Chapter 6 - Alchemist Isa
Liesel rolled her shoulder as she walked over the center of the sparring stage. There were a few observers of the guild to assess her strength, observing her from a thick windowed room.
“Are you sure you don’t want to withdraw?” Her opponent grinned. He was not overtly rude. Naturally, a Consolidated Core Ascendant wouldn’t consider her a Nebulous Core—or coreless cripple, if disregarding the polite language, as his opponent. They were two ranks apart from one another, but for an inexperienced fighter, that might as well have been a climb from the netherworld to the Celestial Heavens.
Liesel shrugged. Of course, a nebulous-ranked mercenary didn’t earn anything, so she wanted to be registered as Iron Rank, which would usually be where Consolidated Core stood, and without any way to prove her experience from the past, she was left with only one other option. Go through a written and physical assessment. The written part, for the most part, was easy; all she had to do was skim through a small handbook. But the physical assessment was very hard to gauge; there were hundreds of criteria, so they were going for the shortest test. Sparring match with a Consolidated Core opponent.
Liesel exhaled, clenching her hand on the wood. They were practicing with fake swords, not that wood couldn’t shatter bones. She'd have much preferred fighting with real weapons, but, of course, no one wanted an unwanted fatality.
She took her stance, holding the sword over her head. She was going to be on the defensive, as her opponent had already taken the
“Can I tell you something?” Liesel said.
"Yeah?"
"I will not be here when you wake, so I wanted to apologize for knocking you unconscious."
His smile thinned, and Materiality tensed beneath his skin. He was a polite man for not hurling curses back at her. But she felt her taunt was effective. He channeled Materiality throughout his body.
Materiality was, of course, not a one-size-fits-all solution to every problem. On the level that most people learned, it would appear to be so. Most Ascendants wanted to focus on their skills and spells, rather than practice the rudimentary functions of the Materiality itself.
Liesel, however, had no system-earned skills. Her Materiality pool was too short, and her soul was too broken, quite literally, to assimilate and use skills. As such, Liesle had to learn not to abuse Materiality, which was the norm for humanity as a whole.
Enforcement was the most basic technique for integrating Materiality directly into the body and the weapon. It temporarily enhanced the body's dexterity and strength. Of course, to enforce the full body, it would require an extraordinary amount of Materiality, which Liesel didn't have. Instead of enforcing it in all her limbs, she kept it channeled through her body, spreading the tiny energy everywhere. And she burned Materiality on a single area at a time, and for as little time as possible to preserve her energy. Burning was not the norm, as Ascendants burned the Materiality while channeling it.
“Go!” the arbiter lady said.
Her opponent sprang towards her like an arrow, thrusting his sword. The way his Materiality had been burning, Liesel had been expecting it.
Liesel bound the Materiality in her left leg, stepping to the side. She released the enforcement as soon as her other foot touched the ground.
[Materiality -0.8]
In her personal training, dropping that number as low as possible was her goal. It was equally as useful in real life. Because the Materiality channeling in the body couldn't be sensed, unless it was burned in the physical body. It slightly obscured her own intentions, though it wasn't very helpful.
Liesel swung her sword, trying to catch the back, but Ferik had already dashed past her. That’s one way to compensate... Only works in an open space, though.
They were not going to use skills, because then neither of them could hold back. And it would be too unpredictable.
Ferik turned around and grinned. “You are agile.”
He was cautious now. Instead of charging at her recklessly, he slowly stepped closer to her. He would have the stamina advantage, and the same was the case with the strength. He swung, without using Materiality at all.
They clashed once. Liesel didn’t enforce her hand when the swords met, mostly because she didn't want to find a pond and butcher a bunch of fish to recover her Materiality again. The pain sprang through her shoulder as the impact roiled through her muscles and bones. In terms of raw strength numbers, she was basically a toddler against him. Or rather, she was just a normal human, and he was a demon.
He didn't relent and swung his sword at her head again.
Liesel weaved the Materiality into her flesh, and deflected again. She undid the enforcement as soon as the impact rolled into her hand. When the enforcement was cancelled, the Materiality was released from the physical body, burning away into the atmosphere. If she could time the release at the right time, the recoil from the strike, too, was carried away with the same Materiality, sparing her the pain. Liesel initiated the next strike. He deflected the strike and tried to stab her shoulder.
Liesel leaned to the side, stepping into his personal space. She enforced her right knee and smashed it into his thigh. He seemed taken aback for a moment. She enforced her arm and swung her sword again. It hissed through the air, and he defended. He stumbled as the enforced strike on his thigh echoed. The tip of her wooden sword rested between his eyes as he regained his balance.
“I concede.” He exhaled.
“Thank you for your time and effort,” Liesel said, dropping her sword. "I apologize for my taunt."
[Materiality -26]
As the System manifested in the corner of her eyes, she felt like the loser between the two. That was either hunting down dozens of fish. They were the easiest way to replenish her Materiality. A demon would need to necessitate the use of Materiality, so more often than not, they were neutral and somewhat negative.
Her performance left the assessing officer somewhat perturbed. They were probably thinking she’d have some kind of hidden skill to overwhelm her opponent. Practice and precision were held in rather low regard compared to raw strength, at least in the lower ranks.
Now that she had registered, Liesel picked up the job she had been eyeing since last evening. Fortunately, no one had snatched it from under her nose.
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Escort Quest: Go to the Dahan Marsh, and escort the Alchemist Isa back to Saffron Helm.
**********
In the vast stretch of meadows, a giant bear waddled down the beaten path, with a girl sitting atop him. From a distance, it was an odd duo, and travellers without any guards decided to veer out into the meadow rather than cross paths with the bear, which was understandable.
Liesel didn’t enjoy the sun on her skin, even though it was cold enough for it to feel pleasant theoretically.
“Why are you travelling so far? There must be another way to earn some money?” Auram asked once Liesel was back on the road.
“Money is only a small part of the equation. An Alchemist is a rare Archetype, and I might be able to seek one easily in the Inceptius, but here? I doubt it. And I will have to share the recipe with whoever makes it, so I'd like to be a little familiar with them.”
“Hm,” Auram nodded.
“The Soulheart is going to be a bigger issue, though,” Liesel said. “I will probably have to return to the Necropolis soon."
“Can you kill it, whatever has the heart, though?”
“That's a river we can cross when we get there. Don't worry about it right now."
The Dahan Marshes were to the northwest of Saffron Helm. By the time they reached the wetlands, it was already afternoon. It stretched endlessly like a shallow lake. There were a few monuments from the time when the water hadn't claimed this place. Most of the houses, either bamboo-made or mud, had left no trace behind.
The muddy path, about two meters above the water level, cut across the entire marshland. It was wide enough to even accommodate a carriage or even some light vehicles. The weather, too, was growing dark and heavy.
After walking for a while, Fur wanted to swim, so Liesel got off his back.
There didn't seem to be any demons here, or anything other than tweeting birds nesting in the abandoned structures so far.
What does she need to be escorted from? Maybe there are bandits on the way... but then, she could've asked the guards. Why did she come here alone in the first place?
Alchemists were one of the generously earning archetypes. They usually had a villa of their own, and more often than not a connection with many of the high-ranking officials in the governing administration.
The rain started pouring soon. The water level also rose high enough that Liesel felt the road wouldn't be safe for long. She climbed on Fur's back, who could easily swim even with her weighing him down. The fortress was visible in the distance, but the road curved so it would have taken another thirty minutes to reach it. Of course, Liesel had to keep her sword drawn as she couldn't know what might lurk at the bottom of the greenish, hazy water. And the rain would make it even harder to see it coming. She also channeled Materiality.
Fortunately, either afraid of Fur or nothing was there to begin with, they managed to reach their destination safely.
Auram teleported back to the Library once they neared the ruins marked on the map. It was built upon a stone foundation that elevated it a few meters above the marsh. The stairs were smooth and slippery. A small patch in the middle was clear of the slippery moss that claimed the rest of it.
She didn’t see any sign of the Alchemist outside. She had hoped the Alchemist would be waiting for her.
“Fur.”
The bear tilted its head.
“You stay here,” Liesel said. “I will look around.”
The storm worsened as she started looking for the alchemist. She didn’t find anything in the maze-like structure, covered in moss and spider webs. Eventually, she found a stair leading into the basement level.
“Hey,” Liesel called, somewhat hesitant to enter into the dark, dreary place that might be underwater already, and something venomous slithering in it.
“You are here?” The woman’s voice was dull. “Did you pick up the quest?”
“I did.”
“Before we leave, I need a little help. Can you come down here?”
Liesel walked down the stairs. A very familiar stench of chemicals greeted her nose. She paused for a moment on the stairs. Reminding herself she was here for a job, she continued the rest of the way to the bottom.
Isa was a normal human, not an ascendant. There was a tiny flicker of Materiality in her soul, but it would be even less than her.
And there was another thing in the basement. A very large creature touched by the Curse of Ashening.
Liesel was frozen, unable to breathe as her heart was gripped by a revulsion that she had not felt since her mother died. Did the Mindeater make me sensitive to it?
She couldn't be sure. She had not met anyone touched by the Ashening since her mother died.
Isa looked at her. Her bright red eyes regarded Liesel for a moment, and then she turned back to the creature. She was pouring a solution on the creature’s oddly round face. The demon would be about the size of an entire floor, but that's only because of the calcification of the Ashening.
“What do you want?” Liesel asked.
“You are not what I was expecting from the mercenary guild. I feel it might be cruel to ask you for your assistance,” the alchemist intoned. “You can leave. I'll tell the guild you fulfilled your job.”
“I spent the entire day travelling. The least you can do is tell me what you were expecting?” Liesel said as the shock passed through her body, and she settled back into her numb indifference. There were many bottles, most likely medicines. Liesel's heart felt slightly uneasy as her mind suggested the alchemist might be experimenting on the immobile demon. She was okay with killing demons, but torturous acts felt a step too far.
“You are uncomfortable at the sight of the Curse. I can guess why, so I don’t want to make things difficult for you.”
“You should have mentioned those considerations on the job board. Now that I am here, I’d rather do something than return empty-handed.”
The alchemist nodded. “OK. He’s Ark, a Wretchborn Orc. I found him while he was suffering from the ashening. I tried my medicine in hopes that something could alleviate his condition. It only grew worse, irrespective of what I try. No book seems to be working. No pain-numbing lotion relieves his pain.”
There was pain in the alchemist’s voice, and that, too, for a violent creature like an orc. Some people could become fond of anything if they spent enough time.
“What do you want me to do?”
“If his pain cannot be eased, and there is no hope of a miracle curing his curse, at least not that I know of,” Isa looked at her, “I was hoping they'd find someone who could end it. Can you end his pain?”
Liesel blinked. “You want me to kill him?”
“Do you have to put it so crudely?” Isa shifted her gaze back to the orc.
“Last thing I want is for you to misunderstand the implication of your own words,” Liesel said.
“Yes.” Isa nodded again. “I don’t know what else I can do but to end his hell short.”
Liesel nodded. She drew Materiality into her finger and channeled it into her sword. “Please step aside.”
Isa was frozen in her spot for a moment. “Are you doing it?”
Liesel nodded.
“Please wait,” Isa said. “I want to bid him farewell.”
“There’s nothing there to hear it,” Liesel said. She was a little more invested in it than she should be. “It is but a shell trapping a soul in endless misery. It no longer has the mind to recognize you. All you are asking is to prolong its suffering to ease your own emotions.”
Isa stood up, gathering her things, and she stumbled away, limping on her left foot. She whispered something to the orc still.
Liesel’s sword buzzed as she looked for a spot on the hardened shell of ashes to penetrate with the sword.
Wait... She aligned her sword in a gap between two crusted formations on his head. She counted the moment in her mind, and just as the final tick reached and her sword’s buzzing aligned perfectly with the metallic blade, Liesel stabbed it into its head.
[Shade Strike executed!]
Liesel exhaled, tense unlike any time she had performed the strike. She was sure she was going to fail just when it counted.
Finally, the technique used for the purpose you learned it? It was a mocking voice inside her mind. Liesel pushed it away as she withdrew her sword.
The orc’s body crumbled into a pile of ash-dust.
“What was that?” Isa mumbled. She had picked up a staff, resting by the wall. She used it to walk back into the center. The lamp cast a gloomy shadow over her face.
“Careful. It is still a poison.”
“I know.” Isa took out a small container and used the tiny flicker of Materiality in her soul to evoke it. It suctioned all of the dust inside it. “I came prepared.”
Liesel nodded.
“That does it. Are you going to take me back home?”
“That was the original quest.”
Isa smiled vacantly, “Yeah. I will add a bonus for this... please keep it secret.”
“I will,” Liesel gestured for her to follow. She didn’t want to take money for the quest anymore. The cynically moral part of her, which recognized that she was earning money for executing an Ashened Orc, and that was untenable. Fortunately, she had learned to compromise on that part of her ego a long time ago.
“What’s the deal with your sword?”
“Nothing.”
“It feels eerie,” Isa said. “You should have it evaluated by an enchanter. It feels cursed.”