CHAPTER 68: MIRACLE MEDICINE [6]

Zaelyane nodded and said flatly, "Hmm... I am sorry, but this won’t help them awaken."

Her words stilled in the air before they struck him like a battering ram.

’What...?’ Disbelief peeled off his face like a flower withering towards its end.

He took a few shaky steps towards her and mumbled defensively, "What are you talking about? Why won’t it work?"

His shaky steps stopped as he reached the table and quickly picked up the Cliffroot Sinew as if his life was dependent on it.

He turned towards her with disbelief and defiance clear in his eyes and asked, "That medicine should boost their focus to absolute, like how it happens during the awakening, so why won’t it work?"

Zaelyane’s eyes, which had been curious until now, went cold.

Without any regard to his emotional condition, she said, "If a few herbs were enough to awaken the aura, we would be mass-producing such miracle medicine, but the aura is not something one can force into existence."

He stared into her cold eyes, and his thoughts churned into the pond of gloom, ’Did I do all of that for nothing? Should I have consulted about the medicine before wasting all of Dora’s time...?’

Suddenly, an unknown bright spark bloomed within him and pushed back all of the sickening gloom.

His mind began to clear, and he mumbled in thought,

’No, no, no! I can’t give up... there has to be a way... there must be something...’

His disbelief, desperation and dejection vanished into determination as he asked, "What is aura?"

He obviously knew that it was the manifestation of a person’s will supported and sustained by the mystical soul energy — However, he wasn’t asking for the superficial explanation but its core concept.

As he had awakened his aura before any knowledge of it, others didn’t explain much of it to him.

As she stared into his gem-like, determined eyes, an image of a person with hair and eyes similar to hers overlapped his muscular figure.

Her cheery lips plucked up into a reminiscing smile, and she answered softly,

"This effect of absolute focus that you are trying to replicate is just a way to the awakening."

Woosh!

She raised her hand, and a bright green aura flame appeared at the tips of her fingers.

"The true awakening occurs when we gain the realisation of ourselves..."

Swoosh! Swoosh!

She pointed her finger at a decaying herb placed at the side of the hut, and the bright green flames shot towards it.

"Each person views themself and the world differently. That is why aura has these distinct colours..."

The bright green flames clutched the decaying herb, but instead of burning, the herb began to flourish.

"So, without you having a way for them to realise their own self, you can’t help them awaken."

He stared at the fresh herb in awe and asked, "Is there nothing I can do?"

She stood up and gracefully walked towards her smoking pipe as she answered, "There is a way, but it would be impossible for you to put it into effect."

He smiled and stated, "We won’t know without trying."

She pulled out a leather pouch and answered while filling her smoke pipe, "Regardless of your determination, only failure awaits you, as it is something no human can achieve."

’Her words are screaming that she isn’t a human,’ he remarked inwardly.

A smile creased his face as he answered, "I’ll be the first human to pass then."

She chuckled, lit the smoking pipe with the same bright green flames and took a few slow puffs.

Smoke drifted within the round walls of the hut as her cheeks warmed up and her face reddened slightly.

His heart stumbled at the sight of her flushed face.

He quickly turned his head away and muttered while trying to gather his bearings, "W-What is this method you were talking about?"

Her eyes gleamed like stars, and her cherry lips parted, but the words that came out of them weren’t something he could comprehend.

"rehtoM... yth rethguad stseuqer eeht ot wolla siht rerednaw retlehs nihtiw eniht traeh!"

(Mother... thy daughter requests thee to allow this wanderer shelter within thine heart!)

Rion frowned and asked with a puzzled expression, "What are you saying?"

Instead of answering him, she smiled and said, "May thou be blessed by the Mother."

His confusion deepened, and suddenly he felt a slight tug at him.

He turned backwards to look for who it was, but no one was there.

"What in the blasted hell...?" He mumbled in confusion, and something suddenly gripped him.

He lowered his hand and saw the smoke drifting inside his chest.

"Hah!" He gasped in shock, and the smoke dug itself deeper.

He stepped back, and his lips parted to question, but before he could even let out a word, the smoke reached his very soul and pulled on it.

Rion’s eyes rolled back.

His body, though unconscious, continued to stand there.

Zaelyane lowered her smoking pipe and stepped towards him.

But just as she took a step, Haden’s voice resounded in her head.

Why did you send him to the trial?

Her steps halted, and she replied with a chuckle, "You are really amusing, kingslayer. Have you forgotten why I decided to join this tribe of yours?"

... We still don’t know if he is the one from the prophecy.

Her eyes widened in laughable disbelief, and she asked coldly, "Have you decided to give up?"

Haden’s answer came with a delay, and Rion’s finger twitched at the possibility ot threat.

I will not pull my son into this.

"Hoho!" She chuckled sarcastically and remarked, "What about Them? Do you think they will show him the same care?"

He turned silent, and she continued, "Your love for him is making you blind to the truth... It’s killing your duty."

Her eyes stirred with anger and sorrow as she said, "The prophecy... It’s everything for me. I live for it as it is my revenge, and I must see it come true."

You have to calm down, Zaelyane.

"I AM CALM!" she screamed — Rion’s unconscious body reacted on instinct and drove a punch into her gut.

Thud!

"Ugh?!"