Sam was ecstatic after hearing that he could finally go back hunting, he handed Connor a small reward before leaving with a smile.
[Soul Crystal: 2 Stars]
From what Sam said, this is something created by the Mages which holds a decent amount of Soul Energy within. Most Mages are scholars and would prefer to sit in their studies and labs than go out hunting, so they've invented a method to hold and suppress the energy so they could easily hire others to collect it for them.
Connor went and hid somewhere out of sight and absorbed it. All he had to do was place it near his heart and the Crystal would slowly melt, becoming energy that would be absorbed by his body. Right after he happily grabbed his Void Tablet, looking at the Strength Stat.
'It's about time I do this again since I have enough Soul Energy now' Connor thought. He had been trying to add another Star in Strength for a while now. Whenever he kills something he would test it, but each time he would be rejected.. Not enough Soul Energy. It annoyed him slightly that he wasn't able to know nor see how much Soul Energy he had and how much was required but what could he do about it?
Fortunately, this time it finally worked, a bright light covered Connor's vision before his muscles spasmed, condensing and hardening even further.
Connor smiled seeing this, but that smile did not last too long as the next second he saw the Void Tablet start to slowly break, with chips and tiny stones falling before the whole thing turned into dust.
"FUCK!" Connor said, taking deep breaths to calm down. He knew well that the Void Tablets were not permanent, but having it crumble just like that, with the only Tablet he had nonetheless pissed him off. "What now?" He muttered, looking around. "I don't want to start paying for Stat increases again.. Can I just buy one? Probably not since they'll just lose money, it's more profitable for them if they get paid for Stat increases instead..maybe I should venture into a ruin? I'll probably find some in there somewhere… Nope, that's just Dorgan's thing happening all over again!"
Connor did not have a lot of options. There was just the one and only.. The same way he got his first Void Tablet.
"Who has one? Sam is too nice, I don't want to rob nor kill him and I probably can't just take it.. Hawkins is the Worker's head so i can't just cut it off.. Brog? That guy is a monster. He's probably waiting for a chance to get his hands on me anyways" Connor couldn't find a solution.. At least not an easy one.
All he had to do was earn one somehow. If he manages to defeat Brog he'll be able to take it off of him, but how would he be able to manage that?
"The Swordsmanship tiers are done, Craig doesn't have anymore lessons and finding the rest of the Sutra is most likely impossible in the short term.. Maybe Magic? I don't need to learn it, just getting my hands on some Magic Scrolls should be more than enough"
Right now, Gold is the one thing Connor did not lack. He had too much to count and buying a few Magic Scrolls wouldn't be that difficult. "Craig seems to be the kind of guy to find something like that on him.. I should ask"
Connor walked towards him with determination, he needed something to use that would give him even the slightest chance to take down Brog.
"A Magic Scroll?" Craig whispered. "You trying to get us both killed? Do you even realize how much the Don hates Magic?"
"I do, but it's an emergency!" Connor replied.
"Listen rookie.. I've been holding Arena fights for years now, even back in Harbor Town, and when people couldn't pay I would accept other things of equal value" Craig Continued. "I got Weapons, Armor, Jewelry and even someone's wooden leg but I've never accepted anything Magic or related to it, you understand?"
"The Void Tablets are Magic though are they not? But you people don't seem to have any problem using them"
"It's different! These are Ancient Magic technologies that even the Mages couldn't replicate and it's driving them crazy, so the Don loves it. If you want to get your hands on Magic Scrolls and use them you better not do that in front of any of us or you'll be exiled from the Camp"
"This is too much is it not?" Connor sighed. The Magic Scrolls way to take down Brog is out of the question. "You said you receive a lot of things from people instead of Gold.. Can you sell any?"
"Of course! Although unfortunately I've delivered last month's supplies to the Don already and all I have are some Artifacts and old weapons" Craig said. He opened his Inventory and showed Connor a collection of items.
There was a Leather Armor of higher quality than the one he has on right now, some old Swords, Maces, Bows and a few Artifacts.
Connor looked at the collection with interest. He wanted the Armor but the rest were mostly junk. Even the Artifacts were unknown to Craig which meant that they probably had no use. As Connor browsed he found an interesting looking Artifact. It looked like a book made of stone with some interesting engravings on its cover.
"What is this?" Connor asked.
"I have no idea. Some Worker owed me money and offered this to me instead of Gold. To be honest with you it looked nice so I accepted the deal, but I later figured out it was as useless as dog shit" Craig sighed. "I shouldn't have taken this instead of Gold.. Even the Don didn't want it after analyzing it. He couldn't find even the slightest Void Energy as he called it, so they gave it back to me"
"Then let me have it" Connor said. "I'll take the Leather Armor and this Artifact"
"Alright" Craig said excitedly. "1200 GC for the Armor and 100 GC for the Artifact"
"What? 100 GC? You said it was useless" Connor argued.
"I owed the Worker 100 GC and that's what i plan on getting for it"
"That's your problem with the Worker, I'll give you 50 GC no more and no less.. It's basically decoration for fuck sake man"
"Listen, I'll reason with you.. If you don't argue with me about the Armor's price then it's yours for 25"
"Deal!" Connor shook on it and grabbed his items. The 100 GC didn't really bother him with the amount of Gold he had but he wasn't going let Craig know that he really wanted it.. After all, the words written on the cover, which was deemed as some gibberish by Craig and the Don, were actually English. Plain good old English!
[Grimoire of the Void]
"Now that's interesting" Connor muttered. Before investigating it, he first sold his old Armor and handed his new one to Oscor the Smith to reinforce it like he did the old one, then he went to the Arena, circled behind it and set up a campfire, a tent he bought from Doug on the way and a few meat chunks to cook.
"Let's take a look!"