Chapter 18 - Shade Passage
"You don't have to accept it."
Liesel nodded. She cared very little about the Custodian's intentions. But his knowledge of cultivation far surpassed anything she would ever have the opportunity to learn. Not even the Prestige Points were the temptation as much as the cultivation technique itself. Cultivation techniques were precious things, and one that was named the same as her channeling method felt a little more personal. Liesel doubted it was a coincidence.
The cultivation technique was not necessary until the formation of a Materiality Core, but some did have suggestions even at the nebulous stage.
"I don't have to. But I need to," Liesel shrugged. "It will work out."
"You can't damage it. How will you do it?"
"There's no penalty for failure," Liesel said. "And if he's suggesting it, there must be a way."
"He's evil and deeply, deeply disconnected from reality. You can't be sure of that."
Liesel nodded. "I will keep that in mind."
"He dropped you in the ruins so that you could first take the Soulheart and then make your way to the city. You wouldn't even have made it to the boundary, let alone win against it."
"You don't need to be so blunt about it," Liesel raised a brow. She wanted to believe he knew she could do it, that there was a method even if she failed to see it. But Auram seemed to be correct that the Custodian was disconnected from reality. "I am awed by his confidence in me. Don't worry, Auram. I am not going to throw away my life over one cynical quest. If I can make it happen, that would be nice. That's all."
Auram still seemed unconvinced, but the knock on the door stole her chance to express her disapproval. Liesel got the idea still.
Verka invited her outside. "At this moment, we are sure there is no way to proceed forward."
"Yeah." Liesel nodded.
"It is a shame that it happened in the first Necropolis, but that does mean there is nothing more for us to do here. So instead of conversing with the Seer at the end of the seventh day, we are going to do it tonight."
"In the middle of the night?"
Verka glanced at her. "We are going back to the city through a Shade Passage. It's only possible in the middle of the night, when the chaos shifts away for a few minutes, and the Shades are calm."
Liesel blinked. A Shade Passage was one of those things that shouldn't be in a temporary base. It was costly to build, and the materials were too precious.
"Is the Seer planning to expand the territory into the Necropolis?"
"I do not know his intentions."
Liesel couldn't see any other reason. Perhaps he wanted to extract resources from the Necropolis. If that were the case, they would be at odds with each other. Once Liesel claimed the Soulheart, Necropolis would start to die, and within a few years or a decade, cease to be.
Hopefully, that might be enough time to recover the cost.
Of course, not everyone was leaving at once. Having a Shade Passage didn't mean the base would be safe without anyone here. Liesel was returning to the Saffron Helm.
Jaisel would stay behind, as one mage would have to keep the barrier function. If Shade Passage were to be destroyed, they'd have to hire another Summoner or spend a couple of days travelling back.
The passage was built in the attic, and from the lack of others' surprise, she imagined she was one of the few unaware.
The Shade Passage was a door leading into a corridor, and that corridor opened to the other end of the Shade Passage. The destination was always fixed. There might be some that connected to multiple exits in the Empire, but Liesel had never seen one. They were most likely reserved for the most important figures of the Laks.
The key to the passage was with the warder as well, which would've been odd if she didn't know his relationship with the leader. He twisted the key and opened the door. The entrance was red, and they could feel the heat emanating from it.
"It's not time yet."
Traversing the Shades between the realms required a resistance beyond the creation of the corridor itself, and that was equally as costly. The Seer must've kept it at the bare minimum, and that would mean they could only use it in the middle of the night. So in some kind of emergency, the passage would be pretty much useless, if not a burden because of its preciousness.
As the clock ticked to midnight, the Shades were tinged with a mix of vermilion and purple. The warder waved his hand inside.
"It's quiet."
"You first," Kurvam ordered.
The warder did. And the leader followed behind him.
Liesel followed behind, half sure he'd take the chance to shut the passage from the other side once he was through.
Inside the Shade Corridor, there was only one rule. Keep looking ahead, and no matter what you see on the edge of your vision, never turn your head. After her encounter with the Mindeater, Liesel felt a little more confident that she could be safe.
"Have you ever looked to the sides?" Liesel asked. Fiya was a step behind her.
"I keep my eyes shut," Fiya answered. She was using a hand on the side railings to keep her balance, and the other seemed to have subconsciously been pinching Liesel's shirt.
"I think that's more dangerous," Liesel whispered. "What if someone knocks you over?"
What was underneath the Shades? Or above? Shade was probably one of the biggest mysteries for the Empire. Only the Divines understood what this fathomless place truly was. The mortals had ways to use it, and even to maneuver through it, but no one understood what it truly was, except that it was a place between the realms, the reality, and what lies between those realities.
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Fiya punched Liesel in the back, and Liesel chuckled.
"I won't." If this place were not so dangerous, she would be tempted to see if the mage would scream like a two-year-old.
They exited into the administration building of the Saffron Helm, and from there, they'd be led to a meeting chamber.
The warder was with her, and Fiya too, but the other members of the team had been allowed to leave if they wished, and they did.
It would be half an hour of waiting for the Seer. They were served like an imperial convoy for the duration, but it only made the mage uncomfortable. She most certainly didn't enjoy the fact that she'd have to talk to the Seer directly. At the same time, she was necessary.
The Seer scampered into the hall grinning, clad in his front-open robe, showing off his rather loose, rotund physique, which made his face seem like a stolen valor. He was carrying a glass of wine in one hand that he offered to Fiya.
The mage didn't touch it.
"How do we fare?" The Seer asked the Leader.
"Great. We are already in the first layer," Kurvam boasted proudly, "And we only need to kill one more demon to get to two."
"Only the first?" The Seer frowned. "Then why are you here, boy? I distinctly remember someone promising not to return until his job was finished. And the way you are proud, for a moment I thought we already had a passage to the tomb."
"We'd have been there if you didn't hire a mercenary," Kurvam swallowed. "There's nothing we can do because she opened the first layer, and now it's an armor that neither my sword can shatter nor the mages' magic."
The Seer glanced in her direction. "Do you have a better assessment?"
Liesel explained the situation succinctly, feeling the daggering glare of her captain.
"A metal that not even Dostrike can penetrate," he frowned.
"It bounced off its surface," Fiya reservedly voiced. "It's more than the sturdiness of the metal structure."
"A resistance spell?" The Seer frowned. He nodded. "Well, that's a bit concerning."
The warder also informed him of the unusual nature of the Shadow Conjuror.
"That would be the effect of the leaking power from the Tomb. If left unchecked, I am concerned it would make all the demons deadlier in the realm. Even if we can hold the ones at the western front in a stalemate, there's a chance the effect of the tomb would reach them eventually if it has penetrated the boundary of the Necropolis already."
"Unless we seal it," Liesel said.
That was basically all of the conversation for one day.
He asked Liesel to stay behind and dismissed everyone else. Kurvam was fuming about it, and Fiya was somewhat worried.
"You are quite different from the last time we met."
Liesel shrugged without a word. She didn't think there was any point in lying.
"And an Archive Quest..." He leaned forward. "Did you make a pact with a god?"
"I have not. Can someone even do that?"
"Either you make a pact with a god who can draft an Archive Quest, or you make a pact with the Archive itself, and then it would ask you to deal with its problem. And unless I am mistaken, you are not an Oathsworn Seer," He paused, raising a brow. "What is your quest?"
"I don't have one."
"Do you think the Archive would grant any random person the power to observe others' status?"
"Can I leave?"
The Seer sighed. "If you need help, I am here for you."
Liesel gestured graciously as she stood up.
"As a gesture of my goodwill, here's an advance for the trouble." He set four large silver Siyirs on the table. "If you need more, let me know."
--- ----
Liesel woke up late. Exhausted after practicing Layering until dawn. By the time she arrived at the blacksmith's smithy, the one Isa had given her directions to, it was already midday.
Liesel strolled into the open storefront. There was a bell to ring at the counter, and after a minute, a middle-aged man walked out. He seemed rather upset that Liesel had disturbed his work.
"What do you need?"
Liesel unsheathed her sword and set it on the counter. "I heard you can appraise it."
He eyed the sword critically. "Who was it? I don't get many customers looking for an appraisal of their weapon."
"An alchemist goes by the name Isa."
He nodded. He knocked on the blade with his nail. "It's not a human construct, I think. If I evaluate it and that is true, you'd need to register it with the Relics of Supernatural Origin Agency."
Liesel had a feeling that could be the case. Unfortunately, most often, the RSOA confiscated the weapon and gave a small reward for the submission.
"There's no other way?" Liesel imagined Isa would be aware of the same risk.
"I can do it off the record for a small risk fee, and an understanding that you were here to visit my tenant."
In simple terms, he was asking for one thousand two hundred Siyirs for the appraisal. She had four, so it didn't feel as bad. It was a necessity, and she was better off getting it over with now than at any other time.
Isa was his tenant, and she lived on the other side of the building. She had a store of her own.
"How are you doing?" Liesel asked, knocking on the door behind the counter.
"Hey," Isa smiled as she twirled her chair. "Finally decided to have it appraised?"
"Unfortunately."
"It must've been expensive?"
"If I had a fraction of an understanding of what is happening to my sword, I'd never waste so much money," Liesel shook her head. She leaned against the doorframe. "How are you doing?"
Isa cast her eyes down. "Well, after we dealt with the thief, I thought Ark's Ashes would be safe. That wasn't the case. At least, no one got hurt."
"Did you report it?"
"I did. But they don't care enough to look for an orc's ashes, and the Ward Inspector was clear that they hadn't recovered any stolen ashes, so I shouldn't have high hopes. But they did say it was worrying that Ashseekers are so bold as to steal in this district."
"At least you're not hurt," Liesel shrugged.
Isa picked up her walking stick and hopped off the chair. "I heard you were part of the expedition that left the day before yesterday."
"I'll have to return tonight," Liesel said. She followed the alchemist inside. There were hundreds of jars of weird liquid and other things inside them. Some were alive, and that was somewhat disgusting. Liesel pushed away that feeling.
Fiya was in the library right now, looking for spells that would work against the parasitic armor. The Seer, unfortunately, was forbidden from telling them which spell would work because of his sole loyalty to the function of the Archive itself.
Liesel explained why she had to return today, and also expressed her worry about the fact that someday Kurvam Vera would be ruler of this city. Isa didn't seem to care about that.
"Why don't you try this?" Isa offered a potion. "It can't dissolve the metal itself, but the structure that resists the magic can be destroyed, and it would give the mages a chance to use their spell to destroy the actual steel armor."
Liesel took the vial, nodding once. "How much is it?"
"Don't worry about it. You saved my life. It's the least I can do."
"You are not helping me, but the expedition. They are going to pay for it, so you can be indulgent with your price. I am, after all, not familiar with the local market," Liesel smiled slyly.
"I wish, but I'd rather not have my name on it. I am not an Alchemist by profession or the Archetype. Most people think I only make herbal medicines or rat-killing poisons. No amount of money is worth the attention that this solution would bring to me."
The blacksmith knocked on the door. "It's done."
"You can still be generous with your price. Because of the nature of the job, I can be veryharsh with my fee."
Liesel made her way towards the smith's storefront, and Isa was right behind her. The clicky noise of her walking stick bothered Liesel. Her mother also had one that she used to move around the house.
Her sword was over a small slab, and there was a screen attached to the thing. It read out a description.
A broken sword reforged in the blood of demons. State: Incomplete.
"That's not much," Liesel whispered.
"It needs Materiality to take its form," the blacksmith said. "If you can provide a Materiality Core that might do it, I can forge it to its completion."
"Is there no other way?" Liesel asked.
"You can hope that eventually you soak it in enough demon blood to reach the evolution stage."
"And until then, we cannot know what it does, or what its nature is?"
The smith shrugged. "It has none still."
Liesel considered for a moment before taking out the Materiality Core of the Malice Conjuror.
"Will it do?"
The smith's eyes widened. He grinned. "It will do just fine."
Liesel had a feeling it would do more than that.