Bloodline Evolution: I Can Choose Opposing Paths-Chapter 119: An Old Expedition’s Tales

Stella’s group sat together on one side of the fire, their packs stacked nearby as they quietly organized their equipment. The nervous energy from before still lingered in the air, though now it showed more in the occasional glance toward Aren and Daniel.

Daniel sat comfortably on a fallen log with his legs stretched toward the fire, lazily rotating a stick between his fingers as if he’d already forgotten the entire confrontation.

Aren sat a little further back, resting against a tree while watching the flames. For a while, nobody said anything.

Eventually, Aren broke the silence.

"So," he said calmly, glancing toward Stella across the fire. "Where did you hear about this Miracle Herb?"

The red-haired girl stared into the fire for several seconds, her expression unreadable as the flames flickered across her face.

Daniel glanced up slightly.

"...Yeah," he added casually. "You never actually said where that came from."

One of Stella’s companions shifted uncomfortably beside her, clearly unsure whether they should even be discussing the subject anymore.

"My father had a library," she said quietly.

The answer seemed simple enough, but the way she said it caused Daniel to stop fiddling with the stick.

"A private one," she continued. "Old records, expedition journals...things the family had collected over the years."

Aren tilted his head slightly. "And one of those mentioned the herb?"

Stella nodded slowly.

"One of the pages talked about a Miracle Herb." She reached into her coat and pulled out a folded piece of paper, though she didn’t open it yet.

"The record said it grows somewhere in the Wildlands," she said. "A plant capable of producing elixirs that can restore a dying body."

Daniel’s relaxed posture shifted slightly. "...That sounds a little too convenient."

Stella didn’t react to the comment. Instead, her fingers tightened slightly around the folded paper. "My father is dying."

Daniel looked like we was about to say something before the comment, but closed it instead.

"We’ve tried everything," Stella continued, her gaze still fixed on the fire. "Healers, physicians, alchemists—even Mystic-based treatments."

"None of them could do anything."

She finally unfolded the paper in her hands. "I found the record in his library three weeks ago."

The parchment looked old, the edges worn and slightly yellowed as if it had been copied and recopied over the years. The ink had faded in places, though the writing itself was still clear enough to read.

Daniel leaned forward slightly, curiosity finally replacing the earlier sarcasm.

"Mind if we see it?"

The handwriting was uneven, clearly written by someone traveling rather than sitting comfortably at a desk. A few sections had been smudged by what looked like rain or mud.

"The Wildlands itself is a bizarre place. Storm-ridden lagoons lie beside sunburned highlands, while huge snowy mountains give way to mangrove swamps without warning."

"From the depths of the earth to the highest skies, the Wildlands nurtures strange life. Among its many rumors is that of a crimson sprout found where great flames once fell, warm as living fire and precious beyond measure."

"Yet few who search for this miracle ever return with it. The journals warn that the crimson sprout does not grow freely, for the skies above the Wildlands are said to belong to a burning guardian that does not suffer thieves lightly."

Daniel leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared at the parchment.

"...You know," he said slowly. "That passage never actually says anything about an herb."

Stella’s brows immediately knit together at the comment as her forehead scrunched. "What do you mean?"

Daniel pointed lazily toward the page.

"It says ’crimson sprout’, sure," he said. "But that could mean a lot of things. Travelers write weird stuff in journals all the time."

One of Stella’s companions frowned. "...It literally says sprout."

Daniel shrugged. "Yeah, but it also says it appears where flames fell and that it’s warm like a coal. Plants usually don’t do that."

Stella’s grip on the parchment tightened slightly.

"It’s a metaphor," she insisted. "Old texts wax poetics all the time."

"Plus, what if it’s a plant that holds immense fire energy?"

"You know that’s not possible—" Daniel started.

"How can you determine that?" Stella snapped, cutting him off. "We’re in the freakin’ Wildlands, anything’s possible!"

Daniel blinked once at the sudden outburst.

"...Fair point," he admitted after a moment.

The rest of the camp decided not to argue any further as the senior handed the folded page back to Stella. Aren leaned back slightly against the tree behind him, his gaze drifting toward the fire.

Crimson sprout...

The words replayed quietly in his mind.

The passage had clearly been written by someone who had actually traveled through the Wildlands. The description of the terrain alone was too specific to be some fiction someone invented.

But the rest of it...way too poetic.

Old expedition journals tended to exaggerate things, that much was true. Travelers loved dramatizing their discoveries, especially when they were writing for their sponsors who wanted more than just occasional insect bites.

Warm like a coal drawn from living fire.

Aren frowned slightly.

Plants that stored elemental energy weren’t unheard of. The academies taught about several rare herbs capable of absorbing ambient ether from their surroundings.

But fire? That was different. Most vegetation simply couldn’t survive that kind of affinity.

That was when the drake’s words snapped back into his mind once more, interweaving with the new information he learnt.

Maybe these ’friends’ of hers were strong creatures...could they be the Apex of the different Wildlands territories? And these creatures acted like the ’guardians’ of each section of the lands.

But that’s not possible, because the Mangrove Tyrant wasn’t part of the trio mentioned by the drake.

Unless...it’s not the Apex Monster? 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Aren shook his head. The more he thought about it, the more questions emerged rather than answers.

"...The man who wrote this," Stella said quietly, breaking him out of his thoughts. "He wasn’t just documenting the Wildlands."

"He was sick."

That caught both of their attention as Daniel glanced up immediately. Stella’s fingers tightened slightly around the page.

"He described it in the margins," she continued. "Said his body was failing him. Weakness, constant fatigue...his organs slowly shutting down without any clear cause."

Daniel frowned. "...That just sounds like a terminal illness."

"It wasn’t," Stella said, shaking her head. "He said even doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him either."

She hesitated for a brief moment before continuing. "He called it Ether Poisoning."

Daniel’s brows furrowed. "...Never heard of it."

Stella nodded slightly. "Neither had I."

Her gaze lowered back to the parchment. "But the symptoms matched perfectly."

Aren, who had been leaning back against the tree, slowly straightened.

Ether Poisoning...so some were affected, even all the way back here in the past.

In the future, it had become a more common condition. Mostly because in the present era, physicians haven’t even recognized it as a condition.

Because it only appeared in a very small subset of people—

Those born without a functioning bloodline via recessive genes...or worse...those whose Bloodline had degraded to the point of collapse through each generation.

People like that couldn’t properly circulate ether through their bodies. And without that it...

Their bodies naturally changed. Ambient ether in the air didn’t nourish them...it poisoned them from the inside.

Looking at Stella, who presumably had a Bloodline, Aren assumed that she inherited it more from her mother. And use of it, along with the ether that it caused around the household...

"And I’m assuming your father...?" he asked quietly.

"Has the same symptoms as the man in the logs, yes," she answered his question immediately, almost on the verge of tears.

Aren opened his mouth, but that was when a sudden, strong gust of wind hit his neck.

What the...

BOOM!

A large noise rolled across the lagoon, loud enough to make the ground tremble beneath their feet. A flash of light erupted somewhere far beyond the treeline, bright enough to illuminate the dark skies.

"Wha—what the hell was that?" Stella started

Daniel stood immediately, his eyes already scanning the horizon. "It came from the east...but isn’t that where—?"

"Marcus’ group," Aren finished his sentence.

The clearing fell silent for a heartbeat before everyone moved at once. Daniel grabbed his bag from beside the fire, already slinging the strap over his shoulder while Stella and the others quickly stamped out the flames.

Aren didn’t waste time either. His eyes were already fixed on the distant treeline as he started moving, the others falling in behind him as the group pushed out of the clearing and toward the lagoon’s edge.

Through the gaps in the trees, the distant island was just barely visible now. And above it, a thick column of smoke continued to rise slowly into the night sky.

Daniel narrowed his eyes as they moved. "...That was way too big to be an accident."

Aren’s eyes widened as he realized the energy emitting from the place.

It was cold, and most importantly...

Rotten.