Inside a dimly lit ce whose walls were slimy and the area under feet was filled with a strange fluid that had a really putrid smell, two men were sitting face to face, with a distance of around three meters between them, the space itself around was over 30 meters wide.


    One had purple hair that wasn''t too long, with an extremely gentle and charming face, he seemed to be in his twenties, while the other person had ck hair and was in his mid thirties, he looked quite handsome too, but he seemed ordinarypared to the other man.


    Jayden was calmly sitting in the air, with his legs crossed, two red swords with white patterns all over their des were plunged into the soft ground on either side of Jayden.


    " My good friend, what''s your name? "


    The other boy asked, showing a friendly smile.


    " Jayden " he simply replied, his expression remained emotionless.


    " Haha, so Jayden I''m Ardino, although we are meeting in such a ce, but still nice to meet you. " Ardino said, he looked like a friendly neighbour and despite meeting Jayden not too long ago, he was acting as if they had been friends for years.


    "..."


    Jayden stayed silent, some kind of liquid was constantly dripping from the top, but there seemed to be an invisibleyer around Jayden that stopped it from touching his body or cloth, but the other person wasn''t so lucky, and when the Gu type of fluid came in contact with his clothes they immediately began to dissolve along the fluid.


    " Uh... Can you... Can you do that thing for me too, I''m sure you wouldn''t want to see my sexy naked body. "


    Ardino asked, he was wearing clothes that looked quite simr to the earth''s modern clothes, but with a ssicism to them, as if he was from an academy of some sort.


    " Sure " Jayden used telekinesis and instantly an invisibleyer appeared around Ardino too, he showed a satisfied expression and then asked:


    " So where are you from? " While asking he looked strangely at Jayden''s ck robe, from his expression it was clear that he looked at Jayden as if one would look at some foreigner.


    " Just around this forest. " Jayden replied, not giving any info and Ardino also understood that he wasn''t willing to share anything with a stranger like him.


    " Haha anyway, how did you end up inside an abomination such as this? "


    While asking he took out two sks of wine and passed one to Jayden, before taking a gulp from his sk.


    Jayden took the sk and also took a sip, as he replied: " I just did, somehow. "


    Ardino felt frustrated that Jayden wasn''t talking at all, so he decided to tell him about himself first:


    " Haa, I''ll go first, but then you would also have to tell me something. " After seeing Jayden node, he began:


    " So, I''m from a nearby kingdom, and from a fairly poor family, since I had some talent I became my family''s only hope, they wanted me to go to the academy, not that I opposed that idea.


    But you have to be at least at the first order to get the chance topete for admission, so I came here to collect the Demon cores, I was only nning to take the cores of 1st Zone and maybe some of 2nd Zone if I am lucky. Therefore after saying goodbye to my family, I came here in this forest to hunt the demons and obtain their demon core.


    Everything was going fine but then one night I had to stay outte since I was surrounded by a pack of demons from the 1st Zone, so I panicked and lost my way to the cave I had been using, but I felt really relieved when my eyesnded on another cave, it was covered with bushes and rocks so it was hard to detect, but the smell of fruits from inside pulled me towards it.


    Like the mindless idiot I am haha, I walked inside the cave only to find that it was the mouth of a 3rd Zone demon, that''s toozy to hunt and just pretend to be a cave, to trick demons and others.


    Anyway, that''s mostly it about me, now why don''t you tell me something about yourself? "


    With these words, Ardino finished his story, but he also hadn''t given any significant info about himself, just like Jayden he was being careful too despite the friendly out front.


    All around them, a lot of half dissolved skeletons, and many other things were lying, the cave from which they hade inside the stomach of this big demon, seemed to be close now, even the flesh from inside the demon was very hard and it would be impossible to prate it with any weapon, so Ardino looked at Jayden in wonder as he was able to easily prate the flesh of the demon with his dual swords.


    " I am from the Beginning Kingdom, have you ever heard about it? " Jayden asked drinking more wine from the sk.


    " Hmm... Beginning Kingdom, I don''t think I have ever heard that nam- wait, I have read something rted to it, I think it was something like a ce on the other side of the forest that uses some really strange ways to train, is that right? You are really from that ce? " Ardino asked curiously, in a surprised tone.


    " Sounds right, anyway yes I am from there, it''s a good ce and safe from everything, no demons would enter it because of a protectiveyer around it. "


    As Jayden spoke the surprise on Ardino''s face became more evident, he wasn''t floating like Jayden was but sitting on something that resembled a treasure chest, but it was empty.


    " Whoa, is that really true? Damn, at my ce there are no such barriers, so demons woulde asionally to hunt people, and strong people would just use these chances to grow their strength, if you were living in such a great ce why did youe into a dangerous forest such as this?


    Haa if it was me then I would have happily stayed with my family and lived my entire life peacefully, have a wife, and maybe two kids and that would have been great. " Ardino said with a dreamy look on his face.


    " Hmm, achieving peace isn''t that simple, one thought from someone is all it takes to destroy your peace entirely, unless you are strong enough, you will be devoured by others. " Jayden said, yet his face remained emotionless.


    Then he continued his story: " So, in the Beginning Kingdom- " but his next words were interrupted by Ardino.


    " W- Wait look I know you are a good person, and we don''t have any kind of animosity between us, but I don''t want to die here, so... " He paused while looking down with a look of guilt on his face.


    " I''m a really bad person, I''m sorry, t- the wine you are drinking, I- I have added poison to it, I really didn''t want to do that but my family wouldn''t be able to survive if I don''t go back, you can resent me, you can me me, but it was the only choice I had. " Ardino said in a low voice.


    ________----________


    Thanks for reading and have a great day, adios ??