Lex tiba-tiba mulai batuk setelah menyelesaikan siklus terakademinya yang terakhir, dan merasa terhenti di tenggorokannya. Ketika batuk biasa tidak membantu, ia mulai menghukum dada dengan pisau tajam untuk mencoba mengangkat gelembung yang menghalang itu.
Kerjanya berhasil dengan baik, dan beberapa detik kemudian ia mengabulkan sebuah potongan daging besar yang keliru bentuknya. Ia akan berpikir ia baru saja mengusap sebagian paruh paranya jika tidak segera setelah mengabulkan itu, ia tetap bernapas dengan baik.
Berbeda dengan kali-kali sebelumnya, ketika mengeluarkan impurities dari tubuhnya berbentuk hitam seperti cairan, kali ini tubuhnya telah membuang banyak jaringan rusak, otot, dan organ internal, lalu membentuk kembali organ-organnya.
Ini adalah sesuatu yang ia ketahui secara instingtif, namun tetap terasa aneh melihat bola daging merah yang keluar dari tubuhnya sendiri. Dengan geleng-geleng tangan, ia membuat daging itu menghilang demikian ia tidak perlu melihatnya lagi.
"Ayo, itulah sinyalku untuk berhenti," bisiknya sambil mengusap darah dari wajah. Terakademinya terlalu menarik, jadi meskipun sebenarnya hanya ingin melakukannya untuk beberapa waktu, ia akhirnya mengaklimasi selama sehari penuh.
Dari sisi lain, kondisinya telah berjelek drastis, dan sebagian besar sakit di tubuhnya telah sembuh. Hanya meridian-nya yang masih rusak, dan ia merasa perlu mengaklimasi banyak lagi sebelum itu dapat diperbaiki.
Ia berdiri, merentangkan tubuhnya sedikit, lalu menyiapkan diri untuk memancing. Ia tidak terlalu dalam nafsu untuk menjelaskan mengapa seorang bayi sebagai karyawan Itu bisa berdiri dan berbicara—ia memakai kacamata Clark Kent dan mengenakan persona Leo.
Meskipun tubuhnya yang sebenarnya berukuran mini, Leo tetap muncul seperti yang pernah ia lihat. Ini terasa begitu menyenangkan.
Ia menyamarkan diri dan kembali tiba di Sungai Keinginan. Namun, tak terkejut, ia ternyata bukan berlukaan sekolong orang lain yang lain di sini.
Keluarga sedang mengadakan piknik di sekitarnya, dengan banyak anak bermain di sekitar. Dekat sungai, ada duaOrang tua duduk dan bercanda, sambil bertukar menggaring-garian memancing di dalamnya. Mereka tertawa dan bercanda sambil menebar pilihan atas nilai dari barang yang akan diminum.
"Hai, teman-teman, apakah tidak keberatan kalau aku ikut?" kata Leo saat berjalan mendekat.
Orang tua itu memakai kemeja sarung tangan setengah lengan dan celana pendek, plus topi memancing. Mereka terlihat seperti orang yang telah pensiun dan sekadar menikmati liburannya. Jika tidak karena Lex bisa merasakan bahwa mereka sangat berkuasa, bahkan lebih dari dirinya sendiri, mungkin ia sungguh akan mempercayainya.
"Tidak sama sekali, masak muda. Tapi kamu harus menunggu giliranmu," kata salah satu pria yang berambut keabu-abuan keluar dari topinya.
"Apakah kamu mau makan? Kami membawa makanan yang dimasak oleh seorang chef elf dan istri mereka. Mereka tidak bagus, kalau yang adil dikatakan, tapi bahan bahannya setidaknya bagus. Aku dengar mereka ingin membuka restoran, jadi mereka terus mencoba resep beda-beda untuk melihat mana yang enak. Memang sulit buat pasangan baru."
Lipnya membelunak, Leo mengingat Kenta dan Sohee. Dulu ia membayar belanjaan berkualitas tinggi untuk Kenta, tapi sekarang ia diteladani masakannya tidak benar-benar bagus. Ini suara seperti ia akan kerugikan untuk pertama kalinya dalam salah satu usahanya di Inn.
"Aku... aku tidak ingin menyalahhuri," kata Leo dengan canggung. Ia hampir mengakui bahwa ia adalah bos mereka, tapi lalu tak ingin mengaitkan dirinya dengan chef yang buruk. Ia harus mengganti kalimatnya sewaktu-waktu.
"Ayo, saya dapat sesuatu!" teriak pria lain, lalu suddenly memukul tropa dengan kepadatan. Bahkan Leo terkejut, mengingat besar kekuatannya. Apakah dia mendapatkan sesuatu yang sangat luar biasa?
Beberapa detik kemudian, sebuah batu besar hitam yang gosong dikeluarkan dari dalam sungai. Leo terkejut. Itu terlihat tidak berguna. Lalu, kacamata kontak mewah yang akhirnya ia pakai setelah lama waktu, mulai berkedip-kedip.<br><br>"Baizin charcoal!" tiga suara berbicara bersama. Perbedaannya adalah dua pria tua terdengar terexcited, sementara Leo yang bingung. Namun kebingungan itu tidak berlangsung lama, karena kacamata kontaknya cepat menyediakannya informasinya.
"Astaghfirullah, ini adalah materi tingkat imam!"<br><br>"Wah, tampil pandanmu bagus sekali, masak muda," kata pria yang mengeluarkan batu itu sebagai dia mengangkatnya dengan indra spiritualnya dan membawanya mendekat ke dirinya untuk dinikmati.
"Apakah sungai selalu memberi sesuatu yang bernilai begitu?" tanya Leo. Ia mengingat bahwa ia pernah memancing sebuah sistem, dan sekarang ia telah memancing bahan yang sangat jarang yang bisa digunakan untuk membuat tinta untuk jimat tingkat imam. Mungkin ia telah menunggu terlalu lama sebelum mencobanya dulu.
"Tidak, mayoritas waktunya barang yang diberikan adalah nilainya tidak berarti apa-apa. Tapi kalau kamu memancing terus, kamu pasti akan dapat sesuatu yang bagus. Ini adalah cara memasang waktu yang enak."
"Selain itu, tidak peduli berapa kita coba, kita tidak bisa memprediksi apa yang akan kita dapatkan dengan dodrak. Sangat menarik."
"Wah, kalian adalah dodrak?
Lex suddenly started to cough as he completed his most recent cycle of cultivation, and felt something big stuck in his throat. When plain coughing didn't work, he started smashing his chest with a fist to try and get the blocked bulge to move up.
It worked surprisingly well, and a moment later he coughed out a large misshapen chunk of meat. He would have thought he had just thrown up a part of his lung if he hadn't continued to breath just fine as soon as he coughed it out.
Unlike previous times, when the extracting impurities from his body were black and in the form of sludge, this time his body had discarded a lot of damaged tissue, muscle and other internal organs and grew new ones in their stead.
It was something he instinctively knew, but it still felt eerie to look at a ball of red meat that came out of his own body. With a wave of his hand, he caused the meat to disappear so that he would not have to look at it anymore.
"I guess that's my cue to stop," he murmured as he wiped the blood off his face. Cultivation was too addictive, so although he had only meant to do it for a short while, he ended up cultivating for a day straight.
On the bright side, the condition had improved drastically, and most of the aches filling his body had been fixed. Only his meridians were still damaged, and he had a feeling he would need to cultivate a lot more before that was fixed.
He got up and stretched his body a bit, before getting ready to go fishing. He was not particularly in the mood to explain why he, as a baby, could walk and talk so he put on his Clark Kent glasses and donned his Leo persona.
Despite his actual body's miniature size, Leo still appeared as he had always been. It was quite refreshing.
He teleported away and when he reappeared, he was already at the Wishing well. But, unsurprisingly, it was not as secluded as many of the other parts of the Inn.
There was a family having a picnic nearby, with many kids playing around. Near the well, there were two old men sitting and chatting, while taking turns fishing in the well. They would laugh and joke with one another, while betting on the value of the thing they would fish out.
"Hey guys, do you mind if I join in?" Leo said as he walked up to them.
The old men were wearing half sleeve button up shirts and shorts, alongside fishing hats. They looked like they were retired and just enjoying their vacation. If it weren't for the fact that Lex could sense that they were incredibly powerful, even much more than himself, he might really have believed it.
"Not at all, young man. But you've got to wait your turn," one of the men, with long gray hair coming out of his hat said.
"Would you like something to eat? We had food made by this elven cook and his wife. They're not so good, if I'm being honest, but their ingredients are good at least. I heard they want to open up a restaurant, so they keep trying different recipes to see what's good. It's tough for new couples."
Leo's lip twitched as he recalled Kenta and Sohee. He had been paying for top tier groceries for Kenta, but now he was being told his cooking wasn't actually any good. This sounded like he was about to go into a loss for the first time in one of his endeavors at the Inn.
"I… I wouldn't want to intrude," Leo said awkwardly. He was about to admit that he was their boss, but then didn't want to associate himself with bad cooks. He had to change his sentence at the last minute.
"I have a catch!" the other man roared, and suddenly began to pull his rod as hard as he could. Even Leo was startled, considering the amount of strength the man was using. Did he get something really incredible?
A few moments later, a large, black, burnt rock was pulled out of the well. Leo was dumbfounded. That looked useless. Then, his fancy contact lenses which he had finally put on after a long time, started going crazy.
"Baizin charcoal!" three voices said together. The difference was that the two old men sounded excited, while Leo was confused. But the confusion didn't last long, as his lenses quickly provided him with the information.
Bloody hell, this was immortal level material!
"Young man, it seems like you have good eyesight," said the man who fished out the charcoal as he lifted it with his spirit sense and brought it close to himself to admire.
"Does the well always give things this valuable?" Leo asked. He recalled that it had fished out a system before, and now it had fished out a very rare material that could be used to create ink for Immortal level talismans. Maybe he had made the well wait too long before trying it himself.
"No, most of the time the items are worthless. But if you fish enough, you're bound to get something good. It's a nice passtime."
"Next is my turn," said the man with gray hair as he grabbed the rod and flung the hook into the well. "To be honest, the most valuable thing I found myself is not too useful for me. It was a pill that could help a Nascent cultivator in their cultivation. Most items are far below even that in value. But the novelty of the well just never wears off. It's great value."
"Plus, no matter how we try, we can't use divination to predict what we'll get. It's quite interesting."
"Oh, you two are diviners?" Leo asked, as he summoned a lawn chair and sat beside the two old men.
"Yes, some time ago, we accompanied some brats here for a big event. The timing was pretty great, for our realms went to war while we were gone. It was crazy how suddenly it happened. Even we hadn't predicted it, but now back home everyone thinks we saw it coming and ran away. Whatever, we were long overdue for a vacation anyway."
Leo raised an eyebrow. So far… all he had heard was about the things these two couldn't predict. Were they really diviners?
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