“What do you mean?” Amalyse asked, staring at her. “I should be getting tired of asking this by now, but how do you expect to take on something that powerful on your own?”
Rieren didn’t have to answer. Instead, she pointed at the battle behind them.
The monsters were slowly dying off. With the Abyss Rents finally closing up, the Abyssals no longer had any reinforcements to replenish their strength in numbers. That meant the humans could finally overcome them. Could finally end this drawn-out battle.
But that also meant the battlefield was littered with a plethora of corpses. Mountainous piles crowded the entire area, blood flooding the ground as much as the water raining down from above.
“What are you pointing at?” Amalyse asked, not yet seeing what Rieren meant.
“The bodies, Amalyse,” Rieren said. “The corpses. All the monsters. All those potential Credits to be used in the System Shop. It will allow me to purchase just what I need in this situation.”
Amalyse’s eyes widened. “With the number of bodies everywhere… that’s going to be a ton of Credits, Rieren.”
“Exactly.”
“What are you going to buy?”
“You shall see. For now, let us end this.”
Rieren led the way towards the battle. Amalyse wasn’t far behind. They didn’t have a great lot to do.
The first monster Rieren came across was a group of Armistice Enforcers. A quick use of Gale Blade allowed her to tear through them with a single slice. Nearby, Amalyse used her crimson greatshield to bash away a Blightmane that tried to rush her, which was then pelted by icy crystals from a guard.
“Mistress!” Avalien said, suddenly appearing next to Rieren. He had a manic grin on his face. “I am glad to see that you are well. This victory is courtesy of you, yes?”
Rieren wasn’t so arrogant as to take all credit for it, but she was spared a reply when a Shadeborn threw its extending gut-mouth at them. She dodged in one direction, Avalien to the other. She rose quickly, preparing to attack, but the Shadeborn’s large appendage exploded and it screamed as it fell back.
Avalien held up what looked like a round explosive in his hand, waving it to draw Rieren’s gaze to it. “These things are incredible, Mistress. My class has amazing skills.”
Rieren granted him a brief grin before she was distracted by more fighting. It didn’t last long. A few more Blightmanes, a Shifter that was desperately trying to survive, and another of those hoglike B-Grade Abyssals that had been already vastly weakened by one of the Elders were all that was left of the Abyssal defence of the dungeon’s main chamber.
When there were finally no more monsters left standing, the Arteroth soldiers led the cheering. Several of the disciples and guards joined in, and even Rieren was tempted to raise her fist and yell in triumph. The rush of victory filled her too.
But she had more important matters to take care of.
Rieren was already running through the devastated battlefield, trying not to slip as she reached dead monster after dead monster, selling them all to the System Shop to raise her Credits. She was getting a hefty amount with each corpse and corrupted Beast Core she sold.
“Oi,” someone yelled. “What are you doing? Stop!”
She looked up to see one of the Arteroth soldiers approaching with his spear bared and a threatening look on his face. Before Rieren could respond, Amalyse was already standing between her and the man.
“We need all the Credits we can get from the monster corpses,” she said. “This battle isn’t over.”
The man shook his head belligerently. “You can’t steal all our spoils. That ain’t fair. Spoils of war need to be shared equally. All you’re doin’ is thieving.”
A vein pulsed on Amalyse’s temple. Thieving was so far from what she would ever do, Rieren was rather glad she didn’t immediately turn apoplectic upon the Arteroth soldier. “We need them.”
“What for?” Silk asked.
The other disciples were gathering at the location of the little commotion, as were the guards and the other soldiers. Rieren hadn’t waited. She was still moving around, picking up the corpses and selling them to the System Shop. The total number of Credits she had was rising rapidly, but it still wasn’t anywhere near enough what she needed.
Amalyse pointed at the distant battle still ongoing near the centre of the chamber, where the maroon energy was rising in a storm that threatened to overwhelm all the combatants. “That’s why.”
A quick glance showed Rieren that even with the Elders’ help, Essalina was unable to stand against the Gravemark Puppeteer. They were definitely not going to win at their current level.
Silk still looked skeptical. “Alright, but what exactly are you going to buy from the Shop that can help against that thing? If we could simply buy our way to victory through the System Shop, then it would never be fair, would it? Surely the System wouldn’t allow that.”
“What the System allows is for one to reap the benefits of hard work and sacrifice,” Rieren said. She paused for a moment before continuing to find more corpses to sell. “It does not necessarily need to be one’s own, mind you. But so long as you can acquire enough Credits one way or another, there are very few limits to what you can arm yourself with.”
“You still haven’t answered what exactly you’re going to buy, Rieren.”
“I am going to buy myself. If you are confused, I suggest waiting and letting me finish before they are all killed by that Abyssal.”
Rieren stopped concerning herself with what any of the others might think. There were still grumbles, complaints, and counter suggestions thrown around like darts at a board. Many of those revolved around them going physically to assist the Elders and Essalina against the Abyssal.
Those suggestions were quickly shut down. All they would do was get in the way of the combatants and die in that overwhelming chaos.
Thankfully, no one physically tried to stop Rieren. She might have killed any of them, had they tried. The more she sold the dead Abyssals around them, the more she was starting to become certain that there weren’t enough. Even with all these monstrous corpses, even with the bunch of B- and C-Grade Abyssals, she didn’t have as many Credits as she needed.
“What is it?” Amalyse asked when the battlefield was finally devoid of monstrous bodies.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Rieren looked around, a part of her hoping that were was a pile of monsters she had missed. All she saw were the Abyss Rents slowly collapsing in the distance under the auspices of the Divine-Aspected rainwater, Serace’s roots still boring holes through them in the way the Arteroth soldiers had done. “I do not have enough Credits.”
“Alright, Rieren.” Amalyse grabbed her by the shoulder and stared straight into her eyes. “Not enough Credits for what?”
Rieren took a deep breath. “For an item called Temporal Recollector.”
“And what does it do?”
“It allows one to assume a form they used to have in the past. Normally, it is a vanity item used by older folks with a great deal of Credits to spare and reattain their youth. It functions by turning the user’s memories of their past into reality.”
Amalyse’s eyes were blinking fast as the gears in her head could turn. “That means you can…”
Rieren nodded. “I can use it to access memories of my past life. The previous timeline.” She hesitated, realizing that several of those around them were hanging on her words. But she had come this far. She had decided to dispense with the need for secrecy. Rieren was going to sticky by it. “I can become as powerful as I once was.”
Amalyse swallowed, slowly releasing Rieren’s shoulder. “As powerful as you once were…” She looked behind her at the ongoing fight against the Gravemark Puppeteer. “Powerful enough to take on that thing? All by yourself? It has to be an A-Grade Abyssal, at least.”
“Powerful enough to take on that thing, yes. If I had enough Credits.”
Amalyse blinked again. Then she straightened. “Alright then. How many more Credits are you going to need?”
Rieren wondered what was going through her friend’s mind, but she complied with the question first. It took only a momentary look into the System Shop to see how much she was lacking. “At least two-hundred more Credits.”
“Two hundred?” Cerill’s eyes had gone wide. “How many do you have right now?”
“Four-thousand, two-hundred, and seventy.” They all stared at her, and she shrugged in response. “I did not say it was going to be cheap.”
“I do not think any of us have anything that we can sell to acquire that many Credits…” Silk said. “Unless…”
She didn’t need to end the sentence. Well, not for Rieren and quite a few others, at least. As many of those in the vicinity looked confused about what Silk might have meant, Rieren understood enough.
The pale girl had a ruthless side, it seemed. She wasn’t above selling some of them—well, their corpses, specifically—to get the Credits they needed.
“We can’t do that,” Amalyse said, quietly. She was clearly trying to hold onto some sort of moral standard, despite the precarious situation possibly requiring something drastic. “What’s the point in defeating that thing if there aren’t any of us to actually enjoy the victory?”
“You are right,” Rieren said. “But this does bring up an alternate idea.”
“What idea?”
In answer, Rieren opened up the System Shop again. She filtered and perused through the innumerable wares until finally finding the item she needed. It only cost about thirty Credits. A tiny dent to the amount she had gathered.
“This is a Soul Syringe,” Rieren said, displaying the item to the others.
Amalyse nose wrinkled. “It looks nasty.”
“That is because it is.”
A Soul Syringe was a black pump with a needle at one end and a pullable lever at the other. One could use the item to draw in the very soul of its subject. A tangible form of the soul, that could then be used for various means.
Including as an item to be sold to the System Shop.
Silk shook her head a little after Rieren explained what it was to them all. “That sounds like a convoluted way of killing someone.”
“To an extent, yes,” Rieren said. “But your soul is far more valuable than your body. While cultivators’ physical forms can procure a decent price, their souls possess the sum total of their existence, including all their memories, their emotions, their knowledge, and so on.”
“And the System places a much greater value on all that instead of just their bodies.” Amalyse looked around at them all, trying not to meet any of their eyes. “But who are you going to ask?”
Rieren already had the answer to that. She walked past them all, not caring if they watched or followed or simply couldn’t care enough.
Not all of them were perfectly fine. Most had suffered injuries to some extent, though they weren’t debilitating. A few of them had been wounded grievously, however. It was to one of those unfortunate casualties that Rieren made her way towards.
The Arteroth soldier was being helped by a couple of his comrades. They had pulled off his armour and were treating his many wounds. But it wasn’t going to work. He had already lost too much blood via his missing leg. The other soldiers were only holding off the inevitable while the injured one looked on in growing despair.
“I apologize for the intrusion,” Rieren said as she approached.
“You!” One of the guards rose quickly, hand straying to the spear at his back. “What do you want here?”
“To give your comrade an honorable death.”
“What?” He was confused for a moment, before his anger at her caught up with him. “What do you mean honourable death? Kalorel is not going to die.”
Rieren pointed to the still-bleeding stump, then pointed with her thumb behind her at the raging battle against the Gravemark Puppeteer. She looked straight into the wounded soldier’s eyes. “You have a chance to save your mistress. To save us all. Would you rather cowardly stick to vain hopes that you might live by some miracle, or do something worthwhile before you perish?”
The conflict on the dying man’s face was clear as day. On the one hand, there was his honour to consider. Refusing such a call would ruin his reputation. But on the other hand, they were speaking about his very life. What did honour matter to one who was on death’s doorstep?
Surprisingly, it was the third soldier who rose with a determined look. “Use me. Whatever you need one of us for, I’ll do it. Forget the others.”
Rieren shook her head. “That defeats the very purpose. If I intended to use a live subject, I could have simply convinced one of my fellow disciples, or—”
“It doesn’t matter, does it? All you need is some sort of sacrifice. That will give you what you need to take that thing down, right? Then use me. I’m right here.”
Rieren considered for just a second, before nodding. The other two soldiers, both the healthy one and the wounded one, were protesting against their comrade’s volunteering. Rieren didn’t heed any of it. Instead, she pulled out the ingredient she had received a few days ago—the Spirit medium.
It was a thimble containing a light blue, murky liquid. Rieren quickly poured all the contents into the Soul Syringe after twisting its lever mechanism off.
Then she pulled the soldier’s arm away from his body and plunged the Soul Syringe into it. A quick pull of the lever, and the man fell. His ear-splitting scream lasted barely a second. The shriek dug into Rieren’s head, but it was quickly silenced as the Soul Syringe started glowing.
“What did you do to him?” the uninjured soldier asked. He looked a little mad. “What have you done?”
The others who hadn’t followed Rieren yet were gathering now that they had heard the man’s scream as well. That included both many of the disciples and guards, and several of the Arteroth soldiers who hadn’t been present.
Their protests were loud in Rieren’s ears, but Amalyse kept them back, enforcing a heavy-handed calm. It wasn’t surprising that they were furious. Not only had Rieren effectively “stolen” most of the loot they had expected to come to them after the battle, she had now basically murdered one of their comrades as well.
But she disregarded it all. The Syringe was finally full. She finally had everything she needed.
Rieren reached down and pulled it away from the dead soldier. Then she sold it to the System Shop. As she had known, it flooded her with a tremendous amount of Credits. In fact, she now had more than she would need.
Buying the Temporal Recollector left a strange hollow feeling inside her. All those Credits just… gone. She never got over how difficult yet also easy it was to spend all that accumulated wealth. A strange holdover from her life before, when she had been poor and without anything to her name. One did not cast aside the possible need to hoard so easily.
But as the bickering grew louder around her, Rieren raised the fragile amber crystal high above her. There was a tiny pulse of energy trapped within it. When she crushed the crystal, it burst out with a ringing, tinkling sound.
The noise caught everyone’s attention, but so did the sight before them. That tiny bubble of energy Rieren had freed had coalesced around her, slowly transforming her into her past.
Into the power she had claimed.
Her physical form changed. Long years of cultivating and reinforcing her body by various means had granted her an almost entirely new look. Her skeleton lengthened, her shoulders widened, her whole figure growing more muscular, and her skin gained a slight silvery hue. Even her very facial structure changed, the narrowing of her face almost painful in its shift.
When it was over, Rieren looked down to see that her robes had ripped in places, unable to conform to her new proportions. A distant part of her realized how unseemly that might have been, but such concerns were so far from her mind, they may as well have been part of a dream.
“Rieren,” Amalyse said, voice hushed and eyes wide. “Is… is that you?”
She turned to survey the area around her. At her current height, Rieren easily stood a head higher than the next tallest person. “It has always been me. The real me, whom you see before you, whom you have always known.” She raised her sword, pointing at the centre of the chamber. “Now, it is time for that Abyssal to know as well.”