Christopher stood up from the ground, and Melina said as she pointed to a bowl of soup with a loaf of bread:
"This is your food."
She then took the wooden bowl she was holding and poured a green liquid into a small bottle. The liquid looked hot, with light steam rising from it.
Christopher asked as he drank the soup:
"What's that?"
Melina said as she closed the bottle and stood up:
"It's just a simple medical potion."
Hmm, a healing potion and strange magical arrays... This girl knows everything.
Christopher thought as he looked up toward the ceiling, where the black chains that had bound Lux still stretched into the shadows. Around the chains, faint magical engravings appeared, barely visible except from certain angles.
She placed all those arrays to restrain Lux... Just as expected from a girl being hunted by the Holy Temple with all its might.
As he thought and ate, he noticed Melina crouched in front of a circular black disc, in the center of which was a purple gem glowing gently. The scene looked strange and enchanting at the same time.
Is she meditating? Is that the "Great Sky Refining" technique? Or another technique?
He then stared at the disc in front of her. What is this disc? The mana around it is ten times denser than the plateau I was on... Is it a magical weapon?
Christopher swallowed greedily without realizing, then shook his head, denying those greedy thoughts that had crossed his mind.
No, I can't think about stealing it... especially with her gorilla uncle with the black chains.
But a magical weapon like this... would help me a lot,
Christopher thought as he watched the black disc in front of Melina, the purple gem in its center pulsing slowly as if it were a living heart.
I don't want to spend my life on the plateau meditating like a monk.
That decision was clear in his heart. He wanted to grow stronger, to test the limits of this world, not waste his days in slow meditation and scattered mana.
He turned his gaze to Melina, who was still sitting in deep focus, her body surrounded by a faint red glow.
She's definitely not using the "Great Sky Refining" technique. That glow… never appeared on me during meditation.
He remembered the middle-aged man he saw teaching his student through the disc, who said that the "Great Sky Refining" technique was the basic technique for all beginners.
Was he living in a very ancient era? Over time, did hunters develop new techniques and abandon Great Sky Refining?
Or maybe… that scene was from the future? And the Great Sky Refining technique hasn't appeared in our time yet?
Christopher exhaled a heavy sigh, feeling tired from the whirlpool of thoughts. He slowly rubbed his temples, then grabbed the soup bowl and quickly emptied it into his stomach before getting up and crouching in front of Melina.
Calm the mind… regulate breathing...
Christopher began breathing slowly and steadily, chasing away distracting thoughts and allowing silence to seep into his mind.
In a moment, mana began to flow toward him at an incredible speed, much faster than last time.
The pain returned to gnaw at him, but this time it came with a strange pleasure not because he enjoyed pain, but because his theory was correct.
My assumption was right... This magical weapon doesn't just store mana, it creates a perfect environment for meditation even in places completely devoid of mana!
Christopher felt true excitement for the first time in a long while. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at Melina, then narrowed them and rubbed his hairless chin.
How can I take this magical weapon?
While Christopher was staring at her, lost in thought, Melina suddenly opened her eyes and looked at him coldly and said:
"What are you doing?"
Christopher put his hand on his head and laughed, feeling like he looked suspicious earlier.
"Haha, nothing. I was just… waiting to thank you for the food."
Melina narrowed her eyes with suspicion, stared at him for a few seconds, then said with a doubtful tone:
"And does someone who's waiting to say thank you… look at the person with such a strange gaze?"
Christopher gave a nervous laugh, trying to dodge the situation:
"Hahaha, me? A strange gaze? Impossible. You must be imagining things, that's all."
Melina opened her mouth to respond, but Christopher felt that if he didn't cut her off now, she would begin a long interrogation.
He quickly said:
"Okay, Melina… You said you owe me, right? Then teach me the meditation technique you're using."
Melina's expression changed for a moment, surprised, but she quickly responded without hesitation:
"Impossible."
Christopher raised an eyebrow and looked at her calmly:
"Why? Is your life worth less than a meditation technique?"
Melina widened her eyes and said in a soft but firm voice:
"Definitely not… But this technique belongs to my clan. We're not allowed to pass it to outsiders. Even if you saved my life, I can't."
Christopher was silent for a moment, then said in a calmer tone:
"Then teach me that technique you used to burn that man. What was it called? Hmm… right, First Sky Burn. Teach me that one."
Melina slowly shook her head and replied in a softer tone this time:
"I can't either. All my techniques come from my clan; I'm not allowed to share them. Ask for something else anything but that."
Christopher sighed sadly, then said:
"Okay… never mind. Just give me that thing."
He pointed to the black disc with the glowing purple gem.
Melina looked at the disc then at Christopher. She noticed the sadness in his face and felt a twinge of guilt. She realized she might have been too harsh in her refusals, and maybe she had taken advantage of him unintentionally.
She said with a hint of regret:
"Are you sure? It's just a support-type magical item for meditation."
Just a support-type magical item? Damn... she's rich.
Christopher thought bitterly, but didn't show anything. He kept his face neutral and said with a sigh:
"Yeah… just an item."
Melina felt guilty, so she suddenly stood up and said:
"Wait a moment."
She went to her small bag and pulled out a black ring with faint engravings. She placed the ring next to the disc and said:
"This is a second-rank magical weapon, very powerful. With it, you can reduce your dark mana consumption by sixty percent and boost your dark-element attacks by thirty percent. It will help you a lot. I saw you using dark-element techniques. This weapon will greatly aid you."
She paused a moment, then added with a tone of sorrow:
"It's a weapon comparable to third-rank weapons. Even third-rank hunters would fight over it. This... this is what I can offer now."
Damn… she really is rich.
Christopher thought bitterly, but he only showed sadness. He bent down and picked up the items from the ground, then said with a heavy sigh:
"Alright... don't worry about it."
Melina noticed the sad look on Christopher's face as he placed the ring and disc in his small bag. She felt her heart tighten with guilt and sat on the ground in front of him, saying in a soft voice unlike her usual tone:
"Christopher… I'm sorry if you felt like I didn't appreciate what you did for me. I just want to explain something… those techniques, they're not just techniques. They're tied to our clan's blood."
She continued:
"The meditation technique you saw… and the First Sky Burn technique… they only work with those who carry our clan's blood. Even if I wanted to, even if I gave you the books themselves, they wouldn't respond to you. They would be nothing more than words on paper."
She paused for a moment, then added in a low tone:
"I just wanted you to understand… it's not that I don't trust you, or that I'm being stingy. It's simply because… you won't be able to use them."
Christopher lifted his head and looked into her eyes for a moment, then gave a faint smile.
"It's fine," he said in a calm tone as he picked up the tools, "I understand."
Inside, he didn't really care about those techniques. The whole conversation, the insistence, the fake sadness… it was all part of his plan.
The disc with the purple gem was what he wanted. That mysterious tool that stores mana and allows nearly perfect meditation in a place void of mana.
As for the techniques who cares?
He had the disc. He could easily think of any technique he wanted, and it would come to him.
Christopher reached out and quietly observed the supporting magical item as the gem's light dimmed and brightened as if it were breathing. Before starting his experiment, he turned to Melina and asked in a casual tone, as if he were asking about something trivial:
"This disc… the supporting magical item, how long does it last while giving mana? I mean… how long can I use it before it runs out?"
Melina looked at him with slight confusion, her eyebrows rising in faint surprise as if she didn't understand why he was asking such an obvious question. But she still replied in a calm voice:
"It will last for about a month if you use it daily at a moderate pace. After that, it will be empty and you'll need to place it in an area rich in mana to recharge. It might take days or even a full week to restore its energy, depending on the mana density in the location."
Christopher nodded slowly, as if mentally recording the information, then whispered to himself:
"One month... good, that's more than enough."