The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Oscar dug his feet and hands into the ground to stop himself from being dragged down by Orden's sheer weight. He could feel the overused muscles of his trembling arm tearing as he held tight onto Orden's wrist. The darkness of the chasm below was still blatant in Oscar's distorted and fading vision; if he didn't reach out in time, Orden would have fallen to his death.

However, his arm could not hold for much longer, and he shouted to the dumbfounded Orden, who stared blankly upward. "Get the hell up!"

Blood dripped down from his face and onto Orden, who snapped out of it, kicked his feet into the chasm's side, and swung his hand, gripping the edge. The nails on his fingers cracked and bled from how deep they dug into the ground, and Orden let out a strained yell as Oscar provided as much support as possible.

Finally, Orden pulled out of the mess, and using the last of his strength, he pulled Oscar with him as far away from the chasm as possible. The two tumbled on the floor near the entrance to the mine shaft. Oscar could no longer hold on, and his body looked visibly skinnier to show the bones like someone who had starved for many days.

'I did it wrong….' Oscar's thoughts turned to his use of Omnireus. The first time he used it against Orden was perfect, a stroke of beginner's luck in every step progressing and leading cleanly into the other. However, this time, the rampaging Reis had shaken his whole body; some leaked here and there during some of the steps, and his muscles had undergone atrophy from the misuse. 'Omnireus is too dangerous.

Even after failing it utilize it properly, the power was still this much. If it weren't for my Adamasreis being up to the minimum my master set, I would have been in a far worse state.'

Soon darkness filled his vision, and Oscar unwillingly fell unconscious, his labored body slumped with his head hung down with rushed breaths from his lungs.

…….

Oscar woke up feeling weird at how refreshed his body was; his arms felt light, and his head rang clear. The disparity was too strange for him, who always experienced severe exhaustion after such an ordeal. Looking over his body, he noticed his wounds had healed.

He turned to Orden, sitting by the fire and cooking large skewers of meat. The glistening meat and dripping juices made Oscar force back a drool and gulp as every part of his body screamed at him to devour the feast. Then, Orden held a large skewer toward him while eating his own.

"You must be hungry after that battle. Your body needs all the food it can get." Orden stuffed his mouth with all the food he could cram into it and ate, not caring about his manners.

The smell of food enticed Oscar's ravenous appetite, and he did not shrink back from Orden's charity. He swiped the food from Orden's hand and started eating unsightly like Orden without care. With each bite, chew, and swallow, Oscar felt every muscle in his body trembling in celebration, and he continued to eat, not letting this feeling fade.

The two were like hungry wolves, clawing at the meat without care. After they ate all the food, Oscar and Orden both had satisfied faces. With the fire still roaring, Oscar glanced at Orden and asked, "How long was I out?"

"Around a full day. Your body was in such a horrible shape that I gave you a grade-two heal elixir and hytr elixir for your muscles." Orden wiped his hands and mouth.

"Hytr elixir?!" Oscar shouted in shock. "You have those? And more importantly, why did you use those elixirs on me?"

Orden stretched out his hand, "You owe me a grade-two heal elixir; hand one over, and we're even. Don't think about it too much. As for the hytr elixir, I use them regularly for my physical training."

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"You do?" Oscar did not mind Orden's request and threw one of his grade-two heal elixirs from his space pocket. He was more interested in Orden's use of hytr elixir.

"It's my body. I have a special constitution in which I have incredible physical strength from my muscles, but I must keep training to break them down and condense them. My master said this elixir is worthless for anymore other than me, but your power seemed to need it." Orden explained.

For a moment, Oscar felt envious of Orden's special body as it seemed the most fitting to learn Reis, but then he thought about the life expectancy of using Reis. If Orden did learn Reis, perhaps his heart would have burst from the first try; strong physical power was necessary, but too much from the get-go could ruin a person like when he first faced his master's punch. While Oscar did train to hone his physical strength, it wasn't to the level of Orden's muscles, and his Adamasreis helped.

"My power is something else that requires me to use my muscles in a unique way. Don't think about it; I'm telling the truth in saying that you're too late to learn it, and you'll die from the backlash." Oscar responded to Orden's expectant face.

"Sounds suspicious," Orden could tell Oscar was not joking but still voiced his frustrations. But then his rough voice became deeper, and his brown eyes loosened. "Why did you save me?"

"...." Oscar frowned. He thought back to that moment. When Orden was about to fall down the chasm, Oscar knew that letting him drop to his death would be the best choice for himself and the Pavilion by taking out a large threat.

However, he moved without care for his body and went to hold him up. Oscar sighed and said, "We agreed to stay as allies until we get out of this place. I'm not someone who would break my promise."

Orden had a blank expression. The large man had no response to Oscar's words and could only be speechless. However, he had a slight smile as he drank his pumpkin juice.

Oscar noticed Gol-4 was missing and glanced around but could not see the tiny head. "Where's Gol-4? I didn't put him in my space pocket when I fainted. Did you take him?" His eyes lifted in suspicion at Orden, who scoffed and stared back with an intent to fight, losing that small smile.

"I'm here," Gol-4 said from within a pile of wood scraps from the dead Grovekeepers. "I was busy and didn't want to disturb your meal."

"Busy with what? Why are you in that pile?" Oscar went over and lifted Gol-4. He turned to Orden and said, "Sorry for misjudging you."

"Forget about it." Orden stood up. "That golem said he wanted to look closely at the Grovekeepers' remains, so I dropped him over there. He's been rolling around and rummaging through it the entire time."

"You have? Why?" Oscar asked Gol-4.

"I have formed a theory on them, but it's not an easy topic to get into. Do you want to hear it?" Gol-4 levitated off Oscar's hand and placed himself atop another boulder beside the fire.

"Go ahead; I'm curious about the Grovekeepers, especially that strange one we barely killed." Oscar crouched by the fire.

"I don't care; just get on with it." Orden remained standing, leaning by the mine shaft.

"Alright then. The first unusual observation was the clothes they wore and the pickaxes they used, they looked worn, but any hint of the miners should have wasted away in the thousands of years that passed. Which means they made it themselves. Second, their grunts were distinct and seemed to be a form of communication. Third, though they looked to be made out of wood, there were other things mixed into it."

"What other things?" Oscar asked.

"....human flesh and stone. This fact leads to my theory that these Grovekeepers were once real people."

""What?!"" Oscar and Orden could not contain their shock.

"The Forest Heart Clan used the parasitic vines to take control of people as mindless slaves, and the encroachment itself was like a living plant that spread its roots all over. Perhaps after thousands of years, the survivors and those who were mind-controlled were altered somehow." Gol-4 presented his outlandish theory.

"What about the cores?" Oscar asked. "These cores are like beasts' cores."

"Over time, they've changed from being humans to fully becoming a new species, a unique breed," Gol-4 explained. "It is a theory but a very plausible one. If we delve deeper into the mines, I wonder what we will find; perhaps their home is somewhere here."

"Nope." Oscar refused. "It's shocking to hear all this, but we have no time to investigate something like this. We need to get out."

"I agree. Hearing all this makes me want to get out of here faster." Orden opened the entrance to the mine shaft, a small platform with a pulley. "We should be able to pull up easily with our strengths. Let's hurry out of this creepy place."

"I did say the subject would not be easy to hear." Gol-4 expressed that none of this was his fault.

"Forget it. Let's go." Oscar and the others entered the small mine shaft. Orden started to pull as hard as possible, elevating them higher into the ceiling. When they arrived at a certain point, the platform would not move any further.

"We've arrived." Orden stretched his arms.

Oscar opened the door and stepped out with his bulwark, but what he saw surprised him.

"Just burn already!"

He saw Erik's short, round figure surrounded by flames that swirled and shot everywhere.

"Erik!"

"Oscar?"

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