Chapter 9 - Archetype Skill
When Liesel came to her senses again, her body and soul were burning as though boiling metal was racing through every single channel within her.
She felt weak, and her limbs too heavy to move.
Auram teleported in front of her face. "You're up?"
"Think so..." Liesel croaked out. After a few minutes, she felt a little better, enough to push herself to a sitting position. She massaged her eyes. "How long was I asleep?"
"Two and a half days."
"That's long..." Liesel mumbled. She closed her eyes, trying to observe her soul, but couldn't. Her senses felt even duller than they usually were.
"I was worried. I tried waking you up, but you won't."
"You shouldn't be," Liesel said, frowning. "Were you watching me the entire time?"
"Yeah..."
She climbed back to her feet, looking for her water satchel. Once her throat was wet, she felt a little more human than before, still days away from feeling herself completely. Her nerves felt burned, and every time she moved, something ached.
"I don't want to sound rude, Auram, but you are attaching your entire being to me. You should try to find other things to do." Liesel said. She could understand why. For a spirit who had very few people to interact with, and one of them was basically a god with no care for mortals, it was easy to latch onto the first person who treated you like a person. It was easy. "It's not great for you. Especially because it's me. I will inevitably die, perhaps tomorrow or the next month. If I had missed one strike against the thief, I wouldn't be here. And that's why I don't want you to be hurt unnecessarily."
"I was worried. You just passed out while staring at the air. Not even my healing magic worked and... and you shouldn't be speaking about your life so callously!"
"It may have worked. We can never know," Liesel tried to control Materiality, her entire body flared with pain again. "At least, my soul veins are not completely gone. So that's a positive. As for my life, I am just being pragmatic. Every encounter is a gamble that I will be able to find that one opening that would allow me to overwhelm my opponent before their raw strength claims my life."
"That's just dumb. You should be trying to do something other than being a mercenary. Surely, you can't be completely useless in everything else."
"I will bathe and then get something to eat. And thank you for healing me," Liesel said. She stopped at the bathroom door, "The exhilaration of living through a fight and the anticipation of inevitably encountering another is inescapable."
Auram nodded, still unconvinced.
"You should also make sure the Custodian is not creeping on me while I am in the shower. Nor should you, for that matter."
"I don't!"
******
"I thought you left for good," the cafeteria's server said as he prepared her plate.
"Not yet," Liesel said. She was feeling better after the shower.
"Did they solve your identity question?"
Liesel was somewhat impressed that even the low-ranking staff heard about her. "I don't know. I will ask after having dinner."
"Oh. Your moonblessed loves our food, so even if you leave again without us, feel free to leave him with us."
"He does?" Liesel raised a brow. "I was under the impression you just threw raw meat at him from a distance and ran away."
"He's scary. But he's also very docile after he saw us bringing him food."
Liesel nodded. "I am glad. I will consider it. Still, he's a wild animal. Try not to be too familiar with him. He even tries to bite me... sometimes."
He didn't say anything, but Liesel could feel he vehemently disagreed with her assessment. She wished, for his sake, that he heard her advice.
Liesel was sure that being a moonblessed played a big role in their eagerness to look after Fur.
Today, however, was not a day of peace. While she was sitting at the back-corner table, a guard approached her. Liesel audibly sighed as she acknowledged him. His uniform was better stitched than the watch guards'.
"I am Ward Inspector Deran Hig. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Liesel Wyrn," he said. "Mind if I sit down?"
Liesel nodded.
He seemed to wait a moment for her to introduce herself or say something. Whatever that may have been, he gave up and started speaking. "I have a few questions regarding the mercenary job and the capture of the Ashseekers."
"How did you know I was here?" Liesel asked.
"There are enough eyes around," he smiled knowingly.
"Even so, you work fast."
"That's just luck. I was here for a different reason."
"Ask away, Inspector Hig."
"Did you tell anyone else about the Ashseeker?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"If you did, it won't get you in trouble."
"No, inspector, I haven't had the opportunity to talk to anyone."
Deran hummed. "Just keep it that way."
"I will try."
The Ward Inspector stopped himself from saying something and nodded. "We have him under custody. And in his statement, he said you twice tried to kill him after he was captured."
"Oh?" Liesel raised her brow. "Between a chained-up prisoner himself, a disabled alchemist, and me, what saved him?"
"I know how you people work. I am sure you wanted to kill him," the Ward Inspector uttered. "What I want to know is what stopped you from killing him? That's so unlike a Crusader."
"I am not a Crusader," Liesel said.
"It's all the same."
The Soul Seekers were a side branch of the Crusaders, but she was twelve steps removed from the actual thing. She was in the institution, which was a subsidiary of a subsidiary of the White Crusaders—and that fact had played more than an insubstantial role. Though she imagined Inspector Hig was rationalizing it from her educational background.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
"I don't want to deal with the ramifications of killing a man, especially when my own standing is questionable at best."
"Was that all?"
Liesel nodded.
His eyes twitched. He probably wanted to arrest her and shift whatever the Ashseekers were responsible for onto her shoulders.
He did try to badger her to admit there was a greater consideration to it, but couldn't get anything out of her.
"That is all," He said, "Thank you for your time, Miss Wyrn."
Liesel smiled politely.
He turned to her as he was about to leave, "Ah, I forgot to tell you. The Seer has invited you for lunch tomorrow."
Liesel nodded. The Ward Inspector was gone.
The storm was roaring once again. Liesel didn't know if that was a bad thing. She was at least fortunate that the storms hadn't greeted her in the forest. That would've been miserable.
She went to the Mercenary Guild. Now that she was in severe debt, the money was going to be a hanging scythe over her head. She also wanted to get some clothes, but that would need even more money. Right now, she had only one set of battered clothes, and they would be fine for the mercenary job, but before the Seer, she might be executed for the slight.
If I can't find anything, I can use Fur as collateral for another debt. Ah, what a life. I am drowning in debt.
Unfortunately, there were no quick jobs in the city. Almost everything here was at least a day-long endeavor. She couldn't skip her meeting with the Seer, so she had to stay in the city.
On her way out, the receptionist beckoned her over.
"The Guild has issued a reward for capturing a criminal," the receptionist intoned. He asked for her license card. After taking her signature, he gave her a hundred Siyirs, which was a lot of money.
"Is this right?" Liesel asked suspiciously as she stared at the silver coin, marked with the crown of the Emperor.
"This is part of the Guild's initiative to urge the mercenaries to refrain from killing those who can be punished and reformed."
Liesel had a lot of questions about the way this could be abused, but that was not for her to question. She left the Guild and headed to the market immediately. She wanted to get clothes. Of course, this was not a life-changing amount of money. At best, she could buy two sets of very cheap clothes, but even that was better than anything she currently wore.
She did settle on a very plain one that would pass off as a humble attempt at being presentable before the highest authority in the realm.
Liesel preferred the sidewalks of the Saffron Helm. Instead of open sidewalks that were the norm in Inceptius, here both sides had a shade extending from the buildings, sheltering her from the rain. It was convenient, and for how much it had rained, her appreciation was only growing. She didn't need an umbrella or a raincoat to walk anywhere.
Isa had given her the address of a smith, whom she vauched for. Now that the sword felt to have settled on a really weird, blackish hue of steel, it could be appraised, she believed. Liesel was not sure it was urgent. Except for the changing color, the sword felt no different than before. Once I have a little more money saved up.
She considered buying something for Auram. The spirit had been very helpful. After spending an hour in several stores, Liesel couldn't settle on anything, so she gave up.
She made her way back to her room. And decided to finally consider the skill choice.
Everyone at the age of fifteen or sixteen received the choice to pick an Archetype Skill. There was an assessment at the academy, too, where her soul was considered defective by the System to assimilate the knowledge of any skill. It would seem now that the deformities were gone, she could accept a skill.
[Weaver Archetype Skill: Soul Unravelling]
Liesel was somewhat bothered by the offer. A forgotten skill meant no one currently alive possessed this skill or any evolution of it. It would seem not a big deal at first glance, but there were thousands of people older than the Imperial calendar, which was currently in the middle of its thirty-four thousand, three hundred and twelfth year. And hundreds of thousands between the ascendant races, who were easily ten thousand over. For there to be no one with possession of this skill meant she was an exceptional genius, unseen in ages. After slaying a mindeater, perhaps she could support that ego on her shoulder. A much more likely thing was that whoever possessed this skill, regardless of their ascedant race, was killed. In other words, it was a Heretic Skill. One that no one should ever pick up.
Of course, on a very technical level, she understood why she'd get such a rare skill. She had been in the limbo between a half-step Ascendant and a very capable Materiality Channeler, for lack of a better term. That practice over control had boosted her actual power way beyond what her attributes suggested. She had a five-year advantage over the actual teens. She certainly didn't feel blessed for it. It was enough time to become a captain-ranked White Crusader.
[Soul Unravelling: Unravel the souls of your prey and absorb their Materiality, Cultivation, and Aspects.]
It was unlikely to be a very useful skill, even if the implication did make it seem special. She absorbed the Materiality even now when she killed something, so how would the skill be any different? And Aspects were special or unique powers that most people were born with. So she didn't know what absorbing another even meant. Could she use it? If so, that seemed absurdly powerful, and Liesel could see why that would, quite frankly, bother the crown bearers.
She doubted this one skill would make that possible. The more complicated an Archetype was, the simpler its individual archetype skill would be, and the more skill it would require functioning in conjunction to create the image of the said Archetype.
A Weaver Archetype was unknown to her, and she had extensively studied most of the archetypes and their archetype skills in case she had to fight them someday. Since it seemed like a rarer class, it could be three Archetype skills or maybe five. Except for the first one, she'd have to work for the rest of them. So it would also be a gamble on that front.
Instead, if she picked a Swordsman Archetype, not only would one skill be good enough, her own training would probably earn her all the necessary skills immediately, and with it she'd also get a trait bonus to raise her physical strength and constitution by five.
The Class Trait was only earned after acquiring all the archetype skills, so she would also be losing it by picking the forgotten skill.
But the idea of a skill that could help grow her strength was too enticing. One that the empire felt threatened by.
Of course, history has many individuals who could grow ten times the speed of an average Ascendant. The Current Champion of the Empire was said to have reached the peak of mortal strength at the young age of only one hundred, whereas most would need over tens of thousands of years, if not more. And most even then, couldn't touch that unfathomable ceiling.
But if she could just absorb another's cultivation in the blink of an eye, she'd be there in less than a decade, and without any need for cultivation. After all, you just need a very strong poison to kill your prey. And then take their souls.
She stopped entertaining those kinds of questions. It would have its limitations. Everything did. The bigger question was how she would practice this skill? It definitely needed her to kill someone who had cultivated their soul.
A demon would be ideal, but they were not the only ones who cultivated.
A demon, however, is the least confusing. Killing humans... would be complicated. Well, unless there is a factional war within the empire, and I am forced into joining a side.
"Can you show me the requirements?"
[Soul Unravelling:
Materiality Cost: 1
Minimum Attributes:
Control: 15
Perception: 8
Mental Fortitude: 23
Dominion: 1
Activation Condition: Physical Contact
External Requirement: Unresisting or collapsing Soul]
[Liesel Wyrn
Age: 21
Core Rank: None
Archetype: None (Pick a Skill to open a Prospective Archetype.)
Materiality: 46/46
Title: None
Soul Form: Nebulous
Attributes:
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 8
Endurance: 108
Constitution: 1
Mental Fortitude: 34
Control: 17
Perception: 8
Dominion: 3]
[Skills:
Active: None
Passive: Material Sense
–
Materiality Techniques:
Enforcement(Weaving Patterns) Lv. 21]
Liesel blinked as her eyes lingered on the Materiality. It had gone up by one. That was not a lot, but after five years, it had gone up.
Liesel chuckled.
"What are you smiling at?"
"Progress," Liesel uttered. "You are back?"
"Yeah," the spirit yawned. "I tried sleeping for a while."
"It's a good start. Maybe you should pick up a card..." Liesel was about to suggest a card game, but each of those cards would be bigger than Auram herself. Maybe I can make a toy that she could actually play with.
"What did I miss?"
"I am meeting with the Seer," Liesel said, "And I can pick a skill... which needs me to kill demons, so the day after tomorrow, we are leaving the city."
"Where are we going?"
"To the Necropolis, probably. I think there is a job on the board that I can take," Liesel said.
Hunting demons would earn her money and allow her to use her skill as well.
"Did you affix the skill?"
Liesel shook her head. "Not yet. After meeting with the Seer."
"Why?"
"They can know a lot about people. I'd rather not be in front of them with a skill that could be classified as heretical."
"Is it?" Auram's pupil dilated in panic.
"I have no interest in finding out," Liesel said. It wasn't that the Seer could know what the skill was after she had affixed it, but during the assimilation period, they might be able to perceive it. They were closer to the Archive than anyone else. "A heretical sin can only be committed by the weak. So long as I am strong enough to stand my trial, even the gods will not mind it."
"Is that..."
"Don't worry about it. I think it would be a fun time regardless," not a very small part of her wanted to do it precisely because she believed it was a Heretical Skill, and would create an exhilarating future.