Chapter 52: Goodberry

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Divine Berry Technique, a first-level transformation spell.

Upon casting the spell, up to ten berries can be conjured before the caster.

These berries remain for twenty-four hours, infused with magical energy throughout the spell’s duration. When consumed by a creature, they heal minor wounds.

Most importantly—

A single berry created by the Divine Berry Technique suffices to meet a human’s entire daily nutritional needs.

Li Rui picked up the ten plump berries shimmering faintly with magical light and brought them close to his nose, inhaling gently.

The subtle yet distinct fragrance of fruit instantly overwhelmed the earthy stench and dust lingering inside the triangular cage.

“Glug.”

After eating one of the berries produced by the Divine Berry Technique, a warmth spread through his stomach. The weakness brought on by days of relentless hunger was somewhat alleviated, and his stiff, heavy body felt marginally lighter.

He hurriedly grabbed another berry and pressed it into Milly’s mouth.

“Milly! Wake up! We have food now!”

But Milly’s face was pallid, her breathing so faint it was nearly imperceptible. She seemed plunged into a deep coma.

After food was placed in her mouth, she made no further movement.

At this point, Li Rui couldn’t afford to be cautious.

He chewed the berry in his mouth, then carefully leaned over and fed Milly the berry pulp mixed with juice mouth-to-mouth, gently pressing her throat to stimulate a swallowing reflex.

“Mm…”

After swallowing the berry juice, Milly, who had been barely breathing, responded with a faint moan from deep within her throat.

Yet it was still insufficient—her breathing steadied, but she did not awaken.

Without hesitation, Li Rui chewed another berry and repeated the process.

This time the effect was more pronounced. Milly’s nearly halted breath grew a bit heavier.

Her eyelids twitched, struggling to open a narrow slit, revealing bewildered, vacant eyes before closing again weakly.

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Still not enough, Li Rui fed her a third berry.

This time, Milly’s throat moved distinctly, and she began swallowing voluntarily.

As more nourishing, healing berries entered her body, her functions visibly recovered—breathing steadied, her skin regained color, her temperature rose to normal, and finally, by her own strength, she managed to sit up.

Her mobility returned, though she appeared dazed, as though still not fully awake from her near-death slumber.

“Milly, listen to me.”

Li Rui gripped her shoulders, his voice trembling with excitement. “I’ve awakened the Divine Berry Technique! The berries I fed you just now—they provide all the nutrition we need for a whole day, and they heal wounds! See? We survived!”

“Now, we have water and food. We have hope again!”

“We can keep using Ice Spike to collect more water, thickening the gel layer. Once it’s thick enough to fill this entire space, we’ll break the weakest part of the rock wall’s edge so this space will continue to fall!”

“As long as the gel layer is thick enough, like a cushion wrapping us, we can withstand the impact of falling again and survive to reach the space below!”

Yet Milly, after hearing this, slowly rolled her eyes. Her gaze swept past Li Rui’s hopeful face and settled back on the cold rocks beneath her.

Her expression was blank—no joy, no hope, only deathly stillness and relentless numbness. After suffering starvation to the brink of death, her face seemed frozen, utterly devoid of emotion.

“Li Rui,” she said, widening her eyes, her gaze fixed and unwavering, with a tone sluggish and stiff, “come here.”

Seeing her like this, Li Rui felt something was off.

Why… did she look like she was about to “do something big” — or get into serious trouble?

He recalled Milly’s earlier words about each giving the other a fatal wound and dying together here.

Alarm bells rang in his mind—No! Sis! Let’s not be impulsive, okay?

He glanced sideways at the long dagger at Milly’s left waist, then deliberately sat on her right, looping his left hand around her waist to grab the dagger’s hilt, ensuring she couldn’t suddenly attack.

“Alright, I’m coming. What do you want to say…”

Only when she grabbed his head and forcefully kissed him did Li Rui suddenly remember Milly’s earlier words before talking about mutual death, and he relaxed.

‘It’s not such a big deal. I thought she was going to stab me.’

He used both hands to swiftly untie the bindings holding the long dagger at Milly’s waist and tossed it aside.

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The colloidal fluid connected to his body spread across the ground, then he pulled her cold body tightly into an embrace.

“Don’t be nervous,” he gently patted her stiff back. “I’ll give you a good experience, I promise.”

In the darkness, Milly first emitted a suppressed, soft groan, followed by intermittent sounds, eventually transforming into a wild, frantic roar, like a wounded beast!

………………

Painful.

So painful.

Li Rui felt as if he had become a numb machine, living each day in unbearable torment.

Every morning, or more often when Milly, trapped in a restless state, forcefully woke him, he had to expend the once-daily-use Divine Berry Technique to create the divine berries that nourished and healed them.

After swallowing the life-sustaining berry, Milly clung to him like a lifeline.

She had come to see Li Rui as the sole light in this endless darkness—a necessary support for her fragile, near-breaking spirit.

She greedily absorbed his faint warmth and presence, desperately seeking some form of forbidden solace, as if pouring out all her accumulated fear and despair until utterly spent, her consciousness slipping into chaotic darkness before she would relent.

Meanwhile, Li Rui hammered away at the cracks, trying to narrow the triangular cage’s opening, hoping to shift it into a state where it might continue falling downward.

If his knocking disturbed Milly, she wouldn’t hesitate to drag him back and demand with fierce, near-possessive urgency.

In this dynamic, Li Rui, weaker of the two, felt utterly drained, as if he had become a mere vessel to fill some abyss.

Nearly dead once, Milly seemed to have lost control over her facial muscles; normally, she showed no expression, her voice cold as if freezing.

But once in that state, her face twisted in an instant, her shouts wild and high-pitched, raw and fragmented—almost inhuman.

Days of hardship passed, and finally, a turning point came.