"What the... He actually swallowed the whole sun? How is that even possible?" Maruti exclaid, eyes wide and her voice full of shock. She looked to Esdeath, who was walking beside her, seeking an answer.
Esdeath glanced at her with a knowing smile. "And why does he have the sa na as ?" Maruti asked, still puzzled.
Esdeath chuckled softly. "He doesn't have the sa na as you. You share the sa na as him. Lord Hanuman is actually a nickna, you know? He's the reason the na Maruti beca so famous. People admired him so much that they nad their children after him."
Maruti's eyes widened as realization dawned on her. "Oh… That makes sense! But wait, we see the sun every morning, right? So… where did this sun co from? And what happened after he swallowed it?" Her curiosity was overflowing, and her voice was filled with excitent as she looked up at Esdeath, hoping for answers. But Esdeath stayed quiet, her gaze focused ahead.
After a few steps, Esdeath suddenly stopped and looked forward, a small smile tugging at her lips. "We're here," she said simply.
In front of them stood a small, weathered house, built entirely of wood. The place looked humble—almost too humble—and it was barely big enough for one person to live in comfortably. The wood creaked slightly in the breeze, and there was an air of solitude surrounding the place.
Just then, Sasha turned around and tossed a key toward Esdeath, who caught them with ease. Without a word, Sasha turned and walked away, disappearing down the path they'd co from.
Both Esdeath and Maruti understood what they needed to do. Together, they stepped up to the door and tried the handle. To their surprise, the door swung open easily, without even a lock holding it shut. They exchanged a quick glance, curiosity mirrored in each other's eyes, and stepped inside.
The interior was plain, almost sparse. It was just a single, square room, with rough wooden walls and a faint sll of old timber. The only thing that stood out was a small, square trapdoor set into the floor. The tal ring on it looked well-worn, as if many hands had lifted it over the years. But unlike the front door, this one had a thick lock securing it tightly.
Esdeath glanced down at the key Sasha had given her. She knew exactly what needed to be done. Taking a breath, she slid the key into the lock and turned it. With a satisfying click, the lock released. Maruti's heart pounded with excitent.
Together, they lifted the trapdoor, revealing a dark stairway leading down into the first basent level. The air was cool and damp, carrying the faint scent of earth and stone.
As they landed, the sight that greeted Esdeath and Maruti made them pause in awe. The first basent room was huge—at least three tis larger than the small wooden shack above. It felt like they had stepped into a hidden treasure vault.
Tables and shelves lined the walls, each one stacked with glittering gold coins, piles of clothes, and an assortnt of essence stones scattered across the surfaces. The essence stones weren't of the highest quality, but to Esdeath and Maruti, it felt like discovering a treasure trove.
Esdeath's lips stretched into a wide, wicked grin as she took in the scene. "Hehehe… In the third arc, Sylvania got here first and explored all the basent levels. We only have access to the first level, but this is still a pretty big deal," she said, practically rubbing her hands together in excitent.
Maruti looked at her and made a face. "Ugh, stop smiling like that! You look creepy," she said, half-joking, half-serious.
Esdeath only chuckled in response, her eyes gleaming as she scanned the room. There were so many different types of essence stones scattered around—so big, so small, so with vivid colors, and others completely colorless. But there was one problem. Most of them were practically useless. Out of all these stones, Esdeath figured only four or five would be of any real help to her.
Maruti sighed, her shoulders slumping. "I an, seriously, how many essence stones could we even refine in one night? I already have a few with , so I don't even need to refine any more. Let's just grab a weapon and wait for tomorrow. If we both fight together, we'll definitely win." She pointed to a pile of weapons stacked in the corner, her tone casual, almost bored.
Esdeath shook her head and gave Maruti a look. "Do you really think winning will solve everything?" she asked, her voice calm but serious. She turned back to the stones, searching for the ones she needed. "Even if we win, do you have any idea what they'll do next?"
Maruti blinked, clearly clueless. "Nope, not a clue," she replied with a shrug.
Esdeath leaned in, her voice lowering as if sharing a secret. "They'll make us marry each other. They'll set up a whole wedding, make us exchange vows, and then celebrate like it's the best thing ever. All according to tradition."
Maruti burst out laughing, clutching her sides. "Pfft… Yeah, right! There's no way I'm marrying you!" she laughed, her voice echoing around the room. "I guess we really have to do sothing, Do you have any plans? ",
Esdeath smirked, her gaze turning sharp. "Of course I have a plan. But for now, focus on finding the useful essence stones," she said with an evil glint in her eye.
With determination, the two of them split up and began searching through the room, examining each stone.
After so ti searching, Maruti's eyes lit up as she spotted a unique essence stone, about the size of her palm. It had an unusual shape—almost like a small bone, but made of a dark, iron-like material. It felt different from the other stones, almost alive with energy. Curious, she turned to Esdeath, holding it up. "What kind of essence stone is this?" she asked, eyes wide with wonder.
Esdeath's gaze landed on the stone, and a big, joyous smile appeared on her face. "It's an iron bone essence stone!" Without hesitation, she took it from Maruti's hand, her excitent clear.
Maruti tilted her head, intrigued. "It looks useful. Let's refine it! I think there are three of them here," she suggested, gesturing to the nearby stones.
But Esdeath shook her head, her expression turning serious. "Yes, it's useful, but no way. Do you rember what happened last ti when you used the bronze muscle essence stone?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
Maruti frowned, recalling the experience. "Um… yeah. It was weird! My whole body felt all tingly, and I was sweating like crazy. Plus, my skin ached for two days straight!" she said, grimacing at the mory.
Esdeath nodded, her tone patient. "Exactly. If you use this iron bone essence stone, it'll make your bones as hard as iron. But the process will be painful, much worse than before. You won't even be able to move for two or three days!"
"Oh… I see…" Maruti replied, a bit taken aback.
"Yeah," Esdeath said, giving her a reassuring smile. "Let's just take all three of them with us and save them for another ti." With that, she took out her pink lotus essence stone, which could hold other stones inside it, and carefully placed the three iron bone stones inside.
Maruti gave her a puzzled look. "Why take all three? There are only two of us, right?" she asked, scratching her head in confusion.
An evil smirk played on Esdeath's lips as she replied, "Simple. We can sell one and make so good money off it, don't you think?"
Maruti scoffed, folding her arms with a playful pout. "Hmph, gold digger!" she muttered in mock annoyance, rolling her eyes.
-------------
After over half an hour of searching, Esdeath and Maruti finally settled down in a quiet corner, surrounded by a pile of essence stones they had gathered. These were the stones they'd chosen to refine, and each one held a unique power they hoped to harness.
Maruti glanced at the large collection and sighed. "This many? Refining all of these will take at least a month!" she exclaid, looking a bit overwheld.
Esdeath shook her head, a small smile on her lips. "We don't have to refine all of them. So are already partially refined, so we just need to rge them and create a new essence stone," she explained calmly.
As she spoke, Esdeath picked up a small, green stone shaped like a fingernail. The color reminded her of another stone she knew well—the moonblade essence stone. But this one was different. "This is a moonnail essence stone," she murmured, turning it over in her hand. "It's a support type. It only works if you already have a moonblade essence stone."
With a confident smile, Esdeath said, "As for refining, leave that to !" She focused, willing her system to start the refinent process.
The notification from her system rang in her mind, and in an instant, the moonnail essence stone dissolved, its power absorbed directly into her body.
Maruti's eyes went wide with shock. "Damn… How did you do that?" she gasped, barely able to believe what she'd seen.
Esdeath grinned, unable to hide her pride. "Hehehe… I'm a pro, after all!" she replied, smirking as she enjoyed Maruti's amazent.
Next, Esdeath took hold of a lightning charge essence stone. It was a D-rank stone that could boost her speed for just three breaths of ti. She absorbed it smoothly, and then picked up a lightning smash essence stone. This one was also a support type, made to work with the lightning charge. Together, they created a powerful combo effect.
In lightning smash, running at high speed would store energy in her legs. When she released it all in one kick, it could cause serious damage—a perfect critical hit.
Esdeath could feel the power of her new combo attack building up inside her. Maruti just stared, her mouth slightly open in awe. "I know that ethan can do sothing like this because of his system but fable can also do this?, Her constellation also gives this kind of power, I thought it was only for main character!" she thought, still stunned. Then another question hit her. "Wait, isn't your affinity with wind and fire? So why are you using lightning essence stones?" she asked, confused.
Esdeath sighed, a bit tired but still patient. "Huff… There's nothing here that's useful for wind, and it's not like you can only use essence stones that match your affinity. The effects are a bit weaker, sure, but they don't disappear completely!" she explained.
Having an affinity was definitely helpful, especially when it ca to bonding with spirits. If Esdeath had lightning affinity, her speed boost would have lasted for nine breaths instead of just three, and she could charge even more power in her legs. But she knew she had to make do with what she had.
Next, she picked up two light path essence stones. These were D-rank, offering a small boost to her overall strength. She handed one to Maruti, who looked at it curiously.
"This will give you a 5x boost for five minutes since you have a light elent affinity," Esdeath explained. "For , without the affinity, I'll only get about a 2x boost."
Maruti nodded, not saying a word but clearly understanding.
"And now, it's ti for rging!" Esdeath announced with a confident grin, picking up the last four essence stones. She could feel the energy pulsing through them, ready to be combined.
But as soon as she began, she realized it was harder than she thought. rging four essence stones was supposed to be simpler than refining one essence stone, but there was a big problem—Esdeath had no experience in rging at all. In the ga, rging and refining essence stones was easy; all a player had to do was watch an ad to boost the chances of success and remaining thing the character can do by himself. But this wasn't a ga—it was real life.
Sweat started to bead on her forehead as she focused, trying to keep the energy steady. She could feel it slipping out of control, her heart pounding harder with each second.
Then—BOOM!
A small explosion burst out from the stones, sending up a puff of black smoke. Esdeath coughed as the smoke cleared, her face now covered with a thick layer of black dust. She stood there, completely speechless, her eyes wide with surprise and embarrassnt.
Maruti took one look at Esdeath's soot-covered face and burst out laughing, unable to hold it in. She banged her fist on the floor, rolling around as she laughed harder and harder. "Hahaha… What were you saying? I'm pro...Hahaha!"
Esdeath glared at Maruti, her frustration growing. The failure actually made sense—her system allowed her to refine essence stones, but not to rge them. In the ga, Ethan had years of experience with rging, and he rarely ever failed. She, on the other hand, was starting from scratch.
Luckily, it had only been a low-level rge attempt. If it had been a higher-level rge, involving her body or soul, the explosion could have seriously hurt her already weak body and fragile soul.
"Motherf—!" Esdeath cursed under her breath, then turned to Maruti, narrowing her eyes. "How did you refine your bronze muscle essence stone the first ti you tried, anyway?" she demanded, still wiping the black dust from her face.
Maruti smirked, clearly enjoying the mont. "Maybe because I'm actually a natural at this, This girl's body actually have talent for refining," she teased, flashing a mischievous grin.
Esdeath rolled her eyes, trying to hide her frustration, but a small smile crept onto her lips. "Fine, then. If you're so confident, go ahead and refine these for !" she said, gesturing toward the essence stones she'd tried to rge. They had beco practically useless after her failed attempt, but luckily, they were still part of a set and could be salvaged.
Maruti finally managed to stop laughing, wiping away her imaginary tears. With a sigh and a little smile, she nodded. "Alright, alright, no more teasing. I'll handle it." She settled herself down, sitting cross-legged and fully focused, ready to rge the stones, though she knew it would take her most of the night.
As Maruti began her work, Esdeath decided to make the best of her ti as well. She willed her system to open, ready to dive into her own tasks.
: 19.8
: 5.6
: 4
: 68
Current skills in possession
- Sharpshooter (E): When used, ti will slow down for five seconds. Can only be used once every 50 minutes.
- Eagle Eyes (E): Can see over great distances with precision Can see the flow of mana.
-
Esdeath glanced at her status screen and muttered to herself, "Hmm... Other than this Eagle Eyes skill, everything else I have is linked to ti." A realization struck her as she stared at her skills. "Could my star constellation be on the Ti Path?" she wondered. It was a strong possibility.
She thought of Seraphine, another star constellation with ties to ti, but quickly dismissed it. "No, it can't be Seraphine. That bitch is already dead," she scoffed, shaking off the thought. Instead, she decided it was better to focus on what she had now than waste ti overthinking.
Esdeath went to her SP (Skill Points) and decided to increase her stamina and speed. She allocated her points without hesitation.
As the changes kicked in, a wave of energy rushed through her. She felt lighter, as if all the tiredness in her body had vanished. Her limbs felt ready to go, like she could sprint miles in seconds without even breaking a sweat.
Encouraged, Esdeath thought of upgrading one of her ti-related healing skills next. But as expected, a notification flashed on her screen:
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