Chapter 90 - 89 Gifts For Lilia
After another long round of hugging and crying Lilia eventually released Marcus and looked at him with a slightly conflicted expression.
He was still in the guise of her big sister, but she knew that he was not actually her. However, he did know intimate details of her life with Irene, and she could feel that he was genuine.
Lilia stared at Marcus for a good long minute before slapping her face and putting on a bright smile. She had thought she had no one left in life since her entire family was dead, but since a fragment of her sister still lived on in Marcus, she felt as if he was a new member of her family.
"So should I call you big brother or big sister?"
Marcus stared happily at Lilia as he really did feel like she was his little sister and the acknowledgement she was giving him warmed his heart.
"Well, when we are around other people it would be best if you referred to me depending on my form but when we are alone, I would prefer big brother."
Lilia then happily started saying big brother over and over but after the initial excitement wore off her body remined her that she was still not in peak condition, as she lost her balance and fell over back onto the mat she was sleeping on.
Worried Marcus quickly got up to check on her but found that she was just exhausted.
"Are you doing okay Lilia, if you are feeling unwell, I can try casting a few more spells on you to make you better."
Lilia shook her head before saying, "No I am just tired I will feel better after some rest could you tell me some stories about yourself."
Nodding his head yes Marcus began telling her about his previous life on Earth about how the world was very different from the one they were on now. After about ten minutes of telling her about himself Marcus noticed that Lilia had fallen back asleep.
Marcus then pulled the blankets around over her and added his own just to make sure she stayed warm.
Once he was certain Lilia was comfortable Marcus got up and exited the tent finding the woman who had been taking care of Lilia.
When she saw him, she said, "Is she okay, she cried for so long I was being to get worried."
"Yeah, she just needed to work out her feelings and I helped her along, again thank you for helping her out, and if you would not mind could you tell me your name.:
A bit surprised by Marcus' request she realized that she had never introduced herself since Marcus had frightened her during their first meeting.
"Sorry I should have introduced myself much earlier, my name is Janice."
"Okay Janice I know this may be an inconvenience for you, but I will be staying the night with Lilia to make sure she recovers, would you be able to find somewhere else to sleep tonight."
"That might be difficult, the tents are full to capacity, and it was difficult enough for me to convince them only to put the two of us in this tent without another roommate."
Understanding her dilemma Marcus took out ten gold and handed it over to Janice and then said, "Here take this and I am sure that you can find somewhere else to sleep for the night."
Janice stared at the ten gold coins in her hands with utter shock, since she was holding more money than most people would make in a year.
Nodding her head, she went off with a smile on her face figuring she could probably get a tent to herself with just one gold.
With that problem solved Marcus entered back into the tent and watched over Lilia. During that night Lilia would often wake up in a cold sweat and Marcus would give her some water and food before lulling her back to sleep with stories about himself.
When the night was over, Marcus told Lilia to wait in the tent while he prepared breakfast for her.
Heading to the kitchen tent, Marcus slipped in using his ghost form and stared collecting ingredients to make a soup for Lilia.
Once he had collected a good assortment of vegetables and even some meat, Marcus floated back to the tent where he reappeared in front of Lilia giving her a bit of a shock.
Once Lilia had recovered from Marcus' sudden entrance he took out his cooking pot lifted it off the ground with his spectral hand and placed his floating lantern spell under it to boil water.
After adding a bunch of the ingredient Marcus had swiped from the kitchen, he took out a few of the natural treasures he had obtained from the chest in the dungeon and added them to the soup.
He added some stalks of blue grass along with what looked to be a completely yellow leek, as well as other assorted natural treasures.
After about thirty minutes Marcus figured that the soup was ready since it was giving off a lovely aroma.
Filling a bowl to the brim Marcus handed the soup over to Lilia and said, "Here you go breakfast is served."
Lilia took the bowl in her hands and blew on the hot soup before taking a big gulp of the broth.
When the soup entered her mouth Lilia was incredibly surprised finding that this was the best thing she had ever eaten.
She quickly downed the first bowl of the soup and when she was finished held it out towards Marcus who quickly refilled it.
Of course, Lilia did not realize that her stats had already doubled from the natural treasures she had eaten since she was only level three.
After he made sure Lilia had eaten all of the natural tressures in the soup Marcus took out a certain potion from his item box and handed it over to Lilia.
"Here drink this, it will make you stronger and it actually has a pretty good taste."
Taking the potion Lilia began drinking it and felt a warm feeling well up inside her as the rainbow-colored liquid went down her throat.
She actually began glowing slightly as the stat boosting potion did its magic and increased all of Lilia's stats by ten.
Lilia could feel the strength welling up inside of her and looked at Marcus and asked, "What did you just give me it feels similar to when I leveled up but even stronger."
Shrugging his shoulders Marcus said, "I just gave you a spare stat boosting potion I had on me, that way you should be able to take care of yourself better from now on."
Lilia looked at Marcus in shock, even if she was just a young girl from the country, she still knew how rare it was to have any thing that boosted ones stats. She then remembered the feeling she had while eating the soup and how Marcus made sure she finished off certain items in it.
As she looked at Marcus Lilia began crying again since this gesture showed how much he really cared for her.
"Are you sure you wanted to give these to me, they must have been incredibly valuable, you could have sold them for enough money to live on for the rest of you life or used them yourself."
Shacking his head Marcus said, "I have plenty of money right now, and I already maxed out my limit for now so giving them to you makes the most sense. I cannot always be around to protect you so I need to do my best to make sure you can take care of yourself. Ah speaking of making you stronger I have one more thing for you."
Marcus then took out the two skill orbs he had left from the monster festival that gave someone access to their best magic skill and best weapon skill.
Handing them over to Lilia Marcus said, "I have no need for either of those, so you go ahead and use them."
Lilia held the skill orbs in her hands before activating them and absorbing the power held within them.
Of course, even though she obtained the new skills she could not effectively use them since she did not have the corresponding weapon or the magic circulation skill necessary to use magic.
"So, Lilia what did you get out of the skill orbs was it something good."
Nodding her head Lilia responded saying, "I got a weapon skill called gauntlet fighter, superior and the force magic skill."
Marcus looked at Lilia impressed not only did she mange to have the talent to have a superior weapon skill, but Marcus figured that force magic was also incredibly rare.
"That is great to hear Lilia, I am glad you managed to get some good skills. Unfortunately, I need to get to work to resolve this crisis. I am sure you know what is going on and I have to help out since I am strong. Once everything is over, I will come back, and we can discuss what we are going to do next."
Lilia looked a bit sad to see Marcus go but she knew he had his own things to do and was happy to wait for him to come back.
'I never planned or wanted to take care of her which is why I sent her ahead in the first place but, when I saw her again and she was sick I could not just leave her. She remined me too much of my own sister back on Earth, and the part of Irene within me could not bare to leave her alone.. I suppose I can look after her until she is ready to live on her own, but first I need to resolve this crisis so I can continue on to the capital.'