He slowly held the gem up in the air and inspected it from all sides

“So what exactly is it?” He already had an inkling, but he wanted to ask to make sure.

“It's similar to that Cinderheart Gem the vice sect leader tried to give you before, and will increase your fire affinity in the same manner. I was going to exchange this with her for something else, but considering your achievements and contributions to the sect, I decided that this will be part of your reward.”

“Oh, thank you,” he said with a happy grin.

“As I said, it is well deserved. Now, I have to get going, but try to do what I said before. She shouldn’t be long, and things will be settled after that.”

“Do you know why they are so insistent on me getting scanned and questioned?”

“There are many people who don’t trust you or the circumstances surrounding your arrival at the sect. I admit, I am still slightly unsure, but talking to you has alleviated most of my concerns. I believe they will have similar feelings once they talk to you,” he said while already walking away from the pavilion.

Julius watched as the grand elder went away, leaving him alone with the gem in his hands.

He rolled it around in his palm, carefully examining it. The gem was much heavier than it appeared. It weighed close to five pounds despite being the size of a small grape. He was tempted to shove it down his throat, and just as he was thinking about that, he received a notification.

Would you like to consume [Radiant Flame Berry]?

Julius stared at the prompt with a confused expression. This thing didn’t look anything like a berry. It was also weird that he was getting a notification. Most food items didn't give one. But perhaps this one was special. Furthermore, from everything he could tell, it was a stone or a gem. Nothing like a berry. But that also begged the question of where it came from. Did it come from an actual plant or bush, as blueberries did?

How did that work? Were there bushes out there that grew gem-like stones? If so, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of animals might be eating these berries. He was tempted to accept, but he held off.

He would wait until his body and soul were in a better place. There was no need to waste something like this. However, he was very curious about what kind of effect his new item would have on this Radiant Flame Berry. From the sounds of it, it was a consumable, and that should mean his blanket should have some kind of effect.

He didn’t know how much, but he was hoping for the best.

In the meantime, his bed was calling to him, and so he dragged himself back to the comforts of his sheets and fell back asleep.

***

Cassandra just returned to the sect. It had been three days since he’d talked to Grand Elder Koenn, and much like he promised, that annoying Elder Kaliyah hadn’t returned to the Sunfire Pavilion, leaving Julius in peace.

When Cassandra returned, it was sort of a big deal. From what Maya explained to Julius the other day, Cassandra had fought one of the Lords of the Scorched Wastelands, and that’s what everyone in the sect was talking about.

Julius wondered if she had fought the Lord he’d met before. Though he had a hard time believing that was the case. Tharvok seemed like a reasonable monster. Actually, he still didn’t know what Tharvok was. If he was a special kind of beastkin, an enlightened monster, or something else entirely.

He waited inside the pavilion, and almost half a day after news of her arrival, he finally sensed her entering the pavilion.

She strolled in and spotted him lounging on one of the really comfortable couches, with a spread of food laid out.

“Is this what you’ve been doing for the past few weeks?” She asked with a sigh.

“Jealous?” he asked, popping a fruit into his mouth. He felt something tap his arm and saw Drasil poking him, mouth agape. He grinned and swiftly picked up another piece of fruit and placed it inside Drasil’s waiting mouth.

Cassandra sighed, and her shoulders deflated before dropping into the opposing couch. “Yes.”

“Busy few weeks?” Julius asked, throwing over a bundle of food he’d already prepared.

“Yeah, it’s times like these that I wonder why I accepted the position of Vice Sect Leader. I should have become a grand elder or something. Less responsibilities,” she stated, already riffling through the bundle of food.

“What about you? I’ve heard a lot of things concerning you, including something about you assaulting one of Avis’s groups?” She asked after she found a package of her favorite spicy chips.

“Yeah, about that…”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

***

For the next hour or so, they talked about many things. In short, Cassandra had “fought” a Lord, but it was more like a spar. Apparently, a fledgling Lord had wanted to challenge her, and Cassandra, with her boundless charity, accepted. Not that it went well for the young Lord. According to her, he was beaten up pretty badly.

She was more annoyed at the paperwork and fallout of the resulting spar.

On the other hand, she had some information about the gorge. Apparently, neither she nor Tharvok was able to break it open, but they managed to find another way into the gorge by essentially bombarding the surrounding area until they found a secret passageway. After that, it was a relatively simple affair.

The entire colony, which had retreated after Elder Huan’s display, was wiped out. They found the tower that Julius snuck into and destroyed every inch of it. Or rather Tharvok did. Apparently, the residents of the wastelands had even more hatred for corruption than humans did. They did manage to find the queen he found, but before they could capture it, the chains around it self-destructed, collapsing the tunnels and forcing them to leave back to the surface.

Julius told her about his time back in the sect, which didn't take long. He’d been sleeping and resting, so there wasn’t much to tell her. He also explained to her what had happened with that group that he “assaulted”. She rolled her eyes when he was done explaining.

“Don’t mind them. Arrogance and pride are common and unfortunate things inside the sect. I’m sure they learned their lesson and won’t try to bully you again.”

“What about Grand Elder Avis?”

“Don’t worry about her. I have already warned her not to take action without me there to supervise. But I did set something up so we can get it sorted out. If that’s okay with you.”

He shrugged. “Sure, did Grand Elder Koenn tell you about the treasure he gave me?”

“Oh, the Radiant Flame Berry?”

“Yeah.”

“He did, and have you used it yet?”

“Not yet. I am still recovering, so I’m going to wait.”

“Still?” She looked a bit more concerned when she heard that.

“Yeah, there are a few things I have to work through. It’s partly why I wasn’t going to let them scan me yet. I don’t know how my injuries will affect the scan and how much information they will get if I allow them to.”

“Have you gone to see any healers yet?”

He chuckled. “Honestly, I doubt any of the healers could do more for me than Drasil or I could. As you know, I have a special body, and from what I understand, there isn’t anyone who could help me more than I could help myself. The only person I know of is somewhere halfway across the continent.”

“But if you are still experiencing symptoms a few weeks afterward, then it must be serious.”

“Oh yeah, it’s definitely serious. But I’m pretty confident that I just need time.”

“It’s not your soul, right?”

He shook his head. “Not in the way you might suspect. It’s mainly my body.”

“You don’t even want Healer Gui to take a look at it.”

“He did, and he said the same thing. He didn’t feel comfortable doing anything drastic and told me to let my healing skill and body take care of it naturally.”

“Well… if you say so. But let me know if anything changes. There are other people outside the sect who are capable healers. I can try to contact one if needed.”

He thanked her for the offer, but for the time being, he was going to keep doing what he’d been doing so far. He’d been feeling better over the past week; his connection to his skills had been slowly strengthening. It was only his body that was still feeling weak. He didn’t think he was going to be getting into any fist fights anytime soon, but he wasn’t completely vulnerable.

“Understood. On another note, what is that?” she rapidly asked, pointing at his blanket draped over his lap, where Drasil was curled up on. “I feel something weird radiating from it. Is it a new item?”

Julius smirked and rubbed it between his fingers. “Oh, this little thing? Just the best item ever. You want to try it?”

She looked suspicious, but her curiosity won out, and she stood up, walking over to him. Little did she know, she’d already fallen for his trap.

***

“Come on, you’re the one who set this meeting,” he said to Cassandra, practically pulling her off his blanket.

“Just one moment. I haven’t had a break in weeks. Let me finish this,” she mumbled through a sandwich.

He sighed and focused on his item for a brief second. The blanket vanished from underneath her and returned to his soul space.

“Hey!”

“Let’s go. You can use it for a little while when we get done. I’ve been waiting for weeks for you to get back. I want to get this over with.”

She grumbled unhappily but stood up, brushing the crumbs from her robes. “Fine. But I want to use it for a whole day.”

He hid a knowing grin. “One hour.”

“Four.”

“Two.”

“Deal.”

Happy with the negotiation, she led him outside and toward the location where they would be meeting Grand Elder Avis.

It was nice to finally leave the pavilion. After almost three whole weeks of isolation, he’d finally come out. And attracted a lot of attention. Disciples who saw him and Cassandra walking side by side were whispering amongst themselves.

He was able to overhear them as well. Some were talking about him and the classes he taught before he left. Some of them talked about his actions in the wastelands. His healing skills were now widely known, as well as his combat skills. But by far the most heavily gossiped-about topic was Drasil.

The girls, especially. He suspected the only thing holding them back was the presence of Cassandra. If she weren’t here, he believed they would have jumped on him to get to Drasil. Speaking of whom, Drasil was aware of his celebrity status and was enjoying it. He was swinging his legs from Julius’s shoulder, basking in the attention.

“Popular little guy, isn’t he?” Cassandra noted. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

“Yeah, he’s become a little superstar,” Julius replied, tickling Drasil’s feet.

They eventually arrived at a building he hadn’t seen before. It was toward the center of the inner court, and there were several people already there, too. Elder Kaliyah was one of these people. She didn’t look too pleased to see Julius, though.

He couldn’t stop himself and waved at her, smiling widely. He saw her eye twitch and felt Cassandra nudge him, as if warning him not to cause too much trouble.

“Come on, they’re waiting on us,” she said to him.

He nodded and followed her inside.