A few hours after the bold sun hid behind the cover of the vast horizon.

All seven active squads returned to their camps while the remaining three left for their night rounds.

Rion's squad members snored comfortably on their fur beds, but Rion was nowhere to be seen.

Because at the moment, he was jumping from one redwood tree to another and was making his way towards the purple fog forest.

His spear, which was wrapped around his back with leather straps, illuminated his way.

Before long, his steps touched the dead trees of the purple fog forest, and his eyes fell on his first prey.

He crouched and looked at the kareth a few meters away from him.

Thin purple miasma swirled through its small hole-riddled, hare-like body, and four ravenous red eyes scanned the withered ground around it.

Rion narrowed his eyes and watched it jump from one spot to another.

A few moments later, he loosened the leather straps and freed his spear.

He stood up, took a deep breath, and positioned the spear towards it before he hurled it towards the kareth while mumbling in his head, 'Heaven's Vector!'

His aura moved in the spear on its own, and suddenly, he felt like the spear had become a part of his self.

Shrik!

The spear left his hand and followed the kareth before impaling its blighted abdomen.

Sleek! Thud!

Dust rose, and the spear dug itself into the withered ground.

The kareth let out a broken, pained cry, and the miasma swirling around it moved towards its wound.

The miasma began to heal the wound, but the healing was much slower compared to the kareth he had faced before.

There were two reasons for that:

First, it had no horns, so it was way weaker than the one before.

Second, Rion had used the lunging serpent spear — an azrath weapon.

The kareth squirmed and tried to free itself from the impaled spear, but suddenly an aura-clad hand pierced it from under its core and pulled its core out.

The kareth trembled, and after a few seconds, its red eyes lost their lustre, and its body came to a stop.

Rion shifted his gaze at the bead-sized core and watched the smoke inside it turn purple from the usual red.

"So, it is possible to collect their cores..."

He stored the core in his inventory, and a message screen flickered before him.

[You have stored a (Tainted Null Core)!]

"Heh," He smirked and mumbled, "Inventory."

The inventory screen appeared before him, and he focused on the second slot that had the Null core.

Another screen flickered beside the inventory.

————

Item: Null Core

Status: Tainted

Grade: 1 (Lowest)

Description: A core forged out of the drained life essence by a corrupted Abysmal Flame.

————

"Hmm... so the forest is like this because of this corrupted flame?" He rubbed his chin in thought and added, "Should I get some water?"

A soft chuckle escaped him, and he dismissed the screen.

"Let's check out if it's the same for others," he muttered and left the place.

The night passed, and Rion returned to the camp after finishing his hunt at the outermost layer of the purple fog forest.

He had decided to only hunt at the outermost layer because it was his first time entering the purple fog forest, so he didn't want to be late returning to the camp.

He sat on a fallen log and read the screen before him.

————

Item: Null Core

Status: Tainted

Grade: 2 (Low)

Description: A core forged out of the drained life essence by a corrupted Abysmal Flame.

Amount: 6

————

————

Item: Null Core

Status: Tainted

Grade: 1 (Lowest)

Description: A null core forged out of the drained life essence by a corrupted Abysmal Flame.

Amount: 9

————

He had hunted a total of fifteen kareth, out of which six had a horn, while the rest had none.

Rion held two null cores of the varied ranks and compared them.

The grade two null core was a bit bigger than the grade one; the purple smoke within it was much denser, and at the very heart of the smoke was a dark purple crystal the size of a fingernail.

"Both of them have the same description, but what is this 'Abysmal Flame'?" He questioned and thought about it.

Five minutes passed in thought, and he mumbled, "Could it be the item related to the great prophecy?"

He turned his head towards the purple fog forest and glanced at the miasma that filled the inner forest.

He clenched his fist and channelled his aura into both of the cores.

The null cores trembled, and the smoke within them darkened before both of them cracked, and the smoke within began to seep out.

Just as the smoke touched the grass or anything with life essence, it densified and turned similar to the purple miasma.

Rion frowned and touched the purple miasma with his finger; the miasma moved towards it as if it were alive and began to dig into his finger.

A slight sting ran through his finger, and the miasma disappeared.

"Huh?" He stared at his finger with a dumbfounded look and took out another grade two null core.

He channelled his aura in the core, and just like before, it trembled, cracked and turned into the purple miasma.

The miasma seeped into his fingers and disappeared once again.

He flicked and moved his finger to see if anything was different from before, but he felt no change at all.

"What's going on?" He scratched the back of his head, and after thinking about it for a few moments, he kicked the worry to the deepest part of his head.

A conclusion struck his mind, 'Wait! I can't be killed or cursed... doesn't that mean I can go as deep as I want?'

His eyes shifted towards the purple fog forest, and he mumbled in a low voice, "I'll either find a way to control it or destroy that burning darkness."

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