บท 34: Arc 2.8 Reborn?

Basil closed his eyes, his throat astringent. It was too late.

Basil had not always been like this. When he was much younger, he had a lot of hopes and dreams, he had always wished for those who hurt him to apologize to him, it was supposed to make him feel better. He would forgive them, but they had to apologize first to him, apologize for all the bad things that they had done to him. He longed for their remorse and apology, craved it even but it never came.

Basil had always wanted the light elves to accept him as one of their own. When he had reached eighteen years, he had chosen to be a healer, hoping that by healing people, the light elves would see him as similar to them, as equal but that was just a fool's dream.

Acceptance, apologies, and respect finally came but only when he was standing above them all. The power of the light elves allowed them to cast the dark elves to hell and his power allowed him to raise them back to heaven. He scoffed, the same dark elves that would later betray him. And even when Elvina had found his wounded self, he had looked behind her at the familiar faces hoping for some kind of remorse or apology, he had found none.

He knew better now, both dark and light elves were the same. He did not care about them anymore, he did not need any sort of validation or apology from anyone, he had no revenge or ambition in mind, he just wanted to be stronger. Defeat Elvina and Devour her power, the consequences to this world be damned.

Basil lifted his eyes up, there were once again, calm without a ripple, like a pool of stagnant water.

"You have not done anything to me so there is nothing to forgive you for."

Shen Jiyu smiled, accepting the other's forgiveness naturally. In light of his good mood, he pointed to a small flower by the branch of a pine tree, "A gift for you. That is a moonfruit, its seed causes dizziness but the flower when ground together and mixed with the sap of the palm tree can create a paste that is particularly good for healing cuts."

Basil was a little surprised, but he did not think much of it, he just bowed his head and said softly, "It is not right. You are meant to supervise us, if you help me then it is cheating."

Shen Jiyu smiled and flew up; he plucked the sea-green petals of the flower before he landed beside Basil and threw the flowers into his basket. "You are too kind. Don't you feel unfair, other students are grouped into three, but you are all alone. If I help you, you should accept it naturally, it is right."

Basil did not say a word, but he did not return the flower rather causing Shen Jiyu to smile at his obedience. Shen Jiyu leaned against a tree watching the other walk left and right as he searched for herbs for the class field assignment.

Basil was beautiful; however, his countenance was gloomy and a little cold but whenever he bent down or flew up to pluck a herb, his face was strangely soft and at ease. It was fascinating to watch him, and it was hard for Shen Jiyu to tear his gaze away from him. After harvesting from his environment, Basil moved deeper into the forest and Shen Jiyu followed him.

Shen Jiyu closed his eyes and his perception spread, connecting to the wooden birds. This did not pose any difficulty for him at all, and he accepted the group of students to make sure that they were alright. Seeing that there was no problem, he maintained a steady constant link before he looked back at Basil, they were in front of a large red grape tree. The red grapes were large and beautiful, their colors lustrous, inviting someone to take a bite.

Basil suddenly flew up and plucked several fruits before landing beside Shen Jiyu. He put his hand in his basket to bring out one of the grapes to give Shen Jiyu when he suddenly froze. He did not want to do it all of a sudden.

He looked at the tall handsome male from the corner of his eyes, Haldir was till looking at him, there was a smile at the corner of his eyes, like what he was seeing made him very happy, compared to his pained look earlier, Basil felt like he seemed to shine brighter when he was happy. The thought made him ridiculous all of a sudden.

He was about to kill this person, why does it matter how much Haldir glowed when he was happy?

His argent eyes were dark and deep as his fingers tightened round the grape. Why was he hesitating?

Shen Jiyu boasted to Xiao Shu, "Isn't Basil particularly kind, first he had given him Nuwood and now he had even gotten red grapes for him?"

"Is that for me?" Shen Jiyu's eyes glowed and he opened his mouth waiting for Xiao Shu to deliver the fruit to him. His expression made Basil's heart skip several beats and he frowned.

This was not good. Basil steeled his mind and he looked at those beautiful pink lips that were wide open and he lifted a red grape when Shen Jiyu suddenly grabbed his hand.

"No! Wait!" Shen Jiyu was a little panicked and embarrassed.

Basil dropped the red grape back into the basket, "You don't want to eat anymore."

Shen Jiyu wanted to give himself a knock. He had studied under Immortal Alchemist Yu Yan for five hundred years, what would people say when they find out that he had made a rookie mistake. "Basil, by the Dao, I almost died right now. If red grapes are ingested after taking Nuwood, it would lead to a fatal death within one week."

Basil's calm eyes finally rippled, and it widened, filled with surprise, "This information was something that he had found out when he entered the prized, ancient archives of the dark elves. It had been one of his favorite methods before it became known, and the elves stopped taking red grapes."

How had this elf known? His eyes narrowed suddenly. Could it be that he was not the only one who was reborn?