Chapter 120: Healing Anecdote
2014-12-13
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
By a clear little river.
A trickle of fresh blood spread along the river water as Soren grimaced while washing his wounds and then bit down and sewed up the torn flesh with needle and thread. Once he widened the distance, the pursuers would not be able to catch up to him. The Wanderer’s stealth ability was not to be taken lightly; to track a Wanderer like him in the wilderness, they would need a legendary-level tracking profession. By the time they figured out how to come down from the cliff, Soren had already created a distance of more than ten kilometers and then directly vanished from their tracking range.
Only after confirming that the area was safe did Soren stop to tend to his wounds.
The stench of blood on him was too strong; even with shaking off those predators, he could still attract other beasts. The wilderness was full of creatures very sensitive to the scent of blood.
“Chomp!”
Soren bit the thread and looked at the wound on his arm, his expression very grim. It was the first time in a long time that he had been pushed to such a dire situation, almost dying there. The other wounds were not too bad, but the injury on his back was troublesome; he couldn’t stitch it up himself and could only apply some ointment to let the regeneration effect from his 20 points of extraordinary constitution aid in healing. Although the river water was exceptionally cold in late autumn, he still went in to wash off since he was covered in blood.
Emerging from the water, Soren’s complexion was a bit pale, perhaps due to significant blood loss. He took out some jerky to chew while using a level 0 cantrip to dry off the moisture on him. The elemental crystal stone he held had dimmed somewhat because its power was exhausted and would need seven days to fully recover. This legendary equipment had essentially saved his life, summoning earth elements to hold off many enemies. The Stone Skin Spell had blocked at least six slashes of damage for him.
He had already thrown his curved blade to attack the enemies and only had two nearly worn-out daggers left.
He did not recklessly seek revenge on those predators but instead advanced to a farther place, as he first needed to rest and recover overnight. On one hand, he needed to heal his injuries, and on the other, he needed to regain the energy he had expended. His spell-like abilities were bloodline-based; as long as he got a good sleep to restore his energy, he would be able to use ‘Shadow Travel’ and ‘Hide from Sight’ again the next day.
The role of equipment was crucial.
Soren needed to find a weapon first, and then recharge the used equipment.
For example, he could recharge that energy ring himself if his alchemy skill was sufficient.
As for the safety of Gloria and Vivian, Soren was not too worried now; with the wisdom of a high-level Northern Witch, she definitely wouldn’t attempt short-distance teleportation. Lower-level Blink spells were not very useful, merely allowing one to temporarily evade attacks, and the distance of the Gate spell was too short. Even if they escaped, they would still be tracked by the enemy, while Gloria had opened a long-distance portal. It should lead to her Wizard Tower; Vivian was relatively safe with her for now, and Soren could wait until he healed his injuries before looking for her.
The glacial mountain range separating the Northern Region from the Frozen Kingdom was hundreds of miles long, making it difficult for ordinary people to cross, but it would be much easier for him to go alone.
Because he could also learn spells.
Flight belonged to a third-tier spell that Soren could now learn. Although its duration was only one point of spell intensity for one minute, it would be enough to fly a considerable distance. In this world, the pursuit of flight spells was not high; longer distances were usually covered with teleportation spells. Outside of certain high-level alchemical devices from the Arcane Empire period, the fastest creatures likely remained dragons. The need dictated the pursuit; the invention of teleportation spells shifted much of a spellcaster’s focus to the study of spatial dimensions.
Flying in some supernatural environments could be very dangerous.
After a brief rest,
Soren began walking along the riverbank. Places near the water source were likely to have gatherings of people, so it was best for him to find an elven village first. He couldn’t delay treating the injury on his back; if possible, he needed to find a Priest to heal it, or else it would take at least three or four days to recover. Perhaps he had been injured too frequently during this period. Soren’s medical skill was rising rapidly. He had reached 27 points in healing, and with a little more improvement, he would be at the level of a specialized physician in a small town who handled sword wounds.
He did not pause at all during the journey, and when a cleared path appeared ahead, he knew he was getting close to the gathering place of elves.
Indeed, fields soon appeared before him.
Farming required fertile flat land and sufficient water sources. Most intelligent creatures tended to cultivate better quality land.
Before reaching the village, Soren encountered a patrol team of elves, all consisting of bowmen wearing exquisite leather armor and equipped with long swords, short swords, and stiletto knives; elves rarely used heavy weapons. The captain in charge stopped him, scrutinized Soren closely, and warned him not to cause trouble before letting him pass.
Human activity was generally easier; if it had been orcs or werewolves, they would likely have captured him right away.
Upon entering the village,
Soren immediately headed for the elven temple, a temple dedicated to the Goddess of Life, the current Elven Deity’s consort and the second wife of the elven guardian god, governing spring, abundance, birth, agriculture, and more. The oldest Goddess of Life had vanished long ago; it was unknown whether she had fallen. There were many gods now presiding over the divine duties that once belonged to the life domain; currently, most temples displaying the sign of the life deity were related to certain domains, such as the Elf Goddess of Life, the Halfling Goddess of Life, etc.
Unless someone stripped away most of the duties of life and fused them, one could not become a true Goddess of Life!
There was not much to say about this Goddess of Life.
It is worth mentioning that the previous Elven Goddess of Life was the legendary Spider Queen, the first wife of the elven guardian god, who is now the patron deity of the Drow in the Underdark, and the most powerful, evil, and cunning Demon God of the Abyss. No one expected the first elven goddess would fall to such a state, directly becoming one of the most powerful demon gods in the chaotic evil faction!
Perhaps because of her existence, others gained a deeper understanding of divine falls.
Actually, Soren somewhat admired the Spider Queen because she was exceptionally powerful; during the tumultuous years, many gods fell, or they suffered significant losses of power. Only the Spider Queen leaped to become a demon god closest to dominance in the Abyss. In just five years, she had risen from a higher medium divine power to a strong divine power and was even approaching the great divine power level.
If she hadn’t had so many enemies, she might have really advanced to become a god of great divine power!
In other words, she could create a world from nothing.
The criteria for measuring great divine power is somewhat vague, but the simplest way to understand it is: “The god said let there be light, and thus there was light.”
This is the standard for great divine power.
So far, no deity of great divine power has existed, and some ancient gods with great divine power have fallen.
Currently, the most any deity can achieve is to establish a divine realm in some plane.
………………
The specifications of the temple are one level lower than that of a divine hall.
There are rarely priests of profession level 10 or above here; attending to Soren was a middle-aged male elf who looked quite refined, likely an approximately level 8 priest.
The main way priests earn money is through healing injuries and selling various healing potions.
Maintaining a temple requires money, expanding faith requires money, and enhancing power requires money; priests of the Goddess of Wealth even become professional merchants. Most divisions of the temple sell divine healing spells at fixed prices without negotiations. Soren purchased a medium healing spell for a staggering 200 Gind, as the cost and expenditure required for divine spells are inherently not common; ordinary people primarily rely on potions and physicians for healing.
The effect of the divine spells is astounding!
After the priest cast a divine spell on Soren, he quickly recovered, with the wound on his back gradually healing, leaving only faint red scars.
After buying two bottles of healing potions, he exited the elven temple.
He then saw a well-equipped elven guard squad escorting a striking elf noble on a white horse.
Elves are not equal either; ordinary elves are somewhat comparable to human commoners.
The noble was a male elf with long emerald green hair, and it goes without saying that his looks were impressive, undoubtedly of noble blood, as nearby elves slightly bowed and lowered their heads upon seeing him. Soren also noticed this elven noble, and upon seeing certain characteristics, a peculiar smile formed at the corners of his mouth.
It seemed that this elven noble was a descendant of the Goddess of Life.
Of course, he was not a first-generation divine offspring but likely had inherited the divine bloodline for many years. His innate abilities were significantly stronger than those of ordinary people but did not reach the level of the Demon Son of Fear. The elven guard squad escorted him towards the temple of the Goddess of Life, and Soren quickly stepped aside to let them pass. The noble glanced at him in surprise; after all, the number of human adventurers in the forest was not very high, and solitary Wanderers were even rarer.
Speaking of which, evaluating the Elven Deity is quite challenging.
As the guardian god of elves, his first wife fell into the Abyss and became the Spider Queen, and he can do pretty much as he wishes. Many people know the Spider Queen’s character; just look at the debauchery of the Drow for an idea. He had a second wife with some secret rumors; it was said that she once had a child with a mortal during her time as the Elven Goddess of Life. Of course, the official narrative is that the mortal was actually an avatar of the Elven Deity, which really just means they were playing a variation of the couple’s swap.
But the actual situation remains unknown!
However, the legendary guardian god of elves is androgynous, and sometimes avatars in the past have even been female and have engaged in stories with excellent mortal males, so perhaps he isn’t overly concerned about such matters.
The elven noble before him should be of the bloodline of the Goddess of Life.
Though it was unclear who the Elven Goddess had borne the child with, Soren felt certain it wouldn’t be with the Elven Guardian God, as the bloodline of two deities wouldn’t remain in the mortal realm.
Such children are born as deities; the likelihood of such occurrences is far too low.
……………(To be continued ~^~)
