Silver Lightning

Forsaken Realm. Mach Island, near the edge of the island.

"Whew." Jason straightened his back as he let out a groan. Before him were two unique corpses. Their fur was ink black, and they had a long, rotting nose. They expelled black blood, which continued flowing down from their stomachs to the ground. Near the stomachs, both had bullet wounds.

His backpack's weight had increased slightly. He took a vial's worth of black blood, bones, organs, and a sample of the rotting nose. He didn't find any other use for the corpses except their fur and carcasses, but he didn't want to carry them around because of their stench.

With his bag hanging over his left shoulder, he walked away from the scene. If someone went to pick up the leftovers, he didn't mind.

He often wondered about how messy the adventuring business was. The adventurer had to have a strong stomach; otherwise, they would throw up their breakfast while doing this. It wasn't something he enjoyed doing, and now he understood why most guilds had their own "Harvesters."

'I don't want to join the guild, though. The contract is so strict, and I would have to share the ingredients. Sure, I would get protection and strong teammates as a result, but that kind of life sounds so dull.'

Rumble...

Jason's eyebrow twitched as he lowered his gaze toward his stomach. His stomach rumbled even though he wasn't hungry. It was the Night Potion feeling naughty. He still hadn't digested it, so the Night Potion tried to remind him.

'I will digest it once I am back in Inner Circle...'

To digest one's potion, one would have to do a specific "digesting mission" for the potion to calm down and digest. For Strength Potion, the person who consumed it would perhaps have to lift heavy weights till it had digested.

For Night Potion, Jason's "digesting mission" was rather simple. He would have to stand beneath the moonlight. He could just go for a stroll at night, when the moon was in the sky, and wait for his potion to digest.

It was rather easy.

That was another positive thing about Night Potion. Unfortunately, after consuming it once, its effectiveness reduces vastly. Maybe consuming it three times was the limit before it wouldn't help increase the percentage anymore.

'A night stroll sounds nice.' Jason thought inwardly as he walked in the forest. The trees had thinned out, allowing him to see deeper into the woods. In there, he saw a river with a calm current. Around the river, flowers bloomed and grass blades protruded from the soil.

'A river?'

Jason left the woods and arrived at the river. The water was so clear that he could see the river's bottom. There were different shaped rocks and moss growing from the rocky walls. It was as if the river was inviting him for a bath.

...

Forsaken Realm. Mach Island, inside the False God's tomb.

Percy and Nicholas walked deeper into the isolated room. They still hadn't found traces of treasure, but there was a dim light at the end of the path. They didn't increase their pace and carefully walked forward with their weapons drawn.

Shortly afterward, they arrived at the light and, with squinted eyes, walked forward. After the light calmed down, they stopped in shock and surprise. Their boots accidentally landed on a pile of bright golden coins, causing a ripple to echo across the room.

In front of them was the biggest pile of gold coins they had ever seen. They could be considered quite tall, nearing 2 meters. However, the pile of gold coins was thrice as tall as them. It still didn't completely reach the ceiling, but it was close!

Near the pile of gold coins, there were sheets of parchment made of goatskin with written text. They were entrapped by the pile of gold coins, but it was clear that there were dozens of them. They were all potion recipes!

'These must be extremely valuable!' Percy thought with ragged breathing. His eyes were filled with a golden glow, and Nicholas next to him was the same. They felt like they had entered a treasure trove!

Behind the first door, North and Era Dark Sideray had arrived at the end of the path, where a dim light was coming from. After entering the room, their eyes widened in shock. Even Era's aged eyes, which were filled with ancient wisdom, were shocked!

Rows after rows of weapons filled the room. Each weapon was much more valuable than theirs!

North looked down at her one-handed sword, which she thought was her most valuable possession. In front of all those weapons, her weapon suddenly lost all its luster, and it was as if it had turned into a rusting weapon.

That wasn't all.

Era Dark Sideray's body trembled as he saw what awaited at the end of the room. There were boxes after boxes of valuable ingredients. There were angel feathers, death wolf fangs, phoenix ashes, disaster souls, ghost devourers, and world cores. He couldn't see everything, but those alone made him shake in excitement.

North instinctively dropped her one-handed sword and walked with Era Dark Sideray further into the room. They shared glances and nodded simultaneously. They would never mention what they found to other guild masters.

F*ck the contract!

All of them would lose their minds if they found out and would fight to the death. No one would respect the contract if they only knew!

Behind the third door, at the end of the path, Ryan and Rosa's hearts were pounding.

In front of them was an altar with a half-open coffin on top. It was built with rocks from the dying moons and was durable enough to survive the end of the world. They had found the resting place of the False God!

"Does that mean that we get to keep False Gods corpse?" Ryan asked with a hoarse and excited tone.

Rosa shakily nodded. "Y-yes. The mission request was to retrieve an eyeball. W-we can give that and share the reward, but keep the rest of the corpse."

"S-sounds good." Ryan's lips twitched, and with a brilliant smile, he walked to the altar and immediately tossed away the coffin's lid. They peered carefully inside the coffin with expectant expressions.

However, then their expressions froze.

The coffin was empty!

"W-what the hell is this?" Ryan shouted, his body trembling. "Are we too late? Did someone get here before us!?"

Rosa turned away from the coffin and saw footsteps walking away from the coffin toward the hallway, where they came from, as if the corpse had suddenly decided to go for a walk. It wasn't their footsteps, since the footsteps were obviously barefooted.

"R-Ryan, look."

Ryan turned his red-tinged eyes to the ground and gasped in shock. They both looked at the dark hallway as if immense darkness was hiding there. It felt like the light was forbidden from going there, only allowed to stay inside this stuffy room.

The light then leaked from the wall fractures and landed on the altar. There was a name written in stone letters.

The name was...

Kuolema.

...

Forsaken Realm. Mach Island, near the edge of the island.

Jason submerged his hand in the refreshing water and also caused ripples across the water's surface. He then pulled his hand back, letting the water droplets fall off his hand.

"No water creatures. Shame." Jason thought aloud. He thought acquiring fish creatures would make this trip already worth it. Unfortunately, there weren't any.

After rising to his feet, Jason turned away from the river and began to walk away. However, then he heard water splashing behind him.

Splash...

He slowly turned around as if his neck had started to rust. After twisting his waist and turning around halfway, he saw a strange figure drinking from the river. He used his hand to scoop the water into his mouth.

His skin was pale white, and his upper body was naked. The water's rippled reflection showed a man with a wide forehead and inky black eyes; they looked dull. His hair was white like the snow. The only cloth left was a tattered rag wrapped around his waist, barely enough to hide his manhood.

The blooming flowers slowly withered before dying. The grass blades turned from beautiful green to ugly swampy green, then into black. It was as if the world was dying around the person.

'Who is he?' Jason's heart beat rapidly. The world had suddenly turned cold around him. Then, his gaze lingered in the direction of the sky, his eyes showing fear.

Black clouds had gathered above Mach Island. A silvery flash of lightning flashed above the dark clouds with a loud rumble shaking the ground. A storm had arrived...

Jason lowered his gaze away from the sky and slowly turned to walk away. However, then his body petrified. It was as if he had turned into stone. His gaze was also locked on the pale-white man. He couldn't look away!

The man stopped drinking the water and continued to look at his reflection for some time. In total, he looked at his reflection for thirty seconds. However, that felt like an eternity for Jason, who wanted to leave but couldn't.

The lightning raged across the ocean as if the sky had turned angry towards it. The weather above Mach Island was also becoming frightening, with strong winds seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Even the trees were being uprooted with incredible strength.

The black-eyed man slowly rose to stand. Then, his head slowly turned towards the black-haired young man, who was looking at him with immense fear. Their eyes locked. Black eyes and deep blue eyes shared each other's reflection.

Ba-dum—

Jason's mouth opened in a shock, as if he wanted to gasp. However, no breath came out. His bodily functions returned to him, and the only thing he did was to grab his chest in utter agony.

Slowly, his body neared the black ground that looked like it had been corrupted or died. Jason felt his head hit the ground, but he couldn't do anything. With tears streaming from the corner of his eyes, he reached his hand toward the river, but then his fingers stopped moving.

The light left Jason's blue eyes, making them very dim.

In the year 2601, March, Mach Island.

Jason Grandhart's heart stopped.

...

The pale-white man turned away from the young, black-haired man. He saw his residence in the distance, engulfed by a thick aura of darkness. The silver flash of lightning gathered energy above the black clouds before releasing a defiant lightning bolt.

The silver lightning bolt zigzagged across the sky before explosively landing on Mach Island. It was as if a meteor had landed. The western side of Mach Island was charred black with scorched earth. Everyone who was there, gathering ingredients and fighting against unique creatures, had died!

The black-eyed man sighed and frowned. "There are... intruders in my house."

His eyes turned cold, and with a single step, he disappeared. The riverbed turned silent, leaving only one corpse behind.

...

Inside the False God's tomb.

"Hmm, nothing." The Poet sighed as he patted the dust off a shelf. He was still inside the circle room, hoping to find anything. However, he only found dust and small worms slithering between the crevices.

Rumble...

"Damn, the storm is getting worse." The Poet looked at the ceiling, where dust fell. The previous rumble was so deafening that he thought his eardrums would erupt. "When will they return? It's better to leave before the storm gets worse..."

As he walked away from the dusty shelves, his body suddenly froze as a gust of wind went past with dizzying speed. He turned in a shock towards the third door, where Ryan and Rosa had disappeared to.

"W-what the hell was that..."