Chapter 275: Five out of seven.

"How’s it going, Overlord Seris?" Lee loudly said, even though he stepped out the rift in the middle of wilderness.No one answered him, and the only sounds he heard were birds chirping and distant roars of beasts. He didn’t expect anything else, though, and happily marched towards the three snowy peaks in the distance.

The atmosphere, and especially the air, was incomparably richer compared to Hollowreach. It felt confusing why anyone would prefer to live underground, trying to amass riches by drinking themselves into oblivion. Lee had no doubt that if he had to choose, he would’ve picked living in poverty in a place like this rather than slaving for a pile of gold in a shithole.

Of course, the beauty of the nature had the downside of the oversized ferocious beasts that kept attacking him on occasion. Surprisingly, this time Lee managed to deal with them mostly without using elemental skills, purely in physical combat.

The trusted Soulcleaver was doing most of the work and he could thank Heavens for the gift it was. Otherwise, with the five sparks in his Dantian, there was no telling whether he would survive if the elements got out of balance.

He met the overlord two days later, and this time she expectantly sat at the stream, waiting for him.

"You do realize I’m running out of jokes?" He asked approaching her.

"I’m surprised you lasted this long." She said, "Give me another one!"

"I did organize a whole festival for you so you could listen regularly!" Lee pretended to be upset, "Isn’t that enough?"

"Those dumbasses can’t think of anything good. I’m afraid I’ll go deaf if I continue to listen to them." Seris said, shaking her head.

"You need a subscription to Mad Magazine, Old Master Q or something like that." Lee sighed and sat next to her.

"What’s that?" She asked.

"In the world I lived my first two lives in, there were these books that were written few times a month for a wider public, full of jokes. I guess you would’ve loved those." Lee said.

"Full of jokes? And you left that world? What an idiot!" She said, looking at Lee full of contempt.

"I didn’t leave. I was born in another world." Lee said, "Actually, I learned about the cultivation there."

"That’s not how it works." Seris said, "Everyone is incarnated in the world they die."

"Think what you want." Lee shrugged, "I got the spark."

"Which one?" She asked.

"What do you mean, which? Spatial, obviously!" Lee said.

"Oh? Not bad. Then there’s only two left." Seris said, "But I have no clue where to find them."

"Two left?!" Lee said, blanking out, "I’ve got all five!"

"... right, five out of seven!" Seris said in an irritated voice, "Did you come here to brag or to tell me jokes! Stop fooling around!"

Lee stared at her, speechlessly, trying to comprehend her words, and it slowly hit him. Besides water, earth, fire, wind and spatial sparks, there were two more types in the world – life and death sparks.

But those weren’t real elements, at least not technically! On the other hand, he had met a being with a life spark before.

And was there anyone who cultivated death particles? How was that supposed to work? It would be only logical that anyone who accumulated death particles would die!

Xiao Lian guessed that Soulcleaver was forged by using a death spark, and that was the reason for its deadliness. But it was a weapon, not a person. It didn’t cultivate anything.

"You don’t want to suggest I have to swallow a death spark?" Lee weakly said, "I don’t even know how I’m still alive with the five inside of me. I already feel I could blow up any time I use any element."

"Who told you to absorb the spatial spark right away?" Seris said, "And we don’t know if the idea could work at all! I never promised you that! This is an experiment."

"Yea ... a fun one." Lee mumbled under his nose, "Except I’ll die in body and soul if I fail."

"Well, in theory, if you get both life and death sparks, they should balance out each other ..." The old madam pondered out loud, "All that’ll be left is for you to fuse all of them."

"Fantastic! The success is basically guaranteed!" Lee clapped and got to his feet.

He was upset, but once again more at himself than at Seris. Overlord didn’t put him in the current situation, it was his own fault. The best way to give himself any chance to survive was to approach this with a cool head.

"How I’m supposed to find a death spark? What beast cultivates those? Some kind of wraith or zombie?" Lee asked, forcing his emotions to the back of his head.

"Like sparks of life, death sparks are wonders of nature." Seris said, "They are formed when people or other creatures die in large numbers, like during natural disasters or bloody wars. But there’s never a guarantee that you’ll create one even if you kill thousands or hundreds of thousands ... no one knows for sure how they come to life."

"A death spark comes to life ..." Lee mumbled, "Maybe it’s time for you to start telling me jokes? ... so you have no clue where to find such thing?"

"Of course, how would I know? Droskar Dominion is a beautiful and peaceful place – you won’t find a death spark here for sure." She said, "Maybe a life spark, but there haven’t been any since I moved here."

"That part I’ve got covered." Lee said, "Alright, I’ll let you know if I have any progress."

Then he forced a smile, and turned to walk away.

"Wait?" Seris said, "Not even one joke?!"

"I intend to live forever!" Lee said with a wave of his hand, without turning back, "And so far I’m doing great!"

"That’s a lousy one ..." Seris mumbled, and closed her eyes, focusing on the sounds of the world, looking for something funnier.

***

’What a disaster!’ That was the only word Lee could think of to describe his current situation. Just when he thought he was one step from success, he was forced to realize he was likely not even half way.

The upside was that he actually knew where a life spark was. He had no clue how to get it from the shroom elemental lord, but he knew where to find him. In theory. It was the plant world Lunax sent his devotees to look for the spark of life, Verdaria Prime.

Of course, to get there Lee needed to find its coordinates first, but Giel Van Graaf had gifted him a whole encyclopedia with locations and descriptions of worlds. While copying it, Lee didn’t bother with the contents, but now it was a good time to read it from cover to cover.

As usual, on the way back to Freeheaven, he visited Dante, the man who played the role of his father when Lee arrived to Droskar Dominion. Neither thought they would see each other again after saying goodbyes, but then Lee stumbled upon the same village another time, and after that began to come on purpose.

Upon his third visit, he stopped pretending to be a weak hunter. Instead, from his spatial treasures unloaded the game he hunted on the way, providing villagers with resources they would need for several months.

Jules and the other guards who back in the day behaved as if they owned the place, didn’t dare to look at him the wrong way once they saw the pile of pelts – wolves, mountain lions and bears. From that day on, they became the self-proclaimed honorable protectors of the village. At least during the time Lee was there.

When Lee arrived, all villagers gathered to meet him as if he was the local lord. He had to spend the whole afternoon telling about the news from Freeheaven, and no one cared they were half a year old.

Only the next day he found a remote corner to go through the Giel’s book, and could finally appreciate the enormous compilation that the Van Graaf family had created.