Chapter 15 - Patience
Fiya put away the Materiality Core. "It's scarily strong for a Malice Conjuror."
Liesel frowned. "Demons shouldn't have more than one aspect. What's the other aspect?"
The first aspect was the black-fire magic it was using. All their magic was supposed to be about that one type of magic. And Liesel certainly didn't feel anything different.
"It's a subtle touch," Fiya said. "Not weak. In fact, it might be the strongest one I have felt in my entire life. And yet, it's barely present in the Materiality Core. It seems to be emboldening the original aspect, almost like the advancement potions. But it's permanent, and doesn't seem to be affecting the rest of the core negatively."
"And the demon was wiser than its rank should imply. Barely vulnerable to its primal nature," Liesel said as she reached over and picked up the Materiality Core. It made no sense. "It's all the more reason why the Demon Army can't be allowed to capture the Tomb."
"But it would make the Necropolis even more dangerous."
"That's insignificant. Today was harder only because we didn't have any mage support, and the conjuror wouldn't be as dangerous again."
"I'd have felt safer if you were our leader instead of that... selfish son of a bitch," Fiya whispered bitterly. "He's unfit to lead anyone."
"If you want to grow as an Ascendant, perhaps it is necessary to develop the skill to survive under incompetent supervision," Liesel smiled. "You will encounter this kind of situation hundreds of times in your journey."
"Why can't they be like you?" Fiya uttered wistfully. It was her first expedition. They were very close to closing two of the twelve members already. It was unfair to the inexperienced mage to have to grapple with these circumstances, even if this was the reality. Fiya was latching onto Liesel's impassiveness to assure herself that Liesel would be the ideal leader. Even if Liesel was far from the exemplary leader you'd want in a Necropolis. She was too weak to lead anyone. At the same time, Liesel didn't see any reason to betray that need for assurance.
"It worked out today," Liesel said. She sat on the bed and took Fiya's hand. "And it will work out tomorrow. If you find reality scary, only focus on the next thing you must do. As long as we all fulfill our jobs properly, not even his incompetence will lead to our demise."
Fiya nodded. "Thanks."
Liesel smiled. "And if you want to see my channelling technique, you will have to reach the end, right?"
Fiya bobbed her head excitedly. "Why not now?"
"Because we tend to desire doing things the most efficient way. And I'd rather not lead you down a path that might slow you down in the immediate."
"I won't. I promise."
"Fiya. Patience."
"But what if you don't have time to show me on our way back? I could be injured, or even... I mean, I'm just curious how you do it. I don't necessarily want to copy it."
"I stay in the Knight Quarters," Liesel said. "If I don't show you on the way back, you can always find me on the way back."
Liesel didn't imagine Fiya's own channeling technique would be superior because she was not bound by the necessity to develop it.
****
[Analysis Success!
See results?]
Liesel sat around the dining table. There was a map of the entire area laid upon it. It was incomplete, and the Necropolis was a kaleidoscopic maze to a certain extent.
Both of the injured ascendants were mostly healed, but their faces showed the damage done to them. Hopefully, no one had told them that their leader wanted to kill them for being badly matched against a Conjure.
Liesel sipped her soup. For some reason, Fiya was scared of meeting her eyes, even though she was staring at her constantly. She was like Auram to a certain extent, barely more than a child, all the same.
I am twenty-one years old. Stop acting like a middle-aged woman.
"Since our goal is to seal the tomb, we make a straight line towards it." Kurvam's basic plan was not wrong. "First, this—" he pointed at the small fort a mile into the Necropolis. A gamble that the ever-changing reality would manifest the same way as the map was drawn, perhaps centuries ago. It won't. "—will be our safe spot. Here we will raise a safe ward to rest for the day. And then continue deeper in the evening. And around midnight, we can find another safe passage here. The second day, we start from this point, and then reach the tomb within a few hours."
He looked around the room, and at this point, everyone was aware he was the Chancellor's nephew, so they were not willing to interject, despite knowing he would have the entire team slaughtered within minutes of entering the Necropolis with this plan.
Rather, they were all casting side-eyes at her, as if she were supposed to speak up against the absurdity of his idea. Well, she was not, and surely if she didn't say anything, someone would have to speak up. Then, Liesel imagined how the big baby would react to that; she felt she should take the initiative to maintain the animosity between them from bleeding into the rest of the expedition team. Now that she thought about it, setting yourself up high in the hierarchy had its worries too. Everyone wanted her to challenge Kurvam's authority now.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Our goal is to find a safe passage to the tomb in a month," Liesel said, "and that means understanding the dangers that lurk around us and in the distance. Understand the way around the Necropolis's realm manifests, and finally, kill aberrants that may hinder our passage to the tomb when we guide the Ward Scholars to it."
He frowned for a moment. "Reaching the tomb is the first step of that," he said, staring at the map with a frown. "And... the mages, we have two of them," he looked at Fiya intently. "You can seal the tomb, right? Why do we have to wait for the other mages? And for a month, no less."
"They'd be over centuries old, having spent their whole lives learning only sealing magic," Liesel said. Why do I have to do this? "Fiya is a combat mage with some tertiary spells. Their purposes are vastly different. Even if she creates a seal, it would last a few hours at best. The goal of the entire expedition was to create a seal that would deter the Demon Army from trying to claim the tomb and slaughter every living thing on their way."
"Well, that doesn't challenge my initial idea. We make our way to the tomb, and then scout on our way back. And once the stronger demons are killed, we would have nothing to worry about the weak ones."
She could feel a headache starting. He must understand the problem with his initial plan, right? If they rush to the tomb and live somehow, they'd be surrounded by the most dangerous elements of the Necropolis with their backs against the tomb. No place to retreat after exhaustion.
"For now, I will be withdrawing to my room. After last night's extensive fight, I presume everyone wants to rest their veins. The coming month will be long, and burning our channeling capacity too quickly will not do us any good. Let's decide what we should be doing in the afternoon. After lunch, Liesel clinked the bowl with the spoon, "And I appreciate whoever cooked it. Unfortunately, I have no experience to help with it."
"No!" Kurvam growled. "We are leaving right fucking now!"
"You can," Liesel said. "I am going to be a mercenary and selfishly let my body rest before another combat excursion. Good luck, Captain!"
"If you leave, I will kick you out of the base."
"Sir," Verka said.
Kurvam glared at him with equal rage.
"Sir," he said softly. "She's not wrong. We are going to be in many combat situations. So overexerting our soul veins could be disastrous. Even I am tired from last night's fights."
Others at the table also expressed their sympathies, but Liesel was already making her way to her room.
If he is in charge of planning... we are going to die.
Even in the most hopeful situation, they'd be facing more than two dozen combats. A group fight would be less straining on their nerves, but eventually those fights would pile up.
"Fine. We rest for the first half."
And there's no way we can leave in the second half. Shadow Demons are more dangerous under the moonlight. Liesel smiled at her own idea. But she was now sure the Seer was adding another zero to her fee.
She withdrew to her room, immediately shifting her attention to the system screen.
[Soul Analysis and Extraction Successful!
Soul of a median Shadow Stalker.
Materiality Extracted: 1238
Prestige Points: +3
Aspect: Dusk Flame
Possible Attribute Absorption:
Strength +4 (Estimated Time: 28 Hours)
Endurance +5 (ET: 35 Hours)
Constitution +1 (ET: 12 Hours)
Excess Materiality has been disposed of.
Dusk Flame Aspect cannot be absorbed. (Skill: Soul Weaving is required for this function.)
Pick an attribute to align the residue energy.]**
[Prestige Skill Store has been unlocked! You may use Prestige Points to acquire a skill.]
Liesel blinked. She was somewhat caught off guard by the overbearing amount of information. Materiality was useless until her capacity started growing, and even then, she didn't see the use for it unless it was useful for a future skill that she wasn't aware of yet. But the other two felt a little too great for an opening skill.
Aspects were a very rare power even among ascendants, and unless you were born with one, they were priced in the hundreds of thousands and required a certain level of connection and status to buy them.
On the other hand, if she could just pick an Aspect from using her skill, that was absurdly powerful. Of course, it should have some kind of limitation that would only appear after she had acquired the Soul Weaving skill.
Can I have more than one aspect? Liesel didn't think people did. It was delicate work, as the Aspect affected the Materiality's nature as a whole, and introducing too many Aspects into it might cause instability, which would be lethal.
But why do I need a skill? Ascendants didn't need one to use their Aspects even when they bought from the market.
The Prestige Skill Store was a basic access point to the Archive, serving as the base to construct around an Archetype. It usually opened upon the pickup of a skill. There was one worrying condition: the number of points from using the skill was tiny. As far as Liesel understood, the only way to earn Prestige Points was to use the Archetype skills. There were bonuses for unique applications, but there was no shortcut for this. Usually, a person would have a skill that took barely a minute, so any number of points was not a problem. But after twelve hours of waiting, the tiny number of points was almost worrying.
She opened the Prestige Store. It opened on a golden background. There was only a small pouch at the top, with 2 written on it. And there was a search function. No available skills. The Archive was vast, and even for a rare Archetype, it could show hundreds of thousands of skills. Most would just be variations of a foundational skill.
[Soul Weaving: 250
Requirements:
Control: 24
Perception: 12
Dominion: 3]
Liesel blinked.
Well... that's like two years away. There has to be a faster way of acquiring Prestige Points.
Regardless, Liesel didn't mind the wait all that much. Overall, it was a benefit, and from where she had been only a few weeks ago, she only felt her future was opening wider and brighter each day.
I can try to raise my attributes in the meantime.
Liesel put the worries about the prestige points aside. She had things to be happy about. Perhaps the biggest boon at the moment was the faster way of raising her attributes. Four points in Strength was almost a year's worth of effort, and she had already reached the human body's limit, so she had not raised any in years.
She was tempted to pick Constitution, as that should, in theory, boost her body to absorb physical enhancements faster. So it might allow her to receive attribute points in the future.
I should pick Strength. The higher the base Strength was, the higher the Materiality Enforcement would be. But the Constitution was a long-term gain that would affect every subsequent use of the skill.
You have to be patient...
[Strength Attribute Alignment Process Started
Estimated Time: 28 Hours.]
Liesel picked up the Conjurer's Materiality Core. She closed her eyes and tried to employ the Soul Unravelling skill. The rune manifested in her palm. Unfortunately, it didn't work on the Materiality Core.
Either because she'd have to wait another twenty-eight hours before she could use the skill, or it would work with just the Materiality core.
The skill was specific in its description. It wanted live prey.