Although I was stupid enough to jump down without Nice Guy, I’m not so weak as to where I would be easily killed by these beasts. Rather, I’m surprised that Rucia is having any trouble at all. These beasts are newborns at Beyond Mortal Realm. Which makes no sense. Why would little baby Beyond Mortal beasts even be deeper in the Soul Grove than those guys I met earlier? You know, those bastards that were all killed by Nice Guy? Why did they get weaker as they go in?

Ah. Newborn… Oh, there’s a nest near here, and the mama is probably away right now.

…

“OH SHI-”

“ROOOOAAAAR!!!” A powerful roar comes from not too far away.

I am truly an idiot for not thinking this through. However, I’m sure this is an opportunity for the MC Halo to make it’s move. Right? Please let me be right. As I’m thinking stupid things as well as fighting off little demon beasts, Nice Guy turns his attention to mama demon beast. I glance over at him, hoping to see what he wants to do; but when I look back, he’s flying away with a pale face and blood trickling out of his mouth. He’s flying really fast…

…

Oi. You just gonna leave us? I thought you were a nice guy? Would it kill you to pick us up and then fly out of here? Just because mama demon beast is scary doesn’t mean you should tuck your tail between your legs and fly away! We’re gonna die here you know? You sure you want to let go of such good talent such as mine and Rucia’s?! Fuck you! I snap back to the demon beasts in front of me, and bring Severance in front of my face to block the bite of one of the babies. Unfortunately, the edge misses the teeth, but still makes the baby demon beast roar in pain.

“Hurry, the mother is coming!” I yell at Rucia as I grab her hand.

“Huh?!” Rucia screams in shock.

I bolt away with Rucia following close behind me. I jump forward and turn back, presenting me the scene of the baby demon beasts chasing after us. I swipe Severance in an arc, causing a bit of sword qi to rocket out at the demon beasts chasing us. As these demon beasts are still babies, they haven’t developed instincts for danger, so they don’t avoid the sword qi; because of this, many of them are sliced up and cause the others that were still alive to trip over their corpses. Having succeeded in slowing them down, I face forward again.

I dodge the tree that was right in front of my face and look around. I need an opportunity to escape; after all, we still have the mama demon beast that is coming after us. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a huge cliff that sticks out like a sore thumb. Seriously? Why the hell is something like that in here? Because I’m desperate, I grab Rucia’s arm and bring her to the cliff. I stop at the edge and look down. That’s a long drop. I don’t know if I’ll survive it, but at this point, I think I’d prefer to die by falling than eaten by a demon beast. Just me though, can’t speak for others.

“Well,” I tell Rucia. “Shall we jump?”

“Jump?! Down there?! We’ll die!” Rucia complains.

“Better than being eaten. I won’t say our luck is good enough to survive, but even if we fought the mama demon beast, we’d die. I think I’d prefer to die killing the enemy rather than the enemy beating me around like a toy.”

“That’s...”

“Fuck it! Are you jumping or not, now’s not the time to be indecisive!”

“… I’ll jump.”

“In that case we’re out!”

I pull Rucia close and hug her tightly. I run to the edge of the cliff, and jump off. The wind whistles in my ears as I am pulled to the ground by gravity. I tighten my grip around Rucia, I can’t let this idiot girl die, it’d stain my conscience. Even if I die (lose my body), I won’t have someone else die. Not my friend, at least. Not a person that has been so nice. The ground is coming closer, like when you zoom in on a camera. Except, this is the real thing, not a camera zoom. Here it comes. Just like the truck…

A shiver runs up my spine, making me feel cold all over.

What? What the hell? OH SHIT GROUND! I try to hit one of the trees that were speeding by to reduce my fall. I catch onto one, and try to pull myself on, but the branch snaps because of the speed I was falling at. I fall and a part of my body hits a thick branch.

… My balls…

“*Whimper*”

“Ardven…?”

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...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!

MY BAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLSSSSSSS!

FUCK MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

“!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Ardven, are you okay?”

Balls…

I fall to the ground weakly. I can’t even move. The only thing that is functioning right now is my brain, but even then, it’s in low power mode, entirely focused on keeping all of my bodily functions in check, with my consciousness being regulated to just barely being able to understand what’s going on. Am I making sense? Who cares…

Ah, I’m going to pass out. The pain of my balls being crush after falling hundreds of feet yards is too much. I need to tell Rucia something…

“Rucia...” I groan hoarsely.

“Ardven!” She hugs me tightly.

“Stop! Stop…! My balls!”

“Sorry, sorry!” She releases me.

“Listen to me. I can hardly move after that fall, so please find somewhere we can stay for a bit, preferably somewhere close. Hurry, I’m slipping...” I managed to get that all out.

“R-right, I’m on it!”

Ah… good girl. G’d night… I finally pass out.

“Urgh...” I groan as I wake up.

I rub my eyes and open them to look around. It’s a cave. A cave that seems to have some better concentration of natural qi than most. I spot Rucia cultivating near the entrance of the cave. Huh, she’s surprisingly diligent, even though she should be able to cultivate normally. System, can you help explain?

{Bzzt… bzzt… ksh…}

The fuck? The system is blocked? How is this possible? Wait, the system’s connection to the user is decided primarily on the user’s strength on secondarily on the user’s status in the Primal multiverse. Both of mine are low, so even the fact that I got access to the system’s archives is a miracle. If some sort of interference appears, it is probably because of chaotic qi or an abundence of qi.

As I think that, I feel a pang of pain from my balls. Ouch. That’s right, I nearly got them crushed when I fell off the cliff.

…

Am I forgetting something…?

…

I quickly pull my pants open to check the nether region. I inspect my balls’ stability. Thankfully, they are in perfect condition aside from the occasional twinge of pain. I sigh in relief and let my pants go back to their original position. I stand up and look around once more. Closing my eyes, I sit down and start cultivating as well.

I realize something is wrong almost immediately. The natural qi here is too refined to be called natural. In case you didn’t know, natural qi is called that because it is produced by worlds and treasures born in the Primal Chaos. They exude qi that is not refined, but still fit for cultivators to absorb. I mean, how would we get qi otherwise? But, natural qi is not refined and only exists in the simplest form. But this qi is not the simplest form of qi. Moreover, I cannot feel a connection to it, unlike natural qi. Could it be that a treasure powerful enough to produce refined qi hidden in this cave?

Has the MC Halo decided to make it’s move?