Ethan and Scarlett walked around the forest for exactly five hours, only stopping to eat or drink in the middle. They had grown far more solemn from their earlier laidback selves. They had finally come to learn some very important things. Things that made their hearts tremble.
They were weak. So. Utterly. Weak. Like insects level of weak.
Even on Earth, take away their abilities like Devour and Dimensional Travel. They were just ordinary human beings with ordinary physiques. They were nothing more. They were nothing less. They could, at the most, be compared to normal athletes on Earth.
But that weakness was taken to an extreme here. They couldn't even break the twig of a tree or carry a small stone up from the ground.
Their abilities could still do such things; Ethan could teleport a stone into his Dimensional Pocket, and Scarlett could blast a tree apart with her Fire Ball ability, even though it left them tired. Body wise?
They were at the level of insects. In fact, Ethan feared that if a small bird of this world jumped on him, he might get a severe injury. That was the case with everything here. It was as if they were only in size, humans, whereas in might, they were indeed insects.
That had made them utterly solemn.
Even a sharp leaf falling on them would cause an injury. But of course, their abilities gave them their confidence back, and they roamed around scouting the area. The lifeforms around here were curiously similar to Earth.
Vultures were around, and ravens were around.
In a dark stream of water, they even saw a crocodile. And they all had normal levels of strength. They could easily move stones and such, unlike Ethan and Scarlett.
After a long time of such scouting, they also realized that this was a normal forest without many other threats.
There was an area of black misted abyss-like hole, and looking into it, they felt their heart tremble but, at the same time, familiar. A faint image of the other side confirmed their hunch. Dark waters.
Inside that abyssal hole must be the Sea of Leviathans. Now, it made a bit of sense why there would be such a huge wall segregating this area.
That being said, they also knew it was not a place to go back. There were things there that were far beyond their level.
They immediately did a roundabout and scuttled till they found a mountain cave. It was dark inside, and a bear-like creature lived there.
If it touched them, they would have died, but five consecutive fireballs from Scarlett did the deed; it was dead.
She was exhausted to her bones after that.
Ethan had brought some guns with him in his Dimensional Pocket. Still, they were like his own body, their strength so utterly weakened that the best it might do was kill insects.
They settled into the cave and, for a long while, examined the bear's body.
Why was it so different? Why was it so strong?
But confusingly enough, its body was almost the exact same as bears from Earth. They could only smile wryly as Ethan's conjuncture was proved.
Earth was a lower dimensional world, and this was a higher dimension; the creatures there would have much less of an impact here. Or something along those lines.
They then put the bear's body into Ethan's Dimensional Pocket and heaving, set up a camp there. Bonfire and everything included. Of course, due to a lack of strength, everything was taken from Ethan's Dimensional Pocket. He had all sorts of random shit.
Scarlett had wanted to bathe, but reaching here, she no longer wanted to do something so tiring and just fell into the bed he had thrown down. She soon blissfully fell asleep in her dirty robes and sweaty body. Ethan could only slap her butt in an attempt to wake her up, but she didn't bother.
He sighed and sat to the side, using an emergency light to light the area. He sat on the bed and readied himself to learn the truths of this world. He entered the space of the ring. Taking out a bunch of books and taking one to read.
Before anything, he checked what the Pill of Comprehension was. And after a long while, put it down. A profound sense of disbelief in him.
Pill of Comprehension was a unique pill made with several mortal materials, including ginseng, cardamom, and many spices. Many Indian herbs and such as an extra too. And more things he had no idea what they were.
What the pill did essentially was force the brain to comprehend the Heritage that was in the body.
On Earth, the hierarchy of strength among those who had Awakened their Heritage was delineated as follows: D ↦ C ↦ B ↦ A ↦ S.
From Ethan's perspective, this sequence represented the depth of an Awakened's grasp on their Heritage, their comprehension of it.
Based on his status as a B-Rank Heritage Awakened, he mused that consuming a Pill of Comprehension would not just elevate him to the next rank; it would propel him to a level surpassing that of S-Rankers, transcending the established boundaries of power he had known.
The pill would force his comprehension of his own Heritage to enter a level where he would know and have full control over it. His Heritage would come entirely under his control, and his body would also evolve to let the fusion of the Heritage and himself complete its course.
There was also much-wanted information in the pill book that made his eyes open to the truth after a bit of pondering.
Earth was indeed a lower world. People from that level of worlds, without considering their heritages which came from here, would at most have insect levels of physical prowess.
If they had a body-empowering ability—like Scarlett's Body Size Manipulation—that made their bodies stronger by virtue of multiplying their original power, D and C Ranked Awakened would at most have bodies equal to cats or birds in this world. In contrast, they could have blasted apart small trees on Earth in those stages.
Even if they had a B or A grade Body Enhancement Ability, like Scarlett's B Rank due to her core Devour Heritage being a B Rank, they would have the mere strength of ordinary people of this world. At most, they could be at the level of simple athletes.
Even if they had S-rank body empowering abilities, they would only have Olympic athletes' level of physique when compared to people of this world. If they had an Olympics, that is.
Yet, if he ate the Pill of Comprehension, it would become as if he had always been born and bred here. He would also become stronger, and his Heritage would fuse with his body to create something that people all over the world would go green with envy at.
Yes, if he fused with his Heritage, it will be created.
The True Dimensional Physique.
Just like if Scarlett ate a similar pill, she could make herself a True Devourer Physique. A product of fusion with her own Heritage.
His Heritage, which was, in fact, incomplete as of now, as mentioned in one of the other books he read briefly—incomplete due to a lack of a Body Enhancing Ability and a Healing Dimensional Ability in it—would also become complete once he achieves the physique, giving him those abilities too.
He wondered what would happen to Scarlett's abilities once her Heritage evolved to become a Physique.
They were small yet strong, like frogs gazing at the sky from a well. If it just jumped out, it had infinite possibilities. And they had jumped out.
His physique would make him a beast among men.
His body would be even better than the Olympian athletes, even before he begins cultivation.
That said, he curiously looked at another book, "Basics of Cultivation," and couldn't help but lick his lip.
How long had it been since he started to feel like a caged bird?