This time it did not sound scary or with authority. It sounded calm and normal, like the kind of voice a true friend would say to you.
When he still did not open his eyes, he heard a strange sound. It sounded like multiple people sighing and laughing at the same time.
It was as quiet as a whisper, until the sounds or footsteps were heard retreating away. Grey was still afraid that the creature would still be around, so even after a long time had passed. He still had his hands covering his eyes.
After two hours, he finally decided to open his eyes. He saw himself covered in snow. With several hundred footprints all around him. And they didn't look like shoe prints, they were actual footprints.
Grey shrugged off the layer of snow that had unknowingly covered. The reason for his chill was now clear.
He looked at his surroundings and saw the door that was previously barricaded by several miscellaneous items now sprawled all around the floor.
The door was shattered into little more than splinters and the fragmented pieces of wood was stuck to the wall adjacent to it.
Grey felt a stinging pain on his wrist, and when he looked at it, he saw the decay point on his hand emitting sizzling sounds. Like his flesh was burning... no melting.
He was running out of time.
By the time he had assembled his belongings, the sun had already rose high in the sky. Grey carried a brown rucksack on his back and stealthily left the broken building.
Although all his wariness was for nothing. The previous bizarre existences were enough to keep the local Mutated beasts far away... for now, at least.
But even though he could have rushed out of the corroded if he moved in a straight line, he headed deeper into the corroded zone instead.
His goal was to find a strange plant that grew only in the corroded zones. Strangely, these plants had the power to also neutralize the decay point.
In fact, the herb was the main ingredient used to make the decay point neutralizing medicine. Up till now, they just call it the Pill.
Eating the herb raw was bound to reduce its potency and even cause some problems for the consumer. But Grey didn't have much of a choice now did he.
'It would have to suffice for now.' Inwardly he voiced and soon, he reached the particular place where the plant was said to grow.
He stopped at the base of a big tree, hanging on the tree where several corpses of both Mutated creatures and bizarre existences.
Surprisingly, blood dripped from the corpses and unto the very ground where the herb grew. The blood from those dead creatures were nourishing the herbs.
Of course anything that grew and survived in the corroded zone were never normal. They were anything but.
It was very ironic that the herb being used to treat deacy points was drinking the blood of creatures to grow.
The flowers were bright red and danced lightly in the breeze. The tree with all the corpses and red leaves swayed a little in the wind.
Grey quietly stepped towards the tree, avoiding some parts of its roots that stuck out of the earth.
He reached the blood flowers. There was a nauseating smell emitting from them. He was not sure if it was the flowers or the corpse. But he didn't care.
With an indifferent expression, he carefully plucked the five flowers of the herb while leaving their stalk and stems intact.
Gathering the multiple flower petals into his hand, he applied force and crushed them. The flower petals broke like dead tree leaves.
The result was a red dust like residue which Grey did not hesitate to put in his mouth.
A strange feeling permeated his body. He felt like he had swallowed hot dust. His throat was getting hot but that was not the only change.
He noticed the subtle change that underwent the decay point. Unlike before, the pain was not as piercing as before.
He crushed some more and went through the same process. Now the pain was bearable and he quietly left the blood tree the same way he came.
As Grey moved silently, his slightly long hair covered his left eye and his long overcoat nearly dragging on the floor, he saw a black shadow swiftly passed by overhead.
But when he looked up, the creature the shadow belonged to had moved away.
In the corroded zones, the sky was always covered by hazy dark clouds which sunlight could not pierce through.
He gave a soft sigh that came out as a whisper and reached the edge of the corroded zone. He turned to look back as if hesitating then he left the corroded zone.
Outside the corroded zone, the air felt much warmer and the occasionally tension he felt in his body had subsided.
He was now safe... at least from constant threat.
Dangerous beings also lurked around the outskirts of corroded zones so he did not release his guard down a little bit.
He put his hand into his ruck sack and brought out the multitude of coins he had gotten from most of his scavenging in the corroded zones.
Most of them came from the abandoned buildings he normally resides in while the rest were earned through battle.
Battle similar to the rogue cultivator.
For now he had thirty or so silver coins. Which should be enough for about ten to twelve of The Pills.
It should be able to supplement his breakthrough to the fourth realm.
For now he had to find the nearest scavenger camp. Where he could make a quick purchase of some of the Pills and maybe sell off the materials he had collected that may still be of use.
Selling these should bring his total coin level to about fifty coins or forty.
Maybe he could also use it to rent residence in the scavenger camp. Just for breaking through to the next level.