The law of the jungle certainly operates in the cultivation world. Here, the ones who have the bigger fists win. The strong prey upon the weak and the weak couldn't decide their fate and could only helplessly accept it. Even on Earth, though not apparent, life was cruel.
Merits and competency are the foremost factors that everyone values subconsciously. It was thoroughly ingrained in the evolution of creatures hundreds of thousands of years ago. The natural selection! Only those capable could adapt and survive.
Now, it was on full display in front of him. As the turtle retracted the vines on its back, its head also came out from the shell and quickly eyeing the glowing fruit with an apparent greed.
'What a cowardly fighting style. Every enemy it faces would get disgusted by it hiding behind its shell while using its thousands of vines to fight. The only way I could see of beating it is if one was overwhelmingly powerful than it.'
Neru shook his head. 'It's time to leave. It seems that fruit isn't destined for me.' He sighed with a hint of disappointment.
Though the fruit looks incredibly valuable. and would likely give him a powerful boost. What's the use of if you're dead? Life comes first always. You can only enjoy things when you're alive.
Neru didn't let greed control him. Although he doesn't usually mind taking risks. He would only do it if he could see even a slight chance.
Fight the giant turtle? That's a straight suicide! He saw how the bear got easily taken care of. Although Neru was confident that he could easily cut the shell of the turtle as long as he hit those lines and even kill it if he hit the endpoints. But there's no ifs... He would likely die before he could even approach the turtle. Not to mention hit it. He had already seen enough.
Just like that, Neru decisively left. No longer paying any heed or thoughts about the fruit. An opportunity that he had missed. He was well aware that it's important to be strong first to not let any opportunity slip up again. To do that, he needs to be alive first!
Fifteen days passed...
On a big part of the forbidden forest, snow covered the vast landscape. It was snowing everywhere and the temperature was so low that even the surface of the 3-kilometer lake was frozen. The barks of the tree everywhere were brownish dark with their leaves as white as the snow around.
Near the lake, Neru's upper body was bare-naked showing his well-defined pecs, proportional six-pack abs, 3D shoulders, and back that give an illusion of the face of a smiling demon.
Such physique was developed thanks to constant calisthenics, fighting, and more importantly, eating the corpses of wild beasts!
Neru challenges the beasts stronger than him could find. Of course, not strong to the point that would die in one shot. That's just idiotic.
He had suffered defeat thirty times from different beasts and only managed to escape due to his death eyes that let him deal lethal attacks that managed to incacipate the limbs of his enemies, reducing their mobility, thus, lowering the chances that they could chase him.
He looked at the corpse of the polar bear he killed lying motionless on the snow on his feet calmly. Then, he looked at his own body, particularly, at the deep gash near his chest. Blood gushes from it. If not taken care of, it would likely cause him to die due to blood loss.
Neru smirked and his pupils turned as blue as the sky above. Then, his perspective changed and he saw lines appear on his body.
On the area of the deep gash on his chest, there was a red line like a thread. Yes, red. It was unlike the normal white lines that he previous encountered which let him cut everything.
Neru raised the dagger in his hand and slashed the red thread connected to the injury on his chest. The dagger made a contact and cut the red thread. The gash on his chest disappeared and became good as new! It was as if nothing happened.
"HAHAHA! My eyes are really a cheat!"
How does this work? What's the mechanism behind the healing?
As it turned out, he could cut everything. Even concepts! The premise was that his understanding of that concept was deep enough. For example, he understands perfectly what an injury or gash is. It needs not simple understanding, but an in-depth one.
For example, he knows the concept of space but doesn't understand it completely. After all, he's not a damned scientist and hasn't studied a thing about it. It made him not see the lines of vulnerabilities or end points of space...
However, if one day, he manages to understand the intricacies of space. He would be able to kill space or cut it! Maybe he can use it to cut the space and perform a space warp or just send a space slash to his enemies.
The possibilities behind conceptual eyes of death were boundless!
Since he understands the concept behind injuries and gashes. He managed to finally sense it with his death perspective and cut its thread... Effectively healing him.
'What about diseases? If I study how cancer works in-depth and perfectly understand it. Maybe I'll be able to kill or eliminate cancer out of patients' bodies! Wouldn't these eyes of mine not only make me a top assassin? But also a godly doctor!?' Neru clenched his fist with excitement. 'Great! It seems I need to study the art of medicine. It's one way to earn money so I won't need to face the problem of poverty. Being a doctor is also welcomed everywhere giving me a good reputation in the long run.'
'I don't even need to practice surgery or gain a thousand hours of experience like other doctors. I only need to study theory and concepts behind them and let my eyes of death perform the miracles for me!'
'As long as I understand how every disease and even different types of poisons work. I'll be able to cure them. Even genetic diseases!'
Neru's eyes shined. His eyes can perform specific targeting by categorizing or segregating the colors of lines. White lines thread he cuts directly cuts the objects. Red lines thread represents injury or diseases.
For now, those are the only colors he could perceive. He realized that he needs to discover more functions of his eyes... But what really made him ecstatic was how his eyes work at a conceptual level. Directly touching the realms such as time and space which were considered as the highest concepts, force, or laws of the universe... The name conceptual Eyes of Death was truly fitting.
'My future direction seems to be a deadly assassin tank doctor...' Neru chuckled as he found it amusing. Can heal and give life, can take life, and can take a serious beating.