Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 360: Whereʼs He?

Grey and Reynolds left the camp, heading back on their own.

“Will you refine it now, or later?” Grey looked at Reynolds.

“I think it’s best I find a place here to refine it,” Reynolds replied after pondering for a few minutes.

“I guessed as much,” Grey said.

He was also eager to feed Void the liquid that was in the pendant the young man gave to him.

They walked into the forest, if they went further, they would reach the rocky mountain.

The duo soon found a cave in the forest, after Grey walked around to ensure it was safe, he made an array around the cave, before stepping into the cave, along with Reynolds.

He tossed the lightning tree to Reynolds, before going to the side of the cave. He planned to protect him while he was refining the tree.

Reynolds quickly unwrapped the cloth that Grey used in covering it. As soon as the cloth left the lightning tree, lightning essence immediately spread out in all directions.

“Wouldn’t this attract people here?” Reynolds couldn’t help but ask when he saw how powerful the essence was.

Given the purity, as well as the intensity of the essence, it was bound to attract attention not just from people, but the magical beasts that reside in this part of the forest.

“I’ve taken care of that, the array I made will help hide the aura from going out, so you don’t need to worry about that,” Grey assured him.

“Okay,” Reynolds nodded, before he closed his eyes with the lightning tree placed on his lap.

Grey watched him for a few minutes, before taking out the pendant he took from the young man.

‘I wonder if he’ll have more?’ He thought.

He took out the two orbs he removed from the ground under the tree. When he sensed them, a surprised expression appeared on his face.

The first orb he took didn’t have as much essence as the second one. The second one was not only better, it had a higher density as well.

‘How come he didn’t tell me of this one, or could it be he didn’t know of it?’

Multiple questions ran through Grey’s head as he studied the orbs. Red lightning danced around the first orb, with lightning essence that’s almost double the intensity of that in the lightning tree.

Grey kept the orbs back in the storage ring, he would think about that later, for now, he wanted to see what effects this liquid would have on Void.

He brought Void out of the storage ring, placing him on his lap. With little to no effort, he opened the pendant, and the teardrop-like liquid was flowing lightly in the pendant.

When the pendant opened, the liquid spread out an aura that soothed his head, making him think more clearly. This feeling gave him a little bit more hope in the liquid being able to help Void.

He used his spiritual energy to wrap the liquid, lifting it from the pendant, before gently opening Void’s mouth, placing it in it.

After the liquid entered Void’s mouth, it quickly dissolved inside, spreading into his entire body. The outer part of Void’s body lit up with the bluish light the liquid gave off.

Grey watched on patiently as the light surrounded Void, shaking a little. He couldn’t help it, he was nervous.

After five minutes went by, the light surrounding Void started to die down. He looked at him with hopeful eyes, but to his dismay, there was no reaction from Void.

‘It didn’t work,’ He thought sadly, disappointment evident on his face.

Grey ran his hand through the fur of Void. He sat in that position with Void on his lap for over two hours.

Later that night.

Buzz! Crack!

Grey raised his head, looking at Reynolds. Lightning was currently dancing around Reynolds’ body, giving off a glowing light.

Grey waved his hand, creating an earth wall at the entrance of the cave, sealing the light inside the cave.

He stood up, walking outside.

“He’s about to break through,” He muttered while walking out.

…

Chimera forest.

After Grey threw the lightning tree at the young man.

The young man went in another direction, hoping to escape with the lightning tree. Although it was not his objective in coming here, it wouldn’t hurt gaining the boost from the lighting tree as well.

It didn’t take long though before he figured out that they had been duped by Grey.

After running for around ten minutes, he suddenly noticed that the aura the lightning tree was giving off was starting to decrease.

“Huh? What’s happening?” He asked in shock.

He looked at the lightning tree he had in his hand, and his expression changed drastically.

“Shit! He scammed us!” He yelled out, before ditching the tree.

The Leopard which was chasing after him, went after the tree, on seeing it, it was infuriated.

Roar!

With an angry roar, it sent lightning in all directions, striking some of the people who were behind it.

The young man had a wry smile on his face. After managing to escape from the infuriated attack of the Leopard, he hid somewhere, to try to regain his breath.

Running for so long under the numerous attacks from the Leopard was difficult. He was hit on a couple of occasions, but luckily, they were not severe.

“Heh! That guy,” He laughed lightly.

He waited for two hours, recovering the essence he spent on escaping, before turning back in the direction of the hill.

Thirty minutes later.

The young man stood at the top of the hill, walking towards where the lightning tree was previously stood.

“How did he even do that?” He asked in confusion when he recalled how Grey switched positions with him.

If Grey had disappeared and appeared close to him, he would’ve at least believed it was probably because Grey was insanely fast, but Grey not only appeared there, but he also switched places with him. Had he not been fast, then he would’ve been killed by one of the magical beasts in the area.

He shook his head, after not being able to figure out how it was possible.

‘He collected the orb, luckily I told him of it. But he wouldn’t sense, or see the second orb.’ The young man bent down, before he started digging the place.

The reason he told Grey of the first orb was so that he would be able to acquire both orbs. The second one was far better than the first one. But it rarely releases any aura, and on multiple occasions, it forms not under the tree, but somewhere around it.

Unknown to the young man, the second orb not only formed under the tree, but Grey had escaped with it.

One hour later, he had dug almost ten meters around the place where the lightning tree was standing, digging it over five meters deep, but he found nothing.

“Where is it?” He asked with an exasperated look.

He was looking haggard from digging so much, a little frustrated since he knew the orb rarely formed very far or deep from where the tree stood.

He calmed his mind, before he started digging deeper. He tried to console himself with the thought of this one forming a little further away from how it usually forms.

Two more hours went by.

“Where’s it?” The young man asked with his hands on his head.

“That bastard! He took it as well,” The young man said with bloodshot eyes.

The thought of someone else taking it didn’t come across his mind, he knew only a few people knew of the first orb, much less the second orb.

This was something he learned from an ancient text his father acquired. Because of his unique lightning, this seemed perfect for him.

He had been searching for a lightning tree for years, and now after finding it, he was unable to obtain what he came for. He even gave Grey the precious pendant he had, all for nothing.

“Where’s he?” He looked climbed up from the hole he had dug on the hilltop.

He jumped down from the hill, heading in the direction where they set up camp.

Thirty minutes later.

The young man came out of the forest, and immediately headed straight for the guild’s camp.

The people from the guild were still there, planning to leave the next day.

When the young man came out, some of the people who chased after him from the other camps ran in his direction.

“Where’s the lightning tree?” Someone asked.

They didn’t hear the young man when he yelled, neither did they see him ditching the lightning tree. They only saw the attack of the Leopard, and not all of them saw that.

“That guy duped us, the tree he threw our way was fake,” The young man said with an angry look.

The young man walked towards the guild.

“Where’s he?”

😉