So far, Seth had already gone through up to two portals so he was quite calm as his body entered the green portal.
As the portal enveloped him, his body began feeling all sticky but he ignored it and prepared himself for whatever enemy awaited him on the other side.
Without suspense or drama, Seth found the sticky feeling which had latched onto him fade away seconds after he walked into the portal, and with his eyes opened, he was welcomed into a world of light green.
It wasn't that everything was green, but that the light that lighted up the location was blue but Seth didn't waste time looking into this intricacy as his eyes immediately moved to identify any life form.
He quickly looked left and right but other than Irene's whose sad expression he did not want to look at, there was no one else, and behind him was a bare wall, most likely their exit from this place.
"There isn't any trap in here" Aimy's disgruntled voice sounded from beside Seth, her hand still bound in his grip.
Without letting out a word, Seth let go of Amy and then looked to Irene, a scowl on his face.
"So what now," Seth said, no longer searching for enemies as he now observed the features of his surroundings.
As Irene said, this portal had led them to an underground cave, but the one thing she had failed to mention was how big the cave was.
Seth could occasionally hear the echo of water dripping from somewhere, and with how much echo this sound produced he found himself wondering just what area of Egaroth had such a large opening beneath it.
"Well now, you can decide to either harvest the soul fruits or sit and absorb their energy."
Hearing Irene's words, Seth's face scrunched up in confusion and he leaked just a bit of his aura.
"Where are the soul fruits?"
Before them stood a huge cave. But Seth could see no huge tree or feel no sense of life from either the place or any object, the only thing that inhabited the cave were giant green crystals that jutted from all parts of the cave, reminding him of stalactites.
"These crystals Seth, they are the soul fruits" Aimy answered this time," You really don't know a thing about them huh".
Aimy had just finished talking when she was hit with a bit of aura courtesy of Irene who didn't appreciate her words.
Not bothered by Aimy's honest words, Seth left the sisters and moved toward a huge green crystal that was just about a step from him, he put his hands on it and felt it.
"Unlike qi stones which gave out qi, the energy in these crystals go dormant, so if you want to access it, you need to rigorously run your qi through them, and that will stimulate them to begin releasing their energy.
"Then why is it called soul fruit" Seth couldn't help but ask, irked by the misleading name.
"Like who would name objects so big and hard soul fruits," Seth thought.
"Its true name is light crystals, a name known to few."
"Though it's my guess, the fact that neither Ella, Minuha, or Gastrol took my search for soul fruits that could heal the soul seriously means that it was perhaps given that name to throw enemies off."
"Throw enemies off" Seth couldn't help but mutter, agreeing with Irene's words when he remembered Minuha's lack of faith in their search.
"But then why hadn't this little trick worked for Aimy and Zuroc" Seth wondered as she looked at Aimy.
Seeing Seth's gaze, Aimy quickly turned her head away, her actions making Seth think of the worst possible scenario and imagine it was what she had done.
"Hopefully am wrong," Seth thought not wanting to believe that Aimy had gone spilling to Zuroc the whole secret of the soul fruit, but then again even if she had there was, it made no difference as Zuroc was dead.
Seth wanted to ask a question but then hesitated, and decided to forget about it, but Irene who had moved closer to Seth caught his hesitation and spoke up.
"What do you want to know?"
"The qi in here, why is it different," Seth asked.
From the moment, they stepped into the cave, the qi here had been tingling Seth's skin, and while it was a very ignorable annoyance, Seth thought it was at least worth knowing what was going on around him in such a strange place.
"The qi here is pure, too pure and chaotic, and not suitable for cultivation in the slightest as you'll get qi poisoning and without doubt die. That's why we can only take or absorb some energy from the crystal and then leave.
"Hmm, is there anything for me to be watchful of while in here?"
"Other than qi poisoning, none that I know of."
"Alright," Seth said and then began moving away.
"Seth" Iren called, him stopping his departing figure.
"Please just give me a chance to explain myself to you" Irene begged.
"I'll come find you when I'm finished," and with that Seth walked away.
"As he said, he'll come find you, stop looking at him like an abandoned puppy," Aimy said already moving in the opposite direction of Seth. A smile on her face as she earned Irene's glare.
.....
Concerning how to deal with Irene, Seth pushed that issue far far away.
Seth was now in the one place that could solve one of his life's greatest problems, here he could heal his soul and finally be back on his cultivation journey.
He had been at the soldier level for too long, it was about time he made a breakthrough.
With a lot of expectance and excitement, Seth cautiously went deep into the cave, till he found himself surrounded by gigantic sized crystals,
Seth sat down beside one of them and then placed both his hands on it, and then just like Iren said he ran his qi through the crystal.
It wasn't up to a minute before Seth felt another energy in the crystal, and with a bit of wariness, he began absorbing it.
Immediately it entered into his body, Seth could feel a sense of refreshment throughout his body, and then his soul.
Focusing on the energy, Seth felt it flow into his soul and then begin heading for its core, but just when he expected it to deposit itself there, it then disappeared.
Feeling this abnormality, the smile on Seth's face was wiped off as a look of concentration came upon it and he had another try but in the end, the result was the same as before.
He was like a thirsty man who had water from a tap falling onto his forehead, down to his nose, and then diverting down to his cheeks, leaving his mouth dry and thirsty.
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