Zaki wanted to ask, "What are you schemeing?"

But that would be rude to someone he barely knew, and who knows, he might not be plotting anything, so he used "What is your agenda"...which isn't much better.

Zaki had always known that the pies that fell from the sky, or in this instance the Spirit fruits that fell from the sky, came with strings attached, strings in the form of 'favors' that might potentially strangle you or, worse, control you like a puppet.

It's not that Zaki is too paranoid, but it's strange that someone would provide items that boost a person's power in such a dire situation.

Dimitri rubbed his chin. "Agenda? Well, I suppose it could be termed an agenda; it's not just a gift from the goodness of my heart; I want to eat this too, I crave the strength it provides, but I know it's not the greatest option if I want to survive."

"How can not increasing your own strength help you survive? How many did we lose in the last battle because they were weaker than their opponents?"Zaki questioned.

"We did lose a number of our group, but the tide of the battle turned because you cut down several Guards rapidly, I'm just a second-stage Meridian tempering realm guy, if I use these fruits, at most I will become a fifth or sixth stage Meridian tempering realm cultivator, barely as strong as you are now, and I'm not confident in reaching the 'something' realm if I eat the mind fruit, after all, if I was a genius my cultivation level wouldn't be so shitty."

"...why give it to me then?"

"If you break through and reach higher stages of your cultivation, you will be stronger than most of the guards out there, and you will be able to cut them down faster, allowing us to easily overwhelm them in battles."

After a few seconds of deliberation, Zaki realized that what Dimitri had stated was logical; after all, in small-scale chaotic fights, one very powerful individual would be of greater value than one weak guy who grew stronger.

"How much is one of these fruits worth where you come from?"Zaki inquired.

"...it's worth quite a bit, if you want to buy it from me you don't have to, I'm giving it away for free because my survival depends on it, but if you insist on buying it, that changes things and it becomes a business transaction, and right now it's worth more than all of the group's coin and jewelry loot combined...so you really wanna buy it?" Dimitri extended the fruits to Zaki.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Zaki wanted to buy the fruit since he had some jewelry he'd crafted out of gems and other loot he'd gotten from battles, and he didn't want to have to repay a favor later, but it looked like he had little alternative but to take a favor after all, coins and gems are useless while running from enemies in a wilderness.

"If we survive this, I will repay the favor, you can count on that." Zaki replied as he took the fruits from Dimitri's hands.

Dimitri stood up and shrugged, "Suit yourself, man, I've already said I gave it away for free because my survival depends on it as well, you don't have to repay me anything, I just want to get through this shit alive".

Zaki looked at Dimitri's back as he walked towards one of the few ladies in the group, though at the moment the 'lady' in question looked more like a barbarian munching on a half-burnt-looking bird.

"Yo, can I have some of that?"Dimitri said with a smile.

The 'lady' stared at him for a split second before saying, "Nope, go get your own" without hesitation.

Dimitri sat next to the 'lady' as if he hadn't been rejected right away.

"And here I thought the night was cold"

Ignoring the two, Zaki then looked towards the fruits in his hand, and thought to himself 'That's a heavy favor to repay'.

Even if Dimitri stated that he didn't expect anything in return, it doesn't change the fact that he is endangering his life by refusing to consume the fruits in order to build his strength, especially in the risky circumstance of escaping from foes for days.

...

When a person first begins to cultivate, they usually choose a path, such as body refining, energy refining, or mind cultivation.

As there are more paths to power than just these three, one can cultivate in more than one of these paths or none of them.

And, in most cases, cultivating the initial realm of these paths requires specific meditations, breathing techniques, or exercises.

Something Zaki lacks, and is unaware of its existence because he has yet to be introduced to it.

Of course, there isn't an ironclad rule that a cultivator requires a technique to advance in the initial realm.

The initial realm is all about accumulation; simply eating nutritious food is enough for a person to reach stage 9 of their initial realm, such as stage 9 of the body tempering realm or stage 9 of the mind nourishment realm, though advancements would be random; the person might advance in the body tempering realm, then the mind or Meredian tempering realm, or maybe all of them; basically, if a person wants to focus the nutrition in one path, they would need a technique or exercise.

In Zaki's situation, he didn't consume any nutritional food, and even if he did, little amounts wouldn't make much of a difference; his advancement came from spiritual energy refined or turned into a new energy that nourished his body and Meridians.

So, unbeknownst to Zaki, eating the body fruit may not result in a significant increase in his power, as the fruit will nourish both his body and meridians and a person with a high level in one path will always be stronger than a person with a bit higher than average level in two paths.

For example, a stage 8 Body cultivator can almost always wipe the floor with a stage 5 body and Meridian cultivator.

"so which one should I eat first?"

Zaki thought, looking at the fruits.