Chương 28

Evelyn opened her eyes to a new day. Getting up from her not-so-comfy bed, she went out of her cave and greeted her best friend Paprika, who was nibbling on a nut in a tree, with an enthusiastic wave.

''I'm advancing to tier-4 today!'' she yelled cheerfully.

''We'll be able to leave this place soon enough!'' Although she was getting used to walking around naked all the time, she knew it was better to break the habit with her return to civilization approaching. She skipped back to the cave and picked up her most damaged snakeskin dress. There were only three left, and she was saving the best of them for her departure. I hope there are tier-4 snakes in that damned village.

Quickly dressed in the yellow one, she took her leather water bag and grabbed her pole before leaving her cave. With two [Wind Step]s, she jumped next to Paprika and gave her a hug.

''You stay at home today. There are some troublesome wasps near the trolls. We are moving to the village tomorrow anyway.'' Evelyn ran full speed and passed some tier-3 beasts without even turning to look. What she needed were the tier-4s, and although this pocket world didn't lack them, getting surrounded by too many of them was also a quick way to die. They usually just watched the fights without interfering, but if the winner was in bad condition, it became prey for the observers.

That's why Evelyn had to kill a relatively strong beast once she entered the village and claim its territory with minimal injuries. Then she would slowly kill anything on her path till she reached the exit. Despite it being this early in the morning, the weather was starting to become suffocatingly hot. When she left the lush forest and entered an open valley, she was already sweating profusely. After two hours of running, she finally located the trolls.

Two early tier-4s and one mid tier-4, even if they weren't enough for her breakthrough, she was set on finding other beasts and getting the necessary essence today. With determination in her eyes, she took a deep breath and dashed straight toward them. The trolls were alerted and grabbed their handmade weapons, screaming with delight at the food that had delivered itself. Unfortunately for them, this food was hard to chew. Evelyn activated [Berserker], gaining extra strength.

She made a [Long Jump] toward one of them and smashed her pole to its mace-like weapon. Her pole grew heavier and heavier as her swing continued, and when it hit the target, the troll gave a miserable wail between the crack sounds of its bones. She used a [Wind Step] with another [Long Jump] and arrived at the other troll, swinging her pole to its shoulder. After crippling two of them in a surprise attack, she activated [Windy Dance] and began dancing as she beat the miserable trolls.

Seeing the situation, the other troll joined as well, but Evelyn was faster and stronger. Not to mention her most powerful skill [Blood Pressure] was already showing its effects. Trolls started to bleed from their noses, eyes, and ears. Their movements became sluggish. The more she injured them, the more their blood began to run wild. Even at rank-2, the skill [Blood Pressure] ensured that prolonged battles just meant slow deaths for her enemies. Still, fighting against multiple opponents wasn't easy.

She took a few strikes, but with her tough bones, they barely left bruises. As the troll's movements got even slower, she decided to take some risk and stabbed her pole into one of the troll's heart. Even though her pole had become an extension of her hand after so many battles, she was still rather inexperienced in close combat, and she avoided moves like that for a reason. At its last breath, it dropped its weapon and grabbed her with its two hands.

As she kicked the beast to let herself free, a club hit the back of her head like thunder. Just two seconds of dizziness got her another strike and dislocated her shoulder, causing her to drop her pole. When the troll she had killed collapsed, its hand opened ever so slightly, and Evelyn got herself free with a [Long Jump]. She felt like her brain was throbbing as she sensed the wetness at her nape. The other trolls were not in any better condition, but without her weapon, she would rather run and come back later.

But seeing that trolls weren't giving any attention to her pole, she decided to go all out. Ignoring her vision of blurry trolls and the ground, which looked about the start rotating, she used [Long Jump] and [Wind Step] together three times and made it to where her weapon was from the air. As she grabbed her pole with her left hand, she took another strike to her knee. Without faltering, Evelyn made a spin on her other leg and hit the troll's head with a crushing sound.

The last one tried to kick her, but she hit its leg before stabbing the pole into its eye. Tumbling to the ground along with the trolls, Evelyn cursed her luck as she still didn't reach tier-4. The injuries she got were severe, and she had to rest for at least half a day. Whatever, I had worse days, she thought just before hearing the buzzing sounds. More than a dozen wasps, each bigger than her head, were coming toward her in a frenzy. Two of them were at tier-4, and the rest were tier-3s.

Evelyn struggled hard not to cry and stood up shakily. She stared at them stubbornly, tightening her grip on the pole as her jaw clenched. Six hours later, she returned to her cave. With a swollen face and bumps all over her body, she limped toward her cave with the help of her pole, leaving a bloody trail behind her. Paprika ran to her as soon as she saw her. Evelyn gave her best friend an awkward wave.

''Thier-4! Wfe can fyinally moove tomorhrow!'' Passing by Paprika with what she hoped was an assuring smile, she fell onto her bed as an agonizing grunt followed right after.

''Orl mahybe the dhay afyter.'' With pain coursing through her body, she found it impossible to sleep. Lying down with her eyes open, it was really hard not to think about her old life. Clearly, she had underestimated the hardships of an adventurer's life, but still, it was better than marrying a Bailey, as she couldn't imagine herself living with the people who killed her brother and pretending he had never existed, just as her parents did. Her big brother Jason was a kind man who abhorred killing.

That was why he chose the crimson pole as his weapon. If he needed to fight, he would beat his opponent and leave. This kind of attitude was never tolerated in the big houses. In some extreme cases, soft-hearted people were trained in savage ways until they broke. But that was not the case with Jason. He had an elemental talent. At the same time, it wasn't surprising that this brought him more trouble.

Someone with a high-grade talent like Evelyn was always a source of pride in prominent families, while someone with a top-grade talent was usually hidden from the masses and ultimately grew to be a secret weapon. But someone with an elemental-grade talent was different. Their enemies would work together until they were dead. Because the elementals at the tier-9 were basically nightmares, they had the power to fight against a dozen tier-9s.

If they decided to stay in the lower realm for a hundred years, their family was destined to become the sole ruler of whichever region they stayed. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. These were things every big family in the Union knew. What Evelyn couldn't understand was how shamelessly they could disregard an individual for the sake of the family.

Just a few days after her brother was assassinated, one of their biggest rivals, the Bailey family, came to express their condolences, even though no one should have been aware of Jason's death yet. And just before they left, they declared that Evelyn would be a good wife for their son, Arthur Bailey. This was another way of saying that the Baileys still had many trump cards while the days of the Morris family were limited; you'll either merge with us or be destroyed.

When her family agreed immediately and started discussing the dates, Evelyn decided to leave everything behind. It wasn't the marriage she wanted to escape from, but the people who had no respect for her late brother's memory. Since no one in the world was asking for justice for her brother, then one day, she would take it herself by force. With the conviction of not turning back until she was ready, she jumped into one of the three most dangerous pocket worlds known to the Azora.

And every single day since, she had questioned herself. Would it have been better to join an adventurer's group and take things slow? If her family didn't care about her or her brother, why hadn't she plundered their treasury? There were powerful sects at the Misty Peaks. Why not join one and cultivate in silence? In the end, she was too arrogant to admit she had made a mistake, but she was even more stubborn. Even with all this self-doubt, she kept going every morning.

In just a year, her clumsy movements had become passable. Give it a few more years, and she was sure to be on par with the young elites of Azora. For every hardship she endured, there was a bigger reward waiting afterward. Only, she wasn't sure about the loneliness. Did being in isolation for 15 months refine her will? Or was she just getting far away from the person she was once?

Evelyn spent the following day in the cave, reflecting on everything, before finally hitting the road toward the village, more resolute than ever. Dragging her bloody monster core bag with Paprika on her shoulder, she entered the center village of the pocket world, where the only exit was.'' Let's show them there's a new monster in town,'' she whispered for Paprika to hear, who nodded with a resolute expression. Every monster in the pocket world wanted to live here because of the mana density.

There was fierce competition for the spots closer to the temple, and almost every territory was occupied by a late tier-4. Her first target was the golden eagle perched on the roof of a building in the middle of town. She went straight for it and broke the beast's wing with a single strike. Under the watchful eyes of other beasts, she killed the eagle slowly and cooked herself a meal at the bird's old nest. For the next month, she challenged about 20 beasts in the town.

Only the rhino couple came close to killing her, forcing her to flee the village and return two days later. But in the end, she finally stood before the giant lizard. The battle took more than an hour, and even some of those sturdy buildings collapsed during the fight. Thanks to her [Blood Pressure] skill, the beast's aim had become terrible after half an hour, allowing Evelyn to kill it with gory wounds and almost no stamina left. Collecting the beast's core in a hurry, she entered the temple with Paprika.

The testing ground was a simple room with a large pond and some statues, but as soon as they entered, Paprika started convulsing. Evelyn quickly understood what was happening. Since Paprika was a beast that had been born in this pocket world, the only way for it to escape was by reaching tier-5. There had to be an ancient rune in the temple preventing beasts from joining the trials. Gritting her teeth, she hugged Paprika in panic.

''It's okay. We'll leave in no time, I promise,'' she said, hurrying to the statues at the back.

''Just hang tight. I'll see what I can do.'' She looked everywhere, but there were only weird statues kneeling around another one. When moving them didn't work, she tried smashing them instead, only getting a numb arm in exchange. Looking at the pond that was fluctuating with mana, a thought struck her.

''Fuck! Don't tell me someone got the goods before me.'' Although she was pissed, this was always a possibility. But what if someone went there, passed the tests, and didn't tell a soul about it? Normally, when someone cleared the tests and took the rewards, the Ascendants would send their people to the lower realm to prepare the place for future trials, unless the inheritance ground belonged to a lone cultivator. In that case, the entire place would either collapse or become useless.

Or it could be that someone cleared the tests only recently, and there was no time to send anyone from the higher realms.'' Screw it! As long as we can leave, I don't care. Let's get out, Paprika!'' she decided and grabbed her bag before running toward the pond.

''Here I come, civilization!'' Her feet didn't even touch the water, and the next moment, she found herself in a forest full of space tears.

''W-What happened?'' she mumbled, looking around in confusion.

''Is it the Ascendants? An apocalypse?'' She should've appeared in the Ivory Woodland or perhaps Emerald Forest. Although the location of their entrance varies, every ancient pocket world fixed its exit around Serene Depths. Rumor said those areas were the perfect habitat for the monster that grew in the pocket realms. The moment the monsters passed the tier cap of the pocket realm, they would be teleported to the southeast of Azora and would continue cultivating there.

That was why she dreamed about going to the Free Cities, even though she had never visited one. Nonetheless, this nightmare-like scene was anything but what she'd expected. Looking at Paprika, who was still uncomfortable from the effects of the temple, ''Let's hurry up, something terrible must've happened,'' she whispered and started running toward the west. Only a week later, she saw the core of the pocket world through a space tear and finally realized what the fuck was going on.

''Is this a joke? Did I really end up in another pocket world?'' Evelyn lamented her luck before slowly grasping the situation.

''A dying pocket world, that no one bothers to visit, with no source of food, and God knows where the exit is!'' After that, it was a lot of cursing, yelling, and crying for another week. Cultivators could indeed live with less food and water than mortals, but even they had a limit. There were water sources and some fruits here and there, but how long could they live here? Both Evelyn and Paprika were sure that they were going to die in this place, until one day, they heard a low sound.

Evelyn instantly activated [Mana Sense] to make sure she hadn't imagined it, and finally heard someone speaking again.'' I love you, Doug!'' Even forgetting Paprika on the ground, she dashed toward the love confession like a lightning bolt. And after so damn long, she saw another human, looking at her with fascinated eyes. Should I hug him? God, I wanna hug him. Is it too soon? I should probably wait for a few days.'' Whoa, talk about the Primordial Realm,'' the boy said, turning to his beast companion.

''There are even cavewomen living in it.'' The corner of Evelyn's eye twitched. Should I punch him? God, I wanna punch him. Is it too soon? I should probably wait for a few days.