Chapter 216 Reality Of Adventure

"Lady Vix'i, we'll protect the vessel! Don't spread yourself too thin, Lady!" Zixin shouted. Lady Vix'i nodded. Nabi flew through the large opening that had created a mouth and found Lee Seng struggling to hold the energy together.

"Vessel!" Nabi shouted. She flew towards him and instantly felt a strange weight release from her. She pushed towards him as her tails began to point at him.

"I can't… hold it!" Lee Seng shouted. His hands continued to push back and forth at the sphere of corrupted energy. Colorful wisps evaporated in the air.

"I'll protect you! You don't have to focus on getting hurt! Focus your entire body on the energy!" Nabi shouted.

"What if I can't?!?" Lee Seng strained.

"It doesn't matter if you can or can't now! You're already doing it! Finish it, Vessel!" The energy swirled around Lee Seng and the corrupted energy began to bounce around. Lee Seng continued to shout as his hands struggled to push the energy inwards. The orb began to crack and whipped towards NAbi. Nabi yelped as the energy slashed at her. Lee Seng noticed her aura energy was cracking.

'She's getting hurt?' Lee Seng thought. Fear and doubt slipped in further. Lee Seng's hands started to push away. The corrupted energy began to whip out harder.

"Dammit, vessel!" Zixin shouted as he threw himself in front of Nabi. The corrupted energy slashed at his aura, turning to smoke as he winced. "You want to kill everyone else here?!? Nabi's protecting you while Lady Vix'i is protecting Keng! It's not about whether or not you can or can't do it! You both decided to follow through with this plan! Make sure no one dies, got it! We have to bring our brethren back home!"

Tears streaked down his face. He gritted his teeth together and pushed harder.

Memories of Akio and him appeared. They were sitting underneath a tree, enjoying the cool summer breeze as Lee Seng scribbled away on a sheet of paper.

"Adventuring is a lot more than what you see on TV. It's more than what I or Akali or Scarlet or Alex tells you." Akio spoke. He leaned against the tree, taking a deep breath.

"What's adventuring about?" Lee Seng asked. He closed the textbook with his schoolwork in it. He sat up, grabbing the book and turning to face Akio.

"Well," Akio adjusted himself in his spot. "It is exploring and fighting, but oftentimes, people forget that they're usually in teams."

"What does your team have to do with this?"

"Teams are a crucial part of adventuring. If you wanna explore the Old World, you gotta go with teams. Each team will be sent out to do something and you'll need to work together to ensure all of you stay alive and come back.

"If someone gets injured, you have to worry about that teammate. Your healer will have to take time to heal them while the rest protect. If you don't have a healer, you'll have people who need to support the injured in order for you to get out alive. You have to create all kinds of plans in order to succeed.

"The reality of adventuring is darker than a lot of people realize…" Akio looked down at his hands. He plucked some grass and began to twirl it. "You lose people if you think it'll be like the stories I tell you or what's shown on TV. The dangers are bigger when you're adventuring. If you can't do something then you're a liability. You don't want someone's death to be because of you."

The corrupted energy swirled in front of him, lashes flying out. Lee Seng screamed as he pushed downwards. The energy began to condense and the brighter colors of blues, greens, and yellows started to ripple away from the corruption.

'I'm not going to get anyone killed.' Lee Seng reminded himself. 'No one will die because of me.' The corrupted energy filled the small circle and quickly evaporated into the bright colors. Lee Seng held the position for a long time before his hands finally clapped together.

A heavy weight lifted off of his shoulders and he instantly started to descend. Bodies began to fall and Nabi and Zixin quickly began to telepathically grab the bodies. Zixin's tail extended and flew straight for Lee Seng. His tail wrapped around the vessel foxling, realizing his body was heavy.

"Shit." Zixin cursed in Fox tongue. "He's heavy. You need to hold the bodies. I have to use my strength on him." Nabi simply nodded as Zixin released the bodies. Nabi easily grabbed the bodies as Zixin rocketed straight for Lee Seng.

'Oh, right…' Lee Seng remembered. 'I used gravity to keep the corruption in my hands as my aura… purified it.' His half-shut eyes blurred. Tears flew up into the air. The wind whipped and the smell of dirt grew thicker. 'I did it, Akio… I made sure nobody died. I can finally…'

"Vessel!" Zixin's voice pierced through Lee Seng's head. Zixin bear hugged the boy and turned his back to the ground. "Shit, we aren't going to stop falling because of his weight." Their descent was slowly stopping but there wouldn't be enough time. Zixin's fiery aura whipped around the two of them as they slammed into the ground.

"Zixin! Lee Seng!" Nabi shouted. She watched as a cloud of dirt smoke flew out around the two. She started to descend. The unconscious and dead bodies following behind her. She watched as skeletons scattered around the bottom.

"Oh Realm." She gasped in Fox tongue. "Brothers and sisters…" She began to sniffle. Her eyes became teary. She didn't have enough time to even cry. Two heavy gasps caught her attention. Her tears falling with blink and Nabi quickly moved towards Zixin and Lee Seng.

"Zixin? Lee Seng? Are you okay?" Nabi's voice quivered. She pushed the smoke aside and found Zixin hugging Lee Seng. His fiery aura was heavily cracked and he seemed bruised.

"Oh god, kid. What the hell happened to you?" Zixin groaned. He pushed Lee Seng off ot the side, Nabi watching the vessel foxling fall onto his stomach.

"Zixin!" Nabi ran over and attempted to pull Lee Seng onto his back. "Why is he so heavy?" She managed to pull the kid onto his back and gasped in relief as Zixin slowly sat up. He could feel his bones cracking back into place. He caught Nabi's eyes watching him and raised his hand before she could say anything.

"I'm fine…" He grunted. "I'm healing." The flames licked his wounds as heis body fixed itself. "Is the kid, okay?" He glanced over at Lee Seng. Lee Seng's staccato breaths were loud. He was exhausted and couldn't move anything.

'Keng… Are you okay?' Lee Seng asked. There was a long pause in his head. He could see Nabi was staring at him, making sure he was fine.

"I'm… fine." Lee Seng grunted. "It's my… Biohuman power… I used it too long… So it made my body heavy."

"A-are you gonna be okay?" Nabi looked at him concerned.

"I'll.. be fine… Just rest… for a little…" His eyes caught the bodies and skeletons Zixin and Nabi had caught. He tried to smile. "At least… You can… bring them home…" Lee Seng's nature threw Nabi and Zixin off. He didn't have any reason to save their brethren. Even though he's a part of the Family, he was just someone new. Someone who they thought would take time to adjust to being a part of the Family.

"Rest. You've done us a great favor today." Zixin patted Lee Seng's chest. Lee Seng nodded and closed his eyes. He could feel a warm light enveloping him, but he ignored it and wondered if something had happened to Keng.

"Evolution?" Nabi asked.

"I guess so." Zixin stood up. "Kid, we'll watch over you. You can take time to evolve." Before Lee Seng could even say anything, sleep took him.

Keng had toppled over and was being held by Lady Vix'i's telepathic grasp. She became heavily weighed by the foxling's weight, so she moved them onto land. Keng grunted as he was set onto the somewhat flat ground. The purple and pink grass was mixing with green. The corruption had been pulled from what he noticed.

"Are you okay, foxling? What happened?" Lady Vix'i looked down at him.

"You know… about Biohuman… powers?" Keng asked. Lady Vix'i nodded. "Well… I used Lee Seng's and… it makes you really… heavy if you use it too much."

"How long will you be like this?"

"Maybe… half an hour at most."

'Keng… are you okay?' Lee Seng's distant voice asked.

"I hope Zixin and Nabi took care of your vessel." Lady Vix'i turned to look at the tree. The tree's eyes were dead. It didn't move.

"I know… he's a vessel… but you could call him by… his name?" Keng asked. Lady Vix'i looked back at the young foxling. "He's still.. Someone. Not just… a tool."

"I didn't mean offense to you or him." Lady Vix'i told the young foxling. "What was his name again?"

"Lee Seng… Remember it… I don't want him to feel left out here… When he's already lost so much in the Human realm…" Keng's eyes twinkled. Lady Vix'i simply nodded. A warm light washed over Keng. Lady Vix'i watched as it cocooned the boy.

"Already moving onto three tails? I guess I'll have to make sure no more creatures come nearby 'til then."