Eternal Emerald Dragon

Chapter 293 - 292 - Mysteries and Suprises

Lind felt like never moving again.  He was fairly certain he should be dead.  In fact, having been dead before, he was safe in saying that death was preferable to his current state.

"I will never drink again."  Lind had memories of being drunk before but for some reason, this particular session was far worse than any in his memory.  He actually wished the storm outside would kindly buzz off and lightning could just be banished for all time.

Where did the locals put all that alcohol?

"I think Ireland's greatest people were reborn enmasse here."  Lind froze.  His muddied mind had just pulled a detail from Earth he never could before.  Science, his office work, a few names, but a lot was still lost to him.

The moment he thought about the alcohol and his hangover, he pictured coasts, green fields, and laughter flowed from his mind.

"I was there, with mom."  It was so clear suddenly to him, but why now?  Why had a lost memory returned?  He could only see her smiling face but tears flowed down his face and his hangover did not seem so bad.

If he gained nothing else, even Gold Tier was not as precious as a personal memory.

He looked around and found himself alone in a room with a great deal more wood than normal.  Instead of a stone basin to wash in, it was polished wood.  His bed was fairly normal and actually quite comfortable if simple.  There was also a pitcher of water, at least that was made from glass!

He actually wondered why there was not more glassware in Rakathi.

Lind went to pour the water when he noticed something odd.  The glass felt charged with Qi.  He used his senses but then a splitting headache reminded him of his state.

"Blasted alcohol!"  Lind assumed a lotus position on his bed and tried to cultivate.  The expected disruption never came.  He was too busy recovering before he focused on the oddity.

His Eyes lit up the room in Qi but he was stunned at how muted things were, save the glass pitcher.  It was charged with all 6 kinds of Qi but not intentionally from what he could tell.  Understanding finally flooded him.

"They need wood for stability and insulation but metal and glass are not only conductors but excellent Qi storage!"  He now understood why the lightning rods were flawed.  They already had Qi in them to start and if someone tried to siphon Qi from strikes, it would burn out the receptacle sooner or later.

It was the same as the cultivators themselves!

Lind looked around and saw his entire room was fully wood.  Wood was essential to block out the lightning!  Still, if he focused, he could feel the disturbance of what had to be lightning strikes.

If they had such rooms, why were all those Soul Realms deteriorating still?

His mind looked at the glass pitcher in understanding.

"They have the same problem.  Getting away from Qi completely is impossible.  They have to go outside, eat, and live."  The glass and metal, so long as it even remotely came in contact with cultivators or something outside, it picked up the Qi.

There was too much of it in the very air around him.  Inside the room was a cacophony of Qi far more than anywhere Lind had ever been, including Ruins!

A knock came at the door and Lind was never so glad for speedy recovery due to cultivation.

"Come in."  The lithe bartender poked her head in the door and smiled at him.  She looked lively and happy.  Honestly, her partner was infectious but the current woman was giving him a comfortable feeling.

"You are awake, Senior Cord.  We forget outsiders can't handle the water of life so easily."  Lind's smile froze once more.  When he had felt the burn last night, he had thought of whiskey but it was too coincidental for it to be called the water of life as well.

"I have never heard of that before.  I assume it is local?"  She nodded and Lind saw her dark eyes light up.

"It is one of the few legacies of old Rakathi.  It was said it came from a legend in the old Arcadian Empire.  It took a few centuries after the cataclysm that destroyed all of Rakathi for it to be revived but a few villages started it and it spread to the other."  Lind found that amazing.  He also had a question.

"Is it not possible to use it for trade, or is there an issue with sending it out?"  She frowned a bit but then seemed to decide something.

"It is difficult to make in our current circumstances and to make it as powerful as we do takes over a thousand years.  It is more than enough for our small villages, but the wider world would bleed our resources dry if they could."  Lind nodded at that.

He then summoned an elixir from his ring.

"I feel I did not pay last night and stones likely have issues here, so I hope this will do."  It was a mid grade 4 Clarity Elixir.  It cleared mental strain but it also revitalized meridians to let Qi flow more freely.

Her examination of it saw awe in her face before she quickly shut the door.  Her reaction was odd but he did not sense anything dangerous.

"You should not reveal elixirs so easily!  We have trouble getting them here safely and there is enormous demand as you might expect. Also–"  Her delicate hand caressed the vial in a strange way.  "It was made by him."

A sudden memory came back from the abyss of whiskey.

The Great Savior.  The elixir master of miracles.  The God-like Forger.  They had many accolades and titles but the thing that made his head hurt once more was the pedestal they put him on.

It was true, his elemental theories in the Soul and World Realms had been more helpful in Rakathi villages than anywhere else in the world.  A century ago, it was not odd for 6 elemental Soul Realms to be crippled or killed if caught off guard by lightning.

Now, they not only survived, but thrived.

His artifacts could not survive in Rakathi, but his ideas had inspired refiners here to try new things that improved their lives.

"Um, I apologize if you already told me, but–"  Lind looked embarrassed but she only laughed and shook her head as she pocketed the elixir.

"I am Beth and Katie was my partner you saw last night too."  Lind nodded and smiled.

"You have a good place here and I thank you for the hospitality."  She nodded and guided him downstairs to a simple breakfast.  The place had a bit of a crowd but not one seemed bothered at all.

They were all bright eyed and clearly up for hours.

"I think Immortals should test your livers…"  Lind mumbled deep under his breath as while he had recovered, he still felt tired.

"Ah, Senior Taren Cord!  You are alive!"  The boisterous Katie welcomed him and Lind felt any lingering discontent with his state vanish.

"I admit I have not had such a drink before since I started cultivating.  Maybe an ale or 2 when I was a Soul Realm, but they were nothing compared to that, uh, water of life."  The smile spread wider as the yellow eyes glanced at Beth.

"You have been bragging about the legacy again, my love?"  Lind smirked as Beth blushed but he simply looked at the breakfast when he felt some stares at him.  The local men and the 2 owners seemed to find his reaction odd.

"Um, did I do something wrong?"  Lind wracked his brain but all he did was sit down and look at what was available.

"Most outsiders seem to have an opinion on our relationship."  Katie's smile was a bit cold yet the warmth returned.  Lind was confused until he recalled that while cultivation was a fairly liberal lifestyle, it had strangely misogynistic tendencies the more powerful one became.

The Heavenly Maiden Sect was a stark reminder of such a foolish notion but the former Kingdom of Altair was on the other extreme.  Most powers or individuals fell somewhere in between.

"Well, you both seem deeply in love and cute together.  Also, you are some of the best hosts I have ever met, so you must be happy together as well."  Lind spoke simply but a warm look came over Beth's face while Katie carefully looked him over.

Lind was not one to judge in the first place but he was kind of living the male dream.  He still felt too lucky for that, himself.  His wives were too good to him.  Their love life also made it clear his old notions were sometimes obstacles in the current world he lived in.

He was still devoted, but it was a 2 way street on the devotion.  He was not the king of his harem, but a husband to his wives.  It was difficult for people to grasp and far too many of the tyrannical versions existed to be able to prove otherwise.

"You are married?"  Katie suddenly asked and Lind smiled wide as he nodded but it seemed she saw something in his eyes.  "You are separated?"

Lind slowly nodded as he pointed to his dantian and understanding flashed.

"I refuse to be an anchor but I am not stopping.  Like all of us, I want to move forward and catch up to them in the Floating Isles."  His sudden confidence made both women's eyes widen and the men raise a cup.

"We all must keep fighting, that is true!"  They raised drinks but it seemed to only be water.  Lind suddenly found a plate of cooked slabs of meat and a biscuit.  It was all covered in a kind of gravy.

None of it was familiar but it smelled delicious.

"I did have one question, while metal and glass are easy to come by, where is all the wood from?  I have not seen a single forest."  Lind dug in before he realized the odd looks he was getting.  Even the 2 owners looked at him with concern.

"Senior Cord, how could you have gotten here if you did not pass through the Oasis?"  Now Lind was confused but then he understood.  He had intentionally avoided the mapped out paths and came from a dying Ruin.

Clearly, he had missed a serious landmark.  He looked chagrined as he relayed a bit of the truth.  The moment he mentioned the black mountains however, everyone looked at him in terror.

"You went to that cursed place?!"  Cursed, why would Beth call it cursed?  His confusion was clear and he described its current state to which they all became confused.

"You mean the beasts are gone?  The range is reduced to a single mountain?"  Lind nodded and relief flooded them.  He looked at them and they then told him that mountains of any kind were treated as treasure of mines or safe places to carve out a life.

The black mountains, however, swallowed anyone that went there.  None returned.

Lind turned to the senior dragon soul inside him for answers but he only felt a need for privacy.  He did not understand why but would wait.  What had been going on out there?