As Ju returned to the room, Moon-Flower was enjoying another bottle of Flame Spirit wine.
“I hope this does not go on for a long time.”
The teenager felt a headache coming on. Since that day at the restaurant, Moon-Flower had begun requesting more of the drink. It was odd that no matter how much she drank, she never got tipsy or drunk.
Ju, of course, knew that it was not a logical thing to give someone of her age alcohol, but the young boy could not bring himself to reject her.
“You can not take anymore.” Ju approached her and said gently.
Moonflower immediately had a sunken expression, but she didn’t object. Ju then brought some pastries and gave them to her before returning to the Tempering Formula.
Ju closed his eyes and imagined the tides once again; after a bit of difficulty, he raised three tides and spotted that same node he had desperately sought to open the last time. The young boy sent the tides towards the node direction, repeated crashes as the tides converged around the spirit node.
Beads of sweat had already begun to form on Ju’s temple. It was really painful. Ju thought he would have gotten used to the pain a bit, but the feeling of the tides crashing was like a mallet repeatedly hitting his back. The teenager slowly started to tremble.
“Almost there.”
Ju could feel it; he just had to hold on.
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Ten extra minutes passed before a star lit up in his body. The spirit node had finally been opened. Due to Ju's actions, Essence rapidly converged towards him, struggling to fill his node. Moon Flower, who was busy with snacks, suddenly looked at Ju. She had a very confused and sad expression, like someone trying to remember an incident.
“This feeling seems familiar.”
However, she could not determine its origin. Eventually, she stopped thinking about it and focused on her food.
Meanwhile, Ju was filled with excitement and pain, but excitement mostly now. He had finally done it. Out of the nine nodes, he had three opened. Although it was not momentous, he was a bit closer to the level of an Essence Artist.
Struggling to get up, Ju clenched his hand as he could feel the ripples of purer Essence. The new-found feeling of strength was quite addictive. But then his eyes twitched as an overwhelming tiredness overcame him.
“I need to rest tomorrow. I will check the effects of my improvement.:
While yawing a bit, the young boy fell asleep on the bed next to Moonflower.
It was already dusk by the time Ju managed to wake,
“I am late again.” The teenager thought as he quickly left to meet the group of hunters.
Just as Ju was thinking to himself, the young boy realized that the streets were quite lively. After eavesdropping on passersby, Ju learned that Pike had returned.
Ju had previously heard rumors about this so-called Pike. He was the strongest person in Ender Town, even amongst those who came together with forces outside the Wastelands and other vagrant Essence Artists. He built Ender Town from the foundations. Although other factions still influenced decisions in Ender Town, Pike was known as the number one person in this area.
Ju gradually ignored the chatter. The affairs of someone like Pike did not concern him. The major thing that affected him right now was getting enough money to access the library's second floor. Very soon, Ju reached the restaurant. The other group members were already seated, all except for Aron.