After being impressed by Theo’s swordsmanship, Oliver had naturally asked about it. Apparently, Theo belonged to a family that already had quite a few powerful Ghouls among it’s members, so weapon training had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember.

Compared to that, Oliver’s own knowledge was embarrassingly basic. He knew how to hold a weapon, which end was supposed to point at the enemy and that stabbing someone with the sharp end was generally a good idea. Beyond that, he was mostly improvising.

Other than this he had already consumed the Soul core of the Razorwing.

[Soul Core of Aether Beast: Razorwing being absorbed.]

[Grade: Tarnished | Rank: Feral]

[1 Essence Shard absorbed]

[Essence Shards: 8/500]

After another hour or so of walking, they finally reached the region where the oak trees began growing. More importantly, the endless sea of pear trees finally came to an end.

"Damn... I never thought I could get this happy just by seeing a tree."

Korre immediately nodded eagerly.

Along the way, another jackal-like beast had attacked them, but the fight had been so one-sided that Oliver hadn’t even needed to participate. Before the thing could reach them, Korre had already finished it off.

Her vines were just that strong and even had a good ranged abilities.

Looking up at the massive oak trees, Oliver finally asked the important question.

"So... how the hell are we supposed to cut this thing down?"

Theo didn’t answer and instead, he casually tossed a golden coin into the air.

Sometimes, after dying, people would arrive carrying the very items they had possessed at the moment of their death. Weapons, jewelry, bags, watches, and other belongings occasionally made the journey alongside them.

However, the process seemed completely random.

In some cases, people arrived with almost everything they had been carrying while in others, they arrived with nothing at all. Not even the clothes they had been wearing.

Oliver watched the coin spin.

’Huh? What’s he doing now?’

Theo caught the coin, glanced at it, then let out a sigh before pocketing it. After that, he looked directly at Oliver.

"Hit me with a sharp weapon."

Oliver blinked once.

"What?"

Theo’s expression remained completely serious as he repeated.

"Cut me with a sharp weapon."

For a few moments, Oliver simply stared at him.

"Bro... what are you talking about? You alright?"

Suddenly, Oliver began wondering whether the kid had actually taken all of this much worse than he appeared to. Maybe he acted normal on the outside, but internally his mental health had already collapsed.

’He is a kid after all.’

He then looked toward Korre.

"What the hell is he saying?"

Korre looked uncomfortable as explained the situation, scratching her cheek awkwardly.

"It’s his doctrine. For him to use it, he needs to bleed."

Oliver frowned as he thought how stupid a condition that was.

’So that’s the flaw they were talking about earlier.’

"What?"

"The more blood he loses, the stronger he becomes. His body gets augmented. Strength, speed, endurance, constitution... all of it."

’Blood augmentation?’

Now Oliver understood a little better about what exactly what was happening but there was still one major issue.

"Why me?"

Theo answered immediately.

"I can’t hurt myself."

"What? Why?"

"It’s one of the conditions of my power. If I do it myself, the blood won’t count towards the augmentation."

Then he glanced toward Korre.

"And Korre doesn’t really like doing it. Last time she tried..."

Theo paused as Korre looked away.

"...let’s just say it didn’t end well."

Oliver’s eyes moved between the two of them.

’And you think I can?’

’What exactly do you think I am?’

’A child abuser?’

He then immediately looked away and raised both hands defensively.

"Look... I don’t even have any sharp weapon."

Theo stared at him and Oliver pointed at his empty waist, pointing at where he used to tie his spear with a vine.

"I only had a spear, and that’s gone now."

Before he could continue suddenly his system’s cool voice came again.

[Inheritance Acquired: Weapon]

[Royal Nectar]

[Grade: Blemished | Rank: Feral]

[A slender blade forged from the soul of a Royal Nectarwing.

Countless flowers surrendered their essence to create a single drop of royal nectar.

Likewise, countless strikes may be required to reveal the blade’s true worth.

Even the mightiest beast may eventually fall to a thousand stings.]

[Ability: Nectar Mark]

[A target wounded by this blade becomes touched by a fragment of royal nectar.

Until the mark fades, the wielder will always know where their prey has gone.

After all, what belongs to the hive cannot wander far.]

---

It was Korre who had transferred the inheritance to him and judging by the look on her face, she still felt a little guilty about forcing him into it. At the same time, she also looked completely determined to never do it herself again.

She folded her arms and looked away.

"Look, you have a weapon now. In fact, you can even keep it...But I can’t do that...You just do it please."

Oliver looked at her, then at Theo.

He was getting a sword out of this, so admittedly he was a little tempted, still, he looked at Theo one last time and asked,

"You sure? It will hurt like hell if I stab you."

Theo nodded and said,

"Don’t worry... I... uh... have been trained in pain tolerance too. It won’t hurt that much."

His voice remained calm, but there was a slight shiver in it near the end. It was only for a moment, yet Oliver still noticed it. More importantly, Theo’s expression had become a little strange after saying it, as if he had remembered something unpleasant.

Looking at his face, Oliver suddenly felt that the kid probably had his own problems too.

Oliver sighed internally.

’Seems like these new teammates of mine all have some problems in their lives back on Earth.’

Theo had whatever weird pain-tolerance training he had gone through. Ahreum became strangely nostalgic whenever boats were mentioned.

The more Oliver learned about them, the more he realized that everyone here was carrying around something.