Zhujiao was currently meditating underneath a waterfall. The waterfall was where he had first met the Fairy Oracle that told him about the silver-haired man.The reason why he was meditating underneath the waterfall was that the Fairy had told him if he did so, he would have an easier time meeting the man and he would be able to slowly heal his meridians even if he couldn"t meet him.
As he moved his Qi through his meridians, he could feel them slowly restoring themselves bit by bit. It would take a long time for them to fully heal, but he could now at least make one entire cycle without coughing up blood.
He could only meditate during the night when the moon was out because that would be the only time where the waterfall"s restorative properties would work.
Zhujiao was marvelled on how n.o.body had found such a magical waterfall.
"Haa..."
He breathed out and moved away from the waterfall. He dried himself with a towel he brought along and changed into a new set of dry clothes.
It was only the third day he had begun meditating underneath the waterfall but he felt his concentration had improved and his understanding of his Qi had improved. He hadn"t reached the first stage of〈Martial Soldier〉so he wasn"t able to get his physique a.s.sessed yet.
"If that accursed Wei Hundan hadn"t crippled me, I would have long already reached〈Martial Soldier〉!"
Zhujiao gripped his fists in anger and shouted out his frustration. He wanted to shout a bit more but it could attract the attention of the surrounding demon beasts so he started to pack up for the night.
But just as he was about to throw his rucksack atop a nearby tree branch, droves of thunder and lightning started to appear.
Zhujiao attempted fled to a safer place as fast as possible but he still needed to get his bag back. And as he climbed up the tree and reached out for his bag, a bolt of purple lightning struck down on him that was accompanied with an earth-shattering howl.
He fell on the ground together with his bag and rolled into the waters overflowing from the waterfall.
Meanwhile, in that same forest.
"Val!"
"Rion!"
"Vale!"
"That"s quite a storm."
「I couldn"t help it!」
Felicia and the twins could be found reprimanding Val who had changed into his dragon form. Cole was busy checking the terrible night weather.
「You actually expect me, a Dragon who controls lightning, to stay silent during a thunderstorm?!」
"Well, when you put it like that..."
Felicia could understand if it was something like that. It was an animal"s basic instinct. But for the twins, such a remark got them thinking.
*PON*
"So you"re like a wolf?"
〈「Excuse me?」〉
Mini was the one who asked the question. When he put his hand on his palm, Val thought he heard a *PON* sound effect coming from it but decided he was just hallucinating.
"Because you howl during thunderstorms instead of howling at the moon."
"Although wolves howling at the moon are just purely coincidental. They just pipe up more because they"re nocturnal."
"So you"re more active during thunderstorms?"
Mini and Gemi alternated between saying the questions and Val started to question if there really was some kind of reason why he summoned lightning during thunderstorms.
"Well, some Divine Guardian is now probably aware of your existence so..."
"You"ve also attracted a lot of beasts here so..."
〈「You"re not helping!」〉
"What are you talking about? I"m helping right this instant."
〈「?」〉
When Val looked ato his left. Cole could be seen fighting off a giant horde of beasts that were attracted to Val"s howl.
Every movement he made would cause organs to fly. Every time a beast"s claw or fangs came at him, he was able to dodge with the minimum amount needed while causing it to affect the other beasts in the vicinity.
----- Blood Fang Wolf -----
HP: 3/100
State: Fear
------------------------------
----- Blue Crest Lion -----
HP: 21/100
State: Fear
------------------------------
----- Green Spotted Panther -----
HP: 17/100
State: Fear
-------------------------------------
〔The HP value is only estimated. I judged it by the amount of blood loss and whether or not their organs are still intact.〕
"Well, thank you very much."
But during such a situation, Cole"s face was as expressionless as ever. Oh no, wait. It seemed his eyes were able to join in on the disappointment party for Val.
He then backflipped over the horde and rejoined the party. He then aimed his hand to the ma.s.sive amount of reinforcements that were still raging towards the party.
"〈Kannoni tou Chaous〉"
A black ray of light accompanied by red sparks shot out of his hand. The beasts that were once stampeding their way towards them with the intent to kill started to turn back in fright. It was their instincts telling them not to get close to that ray at all costs.
However, it was useless. They were consumed by the ray of light before being able to get a good distance away.
"Hey Cole, why didn"t you use that〈Devour〉spell from earlier?"
"Or use your natural laser cannons?"
"Because it takes time to digest. And because I don"t plan on eating raw animals. And also because I wanted to test something."
〔 Cannon of Chaos 〕COST: 100
- Unleashes a cannon of chaos that reaches 50 meters straight. It is only able to shoot in a singular direction unless manipulated. Will increase Mana Cost if done so. Applies Chaos Status.
The blue hexagon in the middle, bottom-right of Cole"s vision decreased by at least one-tenth of its original volume. However, the hexagon was already refilling itself at a visible rate and reached full capacity in about 4 seconds.
"So, a.s.suming my maximum Mana capacity is about at 1000, I regenerate about 25 Mana every second? That"s faster than I expected.
"Oh! Look, there"s a straggler!"
"Hmm?"
When Cole followed the twins" line of sight, there was a blue lion that was playing dead. Part of its body was charred black and despite its attempts to stop its shivering, it still fidgeted a bit.
Cole walked closer with twins by his side and sat down for a closer look.
The lion"s eyes spun around in circles and it was showing its belly as a sign of surrender.
----- Blue Crest Lion ----
HP: 73/100
State: Chaotic, Fear
---------------------------
Cole pulled up the description about the Chaos status that his new spell inflicted.
〔 Chaos Status 〕
〔- Mental instability. Prevents the afflicted target from harnessing Qi or Mana. It also makes the afflicted target have trouble concentrating or gaining focus. Is also able to cause the afflicted to be in a state of Fear.〕
He didn"t think that the lion in front of him was suffering the full effects of the Chaos status. He unregistered the spell since a similar effect could be achieved with manipulating Chaos Sphere.
"So, should we move camp?"
Felicia came up to Cole and asked. She had finally somehow calmed Val down by giving him a chocolate bar. He was still grumpily pouting in the distance in his human form though.
"Nah, let"s just stay here for the night."
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The next morning, the group had finished cleaning up their campsite. They were able to take a short bath since their campsite was built to a nearby river and had already changed into a new set of dry clothes.
Val was ready to be hooked up to the carriage. And just as they were about to continue on to their journey, they noticed a black figure floating in the distance.
Val naturally had exceptional eyesight while the rest could zoom in on the figure.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
〈「...」〉
In the river, there was a young man about fifteen years of age dressed in your average villager"s clothes. His long, black hair was soaked because of the water and he appeared to be a bit pale.
"Umm... Cole?"
"Yes?"
"That"s a body, right?"
"Yes it is."
"Is it dead?"
"It"s not. We could go save it or let it continue flowing across the river."
Gemi answered Mini"s questions. Charts of the body"s temperature, heart rate, estimated height and body weight were being calculated in her eyes.
Since it was still alive, they could save him but...
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
〈「...」〉
〈「Wait, aren"t you guys fellow people? Shouldn"t you feel the need to save a person in need?」〉
When asked with such a question, the Mechanicas looked each other in the eyes and then they answered with.
"Eh..."
"What are the benefits in doing so?"
"You think we can pull a body out of the water?"
"I may have been a doctor but most of the time my patients just thanked G.o.d instead! Totally not worth it."
Felicia didn"t seem to care one bit. Cole cared about the benefits that saving the person would bring. Mini was just too lazy to bring the body out of the water. And Gemi was tired of patients thanking G.o.d instead of the doctors who treated them!
〈「You guys...」〉
Faced with the unwilling answers of the rest of the party, Val felt appalled. He used to eat a few for breakfast but that was at most, only two times. They were full of additives and most of the time, they were malnourished.
〈「*Sigh*...」〉
Val decided to take it upon himself to rescue the man. He opened up his jaw and scooped the man out of the water and spat him back on dry ground.
He didn"t go waking up immediately, he still needed to receive CPR and get the water out of his lungs.
〈「What? You guys still won"t do it?」〉
The Mechanicas looked at each other again and sighed.
"Felicia, hand me an air pump."
"I don"t think I"ll have one... Oh, never mind."
Felicia handed an air pump that just so happened to be built for situations like these. She wasn"t sure when this got in her Inventory but the convenient item was convenient.
""Wow, that worked.""
"I did it with the intention of killing him, I didn"t expect it to actually work."
〈「You guys are cruel.」〉
Val felt disappointed in humanity. But then he remembered that the people with him weren"t human. They were half-machines.
"Wait? So, is it still okay, or...?
"Hey, we still saved him in the end."
Felicia said as she was preparing some soup for the man in the background. She was able to get the fire lit since she had a portable stove in her Inventory.
And they decided to wait for him to wake up.