Beads of sweat bouncing off his face, Nero let his body slowly come to a halt.

As evening arrived, he had begun to practice his usage of Shadow Shift.

Now, he could make use of it at least twenty times before his Ein Sof would be depleted.

And that was just the beginning of his progress.

He had also discovered that his general movement speed and reflexes were boosted a fraction above normal when he was shrouded in shadows. While it was not as significant as when Shadow Shift was in use, it was still an obvious boost.

After a lot of practice, he had finally gotten the hang of attacking whilst in motion within the shadows.

Previously, he had to wait until the end of the skill's activation befor he could attack with his weapons. But now, he could do both simultaneously.

This paved the way for more dynamic methods of attack.

The only downside to this, was that he couldn't quite make use of Gungnir when he used Shadow Shift.

While the spear's range was quite impressive, it didn't work in his favor when used together with his skill. Even though the spear was powerful, compared to the deft Silver Blade, it was much slower.

It could pack quite a punch and he could still wield it adequately swiftly. But at the microscopic scale, the smaller differences mattered.

Just even a second of delay would spell the difference between disaster and victory.

After he was done with his training, Nero wiped himself off with a wet rag.

He had successfully hunted two Horned Coneys at noon, so he had another to eat for dinner.

Just thinking about his meal filled him with joy. It was those small things that still made him feel human, even when surrounded by so much madness and chaos.

Staring a fire, he quickly skinned the Abomination and began prepping it.

Once he was done, he stuck a wooden stake he had sharpened out of a fallen branch and began roasting it over the flames.

Very soon, a rather pleasant smell with just a slightly rancid note filled the air.

However to Nero, it was one of the best things he had ever perceived.

Letting out a sigh, he turned his gaze towards the sky.

The heavens were dark tonight.

But they were also bright.

The dark canopy was littered with the presence of countless stars.

His mind traveled back to the story of Orion he had gleamed from the scriptures of the ancient people that had once roamed these fields.

In their awe of the stars, they had birthed a god. A god that would satisfy their neverending curiosity and lust for knowledge for them.

From that desire, the will of the god, Orion was formed.

Could such a thing of beauty— a marvelous show of the endless wonder of the human spirit truly be the origins of corruption.

His brows wrinkled as he bathed in the starlight.

Why?

Why did things have to be that way?

Had those ancient humans truly been doomed for the start? If such a thing could happen, then why even give them such an ability?

It appeared more like a curse than a blessing from his perspective.

Because of that, the entire world had been swallowed by darkness and even the so-called "God" had turned its gaze away, leaving the rot to fester and grow.

In the end, the realities of the world he lived in were shrouded in fog and mystery. His eyes were simply not powerful enough to peer through the fog just yet.

The little he knew was also not enough for him to understand it. He barely knew anything. The little he had just discovered made him even more self aware.

'I wonder if there truly are books and tomes filled with knowledge in the capital...'

His vision swam as he dove into his memories for a moment.

A soft, warm night. With a sky filled with stars just like this one had been.

He lay on his bed, eyes droopy as the sandman came. His mother's tender voice lulling him to sleep as she told him one of the many stories she knew.

He had asked her how she had known so much, and she said she had been fond of reading stories.

Where she was from, there were special places filled with walls upon walls of books filled with all sorts of wonderful worlds laying between their pages, all waiting to be discovered.

That had filled him with endless curiosity and wonder even to this day.

Nero smiled softly.

Those times has been the best.

Back then, he had warmth and life.

Unfortunately, it had all been cruelly ripped away from him.

He could still remember the lifeless look on his mother's corpse. His father's whole corpse had been nowhere to be found.

But they had both perished that night, leaving him all alone in this dark world.

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

Sadly, his tale was an all too common story.

He was just one of many children that had been orphaned by an attack from Abominations or even starvation.

With the life expectancy so low, it was an amazement that humans had managed to hold our for so long.

His expression darkened.

The existence of that Abomination that had descended alongside the Grey Cloud at Gor filled him with dread.

That thing had not just been a powerful anomaly. It could very well represent a new shift in the order of this world.

If such creatures became rampant, it would mean that the level of danger the humans would have to face would skyrocket as well.

That would lead to a cascading effect that could very well see the end to humanity as it was known.

He sucked in a deep breath of the cold night air.

'I have to make it to the capital.'

The sooner he could deliver the information, the better the outcome. If the right people became aware of its existence, perhaps some measures would be taken to do something about it before it was too late.

The pop of the burning vines and wood brought him out of his reverie.

After eating his meal, he rose to his feet. Putting out the fire by kicking up some sand, he watched the stream of smoke dance through the air for a moment.

Then he walked back to the house he had decided to make his place of rest for his duration here.

It was time to sleep.

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