CHAPTER 57: GROWING CONNECTIONS

After telling Jack not to start spreading his gift openly despite having the means to do it, Ash continued beautifying his clinic and waited until the next day came.

To his surprise, Grey Leash members already came to him first thing in the morning.

"Boss! Your ability is amazing! I can’t believe I only needed a few hours of sleep and I’m already this energized first thing in the morning!"

"Me too, Boss! I didn’t even sleep last night, and I don’t feel tired at all now!"

Despite Eben trying to keep the alliance under wraps in public, the Grey Leash members knew the truth.

All of them saw Eben bowing to Ash and called him boss last night.

Most of them were still skeptical, and there were a lot of questions popping up inside their heads.

But after Ash’s weird display of ability last night, most of them were convinced that there must be some type of deal between Eben and Ash.

Something that was above their pay grade and something that they shouldn’t stick their noses into.

And now, they were told to go into ex Strong Arm’s base, now called the Verdant Litany gang, in between their shifts.

These 5 people who had just come in were the first ones out of the 100 people.

"Welcome. Glad to hear that my ability did help you. But don’t be thrilled yet. There’s more of that coming right away."

Without explaining things, Ash grew vines from his body, 5 of them, and pricked the 5 people simultaneously.

They were alarmed when seeing the vines, but the mental strengthening the hallucinogenic mushroom gave them made them able to stay calm.

"Boss? What did you d-"

His words were cut off as the effects of the verdant wolf venom and the bloodberry poison hit them.

In one second, they felt their blood racing. Their heads constantly pulsed as they could clearly hear the sound of their heartbeats.

In the next second, their limbs started twitching.

It was outside of their control.

Nothing they could do to stop their hands or feet from suddenly jerking sideways.

If not for the mushroom spores’ ability, then they all would have been spasming on the ground due to the panic they had.

The mental clarity helped them stay calm.

Every time they felt their body losing control, the understanding that it would not endanger their lives dawned on them and made them stay calm.

But still, they were ordinary humans.

Not some guy who was used to eating poisons and venoms as his breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Their mind told them to stay calm, but the sense of losing control of their nerves and having a heart rate higher than an elderly person with high blood pressure still paralyzed them.

All 5 of them dropped down to the floor, which fortunately had been padded using braided vines.

Ash just calmly watched as he monitored the people closely.

It had never been an issue for the creatures in the forest since they were more resilient.

And he also never killed a human before by giving them his gift.

But just in case the humans were weaker than he thought, Ash stood ready to give them some slug regeneration.

Fortunately, all 5 of them survived the 1 minute, and they all now unlocked all 3 abilities Ash wanted them to have.

Ash didn’t give them the usual poison bile for now since Ash couldn’t possibly keep his eyes on 100 people all at once.

If all of them started spewing acid in a conflict between gangs, then Ash would have to deal with more annoying things than doing his nonexistent taxes.

The 5 people soon looked at each other, their eyes shining as an understanding dawned on each and every one of them.

Their bodies felt lighter. Their muscles felt more robust.

One of them even tried to smack the shoulder of the man beside himself.

He planned to stop at the last second, but his strength exceeded his expectations.

As a result, the palm hit the shoulder, and the poor man went back to the ground once more.

"Curse you! You broke my shoulder damn i-"

The man lived on the street for years.

He knew how strong a hit needed to break his bones.

And that hit he had just received, it was more than enough.

However, at the last second, he realized his shoulder was fine.

Other than a slight stinging pain as if someone had given him a slap, there was nothing wrong with his shoulder.

He even poked it several times just to make sure he wasn’t crazy. And it was true.

"Not only have we gotten stronger... But we’re also harder to kill...?"

The 5 of them exchanged looks once more, and right after, all of their gazes were turned to Ash.

If Ash realized the look they were giving him right now, then Ash could have guessed what they would do next, and he might try stopping them.

However, the 5 people weren’t the only ones who were surprised.

Ash himself was quite surprised by his findings.

The moment he administered the venoms and poisons to the 5 people, he felt something had shifted.

His connections with them.

The one that used to be feeble enough that Ash barely trusted it had grown exponentially.

Every second the 5 people survived the disease, the stronger the connection became.

By the end of the 1 minute, Ash could feel the same bond with these 5 people, just like the members of Verdant Litany.

Their faces were now familiar, and his guard on them had been lowered.

He even felt the same reverence the creatures in the Verdant Forest and the Verdant Litany had for him coming from these 5 people.

’So...The answer for a stronger connection is more diseases...?’

And in the end, Ash was too focused on this revelation that he failed to notice the 5 people had all kneeled right in front of his feet.

"WE THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR BLESSING, BOSS!"

Ash almost jumped, but he stopped himself at the last second, as his feet would have kicked one of their chins instead if he continued to jump.

"Huh? Oh? No! Stand up! All of you! Don’t kiss my feet!"

"WE THANK YOU! OH GRACEFUL BOSS!"

"I get it! You’re welcome! Please stand!"

After the 5 people left, another knock soon visited Ash’s vine door.

Well, it wasn’t actually the vines or the door that was knocked. It was the walls instead, since the vines were more like loose hanging partitions.

Ash’s eyes lit up as he tidied up his titanroot attire and put on his best smile.

"Welcome to our clinic!"

He thought it was his first ever patient.

But when he heard the voice,

"Excuse me, boss..."

It was Eben.

Ash’s eyebrows soon dropped as he let out a sigh.

"I guess I’m too excited..."

"Boss! I bring good news! I have registered you to fight in the underground fighting ring! You can start tonight!"

His eyes lit up once more.

"Now that’s one damn good news!"