Chapter 924: A Pearl that even Swines crave
The creature that the elders had to put down turned out to be some kind of third tier wild boar beast known as a Crimson Haired Hog. Nothing too dangerous, but would definitely serve as a delicious dinner.
However, dinner made from swine’s meat was the last thing on their minds as they continued to gawk and stare at the giant [Tempering Spirit Amber Pearl.]
Evidently, the group of wisened warriors were so shocked at that appearance of such a treasure, that the Zhen Clan scions had to spend a couple of moments, literally shaking their parents back to reality.
“Father…you good?”
“Huh? What? Oh yeah, we’re fine.”
Of course, once they were lucid again, they had questions.
“Just…how did you get your hands on this thing?,” Zhen Yan asked his son.
“Oh, Zhen Hai can vouch for me on this, we found it at the bottom of the pond.”
“You…you found it?”
“Yeah, there was crazy huge hole at the bottom of the pond, went down there, and that’s where I found this funky little thing.”
“Uh…huh…”
In this very moment, the Zhen Clan elders directed their gazes at Zhen Yan and his son, with a thought that had been running in their heads for a while now: What is this kid’s luck?
Regardless, now was not the time for mindless staring and gawking, now was the time for providing answers.
They were elders after all.
“So…what is a [Tempering Spirit Amber Pearl]?,” Zhen Hai asked as he continued to stare at the beach ball of a pearl. “Because this thing is a lot bigger than any pearl I’ve handled before, and it smells like aether medicine.”
“Ah, well…”
What followed was a rather lengthy explanation, that could be better explained via a section of text from a book known as, “Naturally Occurring Aether Cultivation Environments and How to use them,” volume one of a hundred, edition twelve…(Edited by Logos and Pathos in the case of otherlanders.)
…
Tempering Spirit Ponds are, technically a subclass in a greater family of Tempering Spirit Pools, the result of when reinforcement type of aether becomes absorbed into waters of a pond, hence the name.
By meditating in such ponds, warriors at the Aether Masters stage will be able to acquire the energy necessary to not only speed up the creation of an aether [Regalia], but also reinforce it to at most, double the original potential of the warrior who opted to meditate.
To put this into perspective, if a warrior that is destined to make a [Regalia] that could be considered a two or three star rarity, the waters of a [Tempering Spirit Pond] would be able to bump it to four to six stars, max.
It’s a rather noticeable change.
That stated, Tempering Spirit Pools in general are very hard to find and require environments that are rich in aether, like wandering ruins or extreme disaster zones, and even then, they have a one in a thousand chance of occurring in the wild.
However, amongst these one in a thousand pools, there is an item that has a one in a million chance of forming in them: Tempering Spirit Amber Pearls.
Named for the fact that they look like what happens when amber resin somehow form pearl-like shapes, the Tempering Spirit Amber Pearls are aether elixirs that do what the pools normally do…but better.
How much better?
Well…if a person is destined to make a one star [Regalia], this thing would bump it up to five.
If someone with five stars were to swallow it, it would bump it up to ten.
If anyone pass five stars were to swallow and absorb it’s power, it would still bump it up to ten, because anything pass that would lead to the person suffering an acute case of the implosions.
Regardless, Tempering Spirit Amber Pearls are incredibly valuable and is one of the most sought after universal elixirs for anyone at the Aether Masters stage.
After all, who wouldn’t want an elixir that could reinforce one’s future success?
That stated, absorbing the pearl is the best way to increase personal future prospects exponentially, but using it to empower another pool of water is enough to empower multiple individuals in an organization to form an elite unit.
…
“Well…damn.”
Now fully understanding the value of this pearl, the Zhen Clan elders and scions, Rianna, Jinju Ren and Jin Fang couldn’t help but to stare at it with greed in their eyes.
The only ones not affected were Zhen Liu, Zhen Yan, Zhen Lao and Zhen Long for obvious reasons.
Either way, determining who would get the pearl would be a pain in the ass.
Well…it would’ve been if several key details weren’t pointed out in this exact moment.
…
“Wait a minute…father,” Zhen Yue interjected. “You just said that these [Tempering Spirit Amber Pearl] elixirs were about as big as a walnut, right?”
“Normally, yes.”
“But…this one is big. Like…watermelon big. Are you sure it’s even remotely safe for any of us to absorb it, in its current state? I mean…it’s radiating a lot of aether.”
“Uh… probably not, now that I think about it.”
“Okay, follow up question then, does that mean we can just… physically break it apart? Or have multiple people absorb it at once? Because I don’t think any of us can just…swallow this thing wholesale.”
…
“Wait…I just thought of something,” Zhen Xing suddenly said, turning his focus towards the captured dragon blooded monkey beast that was still unconscious. “That monkey over there…it was guarding this place, right?”
“Probably in an attempt to absorb the pearl for itself, yes,” Zhen Jin answered.
“Well…that’s the thing, if it wanted the pearl, it could’ve just dove down and grabbed it, but it instead opted to just bathe in the pond itself. So… can’t we just move the pearl into a safer environment back home and just bathe in the resulting aether empowered water?”
“That…huh.”
…
“Hey, son…can I talk to you over here for a moment?”
“Huh? Yeah, sure, dad-er, father.”
“Dad?”
“A term I heard someone call their father once. Must’ve snuck into my head.”
“Huh…sounds kind of…informal…I like it. But please, follow me.”
While the rest of the group was discussing amongst themselves the details in regards to handling this oversized [Tempering Spirit Amber Pearl], Zhen Yan and Zhen Liu opted to have a slightly more private conversation away from the former. Well, as private as one could get into the middle of a jungle inside of an interdimensional realm of cultivation and monsters.
Either way, Zhen Yan and Zhen Liu had plenty of space for the former to ask the latter a question t hat was rather pertinent to matter at hand.
“Xiao Liu, that library you have access to…do you think there’s anything in there that has information on [Tempering Spirit Amber Pearls]?”
“There should be,” Zhen Liu partially lied. “There are a lot of books in there, and I haven’t read every in there. So there’s probably something, why?”
“Well, to put it bluntly, the knowledge we have on hand in the clan compound is sparse when it comes to specific events like this,” Zhen Yan freely admitted. “Because that pearl you found is unheard of.”
“Because of its size?”
“Precisely that. If it was the size of a normal pearl, I’m pretty sure we could just wait for father to regain consciousness before deciding who amongst us would get it. Well, who amongst us still at the Aether Masters stage that is.”
“Makes sense,” Zhen Liu nodded, knowing full well that most of not all aether medicines were essentially useless on himself.
“But given that it’s that big and I can still feel the power radiating it from here…do you think you can find any means for us to leverage it’s power better? Because dividing it up, having one person absorb it or just…having it float in a pool of water like a teabag seems wasteful at worst, or just plain inefficient at best,” Zhen Yan elaborated. “So if you, or the voices in your head can come up with anything better, I think that would be for the best.”
“Alright… I’ll see what I can do.”
“Okay…thanks, son.”
“Anytime, father.”
On the surface, it appeared Zhen Liu was just agreeing to go on a research deep dive later in the day.
In reality, he had already asked Logos and Pathos what to do and was given, like every other time he’s done this, a lengthy ass list of what to do with the [Tempering Spirit Amber Pearl].
A part of him was impressed, while the other part was…little perturbed.
…
‘I asked you guys to make a list like…ten minutes ago. How is it already denser than a religious textbook?’
=Giant [Tempering Spirit Amber Pearl] are rare, but not impossible to find. We just had to cross reference a lot of historical documents.=
‘Nice.’
