“So, how was the Fortune Spring?” Cecilia said, as she saw Alnea jump off the boulder. “Did you enjoy the experience?”
“You are saying that as if this is not your first time experiencing a Fortune Spring,” Alnea said in return, matching the grin on her face. “Did you not enjoy the experience of gaining a Good Fortune?”
“How can we be compared?” Cecilia said, waving her right hand to dismiss his claims. “Although this is indeed my first time experiencing a Fortune Springs, I have been to Fortune Springs before. And both Serena, and my mother have told me how Fortune Springs work. I already knew what I would be experiencing… at least to some extent. You, on the other hand, experienced it without any prior knowledge. I am sure it must have been exciting.”
“Exciting you say… I—
“Let us continue this discussion after returning to our cave,” Yuri said from the side, cutting in between them. “Since we have already the Good Fortune hidden within the boulders, the Fortune Spring will no longer offer us a shelter. Staying here would be a little dangerous. It would be best for us if we return to our camp before doing anything else.”
Both Alnea, and Cecilia looked around themselves, and nodded along with Yuri. As she had said, they could no longer feel the Fortune Spring. And neither could they feel its shelter. Their fate with its Good Fortune was over. Staying next to the boulders would be meaningless. And dangerous. Thus, with Yuri in the lead, they went back to the place where they had left the wolf’s body, and his bag.
Both were untouched. Alnea did not think that no Oren Beasts would have seen the wolf’s body in the time they were experiencing the Fortune Spring, but the none of them had dared to take the wolf’s body. Clearly, none of them were confident of taking on the creature that had killed the Dark Wind Wolf head on. An observation that a small relief to the team.
At the very least, they would not have to worry about being ambushed by an advanced phase Oren Beast. But like Yuri had said, they could not afford to waste their time just standing around. There were too many Oren Beasts in the canyon, and quite a few were stronger than them. Although their strength had increased after receiving the Good Fortune, but it had not increased to an extent that it would allow them to fight advanced phase Oren Beasts.
And so, after Alnea had picked up his bag, and they had secured the wolf’s body, they started heading back to their cave. Thankfully, they had already mapped the way for the return route, allowing them to avoid most of the territories of Oren Beasts, making their return trip much faster than their venture into the depths of the canyon had been.
As for the territories they could not, or did not avoid, they had already taken care of the Oren Beasts in those territories. Like the territory of the Dark Devouring Snake. Those territories would soon be taken over by other Oren Beasts, either by those already in the canyon, looking for better territories, or by the beasts coming into the canyon from one of the outer branches of the Night Canyons, but for the time being, they were safe for them to travel through, without worrying about any ambushes from Oren Beasts.
Still, they never let their guard down. All along the way, they continued maintaining an arrowhead formation, with Yuri in the front, using the senses of her Spirit to keep a watch on their surroundings. Halfway through, Cecilia asked for a change of shifts, but Yuri refused on the account that there was not much distance left to cover, and that she had more Spirit Power to spare than them.
After they reached their cave though, neither Alnea, nor Cecilia listened to her explanations, and asked her to rest first, while they kept guard, using the time to skin, and butcher the wolf’s, and the snake’s corpse. With the tools that Yuri gave them, of course. After the day when Yuri had cooked for the first time, it had become easier for them to divide their duties. Alnea, and Cecilia would prepare the meat, and do all the cleaning, while Yuri would do the cooking. A clear, and simple division of labour.
However, making the girls agree to the division had not been so simple. At first, Yuri had tried to make Alnea be the one in charge of cooking, and for a few moments, Cecilia had also hesitated with the proposal. It was only after he had reminded her how horrible his cooking was, that she joined him in his insistence of having Yuri cook all their meals. Even then, it was only when they brought up the ‘best interests’ of the team, that Yuri finally relented, and agreed to the division.
Thus, according to the division, once Yuri was done with her meditation, she took over the neatly prepared meat from them, and started cooking, while Alnea, and Cecilia went into the cave, and began their own meditation, restoring their Spirit Power. This was the quietest, and most boring part of his training. An essential part, but a boring part, nonetheless. The quiet, and peace were nice, and had felt quite novel when he had first learned how to meditate properly, but that exotic feeling had started to fade after nearly a year of training.
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It was no wonder that Cecilia did not like meditating. Having had to meditate for more than half of her short life, it was only natural for her to become a little averse to all the quiet. Something similar was also happening to him. Even his deepened Serenity was not able address the dullness of his meditation. Especially since he did not have any inner conflict to address at the moment. The Fortune Spring had already seen to that. As such, Alnea was left with no choice, but to quietly reflect on his actions, while waiting for his Spirit Power to recover.
Fortunately, he did not have to wait for long. Receiving the Good Fortune had helped him recover some of his Spirit Power. That, coupled with the fact that he had not used his Spirit for a while, allowing him to rest his Spirit, recovering even more of his Spirit Power, had shortened the time he needed to meditate in order to recover to his peak. Not just him, even Cecilia was the same.
Rather, because she had spent much less Spirit Power than him during the fight, she had recovered her Spirit Power much earlier than him. By the time Alnea opened his eyes, she had already left the cave. And when he walked out of the cave, he noticed that Yuri was done with her cooking as well. All of the meat had been diced up, and put into a large pot, filled with foraged precious herbs, and a bubbling, brown broth.
I thought you were going to take forever,” Cecilia said, adding a bit of her exaggeration in her tone, as she turned towards Yuri. “Can we start now?”
“Wait a moment,” Yuri said, using a ladle to scoop up some broth, and meat, before using a spoon to transfer some of that broth, and meat to her mouth, taking a few moments to properly taste the dish she had made, while Alnea took his seat around the pot, forming a semi circle with the girls, facing the depths of the canyon.
“A hot pot once again?”
“This is the best way to ensure that we get the most out of the meat of the Oren Beasts. We are not Oren Chefs after all,” Yuri said, before turning towards Cecilia. “We can start now.”
“Finally,” Cecilia said, before shoving her bowl towards Yuri, who filled it with the broth, and the meat in the pot, while chuckling at her actions.
“You should show a little more patience,” Yuri said, shaking her head. “Did you not gain anything from the Fortune?”
“It is precisely because I gained so much from the fortune that I need to make sure that I eat properly,” Cecilia said, stuffing her mouth. “My Spirit Power jumped all the way from the Fifth Level to the Seventh Level. And I feel that my Spirit Power will continue growing at an increased rate for a while more. My body needs all the energy I can get.”
“…That is not how Fortune Springs work, and you know that,” Yuri said. “The increase in your Spirit Power is brought on by the powers of the Origin Sea. You do not have anything to worry about.”
“…I think that is all the more reason why we should be worried,” Alnea said, picking up his bowl, and motioning for Yuri to fill it up. “The increase in our Spirit Power… We did not gain it through our own efforts, and training. We gained it through the powers of the Origin Sea. And that makes it feels so vain, and empty. As if the Origin Sea can take away all the strength that it has given me…”
“The Origin Sea is not as stingy as you think it is,” Cecilia said, turning towards him with a dismissive look on her face. “That is just a side reaction from receiving the Good Fortune, which will go away in a while, so you do not have to worry about it too much.”
“A side reaction… so you two really do have a way to address this vainness in my Spirit Power?”
“…How much did your Spirit Power increase?”
“…It went from around three hundred and seventeen units to eight hundred and thirty five units. From the Fourth Level to the Sixth Level.”
“That’s it? What are you worrying about then? Just relax. The vain feeling will fade away with time.”
How, Alnea thought. Meanwhile, noticing that Cecilia’s words only added to his confusion, Yuri shook her head, and said, “If you are explaining things, then do it more thoroughly.”
Pausing for a moment, as she filled her own bowl, she added, “The vainness that you feel in your strength is real, and something all who experience Fortune Springs have to face. Even the wolf we faced today was the same. Did you not see how its body could not keep with its strength? But as Cecilia said, you do not have to worry too much about it.
“Though there is a vainness in your strength, it will not affect you much. And over time, as you train your Spirit, this effect will slowly fade away, returning complete control over your Spirit to you. Otherwise, if Fortune Springs had such high risk, and danger involved with them, they would not be called as Fortune Springs. And neither would big sis Nyssa have asked you to look for them. Besides, do you not trust me? Would I really let you do something that would hurt your future as a Wanderer?”
“I have complete, and absolute trust in you. That is why I did not say anything until now. I was just thinking that there must be a way to deal with this vainness in my Spirit Power…”
“You worry too much,” Cecilia said, chugging another mouthful of the broth from the bowl. “Just keep training as you have been, and everything will be fine.”
“Cecilia is right. You just need to keep doing what you have been up till now, and everything will work out on its own. Now, stop brooding over useless things, and finish your meal. Though the Origin Sea provided all the energy for the increase in your Spirit Power, it would never hurt to have more energy, right?”
“…I never said that I did not believe her,” Alnea said with a wry smile, as he turned his attention to bowl in his hands, and started chomping on the broth, and meat floating in his bowl. Though the food was not as tasty as the ones that the chefs in big sis Serena’s mansion used to make, it was fine. At the very least, it was better than the food that he, or Cecilia could make. And so, they could only supress their inner cravings, and continue eating, no matter how the food tasted.