"Brother …"
"Brother …"
A delicate voice filled with a unique emotion echoed in Su Ming's dream.
"Brother … Can you hear me … Brother …"
"Brother … I'm waiting for you …" There was fatigue in the voice, as if it had been calling out to him for an eternity. It grew weaker and weaker until it slowly disappeared.
As the voice grew weaker, Su Ming felt a heart-wrenching pain in his dream. It was as if the most important thing in his life was leaving with the voice. That feeling made him wake up with a start.
Su Ming felt a chill run down his spine. He was drenched in sweat and his face was pale. He looked around as he breathed rapidly. The familiar sight before him gradually calmed him down.
It was already late at night. There were sounds of birds and beasts roaring in the distance. Apart from that, it was quiet. Su Ming sat quietly on the wooden bed and stared at the stone in his hand. His expression gradually became hesitant.
'The dream just now was really strange … and I didn't feel sleepy before, but when I was observing the stone, I fell asleep without knowing it … That dream … That voice …' Confusion appeared on Su Ming's face. He rarely dreamed, and he had never had a dream like the one just now. For some unknown reason, the woman's voice sounded incredibly familiar to him.
'All of this must be related to this!' Su Ming lowered his head and looked at the stone in his hand with the help of the moonlight. He frowned.
'Just what is this thing..?' He hesitated for a moment before biting his finger. According to the description in the scroll, all the treasures in the world could only be activated after the user dripped his blood on it.
Su Ming had never seen any treasure since he was born. This stone was the only one he had. He squeezed out a drop of blood from his finger and dripped it on the stone. He stared at it expectantly.
Yet even after a long time, there were no changes on the stone. The blood on it did not show any signs of being absorbed.
Su Ming scratched his head. Stubbornness rose within him. He got up and tried all sorts of methods, such as biting the stone, using his strength to pry it open, and even soaking it in water. Yet in the end, the stone remained the same. There was no change.
The sky gradually brightened. Su Ming held the stone in his hand and fell into a daze. Time passed by. When the sky in the distance was completely bright and the sun rose into the sky, Su Ming suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"When I first put this thing on my body, I felt warm. Perhaps … this is its effect!" Without any hesitation, Su Ming immediately put the stone back on the pendant around his neck so that the stone would stick close to his chest.
Waves of warmth spread out and fused into Su Ming's body. It was as if the warmth had circulated through his entire body, making him feel comfortable. Su Ming took a deep breath, and the training method he had obtained from the statue of the God of Berserkers appeared in his head.
Berserker was the origin of the world. What Su Ming obtained this time was the first realm of the Berserker Way – the Blood Solidification Realm.
Su Ming learned from the beast skin scroll that the Berserker Ancestor created the world and created men in ancient times. At that time, everyone was a god. Yet as time passed, the Berserker Tribe, who were the descendants of legends, gradually lost their status as legends and were reduced to mere mortals.
The method to train in the Berserker Way was also passed down from that time. However, it had been modified to make it more suitable for the current Berserker Tribe. The first realm, the Blood Solidification Realm, was divided into 11 levels. Its purpose was to stimulate the small amount of inherited blood of the Berserker Ancestor within the Berserker Tribe and make it gather together.
The so-called Berserker Body was in truth using the strength of the statue of the God of Berserkers to find those who had inherited the blood of the Berserker Ancestor within their bodies. Only they could walk further down the path of the Berserker Tribe.
The normal tribe members did not have much of the inherited blood of the Berserker Ancestor within their bodies. That was why they were not acknowledged and did not have the right to become Berserkers. That was why they would not receive the method of training from the mysterious being when they worshiped the statue of the God of Berserkers.
However, Su Ming was special. He still did not possess the Berserker Body, but because of the strange stone, he received the method of training that was difficult to pass down through word of mouth. In most of the small and medium-sized tribes, only the descendants of the statue of the God of Berserkers could receive it.
"Gather the Berserker Blood within your body and awaken it. Then you can draw your own Berserker Mark and step into the Transcendence Realm!" Su Ming mumbled. His eyes shone brightly.
He sat down cross-legged and took a deep breath. Then he closed his eyes slowly and immersed himself in the method of training that he could not describe in his head.
Time passed by. Soon, the sun rose high in the sky. The smoke from the chimneys in the tribe gradually dissipated. The tribe was bustling with activity. The members of the hunting team were led by a few leaders. Once they were dressed, they walked out of the tribe under the watchful eyes of their family members. They were going to hunt for food.
Some of the younger La Sus, who were only four or five years old, ran around the tribe naked, playing happily. Their childish laughter would make the tribe members who heard them smile.
Besides that, the elder was telling the two tribe members who had inherited the Berserker Body about their experiences in training in the Berserker Way. Berserkers were the most important force in a tribe.
As the older generation of Dark Mountain Tribe passed away one by one, there were only twenty-two Berserkers left in Dark Mountain Tribe.
No one noticed that the door to Su Ming's house was shut tight that morning. As he sat inside, there was a faint blood-red glow around his body. If anyone took a closer look at the blood-red glow, they would be able to see that it was a blood vein under his skin. That blood vein was glowing with a red light, giving off a strange vibe.
There was only one blood vein on Su Ming's body, and it was only faintly discernible. It could not be seen completely.
After a long while, Su Ming opened his eyes and let out a deep breath.
'The more blood veins there are in the Blood Solidification Realm, the higher the chance of reaching the Transcendence Realm. But reaching the Transcendence Realm is too difficult. According to the description on the scroll, only those who have Transcended can be considered as Berserkers. But those who have reached the Transcendence Realm are powerful Berserkers who can turn a small tribe into a middle-sized tribe!
Most of the Berserker Blood in the elder's body has been condensed but he still has no hope of Transcending. I've never heard of anyone in the tribes who has reached the Transcendence Realm, 'Su Ming mumbled.
The Transcendence Realm was too far away for him. What he cared about the most now was whether he could successfully reach the first level of the Blood Solidification Realm.
The first level of the Blood Solidification Realm required three blood veins to appear.
If he had a Berserker Body, then he would be able to manifest more than three blood veins the moment he started training. He would be able to reach the first level of the Blood Solidification Realm in no time. He would not be like Su Ming, whose one blood vein was only faintly discernible.
Even though the beginning was not smooth, Su Ming was not dejected. To him, as long as he could train, it meant that there was hope.
While he was condensing the blood veins in his body, he could clearly feel the warmth from the stone in his chest increasing. This made Su Ming even more excited. He had a feeling that he had grasped the key to obtaining this treasure.
Seven days passed by in the blink of an eye. During these seven days, Su Ming did not step out of his house. He did not even feel hungry much. This puzzled him for a long time. After all, the scroll mentioned that when Berserkers were in the Blood Solidification Realm, they would be able to increase their appetite due to the circulation of the blood in their veins. This would allow their bodies to grow rapidly and at the same time, they would be able to create more blood for their training.
However, this did not happen to Su Ming. After some thought, he attributed it to the strange effect of the stone's warmth.
During these seven days, Lei Chen came by once to give Su Ming some Mink Deer Blood and also took some Dark Dragon's Saliva. Lei Chen already had a Berserker Body when he worshiped the statue of the God of Berserkers when he was seven years old. Now, he had reached the fourth level of the Blood Solidification Realm and manifested 23 blood veins in his body. He was one of the strongest in the hunting team.
Before he left, he hesitated for a moment. He wanted to comfort Su Ming but in the end, he looked at Su Ming and said one sentence in a muffled voice.
"Su Ming, we grew up together. I'll protect you from now on. If anyone dares to provoke you, then they'll be provoking me, Lei Chen!" Once he finished speaking, he waved his arm and left with a silly grin.
Su Ming watched Lei Chen leave. His heart was filled with warmth.
Life in the tribe may have been simple, but it was not boring. Almost every member of the tribe had their own things to do and they had to contribute their strength to the tribe.
However, there were still some people who had Berserkers who had died in battle in their families. They did not have Berserker Bodies and were not strong either, so they could not do much. That was why they were a little special in the tribe. Most of them just ate and waited for their deaths. They loved new things, and while the others were contributing their strength to the tribe, they had nothing to do.
Half a month after the Berserker's Awakening ended, Su Ming once again carried the basket on his back. He greeted the other members of the tribe and left the tribe alone towards the forest in the distance.
Once Su Ming stepped into the forest, it was as if he had changed into another person. He was filled with intelligence, and with one move, he charged forward like an arrow. With a few nimble leaps, he climbed up a big tree and sat down on the branch. A smile appeared on his face, as if he was very satisfied with his speed.
'I may not have completed the first level of the Blood Solidification Realm, but my body is much more agile than before.'
Su Ming placed both of his right hands by his lips and whistled. The sound of the whistle spread far and wide, stirring up waves of echoes. Not long after, a red line appeared in the distance. The red line was so fast that it closed in on Su Ming in the blink of an eye.
Su Ming grinned. The moment the red line closed in on him, he leaped forward. The red line let out squeaking sounds as it chased after him.
"Xiao Hong, let's compete again today. Let's see who will be the first to go up the mountain!" Su Ming's voice was filled with joy. As he spoke, he leaped forward quickly. The red line behind him was the little red monkey. There was a look of disdain on the monkey's face. It was munching on a fruit in its hand, as if it did not want to compete with Su Ming seriously. It scratched its face and chased after Su Ming lazily.
Yet as it chased after Su Ming, the little monkey's eyes turned red. The squeaking sounds became sharper and it looked stunned. It threw away the fruit in its hand in exasperation and chased after Su Ming with all its might.