Chapter 690: Sprouts
Within the dead forest, Sam and his friends are staying currently.
The next day the group divided into smaller groups of two and they split themselves to do some hunting.
Meanwhile, within the area Sam marked, a large Pre-transcendent stage creature that looked like a Rhinoceros is walking slowly.
This is not a beast though, it is an undead creature formed from the beast carcass and it can be seen from the way there is a large chunk of flesh missing from its body.
But the creature's energy doesn't seem to be proportionate to its size as it is walking a bit clumsily.
Because that morning, it discovered that its energy is being drained out of its body from a point on its back and it couldn't reach any matter where it went.
It walked for a long while and soon it stopped in its tracks and sat down on the ground leaning to a rock.
What the creature doesn't know is that there is a small sprout on the back of its body with black leaves and the number of leaves is increasing.
The creature just stayed there till afternoon and soon it never moved.
But after some time, a black vine was growing out of the body of the creature, and flesh on the carcass is completely gone with only a bit of skin and bones left. By the end of it, there are two flowers that bloomed and another bud on the vine.
The flowers looked extremely similar to flowers Sam blew the pollen off of and with a small breeze this pollen also disappeared while the flowers on the vine wilted away after the pollen fell off.
Soon a group of vampires came to that area following the tracks of that Rhino and were stupefied to find out that the creature is already gone, it cannot be considered dead as it is already undead, but it is gone.
This made them feel a bit frustrated.
"Why are the tracks so fresh if this is gone a long time ago? There are even vines all over it."
One of the vampires said in an indignant voice.
The vampires didn't bother with it but what they didn't notice is that a small white grain stuck to the skin of one of the vampires at the back of his neck.
While Sam's little plan is expanding wildly and becoming a large plan, he noticed the change in the number of his wrist screen.
There is an excess of thirty-five points.
Sam didn't expect that he would be able to get results this early. He could guess what happened. Generally, even for the vine he planted, he estimated that it would take another three days to show any form of results, but the very next day he managed to enter this area, the situation changed.
But what he doesn't know is, his plan has spread faster than he thought and he didn't know that a Vampire was currently carrying one of the pollen grains on his nape.
If he knew he would be even more eager to see the results.
Meanwhile, he went along with Jack to see visit a place.
From the chess pieces he collected, he learned of some good places in this area.
The forest they are in is the forest of dying. As he already knew this place is also a graveyard for some beasts and creatures from another realm. They don't know which realm it is.
This forest is the house for few of such beasts but of lower cultivation.
Apart from that, there is a place near this area where a high-level swordsman died.
He died in the valley near the forest.
No one knows what level of cultivation that person is, but the valley is surrounded by the sword storm and in the middle of it, everyone can see the silhouette of a person sitting in the middle of that storm.
It is the dead body of the cultivator that died in there and the rumors are that he has a sword in his hands while dying and that sword contains all his legacy.
This place is used as a training ground by many swordsmen of this realm.
Currently, Sam and Jack are standing on the edge of the valley. There are a lot of undead creatures nearby. Vampires, Wights, Ghouls and there is even a specter with a faintly transparent silhouette.
They all have different cultivation levels, but nobody bothered with these two humans, that is because they are currently under the disguise created by Chatur.
As far as the rest of them knew, both of them are nothing but some vampires that do not belong to any Vampire household.
Sam has lectured his friends on the basic knowledge of this realm after he learned from his chess pieces.
Just like how any place would have it, the different races have different territories they rule, but there are no strict regulations for people to live in one territory. At least for undead creatures, humans are treated as one of the valuable resources, so they are strictly regulated.
As for the rest, they move as they want and due to that, every race has seeds left in other races' territory. And for some reason, they don't have many conflicts. They are extremely friendly with each other. Except for Vampires and WIghts who have some differences and minor conflicts, there are no other differences between them.
Sam has found such places from the chess pieces so that he could help his friends get some experience and some legacies that are in this place and this day it is Jack's time.
They could feel the strong sword energy and sharp winds that could kill even a consummate creature.
The whole valley is surrounded by this.
There is a method to go in and that is their sword essence. Their sword essence will give them access into the valley and the deeper they go the more refined their sword essence should be.
Inside the valley, there are many people sitting and standing with their swords as they practiced and refined their sword essence. It was also said that every sword ray that is present in this valley is related to a technique of the expert that died in here, so they have a chance of learning this.
The only way to improve their sword essence is to practice more and comprehend the sword more.
Jack has a decent sword essence and he activated before walking in and Sam followed suit. Sam doesn't know how refined his sword essence and he is not keen on finding it out. He is not much interested in the legacies of others. The only reason he even attempted to take the legacy of Murali is to get the tools that legendary person used.
And he accepted the shadow sword as it is a magnificent weapon that was untamed for so long.
As for this legacy, he is not interested. He has his own two great swords that would one day reach the greatest of the heights along with him and the shadow sword is an addition.
He doesn't need the extra swords. He is not a collector.
He is only here just to be safe if Jack gets into trouble.
He spent the whole day until evening within the valley as Jack practiced in the valley.
He couldn't go deep into the valley, but it is not bad for the first day. That evening, Jack stopped his practice and spoke to Sam.
"You can go back, I will be okay. I wouldn't be attracting much attention for the next three days. You can come back then."
"Sure."
Sam didn't insist and went back to the cave. The rest of the group didn't come back they are all staying out and only came at midnight.
The next day, he took Philip and Watt to their respective places. It is a bit far away from this forest, but their hoverboards really did help them in traveling fast.
As for Arman, the lightning element is not something this place could offer. The death energy is extremely repulsive to lightning. As for Chatur, normal legacies wouldn't help him that much.
For the next few days, Sam spent his time battling the undead creatures and helping out his friends with their comprehension and practice.
He is waiting for something big to happen and the first month would be boring just like this.
So, he is not extremely worried.
But what he doesn't know is, his plan moved a bit faster than he thought.
With the forest dying, there is a small base of Vampires and within the woods near that base, there is a vampire leaning towards the tree as he tried his best to control the flow of his energy, there is a human corpse nearby with all the blood sucked out dry.
But the Vampire is neither showing the satisfaction of the meal nor the energy that he should have gotten from all that blood. At this moment, all he could think of is the small sprout on his nape that is growing bigger by every moment.
He noticed the small sprout two days ago and he tried his best to pull it out. But he failed miserably as he noticed that the roots are directly linked to his spine, he would be doing some serious damage to himself if he pulled it out.
The sprout is sucking his energy dry and even his resistance is extremely futile. All he could do is completely restrict his own energy flow but if he did that, the sprout is draining his body dry.
He is battling with this for the past three days as he allowed the sprout to take some energy which would calm it down for some time and restrict the flow for that grace period as he delayed his imminent demise.
He is sure that he wouldn't be able to hold it for long.