What Kren had said made zero sense whatsoever, but it seemed to carry some weight, something related to a cult, and from how he reacted to it, it seemed they weren't appreciated.
One of the things that made him slightly confused was that he didn't think he was the sacrifice. From what he had seen in the bone room, there were many human corpses, yet, strangely, he had been inside the egg.
If anything, the only person who seemed to have been sacrificed was the female skeleton that had been chained.
He wasn't sure what had happened in that room, but given the significance of the place he had woken up in, and this mysterious cult, it couldn't be simple. That, he already knew.
Kren went into his caravan and came out with a parchment a few seconds later. The fear and anger he had shown earlier were no longer on his face. It was now expressionless.
"Okay, here's the plan, kid. I'll bring you to my town where you'll be safe. There, we'll talk to the town chief, and you must explain everything that's happened since you woke up."
From the look in his eyes and the tone of his voice, it seemed he had no choice in the matter. It wasn't all bad, though. It seemed he had found civilization earlier than expected, so he complied.
Kren then unrolled the parchment.
"Before we go, I still want to buy the wooden monkey."
He stared at him for a second.
"Why... don't you just take it?"
Kren looked at him and suddenly burst out laughing.
"True, true. I could definitely take it if I wanted to, and you wouldn't be strong enough to stop me anyway. Lucky for you, hunters are required to sign a contract that prevents them from stealing or compromising other hunters' things unless it's sold or bought."
His eyes showed a weird glint before he smiled.
"That... only applies to the Black and Red Zones, since that's where most green hunters tend to be. Deeper into the forest? It's every man for themselves."
He could understand why there was such a system, and honestly, although he was not sure what kind of contract could stop a man as powerful as he was from doing something, he was lucky.
It was only because of this rule that he wasn't attacked and killed on the spot for the monkey corpse.
Although from the way the man behaved, he didn't seem to be that cruel of a man.
"Okay... what do I need to do?"
Kren threw the parchment at him, and he grabbed it.
"Nothing much. Just read the contract and if you feel okay with what you see, sign it. You can give it to a bank when we get in town and they'll give you your money."
The parchment was written in the same language as the floating letters, so he could read it.
"Why... can I read this? I don't remember learning how..."
Kren scratched his head.
"That should be due to Athena."
He stared at him, and Kren continued.
"It was the last gift the gods gave to humanity before they disappeared. It not only helps you see your current power, but also translates all mortal languages for you."
He glanced at the floating screen, then back at the parchment. It was just as the man had said. It looked like a purchase confirmation, it had the product name, which in this case was the infant wooden monkey, and said it was sold at market price.
After reading it and finding nothing wrong with it, he looked at the bottom of the parchment, where some letters refused to be translated. But they looked familiar, almost similar to the runes on his spear and the walls of the temple.
He gave a questioning gaze to Kren.
"Oh, kiddo, don't worry about those letters. They're runes. Just will your name to be written, and it will write it down. It's kind of a verification step. The parchment will disintegrate if someone tries to steal it and submit it in your stead."
He nodded and did as Kren said, and sure enough, the parchment lit up slightly and his new name was written on it.
His eyes shone slightly with excitement and curiosity, and Kren seemed to notice this before laughing again.
"Despite the weird circumstances, I guess you're still a kid."
He didn't say anything else and kept staring at the runes.
"What... are these runes?"
Kren waved his hand as he walked toward the corpse of the wooden monkey.
"Not much is known about the history of these ruins, really. What we know is that they became more common within the Three Towers. Long story short, it's a language that only the gods could use before, but now... well, it's everywhere. Don't try to decipher it, it's almost impossible unless you learn the basics."
Kren stopped just above the wooden monkey and looked at the disc.
"Hey, come take this soul disc."
He walked toward it and stopped when he noticed its color. Although he had seen them before, this soul disc was slightly different from the others he had absorbed. It was still black, but it had hues of red around it.
He could feel that the energy from this one was purer and stronger than the three-eyed wolves.
So he touched it, and it glowed slightly. It didn't instantly dissolve like before, it rotated a bit before turning into mist that entered his body and flowed to the same place as before.
This time, he felt the strange energy, which he now knew was soul energy, he had been collecting solidify more. He turned back to look at Kren, who was staring at him like he had just grown another head and arms.
"What... did you just do??!"
He looked at him in confusion. What had he done now?
Kren looked at him with a slack jaw and pointed at him with a shaky finger.
"You...Are you real?!"
Kren looked shocked. Was it something he had just done with the soul? He had assumed that since he could see the soul disc, others could also utilize it in the same way. But from the look on Kren's face, it seemed he had done something wrong.
"What's... wrong?"
Kren snapped out of it and pointed to where the soul disc had been.
"You just absorbed a soul disc!"
Arah frowned slightly.
"Is... it bad?"
Kren opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again. In the end, he sighed.
"No, it's not bad. It's just... how fast you did it, that's the weird part! The speed you absorbed it, it was fast. Too fast to be humanly possible."
His frown deepened.
"Not... humanly... possible?"
Kren sighed.
"Yes. People take at least 2 to 4 days to absorb a soul disc, and those are normally considered absurdly talented. The average person needs at least two weeks, if not more, to absorb a normal black soul disc, not to mention a reddish-black one, which takes longer! And you just absorbed one in less than a minute!"
Arah looked at his hands, then stared back at the man.
"You... told me to come get it."
Kren groaned in irritation.
"Yeah, I did, but I didn't think you'd absorb it as soon as you touched it!"
He rubbed his temple in annoyance.
"What the hell were those bastards thinking, sacrificing someone with that kind of talent?! Maybe it was because of that they sacrificed him?"
Again, his aura began to sway violently.
It seemed that this body was talented in whatever system the people of this realm used. It wasn't that surprising to him, his soul had to choose a vessel that could contain its strength.
The fact that this body didn't outright explode when he entered it showed that it was not an ordinary vessel. So, amazing talent was within the realm of possibility. He would not have settled for anything less.
"What's... a soul disc?"
Kren sighed and took a few moments to think before answering.
"Long story short, they're a shortcut. They appeared after the collapse of a Tower a long time ago, not something you need to worry about, but they made the path of progression easier."
He bent down and began to skin the monkey carefully, but continued.
"During the era of the gods, they had to sit around all day just to sense the energy in the air and absorb it, it must have been quite the era... But when the Towers appeared, or when one of them collapsed, soul discs became common, allowing almost anyone to shorten the time it took to absorb soul energy by a lot."
So, people in this realm had also cultivated, and just as he had thought, killing to grow stronger was simply a more attractive method of cultivation than the typical kind.
"So when you kill a soul beast, their soul force gathers into these discs. The stronger the beast, the purer the soul disc."
Kren soon finished skinning the monkey, leaving behind a weird green-fleshed monkey. He went back to the caravan and brought two huge containers, putting the infant monkey in one of them and the monkey skin in the other, then stored them in the back.
"Okay kid, hop on. We are leaving."
He didn't need to be told twice, so he got on the caravan and Kren summoned his tiger again and attached it to the wagon. Soon after, the caravan was on the move.
Kren came to where he was sitting and offered him water. He didn't accept the offer, causing him to shrug and drink the water himself.
"Well, kiddo, I'm going to get some sleep, and I recommend you get some rest... your body isn't in the best condition right now."
He only nodded in response, and Kren soon lay down on a small mat, and a few minutes later, his breathing slowed down.
'He really went to sleep.'
He wasn't exactly comfortable sleeping and being too defenseless in front of a stranger. So he just stared at the temple as it got smaller and smaller until it disappeared from view.
He sighed and looked at the slowly setting sun, its remaining rays of light shining through the branches, creating beautiful crimson particles all around.
His first day since he came back to life, and he had many questions. But in due time... he would learn.
He could not help but feel excited by it all. He had loved learning new things and exploring. He had missed this feeling of wonder and curiosity that had died when he had stood at the top.
Now, a whole new world was waiting for him to explore.
And with that, the sunset.