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1090 Words
Susanne wrote a letter in her best handwriting.
But instead of a pen or a quill, she was using her greatsword, and the canvas was the air around her.
As she danced, the lines of ink spread from the tip of her blade onto the air.
Everything was smooth here. Her Talent worked as she wished it did in this strange in-between space of non-reality, allowing her to use anything as a quill. But that wasn’t the purpose of Susanne’s dance.
She needed to create, so she did.
She wrote a letter to her past, detailing the hurt and pain her father had caused her family.
She wrote a letter to her mother, wishing she had pushed through a bit longer so she could see her daughter strong, and supporting herself and her brother.
She wrote a letter to her brother, who had been too young to really understand, but now worried for her.
She wrote a letter to herself for finding her own path in life. A path she hadn’t thought possible, but was enjoying more than she could have ever thought.
Susanne felt herself settle as she expressed herself.
Emotion flowed like ink and stained the world she was in like it was paper.
Susanne smiled as she felt Minkalla accept her offering, and her cores started to convert into something greater than essence.
Genesis Energy spread like ink in water as it reached deeper and deeper into her cores.
Power flooded her cores like she never felt before as her dance came to an end.
Liz cursed at the potion table.
Despite what she had promised Matt, she had tried to create a potion that could concentrate his mana down multiple times in a single tier, but after what felt like a decade, she couldn’t find an answer.
She knew it had been a long shot, but she had wanted to try. Even though much of what they did specifically would be lost, forgotten once she left this room, if she had succeeded her real self would still know that it was possible, and that something she had tried had worked.
Liz had moved on, though.
Her original idea had been to refine her blood alchemy into something greater, but the need for essence was still something she hadn’t been able to sidestep through any of her testing.
That wasn’t an issue in this testing room, as she could summon essence stones with a thought, but it would limit her in the future, and she wanted to create something greater.
Deciding to flip the script, Liz brought her arm around to clear her past attempts.
Pulling out a new set of ingredients, she stared at them in contemplation.
If her blood wasn’t enough to make items without essence, she just needed to change what her blood was.
She was blood, but blood…was a lot of things. Her blood was life…was rebirth…but the rebirth didn’t need to simply restore what was there before. It could turn into something different…
Something greater.
Something more.
Matt fell to the ground with the others right next to him. They were in the same formation they had been in when they had stepped through the third sub-level reward distortion of the second floor.
In the safe area, they discovered a number of other people.
Not a lot, but having anyone with them was more than they had seen in the first safe area.
Matt had his sword out but his skills off. [Cracked Phantom Armor] was a little too conspicuous for their current hidden appearances.
From their side, off a ways from the edge, an AI message came to them.
“Come over here. We have a safe area set out. Let’s exchange information.”
The message would have been inconspicuous, except for the fact the AI signature wasn’t an Empire identification but a Guild one.
Turning, he saw two people sitting off to the side in a portable defensive formation array.
It was good work, but Matt suspected it was a bought formation rather than one handmade.
The runes and lines were too clean, too standard, for a personally made enchantment.
Walking over to what should be their only allies in the place, the four of them kept their guards up.
The duo were also wearing blank masks like their own, which was nothing surprising.
They seemed to be Tier 12’s, but Matt couldn’t trust that. Their own cultivation would also seem Tier 12 to anyone casually inspecting them.
As they entered the formation, Matt was finally able to see that the two Guild delvers were injured.
Nothing seemed super serious, but blood covered their armor and showed holes where something had pierced their defenses.
Liz was the first to speak, relying on their AI to translate. “Are you guys in need of healing? We have spells and potions that we can offer.”
The man on the left shook his head. “Thank you, but no, we’re good. The two of us are just waiting for our healing cooldown to lessen a little before we leave to go deeper. If you came a few hours later, you would have missed us.”
Matt nodded to their armor. “Do you need a replacement? We found a few sets of armor that, while not unique, is in good condition.”
The second man paused at that offer, his masked mouth pausing open before asking. “What do you want for it?” Susanne immediately answered with the most valuable thing in Minkalla. “What do you know about the others?”
The first Guild man shook his head. “We don’t know much but would have offered it up anyway. We got some good rewards that we can trade for the armor. We have other sets, but having an extra backup is always valuable. Information for information. Items for items.”
After a little internal chat, the four of them decided to make the exchange.
They had next to nothing to offer on the information department, having been so far ahead of the others. They had only seen one other person from the Sects on the first floor, but in return for that, they were let in on whatever information the duo had.
None of them exchanged true names or anything so identifying, but the duo told them everything they knew. Or at least, all that they said they knew.
“One of the other Chosen identified as Young Master Lunar Fang. I assume you know what that means?”
- Writer
