Chapter 173 : How Was the Selection Done?
Chapter 173: How Was the Selection Done?
Lucy watched as Lilia’s pale, almost glowing hand hovered above her mangled, bloodied stump.
She wanted to pull her leg back—even though it was already gone.
“Endure it,” Lilia said calmly. “It might itch a little.”
Itch?
Lucy’s eyes widened.
Lilia took a deep breath, mobilizing the life energy within her that was currently surging wildly, making her whole body feel unbearably heated.
After being tormented by her boss the entire night under the pretense of “assisting in digesting the Seed of Life,” she had essentially been treated like a giant humanoid power bank—charged and discharged repeatedly.
Now, the energy accumulated in her body was so abundant it was practically overflowing.
This feeling was like overeating at a buffet—desperately needing a way to burn off the excess.
“Begin.”
Lilia murmured inwardly, and a dazzling emerald-green light instantly burst forth from her palm.
Buzz—!
The air seemed to tremble.
The plants in the garden swayed wildly, rustling loudly.
Lucy instinctively shut her eyes tightly, waiting for torture to descend.
However, the expected excruciating pain never came.
Instead, an indescribable warm current surged into her wound, instantly wrapping around her entire lower leg.
Then came the itch.
A bone-piercing, soul-scratching itch.
It felt like tens of thousands of ants crawling and gnawing through the gaps in her bones, or countless tiny hands desperately tugging at her nerves.
“Mm—!”
Lucy bit down hard on her lip, veins bulging on her forehead, her body convulsing violently on the rattan chair.
Under the enveloping green light, her originally jagged bone surface began to squirm and grow at a visible speed.
Bright red flesh buds seemed to come alive, wildly intertwining and weaving together, rapidly filling the missing parts.
“Th-this…”
Lucy’s lips trembled, her mind going blank.
As a Church-certified priest—albeit a half-baked one—she still possessed basic knowledge.
Regenerating a severed limb?
Just who exactly was this woman?
Less than a minute.
The green light gradually faded.
Lilia withdrew her hand and let out a long breath, feeling the bloated discomfort in her body finally ease considerably.
Refreshing!
This Seed of Life really was a good thing. Combined with her boss’s shameless “experiments,” the results were indeed immediate.
“Try it.” Lilia tilted her chin.
Lucy stared blankly at her brand-new left leg.
The skin was fair and delicate, without even a scar—if anything, it looked even more tender than her right leg, like a freshly manufactured part.
She tremblingly tried to move her toes.
They moved.
Those were her toes.
The sensation of regaining control over her body made her want to cry.
“Th-thank you…” Lucy stammered, tears and snot streaming down together. “Waaah… my leg… it actually…”
“Stop.” Lilia impatiently cut off her emotional outburst. “Hold your tears back. If you dirty the Master’s chair, I’ll chop off your other leg too.”
Lucy instantly stopped crying and let out an extremely loud hiccup.
“Alright, now settle the treatment fee.” Lilia casually sat on a nearby stone stool, crossing her legs, revealing a dazzling stretch of Absolute Territory beneath her skirt.
Lucy clutched her empty pocket, her face filled with terror. “I… I don’t have money… My equipment was all lost in the swamp…”
“Who wants your money?” Lilia rolled her eyes. “Your few copper coins aren’t even enough to buy a single leaf in this garden.”
She leaned forward slightly, her crimson eyes narrowing like a fox locking onto its prey.
“I want information.”
“As long as you answer my questions honestly, this leg is yours. If you dare lie…”
Lilia extended her slender fingers and made a grasping motion in the air, “I’ll take it off again and feed it to the dogs.”
Lucy nodded frantically, her neck nearly snapping. “I’ll talk! I’ll tell everything! Just don’t feed me to dogs!”
Lilia nodded in satisfaction.
“First question.”
“Since you’re called a ‘Hero’s party,’ what’s the selection standard? It can’t just be picking whoever looks more like cannon fodder, right?”
Lilia recalled the teammates in the swamp.
Aside from their expensive-looking equipment, that swordsman only knew how to shout slogans, and the mage only knew how to sell out teammates. If that lineup could defeat the Demon King, then the Demon Realm might as well shut down.
Lucy shrank her neck, looking confused. “Actually… I’m not very clear either.”
Lilia frowned. “Hmm?”
“Don’t! Don’t feed me to dogs! I really don’t know the core secrets!” Lucy raised both hands in surrender, terrified. “I only heard a few things when the old village priest got drunk and bragged about it.”
“Then say what you know.”
Lucy swallowed and organized her thoughts.
“Legend says… after the previous legendary Hero who defeated the Demon God died, he didn’t leave behind a clear successor.”
“For hundreds of years, the Empire and the Church have been searching across the world for bloodlines capable of inheriting the Hero’s power.”
“But that power is extremely selective. Most people can’t withstand it, and forcing inheritance results in their bodies exploding.”
Lilia raised a brow. “And then?”
“So…” Lucy scratched her head awkwardly, “the current Hero selection… rather than a selection, it’s more like… um… a large-scale blood-drawing physical examination.”
“Huh?” Lilia thought she misheard.
“It’s true!” Lucy hurriedly explained. “It’s like this—people from the Church carry a glowing stone and go around villages and towns, making everyone place their hands on it one by one.”
“If it reacts—even just a tiny bit of light—you’ll be taken away immediately and listed as a ‘Hero Candidate.’”
Lilia’s mouth twitched.
Why did this sound so much like some kind of audition screening?
“And you?” Lilia sized Lucy up. “Someone who doesn’t even dare kill a chicken—did the stone light up for you too?”
Lucy’s face turned red as she lowered her head in shame.
“That day… I was feeding pigs at the village entrance…”
“Then people from the Church came and insisted everyone touch that stone.”
“My hands were still dirty from pig feed, and before I could wash them, they forced me to put them on it.”
“And then… the stone lit up.”
Lucy’s voice grew quieter and quieter, as if she wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground. “Even though it was just a tiny glow, like a firefly’s backside, the leading priest got extremely excited and said I had a ‘thin but pure Hero bloodline.’”
“Then I was taken away. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to my mom before being stuffed into a carriage and transported to the royal capital.”