Zarek snapped out of his thoughts as the rock came crashing down to the ground. However, he didn't bother to check the location it dropped to; his eyes narrowed.
Had he seen correctly? That was definitely the light of a Hub, but it was so muted that he wasn't entirely sure. It could be anything, really—especially in this world.
Everything on Earth felt so predictable to him, but right now he was in completely new territory. His life was hanging on by a thread—between the danger of this planet and the boy-man.
Zarek didn't believe for a single instant that the boy-man would really ignore him completely. For all he knew, the boy-man had some method of tracking him right now.
Even if he was in top condition, it would take him two hours to reach the location of that point of light he had seen. Right now? He would be lucky to do it in an extra half hour.
That would leave him no time to rest—and that's if the boy-man didn't follow him and take all of his work as well.
The path the boy-man took was also a bit unpredictable. They hadn't followed a straight line all day. They turned at odd times, wove long, arching curves, and generally moved about as though they couldn't read the stars.
But Zarek was quite used to traveling long distances, and he knew how to use the sun as a guide, as well as the moon and stars when it set.
Even with these thoughts swirling in his mind, Zarek bolted. He didn't hesitate, moving swiftly.
He pushed it to 90% of what he was capable of. And he began to circulate all three of his techniques, ripping off anything that seemed to carry the semblance of fruit or mushrooms along the way.
As long as it didn't radiate any auras beyond the C Class, he didn't hesitate to put it into his mouth.
It didn't take long for him to swallow his first poisonous mushroom. He felt the stabbing pain erupt in his belly, but [Tearing Gut] was already circulating, a deathly focus coming to Zarek's eyes.
Then, Zarek suddenly felt an explosion within him.
His skin reddened, and his heartbeat accelerated beyond the bounds of normal. It felt like he was about to combust from the inside out. But just as he was about to reach those pearly gates, [Tearing Gut] ripped through the haze.
Just enough of the pain retreated, and a volatile energy rippled through him.
This was what Zarek was expecting.
In the world of the Godsfall Apocalypse, poisons were no longer just normal leeches to proteins or cells in your body. They targeted energy as much as they targeted actual flesh. Due to that, they also carried a substantial amount of energy within them.
In fact, evolution and its principles still applied here as well. Poisons appeared in plants, herbs, and the like—precisely as a defensive mechanism. But that also meant that there were energies within the plants and herbs themselves that were useful for the next generation of life.
This was what [Tearing Gut] did best. Or rather, it was what Zarek was forcing it to do.
The strict ability of [Tearing Gut] was processing energy that was too strong for the current wielder. It was mostly used to digest the corpses of Turned that were of an elevated class.
But only someone as mad as Zarek would think to use it to process poison.
Unfortunately, he couldn't use it against the toxins of the lizardman because that wasn't something he had chosen to swallow. It had absorbed through his skin and dispersed through his nervous system, not his digestive system.
But now, he was taking it upon himself to swallow these poisons.
Where there were no paths to take, he would find one. These people didn't know who he was or what he had accomplished just yet…
But they would find out very soon.
—
[Strength has shown great progress]
—
>[Strength: D]
-
>[Strength: D+]
—
[Endurance has shown great progress]
—
>[Endurance: D-]
-
>[Endurance: D]
-
>[Endurance: D+]
-
>[Endurance: DD]
—
The fatigue that had accumulated earlier in the day rippled through his body and was quickly alleviated by the strength of the Godsfall constantly flooding Zarek's body.
The more he ran, the more he improved, and the sharper his eyes became.
This planet…
It wasn't just the C Class plants he kept swallowing, or even the added gravity pressing down on his body.
The three blood moons in the sky made the power of [Godsfall Eclipse Resonance] severalfold more powerful. Zarek's Intelligence Growth Potential was too low to notice the sheer difference in Godsfall concentration earlier, but now he couldn't ignore it even if he wanted to.
But there was also something odd going on with [Limit Break]. It almost felt like… the breakthroughs were coming easier?
Zarek didn't understand it at all.
It took him over a dozen hours of suffering under that bastard Crux's constant attacks, on top of being drilled through one painful sensation after another due to the toxin, before he managed to elevate his Charisma to DDD Class.
Now, he had this much progress from two hours of running and stuffing himself with anything that seemed to have a little bit of Godsfall in it. What was happening?
Well, he had suffered all day first, and he was getting the advantage of that accumulated fatigue right now, too. But even so…
Zarek gained one burst of energy after another, progressing until he saw that shimmer between the trees.
Looking at the skies and what he had gathered from observing earlier, it must have taken him about two hours. That was excellent.
—
[Dexterity has shown great progress]
—
>[Dexterity: D-]
-
>[Dexterity: D]
—
Zarek peeked beyond the clearing, and there he saw it. It was, indeed, a Hub. But it wasn't a Hub he had ever seen before.
No, it did look like a Challenge Hub. The problem was that the color wasn't the same, and it was already far larger than anything he had ever seen before.
Then there was another problem.
If this was a Challenge Hub… had he just run so far for a Hub he couldn't even use?
This world was too high-class. Anything that came out of that Challenge Hub, even if it was of the lowest Warrior level, wasn't something he could defeat.