Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

Kasumi glanced at the object that Nyx’s kobold hunters brought. “You’ve found Purified Mana Crystals lying around on the mountain?”

Nyx nodded, “Yes. If I recall correctly, purified mana crystals are usually used as placeholder targets in competitions. Every purified mana crystal is worth at least 100 mana crystal coins but it’s true value lies in being a pure energy resource to activate large-scale artifacts.”

“That is indeed so.” Kasumi activated an investigation method as her ‘eyes’ gleamed in prismatic electric light. “As expected, they are tempered to transmit their location through an information-path artifact.”

“Do you think it’s related to the increase of hunters in Thunderpeak mountain?” Nyx asked.

“Of course.” Kasumi deducted briefly, “There should be a competition happening on the mountain right now. Most probably, it includes the procurement of these tempered mana crystals. Hmm, I can use these to fuel main soul’s new body.” Kasumi stopped talking and gazed at the pile of tempered mana crystals. “This amount… will definitely attract them.”

“This might be my mistake. The kobolds sensed the energy within them, they thought it would be beneficial to our cause. You were engrossed in the refinement process for days, I couldn’t report it in time.” Nyx explained. More tempered mana crystals meant more trackers placed upon them.

Since a competition is a competition, the number of procured mana crystals matters a lot. Having them located in one place at once would increase the likelihood of their location being found out sooner.

“That’s alright, tempered mana crystals are designed that way. There are two steps left for main soul’s reawakening: the installment of Wisdom Crystal Processor and the injection of Liquid Metal Blood. After a brief moment of adaptation, main soul should be able to wake up and make decisions accordingly.” Just as Kasumi ended her words, a rushed Grem entered the room. His expression is grim.

“My Lord, hunting team 3 has been captured outside our cave.” He reported to Nyx. 

Kasumi and Nyx traded glances, “I need to make arrangements. Delay them even if it costs you your life.” Kasumi ordered before she entered the bone refinery with haste.

 

…

 

A few hours ago.

 

The 7-day time limit has come to an end, with those who arrived earlier having a longer resting period. Since group 4 arrived roughly 10 hours before the time’s up, they have that amount of time for rest. Due to their somewhat relaxed pace (after Sumire’s return), they weren’t that exhausted in the first place so the ten-hour rest time was sufficient for all of them to recover fully.

Sakuya restocked her fire-path spell resources while Sumire also restocked most of her dark-path and enslavement-path spell resources. The two aces of Violet Sword Blaze had recovered over 80% of their capabilities while the rest recuperated to their peak.

That being the case, they are now standing on the field waiting for the next announcement from Lord Knight Tatsuya. Not waiting for long, the master of ceremony arrived in his signature red armor.

“Good work on arriving here before the time’s up. Now then, I’m going to explain the 2nd stage once. For those that lost their tablets due to various reasons in the first , you’re all disqualified.”

Some of the captains sighed in relief. They were smart enough to protect them with great care. For elite teams like Scorch Talon and Wild Savage, they knew it was related to the 2nd stage; it wasn’t possible to make them disqualified through this method. That being said, there wasn’t actually any dumb captains who was that braindead to broke or lost their tablets.

Lord Knight Tatsuya produced an eyeball sized crystal, gleaming with ethereal blue glow. “This is a tempered mana crystal; each was modified to produce a signal that can be traced by your team’s tablets. The whole Thunderpeak mountain is covered sparsely with these tempered mana crystals. Your task is to gather them. A treasure hunt, so to speak.”

The eyes of the captains turned sharp. Although it sounds so simple, it shouldn’t be.  

“My lord, is there a special rule regarding the treasure hunt?” a captain who couldn’t handle Lord Knight Tatsuya’s silence roused a question.

Lord Knight Tatsuya beckons an associate professor to set up an information-path artifact. Soon, a large holographic screen laid bare to see. “Every tempered mana crystal is worth 10 points. You are eligible to trade them with the items on this list. The time limit is 7 days. During the duration, you can return and trade in your tempered mana crystal for points to ‘buy’ items from the list directly. If you weren’t within the barrier on the 8th day however, you’ll be disqualified.”

The holographic screen was huge, there were countless items categorized neatly under their respective paths, uses, and many more. Some of the captain’s eyes glinted with greed, while some were watching expressionlessly. Most however, showed an interest on the list as the items were noticeably better than the things on the market the day before or the items tradable on the merit board on the academy.

Of the most attention grabbing items on the list however, was a special tab whose worth is significantly better than the items found in the academy’s merit board: body runes.

Although the merit board on the academy allows trades for body runes, their quality is at most, basic and common.

On the market, body runes were expensive as fuck and special ones couldn’t be bought at all due to their rarity. However, each one listed on the holographic screen was affordable. It is expensive, yes, but it can be traded with a little bit of points. Even the most expensive one merely requires more effort to gather more tempered mana crystals.

It was simply alluring to the captains of each team. They were given a chance to revamp and optimize a few sets of body rune for their members.

For elite teams like Scorch Talon, Blue Wave, Wild Savage, Violet Sword Blaze or a few others, it was a chance to showcase their value and compete to be the best. After all, the amount of tradable body runes is finite. Even the cheapest were limited to a dozen.

In this case, since any team is allowed to return to the campsite to trade in whatever they liked during the treasure hunt, the trading system would be first come first serve. The competition for the body runes between teams with overlapping paths would be very intense.

However, the ones who returned to exchange their points earlier than the time limit meant cutting off their future points because of the limited time. Thunderpeak mountain is vast, after all. It was split into 41 areas; each area is as big as one Elestra city’s district. To circle around the circumference of the mountain, a week wouldn’t be enough. However, if one is determined to circle around on high elevation, it’ll took less than 2 days to circle a complete round.

As Lord Knight Tatsuya turned silent, the teams began discussing with their members.

“Captain!” Sakuya nudged Sumire, “There’s one that I have been wanting to get.”

Sumire seems to have read into her mind, “The rank 0 body rune, [Boiling Blood Vigor]?”

“Yes!” Sakuya admitted, “It is perfect for a dual cultivator like me. Though, if we can get it’s rank 1 version, the [Boiling Blood Vitality], it would be better. But I shouldn’t be greedy.”  

Sumire nodded expressionlessly, “Noted. Anyone else?” she asked her teammates while her eyes focused on remembering the items on the list.

Each wanted a different rune perfect to complete or revamp their body rune set. After the rest of Violet Sword Blaze expressed their desire, it was time for Alanis to say hers, “Captain, I want the rank 0 transformation-path body rune [Ten Eyes].”   

“Oh? That rune… is a magic eye replacer, are you sure you’re willing to lose an eye?” Sumire asked.

Magic eye is literally what it is, an eye imbued with an inherent magical ability. Though, thanks to the development of magic in general under the hands of the Great Archmage during his era, there are extremely rare magic eyes whose effect can’t be replaced with magic spells, scrolls or artifacts. Therefore, magic eyes have lost their previous level of uniqueness.

However, having magic eyes still has its benefits. Unlike magic spells that use resources and activation sequences, some magic eyes could activate their abilities near-instantly while their resource expenditure is only the user’s energy. Of course, there are unique or special ones that cost other than their user’s energy such as lifespans or others, but most use mana or internal energy as fuel.

Magic eyes are often a good alternative as a trump card or to activate a primary method that is used frequently.

As for the [Ten Eyes], it is a body rune of the head slot that needs to be engraved in one’s eye. During the process, the eye would be refined into a type of magic eye, granting the ability to freely change the refined eye into the eyes of beasts or the eyes of others.

Of course, the moment Alanis engraves the rune into her eyes doesn’t mean it gives her the ability to change them into ten different eyes immediately. The user has to refine the eyes of beasts into the magic eyes, expanding its ‘library’ so it can freely change form. Therefore, this body rune is the type that requires constant refining for it to be useful.

Viewed from another perspective, it is the type of body rune that can be upgraded into something far more useful than its current form.

Alanis was resolute, “Yes captain. I have made my research upon the body rune. It has a rank 1 variant [Hundred Eyes], rank 2 variant [Thousand Eyes] and it’s rank 3 legendary variant [Ten Thousand Eyes]. It would be very beneficial for me to have them.”

Although it seems powerful, the [Ten Eyes] body rune merely has the ability to change the eyes into that of beast or others, it couldn’t turn into other magic eyes. Though, for some beasts, their eyes are so powerful that it rivals certain investigative methods. Therefore, there are still some who put their interest into it, such as Alanis.  

“I see. Then, I’ll prioritize this over others.” She made a promise since Alanis has the second least amount of body runes amongst Violet Sword Blaze.

Calculating the required amount to fulfil all of their wishes, it would force them to gather large amount of tempered mana crystals. However, Sumire was confident that they could at least buy half of them. If their chosen body runes were taken by others, then they will have to choose a secondary one which will be less expensive than their primary choice.

“Now that you’ve seen what the academy can offer, it’s time for you to show us your worth” He paused, thinking to add something else, “There is only one rule: No killing. The treasure hunt begins now!” Lord Knight Tatsuya seems impatient, his expression looked like someone who’s been constipated for a night, trying to rush things. After the announcement, he left.

His departure spurred a lot of discussion. The no-kill rule was basically saying there are no rules at all. The teams would be split among themselves into three primary groups: the ones who believe their strength was sufficient to hunt the treasures on their own, those who will group up with other teams to increase the odds, or those who decide to be hunter-killers.

Hunter-Killer is a jargon invented by the Hunter Association. Since hunters are trained to fight against beasts, hunter-killers refers to hunters who specialized in dispatching intellectual races or other hunters. An anti-hunter hunter specialization, so to speak.

The academy wouldn’t condemn those who decided to practice hunter-killing since in the real world, one would eventually have to fight against other human or intellectual races equipped with hunter skills. This was considered normal, though it does indeed sprout discontent amongst junior hunters.

That being said, in Violet Sword Blaze, those who are highly specialized to be hunter-killers are Ramiel and Yamamura. Violet Sumire has a high proficiency handling other hunters, but it wasn’t due to her combat prowess. Through the use of her teammates, she could scheme, ruin, or counter the scheme of others but in the end, people like her would be helpless if she encounters someone like Wild Savage. 

And it needs to be said that Wild Savage is not a hunter-killer. He has yet to meet his match due to his unreasonable strength.

While some teams are departing from the barrier to gain a head start, Sumire calls upon a discussion with her teammates. “Amongst the 30 teams present, ours are ranked 4th. Unlike Wild Savage who took beast hunting missions all the time, we took multiple missions with various tasks, therefore our hunter-killer countermeasure is not blank. However, we couldn’t fight against teams who incessantly took bandit extermination or bounty hunting missions during these three months…”

Since the academy uses contribution points as the main currency, the students are encouraged to perform missions. There are various types of missions handled by the association ranging from hunting specific beasts, beast extermination, gathering medicinal herbs, administrational affair, refinement commission, guard duty, et cetera. Therefore, it is possible to find all sorts of ‘hunters’ with unique skills.

Her argument was sound, Sakuya and the others listened to their captain’s opinion attentively. “That’s why, we have to plan ahead before we begin our treasure hunt.” She handed over the team tablet to Alanis.

“All this time, I haven’t properly introduced her.” Sumire brought Alanis to her side, “Alanis is not well known amongst our year because she always took administrational missions. Her exposure to association’s artifacts allows her to gain enlightenment in information-path.” She faced Alanis, “Therefore, I want you to show you all why I recruited her.”

Alanis nodded. This was a chance for Alanis to showcase her ability to the members of Violet Sword Blaze. Although they accepted her on the surface, Sumire knew that getting her into the team without explanation still brought dissatisfaction towards the older members. Eventually, it would add up and destabilize her authority within the team. It’s best if she dismantles this time bomb as early as possible, and this was the perfect chance.

Alanis’ eyes gleamed in prismatic lights as her hand drew rune characters in the air. Her fingertips produced brief-lasting light particles as the runes started to become clear.

Sakuya revealed a shocked expression, “This is… information-path magic spell.”

As Alanis’ drew the spell formation, she multitasked to open the holographic map that was given to every team.

Although the map covers all parts of Thunderpeak mountain and its surrounding area, it was clear that the ‘dots’ that indicates the location of the tempered mana crystal were limited in range. Every team can only detect the tempered mana crystals 100 meter away from the tablet. Therefore, the treasure hunts still retain their essence.  

“This years’ theme for the hunting festival is… endurance. How are we going to endure a constant stream of rainfall and thunderstorms for 7 days while looking for these treasures, especially if some of us have to wear metal armor?” Sumire added, “That’s why I brought her with me. Through her, we don’t have to follow the rules of the game.”

Alanis nodded in agreement as she activated the spell she prepared, “Rank 0 information-path magic spell, [Local Area Network Data Theft].”    

As soon as the magic spell activated, the prismatic gleam in her eyes faded, replaced by dim dullness. Her body weakened as if she was a puppet whose string was cut. Fortunately, Sumire was beside her, she was able to catch Alanis’ body before her face kissed the ground.

“She is now exploring the digital world, please be patient.” Sumire explained.

As soon as she finished talking, the light in Alanis’ eyes returned, followed by her body waking up. “Successful!” she reported.

“Good job.” Sumire praised, “Now let’s see…” She refreshed the holographic map, only to see the ‘dots’ that represent the tempered mana crystals to appear all over the map.

“This is…!” Kurogane was shocked, the others wore the same expression.

“That’s right, she just stole intel from the hunter association local database.” Sumire explained. “Though, since the association’s defensive countermeasures were powerful enough to stop her effort, she couldn’t steal real-time information regarding the tempered mana crystal locations. However, it is enough for us to gain a head start, don’t you guys think so?”

It was at this moment, Violet Sword Blaze members’ acknowledgement towards Sumire’s ability to scheme reignited.   

As the team read the holographic map, Sumire saw several spots where many tempered mana crystals congregated in one place. She thought it was normal, since beasts must’ve gathered these strange objects into their nest, hoping to harvest the energy within. It isn’t strange for certain beasts to develop abilities to detect energy in objects but the tempered mana crystals are no longer normal mana crystals, no matter what, it is useless to beasts.

However, there is an unusual concentration of mana crystals located in a certain area. Moreover, the location is somewhere near a point of interest in her previous secret mission. She still remembers the unknown spell undulation that she reported to the association’s branch head, Sebastian.

“This is interesting.” Sumire muttered with a low voice. Her curiosity peaked, she wanted to visit this location not only for the mission, but also to satisfy her interest. After briefly calculating the variables that might obstruct the journey, she made a decision swiftly “We should reach this area as soon as possible.”  

Her fingers pointed towards a point with the largest tempered mana crystal concentration in the whole Thunderpeak mountain.