Ch 9—Trade

Matthew scratched the back of his head, "Can you blame me? We barely spoke."

"It's Stella. I've been looking for you. I thought you'd… died."

"You see my ghost often?"

She just glared.

"Not coming back doesn't mean I was dead." Matthew said and then explained briefly about his experience.

Stella stared at him baffled, "You're joking right? You are not that insane?"

Matthew grinned crookedly, "It's not the worst place to be, if you're careful. How have you been holding up?"

Stella still looked like she wanted to ask more questions. She shrugged looking at the ground grimly

"Wasn't very good, it was actually horrible. We lost a lot of people, I couldn't stitch them up properly…"

"You know how to perform surgery?"

"I was in med school, so I can help a little. It isn't easy to hold together such a big group, but at least people are listening to Parker now."

Matthew frowned, he frankly wasn't concerned with the problems of leadership or the fickle nature of people. He was free from all that nonsense.

"Wait, what do you mean by a little? You went to med school? Damn, talk about lucking out."

That Parker guy is blessed by the gods

"The people I was supposed to help would disagree." Stella muttered.

He rolled his eyes and saw the people he had been looking for, "That's actually why I came here."

The group was beside two makeshift tents quietly arguing, their camp was up close to one of the pillars.

He waved at the grim swordsman, putting on an innocent smile. "Heyyy, i thought since i haven't been to the temple in a while, i might as well come find you first."

The five person group was grim and hostile, Matthew frowned. "Did something happen?"

"Mable's missing," The grim swordsman explained. "When we woke up this morning she was gone, she wasn't feeling alright yesterday after…."

"Explain everything to me," Matthew said firmly.

After a couple minutes, the mood was even darker. Blue hoodie's eyes warmed as she barely held back her tears.

Her name was Holly, the swordsman was Gareth. Matthew found their despair at her loss oddly amusing—they found her annoyed just yesterday.

Matthew smiled surprisingly, "We still have time then."

They all gaped at him, Gareth asked. "What do you mean?"

"It's a special type of monster." Matthew said. "I call it the Pale Maw"

He explained the situation in the Lower strata a bit calmly, each word coming out of his mouth. At the end they all seemed happier, also a lot more scared.

"So once it grabbed her, she was already under its control?" Gareth asked himself, pacing around.

Holly seemed a bit suspicious of him, "Mind controlling plants and soul devouring mounds of white flesh and you were just down there chilling?"

"Wait you sleep in the Dark forest?"

"How did you escape the compulsion of the plants?"

"How long do we have to save Mable?"

Matthew raised a hand to silence them all, "First, I need to know what you have. Then we'll make a plan. But I do have some demands."

Gareth's forehead creased, "What do you want?"

"Nothing much, I need the essence from the Pale Maw and I believe it has two wish coins. I only need one." He explained.

Gareth nodded, "That's reasonable. I wanted to ask what level you are?"

Matthew studied his face, deciding to tell the truth. "Level two, only seven Spirits off level three. Why'd you ask?"

"By yourself?" Gareth murmured, "We have eight essences right now after three days of hunting. We'll trade it for the essence of the Pale maw and your tips on hunting."

It was an exceptional trade, his comrades seemed a little unsure of it. Matthew silently praised the boy's shrewdness—eight was just enough for a level two.

It would have gone to him, but Gareth seemed to value a level three's abilities highly.

Matthew was about to agree when Stella interrupted, "I know it isn't my place, but I just need to warn you Matthew. The essence you absorb has more impact than you think."

Gareth raised his hands immediately, "Wait, Wait. I'm not trying to scam him, it's four from those monster bushes and two from a hound and Horned horse."

Matthew glanced at Stella, he appreciated the warning. He had suspected that the spirits you absorbed mattered.

The night he became level two, he had a nightmare about being a Light lurker stalking himself.

It was possible the spirits you absorb determined the skills or enhancements to Stamina and Mana.

Matthew put out a hand, Gareth stared at it for a while and then took out the eight spirits.

Matthew studied the blue gems hungrily, "There's no time, get your things and let's get going."

——

In thirty minutes they returned to the Dark forest. Matthew pushed through the shrubbery, pausing to study the dense forest.

It was common sense to watch where you step here.

He looked up at the rocky hill and twisted trees, a roaring stream flowed before falling down the sudden cliff of the terrace.

Matthew whistled twice then continued walking.

Ten more people emerged from the forest—ropes, hammers, stakes in hand. Stella walked at the front.

"Thought you said it was just us?" Matthew muttered.

"They're only here to help with the rig," she replied.

He didn't believe her—but said nothing. Her group obviously expected something from this.

Matthew was happy to use their expertise to set up a pulley system besides the stream.

He raised the two spirits, with this he would reach level five. Gareth looked at them balefully, "Do it, we need all the help we can get."

Matthew crushed the gems and watched the blue essence flow through his veins.

Congratulations! You've reached level three, true power has begun to build in you. Stat Cards Unlocked. Spirit coins can now be stored internally.

Matthew opened his Status:

——

Name: Matthew

Level: 3 (Spirit Coins: 0/18)

Health: 100/120

Stamina: 75/80

Mana: 10/10

Spirit coins: 1/50

——

Use one essence to draw a stat card? Y/N

Matthew pressed yes, a stack of blue illusory cards appeared and began to shuffle themselves.

After a couple seconds three, cards were separated and flipped over.

The first was a Vigor, it was a muscular warrior drawn on the card

Rank: Fair

Description: Increases stamina

Second was Flow state, it was an unarmored man dancing between a flurry of swords

Rank: Rare

Description: Dodge timing becomes more forgiving when moving at full speed.

Finally was Assasin, a man hidden in a shadow while stalking something.

Rank: Rare

Description: improves your ability to conceal presence and improves the chances for a critical strike.

Matthew considered it heavily, they were all clearly useful. He was stuck between Assassin and Flow state.

Assassin was useful since it synergizes well with Old cat, but Flow state seemed very useful in most fights.

He sighed and silently picked Assassin. The pulleys were now ready, he turned to Gareth. "Time to go."

They left Stella's team, and climbed down using his own simple ropes.

Holly stayed above and lowered the trap materials down for them. He led them to the place he had marked before for the trap.

Gareth looked over the small ridge to a yawning cave into the cliff wall, it was dark and ominously quiet.

Matthew tapped him on the shoulder, he put a finger over his lips and simply nodded.

Gareth seemed to understand and quickly got back to work. As they worked on the trap, Matthew felt a tinge of guilt.

No point in feeling bad. Once we save her, everyone gets something out of it. Matthew thought coolly, he would make sure they didn't regret this.