The Stonehearted Knight
Chapter 354: Using different sources (2)

Chapter 354: Using different sources (2)

"A spy."

Elize confirmed the very same thing Hex suspected.

"And this beast?" Hex asked. He didn’t ask what she would do about the spy. She might not tell him. In fact, she might not even do something about it. And it would make sense.

Even with a spy in their ranks, the enemy wouldn’t be able to do much as long as Elize remained with them. Unless they had someone as powerful as her. But if they had, why would they need to plan an ambush. They could have attacked openly without any worries.

"I am not sure," she said, inspecting the corpse. A blob of light emitted from her hand and entered the corpse. Hex couldn’t tell what it did but Elize’s expression changed. It was very slight but still noticeable.

"This beast looks to have been a victim of something akin to a Shadow Serpent. Although...there are some differences."

"You can tell?" Hex asked, surprised. He withdrew the Ice containers and handed them over to her.

"I have been in contact with them ever since I can remember, it seems. I have plenty of Techniques and abilities based on them," Elize said. She studied the small beasts in her hand. "These are modified versions. Someone has tampered with their inner structure. Horrible yet genius."

Hex watched her marvel at the specimens in her hand. Once she discovered the traces of the beasts, he decided to hand them over. It would not do him any good to draw her attention to him. More than now.

"I will study them too. These were all of them?" She asked.

"Yes, the beast and those two are everything," he said, pulling his robe to cover his chest. He watched Elize retreat as he felt the presence of the third specimen.

’The best way to gather information is to use multiple sources.’

He didn’t give all the three to Elize. He would show it to his other source, who was already peeking at him from behind the dome.

...

"Fascinating."

Medina studied the small serpent in her hands. A soft smile hung on her lips and she even hummed a song as she inspected the wriggling beast’s body.

Despite Hex’s protests, she had undone the Ice container. As soon as the beast regained its mobility it tried to attack her. Its fangs struck her small thumb before Hex could prevent it. It wasn’t faster than Hex but Medina kept moving so he wasn’t able to reach in time.

For a second, Hex felt worried. But then he saw the Serpent trying to wriggle and get away from Medina, who held it tightly in her clenched fist.

"Is it scurrying away from you?" It certainly seemed like that. The serpent acted terrified.

"It feeds off someone’s energy and vitality in exchange for acting like an element source, granting the host access to that particular element." Medina examined the creature, ignoring its state and Hex’s question.

"That Lava Bat used these serpents? Are these a branch family of the Shadow Serpents?" Hex asked. He didn’t mention the information he gained from Elize. He feared ’contanimating’ his sources that way. He acted naive and uninformed so he could learn from the different parties. Even Medina wasn’t an exception.

She might be the remnant spirit of his mother’s soul but his experiences forced him to be distrustful of everyone around him.

"The Shadow Serpents themselves are a branch of the Dark Serpents. But due to changes in the Shadow Law, these beasts gained the ability to grow and nest inside larger prey. Someone has altered their bodies, sacrificing their strength, size, and abilities, just to retain their ability to store elements in them. They even went as far as to limit the core to one element per beast," Medina explained. The dreamy look in her eyes revealed how much she appreciated these beasts.

’Abominations.’ Hex could understand her fascination but that didn’t mean he was as enamored by them as her. He had seen what those larger variants were capable of. These smaller ones might be different but that could be even worse. Hex refused to believe they could enhance someone without exacting some sort of cost.

"What are their limitations? How does it affect the host? Without any flaws these things can cause chaos." Hex knew how overpowered someone could be with access to several elements at once. After all, he could already overpower those a whole stage above him.

"They can’t survive long," Medina started to list without looking away from the serpent. The beast seemed to be dying. Its withered skin hung loosely. She ignored its plight and continued. "Their element cores harden once the element is spent, and I didn’t see the corpse but they draw the element through the channels existing inside the host’s body."

She looked up and faced Hex. "Can you imagine how that must feel? As host you will be forced to absorb elements which you have no affinity to. It will destroy every channel as it does, rendering a person useless to use any element and energy. The damage can’t be restored. Not even by Dryads."

Hex took a deep breath. Anyone who reached a certain height or amount of power will never be willing to lose it for the rest of their life. He couldn’t imagine someone willingly accepting such a beast inside their body. Unless...

"What if the element aligns?" Elements could destroy a person’s body if that person didn’t have any affinity with it. That much was known. But wouldn’t a right element alignment act like a boost in power?

"Let me guess," Medina said with a grin, "You think that using an element with the right element will act as a boost, right?"

Hex nodded.

"You are right. It will act like a boost. For a while, that is." She shook her head as she threw the corpse of the dead beast in his hand. "They can’t filter. They will absorb as much as they can, forcing the channels of the host to be eroded. In fact, having the right alignment will be worse. After all, the body already passively absorbs the element. It adjusts the amount based on what the body can bear. The element core will increase that amount without restricting itself, damaging the host’s body even faster."

As expected. Nothing good came out of these creatures. But wait. As he looked at Medina’s focus on studying the small, marble-like core in her hand, he was reminded of their shared past.

"From what I gathered, you were the one who altered the Shadow Laws," Hex remarked cautiously.

He didn’t know till which point of her life she remembered and would prefer not to stir some memories that remained locked in her soul. There was also a chance Elize had fabricated the story or didn’t have the truth from the very start. Nothing could be trusted fully.

Medina looked up and stared at him. He didn’t avert his eyes. They looked at each other in silence. The sound of plates clattering and people discussing in the background faded. Hex knew they had to return soon. They sneaked off under the pretext to fetch water. The buckets filled with water sat untouched ever since Hex had shown Medina the little Serpent.

"I didn’t know the result at that time." Medina was the first to break the silence. Her eyes seemed to be staring into the past. "I was recruited into the folds of the Dryads to research ways to help people heal from their defects."

"What defects?" Hex asked with a frown. From what he had seen, Dryads were a grade above regular Healers and wouldn’t waste their potential on random stuff.

"Regulars," Medina said with a shrug. "In those days, regulars were deemed defective, incapable of fulfilling any great purpose in their lives. "

"Because you were one yourself?" Hex blurted out, but not regretting it. "You didn’t acquire the Blessing of Life at that point?"

"No, that came later," Medina replied, not reacting at all at being called a defect. "Even without the Blessing I had an intelligence surpassing my peers and even those above my stage. But I wished to gain the ability to wield energy and absorb elements. Just like every other youngster at that time."

"So, you created the Shadow Serpents to benefit from it?"

"In part. But after continuous failures we had to abandon the project. Only...," Medina hesitated as she averted her eyes from Hex. "Only I wasn’t willing to give up."