A beast soared across the skies, its black-feathered wings rigid like a blade and pliable like water. It went from gliding to flapping as seamlessly as breathing. The way it moved across the sky was without effort and was no different from a fish swimming in the sea.

Sharp eyes raked across the ground below, searching for prey. Its eyes locked onto a small forest rodent, and the crow’s wings tucked in as it dove toward the surface like an arrow. Momentum gave it power and speed, and when it seemed like it couldn’t prevent itself from crashing into the ground, its wings flared. The dive turned into a swoop, and its talons reached out, tearing through the flesh of its prey. The rodent had time to give a small squeak before its life was extinguished. A warning to others like it that a predator was about. The little rodents scurried into hiding, shivering in fear.

The crow landed on a branch with its prey, and its beak tore into its weak flesh while it devoured blood, bones, and meat—feeding on its vitality. At that moment, there was a communion between the two that normal means could not sense. It was the passing of life to life. One gave up its energy to the other. No matter how strong its will to live, it couldn’t outmatch that of the crow.

With food in its stomach, the crow’s head was partly withdrawn into its body while it rested. It never thought about why it killed, but it knew it had to do so to survive. That was its path, its will to live, an aspect of its existence. As it basked in its hunt and was content with its meal, the crow died without knowing why.

A serpent sitting on the branch above it, hidden from sight, had struck while the crow’s diligence was low. It died before it even knew it was in danger. The serpent beast unhinged its jaw, swallowed the crow, and dropped from the tree. Slithering into its den below the roots, he prepared to sleep while it digested the large lump visible in its body. Once more, communion was established between the dead and the living. One gained, and one lost, but this cycle of existence kept moving forward with no one questioning it.

Days later, the serpent woke, its food long digested, and now it prepared to find more prey. Its life was simple and relaxed because snakes had long evolved as one of the most perfect predators. On top of a branch exposed to the sun, it waited. Its skin was various shades of brown, so it remained hidden. Bigger prey passed below, but its honed instincts warned of things too dangerous to attack. No matter how honed its instincts were, there was always a better predator. It had a fraction of a second warning before it was snagged from its branch.

The pale-skinned two-legged creature had grasped the serpent behind its head, not allowing it a chance to react. All it could do was try to coil around its assailant’s arm, but it lacked the power to do more. Inside its reptilian brain, it kept fighting because it had a robust vitality—a strong will to live. All it could do was wait for an opportunity that would never come.

The vicious pale-skin cut the serpent open while it was still alive and rooted around inside. It could feel when the two-legged creature took hold of its venom sac and cut it free. Losing the organ wouldn’t kill it, but it took a large part of its vitality. It was irrecoverable for a venomous serpent because it allocated a lot of its essence to those sacs and was necessary to their survival. Pale-skin wasn’t finished, as it also defanged and removed some other precious components before finally killing it and taking the skin.

The man returned home, tossed most of its harvest into various containers, and kept the venom sac. Approaching a work area, he carefully extracted all the venom out of it and minced the organ into a paste. All of which went into sealed jars.

Opening a few drawers, he pulled out various plants with high concentrations of life and vitality. After chopping and grinding those different plants into powders, he added a few of them into a boiling cauldron filled with a viscous substance. An hour later, the substance inside had a gel-like consistency on top, which he scooped out, revealing the good stuff underneath. Even the aroma was enough to fill the man with the energy and potency of life.

Using the ground-up serpent’s venom sac, he added it to the cauldron. The toxic fumes forced the man to step back while the venting took the noxious air out of his work area.

A little later, the cauldron cooled enough for him to pick up and pour the contents into a large pill mold. It made nearly a hundred round pills, and the yellowish-green coloring gave them a sinister look. After waiting an hour, the pills hardened, and he dumped them all into a pill bottle. On its side, it was labeled ‘Anti-Venom.’

Putting that aside, he put a small ceramic bowl over the fire and began pouring various liquids into it. All of them were venoms, but not all toxins were compatible. He needed years of research to master poisons at this level, that, and a lot of luck. A miscalculated mixture could kill powerful cultivators, much less him. The last ingredient was the serpent venom he’d just acquired. A few drops later, the bowl bubbled violently before settling down.

The man’s eyes glowed as he stood back and watched the substance inside. An invisible aura made of Poison Mana rose from the concoction, which meant the mixture was successful. Carefully and with thick leather gloves, he picked up the bowl and poured it into a dozen glass ampules.

When he finished, his fingers caught fire with a sinister green flame. Using his fingers, he melted the top of the glass ampules and pinched them close. Under the high heat, the glass was easily malleable.

He used a special metal container and slid the ampules into the waiting slots. Closing the lid, he used the same flame to burn a label onto the top of the container, which said ‘Nine Devils Venom.’

Taking both products, he left his lab and entered the town’s market. Only he didn’t enter the central area. Instead, he walked to the back of the market and ducked down an alley. He knocked on a hidden door there, and a powerful guard waited when it opened. Seeing who it was, he nodded and stepped aside.

Inside was a set of stairs that wound down into the darkness below. After reaching the bottom, he continued walking down the hall until he reached a shimmering barrier and stepped through it. Compared to the dark and gloomy alley and stairs, this place was brightly lit, energetic, and crowded.

The underground was never easy to deal with, so the man held onto an ampule of poison in one hand and an anti-venom pill in the other. Guided by a guard, he wove through the gambling den. Upon reaching the back door, which was more opulent than the gambling den, they shoved him inside.

“You got it?” A haughty man with an icy voice asked.

The alchemist held up the box, and the second it left his hand, the guard struck him from behind. No matter how much he expected it to happen, he still couldn’t prevent it. The ampule and pill flew out of his hand, seemingly at random. No one noticed the pill because the ampule arced upward and glittered under the harsh mana lights. It smashed against the table in front of the big boss. The poison was invisible, so they wouldn’t realize it immediately unless they used Mana Sense or some other skill.

“Fuck you, Tim,” the boss shouted, but not at the alchemist. The guard killed the alchemist, and now they were all infected without a cure. It didn’t take long before it liquified their bodies without a chance of surviving. Everyone in that room died except the small girl in the corner.

No one noticed the round pill landing in front of the little girl because the ampule distracted them. She knew her daddy had sent it to her, so she swallowed it and remained unaffected by the poison.

“Daddy?” The little girl walked up to the alchemist and shook his cooling body. In his pocket, she found a note.

Little one, this is the best I can do. Daddy is sorry he wasn’t stronger. Live a good life.

The girl was smart enough to know her dad had sacrificed himself to free her. Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she leaned over to give her daddy one last kiss on the cheek.

“Thank you, daddy.”

Walking out of the building, no one saw her; if they did, they didn’t notice. She tossed out all the ampules across the gambling den, scattering Nine Devils Venom throughout the building. She wasn’t evil, but she knew that most of the scum present were there to bid on her virginity, and they captured her as a sex slave. Even if her daddy did everything they asked, it wouldn’t change anything. All the scum had to die.

The big guard at the alley entrance was waiting for her.

“Little miss? Is it done?”

“It is.”

“I’m sorry your father didn’t make it.”

“His will to live was stronger than anyone I know, but in the end, he passed that on to me. I’ll live the best life I can to honor him.”

“Let’s go.”

“Mmm,” the little girl nodded.

***

As they left the building, the dream faded, and Crow opened his eyes.