I was woken up a few times to drink things. One or two I guessed were medicines or potions based on the intense flavors. The rest seemed to be broths. I groaned and protested every time but in all honesty, I was really extremely miserable and tired beyond belief. Whenever I wasn’t being pestered to drink things, I was passed out cold. I couldn’t really keep track of things, but I felt like it might have been a full day or two. Eventually though, on what I was assuming was the third day, I woke up on my own. I was tired from sleeping too much, as ironic as that can be, extremely hungry and thirsty and my energy had returned. The pain was gone, I just felt some soreness from being stiff and had a mild headache. My eyes no longer hurt,
I tossed off the covers on the bed and got to my feet. The room was dark, so I patted myself down. I could feel that I had a long shift or nightgown on and that was basically it. It was fine, I was decent. I took baby steps and waved my arms around to try and feel out the room and find my way out. While I was doing that I decided to address some of the notifications I’d missed.
You have 12 stat points available to spend.
You have new skills available!
You have gained new titles!
First Evolution conditions have been met: (1/3)!
You have made progress towards your next Evolution!
Warning! You have accumulated a dangerous amount of Essence for your current Evolution! Seek medical attention!
Uh… That seems… Bad?
I found a wall and was now carefully working my way around the room, keeping one hand training along the surface of the wall to feel for a doorcase. I nearly stumbled into furniture once or twice, but I was able to feel it out with my hands before making the terrible mistake of stubbing a toe. Small blessings. I brought up my interface and navigated to the new addition to my personal details that I hadn’t yet bothered to mess with, the titles menu. Similar to notifications, I had to read through and close each of the new titles that I had earned.
[Devotee of Vorthrax, the Ravenous Wyrm]
You have taken the first steps of a long journey towards dedicating yourself to your god. Vorthrax does not tolerate feebleness. Slay those who challenge you and consume them, Devotee. This is the first imperative from your god.
You have a 10% bonus to your [Physical] stats. Your [Physical] stats grow 25% faster.
[Blood of an Elder God]
You’ve been infused with the blood of an elder god, and you must learn how to control it, or it will surely destroy your mortal body.
You are 15% better at controlling your mana, and any [Mana Control] skills you have will be 25% easier to develop.
[Mana Prodigy]
You’ve somehow managed to form your mana core and channels far before anyone would think it possible. Magical greatness surely waits in your future, so go forth, grow and discover!
You are more likely to discover new magic skills.
[Inferno’s Kiss]
Flames dance in your lungs and magma surges through your veins. Your essence has become so inundated with elemental fire that the two are indistinguishable from one another. Kindle your fire and let the flames grow hot, but do not forget to feed the fire regularly.
You no longer suffer any ill effects or take damage from [Heat] or [Fire].
You are immune to [Chill] and [Freeze] status effects.
All [Heat] and [Fire] skills and effects you use are 25% more powerful.
You require an addition 25% more nutrition to survive. This effect stacks with other nutritional costs, skills and effects.
You are unable to generate, use or manipulate [Ice] mana.
You are unable to use any [Cold] or [Ice] skills and effects.
[Survivor I]
Your life dropped below 25% and you survived to talk about it. Nice!
You get a 1% bonus to your [Vitality].
[Survivor II]
Your life dropped below 20% and you survived to talk about it. Wow!
You get a 2% bonus to your [Vitality].
[Survivor III]
Your life dropped below 15% and you survived to talk about it. Marvelous!
You get a 3% bonus to your [Vitality].
[Survivor IV]
Your life dropped below 10% and you survived to talk about it. Amazing!
You get a 4% bonus to your [Vitality].
[Survivor V]
Your life dropped below 5% and you survived to talk about it. Astounding!
You get a 5% bonus to your [Vitality].
[Therianthrope]
You are a being whose essence has more than one physical form. Often confused with infectious curses with similar effects, your state cannot be decursed or cured. Unfortunately for you, you’re also vulnerable to the same kinds of specialized enchantments, skills, effects and equipment that is used against the cursed.
You are a [Shapeshifter] and are better adapted to the rigors of shapeshifting.
You have a 10% bonus to [Endurance] as a [Shapeshifter].
You are vulnerable to all effects that target a [Shapeshifter].
You have an extreme weakness to [Cobalt]. Avoid contact with it at all costs.
You may experience unexpected transformations under certain circumstances.
That is a lot to parse, but I did keep putting it off. I’d better hold off on skills for now until I can talk to Eilyen and Phyara. I wonder if my stats panel is still screwed up, though?
Name: Senwyn Everhome
Level: 10
Species: [Human]* [Shapeshifter]
Class: [Fighter]
Faith: [Devotee] of [Vorthrax, the Ravenous Wyrm]
[Strength]: (18)
[Agility]: (21)
[Endurance]: (22)
[Vitality]: (15)
[Intelligence]: (10)
[Wisdom]: (10)
Unspent Stat Points: 12
Languages:
[Common]
[Draconic]
General Skills (6/6):
[Sword Proficiency] – Level 13
[Butchery] – Level 18
[Awareness] – Level 14
[Nimble] – Level 13
[Quick Mend] – Level 7
[Flee] – Level 8
Class Skills (6/6):
[Parry] – Level 9
[Heavy Swing] – Level 5
[Light Armor Proficiency] – Level 7
[Battle Cry] – Level 7
[Fighter’s Grit] – Level 13
[Forced March] – Level 6
Divine Skills (2/3):
<[Touch of Flame] – Level 1>
[Wyrm’s Feast] – Level 1
I found the door, located the handle and opened it. A wood-paneled hallway greeted me, and it took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the white mage lights lighting the hall. I didn’t have the faintest idea what time it was, or even where I was besides somewhere inside the company hall. My stomach urged me to get moving, so I padded through the hallway. Going to the left took me around a corner into another long hallway. There was an open doorway to the enclosed stairwell I recognized from my first day in the hall, and I glanced up and down. Judging by the looks of things, I was on the third floor, so I made my way down the staircase.
Now that Roland had mentioned it, I was starting to see structural and architectural differences in this building that I didn’t see in most of the buildings I was used to. Everything here was built to be insanely durable. I thought it was just the result of splendid quality on my first visit, but now I was realizing that the steps on staircase were what looked like four inch thick hewn planks because they were made to support people with immense body weights. I made it down to the first floor and headed to the main room to check and see if Eilyen was at the bar again. Looking at the chairs, tables and bar stools in the main hall, I saw more of the same design choices. Sure, they were styled to look like rustic small town or farmhouse furniture where people might not have access to finer tools, but the fashion might have been chosen because of the form and function. The main room was empty of guests when I entered.
Interesting.
“Look who decided to finally get out of bed.” Eilyen said with a grunt. She was standing with her hands spread wide on the top of the bar, palms planted downwards. She had her typical grumpy face on, was wearing similar enough clothing, and had her hair braid in, so I was fairly confident that it was Eilyen.
“I’m-“ We both spoke at the same time then stared at one another.
“Go ahead,” she bid me.
“I wanted to say that I’m sorry for causing trouble. Did you get hurt?”
She sniffed and straightened up, crossing her arms over her chest before she spoke: “I got a nice burn on my hand, but it was entirely my own damn fault. On both accounts. I didn’t expect that the creator of what’s in there to have put measures in place to make it so people couldn’t meddle with it. I should have known better and went in prepared for potential reactions. So don’t feel like you need to apologize to anyone for my fuck up.”
My stomach decided to comment on the discussion, and it growled loudly enough to be audible in the large space. I winced and rubbed the heel of my hand over my chest.
So embarrassing.
“Yes, you desperately need to eat, so prepare to be all but force-fed. Would you like to get dressed and use the facilities first?”
I nodded vigorously to her, and she walked out from behind the bar and motioned to me to follow along. We headed back into the familiar space of the changing areas. She told me that she had some clothing for me, and started to take it from one of the lockers and lay it out on a bench while I went and relieved myself. I went to wash my hands in one of the sinks. I looked up from the sink to check my reflection in the mirror and wound up letting out a loud gasp!
My eyes had changed, and the best way I could describe them was that they looked similar to elven eyes. The irises of elven eyes are much larger, so much so that there is hardly any white visible in their eye at all, usually only in the corners. Mine had changed like that, except the color filled my eye entirely. There wasn’t a speck of white to be seen, and the color had changed dramatically. Instead of my normal black, they had turned a bright crimson red! I still had black pupils, but they were vertically slit now instead of round. The slit filled my visible eye from top to bottom, and my eyelids cut off the tips while I was looking at myself. Each side had a shallow arc, and the dead center of my pupil was roughly about as wide as a normal human’s pupil, or maybe just a little narrower.
That wasn’t the only change I noticed; my ears had changed rather dramatically as well. Instead of coming up to a rounded top above the entrance to my ear they instead swept backwards and came to a pointed tip. The cartilage on the top was stiffer and anchored more securely to the side of my skull. They formed triangles similar to elven ears, but rather than being swept upwards or to the sides, they went mostly back and outwards slightly. My ear skin hung below the cartilage, but the spine the top formed kept it taut like a ship’s sail. I broke into a grin and started fiddling with them after I finished washing my hands. I felt out the contours and edges of their larger size with my fingertips. I noticed that on the stout top roll there seemed to be regularly spaced ridges forming, but they were easier to feel than they were to see.
Eilyen came up to my side and slightly behind me and looked at me playing with my ears and smiling at my reflection like a fool. Her typical frown was barely present, and she said: “Welcome to the club. You’re going to wind up learning every single possible slang term for the shape of your ears now.”
I wasn’t wearing my thinking cap when I responded to her: “Elves are so amazing! I’ve always admired the look, and now I have something sort of similar going on, but different in it’s own way.”
Eilyen pursed her lips and asked: “Oh, is that so?”
A blush crept into my cheeks, and I coughed.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Time for a topic change.
“You said you had some clothing for me?”
Eilyen gestured over to the nearby bench, where an outfit lay neatly folded and stacked. I went to check out what she had for me: a white sleeveless tunic, a roll of fabric that I assumed I was to use as a chest wrap, a somewhat strange looking pair of umber brown pants, socks and a pair of black flexible leather slippers. It was simple clothing with no frills, accessories or ornamentation, but the fabric was of a quality that I was totally unaccustomed to. I quickly got dressed, and Eilyen showed me my locker space. It had toiletries and other basics like towels and washcloths. The room I had been recovering in was to be my private room, and I told her I’d need help finding it, because the layout of the building was unfamiliar to me and the hallways and corridors with regularly spaced doorways was hard for me to remember.
Once I was dressed we returned to the main room, and I took a seat at the bar. Eilyen murmured to herself a half dozen times while arranging things behind the bar, then looked up to me.
“We’ll get you filled up with good food before we wind up doing anything today. My sister is going to be here shortly. You’re suffering from starvation which we’ll have to get straightened out. Do you have any eating skills?”
I picked at the top of the bar with my right index fingernail and sighed. They were right with what they were telling me last time we’d spoken. If they were going to be able to train me to the best of their abilities then they were going to have to know about my [Stats], [Titles] and [Skills].
I looked up at her and said: “I do have an eating skill, yes. I’m supposed to eat raw meat. I just… haven’t quite gotten my head around it quite yet.”
Eilyen’s eyebrows rose slightly, and she asked me: “You say it like you didn’t choose the skill and you don’t want to eat raw meat, do care to explain?”
“Will Phyara be here soon? It’d save time to tell both of you at once.”
She nodded to me curtly, then got a look on her face like she was staring off into the distance. I recognized it as one of two common things: spacing out or using your system interface. She blinked after a moment, shook her head and told me: “Wait here, I have to go pull material for you from storage. I don’t have anything that isn’t a prepared meal on me.”
She left and I took the chance to read some of the skills that tiered up from my time in the tower. Sort of like a [Class], each [Skill] had these break points in their progressions where they became more effective or gained new and distinct qualities. I was still a low-level nobody with barely trained skills, so the highest skill tier I’d gained was tier II, which was gained at level 10 in the respective skill. From there, skills tiered up at 30, 60, 100, 150 and 250. I guessed that they had more breakpoints on top of that, but I’d never had the chance to talk to people with access to such high levels before. It was something I’d have to try and remember to ask about.
Right, my upgraded skills… here we go.
Sword Proficiency - Level 13
Passive II
You understand the tactics and strategies needed to wield a sword in combat. Your knowledge is limited to only a few forms and techniques, but you’ve practiced them enough that they’ve become muscle memory for you.
You’re starting to get a better idea of the advantages and disadvantages of a sword compared to other melee weapons. Seek the balance of your blade and let the weapon work for you, not against you.
You recover from misses, parries and blocks 10% faster.
Hmm. Ten percent faster recoveries from misses seems pretty good. Ideally I’m not missing, but I guess I don’t exactly have the ability to control the evasion skills of whatever I’m fighting, regardless. It’s good, I like it.
Butchery - Level 18
Passive II
Butchering is an art form, and you’ve spent many hours honing and wielding your steel to produce numerous cuts of meat. Chops, ribs, shanks and steaks are all within your grasp with nothing more than a handful of tools and your expertise.
Tier II
You’ve learned numerous tricks of the trade when it comes to harvesting meat from a corpse. Sharpening your blades to a finer edge and working with finesse, you’re able to increase the volume of your yield by 20%.
I’ll have to ask for advice on this. I feel like I just don’t have enough space for all the skills I want, and if I don’t need this skill to pay the bills anymore, I might get rid of it until I have more space for it. Level 18 probably wouldn’t be that hard to get back once I start making some class levels and have access to higher level materials and better tools. Hrm.
Awareness - Level 14
Passive II
Tuning your senses to filter important information from the torrential experience of reality has started to pay off. You have become better able to tell where things are in relation to yourself and pay attention to the things that matter. You’re much more aware of what’s going on in your immediate surroundings.
Tier II
Knowing your body is just as important as knowing everything that surrounds it. You’ve gained the ability to turn your senses inwards to gain insight to the state of your body. Your senses have become 20% sharper for things in your area, and you are able to process information in a 20% larger area around yourself.
Oh, what!? I have to test this out! I should be able to see what’s going on internally if I get wounded, that’s awesome! More area is good too, because I feel like I’m hopelessly unaware of what’s going on outside my little bubble of personal space.
Nimble - Level 13
Passive II
The best defense against harm is not getting hit in the first place. Twisting, rolling, ducking and hopping away from blows becomes a reflexive action for you.
Tier II
With sufficient practice with evading blows, you’ve started to focus your attention on being more efficient in how you do it. Every wasted action is a reminder that you could have rolled more smoothly or not jumped as far.
You expend 10% less [Stamina] evading attacks.
Nice for longer fights, although if I’m having to evade that much in a single fight I sort of feel like I’ll have bigger problems to deal with. Hmm. Oh! This would really help with downtime between fights, though and I bet every little bit helps when you’re trying to level.
Fighter’s Grit - Level 14
Passive II
Managing the agony of your wounds can make the difference between winning and losing a battle. Mental trickery, deadened nerves or sheer willpower: whatever it is, you've gotten pretty good at ignoring the worst of the pain.
Tier II
Accumulating damage will be 20% less effective at keeping you from fighting at your best. It’s only a flesh wound!
Ooh, I like it. Was that the last one? Well, I’ll get more soon enough, I hope.
Before I could get into anything else, Phyara came into the main room and was looking around.
“She went to go get some things from storage she said.” I said after twisting on my bar stool some to partially face her.
Phyara smiled, and her radiance hit my brain like a crossbow bolt. She was wearing a yellow floral dress that came down to just above her knees today, and the low neckline was a trap I was going to try my best to avoid. Her hair was up in another intricate design that blew me away. She walked over towards the bar, and I turned back to face forwards as she took a seat next to me and crossed her legs.
Who has the time to do their hair like that every day? If I tried to do something like that it would take me four hours and it would wind up looking like I had a rat’s nest on my head.
“Senwyn! I’m so happy to see you back up and moving around! Are you ready to get started today? I know I am bursting with energy!”
I risked a look over to her and gave her a smile. She had an infectious positive energy she carried around that was subtle in the way that it would get in under your defenses so easily. After thinking about it, I did find that I was really excited to be able to start learning.
“You know, I actually am too. All the training I’ve paid for up until now was from fairly low-level people and even though I tried my best to vet them before handing over coin, I always worried that I might be getting bad advice. My highest level trainer was 71.” I told her.
“What did they train you in?” She asked.
“Swordplay, actually. He was a former adventurer that retired to work for the city guard after he lost part of his leg.”
She twisted her mouth to one side and nodded. After a brief pause she said: “It’s really unfortunate to hear stories like that. You would hope that someone could afford to have their leg regrown or reattached at that level, but everyone has their own circumstances or beliefs. He sounds like a nice fellow.”
I nodded my head rapidly, because he was. Grumpy and graying, but he stumped around keeping the peace in the city regardless, and that was one of the jobs I had respect for. At least when they weren’t crooked as all hell, which unfortunately, a pretty good chunk of the city guard was.
“So you use swords, then? What kind, or were you limited by what you could acquire?” Phyara asked me.
Eilyen chose that moment to enter the room and she nodded to the both of us and made her way into the door behind the bar. From what I could see past her while she walked through the swinging door, it was a kitchen.
I answered Phyara’s question before Eilyen returned—hopefully with food—and we’d wind up changing the topic. “You summed it up. I wanted a cutting weapon because that was what I was familiar with using at work, and I was able to get a used short sword that was within my price range.”
“Do you still have it?”
I shook my head and sighed, saying: “No, a monster used it like a dog chews a chicken bone. The last I saw of it; it was in a dozen pieces.”
Phyara covered her mouth and laughed at my misfortune. It was sort of funny, in retrospect.
Eilyen returned with a big meat fork, a sharp-looking knife and a big baking tray. She set the tray on the counter, put the knife and fork to the side, and then some kind of raw monster meat steak that made my eyes bulge and my mouth instantly water popped into her hands. She set it on the tray and good gods it barely fit. It had to be two feet in diameter and four or five inches thick.
Dimensional storage item, I want one so badly!
“Dig in, I have hundreds of these, so literally eat as much as you can. You need to gain weight as fast as possible. Now, can you tell us about your eating skill? Feel free to talk while you eat, it’s standard adventurer etiquette.” She smirked when mentioning the etiquette part, and I glanced over to Phyara for confirmation.
“It really is, just a fact of life when you are busy and have to eat so much,” she reassured me.
Well then, don’t mind if I do!
The steak was very heavily marbled and had a thick band of fat around it. I trimmed some of the fat away and took a good sized portion of the meat onto my fork for my first bite. When I got the fork up to my mouth and the smell really hit me with full force, I wound up salivating so hard I had to slurp and swallow before taking my bite.
The taste was divine, and I wasn’t nearly as put off eating it using utensils as I was when I’d eaten… before. I’d never eaten something so rich and flavorful before in my life, and my facial expression was telling, judging by the fit of giggles that Phyara broke into.
How can this possibly taste this good and this intense at the same time? There has to be something going on here that I’m not getting.
I narrowed my eyes, swallowed my first bite and asked immediately: “Why does this taste like this? I mean, for some reason my skill makes raw meat taste incredibly good, but this is like that times a hundred! Why?”
Eilyen cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest to put on her stern face, but I’d caught her smirking at my reaction before she had the chance to hide it. She told me: “Roland’s idea, actually. He thinks that you likely need to eat much higher level food so that you don’t have to sit and eat for hours a day, but he declined to tell us why that is the case. That’s meat from level 250-300 monsters, and it’s many times more mana-dense than what you’re used to eating. That comes out in the flavor, because your body knows what it wants.”
I looked down at the bone-in steak and gasped. I was shocked that this was such high level food, but it wasn’t going to stop me from destroying this steak. And so I proceeded to lay into it. I was finding it easy to swallow much larger bites whole than what I was normally used to, and the meat was so tender that it didn’t need to be chewed much at all. I was making steady progress though eating it and told my story to Eilyen and Phyara about my draconic encounter and the subsequent dramatic alteration to my life.
“So it was a divine who put that thing into your chest, then?” Eilyen said, and her voice was dripping with malice when she mentioned the core.
“Yes, it was, and was probably the only reason I survived the experience.” I shoveled another chunk of steak along with a piece of the fat I’d trimmed off earlier into my mouth and quickly swallowed it. “Do you know what it is? Am I… going to become a monster because of it?”
Phyara and Eilyen exchanged a look with one another, and it was Eilyen who answered me. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly before explaining: “Yes. What you have inside you is deeply forbidden magic. The magic that produced it is an abomination of the highest order. If you are caught performing that magic, the penalty is summary execution.”
I stopped eating and my gaze darted between the sisters. Both were being deathly serious with me. “I-“ I wiped my mouth with a bar rag and thought about my wording. “I don’t understand anything about magical laws, or what it is. Will you tell me so I can at least know what is inside my body?”
Eilyen nodded and told me: “Yes, we will tell you, and I need to clear some things up, so you fully understand. What you thought was a monster core is not a monster core. However, it is similar to a monster core. It’s a soul crystal. Soul crystals can be used the same ways that monster cores can be processed to power magical devices and equipment. You can think of them like mana batteries. They store magical potential that can be used until it is depleted. Unlike a monster core though, soul crystals can only be made by extracting the essence of a sapient species. The practice is universally forbidden after a war was fought millennia ago that nearly killed all life on Elysium. Soul crystals are orders of magnitude more powerful than monster cores are, but you are burning away someone’s very life by using one.”
I stared at her blankly. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what she’d told me, she’d explained it very clearly to me. The idea that anyone would do such a heinous act was beyond me. This was entirely new information to me, as far as I knew it wasn’t something the public even knew about.
What does it mean for me that I have one inside of me?
I asked the first question that popped into my head: “Can you take it out?”
“It can’t be removed, Senwyn. It’s been designed so that it can’t be tampered with for one, and secondly, it’s been seamlessly merged into your own essence, so even if extracting it was possible, it would kill you if attempted.” Phyara told me in a softly spoken voice.
“There’s two important things that you need to know about your specific circumstance, now that we have a better understanding of things. The first is that any kind of law doesn’t apply to the divine, they are allowed to do whatever it is they please and the only thing that seems to keep them in check is their fellow deities.” Eilyen told me.
I cleared my throat and said: “Okay.”
She continued: “The second is that even though the practice, recording or teaching of the magic that produces them is forbidden, what you were given was a freely given gift by the owner of the soul. That makes a tremendous difference. To kill another living being and stick their soul crystal into someone is something so repulsive-“ She grit her teeth, and I could see veins standing out on her neck as she worked to restrain herself. After a few slow breaths, she said: “The context matters. It really matters. Just know that.”
I felt like I didn’t want to eat after hearing about soul crystals, but my stomach just wasn’t having it. With only a partially subdued roar, I resumed eating at it’s insistence. Horrible, ghastly things or not, this food wasn’t going to fail on delivering taste explosions with every bite.
“What does it being in me mean for me, though?”
Phyara spoke up, saying: “Well, it’s spilling the essence of its creator into your essence. Normally no good comes from mixing essences like that, but it’s been done in ways that we can’t fully understand and well, if it was going to have terrible effects on you, you would have known it far before today.”
“But it will have effects on me?”
“Of course. A god took a tiny chunk of themselves and put it into you. The fact your physical body didn’t just explode like a bomb instantly is a miracle itself.” Eilyen stated with a bluntness that I could feel hit me.
I cut another hunk of steak from the slab of meat and asked: “Can we change the subject for the time being? I know we need to keep talking about it, but it’s… it’s hard for me. I think I can manage better if we take it a little at a time, if that’s okay?”
“Of course! Eilyen, Senwyn was telling me that she has been using swords up until now, isn’t that exciting?”
Gods bless Phyara, her energetic optimism was precisely what I needed right now. Well that, and way more of this meat in my gut. But I was working on the latter. If I wanted to eat this steak in a timely manner, I was going to have to get aggressive with eating it.
Big chunks, here I come!
“One of the first things we are going to do is try and determine what your weapon calling is, it will be interesting to see if that persists,” Eilyen commented.
I gave Eilyen a questioning look while I continued loading up the meat express train to my stomach.
“A little trick of the trade,” she explained. “While you’re free to use any weapon—or none at all—each person has hidden talents, and some of those hidden talents are dedicated to specific weapons. Two people could pick up two different weapons for the first time and go adventuring doing the exact same things, fighting the same monsters, everything. But they’ll get different results, different skill offerings, skill evolutions, you name it. While most people attribute it to the system and chance, there are ways in which you can sniff out hidden talents.”
Phyara raised a finger to catch my attention, and I looked over to her while chewing a mouthful of monster meat. “Our Company Master will have explained this to you, but this is the first item that you are learning that is not to be shared outside these walls.”
I nodded rapidly and gave her a thumbs up.
“The same can be said for any training we give you. Talking about certain practices is fine, but don’t discuss details of training advice we give you or exercises we train you with,” said Eilyen.
I gave them another nod and continued eating. After eating about half of the steak I started to get a strange sensation in my chest. It wasn’t painful or anything, if anything it felt like a very faint sensation of motion? When I finished the bite I had, I put my utensils on the tray and loosened the tie for the neck of my tunic and looked down at my nonexistent cleavage.
There was a swirling orange glow coming from inside my chest that was shining through my sternum. I could see the outlines of my bones, it was weird, freakish, and sort of awesome looking. I looked over to Phyara with my eyes wide open, then held the neck of my shirt open and leaned over some so she could see.
In any other circumstance, I’d be loving the attention, but this was one of those kind of terrifying, kind of exciting moments and my mind wasn’t sure which feeling it wanted to go with.
She hiked up one eyebrow that looked precision groomed and looked down my shirt. Her face lit up immediately, and she exclaimed: “Oh wow! That is so awesome, look at you! And congratulations, that’s quite an accomplishment!”
I straightened up and resumed shoveling food into my mouth at a rapid pace. Eilyen crossed her arms over her chest and leaned backwards against the huge cabinet that held a hundred or more bottles brightly colored liquors.
“She’s completed her core formation! And her core must really be enjoying all the mana she’s consuming because it’s lighting her chest up from within!” Phyara filled Eilyen in for me.
“Huh. Interesting. When did you form your core, Senwyn?” Eilyen asked me.
“I don’t know what core formation is, but that chest thing happened after you examined me the other night. Can I have something to drink, also? I’m really thirsty,” I said to Eilyen.
She got that distant look in her eyes once again, then reached out to grab something, and a large gallon-sized sealed jug appeared in her hand. She set it on the bar next to me, grabbed a pint glass from under the bar and proceeded to pour the contents of the jug into the glass. It was bright teal color with a pearlescent opacity. The way it poured it looked pretty viscous as well, like a light syrup. The smell hit me as she was pouring it, it had a strong fruity smell that I couldn’t quite identify. It smelled really nice, though!
I picked up the glass to satiate my thirst, and Eilyen warned me before I dove in: “Take it easy at first with that stuff. Drink a mouthful or two at most and then wait to see how your body reacts.”
Uh oh.
I brought it up to my mouth and sniffed it. It didn’t smell alcoholic, so I took a big pull from the glass and gave it a moment in my mouth for my brain to parse the flavors before I swallowed it down. It was… interesting. It was very fruity, sweet and refreshing. It was also thick and had a weird grit to it. The grit put me off a bit, dampened what was otherwise a really tasty drink! I took another swallow and then put the glass down as I was told and resumed eating. One question lingered, though.
“Why is it gritty? It’s not something gross causing it, is it?”
“What did you give her, Eilyen?” Phyara asked.
“Red huskfruit juice.”
Phyara let out a high pitched squeak as soon as Eilyen mentioned it. Rolling her eyes, Eilyen fetched another glass from under the bar and poured a pint for Phyara as well.
“The fruit starts to crystalize when it becomes ripe. It’s peeled and then filtered to remove the crystals. They get ground down to a finer consistency and added back in afterwards. You can have some real unpleasant experiences otherwise.” Eilyen explained, answering my question.
“This is one of my favorite drinks!” Phyara gushed after noisily slurping from her glass.
“Unpleasant?” I hesitated a moment before asking.
“It’s not wise to eat the fruit raw unless you can strain the crystals. They’re razor sharp and transparent, so you can’t see them.”
Oh, that’s horrible!
“So why put them back in the juice at all?” I asked.
“Because it’s a very low level type of naturally occurring crystalized mana! Drinking this stuff will juice your mana up something fierce and doesn’t have any of the downsides of mana potions!” Phyara told me.
This juice is expensive as fuck, isn’t it?
I frowned at my glass and Eilyen swatted me across the head so fast that I didn’t even see her hand or arm move.
“Ow, hey! What was that for!?” I demanded.
“I know what you were thinking just now, and I am going to smack the shit out of you every time you even think a complaint about money.”
Phyara giggled and I rubbed my head ruefully.
“You think that this is just random gifts that we’re showering on you because you’re new?” Eilyen demanded, a confrontational edge in her voice. I looked up at her and she had her grumpy face turned up to eleven.
I nodded slowly and caught another eye-wateringly fast swat.
“Rule one. I don’t train idiots, so every time you think stupid things you’re getting beaten.” Eilyen barked at me, then explained my fuck up for the sake of teaching me the lesson: “You getting served expensive, high level, and rare food and drink isn’t a gift. It’s training, and if you slack off on training, you’re going to get punished. Your body is so starved for energy right now that you are a few days away from looking like an emaciated skeleton. That ends, right now. All the training in the world is wasted if you can’t benefit from it. And neither of us like wasting our time.”
Phyara sighed next to me, and I glanced over at her. She too had a serious look on her face, but I got the impression that it was more thoughtful and concerned than it was stern. “It’s true. You were probably in fairly rough shape before your first adventure, and the gifts you have been given are going to cause you a lot of problems if you can’t handle yourself properly.”
I blinked my eyes rapidly and thought about the skills and titles I’d gained.
Wait a moment…
“Are you telling me that I wouldn’t have survived on my own if I hadn’t joined the Company?”
Phyara looked up towards the ceiling and tapped a finger on her chin. “My initial reaction would be to say that it’s possible, but now, from the little I’ve seen, I’m nearly positive that you would be well on your way to death, and without finding someone or joining an actually decent Company, you’d die. I’m quite confident in my degree of certainty on that.”
My body is burning fuel like a furnace. This high level food can actually give me ample nutrition without having to consume huge quantities. If I was still eating level five and ten scraps I could buy cheap from work… Yeah, shit. She’s right. I’d starve to death no matter how much I ate. I digested all that elk meat and was hungry within hours, and that was an insane amount of food.
I found a new resolve budding inside and went after my steak with gusto.
“And she gets it. Good. If you don’t feel sick or anything, feel free to drink as much as you want of the fruit juice. In fact, I encourage you to drink as much as you can. You need it.” Eilyen stated.
She didn’t have to tell me twice. I chugged the juice down, grit and all because I was seriously thirsty.
I wound up finishing my steak which did a good job of topping off my stomach, but I had another two glasses of red huskfruit juice after I finished my first. The baking tray she’d given me to eat from was spotlessly cleaned when I finished. I felt pleasantly full after the meal, and at some point my glow had started inching down the inside of my bare arms. It didn’t expose the bones in my arms, which I was thankful for, because I didn’t want to look like some kind of undead monstrosity walking around.
Eilyen collected the dirty dishes from Phyara and me and took them into the kitchen. When she returned, she clapped her hands together and exclaimed: “Right then, what do you say to discovering what your weapon affinity is?”