Chapter 18

The next morning, Fares opened his eyes and profoundness could be seen deep within it.

He didn't increase his cultivation level, but he now had a more profound understanding of the Dark energy in the surroundings.

He didn't know what time was it right now, so he went to check on Azkar.

Azkar opened his eyes as soon as Fares was 5 meters away. He asked, "What can I help you with now, young man."

"HeHe, not much I just want to know about the time around here, we're in a cave after all." Fares replied awkwardly thinking about what happened yesterday, or at least 8 hours ago.

"Ah that. By the level of energy around you. You see, during the day the sun wields a lot of the energy in the atmosphere, I have no idea how it just has been that way for as long as we came to know."

"The sun. The sun. The sun." Fares kept muttering while tapping his index finger on his chin.

"So whenever the sun sets, the energy rises again, and vice versa when the sun rises." Azkar continued but Fares already understood that much and wasn't paying attention.

"That's it!" Fares screamed cheerfully.

"What is?" Azkar got even more confused now.

"The planet is circular, so when the sun is at this side of the planet, the Dark energy that is supposed to come towards the planet from every direction, gets absorbed on this side by the sun instead."

"What nonsense logic is that? First, you say the planet is round, then the sun absorbs our energy?" Azkar was irritated, is this kid making fun of him? He has been taught since long that the planet was flat.

"From where I came from, the earth, we invented devices that helped us understand more about planets and stars. Before then more than half of the planet believed the earth to be flat, and the center of the universe with all other planets going around it in circles."

"Even with these devices, not everyone believed the earth to be spherical. Until a scientist came by and proved through an experiment that space bends to heavier objects in a way that the lighter ones around it can't escape from its gravitational pull." Fares said in one breath, then waited for the information to sink in for Azkar.

After a while, he continued "Now, you say that all objects absorb Dark energy, right? And if gravity and space are still present in the 4th dimension, the larger object, the sun, attracts Dark energy from the smaller object, the earth."

"Then why wouldn't it attract energy from the other side then?" Azkar asked confused.

"Simple, because there isn't just one object surrounding the earth."

"You mean…?"

"Precisely, the moon. It acts as a shield. Making the sun absorb energy from it rather than the earth." Fares said triumphantly with his nose up high.

At this junction, Mona entered the room yawing, with her eyes half-closed.

"Zena? What's for breakfast?" She said.

Fares snickered and said in a high-pitched voice, "Whatever it is you may want, sweetie."

Hearing the weird voice, Mona opened her eyes wide and said "You're not Zena! Humph, bad big brother, Mona will not talk to you anymore."

She then turned her head to the side, pouting.

"Even if I cook steak like yesterday?" Fares said smiling like a demon.

Hearing about steak, her ears twitched.

"And I'll get the bigger portion?" She said turning around with an expectant look on her face.

"Take any portion you want to eat."

"Fine, I'll forgive you just this once," she said extending her tiny hands, which Fares shook with a smile on his face.

'I've got to protect this child's innocence.' He thought.

After breakfast Fares grabbed his sword, tied it to his back using a stem robe, and was about to leave. Before he left through the door, he turned around and bade them goodbye, he didn't know when he would be back after all.

He walked according to a map Azkar drew on a leaf using his blood. He usually uses a tablet when it's important since not a lot of people can draw upon a tough surface like stone.

After leaving the Crystal Cave village, Fares found the sun shining brightly in the sky above his head.

He squinted his eyes since he was in the cave village for a long time, he wasn't used to this.

Outside the village the world was amazing, he could see the towering trees underneath, covering the whole expanse of land, as far as his eyes could see at the very least.

This village was situated in a cave on an extremely high mountain if even those towering trees had been dwarfed by it.

After admiring the scenery for a while, Fares started to make his way down the mountain according to the map Azkar had given to him.

Azkar also marked a few spots which amassed scary beasts with a big X and other safer hunting grounds with a big O.

Fares didn't know if he would get lost in a forest as big as that, so wherever he passed by, he marked trees with a big visible X.

As he walked towards the nearest hunting grounds on the map, he heard distant roars coming from all around him. He held the hilt of his sword tightly, ready for any unexpected situation.

A few nerve-wracking hours later, Fares could finally see a group of Velociraptors of various sizes. The largest of them measured 3 meters tall, while the smallest measured 2 meters.

Instead of going in directly, Fares decided to make traps for easier hunting.

He chose a perfect spot, that was of a good distance from the Raptors and far enough that he could run away if something happened.

Fares then tied a loose Slipknot, using a rope he made beforehand, and threw the other end over a tree branch. He then tied it tightly around the branch. Then he covered the Slipknot loop on the ground with leaves.

He then went further away from the Raptors and the knot and used his sword to dig a hole deep enough for at least one raptor, and covered it with more leaves.

Thinking it was enough, Fares then held the sword in one hand and bent down to grab a pebble on the ground. Extending his arms fully backward, Fares infused the rock with a little energy and threw it as far as he could at one of the smaller Raptors.

The Raptor noticed at the last second, but it was too late to react, before it could move it was hit dead-on in the eyes, popping it, and blood mixed with fluids came pouring out of it.

Screeeeeeeech~

It screamed in pain, alarming the rest of the Raptors. Fares was surprised, he got lucky with the throw. He then grabbed a few more rocks and started throwing randomly using his energy.

The Raptors got more enraged and came running in his direction.

As they got closer, one of them was yanked into the air, scaring the rest of them. Fares took this time to run in their direction and stabbing the largest Raptor in the throat with his sword coated in energy.

The Raptor's eyes showed disbelief, it didn't expect this tiny human to be able to break through its skin. Fee moments later, the light in its eyes began fading away.

Screeeeeeeeech~

The rest of the Raptors woke up from their daze and screeched at Fares, resuming their chase.