Bizarre beast

When Nero finally woke up, a change had occurred in his body. Just like when he had absorbed the black crystals before, every vein in his body burned as if ants were flowing through them instead of blood.

But Nero hardly paid attention to this pain. In comparison with the pain that tortured him the last months, this was only slightly uncomfortable, but the pain became significantly weaker than before.

Nonetheless, Nero was still disappointed. He had hoped it would disappear completely, but it was still perceptible.

Slowly, Nero tried to sit up, only to collapse again. He attempted a second time and managed to stay upright this time. He stretched exuberantly, feeling every bone in his body ache as if he had been running nonstop for hours.

Nero stood still for a minute with his eyes closed, focusing solely on his body. The familiar sensation of magic flowing through his veins made him very happy. Finally, he could start again.

He opened his eyes, but he soon found out that something didn't feel right.

Although he could feel the magic coursing through his veins, it felt strange and wrong. It was like wearing someone else's clothes.

He looked around but couldn't feel anything.

Before he lost his magic, he could perceive everything around him using shadows. He could sense every single shadow within his range as if they were his limbs. But that ability was completely missing now.

Nero raised his hand and tried to reach for the shadows. He sent magic into his fingertips, but instead of controlling the darkness as usual, a bright, blinding light burst from his fingertips.

Nero had to squint his eyes, and even then, they hurt, with a white haze clouding his vision. It took some time for the haze to dissipate.

Nero raised his hand and looked at his fingertips in shock. He let some magic flow into his fingertips again, and they began to emit a faint golden glow.

Nero aimed his hand at a wooden pillar at the end of the room. A small blade made of condensed golden light shot out from his fingers and struck the beam.

The blade hit the beam but didn't cause much damage.

"This is the same magic Xersies had!" Nero realized inwardly.

Although he was familiar with Xersies' type of magic, Nero's was clearly weaker. Nero raised his hand again and aimed it at the beam. He concentrated and sent as much magic as possible into his hand. Another blade shot out, this time piercing through the pillar and crashing at the wall on the other side. It did not penetrate the wall but left a small burnt spot.

"So, the magic definitely does have a considerable attack strength. But compared to Xersies, it's nothing!" he murmured.

Xersies could create weapons of incredible killing power from his magic. Nero had witnessed some of his attacks, and even the heat radiating from his light was intimidating.

At his peak, Nero could have only taken three of his attacks directly before having to retreat. Comparing Nero's current power level to Xersies was like comparing an elephant to an ant.

But Nero understood the difference in their power.

What confused him more was that he had now acquired a completely new type of magic that he didn't possess before.

He thought it lay within his blood, but apparently, there was something different about these crystals compared to conventional magic.

After taking care of all this, Nero left the house again.

It was broad daylight. Apparently, Nero had spent the entire night in the house, but now he had to return to the Magicians' base at the wall.

He wanted to leave this place soon but wanted to take as much as possible from this camp, especially books. He needed more knowledge about this world and its magic.

So Nero returned to the base but was soon met by many mortals who made way for him.

When he met Koal, he explained what had been happening in the past few days. It turned out that Nero had been in a coma not just for one night, as he assumed, but for two days. Koal had been searching for him for a long time.

Nero didn't want to spend even a second longer in this camp, but he had to play along. He was assigned the honorable task of beheading the captive magicians.

Nero did as instructed, and after the ceremony, he followed the other mortals and celebrated with them. He waited until most of them were drunk and Koal was engrossed in a conversation before sneaking back to the base.

He quickly entered the secret room. He looked at all the strange objects that are lying in the secret room. This time he actually could feel a faint pulse emanating from them. It was as if they all had a heartbeat too.

Nero would have liked to take them all and study them, but he only had so much space.

He packed as many books as he could and then left the house again. He had already prepared supplies and immediately set off for the outer gate. When he arrived there, he killed the two men and finally managed to escape successfully.

Now Nero had been wandering in the seemingly endless forest for two days, without any orientation or signposts.

Koal had explained a vague description of how to reach the next city, but Nero had barely paid attention. He had naturally searched for a map but in vain. There seemed to be no map of the outside world in the entire camp, or if there was, Nero simply couldn't find it.

But what troubled Nero more than anything else was the slight ache of a very familiar pain beneath his heart. It seemed that he could only slow down whatever was threatening him, not stop it completely.

Nero halted as he suddenly remembered something.

The symbol of Ramor!

He had completely forgotten about it, but Nero had a symbol on his body that allowed him to instantly analyze the overall condition of his body.

He had received this symbol only as an introduction from Ramor to the basics of symbolics, but Nero never expected it to be helpful.

He quickly searched the area near his neck and pressed his fingers on the invisible symbol.

He focused.

He forced all his magic out of his fingers and into the invisible symbol. Soon the skin on his fingers began to tear, yet there was no change in the symbol. Nero soon felt how weak he had become.

He had almost depleted all his magic, yet there was no response. He frowned.

"Has the symbol disappeared after all? No, that can't be. The others are still there too. It simply means I have significantly too little magic. That makes sense when you consider the huge power gap between my current self and Ramor. Speaking of Ramor, did he survive? All I remember is him burning beside me, but I also survived the fire. Could it be that he is on this planet or is he somewhere else?"

Many questions formed in Nero's mind as he set off again and continued to wander through the forest. But soon Nero had to interrupt his thoughts as an incredible pressure suddenly weighed down on him.

It felt as if the sky itself was pressing down on him. Nero struggled to breathe and stumbled. He managed to regain his balance just in time as a creature forced its way through the trees in front of him.

At first, Nero only heard the sound of branches breaking and trees being uprooted. Then, finally, Nero could see it towering above the treetops.

The creature in front of him was gigantic. It was at least twelve meters tall. Its body was covered in deep dark scales.

The beast walked on four massive muscular legs and had a long, dragging tail. Its head rose on a giant swan-like neck covered in strange long feathers. Instead of a normal mouth, the creature had a long, curved, and pointed beak. Unnatural green eyes adorned the sides of its head.

Nero's pupils shrank. The incredible presence of this creature made his whole body tremble.

It wasn't the strange and bizarre appearance of the creature that frightened him, but the massive aura it emanated.

The creature turned its head and leaned down. Its huge eye stared directly at him, and the creature tilted its head. A strange intelligence that far surpassed that of a beast seemed to reside within them.

Nero didn't move but stared directly at the creature. Although its aura was oppressive, Nero could sense that it was more curious than aggressive.

Suddenly, the creature abruptly lifted its head and stared into the sky. It let out a deafening scream and disappeared back into the forest with loud cracks and stomping.