Chapter 10: Eating your Own Money
Redell sighed, the responsible one for once. He ignored the squabbling Amara and Chelsea and manifested a bronze colored coin from thin air, placing it on the table beside the massive book. It was slightly larger and thicker than a quarter, fitting snugly in the palm of Nara’s hand when she picked it up.
“A bronze rank spirit coin?” Nara said, reading off her Guide’s message. “What’s this?”
“A spirit coin is what fuels magical bodies if they do not eat magically infused foods or have their own magic on tap, like you.” Redell explained. “It’s also our currency.”
“You eat your own money?” Nara said, shocked.
“It is the most expensive option,” Redell explained, “So normally we do not. They operate in much the same way as ranks, except lesser is the lowest denomination, and diamond is the highest. You probably won’t see diamond rank spirit coins around at all.”
He moved to the board, drawing out a quick diagram to demonstrate.
“An iron spirit coin is worth 100 lesser spirit coins. After that, each step is roughly worth ten of the previous. Day to day transactions use lesser and iron spirit coins, but adventurers deal in the more valuable coins. Purchasing houses in populous cities would use gold spirit coins. On top of that, spirit coins are consumed to fuel artifacts, vehicles, and rituals. They array protections on this compound are also powered by spirit coins.”
It was an interesting form of currency—It had inherent value. Nara didn’t know how it was produced, but the currency was permanently consumed not only as food, but to power a variety of objects. It seemed to be some form of crystallized energy, comparative to a battery. Earth stored its energy in a variety of methods, but from what she understood, the battery was the closest example. Except, that a battery shouldn’t be eaten. If it was eaten, it was eaten only once.
“So, why talk about these coins?” Nara asked. “We were just talking about skill books.”
“The skill book is bronze rank.” Redell said. “You are iron rank. You’re going to need to boost yourself to use it.”
“Boost myself?”
“There are nuances, again.” Chelsea said, recovered from her earlier embarrassment, but driving a hard elbow into Amara’s waist, who smugly looked away. “But the bronze rank coin will temporarily raise you to the rank needed to absorb the skill book.”
“I’m warning you now.” Amara said.
“What?”
“You said you wanted advanced warning.” Amara said smugly. “Eating a spirit coin above your rank provides powerful temporary effects but also an equally debilitating drawback. Then, the skill book. That’s going to suck.”
“Don’t start.” Chelsea said, eyeing her warily.
“You are going to be forcing a massive amount of information into your head in a very short amount of time. You will most definitely pass out. Until your mind has digested all the new information, do not use any further skill books.” Amara’s advice this time was serious. She’s reached the allotted daily limit for teasing Chelsea, after all.
“So, pop this bad boy in my mouth, then use the book?”
“That’s all you have to do.” Amara confirmed.
“Try to relax,” Redell said, “It will make it slightly easier.”
Nara palmed the coin again, feeling the grooves on her hand. It had a crest on it, one she did not recognize. Were they minted, like money? Did every country have their own design?
She placed the coin in her mouth, and it immediately dissolved on her tongue, answering the question of whether or not she needed to chew before she had the chance to think about it. The coin tasted like what she thought battery acid would taste like, her previous comparison surprisingly apt. The acidic, stringent, and stale flavor sent sparks of energy through her, and she suddenly felt incredibly clear-headed and powerful once again.
“Hurry.” Redell insisted, “Before the effect fades. Best not do this twice.”
She placed her hand on the skill book.
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-You fulfill the requirements to use the skillbook, [The Way of the Traveler]?
-[Use? Y/N]
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She mentally assented. The book flung itself open, pages rapidly flipping like a casino dealer shuffling a deck of cards. As it did, tiny words lifted themselves off of the pages, gathering into a large, swirling ball above the book and before Nara.
With growing horror, Nara realized the book was not, in fact, printed in size 20 font. The font was closer to the low end of the single digits, handwriting crammed to fit every last piece of information and tidbit margin to margin. It looked like her college cheat sheets, when she was allowed to make one for a test; noted contents of an entire year crammed onto a single 8 by 11 sheet of paper.
The swirling inky ball reached critical mass, so thick with words she could not see Amara and Chelsea sitting across from her.
Redell gently rubbed her back, and flashed her an apologetic smile.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“You’ll get through this. This is all to prepare you for what lies ahead.”
The words shot towards her in a calligraphy torrent, entering through every available inch of skin. Her mouth shot open in a soundless scream. She had no brain, so the direction of entry did not matter. She felt the words crawl through her, her body a medium to access her soul, where they inserted themselves permanently. All of the information within the book flashed through her simultaneously, techniques for battle and variety of other situations she could not yet make sense of.
She had no brain, but it felt like exploding. Her mind was so full of information she could not possibly process in that moment, overflowed like a water balloon waiting for the slightest prick of grass to burst. Yet simultaneously, she felt as if she had plunged to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the weight of the entire ocean upon her mind.
Her only reprieve was when she finally passed out.
*****
She awoke, eyes cracked open to midday sun. The smell of food tickled her senses. From what she could tell, some sort of hearty, spiced meat. Nara felt that her strange, otherworld journey had been slowly sliding into Eldritch and Lovecraftian territory, with mind-etching magic books and soul-shaping cubes, and tried to shake the thought from her mind. The smell of delicious food certainly helped.
She groaned, lifting herself off of the couch in the living room. She was back within the main building, moved from the ritual workroom.
“How long was I out for? It hasn’t been a day or something, has it?”
“Just a few hours. You’re just in time for lunch.” Redell said, setting down the book he had taken to while he waited. “How are you feeling?”
“A little stuffy, still. My head is still pounding, and I’m not supposed to have a brain.”
“The soul will replicate physiological functions if it feels it is necessary.” Redell said. “How do you think we all sigh? None of us have lungs, either.” He thumped his chest to demonstrate their shared physiology.
“I’d rather my soul didn’t replicate a pounding headache.” Nara said flatly.
“You win some, you lose some,” Redell acquiesced. “I like to take in a deep breath every once in a while, even when I don’t need it. It helps to center the mind. Why not give it a shot?”
There was no harm in doing so, so she followed his suggestion. It was easier than she thought it would have been, to replicate breathing in a body with no lungs. She sucked air down, inhaling the savory, spicy aroma, which caused her stomach to rumble, although she had no stomach.
Redell chuckled, standing. “Let’s get you some food, shall we?”
Nara stood as well. Since her rank up, she no longer had problems physically standing. What caused her issues was her lack of practice combined with her unfamiliarity with a physical body. She had spent so long as a disembodied soul she was not used to it, out of practice in walking in the same way she was apparently out of practice with talking. Ranking up somehow helped with that, like she was an amnesiac who once forgot how to walk only to remember it again.
Lunch was skewers. Generous cubes of meat had been spiced and grilled to juicy perfection, interposed with slices of vegetables and appropriate fruit. Various dipping sauces were prepared in personal saucers, along with small mounds of sea salt and dry spice mixes. Something like rice was covered in generous portions of a vegetable based sauce created with the juices of the grilled meat.
“Mm,” Nara said, savoring the wild and wonderful flavors of food from an entirely different world. So many new flavors was almost too much stimulation, but she was a gastronomic fiend. On Earth and now on Erras, she would always be a foodie.
“I could kiss you Laius. This stuff is the catalyst of romance.”
“No.”
“Fair enough.”
The group finished up; plates similarly emptied as their breakfast meal.
“Speaking of, can I get fat?”
“That’s the neat thing,” Amara said, “You can’t.”
“That’s not what’s ‘neat’ about ranking up,” Chelsea said.
“You mentioned that you have to eat magically infused foods to maintain your body. Is it okay that I’m eating the same food?”
“Laius has been preparing your portion separately.” Redell said. “It has considerably less magic, and is safe for you to consume.”
“Thanks, Laius, for going out of your way.”
“Good practice,” he said simply. “You eat well.”
“Thanks?” She wasn’t quite sure what to make of the compliment, but she certainly did like to eat.
Amara wiped away any stray sauce and crumbs on her mouth, turning to Nara. “Now that you have a whole collection of martial arts to work through, you should decide on a weapon. It will help us tailor the rest of your awakening stones, so it will be an important step.”
For some reason, her mind turned to the strange gem she had received back in the astral, from the Reaper’s proxy.
Magic was mostly instinctual. Even without her Guide, she would have been able to roughly understand what an essence was and what it did when she touched it, as far as she understood what a ‘manifested essence of water’ was. This was true of the skill book as well, which she had known how to activate without being taught.
So, when Nara’s perception turned within her, to her inventory space within her Astral Domain, she knew what that black gem was.
“Actually, I have a weapon.”
The plates were cleared away, levitated away with some sort of magic, then instantly cleaned with the same miraculous water that had rid her of that foul gunk.
They sat down at the lounge beside the dining table, the one that Nara had just woken from. She had not removed anything from her inventory, but she instinctually knew how. The tips of her fingers briefly shimmered, indistinct and hazy as it passed through a dimensional boundary of reality and astral.
She could pluck items directly out of the air like Redell, but she was being a bit extra. This was her, original, personal magic. Others had many like it, but this was hers.
She plucked the gemstone from her inventory, her turn to set an object upon a table.
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Item: [Nirvana] (Iron rank [growth], legendary)
Classification: Weapon
A weapon forged from the Astral and transfigured by the Reaper. Fear not death but a life unlived.
This item is bound to [Nara Edea] and cannot be used by anyone else. This bond allows the weapon to share the wielder’s ability to ignore rank disparity.
Effect: You may invoke all effects of a conjured weapon into this blade for the normal mana cost of conjuring the weapon. Only one weapon’s effects may be invoked at a time.
Effect: This weapon deals increased damage for each instance of a boon on the wielder, up to a limit determined by rank.
Effect: The wielder gains increased resistance to dispel effects.
Effect (Iron): This weapon has no specific form unless it is given a form. Current forms available: Staff, Bow, Sword. This weapon can take the form of an accessory when not in active use. Can transform into other forms with no bonuses. When transformed into other forms, cannot invoke the effects of a conjured weapon.
* [Sword]: Minor [Power] bonus.
* [Staff]: Minor Increase to damage resistance.
* [Bow]: Minor [Speed] bonus.
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“It wasn’t a lie that you saw the Reaper’s vessel then,” Chelsea said.
“Did you think I lied?” Nara asked, out of curiosity rather than offense. Her own story sounded ridiculous, even to her. Her fragmented memories, and partial consciousness of the time she spent in the astral caused a dream-like fog over the whole experience. Only the brightest memories punctured the memory fog like a guiding beam in an unrelenting maze of grey.
“No,” Chelsea said. “We can tell when you’re lying. We can see it in your aura. But, you could believe something to be false, and we wouldn’t know if it was a lie or not. As always, you need to use your judgement.”
So, Nara learned that auras could be read for lies. But, it only reflected if the person in question knew it was a lie. It was another lesson from Chelsea, even if she didn’t know what to do with it yet. Still, any new information was important.
It told Nara that lying to higher rankers was probably pointless or difficult. She didn’t know enough to draw a definitive conclusion either way.