If Rieren was learning one thing in this initial stage of her new journey, it was this—the greatest blessing that one could ever receive was the companionship of a loving pet.

Now, there could be great debate on whether Batcat was actually loving or not. It never really cuddled with her so much as just using the top her head, and all the hair there, as its nesting spot. Rieren couldn’t recall if Batcat had ever actually played with her. Not even when she had used some of her hard-earned Credits to purchase more treats from the System Shop.

Another rather important debate was who was the real pet here. It was Batcat who often reminded her to eat, stood watch while she slept, and would often pop out encouraging meows at random as though she was in danger of falling into depression.

Often times, it felt as though the winged kitten tolerated Rieren’s presence more than anything else.

Nevertheless, Rieren knew her journey would have been so much duller if she hadn’t had the little Spirit Beast in the guise of a cat around. She was thankful for its presence, and for the circumstances that had led to their meeting.

Especially since, before Rieren set out on her travels, she had one important thing to take care of.

Firstly, there was the achievement she received.

New Achievement!

You have departed your home! The wider world awaits to shake under the might of your every step.

Rewards

* 1 Level

* 1 Skill point

* 1 Credit

* 1 Spirit Channeler

Rieren hadn’t had any idea what that item was supposed to be. It looked like a strangely shaped bell, though when she shook it, there was no ringing sound whatsoever. A quick little look through her Essence-infused eyes had revealed that there was an automatic minuscule draw of Essence into the item.

New Item!

The Spirit Channeler allows Spirit Beasts to draw in greater Essence.

Ah. That explained why Batcat had begun meowing at it, looking at the little bell-like item as though it was one of its treats. Rieren considered for a second, then used a little string to tie the Spirit Channeler around the winged kitten’s neck.

Whatever other benefit the Spirit Channeler might provide, it certainly made the cat more adorable. Good enough for her.

With that taken care of, the next thing was getting some distance between herself and Lionshard mountain. No doubt Essalina and the rest of the Arteroth would be looking for her, as well as some of those within the sect itself to whom she had said nothing about her departure. As such, it was imperative she get herself out of their radius of searching.

Rieren had also decided that she was going to head eastwards. Completing her growth through the Awakened realm shouldn’t take her more than another week or two.

And then she’d be in the Enlightened realm.

Progressing through that would take her significantly longer. To get through the Enlightened Realm, one needed to journey to specific Enlightenment Locales spread all over the world. Only a few, though. Three was usually enough for most people.

There were some not too far from Lionshard Sect. A few to the northwest and one to the south. But recent experiences suggested that heading there would be too dangerous. They were likely guarded, or watched, perhaps with Banishedborn awaiting her arrival. No, Rieren would have to go to Locales that were unexpected.

As such, she needed to head east. To the Shatterlands, the easter region of the empire. Not exactly an exciting prospect, considering some of the rumours of the chaos she’d heard about the area. Especially considering what had happened in the past.

But for now, the body of Elder Olg kept interfering with her thoughts.

For the first day of her journey, Rieren carefully managed to not even think about the fact that she had an Elder stuck in a storage ring of all places. But after a while, the thought of the indignity she was inflicting upon the Elder’s deceased body weighed too heavy on her mind, and she quickly pulled him out of the storage ring.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Rieren grimaced. The storage ring had a preserving effect, so Elder Olg looked no worse than when he had fallen.

Of course, that was saying little since he had been deformed by the corrupted Essence that had been forced through his body. The recollection of how the Avatar—and the Abyssal he had been hosting—had caused this made Rieren’s lip curl. It was a good thing that they had ended up killing that bastard.

Batcat meowed at her. It sounded a little mournful.

“Thank you, cat,” she said softly. It sounded as though the winged kitten was offering its condolences, and Rieren was certainly not about to put it past Batcat’s intelligence. “But you are correct. I must begin.”

The point here was that Rieren needed to finish whatever she intended to do to Elder Olg’s corpse and get moving. The longer and closer she remained to Lionshard Sect, the more both she and the Sect itself were left in danger.

It was a small matter to loot some of the valuables upon the Elder’s body and sell them for Credits, which allowed her to purchase a shovel and an ornamental grave marker.

Digging wasn’t as difficult as thinking of what sort of remembrance ceremony she ought to perform. All throughout lowering Elder Olg’s body into hole, refilling it with earth, and then setting up the grave marker with his name on it, she tried to think of the proper words. Eventually, she realized a simple recitation of his importance, both to her and the rest of the world, ought to be enough.

“Will you attend the remembrance ceremony, cat?” Rieren asked.

In response, Batcat sat placidly beside the little grave Rieren had dug, looking up at her with big, liquid eyes. She smiled at its kindness.

“Elder Olg…” Rieren had to clear her throat. It didn’t matter if her eyes blurred with some tears. She could afford to shed some now. “Elder Olg was a great man. A great teacher. A great friend. And a great cultivator.”

Batcat agreed with a little sniffling purr.

“Without his teachings, I would never have made it to the heights I achieved. Without his help, I would never have managed to join the Sect, and I would never have managed to learn the way I could have reformed the apocalypse. Without him… none of us, not a single person in this world, would be where they are.

“And so, Elder Olg, you are undoubtedly the most important person in the… in…” Her voice faltered. “You were indispensable to me. In my last life, and even more in this one. For, now that I am no longer blinded by rage and driven to reach my goals no matter what might bar my way, I truly understand.”

What do you understand, Rieren could imagine the Elder asking her. Could envision him with his grey eyes and little smile.

Rieren swallowed. “I understand that a life without love is hardly a life at all.”

A bit rich, coming from someone like her, but it was true nevertheless. Whether she had the room to act on it… well, time would tell.

When all was said and done, Rieren let herself wallow in the depressive feelings for a few hours. It was only right. Elder Olg’s memory deserved so much more, and this was the least she could afford to give him.

Eventually though, she had to get moving.

The first few weeks after leaving behind Lionshard mountain were… not exactly exciting. Lionshard mountain wasn’t a lone mount, of course. It was part of a sparse range acting as a natural boundary between the northern and eastern regions of the Elderlands. More mountains stretched off into the distance, though most were far shorter and covered by a dense thicket of trees.

Unfortunately, Lionshard seemed to be the only mountain that had caught the Abyssals’ attention. Rieren supposed that might have been for the lack of a dungeon in the other mountains.

Or a Sect or any other kind of settlement for them to take over too.

This meant that her income of Credits rapidly dried up. She could only chop down so many trees and sell them for meagre returns before the exercise got overly tiring.

It was a good thing Batcat came to the rescue. A few days after they had begun their trek across the mountain range, trying to find their way through the passes, the winged kitten had decided to go off on its own.

Naturally, Rieren had been rather distraught to find the kitten gone the first time. She went through several stages of grief before deciding to forcefully reclaim her inner harmony by cultivating. When she finally stopped and was properly aware of her surroundings again, she found Batcat waiting patiently near the mouth of the cave they were using for shelter.

“Where did you—”

Her angry question had been cut short when Batcat had taken off.

“Wait!”

She hadn’t had any time to prepare. Rieren ran after the kitten, who eventually led her to where a bunch of Armistice Enforcers had gathered around a small pond. It seemed the monsters were watering themselves.

Rieren wasn’t one to baulk at mundane occurrences. So what if Abyssals exhibited traits of more innocent animals. She was a hunter, and if her prey were about to make themselves easy targets, it would be foolish of her to not take advantage. As such, Rieren obtained a handful of E-Grade Beast cores with relative ease. That replenished her Credits a little bit.

It still wasn’t enough, but it was something she was simply going to have to get used to. Abyssals naturally congregated around locations where Abyss Rents existed. Until Rieren found such a location again, she would be hard-pressed to find more monsters to kill.

This was a conundrum. Of course, her main goal was her own advancement, especially cultivating her Aspect Pillars so that she could get through the Awakened Realm and reach the Enlightened Realm. But doing so without the aid of pills and other resources she could have obtained easily with a vast number of Credits would be… tedious.

Considering how the Gravemark Puppeteer—it still rankled that the monster had survived its fight against her—had insinuated she didn’t have much time… well, Rieren was starting to feel a little worried on occasion.

Having swallowed bits of the dungeon and the Abyss they had been in, Batcat could now summon an Abyss rent, if needed. That was something Rieren was waiting on to find the right moment to use. After all, the little Spirit Beast couldn’t use its strange abilities willy-nilly.

But that was essentially the thing about cultivating. However fast she hoped to be, it would still take a significant amount of time. Which wasn’t an awful thing, truth be told.

However long she might need to advance through the realms, those at the higher realms of power would need exponentially longer to claim greater heights. For all the strength the gods and their servants wielded, they were closer to the proverbial ceiling than her. Rieren’s greatest advantage was that she had room to grow.

And she was Abyss-bent on making use of it.