Ball of Nothing

Zero waited patiently at the side. It appeared as if neither Ruth nor Truen had noticed his presence. The last time he was here, Ruth was tossing him to the ground trying to teach him how to fight. He sat on this very rock and took turns with Mitchnew pounding the basics into Zero's head. Today, the situation was reversed. Zero was the one sitting on the rock while Truen and Ruth were going at each other like mad dogs. Life can be truly unpredictable.

At first glance, Ruth looked like he was getting the upper hand with his agility and stealth. However, after watching them go at it for five minutes, Zero had to admit. His friend might just be more powerful than his combat teacher even if the vampire was physically stronger with his bloodline gifts. The wood elf had extraordinary senses that could detect anything easily, giving him time to react accordingly. In addition, Zero knew that like him, Truen's body was created by the Great Gods. The regenerative abilities of Truen's body didn't pale in comparison to Ruth's high-speed regeneration ability. If anything, Truen had the advantage of being able to use the resources around Hua Tuo's backyard to mend his damaged vessel.

The match ended up as a draw and Ruth begrudgingly admitted that he underestimated the archer. Truen also felt slightly better knowing that Zero didn't learn combat from someone weaker. He heard stories about Ruth from Mitchnew but didn't quite believe that Ruth was strong until he tested the vampire personally.

"Thank you for teaching Zero how to fight. I was actually a little concerned about his progress because we were trained separately," Truen explained and Zero made a face on top of the rock.

The doctor jumped down and surprised them. "Truen!" Zero whined and the wood elf apologised.

Zero sighed. There was no helping it. Truen was overly concerned like a mother-hen and he could see similarities between the wood elf and the hibernating demon lord. For a moment, Zero wondered what would happen if Baal and Truen were allowed to team up. Luckily for him, Zero didn't have to think about it now. He didn't want to be suffocated with two mother-hen personalities when he was adventuring.

"What are you doing here?" Truen asked.

Seeing that Truen and Zero had important matters to discuss privately, the vampire excused himself and headed back to the village, jumping through the portal. Zero watched Ruth leave and turned to the wood elf. The doctor explained everything that Camie said and then turned on his best puppy-eyed look.

"Can we escort Camie as the first stop for our adventure? I know we said we wanted to check out humans but I can't let a girl like her go alone. Besides, there's a plague that has been going on for years that nobody has been able to cure. This is a great opportunity for me!"

Truen had to admit. Zero has grown to be trickier and more shameless over the time that they spent apart. In the past, Zero would plead and beg to get what he wanted. Now, Zero would seduce and try to charm his way across. Truen heard things about Zero from the days he was in the abyss. Zero had also learnt the art of blackmailing to get things his way sometimes and the wood elf cannot say that he disliked the new Zero. If anything, it put his motherly instincts at ease knowing that Zero was capable of fending for himself against the world of adults who may not always play nice.

The wood elf pretended to be affected by Zero's puppy-eyed attack and agreed. Zero whooped for joy and gave his best friend a hug before getting down to the more serious business.

"I have to make preparations before we can leave," Zero told the wood elf.

"What a coincidence," Truen smirked. "I have some serious talking to do with you before you can start your travels. Let's sit down and have a talk about the ground rules, shall we? Don't look at me like that. I heard about the things you did and I cannot say that the Great Gods were pleased to know what you did. I'm just doing my job as your guardian."

Zero sighed and nodded before heading to Hua Tuo's hut. He made himself home and Truen helped to clean up a little. It had been a while since anyone had been home so the two students of Hua Tuo helped themselves. Zero's cleaning magic was something Truen still couldn't get used to. It was scarily efficient and the wood elf wondered if he should add that to the list of banned magic for their travels.

For the next hour before lunch, Truen and Zero sat down to negotiate the terms and conditions they had for each other. Zero found that some of Truen's terms were unreasonable and Truen felt that Zero could request more out of him. They tackled Zero's terms for Truen first and it was easily accepted.

1. No acting like a mother or servants because Zero is a grown-up.

2. No acting like a bodyguard or meat shield during battles because Zero can take care of himself.

3. Take turns doing chores and night watch etc

The wood elf agreed to all of Zero's terms and respected the doctor's wish to become an independent person. However, that didn't change the fact that Truen wanted Zero to try and blend in with the crowd and not attract attention to himself as much as possible even if causing havoc was a norm for the beautiful boy.

Zero haggled with every trick in his books and finally narrowed Truen's list down to six conditions that he could follow. Initially, Truen was strict enough to not allow Zero to use any of his cheat-like blessings and abilities. He reminded Zero so much about Hua Tuo when it came to 'living the simple life' that Zero rejected everything during the first round of discussions.

Eventually, Zero came to understand Truen's concerns and agreed to the following:

1. Do as the locals do in town or when in public view

2. No overpowered blessing / magic above tier 3 until Zero takes the aptitude test with an adventurer guild and gets licensed

3. Truen and Zero will share finances throughout their journey with Truen managing it on both their behalves

4. Zero has to charge for his services as adventurer and doctor however possible, no charity cases

5. Zero to refrain from talking to weird strangers without Truen and to always use an alias when the need arises to avoid attracting bad attention

6. No alcohol

Zero didn't mind the last condition simply because he didn't appreciate the burn of alcohol whenever he drank it. Truen did make an exception to that condition. If Zero ever needed to drink alcohol in the future, he must do it in Truen's presence or absorb it instead of drinking it.

Now that both parties were satisfied with their conditions, Zero sealed it with a casually drawn up magic contract. After the long discussion, Zero explained what were the preparations he needed to do before they could leave.

"For now, I need to create and prepare thirty golems to help me out with the gardens that Cleo and the agricultural team will help me to manage. Also, I want to complete the expansion of Hua Tuo's garden today. I need to redivert some of the water from Trigression Falls over to set up a new plot of land for growing new herbs. They should have special effects from absorbing the qi-inducing water and breathing the dense mana air on Endow hill. It's going to be the first kind of hybrid medicinal herb so I have to oversee the new garden personally."

Truen nodded. "Let me know if I can help with anything."

Zero thought about it and grinned. "Would it be too much if I asked you to help me bring lunch over? I intend to start the preparations at once although I still have to talk to Cleo about it. There are a lot of materials I need to make those golems and it will take time to arrive. To be honest, I'm thinking of making a trip to Heaven and Arabesque to check on the supplies that I currently have there to decide..."

The archer looked at his friend with a helpless expression. Zero was always busy and always looking forward to doing something. That was one thing that didn't change and the wood elf liked how inspiring Zero still was despite going through hard times. He might not be able to lend Zero a hand in whatever he needed to get done but the wood elf knew that sometimes all Zero needed was a listening ear and someone to comfort him or give him a pat on his head at the end of the day.

"I understand. Lunch will be ready, go do what you have to, I'll be here."

Zero grinned and thanked Truen before jumping through the portal to grab Cleo. He was going to pay Heaven and Arabesque a short visit. Hopefully, lunch would be waiting for him by the time he got back.