Chapter 123 - 121: The Power of the Little Broken Bead

Sev dashed straight into the kitchen, picked up the remaining half-pot of braised carrots and diced meat, and strode over to the battered wooden chest. Without a second thought, she dumped the entire contents inside.

Before her very eyes, the half-pot of food rapidly disintegrated into a small handful of ash. Evidently, this bizarre entity had gladly accepted her offering.

"Hey! You old ghost living in the chest! I’m telling you, if you ever want to eat such delicious food again, you need to find a way to help my son.

"He’s about to awaken his Gold Ability, but he lacks Energy right now and is on the verge of failing. Hurry up and produce a Metal Attribute Crystal Core for me to help him through this crisis.

"Otherwise, I swear I will burn this broken wooden chest to the ground!"

Sev spoke these words half as a threat and half as a bribe, yet her voice trembled. She knew she might be acting foolishly by bargaining with an unknown, sinister object. If she angered it, not only would she fail to get the Crystal Core, but she might also end up losing her life right here. However, she simply could not think of any other way to help Rusty. She had no choice but to take the risk.

After she issued her threat, a ripple of movement emanated from the bottom of the chest. The wood grain carved there, which resembled a Life Tree Totem, slowly morphed into... a hole? Sev instinctively took two steps back. Only from a distance did she realize that this so-called hole actually looked very much like a gaping mouth. A flash of Spiritual Light struck Sev’s mind. She wondered if this entity wanted to eat more.

"Do you want to eat more braised carrots and meat?" Sev asked loudly.

Upon hearing her words, the mouth at the bottom of the chest slowly flattened into a single line. Was this its way of telling her she had guessed correctly? Sev frantically rushed back to the second bedroom, only to see Rose channeling green light into Rusty’s body to prevent his meridians from being damaged. Yet, the moment she stopped transferring her Ability to him, this awakening would be declared a complete failure. Sev knew Rose wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer. After all, her power was a Wood Ability; aside from protecting Rusty’s meridians, she couldn’t truly help him awaken his Gold Ability.

Sev placed both hands on the little girl’s shoulders, her expression solemn. "Rose, darling, you are right to help your brother, but you cannot overdraw your Ability.

"Last time you overexerted yourself for me, I barely managed to beg Master Stone to step in and save your life.

"If something happens to you again, I might not be able to save you.

"You and your brother are equally important. I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself for him. Besides, even if you do sacrifice yourself, it won’t guarantee that he successfully awakens his Ability. Do you understand?"

Rose nodded vigorously. "Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll give him the green light slowly, and if it’s not enough, I’ll ask Curly for more."

Curly wondered why it was always the one drawing the short straw.

After giving Rose her instructions, Sev rushed into the kitchen. In a flurry of motion, she washed several large radishes and swiftly chopped them into small pieces. She roughly hacked the radish greens into sections, her technique incredibly sloppy. Then, she scooped out over two pounds of the lard she had rendered yesterday and dumped it into the wok. Heating the fat over a high flame, she tossed in the chopped radishes to stir-fry before adding salt and water to let it braise.

As she cooked, she suddenly recalled the first time she discovered what looked like a Life Tree Totem at the bottom of the chest. She had later mentioned the matter to Doctor Jenkins, but all he saw at the bottom of the chest was a jumbled, chaotic mess of wood grain. Thinking about the mouth that the sinister entity had conjured today, realization dawned on her. It turned out that the chest could manipulate the wood grain at will; the totem she saw was merely what it wanted her to see.

She wondered if there truly was some sort of special connection between her and this thing. With this in mind, a sliver of hope rekindled within her regarding this seemingly insane endeavor to seek its help in saving her son. If it was destined to be connected to her, then perhaps, for her sake—and for the sake of the precious food she was gifting it—it would help Rusty.

Fifteen minutes later, the radishes had softened. Sev added over a pound of pork cracklings and a basin full of radish greens, stir-frying them for a moment before taking the dish off the heat. Although her cooking method was crude, she didn’t dare skip a single step, terrified that the sinister entity in the chest would be dissatisfied and refuse to save her son.

The steaming hot pot of braised radishes was half again as large as the first batch she had made. The only difference was that the fresh meat had been replaced by pork cracklings. Carrying the entire pot over to the chest, she dumped all the food inside without a second word.

This time, the entity inside the chest seemed to absorb the meal at a slower pace. It took a full five minutes before the food was completely reduced to ash. Three minutes later, a gray, pea-sized bead appeared at the bottom of the chest. After that, there was no further movement.

Sev, who had watched the entire process, was so furious she almost exploded. She had given this guy so much precious, delicious food, and all it gave her in return was this measly, broken little bead?

"Hey! Do you have any sense of honor? You’re trying to fool me with this piece of junk?"

Enraged, she delivered a vicious kick to the battered chest. However, the wood was incredibly hard; her foot throbbed with pain, yet the chest hadn’t even lost a speck of paint. She began to wonder how the paint on its surface had ever been scraped off in the past.

Left with no other option, Sev tipped the chest over, letting the gray bead roll out. She bent down to pick it up and trudged back to the second bedroom with heavy steps. Regardless of whether this crappy bead worked or not, she had traded two large pots of braised radishes for it, wasting so much of her diced meat, lard, and cracklings!

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the tiny gray bead into Rusty’s palm. She faintly spotted a high-speed vortex spinning inside the bead, reflecting a halo of iridescent colors. However, the iridescent halo merely flashed for a split second before vanishing. When she stared at it again, the vortex was gone, and the halo had disappeared as well. It remained a dull, gray little bead; that fleeting glimpse felt as though it had never happened at all. She told herself it was an illusion—it had to be an illusion!

Sev forcibly pulled the pale-faced Rose into her arms, retreating to the side to wait in silence. They had already done everything they could; the rest could only be left to the judgment of fate.

Rusty had a premonition that as long as he could yank the fully formed lemon fruit out of the alloy interlayer, something unexpectedly wonderful would happen. His body currently felt like a newly ignited Melting Furnace, greedily craving an infusion of Gold Attribute Energy to complete this crucial metamorphosis. But the metallic particles in his body had been entirely hollowed out, leaving him unable to condense a pair of hands capable of manipulating metal. Occasionally, a few gleaming metallic particles drifted through the surrounding air. He managed to capture them with his mind just in time, but they were far too sparse—nowhere near enough to condense into a pair of hands.

Suddenly, a fierce wave of Energy rippled from his palm. He "looked" over with his mind, only to discover a gray vortex composed of countless particles. He stared at the vortex intently, eventually realizing that it was actually a small, gray bead. Although his consciousness was currently quite blurry, he could still guess that his mother must have found this bead for him, and that it would help him condense those hands once more.

Sure enough, the particles within the vortex swiftly seeped through his palm and slowly permeated every crevice of his body, fusing with his bone marrow, meridians, and flesh. Upon merging with his body, each particle quickly transformed into a golden metallic particle, as if they had been dyed. But Rusty knew very well that this wasn’t dyeing; rather, it was a seamless, unimpeded conversion.

These particles were miraculous—even more miraculous than the green Wood Attribute Crystal Core he had seen his sister absorb previously. He even suspected that if these particles were to integrate into a different body, they could transform into any color necessary to match that body’s specific attribute.

The golden particles flooded every part of his body. Like parched earth welcoming a refreshing rain, all his pain vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye. Then, they surged out of his body in droves, converging into a mighty torrent. This torrent was wider and more turbulent than the previous one. With a single thought, a larger pair of hands condensed into existence.