Sun had already gone down the horizon by the time Soren reached near Dalhurst. During this small journey, he had been constantly thinking about the things he needed to add to his ‘to-buy’ list. Based on the battles that he fought today, he had many shortcomings he needed to fix. Luckily, he now had access to those rare rewards and could make up for those. The prerequisite here was that he had to earn enough to buy all those things though. And to earn enough, he had to be strong enough to kill those Initiators.

Thus, he now needed to consider everything before using his contribution points.

His earlier decision to first complete his defensive spell was correct. He didn’t intend to change it.

He took his jacket off. Pulled the left torn sleeve of his t-shirt up. Brought it to his shoulder. A long gash became visible on the biceps side. The wound looked hideous. Even though he had a damaged ‘Vitality’, it was still enough to close this wound if not completely heal it by now. But it was still bleeding. And it showed no signs of getting better. Its edges were also burnt and released lightning imbued Mana at times. Stench of burnt skin wafted.

This foreign Mana with the Lightning Element was the reason this wound persisted. The only way to heal this type of wound was to corrode that foreign Mana with his own. And either use a healing spell or let his ‘Vitality’ heal it over time.

Sigh….

He put the sleeve back down. He wanted to complete his Defense Spell even more now.

The other Initiators in the vehicle didn’t care about it either as they ignored him after glancing at his wound. This was a common sight for anyone returning from the battlefield. Soren was not the only one in the vehicle. Others were the same. But they were still not in a safe and secluded environment. None of them dared to divide their focus to corrode the foreign Mana attached to their wounds. Including Soren. Even though his ‘Mana Manipulation’ skill was decent, it still wasn’t enough to corrode a foreign Mana. While staying alert.

……….

In his house…

He picked up the excited Argus who rushed down from the second floor and went inside the bedroom. As for meeting Smiley at the bar tonight, he had to delay it.

He changed into comfortable clothes and sat down on the floor. Cross-legged. It was time to deal with the wound.

Argus barked at him after seeing his wound. He tried to lick it.

“Don’t, it’ll burn your mouth.”

Soren flicked his tongue. Argus whimpered.

It still had the foreign Mana glued to it. It could injure Argus if he contacted it. It was the residual Mana from a Rank 1: Layer 1 Initiator after all.

This Initiator who wounded him was a Swordsman. She used Lightning Element spells to boost her attacks and speed. During their battle, she rushed and slashed him with her lightning imbued sword. If not for Soren’s ‘Powered Vision’ skill, this one slash would have taken his life today. Even so, he still wasn’t able to dodge it and received the wound on his left arm as a result. And though the Forsaken Knights chopped her body in half the next moment, he was already injured.

Into the meditative state, Soren focused his Mana around the wound. He corroded the foreign Mana. Bit by bit. It was from a fellow Rank 1: Layer 1 Initiator. He didn’t have trouble with it and removed it after about thirty minutes.

Withering Wood

He started the second phase of the spell. With the foreign Mana gone, the life energy of this spell healed his wound and brought his ‘Health’ stat back to 100%.

The persisting wound dealt with, Soren finished his other tasks before meeting with Smiley.

……..

He left Argus with the automatons once again and went to the Myriad Items.

Before moving out, he organized all the loot from the five Initiators. Also extracted their blood and converted it into five vials of blood essence. Pure and concentrated. This took too much of his time, though, so he stored the vials for now. For later use.

As for his reason to visit the ‘Myriad Items’ shop, it was because he wanted to sell all the items that were useless to him. Even though the size of his Storage Pearl increased a lot recently, he still wanted to keep it as empty as he could. His Soul Form restricted its size after all.

With Princess Azure, he’d learned several new things from her. Related to the high-ranking Initiators. One of those things was about the loot division after a joint mission. In relation to the Storage Pearls. Because of its mechanism, no one could know what it contained without adding it to a Soul Form first.

The division of loot between the high-ranking Initiators happened by having each member add it to their Soul Forms and confirm the items. They would add it without combining it with their existing Storage Pearls. After this, they would take all the items out. If possible. And divide it among themselves.

Soren wanted to have enough space in his Storage Pearl to store his share of the loot. If he ever got into such a situation. An alternative to this was keeping extra Storage Pearls with him. But they would be prone to falling off his body or getting destroyed in a battle. He didn’t want to use this option unless it was necessary.

……

It didn’t take long to sell all the items that he intended to. It brought his total number of Middle-Grade Mana Crystals to about 2500. This included the crystals he got from his recent loot and the ones he got from selling all the stuff he didn’t need.

Now that he did all that he had to do, he could go and meet Smiley. They were planning on meeting in Amburgh at first. But since Soren’s situation changed back in Bycrest, he couldn’t do that anymore. This was his first-time meeting Smiley since going to that vestige together back in Eastwood.

He entered the rowdy bar. This was the agreed meeting place. He covered the place with his and searched the area.

This was a rude action in many other places. But it was not an issue here. Initiators and Non-Initiators alike crammed the place right now. If he wanted to find a person, he had to use his sensing spell.

And he found him soon. He threaded through the boisterous bunch. Towards the closed cabin in the back.

“You are late.”

Soren had not even knocked yet when Smiley opened the door and said. A smile on his face. Soren smiled back and entered the room with him.

Apart from Smiley, there was one more person sitting inside right now. A woman with shoulder-length black hair. She wore the same kind of survival-cum-combat outfit as Soren. Apart from her deep green eyes, there was nothing special about her.

She gazed at him. Soren nodded and sat on an empty chair opposite her.

“Old man, three fruit ales here.”

Before shutting the door, Smiley yelled at the barkeeper and ordered fruit ales. Soren also hadn’t tried this kind of drink before. It piqued his curiosity. He let Smiley order for him and didn’t say anything.

Only after the old man served the fruit ales in the room and closed the door did Smiley start the conversation.

“You finally broke free. Congrats.” Smiley said and took a sip of the cold sweet ale.

Soren picked up his chilled glass and thanked Smiley. He sipped a mouthful of the dark-brown drink. It was sweet yet had a punch to it.

None of them were wearing a mask right now. The members only wore it when they were either on a job or in the presence of a low-ranking Initiator. When meeting with the same ranked Initiators, they would choose not to wear it. Its inability to protect against the sensing spells was one reason. But it was because they didn’t care much about exposing their identity to the same ranked Initiators. This was only true for the members inside the organization though. At best, wearing a mask was symbolic in nature and a necessity only when on a job with the other members of the Wandering Wolves.

“Introductions first. I’m Seth,” Smiley said, “Zero, your turn.”

“Soren,” Soren said. He turned towards the green-eyed woman in front.

She took a sip and put the glass down. Her smile friendly but her voice hoarse, she said, “Drai.”

Status: Healthy

Rank 1: Layer 1 [CP - 0%]

Name: Soren Farrow

Species: Human

Attribute: Darkness & Ice

Health: 100%

Stamina: 100%

Mana: 100%

Strength: 7.94

Agility: 9.71 (+1.90)

Vitality: 17.73

Intelligence: 21.26 (+7.20)

Spirit: 20.29 (+8.45)

Resistance: 9.11 (+2.35)

Spells:

Spell Vessels: 3/10

Innate Spells: 18

Innate Skills/Bloodline Talents: 7

Water Bubbles [7/7] – Level 8/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Snow Blades [5/5] – Level 9/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Ice Chakra [6/6] – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Create Undead: Low Tier Ⅱ – Level 7/15. Mana Cost – Average. [Rank 1]

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Dark Raven – Level 8/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Ice Barrage – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Dead Rising – Level 7/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Acid Needles – Level 5/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Shadow Prison – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Rank 1]

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Frost Domain – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Elemental Sense – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Dark Gravity – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Withering Wood – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Ice Spikes – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Soul Search – Level 6/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Rank 1]

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Ice Wall – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Waterball – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Rainfall – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Spark – Level 10/10. Mana cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Fireball – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Evolution Available] [Rank 0]

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Space Snatcher – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Negligible. [Rank 0]

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Mana Manipulation – Level 7/15

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Potioneering [Rank 1] – Level 1/15.

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Powered Vision – Level --/--

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Vornea: Basic Form – Level --/--

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Devour: First Evolution – Level --/--

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Second Intelligence – Level --/--

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Shadow Steps – Level 10/10. Mana Cost – Very Low. [Evolution Available] [Rank 1]

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Equipment: Common Clothes; Magic Staff – Moonshard; Spirit-Pendant; Snake-Earring; Spirit-Ring; Resistance-Ring; Caster’s Bracelet; Agility-Boots; Dagger; Mana Touch – Gloves; White Ring [War Accessory] – 509.

Storage Pearl: Common Clothes; Hunter I.D; Mask; Egg – Crystal Albarose; Various Ingredients; Automatons x3; Beast Cores[Rank 0] x184; Beast Cores[Rank 1] x114; Rank 1 Potion Recipe – [Sun’s Afterglow, Soul Recovery]; Empty Memory Spheres; Books and Compendiums; Rank 0 Common Potions[Middle-Grade] x0; Rank 0 Common Potions[High-Grade] x0; Rank 0 Common Potions[Top-Grade] x0; Rank 1 Potion – Soul Recovery[Lowest-Grade] x2; Blood Essence – x3 Vials [Rank 1: Layer 1], x1 Vial [Rank 1: Layer 2], x1 Vial [Rank 0: Layer 9].

Mana Crystals: 2513 [Middle-Grade]; 223 [Low-Grade]; Myriad Items—Card [Value-500]; Six Mana Cards.