Jacq took a look around him, making sure everything was clear and he was hidden before he placed the berry in his mouth. He had to make sure that there was no one near him. It would be a bad thing if someone recognized the berry and killed him for it. After all, it was a Heavenly Treasure. Heavenly Treasures were things that could boost a persons cultivation by many folds as compared to regular treasures.
A treasure which was as rare as this berry would cause a great war if anyone realized such a treasure was on this planet, but obtaining this berry would still be hard. Planets with Spiritual Energy would have a planetary defensive formation. This would limit the power of anyone entering the planet down to the Peak Level of the Spirit Gathering Realm. Such power was nothing compared to the Spiritual Beasts that roamed the planet. These beasts could reach a power level that was similar to the Middle Level of the Spirit Gathering Realm. The Spirit Beasts only absorbed the Spiritual Energy but failed to refine it, as such they could not show their true power and only rely on raw power.
With his mind focused on the surroundings, Jacq placed the berry on his tongue. He was afraid of the berry luring in strong beasts due to it's scent, the scent was released upon harvesting the berry. Otherwise the berry would have long been consumed by a rogue cultivator of this planet or a wild beast. The berry melted upon touching Jacq's tongue and rushed down to the dantian that was near his stomach, the lower dantian.
A soothing feeling overcame Jacq as his dantian felt the liquid of the berry fill it. After a bit, his dantian felt like it was full, but the energy from the berry had yet to fade. A moment later, the dantian started expanding. Once the dantian reached twice it's original size, the feeling of comfort was replaced by pain as blood started leaking from the corner of Jacq's mouth.
"What's happening Nero!" Jacq asked in horror as he fell to the ground while he held on to his stomach.
"Ah, looks like you need to learn more than just the basic knowledge for the future. You did stretch the size of you dantian, you should have expected pain," Nero replied back calmly. "Just remember for the future, anytime you overcome the boundary of your body, you will undergo a trial. This can come in any form, from a lightning strike of the Heavens to just normal pain. You will be fighting against your fate, to extend your life. This is an act that defies the Heavens and you will be punished accordingly."
"Why didn't you warn me then!" Jacq asked while rolling on the ground in pain.
"I honestly thought you knew. But it's fin-" Nero was interrupted in middle of his speech.
"AWOOOOO"
Jacq felt his blood drain. The roar was close, too close. He took a peek outside and saw a hoard of wolves running towards him.
"What are you waiting for! Run!!" Nero snapped him out of his daze.
Jacq quickly got up, the pain had started receding but it was still more pain than he had ever felt. He took a quick glance outside the hole and noticed the wolves were running in a pack of twenty before he rushed out of there. The wolves were roughly the same size as an average dog, but in the back there was a much bigger wolf. This wolf had red eyes and stood roughly three meters tall with sharp metal claws on it's paws.
It's mouth with two rows of sharp teeth greeted a much smaller wolf as it grabbed onto the wolf at the very back of the pack. He seemed to be enjoying himself as he bit off a large part of the wolf. Holding onto the tail, he started spinning the wolf around, spraying his surroundings with the dead wolf's blood and innards. He stopped for a moment when he arrived at the hole Jacq was in before sniffing at the bush and then turning his head towards the fleeing Jacq.
"Oh no. That's a werewolf and he seems to have noticed the smell of the Gnome Mint Berry." Nero said as he studied the situation while Jacq ran.
"Oh fuck! If I knew he wanted it, I would have given it to him! This way I wouldn't have to run or be in so much pain." Jacq replied back with a hint of irritation.
"He doesn't need it as he has already begun his cultivation life. He is at the Lower Level of the Spiritual Gathering Realm." Nero spoke as he searched up front for Jacq. It would be a pain to start all over since the conditions to awaken Nero are very complicated so it was better to save Jacq until he could at least fend for himself.
"Then what the fuck does he need it for?" Jacq asked as he started running out of breath. The rush from earlier had vanished and now all that was left was despair. All the running had caused him to accumulate multiple scratches across his body, he even had a bloody gash on his forehead from not dodging a thick branch in time.
"He most likely needs it for his child. But the only way to get it now would be to feed you to his kids alive because the moment you die, the effect of the berry will be reduced greatly. Take a left after the thick tree up front in three meters."
"I won't question where you lead me, any place is better than a wolf's den and being eaten alive." Jacq replied as he rushed to where Nero pointed out to.
The werewolf seemed to be enjoying the hunt as he picked off another small wolf, but as Jacq neared the big tree, the wolves ran in a different direction than Jacq. Seeing this, the werewolf gave up on the small wolves and started running after Jacq. He jumped off the ground and started running on the tree tops, excited to see such a lively prey. As much as he wanted to return with Jacq soon, he still wished to enjoy his time in this hunt.
Jacq made a sharp turn at the big tree and realized there was a cave in the direction that Nero was leading him to. As to confirm his guess, Nero's voice sounded.
"There is a monster that is slightly stronger than this werewolf in there. Hopefully you are too weak and the monster chooses to ignore you while he chases off the werewolf."
"Oh gee, can't survive against a dog, so let's rush to a dragon." Jacq replied while short on breath.
"Well it isn't a dragon, but it is something that the werewolf wouldn't casually mess around with." Nero answered back while giving him directions.
As they spoke, the werewolf sensed danger coming from the cave and started to rush with his full speed. The walls of the cave were made of a strong stone, the sharp claws of the werewolf couldn't damage them. The entrance was six meters tall and two meters wide. The werewolf could barely run at full speed upon entering the cave, Jacq used this to his advantage and made a mad dash further inside.
The cave was filled with spiders that would scare anyone back on Earth. They varied in sizes, the smallest was half a meter tall and the biggest Jacq saw before he lost the light from the outside was two meters tall. In the distance he could hear the sound of raging water. The sound was becoming louder and louder, soon he felt he would be crushed by the sound.
Taking all the turns Nero said, Jacq pushed forward while the werewolf rampaged behind him, sometimes the entrance would break down behind them, sealing off their exit back to the forest. Soon Jacq was engulfed in complete darkness, if not for Nero's directions, he would have ran into a wall long ago.
"Watch out Jacq!" Nero said suddenly.
"Wha- AAAA" before Jacq could question Nero, he felt the floor under him disappear. Looking around him as his eyesight finally adjusted to the dark, he realized that he had left the solid floor behind and ran off the edge of a cliff that he failed to see due to the darkness before his eyesight had adjusted. Below him was the source of the roaring water that he had been hearing from the beginning of the cave.
"NOOOOO," Jacq screamed as he fell into the water. He quickly swam back up to the surface thinking he was safe before Nero spoke in a wary voice.
"Brace yourself Jacq, there is a water fall up ahead, you'll approach it in five seconds."
As Jacq prepared himself, the werewolf looked at the spot where Jacq had vanished from. His blood red eyes stared at the water and then to the struggling Jacq before seeing Jacq fall down. As if making up his mind, the werewolf leaped into the roaring water.
***
*
In another part of the same cave that Jacq was currently in, three people who were bleeding slowly walked forward before finding a decent sized rock to stop on. In front of them were five tunnels.
"Boss Don, here I will apply the poison tube to your back where that spider bit you earlier." the bodyguard Tony spoke as he took out a tube that the Outer Disciple had given to them before they were dropped off for the competition. They had followed the map that the disciple gave them to this cave. While they were suspicious at first, after seeing everything was as their senior brother said, they chose to believe him and venture further on the path according to the map.
"Yeah, you do that Tony. Hina, what is our current status?" Don asked after replying to Tony.
"Well darling, we were able to fight the spiders using the method that was on the paper that came with the map. We also discovered two monster cores while following the route on the map. According to this, the crystal should be this way. Once we confirm it, we can go search for that small boy from earlier and use him to get the crystal for us." Hina pointed towards the left most tunnel that was in front of them.
"Okay, so let's take a small rest here before we can confirm everything. If it is true, we will just use that crystal and become strong enough ourselves. Why give it to that old fool? He made a mistake trusting me, ME of all people! Hahaha!" Don gave out his orders after listening to the report.
The three of them laughed while looking forward to the crystal they had heard so much about before they arrived here.
Behind them, four pairs of eyes looked at them with hatred. Soon the four pairs turned into eight, then twelve, then sixteen. The eyes seemed to multiply endlessly as the three were oblivious of the situation behind them.