Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

 

After the meeting with her teammates, Sumire brought Shirogane to the church just outside the academy grounds. 

In Morgen World, the existence of the faithless are shunned. Although not the same level of necromancers who toy with the souls of the dead, they were typically repulsed by others. It was believed that those that did not pledge their faith into the Divines are not accepted by any Divine Kingdoms, losing the ‘privilege’ of reincarnating to the next cycle of life.

As for whether it was true or not, mortals would not dare to think about it. In this world, Divine Miracles and Divine Punishment are real; nobody wants to receive the wrath of all-powerful beings.

“I… I don’t. Want to. Go to. The.church…” Shirogane whispered, unease visible in her eyes.

“I know, but we have to.” Sumire held her hands tightly, trying to calm her. “After our business is done, I will fulfil our promise.”

Shirogane did not reply, but her hand clenched Sumire’s. She released an inaudible sigh as she followed her partner’s lead.

The church Sumire decided to visit was decorated with purple-gold materials, there was a large statue of a scholar holding a book as large as its torso on top of the church. During a busy day like today, the priests of various churches were occupied in handling various religious matters, it wasn’t rare to see priests or clerics coming to and from the building.

The two were highly regarded as talented rookies within the academy, most of the senior teams wanted to recruit them into theirs, their movements were closely monitored. The moment they approached the Church of Knowledge, their priests had already reported to the higher ups of their presence. Soon, a high-ranking priest approached them.

“Erudite Dominator Sumire and Elegant Blade Shirogane, our Church of Knowledge is honored by your presence.” The black haired priest greeted Shirogane with a charming smile to seduce her.

In Shirogane’s eyes however, the handsome features of the priest and his attractive smile were like pig meat making some random impression of a human face. She was simply incapable of being charmed by someone else other than Sumire, especially if it was a male.

“Is Priestess Miko present?” Sumire asked politely, feigning ignorance. 

The priest conceals his dark inner thought of wanting to have Shirogane for himself deeply, “Priestess Miko has been expecting of you, please, this way…” he led the pair inside the church.  

The god of knowledge was one of the gods that obtained the most benefit during the rise of the Great Archmage. Not only the Church of Knowledge received a massive amount of believers, the God of Knowledge’s forte, wisdom-path, was developed rapidly under the lead of the Great Archmage.

Due to these reasons, the Church of Knowledge’s prestige was elevated onto the same level of enslavement-path, second only to the Twelve Main Divines of Morgen World. 

The interior of the Church of Knowledge was no different from other churches, there were rows upon rows of seats for mass purposes in the praying hall. Since Sumire didn’t bring Shirogane to pray, the black haired priest brought them into the front door of Priestess Miko’s personal chamber. 

He tried to initiate conversation with Shirogane multiple times during their walk, but she was cold towards the priest. “She is here. Then, I’d take my leave…” The black haired priest left the two after noticing his effort was in vain.

Shirogane held Sumire’s hand tightly, trying to convey her unwillingness to stay in this establishment. 

“I know. Please bear with me.” Sumire whispered. The black haired priest was not the first, and wouldn’t be the last either. There were too many people trying to gain her attention by various means, especially with her vulnerable background.

At this moment, Priestess Miko’s voice could be heard from within the room, inviting the two to enter. When the two opened the door, a golden-haired figure draped in the apparel of a priestess of the God of Knowledge greeted them. 

Priestess Miko was a petite elf, a relatively common elf variant in this part of the continent. Her height merely reached 140-centimeter-tall, her lustrous golden hair was long enough to reach her back while her humble breast was covered by her religious attire. 

“I received your message yesterday. It’s good that you returned from your mission safely…” Her soothing voice possessed a slight hypnotic effect, calming the listener. 

Sumire merely nodded, while Shirogane was surprised since one of her passive defensive methods activated the moment she heard Miko speak. “Don’t be alarmed, every servant of the God of Knowledge is an expert of wisdom-path. Priestess Miko is an expert at manipulating the emotions of others through her voice.” Sumire explained towards Shirogane. 

“It is as she said.” Miko confirms, “Is this her?”

“Yes, she’s the one that I’ve told you about, can you do a quick examination?” Sumire asked.

“Then, please. Miss Shirogane, I have to ask you to deactivate your defenses against wisdom-path methods personally as I don’t want to be rude towards Miss Sumire’s partner.” Miko asked seriously.

Shirogane’s defenses against wisdom-path methods were relatively weak in front of true experts like priestess Miko. Under the urge of her partner, telepathic ruthless sword-emotion within her sea of consciousness opened her mind to vulnerability.

“Kubikiri Shirogane…” Miko muttered her full name as purple lights shone from her eyes, probing her sea of consciousness gently.

Shirogane wriggled instinctively, if not for Sumire holding her hands, her various retaliation methods against mind invasion would activate and wound Miko’s mind. The examination lasted for half an hour before the purple lights from Miko’s eyes dimmed.

“It’s worse than my estimation.” Miko reported with her pale face, the thought expenditure was extreme. “I cannot cure her with my current methods.” 

Sumire accepted the verdict calmly as she had already expected it, “Does that mean, I still have the slight hope of curing her condition?”

Miko did not want to break her fantasy but it was impossible to fool Sumire, “Kubikiri Shirogane is not mentally retarded. Her capability in experiencing emotion is far stronger than the average person of her caliber. You were correct by pointing her secondary cultivation path towards wisdom-path, especially regarding the aspect of emotion. However, her emotion is too overwhelming that her thought process was hindered…. This wasn’t something that originated from her mind, but somewhere else.”

Priestess Miko made her own deduction but the clues are insufficient. Wisdom-path cultivators could not produce results without information beforehand, “Can you tell me what happened to her?”

Sumire’s expression did not change, but her mind was turbulent. Priestess Miko might be someone that she can trust from the churches’ sides, but this related to her dark secrets, she was unwilling to elaborate more than necessary.

She released a sigh, “That’s what I would like to find out. My wisdom-path methods are limited since I cultivated the aspect of will, not emotion.”

Wisdom-path was profound, with Sumire’s limited time, she could not master all of its three aspects at the same time. Her mastery upon the aspect of will was something that even Priestess Miko rarely saw on Sumire’s level of cultivation, if her attainment in the aspect of emotion was at the same level, she would be a rare genius that should be recruited to the Church of Knowledge at all costs.

“Since it’s like that, then I’ve wasted everyone’s time.” Sumire stood up with Shirogane in tow, no trace of expression revealed on her face. “Priestess Miko, these are the intel I’ve gathered from my last mission, please accept it.” She produced a memory card from her pocket.

Priestess Miko did not stand at the ceremony. She accepted the intel that consisted of the newest distribution of resources, greenskins and many others as payment for her service. It wasn’t rare for the Church of Knowledge to trade information for their services. Of course, the memory card Miko received was different from the one Sebastian received since it has less crucial information regarding her mission.

“With this, our transaction is complete.” Priestess Miko. “With my current access level of information, it would be difficult to find out what happened to her but if you’re willing to be part of the church, I believe it wouldn’t be hard for you to get to know her yourself.” She extended an invitation.

“I appreciate the offer, but no thank you.” Sumire rejected her bluntly.

“My doors are always open for you...” Priestess Miko used a special wisdom-path method, sending a transparent telepathic-thought towards Sumire.

No changes appeared on Sumire’s face, but she was obviously wondering about something. “Then, I’ll take my leave.”

“I won’t send you out.” Miko expressed weakly. 

….

Shirogane wasn’t too fond of the atmosphere in the church of knowledge, it was too peaceful for her bloodthirsty nature. The intense emotion she felt during the visit almost made her berserk, but Sumire managed to support her through the unpleasant experience.

“They. just want me. As. a vessel. To vent. lust.” anger was literally seething from her words. Deep within her silvery eyes, a faint trace of wild recklessness started to appear.

“My dearest, the moment we reached rank 1 is the time when we can leave Hartina and roam the world. With our talent, it would only take one to two years to reach that point. By then, my preparations would be completed. So please, don’t stop cultivating the [Ruthless Sword Emotion] arts.” There was no trace of emotion in her words, her voice was so cold that it was as if she was talking to a stranger.

“...” Shirogane was feeling despondent. She knew that when Sumire was cold towards her meant Sumire was deducting. There was simply no space for emotion in her sea of consciousness. Planning and deduction took too much of her thought expenditure, and according to her familiarity with Sumire, she must’ve gained a large amount of clues.

“What. are. You thinking.about?” Shirogane asked carelessly now that they returned to their love nest.

“Priestess Miko.” Sumire answered while her eyes closed.

“Am. I. Not. Enough. For you?” her eyes become misty.

“That’s not it. She was asking for help. As a petite elf, her status is lower than human or other pure elves, her situation is manageable but barely. Her room was monitored by other priests vying for more power. We were monitored heavily; it would be difficult for us to communicate.”

Her deduction was taking a toll, and she was not fond of talking while thinking since it would affect the result of her deduction, but Sumire was still considerate enough towards Shirogane. 

“For now, the more [Ruthless Sword Emotion] you refine the better.” she did not explain further, continuing her deduction.  

Shirogane nodded unwillingly and started to refine more ruthless sword-emotion. 

Shirogane’s unique condition made her susceptible to emotion. During combat, anger would turn her into a berserker, uncaring about anything else other than to kill. Without the support of ruthless sword-emotion, she could not showcase the true power of ‘Elegant Blade’ Shirogane. 

Ruthless sword-emotion can cut the thread of emotion through amplification of ruthlessness, it was very effective in fighting emotional disturbance caused by external stimulation. However, telepathic emotion is consumable. The more it was consumed, the less there was. During intense combat where telepathic thought expenditure climbed to the roof, ruthless sword-emotion expenditure needed to be balanced to ensure emotional stability.

Therefore, refining ruthless sword-emotion is a must during peacetime.

The moment Shirogane sat down to cultivate, Sumire finished her deduction. 

‘Dark-path…’ she muttered silently. 

Enslavement-path is mainly cultivated as a secondary path. In Morgen world, the nine element paths would typically be the main path chosen by cultivators except for some special ones such as strength-path or sword-path.

That being the case, Sumire’s attainment in wisdom-path was merely the extension of her Death Command True Inheritance. Her true ability in the aspect of thought and emotion were limited greatly.

It couldn't be helped; wisdom-path cultivators are not like cabbages that can be found in the market. Complete wisdom-path true inheritances are rare as qilin horns, only powers like Hartina Kingdom possessed True Inheritance passed down from their ancestors. Furthermore, once wisdom-path cultivators are tied down to an organization, the only way for them to leave is through death, for obvious reasons.

Therefore, it was only reasonable for the Church of Knowledge to rise in popularity. Every single priest or clerics are taught in wisdom-path methods; their services are more than helpful for various situations.

With that being said, Sumire has yet to actually choose the elemental path she wanted to specialize in to support her enslavement-path cultivation if she chooses it as her main path. After long deduction and consideration, she finally chooses to follow the whole content of her True Inheritance.

‘I don’t want to delve into necro-path more than necessary but since it also contained dark-path’s specialty of concealing oneself, it wouldn’t be bad to hide my main element as darkness…’ she thought.

Dark-path specialized in concealment, despite being one of the less popular elements, it is still under the jurisdiction of one of the Twelve Main Divines. Since she had decided, she took a beast encyclopedia and started to browse the dark-path section. 

“Shadow Stalker… too rare. Wailing Silhouette… too eerie. What kind of dark-path beasts could be found normally?” she muttered silently as she flipped upon the pages. “Ah!” her finger stopped on a certain beast.

“Lightkiller bugs… tsk, the information on this encyclopedia is too small.” she flipped book after books to find a specific one that contain dark-path beasts but unfortunately, her accumulation was insufficient. 

“Wait!” she became excited as she looked towards her memory cards that she received from Sebastian. 

Sumire put an emphasis on information collection, therefore she was often trading information with the hunter association. 

“Lightkiller bugs, an insect-type dark-path beast often found in the underground world. Being a type of horde beast, Lightkiller variants lived in all parts of the five continents…” She read the information happily.

“Death Command True Inheritance is a necro-path inheritance. Using necro-path methods in public meant inviting the churches of the Twelve Main Divines to hunt me. Fortunately, there is a trump card that solved this problem from the start. I could use necromancy to refine formless spectral entities that could take many forms. Unfortunately, these Spectral Souls need souls as materials, and they cannot be shown to the public.”

“But since Spectral Souls is a soul-type enslavement-path ‘lifeform’, I can mask their form and they can be used in public as long as the Spectral Souls are refined into fake ‘Lightkiller bugs’ properly…” a trace of delight appeared in her amethyst eyes.

Spectral Souls are formless ‘lifeforms’ that possess low combat ability when acting directly, but have the ability to possess other lifeforms. It was the main content of the Death Command True Inheritance, using a soul-type lifeform to enslave other lifeforms. With that being said, Sumire’s path was now clear. 

“To refine Spectral Souls, I need a large amount of souls as materials. Fortunately, my last mission granted me the chance to reap some.” Sumire produced a soul gem filled to the brim with goblin souls.

Her eyes shone in cold light as she used an information-path method to conceal the energy fluctuation in the room. Shirogane was focused on refining ruthless sword-emotion; she could be ignored, but the necro-path energy undulation would be obvious to those who cultivate in light-path or divine force. Therefore, the necessary precaution she took.

After she ensured that no leaks could be found in her protective measure, she started to act.

“The grim song of the Devil King embraces me. O’ singer of the afterlife, heed this one’s summon. I offer these souls in exchange for your servants. Master of the dead and souls of the damned, as your rightful inheritor, I implore you to grant me strength…” she chanted as malicious thought started to churn in her sea of consciousness. 

With negative emotion as catalyst, she drew a complicated necro-path spell formation on the floor with her blood. As the formation neared completion, her face paled due to blood loss. 

Shirogane suddenly opened her eyes and was surprised at Sumire’s action. Using blood to draw spell formation was too wasteful, but the most important issue was Sumire is not a warrior whose regenerative factor is sufficient to counter the expenditure. With how complex the spell formation she drew, the blood loss could make others faint.

Still, Shirogane was level-headed enough to use the ruthless sword-emotion to continue her cultivation and did not bother Sumire. She trusts her partner, after all.

Unbeknownst to Shirogane however, Sumire usage of her own blood to draw spell formation is a crucial step to ensure the Spectral Souls she refined would be loyal to her and her only. 

Slowly, black misty figure started to manifest on the spell formation as the ritual neared completion. “The blood of the user to seal the contract and a part of my truesoul to give birth to a true lifeform. With this, I just need to nurture the spell formation with my truesoul every nine hour while feeding nine rank 0 souls for nine days. According to my calculation, that’ll give me a couple of days of rest before the hunting festival… perfect!”

Her face was pale, her truesoul was wounded after giving a part of it to the spell formation. Wounds on the soul are harder to treat than physical trauma. The best way to recover was using soul healing methods, but to find an expert with that capacity would unearth some questions she cannot answer. Therefore, she merely dealt with it by sleeping, allowing time to heal her wounded soul.

A few moments later, Shirogane stopped her cultivation and pouted when she noticed Sumire sleeping soundlessly. 

Sumire forgot about her promise again.