After that morning, the villagers were called out by their village leader, Garut, using their secret knock signal.
The villagers walked out one by one, looking curiously for some novelty every time they survived a disaster. They looked at the bright sun that emitted vitality on earth and in the sky.
"This, is it over?" Raul, Garut's son, couldn't help but ask, although he already knew it, just for confirmation out of his father's mouth. Everyone also looked over at Garut.
Garut waved his hand, turning around in the ruler's castle's direction. "It's over. I'll go report it to the ruler." Hearing that, it was as though a heavy stone was lifted out of their shoulders, making their breathing much smoother.
The feeling of having survived the disaster countless times was just too indescribable to describe every time it happened. There would be a bonfire at night to celebrate their new lease of life.
Garut felt the warm satisfaction coursing around his body wherever the blood flowed. He felt light and even full of energy, although he had just fought with Argar back then.
With the endurance of the acceptor. It's very easy for them to recover earlier than a normal human. Garut suddenly felt like looking forward to Nai's expression after he told him the information he had gotten.
But should he also tell him about the grass? He hadn't tried to devour it to confirm, but he had a feeling that it was just like those from the slime rings and the earth-shaking rhino's sole parts.
Materials that can be used to devour and become nourishment for them to awaken an ability Such an important resource—should he really share it with him?
He shook his head. He knew that hesitating about such things could be meaningful or not. "I should just tell him everything. However, I can't give him the materials for free. Hmm, I think he can."
Thinking that they had been provided with miracle waters that were used on many pregnant women during birth. Saving the newborns to see the world. Garut's heart softened, and his selfishness washed away. "Ay, I shouldn't be too selfish."
...
At the side of the moat, Nai was making bricks using the soil, mud, grass, and miracle water. Further expanding the scope of the moat. Then he suddenly stopped as he withdrew his arching figure and mudded hands from the soil.
Turning around, he saw Garut not far away, walking towards him. Nai washed his hands on the clear water in the moat before taking a seat beside the edge of the moat and waiting.
"How is it?" Nai casually asked with his hands behind him, supporting his body as he leant back, looking at Garut casually. As for Garut, he stopped and sat down two meters away from Nai as he rested for a bit before finally deciding to lie down.
Looking at the tainted gold-blue sky. Garut replied, "I almost died."
"But here you are alive." Nai was amused. "Tell me what happened."
Garut took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and slowly recounted everything. He did not hide anything at all. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Nai, waiting for his response.
"Hmm, you did a good job. Although surprising, with the existence of us accepters and the abilities that we got, the monster appeared during dark fog. It's not unacceptable for the dead to come back to life as a zombie."
Garut looked at Nai in surprise; the latter just smiled, noticing this. "You seem not surprised, though. Did you already know?"
Nai faintly shook his head as he lay down too, looking at the golden-tainted blue sky. "Nope, it's just. We need to learn to be adaptable. If we get to be surprised every time we encounter something magical and unbelievable, isn't it too tiring?"
"Hahahaha. That's just too like you, Ruler. I wonder how you even became so strong when you were younger than me." Garut laughed as he held his stomach with one hand.
"I wonder about that," Nai softly said.
"What do you mean about that?" Garut felt like there was more to it from Nai's words. "Are you saying you're older than me?"
Nai just hummed, not answering anything. He naturally won't tell him that he was an old man himself. Just that, he didn't know who was older than who. After all, they didn't even have something to measure age here if not for him to make a calendar based on the appearance of the moon.
Silent for a bit, Garut then passed him a bundle of gray grass as he said, "Do you want to try?" Nai didn't reply; instead, he moved his cape a bit and showed his acceptance of the phenomenon that was emitting light.
However, he still received the bundle of grass from Garut. "I might use them sometime now." Garut nodded. "So what should we do from now on?"
Nai thought about it as he spoke about what was on his mind. "Nothing much; just continue the current progress. We have no more manpower to speed up the building of walls after all."
"What about Argar, Bador, and the other skeleton? Should I trust them?" Garut asked casually, as though he were merely asking.
Nai felt funny, then he replied, "I'm the ruler, but it doesn't mean I must control everything. You can follow what you want. I won't restrict you. You should know that I was just living my life the way I want."
"I know you hate trouble." Garut indeed heard Nai say he hated trouble. Then he followed, "There's a high chance that what they called themselves is true. But it might be false too. After all, a monster is a monster. One can never be too trusting of them."
"Indeed, after all, we don't have the ability to identify their real identities," Nai calmly said in deep thought.
Curious about the ability to identify real identities? Garut asked, "What ability is that?"
"In simplier terms, it means to know everything about you, him, her, or you. It's an ability to know who you really are without asking for permission or anything. A very scary ability." Nai sighs and continues, "I hope to awaken that ability too. It's very practical after all."
Garut felt the marvel of the ability. Then he asked, "How do you know of such ability? Have you seen it?" Nai shook his head as he mysteriously said, "You need to dream big. Your imagination is the limit of your creation after all."
"If you think you can move the clouds with a wave of your hand, then it's an ability; if you can hold control of the flow of the water with a flip of your feet, then it's an ability; anything you can think of can be a possible ability."
Garut was stunned to hear such deep words. He suddenly felt the world was more boundless than he had originally thought. "The limit of my imagination, huh. So if I say that I can grow taller as tall as the clouds in the sky, is that a possible ability too?"
"Why not? As long as you live long enough and devour those extraordinary materials. Then one day, you might really awaken one that turns you into a giant titan walking the earth and looking down on us as mere ants you can squash." Nai said casually, but his voice was laced with power of persuasion.
Making Garut's old heart beat wildly amidst his dazed eyes as he already fell absentmindedly into daydreams. He snapped out of it, and he looked at Nai with admiration. "Your breadth of mind. I'm speechless, Ruler."
Nai didn't take it to heart; such praise was nothing but fleeting. Instead, he said, "It's better to continue absorbing those extraordinary materials. Maybe it can lengthen your life aside from awakening an ability?"
"Alright." They turned quiet for a while, then Garut said, "They call themselves Living Dead Accepters, though. Should we call them another name before the Accepter title?"
"Indeed, it would be too boring to call ourselves accepters only while the others have already created their own branches. Let's do it then; tell me what you want to call yours." Although Garut was already used to it when Nai talked about some words he didn't understand,
He still asked, "What's a branch?" In his eyes, all trees are all called wood. There's no need to call it a stick, branch, or trunk. That's just how primitive this era was. As well as how sophisticated modern people were.
"A branch is like how a river can split into many small rivers. The river is the source, while the small rivers that came from it are called subsidiaries or branches." Nai explained in simpler terms he deemed easy for them to understand.
Then Garut thought for a while before feeling the rays of the sun hit his face. He suddenly blurted out a name. "Why not call my branch the Sun Accepter? I'll be called the Sun Accepter Garut from now on."
Nai's eye lit up as he praised "Good name!"