Chapter 225: Day 511 – The Endless Void Of Realizations

Chapter 225: Day 511 – The Endless Void Of Realizations

Acid Shot. Another one of the leaf beasts died, melted away. I hated this swamp. I really, really hated it. Did I mention I hated it. I would rather give the Ritualist a big fat juicy kiss on the lips than go through the swamp. Well, kissing the Ritualist bit might be too far, but the swamp was quickly ascending up my list of most miserable experiences of my life.

The leaf beasts would burst out of the water or jump down from the towering trees, with little to no warning. Naran couldn’t get proper footing with his massive sword, so I was stuck dealing with all the attacks in the front. It was a slog to move through and there was a smell that lingered in the air.

My armor was slowly getting worn down by the bit of acid that lingered in the water and the constant splatter having to intercept the monsters flying at me. Heba was going to earn her travel privileges by having to clean all this off our clothes. We only had limited water and no way to heat it.

The water was also green, which made it hard to see through with bits of scum in it. There was a reason why I didn’t want to go into the swamps before, this experience kept hammering the point home. What was even worse, was that it would be a nightmare to cross any level 3 zone after the swamp.

We were getting close to the edge of the zone. I could tell since the water depth had gone from around my thighs to below my knees. It reminded me of how the water depth changed at the edge of the swamp and at the top of the cliff.

I shivered a bit. “You feel that? The energy is moving,” Naran said.

“A void,” I replied. I had experienced this before. The tree line ended up ahead and the water ended as well. It came up to about a foot of stone, before that stone slopped downwards into inky blackness. To the left and right there was nothing but blackness. This was the void that the cracks connected to.

I felt a shiver and a cold wind blowing on me. “What do you see?” I asked Naran.

“The energy is coming from the void to the land,” he replied. That was a bit surprising, I expected it to be the other way around. Looking to the left and right, I couldn’t spot anything, like a zone diagonal to this one.

“The effect isn’t as bad as before,” I replied.

“Really, it feels awful for me, there is barely a change,” Naran said.

“Maybe not Aura then?” I suggested.

“Spirit or something else?” Naran asked.

“People went crazy when lowered down into the void, right?” I asked to confirm what Naran had mentioned long ago about what the Lords of Truth had gotten up to.

“Yes, people went insane and tried to kill themselves,” Naran said.

“Let’s say that energy is physcoreactive, which has been proven over and over with crystals and powder. There is energy in the air. Skills disturb the energy, possibly pull it in to supplement them. The void is spewing out energy, but it is damaging like radiation,” I said.

“It is wearing down on people’s minds,” Naran connected the dots I had drawn.

“Yes, but it isn’t the mind or the Spirit, I would say. Since Spirit is how much energy one has. A person’s size isn’t changing, so it stands to reason their energy density is changing. A denser energy concentration would be better able to resist this void energy wind,” I finished my conclusion.

“Will have to check again after you increase specific stats. But the explanation makes sense. But the effect increases rapidly the further out you get,” Naran said.

“Yes. But depending on how the swamp curves it may not be possible to see the zone at coordinates (5,-3),” I answered.

“So, follow the swamp, what about South?” Naran asked me.

“If it is open, we go South. If it curves, then another swamp trip, maybe. There will be a lot of them and we need to see if there are level 2 zones and possibly another city beyond,” I explained.

“We need summons to carry us. Winged summons to fly us over these abominations of terrain,” Naran had quickly joined the anti-swamp movement with a vengeance it appeared.

“What, you didn’t get swamps in the city?” I asked.

“That is a bog or something else, not a swamp. There are going to be a lot, aren’t there,” Naran said with a sigh.

“Yes. We need to go around the edge. Personally I would like to try and go through a level 3 zone, but we don’t have the time for that, and it would be high risk,” I said.

“Want to find the Ritualist, I am guessing,” Naran figured out the answer quickly, but it wasn’t a tricky answer to begin with.

“And Ruth. Both are still alive and hiding somewhere. If either of them are caught out in the open and not in a city, they are done for.” I mentally repeated my vow to kill both of them if the opportunity presented itself.

“If they ran through a level 3 zone, it will be hard to find them any time soon,” Naran replied.

“I know. Trust me I know. Unfortunately, there is no medicine for regret. Now I can just explore, and figure out the best gear combination. Curious to what those light yellow crafting crystals will produce,” I replied.

“Not going to test it yourself?” Naran asked. I munched on some fruit while I considered that. Fethee had sat down with us as well. Heba was nearby working to clean our gear while listening in, gain valuable knowledge.

“No. Better that kind of information is developed within the city. Having a fully flushed out type chart will be huge. The goal being with level 4 equipment, it will be possible to grind level 4 monsters,” I replied.

“I wouldn’t count on that. The enchanting and equipment seems fairly disappointing,” Naran said.

“Ah, but you forgot enchantments can stack onto an object. Just stack up force enchantments on that massive blade of yours,” I countered.

“Maybe. But the durability increase from the next level of gear is what will be the most important. Can use a weapon without it breaking,” Naran said.

“Plan to keep the sword?” I asked.

“Maybe. It is growing on me, but it is a pain. If I am not braced on the ground, I go spinning about, which has its own headaches,” Naran explained, and I nodded at that. It was a weird interaction of weight and momentum acting on a person and not being canceled, unless he was braced. It was hard to think about all the forces and what exactly was happening.

The simple answer was that indirect force and weight would affect a person like normally. While Naran could swing his blade while in the air, the weight of the sword would impact him and not be canceled out.