Chapter 84 - Ice River Source
The group slowly walked towards the boxes. On getting there, Klaus hurriedly opened the box he initially wanted. He was quite curious about what was inside. He wasn't the only curious one, Grey, Reynolds, and Alice all looked towards it curiously. Even the spectating trio did the same.
When he opened it, he saw a smaller box carefully placed in the middle.
'Who puts boxes in boxes?'
Klaus asked himself.
He picked the wooden box which was roughly twelve inches long and eight inches wide. It had a height of ten inches. The box seemed to be made from an unknown wood, if one didn't look at it closely, they would think it was jade. He slowly opened the box.
On opening it, a bone-chilling coldness enveloped the entire room and Klaus who was closest to it felt like he was about to freeze. But that was not the only thing he felt, he sensed a terrifying amount of water energy from the box. He looked inside and saw a transparent blue tear-shaped crystal the size of an orange. But the crystal wasn't exactly 'solid' because its surface slightly rippled like a teardrop.
"What is that?"
Reynolds asked while shivering from the cold.
"It's an Ice river source"
Alice replied.
She was quite surprised seeing something like this was part of the rewards for passing the trial. She had only read about them in books before.
"Ice river source?"
The others all asked at the same time, among the spectating trio, only one of them didn't look confused, seems like he also knew of it.
On seeing the confused look on the faces of the others, Alice told them what she knew about it. Acquiring an ice river source was very hard since they only formed in the deepest parts of some mysterious rivers with temperatures below freezing point, yet they don't form any ice. These rivers could easily freeze Elementalists in the peak stage of the Origin Plane if they go within thirty meters of where the 'source' is formed.
Only powerhouses in the Overlord Plane could acquire them, and even then, it is a very difficult task to contain the energy. It is very beneficial to Water Elementalist due to the pure water essence it contains.
After hearing what Alice said, Klaus couldn't help but ask,
"Why would a ring be placed in one of the boxes?"
He asked again in frustration, he had high hopes for the boxes, but on seeing what was inside the first one, his hopes were crushed. Now all could do was pray the last box had something good.
The others were also disappointed by the outcome, they all expected something good. But seeing the ring, they were all crestfallen, except for Grey. He felt a weird energy around the ring, so he collected it since no one else wanted it.
They moved their attention towards the last box, with hopes not too high, Alice opened it. And just like the last box, what was inside wasn't anything precious, only this was something they could actually use.
The last box contained a tonic, from what they knew, it was used for healing. None of them were injured, so it was also basically useless for now.
Grey looked in the direction of the injured youth who was by the side before throwing it towards him since they weren't injured now, it was best they have it to the youth. Although they didn't know them, it didn't hurt to do some good sometimes.
The youth caught the tonic with a surprised expression, he didn't expect they would hand him the tonic. This was something that would be helpful during the time they would spend here since they didn't know when they might get injured. Although his injuries were severe, he should be able to recover within the next two or three months. It's just his chances of advancing in this trial would be shortened, and he might also die if faced with a dangerous situation.
"Thank you"
He tried to bow towards the group, but he couldn't due to his injuries.
His friend also showed his thanks.
"It's nothing. It would be bad if he stays in this state"
Grey replied with a small smile.
"Now that we're done with this, we should get going"
Klaus looked in the direction of the door. They still didn't know what awaited them there. But if he was given a chance, he would find a secluded place and immediately start refining the ice river source.
Grey and the others looked at the door before walking towards it.
"We'll be leaving now"
Grey said to the trio before they disappeared past the door. What awaited them was still unknown.
"Thank you"
The injured youth mumbled under his breath while looking at the tonic in his hands. This was a lifesaving grace he didn't know if he could repay. But he had already placed Grey and his friends in his heart, he will forever remember this kindness...