Chapter 42: Counting our spoils

Our trip was mostly a successful venture. Overall, from the perspective of money, we took a small loss. Another way to look at is that we paid just a little bit to get some wonderful items, even gaining a new friend and lots of benefits in the process. I’m not just talking about our enjoyment with Susan. Although the succubus blood also wasn’t cheap, that batch of beauty potions is what put us in the red. We had only sold the monster materials and cores. No new skill crystals were picked up and I held onto the few common ones we had found. The several dozens of divine crystals were all brought back with us. We decided to charge them up before selling them. Tiff will get some shelf space in one of her family’s shops in Namiir and Jill will rope in her pandering brothers to ferry the crystals back and forth. While selling the charged crystals, the shop will also buy empty ones. Sofy also wrote a letter to her Aunt Ellen in Wynfel explaining about the crystals and to buy them up if the price is right. She can send them to us by courier. We might pull out of the red once the divine crystals are sold.

I got two new traits and managed to level up some skills which are: [Inventory 3], [Second Sight 3] and [Mana Shaping 3]. My control also increased, though the current sixty-five percent control over my intelligence attribute will fall as I continue to increase it. Over the three physical attributes, I managed to raise a total of five percent. Then there’s that new blessing from the Goddess I’ve yet to try out. I’m waiting for the novelty shop to finish something for me first. Sofy has been very patient while waiting for me to reveal it and I’ve gotten completely acclimated to her sharing all her senses with me. Sofy’s gains from the trip were only a little less impressive. She got three of her skills to level up and now has: [Tamer 3], [Synergy 4] and [Assess 6]. She also got some increase in control, but that isn’t very important for her at the moment.

The next day, while I was reading in the library at the research department, Melony was especially agitated while ranting about her recent problems. It turned out to be in concern of a new item that I happen to be quite knowledgeable about.

“First was the sudden change with contracts and now we have these new crystals in the dungeons that nobody seems to be able to use. Appraisal only tells us what they are and what they should do, nothing about how to actually get them to work. I tell you, it’s like somebody is intentionally trying to make my life miserable.”~Melony

“You have to charge them with divine energy before they can be used.”~me(note)

“Divine energy, huh? I guess that explains why nobody can seem to use them, usually only the healer shaman of the beastkin tribes become a priest or priestess. Wait! You already know about them?!”~Melony

“I am a priestess after all. We also just came back from our trip to Namiir’s dungeon.”~me(note)

“Can you teach me how they work in detail? I have a few with me and I’ll give you a reward afterwards.”~Melony

“Access to the research data regarding manipulators?”~me(note)

“Sorry, that’s pretty much the only thing I can’t give you. That old coot, Archer, is in charge of that particular research team and has them all keeping tight lips. He’s already sore at you because his researchers automatically adopted the manipulator term to describe their research when your books were first discovered. Is there something else you want?”~Melony

“A pet dragon?”~me(note)

“Haha, even more impossible. How about a skill crystal instead? I’ve got an extra of the synergy, tamer and assess skills that your mistress has already. Interested in any of those?”~Melony

Synergy is by far the least important of the skills she listed. It only boosts spells that you cast with the world’s energy, not adding anything new to my repertoire. I could also do without assess since I already have an appraisal-like ability. But tamer without the dragon to tame isn’t as much fun either. Yes, even I believe that, in a certain idiot trio’s words, dragon mounts are romance. Maybe I should tame a dryad just to start things out. A first familiar to raise my level in the skill. They can be really helpful when raising a garden after all and Sofy is very enthusiastic about her apothecary class. Yes, I am indeed thinking of taming one of my own kind, sort of.

Explanation time. My predominant bloodline is vampire which is classified as a race in this world. Blood demon is a type of demonic beast with a demon core. Dragons are a type of magic beasts, also having a beast core. Technically, Dryad is a type of monster. It’s an agglomeration of the nature element energy of an area. They initially have what is typically classified as a monster core, like the cores found in dungeon monsters. Unlike dungeon monsters, dryads will gain a soul and grow. Their core will eventually become like any other magic beast’s core. Like other races of the world, I don’t have a core because my vampire bloodline is dominant. As Sofy explained it to me after taming Trixy, tamer works by inscribing a rune within the target’s core.

“Tamer it is then. Want me to ordain you as a priestess so you can experience it yourself? I can give you a short lesson on how to properly train your divine energy.”~me(note)

“Don’t you have to follow some sort of rules or something to be a priestess? I don’t particularly have any degree of piety towards the Goddess either. I mean, I know she exists, especially with the recent changes occurring. Some powerful being has to be behind things like that.”~Melony

“No rules other than perhaps not intentionally offending her. Give her the same respect you would any powerful person. Piety is optional, prayer is more of an exchange of services anyways. You gather the faith, send it to her with a prayer and she sends back divine energy. Minus some lost during conversion and her cut.”~me(note)

“So simple?! Then why are those human priests always so fanatical about having faith and attending church? Even the beastkin usually build an altar of some sort in their tribes.”~Melony

I explain to her the benefits for the priestess when other people are willing to pray with them. Her facial muscles spasm as she realizes that it’s all a farce for the sake of greed, especially in the case of the humans. She accepts the offer and I proceed to write out the training method including the hint about the effects of spirit energy. I even decided to pray with her to give her a boost. Even if I also pray for myself, I’ve enough faith stocked up that I can just draw on that to replenish my own divine energy.

My reading time has been almost entirely used up by the time we’ve finished. She decided to give me a little extra reward when she saw me sadly looking at my stack of unread books. I now have a library card! Not a literal card, but permission to bring books home with me. The librarian frowned as he looked at the long list of books I wanted to check-out for the day. When Melony question my ability to read them all before tomorrow, he reluctantly consented after I gave an affirmative nod. In the near future, the many empty shelves I’d leave between my two work days would aggravate many fellow researchers. I practically skipped from the office, all the way to Sofy when meeting up for lunch.

“Lily, just what made you so happy?”~Sofy

“I got a library card, Mistress!”~me

“A what? Oh, I see. You finally got permission to take some books home with you?”~Sofy

“Yes! I also ended up ordaining Melony as a priestess today while explaining about the divine crystals to her.”~me

“You do realize that pretty much anyone that you ordain will definitely end up meeting the Goddess, right? Melony seems like the protective type to me and Kat, well, she’s a bit of a pervert. I just don’t see those two getting along very well.”~Sofy

“You’re probably right, but I don’t think they’d start fighting or anything.”~me

“We’ll probably find out soon enough. Anything else? I doubt that borrowing the books that you could already read in the library is all you swindled from her.”~Sofy

“Mm, got a tamer skill crystal as well. I’d like to tame a dryad if I can, it would be of great help with making an herb garden to support your newfound love for apothecary.”~me

“You shouldn’t base the familiars that you select based on my needs. Select something that would benefit yourself.”~Sofy

“I am thinking of myself too. Eventually, when inventory evolves into a pocket dimension, I plan to plant an herb garden in it.”~me

“As long as you’re sure. We’ll ask nana when we get back about where we can find one and go get it this weekend if possible.”~Sofy

“Thank you, Mistress! Oh, I just realized that I’ve now been here a little over a year now.”~me

“You’re right! And based on what you told me about how a hero is actually summoned into this world, your birth date would be the day you were summoned. Let’s see, the last Sunday of the human calendar last year would be...the last Lightday of winter is your birthday. I guess, happy belated birthday.”~Sofy