Divine Heritage: Only I Can Judge The gods-Chapter 57: Countering the Blight

Ark had jogged so far from the squad house that all that was left around were a few scanty buildings, the road and the forest by the side.

After completing the extra 50 pushups, both he and Silver moved deeper into this forest, away from the prying eyes of one or two people who would occasionally drive by.

In the forest, he sat on a large rock, catching his breath when Silver handed him a bottle of cold water he had no idea of its source.

He eyed the bottle before taking it and gulping down the entire thing in one go to satiate his thirst.

Ark took a short moment to catch his breath before speaking:

"So, how do I cure this blight?"

He had always wanted to ask Silver about his blight but he avoided doing so because he didn’t entirely trust her yet.

His blight was basically his weakness, information best kept to oneself.

Although she had access to the console, Ark was not sure to what extent she did. But now that it was clear that she knew it, he decided to finally ask.

"First of all you need to know the causes of the blight."

Silver found another rock to sit down, facing him as he spoke.

"The god-Console awakened a special ability as you already know, the all class potential."

She picked up a branch and began to draw a circle on the sand.

"This circle here is your soul." She then drew a second smaller circle above the first. "This is your spirit core and this rectangle is your ability, or like you people call it, your curse."

Ark watched the terribly drawn illustration, frowning slightly. What she was referring to as a circle was actually more like a lumpy rock.

Silver glared at him when she noticed what he was focusing on.

"Pay attention!"

She sighed.

"As I was saying..." she pointed at the rectangle. "Your curse is far greater than the average person’s curse, this places pressure on your spirit core which in turn wears down your soul— which is the source of spirit essence."

"Of course, it is far more complex than this, this is just a simple illustration."

Ark nodded, staring at the sand.

"So what is the solution?"

She stared at him blankly.

"There is no solution."

Ark felt his heart drop at her words.

"But, there is a way to lessen its effect..."

He coughed, pointing an accusing finger at her. "Don’t just pause at such a critical point! You almost gave me a heart attack."

He noticed her lips curl up slightly.

A cold wind blew past them and the sky was progressively getting darker, a sign that the rain was coming.

Silver began to draw a bigger circle around the spirit core. "You have to increase your core capacity, that way the strain on your soul will lessen."

"It is not a permanent solution but it will help slow down its effects, pending when I find an actual cure."

Ark continued staring at the horrible illustration. He had decided to fight against his imminent death but up till now, he had no idea how to.

Now he could finally see some sort of light, all he had to do was increase his core capacity.

Another great news he had not expected was that Silver herself would be personally searching for a cure.

Although it was very reassuring, this didn’t mean he would end all of his personal efforts. But just maybe, with both of them working together, he would find a cure faster.

She then rose from the rock and dusted her skirt while she explained a few more things to him.

Basically, he was not feeling the effects of the blight because he was not yet using his curse much, but since it was also passive, the effects would eventually stack.

That was not all. The more classes he got, the greater the weight on his soul would be and the more he used his curse the more damaging the effects of the blight would be in turn.

Ark could not remain weak or he would die on the battlefield, either to a monster or maybe to his own father.

And yet, growing stronger presented a risk of its own.

He rose to his feet and stretched.

"Let’s get started."

***

By the time Ark had finished Silver’s training, he was completely exhausted. Many hours had passed and with the evening came the rain, a gentle cool drizzle that ignited his skin with each drop.

Ark was slowly walking back home, unable to do anything else while Silver had disappeared.

He continued his trek for some time before finally making it back to the squad house.

When he arrived, Emma was relaxing in the living room, while Elise was busy setting up the table for dinner.

His stomach rumbled in protest when he realised he had not eaten anything since morning but right now, he was soaked in sweat.

"Shower first."

Barely murmuring a greeting to those in the living room, Ark ascended the stairs up to his room.

***

When he came back down, the table was already set with an array of invigorating dishes.

Kiera steepled out of the kitchen with one plate of food in her hand and a few others floating behind her.

’So she can cook...’

The dining table was long, large enough to seat more than fifteen people at the same time which made sense since this was a squad house.

Not everyone was present though so more than half of the seats were empty. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

By habit, Ark found his way to an empty seat next to Kiera and greeted those at the table.

Once the food was served, he dug in with ravenous hunger, although most of what he did after his daily training was not exactly physical, it still took its toll on his body, leaving him famished.

Soon, there was the sound of clicking cutlery, the invigorating aroma of well spiced food and the sound of pouring drinks.

Kiera watched Ark from the side with an aloof expression. Once he finished his plate, fried chicken breasts slowly levitated atop them, much to his satisfaction.

’Ahh, this must be heaven!’

He was finally enjoying the life he always dreamed of, food, water and a soft bed. He had everything within his grasp.

Ark poured himself a glass of juice and took a sip, savoring its exclusive taste.

"Is your training always this brutal? You were gone for the entire day." Elise asked, as she grabbed a plate full of rice.

Ark swallowed before responding. "Not usually, today was just different. I had a lot of work to do."

"Hmm, I wish someone else would adopt your level of discipline," She said, pointing her fork at Emma.

Emma, who was munching on a chicken lap, turned to the sound of the voice, glaring in her direction but otherwise said nothing.

Thalia, on the other hand, uncorked a bottle of wine and filled up her glass cup halfway, taking a sip of the drink with a satisfied sigh before asking:

"Isn’t Luke meant to return today?"

Just then, the door to the living room creaked open and a tall boy with a lean muscular build walked into the living room.

"Speaking of the devil..." Emma remarked as Luke made his way to the dining.

He had a wide smile on his face as he regarded everyone.

"What’s up guys!"

"Welcome back dude," Elise said.

Thalia nodded in greeting while Emma simply murmured her greeting between mouthfuls.

"Kiera, did you miss me?"

Kiera barely glanced at him, she was too busy watching how Ark swallowed meal after meal. He was like an endless void...

Luke’s gaze moved over to Ark, only managing to see the side of his face.

"Oh, you must be the new guy." He walked over to him, stretching his hand out for a handshake.

"I’m Luke, and you are?" He asked with a smile.

Ark quickly swallowed the chicken he had been chewing, turning to face him.

"I’m Ark, nice to meet you."

He brought his hand forward to take Luke’s but just as he did, the latter drew back, his normally friendly demeanor shifting to that of disgust.

"Oh, sorry." Ark cleaned up his hands with a paper towel before offering it once more, but Luke’s voice took a dark tone.

"Aren’t you the boy from the slums?"

Ark almost rolled his eyes. "Yes, but I don’t see how that is important."

Luke batted his hand away, looking completely disgusted and then walked out of the room, leaving everyone stunned.