Chapter 200 - Profound Water

“Finished?” Shindo called out as he approached Adion from down the hall.

Adion took his eyes from his painting, depicting the Headmaster sitting behind his desk. Adion felt it was easier and easier to gain access to old memories. It had been weeks since he failed to remember anything when he painted. He started to feel less like a person with memory loss and more like a normal person, just really forgetful. 

“I’m done,” Adion replied, starting to pack up his things.

“Do you really need to paint every single day? Aren’t you curious about what we might find in that hall?” Shindo questioned. 

They had spent the last two days trying to clear out the debris in the grand hall that they found. But as Adion didn’t dare show off his abilities, the work was slow, and they had yet to find anything. 

“I’m curious, but I can’t work well without painting,” Adion said, “I will keep feeling like something is missing if I don’t get to paint. We can’t work all day anyway, so there is no need to rush.”

“I guess this is the kind of dedication you need to paint like you,” Shindo said, admiration clear in his voice as he caught a glimpse of Adion’s painting. “Who is that? He’s powerful.”

“It’s the Headmaster of Cyalis Academy,” Adion answered.

“That makes sense,” Shindo murmured, “Anyway. Let’s go.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Adion said, putting away his painting materials in his backpack. He couldn’t help but notice the absence of rations. When they were prepared to infiltrate the Empire’s outpost, he had told Shindo he wasn’t stupid enough to carry all his rations with him, but now it seemed like he had been stupid after all. 

“We’ll need to go down the mountain to look for food tomorrow,” Adion said as they started walking down the hallway, “I’m out of rations.”

“I still have enough for us to eat for a few days,” Shindo said.

“What? Where did you get food from?” Adion asked. Shindo only had a small pouch with him. There was no way he carried food for the two of them in there.

“I have my ways,” Shindo answered with a smug smile, “You just eat in peace and focus on clearing the rocks.”

Was he always this annoying?

“Do you have water too?” Adion asked. He still had water left, always carrying plenty of it in his backpack ever since he started traveling the desert. But it wouldn’t last forever.

“I do. Don’t worry,” Shindo said.

“Then why have you been eating and drinking my stuff all this time?” Adion asked with a slight frown.

“What? It’s better to use what we have first, right? Don’t worry, I won’t let you starve,” Shindo said.

Will he die if he doesn’t act mysterious for a day?

Adion and Shindo arrived in the hall cluttered with boulders and large rocks. Adion couldn’t help but feel tempted to use a little bit more of his Authority to get the job done quicker.

But this Shindo is strange. Who knows what he can figure out with a few hints?

“You’re going to need to help with your lightning,” Adion said, “Or we’ll never get done.”

“Even if I use all my mana, it will only make a slight difference. Is it really worth it? I think it’s better to save my strength in case something happens,” Shindo argued.

“What could happen here?” Adion asked.

“An ancient trap? A beast getting in and attacking us?” Shindo suggested.

“Don’t worry, I always save enough will to teleport. I’ll get us away from here in case something happens. Come on, do the lightning thing,” Adion said, gesturing for Shindo to begin.

“Fine,” Shindo sighed and conjured a fearsome lightning bolt that struck the boulder in front of them, smashing it to pieces.

Isn’t that kind of power exaggerated? Even if he’s telling the truth about such an attack using up most of his mana, he feels a lot more dangerous than any Gold mage I’ve ever met. 

Shindo appeared slightly lightheaded after just two attacks. Adion wasn’t sure if it was real or if Shindo was just acting. 

As someone used to hiding his strength, Adion could see that Shindo was the same kind of person. 

Shindo had pretended to be a weak wind mage for weeks, after all. There was nothing that said he had come completely clean now. He might still be hiding his real power. So Adion felt it was only fair for him to contribute.

“That’s all I can do,” Shindo said with a slightly agitated breath, backing off for Adion to do his part.

“It’s plenty helpful,” Adion said. He contributed with an attack of his own, and the volatile space steadily crushed everything in its path. 

Adion could now see the statue he had spotted the day when they first arrived more clearly. However, getting there was a bit tricky.

“I think we can get to the statue if we clear some of the stones,” Adion said.

“Can’t you just teleport us over?” Shindo asked.

Oh, right.

He hadn’t thought about it since he couldn’t really do much with the boulders blocking his space earlier. He had sensed as much of the hall as he could with his space mana and hadn’t found any interesting place that he could get to. At most, he could teleport them on top of some of the boulders, but what was the use if they couldn’t get anywhere from there before clearing the rocks around them?

Adion once again spread out his space mana in the direction of the statue. He noticed they could probably teleport over there without much effort, but Adion didn’t want to show off more of his Will than necessary.

“Never mind,” Adion said, shaking head, “I don’t have much Will to spare. We should be able to get over on foot with just a little effort.”

“Alright, then,” Shindo said, not arguing. 

They started walking, clearing some of the rocks on the way. When they stumbled upon a rock too big to move, they helped each other climb over it. 

“You said you were from Pollonti, right?” Adion asked casually. He had started remembering more about his studies at the Academy, and having a conversation about Quemer was perfect for Adion. It wouldn’t be strange if he didn’t know something about that faraway place, so his ignorance wouldn’t arouse any suspicion. Besides, he was really curious both about Shindo’s background and Quemer in general.

“That’s right,” Shindo said, nodding.

“What’s it like?” Adion asked.

“I guess the most similar place here would be Cyalis. But everything is bigger, and people are stronger and more knowledgeable,” Shindo answered.

“Have you ever been to the Tower of Sages?” Adion asked curiously.

“Why do I feel like our roles have been reversed?” Shindo asked.

“Maybe they are. I’m curious about Quemer, so tell me,” Adion said.

“Never been there, but I hear it’s quite spectacular,” Shindo said.

“Then where exactly are you from?” Adion asked.

“A small place, you wouldn’t know it,” Shindo responded casually, focusing on clearing the way.

“A small place? A family like yours is located in a small place?” Adion questioned, “Are you like a hidden family or something?”

“I guess you could say that,” Shindo nodded.

“Why are you hidden? And you don’t seem to hide?” Adion asked.

“It’s a long story Let’s focus on the task at hand,” Shindo said with a small smile.

“You really have the gall to say that after weeks of questioning me,” Adion muttered.

But he didn’t push. If Shindo didn’t want to talk, Adion couldn’t do anything about it.

After an hour or two, the two finally reached the statue they had had their eyes on.

It was made out of some kind of white, marble-like, stone. It depicted a woman four times the size of ordinary humans. The woman was wearing a kind and gentle smile on her face, dressed in long robes covering all her skin.

“She gives off a… benevolent vibe,” Adion said after a while.

“I smell religion,” Shindo said.

“Might have been,” Adion said slowly. He didn’t know what kind of place this was, but based on this, he didn’t feel like it was a branch of the Celestial Phoenix Sect.

Looks like other forces had access to teleportation formations in those times.

“What’s that?” Shindo asked and pointed to something behind the statue. 

Adion looked and found there seemed to be some kind of basin behind the statue. 

Squeezing their bodies between the statue and a larger boulder, Adion and Shindo made their way to take a closer look.

“What’s this? Water? How hasn’t it evaporated?” Adion asked, staring curiously at the liquid in the basin.

Shindo narrowed his eyes and bent down to sniff the water-like liquid. After a while, he cautiously dipped his finger into it before putting the finger in his mouth and giving it a taste.

“You…How is it?” Adion asked curiously.

“It’s actually Profound Water,” Shindo said with a crooked smile.

“Profound Water?” Adion questioned, “What’s that?”

“You don’t know? You don’t have it here?” Shindo asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Not that I know of,” Adion answered.

“It’s quite rare. I’ve only had a dozen small bottles of it myself,” Shindo said, “I don’t know the details about how it is made, but it should be quite difficult. Only top organizations have access to it.”

“What does it do?” Adion asked.

“It recovers your Will,” Shindo said.

“Something like that exists? It’s not dangerous?” Adion asked, already scooping some of the Profound Water with his hands. 

“It’s perfectly safe,” Shindo said with a laugh.

Adion swallowed a few mouthfuls. It didn’t taste very different from regular water, perhaps a touch of limestone. 

But he soon noticed that the Will he had used from painting earlier, swiftly returned to him. He opened his eyes wide and stared at Shindo in disbelief. 

“I feel like I just had a full night’s sleep!” Adion exclaimed.

“That’s what Profound Water does,” Shindo said, nodding like a wise old man. 

“If you have this…won’t training be effortless?” Adion said, realizing the possibilities. He could exhaust his Will meditating, drink Profound Water, exhaust his Will aura training, drink more, exhaust his Will training space magic, repeat. He could cram a week’s effort into a single day and improve in all areas with unimaginable speed. 

“If you had an endless amount of this stuff, sure,” Shindo said, “But like I said, it’s rare. No one can possibly have enough of this to use it every day forever. I only used it once or twice a month when I felt I needed it. Otherwise, it’s mostly used as an emergency resource when you’re outside. It could save your life when you have exhausted your Will during a fight.”

Adion had almost gone crazy imagining all the training he could get done, but Shindo’s words brought him back to reality. 

I really should save most of this stuff, right? If I have a few bottles of Profound Water on me, I never have to worry about exhausting my Will. I will be able to teleport away continuously, easily escaping the pursuit of my enemies no matter how tired I am or how strong they are.

I should also save some for my family.

“But it’s far from useless,” Shindo said, probably thinking Adion was disappointed, “Don’t underestimate the effect those few days of training had on me. I would probably only be half as strong without it. Maybe not even that.”

“I see,” Adion said slowly, “How much do you think this amount of Profound Water will do for us?”

“There is probably two-three gallons of it,” Shindo said, contemplating, “That’s more than enough to make a difference. If we split it between us, I might reach high Gold in a few weeks if I spend all my attention on advancing. You can probably reach peak Silver if you do the same, maybe even higher.”

“That’s…tempting,” Adion said, almost considering using it all. 

“Well, let’s go grab some bottles so we can divide it,” Shindo suggested.

“All right,” Adion nodded. 

Leaving the Profound Water behind, Adion and Shindo couldn’t help but start smiling.

“You already have a source of this stuff in your family. Are you really so happy?” Adion couldn’t help but ask.

“I had to work hard for that,” Shindo said, “Now, I can get just as much basically for free. How can I not be happy? Besides, doesn’t it make you wonder what else we can find here?”

That’s right. We might find something even more extraordinary if we’re lucky.

Damn. Looks like I won’t be leaving for a while after all.