Chapter 41: “Duel”

When I came to my senses, I was in a completely different room. My best guess is that the enemy isn’t acting alone. I tried to move, but I am chained up. Using my eyes of wisdom, I examined the chains and found out that it is infused with mana making it hard to break, requiring the power of at least a 1st Rank Demi-human. One option I got is to find the weak points of the chains and exploit it by inserting my mana into its small holes and assimilate it until it breaks. But I decided to go with the other option I got. What seems to be a better option is for me to use the Heavenly Soul Arts to separate my soul from my body and look around the place, unnoticed.

The place I am in was a dark castle dungeon filled with prisoners wearing collars. I wonder what these could mean. Curious, I floated my soul to the nearest prisoner. I saw a child around the age of five, currently sleeping. With my eyes of wisdom, I examined the collar worn by the child and was able to identify it as a slave collar. There is also a description that when the owner deems it, the collar will explode, killing the person wearing the collar, given that he or she is below Rank-5 Demi-human Stage. I immediately checked myself, and it turned out that I am not wearing a collar, but I am the only one that is chained to my four appendages. Right now, I’m flying like a ghost, and the feeling is very eerie, given the fact that I am intangible. If I want to, I can materialize by using the concentrated soul energy I got from my cultivation. After some time of looking around, it looks like I finally have an idea about who has taken me captive — it is Abby's Mercantile group.

I snooped around the underground system of dungeons. There, I saw products being shipped, from the mundane items like salt and pepper to big items like weapons, mage books, and guns. I then followed someone wearing a pure gold tuxedo who looked like the facilitator of this area. The person I am following entered into an office. I sensed a change in his mana communicator and noticed that he is starting a voice message. “Reporting to Lady Abby, all items for receiving today is present and accounted for. The sacrificial money is already being offered. Troy was left dying and wheezing. When the time for the execution comes, the death would appear as if it were done in advance due to the civilians' unrest happening outside the castle. This should be enough to incite anger among civilians, pushing them to blame the rulers of the kingdom. The infiltration team picked up the new VVIP person in the castle, acting as a guard for Troy. The VVIP asked for a duel with Justin, the martial arts master, but he was quickly knocked out by Martin, the ruthless assassin.” So, I was right! There really were two people in the holding facility yesterday.

I finally got the information that I needed. I flew around the area a few more times and saw where the money was being taken. I followed the people carrying the money, and it led me to a huge room filled with paper money, coins, jewels, and mana rocks. Standing on top of the room is a yellow orb. When the orb pulsed out, the treasures in the room turned into dust. I tried to activate my eyes of wisdom, but I couldn’t analyze anything. When I commanded the library to compile a book on what is happening, it also did not work. Filled with curiosity, I no longer had any other choice but to touch the orb so that a book will be compiled on it. Upon doing so, I felt scalding hot energy from the orb and when I looked at my arm, it was gone, and it seemed like it got absorbed.

Luckily, a book was still compiled on the orb. The book identifies it as the representation of the “Dormant Wealth Deity – Lakshmi." The book further states that Lakshmi is the god of fortune and that the orb was formed through the willpower of the people surrounding it. It is being powered by the greed from the items around, and also by the immense amount of mana it receives from the mana rocks being offered to it. Once awakened, it would have the power of a 2nd Rank Demi-human. This is bad! I have to go back to my body and contact David and the others regarding this. I hurriedly flew back to unite my soul with my body. It is a good thing that the soul doesn’t have a defined form, so my arm grew back after my soul and body have synced. However, I feel weak since I used up a huge chunk of soul energy when I touched the orb.

When I re-entered my body, I feel a little better since I am no longer running only on my soul energy, but I am also utilizing my physical body's power and the mana inside me. I then hurriedly expended some of my mana into the small holes of the chain, assimilating the energy through the use of my Heavenly Mana, and absorbed it back into my body. After reducing the chains into normal pieces of iron, with a quick tug, all the chains were pulled from the walls. The commotion has awoken the small boy inside the nearby cell. While pointing onto his collar filled with blue light, in a small little voice, he said, "Can you also let me free, mister?” With my eyes of wisdom, the chains, and the collars in the vicinity had a similar flaw with the chains I just broke. I could easily assimilate all the mana in the chains and collars in the area to set everyone free. I quickly shot around the room a tiny bit of my mana, assimilating the mana hidden within the slave collars and forcefully dissipating it into the air, making the collars like an accessory.

Aside from the child, no one felt anything amiss. I pulled on the collar of the boy, breaking it easily, and told him, “Boy, I have set you free, but I need you to stay here. When the sun rises, I need you to wake up each and everyone in this room and say that you are all free now.” He nodded his head and headed straight for his nearest companion, shaking her. It was another child, a girl around the age of five as well. The boy said to her, "Hey, hey! We are free.” The little girl, while rubbing her eyes, said, “What?” I let out a sigh and thought how ridiculous the act that the boy just did. I immediately shot a bit of my mana to make the two children fall asleep. With the slaves running free, this would cause a big enough commotion to distract the merchants for a while, which is what I am hoping for.

I stealthily and quietly left the room by breaking the lock on the door the same way I have done with the chains and the collars. It seems this is the most preferred way of powering items up in this place. Going through the knowledge I acquired from looking around earlier, I easily located the cargo area where the items were being inspected before being accepted. That is the way I planned to use to escape. Luckily, this time, I have come prepared and pulled up a map using the mana communicator to make sure that I am walking the right path. This should be enough to find my way and headed back to the castle as soon and as safely as possible.