Sam was at a loss. She had never had a prisoner before, much less three. To top it off, two of the three prisoners were dead the last time she saw them. Arron and Alina hadn't been, "maybe," dead, but the dead where they were already developing a smell even though they had been kept on ice for a while. Sam stared at the very alive Arron and Alina, where they were tied to a tree with a combination of rope and magical threads. “I don’t think I’m ready to deal with them right now.” She healed both of them enough, so they weren't in danger of dying but had stopped there.
Sam's attention fell on the paladin next. She and Nara had removed his armor, and Sam had taken more pleasure than she thought she should have when she staked him to a tree with mana spears. It had taken her only an hour to make enough spears to drive seven through his body and limbs deep into the tree. She didn't worry about accidentally killing him because her repair skill gave her a rough estimate of his health pool. She kept his health barely above ten percent while she figured out what to do.
Lupie came trotting over with the dead archer in her mouth, dropping the woman's body next to the mage's and the rogue's bodies. When Sam had seen Arron, she thought he had been the hatchet thrower, but Naris and Lupie had informed her that was not the case. Apparently, he and Alina had only been observing from a short distance away. Lupie had not taken any chances, though, and was in the process of killing them when she recognized Alina and decided to spare them, mistakenly thinking they were former companions of Sam's. Sam understood why; she had defeated Lupie while defending Nara, Alina, and Arron from her pack.
Sam sighed; all she wanted to do was finish the survey job and go back to Helms Peak for some fresh cold beer and a hot bath. Likely not in that order. Shaking her rambling thoughts away, she looked at the three bodies and decided to loot them first so Nara could fillet and store their meat for later. Reaching to the mage with one of her mana treads, Sam shook her head. “I can’t believe I’m not even bothered by the fact Nara eats humans. What has this place turned me into?” Not long after they had met, Nara had informed Sam that she needed a few kilograms of human flesh every few weeks. Otherwise, she would turn into a monster or something. Sam wasn't sure precisely what Nara would turn into; she had stopped listening and freaked out when the woman mentioned she ate human flesh.
Sam checked the loot screen that popped up from the mage.
Human; Deacon of the Light [Rudy] Level 42 Items:
14-Gold; 36-Silver; 2-Copper; Robes of the Light; Leather Gloves; Leather Boots; Ring of Storage; Ring of Light Beam [8% Charge]; Large Mana Potion x 1; Health Potion x 1.
"So, he was a deacon, not a mage. Makes sense, I guess; he was a church member, after all." Sam thought as she took all the items into her inventory and snagged the storage ring out of the air when it appeared in front of her since it could not go into her inventory. She moved a thread to the Rogue and Archer and looted them simultaneously.
Denarian; Woodsman [Lume] Level 39 Items:
1-Gold; 1-Silver; 97-Copper; Leather shirt; Leather Gloves; Leather Boots; Leather Pants; Plain Necklace; Leather weapon harness; Hand axe x 7. Stamina Potion x 3; Conscript Scroll.
Denarian; Archer [Fenta] Level 41 Items:
7-Gold; 14-Silver; 19-Copper; Leather shirt; Leather Greves; Leather Boots; Leather Pants; Plain Necklace; Fine Recurve Bow; Steel arrow x 36; Small Health Potion x 1; Conscript Scroll.
Taking all the items, Sam pulled one of the conscript scrolls from her spatial storage. She almost opened it but remembered what had happened when she accidentally released Nara from her contract. That mistake, or happy accident as Sam thought, was why they were in this situation. She instead held up the scroll for Nara to see and asked, "What is a conscript scroll?"
Nara approached the bodies, saying, "It is a magical contract scroll. Let me guess the axe thrower and the archer?" When Sam nodded, Nara sighed, kneeling beside the archer and closing her eyes. The eyelids popped right back open when Nara released them, and she stared in confusion for a moment, trying several more times before giving up. She continued, "They probably wanted a guaranteed resurrection, so they signed a contract with the church to provide their services. A standard contract is one hundred cycles in exchange for one full resurrection." Nara could only shake her head, continuing, "Barely ten percent of conscripts survive that long, and until they make their one hundred cycles, they are not guaranteed a resurrection. Even if they are resurrected when they die early, their hundred cycles start over." Nara took out an arcane dagger, cut into the archer's arm, and then clicked her tongue. "She isn't human."
"I could have told you that," Sam said, "the only human is the deacon. The axe guy or woodsman and the archer are both Denarian." She looked at Nara curiously and asked, "How can you tell? I only know because my loot skill told me."
"Their flesh smells like fish," Nara said. Moving to the deacon, she started disrobing him.
Sam had to turn away. Fighting and killing other humans was one thing she had come to terms with, but processing a person for later consumption…well, she wasn't there yet. Sam walked over to the naked paladin she had pinned to the tree to take her mind off what was happening a few meters away.
After staring at him for a few seconds, Sam used her repair skill and closed a few more of his wounds from her void bolts. As always, it took twice as long and double the mana to heal wounds from void energy. She wasn't in a hurry and had the energy to spare, so it wasn't that big of an issue. Finally, when his health was up to thirty percent, Sam reared back and kicked him in the crotch, yelling, "Hey! Murder Knight! Wakey, wakey!”
Sam was a mature enough person to admit when she was wrong. “That may have been a touch too hard,” she told herself when her repair skill informed her the paladin’s health had dropped to fifteen percent. Still, it had the desired effect. The paladin woke up screaming in pain only to immediately begin vomiting. “Hmm, I guess he ate carrots recently.” Sam thought as she watched the man spew out the contents of his stomach.
When the paladin finally stopped vomiting, he heaved through labored breaths, "Release me at once and face your punishment, woman!" Sam, who had almost started to feel sorry for what she was doing to the man, looked at him like he had lost his mind. His arrogance was so strong that Sam was speechless for a minute. The paladin kept shouting, "You are an evil being consorting with the dammed! You will never enter into the eternal palace!" The paladin spit blood in her direction, which Sam easily sidestepped. He continued his rant, "Kill me, and I will be resurrected! This is the true power of the Church of the Light! I will never stop hunting you! I am eternal! I will find you and that beast you call a friend and end you! I will—”
"You're a fucking nut job," Sam cut him off. "Are all of you light babies like this, or are you extra special in the psychopath department?"
The paladin laughed hysterically and screamed, "You will see! I will—" He suddenly clamped his mouth shut. His blue eyes were wide in fear.
Sam looked down at herself in confusion. “I’m not that scary…am I?” She was pulled from her thoughts when a hand fell on her shoulder. Glancing over, she saw Naris had walked over and was staring intently at the paladin. His black eyes fixed on the man and a predatory grin on his face.
"What is the matter, human? Please continue. I am interested in how many times you will be resurrected and keep coming after us." Naris's voice was laced with menace but sweet as honey. He crept half a step closer to the paladin, causing him to flinch back.
“Impossible! St…st…stay back, foul beast!" The man sputtered with a voice full of fear.
Sam looked between Naris and the paladin in confusion and asked, "What gives? I'm way more powerful than he is," She gestured toward the blight, "no offense, Naris."
"None was taken," Naris responded; without taking his attention from the paladin, he asked, "Do you know why the church enslaves the Moonblights?" Sam replied in the negative, so he answered his own question, “because being drained fully by a blight is the only death their so-called gods cannot resurrect them from.”
Sam's eyes widened. A lot of things suddenly made sense. She started thinking out loud, "They enslave the blights not because you are evil but because your kind is in direct opposition to their doctrine. The church can offer multiple lives through resurrection, which you can prevent. Also, suppose they keep your kind enslaved instead of exterminated…in that case, they can control their followers through fear." She tapped her chin in thought, then continued, "It's cultism 101: have a common enemy that directly opposes the cult's doctrine. Use that enemy to instill fear and hate in the cult's followers so they are more likely to reject any outside influence because they think it is a trick. Create a culture of kindness and comradery for the faithful of the cult; any who question or disobey are immediately considered evil because they remove that feeling of safety the cult has cultured. It also makes it easier to stomach when the cult inevitably kills or ostracizes the unruly members. It also creates fanatics like this guy," she pointed to the paladin, "who will murder innocents without question just because someone told him they were bad."
Sam walked closer to the now-shaking paladin and asked, "Would you have even lost sleep over murdering me and my friends? Even if you knew, I have never committed a crime and have only been a productive member of this society since I arrived?"
“You are a filthy—”
Sam threw up her hands, cutting the paladin off for the last time. "You know what, the fact that you were clapping and laughing while attempting to murder me and my friends says it all." She turned to Naris, "He's all yours."
Naris grinned widely and walked toward the man slowly. Sam turned away; she wasn't sure how to feel about the recent turn of events. She worried she was becoming something she didn't want to be, a person she would no longer be able to look in the eyes when she stared in a mirror.
Making a quick decision, she turned back around, seeing Naris standing in front of the paladin with his claws out. Sam called out, "Naris, stop!" When he turned to look at her questioningly, she asked, "Is Nara okay with this?"
After a moment, Naris said, "She is if you are."
Something had been bothering Sam about Nara, but she hadn't known how to broach the subject with her friend since it was personal. But she needed to know now, so she asked, "How did Nara get the healer class? Was it from the church?"
Naris hung his head in shame, saying, "Five cycles ago, the church locked Nara in a mana deprivation chamber until she lost the ability to contain me. When I broke free of my constraints, they…fed me one of their healers who had tried to leave the church." He wouldn't look Sam in the eyes; he continued, "After I finished and the healer was no more, they gave me a soul crystal from another heretic to drain and then forced me to switch back to Nara using the blood contract." Naris looked at Sam, pleading, "Nara was…not okay after this. She swore to keep me locked in her soul for the rest of her life. Meeting you was the first time she felt anything but despair from that day.”
Sam didn't need to hear more. She held up her hand, stopping Naris, "Thank you, Naris. I'm sorry, but I am not okay with you draining that piece of shit." She thought briefly about what they should do, then asked, "How does the resurrection work? Can they bring him back somewhere in the church, or do they need his body?"
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Ha! I can be resurrected no matter where or how I die!” The paladin was apparently back to his arrogant self now that Sam had stopped Naris from draining him.
Naris switched to Nara, and she looked with disdain at the pathetic man pinned to the tree before correcting him, "Actually, that isn't true, not entirely anyway. The church keeps a small piece of all their members in storage at their main temple in the event the member's body is vaporized in an attack." Deliberately turning her back on the paladin, who was suddenly oddly quiet listening with his eyes narrowed, Nara continued, "You see, the resurrection only works if there is a piece of their original body, and it has to be the largest remaining piece, too. Many of the truly faithful have a dissolving rune etched on their bones that will activate a few years after their death. That way, if their body is not recovered within that time, they don't have to wait until their bones have turned to dust before they can be resurrected."
"Huh," Sam said, lost in thought for a moment. She asked, "If I put that mage—ahem, deacon in my storage, he can't be brought back?"
Nara shook her head, "They all have a spell cast on them after they have provided a piece of themselves, such as a finger. The spell prevents their bodies from being stored in an item."
“An item, huh? Hmm, I wonder since my storage isn’t an item...” Sam snaked a mana thread over to the deacon and tried to put his body into her inventory. It worked. His corpse disappeared. Nara's eyes widened, but it was nothing compared to the paladin's reaction.
He screamed and began thrashing against the spears holding him in place. “Blasphemy! You have desecrated the holy gift of our—”
Sam had enough. She knew they wouldn't get any information from this guy, so she infused her voice with mana and shouted, "Shut the fuck up! You pathetic brainwashed coward!" She had the good sense to tell Nara to move through their chat function before she did it, which was good because her mana-infused voice was a touch more powerful than she expected. The resonance from the magic-infused sound caused all but one of her spears to crack.
The thrashing paladin stopped when the sound wave hit him, but when he either heard or felt the spears crack, he quickly started thrashing again, causing his health to drop precipitously. Sam had already stopped healing him, so she couldn't tell for sure, but judging from the amount of blood spewing from his wounds, she figured he had to be in the single digits percent-wise.
With a crack, one of the spears holding his hand in place broke, and the blond man quickly broke the rest of the cracked spears and was able to yank the last spear embedded in his chest out of the tree in an impressive act of strength. Free of his restraints, he fell to his knees on the ground. Clutching the final spear, he looked at Sam with manic, hate-filled eyes.
Sam stared back at him from a couple of meters away with her hands behind her back, smiling as she rocked back and forth on her heels. This infuriated the man; with a shout, he activated a skill and lunged at her, leading with the spear. When the spear's tip was barely a centimeter from piercing Sam's heart, it slammed into the magical barrier she had erected, stopping its momentum instantly. The paladin's own momentum drove the butt of the spear through his chest as his stamina-infused lunge impaled him on the spear yet again.
Slamming into Sam's barrier an instant after the spear tip, the man's blue eyes stared at her with confusion and shock before the life faded into death's emptiness, and he collapsed to the forest floor.
"Definitely a psycho who drank the Kool-Aid," Sam thought as she looted and stored his body.
Human; Paladin of the Light [Christopher] Level 63 Items:
32-Gold; 86-Silver; 40kg Human meat; Large Stamina Potion x 1; Large Health Potion x 1.
“Oh, come on!” Sam yelled when she saw the human meat in the items. “You have got to be kidding me!”
Nara and even Lupie looked at her curiously, as surprised by the paladin killing himself as Sam's outburst. Seeing their confusion, Sam told Nara, "Check my inventory for something to eat."
Nara's eyes unfocused for a moment, then she smiled, then covering her mouth, she tried to contain her giggles. She finally couldn't hold back any longer and started laughing.
“Ha ha," Sam said dryly, thinking, "It's going to start giving me their hides next, isn't it?"
***
Not wanting to hang around the battle site any longer, the group stored the other two bodies and removed Alina and Arron, both still unconscious, from their place tied to the tree, hogtied them, and tossed them over Lupie's back. Lupie easily held them in place with her blood tentacles as they traveled.
"I was wondering where your storage item was," Nara said as she walked beside Sam. Then she looked at the pathfinder with a coy smile, "I even checked for it when we were 'relaxing' in the bath."
Sam flushed a little. Still, she grinned back at her friend, "You realize you have access to my status screen, right?"
It was Nara’s turn to blush. She had not even thought to check Sam’s abilities. She had been too caught up with her attributes and overall power.
Sam let her off the hook as they trekked through the forest, saying, "I have an ability called Spatial Storage. It is built into my class and gives me access to a personal pocket dimension."
"That's why there are infinite empty slots," Nara commented almost to herself.
“Slots? All I see is an infinite black space with my shit floating in it,” Sam thought. She stopped a moment later and, with a quick, "Be back in a sec," scrambled up a large tree. While surveying the forest from the top of the tree, Sam watched as her mini map filled in the last of the area they had been contracted to survey.
Her work done, she leaped from the tree, freefalling to the ground in a beautiful swan dive to—splat face-first into the ball of her ballistic mana she had constructed right above the ground. Sam groaned, "So much for high agility," she dismissed her construct and fell the half meter to the ground on her face…again, "so stupid, so very, very stupid,” Sam mumbled into the dirt.
Congratulations! You have created a new spell! Kinetic Dampener [Level 1]: By repeatedly forming a flexible mana construct and successfully absorbing kinetic energy, you have permanently etched the pathway into your core. Kinetic Dampener creates a flexible magical construct that allows it to absorb and displace impacts, thus dampening the overall effectiveness of the attack. Mana cost is determined by the construct's density, size, and strength. Leveling this spell will increase its efficiency.
"Hey, I learned a new spell," Sam said, getting to her feet. She felt Nara cast her cleanse spell on her and smiled her thanks, brushing off the front of her armor. Sam looked at the giggling Nara and said, "I wish that cleanse spell worked on clothes."
Nara looked at her funny, then remembered Sam was technically an alien to this planet, so she explained, "The cleansing spell is actually for cleansing the body of impurities…you know, like diseases and poisons. I wondered why you wanted me to learn it so badly when your poison resistance was so high." She giggled again, "What you want is the Clean spell. It cleans everything, although it can take several casts if something is filthy."
Sam looked at the now laughing Tenarian and facepalmed. “I am an idiot.”
***
Their group continued traveling throughout the day until they arrived at the campsite where Sam and Naris had had their "misunderstanding," as Sam called it. The path of destruction was still evident with all the downed trees and burned-out stumps where Sam had unleashed a devastating beam attack while overclocking her core. “Another happy accident,” Sam thought as she surveyed the scarred landscape, “I’m lucky I didn’t kill myself and Nara that night…I really need to get a better handle on my abilities.”
Pulling herself from those thoughts, she said, "You don't have to keep pretending to be asleep," to the two people tied to Lupie's back.
Arron grunted, and Alina groaned. Lupie dropped them both unceremoniously on the ground with her tentacles and padded off toward the slow-moving river for a drink. Lupie had healed them entirely, even going as far as regenerating Alina’s leg.
"Watch out for Deep Hunters," Sam called after she received a chuff in reply. “Yeah, you’re right. They probably aren’t any match for you,” Sam thought before realizing her linguistic skill had translated the chuffing sound from the Bloodmorph. She really liked that ability.
Sam had checked Arron and Alina's levels when she had stripped them of their weapons before tying them up, so she knew they were no threat. Knowing that, she untied them with her mana threads and walked over to where Nara was setting up their camp ignoring the father and daughter as they got to their feet.
“Miss Sam—” Arron started to say while he dusted himself off.
"Samantha," Sam cut him off, "you don't get to call me Sam. And you should be speaking to Nara, not me."
Arron spluttered at that, but Alina spoke up in his place, "Thank you for sparing our lives and healing us, Alic—Nara." She almost called Nara by the name the church had given her when she was enslaved to them and, by proxy, Arron. Coughing into her hand, Alina continued, "I'm sorry for what we did to you." When Nara didn't respond or even look their way, Alina asked, "Um, can we go?"
This got Nara's attention, and she whipped around from where she was filling the firepit she pulled from her storage item and eyed the two humans. She asked, "Did you lead the church to us?"
Arron was still acting offended, but Alina averted her eyes and answered, "Yes," quickly adding, "We had to. The church was going to—”
“What? Enslave you?” Nara asked bitterly, cutting her off.
Alina said nothing and only looked at her feet in shame. Arron even had the good sense not to argue and only said dejectedly, “I am—I regret…" he sighed and just got to the point, "What are you going to do with us?"
Sam looked at Nara, curious as to what she would say. Nara had been the one enslaved to these two, after all. It was her call.
“You’re slavers,” Nara spoke mechanically, “I’m going to hand you over to the guild for punishment.”
Arron and Alina both looked up in shocked horror. Arron said, “You wouldn’t! They will throw us in prison for years!”
"Just ten times the year you kept me as a slave," Nara replied calmly, "you deserve more, in my opinion, but I am trying to abide by the law, and quite frankly, you are not worth me losing my guild membership."
Sam saw Alina glance toward the forest and quickly said, "Just so you know, I have no issue losing my membership and will happily hunt you down if you try to run. Or I may ask Lupie to do it, and trust me, she won't be nearly as gentle." Lupie took that moment to walk up with a Sigea Salamander in her maw, dropping it just outside the clearing of the campsite. Lying beside her kill, she started eating the creature. The loud cracking of bone echoed in the still air of the forest.
Sam was sure neither Arron nor Alina would run. She was also pleased Nara had decided to turn them in instead of killing them. “Or would it be re-killing them?” She thought, absently summoning the half-destroyed tent from her inventory. She looked at the broken shelter full of holes and broken pieces, then up to the sky. It didn't look like it would rain, so she returned the junk to her storage.
“Hey. Drag that thing away when you’re finished,” Nara told Lupie, “it will dissolve into some nasty sludge within an hour after being killed.”
“Very well,” Lupie’s calm feminine voice echoed through their minds.
The fire was going, so Sam put a stew on for dinner. She was thankful they still had some vegetables left. Sam happily diced purple tubers and onions into the cookpot, sprinkling salt on top. After a few minutes, she threw in some chunks of wolf steak and seared them. Filling the pot with her endless canteen, she put the lid on and let it cook. "Mm, it will be a hearty beef…eh…monster meat stew.”
Sam saw Nara skewer some of her 'dietary' meat and roast it over the fire. She wasn't sure if it was just her, but it smelled like pork. When her stomach rumbled, Sam looked down at her midsection like it had betrayed her.
Nara laughed and held out her skewer, "You want some? It's not like you're human anymore." She covered her mouth when she realized they weren't alone in the clearing, looking at Sam wide-eyed. Sam just waved her off. She figured everyone would find out soon enough anyway.
"Uh, no," Sam said flatly. "I'm glad you aren't cooking my arm this time."
Nara took a bite of her 'meat' and made a face. She looked at Sam and said thoughtfully, "You tasted better."
Alina gasped, and Arron coughed at Nara’s statement, but Sam just rolled her eyes and checked on her stew. It was almost done, so she pulled out four fireclay bowls and some wooden spoons from her inventory. Without turning, she called over her shoulder, where Arron and Alina were huddled just inside the circle of light from the fire, "If you're hungry, come on. We won't hurt you. We're not monsters."
Lupie chuffed from where she was lying near the fire after dragging off the salamander's corpse.
"No, you are not," Sam said indignantly. When Lupie chuffed again, Sam gasped while everyone else looked confused at the one-sided conversation. Sam responded, "Not anymore, you aren't! You are my friend now! I'm sorry I hurt you back then, but remember you were trying to kill me." The Bloodmorph raised her head to look at Sam for a second, then leaned forward and nuzzled Sam's chest. Sam scratched behind Lupie's ears. "Aww, of course, I forgive you. Just look at what happened in this clearing," She gestured at the deforested area, "I did this when Naris tried to kill me, and now, he and I, we're friends." Lupie looked at Nara, who just nodded and shrugged. Lupie seemed mollified and rested her head on the ground with a deep exhale.
The group ate the meal mostly in silence. After eating their fill, Sam gave Arron and Alina their sleeping gear, which she had confiscated earlier so they would be at least a little bit comfortable. She had made sure it was okay with Nara first. Sam held no grudge against the man and his daughter. They had done nothing to her personally other than trying to swindle her out of a few wolf hides. She hadn't been around them long enough before they died for them to try anything particularly nefarious on her. Nara, on the other hand, had been their slave, so Sam was deferring to her for how well they would be treated before they handed them over to the authorities.
Sam leaned back against Lupie with Nara curled up beside her. She didn't need to sleep for a few more weeks, so to pass the time, she made arcane arrows for Nara and mana crystals for Naris, alternating between the two items until her mana was around ten percent. Then, she would meditate until it was full and start over. It was a productive day and night for her. She had gained a level in both her race and class and a few levels in some of her skills and spells. Sam saved the seventeen free points from her level-ups in case she needed them later. As of now, she felt she would be strong enough to handle anything this forest could throw at her now that the System wasn't gunning for her death.
“I wonder what tomorrow will bring,” Sam thought as she continued crafting and planning through the night.