Profit, Gains and Offerings
Morning descended the next day covering Red Rock Valley, a cave with a collapsed entrance was facing its direction that had an opening from above.
Inside was a youth sleeping soundly like it was his home, it was Stigma after a long night he was dead tired, with the sunlight hitting his face he eventually woke up out of habit in the process, he stood up to stretch and climbed out of the opening. Because of the event last night's he was tired.
But given the amount of information he was able to gain, it was a minor matter, as such he didn't care about the lack of sleep.
After a whole night of interrogation, Stigma eventually went inside the cave and slept through the night, however unknown to him, his body was undergoing some strange changes after absorbing their Zen energies, and so he had to go through another round of pain and torture until he felt exhaustion and had a good night sleep, which he eventually assumed it was stomach pain for not eating for a few days.
On top of the general information he got from Gus, he got some questions answered that was going on in his mind, like where he was and what the surrounding areas were, about goods being sold, the type of currency, the culture they follow, including the organizations in the area, and some rough information about the clans was from the general information.
Although all the information was vague he was able to play off as someone who had amnesia, especially since people will ask his origins.
After stepping out of the cave, he looked around and found Dusk ordering it to hunt some food for him to cook, while he went to a nearby river to wash his face.
If lucky, he can find something like fruits and some fish.
After taking in a few splashes to the face and a few sips of water, he looked at the reflection of himself and was baffled on what he saw, when he first woke up, he had pale skin and a malnourished body that showed scars, dust, dried blood and a putrid smell of vomit even the outline of his bones were present, his hair was covered with filth and his clothes were old and damaged.
When he heard the notification yesterday about absorbing the Zen Energy he wasn't sure what it was, but he somehow understood that because he absorbed the Zen energy he received severe pain that night, but afterwards he noticed that after the pain, strength and some vitality was gained after a whole night of sleep, the energy had somehow completely revitalized his body.
When he checked himself, he noticed that his muscles that were thin like twigs were now a little thicker and his complexion was healthier, his injuries like cuts, bruises, and laceration had healed completely, after having a full course meal with some bread, meat, some cooked stew he now had a full stomach and felt satisfied this morning.
Along with taking a bath for the first time he at least felt clean, the dust and grime on him was washed of, he looked a bit healthier than before.
Looking around he used 'Essence Reader' and found out that he was seeing energy not just from his reflection but from the trees as well, each fish passing by had made it look like small lights, each representing a fish, which reminded him from last night.
During the questioning and interrogations, he made use of the skill 'Essence Reader' to find out about its different functions, when he was looking at the two previously, he was able to see a small light in their bodies, he wasn't sure what it was so he checked again.
He inspected again using Gus, there was still some light in his body like before, but he wasn't sure it if was the soul, so he checked again using the body of the conveniently dead Frank and compared, like he thought there was two lights that would represent the soul which was white and other represented the so called Zen energy, which had a dull hue around it.
When he looked at the two light that Frank had, his soul was floating around his body like a balloon tied to a weight and there was still some energy in the body, while Gus had both the lights, but his Zen energy was more like it was overlapping each other.
He also found that the 'Essence Reader' was capable in detecting lies as well, when he was asking him, he added what he said a while ago in a form of a question, and he obviously lied, he then noticed that when he lied, his soul was shaking, and when he told the truth, his soul was stable.
However, when he asked about similar forms of energy, he was confused on what he was talking about. It occurred to him that not all people would be aware of all information especially to a place which had low levels of transporting of messages.
Although he could guess that some clans have other ways of getting messages it was not actually circulated.
Eventually after all the information was obtained, he had no more use to him so he killed him, but to find something out he had Dusk kill him, the result was that the soul was slowly being removed from its body and the Zen energy in his body was the one that was separating itself from the soul.
It was a waste so he at least used the Soul Eater skill and absorbed their energy and Stigma gained a lot out of those two.
With the gain from interrogation, he had noticed that most of what they spoke in was the same language, so it baffled him if he was sent back in time or he was in a world that had a similar culture, but he dismissed his though afterwards thinking through all the difficult matter is not his priority, right now the profit from both of these two is what he is focusing on.
'Essence'
***
[Name: Stigma Falsus
Age: 10
Rank: Unique
Skill: Essence Reader, Poltergeist (1), Soul Eater
Current Souls Absorbed:
Pure Energy: 30.7%
Grudge Energy: 25.8%
Wrath Energy: 23.1%
Zen Energy: 25%]
*Familiars:*
1. Dusk (1)
*
He looked at his stats, a lot of energy was absorbed from these two not just Zen energy, and although they had the Zen energy that other cultivators have, they had no specific knowledge on training so Stigma was still on the dark on cultivation method, they generally just ate, sleep killed a few people and they felt stronger without knowing it, he then tapped the Soul Eater skill twice.
*
Skills: Throwing (1) 10 %
[Cooking, Farming, Hunting, Blacksmith, Glasswork, Masonry, Sewing, Calculation, Riding, Archery, Wood Carving, Animal Breeding, Herbalist, Pottery, Brewing, Dancing, Musician, Alchemy, Fishing, Penmanship, Butchering, Decipher, Spear Mastery, Ax Mastery, Knife Mastery]
Skill to learn: [YES] [NO]
[8:45:09]
[8:45:07]
[8:45:05]
***
He had gained about three new skills, one from Frank which was 'Spear Master', while Gus gave him the 'Ax Mastery' and 'Knife Mastery'.
He also wondered, why did the 'Throwing' went to ten percent so he concluded to three theories, was it easy to level up, it was easy because there was two individuals doing it the same action, or Dusk was doing the better job hence it leveled up easier, or maybe there was two skill then he absorbed it as well.
To confirm something, he ordered Dusk to throw a rock at the tree, while he checked the 'Throwing' skill, and after a few throws it the percent went up by 5%, so it was now 15 % in throwing.
He tested something like learning the skill 'Ax Mastery' already but it didn't allow him, now the timer from before was clear, it was a time limit until he can learn another skill.
He checked the other skills since Soul Eater had a column when he tapped it twice, so he tapped each skill once and what showed was the description of each skill, levels that they were currently in and what percentage their next level will be.
Essence Reader (1) 20%
*A skill that reads the aura of life, after leveling up more information can be seen if user desires it. The radius on how far can one reach depends on the levels by a kilometer*
Poltergeist (1) 41%
*A skill that summons servants that obeys the user's absolute command and share their growth with their master along with a mental connection, after each level abilities will be raised.*
Soul Eater (1) 45 %
*A skill that absorbs foreign and atmospheric energy, after each level, range including speed of absorption will increase.*
Considering how many times he used the Essence Reader, it was obvious how it would turn out, and as for the Poltergeist which summoned Dusk it looks like it depends on how long he is out, as for Soul Eater it appears to increase depending on the amount.
He closed the screen and went back and dug out the bag with the loot he gained, it was buried in the rubble so no one can find it easily, there was a separate bag for the food but it was already half full from the consumption of him, Gus and Frank.
Now for the items they had were, a Viking ax, three throwing knives, three spears, a net with weights on it, along with a chain-mail, a left shoulder pad, some bear fur, some vials of what appears to be medicine, some gauze, a bag half full of food, two jugs full of liquor, 10 empty clay jugs, and a small bag filled with this worlds jewelry with its currency 12 gold, 95 silver and 366 Copper coins, and a few extra clothes that he changed into, and strapped on the three knives and hid the rest.
Majority of the Silver coins was from Frank, who had it on his person, while Gus had more Gold coin. Roughly estimating the money he had, he would consider to have a small fortune by the standards of this world.
Now that he thought about it, he even got news of the Travelling Slave Market that was based not far from here, it was about a two day journey if a horse was used and about a three day journey if gone by foot is what he was told.
He might as well sell these to jewels there, since he had no use for them.
Logically speaking, he could find slaves that had more knowledge about continents, and find someone trustworthy to be his guard, third party if needed and be his comrade, but based on what Gus had told him, slave with abilities will be sold for a higher price.
But for slaves with no abilities will be sold for scrap, but even those slaves will be priced on how well they can serve their master like looks, physical strength, and even household or business knowledge will be included.
Those that have strength of the cultivators will be sold somewhere else with heavier security and stricter requirements for one to even be allowed to buy one, but selling one will fetch a price but even that comes with its own danger.
What he needed right now are people to trust during his journey, and using slave would suffice his requirements, those that won't betray him or abandon him.
He was not a cruel person, but he will use whatever means to gain something with less danger.
With all that was going on in his head, he felt Dusk presence nearby, and it appeared to not be empty handed.
Walking toward Stigma was a four foot figure with long arms behind him were about four bodies with grey fur being dragged, upon closer look each were wolves that were the size of sofa that were at home, which shows how powerful Dusk was.
Out of curiosity he used 'Essence Reader' on Dusk to check its status, however what he saw gave him a shocked him…
*
Name: Dusk
Species: Wraith
Rank: Unique (I)
Skills: Mimicry, Invisibility, Assimilation
*
He never knew or would have thought that Dusk had skills like this, Stigma eventually tapped at each skill to find out each skills abilities.
Mimicry (1) 5%
*A skill unique to Poltergeists, for as long their body mass allows them, they can change their body parts to any form. Each level will increase their body mass.
Invisibility (1) 15%
*A skill that obscure presence for 5 minutes. Each level increases the time by five minutes and further fades one's presence.
Assimilation (1) 10%
*A skill that absorbs and stores energy inside its body to increase its strength and sends to its master's vessel when ordered and vice versa, its range of absorption depends physical contact. Each level gained will increase speed of absorption, and increases strength.
*
'To think he had such abilities, no wonder that Gus was panicking when he got caught.'
Looking through the skill and recalling the events that happened that night, Stigma concluded that when Dusk attacked them it appeared invincible to anyone.
But from Stigma's perspective, Gus was being chased by an invisible monster that had a weird body structure. Even veteran warriors would have a hard time dealing with such opponents.
Turning his attention to the wolves, each were obviously dead as each soul was flouting outside their bodies, surprisingly each also had skills as well.
*
Species: Dire Wolves
Ranks: Uncommon (II)
Skills: Swift Movement, Night Vision
*
Swift Movement (2) 15%
*A skill that increase users agility, speed increases depending on the level. Passive Skill.
Night Vision (3) 5%
*A skill that allows user to develop eyesight to adjust to see through the dark. Each level increase will shorten time of blindness in the dark. Passive Skill.
*
Species: Dire Wolves
Ranks: Uncommon (III)
Skills: Intimidation, Danger Perception
*
Intimidation (2) 15%
*A skill that increases chances of lowering opposing opponent will to fight, and decrease their stats, via blood lust or action. Each level increased, will strengthen intimidation effect. Passive Skill.
Danger Perception (6) 45%
*A skill that develops user's ability to detect foreign threat. Each level increases range of danger. Passive Skill.
*
Species: Dire Wolves
Ranks: Common (I)
Skills: Rush
*
Rush (2) 35%
*A skill that increases tackle damage, effect will depends on how fast the user is. Each level will increase damage. Passive Skill.
*
Species: Dire Wolves
Ranks: Common (I)
Skills: Silent Move
*
Silent Move (4) 15%
*A skill that develop user ability to conceal sound. Each level will decrease sound emitted. Passive Skill.
'To think they had such convenient skills, they would be considered assassins if they were humans.'
Thinking back now, when he use 'Essence Reader' it was only people and himself, there was the Rank that always made him wonder, he had little information so he didn't think too deep into it.
But if he were to gain all these skills he will be a top assassin if he wants to in the future.
Shaking his head, he realized that he has to take baby steps before he can run.
"Now then, I did promise to give offerings to the deceased from the cliff."
After all that had happened yesterday, he didn't had time to prepare anything for them since he had eaten half of the food, but with the wolves that Dusk had hunted he can use them.
But First.
"Soul Eater!"
After giving the voice command the skill started to activate, the souls that were floating around started entering his body, but started to catch one using his hand and found it can enter on any part of the body.
After finding out the skills limitations a notification that appeared would lead to a lot of possibilities.
*BING!*
[Special Act has been made, user has absorbed the souls of a foreign species, all souls that are of the same species will lead to forming a unique soul.]
[All souls formed will be assimilated to host body, total souls must reach to 100% to assimilate to body.]
[If user wishes to absorb an incomplete soul, then abilities gained will be incomplete]
[Souls absorbed can exceed limits.]
Wolf Soul 20%
*A compressed soul that absorbed all of the slain wolves, any who absorbs the soul will gain skills and physical traits similar to that of a wolf.
After looking at the continuous notifications, a trace of excitement had shown on his face, what he can summarized that if he can absorb other beast, then he can literary be a beast.
Looking down at the corpses, he grabbed one of the knives that he had on his waist to carve out the cores from each beast.
Gus had given a lot of information, especially about the beast that inhabit his world, he said that each monster in this world has a core which can be sold or traded, but each core has a different pricing so he kept them aside for future dealings.
After collecting the cores, he started dissecting on the corpses one by one, upon closer look the fur was not even damaged and he saw broken bones inside, he knew immediately Dusk had been brutal in killing them.
The corpse of each wolf was heavy so he had Dusk carry each one as he broke each of them down to different parts, he was informed that parts of a beast can be sold like its fangs, meat, eyeballs, fur some of its bones and even its blood, thankfully he had some knowledge on how to butcher animals when he worked part time.
He first slit each of the wolves' throats and had some leaves turn into funnels with the empty jugs as containers for the blood. He saw that if he dissected the organs he had no way in preserving them so he went for the fur, undamaged bones and its meat and threw the corpse in the cave.
After he had then used some rocks to ignite a fire, he used the knife to cut the meat into smaller pieces while he prepared the meat.
He then ordered Dusk to place the flat rock he found and placed it by the river to be cleaned, and bring and put it on top of the two rocks that were elevated equally with the fire between to act as a stove for him to cook meat, sadly the only condiment was a small bag of salt which he had to make do.
Cooking took a while since he had no way to adjust the heat he wanted to but it was cooked, using a small flat rock to act as a plate for him to place all the cooked meat he then went to the cliff he climbed out from.
Since he had no incense, he carved out one from the tree to make some substitute incense, he had Dusk bring a small rock to act as an altar and faced it in front of the cliff that appears to collapse at any moment, and so he placed the flat plate of meat and brought some of the food to act as other offerings like dried meat, bread, fruits he found in the forest, some cooked fish. While he was at it the liquor was used it as well to not waste it.
He brought a torch to use as a light, he remembered that when one burns an incense, they have to wait until it is all gone then one can leave afterwards, since he had nowhere to go so will wait out the incense, he lighted the substitute incense and clasped his hands together and muttered, 'Thank you for helping me'.
He was about get up but a voice surprised him.
"To think there was someone here."
Stigma looked up only to find a beauty with a white veil covering her face.
It was at that moment, Stigma, had meet a Heavenly Being.