Monster Integration

I came out of the lake after twenty-two minutes of fruitless searching. 

I am cold and now drying myself. The lake had nearly frozen me, which is hard considering the strength and powers my body has, but this lake is also not normal.

After I finish drying myself, I moved without wasting any time.

It had been ten hours since I have come to this place and didn’t find a single clue, which is normal. On average, it takes three and a half days for a person to find the clue.

Some lucky ones appear directly in front of it. I am not one of them.

A few more hours passed, and I decided to take a rest. Thankfully, I could take out the abode and things from my storage. 

There are no restrictions on that.

I directly entered the practice room and started with the treatment. It might seem like a waste of time to do it in this place, where every minute is precious, but I have done it.

Though I will be taking the treatments of the forbidden power and not strength treatments.

I could compromise on that. As I might find any resource, place, or Grimm, that will boost that. 

It is not the same with the forbidden power unless I have across a storm and brown water and am willing to risk my life. These regular treatments are the only way to merge more forbidden power into me.

There are only two treatments, and it will take less than two hours for it. 

‘Stop!’

I was in my second treatment when my clone’s voice rang out in my core. It didn’t say that to me, but to Nero.

He stopped immediately and went to the place where there are a couple of snow roses. My clone is looking at one petal of snow rose, which is shining gently.

A normal person wouldn’t notice even someone observant, as Nero had noticed as he ran past it.

I immediately got out of the treatment. I have made an adjustment to them so that I could get out of them any time I want.

I don’t get out unless there is an emergency. This is an emergency; I have found something that could be a potential clue that will take me to the sermon palace.

I quickly cleaned myself and walked out of the abode, and ten minutes later, I reached it.

“Do you notice anything special about it?” I asked. “No, but it doesn’t belong to the flower,” he replied. 

ραndαsnοvεl.cοm I nodded and plucked it out of the flower; Nero had already performed all tests. My clone had asked him and, except for noticing the petal didn’t belong to the flower, he was not able to find out anything about it, despite his abilities.

Hun!

As I took out the petal, I tried to send it to my core, but to my surprise. The petal didn’t move at all.

I have put a lot of things in my core; many had resistance, but the moment I tried to pull it into my core, the pulling force would simply slide past it.

I gave up after a couple of tries and started to look for a clue into it myself.

First, I tried to look deeply, to see if any map was carved on it. There are hundreds of instances where people have a microscopic map carved on the petal or the leaves, but it didn’t seem like the case here.

I looked at it with a very good magnifying glass, which I myself had crafted, but saw nothing.

Seeing that, I seeped my soul sense inside it and got nothing, even when I looked through every speck. 

Next, I burrowed it into the dense, worldly energy, but got nothing.

I tried a couple of more methods; some from the notes I have read about, others I and my clone and had thought, but have got nothing out of it.

“Now thirteenth,” I muttered and took out a glass bowl from my storage and collected snow from the trees around me, and melted it into the bow.

When it completely melted, I gently placed the snow-white petal on it.

I was expecting nothing to happen, like all thirteen methods, but to my surprise, the petal moved.

I didn’t dare to believe it and gently moved the petal, but a second later, it went back to what it had been.

‘A compass,’ I thought with a smile.

Nero, on the other, moved ahead. He had to keep me away from the others. They shouldn’t see me or sense me with it. 

If they followed me, it would stop working. Worse, they might come to snatch it and end up destroying it.

Th place has one weirder rule, and that is only one person could follow one clue. Each individual needs to find their way to the sermon palace. 

If they tried to work together, the clue will simply stop working or, in some cases, just disappear.

There are people around me, but thanks to Nero, I am able to avoid them.

It also helps that people are avoiding using the soul sense. As one couldn’t find a clue about it.

Hours passed, and I was following the path that petal is leading me to. I don’t know how long it will take, but as long as I have the petal; I will be able to reach the palace.

I once again avoided a person who was only a few hundred meters away from me.

I couldn’t use any method. So, I used worldly energy to move to my left and hide it with my body. With that person not using the soul sense, he didn’t suspect anything.

Over a day passed, and I have avoided many such people while crossing a large distance.

It had been two days since I have come to this place, and I have not taken even a minute of sleep.

I could operate days without it, and I planned to do it. I would even forgo treatment, which I planned to continue even here.

This petal could take me directly to the sermon palace and I don’t waste a single minute doing anything other than it.

Once I reach there, I could focus back on the treatments and other things.

A few more hours later, I begin to walk over the large lake. I would have loved to walk around it, but the bastard petal would only work. When I follow the exact way it is showing, if I tried to circumvent it, it will stop working.

At least it is dark and to hide better; I wore dark clothes and moved as fast as I could.

I want to cross the large lake before the morning came. It is much easier to hide in a tree than in the open lake, where anyone could see me from miles.

Two more hours passed, and I crossed half of the lake, much faster than I had thought.

Well, I am using a different approach. Instead of running over it, I started skiing over the lake, with ice skates and worldly energy. 

It is not easy, but I have enough control over the energy that I could do it without making a mistake and have fun.

‘Father,’

Everything was moving perfectly, when a warning from Nero rang out in my mind.