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Chapter 123: Hot Spring
Chapter 123: Hot Spring
Chapter 123: Hot Spring
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The branches and greenish vines draped down the side of the mountain like a cascading waterfall of nature. They were tangled, almost like they were performing an ugly dance.
It was exactly where Kory was heading-towards that wall.
Adam raised an eyebrow. He wondered whether the old man wanted to climb up the small mountain using the branches and vines as a makeshift ladder.
He doubted the old man would be able to climb with his frail body. Walking alone seemed like a strainous task to complete for him.
Kory, using the cane, moved the branches and vines out of the way, almost like he was opening a flap to the tent. Instead, there was a nature-made entrance to a strange cave.
"What's this place?" Adam asked.
"Come in, and you'll see." Kory said, beckoning him inside.
They stepped through the nature-made entrance. The branches and vines came back down, blocking the light of the moon from the outside world.
It became very dark.
Kory put his cane against the wall and brought out a small lighter. With a flick of his thumb, a small flame appeared at the end.
It wasn't much light, but enough.
They headed deeper into the small cave and came across the hot spring. It wasn't steaming anymore. The water was still bright, but the fog was gone and the air was warm.
"A hot spring?"
"Not just any hot spring," Kory said. "The King himself found this a couple of summers ago."
"What makes this so special?" Adam asked, crouched near the water, and dipped his hand into the warm pool.
His eyes widened. The tips of his fingers tingled as if tiny sparks of electricity danced across them.
"A hot spring that can heal you, increase your talent, help you learn any skill, increase your mastery over the Three Powers, and even improve your appearance."
Adam frowned. It sounded far too good to be true. He hadn't heard anything like this exist in the world of Mortal Online before.
If something like that existed, why was he shown this? It was fishy.
"You must be wondering, why did I show you this?"
"Yes, why?" Adam looked over to him.
"The King wanted you to take a bath on it," Kory said. "He has given the privilege to every S- ranker so far. Sapphira and Arkham took baths yesterday; Calamity and Mauricio just took
baths this morning."
"Why?" Adam asked.
"Why indeed." Kory chuckled. "Don't bother trying to know his motive. It's a mystery that only King himself knows the answer to."
Adam looked at the hot spring. It doesn't look active right now.
"It doesn't have any steam. The water was also rather cold for a hot spring."
Kory chuckled, not saying a word, and took his cane, then left the cave with the sound of
tapping the cane following after him. He took the light with him, dark enveloping the cave once again.
"Hah... hahahahaha." Adam laughed.
It was a creepy sound that echoed through the darkness.
This was perhaps his luckiest moment. He thought he would have to find this cave himself by searching around the forest like a headless chicken. To think that he was brought here willingly!
Of course, he knew about this cave. He heard plenty about it.
While he knew that this cave existed, he didn't know anything about this hot spring. It was a complete surprise for him as well. He didn't want to come here for the hot spring either way. It was what awaited him at the depths of the hot spring that intrigued him the most.
The hot spring was deep. It reached thirty meters deep.
'Now I know how Calamity found that thing. He must've been here taking his bath when he stumbled upon it. Weird that the King never found it when he is owning this place...'
Adam smiled and started taking off his clothes-starting with the armor, then his boots, and finally his tunic-and soon stood buck naked.
The water splashed as he entered the hot spring. It was rather cool. Only the air was warm.
The bottom of the hot spring was smooth, thirty meters deep, and filled with round-shaped rocks that acted as natural footholds.
From the gaps between the rocks, steam and hot water rushed up. The steam was so thick that it obscured his vision.
It was pleasantly warm. It wasn't so hot that it burned his skin, but it was hot enough to relax his muscles and soothe his tired body.
Without visibly knowing, his body, mind, and everything in between started changing. It was the majestic effect of the hot spring.
The Shield Charge skill-the one still stuck at zero percent-started magically learning itself. Same with the Ground King skill, but slowly. It didn't matter if the hot spring helped to learn skills; Adam's body still lacked the power to completely learn them.
In the depths of his mind, the Mana Ocean started filling up with more water, gushing out in all directions. It wasn't any longer a mere puddle.
His mind also expanded. It helped his Kiryoku improve a little bit. However, he was still miles away from reaching the second level.
His Kraft learning had made no progress. After all, he hadn't gotten his hands on the scroll
yet.
Adam's skin turned fairer. It was a discreet change, but it was a subtle transformation. The hidden muscles on his arms and chest had become more defined.
Those were also very subtle transformations. It wasn't noticeable enough yet.
Adam let out a relaxed sigh, leaned his back against the edge of the hot spring, and closed his
eyes.
There was no need to hurry for him yet. The real reason why he wanted to get here hadn't appeared yet.
It was still a little bit over an hour until the beginning of the Gathering.
...
"Ah, my back..." Kory dragged his feet, keeping himself up with the cane while he made his way down the dark forest.
It was hard for him to walk through the forest. There were treacherous roots, slippery rocks, and low-hanging branches that threatened to trip him at every step.
"Ah~" A soft-looking hand moved one of the branches out of the old man's way. "Saint Kory,
I didn't know you were also here~"
"A-ah...?" Kory raised his head with great struggle; his old vision needed a moment to clear up before he could see the figure standing in front of him.
After a few blinks, he recognized the familiar face and smiled warmly.
"Young Yu, you've grown so much since the last time I saw you."
Lady Yu smiled warmly. She didn't have her veil on, revealing her kind and pure face, which has aged gracefully over the years.
With each blink, her long eyelashes, almost like she had eyelash extensions, fluttered gently against her rosy, blushed cheeks.
"What are you doing here?" Kory asked gently, seeing the town's buildings looming near.
"The party is ongoing..."
"I wanted to visit the hot spring." Lady Yu said and touched her soft cheek. "I am afraid that my skin has been feeling dry lately."
"Nonsense, haha." Kory laughed with a reassuring smile. "I am dry, wrinkly, and all that; you are as beautiful as ever. A goddess among mortals, if I may say so myself."
"Hmph," Lady Yu playfully pouted. "You make me blush. You old flirt."
"You wanted to visit the hot spring?" Kory asked, holding the cane with both hands.
"Yes, is it currently free?" Lady Yu asked innocently.
Kory smiled. "Yes, it is currently free. If my old mind remembers correctly, haha."
"Then I'll be on my way," she said with a smile and a skip in her step.
Kory watched as she disappeared into the depths of the forest. The low-hanging branches hid
her from view.
"The flow of destiny..." he whispered.