Return of the Fallen Volume 5 Chapter 33
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch33
Glacious shook his head.
“Sorry little bird but that was the last of it. Cerack fruits grow from Cerack trees. I only have a single tree and it takes around 50 years for a single tree to bear a single fruit. If it were a long time ago, things would be different unfortunately, humans and beast are greedy by nature.”
Kazuki was still amazed by his improved strength and was lost in the bliss from the sweet taste lingering in his mouth but Glacious’s words pulled his attention away and he asked.
“Senior, what do you mean?”
“No need to read to deeply into it. My words are surface level and I simply mean exactly what I said. Long ago, Cerack trees were plenty throughout the Feya continent. You could find whole forest scattered across the lands all filled with Cerack trees and Cerack fruit. As you have witnessed, these fruits grant a person a permanent improvement in physicality and strength. Your strength just now should have gone up by at least a third. When humans and Magical Beast learned of this long ago, what do you think happened? Forests were desolated and battles broke out between nearly all. It only took a few years for all the Cerack trees to be destroyed because of this. Well…all except the one I have. Hence my words a moment ago. Humans and beast are greedy.”
Kazuki nodded.
“It makes sense. Learning magic is something precious but also can be beyond difficult. Some spend their entire lives trying to break through to the 3rd stage alone and never succeed. The other option to gain strength is to enlist in an army and serve under a ruler and only after you have done something meritorious would one earn the right to receive an inscription tattoo. Whereas by simply eating a slice of this Cerack fruit, they can gain incredible strength in seconds. Who would not be tempted by such a thing? Its no wonder there is only one Cerack tree left.”
“Right you are Kazuki. Not just Cerack trees. The Feya continent had dozens of different special plants that could grant one strength or unique abilities. These plants defied logic and had they been properly studied by experts, who knows how much we could have all advanced and benefited, now though…”
Glacious shook his head in disappointment.
Mei was saddened to hear all of this but with the mention of other special plants, a fire lit within her. Pulling on his sleeve again she asked.
“Mister dragon, you said there were other plants. They got all eaten up on the outside but what about here. Just like your tasty Cellick fruit, do you have any of those plants in this place?”
Glacious chuckled lightly.
“Sorry little bird but I only have the Cerack fruit tree here, Cerack, not Cellick, haha.”
Mei felt the fire within her snuffed out with that. Glacious could see how disappointed she was and added.
“Outside of here, I do know of one other special plant.”
Mei’s eyes lit up once more and she began to swing Glacious arm in anticipation.
“Really really mister dragon where? What is it?”
Glacious pointed in the distance.
“Just outside of my Rin mountain range there lies a terrifying place. A trench. The depths of which are unknown to all but I am certain there lies a special flower called Kuro-ryoku. This flower is even more special than this Cerack fruit. As a matter of fact, the Cerack fruit can not even compare with the benefits one would obtain from consuming even a single pedal of the Kuro-ryoku.”
Kazuki and Mei both grew interested and Glacious continued.
“The Kuro-ryoku is a black flower with lines of silver running through it. It can only grow in the harshest conditions. First, it needs absolute darkness to grow. Second, it requires a mass abundance of pure dark energy, so the trench is probably one of the only places in the world the Huro-ryoku can grow. This flower takes at least 500 years to fully grow and an additional 50 to fully open and bloom.”
Mei was getting impatient and pulled on Glacious’s sleeve.
“Mister dragon what about the taste, the taste!”
Glacious shrugged his shoulders.
“I can’t be for sure as I’ve never tasted it but an ancestor of mine had by chance gotten to taste a single petal a few thousand years ago. He described it as the sweetest cherry he’d ever tasted. Now that wouldn’t seem like much but ever since that day so long ago, he could no longer be satisfied with any food, as the taste could not live up to that sweet cherry flavor. So although my description is only so, the flavor of that cherry must have been beyond what he could describe.”
Drool began to spill out from Mei’s mouth and almost touched Glacious’s sleeve. Glacious quickly pulled his sleeve back and the drool splashed on the ground below. Glacious took a step back before throwing a small napkin at Mei.
“Please little bird be a bit more careful.”
Mei nodded, wiped her mouth off, and then pocketed the napkin as she thought it was a gift. Glacious sighed within but he didn’t care too much about a kid keeping a napkin.
Kazuki thought the little interaction was cute but he was more interested in the flower.
“Senior what about the effects. You mentioned the Cerack fruit can’t even compare to a single petal, please explain.”
“Ah, that’s right. The first thing though that my ancestor said was how terrifying it was. Not the enhancing effect one would gain but the poison that came with it. As I said, it takes 50 years for the Kuro-ryoku to fully bloom and open. My ancestor told me that if one consumes the dark flower before it opens entirely a deadly poison will spread within you and take your life. However if one allows the flower to open all the way and consumes it, one of the benefits is immunity to all poisons.”
When Glacious said that, his voice trembled a bit and Kazuki caught on.
“Immunity to all poisons, are you saying…”
Glacious nodded.
“Yes, even soul poisons.”
Kazuki stood there for a moment before he erupted.
“Then what in the 7 realms of hell are you still doing here!? Why have you not turned the trench upside down with a flip of the wrist? What are you waiting for?”
Glacious lowered his head and Mei just stood there confused.
“It’s not so simple. Do you think if it were, I would just be standing around with a thumb up my ass? If I could just fly down there and snatch it up just like that, why wouldn’t I?”
Kazuki took a pause.
(He’s right, something doesn’t add up. Every day he grows weaker because of that strange lion-dog face resting in his core. If he could have grabbed it, he would have or rather should have long ago.)
“Senior, what is within that trench?”
“So you’ve caught on. First, let me finish telling you about the benefits then you may understand why it is so coveted and why one can not just snatch it away. As I said, it holds a dangerous poison until the moment it blooms. This means it can not be taken until the exact moment the poison is dispelled. Besides that though the benefits. not only does it make you immune to all poisons in this lower realm but it also enhances your strength substantially. It will double, if not triple your current strength. For me to consume such a thing, I can’t even imagine what being in this world could stop me. Titans would no longer be a threat and I could finally move about in peace. Not only that though, but it also increases your affinity with dark magic by leaps and bounds. Even if you have no affinity with the dark at all, by consuming a petal of the Kuro-ryoku, you can easily master dark energy and your path to the 4th stage becomes merely a hill to climb over instead of a mountain. These benefits alone could make one a destructive force on the battlefield. I obviously care not for the upgrade in power, nor the affinity with dark as I am already a master of it. I only wish for that immunity to poisons.”
Glacious looked saddened as he mentioned all of this. Mei walked over to him and grabbed his hand.
“Mister dragon, if you want it why don’t you just go get it then. Your super super strong so can’t you just swoop in as soon as the flower thing opens and stuff it in your mouth?”
Glacious shook his head.
“The abyssal trench is no place for me. That place is beyond strange. When I was younger I was curious about that place and flew over it to take a look. As soon as I did, a strange suction force was emitted from the trench and tried to pull me in. It was no match for me so I was not affected in the least but that wasn’t all. Not only was there a strange force trying to pull me in, but I could also feel my magic becoming unstable. The trench was actually interfering with my power. Even at that point I still wasn’t too cautious and only grew more curious. That’s when I smelled the Kuro-ryoku. That sweet cherry smell overwhelmed my senses and almost made me feel drunk. I remembered my ancestor describing exactly that and knew it was the black flower right away. This tempted me for sure and I was ready to head down into the Abyssal trench. That’s when I heard it.”
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