Book 3. Chapter 16
“A taste of power.” Part 1
“What?...” Kalysto’s face lost all the color she had. “Wait a minute! Are you telling me that you really traveled back in time? Is that even possible?” She questioned, grabbing her by the shoulders.
Because if it is, it means I can save my mother, or even better, stop my father from abandoning me. She couldn’t help thinking, realizing at that moment that she would have preferred to leave with him if given the chance than to have to go again through all the scorn, neglect, and abuse she experienced.
Then she felt disgusted with herself and guilt engulfed her.
Oh my God, I’m just like my mother! She reproached herself as she realized that just like her progenitor, who neglected her for trying to gain the attention of a man, a part of her was willing to abandon her to run away with her father and do the same to her.
“No, I didn’t time travel,” the blonde clarified, and for the first time since their reunion, Kalysto began to notice small details in her friend that he hadn’t noticed before. “Only my conscience and my memories did it because my body and everything else were sacrificed for the skill. That’s what it’s called ‘sacrifice.’”
“Did you buy it with the book of shadows?” Seeing Alice’s frown, who looked much more tired and older than usual, she hurried to clarify: “I am referring to Alcyone’s book.” Alcyone was the black magician who had created the first book of shadows as his last experiment to extend his life after more than a hundred years of failed experiments. Among the followers of the ‘Lethicia the Huntress’ trilogy that book was known by those two names, but the fans of the tragic stories of Kassandra Black, the author, called it by another name as it appeared in several of her books, but the character of Alcyone only appeared in one.
“No, I didn’t get it in the skill book, but it was in it that I bought Jhil’s skill,” she clarified, sitting down next to Kalysto and leaning her head against her shoulder. “‘Resurrection’ is a skill that only appears after Jhil reaches level 80, and ‘sacrifice’ when it reaches level 100,” the blonde commented.
Kalysto closed her eyes when she heard that, as she put a hand to her face and pulled her loose hair back. Abruptly, she stood up from the bed, causing Alice to lose her balance and almost fall against the bed mattress. Then the saintess began to walk from the bed until she almost reached the bathroom door, only to turn back again.
So that’s why the queen has been pressuring me to level up my skills!... If something goes wrong on the third mission, I can simply revive the fairies or go back in time and prevent it. Or in case I die, she can simply revive me by re-summoning me since I am her Avatar. Realizing this didn’t help that she wasn’t disappointed in the cold way she was being used. I would have appreciated it if she had explained it to me or at least said it to my face.
Her shoulders slumped, and she stopped pacing back and forth. Her gaze was lost in nothingness.
Even if I felt grateful to her for saving me, being used as a disposable chess piece is not pleasant at all.
“So this time I made sure to become the owner of the book as soon as I found it in the forest outside the capital while I was on a mission to collect medicinal plants,” Alice commented trying to get her attention as she pulled out of a small leather pouch that had been tucked inside her cleavage and was tied to a chain hanging from her neck, and from it she took out a thick old book with a dark red, almost brown cover, with golden letters and decorations.
“How did you get that greedy merchant or his daughter to give it to you?” asked the fairy champion, grateful for the sudden change of focus, needing to get away from her depressing thoughts about the queen and her contract.
But as soon as she fixed her attention on the book, her fingers itched to be able to touch it and hold it in her own hands.
Kalysto clenched her fists tightly and took a step back as the sweet and kind Alice showed it to her, oblivious to her reaction.
“They were both dead when I found their bodies a hundred meters down the road. They made it look like a robbery, but the truth is that the assailant seemed to be behind the book and although the merchant managed to defeat him, he bled to death sitting under a leafy old pine-like tree. With the book in his hands.”
“How did you know where to find it?”
“In the book ‘The Hero of a Kingdom in Ruins’, the protagonist finds it in the forest outside the capital of Bhallys. I just followed in his footsteps.”
I’m glad I bought all of Kassandra’s books before returning to Elinor. I’ll read it as soon as I have some free time. She thought as the desire to touch the book became more and more uncontrollable.
Almost as if the magic inside the book was calling her.
But Kalysto knew better.
It was just pure greed on her part.
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So she stood firm where she was standing, watching from afar what Alice so kindly wanted to show her.
“Did you buy the merchant's skill or the profession? -she questioned, thinking that would be the first thing she would do if she had the book. But Alice kept silent. “... Alice?... Why don’t you answer me?”
“... You know I’m not very good at negotiating... I never had a talent for that... and by the time it was finally available to buy it and I decided to do it, someone else bought it just before me, and since then I haven’t been able to get it...” she answered with her head down and a shiver ran down Kalysto’s back at what her friend wasn’t saying.
Full of concern, she approached her friend. A quick glance at the page where the book was open told her why she was behaving so strangely.
“You have only 20,550 points left? That’s how many? 2 and a half years left to live?” Kalysto shouted, equal parts angry and frightened at her friend for the foolishness she had committed. Is that why you look older? -She questioned, but she didn’t give her time to answer. “What the fuck did you spend your life points on?”
“...” Alice ducked her head sheepishly again. “In my first life, I was too surprised when I got the book. It was long after I ran away and got to safety that the fear of trading my remaining life hours for points and buying skills stopped overcoming my fear of dying or being eaten by monsters...” she excused herself with her eyes red from crying. “By the time I did, Jhil, who had been cheap at the beginning, had already disappeared. Terrified of dying at any moment, I spent months checking the book at every instant, waiting for an opportunity to buy it. Sometime later, I bought Jhil the second time I saw it, no matter how expensive it was at the time. And even though this time I managed to buy it in time, how could I leave my grandparents whose vitality and agility were below 10 and stamina was between 5 and 10 points unprotected in a world as dangerous as this one?” Fear and despair shone in his eyes as she said it.
“Did you buy stat crystals?” the saintess guessed. Realizing that in her fear of not losing them again, Alice had spent more points than she should have by buying them.
“Yes,” she answered immediately, fear marking her face. “I needed to make sure that if I wasn’t around, they could survive on their own long enough for me to heal them. As well as having some skills that would help us survive in this world.”
“...I understand...” she answered. And although she wanted to scold her for making such a foolish decision when all she had to do was wait a couple of weeks and find things that sold well, as Lethicia had done in her trilogy. However, it was now too late to regret it.
It was your fear that decided for you. She thought as she looked at the other page of the open book, where it showed that the merchant's skill was worth 20,370 points. Considering that the book charges a commission of twenty percent of the points for each item sold, plus the points it charges for offering an item for sale... it’s very likely that Alice won’t have enough time left in her life to wait for whatever we put on offer to sell, even if I give her holy water and some mana crystals... the chance of it not selling in time is too high for her to consider it as a possibility.
“If an offer comes up, don’t hesitate to buy the merchant skill. Only then the book will allow you to sell something to the owners of the other books. I have a good stock of holy water and mana crystals that we could sell,” she said as she hugged her.
“...Thank you,” Alice whispered between tears clinging to her desperately. “... Kalysto... I don’t want to die... Not again,” her voice broke as she began to cry harder and hid her face in her friend’s shoulder as she hugged her friend back.
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Shit, I’m going to have to talk to Aegir and move up our classes of mind magic! She immediately pulled it back up and pulled Alice away a bit slyly as she broke the hug, creating some space between her and the book that was still lying on the blonde’s thighs.
[The skill ‘Mental Defense’ has been activated.]
“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll find a solution,” she assured him, although she couldn’t think of anything else. “By the way, how did you come up with the idea of getting the book?” She couldn’t help but ask before she realized what she was doing.
“When I came to this world and realized that the rumors were true that Kassandra is a witch who can see the future of other worlds, I wondered what Kalysto would do if she were in my place?” she commented with a smile while wiping her tears. “So before Sandra started ranting about refusing to help the king, I acted in the helpful way you told me you did with difficult customers, put on my best customer service smile, and tried to turn the situation in my favor. And then I escaped as soon as I had the opportunity just after I gained their trust and they let their guard down shortly after I acquired the book. After I was able to escape this world thanks to the help of an elf whose people were slaughtered by monsters and the black plague, I was able to return to earth. Only to discover that you were dead and my grandparents were missing. While searching for them, I was stupid enough to trust someone who ended up stealing my book. A year and a half went by while I was able to get an ally to help me get it back and take revenge. But by the time I was able to get it back, I discovered that my grandparents had died shortly after the appearance of the first portal...” Alice’s eyes filled with tears again, which she hurried to wipe away before closing the book. At the same time, Kalysto debated the desire to approach her friend and comfort her, and the desire to touch the magic book. “So this time I made sure to bind him to me with my blood and thus become his mistress as the author explained in one of her books, so that no one else but me can use it this time... so that no one else can take advantage of me again.”
“They will kill you if anyone knows you have it. You know, don’t you? You can’t trust anyone with something as valuable as this,” Kalysto whispered, her voice suddenly sounding hoarse.
“No one knows I have it. Only you,” the blonde replied, the confidence and tranquility of knowing she was safe with Kalysto shining on her face.
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A snaking stain of darkness descended on Kalysto’s left arm before she could do anything to stop it. At the same time, black smoke came out of her body.
“Kalysto, what’s going on?” murmured Alice as the saintess jumped backwards, crashing into the bed frame as she tried to put some distance between them.
“Dispel Ezhil! Purification Ezhil!” Kalysto hurried to conjure and the golden light of her skills flooded the room, disintegrating the darkness that was there, but not the one that was growing inside her, consuming her. Ice ran through her veins as she realized the danger her dear friend was in as she struggled to maintain control of her body. “ALICE! RRRUUUUNNNNNNN!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, just before her whole world turned to darkness.