Chapter 25 - Returning

Zenith was currently walking back with a satisfied look on his face. Previously, after waking up and using the device on the corpse of the creature, he found it had filled by an extra 15% by itself. Clearly, this was a big haul, considering the effort and time he and Fable had to go through to lure and fight the resonant creatures.

Though Zenith himself found that after he awoke, his wounds were healed as if nothing had happened, his body also felt much stronger and the mass of resonance was thicker. He had played this off as pushing himself to his limit, then healing and getting stronger, completely unaware of the strange occurrence that happened when he was unconscious. Though he felt his stomach grumble, he had eaten all his power rations but was still hungry.

"I bet Fable will freak out when he sees the charge meter," he thought. He had received a message from Fable earlier telling him "Ok!" in response to his rest. "If I can push myself like this constantly, I'll be able to grow stronger quicker. The issue is, it's too risky." For others, if they knew Zenith's thoughts, they would no doubt scoff as he was simply a latent freak. His increase in strength was not as simple as he thought it to be; one might call this a talent that had been thirsty for years only to super boost after finding a source of water. Yet it required hard work to an extent; there was no free lunch.

Returning to the chamber in a good mood, Zenith's eyes widened in shock, the backpack device falling onto the ground. He spotted the scene in front of him in amazement. "What the..." he mumbled. He saw Fable sitting casually on the boulder from before, going over his device. But behind him was the corpse of the creature that had found him before, if its body could still be called a corpse.

Its limbs had been sliced off as well as its head, which was currently impaled on a large bone-like spike. Yet Fable had not a scratch on him; this was clearly a one-sided slaughter. "Ah, you're finally back! Find anything good?" Fable spoke nonchalantly, grinning as he saw the look of astonishment.

Zenith didn't feel like bragging anymore, his mood a little soured as he picked up the backpack and made his way over to Fable. "Not much..." he grumbled before giving the backpack to Fable. A soft laugh escaped the latter's mouth as he took it and stood up, walking over to the remnants of the creature he had killed.

"Huh?" he suddenly looked at the charge meter. "Isn't that a bit too much?" he thought as he pressed the small interface on the backpack to see what was stored. He scrolled down on the holographic interface that showed images of the remnants in an odd void-like space. Fable's expression turned serious as his back was to Zenith. "What a little freak!! He actually beat one of these!! Ah, life's unfair. He's barely 3 weeks into his training and he can take one of these things down? Are we fighting monsters or is he the monster?" Fable's body shook a little in fright as he remained silent with his thoughts.

"Good job!" he spoke up, using the backpack device on the remains of the larger creature. The meter suddenly jumped to 84% full. He clearly didn't let Zenith see his expression from earlier; after all, a big ego could cost one their life. "Ok! Today's done, let's head back. I'll let grandma know we got a good harvest. I'm surprised; I sort of expected us to at most fill this thing up to 25%, but luck was on our side. Hopefully, it continues tomorrow!" Fable said excitedly.

Soon, the both of them began to head back. Zenith obviously had some questions about the larger creature, but he had a feeling Fable wouldn't shut up if he asked about it. So he moved to another question he wanted to ask. "These things can be used as materials, right? They are made of pure resonance. How are they broken down and crafted into equipment?"

Fable gave a thoughtful look while the two walked. "I've never really paid much attention to the process and all that, but the corpses of these creatures can be refined, and then mixed with other materials to make new materials that can be used in gear or weapons, sometimes even alloys. The little ones are really worth nothing on their own unless you get a large amount."

Zenith nodded, though unable to help himself, he continued. "The creature I killed and the larger one you beat, what are their worth?" Fable wasn't sure himself but he had a rough idea. "The one you killed can probably make 2 pieces of gear? The one I killed, to my understanding, is uncommon in Empty Sea ranked relic sites and pretty common in Crimson Tide ranked sites. It's incredibly rare that we got to meet one here; in fact, I'll have to report it to the relic syndicate, otherwise, there might be issues when we eventually sell the teleporter device. We will get a reward too for the discovery, but it won't be much."

Zenith did his best to absorb this knowledge. The more he spent as a relic hunter, the more excited he became; his eagerness for discovery and continuing such work was always at its peak.

"What can you make from the corpse of the bigger one?" Zenith asked. Fable, having expected this, replied, "Hmm, I think Grandma would probably have gear made for me and you. We could outfit 10 Relic hunters in some average-level equipment. The resonance energy making up this creature is more focused and pure. Think of it like a gold bar and its purity: if the small ones are 3% purity, and the one you killed is 8% purity, this big one is 14% purity. It may not sound like much, especially after it's refined and it shrinks in the process of refinement, but in the grand scale of things, I would argue it's quite a lot."

Zenith grumbled. "So much for not knowing much," he joked. Fable smirked. "Well, I get bored and wanted to try refining resonant creature corpses for Allspace, but it's just too tedious and boring. I'm better at bringing the bodies than that careful stuff where a mistake can cost a lot."

Nodding in response to Fable, he took the analogy of purity to mind, thinking for a few minutes. "What about creatures that are, let's say, 20% purity or even 100%?" Fable's eyes twitched slightly when the mention of 20% came up, as he would face quite a difficult challenge, but when Zenith spoke about 100%, his heart skipped a beat in heavy fright. He stopped for a moment, looking at Zenith seriously.

"The largest, most pure corpse from an A-rank dungeon from Allspace's database could be said to have a purity of 58%. Killing that thing took the entirety of Allspace's resources and took many lives. Kid, if a resonant creature with 100% were ever found, that's not a creature anymore. That's not even a force of nature; that's something that can only be defined as a fundamental force. Just wait for death and pray it ignores you. Something that strong would wipe out not just the federation but the other factions too if it somehow got out of its relic site. It's very important to understand and identify your enemies carefully. If you come up against something you don't have the slightest clue about, you are going to die and not leave a corpse behind."

Fable's expression still serious, he then turned back and began to walk quietly. Zenith felt he possibly touched on a sore spot for Fable. After walking silently for a few minutes, he spoke. "Sorry." Zenith felt the need to apologize. Fable felt maybe he had been a little emotional, but there were two reasons why he had done so: he felt Zenith's actions in fighting the creature from before were incredibly stupid and risky, and he needed to put him back in his place, especially since he didn't tell Fable about it beforehand. The second reason was what he was speaking about now.

"What I'm going to tell you is something you should keep to yourself. Only Allspace members who were direct descendants and the top brass of the relic syndicate know due to the circumstances at the time, but since you are a member now and will most likely become an elite. When the founder and the other members disappeared, we got one last small recording from one of the members who was taking scouting images at the time."

Zenith's heart skipped a beat. He felt maybe he should have kept silent, but he needed to know for the future. "That is?" he continued, wanting to know more about the circumstances. Fable, still continuing, stopped for a moment, tapping his device and sending an image to Zenith's. 

Zenith looked at his device, gazing at the somewhat grainy clip and clicked play. He could see several individuals at the front with their backs away; they were all gazing into the distance. A vast open emptiness with a mountain seemingly made of pure warped energy, the silhouette of a creature on top.

He heard a voice. "What's that?" the voice asked with concern, before the creature turned around. Its voice seemingly male, he saw it face the group. Zenith, looking at it, felt a deep fear down to his core. The figure's arms were long, its claw-like hands several times the size of an adult man's. 

It had a single horn on its head and an odd human-like face, but yet different. The creature suddenly vanished, then the entire void distorted, and what seemed like a singularity formed. Space seemed to warp, and then the clip ended after he heard screams and shouts.

He clenched his teeth as he quickly deleted the clip; such a thing was terrifying. He silently looked at Fable's back as they continued walking. He wanted to ask more but didn't dare to. It was only a few moments later when the clip ended and they had walked for 10 seconds that Fable spoke.

"The teleporter device they had explored was a new design never before seen. 99% of the federation and possibly the other 2 factions don't know that above A rank, there is another level, but these aren't simply danger levels anymore. Instead, it was decided to give each one individual names out of respect and fear. The one Allspace found, S Rank Relic site: The Emperor of Twilight's Throne Room."