20. Petrified Aura, Colm Town(2)

The next day.

After the night and rain passed, Zen and team number 2 walked out of the cave.

They took their belongings and began transporting them back to their Canoe.

Their canoe were in a miserable state due to the heavy rain. It had fallen into a state of almost drowning.

Fortunately, Igav and the others had tied up their canoe firmly and correctly. So, even if it drowned, the canoe didn't get carried away and disappeared somewhere.

After some adjustment and cleaning, they can start going down the river once again by the time the sun starts to rise.

Zen as usual sat quietly at the back.

Next to him, sat Jonna who was busy preparing her maps and stationery.

After resting all night, all the external and internal wounds in Zen's body had long since healed.

However, even so, his blood energy had not fully recovered.

Zen estimated that he would need at least another 5 hours before his blood energy was fully charged again.

On the other hand, his magic energy had long since returned to its full state.

Magic energy is very easy to replenish because this world is very abundant with magic energy.

Zen also realized some of his combat power shortcomings after the previous fight.

All of the [Flaming Punch Technique] moves were extremely powerful, but they were all extremely wasteful. [Burn Beyond] would even instantly consume half of the blood energy in his body after being used once.

[Burn up] is also quite energy-draining if used continuously.

The only thing he could freely use was the basic movement of the [Flaming Punch Technique], which was [Ignite Fire].

However, [Ignite Fire] alone is not suitable if used against large enemies or against opponents who have superior ranged or medium attack abilities than him.

Zen thought of three ways to make up for his shortcomings.

The first way is to hone his magic skills. Magic has considerable potential, in particular, when it comes to long-range attacks. Curse magic and necromancy also seem to be worth learning more about.

The second way is to dig deeper into the Innate Skill. This uniquely born ability of magic energy was quite attractive to Zen. He decided to start collecting a large number of Monster Gems in the future and form an Elemental Core from them in an attempt to awaken more Innate Skills.

Then, finally, the third way is to expand the capacity of his blood energy. This method was actually the most ideal for any cultivator.

Expanding the blood energy capacity not only strengthened a cultivator's body, but it was even able to prolong their lifespan.

However, the problem was that this method of expanding blood energy was quite difficult.

Conventionally, Zen had to use some rare natural treasures to reforge his body or use some body forging techniques to remove all kinds of impurities in his body.

Rare natural treasures, as it is said, are extremely rare.

In this world where spiritual energy is almost non-existent, it is impossible for natural treasures to be formed.

Using body forging techniques was also unattainable by Zen at this time.

A cultivator could only practice the Body Forging Technique after fusing the Spirit Body with their physical body. In other words, one had to be in the second Realm first before being able to practice the Body forging technique.

Zen was clearly incapable of achieving that.

The only way Zen could use to expand his blood energy capacity was with the special unique evolution that could occur in monsters.

After Zen consumed the Monster Gem shards belonging to Z-Emperor pouch earlier, Zen felt a sensation that he had reached the upper limit of his existence.

Then, with the help of the powerful energy emitted by Z-Emperor pouch's Monster Gem shards, Zen was able to break through the limit.

He evolved.

It feels like he has been reborn.

Not only his magic energy capacity, but even his blood energy capacity had also increased several times after that.

In reality, the blood energy capacity of Zen had now roughly reached three times far more than that of a Martial Realm cultivator who had not yet managed to convert his blood energy into blood Qi.

So, in short, Zen's small goal for now was to practice Magic and collect Monster Gems.

The great goal is to evolve.

And finally, his ultimate goal was to forge his own cultivation path!

While Zen is reconstructing his future plans, Farna approaches his side.

With a hesitant face, she looked at Zen's face a few times before finally speaking.

"Um... Sir Zen. May I ask you for help with something?"

Zen turned his head after hearing Farna.

With a nervous face, Farna said: "Can I be your disciple, Sir Zen?"

***

"Sir Zen... Um..."

"..."

Zen didn't answer.

A blank expression was painted on Zen's face.

Disciple? Did she just say that she wanted to be my disciple?

Disciple.

That word is not something that works well for Zen.

After all, his last disciple was the one who abandoned him and indirectly killed him.

However, that didn't mean Zen hated the idea of having disciple.

The memories of Zen's past were just the past to him.

Everything is gray.

Supposedly, the current one will never care about anything he felt in his previous life.

However, maybe Zen is wrong.

In the end, his soul remained the same.

Even though what he felt back then had drifted to the brink of death, his soul still remembered it very clearly how painful that day had been for him.

"No."

"Huh?"

"You can't be my disciple..."

Therefore, he unconsciously rejected Farna.

Farna was surprised.

She looked at Zen's gloomy face.

Is it because I am not proper enough? That's the first thing Farna thought about.

After all, that's exactly what it is.

As a magician, she wasn't special at all.

She was pretty good at magic, but that's all. It had been a long time since she had experienced any development in magic.

Everything about her in magic was very ordinary.

Isn't that kind of elf unworthy of being a disciple of a great mage like Zen?

Farna smiled faintly. She barely can hide her sadness.

However, even though Zen couldn't accept her as his disciple, that didn't mean he refused to teach her.

Sighing, Zen calmed himself down.

"Ah... That's right. Although I won't accept you as my disciple, I'll help with your magic training."

Farna in an instant opened her mouth wide.

"Eh!"

She didn't expect that she could actually accept the teachings of Zen!

Although the fact that she shouldn't be Zen's disciple was quite unfortunate, she was still quite satisfied with receiving the teachings from Zen.

"I... P-Please guide me from now on!"

Farna began to look forward to the day when she trained with Zen.

Could it be that she would become a level 3 mage - no, with Zen's help, she might even be able to become a level 4 mage!

Farna's mood lifted.

This must be because I had helped Sir Zen before! Hehe, what a genius I am!

***

It didn't take too long for Zen and Team number 2 to reach the abandoned town that Jonna had mentioned earlier.

Right on the side of the river, a town that is approximately 2 times larger than Frincaal town can be seen from a distance.

However, before even Zen and the others were pleased, they discovered the existence of a huge dam covering the path of the river they were following.

Whatever the reason for the construction of this dam, it would be a deterrent if their main ship would sail using this route eventually.

They stopped on the side of the town and tied up their canoe before climbing up the harbor or the stairs of the small river built there.

Igav and Dean take Jonna to check out the dam, while Zen and the rest are tasked with checking the state of the town.

Colm town.

In the past, this town was an administrative town that managed all activities along this river to the lake near Frincaal town.

The main occupation of the inhabitants of this town is fishermen.

They caught or cultivated fish, then sold them to traders who came from outside the town.

The town from the beginning could not be said to be too rich for a town of its size, however, after the piracy carried out by many pirates and the transportation of resources carried out by various state parties, the town has been emptied.

Even the number of Zombies in this town had also shrunk to just a few hundred.

So, the task of Zen and the others was not to gather resources or kill Zombies, but to check if there were any Monsters or Humans currently inhabiting this town.

For some Monsters, an abandoned town like this can sometimes be used as a safe place to breed, while for Humans, it is clear that a town with a small Zombie population like this can be used as a much safer place to live than out there.

That's right. It is indeed possible that some Humans in this world who have not been transported to safe settlements built in the air to survive.

In fact, there are a lot of cases like that occur.

Jord, one of the warrior in tean number 2 who is also a member of the newcomer group, follows Zen and Farna as they explore the town.

As they carefully explored, Jord spoke up.

"Is it really possible that a living Human being will live here?"

Dirty streets, destroyed buildings, and wild plants – it's true that it doesn't seem like a livable place.

However, Zen answered his question from a different point of view.

"At the very least, doing this would be better than sitting quietly near canoe, right?"

"Well... I guess that's right," Jord nodded.

It is indeed much less boring to go for a walk than to sit still without doing anything.

Farna didn't care about Jord at all.

Since just now, she had started asking Zen about some things related to magic.

After hearing Farna's point of view as a magician of this world who studied with the limits of this world's knowledge as a basis, Zen realized an important point in magic.

Yes, in an effort to learn and master magic, control is indispensable.