"Aaahhh! Finally! Pink grass!"
Neo was so overjoyed when he saw the familiar pink grass at the outskirts of the underground world that he almost wept.
His stupid spear had nearly gotten him killed by alerting those gorilla babies. After managing to escape with his head still on his shoulders, he then tripped and ended up destroying the hive of a swarm of Red Stinger Bees!
He had nearly been caught at that point.
He had actually nearly died!
Sigh!
He hadn't been in this underground world for long, and he'd already had so many near-death experiences!
Scanning his body, Neo noticed the multiple injuries he had suffered. He had been scratched countless times by tree branches and vines during his journey back.
So much so that he almost naturally smelled like sap!
The glimmering blue pond seemed like heaven to Neo. He would be able to heal all his wounds and also clean up—what more could he ask for?
Neo quickly took off his clothes and sped to the blue pond.
Shua!
His naked body hit the surface of the pond with a splash, and he sank into the comfortable liquid with a blissful smile on his face. The multiple wounds on his body began to tingle and burn gently. A euphoric sensation spread from his wounds in contact with the blue liquid and flooded his whole body.
Neo's mind was filled with bliss and calmness as he swam slowly. His face was the only thing visible on the surface of the water, and it looked like a round, smiling circle...
Neo took his time and thoroughly enjoyed the bath. He only stopped when the beasts he raised in his stomach began a serious protest.
The riot was beginning to get rowdy...
Neo hurriedly stepped out of the pond. It was already evening, and the blue crystals had already dimmed.
Neo didn't have any spare clothes to wear and had washed his only shorts while swimming just now, so he could only move around naked. Not that he really minded...
The wonderful breeze lightly caressed his buttocks and... well, it was quite comfortable.
There was no one to see him, anyway.
"Ouch!"
It wasn't that nice! Climbing his treehouse hurt like hell!
The rough bark scraped his smooth buttocks like a wicked cat's claws—he almost wanted to scream!
_____
Night had descended upon the underground world once again.
Neo was lost in his thoughts as he munched on the pink fruits in silence. At least, that was how it appeared to outsiders. His eyes looked vacant and distant, but only Neo knew what he was staring at.
His eyes were fixed on a point in the distance, where he could see the same pair of red eyes staring at him once again.
It was the same pair of red eyes that had woken him from his sleep the previous night.
It appeared the beast could only come out at night for whatever reason, and it had marked him...
Neo's heart pounded in his chest as he watched cautiously. Both sides knew the other could see them, and neither was willing to make the first move, so they could only stare at each other in silence.
Sweat pooled on his forehead as time went on. This kind of situation, where he had to maintain his gaze with a deadly, vicious beast, was extremely taxing on his mind and mental health.
Neo knew that he couldn't afford to lose this staring contest, as the beast would take it as a sign of weakness and pounce.
If it pounced, Neo's only option would be to bounce!
Slowly, minutes passed, and a whole hour shortly after.
Neo and the beast were still staring at each other.
After what felt like an eternity, the monster slowly disappeared into the shadows of the forest once again.
Neo almost slumped in relief. Finally! That beast was gone!
He took several minutes to calm his pounding heart and return to his previous calm state of mind.
Maintaining eye contact with a dangerous beast for that long almost pushed Neo to the brink of burnout!
He just wanted to grab a soft pillow and sleep!
But could he do that?
He dared not...
Neo gently plucked three pink fruits to snack on. Not only would the fruits satiate his thirst, but they would also replenish his mental energy.
It was as helpful as anything at the moment.
As Neo ate the last fruit, his vision suddenly swam and turned slightly pinkish.
Neo almost fell out of his treehouse. He shook his head vigorously to clear it.
At once, he knew that he had eaten too many of those pink fruits in a day and was beginning to get overloaded.
He would have to let his body recover for some time, a few hours at least.
With nothing else to do, Neo opened the black satchel on his lap and began to rummage through it. He had to check if there was anything that could help his current condition.
Neo sorted the items he had scavenged into small groups. There was the red katana of the party leader, the small tome Simon had been reading before the assassination, some dried rations, the Spirit lunchbox, two arrows, a ruby pendant, two daggers, and one sports bra...
Obviously, Neo couldn't use the katana, the arrows, the daggers, or the sports bra. The weapons were clearly soul-bound and couldn't be wielded by another person unless they were reset, while the last one was... not meant for boys.
Neo didn't want to picture how it had even ended up on the ground...
The rations would come in handy as a change of diet, the Spirit lunchbox contained an assortment of healing pills, the spirit vacuum, and a small healing bot that Neo no longer needed.
He had a better alternative in the blue pond, so matters of healing were settled for the moment.
All that was left was the tome. It was a small rectangular black box with a small hole that glowed white at the top.
Neo was sure that tomes were used as a medium of storage for most arts, skills, spells, or manuals.
What kind of technique was this?
He held it in his hands with a look of curiosity before placing his finger over the glowing spot of light.