Awakening the Divine Spark

’Alright!’ Lee thought to himself, ’Let’s analyze step by step – what options do we have?’

He knew that theoretically he had his water spark and could try to heal Edward directly, but to this day he had never done anything like that and wasn’t sure how exactly healing someone else was supposed to work. Besides, he was reluctant to go down this road as it was kind of suicidal one.

’The best case scenario is that Senior Sister He Zhenzhu would find us ... but the likelihood of that happening is minuscule ... what else ...’ Lee was doing his best to methodically analyze the situation, but Xiao Lian interrupted.

Staring at the clouds above, he said, "Looks like we’ll get rain for the first time since we got here ..."

"And there’s nowhere to hide from it. It would’ve been so much easier if we were in a forest." Lee’s mood dropped, "Damn, I should’ve thought of crafting a tent!"

Then he pondered for a bit, and said, "At least it’s fresh water. You’ll be in charge of filling the gourds. I’ll try to do something about our patient."

"What can you do?" Xiao Lian shrugged, "I’m out of pills and the only thing resembling medicine are the roots that still have to be processed before the use. I’m afraid your friend ..."

"Right, the roots!" Lee’s eyes lit up.

Contribution points were nice, but they didn’t matter if Victoria’s sword was hanging above his neck.

’Sorry, Lian!’ Lee said to himself, ’I’ll find a way to make it up to you!’

The Ironwood roots were completely useless in the current situation, and they haven’t found any Red vein roots or Golden thread roots. But during the past days they were focusing on finding Purple spirit roots and had quite a few.

According to what Senior Sister He Zhenzhu said, these plants could tap into person’s elemental essence, bringing out their true potential. Lee didn’t know how that worked, but in any case it was only logical that for saving him, Edward himself had to pay with his own potential, right?

But the roots were not like an injection that one could make while the patient was unconscious. Lee thought for a bit, glanced at Xiao Lian getting busy with the gourds, preparing for the upcoming rain, and pulled out one of the Purple spirit roots.

It looked just as fresh as it was the moment they picked it. Lee fuddled with the root for a brief moment and then decisively put in his own mouth and began to chew. It was slightly bitter and even spicy, but the taste was so refreshing it was hard to restrain himself from swallowing it.

Lee wondered whether the higher ups of the sect or other powerful individuals of this world actually used rare alchemical ingredients to cook soups or stews. If he was rich, he definitely could – if simply using as a snack a raw root was already so good, then what levels of culinary one could achieve if they are expertly prepared in a meal!

’Stop! Focus!’ Lee said to himself, looked at his patient, and sighed, ’Sorry, Edward! I don’t like it either, but it’s in both our interests! I promise I won’t tell anyone I did this to you!’

Then he spat the mass he chewed in his palm and put in Edward’s mouth. The whole root was barely enough for a decent mouthful, but with the first attempt Lee tried to feed Edward only a third of it.

He wasn’t clear how to properly force the mass down Edward’s throat and was delighted to see that even while being unconscious, Edward instinctively made a couple of weak chewing motions, and then swallowed.

In a similar fashion Lee fed the rest of the mass and prayed the hundred and fifty points were worth the effect.

At first there were no changes, and the only thing Lee noticed was his stomach growling. Him chewing the tasty plant made him hungry, and he realized they hadn’t actually eaten since yesterday.

But there was another effect. When chewing the root Lee inevitably swallowed some of it’s juice and out of nowhere he felt a huge influx of energy. All of the sudden he wasn’t tired anymore and was ready to run with Edward on the back again.

And if he felt this way, Edward surely had to have much stronger effect.

It didn’t take long for his breathing to stabilize and after a while he began to resemble a normal sleeping person. Apart form being bandaged and bloodied all over, that is.

Lee was pleasantly surprised to see that it was all it took, but he was not going to complain. The first rain droplets were already falling and he rushed to make a small campfire to cook some dreadtalon eggs.

Since their arrival to Serrakar Plateau it became their main food. Raptor meat was tough and hard to chew, and it had an unpleasant fishy smell. Even properly roasted or boiled, it felt like chewing on a hard shoe made of rotten fish.

The eggs, though, were exactly the opposite. Even after throwing them directly in the fire for forty or so breaths, they became a tasty delicacy, especially with Lee adding few spices afterwards.

Xiao Lian noticed Lee’s actions and happily joined, but they barely finished one egg each when Edward began to convulse again.

"Sorry, Lian! I’m going to waste a bit of our contribution points." This time Lee didn’t hide his actions and pulled out another Purple spirit root.

Xiao Lian curiously observed hi,, although found Lee directly eating a precious root to be kind of wasteful. He intended to taste one as well, when Lee fed the chewed mass to Edward.

"Dude! That’s disgusting!" Xiao Lian said, his nose wrinkled.

"You think I like it?" Lee said, "If you have other ideas I’m opened to suggestions. But look at the effect first!"

As expected, within few breaths Edward stabilized as if nothing happened.

"I know you don’t want to hear it ... but isn’t it wasteful?" Xiao Lian said, "If we don’t find Senior Sister He, he’ll probably die. If the rain is going to be as cold as ... I don’t think he’ll make it."

Lee already intended to agree, but at the same time argue that they still had to try, when Edward’s weak voice shocked the two, "I’m not dead yet!"

"How do you feel?" Lee asked purely on instinct. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

This was something Tess used to ask him over and over again, and now, treating his first patient, he involuntarily repeated her words.

"Like shit!" Edward said and tried to sit up, but barely made it half way and with a grunt lied down again. Then he asked, "Was that thing expensive?"

"Not really. They are lying around here all over the place." Lee said, "Alright, enough talk. Theoretically the Purple spirit root was supposed to tap into your potential or something, so try to focus on your cultivation technique. Maybe it’ll amplify the effect and your metabolism will help you to survive until we get help."

"Where’s Deen?" Edward asked.

"Dead." Lee said, "You’ll be too if we do nothing about your condition."

Unfortunately Edward passed out and didn’t hear the last part.

During the rest of the day Lee kept him feeding Purple spirit roots. Sometimes he had to chew them, sometimes Edward was conscious and could do it himself.

His condition was kind of stabilizing, but the problem was that it began to rain. Both Lee and Xiao had rain coats, so it wasn’t as bad, but the ground and stones they were sitting on were wet and cold.

Lee didn’t have any other option than to pull Edward up in a sitting position, but that was also the only way they both could hide under the same rain coat.

The situation got worse when instead of heavy rain hail began to fall. The ice hammered the three humans who only had the protection of a waterproof cloth. Fortunately Han Li’s craftsmanship allowed at least their upper bodies to remain dry while butts and legs were wet and cold.

After a while it was hard to tell for how long the storm went on, but when it stopped, it was already nightfall. Without a second thought they used one of the signal flares, but apparently no one saw it.

The night was cloudy and dark, and they were cold, and out of Purple spirit roots. Edward was doing his best to stay conscious, but with the amount of blood he had lost it was a wonder he was still alive.

Lee didn’t care much about the resources he had spent. He was pissed that after chewing on the Purple spirit roots for half a day he felt strong and full of energy, but there was nothing he could do about Edward’s condition.

’Wait! What an idiot!’ A revelation struck him.

There was something obvious he should’ve thought of a long time ago.