Chapter 417 - 298: Search
It took Marcus Monroe a few days to fully accept the situation.
Afterward, he began to feel relieved. Exposing Rhonda Rhodes had indeed been the right decision.
With his help, Sean Raines and Levi Young’s research had made a breakthrough!
Although the medicinal herbs Marcus Monroe and Sean Raines had gathered didn’t include Binding Insect Grass, they had found a rare one with similar effects, albeit less potent.
In other words, Sean Raines’s initial assessment had been correct.
It was just that, unlike Rhonda Rhodes, he didn’t know about the existence of the Voidspawn Worm and had simply judged it as some kind of medicinal herb.
The three of them used the existing herbs to create a medicine that could temporarily suppress the Voidspawn Worm’s activity. This meant that if they found the Binding Insect Grass quickly enough, Paige Summers’s Space Ability might still be saved!
This invigorated Marcus Monroe.
He decided to act immediately.
As for the conflict with Leo Joyce in Southreach, Paige Summers’s health was the priority. If they couldn’t make it in time for that, they would just have to give up on it.
His original intention was for him and Rhonda Rhodes to go search together, but the other man said, "The two of us going alone won’t work. Paige Summers must come with us. Without her space, the medicinal properties of the Binding Insect Grass will dissipate quickly. It’ll be useless even if we find it."
"I have a space too..."
Rhonda Rhodes shook his head. "Yours won’t do." He knew about the spaces of Superpower Users. ’Even if they can freeze time, they don’t contain Spiritual Energy. The Spiritual Energy within the Binding Insect Grass would dissipate rapidly!’
"You don’t have to worry. After she takes the medicine, as long as she doesn’t overuse her superpowers, she’ll generally be fine."
Marcus Monroe frowned at him for a long moment before stating with conviction, "You know!"
He didn’t say it outright, but Rhonda Rhodes understood.
"Yes, I know."
Marcus Monroe sized him up. "Are you from her world, too?"
Rhonda Rhodes gave a rare smile before replying, "No, I’m not. Do you think she and I have anything in common?"
Marcus Monroe said decisively, "Absolutely not!"
"There you have it."
Marcus Monroe was satisfied.
After learning about Paige Summers’s situation, when he looked at Rhonda Rhodes again, he could easily see how he didn’t quite fit into this world. But it didn’t matter where he was from, as long as it wasn’t Paige’s world!
Paige Summers had been extremely busy these past few days.
Realizing her space might disappear, she naturally had to prepare in advance.
She took out the smelting equipment and metal materials, basically emptying the space she had gotten from Onyx, and then transferred the items from the Stillspace into it.
Additionally, Marcus Monroe had someone purchase several types of rare seeds from the Black Market in Southreach and had them sent over. They actually included rapeseed and sugarcane! She also had to move most of the seeds and mature grain out of her Planting Space to make room for the new ones.
All in all, it was a heavy drain on her both physically and mentally.
The hardest part was that she couldn’t eat food containing Spiritual Energy, so she had to temporarily subsist on her stores of dried meat.
It hadn’t seemed so bad when she hadn’t known any better, but now, she had only one thought: ’This is barely edible!’
’The fibers of the Mutant Beast meat are so tough. This is torture!’
Still, she had adjusted her mindset fairly well.
After telling Marcus Monroe everything, his frankness with her had dispelled the last trace of worry in her heart, leaving her feeling exceptionally relieved.
’Just like Ben said,’ she thought, ’as long as I’m alive, losing these superpowers is no big deal!’
She began to consciously train the strength in her right arm.
A Speed Superpower User without corresponding strength was, at best, a scout who couldn’t play a major role. She had to train until she had the strength to kill a Zombie in a single blow!
So, no matter how awful the dried Mutant Beast meat tasted, she forced it down—and ate a lot of it!
Time flew by amid her busy preparations. Ten days later, with Paige Summers’s help, Rhonda Rhodes crafted a special compass designed to find places rich in Spiritual Energy.
Marcus Monroe, Rhonda Rhodes, Paige Summers, and Ben—the group of four set out.
They didn’t bring Sweetie this time; it was too big of a target.
Sean Raines didn’t let him tag along either. The main reason was that if they couldn’t get back in time for the operation in Southreach, they needed to leave some people behind to guard against Leo Joyce.
As for Levi Young, he hadn’t expected to be brought along in the first place. ’It’s sad to be too weak.’ So he threw himself into producing a large batch of medicines—which Rhonda Rhodes had labeled as unorthodox—for Paige Summers to take with her. To him, whether the methods were proper or not didn’t matter, as long as Paige Summers was safe!
Bloodfall Base was located in a valley. West of the base lay the Serpent-Spine Mountains.
The Serpent-Spine Mountains were heavily forested and more treacherous than the mountains to the north due to the abundance of mutated plants.
However, according to Rhonda Rhodes, places rich in Spiritual Energy were often found deep in the mountains and dense forests. So, they all agreed to travel along this mountain range.
This meant their pace wouldn’t be very fast.
Paige Summers thought this was a good thing, as it would give her a chance to strengthen her arms.
The medicine Sean Raines and the others had concocted consisted of ten pills in total.
One pill a month. This meant that, barring any accidents, she had ten months to save her abilities other than her speed. That was enough time to grow a great many crops, store up a lot of Rainbow Water, and even retrain the strength in her arms... It was enough.
Marcus Monroe wasn’t so optimistic.
He was more accustomed than Paige Summers to always considering the worst-case scenario first.
But this time, he told himself that no matter what, he had to eliminate this lingering threat to Paige Summers!
Therefore, he was particularly meticulous in his search.
Even if Rhonda Rhodes’s compass indicated a place with only slightly more Spiritual Energy, he wouldn’t let it go unexplored.
Thanks to him, while the Binding Insect Grass was not so easy to find, Rhonda Rhodes managed to acquire some other rare medicinal herbs...
After observing him for a while, Rhonda Rhodes felt he was truly a rare find.
His feelings for Paige Summers were clearly deep and sincere.
An idea began to form in his mind.
Actually... he hadn’t told them the whole truth.
While Binding Insect Grass could completely eliminate the Voidspawn Worms in Paige Summers’s body, eggs and all, there was another way.
He had just been hesitating.
Even now, he hadn’t decided whether to tell them or not.
’There’s still time,’ he thought. ’I’ll wait and see.’
And so, ten days passed.
They had already traversed the main peaks on the face of the Serpent-Spine Mountains but had not found the place rich in Spiritual Energy they were looking for. Naturally, there was no sign of the Binding Insect Grass either.
The journey had been draining, so they took a day to rest and recuperate.
When they set out again, their destination was still the Serpent-Spine Mountains. This time, however, they were heading for another range that ran parallel to the one they had just crossed. Between the two ranges were numerous lower peaks, stretching for nearly a hundred kilometers.
The effective range of the compass was a radius of nearly a hundred kilometers. Since the Serpent-Spine Mountains were so wide, they had no choice but to make two passes.
In truth, although everyone searched meticulously, no one held out much hope.
After all, a place rich in Spiritual Energy was probably rarer than a Tenth Rank Superpower User. It would be strange if it were that easy to find.
But on the seventeenth day after they set out, as they were walking along as usual, the compass suddenly reacted!