Chapter 129: Cultivation

As soon as Nero jumped in the water, Sophia heard someone climb on the ship from the opposite side of the deck. She looked back to see Nero standing there with ten medium-sized fish.

"That was fast," Sophia commented.

"Heh!" Nero smirked and said with a smug look on his face, "There is no one who can beat me when it comes to hunting underwater."

"And there is no one who can't beat you when it comes to hunting on the ground," Sophia remarked.

Nero threw the fish on the side of the ship and asked, "Is that enough? Or do you need more?"

Sophia squinted her eyes and asserted, "You alone can eat 30 fishes at once."

"Well…" Nero averted his gaze and said, "I am not hungry right now. So It's just you, Emilia, and Asteria."

After a brief silence, Sophia asked, "Is it because of the core you reclaimed?"

Nero quietly nodded and said, "I got a huge power boost, and now it's hungry for more power, not food."

As Nero had reclaimed one of his 14 base cores, his other empty cores were demanding more power. Nero could easily use the mana power from his body, but as it was his own mana, his body wasn't accepting it. It was hungry for more new power; that was the effect of his core— Sin of Greed.

"What will you do now?" Sophia asked with a concerned look on her face.

"I have no other choice but to…" Nero shrugged his hands and continued, "Cultivate."

"But it can take days to years for that. And you haven't cultivated ever since you were unsealed, right?"

"Not the real cultivation, yeah."

"Should I give you my power?" Sophia suggested and walked close to Nero, saying, "Or maybe, you can drink my blood? That would suffice, too, right?"

"Uhh… I think I will just do meditation cultivation and enter my spirit realm to see its condition. I am sure it would be a mess."

Sophia sighed and groaned, "Fine! Have it your way."

Nero stretched his body up and down and left and right, then squatted a couple of times before saying, "Just call me if you need something, okay?"

"It's going to take hours, and I don't want to ruin your concentration by calling you for our selfish and useless needs. So I will call you for dinner, is that okay with you?"

It was nearly noon now, and there were almost 8 to 10 hours left before the night.

Nero gave a thumbs up to Sophia and jumped into the sea.

He lunged deep into the sea and stood on the seabed to see the scene from down the sea.

He looked up and saw countless fishes of different types and different colors with different sizes.

"Perfect place to meditate," he muttered.

Nero did not need to breathe; he could use the water and turn it into mana with his abilities. And because of this physical strength, he could survive in any locality or temperature.

He watched as the ship moved far away from him and wondered, "It looks so slow when I look from here."

He moved his legs up and formed a lap, then joined his both hands together; thumb with the thumb, index finger with the index finger, making a hexagonal shape. Then, he curled his remaining finger and joined them together with the opposite fingers.

Even though Nero's legs were no longer on the seabed, his body was floating some inches above the horizon.

Nero closed his eyes and started meditating. Soon, his body line shined with different colors of his mana, and it eventually stopped after turning black.

The fishes in the sea gathered around him and stared at him as if they could feel Nero talking to the sea.

'Amphi, can you hear me? I thought about your request and came to the conclusion that I want to help you, but I can't. I promised Sophi that I would never help you, so even if I want to help you, I, unfortunately, can't.'

'I know all the reasons why you did what you did to us; it was to protect me, Sophi, and Lucifer, but Sophi saw it as treachery.'

'Even I was angry and didn't know why you betrayed us, but after realizing that you just wanted to protect us from the greater calamity, you chose to take the role of a villain and tried to save us by taking all the blame on yourself.

'I honestly don't hate you, but I can't convince Sophi to do the same. Even if you chose to be a villain to save us, that wouldn't convict what you did was right.'

'I am sure we all would have found a better way if we had discussed it properly among ourselves. But… I don't know how.'

'Not only were you hated by us, but you also lost everything. The people you were trying to protect ended up hating you, and you were left alone to live.'

'That wasn't enough, but you were also sealed. And then you traveled the world to look after me with your remaining power and ended up being trapped in a Hot Spring.'

'I am sad to say that I can't save you unless Sophi permits me to do so. And even if I try to convince her, her hate for you is immeasurable.'

'I don't even know where you are sealed. You said you were sealed in the sea on 'Ashlan', which should be in the northern horizon, but according to the new map Sophi and I drew, there is no sea there.'

'I don't know where you are, nor do I know if you are still alive or not. The part of you I last talked to, in the hot spring, was away from your real core eons, and it wasn't aware of anything. It was just like a pre-recorded voice call.'

'I am here, in the sea, trying to use my senses to figure out your location. Even if there was a little of your spirit core in the water, let it be anywhere in this realm; I should be able to locate it. But I can't sense it.'

'But I promise you that if one day I get an opportunity to save you, I will try my best to convince Sophi. Until then, please rest in peace.'

The black aura from Nero's bodyline disappeared, and it sent a shockwave in the sea, which caused all the sea creatures to run away in shock.

Nero exhaled sharply and blew out all the air of his body from his mouth.

'Now, time to enter my spirit realm.'