It felt like forever since Emery had experienced the warm embrace of the rising sun. There was nothing more than he wanted right now than to lay in his soft, fragrant bed but he still had things he needed to accomplish.
Today was the last day he would be staying in this magical place and in order to be able to return here and keep his memories of this place, he first must break through the required spirit power and receive admission in one of this academy's institutions.
He opened the bag that belonged to Cole and found eleven pieces of four-leaf moon clovers, which he needed to submit to the plant's institute and receive the Green Essence Potion. When he looked up, Silva had her hand stretched out, palm wide open.
"Time for you to pay me for my services," Silva said, making it sound like a matter of fact.
Emery closed the bag and kept it close to him. "This isn't ours."
"So you really are a selfish brat! You're planning to keep it all for yourself, aren't you?" Silva accused.
"What? No! I would have never thought that. This rightfully belongs to Cole, Topper, Fatty, and Mags," Emery defended himself.
Silva had a look like she just couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you being serious right now? Gosh, you're even more stupid than a cow! Why do you even care about those two who left us to die, especially that arrogant bastard! Even if he's alive, I guarantee you these plants are the last thing in his mind. Having said that, until dawn is what they have given us. Corpses and that dying chick won't make it before the submission ends. So, tell me how are you not being stupid?"
Every word Silva said made perfect sense to him, but he remained doubtful.
Silva shook her head and sighed. "It's no use arguing with such a buffoon. How 'bout this, first, you submit the plant and share the reward with them later"—she pinched her nose—"Please, tell me you can at least do that."
Emery gave it a thought and said, "Sounds reasonable enough."
She then swiftly grabbed the bag from Emery's hand.
"Hey! What are you doing!"
"Relax, I'm only taking what's rightfully mine as compensation for those who had left me to die," Silva explained before throwing the bag back to Emery.
Emery caught the bag and counted nine four-leaf moon clovers left. She had taken one in exchange for her killing the angler vine and the second for leaving them, he guessed. It didn't still sit right with him but he convinced himself.
"Alright, now that I have been compensated, it's time for me to go," Silva said, turning back and walking away.
"See you around, Silva," Emery said, bidding her goodbye.
"W-Why would I want to see you again, stupid!" Silva exclaimed as her walk suddenly turned into a jog and disappeared into one of the floating islands.
Emery went back to his quarters first and washed himself. After changing his uniform, he tried not to spare a glance at the tempting bed, fearing he might fall asleep immediately and waste the remaining time he had.
He noticed his clothes seemed to be a bit tighter and chest and biceps buffed up. He switched his mind off of that and checked his palm instead only to look baffled.
[Emery Ambrose]
[Battle power 15]
[Spirit power 28]
Emery rubbed his burning eyes and confirmed his battle power had indeed increased by four points, the only reason he could think of was probably the side effects of the bloodline potion he drank. He dispelled his status and went out of his room, feeling a bit better with the good news.
As soon as he walked out, he was surprised to see Klea, Julian, Thrax and Chumo had already gotten up and were preparing to eat on the table in their living area.
"You look like a mess, what happened?" Klea commented.
Indeed he was, even though he had taken a bath, he had seen the dark circles beneath his eyes while changing in front of the mirror in his room.
He gave half a smile, took a seat, drinking a hot beverage that somehow revitalized him, and spent a couple of minutes retelling what he had experienced, not including how he had almost died of course, about an attack and how several acolytes died in a battle between humans and elves.
Klea and Julian added up the information they had heard during their six days training. Now that they had heard what happened last night from Emery, they arrived at the conclusion that they still didn't know a lot about this world and what this higher war was about.
They discussed a few more things and agreed to always share if they get other information that could tell them more about this world since their world didn't have any of this knowledge. They also decided to find ways how they could get in touch once they returned to their planet and how this could be relayed in the future.
"What are your plans for today?" Klea asked.
Emery had considered today's agenda earlier. He had two options on what he should do for today, the first option was that according to his first plan he would head to the dark institution to gain half a day's access from the origin stone of darkness while the other was to submit the four-leaf moon clovers like Silva had suggested.
Emery thought about it carefully; he couldn't just choose one and resign for the day. After all, he had to work on both. Emery decided it'd be best to spend half a day at the institute of darkness just to get some time meditating in front of the origin stone. After that he only hoped that he was still not too late to exchange the rare plants to Master Grom for a Green Essence Potion.
Emery glanced at Chumo. "I'll go with Chumo at the institution of darkness."
Emery and Chumo went to the plaza and entered the portal heading toward the institution of darkness. Emery kept yawning on the way and when they were finally in front of the magus guarding the room, the gate was tightly locked.
The magus guarding the room said, "The origin stone room cannot be used at this time."
