Volume 1 – 25. Contemplation
After bathing, they dried themselves off and changed back into their clothes.
Lucien’s coat was still damaged from yesterday’s fight, the torn fabric along the thigh and chest left unattended because he’d been too exhausted to deal with it at the time. He planned to fix or replace it later today.
Before that, however, he sat together with Seren in the living room to check her Corruption level again.
“This is simply astonishing…”
Even if her expression remained mostly restrained as usual, Lucien could still hear the faint disbelief in Seren’s voice.
Inside the ceramic dish filled with reagent solution and several drops of her blood, the liquid had turned a light yellow color instead of yesterday’s medium amber.
“How much did it drop?” Lucien asked, despite already knowing the answer himself.
“Definitely more than ten percent,” Seren replied immediately. A small, uncharacteristically bright laugh escaped her afterward. “I’ve already reached Stage 1-A. Judging from the intensity, my Corruption should be around ten percent or close to it now.”
Lucien found himself smiling slightly at the sight of her obvious amazement.
Even with the help of Zoḗgennis, recovering from Stage 1-C to Stage 1-A normally required around six to twelve seasons of treatment spread across four weeks. With Lucien, it had only taken two sessions in two days for the level to fall this far.
Even he was surprised by how effective it had become, though he already suspected the reason why.
It’s definitely because our relationship tier increased…
The amount of time they had spent on treatment yesterday and today was roughly the same. The difference was that, according to the System, yesterday’s purification efficiency had only been twenty-five percent, while today’s had risen to fifty.
Yesterday, he had reduced her Corruption from around thirty-one percent to twenty-three. Sleeping together naked afterward had lowered it by another two percent overnight. Lucien briefly opened the System again to double-check the updated result after their intimacy session in the bath.
[Purification Record]
Target: Seren Aldrekvel
Initial Corruption: 21.15%
Final Corruption: 10.55%
CP Gained: 105
XP Gained: 40
[End of Profile]
Lucien then switched over to his own Status screen.
This time, however, he tried deliberately concealing several sections to see whether the System would even allow it—and it would.
[Status]
Name: Lucien Mordren
Age: 22
Race: Half-Inferni (Abyssally Infected)
Level: 2
Experience Points (XP): 154 / 200
Corruption Points (CP): 133 / 200
Skill Points (SP): 0
Passive Skills:
[Corruption Detection] – Allows detection of corruption levels within a 50-meter radius.
[Enhanced Physiology] – Body adapted through Covenant training. +20% Regeneration Speed, +15% Stamina
Active Skills:
[Shadow Tendril] (Lv.1) – Manifest 1 tendril with a 4m reach and strong grappling strength
[Void Cloak] (Lv.1) – -30% chance to be detected in dim light or shadow
***
Lucien leaned back slightly against the chair as he studied the screen in silence.
At this point, replenishing CP honestly wasn’t difficult as long as he had someone whose Corruption he could treat. On top of that, the passive daily gain from either the environment or people he had Marked steadily added more over time.
The real issue was his CP Capacity—it was too small.
Thankfully, he was already close to leveling up. From what he had read, reaching the next level would increase his CP Capacity by another hundred points, grant one Skill Point, improve overall physical stats by ten percent, strengthen Corruption Resistance, increase passive CP regeneration, and unlock a free skill every five levels.
For a brief moment, he was genuinely tempted to convert one hundred CP into a single SP and purchase Corruption Strike to unlock Tier II Abyssal Combat, which would also give him access to Shadow Step afterward.
In the end, however, he restrained himself.
If he did that now, he would only have enough CP left for three uses of Shadow Strike throughout the entire day. Shadow Strike was simply too useful for him to give up so carelessly.
His gaze shifted toward Void Strike instead, his expression flattening slightly.
I thought you’d end up being more useful than Shadow Strike, he thought with a quiet sigh. Clearly, I was wrong.
After a moment, Lucien dismissed the System screen and shifted his attention back toward Seren.
“Where’s Edric?”
“Father should be out shopping right now,” Seren replied, tilting her head slightly in curiosity. “Are you planning to talk about the reward?”
“Partially.”
Yesterday, Edric had promised to give Lucien additional Weave Instruments if he managed to reduce Seren’s Corruption to Stage 1-A or even completely purify it someday. There was one instrument in particular Lucien wanted. He also needed to recharge his Deflection Band.
Lucien glanced out the window, where the pale morning light filtered quietly into the street outside.
“But still, it’s pretty early for shopping.”
Seren gave a small nod, calmly folding her hands on her lap.
“If you’re buying materials, earlier is better. The lines get too long later on.”
“Ah. Right.” Lucien let out a dry little smile.
Personally, he rarely had to deal with problems like that. His status as a Twilight Covenant member made many things considerably easier.
“I’ll probably head out soon too.”
“Where?”
A faint trace of concern entered Seren’s expression.
“Just buying new clothes,” Lucien replied casually, glancing down at the damaged state of his coat. “Preferably before the next bell rings. Even if I have a permit to move around the Merchant Quarter, the stares still get a little annoying.”
“Where exactly?”
“Prosperity Lane. There’s this shop called the Silver Thimble.”
Seren fell quiet for a few seconds, seemingly thinking something over.
“…Can I come with you?”
Lucien hesitated slightly.
The Silver Thimble also functioned as one of the Twilight Covenant’s message exchange points. He had planned to check whether there were any assignments or messages waiting for him before eventually replacing parts of his armor in the Eastern Slums. Bringing Seren along complicated that a little.
Well… it’s probably fine, he decided after a moment. Outsiders wouldn’t notice anything anyway.
“Sure.”
***
Nothing particularly special happened during the trip there. They simply chatted casually along the way while Seren deliberately guided Lucien through the less crowded streets to make him more comfortable.
Lucien noticed it after a while and glanced at her briefly, silently appreciating the gesture.
But while nothing noteworthy happened on the way there or inside the Silver Thimble itself, the same couldn’t be said for when they were about to head back.
“Oh? Look who’s here.”
“Urk—”
Lucien’s shoulders stiffened slightly the moment he recognized the voice.
They had run into Ava.
The dark elf stood near the storefront with one hand resting on her hip, amusement already visible in her crimson eyes. A faint grin tugged at her lips as she looked between the two of them.
Beside him, Seren turned toward Lucien with a questioning look, her gaze silently asking, Who is she?
“Hey, what’s with that reaction?” Ava laughed, clearly entertained. “Aren’t we partners?”
“Right,” Lucien muttered awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment.
Honestly, he wouldn’t have reacted like that if Seren weren’t here. He was more worried about how Seren would handle Ava’s blunt and overly direct personality.
“Sorry. Are you here to deal with your clothes too?” Lucien asked, trying to steer the conversation somewhere safer.
“Something like that.” Ava glanced at the damaged fabric around her shoulder, looking faintly dissatisfied. “I’m still a lady who cares about her appearance, you know. It’s a shame yesterday’s mess left it like this.”
“I’m sorry.”
Lucien lowered his head slightly as he answered. There really wasn’t anything else he could say besides an apology. Yesterday’s mistake had been entirely his fault.
Ava then shifted her attention toward Seren, openly observing her from head to toe without much subtlety. Seren straightened faintly under the scrutiny.
“So who’s this?” Ava asked with a teasing grin. “Your new chick?”
“My name is Seren,” Seren replied firmly. A slight frown appeared on her face, her irritation at Ava’s attitude was clear. “I’m Lucien’s friend. And who exactly are you to him?”
“Heh.” Ava smirked, seemingly amused by the response instead of bothered by it. “Didn’t I already say it? I’m his work partner.”
Lucien exhaled quietly before shaking his head a little.
“Her name’s Ava,” he explained to Seren with a small, restrained smile. “She’s the one who helped me with my job yesterday.”
“Wow, acting like that after everything we did together yesterday?” Ava placed a hand against her chest dramatically. “You completely overwhelmed me.”
The way she said it carried a suspiciously suggestive undertone despite the fact that nothing of the sort had actually happened.
“Come on now…”
Lucien glanced sideways at Seren with hesitation, already expecting some kind of misunderstanding. To his mild surprise, Seren merely let out a quiet sigh.
“No need to look so concerned, Lucien,” she said calmly. “I’m accustomed to Inferni saying bizarre things without shame.”
“Ah, that’s boring.”
Ava shrugged with a disappointed click of her tongue, though the grin tugging at her lips made it obvious she simply enjoyed making people flustered.
Lucien let out a short laugh.
“Well, that’s good.”
After a brief pause, Lucien turned to Seren.
“By the way, would you mind if I brought Ava to your house?” he asked. “There are a few things related to her that I need to discuss with your father.”
“I don’t mind.” Seren shifted her gaze toward Ava, her expression calm again. “That depends on her.”
Ava raised a brow, curiosity immediately appearing on her face.
“Hm? What kind of things related to me?”