Nathan landed forcibly on the ground after hitting several tree branches in his path. Grunting slightly in pain, he stood up and wiped his torso clean of several splinters that had dug into his skin.
"I should have known something like this would happen..." Nathan said as he finished removing the last bald splinter in his torso.
Suddenly Abel stepped through the leaves unharmed and stopped right next to him. "Okay, let's start the tour"
Nathan looked at him incredulously as Abel began to walk, so he had no choice but to sigh wearily and follow him.
"What kind of calamities are there in this place?" asked Nathan without hearing a sound around him.
"There's all kinds of variety... although there may only be half of them left now" Abel muttered. "Did you know that animals tend to avoid places where there are calamities? Even if they don't know about the existence of calamities, they instinctively avoid them"
"But it's not the same with humans. We do not possess an instinct as advanced as the animals that have to survive day after day in the wild" Abel advanced calmly while removing the vegetation that stood in his way.
"But for us who possess essence it is different, for even if we do not possess such an instinct from birth, we can develop it through battles"
Without warning, something resembling a stinger several tens of centimeters long appeared out of nowhere from among the trees and headed for Nathan's head. But before he was even able to react, Abel moved him slightly by grabbing him by the shoulder, causing the stinger to pass within centimeters of his head.
'...I couldn't even feel it' Nathan thought, realizing that if Abel hadn't moved him, that stinger would surely have gone through his head.
"Look behind you" Abel pointed, to which Nathan turned his head and observed the large hole the stinger had left as it pierced through a rather thick log.
"You couldn't see it, but that's not what it's about, it's about feeling it" Abel looked ahead again, specifically at the bee-like calamity but much larger and dark red in color.
"Facing calamities requires more than courage and strength, it requires intelligence" Abel extended his hand forward and before the calamity could move and attack again, one of the branches of a nearby tree stretched out creating a large spear that pierced its head.
Abel retracted his hand and the branch returned to its original size. "Although if your strength is much greater than your opponent you can always smash him, that's what I prefer!"
Nathan stood still in surprise at both Abel's strength and the incoherence of his words. As far as he could tell, the calamity now lying dead on the ground with a hole in its head was at least second rank third category, close to third rank.
"But only few can afford such a luxury" explained Abel returning to the serious tone from before. "It took me decades of effort to get to where I am. I myself at one time was a stubborn and obstinate young man"
Abel pointed to the scar on his forehead. "This was the price I had to pay for that"
Nathan looked at his right forearm. He had lost it by entering the castle, he thought he could escape his pursuers by briefly hiding inside, but unfortunately Mary found it.
It was only thanks to Orion that his arm was intact again. So he understood Abel, he really knew the dangers that existed within the realms, but he always thought he could deal with everything with little consequence. After all modern medicine was quite advanced and could heal extreme injuries as happened when he faced the blood ogre.
"Okay, enough introduction" said Abel clapping his hands.
'That was just the introduction...?' questioned Nathan as he followed him.
"From now on we are going to test your survival skills" explained Abel as he looked around as if he was searching for something.
"My survival skills?" asked Nathan. 'Both Boreas and Dilliard taught me that...'
Suddenly Abel started walking to a different side than the one they were going to, and Nathan followed him until they reached the entrance of a cave.
"Wait for me here, I'll be back in a moment" Abel said before entering the darkness of the cave.
Nathan simply stood at the entrance in complete silence observing the surroundings waiting for nothing to appear out of nowhere. He could not think that weak calamities would inhabit the forest. Not with calamities like the bee from earlier walking freely.
Nathan felt a burst of essence inside the cave, forcing him to look into the darkness inside. Suddenly he heard Abel's voice from inside. "Stop using your essence"
Nathan frowned slightly but he listened and let the essence leave his body and his senses, feeling much more vulnerable than before.
Next, Abel appeared out of the darkness next to two calamities immobilized by thick roots coming from the ground.
"Okay, let's start the survival test" said Abel moving the calamities a few meters in front of Nathan. "Take your pick, which of the two could you survive against right now?"
Nathan was momentarily taken aback by how different the test was compared to what he expected. He looked at the two calamities comparing them physically.
One of them looked like a centipede and larger than normal. On its body there were several spines protruding like armor. The second calamity was smaller, resembling a rabbit but its claws were extremely sharp, and its teeth protruded from its mouth.
'...Which one could I fight and survive against right now?' Nathan took into account that right now he only had his own body to fight with. No relics, no weapons, no outside help, just himself.
First he studied the centipede carefully. Without using his essence, it was impossible for him to know how strong he might be. Nor had he ever seen or studied about a calamity like this one.
Then he looked at the rabbit. He didn't know of any calamity with the characteristics of this one either, so he was blind.
'Crap... I never thought it would be so difficult a choice' Nathan thought biting his lips as he studied the two calamities. After thinking about it for a couple of minutes, Nathan finally made up his mind.
"The centipede... I could survive against that one" Nathan pointed to the centipede.
Abel smiled slightly and squeezed his right hand, causing the roots holding the rabbit-like calamity back to begin to close. The rabbit began to squeal in pain, only to be completely crushed and destroyed by the roots a few seconds later.
Abel opened his other hand and released the centipede. Instead of attacking Abel, it tried to run away from him, only to find itself face to face with Nathan. Seeing that the opponent in front of him did not seem so strong, the calamity rushed at him.
Nathan raised both arms ready to face the calamity, however, catching him off guard, the centipede shrank like an armadillo and made his body into a ring full of thorns. The calamity landed on the ground and propelled itself so fast that Nathan was not able to react until the thorns were a couple of centimeters in front of him.
He prepared to dodge after his premonition of death, but it never came, instead he heard Abel's voice as he watched the centipede being held down by powerful roots. "And you are dead"