Legendary Shelter Survival Guide

"So... tell me. What triggers you the most?" Lucas sat and took the wall as his support.

"Uhh... Hmm... I don't know." Sarah said after thinking for a minute, her face showed embarrassment and Lucas had understood that clearly.

He got up with a groan of exhaustion and started walking toward her, step by step until he was face to face with her.

Sarah was utterly frozen and didn't know what was happening right now.

Lucas with a straight face took one more step forward, his eyes fixed on Sarah's eyes in an eye lock.

Sarah didn't know what to do so she stayed there, her eyes wavering in response but still stared at Lucas.

"Do you hate this?" Lucas was very close to her face and he could feel her breath on his skin.

For a second, he couldn't believe that her mouth was not smelling like it should but actually had a smoky fragrance. Your next journey awaits at empire

Sarah's breathing went erratic, Lucas's face was just inched away from hers and her mind went totally blank.

"Me invading your personal space... are you getting angry?" Lucas asked with his head tilted, his lips inches away from hers.

Sarah just closed her eyes and in her mind, had already given herself to Lucas.

Even if their lips were not connected, she was feeling a prickly and ticklish sensation on them which almost made her wonder if Lucas had seriously kissed her.

"Nah, it's not working. Let's switch to something else." Lucas said and got away from her.

BADUM BADUM BADUM BADUM

'That was close...' Lucas thought while trying to control his fast heart.

Sarah on the other hand had her cheek twitching in response, after she had built up so much in her mind, seeing Lucas just step back uninterested had hit a nerve even for a shy girl like her.

"What should we try next-"

Lucas stopped in between and stared at Sarah with surprise.

"Your eyes are glowing red! I think it worked! Yes! Hahaha..." Lucas laughed aloud and held both her shoulder jerking them in the process.

The fast blood pumping in her brain cooled down as fast as it started coursing before.

The glow in her eyes vanished and the slightly strong and confident feeling she had in here for a few seconds vanished after seeing Lucas's genuine smile and laughs.

"Oh man, it's gone. What triggered it anyway? Me invading your private space?" Lucas asked in confusion making Sarah blush heard in response.

"I-I don't know!" Sarah said all flustered and took some steps back. "I have to go and practice my a-aim again, s-see you later!"

Before he knew it, Lucas was standing alone near the defense of the shelter.

"What just happened?" Lucas asked himself aloud and even after thinking for a few, he just sighed and went toward his workshop.

Without him knowing, there were two people staring at him as he went, after he was gone, the two individuals looked at each other and chuckled.

"The boy's got rizz, Jerry. Maybe I should give him some of my knowledge about all this." Mike said with a proud humph making Jerry shake his head in denial.

"You think you are all that but I have seen you with women. Heh, Getting a single word out of you would be a miracle in that situation."

Mike grinned and patted Jerry on the shoulder playfully. "Ah, come on, Jerry. You know me too well. I may not be the smoothest with women, but I've got my own charm."

Jerry chuckled, shaking his head again. "Yeah, your 'charm' is something alright. I've seen you try to strike up conversations, and it usually ends up being a mess."

"What do you think?" Jerry moved his head toward the third person sitting with them.

"Well, I think Lucas did something that he himself was not aware of till the last second. He sure is dense." John said and took a sip of the rejuvenation potion with some laughs.

"Whatever, let's just go and train. If he comes to know that we just sat the whole time he was with Sarah, things would get messy."

John continued picking the interests of the other two, after Jerry made one or two more jokes about Mike's shyness toward women, they all went on with their training like before.

Lucas made another planned mana potion and when he saw that the cauldron was now full, he just went to the storage in order to keep the potion in it for helping the shelf life to grow.

"OH MY GOD," Lucas said loud but didn't shout.

'It stinks.' He thought.

When he went inside the shelter and then the storage, he came across bad news.

The blood that they had stored in the buckets had a layer of clot on it and the stink was being relentless on his nose.

Lucas just grabbed the two buckets and slowly pulled them outside as the storage was an enclosed room with no natural ventilation.

It was sometimes difficult to even breathe in there if the door was not open when anyone was inside.

"Ugh... what is that smell?!" Haley exclaimed as just after the blood-filled buckets were out, the stink went everywhere making everyone make a disgusted face.

"It smells like a butchery that is not cleaned for a whole month," Mike remarked which made Lucas wonder whether Mike had worked in a butchery and experienced the smell or he was just giving a random example.

"The blood went bad, it was stinking before too but now it's just too much. We should just dig a hole near the plants and dump it all inside."

Lucas advised and pointed toward the vine plant and the other one. The vine plant had now grown to about 1 meter in length while the other one had just sprouted outside.

The group agreed with Lucas's suggestion and quickly set about digging a hole near the plants. With a fair bit of effort, they managed to dig a suitable pit, ensuring that it was enough from their shelter to avoid the foul smell.

Lucas carefully poured the bad blood into the hole, trying not to spill any on himself.

The stench was overwhelming, and he had to fight the urge to cover his nose. Once the blood was safely disposed of, they covered the pit with dirt, burying the foul-smelling liquid deep in the ground.

"Phew, that's better," Ella said, fanning the air around her face.

"It's still here, might take a few hours to go completely."

"If you think this is too much, maybe you should avoid the storage room completely," Lucas suggested while holding back the urge to make a face that showed the information clearly that the smell was just too much in there.

"Uh... I think the plants like the blood?" Sarah said while looking at the plants.

Lucas at first didn't understand it but when he looked at the vine, it was like nothing else was left to surprise him at this point.

The vine was wiggling very slowly but it was still doing that on its own making Lucas wonder if the blood was doing something bad to the plant.

Lucas observed the vine plant with curiosity as it wiggled slightly. The sight was both fascinating and strange. He had never seen a plant react to its environment in such a manner before.

"It seems like the blood is having some effect on the vine," John mused aloud.

"Perhaps it's using the nutrients in the blood to help grow?" Jerry said with confusion.

"That's possible," Haley chimed in making everyone look at her. "Blood contains various nutrients and minerals that can be beneficial to plants. Maybe that's why the vine is reacting like this."

"That may be true but it shouldn't be this fast and not like this anyway." Sandr blurted with a frown.

"Is there death energy near the plant?"

"No, the blood has nothing attached to it at all."

Lucas nodded thoughtfully. "Well, if it's helping the plant, then maybe it's not a bad idea to use the blood in this way. We can keep the storage room tidy and less smelly and use the blood for the plants this way."

As they discussed the idea further, they decided to continue using the blood for the plants but with caution. They would only use a small amount at a time to prevent any potential negative effects. Lucas also made a mental note to research more about using blood as fertilizer in the future.

It was a very fascinating thing and after all this time, he had finally got a way to use the blood.

He even got the crazy idea to increase the growth pace of the magical and elemental plants and herbs with the help of the blood but there were many other things to observe and act on before Lucas could take a measure like this.

But he didn't have time for now as the canal project was going to start.