Chapter 303: Fountain of Eden [ 12 ]
"..."
"..."
"You’re very close," I said.
The doctor tilted his head. "Really? I hadn’t noticed."
I took a step back and then got a good close-up look at him. He wasn’t a Giant or a Titan, but he was a little bit taller than an average human.
And by little bit, I mean he was a good 3 meters tall. Definitely not a human, that’s for sure.
"Ah, if you’re curious about my size, my father was a human, and my mother was a Titan."
Hmm...?
"Did your father...?"
"Yes, he had sex with my Titan mother."
Wow...
This was perhaps one of the most impressive things I’ve ever heard. A human was a little under two meters, and a Titan was...
No.
I had to stop thinking about how a damn human and a Titan had sex.
Shaking my head to get rid of those thoughts, I finally narrowed my eyes at the doctor, realizing that his appearance here was even more peculiar than mine.
And as if the doctor realized that too, he said:
"I’ve come here for the elixirs and stuff. You needed something to heal injuries? Let me see... If you needed a Titan’s heart, then the injury must be related to the Soul, the Mind, and lastly, the Body, correct?"
I shrugged. "I’m not a doctor. All I know is that she’s in bad shape, and the person who sent me on this errand wanted me to get 5 liters of water from the Fountain of Eden, two purified radishes, and lastly, a Titan heart."
By saying that, I hoped that he would understand what kind of ailment it was. And thankfully, he was definitely not to be underestimated.
"Ah, so it’s that. Divine Energy corruption of a very high caliber. Our water helps filter the negative toxins out of the Divine Energy, and the radishes help in explosive limb and tissue regrowth without scarring."
He smiled at me.
"As for the Titan’s heart, there’s no use in it aside from the fact that it’s a heart belonging to a Titan. When purified and melted down, it could be used to grant someone immeasurable strength, and even unlock Aura."
I inwardly sighed.
He had me in the first part, making me feel like everything I did was useless.
But alas, he had to bring up a power-up, as well as Aura, both of which I really, really needed.
Welp.
I guess I’m going to be making an enemy out of the Titans.
"I’ll have two Titan hearts then."
The doctor’s smile widened even further.
"Yeah, I knew you would say that, which is why I prepared this."
He suddenly pulled out a vial of thick red liquid and tossed it at me. I didn’t allow the liquid to stir even a little as I caught it and carefully inspected it. I felt a deep profoundness inside the vial, and when I looked even closer, my eyes widened at just how much energy this thing contained.
No...
It wasn’t energy at all.
It was some different kind of energy, energy that I have yet to actually feel before.
Just what was this?
"That’s the vial containing the purified and melted-down heart of a powerful Titan. The energy you’re feeling is Aura. Most people refer to Aura as energy that only swordsmen can attain, but the truth of the matter is much simpler."
The doctor approached me, his expression that of someone who could practically read my mind.
"Aura is Energy, but in its pure physical form. People struggle to attain it because they heavily rely on Energy, thus reducing the strain their bodies might feel from actual exertion. Attaining Aura is just doing one boring repetitive task for a long time, and once you get a feel for it, you’ll be able to gather it."
It seemed like a science lesson out of nowhere, but I didn’t hate it. If anything, I never knew the distinction between these things, but now that I did, I glanced back at the vial with a slightly renewed expression.
"So by ingesting this vial containing a Titan’s heart, I’d just be absorbing enough Aura from his physical energy to unlock my own?"
"That’s the gist of it. To be honest, young one, when you go back to your world, you should wipe Energy out of existence completely, so people try hard enough and only have access to Aura," he replied with a chuckle, causing my brow to rise.
Afterwards, he turned around and straightened his back.
"Though, I take it you’re a little perplexed why I have only given you one vial, not two?"
I shrugged. "I’d guess you wanted to test whether I’m greedy or not."
He nodded, then turned back around. "That’s precisely what I wanted to test. So what will it be? Knowing the power you could gain, would you still hand it over to strengthen another?"
I simply stared at him for a moment, then smiled widely.
"If you don’t give me a second one, I will kill every single Titan present, purify their hearts, and hand out vials upon vials to everyone I come across."
"Tsk..." The doctor shook his head in annoyance and tossed another vial to me, not asking any other questions. It seemed like that had been his intention from the very start.
But clearly, he didn’t like the way I went about it.
"Are you happy now?" the doctor asked. "You’ll be able to gain power, and you’ll also be able to make your injured friend that much stronger. It’s a win-win, is it not?"
He stepped closer and then pulled out a syringe. "I take it I can’t take a sample of your blood for testing because of my kindness?"
I shook my head, stored both vials in my dimensional ring, and lastly, I glanced straight into the eye of the doctor.
It was silly, to be honest.
Adam thought he could take advantage of me.
But sadly for him...
"Who said I’ll be giving this vial to my injured friend?"
Clementine will get it instead.