In a simulated psychic space…
Hearing Chrysos speak, all the animals turned to the source of the sound. When the rhino saw Chrysos, indescribable rage filled it immediately. It was the only one that Chrysos confronted face to face. The others were already dead when he brewed them into potions.
The rhino charged forward and used what it learned from its battle with Chrysos. It protected its eyes because it was worried that Chrysos would use the same trick with him.
The rhino was not really a threat for Chrysos. From their previous fight, he found out that it has terrible agility and has trouble dealing with high jumping targets.
So if it fought an aerialist archer with powerful piercing ability, he wouldn't be surprised if the rhino dies.
That's the reason why quests with little information are more dangerous because you can't really figure out what you're against.
That means that the quests with detailed explanations of the task and the weaknesses, habits and abilities of what they're going against are, of course, much easier.
Chrysos waved his hand at the rhino to cast wind slash without the use of his sword. He also grabbed the belt of potions in his waist and tossed out a random bottle without looking.
The wind slash doesn't specifically need a sword to work, but it needs a physical medium at the very least to activate.
The sharper the medium is, the more damage it can deal. Chrysos knew that, so he wanted to test if his golden fingers would affect the spell in any way. He already saw its destructive capabilities, so he wanted to experiment with it.
Swoosh!
The windblade hit the rhino but it didn't even leave a single scratch.
"Tch, so I need my sword to actually deal damage? But then again, my sword only left scratches, so that's out of the question." Chrysos activated the ability he called "Steel Rage" that he got after absorbing the rhino's body before he ran towards it and delivered a powerful punch.
When the fist and the tusk clashed, a minor shockwave spread out.
Boom.
Chrysos took a step back while the rhino's nose bled slightly. It looked at Chrysos with shock. The rhino was both frustrated and confused about why Chrysos has his ability.
This didn't last long since it regained its composure and attacked Chrysos with its own Steel Rage.
"No chance you'll catch me this time." Chrysos jumped up to dodge the charge.
Since both of them were on Steel Rage mode, both of them became equals in terms of additional strength and speed given by the ability.
But since the rhino couldn't catch Chrysos even if both of them weren't on Steel Rage, with the same and equal enhancement being given to both of them, the rhino normally couldn't chase Chrysos.
It would have a chance if Chrysos didn't have Steel Rage.
But sadly, this is how alchemy proves its own specialty.
From afar…
The Black Iron Clawed Bear looked at the man and the rhino fighting each other. The man was jumping in very quick successions each time and the rhino could barely catch up.
The boars ran away a long time ago while the elephant was just chewing leaves.
Even though this was only a simulated world made out of psychic energy, it felt very real.
The Crimson Elephant didn't care too much because it couldn't be bothered. It knows that it already died once, so why bother.
The bear slowly walked away into the forest and saw that the farther it went, the more distorted the trees looked.
The bear roared in fear, it was confused and scared.
But of course, nothing happened.
It walked further into the forest and saw a purple wall of energy. It couldn't see what was on the other side.
But it saw that anything that touched the wall disappeared. He watched the distorted trees dance along the wind and when they touched the wall, the part that touched it, just magically disappeared as if it was deleted.
The bear went back to the "normal" area of the forest after seeing this. The purple wall was just too much for something like it to understand.
Back to the fight…
Chrysos was using wind spells the entire time as he avoided the rhino's attacks and charges.
The more the rhino fought, the more drowsy it felt. It shook its head and charged one more time but it was getting too sleepy all of a sudden.
It could barely keep its own balance.
It looked at Chrysos with eyes filled with hatred.
"What's wrong? Can't catch up?" Chrysos taunted. He threw his sword into the air, making it spin before catching it when it was landing.
"Kill.... hate.... no sleep...." The rhino's thoughts were being transmitted to Chrysos' mind.
"Hold on, can you understand me?" Chrysos was surprised. "This psychic world is strange." His evaluation of the simulated world using psychic energy became more positive.
"Must..... kill...." The rhino understood Chrysos as well, but it was too sleepy from the gas, so it was knocked out soon enough.
Chrysos walked towards the rhino and sighed. "You inhaled too much Flame Paralysis Gas. Of course you'll fall asleep… And possibly fry your lungs while you're at it." Looking at the bottle that he spilled on the ground from the beginning of the fight that continuously produced invisible gas, Chrysos picked it up and closed it.
Chrysos took his sword and with the combined power of Steel Rage and his Alizuite sword, he pierced through the eye of the rhino.
He successfully penetrated the eye socket, killing the rhino once again. Both in reality, and in a simulated world.
The rhino's body started to dissipate into silver mist. The silver mist spiraled into the air before suddenly entering Chrysos' forehead before he could react to it.
He thought that it was a problem until he felt a soothing sensation within his head. His thoughts became clearer and it felt like his mind, which was a muddy lake suddenly cleared up a little bit.
"So this is the reward for absorbing the thoughts?" Chrysos felt his Divinious Heart become even stronger. For him, this confirmed his guess that Divinious is part of the soul. The soul has all the information about the living being that it once was, and when he drank the potions of evolution, his mind was probably mixed with the foreign souls or remnant Divinious.
He has to absorb this Divinious in his mind. It was similar to eating, the process of breaking down food to become nutrients for the body.
So this means that, the more he kills in this realm, the more powerful his soul becomes and the more his Divinious reserves could increase in capacity.
"Amazing.. I have to pay Svaria double for this. Actually, I'll keep the extra cash. She doesn't know that I'm profiting anyways." Chrysos laughed and looked around.
When he did, he saw the elephant looking at him without hostility in its eyes.
"Human." The elephant's gaze was unmoving.
"Can you understand me?" Chrysos asked.
"Yes, I understand you." The elephant spoke without even talking. After all, as psychic energy, their thoughts would be instantly sent even if they don't speak the same language.
"I wish that you become strong. I am not alive, I am a ghost." It somehow understood that it's not made of physical matter anymore. "I hope that this ghost will help you."
Chrysos was surprised. He didn't expect the elephant to be this cooperative. "How do you want to help me?"
"I know, you eat the soul. I am a soul, I am only meat to be eaten like food." The elephant's tone was a bit sad. "I don't want to fight anymore. Pain, I don't like it."
"Very well." Chrysos walked towards the elephant and held its trunk.
The elephant felt foreign energy permeating from Chrysos' hand.
It was as if it was going to absorb him as long as he allowed the energy to enter its body. So it needs permission to work.
The elephant allowed it and the energy was slowly devouring his body.
The elephant didn't feel any pain.
"Human, I have a wish that you could do if you want." The elephant looked Chrysos directly in the eyes.
"What is it?" Chrysos didn't want to reject the elephant's last wishes.
"My child is alone deep in the forest. Can you protect him?" The elephant's gaze was meaningful.
"Sure, but I don't know where that is." Chrysos scratched his head.
"Here, I'll tell you." The elephant sent a sliver of its own memory and gave it to Chrysos.
Chrysos didn't reject the information and allowed it to enter his mind. He saw scenes and landmarks that described the area very well. And after some thinking, he pinpointed the location.
"Alright, I'll protect him." Chrysos smiled at the elephant.
"Now I can rest peacefully." The elephant closed his eyes, relieved that it could help his child before he fully faded and became a part of Chrysos' soul.
The elephant experienced too much pain in its life. Humans hunted down his family, leaving him with his only child that he failed to protect.
After the last of the red mist was absorbed, Chrysos sighed. "Yes, you can rest peacefully... I won't let anyone hurt him." Chrysos' decision was firm. The elephant indirectly helped him by providing Chrysos with its strength. Now that he could return the favor, he didn't see why not.
Chrysos wandered around the forest for a bit and saw the distorted trees. For him, it looked like the glitchy three dimensional models in a game, so it didn't strike him as weird. Instead, he found them interesting.
While wandering in the area, he felt something watching him, so he turned around.
He saw a bear.
He found the bear was looking at him with apprehension. It didn't know whether it was better to run or fight.
Chrysos unsheathed his sword and walked towards the bear.
The bear panicked and looked around, and when it couldn't decide what to do, it quickly dropped down and covered its head.
"Oh?" Chrysos wasn't expecting the bear to be this afraid towards him. He sheathed his sword and crouched down.
Seeing the bear so afraid, he felt pity towards it. He then patted the bear's head. He wasn't afraid that the bear could kill him since he has the strength of a bear and three boars. In terms of strength, the bear wouldn't be a match for him.
When the bear felt the warm hand touch its head, it looked over and saw Chrysos looking at him without any feeling of malice.
"Are you afraid?" The bear heard Chrysos speak in human language, but it somehow understood the meaning behind those words.
"... Yes." The bear admitted it. He was afraid. "Are you going to kill me?"
"You're already dead." Chrysos said with a shake of his head. "How could I kill you?"
"Then, what am I?" The bear looked at itself. The bear was really confused and conflicted. It wanted to live, but it knew that it was impossible.
"You're a soul that has to let go.." Chrysos released the devouring Divinious from earlier.
The bear was hesitant, but deep inside it knew that there was no hope. It allowed the energy to devour him.
The bear was slowly dissipating into brown mist.
But as it was disappearing, it didn't feel as sad anymore. Instead, it revealed a relaxed smile as if it had finally let go.
Chrysos watched the bear fade away until the last bit of the mist was gone.
"That's three down, three more to go." Chrysos stood up and sprinted. He was determined to find the boars.
The forest was quite small, so it wouldn't take him a long time to spot one. He zoomed around at great speeds. His body was able to handle this because of the rhino's durability and the strength of three boars and a bear.
And as he expected, he saw a boar after running for a minute.
The boar saw him and it ran away immediately.
"Oh no you don't." Chrysos casted a freezing arrow towards the boar.
The boar squealed as it ran. But before it could even react properly, it was impaled by an arrow.
Poof.
The corpse of the boar turned into glittering mist.
Chrysos absorbed the mist and began hunting once again. He didn't do anything too fancy, he just strolled around the area because of how small it was.
It didn't take long until he saw another boar.
When the boar saw him it stopped in its tracks and stood its guard. Unlike the first one, it decided to fight him instead of running away, but Chrysos only sent one punch to completely decimate the entirety of its flesh and bones.
Splat.
Many piles of meat paste was left behind, but it dissipated into mist and was absorbed by him as well.
"Two down.." Chrysos kept running around the area to find the last boar.
He searched the distorted forest and found the boar shortly after.
But, instead of running away or fighting him, the boar was using the tree branches to scratch its back and it even ran in circles without caring that Chrysos was there.
This confused Chrysos. "Did he not see me?"
Chrysos walked towards the boar and it looked at him for a brief moment before playing once again.
The boar was happily rolling around, plucking leaves and even tossing the branches using its mouth so that it could catch it as it landed.
"Hey, why are you still playing? Aren't you afraid that I would kill you?" Chrysos asked the boar. He wasn't planning to kill it straight away, if it was willing to communicate, he doesn't mind having a conversation with it.
"Human, I know that you can kill me, but I want to play before I die. Can you let me play in peace?" The boar laughed joyfully as it continued playing.
"Sure, whatever makes you happy." Chrysos didn't see any problems with it.
It took an hour for the boar's energy to be fully depleted after playing nonstop. Chrysos merely watched by the side and sat down under the shade.
"I had fun. You can kill me now." The boar closed its eyes and waited for the painful attack to come.
Instead of doing so, Chrysos held the boar's head and released the energy to absorb the boar painlessly. "Accept the energy, you don't have to die in pain.."
The boar felt the strange sensation from the Divinious, but it didn't care. It allowed the energy in its own body and it began devouring him.
"Human, many thanks for letting me have fun." The boar squealed happily as it raised its head.
"No problem." Chrysos watched the boar close its eyes until it fully dissipated into mist.
Chrysos sighed. "Sometimes, I forget how much life is worth.. and I admit… I am cruel at times." Chrysos stared at the ground as he pondered questions he had for himself. "Why do I feel confused all of a sudden.. I don't question my actions most of the time, really I just…" Chrysos contemplated what he should say next.
"Anything I do feels like I did it to fulfill a necessity. I never question if it what I was doing was right.. something that I frequently do back when I was still in the comfort of my own home was to be what it is to be called 'good'.. where I don't have to do as much here in this world.."
"Probably it was because I had to. I had to kill and I had to survive to the point that I only have to consider how I moved forward, not if what I did was something I should've done just because it would benefit me. And honestly, it feels pathetic knowing that I could defend myself against a horde of beasts, but inside I was still a fragile boy who was still scarred by my past."
From the perspective of the different animals that he absorbed, he knew that just like him, they also wish to survive and thrive.
He had to accept the cruel reality regardless.
"..."
He opened his eyes and returned to Svaria's room.
Even though he has been in the mind realm for a few minutes in his perspective, it hasn't even been a second in the real world.
He looked around and saw that Svaria was still providing mental energy to stabilize the mind realm.
Realizing he was awake, Svaria pulled back her arm and asked. "So, how was it?"
Chrysos smiled despite being hidden behind his mask. "It was beautiful…" He subconsciously looked down and muttered to himself.
"And a of mirror to help you know who you really are. And I have to say, Gerald... How far you've changed."