Chapter 2370 Chain <TOC> Chapter 2372 ‘Hammering’
Translator: SumTLMan
With an air of nonchalance, Nisi’s words cast a silence over the room for a few seconds.
Reviving Renko is easy?
Everyone present, being doctors, knew too well the extent of Renko’s injuries. Were such injuries considered trivial in the eyes of these enigmatic individuals?
This notion completely overturned their existing beliefs.
Was this the miracle of the extraordinary?
As the crowd was left in a daze by the shock, Angel turned to Nisi and said, “That’s not what I meant to ask. How exactly do you plan to save him?”
“I can revive him directly, restoring him perfectly. Alternatively, I could use a special potion to awaken him from his coma, allowing him to overcome everything he’s faced on his own.”
Nausica was confused by Angel’s words, her face full of questions: What does that mean?
Reynolds, standing nearby, was also puzzled. However, given the choice, he would certainly opt for a perfect restoration. After all, Renko had saved Nausica’s life, and he deserved to be restored to his former self.
However, upon hearing Angel’s suggestion, Nisi narrowed his eyes in thought and said, “Are you thinking of using the Water of Forging?”
Angel slowly nodded.
“This… I cannot answer. It’s a decision he must make for himself,” Nisi paused, then added to Angel, “Your idea is quite unique.”
Angel softly responded, “It’s just an attempt.”
The more Reynolds listened, the more confused he became, and he couldn’t help but ask, “What are you all talking about? The Water of Forging? That doesn’t sound like any treatment potion I’ve heard of.”
If it were anyone else asking, Nisi would likely have ignored them. But since it was Reynolds asking, Nisi thought for a moment and then replied, “You’ll understand in a moment.”
After speaking, Nisi looked at Angel: “Should we awaken his consciousness? Will you do it, or shall I?”
Angel replied, “I’ll do it.”
Nisi had thought Angel would let him take the lead, especially since Renko’s condition was dire and he couldn’t be unfrozen for the time being. The only way to awaken his consciousness was to call upon the essence of his soul to respond, which was Nisi’s forte.
But since Angel wanted to proceed, Nisi stepped back to observe. He was also curious to see how Angel planned to awaken Renko’s consciousness under these circumstances.
After a moment of contemplation, Angel extended his finger towards Renko’s forehead and gently tapped it from a distance.
Invisible ripples then surged into the sea of Renko’s consciousness.
Renko’s slumbering consciousness felt as if it was being embraced by a pair of warm hands, rushing towards an unknown white light.
“Using the dream tendrils of the Dream Entry spell to activate his consciousness, allowing it to surface. Then, interrupting the Dream Entry midway to prevent him from entering the Dream Bridge is quite an interesting method,” Nisi understood the implications of Angel’s actions after a glance. “However, although his consciousness has become active at the surface, it still can’t completely break free from the physical constraints, remaining in a semi-comatose state. What should we do now?”
Angel replied, “We don’t need to do anything; as long as he can hear what we’re saying, that’s enough.”
Although Renko was still encased in ice and hadn’t fully awakened, due to Angel’s previous operation, his consciousness had entered an active state at the surface, allowing him to hear the sounds of the outside world, just… unable to respond.
Indeed, Renko felt himself in a peculiar state, where he could clearly hear the rustling sounds from the outside, yet he was unable to open his eyes. It was similar to the half-sleep state he occasionally experienced when under significant mental stress in the past.
However, this was different from a pure half-sleep state; he wasn’t in darkness. Instead, he saw two columns of light of different colors before him.
One was red, and the other was blue.
As Renko pondered over these two different colored light columns, he once again heard voices from the outside world.
Angel said, “Renko, you should now be able to see two lights, one red and one blue. Try to imagine yourself getting closer to the red light.”
In his ‘half-sleep’ state, although Renko didn’t know who was speaking, he unhesitatingly moved towards the red light to communicate with the outside world.
Naturally, Angel knew Renko had moved towards the red light, but since the others couldn’t see the specifics, he thought for a moment and then set up several illusion nodes in the surrounding space.
Soon after, everyone saw a faint red light beginning to float around them. This was Angel manipulating the illusion nodes to emit red light, reflecting Renko’s choice.
“Now, imagine yourself moving towards the blue light.”
Not long after, the floating red light turned into a faint blue light.
Seeing the change in color, everyone understood that Angel intended to use this method for the simplest form of communication with Renko.
After the test, Angel moved on to the main topic.
“Renko, listen carefully to what I’m about to say. You don’t need to worry about who I am, just know that I can save you.”
“I’m giving you two choices. The first option is to restore your body to the state it was in a day ago.”
A day before, Renko had not yet embarked on the journey to the Broken Blood, had not been poisoned, nor had he used any secret medicine, and his body was in a healthy state.
“The second option is for me to use a potion known as the Water of Forging, which can activate your potential, allowing you to overcome the residual poison in your body on your own. However, the process will be extremely painful, and if you cannot endure it, you will suffer backlash and undoubtedly die.”
“But if you persevere, overcoming the residual poison within through boundless suffering, then you will indeed reap some benefits. ——Just as in forging, without the tempering of a thousand hammer strikes, how can one’s true form emerge?”
“Now you have a choice. If you choose to recover immediately, embrace the red light. If you choose to use the Water of Forging, step into the blue light.”
As Renko was caught in the throes of decision, those around him also pondered Angel’s words in silence.
One option leads to immediate recovery, the other requires braving thorns and enduring endless torment for the chance of recovery.
If it were you, how would you choose?
The former involves no suffering, the latter offers some unknown benefits.
“If it were you, what would you choose?” Nisi turned to Reynolds.
Reynolds replied, “I don’t want to influence Renko’s decision.”
The others nodded silently, restraining themselves from speaking, fearing their choices might disturb Renko.
At that moment, Angel spoke lightly, “He can no longer hear the sounds of the outside world.”
Hearing Angel’s words, everyone relaxed their tense nerves; they had been so cautious, even afraid to breathe too loudly, lest they disturb Renko’s conversation with Angel.
With a sense of relief, they also turned to Reynolds, curious about the choice someone other than Renko would make.
After a moment of contemplation, Reynolds said, “I would choose the Water of Forging. Because I know that Lord Pat wouldn’t offer this choice lightly.”
Reynolds’s answer reflected the thoughts of some others. A supernatural being who could easily save you yet offers a more difficult path suggests that the benefits of enduring this path could be astonishing.
Thus, their choice at this moment would also be the second option, the Water of Forging.
Nisi asked, “If you discard any premise, not knowing it was Angel who offered the choice, and you were in Renko’s situation, which would you choose?”
After a few seconds of pondering, Reynolds said, “The first option, to recover immediately.”
Everyone thought it over and felt it made sense. Renko was still unconscious; he had no idea who was speaking to him from the outside world, whether they were friend or foe. If it were them, for safety’s sake, choosing the first option seemed more appropriate.
Nisi nodded, not saying anything, but turned to Nausica, “What about you, if it were you, what would you choose?”
Nausica, without any hesitation, immediately said, “The Water of Forging.”
“No hesitation?”
“There’s nothing to hesitate about.”
“Even if the ‘forging’ process makes you wish for death, you would still choose it?”
“To live is worse than death, but aren’t we still alive? In my eyes, without sacrifice, there can be no reward,” Nausica stated. “Those gifts that seem easy to obtain are only because the price has been secretly marked.”
Nisi chuckled, appreciating Nausica’s response.
Angel, having heard Nausica’s choice, was not surprised in the slightest. Although Nausica seldom spoke of her experiences as a pirate, and even when she did, she chose to share only the cheerful and carefree stories; Angel was well aware that Nausica’s journey to becoming the Blackberry Queen was anything but devoid of moments ‘worse than living.’
Moreover, enduring such torment often didn’t guarantee any benefits.
Now, faced with the choice that ‘enduring hardships will surely bring benefits,’ how could Nausica hesitate?
Nausica’s answer was decisive and without any hesitation. This made others ponder whether they could face a painful future with such tranquility. Probably not.
Thus, setting aside all external distractions to make a choice. After hearing the responses from Reynolds and Nausica, the group was more inclined towards… direct recovery.
What would Renko choose?
Unaware of the external events and the arrival of the extraordinary, would Renko, without any influence from external factors, make the same choice as them?
The answer… would not.
After about half a minute of silence, a gentle blue glow began to permeate the surroundings.
Renko chose the Water of Forging.
As the people around observed the glowing light, after their initial surprise and bewilderment, they suddenly came to a realization.
Renko was different from them from the start.
Even on Ghost Shipyard Island, filled with darkness and despair, Renko adhered to his own principles. He was the only light that illuminated the darkness on the Moonlight Toucan.
Such a Renko could not just blend into the masses like them.
Looking at it this way, Renko’s choice seemed predestined.
Among the contemplative or disheartened gazes of the people, Angel took out a delicately shaped potion bottle from his bracelet. The bottle, small at both ends and larger in the middle, contained a liquid that shimmered with a golden brilliance.
Dazzling and captivating.
This was the Water of Forging.