The first thing to strike Rieren’s mind was that Batcat might want to be her True Summons. After all, why else would it locate and show her that specific memory?

She dropped to her haunches. “Is that right, kitten? Do you want me to make you my True Summons?”

Rieren wasn’t sure she supported the idea. On the one hand, the path she had taken in her last life had been an important step for her growth in power. Or rather, her rapid growth in power, to be exact. It was that rapidness that she would need even more in this timeline.

But there were two problems with that procedure. Past Rieren had been hesitating for a very good reason. In fact, one of those problems was an even bigger concern this time around.

The scroll she had found, the one that offered an alternative to True Summoning, required a hefty sacrifice.

It needed a life.

True Summoning was a process wherein a cultivator could bind their elixir field to the core of another being. In almost all cases, this turned out to be a Spirit Beast that the cultivator had gained a deep understanding and a sense of trust with.

Such an integral binding could provide myriad benefits. Chief of this was the ability to channel the Spirit Beast’s innate powers.

For instance, Elder Og’s Ashflame had been derived entirely from what his True Summons was capable of. He had admitted that, before he had found and forged a bond with Foxwolf, the Elder had channeled more mundane Aspects like wind.

Aside from that, the connection between them also allowed them to grant each other their innate strengths as well. It was why Foxwolf was able to consume parts of Elder Olg’s very body and increase her own strength. In the same manner, Foxwolf’s Aspect-empowered regeneration abilities allowed Elder Olg to recover from even the most grievous of wounds with hardly a scratch.

There were no small number of benefits a good Spirit Beast True Summons could provide. These of course tended to vary from Spirit Beast to Spirit Beast.

But still. Rieren had never seen the appeal of relying on another being, creature or human, for her own strength. She needed ultimate control over it, and summoning anything only to subjugate it entirely to her will would be unpleasant for both her and the summons.

So instead, Rieren had pored through the System Shop to see what alternatives she could find. Eventually, a scroll had revealed that the same bonding procedure could be used on other things besides Spirit Beasts. All it required was that the Summons be capable of channelling Essence.

As such, Rieren had decided that she would take in a core. A pure core, without any beasts attached to it.

That wouldn’t have been impossible to achieve on its own. Past Rieren would have just needed to find an Anachron to kill from somewhere, taking its core for herself. Of course, she’d have to make sure it was the right monster with the right kinds of capabilities she wanted. But still, the objective was simple enough.

Elder Olg even offered to help once she confessed her proper intentions to him. He would let Foxwolf roam and try to uncover Anachrons hidden in other areas besides Lionshard mountain.

The circumstances, however, were anything but. With the apocalypse starting to hit harder than ever, it became impossible to focus on growing their own strength when all they could do was survive. At one point, they were fighting other cultivators too. Their enmity with the Arteroth finally became full-blown war when Rieren ended up killing their scion, Essalina.

In the end, the demise of the Sect had been unavoidable. But it was through that demise that past Rieren had found her True Summons—the core of Elder Olg’s being.

People didn’t have cores, of course. Not like Spirit Beasts and other monsters. During one of the last battles, where Foxwolf had already perished and Elder Olg lay dying, he had offered up his elixir field before he passed away completely. A final gift to his best pupil.

Rieren had accepted it.

Batcat rubbed its furry head against her leg. She blinked. The tears had come unbidden. She wiped them away. The memories were fraught with too much pain, seared in her mind with the brand of despair and failure and utter devastation.

“Thank you for not taking the memory that far,” she whispered to the cat.

Batcat purred lightly.

Rieren forced her mind to return to the point at hand. First problem—she had no soul who could willingly give up their elixir field to join with her own. Second—she was uncertain she would ever find an Anachron would satisfy her criteria.

When taking in the pure core of a monster, it had to be ideal. The main Aspect should at least be something related to one of those the cultivator could already channel. Its abilities needed to complement what the cultivator could already perform, or at least be in line with their vision for what their future prowess might look like.

Even if the cultivator chose not to make the creature a proper true summons, the nature of its core would affect things drastically. A choice as close to perfect was necessary.

The existence of such a creature out there wasn’t impossible. But Rieren had no faith she would find one anytime soon. She could ask Batcat’s help in finding one, but if Foxwolf had failed in the span of a year to find one, how soon could she expect Batcat to succeed?

After all, she might not have a year if everyone agreed to partake in this tournament.

Of course, Elder Olg’s elixir field hadn’t been ideal. It had simply been the best she could have done in the circumstances. Rieren had struggled to meld the foreign elixir field with her own. It had been too powerful, its primary Aspect one that clashed against her own.

Perhaps it had been worth it in the end, considering how much power she had ended up gaining, but Rieren had certainly had to suffer for it.

As such, maybe it would be in her best interests to form a True Summons pact with Batcat. She had come to a good understanding with the little Spirit Beast. They both knew each other and trusted each other as well. There was no more ideal a candidate in Rieren’s circumstances.

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It was true, they already had a Spirit Bond. And so far, that had been more than good enough. Rieren was able to use its memory powers to various effects that had helped her tremendously.

As a True Summons, she would just have to find a more martial way of using them. If Batcat allowed, of course.

Which Rieren found that the cat wasn’t too fond of.

“You do not wish for this?” Rieren had extended a hand, deciding to see if she could recreate the pact-forming procedure Elder Olg had shown her so long ago.

Batcat had scampered away, shaking its head vigorously. At Rieren’s question, it made more biting motions.

She blinked at it. “More memories? What would you show me this time? Fine, come here. I promise I will not form any pacts against your will.”

Batcat padded over. But it didn’t stand still long enough for Rieren to channel Essence through it. Instead, all it did was pat her leg with a little paw then scurry away again.

Rieren was confused. The biting indicated memories, but then, it had indicated her for some reason. Memories of her. Wasn’t that what they had just done, experienced her memories? Rieren had thought they would be doing the same once again? Clearly, the cat meant something different this time.

She frowned. Was it trying to say that she had the potential to obtain and view memories by herself, without the help of the little Spirit Beast? That seemed a little wild. No techniques she knew of could do any such thing.

The system made many things possible, but like cultivation techniques, skills were mostly combat oriented as well.

Seeing her confusion, Batcat jumped at her. It got close. Very close. Rieren didn’t mind having its furry, little face right up against hers. The kitten was adorable, after all, and it didn’t even smell. It was so close that she could see herself reflected in its eyes.

Rieren blinked. “Memories of me…”

Oh. So that was what the kitten meant? Was that even possible?

Rierne plucked the cat off her face and placed it back on the ground. “Are you saying that you want me to form a Spirit Bond with myself?”

Batcat nodded with the same enthusiasm it had shaken its head before.

“How is that…” Rieren shook her head. It shouldn’t be impossible. After all, she had formed a pact with Elder Olg’s elixir field. If her double existed, she could do the same with the second Rieren’s elixir field. “Where in the world would I find another version of myself? I suppose… you cannot recreate a past version of me, can you?”

That sounded far too fantastical to be a possibility, but the kitten nodded with the surety of a thousand-year-old sage.

Asking how wasn’t going to help. “Can you do that now?” The kitten shook its head morosely. “Then when or how can you do it, since you mentioned that you can?”

In answer, the kitten flipped over and swung its paws in the air a little playfully. Rieren stared at it. What was it trying to tell her now? Things would be so much easier if Batcat could talk like Foxwolf.

Even after several minutes of trying to ponder the cat’s strange actions, Rieren found no satisfactory answer. She tried a different tack. Previously, Batcat hadn’t been able to conjure the power she needed—Call of the Past—due to a lack of its own, innate power.

One that she had fixed by giving it Beast Cores to eat. Maybe that was it. Maybe, for the next stage of its strength, the little Spirit Beast needed more Beast Cores to consume.

“Is that it, cat?” Rieren asked, kneeling down again to pat its head. “You want to eat more scrumptious Beast Cores?”

Batcat nodded its furry head against her fingers. She smiled. The kitten was rather adorable, even when eating the hearts of monsters.

“Well, then,” she said. “Let us not wait a moment longer, shall we?”

Of course, finding Anachrons to obtain Beast Cores from didn’t turn out to be an easy task by any means. Rieren had to consult the Clanmistress’s administration and obtain information from quite a few different people.

The best way to identify potential Anachron locations was by investigating local reports of oddities. Dangerous places where people tended not to visit or had seen some calamity or other occur. Unexplainable phenomena. Locations where people had gone missing. These were the areas that had the greatest chance of holding an Anachron.

It was a good thing some had actually sighted such monsters on occasion. There was one place to the south of Falstrom where people had complained that fishing in a lake had become next to impossible after an Anachron had moved into the waters.

Of course, some clan cultivator had been sent to deal with the business long ago. They had encountered the monster and fought it off, but it hadn’t been killed yet. Good enough for Rieren.

“I certainly hope it didn’t succumb to whatever wounds it might have suffered in its battle with the cultivator,” she said, speaking as much to herself as to Batcat when they arrived.

Despite the Anachron’s removal, the little fishing hamlet hadn’t recovered. The Abyssal invasion had driven most off to Falstrom. Recent recovery attempts indicated they might return here, eventually, but there had been no true attempts at rehabilitation at this location yet.

It was a little sad, considering Rieren would have enjoyed some fishing.

Thankfully, they did find their target after some searching. In fact, Batcat eagerly led Rieren right to where it was hiding in a cave farther away from the lake.

A strong sensation of mist and mugginess overtook Rieren as she entered the little cave. She could sense it then. The monster was somewhere deeper inside. A being of liquid that had been drying out after it had been deprived from its primary source of power.

Rieren didn’t need long to find it. The creature was difficult to identify. It looked like a monster made of many serpents fused together, but all dried and limp, covered with the dead detritus one found at the bottom of murky, stagnant lakes. The stench coming off it made both Rieren’s and Batcat’s noses wrinkle.

“Are you still living, Anachron?” Rieren asked.

There was a hissed-out grumble coming from somewhere on the creature, but it wasn’t legible. Many Anachrons had the ability to mimic human speech, making them easier to understand. Rieren blessed the fact that Forest and Mountain had both belonged to this group.

Batcat meowed hungrily.

“You are correct, kitten,” she said. “It matters not whether the creature is capable of speech.”

As she approached the fallen monster, however, it began to stir. Its many serpentine bodies writhed and twisted, rising off the ground and shedding the coat of waterlogged debris.

And then it lashed out.

Perhaps her aggressive intentions had been a little too clear. Not that it posed much of a problem.

All Rieren had to do was use Earthfall Blade to slam away one of the onrushing serpent-forms. Her sword thumped against the head, sending it careening into the cave’s wall. More of its body followed, more of the serpents attempting to chomp into Rieren and prevent her from stealing its Beast Core.

But through her journey, Rieren had grown strong and fast. In fact, when she stopped using her skill, it didn’t take a great deal of effort to deflect the attacks with just her body’s innate strength.

At best, this Anachron was at C-grade. Or rather, might have been once, when it would probably have posed a greater challenge. The lack of a life source had weakened it greatly.

At one point, as one of the Anachron’s heads flashed past her, Rieren countered hard enough to leave a deep gash along the monster’s neck. This turned out to be fatal. Dark blood and too much water burst out of the Anachron to flood the little cave, soon seeping into Rieren’s boots as well. Her carefully tended shoes were practically ruined now.

The Anachron’s twitching didn’t last long. Once Rieren had made sure that it wasn’t going to be rising back up—thanks to some experimental pokes into its scaly body—she dug out the Beast Core.

It was a mottled, ugly thing, mud-crusted and rotten. She’d have believed it if someone had said they’d dug it out from the bottom of a river.

“You truly wish to consume this, cat?” Rieren asked.

She might as well not have. Batcat’s eyes were shining with eagerness. When she threw the Beast Core at the cat, it devoured the whole thing in less than a minute. Rieren barely had any time to sell what remained of the Anachron’s corpse to the System Shop to get some meagre Credits.

Rieren looked down at the cat. “I am assuming that was not enough.”

Batcat shook its head as though that was only obvious.

“Fine, then. Let us continue murdering monsters that have done us no harm whatsoever.”