Awakening the Divine Spark-Chapter 110: Preparations.

Basically Lee was back to the drawing board. He had no clue how to pick the particular lock that consisted of the strange socket. And if Lunax was the one who had the key, Lee would need to come up with a new plan.

He decided to start from the scratch and this time directly interrogate the people who had received the God’s gifts.

At first it didn’t go particularly well. The first few, five to be exact, either refused to talk to him or their fanboys strictly didn’t let Lee to approach their idols.

It was when Lee met the guy named Janax. He was a short and burly man from the big-eyed race, and the gift he chose was a strange looking staff. Despite his stature, if someone threw a dark, long robe on him, he could’ve been taken for a monk or a priest.

Lee tailed him for a couple of days and in the end figured out the best approach.

When the next blood moon rose, Lee prayed next to Janax, and when the others were done, he continued to kowtow, mumbling, "My Lord, forgive me my shortcomings and mistakes. You are my light that prevents me from strolling off my path, and my heart is filled with gratitude every time I see your presence ..."

By spouting a bunch of nonsense, Lee made himself sound like a pious believer, fully devoted to Lunax. The few people who heard his own made up prayer, including Janax, glanced at him, but didn’t say anything.

Later, because of meticulously arranged coincidence, when Janax was having lunch, Lee sat next to him, and softly chanted another unheard prayer before eating his own stew.

It took him three days to play this charade until Janax finally spoke to him, but it payed off. Who would’ve guessed that they both turned out to be passionate devotees and easily hit it off since all they could talk about was the Lord.

"So you’re the chosen one!" Lee exclaimed a couple days later, when Janax disclosed the publicly known secret of his staff being the Lunax’s gift, "I ... I’m honored!"

"Don’t make a fuss about it!" Janax waved him off, smiling bashfully, "We’re all Lord’s children and I bet your devotion will be recognized soon enough."

After few cheesy exchanges Lee asked whether it would be proper for Janax to tell the story how the Lord gifted him the staff, and in the end, Janax agreed. He took Lee to a remote place before telling it, so that no one could overhear.

"... sadly, after smiling directly at me, the Lord vanished." Janax’s story lasted for over half a day, when he finally came to the interesting part, "It was the head caretaker who told me to follow him. At first it was confusing – I couldn’t understand why would he bring me to the office, but I knew the Lord would never do me any harm."

"Of course!" Lee passionately nodded, fires burning in his eyes, "He loves us!"

"Mhm. He does!" Janax agreed, "But you know, he’s incredible! It took three people to open the door guarding his vault, and they had to use the power of three elements too. It was a sight to behold! The head caretaker slammed his burning palm at the door and the other two followed his suit, but one was using his earth spark and the other – water."

"Amazing!" Lee exclaimed.

He appeared excited on the outside, but his inner reaction somewhat resonated. He already had an inkling on how to replicate that.

’Fire, earth and water, huh? I think I have an idea!’ Lee though to himself.

Now all that was left was to find the peculiar seal. He carefully listened to Janax till late evening, and as a bonus got the general understanding about the inside of the vault. Any bits of information were important – if he got in, he wouldn’t have much time to fool around.

Out of the three elements Janax mentioned, technically Lee had the access to two. He couldn’t use them the way the caretakers could, but he was certain that with a bit of practice it wouldn’t be the problem. The fire part was more problematic, but Lee imagined he could solve it by using the actual fire.

All that was left was to find the seal, and it was highly likely Coulax was holding it.

Lee really hoped he wouldn’t have to pickpocket the guy. First of all the seal’s size was too big and it would be almost impossible to take it without getting caught. In addition, if the seal was missing, Coulax would find it out pretty soon and either would increase the security around the vault or make a new, a different one.

The seal’s size, though, made Lee think it was stashed somewhere, but, after a quick break-in he discovered it wasn’t in Coulax’s home. Lee knew it was wishful thinking to find it there, and wasn’t disheartened.

Getting into Coulax’s office wasn’t as easy.

Once again he spent half the day hanging in the office’s hallways until he figured out exactly which room was Coulax’s. To get in unnoticed, had to wait until late at night, but it payed off.

The seal was in the top drawer and, after picking the simple lock, Lee found it between other random items he didn’t recognize.

The next part was tricky. He firmly pressed the seal into the mold he had prepared beforehand, mixing the regular stew with a sack of iron sand he lifted from one of the blacksmiths. Then he cleaned the seal and left. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

It was hard to tell what material the seal was made of or whether it mattered, but just in case, Lee crafted one from wood and another one from a stone similar to that of the door. He decided to not make a metal for now, but would try again if he failed.

With that the preparations were mostly done and Lee was left with the hardest part.

He kind of hated and was looking forward to it at the same time. Hated, because he had no clue how to do it, but looked forward to since the day he learned about the superhumans. He intended to use the elemental power of the sparks he possessed, and in this case – both of his.

During the following days he only meditated, and ate on occasion. Fully focusing his attention on the sparks in his abdomen, he tried to learn how to guide their elemental energy through his body. He was trying to invent the pseudo-technique the two devil brothers taught to Jiraxa, but one that suited his peculiar condition.

Lee guessed that while meditating next to the spark of life, his body and consciousness were cleansed in some way, allowing him to connect to both sparks on a deeper level.

Probably because he had the water spark for years, it was much easier to sense it’s power. He began with increasing the pace the water particles rotated around it, and then slowly, at first one particle and then a bunch, tried to separate them from the spark.

He attempted it for several days, but in the end, was forced to recognize that the particles were bound to the spark by invisible force, and no matter how he pulled them away, they tended to return as if they were a part of a rubbery mass.

After pondering about it, Lee got another idea. If if was like a rubber, it could be stretched, right? All he had to do was to stretch far enough so that the elemental particles would reach his palms.

He began to create thin threads out of the water particles, and after some practice actually managed to make his palm moist. At first he wasn’t certain whether it was perspiration, but when the first droplet of water was formed, Lee almost burst into a happy dance.

Obviously he was not even close to any of the elemental warriors, in fact, it was unlikely he could defeat a strong and skilled adult, but what he did could be considered the first step in cultivation. At least he thought so. There was also the question whether he payed with his lifespan for this entertainment, but since he was only fooling around, he decided to ignore that part.

With the earth spark it went much harder. He couldn’t summon grains of sand, but he decided that the sensation of his palm hardening was probably the sign left by the earth spark’s energy. It did take him whole fifteen days, though, but the timing was perfect.

Half of the city was gathered outside Ashland, to witness the vanguard going on the so called recruitment conquest. The city reverberated at the distant Raixooo!!! the soldiers roared, but Lee could only shake his head at the long forgotten battle shout. Somehow the events in the fortress seemed to be a distant past.

Once again Lunax was about to steal children from their homes, but Lee was putting on the dark-purple cloak and going to take a look at what the God was about to gift him.