Chapter 255 Relaxation & Worry

"He was sent out on a mission and never returned? Is he even alive?" Lee Seng asked. Halys took a large sip of water and set the cup down.

"He sends updates to the other nine-tailed Foxes. That's the only thing letting everyone else know he's alive. Whatever contents are in those letters, I wouldn't know. You'd have to ask the nine-tailed Fox Spirits, but even then, they won't tell anyone." Halys explained.

"See? I told you." Keng nudged at Lee Seng.

"You're asking about Eshra because you want to understand your Mutation ability more?" Halys asked.

"Yeah," Lee Seng nodded. "Just wanted some insight on what Eshra was capable of, but if he kept that a secret, I guess I'll have to figure this out on my own." Dinner came and went. Each of the boys finished their food and their bodies began to go under the effects of the Jurya Powder. Lee Seng and the two other boys ended up with cleaning duty, cleaning the dishes and moving the "small" amount of soup in the cauldron pot inside.

"This isn't a small amount!" Keng complained as he and Lee Seng easily moved it inside and set on the table. "This is a lot!"

"That's small. When you gotta feed like twenty men, that's small." Halys told them.

"You're feeding…" Keng paused to count the amount of people who ate. "You're feeding five people! Five!" Keng waved a whole hand in the air.

"Consider it lucky that I don't have to go hunting in the morning for lunch, then." Halys chuckled.

"Well," Florabelle fluttered off the seat. She had been quietly sitting near the fire. "I should go. I got some stuff I need to handle tomorrow." She started to make her way towards the door when Ritsuka stepped inside. "Good night everyone."

"Good night." Ritsuka dodged out of the way, giving a small wave.

"Night." The others waved goodbye. Florabelle fluttered off towards the stream as Ritsuka held all of the stacked clean dishes and utensils with him. He shut the door behind him and locked the door, making his way over to leave the cleaned dishes on the countertop.

"Well, night has fallen so I guess get some sleep." Halys stood up. "I'll hit the hay first. Try to get some sleep, you three. Especially you, Lee Seng. I know you just woke up not too long ago but we need to be ready for the Cursed Forest after tomorrow." Lee Seng and the others nodded. Halys raised his hand and waved goodbye to them and moved off into the large bedroom where Lee Seng woke up.

The door closed and the boys all looked at each other. They moved to sit in the living room. Halys had created the cabin and all of the things inside of it with Nature magic. If he wasn't a warrior, Lee Seng would have believed him to be a carpenter of sorts. He was skilled.

"Was training just working on those specific things you mentioned, earlier?" Lee Seng asked. Keng and Ritsuka nodded.

"You could say that." Keng answered.

"Lots of it was traversing the forest, quickly." Ritsuka added. "General Halys says we need to be ready for anything. We're fighting in a forest, so we need to use our surroundings in the fight."

"He threw us in the wringer with that, mostly. We spent the morning doing that and the afternoon practicing individual stuff." Keng summarized. His eyes lit up as he remembered something.

"What?" Lee Seng asked. He knew that look. It was the same exact look his mom and siblings described he would do when he remembered something and was excited about it.

"That reminds me! Did you know you could infuse Fox-fires into your strikes?"

"Yeah, I think I did that fighting the Witch. Why? You figure that out?"

"Mmm." Keng nodded. "It's lit." Ritsuka and Lee Seng immediately started to cringe at the word 'lit.'

"How does he even know slang?" Ritsuka asked.

"My brain. He literally dug through all the memories, so I'm pretty sure he would've picked up weird slang." Lee Seng answered. Keng looked innocently at the two of them. He knew full well what he did but he still felt detached from all the things he learned from Lee Seng's memories.

"I used it right, right?" Keng poked his head towards Ritsuka and Keng.

"Yes." Ritsuka and Lee Seng nodded. Keng reclined into his chair with a proud look on his face.

"I think I need to burn some energy." Lee Seng switched the topic. "But I don't wanna run."

"Oh, you might as well use the bath. Halys said he left a large thing of mixed water salts or something along the lines of that." Ritsuka nodded over to the right. Lee Seng looked behind him and saw the door at the end. "Florabelle and him did some hoodoo voodoo magic to allow the water to cleanse itself so it's never dirty. If you wanna expend some energy, the salts are super effective. Makes you sleepy."

"I guess I'll do that." Lee Seng stood up. "Don't wanna stay up all night."

The Next Day

It was barely sunrise when Lee seng was shaken awake. He groggily lifted his body up and away from the pillow and noticed Ritsuka was standing near him.

"Time to get up." Ritsuka whispered.

"Huh, it's still dark…" Lee Seng groggily spoke with his rough morning voice.

"Get up and wash up. Put on the clothes I left on your bed here." Ritsuka patted. "You'll thank me later when you're dying out there." Ritsuka gave a small two-finger salute and moved out of the room. Lee Seng looked to his left. All of the beds were empty. He got out of bed and put on the clothes left for him. They were made of the same silky material as the other outfit he wore, but this one was just a t-shirt and shorts.

He pulled shorts over his boxer briefs and grabbed the shirt and socks. He remembered taking the bath last night and instantly falling under the effects of the bath salts. He could barely remember getting into bed.

'That stuff really did it for me.' Lee Seng thought as he opened the door.

"We'll continue the path we've always taken. I'm sure he can keep up. He's gotten a good night's rest, right?" Halys' voice spoke.

"Mmm." Keng nodded. "He could've passed as a sleepwalker last night."

"Are you sure it'll be okay for him to go on the trail with us, General? That's a pretty hard trail. He just recovered." Ritsuka spoke with worry. He didn't want to push Lee Seng hard on his first day back, but Halys seemed to think otherwise.

"I must return to the Village tonight while you three stay here. He isn't going to have much time to rest so we have to do as much training as possible today."

"But–" Ritsuka began to say when Lee Seng groggily moved past them towards the bathroom. He stopped talking and the three turned to look at Lee Seng open the bathroom door.

"I'm pretty sure he's still under the bath salts effect." Keng pointed out. Lee Seng smacked the wall a couple of times, missing the water rune. His fingers finally found the rune and water started to pour out of it. Halys' time on Earth must've given him many ideas because the bathroom reflected a bathroom on Earth. The water spilled into a smooth stone sink. The water disappeared into the hole that seemed to have some sort of rune enchant at the bottom of it.

Lee Seng splashed his face with water, lowering himself lower to allow the water stream to just soak his head. The cold water woke him up and he continued to leave his head in the stream.

'Nothing like cold water shocks my senses.' Lee Seng thought as his hand moved for the rune. It took him a while, but he found it. Water dripped off of his head and face. He began to lift his head up when a towel fell onto his head.

"Will you be okay today?" Keng asked. Lee Seng grabbed the small towel and started to dry himself off.

"I'm fine. Just sleepy." Lee Seng answered.

"Your body isn't aching?"

"Nope."

"You aren't feeling sore anywhere?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure you're actually fine or are you–"

"I'm fine, Keng." Lee Seng turned to face him. Keng seemed genuinely worried about him. Lee Seng patted Keng and grabbed his shirt and socks off to the side. He pushed past Keng and saw the front door open. He could hear Ritsuka and Halys making small talk. Halys was pointing out different stuff from the area for Ritsuka to pay attention to.

Lee Seng pulled the towel off his head and slipped the shirt on. He put his socks on and did one last scrub on his head with the towel before leaving it on one of the couches. He pulled his shoes on and moved out of the cabin. Sunlight was just starting to pour out and he breathed in the forest.