"Lord, are you again setting out?" Eldrin asked, almost a scowl forming on his face. Clearly, the elf was not a fan of baby sitting but he did not dare voice out his opinion. After all, he was getting carried in the first place.
Liam shrugged and his figure disappeared behind the rocky boulders that littered this terrain. Thankfully, the last few floors had been much less hectic and their group had teleported together every single time. This made everyone's life a lot easier.
While others continued with their training, Liam was also in the middle of a training of his own.
Sniffing out buried treasures was an acquired skill that needed to be trained and sharpened. Liam found this out only after combing through a few floors of the Spire. But this did not mean that he was completely lacking in this department.
Contrary to what he thought, it seemed he actually had a knack for this thing. Or perhaps it was because of his luck attribute. Liam did not know. All he knew was if he found himself in the vicinity of something good, he often got a gut feeling to look around some more. And when he did, he most often found something valuable. Sure, it was a hit and miss when it came to how valuable the thing was but the net was always a big payout.
Liam grinned as he wiggled a weird berry like fruit out of the dense bramble. The brambles were completely poisonous, even going as far as to dripping venom in multiple spots but the berry itself was a valuable item for making potions. Liam knew it because he had read about it in the compendium. The fruit, known among seasoned adventurers as the "Duskberry," was rare and sought after for its unique properties. It was a paradoxical nature; nestled within a nest of deadly poison, the berry thrived, absorbing the venom and converting it into a potent essence that, when properly processed, could enhance a potion's efficacy or even create antidotes powerful enough to neutralize the deadliest of toxins.
There were also other uses listed in the compendium, some claiming that the berry could also be useful in improving the basic structure of the muscles in the body.
Liam looked at the fruit for a second before tossing it into his mouth without any care. The berry might have several uses in several potions but what did he care about these things? It was not like he could take anything out of these floors. The only thing that stayed was what was consumed.
The berry surprisingly tasted very ordinary like just another berry would taste, slightly sweet and slightly sour. The initial taste was underwhelming given the berry's valuable status, but Liam was not eating it for its flavor. As the Duskberry dissolved in his mouth, he braced himself for the effects. Not for the effects the berry might potentially have but for something else.
And right on time, there it was. Almost immediately, Liam felt a tingling sensation coursing through his body. The essence of the berry seeped out of his stomach and spread throughout his body. Normally, this should have simply dissipated as he wasn't injured at the moment or practicing any special techniques to harvest this said essence.
In fact, he should not even be sensing the essence in the first place as he had never experienced anything before.
And yet it happened. This was an unexpected development that he had come across in the last couple of floors of the Spire. As Liam was tossing one valuable herb or flower or leaf or root or fruit in his mouth, suddenly something new occurred.
A tingling sensation spread in his body, and it eventually got rerouted into his heart. Once might be a weird anomaly and twice might be a coincidence but it continued to happen every single time. So much so that Liam decided to spend some extra time on a floor to figure this out.
Finally, he got a clue about this when he crammed a whole bunch of valuable herbs in his mouth in one single go. This time a thick stream of energy flowed into his body and the cold chilly stream actually ended up in his heart just like all the other times.
However, Liam noticed its real final destination this time around which was not his heart, but rather the treasure fruit nestled inside his heart. The energy was shockingly gathering in one of the empty chambers.
Liam had already used up the gathered concentrated fire elemental essence and the chamber was currently empty. All the unused herbal essence from his body was rerouted to this empty chamber.
Liam had never heard of anything before. He had extracted the essence of the herbs several times before but this was the first time he was storing it in this fashion. Observing the phenomenon for the twentieth time, Liam couldn't help but wonder what other surprises this fruit had in store for him. He still did not know what he could use this potent essence for but he was excited to test it out. Though he did not want to touch the essence just yet. He first wanted to understand it by absorbing it before he wasted any of it.
Numerous valuable items have gone into creating this essence using his own body as a furnace. So he did not want to use it lightly.
Liam wandered around the area some more time before the time limit he had set for himself ran out and his gaze shifted toward the direction where the boss of this floor was waiting for him.
This was it. Just a couple more floors and the second segment of the Spire would also be smoothly completed. If the entire group could claim the rewards of the second segment then the strength of the guild would tremendously improve.
As for his personal progress, Liam did not quite find what he was looking for in this segment too. Before his dao field completely materialized, the opponent typically crumbled. He needed much more challenging opponents to push himself further, perhaps something in the third segment of the Spire.
As he laid his eyes on the gigantic rock golem in front of him, assessing the monstrosity from top to bottom, he knew that once again he was in the same spot. Liam unsheathed his black dragon sword and sent out a slash just like he had done in the previous floors. It took about a couple of attacks but the rock golem quickly crumbled under the weight of the assault. A golden glow covered him and just like that another floor was conquered.
Everything had gone perfectly. Now only the last floor was left before the second segment's main test. Liam silently wished others good luck when suddenly a feeling of unease gripped his heart.