The Twelve Apocalypses: A Damned Soul's Path to the Abyss

It took me and Mia most of our four-day downtime to pick up each other's techniques.

Her rush to master Mana Manipulation: Body Strengthening (Basic) was reckless at best. Even with my support, she almost pushed too hard, playing at the very edge of grievous self-harm. Thankfully, she wrapped up her training with only a plethora of new bruises.

If anyone knew we were spending time together only for her to walk away looking like a patchwork quilt of black, purple, blue and red skin, I'd probably be reported somewhere. Or maybe not, seeing as the Abyss had an altogether different view on such things compared to my old world.

But by the time we parted ways, she was able to start up and maintain a very basic level of strengthening for an hour or two. Further progression was up to her. It was just a matter of extending her control through frequent practice, and growing her mana reserves. For more chapters visit novｅlfire.net

Of course, I also gave her the key to achieving that growth.

It was on day two of our training, when she was hissing and snarling about her limited mana, that I approached the subject.

"Say, on the topic of mana capacity, do you maybe have a mana accumulation technique?" I tried to sound casual, but judging from the way she suddenly snapped her eyes to me, I failed.

"No." She said the word slowly and deliberately, eyes boring into me. "Do you?"

I tried to suppress a smirk, and failed again. "I do."

She huffed and turned away from me, left eye twitching as her tail and ears kicked up a storm. "Of course you do. Next, you'll tell me you have a way to advance your ascension without spending souls. Because all the luck we recruits were due seems to have ended up in your hands."

I rolled my eyes at her. Sure, I did get 'lucky' when I reaped Clarinette's soul. But I had paid dearly for that luck, hadn't I? If not for Bronwynn's expert application of healing salve, who knew if I would still be in a place to teach Mia and receive her snark?

Then again, Bronwynn's help was also a stroke of luck, even if I had to annoy him into liking me first.

Maybe Mia had a point.

"Well… would you like to learn that, too?" I asked. This time, I grinned openly at her intense glare.

"Are you joking? Because if you're just taunting me, I swear I will—"

"No! I'm not taunting you. Still, either you trade another technique, or you pay me in souls. I'm warning you, though, the mana accumulation technique isn't going to be cheap."

I was absolutely not going to budge on that point. Yes, contrary to my own desires, I was starting to like her. No, that didn't mean I was going to hand over a priceless tool for free.

I had my own ambitions to feed.

"I've been saving, but I… don't have much," Mia admitted, shuffling awkwardly.

I didn't say anything, but I wasn't surprised. The woman was decked out in scavenged armor that only partially matched her style, unlike my own gleaming set. She was also rather impressed by all the luxuries of Apple Infernal. She had tried to hide it, but once she got over the shock of my attack and our exchange, I could tell she was rather taken by the place. To me, that meant she was used to more dingy accommodations.

"I understand," I said. "But I'm also pretty sure you understand what I'm offering here. This isn't some two-bit technique you can pick up off the first soul you claim. If you want this one, you would need to kill a mage. Not only are those hard to find, they also don't die easy. Trust me."

Mia started gnawing on her lower lip, giving me a rare glimpse of her fangs.

Eventually, as I knew she would, she caved.

"Fine. I can offer, at most, three hundred souls. And I'll have you know you're cleaning me out," she hissed, real indignation on her face. "I was trying to save those up for my ascension."

I winced. It was not realistic, but a part of me had been hoping I'd get enough to ascend into a full demon then and there.

Still, I gave her my best smile. "Deal."

Teaching her the Illsent Mana Accumulation (Greater) technique was a little easier, ironically. It built on many of the same principles as body strengthening. Mia just needed the unique mana weaves and manipulation patterns to guide the mystical force into a core and force it to merge there.

So, at the end of our transactions, Mia walked away with two techniques, and I walked away with one. What a technique it was, though.

The Hunter's Clouded Steps was a mouthful, but the technique was precisely as impressive as Mia advertised. Frankly, I got the better end of our deal, since her technique's complexity was far beyond my basic body strengthening.

To pull off the steps technique, I had to adjust my mana to a very specific frequency, then make it stick to my skin in a complicated weave. And that was just part one. For part two, I needed to conjure a rune inside my mana core, then extend tendrils of my mana and duplicate the rune where I wanted my illusory clone to appear. Alternatively, it was possible to leave 'echoes' of the rune behind where I stood, but I still needed to link it to myself using mana tendrils, and that was somehow throwing me off more than just conjuring the rune remotely.

Theoretically, I could teleport between the runes using their connected resonance. But while Mia had taught me the theory of how to do that, not even she could pull it off yet.

Me? By the time our downtime was through, I only just managed to summon a single illusory clone while using the technique.

Of course, I didn't focus solely on our training. Several times over the four days, I snuck out of the Apple Infernal and visited the Absorption Station. Three hundred extra souls gave me some leeway in how I could handle things.

Part of me wanted to shove all three hundred souls into the ascension meter, but then the words of my commander echoed in my mind. Glaustro warned me not to hoard souls in a rush to ascend. If I threw these three hundred at ascension, I would be doing just that.

After all, I wasn't even going to start putting souls into ascension until I could hit 100% on that meter in one go, so 800 souls wouldn't get me there. Not that I had 800 souls. I had 3 lesser souls, 304 basic tier souls, and 48 greater souls to my name. So, 784 souls, all told.

I forced myself to be sensible. No hasty moves toward ascension. I didn't rush to absorb that one greater soul that had caught my eye, either.

Instead, I used my limited time and endurance to add more layers to my mana core. In four days, I managed to add another two layers at the low, low cost of three mana crystals. That put me at four mana core layers, just a step away from hitting five. One more layer and I would progress from apprentice mage to basic mage, with all the benefits that rank entailed.

I tried to be satisfied with this. I told myself I was being wise by not being overeager. Every day was an excruciating battle between my patience and my ambition.

On the final day, ambition won.

I had already completed my mana accumulation for the day, stopping just when the sensation of handling mana turned into an uncomfortable inner ache. I knew I should just pack up and leave the station, but my eyes kept drifting to my soul purse.

The number of souls in there kept beckoning to me, their potential tempting me beyond reason.

Just a couple towards ascension. Just to see what the process is like.

I lied to myself with surprising ease. Then, with a smile on my lips, I reached into the purse and drew out one of the basic souls. So much for being rational.