Beyond Erroneous Fields. On one of the northern cliffs in the Shushui mountain range. “Arei Grysban… The vice master of the Celestial Temple. Look what’s become of you,” a man in a black cloak held a beating heart with a few of his eight arms like a spider crab gripping a sea star. “Except for that useless beggar’s plate, you’ve lost everything, even your own heart.” “Your senior met his maker, but for you, it’s still not too late,” another man in a black cloak and bloody hands was rolling a ring on his fingers. The new and old stains of blood on his cloak stood out more than his unusually large canine teeth and animalistic eyes. “We couldn’t find what we were looking for in your ring. We know he passed on the secret of the temple to you. Share it with us, and then the giants of Gretta, the twelve supreme families, and even the Numbnil Belt can be conquered, and we’ll rule the world together.” The two men in black cloaks were eyeing a woman in white, with half of her torso missing.

It had been hours since Edgar came out of the dark room he had found himself in; however, the outside was just as dark, and it felt like he was walking in circles, with no light in sight. The bronze plate wasn’t responding at all, as if it was sleeping through his struggles. Though walking didn’t cost him much energy, he had to walk as silently as he could, trying to not alert any beasts wherever they may be lurking. It was a tremendous mental burden, proving to be much more difficult than cutting firewood, carrying water pots or sticks or sacks of grains. He knew that the snake that had come to him must have used a way to get to him, but he just couldn’t find it, no matter where he looked. He was touching every inch of the wall as he roamed and inspected everything he could through touch and smell, but he found

“Stop this!” Edgar howled in pain as stones kept smashing him all over his body.  Even though he tried to block the stones with his self-made wooden sword, the stones were too fast, and there were too many of them coming from every direction. What’s more, the banana peels were spread out everywhere in the chamber. He had already slipped many times on them and hurt his nose and chin. “How can I fight like this? Forget about fighting, ugh, I might hit my head and die if this goes on!” “Then become a cockroach!” the old man indifferently said. “What?” “A cockroach may fall on its back and stay that way for hours on end, but it doesn’t give up the idea of getting back to its feet. Not that it doesn't know what it means to give up on its life, but it just doesn’t!” “

After striking the banana tree’s trunk for more than a thousand times, Edgar fell back. “This isn't easy.” His palms turned blood-red, and he couldn’t even clench the sword tightly. Though he was tired, he was also afraid that if he let go of the sword, he might not be able to hold it again, so he held onto it. “How can a banana tree be so sturdy?” “Brute force isn’t everything. Cognizance plays a role in success, too,” the old man said, “and so is hunger. It requires the combination of all ingredients to make a curry. For Drive, you need more than just brute strength. And depending on how you use the ingredients, your Drive’s character and range of control will change. And there will be times when you’ll run out of drive, so you’ve gotta rely on other things such as enhancing your base bodily strength and senses or absorbing an elemental ability and what not. The deeper and diverse your pool of power is,

Two days later. There was a tiny light deep in the valley, in one of the dark rifts. “I haven’t come across any weapons or dead bodies with rings, or creatures other than worms. What’s going on? Where are the vipers?” As Edgar traveled through a narrow rift between two rocky structures, a python slithered its way through desperately, seemingly looking to eat him. Thanks to that glowing stone he wore as a necklace, he was able to see it coming pretty comfortably. He was no longer holding any food items, and the bronze plate was half stuck in his underwear on the back. “Mm? That doesn’t look like a viper? Is it a python? Looking at its speed, it's taking me for an easy kill…” he readied the sword, but to his surprise, a bigger snake came from behind and swallowed the python bit by bit until it was fully gone. This