"Thanks for helping me." Seth started the conversation by genuinely thanking her.
That spirit was very beautiful, but not in an attractive way. She was more like aesthetically beautiful and coupling with the fact she had the shape of a human, made Seth unconsciously treat her as a person. The most eye-catching difference between her and a human being, not counting her body made of water, were some fish scales here and there around her body.
She smiled and said: "You should never touch those waters. They are not something anyone is capable of understanding, including me."
Seth felt it was hard to believe that even a water type spirit would have trouble dealing with the water from a lake, but he understood things were not as simple as they seemed to be.
He nodded and asked: "Do you know what this lake really is?"
Seth had the impression those waters were not normal. After a simple touch, he was able to realize that..
The female spirit looked towards the lake and answered: "If I were to describe what it is, I would say it is a wish."
"A wish!? How can a wish turn into something like this?"
"This lake is formed by a very strong desire, left behind by our progenitor. To tell you the truth, even though I'm one of the oldest beings living around here, before I was even able to develop a proper sentience, this lake already existed. Even for me this is a very wonderful mystery." There seemed to be a complex light passing deep inside her eyes. It contained not only admiration but yearning too.
Suddenly, Seth realized he hadn't even introduced himself.
"I'm sorry for being rude. My name is Seth, a guest currently staying at the Glazed Lake Sect. May I know your name?"
"My Master gave me the name Darya. I'm a high-tier water elemental spirit born here, as well as the current protector of the entire Glazed Lake Sect." The water spirit remembered some old scenes between her and her master.
"Your Master gave you a good name, Darya. After seeing this lake, I understand why this area is restricted. However, I would like to ask why did you allow me to come here?"
Seth didn't bother her by asking about her master. He knew spirits could live way longer than humans and her master may have already died.
"I wanted to understand why do you have such a strong soul energy around you. Your presence here is very enigmatic and mysterious. The simple fact you're still perfectly standing, even though you're so close to that mystic lake, is something worth of wanting to know about. Can you tell me a bit more about that?"
"Is it that hard to come here? I didn't feel anything different until I touched that lake." Seth tried to feign ignorance, because he didn't want to reveal Lexi's presence and the soul cultivation arts she taught him, to anyone.
Darya expected he would tell her something concrete, but the way he said, seemed like his soul was just abnormal, being stronger than a normal person's soul. However, she didn't buy it entirely, but the fact he was overwhelmed just by touching the lake, showed his soul was not strong enough yet.
'Could it be just a coincidence?'
"You may not know, but your soul is really out of ordinary. But since there are no means of you using that power, being able to come to these kinds of place, is all it will be useful for."
"I understand."
"There is still one thing I'm pretty much curious about you..." Darya seemed to be observing him with her water eyes.
She walked closer and continued: "Why do I sense so much Spiritual Energy gathering around your body? Not even high-tier spirits like me are able to absorb so much Spiritual Energy like the quantity circling around you."
'Dammit! What is Lexi doing? Why didn't she stop absorbing Spiritual Energy, even though we're at the presence of a high-tier spirit. Dammit!'
"Hehehe... You got me." Seth awkwardly laughed while filtering what he could say and what he couldn't.
"I just recently found a way to cultivate while using Spiritual Energy. Even though it doesn't help that much, it can be beneficial in the long-term cultivation road."
"Cultivate with Spiritual Energy? How's that possible? There are no techniques available in this continent able to assist you with that kind of practice."
Seth smiled and said: "Hehe... I managed to develop it."
"What? You developed it? Can you show me how do you do it?"
Darya wasn't able to believe his words. Developing an elemental technique already required an absurd mastery level over a certain element. But developing a cultivation technique was only something a monstrous genius could do. Seth was indeed a monstrous genius, but the technique he used to absorb spiritual energy was something that came from Lexi.
Seth inwardly smiled. He was able to direct her attention to where he wanted, making her not think of other possibilities he didn't want her thinking about.
Seth suddenly started to actively pull the Spiritual Energy towards his body. Since he had helped Lexi doing it many and many times, he was accustomed with that already. Normally, a common person would start to slowly filtrate the energies he or she absorbed, only assimilating a little bit of what was pulled. The Spiritual Energy would be then returned back to the environment, since common people wouldn't be able to absorb it.
But right after he absorbed that energy, he started the assimilation process, completely absorbing everything. It's just that cultivating this way was a really slow and boring way to do it, so Seth rarely did it.
The water spirit was observing everything and she got amazed after getting the realization that Seth was telling the truth. He had assimilated the Spiritual Energy, leaving her speechless.
"Done."
"Impressive. You're quite talented. Actually, I should be calling you a genius... Since you've told me one of your secrets, I want to give you some things in return." Darya suppressed her amazement and spoke.
"Oh? Gifts? They are welcome." Inwardly, Seth was suspecting what were the motives for her actions, but he didn't bother to voice them out.
But Darya kind of noticed it and said: "They are minor things I would like to give you for building a good relationship with the Glazed Lake Sect. The first one is this."
Darya didn't have a spatial ring with her, but a flower mystically appeared inside her palm. It was a bulbous fragrant flower with a large and slender stem. However, it had a very beautiful bluish semi-transparent color.
"A flower?"
"This is flower is called Glazed Lily. It is a flower that only grows here and nowhere else. It is born from Yin energy; thus, it must be used by a female, else it will serve for nothing. This flower likes pure and refreshing Yin energy, totally compatible with that little elf that came with you. Give it to her and she will be able to acquire affinity with the water element. The level of affinity will depend on her talent and Yin energy quality."
"Really? That's incredible. I'll certainly give it to her."
"The next thing is this... A water elemental bead. It can help you temporarily breath underwater, or it can be used as a protective measure when you get into a dangerous situation. Make sure to always keep it with you."
Seth accepted those gifts from her, but he was a bit confuse.
"Why are you giving me a protective treasure?"
"It's just something I have here that serves me nothing. It's going to be better in your hands."
"Hm... Thank you then." Seth found it a bit strange, but he merrily accepted those gifts. But even though he seemed to be happy, his thoughts were actually on a more complex matter. After noticing she had some very special and mythical items, he started to think that maybe she could have something for Meiyi. But if he asked her that, it would be totally out of self-interest and something that might offend her.
Seth suddenly stood silent.
Darya noticed that there seemed to be something he wanted to ask, but there was no way of her knowing what it was before he asked.
After some seconds on that internal struggle, he chose to throw away his pride and ask it anyways. Even if he were to be indelicate and ended up offending her, he would do it, since it was for Meiyi.
"This may sound totally indelicate from my part, but are you perhaps able to give me something that could help one of my friends? She is unconscious and is unable to wake up because of some bloodline problems, maybe you could help her."
The female water elemental spirit noticed the weight his words carried. She was not petty enough to take that as being indelicate, nor did she think he was being greedy.
"Bloodline problems? I'm sorry but I have nothing that could help her."
"I see... I'm sorry for troubling you."
"No problem. I think..." Suddenly, Darya seemed to have received some information regarding that girl's situation. It was just like someone was talking to her while she was having her conversation with Seth.
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