I Can Only Cultivate In A Game-Chapter 413: Second Exchange

Victor dove toward the ground and grabbed the eyeball where it had rolled to a stop.

It was still warm and moist.

"HEY!"

His shout echoed through the corridor causing the Root Child to pause mid-motion.

The vines froze and Aria hung limply for a fraction of a second before the dragging stopped.

Victor held the eyeball up with both hands.

The creature turned slowly toward him, tilting its head.

Victor extended the eyeball outward with a steady look while the Root Child took a single step forward.

The vines retracting from Aria loosened and then, it slowly lowered her body to the moss.

The creature approached Victor cautiously, as though wary of startling him.

When it was close enough, the Root Child extended its hand.

Victor placed the eyeball back into its grasp.

The moment its vines wrapped around it, the creature let out a low, satisfied trill.

It didn’t seem angry anymore.

It cradled the eye almost affectionately as the labyrinth stilled again.

Victor immediately rushed to Aria’s side.

She was in terrible condition.

Vine punctures riddled her torso and limbs. Blood seeped freely from multiple wounds. Half her face was darkened and blistered where the petal had exploded.

Her breathing was shallow and unsteady.

Victor lifted her carefully into his arms.

"Aria. Stay with me."

She coughed and blood spilled from her lips.

She tried to speak but only managed a wet, gurgling sound.

"Don’t talk," Victor said urgently.

After a few strained breaths, she forced out weak words.

"...You could have... just left me..."

He looked down at her, straight.

"That’s not how I like to do things."

She gave a faint, broken chuckle that ended in another cough of blood.

"...How did you know... that would work?"

Victor glanced briefly toward the Root Child, who now stood quietly again with eye in hand.

"I didn’t," he admitted. "But it didn’t attack us until you did. And it only went berserk after it lost the eye."

He swallowed.

"This may sound crazy... but I think it collected your eyeball in exchange for the flower it gave."

Aria let out a weak breath that might have been a laugh.

"You’re right... it does sound crazy."

She shifted slightly, grimacing.

"...Doesn’t matter anyway. Not like I’ll last long with... these injuries."

Victor frowned.

"Don’t be so quick to draw conclusions."

She looked at him weakly. "Victor... I can barely breathe."

He didn’t respond immediately.

Instead, he did something that made her stare at him in confusion.

He spat heavily into his palms, several times.

"Victor... what are you—"

He cut her off gently. "Trust me."

Without further explanation, he pressed his saliva-covered palms against one of the deeper puncture wounds on her abdomen.

For a moment, nothing happened and then, the flesh began to knit.

The torn skin closed visibly under his hand while the bleeding slowed... then stopped entirely.

Aria’s eyes widened—well, her remaining eye.

"...What?"

Victor moved quickly to the next wound adding more saliva to his palms.

Another puncture sealed.

The bruised flesh around the explosion burn softened and discoloration faded as new skin formed over it.

Aria stared at him like she was hallucinating.

"Your... saliva...?"

"Yeah." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

He didn’t bother elaborating.

He worked methodically, moving from wound to wound, covering each injury with his saliva and rubbing it across torn flesh.

Wherever it touched, healing followed... shockingly rapid...

Her breathing steadied as the punctures closed and bleeding ceased entirely.

The burned half of her face smoothed over, leaving only faint redness behind.

Within minutes, most of her life-threatening injuries were gone.

Aria slowly pushed herself up on her elbows, staring down at her own body in disbelief.

"I... I was dying."

"You were."

"And now—"

"You’re not."

She looked at him, stunned.

"What are you?"

He gave a small shrug. "Very durable. Remember?"

She let out a shaky breath.

"You’re ridiculous."

He smirked faintly and then his hand stopped overHer left eye.

He hesitated because there was smooth skin where it had once been... he wasn’t sure if his saliva could regrow an entire body part...

He slowly lowered his hand.

"...I don’t know if I can fix that."

Aria reached up and touched the empty side of her face again.

For a brief second, grief flickered in her expression.

Then she forced it down.

"We’ll deal with it later," she said quietly.

She opened her mouth to thank him but her words died in her throat as she spotted the Root Child approaching again.

They both turned and this time, it wasn’t holding the eyeball the same way...

The eyeball had dissolved into its body...

This time, there was something different in its vine-wrapped grasp—

It extended it outward once more like when it had offered the flower and tilted its head expectantly.

Victor’s heart sank slightly.

"Equivalent exchange..." he muttered under his breath.

Aria slowly rose to her feet beside him, steady now thanks to his healing.

"What is it offering now?" she asked quietly.

Victor narrowed his eyes at the object in its hand.

In its hands this time, was a fruit.

It was unlike anything Victor had ever seen. The surface shimmered like polished amber, translucent enough to reveal faint threads of light swirling inside. Tiny veins of violet pulsed across its skin in slow, rhythmic beats, almost like a heartbeat.

The creature extended it outward, offering.

Aria and Victor stood shoulder to shoulder, breathing steady but heavy with tension.

"We can’t outrun it," Aria muttered quietly.

Victor nodded. "It’ll just reappear."

They both knew the pattern now. The labyrinth would twist. The walls would shift. The terrain would become hostile until the offering was accepted.

The Root Child didn’t move closer... it simply held the fruit, patiently.

The unspoken question hung between them:

What would it take this time?

Aria stepped forward but Victor’s hand shot out and caught her wrist.

"No."

She turned to him. "We don’t have a choice."

"I’ll take it this time."

Her brows furrowed immediately. "What?"

"It’s only fair," he said firmly. "You accepted the flower. You lost an eye. You accepted the last trade. If anyone should take this one, it’s me."

Aria’s eyesbrows furrowed.

"What kind of senior would I be if I let you do that?" she snapped quietly. "You’re a first-year. Not even a fully actualized Mana Defense Officer."

"And you’re already down one eye," Victor shot back.

She shook her head. "No. If something happens that can be healed, you’re the only one who can fix it. If it takes something that grows back... you’ll need to use that disgusting miracle saliva of yours."

Victor grimaced faintly at the phrasing but didn’t argue further.

She was making sense...

"Be ready," she said softly.

He nodded reluctantly.

Aria stepped forward again and the Root Child seemed almost pleased as it extended the fruit closer.

Aria reached out slowly and took it into her hands.

The moment her fingers closed around it, he hypnotic sound returned.

She handed the fruit immediately to Victor.

"Check it."

Victor turned it over in his hands. It felt solid and a little heavy but otherwise, it seemed completely normal.

All of a sudden, Aria stiffened.

"...Victor."

He looked up and her expression had changed.

A strange sensation crept along the sides of her head.

Victor’s eyes widened in horror as he noticed that both of her ears were gone.

Where her ears should have been was replaced by smooth skin.

Aria blinked rapidly.

"...Why can’t I hear anything?"

Her voice sounded too loud and uncalibrated because she couldn’t hear herself.

Victor’s chest tightened as she touched the sides of her head.

There was nothing there...

Her breathing quickened as she spoke again but couldn’t hear her own voice.

Panic flickered in her single remaining eye.

Victor grabbed her shoulders gently.

"Aria."

She couldn’t hear him.

He swallowed hard.

"This is way too much," he muttered under his breath.

It was just a fruit...

And it took both her ears.

What were they supposed to do? She had no mana. He couldn’t use qi which meant no powers... No leverage against this supernatural being operating on incomprehensible rules.

The Root Child stood there with a content look after the exchange was complete.

Victor made a quick decision at this moment.

"This is gonna hurt," he muttered.

Aria saw his lips move but couldn’t hear the words.

He grabbed her dagger from her belt before she could react.

Her eye widened in alarm as he positioned the blade carefully against the side of her head where her ear had once been.

She tried to pull back but he held her steady and cut.

The blade sliced into the smooth skin along the side of her head and slightly into the canal where the ear had connected.

Blood flowed immediately and Aria’s body tensed violently in pain.

He moved to the other side and cut again.

More blood drizzled out and she nearly collapsed from the shock.

Without hesitation, Victor spat heavily into his palms again and pressed them against the wounded areas.

The saliva soaked into the torn flesh.

For a moment, there was nothing... then, the skin began to ripple.

Flesh knit together as cartilage reformed beneath his hands, slowly.

Aria’s breathing turned heavy as she began to hear a faint ringing sound.

The distant trembling of the labyrinth slowly began to return as her ears grew back.

She gasped as she regained her hearing in full.

"It worked..." Victor breathed, pulling his hands back.

Aria touched her ears carefully, disbelief written all over her face.

"...We’re lucky it wasn’t something worse."

Victor let out a shaky breath.

"Let’s get the hell out of here before it starts offering us more."