5:01 p.m.
Vivian stood outside on the side of the Adventurer's Guild building and was leaning against a wall with her poleaxe resting on her shoulder as she stared at the pavement.
That Criselle…
Typical women…
No respect for other people's time…
Well…
Both men and women…
But mostly women…
Like seriously…
Do I look like someone who likes to waste time talking about nonsense…?
Bitch, I have better shit to do…
It was already late in the afternoon and many Adventurers were returning from their Quest to submit their Quest Items. But despite that, no one dared to approach Vivian and talk to her.
Although she was now a White Cloak, everyone was now aware of her personality and what she was willing to do.
I really wish I had headphones to listen to audiobooks…
It would make training my Magic Arts much, much easier...
"Honored Priestess Vivian?" a familiar female voice rang on her ears.
She turned her head and saw Felize who was accompanied by Gaze.
She stood straight and faced them.
The first thing the two teens noticed was the belt pouch around Vivian's waist which garnered a smile on their faces. The second thing was her White Cloak.
"You kids done with your Quest?"
Felize, Torr and Gaze arrived at the Adventurer's Guild around 4:45 p.m.
Felize went around to network with the other Adventurers, Torr submitted the Quest Items, and Gaze checked and studied the Quest Papers posted at the Quest Board.
And while Felize was networking with some of the Adventurers, one of them mentioned to her that Vivian was outside. Everyone was aware that Felize, Torr and Gaze were the only Adventurers that Vivian talks to.
When Felize heard it, she immediately went to Gaze and now they're here.
Felize nodded.
"Torr is currently submitting our Quest Items at the Quest Rewads counter."
"Honored Priestess, your White Cloak really looks great on you!" Gaze said.
Felize nodded.
"It sure does!"
"Thank you," Vivian said with a smile.
"Honored Priestess, what are you doing here outside?" Felize asked.
"I'm waiting for the 3 of you, especially Torr."
A confused look flashed across Felize and Gaze's faces.
"Honored Priestess, if you're looking for Torr, I can take his place or if it's the 3 of us that you're looking for, I can ask him to submit the Quest Items later," Gaze said.
Vivian shook her head.
"It's fine. I'm not in a hurry. You kids return to whatever you were doing. But once Torr is done submitting the Quest Items, tell him to come here."
Felize and Gaze looked at each other for a moment and then returned their gaze to Vivian.
"Yes, Honored Priestess."
***
5:09 p.m.
Vivian, Felize, Torr and Gaze were standing outside on the side of the Adventurer's Guild building.
Vivian focused her gaze on Torr.
"Torr, you practice [Spear Mastery], correct?"
Torr nodded.
"Yes, Honored Priestess."
She went over to him and handed over the poleaxe.
"I want to give this to you."
A confused expression appeared on his face.
"Give to me…?"
"Unfortunately, this weapon is only Silver-Grade, but I'm already Mithril so it's too weak for me."
The teens' jaw dropped.
As Adventurers in the Luxen City Adventurer's Guild, they already heard about the incident between Vivian versus Mrs. Belfair and her sons. And thanks to Vivian's battle with Ramus and Ranz who were both Gold I Rank Adventurers, there were a lot of speculations about Vivian's strength and one of the most common speculations was that she was at least or around Mithril.
Torr carefully received the poleaxe like it was a prized heirloom.
"Just so you know, that weapon got destroyed a few days ago and I just received it today after having it repaired at the Blacksmith Shop. They say that it's been carefully repaired but I don't know, I'm not an expert when it comes to weapons, especially about weapon repairs," Vivian said.
Torr, who was examining the weapon, carefully tightened his grip just a little bit around it but immediately stopped, fearing that he might destroy or soil it.
Felize was looking at him with eyes of envy. But it was a different kind of envy, something emotional rather than materialistic.
Meanwhile, for Gaze, he was simply happy for Torr.
Torr pulled his gaze away from the weapon and returned his attention to Vivian.
"Honored Priestess… I can't accept this… This is too precious…"
Vivian held out her hand.
"Like I said, that's only Silver-Grade and I'm Mithril. Rather than having that accumulate dust inside my room or I sell it, it would be better if someone that I personally know who has [Spear Mastery] and has helped me multiple times use it. And just in case it breaks right away or you notice something about it that wasn't properly repaired, tell me immediately. Or you could just sell it."
Torr immediately shook his head and hugged the weapon.
"Honored Priestess Vivian, I would never sell it….!"
Vivian blinked a couple of times.
"Okay…?"
Thud…
Torr carefully planted the opposite end of the poleaxe to the ground and then lowered his head.
"Honored Priestess Vivian, I'm truly thankful for this gift…! I swear to the Elemental Gods, especially to the God of Light, that I will take care of it and treasure it forever…!"
"Sure… You're welcome…" Vivian said.
Noticing the awkward air around them, Gaze stepped forward.
"Honored Priestess, we fought a Brown Kraine and Green Ekan and defeated them!"
Vivian turned to him.
"Oh, you did?"
Gaze nodded.
"We had to go a little deeper in the forest because we couldn't find any Treebarks. And that's when we encountered a Brown Krain and Green Ekan and defeated it."
Torr nodded as well.
"They were strong but we managed to defeat them with our teamwork."
Felize also nodded but didn't say anything.
Vivian noticed the proud smiles plastered on their faces.
"I'm very proud of you three. Did any of you get hurt?"
Felize shook her head and flexed her bicep.
"Just some cuts and bruises, but we're fine!"
Torr and Gaze nodded.
"I see. But just in case," Vivian said and then raised her hand.
[Heal].
[Heal].
[Heal].
A faint yellow light enveloped each of them.
"Thank you, Honored Priestess!" the teens said and bowed.
"It's nothing. But you three always be safe, okay?"
"Yes, Honored Priestess!"
"By the way, I want to ask you three about something."
"What is it, Honored Priestess?" Felize asked.
"Are you aware of the One Magic Art = Two Physical Arts rule?"
The teens nodded.
"It's one of the lessons that Instructor Shay taught us when we took his class on how to be a proper Adventurer," Torr said.
"He also said that a person's Magic Force should never be more than 2 Grades of their Physical Force or they will die and not even the Temple of Priests [Resurrection] can help you," Gaze said.
"I see," Vivian said.
"Is there something about the One Magic Art = Two Physical Arts rule, Honored Priestess?" Felize asked.
Vivian shook her head.
"It's nothing. I'm just glad that you kids know about it," she said and smiled.
Come to think of it…
Gaze doesn't have any Magic Art Affinity…
Torr has the Dark Magic Art Affinity but it's still unknown if it's a True or False one because he has yet to undergo an Awakening Ceremony for it but he has a False Fire Magic Art Affinity…
Meanwhile, Felize has [Lightning] and [Wind Mastery]…
She focused on Gaze.
Is he aware of the disadvantages of having no Magic Art Affinity…?
She shook her head mentally.
Idiot...
Why wouldn't he…?
He's born and raised in this world...
"Anyhow, I've got to go. I still have so many things to do. You three take care."
The teens lowered their heads.
"Thank you and please take care as well, Honored Priestess Vivian!"
***
8:01 p.m.
Female Dormitory, Temple of Priests Private Compound, Luxen City.
Vivian was inside her room. And now the she had her own room, she wore nothing but a black bra and underwear and was sitting down on top of a black-colored piece of cloth spread out on the floor.
Her gaze landed on her abnormally pale skin with the veins visible.
I look like a corpse…
A literal walking corpse…
She turned her gaze away and looked around her surroundings.
Her room was located on the third floor and had 4 windows because it was in the corner. It was a single-person bedroom with a single-person bed enough for 1 and 1/2 people to sleep in, a cabinet, a desk with a mirror, lamp and a chair, and an armor stand.
The items for her room arrived around 5:45 p.m. and it took her about 15 minutes to set all of them up. After that, she grabbed dinner, took a bath and was now here.
The windows are all closed…
The door...
I sealed the holes with some clothing…
I also checked if there were any holes on the walls, floor and ceiling…
All good I guess…
She glanced at the Magic Panel near her door.
The temperature is not too hot but it's also not too cold…
She let out a sigh.
I never thought I would miss having my own room…
She returned her gaze to her body. But this time, she was focused on the black piece of cloth that she was sitting on.
Even if I bleed…
My blue blood won't fall and seep on the carpet…
She turned to her bed and there was a package on top of it. She grabbed the package and opened it, revealing the Active Elemental Weapons that she bought earlier in the afternoon.
Okay…
Which one should I try first…
There were four pieces -- Dark Finger Claw, Earth Finger Claw, Ice Finger Claw and Soul Finger Claw. And for their appearance, they all sported a basic ring's appearance but had a long metallic claw attached to it and there were Runes written around the ring.
She picked one and returned the rest back on top of her bed. The moment she wore the ring that she picked on the index finger of her right hand, a bunch of information was sent inside her head.
Oh, I picked the Soul Finger Claw…
She activated its Active Spell.
[Soul Enchant - Rune].
A white water-like aura appeared on the long metallic claw.
So this is what it looks like…?
Her brows knitted together.
Hmm…
It takes mana to activate…
And I can feel my mana being drained with each second…
Although she couldn't precisely count how much mana she spent from activating and maintaining the spell, she still felt it, just like whenever she activate skills and spells. The only way for her to precisely how much mana she spent is to check her Status Panel.
But to be accurate, it costs 40 mana points to activate the [Soul Enchant - Rune] of the Soul Finger Claw and then 2 mana points per second to maintain it.
Now let's try it…
Ooo…
She pressed the long metallic claw of the Soul Finger Claw that was enveloped with a white water-like aura against her skin and immediately felt something.
So this is how the Soul-type spell absorbs mana…
Aside from the feeling of her losing 2 mana points per second to maintain the [Soul Enchant - Rune] spell, she felt her mana was being absorbed and at the same time also being replenished. However, it wasn't enough because the [Soul Enchant - Rune] was only absorbing only 1 mana point per second.
She deactivated the [Soul Enchant - Rune] spell and then examined the Soul Finger Claw.
I don't see any cracks…
Looks like it's still fine…
Hopefully, this would last 20 times before it gets destroyed…
[Soul Enchant - Rune].
She activated the Active Spell of the Soul Finger Claw once again.
Wait…!
How long should I wait for it to be counted as an EXP…?
1 second…?
5 seconds…?
10 seconds…?
Or perhaps I should just wait until it comes out…?
She shook her head.
That's stupid…
If it was possible to train your Magic Arts in an auto-pilot mode by simply activating the Active Spell of an Active Elemental Weapon, pressing it against your skin, relaxing, and drinking Mana Potions in-between whenever you run out of mana, then anyone with half a brain would've figured that out and done that already…
And if such a method does really work, the price of an Elemental Weapon would be so crazy that people would literally have to sell their soul in order to afford one and the Temple of Blacksmiths would be the rulers of the world…
But just to make sure…
Let's make it 5 seconds…
Ooo…
She pressed the long metallic claw wrapped with a white water-like aura against her skin and waited for 5 seconds.
Deactivate.
[Soul Enchant - Rune].
Ooo…
Deactivate.
[Soul Enchant - Rune].
Ooo…
Deactivate.
She was about to do her 5th attempt but something happened.
"Fuck!"
I ran out of mana…!
With her current Physical and Magic Force, she only had around 200 mana points.
She swept her gaze around her surroundings once again.
Windows check…
Door check…
Holes on the walls, floor and ceiling…
Vooom!
She turned into a blur as she performed a quick inspection to the walls, floor and ceiling and then returned to her original position.
I think it's good…
If something happens to me…
Well…
I'll just run for it…
[Greater Origin Enchant].
Dark red lightning appeared on her left hand.
[Halo].
As soon as the golden ring started to manifest on her back, the dark red lightning immediately crawled from her hand to her back and was getting absorbed until the ring itself grew into a large golden portal and illuminated the entire room.
Please be safe…
Please be safe…
Please be safe…
***
Some time later…
Ooo…
Vivian deactivated the [Soul Enchant - Rune] and then examined the Soul Finger Claw.
Hmm…
It still hasn't shown any cracks or damages…
This will be my 20th attempt…
I hope it works…
[Soul Enchant - Rune].
Ooo…
She activated the spell and pressed it against her skin.
Ding!
'Unlocked [Claw Mastery] - Level 1]!'
Ding!
'Unlocked [Soul Mastery] - Level 1]!'