Trusting Aria was an arduous task, as Miyuki wrestled with her deep-seated doubts. Yet, as she locked eyes with those pearl blue eyes that had strong and unbroken resolve in them, Miyuki felt this bitter feeling of weakness rising up from deep inside of her.
A feeling that she had hidden and feels disgust towards the most, a feeling which she had always wanted to get rid of in her life on earth but couldn't. But maybe, -maybe here it will be different.
"No, I must ensure that it is different," Miyuki resolved silently, her thoughts echoing in the stillness of the room. And then, breaking the silence, she spoke with a firm voice, "Okay, I agree."
Aria, taken aback by Miyuki's response, displayed a look of surprise. "Really? You agree?"
Miyuki nodded resolutely, her determination evident. "Yes, if Miss Aria's words hold true, and I can truly navigate both paths without compromising my commitment to the other heroes, then I will embrace this challenge."
Observing the expression on her face, Aria spoke with a smile playing on her lips. However, there was a discernible shift in her eyes, which now gleamed with a piercing intensity.
"Very well, I hope you are fully prepared," she remarked. Her words carried an undercurrent of warning, hinting at the true magnitude of the challenge that lay ahead.
Aria's previous mention of the task being difficult now seemed like an understatement, as she subtly conveyed that the forthcoming trial would surpass expectations.
Hearing this, Miyuki narrowed her eyes toward Queen Aria.
Who seeing her look, coughed a little and said, "Ahem!" Ahem! "I didn't lie when I said it was possible."
"Okay! Now let me tell you about all the cultivation realms." trying to change the topic. She went on to explain how many realms there were before the demi-god realm.
[Body Tempering Realm: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th.]
Magicians temper their bodies from insides to outside. While warriors temper themselves from outside to insides.
[Core Formation Realm: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th]
In this realm magicians and warriors both begin to form cores inside their bodies but in different parts of their body.
Crossing the fifth minor realm of the Core Formation Realm is the process known as "Awakening.".
After that, both the warrior's and magician's paths are
Warriors: -
Disciple Rank Realm: There are three stages: Early, Mid, and Peak.
Aura Master Realm: It also has three stages: Early, Mid and Peak.
Grandmaster Realm: It is also divided into three stages: Early, Mid, and Peak.
Saint Realm: Demi-God Realm.
Magicians: -
Apprentice Mage Realm: There are three stages: early, mid, and peak.
Sorcerer Mage Realm: It also has three stages: Early, Mid and Peak.
Grand Magus Realm: It is divided into three stages: early, mid, and peak.
Arch-Mage Realm: Demi-God Realm
"Not much is known about the Demi-God Realm's other than its name most of it is lost in the time and the reason is that only a handful of beings in the history of Pandora have been able to achieve it. The last recorded being to achieve this realm was the Beast Kingdom's king."
"For now, all your focus should be on the body-tempering realm. Tempering your body from inside and out is a more painful process than you can imagine. But don't worry... "
*****
Under the beautiful blue sky, at the foot of a long mountain range, was a rich, lush, and vibrant forest teeming with life. The land's lush vegetation, which included grass and various sizes and species of trees and plants, eloquently displayed the allure of nature by covering the whole land like a green blanket decorated with rivers and hills.
A symphony was being composed by the nature of the forest using the sound of leaves rustling, the subtle noise of insects, the birds singing, and the roars of the animals.
Everything could be found in the forest: including food, water, tranquillity, love, wisdom, life and even death. Because hidden in the forest's lush vegetation were perils that, if not properly respected, could kill one.
On the foot of the mountain was also a cave entrance connect to a tunnel. The cave entrance was covered by many overgrown weeds and vines.
Under the sunlight, a young man with brown skin and black hair walked out of the cave entrance, breaking through the vines and weeds. His condition was not as magnificent as the forest he was in now.
Karna looked pathetic and weak. His dried-up lips with specks of blood and his dark, sunken eyes, which were cloudy and lifeless, made him look like a walking corpse. His body was bruised, beaten, and even had small cuts that were visible on the upper naked part of his body.
Each step caused him to moan, his ragged breath barely escaping through gritted teeth. The cloth wrapped around his feet was coloured grey and red.
Step. Step. Another step.
Finally, he had made it out.
Looking at the lush greenery in front of him, Karna felt greatly overjoyed; his feeble and weak body trembled, and he fell to the ground and wailed. If not for the lack of water in his body, his face would be covered by his tears right now.
He had spent nearly 2 days inside that cave continuously walking, feeling hunger and thirst slowly devouring every bit of his life out of him.
Now he was free from that dark nightmare, where even light didn't even dare to show.
Now outside, he just wanted to lie down and fall asleep, but he didn't because Karna knew that if he fell asleep, he would not be waking up for 10 to 15 hours easily. And there was still some work he needed to do before sleeping.
He clenched his teeth and got up from the ground, gathering every bit of strength he was left with. And then limped toward the forest.
As he reached the forest, he could see many new species of birds on the tree and even some small creatures that looked like squirrels but had two fluffy tails climbing the tree due to his sudden arrival.
Slowly, he reached a tree, and then he reached upward and plucked something from it.
"Is this really eatable?" he spoke aloud.
[Yes, Host]
Karna gazed at the thing in his hand. It was fruit. It was a red-colored fruit shaped like a banana from his world. but it was not eaten like a banana, but without peeling, just like that.
Without any more hesitation, he took a huge bit of the fruit, and the next second, an ecstatic moan escaped from his mouth. Without waiting, he devoured the fruit completely and then grabbed another one and devoured it in seconds before going for the third, only to be stopped by the system's voice, which told him to not eat any more currently or his abdomen would start to ache in pain.
Karna wanted to retort but went silent after hearing the system's next words.
[Host, we also need to locate the herbs to heal your foot and other bruised areas of your body, or the pain will only get worse with every passing minute.]
Looking at the red-coloured fruit in his hand, Karna gulped, but the next moment he closed his eyes and sighed.
He then decided to listen to the system's advice. Of course, before leaving, he stored dozens of those fruits in the system storage.
Weakly walking toward the location of the herbs, Karna realized how soft the ground was compared to the ashen stone pathways of the tunnels.
According to what the system had told him, the river was not very far from his current location. Karna was also able to hear the light sound of the river rippling across the ground from here.
While walking through the woods, he checked out his surroundings: the tall green trees, the unusual-looking species of plants, the colourful flowers with their enchanting fragrance, and many more alien plants that he had never seen or smelled before.
On his way, he even saw some more different kinds of edible fruits growing on the tree, and without waiting, he plucked a dozen of them before again continuing to walk toward the river's location.
As he slowly walked toward the direction of the river, he could hear the sound of birds and the chattering of a squirrel-like creature increasing. He also could see some more small animals, like one creature that looked like a rodent but had six limbs: two pairs at its rear and one pair in its front.
Most of the animals would run away as soon as he came too close, but not all of them. Birds and squirrels perched on tree branches felt safe.
Queries about them, I asked the system what they were called.
Soon I had the answer in my head. They were called Felers. Hearing this, I continued to ask the names of other things that intrigued me.
The squirrel-like creatures, they were called Celares. And the red-colored fruit that he had eaten was called Omble.
After a while, without him even realizing it, Karna had reached the river's location. As he spied on the gem-blue stream. The surface of the river was a lot calmer than he had expected. It was slowly seeping and dribbling as it swerved through the woods. As it crashed into the timeworn rocks, it jumped and slipped.