Chapter 11 - The Farm in Irttat
Chapter 11: The Nightingale's Past 07
Lucita watched her intently.
Only then did Garcia realize that Lucita had eyes as deep and dark as black holes, as if they could absorb all the light that passed by, without a trace of light escaping.
It was as if infinite secrets were hidden there, drawing her to explore.
Lucita reached for the edge of Garcia’s mental boundary, cautiously extending a thin strand of awareness to form a tentative bridge with the outermost layer of Garcia’s psyche.
She sensed carefully.
Garcia's mental state was very stable, without sharp fluctuations. She did not appear to be lying.
Lucita hesitated, unsure whether she should continue deeper into Garcia's inner psyche.
Mental bridging was truly a sharp tool for detecting lies, but standing before another person's mental boundary, Lucita didn't wish to trespass too far into private territory.
While she was still hesitating, suddenly a sharp pain struck her mind.
Lucita staggered, dizziness washing over her. She grabbed the shelf for support as cold sweat broke out across her forehead.
Garcia had keenly detected it and severed her mental bridge.
Having her hypnosis talent verified was something to be happy about, except her suspicions had probably been exposed…
"Lucita!" Garcia raised her voice in displeasure: "I understand you really want to find out the truth, but I really wasn't lying. Moreover, I really dislike these little tricks. Please don't do this again in the future."
"I'm very sorry, Garcia." Lucita pressed a hand to her temple, waiting for the dizziness to subside, and quickly apologized: "I just read about this talent of the merfolk last night and wanted to try if I had it. I didn't expect to actually succeed."
It was a partial truth. She could hardly admit that she had suspected Garcia.
"You're almost twenty years old and still don't know what your talents are?" Garcia looked very surprised.
"Yes, my mother never told me." Lucita shifted the responsibility to the mother she had never met. “I always believed I was fully human.”
Although Lucita herself didn't remember, she was indeed an orphan without any relatives.
In Irttat, where residents had an average lifespan of two hundred years, someone approaching twenty appeared to Garcia much like a ten-year-old child would to an ordinary human. An ignorant child without guidance was easily forgiven.
Garcia's anger dissipated at once, though her tone still carried a bit of reproach: "All right, you can stay in my guest room for a few days. I also really want to find a way to help Sophia as soon as possible."
Having said this, she changed her tone and emphasized seriously: "But don't use your hypnosis technique in town anymore. This isn't a toy to try out casually."
"You’re lucky that you encountered me today. If you'd encountered someone like Ida or Lily—whose merfolk bloodlines are much more significant—decades of accumulated mental power would allow them to seize that connection and teach you a painful lesson, and you'd be dizzy for half a month. If they harbored hostility, your consciousness could even suffer permanent damage."
"I understand, Garcia." Lucita readily agreed, then pressed on: "But aren't you half-elf? How do you have the merfolk mental defense?"
"I truly don't have any mental talent abilities, but your mental force is too weak. It can't affect me yet." Garcia explained. Remembering that Lucita had no one to teach her, she added: "There are many kinds of power in the world, all sorts of innate abilities, human magic. They seem unrelated to each other, but power itself is universal. When I'm much stronger than you, your little tricks won't work."
Lucita shuddered inwardly at her own recklessness.
If Garcia had harbored ill intentions just now, Lucita probably wouldn't be able to escape unscathed.
She put her suspicions of Garcia aside.
To express her apology and gratitude to Garcia for allowing her to stay, Lucita helped out at her seed shop for the whole day. The spring planting season was basically over. Only scattered customers came to buy flower seeds and potions. The main work was organizing the shelves. It was quite a leisurely day.
Lucita savored the feeling of hypnosis.
Having just mastered the hypnosis talent, she needed to follow exactly what the book taught: first capture the other person's eyes, extend mental force to try establishing a mental connection, then repeat the thought she wanted to implant over and over, leaving an imprint in the other's mental world. Only then would the simplest mental suggestion be complete.
After becoming more proficient later, perhaps she wouldn't need the eyes as a medium anymore and could implant more complex thoughts, but Lucita couldn't yet access that level.
In the afternoon, Garcia returned to the laboratory to replenish her potion stock.
Lucita followed along, carefully observing Garcia's operations while memorizing and asking: "I see Irene's shop doesn't sell experimental items like balances and test tubes?"
Garcia poured the deep blue powder from her hand into a crucible. Hearing this, she glanced at her and answered: "These experimental instruments aren't made in town. They're brought from outside by Palmer, a traveling merchant who comes once a season. They should be things produced by humans. Actually, magic potion formulas are also achievements of human civilization. True long-lived species don't need these medicines at all. Of course, we hybrids do."
"I have to say, human creations can be surprisingly ingenious." She sighed: "Do you want to learn this?"
"Yes."
Lucita admitted it with a strange sense of guilt, feeling as if she were stealing techniques and taking away someone's livelihood.
But Garcia just smiled casually and said instructively: "Many people want to learn. Preparing magic potions isn't actually difficult. There's a 'Magic Potion Preparation Guide' in the library, a basic potion textbook that circulated in the prehistoric human world. Just follow the steps. Although, I don't know why so many people always end up causing explosions. In the end, I'm basically the only one supporting the town's potion supply."
Lucita: ...
She decided to pre-order a set of equipment when the traveling merchant Palmer came.
Garcia made a sumptuous dinner to host her.
Mulberries and strawberries were each served in ceramic plates, along with steaming hot cherry pie, asparagus salad, and hot goat's milk.
The carnivore Lucita wasn't very interested in this table full of elf-style delicacies. But after tasting them, she discovered the cherry pie was unexpectedly good. The surface had a layer of melted cheese, sweet and soft.
The guest room was opposite the master bedroom, distributed on both sides of the corridor. After the sky darkened, the two bid each other goodnight and went upstairs to sleep.
In an unfamiliar environment, someone else's territory, Lucita couldn't fall asleep quickly.
A beam of moonlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, coldly illuminating the bed.
Lucita kept her eyes open for a long time. Just when she was beginning to feel drowsy, rustling sounds suddenly came from outside the door.
She startled, gripped the blanket tightly with both hands, and perked up her ears to listen carefully.
Those footsteps were very light but somewhat dragging, and from the sound, they were walking step by step toward the end of the corridor.
Was she going downstairs?
As far as she knew, only Garcia and herself were staying in this house tonight. Was it Garcia? What did she want to do?
Lucita clenched her jaw, slipped out of bed, and cracked her door open.
A blonde figure in a white nightgown stood with her back turned.
It really was Garcia! Was she really hiding something?
A fine layer of sweat broke out on Lucita's back. She was afraid that Garcia would suddenly turn around and meet her gaze, causing something unpleasant to happen.
Fortunately, Garcia seemed completely unaware, walking steadily step by step, slowly going downstairs.
No, that's not right.
A suspicion formed in Lucita's mind. She stealthily pushed open the door and followed.
Irttat was backed by the mountains that nurtured the foreign races. Resources were too abundant, and the people were honest and simple, so townspeople almost never locked their doors.
This made it very convenient for Garcia to get outside. She simply pushed open the shop door and walked onto the street.
Lucita hid behind the display window and secretly looked at her face.
The moonlight was like dust, shining on her profile and casting deep shadows.
Her eyes were tightly shut.
As expected... Garcia was sleepwalking.
Was she heading toward the source of that “life” scent?
Lucita felt as if a glimmer of hope had appeared before her and hurried out to follow.
Irttat at night was very peaceful. Aside from the moon in the sky, the street lamps along the road were the only light source. Those were also sturgeon-eye lamps, sufficient for indoor lighting but somewhat weak outdoors.
The faint warm yellow glow illuminated the gravel road. The flower beds by the roadside cast scattered shadows. The two walked one after the other, unhurriedly along Iris Street, casting several long shadows of varying depth in the gaps between the street lamps.
Walking all the way to the edge of town, Garcia still showed no sign of stopping.
She walked toward the depths of the forest.
Tall, dense old trees bit into each other, a pitch-black mass with teeth and claws bared, daunting to behold.
Fear comes from ignorance. Lucita knew almost nothing about the forest. Her steps inevitably hesitated several times. Watching Garcia's figure walk farther away, she gritted her teeth and lifted her foot to follow.
The forest path wasn't easy to walk on. Despite being careful, she was tripped several times by protruding tree roots and vines. Lucita’s heart pounded, afraid several times that she would wake Garcia up.
In this magical world, what would happen if you woke a sleepwalking person? She didn't want to find out.
Until her field of vision suddenly opened up.
Before her was a large lake, sparkling with rippling emerald waves in the moonlight, with fireflies dancing low over the water's surface.
It was—"life"!
Garcia's words from during the day still echoed in her ears: "A lake, a strange yet familiar lake, surrounded by many trees."
This was it, it really was here!
Lucita couldn't help but knelt and scooped up a handful of water. The scent of grass and mist rose fresh and cool, with a faint sweetness beneath. Her entire body felt lighter, filled with vitality.
Garcia just stood by the lake in a daze.
Lucita had no time to worry about her. She immediately thought to take some water to try on Sophia.
She had only entered the forest for a short while following Garcia before arriving here, indicating this lake was not far from the edge of town. Garcia had lived here so long, there was no reason she wouldn't know it.
But she said "a strange yet familiar lake," indicating she didn't recognize this lake.
Combined with this lake's mysterious "life" scent, Lucita had reason to speculate that this lake must have some special quality. Perhaps it didn't usually exist at all, which was why Garcia had never seen it.
If she didn't take water now, she might very well have to wait for Garcia to dream again.
Garcia didn't dream every day, and Sophia couldn't wait. She needed this water of life for treatment. Moreover, Lucita herself still had the bizarre problem with her sense of smell and needed to take water for further research.
Thinking of this, Lucita looked somewhat helplessly at herself and Garcia. They had come out in their nightgowns and weren't carrying any containers.
Finding materials on the spot in the forest was even more difficult.
If only she had the message feather box, she could directly transfer the water... Wait!
Why not try the spatial talent?
After seeing the message feather box, Lucita had always wanted to try making one like Irene to verify her spatial talent. Now she realized she had walked into a misconception. The message feather box was just a tool. Did pureblooded dragons also rely on message feather boxes to accomplish spatial transfer?
No, they directly used their power!
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