Chapter 100: New hunt.

Chapter 100: New hunt."How good do you think is her talent?" Lee asked.

After the somewhat bloody ritual, the physical process of Jiraxa fusing with the spark was over.

She continued to meditate when the squad returned to the city, though. Arax confirmed she was fine, and all that was left for her was to properly sense the wind element. To Lee it felt she was taking her time, but only at first.

Obviously he knew it was only because he was bored watching her heavily breath in and out for days, trying to intensify the sensation of the wind element within. He, on the other hand, couldn’t replicate the process.

His water spark floated below his navel, continuously battling the impurities that kept invading his body and consciousness. No matter how Lee tried, he couldn’t summon a water droplet, to not speak of a water stream like the one Tess used to wash him.

It was the common knowledge that over two thirds of the human body consisted of water, thus the water element was always present, even in all the cells. Based on that Lee attempted to adapt Arax’s technique so he could use his own spark, in case of emergency, of course. But unfortunately no matter how hard he tried, Jiraxa had results much sooner than him.

"She’s fine." Arax said, "I could use my wind spark already on the second day, but it’s not a competition."

"I also could use my spark on the second day!" Thorax added.

Lee watched the green light on Jiraxa’s chest with undisguised envy. He had a spark for five years, and, even though he initially didn’t plan to use it, at least he had to be capable of sensing it properly, like she did.



Obviously he didn’t intend to become a human lamp, and start to illuminate the streets of Ashland, but to make his chest glow in blue color could allow him to pretend he was actually healing people.

"Good!" Arax said, observing her progress, "Now try to guide this sensation towards your legs ... like that, good! Now, slowly, get up and try to walk!"

Even if he couldn’t do it himself, it was incredible to watch the birth of a superhuman. In front of Lee’s eyes, and those of the curious crowd that had observed her for some time, the green light from Jiraxa’s chest flowed to her lower body, and she followed Arax’s instructions by taking a few steps forward.

"Hahaha!" The surrounding people burst in loud laughter, including the two devils, when she almost crashed in the wall of the building not far away. Apparently it was a common prank in Ashland to play with the newbies who attempted to use the wind element for the first time, and didn’t know how to control their speed yet.

"She didn’t hit the wall ..." Thorax said. He was visibly upset even though the target of ridicule was his bright-scaled darling.

"Sigh ... ye ... unlucky ..." Arax was the same, but when Jiraxa returned, he said, "Not bad! Leaxa was right, picking the wind spark as your first was the right choice."

"It feels ... incredible!" She said, and her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Hmm. How do we allow her to train the practical application without overusing the power?" Lee pretended to ponder out loud in attempt to provoke the two devils to another discussion, "We don’t want her to age too soon, right?"

"It’s fine!" Thorax waved him off, "To increase the speed at this rate isn’t that big of a deal. When Arax’s uses fire – that’s when it becomes a problem."

"It’s not a problem, it’s strength!" Arax corrected, and his brother immediately nodded.

During the upcoming days Lee came to conclusion that either the utilization of the water spark was different, or his own peculiar situation didn’t allow him to properly use it.

Pretending to evaluate Jiraxa’s performance, he forced multiple debates with the two devils and several other people, and in the end decided it was the latter. Everyone, even witches, were able to use their sparks after several days of practice, and that meant the problem lie in Lee.

At first he was upset about the own lack of ability, but soon disbanded the worries – he was not in a rush to die early. In addition, he knew the spark worked. It had always healed him, and the only challenge was his inability to command its powers.

But he had the time – if everyone in Ashland, including the simpletons like the devil brothers, could utilize their sparks, Lee knew that with time he would figure out how to use his. Either he needed a different approach, or maybe a technique, and, in fact, for some reason he felt excited by the challenge.

***

For the next half-moth Jiraxa diligently practiced under the guidance of her two biggest fans, but Lee, after the first few days of their return, began to focus on himself. He didn’t rush, but observed the water spark, allowing himself to gradually increase his understanding of it.

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to get away from the group, Lee dropped the hope of leaving them for now. Jiraxa always managed to find him, and with her increased speed, his chances were almost nonexistent.

Theoretically Lee could’ve formally left the squad, but in the so called office he was informed that afterwards he was expected to join them again, or he couldn’t go on any conquests at all. That, of course, didn’t fit his plans – he still hoped to one day arrive to the world populated by the human race, and afterwards stay there.

When the next gathering conquest was announced, Jiraxa was considered a fully fledged fighter. To Lee it didn’t make any sense because all the young woman got was an increased speed. Obviously her attack power improved alongside of it, but she didn’t actually know how to fight or had any applicable combat skills.

The two devils had a different opinion. According to them, all she had to do was to thrust her spear into any beast that came at her, avoiding its attacks at the same time. The experience was supposed to come with practice. While Jiraxa happily agreed with them, Lee had a premonition that a trial by combat for this particular trainee would not end well.



Luckily the hotheads had learned to listen to him, at least at the very start of the conquest.

When the squad stepped through the rift, and the rest of treasure hunters charged forward, Lee effortlessly gathered his small group at the side for a longer briefing. This was only a two-day conquest and every moment they wasted on blabbing wasn’t spent risking their lives.

It was not the first time Lunax dropped his devotees in a region swarmed with beasts. In Inferno Wastes there were hundreds of lizards the treasure hunters had to face close to the rift, but it was a waste of time – none had any sparks.

This time, though, the situation was different.

They arrived on a hill overlooking a wide valley, and in all directions one could see lush greenery. The top of the hill was covered in a thick bamboo forest, but no matter how Lee wanted to persuade the group to go in there to take a look, they vetoed his idea, because further down in the valley, probably a mile from the rift, there were packs of house-sized beasts roaming around.

Even though the beasts were herbivores, they were clearly difficult targets, especially with their natural armor and the tendency to keep together in groups. But this was not the first conquest of this kind. The treasure hunters attacked them with surprising coordination, several squads joining forces, and then split up the beasts for each squad to hunt their own pray.

It was impossible to argue against the obvious, and Lee was forced to reluctantly follow both brothers and Jiraxa, who all rushed towards the other squads, trying to make up for the lost time. But he had to admit – the hunt itself looked impressive. If one ignored the genocide the treasure hunters performed in the valley, of course.

In a way it made Lee think of the human tribes who hunted mammoths before the dawn of civilization, except these guys had superpowers. Once in a wile one could witness a treasure hunter using their fire spark, and it was followed by a roar of agony and a cheer from the crowd.

At some point the remaining beasts realized they were not going to be left alone and scattered, but the hunters counted their gains.

Arax put in their box two shiny yellow sparks, but he was not particularly happy. Most of the other groups got three or four, and the largest squad even five. He was not willing to listen to Lee’s argument that they were the smallest squad that was capable of taking a beast of that size on their own, and, along with his brother, intended to charge somewhere to look for more.