’t strong enough to keep them working. In the closest town, there should be some competent healers. If not, the city would certainly have one, or so he hoped.

A few minutes of running later, the fluffy balloon monster tied on his back turned fully into its pink color. Theo and Hamon, together with the two others who managed to run away, dropped down on the group panting.

“What was that?” The woman managed to wheeze it away in between breaths.

“What are you doing here?” Theo stared at the two survivors, almost spitting curses at them.

“We.. we just wanted to find an easier way to the boarding village.” She said meekly.

“There is no easier way,” Theo said with a harsh voice and shook his head. “You went too far from the villages having no idea what you are doing. Haven’t you seen the signs with death written all over it? Weren’t they clear enough?”

The man by her side got between Theo and her, who was getting too close for comfort. “Chill, man. Thanks for the help, but you also got in here, didn’t you?”

“Ugh, bunch of…” Theo groaned and grumbled but stayed away from those people. He turned back to Hamon, who was cowering on the ground.

Hamon looked at Theo’s arms sheepishly, black and devoid of life, it was his fault they became that way. He knew he should’ve run away, but at the moment, he just couldn’t leave those people behind.

Theo expression softened. “I don’t blame you. I know you are just a kid but-”

Hamon’s expression flinched. He disliked being treated like a kid, but at the moment, he could say nothing to defend himself. No matter how much he worked to stand side by side with Theo and not be a burden, he still messed up.

Theo noticed that fleeting change and quickly corrected himself. “Actually, sorry, calling you a kid, that way was bad. You are young but worth having by my side.” He would offer Hamon a hand, but there was a small inconvenience. Hamon noticed him leaning forward and got up with a slight smile. “Good, but I won’t go soft on you. You really did commit a mistake. Those here have harsh consequences; learn from it. Next time when I say something, you do it, no questions asked.” Hamon nodded, relieved.