CHAPTER 67: CYCLIC MEANING.

When Nero opened his eyes again, he found himself lying amidst the dust and the rubble.

The world had become still once again.

It was silent. It was peaceful.

But there was also something else.

He sat up.

All around him were smoldering piles of rubble.

The Four Stone Demons were dead.

He could faintly remember what had happened, but not by much.

After taking the Essence Pills, his mind must have gone into shock, this rendering him partially unconscious whilst it repaired itself.

In doing so, however, something else has taken over his mind.

’No. It was less of something and more of a foreign will.’

He glanced to his side.

The last glows were already fading from what he suspected to the culprit.

The spear that had once belonged to a god— Gungnir.

He was still for a moment. Then he stretched out his hand.

That feeling of resonance returned.

The body of the spear trembled and hummed. Then it shot precisely into his grip.

Nero raised a brow in shock,

"This is..."

The runes unfolded right before him.

***

{Gungnir}: And so, #$&@ said to the Star, "What do you truly seek?

The star replied, "My purpose is the eternal pursuit of wisdom and truth. It is my purpose. The reason for which I was birthed into being."

#$&@ replied, "There is no such thing as wisdom, neither does truth exist."

The Star challenged, "But they say you are all wise and all knowing."

#$&@ replied, "They also say I am nothing. Perhaps, there is some truth after all."

He picked the spear up and handed it to the star,

"If that is what you truly seek, perhaps this gift can help you find it. What shall you call it?"

The Star gazed at the elegant shaft and the detailed runic symbols for a long time.

Then it answered,

"A gift from one as cryptic and difficult as you shall be called Gungnir."

Enchantments: Soul Bond, Unwavering, Blessing of Piercing.

***

Once he was done reading the runes floating and glimmering right before him, Nero was left with more questions than answers.

For one, the description of the weapon looked like a conversation between something that could not be named and a Star.

He had no idea if him not being able to understand the name was a problem with the Oracle, or with himself.

Either way, it didn’t matter for now.

’A Star... A star... If I had to guess, that would be Orion.’

Something told him his guess was quite accurate.

Nero sucked in a deep breath.

Unlike the Silver Blade, the spear has three enchantments— Soul Bond, Unwavering, and Blessing of Piercing.

’I have to know what they do later. For now...’

He slowly rose to his feet.

The place was a mess.

He looked up.

The night was slowly fading to give way for the morning.

The wind was still cool on his cheeks, perhaps even cooler.

Nero’s brows furrowed as he glanced down at the corpses of the Demons.

His brows crinkled,

"Yeah, definitely not..."

He froze for a moment. Then he shook his head again,

"Yeah, absolutely not!"

***

In the end, Nero did try to take a bite of the stone flesh of the Demons.

However, he found it to be completely inedible.

Feeling sorry for himself, he found a way to prepare the last of the Abomination meat with him.

He also made a rather terrifying discovery. His appetite for the flesh of these monsters was slowly getting better.

He could now tolerate the racid stench and taste, finding them much more bearable.

That was definitely not a good sign. It meant he was slowly becoming accustomed to the strange, changes that plagued him.

At this point, he worried if he would ever be able to go back to a human lifestyle.

He sighed.

It had taken him some time, but after his meal, he had decided to take a climb up the now destroyed godtree. The events of the night before had been quite eventful to say the least. But he had come out alive, even if just barely.

He had had his body turned into a rotting mess. He had been struck by both lightning and thunder.

He had had his limbs torn off.

Frankly, he had absolutely no business being alive.

And yet, somehow...

He sighed.

The only thing that irked him a bit, was that he had not acquired any skills from the ordeal.

Climbing the godtree’s corpse had not required a lot of work, especially with his enhanced physique.

Not only had his body become tougher, it had also become more dexterous.

In the end, it took him minimal effort to reach the edge of the rotting wood.

He peered over to the other side. Into the deep darkness.

His eyes lit up in surprise.

The hole in the tree’s trunk was where the four Demons had emerged from. Since they had been there for so long, he had figured there would be nothing in there but the pool of black sludgy, toxic substance.

Contrary to that, there was nothing like that at all.

The corpse was now almost completely hollow.

Yes, almost.

There was something at the very center of the hollow.

Something that glowed with a faint green light.

Nero was cautious only for a moment. Then he slid down the edge and into the hollow.

The tree seemed to make little notice of his arrival, save for a few groans and cracking sounds that made him second guess his decision for a moment.

Still, he didn’t want to pass up on this opportunity.

And that was because after that night, he had gained the ability to sense Ein Sof very vividly.

What the Oracle had said was true— everything and anything did seem to contain a portion of Ein Sof. Only most things contained so little of it, they couldn’t even be considered in the individual basis.

But that was just for most things. Relics on the other hand were a whole different ballgame.

Besides Gungnir, there had been one other thing that had possessed quite the glow.

And the closer he got, the brighter the glow had been.

Now that he was staring at it so closely, he could practically feel the waves of vital, rich energy pouring off of it.

It was a sapling, born of the remains of the dead godtree.