"Half a beast crystal!" Ryan Carter exclaimed after just a few steps. A glimmering shard lay in the dust. He picked it up—it looked like it had been bitten in half.
Though beast crystals were tough to break, broken ones were still usable. He absorbed its meager energy—barely a dozen points.
"Eh, disappointing... but hey, free is free."
One crystal. Then two. Then three…
Ryan dove into the nest like a scavenger in a treasure trove. Most crystals were chipped or cracked, but they added up fast, boosting his energy by the minute.
If nothing else, it was honest work. A gain’s a gain.
But while the crystals were a nice bonus, Ryan was hunting something far more valuable—the Cherryfall Fruit.
He reached the nest's deepest chamber and found nothing living. No plants. No glowing fruit.
Frustrated, he searched again.
Could the wave of Steel Thread Worms have crushed the fruit under their advance? If so, it could've been reduced to pulp or eaten by some fleeing bat.
After scouring every corner again, all he found were more damaged beast crystals. These bats, it seemed, were broke.
Just as he was about to give up, a black stone in the center of the chamber caught his eye.
He hadn’t seen a single rock since entering. Why was this one here, and why was it a meter wide?
"What were they doing with this?"
Ryan kicked it aside.
A hidden tunnel, half a meter wide, appeared beneath it.
"Secret stash, huh?"
He crawled through the short tunnel—only four or five meters long—until he reached a one-meter chamber glittering with light.
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Beast crystals. Dozens—no, over a hundred!
Ryan’s eyes gleamed red.
He counted 120 crystals total, including two rare Level 2 beast crystals.
Level 2s were leagues ahead of Level 1s in energy output.
With a grin, Ryan did what any sane man would do—he absorbed them all.
Within fifteen minutes, the entire stash was gone, and his power had surged.
Only then did he examine the other items: strange glowing stones, a black combat suit of superior material, a broken sword radiating cold energy—and a heavy black rod-like object.
The sword even resisted him as he touched it, as if rejecting his presence.
Still, he stuffed everything into his bag, including a peculiar blue fruit.
It looked like a gemstone but felt warm in his hand—very unlike the cold stones around it.
"Looks like a Cherryfall Fruit... but isn’t it supposed to be red?"
He shrugged and bagged it anyway.
With nothing left, Ryan crawled out of the chamber. Though the bats had fled, he wasn’t about to tempt fate.
In truth, the bats were too scared to return anytime soon.
Once outside and in the clear, Ryan opened his interface:
Energy: 12634
Stamina: 175/178
Strength: 162/163
Spirit: 24/24
Skills:
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Golden Bell Iron Body Lv.8
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Five Tigers Blade Technique Lv.6
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Thousand-Mile Leap (Minor Mastery)
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Mystic Unity Blood Essence Technique Lv.5
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Clock of Time (Basic)
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Resonance (Basic)
Bloodline: Intermediate Toxic Flame
He’d broken the 10,000 energy mark. Just days ago, he'd been desperate for even 1,000.
Now, with the bats scattered, he needed to regroup with the worms. Maybe they knew of other Cherryfall locations.
He reactivated Resonance and followed the worm army’s path.
Within minutes, he’d synced with dozens of stragglers.
"That Blackwing meat was delicious! I told you—we stick together, no one can stop us!"
"This is our swamp now!"
Ryan puffed up the rhetoric.
The worms lapped it up. None of them had ever lied before.
"Big bro gets meat! We all get meat!"
"Happiness is meat for us, bones for others."
"You’ve changed our entire tribe’s fate! You’re a legend!"
"You're not just our leader, you're the leader of all worms!"
Just as Ryan was enjoying the praise and ready to pitch his plan for global worm domination, a message came:
"Boss, there’s a fangless, clawless beast following us. Should we eat him?"
Ryan rolled his eyes but kept up the act.
"That beast is my mount. Don't harm it—protect it. Understood?"
"The boss rides a beast? Amazing!"
"Our boss is unmatched!"
Soon, Ryan caught up with the main horde.
From a distance, it looked like a golden mountain—a tidal wave of shimmering worms.
He gazed in awe. If he could really command this swarm, his home settlement would never face danger again. He could even bring them above ground.
Living on the surface—what a dream that would be for humanity.
As that thought bloomed in his mind, a pressure suddenly crushed down on him.
His body buckled, barely staying upright.
The worms went silent. The nearest one collapsed like a limp rope.
Ryan’s heart pounded.
Then he saw it.
Ten miles away, a colossal blue pillar rose into the sky, shimmering with a chilling brilliance.
What was it?
What the hell was happening?