Chapter 13

After the grandson, Doga, returned with the Begarra's meat carrying it in a net-like an object made of tree roots, Daragma smiled sinisterly and said "Then, shall we begin?"

"In a moment after he finishes cooking it."

"Since when was cooking essential to us? Just start already time is running out on you." Daragma said, sounding caring, but they all knew he just wanted to win this bet quickly.

A small piece of Mossè meat contains enough energy to break through a small stage in the Body Training stage.

The people on this planet divide cultivation into 3 stages, Body Training, Soul Strengthening, and Nature Fusion stages. Each stage has 10 sub-stages from 1 to 10.

Doga was peak Body Training stage about to break through to Soul Strengthening stage, but to do that one must get rid of all bodily desires. As people who face death every day, there is one main thing that the body wants, having children to continue their lineage.

So Daragma came up with a plan to take Zena into his family. Zena was not like any other girl her age, she was in Body Training stage five with the highest combat experience he'd seen someone her age has. It was like she was a natural-born hunter.

Daragma could already see his great-grandchildren be the strongest in the tribe and who knows maybe no beast out there could match him anymore.

As he was lost in his thoughts, Azkar already told Fares what was going on.

As a person from Earth, betting stuff like that as if it was some kind of consumables was unacceptable to him.

With a determined look on his face, Fares cooked the meat to give it exactly the brownish color on the outside and soft pink color on the inside.

By then the aroma was so alluring that Daragma and his grandson almost couldn't resist.

"You don't mind if I have a piece too, right old man?" Azkar said with drool in his mouth.

"No way. A bet is a bet only when both sides hold to their honor," said Daragma.

Fares tried to move the Mossè meat, but no matter what he did, it wouldn't budge.

Doga and his grandfather burst into laughter at the sight.

"Is this the guy you bet on? " Old Daragma said mockingly.

"And what if it is?" Azkar didn't pay him any more attention, as he went to help Fares. He grabbed the stick with the meat on it with one hand, as if he was holding a wooden sword, its bottom end shone with light before he dug it into the ground in one smooth motion.

Fares was in awe, firstly, because of Azkar's unbelievable strength, and secondly because of how tough the wooden stick carrying the meat was.

For something as strong as this it must have tonnes of energy in it, especially since it looked like it had been removed from its energy source, the tree, for a long time already.

At the side Zena couldn't stop herself anymore, she looked in Azkar's direction at asked him to make sure, "Chief, do we begin now?"

Azkar gave the meat another sad look before saying, "Anytime you're ready."

Before he even finished his sentence, Zena jumped at the meat as if she was a leopardess hunting its prey.

She paid no attention to any form of manners, as she tore a big bite directly with her mouth. It was a little crunchy on the outside and soft and juicy on the inside, it almost melted in her mouth.

Seeing the blissful look on her face, everyone else gulped. Even Daragma and his grandson were thinking of bailing out on their bet just to have a taste.

At the last second though, he wiped the drool from his mouth and stood his ground. Seeing his grandfather do this, he composed himself and acted as if nothing happened.

Zena noticed what they went on, so she threw herself slightly to the right, positioning herself between the meat and the rest, except for Fares who was on the other side of the meat.

Fares didn't know whether to laugh or cry, because he didn't even use spices, it would at most taste bland.

'They must have it tough.' He thought.

When he saw how it was fine to eat that even though it was a decade old, Fares went along and cut a piece for himself to eat. He was determined to win this, not for himself, but for Zena who helped him a lot since he arrived at this place.

He bit into the meat and was surprised to know that it did taste heavenly, and now he wanted to know what beast had meat this amazing, its taste was somewhere between salmon and eel.

As soon as he gulped down the meat, he could feel his body changing, the same as when he ate the meat, Zena gave him before.

However, this time, it was much stronger than that, it was too strong for Fares that he could feel pain all over his body.

Azkar noticed the painful expression on Fares' face and said "Don't fight it, kid, this is the energy as it was being absorbed by your body, you need to control it not the other way around."

Hearing Azkar's voice, Fares fell to the ground landing on his butt, he sat down in a lotus position and closed his eyes as he started 'feeling' the energy as it moved throughout his body.

He could feel it moving around chaotically, a few strands passing and a few others passing there, so he willed it to move and condense over the middle of his chest.

After some time, it all condensed to one point easing the pain all over his body, but in turn, he could feel his chest about to burst open.

Thinking about his human biology lessons, Fares then moved the energy one strand at a time through his blood vessels with the energy lump he made in his chest as the center, exactly how a heart should be.

After a few rounds around his body, Fares felt the pain ease too much that it almost faded away, and he felt his body brimming with energy while getting lighter at the same time.

'So this is the energy everyone was talking about. The only other type of energy I know that could have these effects is… Dark energy.'

Dark energy was a type of energy that rivaled that of gravity, it was the exact opposite that instead of pulling in objects towards one another, it pulled them away from each other.

It is responsible for the continuous expansion of the universe. Compared to normal matter, such as planets stars, and such, which makes about 5% of the universe, dark energy makes approximately 68% of the universe. However, it couldn't be gauged or measured by the most recent human technology.

Fares opened his eyes again, a look of determination on his face, he was determined to understand more about this dark energy, starting by winning this bet.

He cut another piece of meat for himself and started eating then absorbing the energy. He kept on repeating this, and every time he ate a piece it would take longer to absorb.

A few hours later he opened his eyes again after absorbing the energy, only to see Zena sleeping on the ground and Azkar looking at him expectantly, while Daragma and his grandson had a look of misery.

Fares looked at the meat, there was still a quarter left, but he didn't know how long was it till the day would end. Instead of dwelling on the matter for long, he grabbed another piece and continued absorbing the energy.

Seeing that he could eat more, Daragma got a little worried, why didn't he lose consciousness as anyone who eats a lot of energy? It was clear that this was his first time knowing about energy, doesn't that mean he is a mortal? Then why could he eat so much?

From his point of view, this shouldn't have happened. If a weak body ate that much and didn't fall asleep for a few days at the least to digest the energy, his body would explode as the energy expanded it.

'But what was his body made of?' Daragma thought with a frown on his body.

'That's it, I've got to do something about this.' He stood up and walked towards Fares.