416 The Puddle
…!
Skullius couldn’t believe it!
Sila couldn’t believe it!
How?!
The Discount Human shifted his focus only to find a sizzling puddle of human flesh right beside the lime haired woman who seemed relatively shocked but not alarmed.
Her demeanour hadn’t changed, and even the feeling she gave off told Skullius this was definitely the same person!
But… that didn’t make any sense!
No human he knew, especially those whose presence didn’t tell anything of grand strength and power, had ever survived UNCoddled!
Helping him with the intent to benefit him had culled quite a lot of good people on his journey!
Hundreds!
Hmmm. Hundreds?
Skullius looked around the woman, his mind churning to think…
‘Are all these… her corpses, then?!’
This was a dreadful thought, especially when he saw that her previous body, with molten flesh and bone was still there!
“Mister Sir! I’m not that gifted in sensing energies but… I felt it. Why did you kill me, just now?” the woman asked innocently, her head rising to look straight into Skullius’ with anxiety and trepidation while at the same time, her other eye which had been hidden behind her tufts of hair showed.
A blue eye with a golden slit as the pupil!
“What is she saying?” Skullius quickly asked Sila.
‘What do you think?! Obviously she is wondering why you just killed her!’
“I didn’t! She played herself!”
‘Tell that to her not me! The words are-‘
“Shut up!”
Amidst the bickering between Sila and Skullius that definitely looked weird to any third party, as it was just Skullius arguing with himself in a foreign language, the woman struggled with her thoughts.
‘He can’t understand me, perhaps? I better not ask more meaningless questions. I just need to get out of here and figure out the rest later!’
Skullius frustratedly looked at the woman after having an ugly exchange with Sila.
“So… she’s definitely the host right?” he asked.
‘Undoubtedly. If that weren’t true, she wouldn’t have survived the Arch-Lich’s curse,’ Sila responded. ‘She’s valuable.’
Skullius thought the same.
His attitude towards this woman had just now shifted because of this odd scenario. He was starting to take her more seriously. It turned out she wasn’t just some collateral damage from an epic battle as he had thought.
“Please Mister sir! Forgive me for questioning you! Please get me out of here! I’ll do anything! I don’t want to die from hunger and thirst again!” the woman begged, her figure crawling closer but remaining within the bounds of the now dimmed array.
Skullius noted that this woman was probably restricted from leaving by the array given that she couldn’t just crawl out. At the same time, he was restricted from entering its bounds.
So essentially, the array prohibited entry and exit.
That sucked.
On the other hand, Sila grunted as he had a wild thought from what the woman had just said.
‘Did she drink the entire lake, then?!’
“What?” Skullius questioned the rambling piece of soul.
‘Argh! Tomato flinger, let’s not focus on this woman for now. What we’re here for, is thankfully still here but in very limited supply,’ Sila said, directing Skullius’ attention towards the puddle.
The Discount Human shifted his focus over to the small water body, giving a blind glance towards the woman whose heart was beating so fast as the suspense in relation to the result was killing her.
What would be her fate in the end?
Skullius walked over to his right, dropping into the large, wide hole as he soon reached the puddle.
Because part of the former lake penetrated into what was the bounds of the array, Sila hypothesised that she had been able to drink half a city’s worth of water!
This was insane to think about at face value!
“Uhmmm… Mister sir, you can take your time… I will be right here… whenever you’re done…” the woman said with a feeble voice.
Skullius on the other hand crouched besides the puddle.
The water twinkled, having this distinct attention pulling charm in his senses that also carried with it a heavy and firm feel.
He couldn’t sense mana from it but something that gave the impression that it was greater than mana. Yet he couldn’t tell what it was.
The only problem was, there was so little of this easy-on-the-senses water.
‘During the one time I was able to reach this place with…’ Sila paused. ‘… this used to be a vibrant lake that almost seemed to want to overflow and cover this entire space. Bathing within it, drinking from it, whichever you chose, would swiftly condense the mana you produced to the bare minimum of the next progression. I was weaker when I came, but this one boon groomed my power many times over.’
Sila reminisced of old times. He indeed did not come here alone which is why, different from how Skullius was pardoned by Bassbion because the legacy was already claimed, he had been allowed to reach this place.
He had been a mere escort for a special someone.
The lake back then had spotted a large tree that grew from it. An Eximo tree. Its branches had partitioned the light from above over the waters, giving the illusion that there were crystals over the water.
(A/N: Refer to Ch. 305).
Now, the tree couldn’t be found and he was tempted to think that the woman behind the array had eaten it too.
If only he knew…
Skullius listened without a word.
‘Now, I am not sure if the same effect can be achieved with a puddle.’
The Discount Human took a deep conscious breath.
This was quite the predicament but…
He swiftly reached down and scooped up some of the water, watching it twinkle in his hands from the dull light above.
“Will this affect my unfinished core in a bad way?” he asked.
‘Probably not. The source of your mana in the core is what is getting the fundamental change after all. The… Centre, as you call it,’ Sila explained.
This made sense to Skullius even though he dissected it critically given the source.
The Centre, as soon as it was anchored to his body and soul had started funnelling out pure mana on its own nonstop, so it was obviously the most important piece for this.
“Let’s hope that all of this wasn’t for nothing then,” Skullius said as he brought the water to his lips.
Over behind the array, the woman with lime-coloured hair looked at what Skullius was doing with immense focus.
‘Oh, this is what he was here for. Now that I think about, my core did change after I started drinking the water… I hope he doesn’t leave immediately afterwards… Please…’ the woman pleaded in her mind as the tension in her thin body grew.
Skullius gulped down the water and drew in his focus to the potential changes in his body.
Unfortunately, nothing seemed to change.
He scooped up more water and swiftly drank it, the feel of the liquid down his throat being indistinguishable from drinking regular water, which was a complete turn off, as there were no special effects.
What was the problem?
Was it just not enough?
Skullius swooped down for another scoop.
‘Hey! Take it easy, will you, tomato flinger?! While I did say I didn’t know if this amount is enough or not, the water is still potent! Bathing and drinking are two different experiences. I did both for the fun of it. You should be careful,’ Sila warned.
Skullius paused for a moment but drank anyway.
Still, no change.
“Don’t tell me it’s really not enough!” Skullius grumbled as he scooped up more water and splashed it on his face.
Nothing.
Seriously?
“Flesh this! Ferex!”
The Apostle who had been strangely quiet and inactive all this time leapt off of Skullius head and manifested as a large wolf, beside him!
The woman beyond the unseen array was shocked by the Hound’s appearance as she feebly yelped, yet no one paid her any mind.
“Can you store some of this water? I won’t give up on this after coming so far,” Skullius said with a deep frown.
Ferex nodded as the Unliving Thread over his body formed a container that he used to scoop in all the remaining water in the puddle.
Skullius patted the Hound while wondering if the water would be shrunken down when he miniaturised too.
“I guess I’ll have to deal with this when I reach Genhuis. Maybe someone can help me use i—”
Skullius, while in the middle of speaking about future prospects, suddenly plopped to the ground!
VWOOOOSH!
Within him, a deep torrent of highly condensed mana dragged his body down!
His Centre!
It grew bright and shook vehemently!
[Elevated Mana Manipulation] that had been constantly holding back the pool of mana produced was driven away by the force of powerful energy that raged from this tiny blot at the centre of his unfinished core, Skullius losing focus for a bit!
“This….!”
A change was happening rapidly as if rushing to reward him!
His mana was… condensing!