"Everyone, food is ready!" Anna came out from the kitchen while holding a tray filled with food. Mostly rice and meat, with only few vegetables
"Let me help you" Kence took the tray of food from Anna's hand causing the girl to blush a bit
Three days already passed, Kence's and Anna's group has a lot of interaction and helped each other out.
"T-thank you" Anna softly muttered
"Hmm" Kence nodded and put the food in their dining table outside the house
The village they were in was only a small one, they chose it mainly because it was a bit far from highways or more precisely far from cities that has many people. The cities are either controlled by powerful groups or became the nest of the fallens
"Eh? What is this a husband helping his wife?" Annie as usual teased the two. It actually became her habit. Anna's face heat up more causing the red tinge on her face to intensify and she glared at her little sister
At first Kence was also feeling a bit embarass from the constant teasing but he was already used to it. Also, it's not like he doesn't have any experience from other girls before
The seven of them took their own seats, occupying the long dining table. The tables came from the houses and was arrange to make a longer table
They all started eating while occasionally chatting
"Anna, Annie do you want to join our team?" After they finished eating Kence asked what he wants to ask them for the past few days
His team's plan to better survive in this apocalypse should have already started three days ago but because they met these two their plans were on hold
King and Cesar heaved a sigh of relief when they heard this, although they are happy that their master was liking a woman a bit but survival still come first!
Strengthening theirselves was their current priority. The sisters has complex expression on their faces when they heard that question
"We want to but....." Annie said unsurely
"If you are still afraid on us don't worry, if we want to harm you we would already do that three days ago" King said to assure the two sisters. Cooperating with each other was beneficial for the both sides. After all, Anna and Annie also has decent strength
"No, it's not like that" Anna shook her head "we still has something we must do" she continued and her eyes started getting watery. Annie lose her usual playfulness and looked down while some tears were also gathering around her eyes
Kence stood up and patted Anna's back. Ivy also did the same for Annie, she was after all the only girl in Kence's group. It was more appropriate for her to do it, while Kence well...
"Big sister why are you crying?" Calter also moved closer to the two sisters, wanting to comfort them
"I-I... w-we just remember our parents. We still don't know if they are alive or.." before Anna can continue her words she choked because of trying to stop herself from crying. The gathering tears around her eyes also started to fall when remembering her parents. She was always praying that their parents are safe even though the apocalypse already started for months
Cesar sighed and entered the house to get some water for the two. He gave it to them to help regain their calm
When the two calmed down they continued. "We want to go back on our hometown, we need to see if they are alive. No! I know they are alive, they are strong people!" Anna said with determination
Since the apocalypse aside from surviving, her and her sister's number one priority was to go back to their hometown. Whether their parents are alive or dead they need to see it with their own eyes
Kence sighed, although he admit that he like Anna a bit and wants to know her more but he still has plans. Getting stronger to take revenge on those who hurt them
Revenge to Harold, the Emperor of Gu Serpent Empire
Revenge to the Orginzation that killed his parents and tortured him with almost every means possible
This was his life goal!
"W-we are actually going to continue travelling tomorrow" at the last word Anna's voice become almost inaudible
"D-do you really have to go?" Kence asked although he already knew the answer
"We need to" Anna said resolutely making Kence sigh sadly. "I'm sorry we want to help you but there is something we must do" Kence suppressed the slight pain on his heart when he saw Anna's disappointed face
As much as he wants to help them but he still need to maintain his rationality. After all he just met Anna three days ago, although he feel something to her but at the current time his feelings were still shallow enough to change his plans
"L-lord we can-" Kence cut off King's word with a wave of his hand. He knows that King wants him to be happy but he can't let his emotion get the best of him. He took King and the others as his responsibility and they are the most important people for him
Kence waved his hands again and fruits with differing colors appeared on the table. "Take these with you, they would be helpful"
Anna sense the energy coming from these fruits and she was sure that it was something precious. Well, precious for normal people but for Kence who can make as many as he wants as long as he has energy they are nothing
The fruits made Anna shook his head and refuse to accept it "no, we can't accept these" Kence already anticipated that this would be Anna's reaction thus he turned his gaze towards Annie who has a sad look on her face
"Annie, take these fruits. The red ones can heal injury but is inferior to the green fruit. If any of you gained serious injury eat the green fruit immediately. The blue ones can be use to replenish energy while the yellow has an attack power. Throw it to your enemies and they will automatically explode"
Annie nodded her head and took the fruits with her. She and Kence came to an understanding. Her sister was a bit independent and won't want to have a debt to Kence but their journey to their hometown was full of danger. Even just coming here this far their lives were endagered for lots of times. Taking these fruits will help save them, this is the apocalypse there is no time to be shy when someone offer you something that will help you survive
"Annie what are you doing!" Annie ignored her sister and took the fruits back to their supplies carriage
"Anna" Kence called softly and Anna felt a hand holding her own. "Trust me, I want to go with you but... I can't"
Anna shook her head "it's okay, I understand" although she was disappointed because in the past three days they had a good relationship with Kence and the others but if they can't go with her they surely has their own reason
"If in the future we would have a chance to see each other again. I promised, I will make it up to you!" Kence was serious on his words and everyone can feel it
"That's enough for me" Anna smiled but she can't conceal the hint of sadness inside her smile
-----
The next day the sisters left the village without a word. The five only learned about it when they heard the sounds of horse footsteps. This was mainly because although Anna understand Kence but she was still a bit disappointed. She can't understand what she is feeling but knowing that she might not see Kence again made her heart ache a bit
Thankfully, their interactions with each other were not that long to cause too much pain
Kence was looking outside the window with a bit of sadness
"My Lord, we can help them find their parents before starting our plan" King said, he can't take looking at his sad benefactor. He wants the best for their master
Kence shook his head "We can't, we have an entire city as our enemy. The last time it was just few tens of people but that is only because they thought that it was more than enough to kill me even if something unexpected happened"
A city that big even if the apocalypse killed many people there would bebat least hundreds of thousands of people inside. Also, the survivors from other cities or villages also seek asylum there. Just how many normal Supernaturals specially Mystics are there?
Even if there were not that many Knight Rank Supernaturals but the sheer number of Warrior Rank Supernaturals was enough to kill them over and over again!
"What's more, I'm sure that with the means of the organization that made my life a hell they are even more powerful than that city!"
King sighed, it looks like his master was still vehement on his revenge
---
When the five of them finished preparing they embark to take their first step on their plan. With their numbers they can't possibly defeat an entire city, that is why they need to make their own base!
A base strong enough that the world will fear it. For that to happen they must first need a space to occupy and the perfect one for this was a forest!
When they gained enough comprehension on the information from the Mind Crystal and put it into practice they learned something shocking!
The energy particles in the atmosphere are not all the same! They have different colors and different attributes. At first their senses were not strong enough and can only sense that the energy particles are like vapor without any color but that was not the case!
Different particles are for different energy attributes! True, they can absorbed the other attribute of energy particles and their body will automatically change its attribute but that would make their energy impure!
Having purer energy was important! With the same amount of energy one can trash their opponent if they have purer energy. Kence is a Soul Tree with plant attribute while the others has the Bloodline of a Soul Tree making their energy attribute to be plant type as well
Volcanoes has more fire and earth energy particles. Seas, oceans, lakes etc has more water energy particles so on and so forth
A forest has the highest amount of plant, life, and anything related to it energy particles. They would have an increase in cultivation speed there, perfect to make as their base
Another thing that they learned was the drawback from their skill absorb. If they absorb energy from a creature that has plant energies that is okay but if not then those energy would add to their own energies' impurity!
They now understood why the Angel recommended the Mind Crystal containing information about basic cultivation. This was to stop them from doing mistakes on their cultivation
This was also the reason why Kence and the others even with their cheat like skill to absorb energy from enemies some still catch up to their cultivation base
When they entered the outskirts of the forest they were baffled as they did not encounter even a single fallen human/animal or mitated animals. It was as if they vanished into thin air
Even when they walk for quite some time there were still no creatures around
"What is happening?" Kence asked to himself as this was too abnormal. Normally the fallens and even some mutant animals will attack on site but now they can't even see the shadow of these creatures
Instead of giving them delight it just made them nervous, after all the unknown will always be scary
"My Lord, do we proceed?" Kence looked at the forest around. This was the perfect place for them but this situation was too abnormal
He gritted his teeth before saying "Treasures come with danger, if we want a good cultivation environment like this we must risk it. If we encounter something so unfathomable let's retreat immediately, is that okay?"
The four nodded their heads, Kence's decision was also their decision!
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Author's Note (I type it here because its long and there is a limit of 500 words) :
Some of you were saying that Kence is a tree he should be nourishing etc and that Calter was eclipsing him. However, I was waiting for the time that he at least has some knowledge on cultivation and my plan for that was the Angel's Shop which I don't want to just happen immediately on the early chapters. I don't want to say too much because I have plans for Calter and to Kence but some say Calter was more interesting than the Mc. Even I feel that Calter was better than Kence for now but there were still some things needed to happen to show the 'MCness' Kence. I don't want him to be op from the start, although I gave him some advantages. One of the things that will show that Kence was the Mc of this story will happen in the forest when they are making their base. For Calter I need him to have a good power in the future because I need something from him. Also, I know I am lacking as an author and I tried to fix some loopholes in this chapter. I am not a professional writer and only doing this for fun so please bear with me. I accept criticism but please say it in a nice way, I still put effort in making this novel and english is not my first language. I hope you will not badmouth me and say things in a nice wat. Lastly, some of you has questions on the things in the story but I can't answer it because it will reveal spoilers for the future trajectory of the story. That's all, thank you for those who are supporting me!