Rena followed Dyne.

“Brother Dyne… How did you raise my cultivation?”

“It’s not that amazing. You see, you have already absorbed a lot of monster blood. How much of those gold did you use to try to break through?” Dyne asked.

“I am… very unskilled in bodily cultivation. I managed to acquire around 300 units of gold but couldn’t even break through the third level.” Rena sighed.

“It isn’t that you are unskilled, but that is incompatible. If you have some items, artifacts, or someone who can convert neutral to Light, your body would have accepted it. By the way, Boaz is only strong because of his Earth elemental affinity. The monsters in this place have high death energy. Thankfully, the Kong Apes and the other monsters seem to have an Earth alignment. I use Brimstone, so I was able to convert the dormant energy in your body. Since your Light, it matched perfectly. I can’t do the same to the others here, though, maybe unless they are Fire or Metal. Lucky that your Dad is fire. I should be able to purge the death energy in his body and make him rise a few ranks higher.” Dyne explained.

Strafe was looking at Dyne with a very dazed expression.

“Brimstone Cultivators are such cheats!” He cursed.

“Hrm? I sorta am, aren’t I?” Dyne laughed.

“That’s unfair! No! This shouldn’t be possible for most Brimstone cultivators! It’s your illegal ability in Soul Cultivation! And what in Sovereign’s Name taught you such secret and advanced Elemental Laws?!”

“Eh? It felt natural. Was I wrong?”

“No, you unnatural freak of nature! You were right! So right that it answered several unanswered questions! But how did you purge it?”

“I am Brimstone. You said Space and Time is the element that creates matter. It is the total opposite of Brimstone. Isn’t Brimstone depicted in my world as some purging element? I just sorta knew.”

Strafe and the poison spirit were now suffering from Internal bleeding from Dyne’s words.

“You said that you could help my father. If you do manage four, he should be the strongest cultivator in this town!” Rena exclaimed.

“Probably. Where I’m from, it isn’t just about being stronger. The weak can overpower the strong with the right means.”

Rena contemplated but realized that the battle against the Kong Apes and even how he fought the villagers earlier are evidence of this.

“Litte Brother… Should I get used to your miracles?” She giggled.

“Sort of. I have a feeling that the country where I am from was far more advanced. In our country, we don’t absorb monster blood.” Dyne explained.

“You-you don’t?”

“So you guys didn’t know? I thought your town was just desperate. Drinking the lifeblood of monsters takes in their Death Energy as well. Only a few parts of the monster have life. So while it can grant you an increase through the stored power and force, it pollutes the body. Be thankful that you didn’t train. Otherwise, it would be difficult to cleanse your body.” Dyne explained.

“There was such a thing?”

“Yeah. No wonder this town is only at a desolate level. It doesn’t understand basic principles in cultivation. Don’t worry. I’ll see what I can do to help you. For now, give me a tour around town!” Dyne laughed.

Rena leads Dyne into the deeper parts of the town. Since more of the villagers were present at the town gate, only a few curious bystanders remained and glanced at Dyne with a questioning expression. The news of Rena’s alleged death had already reached them, and while most busybodies rushed to the entrance, a few remained to do chores. Rena’s appearance drew more gossips.

“Isn’t she suppose to be dead?”

“Why is she still alive?” Some of the villagers cursed as they saw her.

Rena was silent but didn’t pay any heed to them. She was also afraid that Dyne would rampage again.

“Little Brother, please don’t get mad.” Rena pleaded.

“Oh, don’t worry. That skill I showed earlier can’t be used again and again. I have to gather the Death energy in my body once more. I was bluffing.” Dyne smiled.

“Bluffing?”

“Oh! What’s that?” Dyne was curious at the many peculiar objects. There was a tall wooden structure.

“That is a catapult. We use it to shoot rocks at the incoming monsters.”

“Oh… So that’s what those big rocks are for!” Dyne was impressed and began to ask a lot of questions about the town.

The inside of the town was more advanced than Rim Elm. It had plenty of stone walls and even some houses reaching two or three stories high. The wall around the city had ongoing construction. The training fields were used by various young cultivators who kept on training.

“That’s where our fighters train. The archer field is on the other side.”

“Wow. This town is quite large for a Desolate level. I thought it would be small!”

“Small? What do you mean?”

“Well, in my country, there was a town that only had less than a hundred people!” Dyne explained.

“What? That’s impossible! How- Oh… They must be as strong as you…”

“Well… Not that exactly. But we did have a lot of Grim…” Dyne realized how Rim Elm lived prior to the Mist.

“Amazing. It seems that there are no normal people where you came from.”

“How many people are there here?”

“Around three thousand.”

“Around three thousand people?! That many?” Dyne was stunned.

“Yes. Regardless of whether you’re a man or a woman, you must cultivate. If you are old or frail, then they would be assigned to manage the farm inside the city. Some would mine in the nearby mountains or cut trees on the edge of the Forest to build. The rest stay and scout the forest region or hunt. Of course, the bells that you see in every part of the town are used to alarm us so that the village would prepare if ever there are monster raids.” Rena explained.

“I see. Then at least this town does have some defenses. How often do the Kong Apes attack?”

“The Kong Apes don’t attack the city very often. The archers in this town have some training. We used to be a town that can train archers since we have very good teachers.”

“You didn’t train to become one?”

“They require a cultivation level reaching the level Six of Martial Novice. Since any lower, and most of the monsters won’t get hurt by their arrows. So I never managed to try. But since I had a powerful affinity with the Light Element, I trained as a priest. But in this town only, I have that potential.”

“Right…” Dyne nodded. Rena was even far purer than even Grim.

“It’s alright. Focus on your Light element. With your ability to heal, you are still a tremendous asset to this village. As for you martial body cultivation, I’ll figure something out.”

The group slowly reached the eastern side of the town. This region was the farmland, and various crops were growing.

Soon, they reached Rena’s home somewhere on the western side of the town.

“Sorry for the mess!” Rena laughed with an embarrassed expression.

Rena had a rather humble home with only two small rooms, which served as a bedroom, and the main room with a table and some chairs. Dyne had guessed that most of the cooking was done outside.

“I’m sure with Little Brother's strength. He is used to living in castles.”

“The last castle that I was in had a lot of monsters that were trying to kill me. I really don’t mind, Big Sis. Go ahead and make preparations for our trip. We will be staying in the Forest for quite some time.” Dyne explained.

“Little Brother, what exactly are we going to do in the forest?”

“It depends on what you know about the meteor.”

“The meteor?”

“It’s what we call the large rock that fell from the sky. You said that the nearby town changed when that meteor fell. And another fell in the Forest which caused the Kong Apes to go wild.”

“We don’t know much about the Kong Apes. But the changes that happened in the Trithefert were diverse. Many of their warriors grew in their cultivation. And some even began to develop powers that we didn’t understand. We are a Desolate Town, after all. Our knowledge is limited.”

“But both groups began to act all weird after the meteor, right?”

“In a way… Trithefert became greedy because they found out about the meteor in the Forest. But when they tried to look for it, the Kong Apes overpowered them. As such, Trithefert is marshaling an army to attack it. And as the villagers said, we were supposed to be cannon fodder.” Rena sighed.

“How long until Trithefert plans to attack?”

“I think in two months…” Rena answered.

“What’s going on, Little Brother? Do you know what’s causing all of this?”

“It's some dark magic. But it's encouraging people to kill each other. Something in that meteor is telling this planet to kill each other.”

“I don’t understand…”

“Ever since I’ve woken up, I could sense powerful dark energy in the Forest. It's very weak but similar to the Mist in my world. But this also offers a great chance for all of us!” Dyne smirked.

“A chance?”

“A chance to change Fate. Right now, it can’t see me. Whatever gods sent, those meteors can’t see the changes in Fate because I don’t plan to act directly… But for now, I want to go to the Forest to get to the meteor. My priority is awakening this.” Dyne pointed to the jewel he had hidden underneath his scarf.

“The meteor brought with it powerful Dark element. And thus, it should be perfect for little Jedo here.” Dyne smiled.