Chapter 11 - Experience
[Archetype Skill: Soul Unravelling has been successfully assimilated.]
It took two days for the skill to assimilate into her soul. It was usually three to five hours for a skill to be useful under normal circumstances, but it could be as simple as her rather underdeveloped soul, or that the skill itself was far more complicated than it seemed.
So far as she understood, she'd need to subdue a demon or person without killing them, and bleed out their will to resist. Only under those circumstances could she activate her skill. The conditions were cruel, to say the least, but it skirted the obvious loophole of using poisons from afar.
Liesel stared at the Soulirius Codex. She had been buried nose-deep in it for the past two days. It didn't have much to give her beyond the theory of how the soul functioned and how she should cultivate it after the enlightenment potion had done its work. Liesel wouldn't consider herself impatient, not after years inside her own memories with a literal Mindeater who wanted to make her lose it. Yet, she felt the journey before her was going to be a long one. There was so much to do with Soul that she had not been taught in the academy, but perhaps that was by design. The Empire wouldn't want to create thousands of wisemen possessing its most precious knowledge and dangerous knowledge, or dilute its weight by teaching it to a bunch of teenagers who might drop out and never serve the Laks.
"Auram."
It was the third time she had called the spirit, and this time her call had been answered. Most likely, Auram spent her time with Fur, who seemed to have grown fond of this place. She even walked him around the town. It would seem she had more reservations about his feral nature than most residents of Saffron Helm.
"Yeah?!" The spirit manifested in the air and dove right into the book like it was a slide. She stayed prone on the bed.
Liesel sat up. "I was thinking about something. And you might be the only one who can figure it out."
"Oh?" Auram's golden eyes glimmered. "What can I do?"
"Was the Mindeater a real demon? Or was it just an imitation of one?"
"Oh, he was the real deal."
"Then, is its decaying body still in that chamber?"
"Yeah. We don't have maids there."
"To prepare the Enlightenment Potion, I need to find two things primarily. A Soulheart that's waiting for me in the Necropolis."
"You are really going on the expedition you promised to that shady man?"
"It's for my sake. It will significantly lower the danger than if I were to try alone," Liesel said, "But that is not enough to create the potion. The effect of the potion depends on the type of Materiality Core used in it. I might be able to find a strong demon... but I find it incredibly unlikely to rival the Mindeater. So..."
"I have to find the Materiality Core in its decaying corpse?"
"It's in his head," Liesel said. She picked up a bottle of liquid from the floor beside the bed. "And now, I don't want you to suffer through that."
It might not seem that worrying for someone like her, but Auram was basically the size of a maggot that would be eating those corpses. It might be a literal hell for the girl. So Liesel had to waste some money from the advance she got from the Seer.
"This is a corpse-dissolving solution. You can pour it on the corpse from above and let it destroy everything about it. The expedition should take about a month, and by that time, you'd only find the Materiality Core... and the sludge of its remains. Will you do it?"
"Uh..." Auram grinned. "What do I get in return?"
"You can tell me."
"Hm..." Auram frowned, rolling over on the bed. "I don't know. But I want something."
"You can think about it, and I will try to get it for you after I come back."
"Okay..." Auram took the bottle and teleported away.
Liesel had the whole morning to prepare for the expedition, and that whole time, Liesel spent in the market. She wanted to be better prepared, yet she refused to waste her money on spell scrolls. They were one-time use.
She didn't want to rely on outside magic, but having something could serve as a distraction would be very useful. Distractions were the most important tool of survival. Most Ascendants relied on healing scrolls most often because even demons targeted the healers first. More often than not, if you had to use a healing scroll, you were already a dead man walking.
"How about this one?" The storekeeper showed her a bracelet. A rune-etched jewel was embedded on it. "It takes twenty-five Materiality at eighty percent efficiency and creates a projectile based on the impact aspect."
Liesel nodded. "Can I try it?"
The storekeeper smiled, troubled. "Untrained mages tend to strain the jewel."
"That's not a problem," Liesel said. She picked up the bracelet, and he reluctantly had to nod.
She drew Materiality into her finger and pushed it into the jewel. The Rune jewel would strain from uneven burning of the Materiality on different sections of the rune. But that was not a problem for her. A spell circle manifested over the jewel, and from it a small rune formed in the air.
She pushed it toward the iron door. The impact rocked the door like a flimsy wooden door. This was enough to get out of a hard situation. With some practice, she'd be able to use it about as far as she could channel Materiality. They were not forever-lasting. Her jewel had shattered in the dungeon, so she was sure this too would not last through the expedition. But compared to a spell scroll, it was a hundred times longer-lasting. Of course, it did barely anything compared to an actual spell.
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"How much is it?"
"Thirty-five hundred Siyir."
Liesel almost scoffed. "There's no way it's worth more than two thousand Siyir."
"I can knock a hundred off, but that's about it," he shrugged. "You can ask around the market. This is not the Imperial Capital, miss. Not enough buyers to sustain the business at their cost."
Liesel paused. "How'd you know I am from the Capital?"
"Other than your words... the tall, scary woman from the Capital with the Moonblessed as her companion is the talk of the town," he shrugged. "Some unpleasant rumors, but mostly just curiosity."
Liesel nodded. She hadn't thought she'd be so infamous, but superstitions were just that powerful.
"Any discount for being infamous?"
"Thirty-three hundred and fifty."
With a sigh, Liesel decided to pay the sum. That was more or less thirty percent of the entire fee she was charging for the expedition. She should have factored in the adjusted price of gear in this city before settling on ten thousand Siyir. I could've pushed for more.
The shop at the very least adjusted the bracelet to fit her perfectly.
While shopping, Liesel practiced channeling directly into her wrist instead of using her finger as a trigger. It was not easy, and the fact that she wasted almost all of her Materiality bothered her.
[Materiality: 10/48]
At least it had grown by eight in the last two days. Of course, that was far from being useful, even though it would be a twenty percent growth in her total capacity. Though this increase was just from the space in her soul from compressing her original Materiality into a nebulous core. Until her soul form itself expanded, she couldn't hope for much.
She had to buy cheap Materiality Cores from the shop as well. Without Materiality, she'd be killed as easily as blowing out a candle. So she spent a chunk of her advance only on this. She could absorb Materiality from the Materiality core directly, and she was fast enough to do it during active combat. It was not without consequences. Burning soul veins and losing the ability to use Materiality for weeks was a common pain most Ascendants experienced.
In the last two days, the sword had manifested a little red shade over the slate black. So it was still undergoing its evolution. She was somewhat waiting to settle it. If it did look dangerous, she could buy another sword and throw it away or destroy it instead of having it appraised. After all, the appraisal would be thousands of Siyirs.
Regardless, she was looking forward to knowing its future someday. For now, that was money she could not afford to waste. She did buy an impact-dispersing vest that would function as an outer layer of impact absorption. It was not going to be lifesaving, but she felt she had enough money to have something. It felt wrong on some level. She never wore armour, but she wanted to try a little caution. And in the back of her mind, she knew it was because she didn't want Auram worrying over every minor injury.
It was a form-fitting, stretchy black vest. The collar sat snugly over her neck, where the gem was attached. They had tried to add red piping around the seams and sleeves to make it look a little prettier, and at least in her eyes, they were successful.
Around midday, Liesel returned to her quarters, and the people were moving about, probably to see the expedition team.
She had a pouch of things that she'd need on herself, and luggage for things that were going to be in the cart. One of the staff collected it from her as Liesel was led to the private meeting chamber. She could hear whispers around her the entire time. The staffer guiding her was also uncomfortable.
He excused himself as soon as she arrived at the door. Liesel entered on her own.
There were eleven Ascendants in the room. Their attention was now directed at her. They were not half as good as the Rand Company.
She could feel their senses prodding her strength, and some were inexperienced enough to let their surprise appear on their faces.
The Seer had undersold their lack of experience. They seemed like they were straight out of the academy. Probably, they had only controlled combat experience. This is going to be a bad time...
The Seer, too, was in the room, which was somewhat of a surprise. She didn't think he would have the time.
He strolled up to her, wearing his gaudy robes, grinning ear to ear. He wrapped his hand around her shoulder as he turned to face the members of the expedition. "Even to this moment, I was afraid you'd decide to pull out."
"I keep my words," Liesel said. She didn't like the way he was guiding attention to her. They would not be pleased, especially when they had already written her off as a luggage carrier they must protect because the Seer had requested it as such. Some of them might even think she had an unsavory relationship with the Seer to be given such importance, and she wouldn't blame them for that.
"So this is the final member of the team, Liesel Wyrn, the Vice Captain of a Soul Seekers Company. Due to an unfortunate incident, she is staying in our humble little city. And she is generous enough to help us out with our little troubles. We needed an experienced veteran for this team, and she will fulfill that role as your vice captain."
The Seer didn't earn the claps he was expecting. Sighing, he continued. "I have arranged the means of travel, and you have half an hour to familiarize yourselves with one another. Trust is an important team-building effort to function effectively. The fate of the entire realm is on your shoulders, and I hope you all will take this seriously."
He left after rambling out a half-hearted speech.
Liesel didn't think she would be getting any kind of warm welcome here, so she decided to sit in the corner and enjoy the warm coffee. It was after a minute that they managed to return to their conversation, but the awkwardness in the air still lingered.
Finally, the Warder approached. "I am Verak. The Warder of the team."
"Liesel. I am a Swordsman Archetype."
He nodded. And before he could have made an awkward effort to continue the conversation that was bound to fail, another man grabbed the Warder by his collar and tossed him back. The Warder stumbled; fortunately, another member caught him from falling.
"Kurvam Vera, leader of the expedition," he said, folding his arms over his wide, full chest. Compared to him, she would be modest.
Liesel smiled. "I am happy to be in such safe hands."
"Leave. You are weak. We don't need undying worms here. My goal is not to make sure one of us crawls back from the Sirmal's Tomb. We don't need a weakling's experience."
Undying worm... Liesel's smile stretched. "I couldn't have found a better descriptor for myself. And—"
He grabbed her neck and wrenched her up to his eye level. "SHUT—!"
Liesel jabbed the butt of her sword into his nose. The bone beneath the metal crunched. She channeled Materiality into her toe and smashed her shoe into his abdomen. He was wearing thick armor that absorbed the worst of the impact. But he grunted, vomiting his breath. Shik! It was enough distraction for her to unsheath her sword. The sharp edge dug into his soft, unguarded skin, drawing a trickle of blood.
How can you be such an idiot to invite me so close to your body? Liesel held that question to herself. He was merely unable to decide where her strength lay. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on whose perspective it was seen from, somewhere along the way, her techniques had become better suited for humans in her personal space than demons at this point.
Blood dripped off the leader's disfigured nose, which was red and twisted, curling around his sneering lips. He licked it, breathing like a demon in heat. His finger pressed on her throat.
She pressed her sword, its red edge sinking into his skin. He slowly lowered her until her feet were touching the ground. He didn't let go of her neck.
Liesel dragged the blade, pushing it deeper. His eyes were shaking. He dropped his hand.
"On your knees," Liesel said, taking a breath. The entire room was frozen, holding its breath.
He glared, unmoving and daring to step back. She pressed the sword enough to cut his throat. Blood covered her sword as well as his armor.
"Knees," Liesel said again.
He complied as reality dawned on him. He was, possibly, a moment away from death.
"Why don't you start with an apology?" the Seer said as he entered the room.
Lucky bastard... Liesel exhaled, keeping her sword steady. She was going to have him lick his blood from the floor. Only then would she have accepted his apology.