Chapter 388: Chapter 326: Concept Poison, Facing the Miracle

“Blazing Soul Essence Specialty Drink”: Every powerful spirit, when dissipating, releases a bit of Blazing Soul. Consuming Blazing Soul can greatly heal the spirit. A Golden Soul will rapidly replenish within seven days, and within these seven days, the absorption rate of Magic Power in the Void Realm increases by +10%. Just what kind of person, and what kind of place, could so easily gather a bottle of Blazing Soul Essence Specialty Drink?

“Zeal Potion”: The user will become more honest and passionate, actively expressing their emotions, with a strong desire to push for closer relationships, and a significant reduction in their sense of shame. The rate of increase in operators’ bonds increases by +100%, lasting one day.

With the 9 bottles of Pure Spirit Light Specialty Drink drawn, plus the 1 bottle stored in the warehouse, Ash used the “Alchemist’s Refinement Bottle” to perform pair-wise refinement on them, succeeding four times, obtaining 3 bottles of an even higher grade “Blazing Soul Essence Specialty Drink” and 1 altered bottle of “Zeal Potion”.

Without a doubt, Ash had met his basic goal. With these 3 bottles of “Blazing Soul Essence Specialty Drink,” both he and the Sword Witch would be able to completely heal their spirit injuries before the next Spider Tower round.

As for the “Zeal Potion”… although the effects looked promising, it always felt like big news was about to break. If Ash were to give the Witch the “Zeal Potion,” resulting in the Witch becoming intensely close to him, sticking, hugging, and whatnot–it sounded exhilarating just thinking about it.

But the Sword Maiden was right there, watching.

Ash had already exhausted his office politics capital just getting the Sword Maiden to accept the Witch into the team. Now, the Sword Maiden, seeing the Witch apparently on the path to the Secret Secretary’s creed, that small-minded, jealousy-prone redhead would throw a fit for sure.

So, should he give the “Zeal Potion” to the Sword Maiden?

But that would then become a gambling game: if within that day, Ash’s bonds with the Sword Maiden reached a new level, then Ash would have won his bet; if not, and once the effects wore off, an irate Sword Maiden wouldn’t quite kill him, but life wouldn’t look too good either…

Apart from considering the Sword Maiden’s feelings, Ash also had to take into account the Witch’s opinions.

After all, the interactions in the amnesia cabin might have already caused the Witch some misunderstandings; if she were to see them suddenly stick together, she might not feel out of the loop but actually under the wheel…

And… the Witch might not be misunderstanding at all.

Thinking this far, Ash couldn’t help but sigh.

He was a former office drone and knew that certain taboos in the office made sense. Colleagues could become good friends, but that’s as far as it should go.

Cross that line, and not only does it negatively affect others, but it doesn’t do you any favors either–you go to work to make money for a material life, not to enjoy a spiritual life. A team is a team, family is family; the former has a clear system of rewards and penalties and operates on interest while the latter is about mutual tolerance and compatibility, dealing with affection.

The two should never be confused.

Ash might not have worked in a small company, but he had heard from classmates that those small companies that couldn’t differentiate between a team and a family were essentially fulfilling their historical mission with contributions to the landlord’s rent.

Even though it was just a three-person team, Ash had the self-awareness of a leader; he knew a three-person team wouldn’t be the end. And even if it really was just the three of them in the future, he still had to find a way to manage the relationships within the team–“when two within three become closer to the point of alienating the third” had become as common a malady as balding among city dwellers.

Both sensibly and morally, Ash had to balance this seesaw of relationships, so the Zeal Potion absolutely could not be given to the Sword Maiden.

And the thought of kicking out the Witch or Sword Maiden one day to then give the Zeal Potion to the other was even less permissible–putting yourself in their shoes, if you came back from vacation to see your boss in cahoots with a colleague, you’d definitely feel left out and start doubting the company’s distribution system.

Therefore, this bottle of Zeal Potion could only be set aside for now.

However, Ash had no thoughts of discarding it unused.

After all, if being close to one person caused the other to have a lot of thoughts, then… if he could take large steps in relations with both at the same time?

If he could draw another bottle of Zeal Potion later, then giving two bottles to the Witch and Sword Maiden at the same time, there might be a chance to achieve a grand harmony of life, moving everyone’s bonds to a new stage!

Although there might be a little, indescribable self-interest, Ash felt his idea was fairly wholesome and for the better future of the team, aside from a little self-interest, perhaps.

All in all… Now Ash had to face the unknown Weaving Festival in reality and the Spider Tower chase in the Void Realm; it really wasn’t the time for their team’s interpersonal relationships to undergo seismic shocks.

This was truly a critical moment of survival!

As the saying goes, with food and warmth come thoughts of other desires; at least ensure material security before considering the spiritual life.

But the thought of what happened in the amnesia cabin made Ash chuckle.

O(_)O Haha, he definitely had to recount the Sword Maiden’s tea talk during a less dangerous battle round; it’d be a waste not to use such great ammunition!

Now that the card draw had achieved the basic goal of “food and warmth,” next up was the thrilling “desire” phase–since heartfelt intention had let Ash draw Pure Spirit Light Specialty Drink, it surely could also lead him to the Golden Legend!