1074-1088

Chapter C1074: Back

Nigel stopped on a planet that was filled with beasts of enormous size, barely evolved primates, and an ever more weird life.

"You sure you want to be here?" Nigel asked as she looked around. It would take a few hundred thousand years before humans were civilized enough to live in a well-established society.

"Yeah, it's fine. I won't be here for long anyway," Ning said.

"Alright. I'll be leaving then. I'll see you in the future," Nigel said.

"Sure, thanks for everything."

Nigel flew away in her spaceship, living Ning in the prehistoric-looking world. He remembered her words and decided to spend some time unlocking the next set of energies.

Chemical energy specifically needed him to witness a million chemical reactions. He had already started on this, but there hadn't been much to it.

Ning went out and found a place where he could stay for a while. Although he didn't need to worry about that as he would be just a point in space, he didn't want to be in a place where he would either be buried or be in a volcano when he arrived back.

Ning flew into the air, far enough that no change would cause him a problem, but at the same time low enough that the space he would disappear to wouldn't slip away from the planet as the further he went from the planet, the less it had its hold on it.

Once he was in the perfect spot, he teleported into his Inner world.

He arrived in the vacuum of space, but as the god of this world, he didn't need to worry about his body freezing or dying in space at all.

He teleported onto the small island where his family was staying and looked around to see the various things that he wouldn't have otherwise expected to see here at all.

His mind scanned the entire world, surprised at how much it had changed.

"It looks so… medieval," he thought. The world had gone through many different cycles and was at the starting phase of one of such cycles. However, somehow the humans didn't look that different, despite it being over a hundred thousand years since the last time he had been here.

'How did they not evolve even the slightest?' he wondered.

Emma appeared in front of him first and pointed at him. "Why do you look like papa?" she asked.

Ning smiled. "Because I am your papa," he said.

"Why do I have two papas?" she asked.

"You only have one papa," Ning said as he grabbed her and picked her up. "Your papa and I are the same people, you know."

"Same?" Emma asked.

Ely and the rest had realized that he was back as well and were walking out. One by one, everyone appeared outside, very confused as to why there were two Nings.

Ning looked at the small village-sized number of people, with many that he had never even seen before. The only ones he recognized even were his grandmother, uncle, brother-in-law, and his two cousins. The rest from what he could guess were their spouse, children, and grandchildren.

"Hey everyone, I'm back," Ning spoke.

Everyone looked confused and looked at each other. They then looked at Ning that was with them and waited for an answer.

"I told you guys that I have lost the system before and that I was just a normal person," Ning said. "I had lied. That is the real me who had been taken away by someone powerful. We decided to lie so you wouldn't get worried."

Ning looked at his own clone with a weird look on his face. He had never expected them to have lied about him the entire time he was missing, but when he thought about it, he would have done the same.

He was him after all.

"I'm back now, so no worries," Ning said and moved on. "Let's go inside, I want to hear about everything I missed in the many years since I've been missing."

Everyone was still weirded out by there being two Nings, but the more they understood what was happening, the less they questioned their decision.

They couldn't imagine what it would have been like living so many thousands of years knowing that one of them was out there being tortured by what could only be considered a real god.

"At least you are back now. You can live here happily with us," his grandmother said.

Ning smiled. He was happy that his grandmother was still alive. He would've expected her to be, but reality still made him quite happy.

His uncle was there too to talk.

Ning met with his cousins-in-law who had some idea about his system, but not enough to make them understand what exactly they were witnessing.

He talked a bit with Chase and her wife, as well as the children before everyone returned to their own place, leaving Ning and the rest alone.

"I'm sorry they had to lie to you too," Ning said as he looked at Blue, Night, Sorlus, Saphandra, and the rest.

Saphandra seemed to not be as intelligent as she once was, and the other 3 spirits were in an even worse situation. They had lived hundreds of thousands of years without any Spiritual energy to use, so any abilities they did use only made them worse.

He decided to buy some more spirit spaces and have them restored in there for a while.

"You don't have to be sorry. I'm just happy you are back, master," Blue said.

Sorlus nodded as well. He was big now, looking like a middle-aged man if anything. Ning was still the same, not speaking at all.

He only nodded and said nothing.

Ely looked towards him and asked, "do you want us to tell you everything? Can't you just learn everything from him?"

Clone Ning nodded. "Yes, that will be quicker and easier," he said.

Ning thought for a moment and nodded. "Very well then," he said. "System, link our memories."

Chapter C1075: Answers

The system linked Ning and his clone, which was truly just the ring he was wearing. Once they were linked, Ning took the ring and changed his body back to his original one.

Suddenly, he felt a strength that was unusually strong and understood that his body had grown quite a lot in the past hundred thousand years.

Emma looked worriedly when she saw what had happened. "What happened to papa?" she asked.

"Nothing," Ely said. "Look, papa's back."

Ning smiled lightly as he remembered everything he had done, every feeling he had felt, every memory he had made.

Every single experience was his, and to him, he was the one that had done it all.

"We will leave you alone for now, master," Night said and walked out of the house. Blue, Sorlus, Saphandra, and the rest left as well.

Ning nodded as they left and turned back towards his wife and daughter. "You love papa, don't you?" he asked as he took Emma from Ely and held her in his embrace. "Give papa a kiss."

He gave his left cheek forward and Emma giggled slightly before kissing him on his cheeks.

"Aww, my daughter is so cute," Ning said as he kissed his daughter as well. "Mwah!"

He played with her for a while, and Ely watched with a wide smile on her face. She had never felt this happy and relieved in her entire life at all.

"Alright, that's enough you two," she said as she pulled Emma away and held her. "It's time I get some answers from you too."

"Answers? What sort of answers?" Ning asked.

"Well, first of all. What happened to you? How did you survive and that sort," Ely said.

"Oh, uhh… let me get the correct accounting from my system," Ning said.

Ely nodded and waited until he got all the information.

"So, Bayrus captured me and took me to the adjacent universe at the time through one of the wormholes. He came back here and went into a space of his own where he destroyed my body until only the energy part of me remained and started trying to break through the barrier of the system to learn more about how it was created."

"Before he could learn anything, however, he had to enable the system so he had an easier time. He could learn something while it was disabled, but it would be highly limited. So, he spent most of his energy trying to learn about it."

"He spent over 40 Million years trying to do that very thing," Ning said. "In here, you've only spent close to 150 thousand years, but outside, it has been over 42 million years."

Ely gasped when she learned that information. "No way!" she said.

Ning sighed. "It's true," he said.

Ely couldn't even begin to comprehend how much time that was. Before her thoughts could go anywhere, Ning continued.

"That entire time, my system was sending out a beacon to call for help. After 40 Million years of being captured, someone appeared and saved me," Ning said. "Her name was Nigel, and she is another host of the Energy System, just like me."

"Nigel?" Ely asked.

"Yeah, she just left like 10 minutes ago when I was outside. I had only just met her, but it seemed she wanted to leave, so I let her go," Ning said.

"She saved you?" Ely asked.

"Yes," Ning said. "She saved me and kept me in her world until I woke up. That was maybe just a few days ago for me. After that, I came here straight away."

"I see," Ely said. She took the information and slowly consumed it until she learned it all. "42 Million years… everyone you and I knew must have been dead by now then."

"I don't know," Ning said. "I would rather not find out."

Ely understood the sentiment. "Alright, continue," she said.

Ning gave a weird look. "Continue? Continue what?" he asked.

"Answers," Ely said. "You know, the questions we have had for so many years. You now have your system back, so we can find the answers."

"Huh? Oh, right," Ning said as he realized what she was talking about.

There were 3 mysteries in precise that they wanted answers about.

First, they wanted to know what the lights were in the sky that would appear from time to time.

Second, they wanted to know why there were two different Origins on the same small planet, each with a different type of energy coming out of it.

And finally, they wanted to know why their daughter was born so strong.

Ning asked his system, and one by one he got the answers to his question.

"Those energies were Bayrus trying to break into my system," Ning said. "He used so much energy back then that they would periodically slip through into this world. That wasn't anything dangerous at all."

Ely nodded. They had expected Bayrus to be behind it after all.

"And the Origins?" she asked.

"The Origins are a little unique," Ning said. "Apparently, two Origins at the same time is a very rare case in any universe. A planet would have to have a very high amount of energy, far beyond its threshold for an Origin."

"In some cases, when there were too many energies, a planet would end up creating two Origins to compensate for the amount of energy the planet required, instead of just one," Ning said.

Ely was slightly confused.

"Well, think of it this way. If you go to a high-class restaurant, you end up paying a lot more, regardless of the food," Ning said. "It's the same thing. The planet had that much more energy due to the dungeons that were created and the energy from Bayrus."

"So, when the Origin did form, it formed so that it could keep up with the amount of energy that was already on the planet," Ning said. "As for the reason why there are two different types of energy, that's simply a matter of luck."

"Earth got lucky and happened to form two unique Origins."

Chapter C1076: A Place to Hide

"So, Mana and Qi Origin forming was just a coincidence due to the high amount of energy on the planet when the Origin was starting to form?" Ely asked.

"Yeah, that's about right," Ning said.

"Such a thing is even possible huh?" Ely asked.

"Yeah, but it is extremely rare," Ning explained.

"At least we have an explanation now," Ely said. "And what about her?"

Ely held Emma in her lap and asked. "She took over 70 years to be born and came out stronger than me. That's not normal is it?"

Ning gave a rueful smile. "No, that is not normal," he said. "And the reason for that… well, that's not normal either."

Ely frowned. "Is it bad? Is something wrong with our child?" she started to worry.

"No, nothing is wrong with her," Ning said. "Although, you can judge it for yourself once you hear what is happening with her."

Ely waited for him to start explaining and Ning sighed. "It all starts with Bayrus again," he said.

"Bayrus? Why him?" Ely asked, slightly frowning.

"Not him, exactly, but the energy he was putting into my system, that was falling into this world," Ning explained. "It all started with that."

Ely was confused, so she kept on listening.

"At first, nothing happened with the energy that fell onto earth other than the fact that it increased the amount of energy on earth. That slowly lead to the point where the Origin was starting to form."

"The two origins formed, which led to the planet being covered in even more energy. Then, when the Origins formed, a requirement had been fulfilled, one that was the last of the 3 requirements that needed to be fulfilled for something to happen."

"First, there were enough humans living on earth, which was the first requirement. The number of souls was exactly what was required."

"Second, there was enough energy on the planet. Usually, the amount had to be over a certain threshold, but this time around, there was nothing to worry about. Earth had infinitely more energy than was ever required."

"And finally, there was the last requirement. An Origin had formed on the planet."

"With all the three requirements fulfilled, Earth had become ready for its will to form," Ning said. "And it slowly did."

"For years it slowly developed on its own. The will was getting more and more sapient, but not to the point where it could manifest. However, something happened that stopped it from forming entirely."

"The energy coming from Bayrus was too strong and foreign to the will. Each time it happened, it would fear. It was young and naive, so it feared anything it didn't understand. As such, it started looking for a place to hide, a place where it could have others protect it."

As Ely listened to Ning's explanation, she could guess what the next string of words was going to be and was surprised.

"Are you saying…?"

"Yes," Ning said. "The Will searched for a place to hide, and it just so happened that it had gotten very familiar with you, who were cultivating by the Origin all the time it formed. So, it chose you to become its guardian."

"But… at that time," Ely's thoughts moved faster than she could speak, so she started speaking in broken words.

"You were pregnant, and the Will of this world went into our child," Ning said. "Emma is the Will of planet Earth. That is why she was born so strong."

Even Ning couldn't hide his shock as he spoke those words. Ely didn't even know what to say anymore.

"Mama, are you okay?" Emma asked when she saw that the both of them had stopped speaking.

"Mama is fine," Ely said before looking at Ning. She spoke with her spiritual sense. "Are you saying our daughter is not our daughter?"

"What? No," Ning said. "She is still our daughter. It just so happens that she is also the will of the planet Earth."

"But how the hell can a human be a will?" Ely asked.

"They can," Ning said, before hesitating a little. "Although the type I know about is usually someone taking the place of a Will, not the Will itself being born to a human. But the system says it's possible, and only happens when the Will is terrified of coming out into the world due to outer influence."

"So… she is still our child?" Ely asked. "What about a soul? What about if the earth were to one day be destroyed? What about when the Origins disappear or the threshold lowers?"

"Don't worry, she still has a soul. If the world were to ever disappear, only the Will part of her would be gone. I don't know how much less powerful she would be at the time, but I don't doubt she will be any less strong than she already is. After all, she's lived so many years already."

Ely felt relieved when she heard that. She sighed and hugged Emma again.

Ning looked at Emma and said, "no more reading papa's mind, okay?"

"Eh? But it's so fun," Emma said.

"No, you can't read my mind," Ning said. "Reading minds is not something a good girl does."

Emma pouted a little. "Okay," she said.

Ning pinched her cheeks a little and shook her head. "No pouting," he said. "Now, tell your papa what you want. I can give you anything you want."

"Really?" Emma's eyes went wide. "I want to go see the other places."

"On earth?" Ning asked.

Emma nodded. "You always make me stay here, so I never got to see the other places. I want to go," she said.

Ning thought for a moment and nodded. "You're right. You've stayed in here for a bit too long. You need to see the outer world too," he said.

"Yay! We're finally going out," Emma said. "I know exactly where I want to go."

"There's no hurry," Ning said. "You, Mama, and I will go on a little family vacation and we will go through the entire world."

Chapter C1077: Travel Around the World

Ning, Ely, and Emma went on a trip around the world.

Their trip included going to every single place, every single city in the entire world, and staying there for a couple of days at least.

That would take them years to complete, but what else could they really do?

The trip started from the nearest place to where they were right now. Japan. Or at least, what was remaining of it.

In the last hundred thousand years, the country Japan no longer existed, and in its stead was a new land that was way too divided to have a name.

That was the case for every single country and location all over the world. Humans had died to almost nothing and went back to repopulating the planet so many times that the knowledge of the old world no longer existed.

No one remembered when the planet didn't have Qi or Mana. No one remembered when the sky wasn't always dark, but rather had stars.

No one remembered the people that had fought to save the planet. They didn't even remember there had been a war.

The animals and plants had evolved now that they were in constant contact with Qi and mana. They had all adapted to using one of them and had become strong with it.

Humans had also learned how to use it, but they hadn't evolved for it. They hadn't even evolved normally.

Ning now knew why that was. It was all because Emma was so used to seeing their face that in her mind, that was what the humans were supposed to look.

As such, despite the years that have passed, the humans of this world always looked the same, never evolving. In fact, the plants and animals instead learned how to evolve to look like a human instead.

Ning arrived in a small medieval city on the island that used to be japan and found himself a place to stay. He made sure he and his wife and child have dressed accordingly so as to not stand out and started going around the city to learn about it.

They viewed its culture, its foods, and its people. They stayed in that city for a couple of days before moving on to the other cities.

The people there were cultivators more than anything as the Qi origin was close to them. The Mana Origin was on the other side of the planet, so Mana didn't really reach this side at all. Even if it did, there was no point in learning how to use mana when Qi was ever so abundant.

Emma was beyond excited to finally see the other people up close, and when the people did see her, they felt the urge to bow toward her.

It was only the weaker ones as the stronger ones didn't feel such an urge. Ning remembered this effect with Alexis back when he was in Vilmore and was surprised his own daughter had the same effect on the people here as well.

Although, now that he thought about it, it did make sense.

From one city to another, it took Ning about 2 years to go through the entirety of the islands that used to be Japan.

Once done, they took a flying boat to the nearest land and continued their travels.

The world had grown to be closer now than ever. There were teleportation formations everywhere and people themselves could just fly to wherever they wanted to either by themselves or using spirit boats that they could buy.

Years slowly passed and Ning's family traveled through many cities. They came across some conflict in a few places, but there was nothing a single punch didn't solve for it.

He was with Emma, so he made sure to not kill anyone, even if they deserved it. Emma herself couldn't kill anyone, and even hurting someone was hard for her, so Ning tried to avoid conflict if possible.

Ely was more fierce than Ning, but she too held back when it came to these conflicts.

The further the group moved from the Eastern lands, as it was called at this period, the lower the Qi and Mana became for them.

However, as they continued west, they realized that while Qi continued lowering, Mana was now on the rise. Slowly, cultivators were getting harder to find and magic users were getting more and more in number.

The population concentration of the planet had also been affected by this concentration of energy on two sides of the planet, which was why the eastern side of Europe, and most of Africa were very sparsely populated. Even when there were people living there, they wouldn't compare to the Cultivators and Mages of Eastern and Western lands.

It was nearly 11 decades later that Ning and the rest arrived at the Western lands, where their journey continued. They finished all of Europe in about 9 more decades, Africa in about 7, and moved on to the two Americas that were now known as the Mixed lands.

With Mana and Qi Origin being closer to them, both Mages and Cultivators could be found in this place, creating a rather unique environment to live in.

Ning and the rest spent about 9 decades in this place that was populated with quite a lot of people and had many, many cities for them to go through. After going through the Lone land that was the Australian continent, their trip had completed.

All in all, the total trip took their family nearly 40 decades to go through the entire planet. 4 centuries was enough for the planet to have changed again for them, but that was enough for them.

Ning returned back to the Qi origin where his family had made their place and lived the rest of the time with everyone there. This was all he had ever wanted and there was nothing he would ever want either.

His wife, his daughter, his family, and his friends-- they were Ning's world, and he had them with him right there. With them there, he could live happily ever after and not worry about a single thing ever again.

[End of Book 7: My World]

Chapter C1078: Another Adventure

Ning opened his eyes in outer space, floating next to the sun. It had been many years since he had come up here to improve his physical strength.

This was the body that Nigel had given him. He was improving it as it was about time he left his Inner world and went back to the outer world.

If possible, he wouldn't want to, and he even felt that he wouldn't need to for the longest time. However, he didn't expect some small problems to pile up, all of which required him to go out again.

Emma had grown to be about 14 or 15 years old both mentally and in physique, despite being over 3 hundred thousand years now, and was finally in her rebellious phase.

She would frequently get mad at Ning over nothing and kept on blaming her parents for not having any friends. It was because of them that she was now so strong and slowly aging, and as such, she couldn't have any friends at all.

Ning had told her she could make friends with anyone on the planet, but she didn't like that idea. Everyone would usually be too nervous or reverent around her, and she did not find that to be friendship.

So, Ning had to go out and find other people that wouldn't act like that around her, who she could be friends with.

That meant, he was going to have to find an entirely different planet with many people of its own that he could bring in here for her to have friends.

Given how much energy was needed to do so, he was going to have to absorb a lot of energy.

Another problem was with his 3 beasts. Sorlus, Blue, and Night hadn't had any friends aside from their small group and they were desperate enough to find some partners of their own.

In fact, even the calm and collected Night asked him to help them go to some other place where there were females of their species.

It would take way more many years for the beings on this planet to evolve to become dragons and phoenixes, so Ning had to go out for that as well.

Another problem was the fact that in sun was slowly deteriorating. While it would take billions of years for the sun to fully finish burning itself off, Ning couldn't wait for that time.

He needed to change it frequently so that he didn't get into a problem where another Will would capture him and he would be gone for millions of years while the people of this world simply died in that time.

Finally, the last reason why he needed to leave was simple. He had witnessed a million total reactions of every single type he could find and now, he was one step closer to unlocking the Chemical Energy.

The only thing left for him to do to unlock it was to gather 1 Septillion energy, and that sort of energy was not something he could gather while simply remaining in this world.

So, he was preparing to leave once again.

He returned back to his family and met up with them. "Alright, I'm all prepared to leave," he told the few people that were there.

"Are you sure you you'll be gone for long, master?" Blue asked.

"Mm… no, not really," Ning said. "I will be staying outside for a long time, but time will move so much slower for you guys that you will barely even miss me."

"What are you talking about missing?" Emma asked. "Aren't you going to be right here?" She pointed to the other Ning that was there with them.

"I will be with you, but he won't," the other Ning said, pointing to the real Ning.

"I mean, it's the same thing," Emma said.

"Emma!" Ely spoke sternly. "Don't talk to your father like that. He's going out to find friends for you."

"Hmm, fine," She said, pouting slightly.

"Come on, give me a hug before I leave," Ning said to his daughter, who hesitated a bit. Ning ignored her hesitation and walked forward to give her a hug on his own.

Only after she was hugged that Emma finally reciprocated back with a small hug from her as well.

Ning hugged Ely and kissed her once before moving away. "Alright, see you in… I don't know, a month or two?" he said and disappeared.

He reappeared out in space, in the middle of nowhere.

"Huh?" he thought as he looked around. "Wasn't I in the sky of some planet? What happened?"

<in 87 the last Million years you have been gone, planet was struck by a giant asteroid, breaking it off into chunks. In process, point of space where were staying ripped away from location and is now floating out in somewhere far away.>

"Oh, well… that sucks. I was hoping to be on a planet when I started," Ning thought as he looked around.

"How much does an astral chart cost by the way? Just for this galaxy," Ning asked.

<55 Quadrillion Energy>

"Status," Ning spoke.

[Status

Name: Ning Ruogong

Energy: 31.2 Quintillion Energy

Skills:…]

"Oh, I absorbed quite a bit while I was near the sun, huh?" Ning thought and quickly bought the astral chart.

With a 5.24 Trillion energy cap every day, Ning had acquired a lot of energy and had bought many of the things that had disappeared when the system had seemingly been reset.

"That's a good planet to start with," he thought. "I haven't seen that type of energy since Genesis. That should be fun."

Ning closed the astral chart he had just bought as he figured out where his next destination was going to be.

"Do I waste my energy?" he thought for a moment. In the end, the amount of time it would take to fly to his next location would take him a long time, so instead, he decided to simply open a portal to that location.

"Let's go on a new adventure then."

Chapter C1079: The Fruit

Ning arrived on a small island of… somewhere on a planet called Astoria. He had absolutely no grasp of anything about the planet aside from its name.

After all, right after arriving, he had asked the system to remove any knowledge he might have had about this place, its people, and its power.

Ning looked around at the island that had a few coconut trees, but other than that, the island was a small one with nothing really in there at all.

"What do I do now?" Ning wondered. Of course, he could fly around the world in a matter of seconds, but he didn't feel like doing that.

He was on an adventure, and as Nigel had said, it was better to experience it all by yourself, without using any of the system's help.

"I really should do that," Ning thought. He created another body next to him, one that looked just like his. However, unlike the other bodies he had, he didn't give this one anything else aside from making it acclimated to every single energy out there.

The only thing he added was a slight talent in everything. Not a whole lot to not have to work for it, but enough so that he wasn't trash.

"How much energy do you think this body can handle?" Ning asked.

<About 200 Quintillion>

Ning was surprised. "That's more than I would have imagined. Are you sure?" he asked.

<Yes. >

"Alright, I guess that's something," Ning thought and switched bodies. He took back his other body and was now on the island, waiting around with a weak body.

"Did I make a mistake?" he wondered. "Should I have maybe changed my body after I arrived in a place with civilization?"

Ning wondered if he should just teleport away, but that felt like cheating so he didn't. He looked out into the deep blue ocean with not a single thing in sight.

His new body had nothing in its stomach, so Ning felt incredibly hungry. "Urgh, that's such a bad feeling," he thought. It had been so very long since he had felt the hunger of this level.

"I should eat the coconut," Ning thought and turned towards the coconut trees. He went close and searched for some coconuts that might have dropped to the ground.

He did find a few, but…

"Wait, those aren't coconuts," he thought. The tree looked like a coconut tree, but the fruit most definitely was not.

Ning looked at the fruit and instead of being something that had an outer shell that needed to be cut through, it looked like this fruit was something that one could eat just as it was.

Just by the touch, Ning could tell the fruit was incredibly soft and it felt like it could tear at the slightest touch. He could also tell that there was a lot of juice inside, which would definitely help him stay hydrated in this ocean.

Ning tried to puncture the fruit with his fingers, but he found that the fruit was rather elastic. No matter how much he tried to puncture it, the shell would simply stretch, but nothing would get torn as he expected.

"Dammit, I can't open it," Ning thought. He tried some more, but his fingers started hurting instead.

"Screw it," he thought. "Let me find something sharp."

He looked around for some stick he could use to poke, but there wasn't anything like that there. These not coconut trees didn't have any branches in the first place.

Ning then looked for some stones, but it was more sand than anything in there.

"Dammit!" he thought. He thought of what he could use, aside from everything else he had in his storage at the moment. Opening the fruit itself was an adventure, and he didn't want to ruin the experience.

"What is sharp in an island?" he thought as he looked around. As he searched for things, he realized that he was surrounded by the ocean.

While he wasn't sure how dangerous the ocean was exactly, he was sure there would be fishes in there that would have died and most likely been swept up by the tides to this island.

He would have to check the shorelines to see if there were any dead fish. More importantly, he would have to see if he could find some sharp fish bones he could use to puncture this thing. If he could, that would be definitely amazing.

Ning walked around the island and was surprised that it took him longer to go around than he expected.

He searched for fish or fish bones the entire time or even anything else that was hard and sharp, but he didn't seem to have any luck today.

'Damn, am I going to have to give up on my systemless adventure on the very first day?' he wondered. That would be incredibly sad, but Ning didn't know what else he could do.

He definitely didn't want to go around hungry any longer.

He walked around, slightly depressed for a bit more when he stopped in his tracks as he saw something.

Something long was moving along with the foamy waves on the side of the beach. It moved up with the waves that hit the beach and would get dragged back toward the ocean.

It did that multiple times, but the object remained in the same place overall.

Ning's eyes went wide as he couldn't imagine his luck at all.

"A Sword?!" he shouted in disbelief. There was a sword in front of him. It looked rusty from what he could see, but Ning didn't worry about rust.

As long as it could puncture the fruit in his hands, he would be very happy.

He ran up to the sword and got down to pick it up. However, when he tried to, he nearly broke his spine because of how heavy the sword was.

The waves still moved the sword around as easily as if it were made up of styrofoam, but to Ning, it held the mass of a thousand elephants.

"What the hell?"

Chapter C1080: Sustenance

Ning stepped back and looked at the rusty-looking sword that floated up and down the beach on the water.

"What is going on?" he wondered. He tried once again, and it once again appeared so very heavy.

"Why the hell is this rusty sword so—" Ning paused. He looked closer and noticed something that he hadn't noticed before.

"Wait, is that rust?" he thought. The sword had a rusty color for sure with a cracked surface, but now that he was looking at it, that didn't look like rust at all, more like… well, he couldn't tell.

The closest thing he could think of when seeing it was dried mud.

"Is this sword made up of mud?" Ning wondered. "Why is it so heavy?"

He wondered if it was like with Qi artifacts, where it had to be refined before being properly used.

"I'm too hungry to care right now," he thought. He brought the fruit next to the sword and tried to cut it open.

The fruit opened in a clean slice and the juices inside started spilling out. Ning quickly placed the cut in his mouth and started drinking it.

As he drank, he found the fruit's juices to be so very tasty. It was such a refreshing drink that he didn't think he had drunk anything like that in a very long time.

He drank till his belly was full and burped a little. He chuckled at his own burp as he hadn't done that in thousands and thousands of years per his memory.

Once he was full, he sat down and looked at where the sun was in the sky. As he watched, he noticed a moon in the sky as well.

'Oh, that looks quite big,' he thought. The moon was either bigger or closer to the planet than it normally would be on other planets.

He sat there for a while, wondering what he was to do next. Just then, he felt something in his body. Some sort of… discomfort from what he could tell.

"What's happening?" he thought as he held his stomach. Something was definitely with him. Just as he thought that he realized what was happening.

He needed to go take a dump.

"But I only ate," Ning thought worriedly.

He quickly ran off to one side to relieve himself, only to notice that nothing solid was coming out at all. The juices from the fruit he had just eaten were coming out as it was, completely unabsorbed by his body.

Once done, Ning covered it with some sand and walked away.

"Did I… not get anything from that?" he thought to himself. That wasn't right at all. He wasn't feeling hungry and neither was he feeling weak at all.

If anything, he was energized, despite everything going to waste.

'Maybe it didn't go to waste,' Ning thought. He must have acquired something from the fruit, not nothing. He waited to see if that was just a feeling, but it became quickly apparent that it wasn't. He really had received all the required sustenance from the liquid.

The sun slowly started going down, and Ning couldn't find a way off the island at all.

"Guess I will have to sleep here then," he thought. He found some dried leaves from the not-coconut trees and piled them up before going inside it. He hoped that was enough to keep the chill off of him for the night.

Ning fell asleep rather quickly as his new body was strained quite a lot on the very first day. He did not feel any discomfort throughout the night.

There was no cold, no heat, and definitely no itchiness despite sleeping on leaves. He hadn't realized, but the energy in the liquid he had drank the other day had started affecting his body.

Ning had removed all of his knowledge of the energy, so he didn't even know what energy it was, so he couldn't guess it at all.

The entire night, the energy moved through his body, improving it slowly. The improvements were not very noticeable at the moment, but very soon, they would be.

Ning woke up, unaware of the changes in his body. All he could feel was hungry again. He looked out and saw the moon on the horizon. He had been facing the opposite side to where the sun was going to rise.

"Hmm, the moon looks smaller," he thought and got back up. Since he was hungry again, he looked for more fruits. While he would have to waste it all, the feeling of sustenance was what he looked forward to.

He found one of the fruits on the ground and walked up to the beach where the sword was. He had to look around for a bit before he found the sword. It seemed to have moved a few meters to the side over the course of the night.

He waited for a wave to float it up high and used the opportunity to cut his fruit again. He wasted no time drinking the fruit and finished it easily.

"What about this skin?" Ning wondered. He had thrown away the one from yesterday, but he wondered if he could eat it.

He started chewing it from the torn part, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't rip it off at all. The skin of the fruit was so very soft, but it was also so elastic that he simply couldn't destroy it at all.

Ning feared what would happen if he were to cut up such things and eat it, so he got rid of the notion entirely.

"Am I going to have to dump once more today?" he wondered. It had been less than a minute yesterday before he had to do it, so he assumed the same for today as well.

He waited for the entire minute, but nothing happened at all. "Oh, am I safe?" Ning wondered. It felt like he didn't have to worry about anything.

Just as he thought that he felt his stomach growl a little and he knew he had spoken too early.

"Dammit!" Ning cried out and ran for it once again. He found a place away from where he would sleep and relieved himself once again.

However, this time he noticed that the contents he excreted were a lot less.

He walked away wondering if he had drunk less. 'That's not right,' he thought to himself. The fruit was the same size, so he had to have drunk the same amount as yesterday.

"Maybe I absorbed a bit more today," he thought. "My new body must be getting used to food then."

Ning looked to the sky with a happy face and noticed a large moon there.

"Hm?" he thought and looked in the direction he now knew was west. "Wait, that moon is still there. Oh, two moons."

He nodded to himself as he understood what was happening. This planet had two moons. He remembered Nulwurn having two moons. "I wonder what their names are," he thought.

It felt very weird not immediately have the answer to such easy questions. But then again, that was part of the adventure he had set for himself.

"So, can I get out of this island somehow?" Ning wondered.

Ning decided to climb up a tree and see if he could see any ships on the horizon. Maybe he could set up some fire as well if he could find one to let them know he was here.

He sat on top of the tree for nearly half a day as he just looked at the horizon for something to show up.

It was a good place to absorb the 5.24 Trillion energies he could absorb today, as Heat and Radiant Energy were abundant in there. His body also absorbed Sound energy and some Kinetic energy from the wind.

If he could just get 1 Septillion energy somehow, he could collect energy by simply eating stuff. Anything in his stomach would give him the energy to absorb.

Unfortunately, that was still quite far away.

Ning waited for a long while before going down. He wondered what he could do here and started training his body to improve his physique. If it got stronger, it could absorb a lot more energy after all.

He spent the rest of the day training and then went to sleep. At night, his body would improve on its own, which he didn't become aware of.

Once he woke up, he would find another fruit and go drink from it after cutting it with the sword that he couldn't pick up. Ning gave up on even trying for now.

Every time he drank from the fruit, he had to take a dump. However, the period after which he had to do so and the amount he had to get rid of were slowly getting better and better for him.

At some point, it would be no different from eating normal foods.

Of course, Ning was starting to get suspicious that the energy of this world was affecting him. He didn't know what this energy was, but simply drinking a bit of fruit was not enough to sustain one for an entire day after all.

"I must be consuming the energy in it," he thought.

Days passed one after another, and Ning waited for a ship or something to show up on the ocean. However, as each day passed by, he started to become more and more certain that that was not the case.

He couldn't wait for someone or something to come save him here.

He had to make his way out of here on his own.

Chapter C1081: Earthquake

Ning stayed on the island for over a month, trying to find a way out of there.

There was no ship or boats in that region of the ocean, so he was stuck there. He wanted to make a small raft, but he couldn't do that either as he had nothing to cut the trees with.

He simply spent his days there eating the fruit juices and waiting to see some sort of aid in the ocean. There was nothing else he could do on this small island.

Fortunately, the island wasn't that cold and it didn't rain at all, or he would have definitely gotten into a lot of problems there.

However, that was starting to get boring too, and Ning was getting ever so closer to closer to just teleporting away from this place.

That was, until one day something happened that shook the entire island.

Ning was using the sword the cut his fruit when suddenly he felt an earthquake hit the island. It was a strong shake and he couldn't remain standing at all. He fell onto the water and stayed there for a while.

"What… what's going on?" he looked around worriedly. The shaking continued for a while, making him stay there. If Ning were to guess, that was strong enough to topple skyscrapers in a modern city.

He felt himself slip away suddenly as he was pulled along with the waves. His weight however made it so that the sword slowly slipped away from the wave, falling to the sand below.

Ning tried to remove his hands from the sword when he realized what was happening. The water had disappeared from the shore and so much more of the beach was visible.

"Is it a tsunami?" Ning thought. He knew that after an earthquake, especially this close to the ocean, there was always the chance of a tsunami.

Not only that, the water level receding meant that the tsunami was definitely coming. Ning decided to prepare for it, but he wasn't sure how he could do it at all.

How could he, a normal human at the moment, prepare himself for a tsunami on a small island with nothing but small coconut trees?

Should he climb his way to the top of the trees? Maybe the fact that they were standing meant that they were strong enough to handle these situations.

Ning tried to run for the trees but he stopped because he noticed something. About 20 or so meters from where he was in the direction of the receding water, he noticed a thin perimeter in the sand where the water simply dropped instead of moving back.

"What?" Ning thought with a confused look as he noticed that the perimeter went around the island.

As he followed the drop with his eyes, he realized something that he hadn't realized before.

It was not that the water was receding at all, but the fact that the whole land was rising up from the ocean.

"What the hell is going o—"

His words stuck in his mouth as something rose from the ocean in the distance. A massive head popped out from the water with something long attached to it.

Ning's eyes went wide when he realized that was a turtle head.

"Am I… am I standing on top of a turtle?" he couldn't help but ask himself. Was he going to die from the beast?

Just as he was feeling scared, something else appeared to get rid of his fear of the turtle. Not because he felt he was safe from the turtle now, but because his fear was replaced. The thing that appeared was a massive illusory snake that was nearly 10 times the size of the massive turtle he was on.

Now that Ning looked at the head of the turtle, the thing that seemed to be sticking out of it was the snake's head, which seemed to have chomped off.

The snake was dead, but it was still there to fight back one more time.

The snake's illusory body hissed listlessly as it didn't know what to do. Its instinct kicked in and it attacked the first thing it noticed, the turtle.

Suddenly, 5 massive blobs of water appeared in the air next to the turtle's head and it they suddenly shot out a massive amount of water at the snake.

In the next moment, each water blast left a hole in the snake's illusory body, which started disintegrating in the air and falling on top of Ning.

Ning put up his arms in a reflex and suddenly the sword that he had gripped tightly at some point in fear came along with his arm.

The illusory light simply passed through him like bits of light that weren't there to harm him at all.

Ning was surprised and thankful that he was safe. Then, he looked at the sword in his hand and realized that he was actually picking it up.

"But how?" he wondered. He let go of the sword and noticed that his palm was bloody. "I must have gripped it too hard."

He wondered if this was the same as Qi. If only he had known that so many days ago. "I should have tried to use it so much earlier," Ning thought.

He staggered a bit as the turtle's head went underwater. And then, it started moving. Ning watched as the ocean waves moved away in the distance and he realized he was finally moving away from this godforsaken place.

The turtle remained floating at the top and thankfully didn't go underwater as Ning's journey truly began in this world.

"Oh, I should go look out for some boats now," he thought. "Hopefully I can find some."

He quickly grabbed the sword and ran away from the beach towards the center of the island where the trees were.

He climbed up the tree and arrived at the top where he sat and watched all around him.

With him moving from this location, he was sure he would definitely find a place to depart soon enough.

Chapter C1082: Land

Ning reached below the tree and grabbed onto one of the fruit before picking it. He used his sword to give it a slight cut and drank everything without wasting a single drop of the fruit.

He threw away the skin and watched the distant horizon to hopefully see some boat or ship.

It had been 3 weeks since the turtle started moving and Ning had once again gotten bored. All he did was stay on top of the tree and watched the ocean while occasionally eating the fruit.

Thankfully, the fruit wasn't as bad to eat as it used to be the first time around. He had eaten so much of the fruit that he had gotten used to it by now.

Ning no longer had to take a dump every time he drank the juices. By now, the liquid would stay in his body long enough that he could simply pee and e done with it.

Ning jumped from one tree and landed on the other one. His body felt supremely flexible and strong, something that should not be the case unless he was improving himself with the energy.

Ning couldn't help but wonder what energy he was absorbing from the juices of the fruit. He felt like he should know the answer, but given that he had removed all of his knowledge about the other energies, he was drawing a blank each time.

"I swear I saw this energy when I was in Genesis," Ning thought, but he still didn't remember it.

A few more days passed and Ning was getting tired of everything. He was on the verge of just giving up and teleporting to the closest land when he noticed something.

There was a small boat in the distance. It looked small from where he was, so he wasn't sure if he could tell the size or not.

He immediately jumped from the tree and ran up to a pile of leaves he had prepared long ago. He took a rock he had found and struck it hard with his sword.

He could see the sparks flying in the shadows as they fell on the leaves. He tried a few more times and got a fire going. He piled a few more leaves on top and climbed back on top of the closest tree.

"HEY! HERE!" he shouted as loud as he could, hoping the people on that boat could hear his screams in the ocean.

He wasn't sure how far his shouts could travel, but given that it was an open ocean, he had very high hopes.

Black smoke started filling the sky, trailing behind him as the turtle continued moving through the ocean.

Ning continued shouting, but it didn't look like the people were listening at all. Let alone listening, they seemed to be drifting away.

"Wait, no!" Ning shouted and piled up some more leaves to create stronger smoke, but those people were definitely leaving.

Ning was worried that they would get far away, and then he would no longer get a chance to leave this island.

As he thought that, he noticed a small land on the horizon. That was the closest he had gotten to any single land since he had arrived here nearly 2 months ago.

"Hell no," he thought. "I am not gonna miss this."

He jumped down from the tall tree, landing on his own two feet as he ran towards the shore in the direction of the boat and the land.

He waited to see the direction of the turtle and realized that the turtle had still a few ways to go before it was close to the land.

As hours passed, the land came closer and closer to him, which was still many kilometers away.

Ning looked for the boats, but most of them had disappeared already.

"Dammit, no boats," he thought and looked towards the land in the distance that was definitely perpendicular in direction to the path of where the turtle was heading.

"I'm not missing this," Ning thought. "Not a chance."

Without hesitation, he jumped into the waves on the beach and started swimming away. The water was cold, but that was surprisingly not very uncomfortable.

After a few strokes in the water, he realized that he didn't need to do much to stay afloat. All he had to do was hold onto his sword which floated on top of the water without sinking at all.

Ning could put his entire body's weight on the sword and it still wouldn't sink even the slightest.

"Haha!" Ning shouted and started swimming with just his legs while his body was on the flat side of the sword. He had to be careful not the cut himself, but that was about it.

Everything else from here on out was simple.

"I hope no sea beasts attack me though," he thought. He remembered the snake from long ago and shuddered. The giant snake was something that could wrap around the island at least 5 times.

If such massive beasts were here as well, it would be extremely problematic.

Fortunately, no beasts appeared at all. Ning continued swimming for hours and he didn't even notice a single fish.

The sun was starting to get low by now, but there was still enough light in the sky. And with that, he noticed a small fishing boat not far away from him.

"Help!" he shouted with a tired voice. Even if his body was strong, after swimming for so long, Ning was surprised at how weak he felt. "Help!"

He shouted a few more times before the fishermen saw him. They rowed their boat towards him and pulled him up onto their boat.

"Dear lord, young man. Are you okay?" one of the men asked.

Ning wanted to nod to say he was okay, but he was surprised that all he could do was shake from the cold.

"Let the young man heat up first," another man said. "Take off your clothes. They will only make you colder. Here, take this blanket."

Ning shook uncontrollably, but he managed to sneak a 'thank you' in his shaking.

Chapter C1083: Essence

Ning was brought to the shore around twilight and was taken into the fishermen's village.

"Young man, sit by the fire," the fishermen who saved him said as they placed him close to the bonfire that seemed to be placed in the center of the village.

Ning looked around, getting a distinct feeling of deja vu. It felt all so familiar to the Klavian village he had arrived all those years ago, with people that sat by the fire at night, eating fish.

"Can you speak now?" one of them asked.

"Yes, I can," Ning spoke as well as he could. "Thank you for saving me."

"Of course," the fisherman said. "That's what we are supposed to do. Sit here, we will get you something to eat."

Ning nodded and waited. A few minutes later, the man brought back a bowl of steaming fish soup and handed it to Ning.

Ning saw a small wooden spoon and took it to eat the soup. The taste wasn't all that great, it was simply salt and maybe one more mild spice, but getting to eat the hot soup when he had been freezing cold just a few moments ago made it feel so good.

"This is delicious," he told the man who brought the fish to him.

"Haha! My wife is an amazing cook. Eat up and don't hesitate to ask for more," the man said.

People started surrounding him soon enough, asking questions as to who he was and where he was from. Ning told them exactly what he knew.

"I woke up on an island without my memories. I survived by eating the fruit there for a few days. Then it turned out that the island was actually a giant turtle, which was…"

Ning continued telling the story and each person around him had a distinctly shocked look on their face.

He could understand their feelings too. Like, who would expect an island to turn out to be on the back of a turtle, one that killed a giant freaking snake.

Some of them started praying while others decided to move away from Ning.

"You have met the Divine beast then," one of them said.

"The what?" Ning asked.

"Divine beasts. Legend says they are beings of incredible power that can destroy the world if they felt like it. Maybe humans of incredible power wish to reach their strength as well, but very few come close," the fisherman said.

"There are humans that are as strong as those beasts?" Ning asked curiously. "Can I meet them?"

"No," the fisherman shook his head. "Us lowly humans will never have the opportunity to meet the ones who have reached the pinnacle of Essence itself."

"Essence?" Ning asked.

The fisherman looked at him weirdly. "Do you not know what Essence is?" he asked.

"I'm afraid this is the first time I'm hearing the word after losing my memories," Ning said.

"Dear lord, you must have fallen in a terrible shipwreck," the fisherman said. "Or worse, the divine beast stole you from somewhere. You did well to leave."

"Anyway, about Essence," Ning asked. "Can you tell me more about it?"

"I can tell you a bit," the Fisherman said. "But I must say, I as well as everyone here is mostly ignorant in the ways of the Essence. The only thing most of us have managed to do is reach the Physical Improvement realm. Only us two have reached the 5-Sense Improvement realm, which is why we hunt so far out in the sea."

Ning heard what they said and thought he understood it, but he still asked them to explain it a bit more.

As expected, the Physical Improvement realm was where one's body improved significantly when compared to a normal human being. One could go anywhere from twice as strong to ten times as strong in the process.

The improvement depended apparently on the quality of the essence one took in, which not many had control over. Also, it was apparently very hard to get to the next realm without using a technique, but the poor fisherman had no way of buying any.

In the many dozens of years they had been alive, only two had managed to reach the 5-Sense Improvement realm.

As the name suggested, the 5-Sense Improvement realm improved one's 5 senses, allowing them to be far more perceptive of everything around them.

They could improve so much that they could feel the subtle change in air pressure, temperature, and humidity just by being outside in the air. They could taste the subtlest difference between two similar flavors, or smell the difference between two similar smelling odors.

They could even see the smallest movement and could in fact see many, many miles away with just their naked eyes.

Similarly, they could also hear the faintest sound once spoke and distinguish individual sounds in a crowd.

That was to say, the 5-Sense Improvement realm was a major improvement to a normal human's daily life, making them far better at almost everything in comparison.

Since these two fishermen were the only ones that were in such an amazing realm, they took on the task to go for more dangerous areas where they could fish for the village.

They talked for a while and Ning learned a bit more about Essence, but these people had nothing important to give him. Ning asked a bit about where he was and where he could go next. They couldn't even tell him much about that.

However, there was apparently a city that they would be visiting 2 days later, so Ning just had to wait around for that. They would be going to the city to sell what little they could and buy some grains.

Ning decided to spend the two days he had here and then he would go to the city to continue his journey in this world.

'Essence huh?' he thought to himself. 'I wonder if I interacted with it before. I must've since I removed the memories. Anyway, this should be fun.'

Chapter C1084: The City

Ning sat in the front of the card where the driver's seat was. The cart itself was full of fish and was very smelly, so he was forced to sit in front, even though it was a tight fit with 3 of them there.

The path to the city took 3 hours with the cart and horses, and the path went through normal grasslands and small forests, so there wasn't much for Ning to do.

He held a small circular disc no more than an inch wide in diameter. It looked like a small, flat pebble one would throw to skip in the river. Except, this small thing was made up of cloudy white energy.

It was like someone had encased air into a small class disc.

"I see," Ning said as he looked at the thing in his hand against the sky. "So this is an Essence coin. This is the currency of this land, huh?"

"Not just this land," the fisherman to his right said. "Of all lands. This is the only currency available of course."

Ning nodded.

"Of course, this isn't the only Essence coin available," the man to his left said. "This is the Air Essence coin. They are the most widely available Essence coin because of how easy it is to find Air Essence. It is everywhere in the surrounding."

The other man nodded. "Air Essence is the most widely made and found Essence coin. The one above that would be the Earth Essence coins. Then it would be the Water Essence coins, and finally the Fire Essence coins," the man said.

"I see," Ning said. "Is there a reason why the Fire is above Water? Is it because of how abundant water is?"

"Yes," the man said.

"What about places where water isn't available?" Ning asked. "Would they still hold Water Essence in the same regard as Fire Essence?"

"Oh, the value of the coins depends on the area you are in. This close to the ocean, the Water Essence doesn't hold as much value as the fire, which is why it ranks lower. But in other places, it would obviously hold higher," the man said.

Ning nodded. "So, are these 4 essences the only ones with coins for them?" he asked.

The two fishermen looked at each other and hesitated a little. "We've heard of other types of Essence coins, but we've never seen them so we're not sure," they said.

"I see," Ning said. 'Well, I will find out eventually.'

He continued learning more about the Essence coins and how they were made. He was surprised to hear that the coins were actually made by humans themselves. It was not like Spirit stones or Mana cores that one could find somewhere naturally.

The two fishermen did not have any idea how they could be made, but apparently, they were created by humans, which was why the four primary elements had the most amount of coins for it.

Since many people were used to the elements, they were the ones who would make the coins easily, allowing them to spread throughout the world.

Ning wondered how they were made and couldn't help but look forward to it. Learning new things he didn't just know was a different experience he hadn't experienced in a very long time after all.

The cart arrived close to the city and Ning could already see the change in people's clothes from the fishermen to the normal people here.

Ning looked at his own clothes and found that he was not so different from theirs either. At a glance, it looked like he was from here, even though the clothes didn't exactly match the style of this place.

A while later, they entered Frailheart city which was just past a small river with a wooden bridge on top.

Many people either walked or rode on carriages, carts, or simply horses.

Ning looked at the architecture, which looked somehow very old and modern at the same time. The design itself was old, almost medieval in style, but the technique used to make the houses, and the craftsmanship behind it was very advanced.

The cart stopped outside of a moderately big butcher's shop that sold all types of meat, apparently including beasts of up to 5-Sense Improvement realm.

Ning got off and looked at the two fishermen. "Is this where your business is?" he asked.

"Yes, we will sell our fish here, and after buying some grains, we will return," they said.

"I see," Ning said as he looked around. "Thank you for bringing me here and for taking care of me for the last two days."

"Haha, it is what we must do," the two fishermen said. "Right, don't forget your sword."

"Ah, yes," Ning said and brought the sword from the back. The sword was wrapped in some loose clothes. They had tried wrapping it tightly, but the clothes kept getting cut open.

He wrapped the sword around his waist and nodded to himself. "I will be leaving now," Ning said. "If I manage to find my way home, I will try and come back to visit you all."

"Do come. You will be welcome anytime," the fishermen said.

Ning nodded one last time and left.

Even though he had said those words, he knew he would never return to these fishermen ever again. There was no reason for him too. He would continue from here on, traveling the rest of the world, so coming here was not something he was really planning on doing.

However, he was still grateful for them, and for that, he had already helped these people. While he wasn't going to use the system for himself in his travels, it didn't stop him from helping these people.

Ning had left them a very good technique to absorb Essence that would improve their speed and talent by a lot. Ning himself had no idea what sort of technique it was, except that it had something to do with Water Essence, which was abundant that close to the ocean.

"Alright then, where should I go next?"

Chapter C1085: The Weapon Store

Ning walked through the city, looking around to see what he could do there. With only a single set of clothes and a sword to his name, he wasn't sure how he was going to pay off anything without just making money with his system.

'Wait, I can't even do that,' he thought. The Essence coins were made with Essence, so it was impossible to create them with his system.

"I guess, I'm going to have to work for it," he thought.

The city of Frailheart didn't seem to be the biggest city around. Based on what he could see, not a single person seemed to have enough Essence Order to justify this being a big city.

In Ning's eyes, it was barely better than a town at all.

There were some fun things to look at but he wasn't sure how they were made. The shops all had massive boards in front of them that seemed to be made up of nothing but light. They were bright and glowed even in daylight.

Ning wondered how they were made at all. As he was looking at them, he noticed a shop that apparently sold weapons.

He stopped for a moment and looked at the shop, and then his sword. 'Hmm? Should I sell my sword?' he wondered. He had already refined the sword so he wasn't sure if he could sell it or not, but if he could, he would be happy to get the few coins from the shop.

Since he was more of a spear user than a sword user, he wasn't particularly attached to the sword he had.

He walked into the shop and saw quite a few people there, browsing the catalog. He looked around, trying to find someone to talk to.

"Greetings," a clerk walked up to him. "Are you looking for a weapon? We've had the best Essence weapons delivered to us just a couple of days ago."

"Oh, no I'm not here for Essence weapons," Ning said.

"Oh," the clerk said. "Then we have Essence armors too. Or are you searching for regular weapons and armor by any chance?"

"No, no," Ning said. "I'm not here to buy at all. I was wondering if I could in fact sell my weapon."

"Sell?" the clerk looked at Ning and then at the sword wrapped around his waist. "Hmm, that will depend on the quality of your weapon. Please wait for a moment, I will find someone to appraise it."

Ning nodded and waited around. He looked around and something caught his eye immediately. There were weapons to the side that seemed to be made up of different Essences.

There was a sword that seemed to be burning with fire, even though it didn't give off any heat or burn the wooden stand it was on.

There was another sword that was made with water. The blade swayed and rippled, but not a single drop of water came down from the sword itself.

There was a sword that had a blade that was made entirely of air, and another one that was made entirely of dirt. Another one was made up of light, and there seemed to even be one made up of clouds.

"I see," he thought. "So these are the Essence weapons. I wonder how they are made."

Ning looked around and saw a spear as well. The shaft of the spear was up of wood, but the blade itself seemed to be made up of fire.

Ning tried to find other spears, but there weren't any. It was the only one. There were axes, bows, arrows, and other various weapons, but Ning didn't care about those.

"Sir, please come with me," the clerk arrived next to Ning and spoke.

Ning turned around and nodded before following the clerk through a door to the back. He arrived in the back room that seemed to be full of wooden crates, some of which glowed a dull red or blue color.

These boxes seemed to be full of similar Essence weapons as well.

An older gentleman sat on a chair on the other side of the table. He looked at Ning walk in, but his eyes immediately went toward the sword on his waist.

"Come on, hurry up," the man said, gesturing for Ning to bring out the weapon.

Ning didn't react to his bad attitude and placed the sword on the table in front of him. He slowly unwrapped the baggy wrappings and showed the rusty-looking sword to the man.

The man frowned for a moment. "Is that a sword made from Rust Essence?" he asked for a second before looking closer. "Oh no, it's just red dirt."

He started appraising the sword after that.

"The design is not bad," he said. "It's an old design, but you can't go wrong with that. On design alone, I would put a price of 100 air coins for it.

'100 air coins?' Ning thought. He thought back to what the two fishermen had told him in terms of what they could get and what they could buy with Air Essence coins.

'Didn't they say they got about 50 for what they sold, and that would be enough grain to last them for a month?' he thought. That meant that his sword was going to be sold for at least 2 months' worth of food for an entire village.

'That's not bad,' he thought.

"Let me test the sharpness," he said and brought out a few things. There were leaves, papers, leather, and a small piece of metal.

"Let's see if it is sharp or not," the man said, starting with the leaf. He grabbed the sword and tried to use it, but he couldn't find the strength in him to pick the sword up at all.

"Dammit, did you claim it already?" the man asked him.

"Claim… I think I did," Ning said. "Is that a problem?"

"Damn," the old man said. "It makes it hard to appraise. Alright, use the sword and cut these things. I want to test them."

Ning nodded and picked the sword up as if it was light as a feather. Then, he started with the test.

Chapter C1086: Appraisal

The metal sheet cut as easily as the leaf did. There was no resistance on any of the four tests, surprising the appraiser very much.

"That… that is a very sharp sword," the man said.

"That is it," Ning replied, placing the sword back on the table. "So, what's the verdict?"

"I still need to do a few more tests," the man said. "Can you bring it out back?"

He and Ning walked back and asked Ning to place it on the ground. Ning nodded and placed it on the ground and looked around the area, noticing that it was smithy back here.

People were making weapons and armor, but it didn't seem like there was anything Essence-related happening here at all.

"Oi, you lot. Come here," the man shouted and everyone who was working in the smithy looked at him.

"What's going on, sir?" one of them asked.

"We have an Earth essence sword here. I want you to help me find out how heavy it is," the man said.

"Oh, okay," the men all gathered around the sword and started tying ropes around the handle.

"Careful around the blade. It's incredibly sharp," the appraiser told them and every one carefully placed the rope around the hilt and guard with Ning's help.

Once done, only one person tried to pick it up by pulling on the rope. His face went red as veins started popping all over his head and arm, but even then he couldn't nudge the sword even the slightest bit.

Another one joined, and he was the same. He tried moving it, but the sword didn't move a single inch.

Ning walked next to the man and asked, "what exactly are you trying to find out?" he asked. "Isn't it enough to know it is heavy?"

"I'm trying to find out how heavy it is," the man said. He pointed at the sword and said, "see that color. That tells me that the sword was made using… some sort of rock, or pile of red dirt or something. Given how weak their essence usually is, I need to figure out how much of it was exactly used to learn just how strong the sword's output can be."

Ning nodded to himself as he heard that but he didn't exactly understand what the man meant.

"How does one make a sword like this?" he asked. "I simply can't imagine how one can control real-life things to turn them into weapons."

"Well, don't ask me. I'm only in the Essence Sense realm. I hear you have to Essence Manifestation realm to even begin to try making something like this."

The man was about to continue, to explain more about the weapons and armor, but stopped. Giving out industry secrets was not something he should be doing so easily.

"Anyway, if your sword had a lot of Essences, it will sell for more," the man said. He turned and watched the others trying to pick up the sword, but with each added man, he frowned.

There were 6 people now, and each of them strained their hardest to pull the sword up, but not a single one was able to do it at all.

"What the hell is going on?" the man asked. "How are you still failing?"

The group stopped and took a few deep breaths. "Sir, this sword is incredibly heavy," one of the men said with bated breaths. "I… I don't think we can pick it up."

"It can't be so heavy that so many of you fail to pick it up right?" the man asked. "You three, help them."

3 more people were added to the group, and they tried once again, but the result was the same.

The appraiser frowned and called all of the remaining people to help and joined on it himself. They all tried to pick the sword up, but they all failed once more.

"What the hell?" the appraiser shouted and turned to Ning. "What the hell is this sword made up of? A mountain?"

Ning didn't know what to answer. "I don't know," he said. "I just found it."

He was starting to realize that maybe the sword wasn't something he should be getting rid of so easily.

"Is seeing a sword out of a mountain rare?" he asked.

"Rare? It's fucking impossible to imagine one even existing," the appraiser was visibly shaken and started cursing.

"Oh," Ning smiled. Maybe his sword was made up of a mountain. If not a mountain then a very large rock for sure, seeing how nearly 15 people failed to pick it up.

He walked over and picked the sword up easily, untying the ropes from its hilts and guard.

"I'm assuming you won't be buying it then?" Ning asked. "You can't even seem to be able to pick it up after all."

The appraiser frowned. "No," he said. "There's no way we can sell something that we can't even put on the stands."

Ning nodded. "Still, what would you say this sword will sell at? At the very least," he asked.

The man thought for a bit. "If the craftsmanship is even low grade, the sword can sell for at least 4 thousand Fire coins easily," he said.

"Woah! 4 thousand fire coins? How much is that in Air coins?" Ning asked.

The man thought for a moment. "Around 16 thousand air coins," the man said. "It really is a very expensive sword. I do not know how you received it, but I suggest you be very careful with it. If someone recognizes its value and decides to steal it from you, you will be in a very bad time."

"I see, thank you for the information," Ning said.

"No problem," the man said. "It will be 5 air coins then."

Ning was about to turn around to leave when he heard the words. "5 air coins?" he asked. "For what?"

"For the appraisal," the man said.

"But… my sword wasn't sold," Ning said.

"Yes, but I still appraised it. The appraisal cost would be taken from the sale, but since you're not selling, I have to ask you for it."

Ning looked at the man blankly for a moment before saying. "Umm… I don't have any money at all. Is there any other way I can pay you back?"

Chapter C1087: Drink

Ning was forced to work in the smithy for 3 hours to pay the man back for the appraisal.

He technically only had to work for a single hour, but the old man decided to give him 2 more hours so he could earn some money instead, since he didn't have any.

The task was supposed to be hard as he had to continuously beat blobs of molten metal into the shape of an armor.

The thickness had to be very much the same all the way around, and he had to make sure the metal was properly tempered.

He was used to working on metals to make items, but it was different when working with Qi. With Qi, he was capable of melting the metal and shaping it without even having to touch it. The only hard part there was putting Qi lines into them, but without any energy, he had to make sure he didn't ruin it all.

Surprisingly, he was rather good at it all. The other workers were impressed and even asked Ning to join them. They were willing to teach Ning whatever else he didn't know about.

However, Ning didn't join them. He refused to work there and after the 3 hours were done, he stopped.

The appraiser gave him 10 air coins and Ning left the weapon shop. He had wanted to buy some scabbard for his sword, but his sword was so sharp that it would cut anything he put it into.

Worst case scenario, Ning would have to put it into his interdimensional storage. He didn't really mind that idea, however, as he had also already used the storage once before.

That was the only time he was willing to break any rule he had set for himself. He walked around the city, learning more about it and soon realized that it was getting dark.

The light would disappear in just an hour or two. While that most likely wasn't bad, given how light itself were turned into the shop's signs and light posts, there was another problem with the rain.

The sky was getting cloudy too, and at any moment it would rain.

Ning found himself a small tavern and walked in. He asked for a room and was happy to hear that he could stay and get 3 meals a day for the 10 air coins. The smithy sure gave him quite a bit of money.

It started raining outside and the tavern got rowdy with all the people that came to eat after a long day of work.

Ning sat by a table towards the wall and the tavern owner, a big woman, brought him some heavy soup with some vegetables and meat in it, and a large jug of mead.

Ning thanked her and started eating. The food wasn't delicious, or even that tasty at all. It was mediocre at best, but it was edible and the seasonings weren't bad enough to ruin the taste.

So, Ning could still eat it.

More and more people walked into the tavern, and soon people had to sit next to Ning so they could enjoy some food and drinks.

Ning finished eating and looked at the mead that was next to him. It didn't look the best of drinks he could think of and it didn't even smell all that good. But given how the people of the tavern laughed around while drinking, Ning wondered if this was fun at all.

Since his body had always been so strong and had high metabolism, he could drink for hours and hours and not get drunk. However, now that he was using a new body, he wondered if that was still the case.

Surely, he could still get drunk, right?

Without hesitation, he drank a mouthful of mead, gulping it all down at once. It burned his throat as it went down and he hated that sensation.

"Wow, that sucks," he spoke, disregarding the people that were around him, who were drinking as well.

"It is, isn't it?" the man next to him said. "It's the shittiest drink you can find in the entire city." The man took another gulp. "But damn if it doesn't make you want to take another sip."

Ning laughed and drank as well. He somehow started talking with the people there, drinking together with them.

"Is this the first time you're drinking, young man?" one of them asked.

"It sure is," Ning said, slightly tipsy but with enough control over himself to keep a clear head.

"Haha, do you like getting drunk?" the man asked.

"It's… not a bad feeling, I suppose," Ning said.

"Haha, then you should buy another round. Buy it for us as well," the man said.

"I'm sorry fellas, I'm all out of money," Ning said. "I already spent all the 10 coins I had on renting a room for the next week. I will have to go out and look for some job tomorrow to even find a way to buy anything I want."

"What? You're goddamn broke then," the man said.

"I sure am," Ning said as he brought his jug up. "Cheers to being broke."

"Cheers!" the rest of them shouted as they laughed and drank some more.

Ning happily took another sip, only to realize he had drank it all. "Oh, I'm done it seems," he said as he chuckled a bit.

"You want another one?" the man next to him asked.

"Yes, but I don't have any money," Ning said.

"It will be on me," the man said. "Also, it looks like you're looking for a job. Do you want one?"

"Uhh… sure," Ning said. "What sort of job is it?"

"Package delivery," the man said. "You take something from one place to another, and vice versa."

"Uhh… sure," Ning said. "Does it pay well?"

"The task takes an entire day to complete, but if you do complete it, I will pay you 20 Earth coins," the man said.

"Oh," Ning grew attentive when he heard that. "If it pays that well, then I am definitely willing to do the job."

Chapter C1088: Memory

Ning went to sleep on a rather stiff bed, but it was better than sleeping on the pile of itchy leaves on the island, or the stiff and cold ground in the fishermen's village.

With how tipsy he had been last night, he ended up falling asleep rather quickly and woke up with a slight hangover instead.

'Urgh! This sucks,' he thought. He felt thirsty, extremely thirsty, and looked around for some water to drink. However, he couldn't find any at all.

He somehow found it too bothersome to go down to ask for some water, so he did what he thought was the right thing.

He reached into his storage space and pulled out one of the fruits he had taken from the island. Since he had been planning on leaving the place for a long time, he had gathered as many fruits as he could.

Since he had nowhere to keep it, he decided to use the storage to keep the fruits. Not only as a measure to store them because of how many there were but also to store to preserve them.

Keeping them outside would most likely ruin them, and Ning didn't want that. He found the sword on the floor next to him, which he quickly unwrapped and cut the fruit to drink

The refreshing taste of the fruit's juices fell into his mouth and with every gulp, he passed it along to his body. His thirst was quickly quenched, and to his surprise, Ning even found that his hangover was getting better.

By the time he had drank it all, there was absolutely no problem with him at all. He was properly refreshed.

"Woah! This fruit is seriously amazing," he thought to himself. "I should see if anyone recognizes what it is."

Ning went down to the tavern to find the owner and asked her about the fruit. The woman looked at the fruit a bit but she did not seem to recognize it at all.

She didn't even know of any fruit that had such a property to it.

Ning was slightly dejected, but not very much. We went to the back of the tavern to use a bathroom and get freshened up.

Then, he remembered the man yesterday that he had promised to work for him. "Where did he ask me to meet again?" Ning thought.

He remembered the man's face from last night and tried to think of where he was said to meet.

"What the hell? Why is it so hard to remember?" He thought. He tried his best, but for some reason, he couldn't remember much at all.

"Shit, I forgot to buy Eidetic Memory, didn't I?" Ning thought. He had such a high cultivation base and so many memories that were permanently stored in his mind while in the other body, he forgot that he even needed to buy it.

He tried the best he could to remember. The man had a short beard, frizzly hair, and…

"Did he have a scar on his face?" Ning thought. There was definitely something there, most likely scars from untreated acne.

"Package delivery," Ning remembered. "That's what he wanted me to do. And… ah right, by the side of the green building next to the bridge."

Ning finally remembered. "That took some time," he thought as he sighed. He thought of buying the Eidetic memory to help with his adventure as a normal human in this world and realized that a normal human wouldn't have that. So, he decided to not buy it at all.

He could still buy all the memories he would lose in the end anyway, so he wasn't very worried.

He quickly left the tavern, going out toward the bridge that was toward the east.

The bridge wasn't the same one he came from yesterday, the one he crossed with the villagers. That bridge was small and was on the west side of the city.

The one Ning was going towards was on the Eastern side, slightly to the south, and was the bigger bridge, with a wider pathway.

It was far enough from the tavern that it took him nearly half an hour to walk to on foot. He was about a hundred meters away from the bridge and saw a green-colored house there that was the only one there.

As he was about to go there, a man walked up to him.

"You there, stop," the man said.

Ning turned around and noticed the man, who was in a uniform. The blue uniform belonged to the guards of this city, so Ning understood that he had probably done something wrong.

"Yes, brother? How can I help you?" he asked.

"What's that?" the man pointed to his sword.

"That? That's my sword," Ning said. He wondered if it was illegal to walk around with his weapon. But then again, many did.

"Why is it not in a sheath?" the man asked.

"Oh, its too sharp to keep in a sheath. It would cut right through it," Ning said, without thinking much.

The man's eyes went wide. "It can cut right through a sheath and you decide it's a good idea to keep it uncovered?" he asked.

"Oh…" Ning thought for a moment. "Damn, you're right. This is dangerous."

"Find a sheath for that sword. Make sure you don't have to be told another time," the guard said.

"I will, thank you brother," Ning said and walked away. He made sure to walk away from most people, so as to not accidentally cut them.

He arrived at the green-colored house and quickly saw the man that was next to it. 'There he is,' Ning thought and walked towards him.

The man had noticed him already and waited for Ning to reach him. Just as he did, the man grabbed Ning by his collar and slammed him onto the wall.

"Why the hell was the guard talking to you?" the man shouted.

"Ow!" Ning shouted. "Get off me."

"Answer me?" the man shouted.

"Nothing," Ning said. "He was just telling me that I shouldn't keep my sword out in the open. God, why do you care? Are you a criminal or something?"