170 The Efficacy of Spirit Skin

Heaven is fair. All living creatures, whether intelligent beings, magical beasts, or magical plants, possess the potential to advance to higher levels as long as they possess basic spirituality; the only difference lies in the efficiency of this progression. At the same time, this fairness is also reflected in the breakthrough of limits—
The Ninth Rank!
For all living beings, the Ninth Rank is a threshold. Once this threshold is crossed, all the restrictive distinctions that originally existed between different creatures will vanish, propelling them into a new and truly fair level of development. However, for different creatures, the opportune moments required to cross the Ninth Rank vary. Compared to the accumulation of sheer strength, the opportunity for advancement is far more crucial and rare.
The so-called opportunity is sometimes a certain environment, sometimes a certain ability, and sometimes a certain item—often completely different, but ultimately, they all serve to compel a fundamental transformation within the living creature!
—Excerpt from *Theresa's Alchemy Notes*

The Book Spirit's craving for the so-called "spirit skin" was so intense that Theresa's entire mind was filled with the Book Spirit's thoughts. This caused a slight throbbing in her brain, bringing back a discomfort somewhat similar to when her mental realm had been invaded earlier.
Holding the "spirit skin" in one hand, Theresa could not help pressing her other hand to her temple while mentally protesting to the entity: "Book Spirit, calm down. Since it's something you want, I naturally won't give it to others casually. However, you at least need to let me know what this spirit skin actually is and how to use it, right?"
Pacified by Theresa's words, the Book Spirit quieted down slightly—though its tranquility lasted only a matter of seconds. Mere moments later, Theresa felt a massive wave of information rapidly and forcibly flooding into her brain!
The Book Spirit transmitted a vast amount of data and information to Theresa via their soul contract, almost exceeding her brain's capacity to receive it...
After about two or three minutes, having roughly "absorbed" a portion of the information, Theresa decided to temporarily forgive the Book Spirit's eagerness. After all, if what it claimed was true, this "spirit skin" was entirely too important to the Book Spirit—so important that it would be willing to pay any price to obtain it.
The spirit skin could enable the Book Spirit to transform from a pure consciousness entity into a physical one!
One must understand that for any pure consciousness entity, transforming into a physical form is their ultimate pursuit, the highest aspiration deeply engraved within the soul of every pure consciousness entity!
Such a pursuit is similar in nature to the quest of humans or other intelligent life forms after breaking through the Ninth Rank, when they turn their studies toward the soul and the laws of existence—both are pursuits of the ultimate meaning of life.
Once she grasped this information, Theresa appeared even more eager than the Book Spirit, continuously questioning it about the specific operational steps. The human and the spirit thus left Flora behind, standing on their own as they engaged in communication purely on the level of consciousness. From an outsider's perspective, after Theresa took that membrane-like object, she first frowned and rubbed her forehead with a troubled expression, then her face revealed a sudden look of realization and pleasant surprise, followed immediately by a dazed, blank expression...
She just stayed dazed, staring blankly... Obviously, Flora was somewhat prepared for this reaction and had no intention of disturbing her, simply standing quietly by her side and keeping a cautious watch...
Theresa remained in this dazed state for a long time, right up until Lambert and the others returned. She was still "spacing out"...

When Theresa truly "woke up," she happened to see that Lambert and the others had already set up a campfire and were roasting some kind of root-like lump. A scorched aroma mixed with a unique plant freshness hung thick in the air, unconsciously making one's mouth water—only then did Theresa realize she was hungry.
"What is this?" Theresa walked over to sit beside Flora, casually taking a chunk of the "root" wrapped in leaves.
"'Black bulb,' though it doesn't have much flavor, it's packed with energy and is just right for filling the stomach." Flora was holding a black bulb of her own. While speaking, she used the wrapping leaves to scrape away the black outer skin until the snow-white flesh in the center was exposed, then bit right into it with her teeth.
Seeing this, Theresa followed suit and took a bite. A warm, botanical fragrance filled her mouth, and the floury, tender texture was somewhat similar to that of a potato or taro. However, just as Flora had said, it didn't have any obvious flavor, save for the faintest trace of sweetness. Before her palate could truly register that sweetness, it had already slid down her throat. Of course, also as Flora had mentioned, it was quite filling; a black bulb smaller than a fist was enough to satisfy Theresa's hunger.
"Ah, this thing is really convenient. Such a small piece and I'm already full." After satisfying her hunger, Theresa patted the soot from her hands and praised casually.
"Convenient it may be, but its nutrition is too single-layered. Naturally, it's not suited for long-term consumption," Lambert smiled, taking over the conversation.
"Yes, that's true," Theresa nodded. "No matter what it is, eating it long-term isn't good. Compressed nutrient pills are too difficult to refine; otherwise, carrying those around would be truly convenient."
"Even if it's convenient, it has no flavor at all," Flora wrinkled her nose in protest from the side. "Since the heavens granted us taste buds, why must we abuse them so? There are so many delicacies waiting for us in the world to taste; why must we eat garbage food like compressed nutrient pills that have neither texture nor flavor?"
Theresa pouted and raised an eyebrow, putting on a helpless expression as she replied, "Fine, fine. Everyone knows you're a typical hedonist—speaking of which, I've never seen a half-elf who loves meat as much as you do... Flora, are you sure you're a half-elf and not a half-orc?"
"Hey, you're actually making fun of me. Asking for a beating~" Flora pounced with puffed-out cheeks and an indignant look, but Theresa had already leaped aside while speaking, dodging the strike. Seeing this, Flora jumped up and gave chase—of course, the two girls' chasing was purely playful; otherwise, with a half-elf's speed, how could Theresa possibly have had a chance to escape?
Just as the two were frolicking and laughing, Qina suddenly stood up and said, "Time's up. We should get moving."
At her voice, Rebecca naturally rose in response, while Green-Mo and Lambert neither voiced agreement nor opposition. Seeing this, Theresa slightly stuck out her tongue, rubbed her nose, and smiled in reply, "Ah yes, yes, we should get moving. I delayed everyone just now—are we leaving right now? Which way?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Rebecca's sharp gaze, Qina's uncanny stare, and the amused attention of Green-Mo and Lambert all concentrated on Theresa at once... At the same time, Flora hooked her arm around Theresa's neck and gave her a light tap, saying, "Who are you even asking? Isn't the Source of Vitality supposed to be sensed by you? Are you losing your mind?"
Knowing she had acted foolishly, Theresa didn't dare to retort. She chuckled, scratched her head, and pulled the pre-prepared divination tools out of her spatial ring, tossing them onto the ground before channeling her mental energy into them to activate the mechanism—
The three randomly discarded "metal pieces" vibrated with a humming sound under the impetus of her mental energy and flew up, swaying unsteadily in the air for a moment before slowly converging. They nudged and rubbed against each other for a bit, then, much like toy components assembling themselves, they merged into the shape of a butterfly—except that this "butterfly" was entirely a dull, dark bluish-black, and exceptionally ugly.
As the "butterfly" fluttered about, Theresa finally opened her eyes—at this moment, her eyes looked as though they were covered by a thin film; both the sclera and the iris had vanished... Or rather, they had both turned into the same dark bluish-black color as the "butterfly"!

Just by changing her eyes, Theresa seemed completely non-human, radiating a chilling, lifeless aura that caused Flora, who was standing not far away, to shudder involuntarily...
The "butterfly" fluttered its wings and flew up to perch on Theresa's forehead, resting there like an ornament. Against her expressionless face, it possessed a bizarre and eerie beauty.
Amidst the silence, Theresa suddenly moved!
Her entire body broke into a sudden, frantic sprint, rushing straight ahead toward a pool of water that reached ankle-deep, running faster and faster as if she felt no fatigue whatsoever—yet no matter how fast she ran, it was still only the maximum speed of an alchemist. For Lambert and the others, keeping close behind was naturally effortless.
Theresa's wild dash lasted for nearly twenty minutes, during which she made countless turns along the dark bluish-black cliff face. Suddenly, she halted before a section of the cliff, practically flinging herself forward to press against the rock wall. Her hands began frantically clawing at the cliff surface like an animal's paws—most surfaces here were coated with a layer of fossilized "blue insect corpse powder," so Theresa's frantic scratching only scraped away this "soil layer" without harming her hands.
How could Flora and the others let her continue digging like this? The moment she showed unusual movement, Flora quickly stepped forward to pin Theresa's hands, then lightly flicked the "butterfly" away from her forehead—almost the exact moment the "butterfly" left Theresa's brow, a streak of cold light flashed past, and the "butterfly" dissolved into black ash on the spot.
With the disappearance of the "butterfly," the dark bluish-black shade receded from Theresa's eyes, restoring her original jade-green pupils. She blinked, pulled one hand free from Flora's grasp, and pointed at the section of the cliff whose "soil layer" she had partially scraped away, saying, "Two hundred meters inward, there is a natural limestone cave, and the Source of Vitality is inside—be careful, it fears the light. Absolutely no light sources must be allowed to shine in, so you can only capture it by intuition, and you must not use metal weapons, nor touch it with anything whose temperature is higher than ten degrees."
"How big is the cave?" Lambert asked aloud.
"Probably less than ten cubic meters, very small," Theresa tilted her head to think, then added, "If it's for healing purposes, it's best for Li to capture it."
"Why?" Flora asked curiously.
Li, who had remained silent and anxious throughout, echoed the exact same question.
Theresa blinked again. In the silence that followed, she received no response from the others—were they clueless, or simply unwilling to explain?
A trace of doubt lingered in Theresa's mind, but she still didn't forget to explain: "Although the Source of Vitality is pure, the person who captures it first will inevitably have some undefined influence upon it—the Source of Vitality is too rare and has not been studied extensively, but based on experience, if the recipient is an Orc, it is best for an Orc of the same clan to capture it. That way, the therapeutic effect will be much better."
Once these words were spoken, it went without saying that Li had to try it personally. After the group discussed contingency plans for various emergencies, they finally set to work... chiseling through the wall... (To be continued)