The Greatest Sinner

Evan knew from the actions of the red-haired wolf that most likely the lake among the dandelions had healing properties. He had to check it out, or his wounds would take a long time to heal.

Without hesitation, he quickly took off all his clothes and immersed himself in the lake. In his opinion, it was much more effective than drinking it.

When Evan dipped into the water, he immediately felt a slight tonic effect. A pleasant sensation reverberated throughout his body, especially where he had serious wounds.

<Cool, I hope no one in this forest minds my using the lake this way. Strange place, there is not a drop of mana here, yet the lake has healing properties. I wonder why they haven`t made a notation on the map that it`s such a useful place?>.

Well, Evan had been staying in the healing water for about two hours. During all that time, almost nothing had happened. Small rodents came to the lake, but they didn't even pay any attention to Evan.

<I think it's time to leave. I don't feel any pain from my wounds anymore, they're certainly not completely healed yet, but it will definitely take less time now.>

Evan thought to himself and was about to get out of the water when suddenly a woman's voice was heard behind him, "Hey, guy, who are you and what are you doing here?"

The speaker was a tall girl with purple hair and amber eyes. She was dressed in leather armor and unusual, tall, metal boots with special engraving. The girl's name was Sana Rathmore.

Evan threw his head back, looked at the girl, and with a smile on his face said: " I`m resting. You're certainly not my type, but if you want to get in, too, I don't mind."

The girl frowned and said grudgingly: "You don't seem to know where you are. Not everyone can come in here, you know. Answer my questions quickly!"

The girl's "Warp" twirled and she was already ready to fight.

Her aggression was beyond Evan's comprehension, he had done nothing to make Sana consider him her enemy. Nevertheless, Evan didn't care for the girl's words. He continued to enjoy the healing water and calmly said:

"Do you want to start a fight right here? I don't know what you want from me, I was just passing by and happened to stumble upon this place."

Evan knew little or nothing about the "Valley of the Azure Dandelions", but it was clear that this place was not easy and most likely had a patron. The young man even believed that the area was under the control of some powerful beast, that made sense.

Hearing Evan's words, Sana frowned, and her "Warp" stopped spinning. Evan's words were true- she had no right to be wilful in this place.

"Who are you and why did you come here? I don't like being glared at, so you'd better leave." Evan said slowly.

"It`s actually what I`ve asked you! I'm Sana Rathmore, the "Inner Student"' of the Academy of Magic - "The Last Moon", and I`ve come here on a mission to collect the Azure Dandelions. I've answered all the questions, now it's your turn."

Sana told it like it was. She had nothing to hide, moreover she was proud of her position and wanted to show how much higher she was above Evan so that he would behave more respectfully.

Unfortunately for her, Evan was not impressed by her regalia. He felt that unlike people like Zak or Koen, there was no power coming from Sana. Evan felt that, at worst, they were equal in power.

"I'm just on my way to "The Last Moon", there will be an intake there soon, I guess you know that."

The girl was surprised that Evan was going to the Academy of Magic. Of course, she knew that there would be the intake process soon, but she didn't understand why Evan was alone and why he was here.

Sana wanted to say something, but Evan beat her to it: "By the way, you mentioned the Azure Dandelions, can you tell me what you need to collect them for?"

Evan was curious about the purpose of this unusual plant.

Upon learning that Evan was going to enter "The Last Moon", Sana became more friendly, of course, she still thought she was superior to Evan. She was in her second year at "The Last Moon" and had made good progress even by the standards of the "Inner Students".

"Since you're going to be a student of "The Last Moon" very soon, I'll tell you everything as a senior."

Evan answered nothing, just listened intently to the girl.

"My teacher has given me an assignment to collect some Azure Dandelions - it's quite a rare plant, you can find it in other places, but this valley is the closest to the Academy."

The girl pointed to the lake and said: "I hope you noticed that there isn't a drop of mana in this lake, but the water in this lake greatly speeds up regeneration, and there's a reason for that. It's because of the Azure Dandelions, these special plants absorb mana from the air and the lake, they feed on it. As a reverse effect, they have a positive effect on the environment, especially the water."

Evan turned around and looked carefully at the Azure Dandelions, now he understood how the place was set up.

The young man looked at Sana and pointing to the dandelions calmly said: "I assume they are used for medicinal purposes."

<If a plant, while absorbing mana, could make plain water curative, then it must also be a fine material for medicine itself.> Evan thought, and he was right.

Sana nodded: "Yes, my teacher is now experimenting with various plants and he needed Azure Dandelions. They have very strong healing properties, but they have one disadvantage - while dandelions heal a magician's wound, they take his mana for themselves. As a result, the mage heals all his wounds, but he has to spend a lot of energy to replenish his mana."

<Hmm, and I thought those dandelions were only good for one thing, but if you get rid of that unpleasant side effect, you get a great cure>. Evan thought to himself listening to the girl.

"Unfortunately, we can't take all the Azure Dandelions out of here, the owner of these lands would be very unhappy about that. But these dandelions grow pretty fast, so we replenish our supply in this valley from time to time. By the way, I think you've noticed that there are a lot more Purple Trees here than in other parts of this valley?" Sana said slowly.

Evan just nodded.

Sana continued: "It's still the same effect of the Azure Dandelions. They make the soil here very noble, so all the plants in this area grow surprisingly fast."

"Okay, I see. Well, we've got it all figured out. Now turn around." Evan said calmly.

"А?" Sana didn't understand what Evan was asking her to do.

Splash.

The next moment Evan went out of the water.