Zero slowly walked through the dark forest, poised to jump at the first sign of danger. As he walked he kept his eyes open and curiously watched his surroundings. He had been hoping to get lucky as he went deeper into the forest, and maybe find something he could use to help him find his way, or progress his Manual, or ability, but no such luck. He had come across a few creatures, but most of them had just ran away or kept their distance, wary of the new competitor. He had come across quite a few useful herbs that he had seen in quite a few books. He kept them for another time, before turning his attention to his travels. He was hoping to find either someone who could help him explore. He had gotten quite bored of talking to himself while he trained, and wanted a sparring partner. Nothing permanent of course, if he got tied down so early into his adventure he would be incredibly disappointed in himself. Zero thought to himself about how he was going to get as far as he wanted to without tying himself down. Hence to help himself he made a third goal. Don't join any organizations before finishing exploration, for a period of more than a few years. Zero put such thoughts to the back of his head before continuing forwards.

As it reached night time Zero thought of a few ways he would be able to set up camp. One is he could try to sleep in the open, unprotected and just roll with the chance he could get ambushed in his sleep. That was ruled out immediately. Two, he could try to find a protected area and sleep there for the night with himself still relatively exposed. Three was he could sleep in a large tree and lay traps around the tree. Weighing the pros and cons he decided that getting elevation in a tree would be smart. He looked around until he found a large oak tree. After making sure there weren't any animals hiding in or on the tree, he climbed up after setting up traps linked to his mana. The traps would wake him up if they were triggered, by disturbing his mana. This would give him some protection against anything in the forest. He hoped he wouldn't have to use the traps. Once he was situated he made sure he was quite a ways up in the tree before falling asleep.

Zero awoke the next morning to the sun filtering through the leaves overhead. He made sure nothing was out of the norm, before climbing down the tree, and collecting his traps. After storing his pillow back into his Storage Ring he continued his walk through the forest. It was around mid day when he came across what looked like a worn down, small triangular building. When he first saw the building he waited out of the clearing for a while before approaching slowly. Upon further inspection he saw it led down underground. He looked around to make sure nothing was amiss before gathering some rubble lying on the ground. When he had four or five pieces he threw them down the path one at a time, to make sure there weren’t any traps in the corridor. Excited he prepared to move down into the ruins and explore.

Right before Zero could depart into the depths of the ruins, he heard a shout coming from deeper into the forest. “Hey, Hey! Hey man, can you tell me where the hell the end of this forest is?” Startled, Zero jumped around to see a teenage boy running out from some foliage. The boy was pale white, with black hair. He came jogging up to Zero, before placing his hands on his knees and taking a deep breath. “Do you know the way out of here? I’ve been in this god forsaken forest for months, and you're the only intelligent person I’ve seen!” He spoke with a joyful tone. Zero decided it would be much easier to play mute, than to try to explain why he couldn’t speak properly. He tried to gesture to his throat to help the boy understand. After a few moments of confusion, the boy seemed to understand. “Ah I’ve got ya man. Don’t worry, I’m just glad to have some company. I’ve been stuck in this forest for ages since I have some trouble with my lefts, and rights, ya get me?” He chuckled nervously. Strange, Zero was confused why he could be nervous. And what did not understanding lefts from rights mean? Seeing Zero’s obvious confusion the boy clarified, his ears reddening as he did, “I’m directionally challenged… In other words, I have no idea where I am. At the clarification Zero nodded empathetically and patted the boy on his shoulders. Following which he took out a piece of paper from his Storage Ring, as well as a pen. He quickly copied part of the map in his left eye. He handed it to the boy and pointed in the way of the Wasteland. The boy paled, then shook his head quickly, “Nah man, I would rather stay out of the wastes, you gotta be born in them lands to be able to survive the radiation for more than a few days.” Zero took out his manual and scribbled the information in an open page. Confused, the boy stood there for a second before waiting for Zero to finish his notes.

Once Zero was done he looked up at the boy and bowed in thanks, before waving goodbye and turning to the tunnel. “Wait! Ah man, Don’t leave me alone in this stupid forest, please. I’m an iron, I could help you out!” Thinking for a second, Zero nodded then turned to the boy and motioned for him to follow. Zero then turned around and walked cautiously into the ruins. He made sure to check for traps as he headed down. The boy walked behind him. "The name's Sin. Despite what my name suggests I'm not that bad a guy. Nothing serious." Zero nodded, and kept going only stopping until the path diverged into what looked to be a maze. As he entered, he noticed a room near the start, checking once more for traps before he entered. As he entered and looked around, a few things stood out instantly. There were several diagrams laid across several desks and tables. After closer inspection he noticed there was a very large layer of dust on top of them. He also noticed a few machines that looked similar to the ones used to contain him while he was in SBF. He knew these were made by different people though because the words printed on the front were different. The language was one he wasn't familiar with though so he couldn't tell what it said. He also found a small white prism inside one of the machines. He decided before he did anything with it he would see if he could find any information about the prism. Realizing he got distracted while looking around, he looked back to Sin to see what he was doing. Sin was standing right at the doorway with a strange look on his face. Zero looked at him and cocked his head. In response Sin walked through the doorway, or at least tried to. It seemed to have a barrier that stopped only him. Confused Zero tried walking through the doorway, but had no problem. "I don't know why but any time I try to enter, it seems to single out my mana and stop it from entering." Sin said, confused. Zero took out a piece of paper and wrote something down and showed it to Sin. On it read, 'What kind of Manual do you use?' Sin instantly had a conflicted expression on his face and said, "I'd rather not say, seeing as we don't exactly know each other." Zero contemplated for a second before nodding. He then turned back to the prism and scooped it up. As he did... Nothing happened. Curious Zero looked to the prism and thought to himself 'Why would it only let me enter if I have nothing to do with the prism. Unless it was keeping Sin out?' Zero picked back up the piece of paper and pointed towards it again. Still saying nothing Sin shook his head. Shrugging, Zero walked over with the prism, curious to see how the prism would react to Sin. As he approached, the glass around the prism cracked, as if the prism was trying to force itself out of the box towards Sin. Zero brought it closer, and the prism exerted even more pressure. Confused, Sin tried to step back, until he realized he was being dragged towards the thrashing prism. Suddenly the prism broke free of it's glass prism and flew towards Sin.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

When the two collided there was a small shockwave that blew the dust of the walls, revealing words that said, 'Devouring Prism, don't let anyone with the contamination in!' After a few seconds Zero stood back up, after being knocked down by the shockwave. He saw Sin in all his unchanged glory standing up and with his eyes closed, the prism nowhere to be seen. When Sin opened his eyes, Zero saw they were pitch black, with the same prism replacing his pupils, in both eyes. Confused Zero waved his hand in front of the question once more. Sin laughed. "Well I suppose it can't be helped. I practice the Manual of Devouring, in other words, if you couldn't tell, I control Devouring mana. I found the manual in this massive forest under a few rocks, and seized my chance. I don't know what just happened, but I feel great! Thanks!" Confused Zero rubbed the back of his head before shrugging and waving for SIn to follow, as he walked deeper into the maze. This time with eyes on SIn, ready to pull out his knives at a moment's notice. Internally scolding himself for letting down his guard in such an obviously dangerous situation, He continued on hoping to gain some benefits himself in this so far profitable maze. As he walked, with one eye on Sin, and another on the lookout for traps, he came across two more rooms on either side of the hallway. Looking back he saw Sin looking around the hallway for any more hidden words on the wall, and as he called it 'some cool hidden rooms.' Zero decided to enter the room on the left, letting Sin know not to split up. As he checked for traps, he discovered none. He entered the room and searched for any more prisms or objects that looked out of place. Seeing nothing except more diagrams, he placed them into his Storage Ring, as he had done with the others. He motioned for Sin to follow him as he entered the remaining room. This time, besides more diagrams, there were two more things in the room. One was a few pieces of paper warning of further delving into the maze past the point of the two rooms, and the other was a small, black jewel, attached to a stand on the side of the room. As he approached it he discovered it was a cybernetic enhancement. This meant it could be attached to certain modifications and would augment said modifications, by supplementing the enhancements already added, or even producing an entirely new effect. He placed in on his right arm, on his palm, and the onyx jewel fused itself to the arm. He looked at the notebook next to the jewel stand. It said that the jewel could be used to examine objects, and determine what mana, energy, chemicals, compounds, or other things, the object was made of, as well as multiple uses for said object. Zero instantly had a massive smile on his face, this was a huge score! Behind him he heard, "Looks like someone found something good." As Zero turned around he saw Sin examining a knife Zero had kept on his waist. Zero readied himself for a fight as Sin approached him. However instead of using the knife to attack him, Sin held it out to him, saying, "This is to show you I have no ill intent. Loosen up a bit, I'm an iron and you are just awakening, you couldn't beat me anyway." Sin grinned and held a hand out to Zero. Zero took it.