The slums of Lavin city were everything to be expected in a kingdom run through the nobility system. The streets were muddy and the foul odor of feces permeated the air as the sanitation department did not even want to take this place under consideration where the lowest dregs of society reside.
In fact, maybe the Zacharias family, whose territory this was, already had plans to exterminate this area and 'cleanse' their city from this infection called the slums.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
A figure dashed through the streets relying on their agility, and the bakery that proudly displayed their pastry for sale suddenly had a few pound-cakes missing.
The figure did not stop at the least and no one noticed anything different.
Only after entering the slums did that person slow down their steps. The silhouette suggested that a person a male, wore a cloak, and a large hood covered his entire head.
'Knock'
The man walked through the web-like streets and arrived at a particular thatched house near a tree before knocking.
A few seconds later, a woman opened the door, it was Risa. "Followed?" she asked.
"No" Leonas took off the hood and entered the house. "How's Sen?"
Risa shook her head, indicating that there was no change.
"We need to leave this place"
"I agree. We'll wait till the convoy leaves and sneak in at night"
"Would the others be fine?" Leonas asked worriedly, "now that Sen is like this, could he had lost control over his clone? What if something happened to them?"
Risa actually had the same worries. They've been here for two weeks now. After Sen killed that mage, they took the opportunity and fled towards this place humans called the slums. After finding an abandoned house in this remote place, they took shelter here while planning their next step.
The rest back in the forest was probably still waiting for them. The incident this time had attracted a lot of attention and the guards are now on high alert, patrolling each night. This could increase the chances of their friends back there to be discovered.
Now their only choice was to return back and join the others. As for Sen, they would of course take him with them.
"No need" a voice came from behind them. They turned around and saw Sen Standing up.
"Sen!" they cried in joy.
"Are you okay?" Risa wanted to support him but he stopped her. They watched as Sen squatted down, bent his body in a weird way, and jumped up and down. With each action, bone-cracking sound was heard.
"Perfect!" Sen grinned.
"What happened back there?" Leonas asked curiously.
Sen pondered for a moment, he did not want to disclose his new energy yet, but that hag Ebara had already sold him out when she announced it loudly, so he could only bend the truth a bit.
"Hmm…my body was changing, you can consider it a sort of evolution so while that was happening I had to stay unconscious for a while. Only we were in a desperate situation so I forced the change to halt. But it only worked temporarily before I had to suffer the consequences and enter a dormant state to heal."
True, when Ebara was about to lead them away, Sen immediately entered the meditative state and forces the rumbling lightning in his core to stop and maximize its effects. He did succeed but he could not hold on to that state for long. Even now, he still hadn't recovered from it and suffered even more injuries, this time, physical. His internal organs were injured and his liver was totally shredded.
But physical injuries are nothing to him right now. Searching through his inventory which he swore he would organize any day now, he found a few round bottles with red liquid inside.
Gulp!
With no hesitation, he gulped one healing potion after the other in his mouth.
Risa and Leona were a bit curious, but right now, they ceased to be surprised by Sen's action.
A burp escaped his mouth after he smacked his lips together. Never had he thought that healing potions would actually be this sweet? But they sure were effective as he felt his inside move and spin. A second later, he revealed a joyful expression, "great stuff". Now his injuries are fully healed and he just has to wait for his depleted energy that was almost gone in the process of merging, to regenerate. But other than that, he can still fight two Ebaras easily.
Sen turned his attention towards the two staring at him.
"So what happened after I went under? How long has it been by the way?"
"Umm… about two weeks ago, we took you and escaped right away. Here are the slums of the city where the poor and criminals live…"
The two then proceeded to tell him about what was happening. Even though Sen was out, they still gathered as much information as they can.
Apparently, rumor has it that the prince of Grandor thought that Ebara's death was a plot to assassinate him, given that the other princes were also vying for the throne that was a reasonable assumption. What caught his attention though was that the province seemed to have lost something in the process. The prince flipped the city upside down for an entire day before going back to the capital with nothing. Sen recalled that very cold creature inside the covered cage.
Leonas and Risa had to change places many times not to get caught.
Next, the Zacharias family. Elaila Zacharias was furious about the events that took place in her city, she made a poster with Sen's Fanalis face on it as well as Leonas and Risa's, and spread it all around the city with a high reward for those who offer any information about them.
And that is not all, she had also increased the patrol guards and shifts, tightening the security of the city and its perimeters. Risa was worried about the others but Sen Assured her that aside from some beasts who were attracted by their scent, nothing major happened. And his clone took care of it.
"Is there anything else?!" Sen asked after seeing the two exchange nervous looks."
"Well…" Risa hesitated for a bot, "we found something…someone"
"Oh?" Sen raised his eyebrow.
"It's better to show you" Leonas motioned towards a room in the old abandoned house.
"This…" Sen was visibly surprised because he knows this person lying unconscious in this room.
.
.
.
The next day, Sen was standing in front of the Zacharias mansion. After having Risa and Leonas inquire for a bit, he was surprised to actually discovered that Cassil died the night he entered the mansion.
Cassil was quite famous for being a cold-hearted person that killed the servants for even the smallest of mistakes. So it wasn't hard for rumors to quickly spread by the delighted servants of the Zacharias house.
But this way was actually much better for Sen. Dead, he would be sure that Cassil gives him whatever he needs. Truth and nothing but the naked truth.
The reason is his Hellfire art. Now that he became a bit stronger after he created the fused energy – that's what's he named it, his hellfire art got a bit stronger as well and he unlocked a new hellfire skill.
The cemetery was far from the Zacharias house. In fact, it was built near a cliff outside the city. It took Sen minimal effort to bypass the gate guards and arrive there.
Once he located Cassil's grave which was crudely put together, he thought that the spatiomancer angered someone for him, a court mage, to actually be buried in this kind of place.
This was his first time trying this skill but it was as natural as breathing to him. Like all the relevant knowledge was deeply engrained in his mind.
Seconds later, his eyes glowed and the world around him changed, becoming a nightmare to any phasmophobe. The sky darkened in his eyes, although from another's point of view, it still bright as day. Each grave released a thick mist as the eerie screech of the banshee was heard in the distance.
Even Sen was startled by this sight. Luckily, he's been tempered over the past few days and quickly managed to calm down.
"There you are" he waited for a few seconds before a green, decayed, and transparent Cassil appeared above his own grave.
Sen reached out his hand and clutched the ghosts' skull in his large Fanalis palm.
A soul would only disappear after a few weeks after the passing of the body. So Cassil's soul was still there, fortunately for Sen, but too bad for Cassil since he shall never enter whatever is on the other side.
This was one of the Hellfire art skills, Hell Domain. It reveals the other side of souls and the caster may be able to control the memories of the soul at will as long as they have an affinity with spirits. Sen, a Fanalis who was made of the bloodline of both undead and spirits was more than capable.
Cassil turned into green smoke that entered Sen through his nostrils.
Like an addict getting high on drugs, Sen revealed an intoxicated expression. It took him a while to digest everything.
"I see…Elaila Zacharias, a real crafty woman…" according to the memories he just absorbed from Cassil's soul. This Elaila person had known since years ago that the Sistema was a tree part item. But as the cursed fate would have it, every time her family's previous generation would stumble upon another piece, a disaster would happen. This time, she used her butler's memory writing magic on Cassil, making him think it was his family that had the Sistema and had him find the other piece all the while Cassil was thinking it all was his idea and legacy.
These memories were something Cassil had experienced but also forgot later on due to the butler's magic.
But something interesting came out of it that even Elaila didn't know about. Cassil had actually discovered a clue about the Sistema on his own.
According to the memories, the Sistema was closely related to the goblin race. In particular, their king, the goblin king. He had disappeared without a trace, left for another realm….the last realm?
The more Sen thought about it, the more he was convinced that this goblin king was the same one from LR. But going along this premise, LR was not just a game, it was a real existing place and Sen, somehow, ended up in the middle of it. In that case what about other players? Were they all just puppet masters for the existing people that are called avatar? Did these avatars exist in a real dimension somewhere and controlled by players…?
Too many confusing ideas and explanations bombarded his brain. For now, he decided to just go with the wind and he reckoned that these questions would answer themselves eventually.