"I think I've seen one or two of them yes," Clyra said as she closed the lid of the pot, stopping the scent of stew from wafting out. She faced her daughter, "why?"

Thariel paused her chewing, "Nothing, it's just I'm looking for something in the forest,"

Thariel let her thoughts drift while she waited for her skeptical mother's answer.

She had woken up in pain after another night of exercise but she wasn't as sore as she thought she would have been. It's lunch now and save for the bit of aching in her muscles, she otherwise felt fine.

"You're looking for Fire Lanterns," Clyra drawled, it took her a while to give out a reply, "why?"

"Spiritual stuff, I can't answer you even if I wanted to," Thariel lied, honestly, she just didn't want to tell her mother that she was searching for the Silent Shrine, as Clyra would definitely stop her from going there if she knew.

"Spiritual stuff huh?" Clyra crossed her arms, "what kind of spiritual stuff are we talking about here? A pilgrimage? Some kind of ritual? Is it about the book?"

"Possibly all three," Clyra admitted.

Now that the Plasmononicon has been mentioned, she actually thinks that Spirit Water would be able to cleanse her spirit if she drinks it.

That should allow her to have all the benefits of having an awakened bloodline without any of the drawbacks.

"You're searching for the silent shrine," Clyra's guess was strangely spot on.

"How'd you know?" Thariel mused that trying to hide it had been worth a shot.

"Why else would a Damphir search for "spirituality" in the forest?" Clyra huffed, she sounded almost disappointed. "It was obvious from the start you wanted spirit water."

"Just so you know, cleansing your soul would only lessen the drawbacks of your awakened bloodline and not remove them fully," the redhead warned.

"Okay? But what if I don't awaken my bloodline?" Thariel asked.

"If you don't then your weaknesses will be gone while you'll have all the perks you currently have... With a few changes," Clyra answered.

The redhead tapped on her forearm with her index finger, "You'll have minor healing when exposed to the sun, and also the moon but you'll also partially lose your heightened regeneration under moon light,"

"As for your actual question, well, you'd no longer need to wear sun screen, your body can be empowered by the sun as well, it's not a bad deal all things considered." Her mother finished.

"What happens to my weaknesses if I cleanse myself with an awakened bloodline?" Thariel asked.

"They'll only become lesser, your skin would turn red and slightly burn from being exposed to sunlight but it won't blister like it would have been if you didn't drink spirit water," came the answer.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Thariel considered Clyra's explanations and thought about her options.

On one hand, everything she'll get from awakening her bloodline was too good to pass up but at the same time, she would still have her weaknesses after she drinks spirit water because of it.

So should she just not mess with the Plasmononicon?

What benefits weighed more? Becoming stronger- and also gaining connections to the vampires, - or losing her weaknesses?

After putting some thought into it, Thariel decided that she'd awaken her bloodline.

Not doing it was simply a bad decision in her opinion. She'd get so much by enhancing her current abilities that it's not even funny.

And if the price for all of that is that she'll still be reliant on sunscreen even after cleansing her soul then Thariel thought it was reasonable, and also not that different compared to her current situation.

"It's a good deal I think," Thariel tapped her plate with her fork, "I'm already using sunscreen anyway, nothing's going to change."

"Right," Clyra agreed with a nod, "but this is assuming you find the shrine,"

"I can find it," Thariel rebuked, "I just need to know about the forest, the locations in it at least. Then I'll be able to pinpoint its location." She adds, "what can I find in there?"

"Nothing much, just trees," replied Clyra.

"Any notable landmarks? Areas I should be avoiding?" Thariel hoped that the redhead would bite, she really didn't want to just outright admit that she knew how to find the shrine.

"Well there's the Silken Crown," answered Clyra after a moment of silence.

"Spiders?" Thariel drawled.

"Spiders." Clyra deadpanned.

Well, that was a start at least, now all she needed to do was lead the conversation into talking about the places inside of the spider infested area as well as those around it.

Amori Falls being outside of Silken Grove was the best outcome she could hope for here as she's never liked spiders in both her lives.

"The silken crown sounds like the perfect place the silent shrine would be in right?" Thariel edged the conversation forward.

"And for a good reason since no one would find the shrine if it was surrounded by man eating spiders." Clyra looked at her seriously, adding, "if you're going in there, then you're gonna need your bloodline to be already awakened beforehand, otherwise you'd just die."

"It's that dangerous?" Thariel asked, Silken Crown was never part of Tainted Orchids as the forest it is on had been overrun by the Ytallotiks way before canon started.

"As an example, the brood living in the forest use the spiders as a pet or mount or something else related to domestication since they're so useful," admittedly, Clyra's explanation went over Thariel's head.

Wouldn't the spiders be weak if they can be domesticated? Or is it the fact that Vampires chose to domesticate them being the reason why Clyra told her about it?

Oblivious to her thoughts, the redhead continued, her tone filled with unspoken warning, "a single bite from one of those things is enough to kill an adult Ironclaw,"

"I see," Thariel murmured, "and I'm guessing there's going to be hatchlings mixed in there with the adults,"

Unseen spiders biting her neck and killing her sounded like something straight out of her nightmares honestly. Now she was feeling skittish! Ugh.

"Naturally," Clyra huffed, confirming all of Thariel's fears, "you're going to need to be prepared if you want to get out of there alive,"

"Right," Thariel closed her eyes, "I'll go there by the end of the week instead of tomorrow then,"

It wasn't exactly what she expected things to play out but what else can she do? Besides the fact that she hated spiders, the Silken Crown sounded more and more like a dungeon as she got to learn more about it.

And from the feel of things, it was a high level dungeon as well. So not something she can easily dismiss.

After lunch, Thariel spent the rest of the day brewing potions, she was able to fill another crate by the time evening came and after dinner, she was once again on the fields outside their house.

Thariel looked around, noticing that the grassless dirt now sported several signs of tampering, she commented on it, "what's going on with all the items and indents on the ground?"

"I'm making something of a training ground for you, don't worry, it's not gonna be much." Clyra answered as she grabbed the practice spear.

Thariel noticed that it too also had a few changes done to it.

"And what's with the rocks on the spear?" Thariel asked.

"It's so that you get used to the weight of the real thing," Clyra replied with a tone that said the answer was obvious, "now take it, we're practicing your strikes before you start exercising,"

"Practicing my..." Thariel trailed off as she hefted the spear to check for the weight, huh, it was lighter than she expected, "this isn't as heavy as I thought it was,"

"It is, you're just more fit to carry it now," Clyra corrected her assumptions, "now practice striking the air a few hundred times, then you're going to work on your fitness,"

"Right, my fitness. I'm more fit now right? Why am I feeling worried?" Thariel let out a nervous chuckle.

"Instinct I guess," Clyra calmly replied, "your senses probably know that you'll be worked to death by the end of the night."

"Worked to death?" Thariel shakily replied as she got into her stance. She thrust the spear forward.

She had been able to adapt to the movement of doing this. Her thrusts had more power to them now too.

"Worked to death." Clyra repeated. Deadpan.

That definitely wasn't a good thing.

Thariel prepared herself for the worse as she turned silent and focused on practicing.

She did notice that her muscles weren't as sore as they usually were this morning but that didn't mean that the amount of exercise she needed to do should get increased right?

When the time came for her to work on her physique again, Thariel was battered, bruised, and exhausted by the end of it.

Athletes seriously did this everyday in her previous life?!

Thariel glared at the moon as she lay on the ground, she did her best to try and catch her breath with a pair of overworked lungs.

The bloodrite ritual better be painless after this!