Chapter 261 Gunk Theories

The sound of water and wind filled the space while Lee Seng stuck his hand in the cold water. The birds chirped around him and small flower petals fell around him. He quietly played with the water, thinking about the trail and his Dark Matter.

"It could be the three days of rest I had." Lee Seng theorized. "My body's been going through a lot. It's been constantly changing, so it might just be that." He stood up and turned towards the direction his friends went in. His slow walk turned into a jog.

Lee Seng came back to Ritsuka, Keng, and Halys sitting on the porch. The large Bone Lizard was sitting wrapped off to the right off the large tree.

"Oh, there you are!" Keng waved. "Took your sweet time."

"Mmm." Lee Seng nodded.

"Come have a drink." Halys waved him over. Lee Seng climbed the steps as Halys grabbed a filled cup of light green liquid and handed it to Lee Seng.

"What's this?" Lee seng asked.

"An herbal cold drink. It'll help with fatigue and help with muscles and energy regrowth." Halys explained. Lee seng took a sip. It tasted like a mix of fruit punch and mint. He didn't know if he liked the taste because of the mint, but it felt refreshing. He downed the whole drink and wiped his mouth. "Want some more?"

Lee Seng stuck his cup out and Halys grabbed a pitcher and filled Lee seng's cup. Lee Seng waited for Halys to finish and moved over to lean against the railing.

"Something on your mind?" Halys asked. Lee Seng didn't answer for quite a while. He sipped on the mint-fruit punch flavored drink. The more he sipped at it, the more he was convinced it tasted like fruit punch and didn't really have a minty flavor.

"You took out the poison in me like you did with Ritsuka, right?" Lee Seng asked.

"Yeah, why?" Halys tilted his head.

"Something feels… different. It's like my body suddenly got lighter after I've been weighed down for so long."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Keng asked.

"It is, but I'm not used to it. My powers don't work like they should."

Halys sighed and stood up. He moved into the cabin and came back with a stone orb.

"I thought you might question it, so I kept a couple of these. I think this is what your body is missing." Halys' fingers touched the top of the stone and slowly moved away from each other. The top of the rock opened and Halys removed his hand and showed Lee Seng. Ritsuka and Keng stood up and moved over to take a look. A small black tentacle worm squirm around in the blackened and gooey rock.

"What the hell is that?" Lee Seng asked. Halys pulled the stone covering back and tossed the stone back and forth between his hands.

"There's more of these I had to keep in the vines I used to suck out the poison and decay coursing in your body." Halys nodded over at Lee Seng.

"What are they?" Lee Seng pointed at the stone.

"Dunno. I sent some to Lady Vix'i for examination. I can ask when I go back, but it'll take some time to figure out. I think these things have been your body for a long time. I feel like these things were initially draining your Dark Matter."

"That's your theory?" Keng asked. Halys nodded.

"If that's true then…" Lee Seng's voice trailed off. "Was it taking away my Dark Matter all this time?"

"You saw the gooey and black nest it was building." Halys waved the stone. "There was a lot of that gunk clogging our body. It might've made your Dark Matter seem thicker than it actually was supposed to be. Energies are supposed to be clear like they are now. Your body must've worked harder to output such immense amounts of energy and now that you're outputting the energy, it feels different because of your clear energy systems."

"I've been clogged this entire time?" Lee Seng raised his eyebrows. He took a sip of the herbal drink and set it on the railing, crossing his arms.

"That's my theory. We can test it to see if it's actually true after lunch." Halys tossed the rock to his other hand. "I'm going to check on the leftover soup." The three boys watched Halys walk off with the rock, towards the pot hovering above the campfire.

"If your system has been clogged for years by that tentacle worm thing, wouldn't that mean you've been wastefully using more energy than you should have?" Ritsuka continued the theory with the next question.

"The gravity power is naturally strong, but the output is different now." Keng nodded.

"How so?" Ritsuka asked. It seemed like these two were more into theorizing than Lee Seng. He grabbed his cup and took another sip of the drink. It was cooling his body and he was beginning to feel better.

"Well," Keng took a sip of his drink. "Imagine a hose. It has the spray attachment on it, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, let's say I'm outputting at a full setting. It's powerful and similar to a shower setting but it gives more umph in power. Lee Seng's setting was on jet instead of full. It's powerful and outputs more water. We're using the same power but at different settings. That's probably why gravity made more of an impact. But now that all this gunk is out, his setting switched. He's trying a less powerful setting and the output is going at the same pace as me now."

"So, Lee Seng's gunk made him use more energy in the end…? Doesn't the hose use the same amount of water anyway?" Ritsuka asked, confused.

"It's like when a dam gets released." Lee Seng used another example. "All of that water is blocked by something naturally. It'll struggle to push that out. When it does, it fires fast. Overtime it should taper off, right?"

"Right." Ritsuka nodded.

"But in this case, it never did. Now that someone got rid of the gunk blocking it, properly, it feels like the energy is going at a steadier and less powerful pace." Lee Seng took another sip and set the drink on the wooden railing, again.

"But you managed to actually make a mark on that Bone Lizard." Ritsuka nodded at the dead lizard in the distance.

"Mmm, the output levels are different now, but he still managed to output the same level of power." Keng downed the rest of his drink and set the cup down on the wooden table and sat back in his seat. Ritsuka nodded and sat in his seat, grabbing his cup and drinking the herbal drink.

"It's ready!" Halys shouted. "Come get your food!"

"Alright!" The boys yelled. Keng and Ritsuka got up from their spots and moved. Ritsuka patted Lee Seng.

"Let's go." Ritsuka smiled. Lee seng nodded and followed after Keng. They grabbed their food and sat on the porch. They all ate their food and sat around feeling stuffed. Lee Seng could feel the after effects of the powder. It was weaker than last time and he waited it out before downing his third cup of cold herbal drink.

"So what now?" Lee Seng asked.

"We'll train in a bit. I need to figure out what I'm going to do with that lizard. I need to take out the miasma sacs and purify the system so we can eat it." Halys nodded over to the lizard.

"We're going to eat that fat lizard?" Keng pointed.

"Yup. Bone Lizard is a delicacy I really miss. They usually don't get that fat, but it'll last a while. I'll have to bring a huge pot back to the Commander."

"Or you could just tell them to come here for dinner." Lee Seng suggested.

"I don't want to disturb, Commander. They must be busy."

"It's fine. Bring the whole unit over." Ritsuka smiled. "I'm sure they miss having Bone Lizard, too."

"Mmm, I'm fine with it, too." Keng agreed.

"Alright. I guess I'll send a message and then get started with the lizard." Halys stood up and took his cup with him.

"Can I watch you take apart that thing?" Lee Seng asked.

"Huh? Why would you want to watch me take apart a Bone Lizard?" Halys asked, slightly turning to face Lee Seng.

"Don't say no to him about these things!" Keng told Halys. "He's into it."

"At least someone in our group is into doing that. I could never." Ritsuka shuddered.

"I guess you really do have flaws." Keng chuckled. "You're scared of dissecting monsters?"

"It's not for me." Ritsuka stuttered.

"Can I?" Lee Seng asked.

"Sure, why not. You must be one weird kid to want to learn how to dissect a bone lizard. Nobody willingly wants to do it. Everyone's forced to do it." Halys moved down the steps with Lee Seng following after.

"What do you mean by that?" Lee Seng asked. He quickly walked beside Halys as he moved to the river.

"Everyone in the Village has to dissect the creatures during a hunt at some point. Most of the younger ones have the opposite reaction you gave me." Halys chuckled. They stopped near the river and he turned to face Lee Seng. Halys stuck his right hand into his pocket and pulled out a note. He quickly scribbled something with his green energy and lifted it over the water. The water rose and soaked the note and quickly arced into the sky towards the Village.

"That's how you send messages?" Lee Seng asked.

"Nature mail via water stream." Halys chuckled. "One of the many ways I send messages to people. Enough about that, let's get to dissecting."