Chapter 31: Another Source of Energy.
"How long before this vegetable can produce food for the tribesmen?" Shaman Catori asked Dara.
"In my previous tribe, it usually takes about 2 moons before it produces food, but with this clay soil abundant Life Energy, I think the time will reduce to just 1 and a half moon."
"That is too long, we need to shorten it to at least 1 moon, or some of the tribesmen will starve to death before we can harvest that."
"Well, I can not think of anything else to fasten the speed growth of these vegetables. I think It is better to hunt for monsters more, instead of finding a way to quicken the growth of this vegetable any farther, because this is already the fastest vegetable growth we have ever predicted."
"This is concerning, even if we double the effort for hunting a monster, it is still not enough. With the addition of more than 20 people, the food we need to secure increases too. I thought this planting will immediately solve our food problem, but I guess I am wrong."
All the tribesmen became depressed when they heard this.
"Uhm… if we used water with a lot of Life Energy within, do you think it help lessen the time of the vegetable growth period?" Alfred asked Dara.
"Yes it will help, but like I said we have never seen one before," Dara replied while not looking at Alfred clearly not taking his question seriously.
"Uhm…"
Shaman Catori saw the hesitation on Alfred's face.
"Why young Alfred, do you have some kind of idea?"
Alfred was hesitating to say it in front of the new members of the tribe. Therefore, he walked closer to Shaman Catori, then whisper to her.
"Shaman Catori, you know that I can make water using Rune, so, what if we use that to water these vegetables? The water made by the Rune was a pure Life Energy."
"That is brilliant young Alfred!" Shaman Catori shouted in excitement.
All the people were flabbergasted by Shaman Catori's sudden yell.
"I think we have a way to shorten the vegetable growth period, but I need to talk to the other Elders before we say it. We should go back to the tribe first." Shaman Catori informed the people.
After some time, The Elders, Vir, and Alfred meet up again in Chief Viren's tent.
"What is the important thing you want to discuss Shaman Catori? Is this about the Planting?" Chief Viren asked.
"Yes it is, I think Dara was telling the truth about planting. This planting will be our solution to the tribe's food problem. However, there is some minor problem."
"What is it?" Chief Viren and Elder Ahote asked with concern.
"The first harvest of the plant will take 1 and a half moon."
"That is indeed a problem, some of our tribesmen will starve to death by then." Elder Ahote became more concerned.
"Do not worry, we call this meeting because we have a solution to this problem, but we need your thoughts before we can apply this solution."
"That is great news, why do you need our thoughts on this solution?" Chief Viren relaxed when he heard Shaman Catori already has a solution
"It is about the Rune of young Alfred, if we use the Water Rune to water the vegetable, the growth of the vegetable will fasten. We do not know by how much, but we predict that it will lessen at least by a half moon. So, it will only take within a moon to harvest it.
However, the thing I want both of your thoughts is, should we tell the new members of the tribe about the Rune or should we hide it from them?"
Chief Viren thought deeply before answering.
"I think it is pointless to hide the Rune to the new member, almost all of our tribesmen know about it. Thus, sooner or later, they will be going to find out. It is better if we tell them ourselves instead of them finding it out to other tribesmen. As a result, we can gain their trust more, then the possibility of us being betrayed by them will lessen."
"That is indeed a good suggestion. How about you Elder Ahote?" Shaman Catori agreed with Chief Viren.
"Hmm… I also think what Chief Viren said is a good plan. However, I am concerned about the safety of young Alfred. If they know about Alfred's ability, the possibility of him being targeted if something went wrong will be high.
"I understand, what about you Vir? What do you think about Elder Ahote's worry?" Shaman Catori shifted her attention to Vir.
"Elder Ahote's concern has a possibility to happen, but based on my observation of the new member I still do not see any of them having ill intent towards us. Therefore, I still believe that they are not going to betray us. However, if something like that ever happens, I will make sure to protect Alfred with my Life.
All the Elders nodded to Vir's determined answer.
"If we can not make a decision, then young Alfred you decide, it is your own safety. So, it is just right that you make the final decision." Chief Viren asked.
Alfred was a little nervous, this was the first time he would make a decision for the tribe.
"Like Chief Viren said it is pointless to hide it, then I guess this is my first sacrifice for the tribe. My decision is to tell them about the Rune."
Everyone inside the tent smiled, even Vir who rarely did so, smiled when he heard that Alfred was willing to risk his safety for the benefit of the tribe. Elder Ahote was happy that Alfred was thinking of the tribe. Still, he was concerned about his safety and just couldn't help but worried about this decision.
After the meeting, Shaman Catori, Vir, and Alfred call the new member of the tribe again to show them the Rune. All of them had an exact reaction like the tribesmen when they saw the Rune for the first time, even the tribesmen watching were still fascinated by the Runes even though they had seen it multiple times.
Dara has a lot of questions about the Rune. However, Shaman Catori stopped her.
"This is not the time to answer your question, I want to know if the water made from Rune will have a benefit to the vegetables?"
Dara halt her curiosity about the Rune for now and examined the water That Alfred made using Rune.
"This… This is incredible! This water has so much Life Energy! It is Almost like this water is a Life Energy itself! With this water, I think we can lessen the growth period of the vegetable with just a moon, no, a half-moon!" Dara exclaimed.
Dara shifted her attention to Alfred.
"How much of this water can you make a day?"
"It depends on how much Monster Blood we have, as you can see, I use Monster Blood to activate the Rune. However…"
Alfred looked at Shaman Catori.
"Shaman Catori what do you think if I use the Beast Blood? Do you think it will have a much better result than the Monster Blood?"
Shaman Catori shook her head.
"I do not think so, what you need to activate the Rune is the Life Energy inside the Monster Blood, Beast Blood does not have Life Energy within. because all the Life Energy inside its body will condense to a Life Stone once they form it, that is why Beast Blood is useless to you."
'Hmm… interesting, so that is why the beast core is the best source of Life Energy.' Alfred thought to himself.
After thinking, Alfred looked at Shaman Catori again.
"Another thing, I have a Theory in my head, what if we use the Life Energy inside us to activate the Rune? Do you think that might work? Just imagine if it works, we do not need to rely upon Monster Blood too much to activate the Rune.
Also, by repeatedly using our own Life Energy to activate the Rune, we will be able to strengthen our Life Energy and increase the capacity of Life Energy we can store inside our body, It is a win-win situation."
Shaman Catori thought deeply to process the Theory of Alfred.
"That is… a bright idea and very plausible. However, only those who reach the '3rd Stage Energy Coating' can do this Theory of yours. Still, if this Theory of yours works, it will revolutionize the use of Life Energy and it will become very beneficial to our tribe." Shaman Catori excitedly said when she realized the potential of Alfred's Theory.
Shaman Catori moved her eyes to Vir, she ordered him to try the Theory by using his Life Energy to coat the Rune on the Dirt. Vir immediately followed the order, he walked closer to the Rune, touched it, then control his Life Energy to coat the Rune.