Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

Kurogane held an armored kobold’s neck as he put pressure towards its body, limiting the poor kobold’s movement. Thanks to his strength-path foundation and body runes, the team consisting of 10 kobold hunters could not hold a candle against him, but that does not mean the kobold are purely helpless.

“Damn, it hurts!” Kurogane complained, as his left hand pushed his wounded eye.

The kobold hunters realized they could not overcome this armored youth, therefore they tried to retaliate to the best of their abilities. That includes fighting underhandedly by aiming for the crotch, joints, and the gap in the youth’s helmet. Eventually, the kobold hunters were knocked senseless but they managed to gouge Kurogane’s eyes.

Thankfully, as a defense-focused strength-path cultivator, his [Survival Instinct] managed to pull his head back during the attack, protecting his brain from being impaled.

Although these kobold hunters are significantly weaker than Kurogane, capturing them took more effort than killing a group of charging mass boars.

“Stay still. Rank 0 wood-path magic spell, [Orchid Mist Vitality].” Seraphina’s spell produced green mists that went towards Kurogane’s wounded eye. She took off Kurogane’s helmet and began treating his wound carefully with her method. She didn’t forget to hand over a [Minor Healing Potion] to Kurogane.

Chugging down the potion down his throat, Kurogane felt his blinded eye feeling better. Fortunately, he was a strength-path martial artist. If not, his blinded eye would be permanent. Although clerics and priests who possessed strong faith-path healing methods exist, this type of wound is still troublesome to deal with.

While the team waited for Kurogane to recover his sight, Sumire inspected the kobolds. “Their weapons and armors are made out of beast bones. Despite the crude craftsmanship, it contains the core function of attack and defense. Truly, the ones who refined them are master craftsmen.”

“Is that why you told Kurogane to capture them, captain?” Ramiel asked while dismantling the armors and weapon from their bodies. Just the materials alone are worth a large amount of contribution points if sold to the academy.

“Yes. Due to the constant rain and thunder, our investigative range is limited. Can you believe minor races like the kobold have the capability of setting up an ambush… to Kurogane, of all people? Even if it was his own fault for wandering alone, it’s still Kurogane.” Sumire replied.

“Indeed.” Ramiel agreed. “They seem to be too well trained for a group that grows up in the wild. It’s as if we were fighting Magnur city’s elite kobold warriors!”

Despite never going to the city of duergar and kobolds, Ramiel wasn't totally unaware of the situation over there. The reason why he wasn’t too familiar with them was merely because the missions Violet Sword Blaze took mostly in the area of Azaria forest instead of Magnur city.

“That’s true. What interest me is Magnur city or more specifically, the duergars living there are master craftsmen who works well with metal, not bones.” Sumire took one of the pale white bone spears and inspected them herself.

She activated one investigative method after another as the pale white bone spear was scrutinized through various metrics. Feeling the information was insufficient, she inspected all the pale white bone spears before she shared her finding.

“The pale white spears are made out of large beast bone, most probably a rank 0 Twin-Horned Mountain Goat’s rib cage. What baffles me is the method of refinement. It doesn’t seem to be using fire or lightning but… something else?” she pondered.

Sakuya also inspected the pale white bone spear personally. Her ability to refine raw materials into spell resources was higher than Sumire. Amongst Violet Sword Blaze, she was the closest to be revered as a refinement-path expert despite not being one.

“It’s not fire or lightning refinement. It uses… vibration to purify and reshape bone matter into a material far stronger than its original form.” She reported.

Sumire concealed a trace amount of shock. That mere clue allows her to connect the dots of information in her mind. ‘Vibration… someone received the inheritance of the Devil King other than me in the Hartina Kingdom?’ She was shocked. After a brief moment of realization, she admits that it was arrogant of her to think that she’s the only one who’s special. Hartina Kingdom is vast, there must be others who accidentally found his inheritance.

The usage of vibration as a means of refinement is not rare, but such profound technique is usually found in Galatreon, the holy land of refinement-path. Therefore, she immediately relates the phenomenon to one of Devil King’s four direct disciples who uses sounds: King Solomon.   

As Sumire closed her eyes in an effort to calm her turbulent heart, Sakuya produced another result.

“Truly magnificent. The pale white bone spears were specifically refined to have a strong penetration power against lightning-path defense and the bone armors to be resistant against lightning-path attacks. The one who refined them... is truly a master craftsman. No, perhaps an official Master-Artificer?” Sakuya traced her wet lips as she continued to scrutinize the objects under heavy rain.

“Master-Artificer in this backward place? Even Magnur city has none, what makes you think a random person who domesticated kobolds for a living has the ability to be one?” Yamamura blurted out.

Master-Artificer is an occupational jargon revered to those who have delved into the path of refinement-path. Specifically, the refinement of weapons, armors, or other types of artifacts. It is a respectable title that was officially given by the holy land of refinement-path as an acknowledgement of their skills. Each Master-Artificer is respected far and wide, cultivators would line up for days if not weeks as long as they have a chance to get a custom made equipment from them.

“True.” Sumire agreed, “But I have seen an artifact made by a Master-Artificer. Haven’t you seen the quality of Shirogane’s main weapon, the [Devil Decapitator]? Master-Artificers have their own pride, they won’t make random weapons and armor like these, but we’ve found out otherwise.”

Yamamura shut his mouth. Indeed, the weapon in Shirogane’s hand was a weapon made by a Master-Artificer in the capital of Hartina Kingdom. It was further inscribed with various runes, one of them is a rune which generates an acceleration force field that allows the sword to slice through steel armor like hot knife through butter. 

Although the pale white bone spears have no rune whatsoever engraved on their body, their quality is annoyingly consistent as if the method used to refine them were already perfect.   

Of course, this was in the perspective of youths who have no deep understanding of refinement-path, specifically regarding weapon forging techniques. In the eyes of true experts, they would see several fundamental flaws, but it was negligible in the grand scheme of things. In the end, these weapons are made out of rank 0 beast bones, they weren’t supposed to last forever.

Even the worst Master-Artificer have rank 1 cultivation base, why would an official Master-Artificer waste their time to forge weapons for a bunch of minor races?

“Why would an official Master-Artificer waste their time to refine weapons for a bunch of minor races?” Sumire asked the question towards herself to stimulate her deduction.

Indeed, that was a question worth asking.  

Unlike common blacksmiths, being a Master-Artificer requires one to pass a strict set of examinations by the officials in Galatreon. The profession includes their qualification to learn higher refinement-path technique, therefore not everyone could become a Master-Artificer. Those who managed to earn the title wouldn’t easily be found like cabbages in the streets.

“What’s done is done. Good thing we’ve decided to capture instead of killing them, there is no unsolvable grudge between us and this potential Master-Artificer. Is this why you want us to subjugate instead of killing, Captain?” Sakuya understood the implication of her team’s actions. She was glad that her captain had such foresight.

“Yes.” Sumire lied as naturally as she breathes.

The real reason why she wanted to subjugate them is because she noticed the kobold’s behavior. Enslaved minor races did not move like that. Thanks to the additional clue of having good weapons and armor, she connected the dots and deduced that these kobolds were not enslaved. However, it was true that they are under the control of someone else.

‘The method of domination is not enslavement-path, but command-path!’ was the result of her investigation.

Sumire mainly cultivates enslavement-path, she knew the path’s advantages and disadvantages. Her cultivation method from the Death Command True Inheritance was actually a mumbled mix of necro-path, wisdom-path and enslavement-path inheritance. Its core essence was still necro-path, but due being taboo, she could not refine a proper necro-path army. This forces her to cultivate enslavement-path primarily and dark-path on the side.

Although it seems fine, her dark-path foundation was basically nonexistent. She only knows a few dark-path stealth methods, there are no offensive or defensive ones at all. Unlike dark-path, her enslavement-path foundation is still there, but it requires her to properly choose a type of beast to specialize.

Examples of successful enslavement-path experts are Lord Mage Mitsubachi who specialized in wasp-beast or Undying Forest members who have their Grass Puppet Soldiers.

Sumire's decision to enslave the dark-path moth was merely patching up a large barrel with flex tape; it does not fix the problem on a fundamental level. At some point, the ‘barrel’ will be filled and her flex tape will be broken by the pressure. If that really happened, it would be problematic. Therefore, she was truly interested in the command-path methods used to subjugate the kobolds.

Kobolds are weak individually, yes, but didn’t they have the ability to ambush and blind Kurogane, a junior elite hunter? One Kurogane might not seem much, but it needs to be said that he is a noble with good bloodline, good education, good foundation, and great cultivation base, at least for his age. Furthermore, he had an anti-ambush method called [Survival Instinct].

The fact that the kobold could ambush Kurogane under the watchful eyes of Ramiel was already surprising. What if the kobold teams were under her possession? Sumire’s command ability would elevate their worth far more than what they are. Of course, another reason for her thirst for command-path method is because it is unofficially a path that the Devil King and his direct disciple, King Solomon, developed from scratch. Before them, there was no such thing as command-path.

Unfortunately, command-path cultivators are extremely rare. Probably, only King Solomon and a few of his descendants cultivated it. Therefore, their development wasn’t too widespread outside Galatreon.

Still, Sumire did not discredit its usefulness. If she could master enslavement-path and command-path methods in tandem, the combination of both would allow her to construct a proper combat system that did not rely on the taboo necro-path. Her value would rise exponentially.

“Let’s stop bickering.” Sumire grabbed a kobold that she assumed was the captain in the head. Her eyes glow in purple light as she activates an enslavement-path magic spell to subjugate its mind. However, the mind of an intelligent race was far harder to dominate than beasts.

Under ideal conditions, Sumire could control up to fourteen beasts with the same cultivation base like her, but enslaving two mid-stage rank 0 kobolds is the limit. As for enslaving a human… that could only happen under a very strict ideal situation. Even then, one human is probably her limit and her capabilities will be extremely reduced in all aspects.

Indeed, in terms of dominating intelligent races, command-path is far more superior.

The kobold could not endure the mental assault. Soon, it was enslaved under Sumire’s will. “Tell me, who are you working for?” She asked.

What she got was lizard screeches. Sumire mentally palmed her forehead. Of course, the kobold tongue is different from the universal common language used by intelligent races. It seems that she has to do some homework after the competition. The reason why the kobold could understand her words was because she uses her telepathic will to communicate.

Will can be understood, but not described. It cannot be expressed in words, the essence of will has surpassed the limit of written expression. Therefore, the usage of will extend to that of communication beyond languages. Unfortunately, the kobold could not form telepathic will for communication, Sumire could not understand its words.

“What did it say, captain?” Kurogane asked innocently, not aware of Sumire’s bad mood.

“My kobold tongue is limited, but I picked up some words. They were led by a kobold variant soldier, most probably an Ironscale Kobold from Magnur city.” Sumire lied as naturally as she breathes. However, nobody suspects it since Sumire was always right, or some part of her words were correct.

After all, she didn’t lie purely by making things up. She was constantly processing information, that’s why she rarely showed emotion. Her mind is filled up with thoughts and wills, her emotion generation is suppressed to the fullest.

“Is this related to our secret mission a while back?” Sakuya asked.

“Yes.” Sumire nodded, “Most likely, this group of Kobolds are dominated by a lone cultivator to procure resources. While the best ones are taken, the kobolds are gifted weapons and armors made out of local ingredients. We should keep our guard up; I wouldn’t be surprised if the mastermind behind the kobolds was a necromancer.”

She was overestimating the invisible enemy, but she didn’t do so without base deduction. There was a high chance that the lone cultivator who received King Solomon’s True Inheritance was someone who used a life-extension method. Other than special types of sleep, undead conversion is considered as a viable method to lifespan extension that works very well. There were many cases of it happening, even within the capital of Hartina Kingdom where it was protected by multiple churches of the Twelve Main Divines.

“Understood!” Violet Sword Blaze members nodded in acknowledgement. Thanks to Violet Sumire, they have expectations and predictions of what to come.

Relying on Ramiel’s skills to sniff out their tracks and Sumire’s intel of tempered mana crystals, Violet Sword Blaze managed to pin down the kobolds lair. It looks like an unassuming cave, indistinguishable from other coves in the mountain.

“So this is the kobold lair. Will there be any traps if we go inside directly?” Sumire asked the kobold with her telepathic will. With her intelligence, she found a method where they don’t need language to converse. Despite not being able to reply vocally in any language that Sumire spoke, the kobold can still reply in a way that she does.

Indeed, the Kobold can nod or shake its head if the answer for the question is a yes or no.

The kobold nodded, “I see. Were your former master before me a human?” Sumire started a round of questions.

The kobolds captured under Sumire’s hands were hunters, trained by their master to hunt effectively. There used to be another subservient race, the goblins, but they were never seen after their master recalled them to the deepest chamber made out of bones and rotting matter. When asked about their master, the kobold could not answer as it wasn’t aware of what it is. Though, it nodded when it was questioned if the master was a skeleton, but couldn’t answer if it was a human skeleton or not.

“I’ve seen this tactic before, there were several cases in the history of Hartina Kingdom. A necromancer would usually subjugate underlings to do their dirty work, allowing them to stay hidden while amassing resources.” Sakuya made a comment as Sumire’s interrogation finished.

“Yes. This particular necromancer seems to hold necro-path and some level of refinement-path attainment, but they aren’t a rank 1 expert because if they are, we would be meeting with rank 1 cannon fodders instead. We should proceed with caution.” Sumire led her party to enter the necromancer’s lair, leaving the captured kobolds outside.