Chapter 157: Second Awakening
Moira Lynch took out the S-rank Awakening Stone and paused in silence.
"So, how do I use this Awakening Stone again?"
A minute later, Patience had laid out all the usage instructions and precautions for the Awakening Stone before Moira.
It turned out that different talents used Awakening Stones in different ways.
The Elemental System involved refining the Awakening Stone with one’s own mastered element. The Enhancement system required crushing the stone and smearing the pieces all over one’s body. And as for the Spiritual System...
Moira followed the instructions, enveloping the Awakening Stone with her spiritual power.
The Awakening Stone, which had been a solid rock just a moment ago, instantly transformed into a milky-white liquid upon contact with her spiritual power and merged into Moira’s body.
Moira first felt a warm current, but it vanished as quickly as it came.
The Awakening Stone in her hand was gone. All that was left to do was wait.
A second awakening, just like the first, required two to three days. Some could even take as long as seven days to complete.
During her first awakening, Moira had developed a high fever and only managed to get through it by immersing herself in water.
So this time, Moira had prepared the water in advance.
She even had Patience monitor her body temperature in real time.
An hour later, Moira felt a wave of dizziness, and her body began to sway.
Moira knew her second awakening had begun, but this time seemed a little different from the first.
The temperature inside the space was constant, but she felt an inexplicable chill that grew colder and colder.
It felt as if a biting cold was seeping into her very bones.
Moira couldn’t help but shiver. She reached up and removed the Chimefin scales she was wearing, but it didn’t help.
She had eaten so many Ice Chestnuts and was even protected by a Snow Sprite’s blessing; logically, she shouldn’t be afraid of the cold.
A gust of wind blew past, and Moira shivered again uncontrollably.
She reached back and touched her clothes, realizing at some point they had become soaked with a cold sweat.
Just then, Patience sounded an alarm.
[Body temperature: 30 degrees Celsius. Hypothermia warning. Please seek warmth.]
Moira’s ears were ringing so loudly she couldn’t hear what Patience was saying at all.
But even without hearing it, Moira knew her situation was terrible, and the preparations she’d made would likely be useless.
Because she felt like she was freezing to death.
Her vision blurred, and her body collapsed to the ground uncontrollably.
Before completely losing consciousness, Moira forced herself to leave the space. The temperature outside was much higher than inside.
She laboriously climbed onto her bed, pulled a very thick quilt over herself, and only then did she allow her eyes to close.
Moira hadn’t completely lost consciousness yet. The information Patience had given her said that it was best to remain lucid during a second awakening, especially for someone who had awakened a Spiritual Talent the first time.
The longer one could stay conscious, the greater the benefits.
But that was easier said than done. Only now did she realize how difficult it was.
Moira felt as if her mind was a swirling chaos. She was adrift within it, unable to see or do anything, simply bobbing on the currents.
She didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger now.
「On the first floor.」
When Moira still hadn’t come downstairs by noon, Shane Rhodes and Kai York started to worry.
Normally, if Moira planned to sleep in, she would have told them.
But now, she wasn’t responding to messages or calls.
"Boss, you don’t think something happened, do you?" Kai York said anxiously.
Shane Rhodes’s brow furrowed. He shook his head. "Not sure. Let’s go up and check."
There had been no sound from her all morning, which was unprecedented.
"Okay."
The two of them headed upstairs.
"If only Hugh Finch were here. He could have done a divination for us."
Hugh Finch hadn’t made a peep since he went back to his room yesterday, and the two of them didn’t dare disturb him.
Moira’s door was locked. They pounded on it, but there was no response.
After knocking continuously for a while with still no answer, they figured that even if she were meditating, she should have reacted to such a loud noise.
Realizing something was wrong, they started ramming the door with their bodies.
With a loud BANG, the door burst open.
As soon as they entered, they saw Moira on the bed, covered by a quilt, her face pale.
Seeing this, the two rushed forward to check on her.
The quilt covering Moira was already soaked with sweat.
Kai York reached out to touch Moira’s forehead. He immediately recoiled his hand, then looked at Shane Rhodes, his eyes flying wide in shock. "Boss, Moira... she’s dead!!"
Hearing this, Shane Rhodes scowled at Kai York. "What nonsense are you spouting? Can’t you see she’s still breathing?"
Only then did Kai York notice the quilt on Moira’s chest rising and falling slightly. This meant Moira was still breathing; she wasn’t dead.
While letting out a sigh of relief, Kai York touched Moira’s forehead again. "But her forehead is so cold."
Kai York had never felt a body temperature so low; it was just like a corpse.
’How could a living person’s body temperature be this low?’
"What should we do? Should we contact the base’s doctor?"
Hearing this, Shane Rhodes also reached out and felt Moira’s forehead. It was indeed freezing. No wonder Kai York had made that mistake.
"No need to call a doctor."
"Why?" Kai York asked, confused.
’She’s in this state, and you’re not calling a doctor?’
"Because it would be useless even if you did. Don’t you think Moira’s current state is very similar to when we first awakened our talents?"
They too had experienced terrifyingly high fevers, but they returned to normal immediately after their talents awakened.
Kai York looked at Moira on the bed in shock. "Boss, are you saying... But doesn’t Moira already have a talent?"
Shane Rhodes remained calm. "Who ever said you can’t have a second awakening after the first?"
Kai York opened his mouth, but couldn’t find the words to argue. He decided to look it up instead.
With that thought, Kai York ran downstairs. A few minutes later, he returned, carrying a Learning Machine.
He turned on the Learning Machine and searched for information about second awakenings.
"It’s real!"
’Does this mean we can have a second awakening too?’
Once they confirmed a second awakening wasn’t dangerous, the two finally relaxed and turned to leave the room.
They figured that Moira probably needed some peace and quiet right now.
But the truth was, Moira was screaming frantically in her mind. ’Come back! I don’t need quiet! The louder, the better!’
’It’s so hard to stay sane.’
’Now I finally understand why doctors tell family members to keep talking to patients in a vegetative state.’